The big man's Lapras stood on the rocky floor of the Pewter City Gym, cool and confident. It was a dim place, the air dusty and brown-tinted; rocks were strewn across the ground in a sort of obstacle maze that Ryan found himself forced to navigate. Still, it was not a hard puzzle, and he realized that simply following the path through the rocks on either side was enough to bring him to his destination.

Ryan could barely make out the visage of the Gym Leader from this far away - all he could see was a brown, spiky-haired man with a green striped shirt and blue jeans. They were already at battle - Lapras was facing off against an Onix. Just when Ryan came into the warm, low-lit building, he heard Rahul shout, "Surf!", and Lapras exploded onto a wave of water, shooting itself at the Onix. The Gym Leader's Onix was hit fully by the attack and fell backwards, unconscious. Then, the Gym Leader returned his Pokemon, and yelled.

"Well done. You have defeated me. I guess that means you deserve a Boulder Badge."

Rahul whooped and danced around like Stephen Hawking at a disco party. Ryan clenched his fists. If he can get one of those badges so easily, I should be able to too! He used a water Pokemon, and a water move… The boy glanced down at his bag, looking at the six Pokeballs within. Now, who do I use, he thought. I know! Cloyster! Ryan grabbed the ball holding his Cloyster and brought it out. In the other hand, he produced his Pokedex and pointed it at the ball.

"Alright Dex, tell me what moves Myrrah knows."

"Myrrah the Cloyster knows the following moves: Withdraw, Supersonic, Clamp, Aurora Beam."

"Are any of those water type moves?" the teal-haired boy asked.

"Clamp is a water move."

"Perfect."

Ryan stepped forward, ready to challenge the Pewter City Gym Leader, when suddenly from behind a boulder, a little kid lunged out. He threw his Pokeball at his feet and then screamed:

"I'm a Jr. Trainer, let's fight!"

Ryan was unimpressed. "I'm here for the Gym Badge. I don't want to fight you."

"Too bad, I already saw you! That's all it takes!"

The boy sighed and fingered his Pokeball containing Myrrah. Noticing that the Jr. Trainer had let out a Diglett, he wasn't all that worried. "Fine. But this is an entirely pointless battle."

"No way, I'm a Jr. Trainer! I'm in the gym! I'm important!"

Myrrah took out the Diglett with a single Clamp, causing Ryan's opponent to cry out in anguish, as if he had just been hit by a bus. He threw a second Pokeball, but Ryan left his Cloyster out. "It's going to be another ground Pokemon," he told Myrrah. "It's definitely a theme. Clamp the heck out of whatever it is!"

And so she did. The poor Sandshrew the Jr. Trainer let out was immediately tackled by Myrrah, wrapped up in her shell, and clamped pretty hard. The whole battle lasted about ten seconds. Once it was over, the Jr. Trainer fell over and started crying. "But I'm supposed to be the best! I'm in the Gym! I'm Forrest's second-hand man!"

"What's your name, kid?" Ryan asked him, returning Myrrah to her Pokeball.

"I'm Jr. Trainer!" the other responded, his face red with sorrow and humiliation.

"See, that's your problem," the boy observed. "I don't know why your mother named you that, but it was a pretty accurate name."

Leaving the crying Jr. Trainer behind, Ryan moved forward to the gym fighting platform, where Rahul and Alex stood, the former being congratulated by a man with closed eyes, whom Ryan knew to be the Gym Leader.

"Nice work, buddy!" Ryan said, enthusiastically. He came over and patted Rahul on the shoulder, causing the larger boy to grunt in pleasure. "Only four more to go!"

"Yeah," Rahul stroked his goatee. "Let's get out of here."

"Wait, I've still gotta get my badge!"

"Oh, right."

"Stand back and watch the magic," Ryan said, cocksure as a midget on the yellow brick road. "This won't take long."

"Hello," said the man standing across from the group. "I'm Forrest."

