The next morning, Alex, Rahul, and Ryan awoke refreshed and said their goodbyes to Derceyes. Returning to Cerulean City, they healed their Pokémon, gathered their belongings, and set out on their next adventure down Route 5.

"Now we're onto Saffron City!" Ryan declared, leading the troupe.

"No way," replied Rahul, stroking his goatee. "I already beat Sabrina."

"Huh? But you have the same number of badges as me!"

"And that's one of the ones I have."

Annoyed at the big man, Ryan took out his little booklet with all of his badges and showed it to the others. "See, these are the ones I have. You should have the same badges as me, Rahul."

And yet, when the human Snorlax took out his own booklet, Ryan beheld that there was a Marsh Badge in it, though there was no Soul Badge. It was a crying shame.

Alex was not really paying attention. He was holding a little bowl of rice and was cutting up a cucumber over it while he walked. When the two looked at him, he shrugged and said, "Since I ran out and there aren't enough for one meal, I will be also eating a little less than half of an entire cucumber."

"That's great and all, but we have more serious matters to talk about," Ryan said earnestly. "Rahul and I have different badges, look!"

The two held up their badge booklets to Alex's face. "Yeah, I know," grunted the small Chinese Pokémon master. "Rahul and I are going to Fuchsia City next."

"Bu-bu-bu-but… I've already beaten Koga!" Ryan whined. "I want to go to Saffron City."

"Then go there. We'll go to Fuchsia, and you can go to Saffron. After Rahul and you get your next badges, we can meet up in Celadon City. It's pretty simple. That's where the next badge should be," Alex said, slurping up his cucumber slices.

"Fine," replied Ryan quietly. "I'll see you guys in Celadon."

"May Pagan's light shine upon you all," Rahul roared proudly, his Sonic Screwdriver thrust high in the cool morning air.

"Yep," Ryan sighed. "See ya, space cowboys."

And so Ryan left the other two at the next fork in the road. This was the first time since he had set out on his journey that he had been alone. He missed Kelly, and even though he knew he would be meeting Rahul and Alex again very soon in Celadon City, he was already beginning to miss them. Feeling a bit lonely, he let out all six of his Pokémon as he continued on, and trained them on the wild Pokémon lurking in the tall grass on the route for a while. He was sure Rahul and Alex had not done so with their own Pokémon, so they must have have quickly overtaken him on the path. Still, he did not mind going at a slower pace. Fuchsia City is much farther away than Saffron. I'll have time to train.

The road through Route 5 was rather short, however, and soon Ryan found himself approaching Saffron City. The sprawling megapolis protruded up from the forest in the distance like a sore tooth, yet when Ryan reached its northern gate it, he saw that the entrance into the city was blocked. In front of it stood an Officer Jenny.

"I'm sorry," she said, "this path is closed until further notice."

Ryan cocked his head to the side. "Wha…?! How'm I supposed to battle Sabrina, then?"

"We ask that you please bear with us during these trying times," the blue-haired woman beamed. "There is an underground path you can take," she began, gesturing to her right, where a small, slumped-over building stood, "that will take you to Vermillion City."

"I don't want to go to Vermillion. I already have that badge."

"Not to worry!" Officer Jenny chuckled. "Due to maintenance, several entrances to Saffron City are closed, but not all of them are. The gate from Route 8 is open. If you really need to get into the city, that's your ticket in!"

Ryan frowned, took out his map of Kanto, and shook his head. "But that means I have to go through Lavender Town!"

Officer Jenny didn't seem to care. She laughed, winked, and held up a peace sign. "Lavender Town's pretty far away! You better hurry up if you want to get there soon!"

Ryan grumbled to himself and turned away. "Come on guys, let's go," he said to his leal Pokéservants.

They followed him over to the small building, and just when he went to open the door, Officer Jenny spoke again: "Be careful down there, and don't cause any trouble! I don't want to have to arrest you!"

