When it began we became more focused with killing the Pokémon than we were with trying to save them. We made cars, guns, fortified buildings, we became obsessed with money, and people became animals. Now we are trying to regain humanity as we are losing the war. We kill rather than save, and then we save rather than kill. Oh how fickle is man's resolve in matters of pride.
From the journals of Professor Oak.
Ash awoke in the small Viridian city hotel rushing outside to be ready for the time when Chris had promised they would leave, setting off for Cerulean city to save one of the last pockets of humanity left in the Kanto region, which included his good friend Misty. He went outside and saw Chris working on his car. The car was an older looking car but despite that it had spiked steel bumpers in the front and back, on the front end was a painted on Pikachu skull symbol, and on the side a picture depicting a busty beauty with cutesy smile, holding a gun over a bloodied caterpie with the words "Bug off" written in red above it. Suddenly Ash felt significantly less sure that he had picked the right guy.
Ash nervously approached Malone sweat now dripping from his brow. Ash had after all heard stories of Malone's violence towards Pokémon lovers (PokePets was the derogatory slang term the Hunters were using now a days). One particular story goes like this. This happened a little while after the fall of Celadon City so the PokePets were suddenly coming out of the closet significantly more often than before as they now had something with which to ridicule the Hunters with. So Christopher Malone was in a Poke Bar in Vermillion city and for once he was actually ordering alcoholic beverages! This would have immediately tipped off any Hunter who had heard of Malone (like all of them) that he wasn't exactly in jolly mood and would have left him undisturbed.
Several PokePets came into the bar and shuffled over to Malone's seat. The first one that spoke up was a scrawny looking middle-aged man with glasses, the stories differ as to what was said and the first words range from "How many have you killed motherfucker" to "give peace a chance" but the stories all say the same thing about the words that come next. A teenaged PokePet spoke next, "don't waste your breath Ted (occasionally his name is Tim but I digress) it's not like a stupid brute with a gun can understand felling". In case you couldn't tell these were the last "words" spoken in this conversation. Malone then grabbed the middle-aged glasses man by his tie and yanked his face forward almost touching his own, looked him in the eye, let go of the tie, and punched him in the nose. Blood rushed forth from the man's wounded (and squished) nose causing both the teen and the other one (no description) quite a fright. For the few seconds that they were still conscious as within seconds Malone had attacked them in a similar matter and knocked them well into next Monday.
Ash approached Malone now with a serious sense of caution. Ash had at first wanted to believe that the stories were exaggerated but now he wasn't so sure. Malone seemed to see him coming and waved him over to the car. Ash nervously complied, he saw that Brock was already here looking over what seemed to be the Malone armory in the trunk of the car. An assortment of pistols (poppers), revolvers (Big Poppers), machine guns (Straightshooters), shotguns (Boomsticks), shock sticks (Tazers) and more were assorted in the trunk. Malone was also carrying a pair of sub-machine guns (Subs) and Pistols at his side, not to mention two big sharp Machetes (machetes) at his side as well. The man looked as if he could take an army on in a one vs. a million and still win by a landslide.
Malone approached Ash the rest of the way (seeing the obvious fear in his eyes it was the only way that he would come within 20 meters). Malone greeted Ash with a simple "Morning" and Ash responded similarly. "Alrighty then princess (points to Ash) and Jock (points to Brock) if we are going to rescue Cerulean then we do things my way, any questions and I whop your ass". Rather than taking the friendly "we can do this" approach Malone had opted that they begin with a more Commander in Chief and his swabbies kind of relationship. "First of all we are going the long way around…" Ash immediately violated rule numero uno with a "but the longer we take to get there the more chance the water Pokémon have to attack". Ash's bitching was brought to a swift and most likely uncomfortable end (at least on his end anyway) with a swift punch to the stomach. "Now then as I was saying, you can't take on an entire army with one Hunter, a princess, and a Jock, you need several competent individuals which is the reason for the detour" Ash grumbled, one because he'd been punched in the stomach but also because the name princess probably didn't sit well with whatever shred of manhood he had left. "In Vermillion, and Cinnabar I have some friends who owe favors so we'll need to stop by them". Brock nodded his head, obviously out of a crippling fear of being punched in the stomach, and Malone decided to go into further depth about his plans. "We first go south through Pallet town and from there we catch a boat and head to Cinnabar island, we grab my buddy TK and from there head up to Vermillion, pick up my buddy Steve, and from there we land at the abandoned dock near Celadon and cut through the forest paths" Ash, still trying to assert himself into the monologue, asked "wouldn't it be easier to cut through Saffron?" "NO" Malone quickly responded, "we go through the forest paths outside of Celadon and head from there up to Cerulean where we defend it from the coming horde from the ocean line". (For those PokePets out there who are asking what happened to the Rock Tunnel and Power Plant… Guess).
Malone loaded up his two deadweight companions into the car and cranked Highway to Hell to max on the radio and began his journey. After Pewter, Celadon, Saffron, and Lavender Malone was excited with the prospect of possibly having a bloody victory in this goddamn war. Of course there was still the Kanto government to worry about (that's the reason people haven't been evacuated) but Malone wasn't worried as frankly the option of shooting them was always readily available. He clutched the locket around his neck and breathed deeply before donning his sunglasses, revving the engine, and heading off onto the road to what was (hopefully) going to be the greatest victory that he could hope to achieve in his lifetime.
PS. I promise this is the last intro chapter and we'll get to the story next time.