In a dark room, a man, at his desk, is sitting in a chair, turned around so that he faces the wall. The room itself is colored cranberry red; two widely spaced springline windows letting sunlight through have curtains in a different shade of that color. From his chair, he is sipping from a champagne glass. A Team Rocket grunt barges in through the double doors. The grunt then stands straight in place.

"Giovanni, sir!" The grunt says to the man sitting in the chair turned around. "I have some extraordinary news to tell you."

"You should've knocked before coming in." Giovanni says sounding calm, but somewhat annoyed. "How many times do I have to tell you!?"

The grunt gets nervous and gulps. He bows while saying, "Apologies, sir."

After a short pause, Giovanni gestures his hand from his chair to signal the grunt to continue.

The grunt says, caught off guard, "Oh, yes." He clears his throat and continues his report. "Our spies have recently located several injured Pokémon at a mountain 2 miles outside of a small town, as well as a green muscled man appearing in said town."

"And?" Giovanni says, wanting to hear more.

The grunt tries to get an answer out, "And… well… you should probably see this for yourself."

He grabs a remote from Giovanni's desk and clicks it to turn on a TV located over the double doors. It turns on to a news broadcast. The screen shows the various mountain Pokémon from the Plateau laying almost lifeless with their serious injuries.

The anchor says, "…these Pokémon are in serious critical condition. Various trainers passing by are unsure how this happened, but recent outside sources have found what—or who—was responsible for this. Reports tell us that a huge, green man wearing ripped, purple shorts calling itself 'Hulk' terrorized the city of Wishcomb: destroying numerous buildings and establishments and injuring hundreds of citizens and Pokémon. Here is video footage taken approximately 3 hours ago today."

Video footage from a helicopter of the Hulk attacking various Pokémon in Wishcomb city is shown. Intrigued, Giovanni turns his chair around to watch the news footage. His face is obscured in the shadows. He pets his Persian sitting next to him.

"We don't know what his intention was at that point, but it seemed like he was targeting the Pokémon more than the city's populace."

There is now a clip of Hulk restrained in ice and put to sleep via Sleep Powder and then shrinking back to Bruce Banner shown while the anchor speaks.

"A few brave trainers managed to weaken and, hopefully and successfully, immobilize the man, but what we saw soon after that was just baffling."

Giovanni dropped his jaw slightly after seeing Hulk transform to a normal man.

"After the skirmish in the streets, many trainers took their Pokémon to the Pokémon center where they're receiving urgent medical care. The amount of destruction caused $127,000 worth of damage. In all my years of reporting, I have never seen anything like this before."

The grunt turns the TV off and puts the remote back on the desk.

"Well, what do you think?" the Team Rocket grunt swayed his boss. Giovanni closed his mouth to frown and after contemplating what he saw on the news, he slowly opens his mouth to smirk with his gleaming, white teeth illuminating his face in the darkness.

He says astoundedly and deviously, "I like what I see."

The grunt smirks as well.

"Even the strongest wild Pokémon were no match for his raw power." Said Giovanni, proud and smug, "He will be a useful asset for our plans. We must meet him, then recruit him. He won't be that hard to find. One way or another, one form or another, he… will… be… mine."

BRUCE BANNER'S POV: He groans as he opens his eyes—it's blurry. He makes out two human shapes sitting in front of him, but he can't make out their faces.

Lucas and Brendan are across from Banner, whose laying in a bed in a small room. Bruce is a little dizzy; he puts his hand on his forehead because it hurts. He lifts himself halfway up the bed.

"Where am I?" said Banner, in a dazed state, as he looks around the room; he then looks straight at Lucas and Brendan and says, "Who are you?"

Bruce squints to get a better detail of the trainer's faces. Lucas notices the man's nearsightedness; he remembers the glasses he picked up at the mountain plateau and wonders if it'll help the man see better. He takes them out of his pocket, puts them (back) on Banner and sure enough, Banner sees clearly.

"There." Said Lucas to the man. "Better?"

"Much." Responded Bruce, with a small, lighthearted chuckle. "Where did you find my glasses?"

The two trainers turn to look at each other in slight bewilderment, then turn back to look at Bruce.

Lucas: (to Bruce Banner) "Your glasses?"

Bruce Banner: "Yeah, thank you for finding them."

Brendan: "Uhhh… you're welcome."

Bruce Banner: "Where did you find them?"

Lucas: "In the mountains."

Bruce Banner: "The Mountains?"

Lucas: "Yeah – 2 miles away from this city."

Brendan: "You must've lost them."

Bruce Banner: (nervously, eyes shifting back and forth) "Yeah… Lost them…"

Lucas reassures Bruce that everything's alright and that he's safe. Brendan tells him what he was doing in the mountains. Bruce doesn't give them all the details; only the ones that would make sense to them.

Lucas: "You sure had a very rough day."

Brendan: "I'll say."

