After two days of travelling, excitement had quickly turned into boredom.

Viridian City, the next closest settlement to Pallet Town, was still a bit more than half a day away walking at a steady pace. With barely anything along the road except run-of-the-mill grass and trees, and no other trainers crossing Red’s path, there was nothing to do except stroll towards his destination.

The occasional Pidgey and Rattata crossed Red's path, but he paid them no mind. They weren’t very strong, and they certainly wouldn’t help against Brock, the Pewter City gym leader and the first stop on his roadmap. The little information he had gathered on him told him a couple of things;

One, he was a relatively inexperienced gym leader, having replaced his father, Flint, roughly a year ago. His old man had left for unknown reasons.

And two, he specialized in rock-type pokémon.

‘I should be able to take him with Bulbasaur alone, but after the loss against Gary the other day, I can’t be too sure. Besides, almost all gym battles are at least a two-on-two, so I need to catch something else anyways.’

Red had planned and prepared many things, but team composition was, unfortunately, not one of them. He figured he could just wing it for now; he’d find something eventually.

As he sat down to eat lunch, a cool autumn breeze blew through the air, rustling the leaves of the nearby pine trees. It was mid-November, only a month and some change into the current League year.

‘A bit of a late start, but not too bad. Nine months until the Indigo Conference… that’s plenty of time.’

Red got out a sandwich for himself, and prepared a bowl of ‘General Pokémon Food’ for Bulbasaur. A quick look at the ingredient list revealed absolutely nothing to him, as he had no idea what “Fructooligosaccharides” or “Powdered Cellulose” were. He sent out his pokémon, offering the brown pellets to it.

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t get any of the specialized stuff. I did all my packing before I got you, so I didn’t know what I would need. Hopefully the generic kind is good enough for now.”

The toad-like pokémon didn’t seem to mind, as it walked over to the bowl with its stubby legs and began munching happily.

‘With three meals a day, this bag should last around two weeks.’ Red sighed. ‘Budgeting is going to be a nightmare. I envy those kids whose parents pay for their journeys.’

Red looked up, noticing a few dark clouds strewn across the sky. It didn’t take long for him to come to the unfortunate realization that rain was coming.

‘Hmm. Better get back on the road soon. The further I can get before that storm hits, the better.’

He waited a few more minutes for Bulbasaur to finish eating, then recalled the pokémon and packed up. Once he was done, he got back on the path, walking slightly faster than before as more and more clouds slowly obscured the darkening sky.

It was several more hours before Red stopped again, having reached the bank of a stream. A waterfall a little ways away added a continuous clamor to the background, and a red-haired teen with a yellow crop top sat on the opposite side of the river, casting a slightly battered fishing rod into the current. Red could’ve sworn he recognized her, but attempts to remember anything further were unsuccessful, as it was nigh impossible to concentrate over the crashing sound of the falls.

Besides, he had a more pressing issue to worry about; he didn’t know how to swim, and there wasn’t a bridge in sight.

“Hey,” he called out, “is there a bridge somewhere?”

When there was no response, he began waving, hoping to catch the girl’s attention. Finally, after a good 20 seconds of shaking his arms around like a drunk Mr. Mime, she looked up, annoyed. Red then quickly realized that she had been ignoring him on purpose. She cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled, “What do you want?”

Red couldn’t make out a word she was saying, which led to a poor attempt at a pantomimed conversation that quickly devolved into confusion. Red eventually gave up out of exhaustion, while the girl put her head in her hands, frustrated, and dived into the water. She cut through the waves like a knife through butter, reaching the other side and emerging from underneath the surface, and climbed onto the smooth rocks that made up the river bank.

“Look,” she said, “now I’ve scared all the pokémon away. You better have a good reason for this.”

Red felt slightly embarrassed that this had become such an ordeal, but pressed onwards. “I can’t swim, and I need to cross this river to reach Viridian City. I was just wondering if you knew if there was a bridge nearby?”

The girl let out an exasperated sigh, and said, “I don’t know about a bridge, but if you go aways downstream the river gets a lot shallower. It should be pretty easy to cross there.”

“Thanks,” Red responded. “Hey, do you know how far it is to the city? I don’t want to get caught outside in the storm.”

“Storm?” she asked, then looked up and saw the rainclouds dotting the sky. “Oh. It should be another couple of hours away. Maybe less if you move fast.”

Red was surprised. He was closer than he thought. The girl turned to get back in the water, and called out, “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to move a bit further downstream. Hopefully there’s still some pokémon down there.”

Red apologized, then started heading in the direction that she had indicated. A few minutes of walking later, and the stream, as promised, got much shallower, eventually reaching a point where he was able to cross without being swept away by the rapids.

