Ryan awoke from a particularly sticky dream about some boysenberry jam to find that his head was killing him. He was woozy, like he had just drank a gallon of orange juice (not that he would know what that felt like, to be sure). The Pokemon trainer stood up and yawned, finding himself wholly alone on the edge of Pallet Town. The sun was high in the sky. It was far later in the day than the last time he had been awake. That worried him.

"Wh… what happened?" the boy asked, rubbing his sore head.

"Scyther! Scytheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer!"

Ryan spun around and saw a Scyther perched on a nearby tree branch. It tilted its head and screamed. It was a perfect target, sitting there calmly, and he wasn't about to let the chance get away from him. The boy reached for a Pokeball, but found that his backpack was gone. That was when he remembered what had happened.

"Sweet Jeremiah!" the boy yelled in frustration. "That kid took all my Pokemon!"

"Scyther scythe scythe!"

Ryan scowled at the Scyther. "All I wanted to do was catch you! And look at the mess you've gotten me in! Well, are you gonna help me or what? I need to get my Pokebuddies back!"

The mantis Pokemon didn't say anything to that, and when Ryan took a step forward to press the issue, it jumped back and flew off into the tall grass.

"Curses!" Ryan shook his fist at the sky. "What good's a Pokemon trainer without any Pokemon?"

He found Pallet Town to be in utter chaos when he returned. He remembered that Gillford - The Supreme Extreme, as he wanted to be called - had said Professor Oak had a whole bunch of godly Pokemon he was going to steal. Hopefully the kid hadn't stolen them yet, otherwise his own Pokemon could be long gone. But what Ryan found in the town did not get his hopes up.

Large three-tailed beasts were rampaging through the streets, running through houses, knocking over cars, and causing pedestrians to flee in all directions. Smoke and dust filled the air, as did the shouts of horrified citizens. Gillford must've done this, Ryan thought. But he's careless… he let Professor Oak's Pokemon out without catching them first. Ryan thought he saw Kelly and Rahul running down a street in the opposite direction, their Pokemon running alongside them. They must be trying to help calm things down. He frowned again, thinking about how he wanted to be there with them, how he wanted to show the world just how good a trainer he was. But I'm not a good trainer. I lost all my Pokemon. I have to get them back!

One of the beasts came Ryan's way, huffing and mooing and stamping its feet. Ryan ducke aside and pulled out old Dexy from his pocket.

"What the heck is that?" he asked his machine.

"Tauros, the Wild Bull Pokemon. A rowdy Pokémon with a lot of stamina. Once running, it won't stop until it hits something."

"Crap…" Ryan breathed. "This whole town's gonna get smashed to bits if that's true! We have to put a stop to this!"

Pocketing Lil' Dex, Ryan rushed forward, down the street, and into pandemonium. He kept running through the smoke and past the Pokemon and people until he came to Professor Oak's lab. It was situated on a hill, and as Ryan raced up the steps, he saw the figure of a boy in all black at the top.

When Ryan reached Gillford, he saw the young member of Team Rocket directing his Pokemon against those in Professor's Oak's backyard. He had knocked down a fence, letting out numerous Tauros and other creatures. At the same time, his own Pokemon, a Primeape, a Graveler, a Growlithe, a Poliwrath, and a Mr. Mime, were attacking Professor Oak's Pokemon (and the reserve Pokemon of all Pallet Town trainers), and Gillford had a bag of Pokeballs next to him. Whenever his Pokemon took out one of their quarry, he would throw a Pokeball and catch the thing. His pile was growing taller by the minute.

Ryan spied his own backpack on Gillford's back and ran over to get it, his fists raised, when, out of nowhere, something tackled him from behind. He saw sky; then he saw ground and tasted dirt and felt something squeezing him hard.

"Hahaha! You dummy!" Gillford said, turning around to meet Ryan. "I beat you again! I'm so powerful!" He raised his right hand and revealed that he was holding a piece of cardboard with a crudely-drawn female face on it, lipstick and all. He kissed the thing passionately. "Yeah, victory! I'm the best, I'm the best, I'm The Supreme Extreme!"

"You… you're crazy!" Ryan gasped as he felt himself being squeezed tighter. He looked around and caught a glimpse of the Pokemon holding him - a Tentacruel. It was using its wrap attack to immobilize and choke him.

"No, I'm The Supreme Extreme! And this is my wife, Mrs. Supreme Extreme. You'll tell her how beautiful she is!"