"Nice to meet you," Ryan replied with a little bow. "I'm Ryan. i'm here to beat you!"

Forrest nodded curtly. "I'm Pewter's Gym Leader! I believe in rock hard defense and determination! That's why my Pokémon are all the Rock-type! Do you still want to challenge me?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Fine then! Show me your best!"

Forrest threw a Pokeball, and out from it popped a measly Geodude. Ryan almost laughed as he threw Myrrah's Pokeball. It doesn't seem fair, he thought. But I guess that's what I get for challenging some of the harder gyms first.

"Geodude, Tackle attack!"

Ryan stepped back and smiled. "Clamp it up, y'all!."

His Cloyster nodded in obedience and then thrust itself forward, using its superior speed to catch the Geodude in midair. Before Forrest's Pokemon could use its attack, Myrrah clamped down on it and knocked it unconscious.

"Impressive," Forrest said. "Return, Geodude. Go, Onix!"

"Use an Aurora Beam this time," Ryan commanded his Cloyster.

She did so without pause; in a brilliant flash of light, Myrrah's beam hit Forrest's Onix, sending it flying back into a nearby collection of rocks, strewn on the edge of the fighting pad. Seeing this, Forrest sighed, and then spoke:

"Return, Onix."

"Return, Myrrah."

Forrest smiled and stepped forward, reaching for something in his pocket. "I took you for granted. As proof of your victory, here's the Boulder Badge!"

Ryan beamed, did a little jump, and punched the sky. "Yeah man, I'm invincible!"

"I'm guessing this isn't your first badge," Forrest said. "Usually, trainers who come to face me have just begun their journeys."

Ryan went a little red. "Y-yeah… well, I live on the other side of Kanto, so I may have already tried out a few other gyms!"

Forrest nodded. "You're not a bad trainer, Ryan. Just make sure that you don't get overconfident, so you don't let yourself get outsmarted on the battlefield. Always remember that your opponents can defeat you; this will be more apparent once you fight against trainers who have similarly-leveled Pokemon. But good match nonetheless."

"Alright," the boy said, putting his new shiny Boulder Badge in the little booklet with his Volcano Badge, Soul Badge, and Thunder Badge. "Whatever you say! I'm the winner! I'm the winner! Whoo!"

Forrest laughed, in spite of himself, but he never opened his eyes. Ryan had no idea why that was. Regardless, now that the Gym battles were over, Ryan and the others decided to run out of the rocky, poorly-lit place, their hearts light and their minds full of thoughts about how great they were.

Outside, they were met with a cold blast of reality; it was snowing, and snowing hard.

"Man, we'll never be able to travel in this!" Ryan complained.

"Alright, let's find a place to spend the night. You guys received some money for beating Forrest, so that shouldn't be a problem." Ryan and Rahul nodded. "And it's getting late. Those dishes won't wash themselves," he said, more to himself than to the others.

So off the three went, into the blizzard, to find a nice, and hopefully cheap, place to spend the night.

The wind was rising. Ryan could hear it beating against the room of their motel. It was a shabby, dirty place they were staying in. In this bleak town, Ryan guessed there were few travelers who stayed more than a day, so these old rooms had probably not been cleaned in a long time. He noticed a layer of dust, nearly half an inch thick, coating the nearby dresser. He glanced over at the telephone, hanging on the nearby wall (which was a thin layer of pink-and-white patterned paper that was beginning to peel off and yellow) and bit his lip, remembering the message he had left for his parents. Hi mom, it's me, Ryan. Just wanted to let you know that I won my fourth badge today. I'm making great progress! Hopefully I'll be able to take part in the Indigo League Tournament this year. I hope you and dad are doing good and can come see me fight. That would be awesome. Anyways, I'm off to Cerulean City. I'll call again after I get my next badge. There had been no answer. It was late, but not that late - only 8:30 pm. He would expect them to still be up at that time. Maybe they went to sleep early. That's why there was no answer.

