Flinky: Guess what? I'M BACK BITCHES!

Red: You literally haven't updated in a month and a half.

Flinky: I'm in high school second semester. I've just had a lot of homework, diseases (3), and events stopping me from writing. But here it is.

Red: Any particular reason you updated at 9:00 in your time?

Flinky: Not really. Now let's get back to it.

Flinky: Side note, and I didn't plan this, it's been exactly one year since I released the first chapter.

Red's Pokémon (On Hand):

Ignite (Charizard)
Moves: Flamethrower, Wing Attack, Blast Burn, Dig

Omni (Mew)
Moves: Every one but Judgement

Storm (Pidgeot)
Moves: Hurricane, Wing Attack, Steel Wing, Quick Attack

Azure (Lapras)
Moves: Ice Beam, Perish Song, Surf, Sing

Rift (Lucario)
Moves: Aura Beam, Thunder Punch, Close Combat, Dragon Pulse

Shadow (Zoroark)
Moves: Night Daze, Night Slash, Fury Swipes, Foul Play

Giovanni's POV

"Sir, I regret to inform you that Hoenn, Kalos, and Unova have completely fallen to rebels."

"Entirely!"

"Well, it wasn't only… them… There was also the influence of Team Aqua, Team Flare, and Team Plasma, respectively."

"Hmm… I never thought I would stoop so low. Get me a call to Ghetsis and Greevil. We may be able to form an agreement."

"Yes sir. I will send word out."

"Any other news?"

"Yes, and rather unfortunately. Due to excessive time outside of the brainwash chamber, Yellow has… recovered. She escaped with the assistance of Fire Red."

Giovanni punched the wall.

"WE LOST HER!"

"Not all is bad though. Poke Underground's Leaf has been captured by Red."

Giovanni's expression shifted from anger to a menacing smile.

"Where is she held?"

"She is being rehabilitated in Indigo."

"That may have just saved us. Dismissed."

Giovanni began thinking of ways to use Leaf.

Once she was outside Giovanni's office, the secretary whispered something in her earpiece.

"He bought it."

Red's POV

I sent out a round of texts to the rest of my team. I didn't get any immediate responses, but I didn't really expect any.

"So, what do we do now?" Yellow asked.

"We find them."

"In all of Kanto? How would we know where everyone is?"

"Gut feelings, I guess. It's about knowing my friends."

"Well, where would they be?"

"Blue… I'm guessing Lavender."

"How come?"

"He has a Raticate in the tower. I have a feeling he would want to talk to him before we go any further."

"How are we going to get there?"

"Go, Omni and Storm!"

They both immediately understood what I wanted. Omni transformed into another Pidgeot.

"Well, let's go."

Yellow got on Omni while I rode Storm. We made a direct line to Lavender.

"Are you sure he'll be here?" Yellow asked.

"Was the last chapter a pile of shit? Of course."

It hasn't changed much from when we were last here. People looked a bit more cheery than normal, which is actually really strange, seeing as how more people have come to the city for the purpose of visiting the tower.

I scanned the area and didn't see him. I haven't checked the tower though. Might as well stop by to see someone though.

"Okay, Yellow, you keep looking around out here. I'm going to go ask someone if they've seen Blue."

"Alright."

I walked around the city until I saw what I was looking for.

"Hey grandpa," I said, entering Dr. Fuji's house.

"Ah, Red, what are you doing here?"

"Looking for some friends. You know Blue, right?"

"Which one? Your friend or the one that used to run this place?"

I forgot the original Blue was a Rocket loyalist.

"My friend. Have you seen him around?"

"Yes, actually. He was going up to Pokemon Tower."

"Alright, thanks."

I entered the tower and looked around for him, until finding him on the second floor.

"Blue, is that you?"

"FUCK OFF!"

Oh shit.

"Any particular reason?"

"YOU'VE USED ME THIS ENTIRE TIME!"

"How so?"

"I COULD HAVE BEEN SO MUCH HAPPIER… AND BECAUSE OF YOU, MY LIFE IS SCREWED UP!"

I walked up to him and looked him in the eyes. The slapped him across the face.

"That's not the real you. You know that too. What happened to the smart-alec who would always try to outdo me?

"You've set my life down a collision course… and I'm going to die because of it. There's no plan, and even someone like me couldn't get out of it… AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!"

He didn't mean any part of that sarcastically. Reminds me of when we first set out… I think I get the idea.

"Blue, remember the day I recruited you?"

"Yea… You ruined my life that day…"

"Uh-huh, and the first thing you did was challenge me to a battle. And you lost. So you would get better. And try again. And lose again. And through that we somehow started hating each other less."

