In a green foggy place like the inside of a cloud, a fearful Misty was frantically running desperately from one place to another. She had no idea where she was or how she got here, and what was worse, there was no sign of her friends anywhere.

"Ash! Brock! Where are you?" Misty called out desperately. "Please guys, I need you!"

She tried to step forward, but found her foot was stuck. Looking down, she was dismayed to find that a Gyarados had wrapped its tail right around her foot and was pulling her down towards its jaws!

Misty shrieked in terror...

...and abruptly woke up, to find she had been propped up on a sofa in the Gym's living room, still dressed in her mermaid costume with a blanket draped over her form. As Misty sat up and took in her surroundings, she sighed in relief.

"Oh, it was just a dream," she said to herself, as Ash and Brock came into the room, along with Pikachu and Togepi.

"Hey Misty, are we glad you're awake," grinned Ash, as Pikachu and Togepi jumped onto the sofa to comfort Misty, who was still feeling a little shaky from her experiences.

"So am I," said Misty. "I just had a real big nightmare."

"Here, have some nice hot tea," Brock said kindly as he passed Misty a cup he had been carrying over for her. "You'll feel better once you've had this down you."

"Thanks, Brock," smiled Misty as she gratefully accepted the cup. As she drank down the tea and steadied her nerves, Misty listened as Ash and Brock told her about her rescue after she had passed out.

"We're sure relived you're okay, Misty," said Ash, "but Gyarados is still running wild back in the pool."

"Yeah, after what happened to you, your sisters are now thinking it might be best to separate it from the other Pokémon until it calms down," added Brock. "They've just gone into town to see about getting some kind of barrier to fence it off from the rest of the pool and aquarium."

"I guess they're right," said Misty sadly, her heart heavy from the knowledge of how she had failed to rein Gyarados in.

Suddenly, there came a loud crashing sound from the direction of the pool.

"Hey, now what's happening?" exclaimed Ash, as he, Brock and Pikachu dashed out of the room and headed back to the pool.

"Hey, wait for me!" cried Misty as she hastily changed back into her own clothes and ran after them with Togepi in her arms.

As the three friends and their Pokémon dashed back into the pool chamber, they were shocked to see that a large hole had been made in the ceiling, through which an all-too familiar hot air balloon, in the shape of a giant Meowth's head, had drifted into the stadium. At the bottom of the balloon was a hefty chain, which dropped into the water and connected to large cage with bars that completely ensnared Gyarados!

"Hey, what's the big idea?" yelled Ash angrily, as they saw the familiar figures of Team Rocket standing in the basket of the balloon.

"The idea is that you should prepare for trouble," said Jessie as she and her teammates began to chant their all-too annoying motto as they always did whenever they made a big entrance.

"And you should definitely make it double," chimed in James.

"To protect the world from devastation."

"To unite all peoples' within our nation."

"To denounce the evils of truth and love."

"To extend our reach to the stars above."

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

"Meowth! That's right!" added Meowth.

"Wobbuffet!" finished Wobbuffet.

"Team Rocket! What are you losers up to this time?" demanded Ash.

"Why, we're actually doing you twerps a favour," sneered Jessie.

"Yes, by taking your big angry Gyarados off your hands," added James.

"Which we're going to give to our boss as a present," said Meowth, with a greedy rub of his paws.

"What makes you think your boss will have better luck trying to tame Gyarados than the rest of us?" retorted Misty. "Besides, there's no way we're going to let you get away with this!"

"Oh, I think we already are getting away with it," chuckled Jessie. "All right, boys! Time for a swift exit!"

The balloon began to rise into the air, with the intention of lifting the cage containing Gyarados with it. However, Team Rocket had made a serious miscalculation, as the combined weight of the cage and Gyarados made them too heavy for the balloon to lift. As a result, the chain pulled taut, and the balloon came to an abrupt halt before it could go back through the hole it had made, causing Team Rocket to tumble to the bottom of their basket!

"Gah, why aren't we moving?" snapped Jessie.

"I guess our balloon isn't strong enough to lift Gyarados up with us," said Meowth sheepishly.

