"..!"

"Oops, sorry mister!" a young boy called out.

Red got to his feet and brushed off his pants, his eyes following the cyclist who had knocked him over. The boy and his bike were halfway across Nugget Bridge by now, and the angry shouts of the shunted trainers on the bridge could be heard in the distance. Red adjusted his cap and continued to the Pokémon Center.

"Thank you! Your Pokémon are fighting fit!" the nurse was saying to Red a few minutes later. "We hope to see you again!"

Red took back his Poké Balls and placed them in his bag. He tipped his hat to the nurse, turned away from the counter, and looked around the lobby of the Pokémon Center. The building was full of people today; groups of friends sitting at tables deep in discussion, excited Trainers huddled together in the corner trading Pokémon, there was even an old man in a top hat to Red's left, standing benignly by the counter.

Red scanned the room one last time, but could not find who he was looking for. Unperturbed, he crossed the lobby to the last free table in the Pokémon Center, and took a seat. The two people at the table directly behind Red continued on with their animated conversation as Red reached into his bag. Moment's later, Red had retrieved a small piece of slightly crumpled paper from the confines of his bag. He unfolded the paper several times and re-read the message written in rushed, slanted handwriting:

"Yo Red,

I need you to meet me in Cerulean City as soon as you can.
Apparently there's something big going down there, and Gramps said I should go check it out.
He also said it would be a good idea to ask you along. Something about having "as many reliable and strong Trainers as possible to investigate this incident."
Personally, I think I'm strong enough for the both of us, but Gramps insisted, so I'll say again: meet me in Cerulean City pronto.

Smell ya later,
Green"

Red folded the letter closed and turned his head to look around the lobby again. As packed as the Pokémon Center was today, there would be no mistaking it if Green were among the people in the crowd. Red leaned back in his chair and tilted his hat over his closed, tired eyes. The logical place to meet up in Cerulean City would certainly be the Pokémon Center, wouldn't it? Yet Green was nowhere to be found. So where else could he be in the city? The bike shop? Somehow, Red doubted this. A bike shop seemed to be beneath Green. He probably wouldn't have bothered visiting such a place, not enough strong Trainers gathered in a shop full of bicycles...

Red opened his eyes. An idea had struck him. What building in any town or city housed the strongest Trainers in the area? A Pokémon Gym of course, and knowing Green, the first place he would have gone to kill time while waiting around for Red would have been to try and squeeze in a rematch or two with the local Gym Leader. What's more, Green could have gone to enlist the Gym Leader's help in whatever task Professor Oak needed the boys to investigate. Knowing Green as Red did, the latter seemed very unlikely, but the former remained quite plausible. It seemed as though the Cerulean Gym would be the next worthwhile place to look for Green...

"WELL THEN LET'S GO!" came a shout from behind Red, followed by the crash of a chair hitting the floor.

Red was startled out of his reverie, and several other people in the vicinity looked round at the source of the commotion. One of the patrons sitting at the table behind Red was standing with his arms over his head, his chair several feet behind him. The young man had clearly just jumped up in exuberance, but when he looked around at everyone staring, he immediately turned a deep shade of scarlet and took the seat directly beside the one he had just sent flying, his shoulders hunched in embarrassment.

The rest of the Pokémon Center occupants shrugged their shoulders and continued on with their business. Red took a breath and shot a backwards glance towards the two people at the table behind him, listening to their conversation.

"...now that you're done making a fool of yourself," said an irritated voice, "Can we just drop it?"

"Why do you want to drop it?" came a second, more sheepish-sounding voice. "If what you're saying is true, then we need to go right now and capitalize on this opportunity!"

"You're still not listening Todd," the first voice said, sounding even more exasperated than before. "Just because things have gotten marginally less tough around there doesn't mean a novice like you will suddenly stand a chance."

The young man named Todd sounded slightly hurt, but less embarrassed and more defiant this time. "I'm a lot better than you give me credit for, Alex. Raticate and I have been through a lot..."

