After encountering Serena's angry Gyarados on the raft, our heroes were sent into a whirlwind, with their fate in the hands of the storm. After what felt like an eternity, Ash slowly awoke to the sight of two young men in speedos standing over him. The young trainer jumped back upon the sight, realizing he was on a bed in what looked like a very fancy room. "Uhh... Where am I?" he uttered in a clueless fashion.

"I'd like to start my day without Ash waking up to a weird situation. Please? Just once?" Leaf sarcastically said to herself as she face-palmed.

"Ash, we're in Hutber Port, Porta Vista. We ended up on an island close to Vermilion City. These sailors recovered us, and now, we're.. Uh.. Here." Brock said with a hint of hesitation.

"Yes! Now you are here! And now you will help me with my grand construction project since my sailors saved your lives!" an older woman with red hair exclaimed as she appeared from seemingly nowhere.

"Nastina, I'm really thankful for what your men did, but I already told you; I won't take part in harming the Tentacool and Tentacruel so you can build your grand hotel." Serena said, trying not to sound confrontational.

"Grand hotel? Tentacool and Tentacruel?" Ash inquired.

"That's right! My men found you in the bay and they could've left you there! But since they did not, you will help me exterminate those rotten Tentacool and Tentacruel so I can build my very own Nastina's Grand Hotel, built by me, Nastina!" she insisted.

"Well I don't think it's right! The Tentacool and Tentacruel live there, so we have no place to take their home from them!" Serena shot back as she crossed her arms and refused to even glance over at Nastina.

Nastina seethed as Serena refused her demands. "Look, I'll have my parents send you a check or something to help pay for the expenses," Serena said, turning her back and walking towards the door, "but I will NOT remove those pokemon from their homes!" she exclaimed as she exited the room.

"Now there's a girl who can't be bought." Nastina mumbled with anger. "Very well. If the runts won't help me, I'll make a public appearance!" she declared.

Ash, Brock and Leaf all followed Serena out of the building and down to the port. "The nerve of her! And to think; people like that actually have power in this world! I can't believe how you can be so cruel!" Serena huffed as she walked just ahead of the rest of the gang.

"Uh, Serena. I know this may not be the best time, but do you remember me?" Ash reluctantly asked. "Pika?" Pikachu tilted its head with curiosity.

Serena stopped in her tracks and turned around to address him. "That's right. You asked me that back on the SS Anne.." she said, recalling their first encounter. "I.. Where would I know you from?"

"Professor Oak's summer camp about ten years ago!"

Serena placed her hand on her chin, trying to remember, "Yeah, I do remember that camp, but.." she pondered.

"While I think it's absolutely hilarious that you can't remember Ketchum but he can remember you, I would like to inform both of you that a ferry is not visiting this island until later tomorrow. And seeing as how we won't be leaving with Nastina's men, we should probably start looking for a place to stay." Leaf asserted.

Before anyone could respond, a commotion could be heard coming from the city. "ATTENTION! I WILL OFFER $500 TO ANYONE WHO WILL REMOVE ALL OF THE TENTACOOL FROM THE SURROUNDING AREA OF MY HOTEL CONSTRUCTION SIGHT JUST OFF THE ISLAND!" declared Nastina, who apparently drove in to town on a small tank.

"Is she serious?" Brock angrily inquired.

"Surely no one will take her up on that.." Leaf added. Almost as if to prove her wrong, a crowd of nearly 200 people came pouring into the streets where Nastina had positioned her tank.

"This is wonderful! I don't even have to get my hands dirty AND I will be rolling in cash once I build my hotel!" the crookedly opportunistic woman shouted with joy as people lined up to help her. "OK! I'm going to shoot this toxin over to the Tetacool. It will stir them up and send them closer to the shores of our beaches! So all of you can get rid of them for good!" she said as she loaded the barrel of her tank with a mysterious cannon that contained her toxin. Without hesitating, Nastina launched the toxin over to the Tentacool. Within a minute, the agitated group of Tentacool, probably close to a hundred, all crowded the shore of the beach. But something strange happened; from the large group of Tentacool, one of them evolved into a Tentacruel and grew to be about 30 feet tall.

"Whoa! What happened!?" Ash shouted, gazing at the unusually large pokemon.

"Tentacruel should only grow to be about 7 feet tall!" Brock exclaimed.

"It has to be whatever Nastina shot over there. That Tentacool had a weird reaction to it!" Leaf added.

The Tentacool started flooding the island en mass, causing widespread panic and confusion, including Nastina - who hid in her tank and drove away. As for the giant Tentacruel, it started smashing into buildings by swinging its large tentacles.