The final stretch of road towards Viridian City, which was covered by a larger volume of trees, saw slightly more traffic, and Red was approached by a couple of trainers wanting to battle. He was more than happy to oblige; Bulbasaur needed fighting experience if he wanted to stand toe to toe with Brock’s pokémon, after all, but he noted the ever-growing storm clouds with concern. Luckily, his opponents appeared just as wary of the rain as he was, and by the time he could see the lights of Viridian City’s buildings on the horizon, no one bothered to challenge him.

It took only thirty more minutes to reach the edge of the sprawling city, which was considerably bigger than Pallet Town, though still rather small as settlements went. As Red headed towards the Pokécenter, which was identifiable by its large red roof that he could see from hundreds of feet away, he passed by Viridian City's own pokémon gym. He looked up at the angular, uniform building, and noticed the boarded up windows and small piece of paper taped to the door. He couldn't see what it read, but he had a pretty good idea; he knew that the leader, Giovanni, had recently gone on some sort of business trip, leaving the gym unattended. After a drop of rain splattered on his face, he turned back to the path and hastily resumed his walking, as the pouring rain slowly turned into a deluge.

Red began sprinting, desperate to reach the Pokécenter before he was completely soaked. The warm glow emanating from inside beckoned him forward, until he finally reached the automatic doors and stepped into the spacious lobby. A large pokéball pattern, long since faded, was printed on the tan-color paneled floor below him, which was slightly scuffed from the many trainers who had come to the center seeking solace from the elements, or healing for their pokémon. He lurched over to one of the nearby bean bag chairs, sinking into the plush surface. His thoughts were a chaotic blur that gradually faded, as he properly relaxed for the first time in days.

“Ahem,” a voice called. “Are you a trainer?”

Red slowly turned his head, wincing at his aching neck, to see the source of the sound. A nurse stood at a counter in the back of the room, waiting expectantly.

“Oh. Uh, yeah?” Red said.

The nurse looked at him for a moment, then said, “I’ll need to see an ID, please.”

Red groaned at the thought of doing any more physical activity, but reluctantly obliged. After rummaging around his backpack for a bit, he finally found his trainer ID, and presented it to the nurse. She scanned it with a small device on her desk, and upon confirming its authenticity, gave it back to Red, and said, “I’m sorry about that. We’ve received reports that members of a criminal organization are in the area, so we’re on high alert right now. You’re from Pallet Town, right?”

Red nodded.

“You know, you’re the third trainer I’ve seen from Pallet Town today. I’m guessing Professor Oak gave out a new batch of starters recently?”

He let out a small “mhm” in confirmation.

She smiled and said, “I remember when I got my first pokémon. I never competed in a league though,” She shook her head. “My dream was always to work in a Pokémon Center.”

Red wasn’t very keen on history, but he was aware that the gym challenge, and by extension the Pokémon Association, had been around for roughly forty or so years. It was mostly started as a way to promote more humane forms of battle and training.

He was lost in thought for a while, until another “ahem” from the nurse brought him back to reality. She told him, “Since you’re here, you might as well heal your pokémon.”

‘Oh, right. Bulbasaur’s only been in a few scraps since we left Pallet, so it’s not too roughed up at the moment, but I should still heal it.’

Red grabbed the pokéball containing Bulbasaur and handed it to the nurse, who took it towards a door behind the desk. A pink, oval-shaped pokémon waddled out, and she handed the ball to it. Red vaguely recognized the pokémon as a Chansey.

The nurse turned back to him, and said, “It’s getting late. If you want to rest in one of our rooms, you can find them down there.” She pointed down a long hallway to Red’s right.

Red thanked her, and headed towards one of the guest rooms. Most Pokécenters offered free lodging for certified trainers, and for that Red was grateful. He collapsed into a simple twin bed, slipping into a light sleep.

Red was awoken by an incessant wailing noise that resonated throughout the center. At first he attempted to ignore it and go back to sleep, but the sound was simply too loud, and too persistent. He got out of the bed and was walking towards the lobby to see what was going on when a voice spoke over an intercom.

“Your attention please! Our Viridian City radar system has detected an aircraft belonging to a gang of pokémon thieves! If you have a pokémon in your possession, exercise extreme caution!”

‘What?’ Red thought, ‘Thieves? Can’t I just get some sleep without something crazy happening?’ He paused. ‘How long was I out for, anyways?’

A quick look at a nearby clock told him that it was around half past eight.

‘Only two hours, then.’ He sighed, and entered the lobby. He barely got a glimpse of three people standing near a stretcher when a billowing cloud of smoke engulfed the room. One whiff of the gas was enough for Red to start coughing.

“What are- Who are they?”

Red recognized the voice as belonging to Ash, the boy he had seen briefly outside of Oak’s lab.

The smoke started to clear, revealing a pair of figures standing in the center of the lobby. One of them began to speak.