"No I won't," Ryan replied. "I don't do crazy!"

"She's beautiful!" Gillford squealed like a ten-year-old chipmunk. "Look, look! She's levitating! She's a god! She's reached a higher plane of existence!" he cried, waving around his cardboard girlfriend.

"Ba'hee Priss Dimmie…" Ryan muttered.

"What was that? You scoundrel! How dare you talk to a god like that! Is this anyway to treat the best Pokemon Master in the entire world?! Tentacruel, wrap him tighter! Make him feel supreme pain! For Team Rocket!"

The Tentacruel obliged and tightened its hold on Ryan. The blue-haired boy screamed; he felt like he was being pressed into a vise. Just when he felt the last bits of air leaving his lungs and began seeing spots, Ryan felt sudden relief - he felt himself falling forward. As he crashed into the ground, he beheld the Tentacruel fall down unconscious next to him.

"Wh… what's going… on…?" he gasped, rubbing his raw neck.

"Scyther! Scyyyyy!"

Before Ryan and Gillford stood the proud visage of the wild mantis Pokemon. It brandished its blade claws and screamed at Gillford. The Supreme Extreme shrieked like a schoolgirl and jumped back.

"Team of Gods, attack this wild animal!" he commanded his five quite average Pokemon.

Catching his breath, Ryan stood up and walked over to Scyther. "Hey, thanks for that! I guess better late than never, right?"

"Scyther!" the thing said in a crazed scream.

"All right, you're gonna need to help me defeat this weird kid so I can get back my Pokemon, all right? One 'Scyther' for yes."

"Scyther."

That made Ryan smile. He took out Lil' Dex and aimed it at Scyther. "All right you gorgeous piece of metal, tell me what moves Scyther knows."

"I feel pretty, oh so pretty," Dex said in monotone. "This Scyther knows the moves: Agility, Slash, Swords Dance, and Focus Energy."

"We're in business!" Ryan whooped. Pointing at the five Pokemon converging on him and Scyther, he shouted, "Swords Dance, Scyther, now!"

The bug Pokemon began to convulse again, this time in the flavor of Lady Gaga, and it was almost too much for Ryan to watch. He felt like throwing up or throwing himself from a balcony - perhaps both. Yet, by the time he was done, Gillford's Pokemon had not yet reached him, so Ryan shrugged and shouted again.

"Okay, Slash 'em up! Two attacks in a row yeah!"

"Scytheeeeeeer!"

He moved like a scythe through cotton candy, a green tornado of pain and heartbreak. Soon, the five godly Pokemon fell to the ground, dazed and of no more use.

The Supreme Extreme looked like he was nearly in tears. "N-no! They were godly! I trained them myself! Star Serelinglingauliniean and Deshawn Equinneus are the two strongest Pokemon ever to live! It's a fact!"

Ryan didn't know (and didn't want to ask) why that insane trashboy had named his Pokemon so, and instead he stuck his tongue out. "Nananananana, I swept your team!"

"Cheater!" Gillford declared. "He's a cheater, isn't that right honey?" The cardboard cutout being held up by his right hand nodded. "See!"

"Yeah, I see!" Ryan replied, stepping forward and grinning. "I see you flying off into the distance! Scyther remove the trash! Send him where all good Team Rocket members go!"

And so he did. The Scyther bore down on Gillford and kicked him into the sky. Ryan's backpack fell off of Gillford from the force of the attack and landed harmlessly on the ground. As the boy sailed off into the wild blue yonder, he screeched:

"Noooooo! I'm blasting off for the first time!"

Scyther then followed that up by punting all of Gillford's Pokemon after him. I guess he didn't catch any legendaries after all.

"Good boy, Scyther!" Ryan beamed. He grabbed his backpack, made sure all six of his Pokemon were tucked away in their Pokeballs, and then tossed the wild mantis Pokemon a treat. "It's an ultra-rare candy," Ryan explained. "I won it off of Rahul after he bet me he could do a handstand. He didn't even come close."

The Scyther caught the candy in its mouth and gulped it down. "Scyther scythe," it replied happily. Then, without warning, white light began to emanate from the Pokemon's body, and he began to shake. "Scytheeeeeeeeeeeeeeer!" the Pokemon yelled in an alarmed tone.

"What's going on? Dex, explain!"

"You have given this Pokemon an ultra-rare candy. Ultra-rare candy is essentially Pokeroids," the Pokedex replied. "Good job. I hope you are proud of yourself. I know I am."

