Henry slowly came to. He was face first in the sandy subterranean beach. The professor lifted his head and looked around. A faint light made everything visible. It revealed his beached Mantine, and a magnet arm of his Magneton sticking out of the sand.. He assumed the rest of it was buried in the sand. He saw the source of the faint light, a crackling fire. To his surprise, Gertrude was on the other side of the fire, shivering uncontrollably. Her eyes met his and she mouthed some words that he couldn't make out. He sat up to focus better on her. From a dark shadow a man ran out, flailing his arms and screaming. This scared Henry so much he jumped up and ran over his Mantine to get away, but Henry was stopped by a Seel. Probably the same one that attacked him in the ocean, he didn't know.
Henry turned around and said, "Who are you?" The Seel jabbed Henry in the butt with its horn. Henry ignored it. But the man in tattered clothes just grunted and waved his hands. "What?" said Henry. The man did the same thing again, but ended in punching Henry in the face. Gertrude screamed. Henry fell to the ground. He grabbed his Pokeball and stood up. He threw the Pokeball at the man's head. It bounced off and opened up, and sucked Mantine into it.
The man rubbed his head and tried to punch Henry again, but Henry was faster and grabbed the man's arm. The Seel jabbed Henry with its horn again, and Henry let go of the man's arm. "I have no time for this," Henry said. He walked past the man and picked up Mantine's Pokeball. As he walked towards the fire, he grabbed another empty Pokeball and returned his Magneton into it. Henry stopped by the fire and rubbed his hands together, warming them up. When he was done, he walked over to Gertrude and offered his hand to help her up. Once she was up, Henry turned to the man and said, "Well, I appreciate you saving me, but we must be going now."
The man roared, and pointed at them. The man's Seel and a Slowbro walked in front of him. "He wants to battle?" said Henry.
"No, I think he doesn't want us to leave," said Gertrude.
"Oh, we're leaving," insisted Henry. He reached for a Pokeball. So did Gertrude. They threw theirs at the same time. She sent out her Persian. It flexed its claws and yawned. Henry sent out his Hitmonlee. "Hitmonlee, use Mega kick on the Seel."
"Persian, use Body Slam on the Slowbro," commanded Gertrude. Hitmonlee went to kick Seel, but was thrown into the rock wall without being touched by Slowbro. Persian slammed into Slowbro a second too late if it wanted to save Hitmonlee, but it did damage to Slowbro nonetheless. Seel used Aurora Beam on Persian, but Persian jumped out of its way. "Persian, use Scratch on Seel." Seel cried out as Persian sank its claws into Seel.
"Hitmonlee, get up and use double kick on Slowbro." Hitmonlee jumped up and ran over to Slowbro. Just before it got to it, it spun around, kicking it once, and then twice. Slowbro was thrown on top of the fire, almost putting it out. "Now finish it off with Mega Kick." Hitmonlee's leg glowed white and then delivered the final blow to the Slowbro.
"Persian, Faint attack!" Persian but it was too late, Seel had hit it with an Aurora Beam. Persian flew into the rock wall.
"Hitmonlee, Mega Kick." Hitmonlee's foot again glowed white and it kicked Seel with tremendous force. The Seel flew into the air and landed underwater. The man growled. Gertrude and Henry returned their Pokemon and walked past the man. "Well, bye. Hope to see more of you later," said Henry to the man, teasingly. Henry picked up a flaming stick and used it as a torch to guide them through the cave.
When they were far enough away from the man, Henry looked down. "My goodness, your feet are all bloody. What happened?"
"I lost my shoes," said Gertrude, embarrassed. They continued to walk through the cave. Eventually the fire on the stick went out. Gertrude sighed.
"Will you look at that," said Henry, looking at the glowing embers. "Well, I knew it couldn't last. Where did that guy find wood in here anyway?" He tossed the stick aside. The sound of wood hitting metal echoed throughout the cave.
Henry and Gertrude looked at each other and got on their knees, suddenly becoming enemies once more. Gertrude pushed Henry out of the way. She searched the floor with her hands. Henry pushed with more force and Gertrude grunted. "Ah ha!" he said. He stood up, holding the gold and silver Pokeball. Only did he know it was gold and silver until a red flash lit up a small portion of the cave.
"Ninetails," she said evilly, "burn him to a crisp." Ninetails opened its mouth and let lose a beautiful stream of fire that raced towards Henry. Henry ran the other direction, shocked that anybody would stoop to this low. "Get him!" cried out Gertrude. Henry ran faster. Another round of fire singed Henry's lab coat. He looked at the Pokeball; the way the fire reflected off of it was spectacular. Henry turned around and Ninetails stopped in front of him. Henry looked at it with evil in his eye and kicked the Pokemon. It yelped and sulked off.
Henry continued to walk, eventually ending up the same place he left. The fire was still going, but the man and his Pokemon were nowhere to be seen. Henry sat on a cold boulder and marveled at the Pokeball and how the fire reflected off of it. Henry looked at it closer and saw that it was engraved. It said: "Congratulations! You have won the Fuchsia City Contest!" Henry finally understood that this whole thing was a set up.