I could see something flash in his eyes.

"Oh! Remember when we went to legendary court, and broke into hell, and broke out of it? That was a lot of fun. Minus the whole 'one of my Pokemon died' thing. We got past fucking Giratina!"

He started to laugh a little. "Yea… We became more like friends after that…"

"We're on the same team. So let's go."

"Yea!"

As we were walking out, Blue winced a little.

"I was a jackass just then, wasn't I?"

"Yep. Your personality almost reverted to when I first found you. What happened when Red came?"

"I don't really remember. All I know is that he sent out an Espeon."

"Well, that would make sense. Oh, by the way, before you freak out, we have a new team member."

"Who?"

"Yellow."

"You mean… the one in Team Rocket?"

"Her brainwashing wore off, I think. She's safe though."

"Well… okay then."

I properly introduced Yellow to Blue. I don't think he trusted her yet, but in all fairness, she's been trying to kill us for the past couple weeks.

We started to think about where Michael would be.

"He's definitely in some tech place," Blue said.

"Well, that means Celadon or Saffron," Yellow reasoned.

"I'd say Saffron," I said.

With no other leads, we set off for Saffron.

"Five hundred Poke says he's in Silph Co." I said.

"Not gonna take it. I've already lost enough from these bets."

We touched down on the top of the tower. I can't really remember what we did here, but I know it didn't look this clean. There was a helipad and an entrance to the building.

"Well, let's look," I said.

"But aren't there employees here now?" Yellow asked, nervously.

"So what?" I responded. "Will anyone really stop us?"

She didn't say anything.

"Exactly."

We entered and looked for Michael. We couldn't see him at first.

"Michael, you here?" I asked.

"Red, wouldn't he be like he was before joining the resistance?" Blue asked. That's right, I forgot.

We went back up to the top and had to look in every cubicle. When we didn't find him, we checked the next row. Still no one.

"Come on Michael, where are you?" I said, to myself.

"We're not certain he's here," Yellow reminded us.

"He's here," Blue said. "Take a look."

Blue was in another, smaller room with what looked like spare parts and boxes in the center.

"Back here."

Blue was behind the pile. We came over and saw a staircase. Going down led to a much darker room with a monitor in the front and a huge chamber to the right… with a Shadow Moltres and a normal Manectric, Breloom, and Dodrio. They all had a purple energy beam connecting them all.

"Those are definitely his Pokemon," I said. "But what's he doing?"

"See… I knew you wouldn't like it…"

The voice was very quiet. We turned around and saw Michael.

"There you are," Yellow said. "We've been looking for you."

"Please don't take me…"

I shot a Aura Beam a few feet away from his feet. He jumped out of the way immediately.

"You guys don't even like me anymore…"

"Well, we gotta get you warmed up before we start," I said, to everyone's confusion.

"Start what?" Michael asked.

I looked at the makeshift lab. There was one side with few notes pinned up. I grabbed Michael, blew a hole in the wall, and jumped out into the city. It was about a 10 story fall.

"What are you doing!" Michael yelled. That's good. He's getting his normal voice back.

"I'm fixing you up!"

We continued to fall until Michael sent out his Espeon to slow him down. I just used aura to absorb the shock.

"How was that?" I asked.

"We could have gotten killed… and I can't believe I forgot about that part of our job! It rocks!"

Michael's back, now slightly less geeky.

We had to take the stairs up Silph Co. to reach the others.

"So, what was that thing you were building?" I asked, still curious.

"I finished up something that Professor Krane started. It's called the purification chamber."

"And I'm guessing it purifies Shadow Pokemon?"

"Exactly, but it's main strength is dealing with shadow legendaries. I'm not going to go into the details-"

"How many times have you said that? I remember explaining PASS and how your Snag Machine works. Did you say it somewhere else?"

"...I don't think so. Anyways, legendary Pokemon can't be purified normally. The amount of corruption in them is too high for battles or cologne to fix, so Krane worked on the purification chamber, which I finished not too long ago."

"So, I guess your personality shift wasn't too bad."

"Huh?"

"Right, I didn't tell you. Other Red sent out an Espeon right? Apparently, it made you and Blue go back to the personality you had when we first joined."

"That would make sense… Then thanks for that."

"No problem. All we have to do now is find Leaf."

"Any idea where she would be?"

"Sorta. I'll talk about it when we reach the others."

"Yea, about that, what's Yellow doing here?"

"She's a part of our team now. Her brainwashing wore off."

"How do you know?"