“Don’t be frightened, little boy. Allow us to introduce ourselves. We’re members of Team Rocket!”

Now that the gas had fully cleared, Red could see the two newcomers. They were clad in white uniforms sporting large red ‘R’s, and each of them had hair dyed pink and blue. They were joined by three pokémon; a Koffing, which Red assumed created the smokescreen from earlier, an Ekans, and a Meowth.

The woman with pink hair then spoke up. “Anyways, we’re here for the pokémon, so get out of the way!”

Ash held his arms around a yellow mouse-like pokémon on the stretcher next to him, as if to protect it. “You’re not getting Pikachu!”

She scoffed. “Pikachu? We’re not interested in your precious electric rat.”

The blue-haired man added, “We only seek rare and valuable pokémon!”

Red looked back towards Ash. He was joined by the center’s nurse and the red-haired girl he had seen earlier that day. The nurse shouted, “You’re wasting your time! This is a center for weak and injured pokémon!”

“Well, that may be so, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we found a few gems among all the junk!” the woman said.

Ash glared at the trio. “You’re starting to bug me,” he growled.

The woman scoffed. “Isn’t that cute,” she said, “the boy’s bugged.”

Then something bizarre happened: the Meowth near their feet said, “Meowth! Then let’s squash ‘em!”

Red gaped. It was virtually unheard of for pokémon to speak human languages, and even when it did happen, it was normally simple repetition of words and phrases, like Chatot’s Chatter move. Bewildered, he managed to get out, “Am I still dreaming, or did that Meowth just…?”

The feline pokémon turned to him, and said, “You ain't dreamin’, kid! I’m one of a kind!”

Red had no words, and simply stared in confusion as the woman looked at Meowth and said, “This is no time for banter! Ekans, go!”

The serpentine pokémon by her side lunged towards the group by the stretcher, and Red joined them as they ran behind the counter and through the back doors, another wave of Koffing’s smokescreen following them close behind. As they entered the back room, which was filled with pokéballs and various healing devices, all the lights turned off. The nurse grunted.

“They must have cut the power,” she said. “Luckily, we have a backup power source!”

She pointed to a nearby treadmill, which was hooked up to assorted machinery. Several Pichu stood on top of it idly. The nurse waved at them, and they immediately got up and began to run, electrical energy manifesting around their bodies. A device attached to the treadmill siphoned the excess energy, feeding it to a power circuit that lit the room.

The red-haired girl smiled. “Look at all those Pichu!” she said.

Red blinked. “Are you sure that’s… safe?” he asked.

The nurse chuckled a little, and said, “Since Pichu aren’t very good at controlling their electrical impulses yet, they tend to have violent discharges when excited or frightened. This is actually a steadier, more comfortable way of releasing that energy.”

She walked over to a nearby computer, and hit a few keys. A robotic voice said, “A crisis situation has arisen. Initiating emergency pokéball transport system.”

The pokéballs on the shelves began retracting into the wall, one row at a time. A few seconds later, a nearby screen lit up, displaying a cheery graphic that informed them that the pokémon were being transported to the Pewter City Pokémon Center… very slowly.

The nurse smiled apologetically. “It takes a lot of processing power to transport pokémon like this.”

Smoke began to leak underneath the doors, and Koffing burst through, filling the room with its gas and knocking pokéballs off shelves. The nurse scrambled to pick them up before they were damaged, yelling “Get those pokéballs!”

Red’s blood ran cold, realizing that his pokémon was among those in the room. He gritted his teeth and grabbed as many balls as he could carry, shoving them into a chute he found nearby labeled ‘Transfer’.

Once they had recovered all of the fallen pokéballs, the redhead took a pokéball out of her bag, and said, “Take Pikachu and get out of here. I’ll take care of these three clowns!” She nodded towards the Team Rocket trio, who had just entered the room.

The woman sneered. “That’s pretty big talk, coming from such a little lady.”

“At least you're right about the pretty part. Thanks for the compliment,” the redhead retorted.

“You are pretty. Pretty pathetic!”

“I'll show you! Pokéball, go!”

She sent out a Goldeen, a white fishlike pokémon with a mottled red pattern that flopped around on the floor aimlessly. She sighed, and muttered, “Wrong one…” before returning Goldeen to its pokéball.

The criminals laughed, and the woman said, “That’s her best shot?”

Her partner smirked, and added, “She’s all washed up!”

The redhead scowled and whispered to Red and Ash. “You two! Get Pikachu out of here!”

“Uh… right!” Ash said, grabbing the stretcher and running with it. Red followed close behind as Ekans and Koffing chased them into the lobby.

Ash stopped when the stretcher hit a wrecked bike that was lying on the floor. The jolt woke up the Pikachu lying on it, and it yelled, “Pika pika!” As if by magic, all of the Pichu, who were previously running on the treadmill, poured out of the doors and piled on top of Pikachu like an upper school football team.