And such words could not have been truer, for as the light faded, Ryan noticed that where once had been a Scyther now stood a physical specimen of so fine a strain it would have impressed even dear old Ahnold. Covered in rippling muscles it was, massive and numerous, and its entire body seemed to shimmer with the light of midday. The Scyther was bigger than it had been before, and Ryan hoped that meant it was way more powerful now. It peered at the blue-haired boy solemnly.

"Now that's a god Pokemon if I ever saw one!" Ryan declared.

"Scyther," the animal whispered gruffly. Even its attitude had become more menacing.

"Okay boy, we still have a problem on our hands," Ryan continued. "Pinkbeard is still out there, plus all those Tauros are loose! We have to save Pallet Town, boy. It's up to us!"

"Scy scy scyther."

The two ran across to the other side of Professor Oak's lab where they could look down on the town. They could see Kelly and Dean and Rahul and Ash all battling the Tauros as best they could with the Pokemon they had. Ash's Pikachu and Rahul's Magneton were combining their electrical capabilities into one to try to zap the Tauros, but there were too many of the rampaging beasts and they were spread across the entire town. Kelly's Arcanine was running up and down the streets trying to flame the Tauros into submission, but after a few such fire attacks, one annoyed Tauros turned and charged him, knocking the Arcanine out cold.

"With that ultra-rare candy in your system, you should be able to take them on, right boy?" Ryan asked. When his Pokemon nodded, he pointed at the Tauros below. "Okay, go knock all of the Tauros out. Agility now! And once you're all fast, use Slash attacks!"

"Scyther."

The green Pokemon flew down to the half-ruined town and worked his way through the charging Tauros like a butcher through a bowl of brown. Gleefully Ryan watched as Scyther knocked out all of the Pokemon he came into contact with. He found Pinkbeard demagoguing on top of a car with his Pokemon around him and sent all of them where Gillford had gone. Two Tauros chose to storm him as he glided towards them, but Scyther dodged their simple attacks by flying over them. When he did a backflip in midair and then landed on their backs, Scyther wasted no time in knocking them unconscious.

In the center of Pallet Town, Rahul and Ash stood with their Pokemon as the Tauros charged them from all sides. It looked like they were going to be run over until Scyther appeared and slashed the Tauros into submission.

With the last Tauros incapacitated, silence descended on the devastated town. Ryan and Kelly and Rahul helped Ash collect the Tauros into Pokeballs. Dust hung heavy in the air as the sun began to set over the forest of the wilderness. As he was helping capture all of the sleeping Tauros, Ryan noticed Scyther standing on the edge of Pallet Town, far removed from the rest of the people, sharpening his blades on one another. Finding this most curious, the Pokemon trainer walked over to the wild Pokemon hesitantly.

"Hey, Scyther! What are you doing out here?"

"Scyther!"

"You're a hero, Scyther," Ryan said. "You saved everyone. I can't thank you enough! Without your help, I would've lost all the Pokemon I worked so hard to get."

"Scyther scyther."

Ryan scratched the back of his head. "So… why don't you come back with us? You could be my Pokemon. You could travel around Kanto with me! I'm going to collect all of the Gym Badges. It could be fun…"

"Scy…" the Pokemon replied, stepping away from Ryan.

"It's just… you know… I thought, after what we've just been through, together, you might wanna…"

"Scyther!" Scyther declared. He stared at Ryan for a moment, then turned away and took to the air.

"Wait, stop!" Ryan raised his hand. "Please, don't go!"

But Scyther did not listen. Instead, he flew on, above the tall grass, towards the setting sun. Ryan let his hand drop and felt tears come to his eyes. He did not move as he watched the wild mantis Pokemon become a speck on the pink-orange horizon.

A hand fell on Ryan's shoulder. "Hey kid, don't beat yourself up about it. Not every Pokemon can be tamed. Sometimes you've got to let them go."

Kelly's voice was soft, kind, unlike her. That had taken aback Ryan almost as much as Scyther fleeing. "Th-thanks," he mumbled, not turning to face her. He didn't want her to see him crying.

"Don't let it get to you, Ryan. There'll be plenty of time to catch more Pokemon. We've got a long way to go before we reach the Indigo League."

They watched the sun set for a few minutes before Kelly spoke again. The world was still as a painting, save for the sounds of feral Pokemon in the deep wilderness ahead. "Come on, we need to go back. Ash and Professor Oak wanted to talk to us. They're at the lab."