Lucas: "In the middle of a rockslide within the mountains, trekking through the forest without food or water…"

Brendan: "Not to mention almost destroying the entire city."

Lucas: (affronted) "Brendan!"

Brendan: "What? I said 'almost'"

Bruce Banner: (shocked) "What?"

Bruce quickly gets out of bed and runs to the window right of it. He pulls back the curtains and his face freezes into one of trauma. He sees cracks and deep potholes in the street and sidewalks; store and building windows cracked; a bent street lamp on the ground. Bruce becomes even more devastated when he looks at the diner he walked into shortly after he entered town; there is a big hole of broken glass and concrete where the entrance used to be with the door bent and on the pavement. A waitress is wheeled out on a stretcher, along with various customers. Bruce, face still frozen in shock, slowly walks backwards from the window and sits on the side of the bed.

"Oh no!" Bruce said, in utmost shock, "What have I done?!"

Banner holds his head and lowers it to bury his face between his legs and starts sobbing. Lucas and Brendan start to feel pity for the man. Both boys sit next to him on either side; Lucas puts his hand on Bruce's back and pats it.

Lucas: "Hey. (to Banner, crying, looks at Lucas) Are you going to be okay?"

Bruce Banner: "Okay? Okay?! No! I don't know where I am. This day has gone so wrong — then again, every day in my life has gone so wrong."

Lucas: "Everybody has bad days."

Brendan: "Yeah—some worse than others."

Bruce Banner: "Not everybody. You boys don't know what I've been through or go through now—nobody does! I don't have anyone to help me. No one wants to help me. I'm just… alone."

Lucas: "You're not alone—not anymore."

Bruce smiles.

Lucas: "Now, can you at least tell us your name? Your real name. Please?"

Bruce is unsure, but Lucas and Brendan smile at him; Brendan nods, to show Banner that they can trust him and he can trust them. He takes a deep breath.

"Okay." Said Banner, now much more relaxed and calm. "My name… is… Bruce Banner."

"You see?" commended Lucas, "That wasn't so hard."

"I have a question to tell you." said Brendan, "How did you become 8 feet tall, green skinned, and buff?"

Banner suddenly gets apprehensive and starts stuttering like a nervous wreck to get the question out. Lucas placidly calms him down and tells Bruce that since he's had a bad day, he should rest and talk about it tomorrow. Bruce hesitantly agrees. As the trainers start to leave the room to give Banner some alone time, he call them to tell him their names; they do.

Brendan and Lucas are outside the room in the hallway; Lucas is locking the door.

Brendan: "This is a big mistake, Lucas. Why are we keeping the Hulk here?"

Lucas: "At least he's safe."

Brendan: "Yeah — he's safe! What about us?! I knew I should've stopped you when you persuaded Jenny that we would take him."

Lucas: "Officer Jenny was already in a bad mood, on account of having her arm turned into a maraca."

Brendan crosses his arms and growls in displeasure.

Lucas: "Plus, lest we forget, she said and I quote, 'as long as you keep him away from me as far as possible. I don't want to be within ten feet of that guy.'"

Brendan: "For good reason. Lucas, you saw what he did to those Pokémon and what he almost did to my Swampert."

Lucas: "Swampert and the others are at the Pokémon Center."

Brendan: "Because of him."

Lucas: "Yes, I know, but despite that…"

Brendan: "Lucas, this is a bad idea and you know it! There is no way he's staying or coming with us! If he becomes a mean, green, smashing machine again, we won't be able to stop him like we did before! I never asked or wanted to be his babysitter—you volunteered me along with yourself!"

Lucas: "I know!"

Brendan: "Then why? Why!?"

Lucas: (yelling) "Because…"

They are now silent and give each other serious stares for a few seconds before Lucas turns around and marches down the hallway. Brendan follows him to get a response out of him. Lucas is still fuming as he keeps walking, ignoring Brendan's request for a reply. Lucas finally stops near the end of the hallway. Brendan is still goading his friend into giving him an explanation. After a short, moment of silence, Lucas breathes deeply to compose himself. He turns to talk to Brendan, with a serious expression on his face.

"I wanted to walk away from the room so that Banner wouldn't hear any more of this."

They hold glares at each other for a moment.

Lucas: "Look, Brendan, I know you know this is a bad idea; I know it is too. I wanted to take him because no one else would. I know what I got myself into. The reason I included you is because I can't do this by myself. This man is all alone – hungry, thirsty, dirty, scared. I just think he needs someone to talk to – like us."

Brendan: (crosses his arms, does a side glance) "I guess."

Lucas: "Look, just give him time, okay? And at least try to pretend to be a little bit more sympathetic."

Lucas smiles and pats his friend's shoulder. Lucas walks back to Banner's room. Brendan rolls his eyes, pointing out the insanity of it and showing no interest, but will go through with it because of Lucas' trustworthiness.

Brendan: (exasperated) "Alright, alright, I'll do it, but I'm not going to like it."