"I'm not doubting your heart," the one named Alex interrupted, but with a bit more compassion in his tone, "but guts alone will not sustain you in that place. It's pure treachery in there!"

"Look," Todd said, and it sounded as though he had regained his composure completely after his embarrassing incident, "Usually that place is off-limits to everyone but the strongest of Trainers, because it's 'too dangerous.' But according to the rumours, it's gotten much less scary in there as of late."

"Just because it's gotten 'less scary' doesn't mean they're going to let everyone who wants a piece of the action inside."

I know that. But..." Todd's voice grew quieter, and Red strained his ears to listen. "What it does mean is that more and more people are going to go to the cave, thinking that they've got what it takes to enter..."

"You mean like you're doing?" said Alex.

"...which means," continued Todd, as though he had not been interrupted, "that it will be a lot easier to sneak past whoever is guarding the entrance, and I can finally get some good quality training in, maybe even catch a few strong Pokémon myself."

Alex heaved a sigh, and when he spoke, his voice sounded understanding. "Look, I know it's difficult to find good training spots around here, but I still think it's just too dangerous in there, no matter how tame people think it's become lately. Maybe we can go to the Power Plant instead..."

Red heard Todd's chair fall backwards a second time. The quiet murmur of people's conversations died down as they again looked to the source of the noise. "Maybe you're too scared to go in there, " Todd said angrily, without a trace of embarrassment in his voice this time, "But that doesn't mean that I am! I'm going, with or without you!"

"Todd, wait!" Alex called, as Todd ran through the lobby and out the Pokémon Center doors. Alex hurried out of his seat in pursuit, and Red got up slowly and followed. The Pokémon Center doors slid open as Red approached them, and as he exited the building Red looked to his right, just in time to see Alex turn the corner and disappear out of sight. Red didn't bother running after them at full speed, for he had a pretty good idea where the two young men were heading, as well as a pretty good idea of where Green was waiting for him.

Red made his way north along Nugget Bridge. A Bug Catcher on the bridge opened his mouth to speak as Red approached, but when the Bug Catcher got a closer look at his would-be opponent, he quickly closed his mouth and looked off into the distance. He remembered the thrashing he had received from this Trainer in the past, and was not eager to relive the experience. The rest of the Trainers on Nugget Bridge seemed to possess similar sentiments, as none of them accosted Red on his way to Route 25.

Once he had cleared the bridge, Red took a hard left and stopped by the water's edge. He reached into his bag and took out a single Poké Ball. Red threw it out towards the open water, where it immediately released the Pokémon within: a large Pokémon with a hardened shell and a long, graceful blue neck. The Poké Ball went sailing back into Red's hands as Lapras swam towards him. Climbing aboard the Transport Pokémon's shell, Red gave Lapras an appreciative stroke on its head as the two of them headed back down south across the water.

After a time, Red could see dry land again. He hopped off Lapras' back as they reached the shore, and returned the Pokémon to its Poké Ball. Red then made his way to the entrance of Cerulean Cave, a place so dangerous that the Pokémon League itself had taken control of the cave in order to protect greenhorn Trainers from the terrors within. Normally, the entrance to the cave was quite deserted, save for the guard who constantly stood watch. Today however, Red had to squeeze his way through a mass of bold and excited Trainers, all vying for a chance to gain admittance into the Unknown Dungeon.

Red negotiated his way through the crowd of people, until he made it to a small clearing directly in front of the cave's entrance. A guard flanked by two Machamp stood blocking the entrance, with several Machoke standing between the crowd of people and the clearing, acting as a barricade of sorts. Many people were shouting for the Machoke to move, or else attempting in vain to push past the Fighting-type Pokémon. Red himself was stopped by one of the Superpower Pokémon, when the guard called out from behind:

"Machoke, let that one through!"

Many angry voices protested to this preferential treatment. As Machoke moved aside to let Red pass, a voice called out "No fair!" Red turned and saw the young boy who had knocked him over earlier, a pronounced grimace on his face. The boy's bike was nowhere in sight, and neither (Red remarked) were Todd, Alex, or Green.

