Explanations
As soon as the lab was demolished, the storm stopped as quickly as it had come. The only apparent destruction was that of the lab, Ash's house, and a little area of the viridian forest where a shack had once been.
As Gary stared out at the mess, he pondered this curious happening.
As soon as he had heard about the storm, he had rushed to try to save his grandfather, but he was too late. When he arrived at Pallet, a strange black cloud had just been disappearing, and no sign of Oak was left. All of Gary's pokeballs were also missing, as well as Ash's. His first impression was that this was Team Rocket's work, but a second thought made him decide otherwise. Team Rocket could never do anything that good- or bad, would be a better word. But if it wasn't Team Rocket, who was it?
***
"Aaaawww, my head...." Ash held his aching head as it throbbed in pain from a bump and shifted some stuff scattered all over the ground.
"You know, Slash," Misty said as she rubbed the dust and pain from her head, "You could have brought us here a little less painfully. And what is all this stuff?"
"Heh, heh," Slash laughed nervously as a bead of sweat ran down the back of his head, "Well, at least I got ya' here. And I'm sorry it's such a mess. I-"
"That's true," Ash interrupted, agreeing, "I mean that you got us here. Where are we anyways?"
"Aww, nothin' much," Slash said casually, "Just in my storehouse in a part of cyberspace created by my laptop. And as I was about to say before I was so rudely interrupted-" he shot a stern but friendly glance at Ash, "-I need to install "Cleanup 95", if you know what I-"
"So basically we're inside your computer?" Ash interrupted again.
"-Mean. Pretty much," Slash affirmed, nodding. A sudden shuffling made the three look to see Brock at a screen.
"Oh, great," Misty said sarcastically, "Brock's gone to the Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy sites."
"What did you expect?" Ash remarked.
"I expected him to leave my Internet bill alone!" Slash darted over to Brock and was about to stop Brock when he suddenly stopped. "Where's Oak and Ash's mom and Tracy?" he suddenly inquired, as Brock tried to jump into the computer screen, bruising his nose and bringing him back to the real world.
"Oh, they're right over there," Brock stated, pointing with one hand over to a corner of the storage room while nursing his nose with the other. Ash, Misty, and Slash picked their way through Slash's items, and went to visit with the other three as Brock continued looking at the Internet sites. When they got to the corner, they noticed three shelves full of pokeballs.
"Oh!" Ash ran excitedly over to the first shelf, "You saved all of my pokémon!"
"Yup!" Slash replied happily, "and I've got mine an' Gary's too!"
"Wow!" Misty exclaimed, "How did you do that?"
"Er…" Slash began, "Well… its sorta hard to explain… You wouldn't understand."
"Are you saying I'm stupid?!" Misty growled.
"No!" Slash jumped back, "I'm just saying that there's too much to explain right now. Right now we need to find out what that big tornado came from."
"Yeah," Ash agreed, "that's what's really important."
"Well, we'll need to use the internet, so someone has to kick off Brock."
"Be glad to," Misty smiled wickedly. She walked over by Brock and literally kicked him, sending him flying through the cyberspace that was Slash's storage room.
"Alright," Slash said as he sat down, stifling a laugh as he watched Brock nurse a huge lump on his head, to the table that his computer was set on. Ash and Misty stared, amazed, as Slash typed impossibly fast, and within seconds he had found a site reporting the storm. He read and clicked, too fast for anyone else to see, and soon he had the answer.
"It's actually rather simple," he replied, standing up, "This is the only storm like it that has ever happened, and apparently it only affected parts of even Pallet Town. No one was hit except for Ash's house and Professor Oak's lab. So that means-"
Misty's eyes lit up. "Oh, I see!" she replied, "the only way a storm could hit such a specific target, would be if it was caused by some sort of Pokemon."
"But what Pokemon could do that?" Ash asked.
"Well, it must be legendary, or maybe psychic," Slash replied. Then he gasped, a wave of realization hit him. The look of horror reflected in his eyes made Ash and Misty jump.
"What!?" Misty grabbed his arm, frightened, "What's wrong?"
"I know which Pokemon caused this," Slash replied, solemnly, "and I created him."
***
"I'm so glad they're getting along well," Ash's mom beamed as she and Prof. Oak watched the conversation the four were having, unaware of the horrible truth Slash had just revealed.
"Yes, but I feel something strange about that boy, Slash," Oak replied, "There's something powerful, something otherworldly about him." Could he be? he thought to himself, No, I was the only one sent here. Yet… he knows much. I must beware this boy, lest he reveal the secret…
***
"So, you're telling me that you're really just a program, and that this pokémon, along with a few others, are also programmed?" Ash looked at Slash, unbelieving.
"Yeah, pretty much," Slash replied, "You see, the person who created me is, like, a super-hacker, and he found out that, somehow, his world is watching your world, and manipulating it by programming people who influence you on your quest. When my pokémon and I were programmed in, I guess they sort of lost control, and now things are just going however they go. In fact, people in his world are probably watching us right now!"
"You're not serious, are you?" Misty said, still doubting.
"I am 100% serious, Misty," Slash looked into her eyes will all seriousness, "and I never lie." Misty absorbed the shock of the truth, and the two stared into each other's eyes, truly understanding each other for the first time.
"Well, anyways," Slash lightened up, breaking the staring contest, "I guess it's time for us to get going! We've got a legendary to tame!" The three got up, Misty picked Brock up, who was now daydreaming about who knows what, and they went over to inform the adults of their discovery.