Ash watched Gary hurl his Pokeball into the air with his hand as a way of taunting him across the field next to Viridian's gym. His Clefairy slept in the basket of his bicycle parked beside the wall. He had decided to not choose her for battle because he was still angry about what had happened on Route 1. Also, it would be the perfect chance to test his new Pokémon in battle.
Finally, Gary made his move.
"Ember, show this loser how to do it," he said as he dumped the Pokemon onto the field.
The Charmander named Ember nodded. The flame in his tail ignited.
It reminded Ash that he needed to give a name to his Porygon.
Poly is a good name.
"Go, Poly!", he called his Porygon out after thinking of the name he would give it.
The Porygon materialized in the field, floating. It was a solid-bodied Pokémon with blue and red colors. Upon materializing in the field, he began to act strangely and looking at all sides at the same time.
"What is this thing?" asked Gary. He pointed his Pokédex at the Pokémon, then the device started talking robotically: "Porygon, the virtual Pokémon. A human-created Pokémon that resulted from scientific research. It's only programmed to demonstrate basic moves."
"Ember, use Ember!" said Gary.
The Charmander threw several sparks of fire from its mouth towards Porygon.
The Porygon was hit, falling to the ground. He got up as if nothing had happened.
"Poly...", Ash was going to say something until he seemed to realized.
He didn't know what moves his pokemon knew.
Gary seemed to see the problem.
"Don't tell me... you don't know your own Pokemon's moves? Typical of a loser like you."
"W-w-wait there!", replied Ash, red. He picked up his pokedex. Then he researched on it what moves the Porygon knew. "Ready."
He had memorized them all.
"Poly, Discharge!," ordered Ash.
The Pokémon was static, emitting unrecognizable sounds.
He decided to repeat the command: "Poly, Discharge!"
Porygon looked at him. Then it fired an electrical charge at Ash.
"AHHHHHHHHHH", shouted Ash as he was hit by the shock. His hair had stood up all over.
Gary burst out laughing.
"Pathetic. I won't hold back anymore. Ember, attack the Porygon with Tackle!"
"Ho-ho-hoi," Ash complained. He smoothed his hair with his hands so that it was straight again. "Porygon, evasive."
However, Porygon was slower than Charmander. The Charmander ran towards Porygon and hit him.
"Now, Tri-Attack!"
The Porygon began to emit a beam from its body, which was formed by three colored lights. Charmander was hit and faltered.
"Ember counterattack with Flamethrower!"
The flames were launched towards Porygon.
"Poly, Teleport!"
The Porygon managed to teleport away in time to escape the flames.
Ash was finally getting the hang of battle.
I'm gonna win!
"Tisc, beginner's luck," said Garry. "Charmander, Slash!"
The Charmander ran towards Porygon and delivered a slash with his sharp claws.
"Poly, Sharpen!" Ash said. He had an idea in mind.
The Porygon changed the shape of its solid body. From his body sprouted two sharp claws.
"Now attack the Charmander!"
The Porygon used its claws to try to hit the Charmander who struggled to try to dodge all the attacks made.
The Porygon's claws began to make holes in the field's sand. Dust was thrown, making it difficult for the trainers to see the battle.
"Don't let him get to you," Gary warned the panting Charmander.
"Ah, now I got you! GO POLY!"
The Porygon used its claws and hit the Charmander with everything. The fire lizard fell to the ground, extremely injured.
"This!" Ash jumped. "Hey Gary, what's your threat level now? I very much doubt your Charmander will be able to recover after this one."
Gary gave a smug smile. "Now"
"What?"
From underground, the Charmander emerged, hitting the Porygon with a powerful melee blow. The Porygon was thrown into the air.
Ash's mind couldn't process what was happening.
"Tuchê," said Gary. "Ember, Seismic Toss."
The Charmander parried the falling Porygon from the air and threw it with a strong impact to the ground, causing a large crack in it.
"No!," said Ash, finally realizing the strategy. "How stupid I was."
The Charmander had taken advantage of the dust curtain to hide in one of the holes in the ground and then attack Porygon while he wasn't paying attention. And that body lying on the ground was...
A Substitute.
Again he had been deceived by that sneaky move.
"Poly..."
The Porygon struggled to get up again. It was pretty hurt.
Gary smiled.
"Haven't you given up yet? Alright, I'll end this once and for all."
Suddenly, two robotic hands appeared out of nowhere and grabbed the Porygon and Charmander, pulling them along.
Ash turned to the side, squinting his eyes. There was, what appeared to be, a large robot. He possessed the form of a Meowth.
After the two Pokemons were sucked by robotic hands, they ended up in a transparent glass sphere in the center of the machine.
Piloting the robot, there were two people.
A blue-haired man and a woman with long red hair. In between the two was a Meowth. The two appeared to be wearing some sort of white uniform with an "R" shaped emblem.
"Who are you?," Ash asked.
The three smiled.
Then they started to perform as if they were in some kind of play.
"You ask who we are brat, I'll tell you soon", he was surprised by Meowth.
He speaks!?
"Prepare for trouble!"
"Make it double!"
"To protect the world from devastation!"
"To unite the people of our nation!"
"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"
"To extend our power to the stars!"
"Jessie!"
"James!"
"Team Rocket taking off at the speed of light!"
"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"
"Meowth, that's it!"
If the situation had been different Ash would have burst out laughing at that ridiculous number.
Cringe, he thought.
"How ridiculous, a bunch of grown people wanting to pay as a hippie," said Gary.
"Shut up, brat! We'll take your dear Pokemons and deliver them to our boss. I want to see you two laughing about it," Jessie said in a menacing tone.
"Give me back my Pokemon!", Ash demanded.
"Mine too!," said Gary.
"Ha ha ha ha, try to stop us," said the man.
The robot started to move, running away from there.
"STOOOOOOOOP," shouted Ash as he watched the gang flee.
He tried to run. However, it was in vain. They were quickly out of sight.
He dropped to his knees on the asphalt of the street. Gary soon caught up with him.
"Now what? Do we have to contact Officer Jenny?", Ash asked with an expression of concern.
"There won't be time, by then they'll be far away with our Pokemons."
Ash looked at the ground.
"So what do I do?"
"Do you have your bike around?"
"Yes?"
"Let's follow them," Gary said with determination.