Ryan didn't turn around to look at her; nor did he reply. Instead he stumbled inside the old shack with his Pokémon hot on his heals. Finding the building abandoned, he noticed a ladder in the middle of the floor that led down to the underground tunnel. The room was dark, but Charmeleon kept it alight with his flames, and soon, all of Ryan's gang had made their way down to the underground tunnel. It was cold down there, silent and empty and ominous. He could hear water dripping, could smell a dusty, moldy smell. It didn't seem like this place was traversed much.

"Aegon, come here. I need your light," Ryan ordered his Charmeleon as they began walking through the place. He took out his map again and looked it over. "Lavender Town's a long way away," Ryan told the others. "We'll have to get a bike or something or we'll be walking for the rest of our lives!"

"Rah!" came the dry reply from Ryan's Abra, who sat perched on the boy's shoulder, half asleep. "Abra abra abra bra, abra abra rah."

"Oh, wait, I have to go back home too. I almost forgot. Thanks for reminding me, Abra," Ryan said, scratching his psychic Pokémon behind the ear. Yet, at the same time, a dread feeling flashed through his stomach. Don't forget Abra, mom said. Why would they want me to bring back Abra specifically? He didn't know, and he didn't want to know. Glancing down at the map again, Ryan noticed that the route to Lavender Town would lead him right past his hometown of Acapulco. "Well buddies, we may as well take a short trip home before challenging Sabrina," he said, his voice echoing through the tunnel. "What do you say?"

His Pokémon clamored out in approval. Ryan still didn't know what to think about going home. Were his parents going to congratulate him? Were they going to be mad at him? He had not the faintest idea. But the way his mother had been crying in her last video message to him gave him pause all the same. I wonder what that's about. But maybe it's not even about me. They could have been fighting again.

Plodding on, the tunnel narrowed, and Ryan could see graffiti lining the stone walls on either side of him. Phrases like 'SMB', 'X was here', and 'Feel the Bern' were common, but Ryan's favorite was surely 'The lombax sleeps tonight'. However, Ryan was cut off from further admiring these fanciful, if illegal artistic expressions, when a smell, so foul it brought tears to his eyes, hit his nose. Likewise, Aegon and the others began to gag and hold their noses. Ryan coughed and took out his Pokédex and pointed it at the darkness ahead.

"Hrawhechahea!" Thurnax moaned.

"Rah, abra!" Abra howled.

"Meleon!" Aegon whined.

"Fruahaha!" NaVorro sniffed.

"Pidgeooooooo!" Swirlie Whirlie screeched.

"Cloyster, cloy!" Myrrah sang.

"Dex… what's that smell coming from?!"

"Scanning…" Dex said. "No Pokémon detected."

"H-huh? How can that not be from a Pokémon?! Scan again!"

"You must get closer to the source for me to give a more accurate reading," the Pokédex replied without emotion.

"Aw, come on!"

"Rah, abra, abra!"

Ryan shook his head and pinched his nose as tight as he could. "Okay guys, guess we have no choice. There's only one way forward! Aegon, lead us out of here!"

And so they moved further and further ahead. By now, the tunnel had tightened considerably, and Ryan could barely walk straight without the walls scraping at his shoulders. The smell grew stronger and fouler the more they moved on. Ryan's entire face went numb, and it felt like he was dreaming. He was low on oxygen, he knew. Can't turn back… this is the only way to Saffron City!

After a few more steps, Dex's light flashed again. "Scanning… Pokémon found! Muk, the Sludge Pokémon. Smells so awful, it can cause fainting. Through degeneration, it lost its sense of smell."

"You don't have to tell me that… I already know!" Ryan motioned to his Charmeleon. "Go Aegon! Use your Fire Blast on that Muk!"

"Charrrrr!" Aegon complained. "Meleon, char char!"

"I'm not in the mood for your sass mouth right now," Ryan said. "Go take that Muk out! I wasn't asking you!"

Aegon barked, "Meleon!", and ran off into the darkness. Ryan stayed back as far as he could, with his other five Pokémon. In the distance, he saw flames bursting through the darkness, heard roars coming both from his Pokémon and the thus-unseen stinker. At great length, the reek of the Muk became even greater, causing tears to flow down Ryan's cheeks. He nearly threw up. At last, Aegon came running back to the group on all fours. When he reached them, he stood up and proudly flexed his muscles for Ryan. Then he let out a reckless mouthful of flames that caught Ryan right in the face and made him fall over screaming in shock and pain.

