The stone orb. Lurking inside it is the horrible imbued spirit of the king of Pokelantis. He had trapped his own spirit inside the orb in his failure for not imprisoning Ho-oh. Fast forward 100 years later, the boy named Ash Ketchum found the stone orb and released whatever was in it, thinking that Ho-oh must've been the one sealed inside it. The king, thinking that he could use Ash's body and rule the world, would've been successful. If only Brandon, the Pyramid King, and Ash's companions had not tried getting Ash back to control himself again. And so, the king lurks inside the orb, waiting for someone to release him again.
Brandon, who feared that someone might try and pry their hands on the stone orb, gave it to Morty, the Ecruteak gym leader and a guardian keeper. Morty has kept it under watchful eye over the years, or so he thought he did. What he was merely looking after was the stone orb itself, but never thought that the spirit inside it had escape. The king has merely wanted nothing more than revenge. And he started it off by searching for the boy who he possessed. He has already, in his evil mind, concocted a plan so sinister.
Ash continues his journey to Sunnyshore City, together with companions Dawn and Brock, in hopes of getting his final badge in order to get into the Sinnoh League. "Man, I'm so pumped up for this!" Ash said confidently. Brock didn't look too pleased with Ash's attitude. He said to Ash, "Now Ash, let's not get too over-confident here. Remember what Brandon said to you about that." Dawn, who had no entire clue what the two were talking about, asked, "What did Brandon say to Ash about being over-confident?" Ash fell silent as he remembered the horror he had gone through during that moment with Brandon. He was in Kanto that time, travelling with Brock, May and Max. The rest then on what happened is history. We all know the story on what happened. "Did I say something wrong?" Dawn asked. "No! Everything's fine!" Ash immediately said, to reassure her.
"It seems like the loser is keeping something about Brandon." Paul was secretly spying on Ash and co. Reggie, his brother, had lost to Brandon before. Then the same thing happened to him too. He wanted to battle Ash again just so he can prove that he is stronger and that he has more than a reason why he should've won that battle against Brandon. He saw that Ash, Dawn and Brock started walking again, so he followed discreetly.