Rahul was lying back in bed, engorging himself on a cheese pizza he had ordered from room service and watching the television. On it, two Pokemon trainers were battling - one had a Rhydon, and the other a Nidoking. Ryan became enthralled with the battle too, and soon, the two trainers were shouting just as loudly as the crowd surrounding the two Pokemon and their owners (Ryan rooted for Nidoking, while Rahul of course rooted for Rhydon). I want to be like that one day, Ryan thought. I want the whole world to cheer me on. Right now, he would settle for his parents showing up to his first battle in the Indigo League.

Alex suddenly appeared, wearing a white apron and yellow rubber gloves, and sat down on the edge of the bed. After a few seconds of watching the battle, he stood up and walked away in annoyance. "There is literally no reason for Nidoking to use Poison Sting," he said. "These two don't know what they're doing. And the crowd is just as ignorant."

"What moveset would you give Nidoking?" Ryan asked him.

"Earthquake, Blizzard, Thunder, Body Slam," the dishwasher replied instantly.

Rahul rolled his head around, grinning in disbelief. "Come on, Alex! Those are all TMs."

"Yeah, well that's the optimal moveset for Nidoking."

"I know, but still…" Rahul laughed, shaking his head. "Can't we just enjoy this? All I want to see is a bunch of mindless fights, and it doesn't matter if it makes sense! I just want to be entertained."

"Do you know the best moves for all Pokemon?" Ryan asked Alex.

Alex shrugged. "I've got a book I'm working on," he said, pointing to his backpack, which was slung around a nearby chair. "I've been theorizing about the best movesets for all Pokemon, as well as which Pokemon are the best for competitive battling. But it's not complete. Not yet. I still have a lot more traveling to do, and a lot more Pokemon to study."

"Aw, can you tell me which moves I should give my Pokemon?"

Alex took off his rubber gloves and sat down in a chair to eat a cookie he had found on a plate. "In the morning, maybe. First you have to come up with your six-Pokemon team. No use coming up for moves for Pokemon that won't get you anywhere in the Indigo League."

"Quiet!" Rahul roared, as the Rhydon and Nidoking continued to battle it out on TV. "I want to see who wins."

Alex shrugged, and Ryan got up, slinking over to the table where Alex sat. "What should my team be?"

"There's no perfect team," Alex replied nonchalantly, nibbling on his cookie. Ryan noticed it was a raisin cookie and nearly vomited. "Why don't you tell me what you have right now."

"Uh… well, I've got a Charmeleon, a Dragonair, a Cloyster… a Tauros that some guy gave me, a Golduck, oh and my Abra! And I have a Beedrill and either a Nidorino or a Nidorina in storage."

"Those last two are useless," Alex said unmercifully. "Cloyster, Tauros, and Abra are all good. Of course you still need to level them up some more, especially Abra. He needs to have evolved into an Alakazam by the time you get to the Indigo League if you want to use him there. Charmeleon and Dragonair might be usable if you level them up, too."

"What other Pokemon should I catch?" Ryan's voice was filled with awe. He had never thought about his final team for the Indigo League, but now he was getting excited. Especially if he had someone as smart as Alex helping him, he knew he might be able to get pretty far in the tournament.

Alex reached into his backpack and took out his book. Thumbing through it, he stopped on a page and pointed to a list of Pokemon. "Exeggutor, Gengar, Rhydon or Golem, Starmie, Chansey, and Snorlax are all good choices. If you don't plan on using your Charizard and Dragonite, once they evolve, you should use three Pokemon from that list."

"Well, I do like Aegon and Thurnax," Ryan said. "But I would like a Gengar. I always thought that was one of the coolest Pokemon since I was a kid!"

"Alright," Alex said. "If you can find a Haunter, definitely catch it. You may want to consider another Pokemon from my list, though. Charizard won't be that great against trainers who have a good team."

"And how many of my opponents in the Indigo League will know about the best Pokemon to have?"

Alex shrugged. "Probably not many. But it never hurts to have a good team anyways."

