It was a pleasant day in Saffron City, where the tall buildings suggest a hectic lifestyle. Despite the bustling city atmosphere, the people of Saffron City are still unfailingly kind.
Red and his rival Blue are in front of the Silph Co building, the tallest structure in the whole city. Although the memories of their encounters with Team Rocket still hang with a bitter aftertaste, Red and Blue are still willing to enter the building as a favor to a fellow champion.
Champion Leon of the Galar region has come to Kanto on official League duties. As discussed in the meeting, Leon will conduct visits as part of ongoing research to help the League reevaluate proper Pokemon care policies. One of the areas of concern are how Pokemon are affected by different types of Pokeballs. While preliminary data has suggested that each Pokeball offers the maximum level of comfort for every Pokemon, the fact that different types of Pokeball has varied catch rates affected sometimes by external factors seem to suggest otherwise. The Master Ball is one of the rarest types with a catch rate that offers a guaranteed catch to any Pokemon, even Legendary and Mythical ones. In order to get the necessary data, they need to talk to the President of Silph Co for access.
The League is cooperating with various organizations and the regional professors for their research. Most of the regional champions have volunteered to partake in the research, seeing it as a chance to help in any way that they can to ensure proper Pokemon care policies are implemented.
"What's taking him so long? It's been an hour already." Blue muttered as he taps his foot impatiently. Meanwhile, Red spared him a confused glance after feeding his Pikachu a berry.
They were already briefed by Lance to act as Leon's official guides during his visit to Kanto, as Lance already took the task of being his guide in Johto. They were also advised that Leon has the inconvenient quirk of his terrible sense of direction.
Blue sighs exasperatedly. "I know that Leon is horrible with directions. But, I didn't expect it to be this bad." Red looks impassively but Blue could tell that Red is starting to get impatient as well.
But before the thought of giving up crosses their minds, Leon had already arrived. Blue let out a sigh of relief while Red looks up to Leon smiling sheepishly.
"Sorry to keep you waiting lads. Hope I didn't keep you."
Blue just looks unimpressed. "What took you so long? Saffron isn't even as big as Castelia anyway."
If anything, Leon's looks even more apologetic. "Funny story, really. I plan to come straight here but then, I didn't know which way it is to the Silph Co building."
Blue and Red looked at each other in confusion. How in Arceus was this man unable to locate the tallest building that's smack dab in the middle of the city? "Whatever. How'd you manage to finally find you way here?" Blue asks curiously while massaging his temples. Seems like the task of guiding Leon would need a lot of patience.
"I stumbled upon the gym instead. Didn't plan to battle Sabrina, but she looked plenty strong. So I thought 'why not?'" Leon smiled triumphantly. "She said something about foreseeing my arrival. And right after our battle, I was about to ask her when directions when she gave them to me. Psychics are a helpful lot. Told me to go north then east."
Blue and Red looked even more confused because those are the exact opposite directions from the gym. Then again, Sabrina might have known by reading Leon's mind or predicting a very possible future that he'll get lost again. So giving the exact opposite coordinates would help the hopelessly lost Leon from getting to his destination.
Blue then sighs exasperatedly. "Whatever. Let's just get to business and meet the Silph Co president for those files we need."
As soon as they entered the building, they were met with a crew of workers, Machamp and Conkeldurr. Seems like their visit coincided with the building's ongoing renovations. They immediately went to the receptionist and Blue talked to her to confirm their appointment with the president. As soon as the short conversation was done, Blue had led them to a set of stairs, which confuses Leon. "Shouldn't we take the lift?"
"Well, some are closed for maintenance. She said to just take the stairs." But as soon as they reached the second floor, the familiar site of teleporter panels dotting the floor greeted them. "You have got to be kidding me." Blue sighs in disbelief as a nearby employee explains that the ongoing renovations has rendered some access points unusable. They had no choice but to use the teleporter panels as means to travel within the building.
Fortunately, the employee explained that they simply used the old layout from when Team Rocket took over years ago. Blue looks at Red. "Still remember how to get there?" Red nods in affirmation. Blue then pats his shoulder. "Good. Then lead the way."
Blue then looks at Leon. "You better follow us so you don't get lost. And brace yourself. My gym uses these panels so a lot of challengers get dizzy once they got to me."
After about half an hour, Red and Blue finally reach the president's room. However, Leon didn't arrive with them immediately. They decided to give Leon a bit of time to arrive. But another half an hour had passed and he still didn't arrive. "Don't tell me that idiot got lost again." Blue mutters to himself as he pinches the bridge of his nose while Red looks worryingly.
After about five minutes, Blue's Rotom phone rang. He answered the call despite his surprise. Even more surprising is the person who called. "Hey mate, you didn't tell me I had to battle some dodgy bunch in this building."
Blue looked at the screen in surprise to find out that Leon had called him. But why did Leon call now if he got lost over half an hour ago? And what did he mean when he mentioned battling "a dodgy bunch"? "Huh? What do you mean?"
Leon replied immediately. "There's this bunch of people with black outfits and puffy hats. The oddest thing is the huge R on their tops. Some scientists are fiddling with computers and odd looking machines." A lot of static can be heard at some intervals.