"Well, when I escaped the Rocket complex… You know what? It's a long story. Just assume that she helped me out… sorta."

"Thanks for the not-so-vague explanation."

"I know… What floor was the lab on again?"

"It's on the 9th floor, but the entrance is on the 10th."

"Alright."

We met up with the others. Yellow was using her powers to clear out the debris that my explosion made, while Blue was examining Michael's chamber.

"Hey guys. Ready to go?" I asked.

"Yea. Out of curiosity, how often do you blow holes in the sides of buildings?" Yellow asked.

"Umm… Usually we don't 'blow' holes in buildings. I've blown up a lot of ships, and had my Pokemon melt through several steel walls, but almost never exploding buildings," I answered.

"That sounds about right," Michael verified.

Michael returned his Pokemon from the shadow chamber and pressed a button on it. it shrunk down to about the size of a soccer ball.

"Remember? We're in Japan," Omni reminded me. "It's a football."

"Are we seriously having this debate? By that logic, we should all be speaking Japanese."

"Don't we already?" Blue asked.

"Wait, I've been speaking English this entire time," Michael said. "I've never learned another language."

"I give up," Yellow said. "When you shift to a topic I can understand, please tell me."

She left the room, leaving us to our argument about language.

"So, the story is in English, so doesn't that mean we're speaking English?" Michael reasoned.

"Not necessarily. A story doesn't need to be written in the same language as the characters speak," Blue said.

"Does it matter? We understand each other, and language between humans isn't an issue nor a major plot point. At best it's just a fourth wall break opportunity."

"Okay Red, you need to stop. You've not only shattered the fourth wall, but everything beyond it."

"I guess you're right."

We picked up Yellow and started planning where to find Leaf.

By planning, I mean writing down a couple ideas because no one doubts me here.

"Okay, so my money is either on Celadon or Pallet," I said.

"I can understand Celadon, but why Pallet?" Yellow asked.

"Leaf and I were very similar at the start of our journey, and we were completely egotistical. Now we're only partially so. Anyways, it sounds like something I would do to start attacking Pallet."

"I guess that makes sense… where should we go first?" Michael asked.

"Let's fly by Pallet. If she's there, she'll be raising hell."

We flew off for Pallet. Sure enough, there was gunfire, explosions, and helicopters.

"That's her," I said.

"Well, go do whatever to fix Leaf, but I say we keep her momentum going," Blue suggested.

"Of course."

I looked down on Pallet. Now that I've seen so many other places, it seems really grey and dark. I know they put a lot more security here than most other cities, but it doesn't change how weird it feels to be back.

I followed the explosions and trail of ice to see Leaf on top of… she had to have planned this. She's on top of her old house.

"Come and get me bastards!" She yelled.

"What about this bastard?" I yelled, aura jumping to her.

"About time you came."

I immediately kissed her, for two reasons. First, that's how her normal self would come back. Second, it's great PR.

"Well, where are the others?" Leaf asked.

A Moltres' Hurricane blew most of the grunts surrounding us away.

"That's Michael."

A high pressure stream of water blew past, disabling a helicopter's rotors.

"That's Blue."

A bolt of electricity shocked all of the grunts who were already wet from Bue's attack.

"And that's Yellow."

"Yellow's on our side now?"

"Yea, now let's fight. Go, Ignite!"

My Charizard came out alongside Leaf's Articuno.

I jumped onto Ignite and looked around for any grunts to take out or a tower to destroy.

The city was a simple grid with Rocket facilities in the center, so it isn't that hard to locate the tower, but for kicks, I stopped by my old school.

"Hey guys," I said, breaking into my old classroom. They were in lockdown position, which makes sense.

My former classmates were terrified of me.

"Yea, that's fair. Well, I have to go kick Team Rocket out. Oh, one more thing."

I took the Team Rocket flag and destroyed it with aura.

"Been wanting to do that since my first day."

I left the classroom leaving behind a group of confused high school students.

Once I left the campus, I walked to the tower. Outside was a man that looked a lot like me, leaning on the doorway.

"We all know how this will go down," he said. "You'll get up to the top floor, and fight the executive."

"You guys really are bad at stopping that part," I said.

"Honestly, it pisses me off too. Our grunts are shit. We're not here for small talk though. How many Pokémon do you want to use?"

"Usually you just attack me, and I keep fighting until your entire team is down."

"Yea, well I have six on me, and you do too. We could also fist-fight. It's not as unbalanced as you think."

A black fire appeared in his palm.

"I give. What is that?"

"Shadow aura. Basically, it's aura that serves a master with impure intentions."