"Aegon… don't do that!" he screamed.

"Char."

"The Charmeleon has significantly damaged the Muk," Dex then noted. "A good Pokémon trainer would use this opportunity to capture the wild Pokémon."

"Shut up, Dex. I don't need the sass mouth from you either."

"My apologies master. I never meant to do you harm," Dex droned before turning itself off and quickly going into sleep mode.

"Stupid computer," Ryan said, standing up. He felt his hair, and noticed that the edges were all burnt and blackened. "Come on, Aegon, why'd you do that?"

"Char."

"Yeah, I thought so. Anyways, it's time for me to catch another Pokémon. I'm a great Pokémon master! Come on, Aegon, give me some light."

Ryan ran forward, forgetting that the Muk had stunk up the joint until the last moment. Just when he grabbed his nose, he saw Aegon's light reach the far corner of the room. There, a pile of sludge lay, burnt and blackened, like Ryan's poor face and hair, and radiating a stink that would've made Reek Sr. envious.

"Go Poké Ball!"

Ryan threw a Poké Ball at the ugly thing, but it didn't seem to do anything to Muk. The Poké Ball just sunk right into its folds of grime and was lost. "Dang it all! Aegon, use another Fire Blast!"

"Char!"

This time, Muk got cooked up real good, like a scallop in Hell's Kitchen. Ryan saw its eyes bulge in terror and pain and then saw the thing collapse into a puddle. He knew this was his time to show his true skill. "Muk, you're mine!"

This time, the Sludge Pokémon indeed was. It was sucked into the Poké Ball, and didn't fuss at all. In a few seconds, the Poké Ball fell to the ground and stopped moving. Ryan picked up the ball and pocketed it. "Yeeeaaaah! I caught Muk!"

"Rah, abra!" Abra complained from Ryan's shoulder.

"Meleon," Charmeleon agreed.

Ryan grinned. Despite the stink of the tunnel, despite having to take a detour to Saffron City, despite having to leave Rahul and Alex behind for a short while, this day was turning out better than he had expected.

He stepped forward, into the muck ol' Muk had left behind, the puddle of filth and residual grey matter that looked like melted jello, and reached down to pick up the first Poké Ball he had thrown. "Huh, what's that?" he said when what he picked up was not, in fact, his Poké Ball. Indeed, Ryan was looking at a cylindrical cobalt-tinted package. On its surface, in delicate white-blue cursive, was but one word: Blizzard. "Dex, explain," Ryan commanded.

"This device is a TM for the move 'Blizzard'. This powerful move may be taught to a variety of Pokémon."

"Blizzard, huh? How did that get stuck in Muk?" Ryan muttered, kneeling down again; this time, he found his missing Poké Ball, and put it back in his bag. "Hey, wait a minute! That's one of the moves Alex wanted to me to find!" He reached into his pocket and pulled out the napkin that Alex had written down his TM purchase list on. And on it, there was Blizzard, sure enough. And it was meant for not just one Pokémon, but two - both his Cloyster and his Tauros. Ryan smiled and said, "Awesome. Looks like NaVorro and Myrrah are getting a new move today! But first, let's get out of this stinking tunnel! Come on, buddies, let's go!"

He raced his Pokémon to the end of the tunnel, found the other entrance, and soon, the seven travelers emerged on the outskirts of Vermillion City.

"Remember this place, buddy?" Ryan asked Abra.

Abra yawned noisily and leaned up against Ryan's head, hoping to fall back asleep.

"Good, because we're never going back there."

Acapulco was a short bullet train ride from the mainland to the Island of the Giant Pokémon, situated not far off the harbor of Vermillion City. Ryan arrived back in his hometown just as evening was falling on the world. The city itself as was bustling and chaotic as it had been when he had left, with people moving in great crowds across the sidewalks, and cars zipping through the streets by the like angry Beedrills. He would have thought this to be pandemonium had he not grown up in it. Still, he decided it would be safer if he returned all of his Pokémon to their Poké Balls - and he did so for all of them save for Abra, who still sat sleepily on the teal-haired boy's shoulder. The two of them made their way through the crowds of people, trying to get uptown to where Ryan's parents lived.

