What would normally take most starting trainers a few days to reach Pewter City, only took Ash and Tracey a couple of hours on the main roads.
"We're almost at the Gym." Tracey announced.
"It feels like forever." Ash breathed out.
Tracey laughed a little. "Same old Ash."
Ash 'pouted' while Pikachu laughed slightly. "I've grown up you know."
"Yeah, but your impatience still shines through." Tracey smiled.
Five minutes later, Tracey put the jeep in park and turned off the engine. He turned to Ash who had somehow fallen asleep. Pikachu was still awake, just resting peacefully on Ash's legs. Tracey still thought of Ash as the young boy who loved anything Pokémon, eager to explore new places. He still found it hard to believe that the same young boy who grow up into someone who stopped out of control legendary Pokémon and saved others in several different regions.
Tracey woke Ash up and they got out of the jeep.
Ash looked up at the building on front of them. It still looked like the giant rock that he remembered. He looked to the front door, seeing a sign on the door. He moaned when he read that the Gym Leader was out to lunch.
Since they had apparent time to kill, Ash and Tracey decided to take a small tour of the Pewter City Museum. Tracey paid for both of their entrance fees and they began looking around.
Despite seeing a few revived Kabuto, Omanyte and their evolved forms, along with the Aerodactyl that Gary Oak had revived, Tracey still felt in awe at the skeletons of both Aerodactyl and Kabutops. As soon as Ash soon the two fossils, he shuddered.
"Are you alright?" Tracey asked.
"Yeah." Ash sighed. "Just a bad memory to do with these two Pokémon."
"Destroying a city?" Tracey guessed.
"Altomare." Ash breathed.
"It doesn't matter." Tracey quickly said, noticing Ash's voice catching.
Tracey only heard about what happened through Misty and Brock. And even then he didn't understand everything. But he knew that a Pokémon had sacrificed itself to save the entire population. Tracey put those thoughts out of his head as he noticed a crowd gathering around a curtained display.
"What's going on over there?" Tracey asked.
The two friends joined the crowd as the speaker, most likely the curator of the museum, held a microphone to his mouth.
"Thank you all for visiting the Pewter Museum. It gives me great pleasure to see people still attending museums to learn the history of our world." The curator announced. "Despite our limited space, we are still recovering and making additions to our collection. And our latest addition is nothing to scoff at either." He motioned to his left and Ash and Tracey instantly recognised the figure walking on stage. "It is thanks to our own former Gym Leader, Brock, that we have our newest donation. So without further ado; Brock Harrison!"
The crowd cheered as Brock stepped forward, taking his place just in front of the curator. "Thank you. As the former Gym Leader, it is my honour to proudly donate this fossilised skull of the ancient Pokémon, Tyrantrum."
Brock stood aside as the curtain dropped to reveal a large skull. Tracey gasped with the rest of the crowd while Ash sighed slightly.
"What's the matter Ash?" Tracey whispered.
"Seeing the fossil reminds me of my Kalos friends." Ash sighed. "One of the Gym Leaders had a sister who used to sleep in some Tyrantrum Pyjamas."
"Well, don't worry, I'm sure you'll see her again." Tracey reassured his friend.
"Knowing my luck, the world would have to be ending again." Ash sighed.
As if on cue, the building rocked and smoke began to fill the room. Everyone looked around in a panic as everybody's view was slowly being blocked. The sound of several footsteps filled the room. The smoke cleared, revealing several men and women in matching black uniforms and hats.
"Who are you people?" The curator demanded.
"Team Rocket!" Brock answered for the group. "What are you doing here?"
"Now!" called a man.
Several floating purple Pokémon called Koffing and Weezing gathered in the centre of the room and began to glow white.
"This is bad." Tracey muttered. "Can any of your Pokémon help?"
"Not really." Ash replied. "What about yours?"
Tracey shook his head. "Nope. And I don't want Scyther to get exhausted before I actually need him."
"What are we going to do?" Ash asked.
"Chansey! Use Pound on the Koffing and Weezing!" Brock called, throwing a Poké ball.
A round pink Pokémon with an egg in a small pouch erupted from a flash of white light, and headed straight for the glowing poison types. Despite Chansey's small arms, the second she hit one glowing Pokémon, it fell into some others and fell to the ground, dazed. Chansey quickly turned and hit the last few Pokémon, stopping their attack.
'I guess Chansey hasn't lost her strength.' Ash thought.
"Get out of here Team Rocket!" Brock ordered.
But the gang each simply grabbed a Poké ball from their belts and held them up, ready to throw.
Ash shrugged his shoulder, giving Pikachu the hint to attack. "Pikachu, Thunderbolt!"
Pikachu sent a surge of electrical energy spreading throughout the members of Team Rocket. All of them collapsed to the ground; too stunned to move.
There was a moment of silence as everyone waited to see if anyone would start to get up. When it was clear that no-one was getting up, the crowd began to clap and cheer or their rescuers.
Brock quickly walked to the microphone. "Save the applause and call the authorities."
As Brock got off the stage, he saw his Pokémon waving him over. Brock walked over and saw a familiar black haired boy. Despite what had just happened, a smile found its way onto Brock's face.
"I knew I should've recognised that Thunderbolt. Or at least how strong it was."
"Well, you have seen it first hand for several years." Ash smiled back.
"What are you doing here in Pewter anyway?" Brock asked.