"Yeah, I've always wanted to be the best!"

Alex didn't laugh, as often happened when Ryan made a joke around him. And while that made Ryan sad, the boy could not dwell on such emotions, for he knew that he needed to get some sleep. Soon, the three would rise and set off for Cerulean City, and soon Ryan would need to find and catch a Haunter. He got up, thanked Alex for his wise counsel, and made his way to bed. Soon, Alex did the same. Rahul, however, stayed up quite a while longer, watching the great Pokebattles on screen and sucking on the hot green pepper that had come with his now-fully-consumed pizza, no doubt oblivious to the fact that such battles were, invariably, only a taste of what could actually be realized by the most skilled and intelligent trainers.

The blizzard had stopped by morning, and Ryan, Rahul, and Alex were greeted to the sight of snow slowly melting off Pewter City's world famous rocks when they stepped outside. The three bundled up in their heaviest, warmest clothes, and then set out into the cold of day. It was a grim prospect, for Ryan hated the cold almost as much as he hated school, but he knew they could not afford to waste any more time. The tournament was coming up soon, and Kelly would be waiting for him there. He would not let himself miss that.

"We better get to Cerulean City fast," Alex warned. "There may be another storm coming."

"Yeah let's go! Fifth badge, here we come!" Ryan said cheerfully.

Rahul looked rather tired and merely grumbled some quiet acknowledgement.

As the three adventurers gathered their bags and set out, Rahul's Charizard, and Ryan's and Alex's Charmeleons blasted the snow from their path. They tread through the sodden, muddy path until they came to a spectacle just outside the Pewter City Museum. Dozens of people stood standing around, some even with their Pokemon. No less than four Officer Jennys could Ryan see. At once, Rahul went running up to one, whom he showed his sonic screwdriver to (Ryan knew Rahul was trying to get the pretty bluish-haired policewoman to show him her guns in return). Ryan and Alex walked up to the entrance of the museum, where a frazzled-looking man with long black hair and a fine suit and bowtie was standing.

"What's going on?" asked Alex.

"Oh, it's terrible. Dreadful! Horrific! Just the worst!" the man languished. "Someone stole all of our fossil specimens! Priceless artifacts! They belonged in a museum… our museum! And now they're gone! It's just dreadful! Horrific! A nightmare!" The man appeared to be crying.

Ryan tilted his head in confusion. "Why would anyone do that?"

"Oh, these fossils are worth a fortune! And if one has the proper technology, I'm sure you could reanimate a few of the ancient Pokemon found inside those fossils."

"That sounds ridiculous," Ryan noted.

"It's always been like that. Don't question the science of the Pokeworld," the man wailed.

"Okay man, chill."

Ryan and Alex were just about to leave, when the teal-haired boy spotted a familiar man standing just inside the museum.

"Dr. Kaku!"

"Who, wha… don't assault me!" Michio Kaku screamed suddenly, turning and cowering.

"Uh, it's just me, Ryan. Remember? You led me and my group through Viridian Forest not too long ago."

"Ah yes, of course," chuckled Michio, though in his eyes was a certain wild bewilderment that Ryan knew meant the man had no clue who he was.

"We were just going over what happened to the museum," Mr. Kaku explained. "Some hooligans, most likely. That's what the physics imply. They came in here," Michio said with a little laugh, "and stole all of the fossils last night. All of them, every one! They sure were thorough."

Ryan thought back to the light he had seen on in the second story of the museum the night before, and how weird he had found it at the time. I could have stopped this if I had realized what was going on. "Yeah, that sucks," he said.

"We have teams out looking for whoever did this. Would you be so kind as to keep an eye out, too?" Dr. Kaku asked politely. "We really would like to get the fossils back. They are an important part of the history of this town… and of Kanto as a whole!"

"Don't worry, we will," said Alex quietly.

