"Hello, boys!" A member of Team Rocket said in greeting as Ash and Brock approached the house at the end of Route 25.
Ash swore under his breath. He just knew that Team Rocket were going to be everywhere now, standing in his way. Since he had decided not to join them he would have to fight them at every turn. Or should they just turn and walk away?
No, Ash wanted to know what Brock was so excited about. They needed to get into this building.
"Step aside," Ash said confidently. "Unless you would rather have a Pokémon battle for the right to enter."
The Team Rocket trainer burst into laughter, holding his bulging stomach with his long hair dancing in the breeze. "I'm not fighting a child for anything," he said. "Move along or there'll be trouble."
Brock stepped up beside Ash, having lingered behind him as he fought his way through the many trainers along their route. "Listen here," he said confidently. "You really should move. Ash looks like a kid, but he's a far better trainer than you could dream of being."
"Oh really? Prove it. Let's battle."
"You're on," Ash said excitedly. "Pikachu, take a rest, it's time to test out my other Pokémon. Nidoran, I choose you!" He held out a PokeBall in his outstretched hand and his male Nidoran appeared at his feet.
"Go, Rattata. Show him who's boss."
The two Pokémon faced each other across the battlespace, growling cautiously.
"Quick Attack!" Both trainers yelled in unison.
The Pokémon clashed in a purple haze, slamming into each other at full speed. Both came out of the attack relatively unscathed, sliding backwards in the dirt.
"Nidoran, Horn Attack!" Ash ordered, pointing vigorously.
"Rattata, Hyper Fang!" the Team Rocket trainer commanded.
They clashed, making grazing attacks that didn't completely land for either of them.
"Rattata, Super Fang."
"Nidoran, Quick Attack!"
They rebounded and launched attacks again and again, neither able to score a decisive blow.
Ash revelled in the pure joy of battle, but his opponent cried out in frustration at the stalemate and constantly yelled attack commands. Ash allowed Nidoran to mostly fight himself, adding his own directions only when he saw an opening.
The Team Rocket trainer kicked the ground in frustration as another of his Rattata's attacks was thwarted. "Come on, Rattata. Take him down with another Quick Attack."
Rattata launched at Nidoran with tremendous speed, but was knocked back by a well timed Fury Attack. Nidoran showed that he was in no rush to finish the battle, taking his time to wear down his opponent.
"Rattata, come back. Ekans, It's time to fight." The small rat was replaced by the snake, hissing and slithering across the ground. "Ekans, use Wrap."
Ekans sprung into the air, coiling itself around Nidoran and squeezing for all its might.
"Tear it off, Nidoran," Ash pleaded before his Pokémon could be knocked unconscious.
Nidoran struggled until he managed to slip free of his opponent's grasp. He immediately rammed his horn into Ekans, landing a critical hit and sending the snake skittering away.
"Ekans, Poison Sting."
Ekans zoomed towards the motionless Nidoran, lashing out with its poison dripping tail at the last second. Nidoran deftly ducked and sidestepped the attack, exposing Ekans' side.
"Now, Nidoran, Fury Attack!" Ash commanded.
Nidoran was a blur as it unleashed a barrage of attacks catching Ekans before it could slither away.
When the dust settled Ekans was lying unconscious and Nidoran was staring at the Team Rocket trainer. He returned Ekans to its PokéBall and unwillingly brought his Rattata back into the battle.
"Great job, Nidoran," Ash said, returning him to his PokéBall. "It's time for you, Pikachu."
Pikachu ran straight towards Rattata and without even breaking stride leapt into the air and squealed, "Pikachu!" He unleashed a powerful Thundershock that rippled through the air and sent an unwitting Rattata sprawling unconscious across the dirt.
"You'll regret this, kid!" The Team Rocket trainer yelled, rescuing his Rattata and then taking off running across the bridge to the shortcut to Cerulean City.
"Wow!" Brock said, slapping a hand on Ash's back. "I thought you were good, but that was fantastic. You have such a strong bond with all of your Pokémon already."
Ash blushed at the compliment and the attention and stepped up to the house that Team Rocket had for some reason been guarding. He tried the door handle and nothing happened so he knocked twice. After a moment the door slowly opened on a scruffy man in his mid thirties. He was wearing a lab coat and holding a mug of coffee. His imprisonment didn't appear to be bothering him too much.
"Thank you for rescuing me from," the man said warmly. "Please come into the lab so that I can thank you properly. My name is Bill by the way. What are your names?"
