"It has to work!" whispered Yellow hiding behind a bush. Her entire body was itching, however, she didn't dare to move a muscle.
The boy next to her was bored. "Are we going to stay here all day looking at nothing?", he complained after yawning with boredom. He used his fingernails to scratch his body. "I'm going to end up scratching my skin..."
The two had given up looking for the forest after spending hours and hours walking through that huge green area, when Yellow had an idea.
"How did I not think of that before!" she had said. "If pokemons are mysteriously disappearing, the best way to find out is to look with our own eyes!"
Ash had bugged. "How?"
So she had explained everything she had in mind. They would use one of the boy's Pokemon as bait and watch if it was bitten.
"Fine.. I guess," he'd said not too confidently. "But at the first sign of something dangerous coming up I'll save him!"
"Fine."
The boy had taken the Charmander out of his Poké Ball.
"Ember, I need you to stand here while we watch. I promise nothing bad will happen to you."
The Charmander nodded. And that's how the two ended up behind that bush while watching the pokémon play with its own tail in a monotonous way.
"Yellow... Do you happen to know Professor Oak?", Ash said, breaking the silence.
Yellow turned to him. "Yes, why?"
"I knew your name was familiar, so you chose Bulbasaur?"
She was confused.
Where does he know me from?
"I did."
"Aha, I remembered your name. Yellow. It's not very common. You know, I was supposed to pick a starter that day, but I ended up being late. But it doesn't matter, after all I got another pokemon anyway..."
Then he explained the whole story to her, from the fact that his alarm clock didn't go off to the fall of a meteorite near his house in Pallet.
"Did it come from the moon?" she asked upon hearing the story.
"Yes. I think she's still hiding something from me... But I'll find out," he replied. "And not only that, I even get to talk to her."
Is he just like me?, thought Yellow, excited at the possibility of having met someone else with the same abilities as her.
"I can also communicate with Pokemon!", she replied.
He looked at her doubtfully. "Well, I can't exactly talk to her… Yeah but it's like some kind of psychic link, I just hear her talking in my mind."
"Ah...", Yellow blurted out, disappointed. "I thought that-"
He suddenly interrupted her and looked apprehensively in the direction where the Charmander was. He pointed there.
"Look there..."
Yellow turned in time to see the Charmander start to walk alone, as if in some sort of trance.
Ash was going to yell something, but Yellow covered his mouth. "Be quiet," she murmured. "Let's follow him."
The trainer nodded.
The two began chasing the Charmander grimly, trying not to attract attention.
They arrived at a place where the forest was more open.
Ash had called the Charmander back.
"What is this place?" he asked, intrigued.
In front of him, a scene that looked like it came straight out of a horror movie. Several Pokemon were tied to chains while being forced to do slave labor. One row went into an underground cavern, while another passed boulders from hand to hand until they reached a metal warehouse.
Ordering everything were two people, a man and a woman; and a Meowth. They wore a kind of white uniform with a big red "R" in the center. The red-haired woman wore an eye patch.
The three carried whips with them.
"Come on you bunch of scums, you still have a whole day's work ahead", the man whipped a Bulbasaur which was barely able to carry a big rock with the help of his plant whip.
Yellow narrowed her eyes, trying to see from afar.
Sauro! she thought, alarmed. He was in a deplorable situation. His skin was full of red marks from the lashes and his eyes drooping. All his vitality had been drained away.
She also managed to spot Chuchu, Kitty and a Clefairy that she assumed was the Luna Ash had spoken of. They seemed to be in some sort of spell, just obeying their orders.
She was sure that that Bulbasaur was the same one that had disappeared while picking berries.
Meowth said: "If you want to have something to eat I recommend you stop stalling and speed up, we don't have all day, nyah!"
It was so cruel she couldn't even look.
"Team Rocket...", the boy said beside her. He pulled her behind a tree where the two of them hid.
"Do you... know them?", she asked, falling to her knees on the ground.
She felt the bile rise to her throat. The urge to vomit overwhelmed her.
"Unfortunately, yes... Bandits of the worst kind and unscrupulous," replied Ash.
"This is so cruel," Yellow said, shocked by the level of rot. "Why are they doing this?"
He shrugged.
"We have to be very careful if we want to get our Pokemon back," he said. Then he pointed in a direction where there was some sort of machine. On top of it was a huge antenna. "I bet they're attracting and controlling pokemons with the help of that machine. If we can destroy it maybe we can get our pokemons back."
Yellow looked once more at the scene. She saw a Vileplume falter and fall to the ground, sighing in weariness.
"Come on, old hag, get up, the work isn't over yet," scolded the woman.
She began to whip Vileplume mercilessly.
"The sage", Yellow sketched when recognizing the pokémon.
The Vileplume tried to get up, however, her weakening due to age did not allow her.
"I can't take it anymore!" Yellow said, crying.
Ash shook her, staring into the girl's teary eyes.
"Yellow, I know it's hard to watch, but we have to be rational. Last time I ran into them I ended up causing a tragedy, I can't risk losing someone else again."
Yellow clenched her fists. "Sorry Ash... But I have to protect my family."
He tried to grab her. Yellow got rid of his hands, pushed him and ran towards the woman who continued to whip the old pokemon, revealing her identity.
"STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!"
She placed herself in front of the woman and the Vileplume lying on the ground. She looked at the blonde girl, startled by the sudden appearance.
"Who are you?" she asked in disbelief.
"My name is Yellow and I won't let you hurt my friends anymore!", Yellow replied with determination.