RGBY - Vol. 2 - Mask of Ice Summary - A familiar foe is hunting them...

2.3 - Misty's Missing!


"Heheh! I'm a genius!"The Team Rocket grunt glanced back to the three trainers chasing him onto the Golden Bridge.

The grunt turned his head back up-front, his eyes startled by a girl sporting a white hat smiling to him and something bigger behind her.

"Hey there!" Blue smiled.

"Nido!" Nidoqueen packed her fist into grunt's face.

"Mommy…" The grunt fell to the floor, his finger twitching.

Blue crossed her arms, sighing. "I guess Team Rocket really is back."

"Hey! Blue?" Bill finally caught up to the grunt, catching his breath. "You guys were supposed to meet me at the Pokemon Center over the Power Plant issue? And Blaine. Where is Blaine?"

"Hey guys!" Red and Green caught up, taking a look at the grunt lying there on the floor.

"Where's Yellow?" Blue asked.

Red smiled at her. "I told her she has nothing to worry about so she could go ahead and get her prize."

"Prize?" Bill stood clueless. "Well anyways. This jerk here stole a machine part from the Power Plant! I need it back to get the PC's running but he won't tell me where!"

"PC's running? So he's the cause." Green walked forward to the lying Grunt.

The Grunt sat up, his head held high. Green could see the black eye on his face but also a grin.

"What are you going do? "Ha? Kill me?"

"I'm considering that." Green gripped him by the collar.

The Grunt shivered, he could feel his hand gripped tightly onto his collar, his cold silent eyes angrily staring into his.

"He's... he's serious?" The Grunt thought.


Minutes passed, the moon glowing bright today. Yellow crossed her arms, expressing disappointment to Green as Scizor held his claws close to the grunt's throat, tightening his own mouth as he shook scared. Red, Blue and Bill stood there wondering why Yellow is so angry.

"So let me get this straight!" Yellow face-palmed her forehead. "I understand when you have to play rough but you thought the best way to get an answer from him is through threats and violence!"

Green's eyes shifted elsewhere, his hands deep in his pockets.

He calmly spoke. "I'll admit. He's tough for someone low on the ladder. But I'll get something out of him."

"And I don't care what you do to me!" The Grunt shouted crying, tears dripping against his bruised face.

Blue bent her knees, winking at the grunt.

"C'mon. You sure don't have anything to say to me?" Blue smiled, her finger held gently on her lips.

"I'm not an idiot!" The Grunt grew annoyed at her.

"Green. You can have him." Blue sighed.

"Gladly." Green cracked his knuckles.

"This is getting a little dark guys." Yellow said.

"What? Is it so different from how Red beats up grunts?" Green said.

"Actually I kind of agree with Yellow on this one." Red spoke. "I think you should stop. He can't defend himself, he lost."

Suddenly the grunt shouted, they turned their attention to him.

"You think I care what you do to me! Threaten me! Beat me! Try to trick me with your stupid charms! I don't care what you do! Giovanni we'll be back and he will bring back Team Rocket to it's glory! You'll see people in Rocket uniforms proudly walking in the streets without a care what the law thinks again like the old days! So go ahead and do what you think you need to do! Because I'll support Giovanni with my dying breath!"

"You talk too much." Green said.

Green walked forward only to see Red blocking him with his arm, staring at the grunt. Green stopped walking, curious as Red walked forward.

Red spoke. "Hey. Why do you support Giovanni?"

"Huh? Wh-why do you ask?" The grunt looked confused at his question. "He's an inspirational strength to us all! We'd support him to the very end!"

"But does he even care about you guys, the grunts?"

"Of course when we do a good job! He doesn't let idiots around the organization mucking everything up! The boss got our backs."

"Okay than. I guess things are fine." Red turned around.

"Uh… wait a minute."

Red turned around, seeing the grunt twiddled his thumbs, looking a bit troubled.


Blaine walked upon the Golden Bridge with Hoopa floating by his side. They noticed Red and the Grunt in the Rocket uniform just sat there for hours on the bridge railings like best friends, staring endlessly into the full moon reflecting upon the river below. Green, Bill and Yellow stood there watching as Blue yawned looking how late it was.

"What's going on here?" Blaine asked.