"Hey, who's that?" asked Ryan, pointing to a hanging wall scroll just to the left of Michio Kaku and the destroyed museum cases that once housed all of the building's fossils. On it was the visage of a woman with silver hair and bright purple eyes. She was riding on a Charizard who was shooting fire out of its mouth at another flying Pokemon with purple skin and a dinosaur-like face that Ryan did not know. She was the most beautiful woman Ryan had ever seen. It took his breath away just looking at her.

"Oh that?" Michio Kaku seemed surprised. "That is a painting done of the reclusive Dragon-type caretaker of Kanto, Derceyes. She owns the largest collection of Dragon and Dragon-like Pokemon in the region - if not the world, in my estimation."

"She's still alive?"

"Oh yes, she lives just north of Cerulean City to this day."

"Why is there a painting of her in the museum, though?"

"Well, as you can see, she is a bit of a prodigy as it relates to Dragon Pokemon. It is her research that taught us much of what we know about these kinds of Pokemon. She has given us much of her research and even donated the eggs of her Pokemon to allow us to study these species more closely. And, look," Michio said, pointing to a clear glass case just below the picture. "These mega stones were given to us by Derceyes to study."

"What's a mega stone?"

"Heheh, well, don't worry about that," Michio Kaku said. "That is something for us physicists at Smogon University to study. If we ever figure out what they're for, we'll let you know."

"Dean has a mega stone for Magikarp," Alex observed. "It's on his mega ring. I think we already know what mega stones do."

"No, no, no, no one knows. Not yet," Michio Kaku stated. "We must study these mysterious devices more closely if we are to transition into the future of tomorrow. You see, Tomorrowland is a land of extraordinary promise and superhighways. In the future, no one will leave their houses - it will be a world of three-dimensional imagination full of cybernetic…"

Ryan and Alex got the heck out of there as soon as Dr. Kaku started to ramble. When they returned to Rahul, who was sitting on nearby bench, enjoying a bowl of hot and sour soup, they found the boy to be in high spirits. "Look what I got," he boasted to the other two, holding up a little strip of paper. "Officer Jenny's number."

Alex snatched up the piece of paper and read it. "This is just the number for the police… 911."

"It's Officer Jenny's number," Rahul said, unperturbed. "Once I get all of the badges, I'm going to give her a call. She's a fan of Doctor Who. I showed her my Facebook, and she loves how I share all this useless crap about things I like all day every day. 24/7, Alex."

"Alright," said Alex, ignoring his good friend. "Let's go."

So off they went, their fire Pokemon melting a path in the road for them. The road to Route 3 was as rocky as it was cold, as crater-filled as it was desolate. Ryan saw not a single strip of tall grass to train his Pokemon in. Instead, they trudged on in silence, occasionally stopping to eat, but never stopping for long. Abra rode in Ryan's hoodie, sometimes muttering in his sleep, sometimes teetering on the edge of falling out (though he never quite did). The fire Pokemon continued their work in earnest, never seeming to tire of spitting out their lifeflames. But aside from the whooshing of their fires, or the hissing of the snow melting, there was almost no sound. Route 3 had an eeriness to it with how quiet it had become, Ryan came to learn. He guessed that was probably because of the blizzard sending all of the wild Pokemon and travelers into hiding, but it was unnerving nonetheless.

So it should come as no surprise that when the three boys heard voices carrying over the snow and rocky cliffs of Route 3, they all paused and looked at one another to make sure they were not hearing things. Curiously, Ryan leading them, the group made their way off the path, into the snow, and to the voices. When they rounded a large chunk of rock stuck in the ground, they found two people standing in a clearing, next to a few pine trees.

One, Ryan immediately noticed. He was Gillford, the pathetic little recruit of Team Rocket. He was wearing a dark suit with the Team Rocket logo emblazoned upon his chest in a red "R". Standing next to him was a purple-haired girl with light green eyes. She too was wearing a dark Team Rocket suit. Upon seeing Ryan and the others, the two looked up and cursed. They jumped back, revealing a clearing in the snow, where they had laid out their plunder.

