"Finally," Gloria sighed, "Pewter City."
"I still can't believe I've been away from Lavender Town for almost an entire year!" exclaimed Julie. "Let's get to a Pokécenter before it gets dark."
As this odd trio walked down the path, they never noticed the pair of shady people hiding in the shadows…
The team had finally made their way to the Pokécenter. As they walked into the door a chime went off. The receptionist looked up.
"Gloria?!" she ran out from behind the counter. "How's my little Poopsie?"
"Aunt Joy!" Gloria yelled growing red in the face.
"Oh, you've brought friends."
"Allow me," said Julie "Julie Lanata of Lavender Town here!"
"And who is this fine young lad?" asked Nurse Joy.
"I'm Joshua Carpenter of Saffron City, ma'am."
"Well, this is indeed wonderful!" said the pleased nurse. "How's your Pokémon, Gloria?"
"Well, Bulbasaur did something pretty peculiar last week,"
"Bulba, bulbasaur!" said the confident Pokémon.
"It must've mated with Joshua's Squirtle because I think I have a cross-breed."
"Oh, I just have to see it! Let it out, let it out!" said Nurse Joy excitedly.
Gloria took a Pokéball off her belt and let out…
"Meow!" said the Persian.
"Oops! Wrong ball!" she said "Oh well, Persian needs the exercise anyway."
"Rower." It replied rubbing itself on Gloria's leg.
Gloria grabbed another Pokéball. This time out came the little Bulbasquirt.
"Bulba?" it squealed blinking its eyes against the relatively bright lights of the Pokécenter. (That is, when you compare it to the dusky light of the Viridian Forest).
"Oh, it's so cute!" said Nurse Joy. "You most certainly have another one, no?"
"Oh," said Julie "we each have two of these Bulbasquirts."
"We also caught another cross-breed. Here it is." Gloria released her Charchu.
"Char?" it squeaked at Nurse Joy. "CHU!!!" it ran off.
"Hey!" Gloria said chasing after Charchu. "Get back here!"
"Bulba! Squirt! Bulba! Squirt!" laughed the Bulbasquirt.
The Charchu bumped into a shelf full of Pokéballs, but Gloria was too busy trying to chase Charchu to notice. She grabbed it and held it close to her face. "What's gotten into you, huh?"
"Look out, Gloria!" yelled Nurse Joy.
"Huh?" Gloria said as she looked up.
"Oh no!" yelled Joshua as he covered his head.
"Get down!" shrieked Julie; all of the Pokéballs were falling off of the shelf, right on top of Gloria…
At that very same time two Team Rocket members watched the event through the skylight. One of them, a man in his twenties watched with an evil sneer. He wore the classic male Team Rocket memorabilia. His blonde hair was spiked in a way possible only with lots and lots of hair gel. His gray-green eyes seemed to reflect his evil ways.
His companion, however, seemed rather mismatched. She had dark green eyes that could calm a Mankey. Her long blonde hair was very well combed. She wore the classic clothing of a female Team Rocket member.
"Okay, Daniel." she said softly "Your turn."
"But, Janett!" replied Daniel "We had an agreement. Every mission we would switch who goes in first. I went last time, it's your turn now."
"Oh, the things I do for you…" Janett said crawling down a ventilation shaft, her partner not far behind.
"Ouch!" the muffled voice of Gloria erupted from the mound of Pokéballs. She shook her head causing a couple of Pokéballs to tumble off. "Where's Charchu?"
"CHARCHU!" Charchu's head popped up, sending a few more Pokéballs flying off.
"Wait…" said Julie motioning for silence.
"What's wrong, Julie?" asked a surprised Nurse Joy.
"I thought I heard something…"
"OW!!!" a voice faintly echoed.
"Oh no! Team Rocket again!" Julie panicked, "What do we do now?"
"OW!!!" yelled Daniel. He'd just bumped his head on Janett's boot. "What's up?"
"To me it's 'What's down?'. I'm stuck!" she flailed her legs, striking her partner in the face again. "I think my belt's caught on something..."