"Hoopa?" Hoopa muttered.

"I... I'm not actually sure." Green said.

"I'm kind of clueless too." Blue said.

Yellow smiled. "No. I think Red knows exactly what he's doing."

The moon illuminated beautifully against the grunt's bruised face. He could just sit there watching the moon for hours talking about random stuff.

The Grunt spoke. "Ever wondered what a world without Pokemon would be like?"

"A world without Pokemon?" Red continue looking at the moon. "Sounds terrifying actually."

"I don't know. No Pokemon means no more Gym Leaders, no more Pokemon Centers or Pokemon Trainers but it would also mean no more Team Rocket. Wouldn't a world like that be pretty peaceful?"

"What do you think's out there when you leave Cerulean?" Red asked.

"Well. You'd hit the forest, a lake or one of the caves nearby. Then eventually you hit another town?" The Grunt answered.

"And then after that?"

"You keep going and eventually hit a city."

"After that?"

"You'd reached past the mountains to the great oceans."

"And after that?"

"You'd swim past the oceans, finding many islands, maybe even hit a new region."

"How many people and friends do you think you'd meet or make?"

"Quite a lot."

"That happened to me quite a lot as a kid. It's pretty amazing able to see what's out there in the world at such a young age." Red looked at the moon. "A world without Pokemon, would that mean that exploring the world at such a young age, making new friends with people and Pokemon, meeting new people. Would that all disappear? Could you imagine sitting in a classroom as a kid somewhere, bored, looking through the window wondering what's out there in the world?"

"Thinking about all those places you only hear in TV or the magazine but never actually visiting them, seeing what's it really like."

"Yeah." Red smiled. "I guess you'll never know what's truly out there until you go see it yourself."

"Yeah." The Grunt smiled. "It's really peaceful tonight. The world of Pokemon truly is a magical place."

"Hey?" Red turned to the grunt. "Where is that machine part by the way?"

"The machine part? Oh. I hid it in the pool at Misty's Gym. Nobody was there and the part was water-proof anyway. So I hid it there until I get back."

"What would disrupting the power plant achieve anyway?" Red got off the railings, landing his two feet on the bridge.

"I mean… um… huh." The Grunt thought about it now. "You know. I have no clue why I did that."

"Doesn't sound like your in contact with Team Rocket anywhere. Are you just a lone grunt?"

The Grunt took a deep breath. "Something like that."

"C'mon Red. Let's check out the gym." Blaine spoke.

The grunt tipped his hat off, revealing a snuff of brown hair at the front, his eyes full of disappointment looking to the group of friends preparing to depart away from the bridge. He noticed Green stood behind, obviously wanted something else from him. Did he wanted to turn him into the police?

Red turned to the Grunt. "Before I leave though…"

"Yeah?" The grunt said.

"Have you ever thought about quitting Team Rocket?"

"Huh? Quitting Team Rocket?" The Grunt hopped off the bridge, his eyes turned from disappointment to curiosity and wonder. "I've been following Giovanni's orders for so long that it was almost my entire life up to now. It never occurred to me to quit Team Rocket. Should I should quit?"

"Should you?" Red asked.

"Maybe..." The Grunt spoke softly. "My brother has always pestered me about a job he had in mind in Unova."

"That sounds great." Red smiled.

"Not to mention there's this girl in Unova I've been dating online. I think things are getting serious actually."

"Starting a family?"

"Yeah. Something like that. You know. Maybe I should quit Team Rocket!"

"Does it really matter?" Green stepped in. "I'm going to take you in the police and..."

"Wait Red." Red reached his right arm in front of him. "Let's give him a chance."

"A chance?" The Grunt muttered. He couldn't help but grin. "You sure about that? Maybe I'll just this chance to escape back to Rocket."

"Red!" Green shouted.

Red turned to the Rocket Grunt. "Then I'll just take them down! If they rise up again, I'll take them down again! If they won't ever stop then I won't quit either!"

The Grunt gulped at Red's words. He gave Grin a grin. "Yeah. You really do sound like the Red people gossiped around the workplace. Hey. Can I ask you a question?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you really beat Giovanni?"

"It wasn't easy, he's certainly one of the strongest opponents I face, still is actually but... yeah. I beat him."