"Out of curiosity, did they change how the brainwashing works? You're acknowledging the faults in Team Rocket, and have literally said you're evil."

"Yea, I've been under so long my mind has given up on making it seem moral."

"Well, at least this form of you is more talkable."

"If we were on the same side, I would guess we could be friends."

"Well, that parts on you. So, how does one on one sound?" I suggested.

"Charizard on Charizard. It'll be a pretty fun showdown, if anything."

"So you agree?"

"Sure. What stakes? For once, there is a possibility of you losing."

"Simple. You knock out our strongest fighter. If I win, we knock out your strongest fighter."

"Fine. Go, Charizard!"

"Go, Ignite!"

Our Charizards stared through each other. Last time Ignite faced this Charizard, we were knocked out and Leaf was brainwashed.

Michael ran up just in time.

"You guys gotta tell me when you're fighting."

"He may ref," Red said.

"This is a one on one battle between Fire and Red. Battle, begin!"

"WIng Attack!" I ordered.

"Fly," Red said.

Wing Attack missed while Red's Charizard is now waiting to strike.

"Okay then," I said. "Dig!"

Now Ignite was underground causing Red's Charizard to miss.

"Come up with Flamethrower!"

"Send it back with Heat Wave!"

Ignite popped up only to be blasted back down to earth. Not gonna lie, Red's Charizard is strong.

"Okay Ignite, Wing Attack again!"

"Counter with Slash!" he ordered.

Slash overpowered Wing Attack. Why… it was a fucking critical hit. FUUUUUUCK!

"Okay Charizard, finish him off with Blast Burn," Red ordered.

"Counter with your own Blast Burn," I commanded.

The two attacks met, but Ignite was already exhausted from the beating he took earlier.

Ignite's attack lost, and he was hit with a full force Blast Burn, knocking him out.

Well, I'm fucked.

"Ignite is unable to continue, making Red the victor."

"Good," Red said, interrupting Michael. "Now, Blast Burn on those two."

Talk about Deja Vu.

Leaf's POV

When I saw one Blast Burn, I was worried. When I saw two, I took my cue to fly over.

"What's going on…"

I saw Michael and Fire unconscious while Red was feeling on their belts.

"Articuno, Ice Beam!" I yelled.

He looked at me. "Huh," he said, casually.

He took one Pokeball of Red's belt and disappeared. Literally. There was a cloud of black and he was gone.

"RED! MICHAEL!"

I flew down and examined them. After taking off their shirts (platonically) I noticed burn marks on their bodies. Red looked a lot worse than Michael though.

I took out some Rawst Berries from my bag. If I remember, you have to squeeze the juice over the wounds.

They both grunted when the juice hit, which probably means it's working.

"Hold on you guys…"

Michael's burn was on his side, so I wrapped the bandage around his body.

Red was really fucked up. There were were marks on his chest, right leg, and left arm. The marks stopped at his hand though, really abruptly.

After wrapping up his various body parts, I called Blue to tell him what happened.

"Red and Michael are unconscious with severe burns. Michael can probably walk it off but Red is in deep trouble."

"So, what are we going to do then? Should we call off the attack or…"

"I don't know. Red is kinda important to winning these things, and Michael does have Moltres," I said.

"Yea, but half the grunts are down. If we had just one extra person then we could take Red and Michael… We forgot about Yellow, didn't we?"

"Yep," I said, the realization dawning on me. "Do you have her number?"

"Nope. You?"

"No dice."

An explosion was heard a couple miles north.

"That's probably her," I said. "Can you get her? I have to protect these guys."

"Okay," Blue agreed.

I ended the call and looked at my two friends.

"Come on Red, be okay…"

It's not like I don't care about Michael, but Red is my boyfriend.

Just then, a flash appeared. Red's Lucario came out. I believe his name was… Rift?

"I heard you say something about Red. What's the matter… oh."

"Yea. He took a Blast Burn to the face."

Rift just laughed. "That seems like something he would do."

A fairly large military-looking car drove over to us.

"Red seems to like you a lot. Would you consider commanding me for this battle?"

"I guess… Moves?"

"I know Thunder Punch, Dragon Pulse, Close Combat, and Aura Beam. Honestly though, Red only has me use the last two."

"Got it. Use Aura Beam on the car!"

He shot a large red beam of aura which went straight through the car. Four of the grunts in it jumped out, all of whom had machine guns.

"Dragon Pulse! Try to hit it in the center of them!"

Rift fired the attack. The explosion range was enough to knock the grunts down.

"Nice work."

I let Rift deal with the grunts on his own while I examined the two again.