"Here, let me." Daniel faithfully unbuckled his partner's belt. Mistake, mistake. The duo free fell the rest of the way down the shaft. Janett landed first on a cot in the recovery room, followed shortly by her partner. Daniel had, however landed right on top of Janett!
"Ouch! You imbecile, get off of me!" she crowed.
Obediently, Daniel got off. "Looks like we're in the recovery room."
"Yes. Perfect." Janett sneered. "Now we can sneak up on them more easily..."
"Oh great, now what?" said Gloria.
"I don't know." Said Nurse Joy. "It'll take a few minutes for Officer Jenny to get here…"
"Allow us to introduce ourselves," said two perfectly synchronized voices.
"Oh no!" Gloria cried as two Team Rocket members, a man and a woman, leapt out of an overhead vent. "They're here already!"
"To protect the world from devastation!"
"To unite all people within our nation!"
"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"
"To extend our reach to the stars above!"
"Janett!"
"Daniel!"
"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!"
"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"
"Hahahahahahaha!"
"That's right!"
Janett gave an evil smirk to the trio. "Give them to us!!"
"W-what do you mean?" asked Joshua.
"That Bulbasaur-thing…"
"And the little Charmander thingy too." Daniel interrupted.
"Never!" Gloria cried from the pile of Pokéballs, "You are Team Rocket people! I know you would use Charchu and Bulbasquirt for your evil deeds!"
"Your pathetic plea bores me." Yawned Janett. "We have no other choice. Vileplume, go!" she tossed a Pokéball out onto the ground. Out of it popped…
"Plume! Plume!" squealed the Vileplume.
"Okay," said Gloria. "Go Persian!" she pointed to the cat Pokémon on her shoulder.
"Meow!" it purred as it leapt off and toward the Vileplume.
"Persian, Poison Powder!" Gloria casually yelled.
"Persian can't…" started Joshua just before a cloud of Poison Powder flew out of Persian's mouth, hitting a surprised Vileplume.
"Huh? Persian can't do that!" complained Janett.
"Yes it can." Gloria said. "It Mimicked the Vileplume's move. Come back Persian, Bulbasaur, Body Slam!"
"Get back here, Vileplume!" Janett yelled recalling the Poisoned Pokémon. Bulbasaur Slammed harmlessly on the ground. "Go Grimer!" a filthy blob of sludge popped out.
"Grimer!" it said.
"Get 'em Machamp!" said Daniel releasing his own Pokémon. A four-armed beast was revealed from the Pokéball.
"Ma-chammmmp!" it yelled proudly.
"Okay, I shall use two Pokémon too. Get em' Persian!" Gloria pointed to the frightened Pokémon.
"Meow!!!" it said happily as it ran toward the Grimer.
"Bulbasaur, use Cut!"
"Buuuulb!!!" Bulbasaur used Cut on the Grimer.
"Grime?" said the Grimer.
"Persian, use Acid!"
"Rower!!!" it meowed as it spat Acid at the Machamp.
"Hey! Machamp doesn't know Acid!" Daniel yelled.
"Metronome is a very useful move." Gloria said wickedly. "Bulbasaur, Mega Kick!"
"CHAMMMMMP!" the Machamp went flying across the room.
"Heh, heh. Nice one, Bulbasaur!" said Joshua.
"Bulb." Said the proud Pokémon.
"Grimer, Sludge attack now!" said an annoyed Janett.
"Grimerrrrrr!" it spat a wad of blinding Sludge at Persian.
"Meow!" it tried to wipe the Sludge from its eyes with its paw.
"Hahahahahahaha! Sorry, but I'm afrad we must be going. As a gift from Team Rocket…catch this!" said Janett throwing a bomb at the trio. "Adios!" she started to run out of the door, Daniel close behind.
"No!" Gloria cried. "Only a miracle can save us now!"
Little did this team know, a mysterious observer saw the trio's plight, and used a special thing to help them…
"Wha-?" said Janett as a yellow band of energy surrounded the team, causing the bomb to bounce off at the duo!
"Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!!!" Whined Daniel as the bomb blew them out of sight.
"What was that?" asked Nurse Joy.
"Reflect," replied Julie "none of our Pokémon know it yet."
"That means…whatever did save us, it sure wasn't any of us…"