As they went further and further north, away from the beach part of the town Ryan knew to be a tourist trap, the crowds thinned. Up there, the streets faded into cobbled paths lined with shops and food stalls on either side. Ryan treated Abra and himself to some uni sushi and bought some sweetbread for the morning. Then, they began to walk home.

It was at this time that a most curious thing happened. As Ryan made his way to the end of the market, he noticed an old alleyway that he used to traverse as a kid. He remembered when he had been much younger, waking up early on Saturdays and sneaking out of the house with a few extra Poké Dollars to come down to the market and buy some candy. The thought of those simpler days made him a bit sad. But this was a shortcut home too, he knew, so he took it. And when he went down that dark alley, Ryan ran into someone he had not expected to.

The boy's hair was dark blue and gelled, tall and pointed as horn. He wore a ridiculous suit of red-and-yellow with thick red-rimmed glasses. Ryan noticed that the boy's pants were bell-bottoms. He looked thoroughly out-dated, as if he had time traveled to the future from thirty years ago. He held a can of spray paint in one hand and was huddled over one of the walls, writing something on it. Hovering over his shoulder was a Ghastly, and it saw Ryan and Abra before the bell-bottom-wearing boy did.

"Ghaaaastly," the ball of smoke wheezed, causing its master to look up.

"Who's there?" came the voice, high and shrill. "Oh, it's just a kid. Get out of here, I'm warning you. This is my territory."

"What are you doing?" asked Ryan.

"None of your business."

"Suit yourself," Ryan shrugged. He walked past the other boy, weaving his way through the curving alleyway.

Yet, when Ryan came out on the other side of the buildings, he noticed two more boys wearing suits of red and yellow. They each had a Pokémon out - a Golbat and a Spearow - attacking an Eevee, and they were cackling with delight, watching the battle unfold in their favor. There was another boy in what looked like black-and-blue running clothes to Ryan, who was standing a little ways off. His eyes were wide, and he was shouting:

"Hey stop it! Call it off! Don't let them hurt my Eevee! I swear I won't come back here! Please!"

"Heh, this's what you'll get!" one of the others replied savagely.

Ryan scowled and looked back at the graffiti artist, who was still working on writing something on the alley wall.

"Yo, your friends are beating up on this kid's Eevee," Ryan noted. "Make them stop."

The blue-haired boy looked over at Ryan and then giggled. "Get out of here before they go after you too. This is our territory. If you come looking for a fight, you're gonna get one."

"I don't think he was-"

The other boy looked up and stared down Ryan. "Get out of here before I make you. No one comes into the Bell-Bottom Brigade's territory and tries to boss us around."

"You don't tell me what to do."

The other boy frowned and then pointed at Ryan. "Meatball! Shut this loser up!"

"Come on, we don't need to fight."

"Yes we do. I'm Falco, the leader of the Bell-Bottom Brigade! You have insulted my honor! And for that, you will pay!"

"Fine, Abra, use Psychic."

"Rah? Bra!" the Pokémon replied unhappily. He was still munching on his uni and looked none too pleased with the prospect of fighting.

"Abra, I don't have time for this. Go and fight that Ghastly."

"Rah…" Abra grunted. He hopped off Ryan's shoulder, swallowed the rest of his uni in one gulp, and cracked his neck.

"You're a fool," Falco smiled. "Psychic Pokémon are weak to ghost Pokémon."

"Maybe," admitted Ryan, "but you may be surprised. My Abra isn't a normal Abra."

"Nightshade, Meatball!"

Abra sprung forward, running up to the Ghastly, purple energy already forming between his claws. Before the Ghastly could conjure up its own attack, Abra's Psychic was fully formed. In the blink of an eye, the Psychic attack hit Ghastly right on the nose.

"Ghaaaa!" the Pokémon groaned. He twirled about a few times in a dazed stupor and then fell to the ground like an old fat man would after jumping into the east river.

Falco grimaced. "Impressive. I didn't expect that! But you're out of luck now, kid. Because… personally, I prefer the air! Go Clenny!"

