The people of the world turned in for the night. It had been an emotional day. About 24 hours ago, the world had its youngest ever Pokémon Master. But now, not two weeks into his reign of that title, he was cruelly snatched away from them. Shot through the solar plexus, and left to fall to oblivion. How anyone could be so heartless, the logic escaped them. How Team Rocket could ever have pulled something like that off in the first place was impossible enough. The people of Pallet Town, having done their bit to remember Ash for who he was, and what he meant to the world, they rested, relatively, comfortably that night. But, it was not to last for long.
In an old, disused, farm warehouse, not too far from Professor Oak's laboratory:
The Pokémon were eager. The trainers were restless. This is it. This is what they've been waiting for. This is it, boys. This. Is. War. A dark figure paces up and down before them, inspecting each and every one of them.
"This, ladies and gentlemen, is our finest night. The first night we strike, and the first town we shall claim. Remember our strategy. Since there's no gym in this town, we can strike that crackpot quack; Professor Oak, first, at the lab, first. After which, the next target with be the Ketchum residence, then the rest of the town is rich pickings." A war cheer resonates throughout the temporary operations base. "When I give the signal, get into your assigned positions. When all units are in position, Dr. Rafflesia will activate the Rocket Virus, which will shut down all telecommunications through Oak's research database, upon which all telecommunications around the world are dependent. Once the system's been hacked, storm the lab, and take all occupants hostage. After that, capture Delia Ketchum. With them out of the way… Pallet Town will be ours." A chorus of cheers rang through the warehouse. "Positions!" All the Rockets assumed their positions, and awaited further instruction.
At Professor Oak's Pokémon Research Laboratory:
Everyone was sleeping soundly. Gary, Tracey and the professor were all out like lights not long after the funeral day. There was, however, a bit of movement about the lab. The professor had started to use robots to transport pokéballs around the lab, as well as other tasks like holding materials a human can't handle safely. But, normally, they wouldn't be active at this time. What was going on? He machines used to collect the pokéballs of all the trainers that sent their spare Pokémon to Professor Oak started to roam the pokéball storage cupboard. They searched, statically, across the room. They scanned the names of the trainers they passed. 'Lunessa', 'Kantar', 'Kellith', 'Ketchum'! Finally. And there, all nicely lined up, are his pokéballs. All 180 of them. And all 150 species of Pokémon Ash owned – (seeing as 30 of them are Tauros). The robotic arms collected every single pokéball from Ash's shelf, and hurriedly trundled to the transportation unit. They loaded all the Pokémon capsules into the transfer unit, and commenced the, uncatalogued, transferal to an unknown location.
Suddenly, the main computers in the research labs shut down. Everything that depended on the network; from transfer machines to video phones, all over Kanto were rendered incapacitated, and useless. An almighty crash and ruckus on the lower floor of the lab awoke the sleeping occupants. Gary and Tracey were up in a flash, and racing to see what was the matter, with their pokéballs at the ready. Professor Oak, too, was awoken by the horrendous noise, and was heavily overpowered the second he tried to get out of his bedroom, to see what the hullabaloo was about. Gary and Tracey were, also, swiftly apprehended by Team Rocket, before they could even utter a word. A Rocket Grunt pulled out a walkie-talkie.
"Sir. Phase one is complete. The lab is seized. Phase two is OK for motion."
At the Ketchum residence:
Delia and Mimey were fast asleep, when a thunderous crash of the front door being broken in erupted through the house. Delia bolted awake, eyes full of fear. Within seconds, her bedroom door was ripped open, and there in the doorway, stood a Tangrowth, measuring a whopping 5 metres tall. The gargantuan vine Pokémon released a dozen vines from its back, ensnaring Delia and Mimey. Delia let out a shriek of horror as the monstrous monster tied her up in its grip. At her, now ruined, bedroom doorway, stood the dark figure of Giovanni, Team Rocket's leader. He wore a smirk of victory on his lips, and cackled, villainously at how easy the first two points of call had been.
"Excellent!" Giovanni exclaimed, turning to the Rockets that were now swarming the Ketchum house. "Now to claim control of the rest of Pallet Town." The Rockets thundered into the streets of Pallet Town, forcing their entry into all buildings with Rhyperior, Electrivire, Carracosta, and many other powerhouse Pokémon, ill gained over the syndicate's years of operation. Soon, the whole town was under Rocket command. Pallet Town had fallen. And become a painting palette of many shades of evil. Ready and waiting to paint the world with it.
Pallet Town has fallen to Team Rocket. Now Giovanni can advance his plans even further. But will the other towns and cities be so easy to conquer? To be continued...