Ash grabbed Serena by the arm and pulled her into a near by building Leaf and Brock were both able to break into. "Tentacruel... no.." Serena said to herself. Although she was frightened, she also sympathized with the Tentacool and Tentacruel for being wrongly provoked.

"Are we seriously going to be the ones to clean up this mess!? We didn't do anything!" Leaf shouted, almost as if she predicted what Brock was thinking.

"Leaf, there's no telling what will happen to the city if we don't do anything." Brock responded.

"Well. I guess we have to fight." Leaf admitted, despite a part of her not wanting to intervene.

"Fight?" Serena inquired.

"Yup. It doesn't matter that one crazy person provoked the Tentacool. The fact is, there are hundreds of people on this island who had nothing to do with any of that. And their lives are worth protecting." Leaf responded. "Dragonair: let's go!" she declared as she summoned her dragon-type.

Ash and Brock both nodded.

"Pikachu, Pidgeotto, Frogadier: I choose you!"

"Geodude: come on out!"

"Serena, I'm not gonna ask you to fight." Ash said to her calmly. "But I want you to make sure everyone in the building is safe. You can take Charmander and Bulbasaur just in case." he added as he handed her his two pokeballs.

"Ash..." she said, admiring his respect for her conflicting emotions. She took the pokeballs and firmly nodded as the group split up.

Ash's Pidgeotto and Brock's Geodude went around helping people get away from the Tentacool filled streets of the city. Ash's Pikachu tried to keep those Tentacool at bay with Thunderbolt. While the gang and their pokemon were indeed helping, this was not enough to stop all of the pandemonium completely.

"Dragonair: Dragon Pulse!"

"Frogadier: Water Pulse!"

Leaf and Ash commanded their pokemon to attack the Tentacool, significantly knocking many of them back. However, no matter what progress was made against the Tentacool, they seemed to just respond with more of them coming from the water.

"This isn't working! There's too many of them!" Ash nervously exclaimed.

"Is that Serena on the roof?!" Leaf shouted.

Sure enough, Serena stood on the roof of a large building, staring almost eye-level at Tentacruel, accompanied by her Squirtle and Ash's Bulbasaur and Charmander. "Tentacruel! That's enough!" she declared to the top of her lungs. This caught not only Tentacruel's attention, but the attention of seemingly the whole city.

"I know Nastina hurt you! I know there are other people who would do the same. But I promise you all humans are not like that! Most humans love pokemon and would never try and take them away from their homes! I.. I want you to have this if you promise to stop attacking the town."

Tentacruel fixated on Serena with some skepticism.

"This is a very special pokepuff I made the night before I started my journey as a pokemon trainer. I was saving it for a special pokemon I just knew I was going to meet during my journey. And I want you to have it, Tentacruel.."

Tentacruel appeared take aback by Serena's offering. A few silent, tense moments went by for what seemed like an eternity. Tentacruel turned around and stared at the people of the town for a moment. Then, it motioned to the Tentacool, who immediately began moving back into the water, one-by-one. Tentacruel grabbed Serena's pokepuff, and nodded at her, almost as a symbol of thanks. Serena smiled, "Thank you, Tentacruel." she said under her breath as the large pokemon made its way into the water.

Fortunately, the Tentacool and Tentacruel did not do any damage to the city that could not be eventually repaired, nor did they severely hurt anyone. Ash and the gang helped the city clean up what little they could.

"I've sent for a ferry to pick you four up tonight, and I've notified Kanto officials that you all are safe after the SS Anne sinking." Officer Jenny said to Ash and the gang.

The gang let out a sigh of relief and nodded.

"I also want to extend my utmost gratitude for your help. Without you four, this could have gone a lot worse. And I have contacted the International Police about Nastina as well. She won't get far."

"No problem, Officer Jenny. Now, how about a date before we leave?" Brock humbly asked the officer who tried to let him down easy.

The group shared a laugh.

"Well, this has been... Something." Leaf said turning her back to Serena and Ash. "I'mm going to the docks to wait for our ride out of here." she said as she walked away.

"Serena, you were awesome!" Ash assured.

"Aw. Thank you, Ash."

"I know you don't remember me, but, it would be really cool to travel with someone like you on my first pokemon journey." Ash said, humbly scratching his nose.

Serena blushed and giggled. "Yeah, sorry about that. But I would love to come along with you!" she enthused. "And ya know, I'm sure it won't take long for me to remember you." she said with a wink.

Ash, slightly blushing, firmly nodded. "Great! It's gonna be awesome!" he declared.

And with that, Ash, Brock, and Serena set sea on the ferry back to Kanto, where boundless adventures await them.