The guard gave a weary smile as Red approached him. "Been like this for days," he said, gesturing towards the mob. "All it takes is for one Trainer to start a rumour about this cave, and then everyone goes crazy." The guard sounded slightly bitter, as though it was Red himself who had started the rumour. When Red neither confirmed or denied this, but merely stood in silence, the guard relented slightly. "To be fair, if I were in their shoes and heard that this cave was suddenly a lot less tough, I'd probably consider taking a crack at it myself. What people fail to realize though is that 'less tough' or not, this place is still highly dangerous." The guard gestured towards the Machamp on either side of him. "That's why the Pokémon League decided to crack down on security. They don't want to take any risks with public safety. If you ask me, they should just close the cave to the public entirely until these rumours die down, but I suppose that would mean that qualified Trainers would miss out, and the League doesn't want to punish them. Not that many of them take advantage of the cave to begin with, mind, but it's the principle of the matter. Although," the guard said, who seemed to be talking more to himself than to Red at this point, "another Hall of Famer such as yourself went into the cave just today!" Red raised his eyebrows slightly. "In fact," the guard continued, "I never saw him come out, so he should still be in the cave now! You two aren't meeting up in there, are you?"

Red didn't answer, but continued to stand in silence. The guard must have taken this as a 'yes,' because after a few moments he and his Machamp stood aside and allowed Red to enter. Red tipped his hat to the guard and walked into the cave. The sounds of the incensed crowd began to fade the deeper Red went into the cave, and soon Red could hear nothing but the sounds of his own echoing footsteps, the dripping of water off stalactites, and the faint cries of Pokémon deep within the cave. Red began to make his way from memory to a place where he'd been before, where he'd experienced one of the toughest battles of his life with a dangerous Pokémon...

With a bag full of Repels, it didn't take Red long to reach the innermost chamber of the cave. He found himself at a staircase and began to ascend, preparing himself for a difficult fight on the platform above. Red made it to the top of the plateau, his first Pokémon already chosen for battle, its Poké Ball clutched tightly in his hand. He was about to send it out for battle when...

"Took you long enough!"

Red froze mid-throw and took a closer look at his opponent. Where he had expected to see an intimidating Pokémon bearing down on him, he instead was met with a tall boy with spiky hair. Green had a smug look on his face and was eyeing Red with a look of intrigue.

"You weren't planning on catching me, were you?" said Green, shrugging and shaking his head. "I'm afraid that even if you did succeed, you wouldn't have the qualifications to command a Pokémon as strong as me anyway!"

Green laughed as Red lowered his Poké Ball. He stood mute until Green's laughter was replaced with a frown.

"Don't you go giving me the silent treatment again," he said, his frown growing more pronounced. "I waited for you in Cerulean City for as long as I could, but as always, you're several steps behind me and were just taking too long! So, I came here early to investigate. I figured, if you were worthy enough to help me out with this in the first place, you'd be able to find me eventually."

Red continued to say nothing. Green gave an audible, dramatic sigh. "Well, whatever. You came to this specific area of Cerulean Cave, which means you're smart enough to know what we're looking for, but as you can see..." Green gestured around the outcropping of rock, which was empty except for himself and Red standing on it, "it is nowhere to be found. Did you happen to battle it on your way here?"

Red shook his head.

"I see," Green said quietly. "I can only conclude then that that Pokémon has left Cerulean Cave, which would explain the rumours of why this cave is suddenly much less challenging to Trainers. The only question is, if it's not taking up residence in this cave, then where is Mewtwo calling home now?"

Red said nothing, and for the first time, Green said nothing in return. Both boys reached into theirs bags silently, lost in their own thoughts and theories, and each pulled out a length of rope. Red and Green activated their Escape Ropes and, after spinning on the spot for several seconds, soon exited the cave. Down on the water-soaked floor where the boys had previously stood, a small crack appeared, its white light illuminating the former nest of the Genetic Pokémon.