The grunt expected Red to smile at it but he didn't. There was a serious look in those eyes.

"I understand." The Grunt said. "I'll be going now."

"Red!" Green shouted.

"Green." Red smiled. "How about we just let this one grunt go. He didn't do any harm."

Green looked annoyed at Red's smile.

"He disrupted an entire power plant! He could be somehow involved with those thugs from Celadon Cityand Lavender Town."

"No. I don't think so." Red looked back.

He could see the Grunt just walking away, his hands deep in his pockets, pondering over his decisions, his future, looking up to the star starry sky.

"Honestly." Blue spoke. "I don't believe he's part of the group that attacked us. He didn't seem to recognize us or looked like he knew anything about what happened in Celadon and Lavender. I don't think he's even aware what went on with Team Rocket recently."

"Your saying he's just some clueless grunt?" Green said.

"Yeah… pretty much." Blue said.

Green turned faced back to the grunt, he could see the man calmly walking off into the city, wandering cluelessly about what to do. He sighed, turning back to his friends.

"Hoopa?" Hoopa looked at the grunt walking away with curiousity. The imp creature then smiled. "Hoopa."

"Hey Hoopa! Come on!" Yellow called out to him.

"Hoopa!" Hoopa turned back to her.


"So this is Cerulean Gym." Yellow looked at the blue three-story building. She looked to her belt, seeing Omastar happily fixated on the gym through the Pokeball's red glass. "Ready to meet your old trainer Misty?"

"Oma!" Omastar smiled.

"It's open?" Red pushed the glass doors forward.

"And dark..." Green noticed the lights inside weren't on.

"Yeah." Bill gulped at the dark corridor that awaited them.

"Strange" Blaine muttered.

"Come out ChuChu! Omastar!" Yellow held a Pokeball in each hand, flashing open.

"Chu! Oma!" ChuChu and Omastar came out. Suddenly they noticed an Imp-like creature flying curiously at them.

"Hoopa?" Hoopa looked at them.

Hoopa looked at the old water fossil in particular.

"OMA!" Omastar screeched with slitted eyes wide opened!

"Hoopa!" Hoopa quickly floated behind Yellow's hat, peeking at the Omastar.

"Oma! Oma!" Omastar chuckled.

"As usual Omastar." Yellow sighed. She faced towards Pikachu. "ChuChu! Use flash inside the building Chu."

"Chu!" ChuChu's entire body lighted up brightly, the light flashing inches towards the dark entrance.

"Great idea Yellow!" Blue smiled. "Let's go in."


The group entered the gym following the brightly-lit Pikachu. More of the darkness faded in front as the darkness in the back reemerged. They could see some rooms holding gym equipment to the left of the hallway and a locker room to the right. Pikachu's light flashed further as they found themselves in a much larger room, a giant pool room with a lifeguard tower to one side and safety rope floating in the waters, not like the tight corridor before. It was empty, no trainers, no swimmers, no water-type Pokemon either it seems.

"Oma." Omastar slitted eyes expressed sadness and disappointment. There was no one here for him to meet.

"Hoopa?" Hoopa looked at the pool area, curious what this place was.

"Where is everyone?" Red stopped, taking a look around the pool room.

"This is odd." Blaine added.

"Yeah." Green crossed his arms.

"It is getting late soon." Blue said. "Maybe they went home?"

"That's probably it!" Bill smiled shaking nervously at the dark corridor that lied awaiting them. "Hehehe... Misty's probably alright... and..."

"Your not leaving!" Blue looked annoyed.

"Why!" Bill shouted.

"We don't know what the machine part looks like!" Blue explained.

"That! That is actually a good point." Bill said.

"What is this?" Blaine held tight onto his suspicions, spotting something.

Blaine looked to a couple of benches near the wall, full of scratch marks.

"It could be just a regular gym battle..." Blaine said. Then he noticed something very odd underneath the benches. He picked up the melting ice-shard among the few other bits of ice sinking into a light puddle of water. "Ice Beam?"

"Ice Beam?" Green looked at the melted ice-shards.

"Yes. Correct me if I'm wrong but don't all Gym Leaders clean up the gym before starting a new battle? Regardless on how many trainers show up?"

