"Oh no!" The mysterious Pikachu worried to herself. "She's not here. She's already left Cerulean City. How am I supposed to find her if she can be anywhere at any time?"
"I might be able to help with that."
The sound of another's voice started the Pikachu and she shot a bolt of electricity towards its source.
"Wow, that was a close one for me."
The voice came from behind Pikachu now. She turned around to face her visitor.
"Wait a minute…" A sudden realization came to the Pikachu. "I know you. You're her Abra!"
"Guilty as charged." The Psi Pokémon said, or rather thought, to the Pikachu. "My name's Abraham."
"What are you doing here?"
"Well, as I know you are already aware, I am a Psychic-type with the ability to read the minds of those around me in order to detect danger. Thanks to those abilities, I know what's going on and how important it is to keep Yellow away from 'him'."
"Yellow?" The Pikachu asked questioningly.
"That's what she goes by now. She doesn't remember her real name."
"So why are you here, anyway? You still haven't told me."
"I was getting to that. I know how important it is to prevent 'him' from finding Yellow, so I'm here to offer you a deal. I'll keep you informed of where she goes and what she does. I'll even teleport you so that you can continue to keep a close eye on her yourself. All I ask in return is that you keep 'him' from ever finding her. But that's already what you're trying to do, so it shouldn't be any problem for you."
"This is a trick."
"No, it's not. I genuinely care for the wellbeing of my new trainer and I do not want any harm to come to her."
The Pikachu eyed Abraham from head to toe, trying to find any sign of deception, but to no avail.
"Fine." She said at last. "But I still don't trust you."
"Of course not. Trust is something that must be earned over time." Abraham agreed. "Or if you can read thoughts and know someone's true intent, but I guess you're not quite developed enough for that."
Pikachu tried to hide her shock from that, not that it mattered. "How much do you know?"
"Everything you do."
Charmander, Bulbasaur and Squirtle continued on their way in the seemingly hopeless pursuit of Charmander's trainer, Damian. With no leads to go off of and absolutely no idea where they were going, the group eventually wandered up to a Pokémon Center. Squirtle looked up at the sign on the front of the building and read it aloud.
"Rock Tunnel Pokémon Center, Route 10."
Charmander and Bulbasaur both stared at him in amazement.
"You can read human?" Bulbasaur asked.
"Of course I can! I'm sure Charmander here can read too, right?"
"No." Charmander replied.
"Huh, that's odd. Didn't your trainer ever teach you?"
"No." Charmander looked down in embarrassment.
"Are you implying that you had a trainer that taught you?" Bulbasaur asked, intrigued.
Squirtle took a deep breath and pulled out a locket that was tucked into his shell. He opened the locket and showed his companions the picture inside. It showed a young girl with light blue hair and eyes holding a younger Squirtle. The girl in the photo was wearing the same unusual, pointed sunglasses that Squirtle now wore.
"Her name was Samantha, but to me she was Sam. When she was young, she was become stricken with an illness that left her physically weak and unable to interact much with people her own age. Her parents bought me as an egg from a breeder and gave me to her to be her companion. We were happy together for many years, but the illness returned and she passed away. Sam's parents released me into the wild shortly after with only this locket and these shades to remember her by."
Bulbasaur and Charmander both stared at Squirtle in awe and sadness.
"But rather than let grief and sadness take me over," Squirtle continued. "I chose to continue on for both of us! That's what led me to found the Squirtle Squad and it is why I strive to be the best that I can be!"
Charmander and Bulbasaur weren't sure what to say, but then someone walked out of the Pokémon Center, diverting everyone's attention. It was a blue-haired boy that appeared to be in his mid-teens wearing a pink shirt and brown vest.
"Damian!" Charmander yelled excitedly.
Charmander's trainer looked down on him and smirked.
"You remind me of my old Charmander. The gullible idiot's probably still waiting for me to come back to get him, even though I've already replaced him with a whole team of stronger Pokémon." Damian said before starting to walk off.
Charmander felt the whole world melt around him into an endless void of nothing as he heard Damian's words. His trainer had abandoned him. His worst nightmare had come to pass. Charmander was quickly snapped out of his depression and back into the reality around him as Squirtle suddenly hit Damian with a Water Gun.
"Aagh! What was that for?" Damian asked in shock. "You know what, never mind. I'm leaving."
The trainer lifted up a Pokéball, from which a mighty Braviary sprung forth. Damian climbed onto Valiant Pokémon's back and Braviary flew off.
"Well." Bulbasaur said blankly. "Now what?"
Daisy walked into the Pokémon Center and looked around. She quickly found the person she was waiting for and walked up to a woman wearing a delivery service uniform.
Hello, I'm Teala from Mystery Gift Deliveries." The woman introduced herself. "Can I help you with something?"
"Hi, I'm Daisy Oak. You should have a package for me."
"Oh, yes. It's right here." The woman pulled a sealed envelope from her bag and handed it to Daisy.
"Thank you." Daisy said as she walked away.
Teala continued to wait around in the Pokémon Center for a while, before Gary walked in and approached her.
"You have a package for me." Gary said.
"Do I. What's your name, sir." She asked in response.
"Gary Oak."
The woman reached into her bag and pulled out another envelope, this one much thicker than the one she gave Daisy.
"Here you go, sir."
Gary pulled the envelope from her hand and walked off. "Smell you later!" He said as he gave a sort of half wave back to Teala.
"Interesting." Teala said to herself. "Two Oak's getting similar packages from the same person, who's also an Oak. I wonder what that's about. Oh, well. That was my last delivery here for the day."
"It's about time you got here." Lt. Surge said as Ash, Carmine and Brock reached the Vermilion Gym. "The S.S. Anne is going to set off in just a few hours. Do you still want four tickets?"
"No." Ash sighed. "We only need three now."
Lt. Surge handed three of the tickets he had to Ash, who took them and was about to leave when suddenly a voice came yelling from over the distance.
"Wait!" A girl was cycling towards the Gym at top speed and made an abrupt stop as she reached them. She was wearing a light blue jacket and denim shorts over a white shirt that, upon further inspection, was actually part of a swimsuit; as well as a blue, triangle-shaped backpack with a single strap that went over one shoulder and under the other. The others almost didn't recognize her at first until she took off her bike helmet to reveal her familiar orange hair.
"Misty!" Ash said excitedly. "What are you doing here?"
"To be able to go on a cruise on the S.S. Anne is like a once-in-lifetime opportunity." Misty answered. "There's no way I'm missing this."
"But what about the Gym?" Brock asked.
"I already took care of that. Now, are we going or not?"
"What's with the new outfit? It looks like you're planning on a longer trip than just the S.S. Anne." It was Carmine's turn to ask Misty something.
"I was on what was just supposed to be a weekend fishing trip when we met before, but stuff came up and I missed my ride back home. Since this isn't a fishing trip, I didn't feel like just wearing my old fishing clothes."
"It's good to have you back." Ash said.
"It's good to be back."