"The fossils," Alex whispered to the others, pointing at the bag that lay on the ground. A few old rocks were spilling out of it, and the little yellow bag was probably filled to the brim with expensive artifacts.

"So these are the ones who stole from the museum?" Rahul stepped and scratched his goatee. "But why did you guys do that?"

"Shut up," the girl replied. "Turn around and walk away. What we're doing doesn't concern you."

"No way," said Ryan. "We know what you did! We're going to return those fossils to the Pewter City Museum."

"Not a chance," said the girl, smiling slightly.

She snapped her fingers, and then from the nearby bushes, a Pokemon came shooting out.

It was one Ryan knew, one that made his heart start to beat faster, one that made him as anxious and hopeful as it did scared. He brought out his Pokedex anyways and pointed it at the hovering, purple monster.

"Haunter, the Gas Pokemon. By licking, it saps the victim's life. It causes shaking that won't stop until the victim's demise," the Pokedex droned.

"Haunter, use Hypnosis on these fools."

"No wait!" Rahul said, reaching for a Pokeball. Alex did likewise, but it was too late; the Haunter unleashed its attack on the two, instantly causing them to fall over into the snow, asleep.

Ryan, however, was saved. He too had screamed and put his hands over his face, anticipating the worst. Yet, his Abra had woken up at that moment, and just before the two could be hypnotized to sleep, Abra had teleported them safely away. Now Ryan stood alone to face the two members of Team Rocket.

Gillford grumbled, reached for a Pokeball, and then threw it. Out came a Poliwrath to join Haunter.

"Oh come on, two-on-one isn't fair!" Ryan complained.

"Life's not fair," the girl noted. She had a cute, pirate smile on her face now. "This ends now."

Ryan scrunched up his face and then pointed to the snow. "Alright, fine. Go Abra! Let's take these guys out!"

There stood Ryan's most noble Pokemon. Haunter and Poliwrath loomed over Abra like two predators about to pounce on their next meal. Ryan knew this was going to be over soon. He reached into his pocket to grab a second Pokeball. I can't let Abra get hung out to dry.

Before he could throw the Pokeball (the Pokemon inside being a mystery that will surely never be solved in this story), there came a shout from behind Ryan. He turned and saw a man in a thick Gore-Tex jacket slogging through the snow. His brown hair, dark skin, and closed eyes were unmistakable.

"Forrest?!"

"Go Golem!" the Gym Leader shouted. Out from the Pokeball came a large rock Pokemon, the final evolution of Geodude. I knew that guy had stronger Pokemon than the ones he used against me! "Help that Abra take these Team Rocket lackeys out!"

Now Abra and Golem stood against Poliwrath and Haunter. We have a chance now, Ryan knew. It's time to remind Gillford how bad of a trainer he is. And that girl, though she was pretty with her dyed purple hair and shiny earrings, would have to pay too. There was something attractive and cold about her, something that made Ryan both want to beat her in battle and take her out to see a movie. But he had priorities. They stole from the museum. We have to get the fossils back.

"I'm no lackey," replied the girl. "I'm the second-in-command of Team Rocket! I'll make you pay for underestimating me!"

"And I can levitate!" Gillford added. "I'm a Tier 1 warrior who exists beyond the planes of reality! My Pokemon are demi-gods! You cannot hope to defeat me!"

Ryan and Forrest looked at one another and nodded. "Don't hold back," Forrest told him. "We're going to show Team Rocket that they can't get away with stealing from anyone."

Ryan clenched his fists and looked back at the four Pokemon ahead of him. "Alright Abra. Let's do this! Use Thunder Wave on that Haunter!"

And thus, Ryan's first double battle (which had had the most peculiar lead up to a battle ever), was about to begin. Like every other battle that had already occurred in this story, this one was going to decide the fate of the universe or something. Don't miss the stunning conclusion to this legendary clash of titans in the next episode of A Just Edge!