"I'm Ash and this is Brock," Ash said following the scientist into his lab. There were two huge machines at the far end of the messy lab with a computer sitting on a desk to the side of the room.
"Apologies for the mess, I'm right in the middle of a potential breakthrough."
It was in no way any messier than Ash's own bedroom so he simply shrugged and found somewhere to stand, surveying the equipment. "What are you doing in here? Why were Team Rocket keeping you locked inside?" he asked, "and how did you know that we rescued you?"
"Cameras," Bill said simply, pointing towards his computer with no further information. "I'm working on something you wouldn't believe. But it's a secret, so my lips are sealed." He put two fingers to his lips in a zipper motion. "Now, where did I put those tickets? I have the perfect reward around here somewhere." He spent a minute rifling through a stack of papers on his desk and then came up for air. "Aha! Here they are. You'll like this. I was invited to a party on S.S. Anne, but I simply can't step away from the lab. Take these and go and have some fun at my expense." He handed the tickets to Ash and then stood with his hands on his hips. "It sets sail for the Orange Islands in a few days from Vermilion City. So get there while you still can."
"Thank you, but this really isn't necessary," Ash said. "Besides I don't think that they want kids crashing their fancy party."
"Nonsense! The ship will be packed with young trainers like yourselves. You'll fit in far better than I would have."
Ash supposed that he had no grounds to argue with that so they lapsed into silence.
"I hate to sound rude," Bill said, "but I really must get back to my experiment. Thank you again for rescuing me."
There had been no clear reason why Brock had been so excited to see this kooky old man leaving Ash quite confused. Did Brock know something about these secret experiments even though Bill had shown no signs of recognising the Gym leader?
Ash turned to Brock and mouthed, "Is he meant to be the cool one?"
Brock nodded and turned to stare at Bill. "Before we leave perhaps you could fill Ash in on your achievements."
Bill's face lit up. "Pokémon Storage System," he said excitedly. "That was my greatest accomplishment. Did you know we never used to have anything like it? Now you can access a computer from anywhere in the world and withdraw and deposit any of your Pokémon without hassle. It's genius, if I do say so myself."
It had been all Ash had ever known. He hadn't ever imagined a world without the ease of Pokémon storage boxes. Not that he had caught enough Pokémon to need them. He had always just imagined himself leaving any Pokémon he didn't have space for in his party with Professor Oak. But how else would they get to him without the use of the Pokémon storage system? "Rather genius," he agreed. "I'm sure it's far too complicated to explain."
"No more complicated than explaining how a PokéBall works."
Ash froze, stunned. How did a PokéBall work? He knew nothing of the world he lived in.
Bill laughed gently. "Don't think too hard about it, Ash. It'll just make your head hurt. Just know that some very smart people, myself included, have made your journey far easier than it once would have been. No thanks necessary. Now once again I hate to be rude, but I really must get back to things, and you have a boat to catch." He gestured at the door and Ash and Brock went and stood outside. "Thank you again for getting rid of that pesky guard. Farewell and safe travels." With that he closed the door and returned to his work.
"So?" Brock said as they walked across the bridge. "Was that worth it?"
"Worth making myself an even greater enemy of Team Rocket? Yes."
"Even greater enemy?"
Ash rubbed his head and looked away nervously. "I, ah, fought one of them already."
"You did? Why didn't you say something? Does Officer Jenny know that you encountered them?"
"You just want me to go and tell Officer Jenny so that you can see her again, don't you?"
Brock blushed and looked away. "Maybe. But tell me everything."
Ash knew that he had to lie about his full encounter with Team Rocket and especially the fact that he had almost joined up with them. That would not go down well.
Ash set off, deciding exactly what to say. They walked in silence down the path south of Route 25, jumping over the ledge into the city. Ash's Pokémon had barely taken a scratch in all of the battles they had fought on the way to Bill's lab, but he still wanted to take them to the Pokémon Centre for a touch up.
"Well?" Brock asked once Nurse Joy had Ash's Pokémon and he had finished ogling her.
They stood off to the side of the room away from everyone else.
Ash sighed, taking his hat off and rubbing a hand through his hair. "After beating all of the trainer's on Nugget Bridge I had to fight a final trainer. Turns out he was a member of Team Rocket who tried to recruit me."
"Recruit you?"
"Yes, he offered me great things if I became a grunt in their organisation."
"And?" Brock asked desperately.
"Well I obviously turned him down and he fled." No point in expanding on the fact that he had returned to further pressure him.