"Well, I finished the Kalos league. Sort of." Ash answered. "I dropped off my Kalos Pokémon and told Tracey I was going to visit you and Misty."
"I brought him along so when he sees Misty, my Marill can see Azurill." Tracey added.
Brock turned his head as several identical looking policewomen with green hair and blue uniforms swarmed the museum, instantly arresting the frazzled members of Team Rocket. Ash took a side glance at Brock, seeing him in his expected daydreaming gaze.
"I'm still a little unsure what to do." Tracey admitted.
Ash nodded. "Don't worry." He looked at Chansey. "Chansey, would you do the honours?"
Chansey said her name in a mischievous tone, tapping one of Brocks other Poké balls three times, releasing a dark blue Pokémon with white and black bands around its waist. It looked at Brock's face and saw the policewomen. The Pokémon instantly raised a hand with its three fingers glowing a light purple before quickly jabbing Brock in his side.
"Croagunk? Where did you come from?" he moaned before sinking to the floor and being dragged away by Chansey.
Croagunk watched his pink teammate drag his trainer off to the side. After looking in 'Croagunk shock', he quickly made his way to his trainer to see if he was alright.
"That was different." Ash commented. "Usually Croagunk drags Brock away."
"I thought that Misty." Tracey said.
"And Max." Ash agreed.
Tracey looked at Brock, slowly sitting up. "Is he going to be alright? You know, being hit with a Poison Jab?"
"Ever since Croagunk joined, he was hit with Poison Jab every time he saw a woman." Ash answered, walking towards Brock. "He'll be fine."
"We've rounded up every member of Team Rocket that was here." One of the officers announced. "If we could ask you all to remain here so we can take statements, it would be most appreciative."
After giving their statements, Ash, Brock and Tracey left the museum and decided to go to the Pewter Gym to pick up some more of Brock's Pokémon. Brock had decided to join Ash and Tracey on their visit to Cerulean.
Once inside the Gym, Ash noticed that the gym had been redecorated. He looked at the ceiling and noticed that the sprinkler system was now protected against errant attacks. He remembered back to his win against Brock using Pikachu's electrical attacks to turn on the sprinklers and then electrocuting the damp, and supposed immune to electrical attacks, Rock Snake Pokémon; Onix. Since then, Onix had evolved into a Steelix under the care of Brock's younger brother, Forrest.
"What are you thinking about?" Tracey asked his friend.
"I'm thinking back to my first Gym battle." Ash smiled. "It's something I'll never forget."
"Beating my Onix with just a Pikachu." Brock interrupted. "Definitely memorable."
"Did you get who you wanted?" Ash asked.
Brock nodded. "Let's go to Cerulean now."
Upon stepping out of the Gym, the three friends noticed a column of smoke rising from the large bright red roof of the Pokémon Centre.
"That can't be good." Ash said, holding up a Poké ball. "Noctowl, go and see if there's any trouble."
He threw the ball in the air alongside Brock, who called out his own flying Pokémon, Crobat to help.
"I think we should still go." Tracey suggested. "Come on."
Ash and Brock followed him to the jeep and Tracey quickly followed the two flying Pokémon. A small explosion caused Tracey to immediately stop the jeep and step outside. Crobat and Noctowl stopped in mid-air and just watched the destruction.
"What was that?" Ash asked.
"Someone blew up the Pokémon Centre." Brock said, stunned. "Who would do that?"
"Let's go and see." Ash quickly ran towards the scene, Pikachu hanging on to his shoulder.
Brock and Tracey looked at each other before climbing back into the jeep and driving as close as they could.
Ash managed to beat the jeep by taking a few shortcuts through small alleyways and managed to push his way through the crowd that had formed to see the small pieces of building that were left. He saw the Nurse Joy of the Centre with a sheet around her shoulders and five Chansey all sharing a look of sadness.
"What happened?" Ash asked.
"It was Team Rocket." A man next to him said. "They blew up the Centre, but no-one knows why."
Ash knew that this was not how Team Rocket worked. Or at least, he hoped not. He quickly turned around and made his way to the back of the crowd as Noctowl and Crobat flew down to him. "We need to find Brock and Tracey."
He walked back along the road and eventually found his friends.
"What happened?" Brock asked.
"Team Rocket blew up the Centre." Ash replied. "No-one knows why."
"Team Rocket?" Tracey asked. "They couldn't do this."
"Not those two." Ash agreed. "But I don't know about the others."
"What do we do?" Brock asked.
"There's nothing we can do." Tracey told them. "Despite the tragedy here, at least the security will be tightened at the other Centres."
The next sentence by Ash was cut off by a ringing from Brock. He pulled out a small device from his pocket and opened it.
"Brock? Are you there?" a girls voice spoke.
"What's up Misty?" Brock asked.
"Are you in Kanto?" Misty questioned, Brock noticed a slightly panicked tone.
"What's wrong?" Brock insisted.
"I don't know." Misty answered. "But I know something's wrong."
"How can I help?"
"Come to Cerulean." Misty answered. "And if you can, get a hold of Tracey."
Brock looked at the artist. "I'm sure I can do something." Brock put the device back in his pocket and looked at Ash and Tracey. "I guess we're going to Cerulean."
"Well, it's not why I thought I'd be going to Cerulean, but I guess there's no choice." Tracey sighed.
Watching the jeep leave for Cerulean City from the shadows, a small white cat with two humans all shared a look of concern with each other.