Seeing that Team Rocket's escape was not going according to plan, Ash realised that this was their chance to save Gyarados.

"Bayleef, I choose you!" he called out as he threw a Poké Ball and a large pale-yellow Pokémon with green leaves emerged from it. "Okay Bayleef, use your Razor Leaf attack on that chain!"

Bayleef immediately sent a series of razor-sharp leafs flying towards the chain connecting the balloon to the cage, slicing it clean through and separating Team Rocket from their intended catch of the day.

"All right, you twerps, if it's a fight you want, you've got it!" hissed Jessie as she threw one of her own Poké Balls. "Go Arbok!"

"You too, Weezing!" added James as he threw a Ball as well.

From the two respective Poké Balls emerged two purple-coloured Pokémon: Arbok, a large cobra-like Pokémon, and Weezing, a Pokémon that consisted of two spherical heads joined together.

"All right you two, use tackle attack on that Bayleef now!" commanded Jessie.

Working together, Arbok and Weezing launched themselves at Bayleef, knocking it right into the wall!

"Bayleef! Are you all right?" cried Ash as he rushed over to the dazed Pokémon.

Brock glowered at Jessie and James. "That was downright low! Two-on-one is not a fair match!"

"Who cares?" snorted Jessie. "Team Rocket fights to win by any means we like!"

"I think you're too chicken to fight by yourself," countered Misty with a cheeky grin.

This remark really annoyed Jessie. "You annoying little brat! I'll teach you! Arbok, use poison sting on those twerps now!"

Arbok obeyed instantly, as it opened its wide mouth and sent a series of poisonous needles shooting towards Ash and the others!

"Look out everyone!" cried out Brock as they all tried to dive out of the path of the poisonous stings.

Ash, Brock and the Pokémon were able to get clear, but Misty was not so lucky, as dodging the various stings caused her to lose her balance and fall into the water of the pool, with Togepi falling out of her arms and landing safely on the poolside. As she began to swim back to the poolside, Misty turned and looked towards the bottom of the pool, where Gyarados was still caged up.

Even after all the trouble Gyarados had caused them, Misty knew she could not leave it trapped in Team Rocket's clutches, and so, putting aside her childhood fear of the giant serpentine Pokémon, she dived down and swam towards the cage. Grabbing the bars, she tried pulling at them, but they would not budge. She was just wondering if she could get one of her Water Pokémon to help, when Meowth happened to glance down and spot what was happening.

"Hey, the red-headed twerp is trying to get Gyarados free!" he exclaimed, pointing with his paw towards Misty.

Growing more incensed than ever, Jessie reacted at once. "Arbok, stop that annoying brat!"

Immediately, Arbok redirected its sting attack away from Ash and Brock, and down into the water, sending the stings flying right towards Misty!

"Misty, look out!" cried out Ash in alarm.

Just able to hear Ash's voice through the water, Misty saw the stings heading straight towards her and Gyarados. Misty's first instinct was to swim clear, but she knew that she was the only thing that could block the stings from hitting Gyarados. Impulsively, she swam right in front of the stings, taking all the hits herself instead of Gyarados!

As Misty screwed her eyes shut and tried to ignore the pain of the stings, she could not see the change in Gyarados' expression. It had watched the efforts to rescue it with some surprise, and it was further taken aback by how willing Misty seemed to be to protect it.

"All right, Arbok, dive in and try a tackle attack!" commanded Jessie. "Then we can get back to dealing with those other twerps!"

With a hiss, Arbok dived into the pool and shot itself directly towards Misty, colliding head-first into her and causing her to crash right into the cage bars, knocking the air right out of her! As Misty lost consciousness, the Gyarados looked on with horror.

"Misty!" shouted Ash and Brock in dread as they saw their stunned friend begin to sink to the bottom.

"Pikachu-Pi!" called out Pikachu as it and a distressed Togepi watched the unfolding drama in utter shock.

"I don't know about you, but I'd rather be me than her right now," chuckled Meowth wickedly.

"Yes, I'd say she's the loser now," added James.