"Sure but a small mess is usually ignored if there are that many trainers and is cleaned later. When no... trainers... are around." Green's eyes widened slightly.

Red, Blue and Yellow's eyes also widened upon hearing this.

"Where are those many trainers right now?" Blaine followed.

Green closed his eyes, remaining calm. "I see what you mean. Did a battle occurred here? Recently?"

"Perhaps." Blaine replied.

ChuChu looked up, barely seeing the large rows of lights in the darkness on the ceiling above. A red light sparkled as ChuChu turned her head down to the pool, she heard something swimming in the pool nearby.

"Chu?" ChuChu looked at the pool. The curious mouse walked closer and closer to the pool, wondering what that was. "Chu?"

Chu looked in the pool, seeing her reflection but also saw the usual black markings many pools have thanks to her brightly lit body. She could've sworn she heard something. She was sure of it.

"Oma? Hoopa?" Omastar and Hoopa noticed ChuChu staring deep in the pool.

Yellow spotted ChuChu at the edge of the pool.

"ChuChu? Do you sense someone in the pool?"

"Chu." ChuChu nodded.

"A Pokemon maybe?" Green said.

The group leaned over the pool, wondering what ChuChu was looking at. Suddenly Pikachu's light showed a blue and yellow fish swimming rapidly to them!

"Lanturn!" The giant fish splashed out, her headlight flashed with electricity!

"Hoopa!" Hoopa shrieked, quickly fleeing behind the bench, peeking at the Lanturn.

"Oma?" Omastar recognized Misty's Lanturn, it was his friend!

It's been so long since they've last met, the Omastar smiling happily at Lanturn… but something was wrong.

"Chu!" ChuChu quickly pushed Omastar as Lanturn unleashed a powerful thunderbolt!

"Laaaah!?" Lanturn screamed as it jumped!

"Oma!?" Omastar looked shocked.

"What's with Misty's Lanturn!" Red looked puzzled. Red heard something swirling from above. "What!?"

"Hyah!" A double-star-shaped Pokemon sporting a red gem popped out from the ceiling, tackling the Lanturn!

"Laaaah!?" Lanturn screamed again, the tackler threw her off into the pool!

"What!? What's going on!" Blue gulped as Starmie jumped in-between the trainers and Lanturn, keeping distance to both of them.

Lanturn popped her head out of the water, angrily glaring at the group.

"That Lanturn…" Yellow looked at Lanturn's eyes.

She stood there calmly, sweating nervously at what she saw. It looked similar to Palkia's face, angry but saddened.

"Huh!? What was that!" Yellow saw a dark ghostly substance flowing in Lanturn's eyes.

"I saw that too!" Red said.

Lanturn splashed out of the water, her eyes full of rage as electricity sparked from her headlight!

"Laaaaah!"

"Hyah!" Starmie's red gem beamed ice at the raging Lanturn.

The Lanturn 's body started to froze, her electrified head and tail fin shaking as the ice grew and grew. Soon even her tail light stopped electrifying as Lanturn was covered in complete ice floating within the pool. Starmie shifted around, facing the puzzled group.

"Is… is Starmie friendly?" Red said.

"Oma" Omastar nodded nervously, frightened at the berserking Lanturn frozen in floating ice.

"Hyah?" Starmie looked at Omastar first. The starfish Pokemon let out a happy "Hyah!"

"Oma?" Omastar continued looking at the frozen Lanturn, saddened.

Omastar could still see Lanturn's eyes full of anger, confusion, sorrow frozen, her tail waving to the right violently frozen solid.

"Hyah…" Starmie sighed at the Lanturn. "Hyah!"

"Oma?!" Starmie's words brought shock and horror to Omastar's slitted eyes.

"What are they saying." Red looked at Pikachu, who also looked horrified of what Starmie was saying.

Yellow gulped. She could understand what the Pokemon were saying.

"Something… something bad happened to Misty."

"What." Green looked at Yellow. "Like what? Tell us what Starmie is saying Yellow."

"Misty was kidnapped. Not just her but her Gyarados as well."

"What?" Red felt a chill down his spine hearing those words.

"Gyarados." Blue spoke. "Wasn't that also your Pokemon Red? Um... Red?"

Red just stood there worried.

"Hey! Red!" Bill snapped his fingers to Red's eyes. "Stay with me now!"