Blue is starting to worry. "What else do you see?" He could only imagine what Leon sees. And it seems that Leon is describing another place entirely. "I'm looking through a window as we speak. For some reason, there's grass everywhere outside." Suddenly, some strange noises and inaudible voices can be heard in the background. "Sorry mate but we have to end our chat here. Seems like there's more of these people that I need to take care of." A short beep signifies the line has been disconnected.
Blue furrows his eyebrows as he tries to think of where Leon could have ended up in. "He's lost alright. But none of this makes sense. It's like he's not in this building anymore." Red listens attentively as Blue describes what Leon just told him.
They confirmed with the president that there's no employee in the building that fit with the description that Leon gave them. Plus, stricter security measures have been in effect since the Team Rocket incident years ago so anyone suspicious would have been arrested before they get inside the building.
Blue then looks at Red. "Are you also thinking that Leon ended up in Team Rocket's base?" Red didn't look up to answer. Like Blue, he's also wracking his brains for any leads on where Leon might have ended up. It does sound familiar to him. "The Team Rocket bases here in Kanto and Johto were already closed by the League long ago."
Blue then adds, "He said there was grass outside. It's like he's somewhere far away. Like out in the boonies or something." Just then, something clicked within Red's mind. In the deep recesses of his memories, a place long forgotten suddenly came into mind.
Without another word, Red hastily grabbed Blue's arm and dragged him out of the room. Blue hastily apologized to the president and asked for their meeting to be rescheduled, to which the president kindly agreed.
Once they were outside the room, Blue pulls his arm off of Red's grip. "What was that about?" Red was acting strange when he mentioned that Leon might have ended up somewhere far away. Then it immediately dawned onto Blue that Red had figured out where Leon might be judging from his serious face. "Are you saying you figured out where Leon ended up in?" Red nodded and Blue understood immediately. "Lead the way."
The Sevii Islands can be reached mainly by boat due to the strong currents dissuading surfing via Pokemon. Plus, the islands are too far away from the mainland so flying via Pokemon is an ill-advised option. However, an emergency situation calls for emergency measures. As much as they hate putting their Pokemon through the strenuous task, Red and Blue had no choice but to fly with their Pokemon to Five Island to get to the Sevii Rocket base.
Once they landed. Red and Blue recalled Charizard and Pidgeot. They decided to let their Pokemon rest as thanks for their help. "How the heck did Leon end up here?" Blue mutters to himself as Red grabs his arm and started running.
Red had pretty much dragged Blue to the base. Any wild Pokemon were either completely ignored or swiftly dealt by their other Pokemon. They ran as fast as they could, hoping to make sure that Leon is safe. Leon may be an unbeatable Champion but it still worries Red and Blue since there might be more Rocket grunts that he can handle. Plus, grunts working for evil organizations tend to be neither friendly nor merciful.
As soon as they reached the base they witnessed a Rocket grunt bowing down in defeat in front of Leon. The triumphant look on Leon's face dissipates any worries that they have earlier. "You're finally here lads. Took you long enough." The defeated grunts attempted to scamper away but a single glare from Red scared them from even moving an inch.
Blue has an incredulous yet impressed look on his face as he asks. "What just happened?" Seems like Leon has proven himself so undefeatable that he can handle an entire group of insurgent criminals just fine. It's almost as incredible with Red single handedly taking down the entire Rocket organization years ago.
Leon explained. "Oh, these bunch were doing some dodgy research and had some Pokemon locked in cages. I'm not entirely sure what their research is about so I observed them closely." Suddenly, Leon's face darkened as he explains further "But when I saw them whipping a poor Phanpy once they took it out of a cage, I got bloody furious. I acted fast to save all these Pokemon from those horrific experiments."
Blue took out his Rotom phone. "We better let Lance and the League know. They'd want to handle this mess." While Blue was talking to Lance, Leon tried to engage Red in a conversation while he was making sure no grunt would even think about escaping.
"Say lad, you wouldn't happen to be the one to stop those bunch years ago? One of them mentioned 'a quiet brat with a red hat'." Red simply nodded and Leon looks in amazement. "That's bloody brilliant mate. And to think you did it at a young age."
Lance and the rest of the League arrived before too long. With them, a gentleman wearing a trenchcoat introduces himself as Inspector Looker. Apparently, Looker is a high ranked member of the International Police assigned to handle high profile cases in different regions. Rumors of a possible Rocket insurgency has alarmed the International Police to take immediate action. They have sent Looker into this mission due to his experience with handling cases involving criminal organizations.
The defeated grunts were taken into custody and Looker thanks them for their help, as he admits that he couldn't have done it alone. Lance and the rest of the League took charge of the building, where the files and computers were taken for further investigation. The caged Pokemon were released from their prison, with some being returned to their Pokeballs to be brought back to their trainers.
Eventually, the sun has set for the day so it was time for them to get back to the mainland. Lance boarded on his Dragonite and thanks the trio for their help, even though the discovery of the Rocket insurgency was accidental.
Bleu stretches him arms while Red seems to be yawning. "I'm beat. Let's head back to the pier before the last boat leaves for the day." The three of them agreed as this impromptu adventure has exhausted them. "Brilliant idea mate. I'm absolutely knackered from nicking those criminals. Let's head out lads."
However, Leon went further east instead of going north like Red and Blue. He was heading towards a small islet where the Bird Keepers stationed there were heading home for the day. At this, Red and Blue got alarmed and ran after him. "Wait, you idiot. You're going the wrong way."