A Golbat flew over and Yellow dropped down.

"What's going on?"

"Fire Red and Blue are unconscious. They were hit by a Blast Burn."

"Dang… Alright, I'll do some basic treatments, but we need to get them out of here."

Blue was distracting the grunts while I defended Yellow.

"Okay. Can you fly them out?" Yellow asked.

"Yea. Pallet hospital isn't too far from here."

"Okay then. Tell me when you're there."

"Will do."

I sent out Ditto and Articuno.

"Alright guys, we're almost home."

Fire Red's POV

"So, is this a nightmare or a dream message?" I asked to whatever force has invaded my mind. I can tell I'm in a dream because there is literally nothing around.

"Oh, this is more than a nightmare…"

That voice sounds familiar, but I can't put my finger on it.

"Darkrai?" I asked.

"Oh no, I am far-"

"Lake trio?"

"What? No-"

"Hmm… Give me a hint here. Are you Psychic, Dark, or some other type?"

"I am the Psychic-"

"I don't think I've pissed off any psychic types… Wait, is Palkia a Psychic?"

"No Palkia is not a Psychic type-"

"Good. That guy hates me. Anyways… Deoxys? I don't think you've shown up in the story though."

"I AM FUCKING OMNI!"

"Wait, what?"

"Remember that precious Mew you had? She's dead now, and I live."

"Yea, I call bullshit."

"You were unconscious in front of Red. What do you think he would do?"

That's true… SHIT.

"I can see by the look on your face that you understand."

"Listen up, cause I'm only going to say this once:"

"Let me guess. You're going to rain hell-"

"I am going to save the shit out of you. Then I'm going to fucking free Red. And you can't stop me."

"...Well… I guess we'll see."

The dream ended and I woke up with more bandage on my body then I would like. I was on a hospital bed. There was one other bed, where Michael was.

"Anyone there?"

"Red, are you awake?"

I turned and saw Leaf near one of the benches.

"No, my body has randomly spasmed and made that exact noise with my mouth."

She hugged me.

"Glad to see your back. We took Pallet while you and Michael were napping."

"Nice. Who was the executive?"

"Some Ash kid. He was given the position not too long ago. He was a pushover."

"Nice."

"By the way, on a more serious note, the other Red took-"

"He stole Omni. "

"Oh…"

"So we're going to beat the crap out of them. And then save them. Because that's how we do things."

"Glad to see you're feeling better."

I got up off the bed. That was a horrible decision.

"Arceus… Where was I hit?"

"If I can remember, your chest, one leg, and one arm have third degree burns. It's actually surprising that you woke up before Michael."

"Huh… let me try something."

I pulsed aura into my leg, which was hurting more than anything else.

"Bad idea bad idea bad idea…"

It hurt like hell. But it was getting better.

After five-ish minutes of utter pain, I was about healed.

"Why is it that Pokemon get to just be put in a machine, but people have to go through weeks of recovery. I mean, wouldn't it have made more sense to have created something for humans? Why was Pokemon the priority here?"

"Honestly, I don't know."

"I do," Michael said from his bed. "Pokemon battles are the main way people fight. It wasn't until people like Team Rocket came before the focus shifted on attacking the trainer."

"So, Michael's back," Leaf said.

"Does that mean we can come in?" I heard Blue ask from the other side.

"Sure," Leaf responded.

Yellow and Blue entered our room.

"So, whole gang's here," I said.

"Sounds about right," Blue confirmed.

"What's next?" Michael asked. "Team Rocket really only controls Viridian, Indigo, and Mt. Silver."

"We're going to go to Viridian," I said.

"Really?" Yellow asked. "It's extremely guarded. It's probably worse than Indigo."

"Usually, yes, but our Hoenn and Sinnoh teams have finished up. We also have good ties with the Unovan Strike Team, so we have a lot more numbers now."

"In that case, I think we can take it," Michael said.

The nurse walked into my room.

"Mr. Ketchum?"

"That's me," I said.

"There is a woman who would like to see you. She claims she's your mom and wished to speak with you privately."

Not that big of a surprise.

"Tell her I'll come by her house in a couple minutes."

"Okay."

The nurse left.

"Well, I have some family matters to sort out," I said. "I would imagine Blue has to do the same. I'll meet you guys by the Pokemon Center."

I opened the window and jumped out before the others could say anything.

It kinda ruins the effect when you're on a second story window.

"Welp, time to go home."

Flinky: Alright guys. Next chapter will be preparing for the team taking Viridian, then it's an epic showdown finally. I'll try to update quicker next time.