"Um... sorry." Red softly spoke, his eyes facing to the ground.

Suddenly Red saw Starmie angrily pointing his top arm to Red!

"Hyah!" Starmie angrily shouted.

"What… why is he pointing at me?" Red said.

"He… he says…" Yellow looked afraid, she couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Chu! Chu!" ChuChu shook her head no to the Starmie.

Yellow continued. "You were the one who hurt Misty."

"What?" Red's eyes froze. He gritted his teeth, his filled with anger to the Starmie. "I would never do that to her!"

"Hyah!" Starmie kept on pointing at him, accusing him as the kidnapper!

"ChuChu!" ChuChu stood in front of Starmie, waving her arms in the air.

"I couldn't!" Red said.

Green spoke. "I think I have an idea what's going on. Someone must've used Red as a disguise. Misty is a powerful water master who at one time tamed Suicune. The actual kidnapper must've used a friend close to Misty as a disguise, taking her and her Pokemon by surprise."

"You think that's possible?" Blue said.

"Yeah." Green explained. "Silver told me about this one Team Rocket Admin. His battling skills weren't anything special but he was a master of disguises. He manage to even take Lance, the Pokemon Champion, by surprise disguised as Yellow."

"Disguised as me?" Yellow looked surprised.

"Yes. Your a close friend to Lance... and it worked. It's possible the same happened here." Green said. "Any ideas where else to look Red? Red?"

Red just stood there, his eyes glaring at the ground, pondering on what happened.

"Hey Red!" Green shouted.

Red's eyes stopped pondering the ground, he heard Green's shouting inches away.

"Huh? Uh… yeah." Red faced to Green. "We could go take a look at her mansion."

"Hey guys!" Bill leaned over the water, looking at something. "I found the machine part!"

"You did?" Blue smiled.

"Yeah. As soon as I get to the Power Plant, the PC's should be working!" Bill smiled.

"That's great. Here." Green pulled a Pokeball off of his belt.

Bill looked at the Pokeball, seeing Charizard staring at him.

"Y... your offering your Charizard to me!?" Bill looked surprised.

"Sure. We need the transportation functionality fast to send Hoopa to the Professor." Green said.

"Um... are you sure?" Bill said. "I'm not exactly that good of a trainer."

"I'm sure. Besides I trained Charizard to fight and fly on his own. You should be good."

"Um... thanks Green." Bill smiled.

"Hey? Where's Hoopa?" Yellow said.

"Right there." Blue pointed at Hoopa.

"Wow." Yellow smiled, seeing the scared little Hoopa ducking under the bench. "You really are nothing like the Hoopa Emerald met?"

"Hoopa?" Hoopa stopped cowering as soon as he noticed Yellow smile. The Hoopa smiled. "Hoopa!"


Thunder clapped over the two-storied mansion as the head maid walked down the stairs positioning her night cap on her short brown hair, tightening her robes yawning.

"Okay! I'm coming!" The head maid got to the door. She opened her eyes surprised to see Red.

"Um… hi." Red calmly spoke.

"Oh my…" The head maid didn't like the look in his eyes, one that showed worry. "Do you know where Misty is?"

"Hoopa?" Hoopa's eyes peeked over the doorway from the side, looking at the worried maid.

"What kind of Pokemon is that?" The head maid said.


The group sat at the table as the the head maid looked incredibly unsettled, chattering her teeth onto her finger.

"She hasn't called, visited, or sent her Pokemon back here at the mansion for training! A lot of the other maids are also growing worried!" The head maid walked back and forth repeatedly. She stopped turning to the group. "She's alright isn't she!"

Red sat there muttering. "She isn't here either."

"Um... uh." Blaine stepped in. "What Red is trying to say is that we need any help we can get to find her!"

"Find her!?" The Head Maid looked puzzled.

"Um…" Blue rubbed the back of her head nervously. "We don't know how to tell you this but we think Misty has been... attacked."

"Attacked!?" The Head Maid jumped in astonishment. "No, no, no, no! She's a master water trainer who has tamed Suicune herself! She would never allow herself to get defeated so easily!"