"Let's find Officer Jenny. She will want to know that Team Rocket is trying to recruit children."
"Can't we just go to Vermilion City? I don't think I could tell her anything helpful."
"No, you have to tell the police what you know."
Ash grumbled and scrunched his hat between clenched fists. Before he could speak the power went out and they were engulfed in complete darkness. The sun had set outside already and the moon was hidden so there was no light at all coming in through the windows or the skylight.
"Prepare for trouble!" A high pitched female voice announced, echoing in the darkness.
"Make it double!" A low male voice added.
"To protect the world from devastation!" the first voice said, continuing their back and forth.
"To unite all peoples within our nation!"
"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"
"To extend our reach to the stars above!"
"Jessie!"
"James!"
"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"
"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"
"Meowth, that's right!" That couldn't actually be a Meowth. Someone had to be pretending to be the Pokémon.
There was a lot of shuffling and grunting sounds for a few moments and then the lights came on. Ash saw the backs of two people with vibrant red and purple hair respectively disappearing through the closing doors. A Meowth was running on its hind legs between them.
"Oh no," Nurse Joy said, gasping violently. "The Pokémon are gone."
"What?" All of the trainers in the Pokémon Centre yelled in unison.
Ash took a second to spot that Pikachu wasn't lying on the small bed behind the counter. He turned and ran for the doors. He would stop at nothing to get him back.
Standing out on the street beside the fountain were two people clad in all black. There was a hot air balloon hovering above them and they were holding onto a hanging ladder.
"Pikachu!" Ash screamed, seeing the purple haired male holding some kind of glass device that held his sleeping Pikachu.
"Thanks for the Pikachu," the one Ash assumed was James responded.
"Team Rockets blasting off again!" Jesse, the red haired girl, said as they rose up from the ground.
"Wait," Ash yelled, running and grasping for the bottom rung of the ladder, but it evaded his grasp. "Pikachu!"
The Team Rocket trainers laughed as they slowly drifted away. Ash ran after them as they floated south and finally passed into the clouds as he jumped down the ledge at the edge of town.
"No no no no no," Ash yelled as they disappeared from sight. He dropped to his knees in the dirt at the top of Route 5 and slammed his fists into the ground.
"Ash," Brock yelled, coming to a stop beside him. He stumbled the start of a sentence a few times before giving up and resting a reassuring hand on Ash's back.
"Why?" Ash cried. "Why would they take Pikachu?"
"I don't know. But we'll get him back. Come on, get up and we'll chase them down."
Ash yelled and pounded the ground over and over. Eventually he just stopped and turned to face Brock. "I know how to get him back," he said, clambering to his feet. "I just have to find a member of Team Rocket."
"What do you intend to do?"
"If they want me so badly, then they can have me. In exchange for Pikachu." He started to run but Brock grabbed his collar and pulled him to a stop.
"Are you insane?" Brock said. "That's not going to happen."
"What other choice do I have?"
"You find them but you fight. Don't join them just because of this."
"Fight with what Pokémon?" Ash grumbled. "They took them all."
"They didn't get mine," Brock explained. "You can use Geodude and Onix to get Pikachu back. I won't let you join Team Rocket"
Ash stepped away from Brock. "No, I have to do this. If it means that Pikachu will always be safe. I can do this. I want this."
"Ash, come on, be serious. You can't become a member of Team Rocket. They're evil. And you're a good kid."
Ash threw his hands up and grumbled loudly. "We're wasting time. Who knows what they're doing with Pikachu in that device. I'm going south to find Team Rocket. You can come with me and try to stop me from trading myself for Pikachu or you can stay here. Out of my way."
"Okay, let's go," Brock said, gesturing south. "But don't expect me to just stand by and let this happen."
They ran into the night only to meet a locked door at the end of Route 5. Their only option was to take the underground path linking to Route 6 and entirely skipping Saffron City. Or they could wait out the night until the guard unlocked the way through.
"Let's keep going to Vermilion City," Ash said. "If we don't find Team Rocket there at least we'll know to head back north to Saffron tomorrow."
Brock had no arguments as they ran for the unguarded tunnel. He didn't bring up that with the hot air balloon the Team Rocket duo could have flown further south to Fuchsia City or even Cinnabar Island. Saffron City seemed like the least likely place that they would have gone, which kind of made Ash believe that he would find them there. But he wasn't going to wait for the gate to get unlocked in the morning. He had to keep moving. Besides, no harm could come from scoping out Vermilion City first.