Out from a Poké Ball soared a Pidgeot, as graceful as the wind.

"Wow," Ryan said. "He's got a Pidgeot!"

"Pidgeot, the Bird Pokémon," Dex stated when Ryan pointed him at Falco's new contender. "This Pokémon flies at Mach 2 speed, seeking prey. Its large talons are feared as wicked weapons."

"Hmm…" Ryan thought. "Let's use Myrrah!"

He threw the ball for his Cloyster, and out came Ryan's most favorite Pokémon on his team, aside from the other five.

"Aurora Beam, Myrrah!" he ordered her.

"Clenny, use Wing Attack!" Falco shouted back.

The two Pokémon clashed briefly, with the Pidgeot hitting Myrrah's hard shell. The attack did minimal damage, but Myrrah's icy blast hit Clenny hard in the belly, causing him to fall like the Ghastly had. This time, however, it was because the Pidgeot was encased in ice, not because it had fainted.

"Yeah, Freeze!" Ryan whooped as he punched at the sky. "I've always wanted to Freeze a Pokémon!"

"Curses and such," growled Falco. "I'll make you pay for this humiliation! The Bell-Bottom Brigade won't let its reputation be sullied by some loser like you!"

"I don't like that tone of yours," Ryan replied. "Myrrah, clear out the trash."

"Cloyster!"

Another Aurora Beam sent both Falco and his Pidgeot flying into the air.

"Noo! I'm blasting off for the first time!" Falco screeched.

"Have fun enjoying the air," Ryan said.

He walked back down the alley to the other two Bell-Bottom Brigade lackeys, whose Pokémon were bullying that poor dude's Eevee. They had their backs to him and were screaming at the top of their lungs as their Golbat and Spearow attacked the Eevee simultaneously and with great teamwork.

"Happy feet!" one yelled, as his Spearow landed on the ground and danced around the Eevee while the other's Golbat circled overhead.

"Wombo combo!" the other shouted in jubilation as his Golbat nose-dived onto the Eevee, hitting it hard. The Pokémon cried out in pain and fell to the ground, looking as if it had fainted.

Ryan bit his lip in disgust. "Hey, over here!" he shouted at the two. Then, more quietly, he said to Myrrah, "Do to them what you did to Falco."

"Cloyster."

The two boys turned around, grinning from ear to ear. And then, their smiles vanished instantaneously. "Dat ain't Falco!" one gasped. Myrrah was already bearing down on him, charging up her Aurora Cannon as she approached. "Oh! Oh! Oooh!" he began to shout as he realized what was going on.

"Oh, ooh, oooh! Oh!" the other boy screamed at the top of his lungs as he watched in horror as Myrrah suddenly and swiftly took both his and his friend's Pokémon out in but a single attack.

"Falco, where're you at?!" the first lackey screamed in dismay.

"He had to fly," Ryan said. "Why don't you two join him?"

"Oooh!" they screamed in unison as Myrrah's furious tempest hit them, slapping their faces with ice and whipping winds harsh enough to blow them away. And then, like Falco, the two Bell-Bottom Brigade members and their Pokémon went flying off into the sky. And Ryan didn't even think about how they were going to survive the landing.

Ryan approached the boy who was crouched over his fallen Eevee. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"I-I'm okay," the other boy replied, his voice distant and sad. "But they beat up Zoe pretty good."

"Here," Ryan said, reaching for something in his bag and then tossing it to the boy. "This Super Potion should heal her."

"Thanks!" The other boy's eyes were brimming with tears. "How can I repay you for saving me from those creeps?"

Ryan shrugged. "Don't worry about it. Just train your Pokémon some more, and hopefully this kind of thing won't happen to you in the future."

The other boy nodded and stood up. He put out his hand, which Ryan took. "I'm Logan by the way," he said. "Nice to meet you."

"My name's Ryan," Ryan replied. "Anyways, I have to go. Maybe I'll see you at the Indigo Tournament. Later."