Ryan screwed up his face and wiped away his tears. He followed Kelly back into town, past the broken buildings and cars and refuse now covering most of the ground. They climbed the steps to Professor Oak's lab for a second time that day, and for Ryan, it was with a much heavier heart, even though he had gotten his Pokemon back.

Awaiting them at the top, just inside the building, were Ash, Rahul, Mrs. Ketchum, Dean, and Professor Oak himself. They all smiled warmly upon seeing Ryan.

"There he is," Professor Oak chuckled. "Thank you for saving my lab and the town, Ryan."

"No problem."

"I still can't believe that happened!" Mrs. Ketchum exclaimed. "My diner was nearly destroyed! Oh, it'll take Mimey forever to clean up the mess in there!"

"Yeah, I wonder what those two were up to letting all of my Tauros out," Ash wondered aloud. "Kelly, you said they were part of Team Rocket?"

"Well, the kid was," Kelly said. "His father is just a crusty old pirate."

"They did so much damage," Ash said, shaking his head. "I'm gonna have to stay here a lot longer than I had planned to help fix everything up."

"But it wasn't your fault," Kell reminded him. "Team Rocket should have to fix this."

"Knowing them, there's no way they would," Ash sighed. "But even though they managed to damage so much of the town, it would have been a lot worse if you hadn't helped us when you had, Ryan. Your Scyther really saved the day."

"Yeah…" Ryan replied, detached. "Couldn't have done it without him."

Ash patted him on the shoulder. "Here, as a token of our appreciation, take these." He reached in his pocket and pulled out four Pokeballs. "A Tauros for each of you for helping to save Pallet Town. I mean, I have a whole herd of them. I'm never going to use them all in battle. So please accept this gift."

"Oh yeah!" Rahul exclaimed, raising his screwdriver to the sky. "This calls for a celebration!" He clapped his hands and suddenly, two scantily-clad girls appeared holding plates of sweet rolls. Rahul didn't hesitate to stuff his mouth with as many as he could while everyone else watched on in slight bemusement.

"Well, unfortunately, we have to get going," Kelly said, finally breaking the awkward silence. "The Indigo League is starting pretty soon and all of us still need some more badges."

"Yeah," said Ryan cheerlessly.

"Before you go," Professor Oak spoke up, "wasn't there something you wanted? Ash told me one of you had a Pokemon with a name that needed changing."

Ryan had almost forgotten, after all the events that had taken place that day. He fumbled in his bag before finding his Charmeleon's Pokeball. Then, he presented it to Professor Oak. "If you can, I'd like to change this guy's name to Aegon, please."

As the day turned to night, our four heroes set out on their journey once again. They said their goodbyes to Ash, his mother, and Professor Oak, who all thanked them profusely for helping them re-capture the Tauros. They left Pallet Town a grim place; it would take many months, perhaps even years, for that humble place to be repaired and rebuilt. Ryan wouldn't forget that. For all of Gillford's silly rambling, he was a genuinely bad person - he had threatened the lives of every member of Pallet Town and destroyed millions of dollars worth of property. If Ryan ever saw him again, he'd make that kid rue the day he attacked Professor Oak's lab.

They set off down Route 1, flashlights in hand. Fireflies were buzzing and the air was fresh with the smell of grass. Kelly and Rahul and Dean were all in high spirits because they had acquired a new Pokemon, but for Ryan, the gift of the Tauros did not replace what he felt he had lost in Scyther.

Ryan fell to the back of the group and pulled six Pokeballs out of his bag and released the Pokemon from them. Regardless of how he was feeling, he had an obligation to his Pokemon, to make sure they got enough attention and were well-loved. They were probably frightened from being recently captured, and he needed to alleviate their fears. Ryan needed to show them that they were home again. Abra, Clawey, Matata, Cloyster, Dragonair, and Aegon came tumbling out of their balls.

"Hey guys, I've missed you! How is everybody?" His Pokemon whooped and laughed and bade their master good evening. It was a good feeling, Ryan knew, having someone care for you. And his Pokemon did, just as he cared for them. "Let's go get some more badges, what do you say?"

His Pokemon screamed in agreement, and Ryan had to smile. As much as he wanted to wallow in regret, he couldn't. Life goes on. He had to get the rest of the Gym Badges before the Indigo League started, and now he had a team of six to do so. So Ryan and his Pokemon rejoined Kelly and Rahul and Dean as they set off down the road to Viridian City and their next adventure.