The Rockets followed close behind, only to get shocked by a massive lightning bolt, fueled by the combined energy of all of the Pichu. Luckily, humans were highly resistant to the aura that powered pokémon's attacks, otherwise they would have died instantly. Instead, they only had mild burns, and were left incapacitated for the time being. Ekans and Koffing, however, were knocked out completely.

Meowth jumped in front of the Rockets, and growled, “Do I have to do everything myself? Just wait, Pikachu. Yer mine!” He started walking towards the electric rodent, who had popped out from underneath the Pichu pile, preparing a Scratch attack. But as he lunged for Pikachu, it simply sidestepped the attack, and jumped onto the charred bike, saying “Pika Pi! Chu Pika Kachu!”

The nurse ran out of the back room, and tossed a pokéball to Red, shouting, “I found your Bulbasaur!”

Red turned back and said “Thanks!”, then sent out Bulbasaur, ready to send Team Rocket packing.

Ash turned to Red, and the two nodded. “Bulbasaur, use Vine Whip!” Red called out.

At the same time, Ash shouted, “Pikachu, use Thunder Shock!”

With the combined power of Pikachu’s Pichu-charged Thunder Shock, and Bulbasaur’s Vine Whip, Team Rocket was left utterly powerless. Then, to add fuel to the proverbial fire, Koffing began to leak gas, which, when brought into contact with the electricity, created a huge explosion.

‘Oh no.’

Red, Ash, and the others dashed out of the center before they could get hurt, losing Team Rocket in the chaos. Flames licked at their backs as they dove out of the blast range, inches away from being toasted.

When all was said and done, the only remainder of the Pokécenter was a charred husk of stone and concrete. Red looked around. Thankfully, the rain from earlier had cleared up, and he could just barely make out a balloon floating away in the night sky. He had a pretty good feeling it belonged to Team Rocket, but he was more worried about the destroyed Pokécenter than anything else.

‘We burned down a Pokécenter. Holy helix. We burned down an honest-to-Arceus Pokécenter. What am I gonna do? Will I have to go to jail? Pay a fine? I’m not ready to live in debt!’

To make things worse, a police officer pulled up right at that moment, seated on a white motorcycle. Red gulped.

The officer looked up at the wrecked center. “Looks like I’m too late. But not for the fireworks!” she said, taking out a notepad.

A voice cried out, “Thank goodness you’re here!” Red turned to see the nurse walking up to the officer. She stopped in front of her and said, “The criminals seem to have gotten away, and the center…”

The officer wrote something down on her notepad, and said, “Don’t worry about that. We can send a team of construction pokémon over here tomorrow morning. It should be good as new in a couple of days! The most important thing is that everyone’s safe.”

Red paced around as the nurse described what had happened to the officer, his thoughts racing. Ash sat in the ground nearby, Pikachu in his arms, while the redhead leaned against a nearby tree, deep in thought. They were all tired, and anxious to leave, but the officer told them they had to wait while they filed a report.

After ten minutes of talking, they were finally done. Red spoke up, nervously asking, “So… Am I- uh- in trouble?”

The officer looked at him quizzically.

“You know… for blowing up the center?” Red clarified.

She smiled, and said, “No, it’s ok. You were fighting a group of criminals, and the damage was unintentional. We’re not going to hold you accountable. The Rockets, however…” She looked into the distance, concern on her face. “They’ve been getting up to more and more trouble lately. We’ve been on the lookout for them for a while, but we’re on the verge of upgrading them to a higher threat level. There’s some shady stuff going on, and I don’t like it.”

She tapped her notepad with her pencil, and added, “Now that we have the papers filled out, though, you ought to get to bed. It’s been a long day. We’ll hook you and your friends up with some empty rooms in the police station. Sound good?”

Red nodded. As long as he wasn’t rudely awoken again, anywhere was fine. Ash yawned, and said, “I’m beat. Sleeping sounds like a good idea.” His stomach grumbled, and he laughed a little. “So does having dinner, too.”

The redhead took the opportunity to speak up, glaring at Ash. “Don’t think I’m done with you, mister. I’m not gonna stop following you until you pay for my bike!”

Ash looked to the side, nervous.

“But,” she added, “I still need my beauty sleep. I have a hotel room rented, so I’ll be heading over there, if you don’t mind.”

The officer nodded at her, then motioned for Red and Ash to follow her as she walked away. Red was still a little rattled, but slowly calmed down as they wandered the dimly lit city streets. Ash stayed quiet, looking at the Pikachu resting on his shoulder, as if evaluating it in some way.

After about five minutes, they finally reached the station, where the officer led them to two small bedrooms. Red bid Ash goodnight, then lay on a bed, not even bothering to close the door. It didn’t take long for him to finally, at long last, fall asleep.