With that, Ryan walked off, leaving the grateful boy behind. In the distance, he saw houses - the houses of his neighborhood - peeking up from a wall of hills. I'm almost home. He was nearly there when he heard the town's belltower start sounding. He counted the rings, and was horrified when he heard this one go to eleven. Mom and dad are already asleep, he knew. This is way past their bedtime - and mine too, they would tell me. They would be really mad if they knew I was still up. And I don't want to wake them. I'll have to be quiet.

But another thought crept into Ryan's mind then and there. If they're already asleep, there's no point in me going home so soon.

Ryan clapped his hands and Abra came scurrying up. "Alright, Abra. Whaddya say, you and I have a little fun?"

"Raaaah," came the reply, as dry and miserable as the Sahara.

"Great!"

The boy with the burnt hair found his luck at a little shop called 'Pokémon in a sandbox'. There, he found a Poképoker tournament going on and entered himself into the fray. Ryan ordered lots of orange juice, placed Abra on his lap, and went to town. With his Psychic Pokémon helping him, Ryan was able to clear through the competition like they were a bunch of idiots from northern Europe.

After he had had a few too many orange juice boxes, Ryan carelessly informed the other players around him, "I've got white magic, baby!"

This caused one man - a gentleman, to be sure - to stand up and challenge Ryan to a duel for all of his chips. Ryan was too imbibed with the juice to realize what a silly thing it would be to challenge the gentleman to a battle for his tournament life. But challenge the man he did, and when Abra lost to the man's Machamp, Ryan found himself busted out. He cursed them all and ran screaming from the building insisting that he still had all the white magic in the world.

As the night got later, Ryan became less and less cognizant of what was going on. He did not know why he was buying and drinking so much orange juice - he hated the stuff, truly - but a feeling of wanting to party, to finally let go of all of inanity of life had suddenly and perhaps unconsciously overtaken him. The rest of the night, as a result, was mostly a blur to him.

In one shop, he tried to become a karaoke megastar with Abra serving as his backup dancer, but that failed when Ryan forgot the words to 'Daddy'. Then, he tried to join a crowd of fellow teenagers dancing in a rave, but when he realized he didn't know how to dance and had more epilepsy than grace in his bones, he fled the place. Ryan soon found himself in a food stall taking bets for how much wasabi he could eat (the answer was none), and briefly tried to fight someone who made fun of his hair.

Afterwards, he stumbled out into the streets and attempted to hit on an Officer Jenny, but when she suspected there was orange juice on his breath, he ran off, carrying Abra like a sack of potatoes. Laughing and shouting, Ryan kept running until he found himself back at the alleyway where he and his Pokémon warriors had vanquished Falco and his gang. Ryan stumbled forward and nearly tripped over the spray paint can that Falco had been using. He looked down and picked it up, finding himself face-to-face with what Falco had been painting on the wall. There was but a simple statement on the wall 'F was here'. It was as pathetic and lame as Ryan could have expected, and he began to laugh uncontrollably. He remembered the Officer Jenny in Saffron City who had cautioned him to not get into any trouble or do anything mischievous.

"Well, to Pokéheck with her! I'll live my life in my own way!" the boy bellowed at no one and no one in particular. He pointed the can at the wall and held down the trigger until the 'F' looked more like an 'R'. Satisfied, he turned around put out his hand for Abra to high-five him. Yet, his little psychic Pokémon was huddled up against the far wall, his arms folded, his head bowed, snoring loudly. Ryan broke out into hysterics again for but a moment. And then he collapsed onto the filthy ground and joined Abra into that grand venture known as sleep.

Ryan awoke with Abra in his arms. The teal-haired boy's head was killing him, and he did not feel well-rested at all. Yawning, Ryan sat up and looked around. It was morning, and he was alone in the alleyway. Fog was rolling through the town. He shivered and stood.

Rubbing his eyes, Ryan found his hand covered in red paint. Weird, he thought. I don't remember getting my face painted. In truth, he remembered very little of the previous night, nor why he had gone as crazy as he had. No one will know about this, he thought, but guilt flooded through his veins all the same. He walked out of the alleyway, rubbing the paint off his face, and once again made his way back home.

"Come on, Abra," Ryan said to his snoring companion, who awoke at the boy's words, "are you ready to go home?"

I know I'm not.