"We know that but..." Green sighed. "We think the attacker may have disguised himself as Red and took her and her Pokemon by surprise. We found Starmie and Lanturn left behind at the gym but…"

"But what?"

"We couldn't find Gyarados. We were hoping if you had any ideas where they were?"

"I… oh no!" She bit her finger again, this was just too much for her to process. "Wait! Why would the attacker disguise himself as Red? I knew Misty... well…"

"What?" Red looked up.

The Head Maid thought. "Sh-should I tell him? No. She wouldn't want me to tell him about it." The maid spoke. "You were one of Misty's most trustworthy friends Red. I knew that but… well how did the attacker knew about that fact?"

"I… I don't know. I don't know how the attacker knew about me or why he even did it." Red glanced down at the table below him.

"Wait?" The Head Maid looked puzzled again. "There's something else I don't get. How did you came to the conclusion that the attacker was possible disguised by someone who looked like Red?"

"We came to the conclusion because Starmie angrily pointed his fin at Red, claiming he did it." Green explained. "That's impossible because Red was with Yellow, Blue and me in Saffron City.

"Also Red was with me in Lavender Town and Bill after he left Cerulean City." Yellow added.

"All in all, it doesn't make sense for the actual Red to be there when he was elsewhere." Green said. "Plus, a friend of ours encountered a similar criminal who can nearly swapped disguises in an instant."

"Oh no!" The Head Maid looked horrified. "What do I tell the other maids!"

"Hey uh… if it makes you feel any better." Red rummaged through his pockets, revealing two Pokeballs. "Here's Misty's Pokemon that we found at the gym."

The Head Maid looked at the two Pokeballs. She could see Starmie calmly looking at her through the red glass but Lanturn on the other hand. Lanturn's eyes were twitching, silently and angrily glaring at her.

"Wh-what's with Lanturn?" The Head Maid looked at Lanturn one more time before she grabbed the two Pokeballs.

"That's something we want to know." Green said. "Lanturn attacked us and later Starmie attacked Lanturn to knock him out to prevent any further harm to itself and to other people who may enter the gym. We found blocks of melted ice indicating that Starmie has been freezing Lanturn for some time. It could've been as long as since Red left Cerulean City for what we know. With your permission of course, we want to send Lanturn to Prof. Oak. He could probably find something out about why Lanturn is acting so strange now that the Power Plant is running. It would be a step closer to finding Misty."

"Oh... this is just too much to process!" The Head Maid yelled, shaking her hand in confusion.

"We understand but…"

"Fine!" The Head Maid gripped her hands. "I can't let Misty's parents or Misty herself down. There family has done so much for me and the other maids here! If it will help find her! Then please! Go ahead and take them!"

"You won't regret this!" Blaine spoke.

"Hey." Red stood up.

"Yes?" The Head Maid spoke.

"We will find her!" Red smiled.

"Thank you." The Head Maid felt a sense of relief from Red's words.


"That is odd…" Prof. Oak spoke through the PC monitor. "The strange substance your describing seems entirely unknown even to me."

Green spoke. "That's why were asking you, the Pokemon expert, about what Yellow saw. The strange substance flowing in Lanturn's eyes."

"I see… and Misty… how did Red took that?"

"Um… I'm right here Oak." Red waved hello, his face bore no smile but neither did it showed sorrow.

"Oh… I'm sorry for what happened." Oak said. "I understand she's a close friend of yours Red. I will do my best and inform my colleagues on this unusual substance!"

"Um. Thank you." Red let out a light smile.

"Also…" Blaine spoke from behind. "We need you to study Hoopa."

"Yes. Green told me all about Hoopa and what happened in Saffron City Blaine. I'll talk to the little guy." Oak smiled.

"Oh and grandpa?" Green said.

"Yes."

"Becareful. Palkia is hunting Hoopa."

"Don't forget Green! I was Pokemon Champion at one time! I can take care of myself!" The Professor smiled, sizing up his arms. "Now set Hoopa in the transporter. The transporter can work on wild Pokemon as well if authorized which I assume you guys did get the Nurse's permission right from your end?"

"Of course." Green smiled.

Green turned to Yellow smiling at Hoopa happily floating around her in circles.

"Hey Yellow. Place Hoopa in that transporter." Green pointed to a large cylinder machine, one containing a wide circular red spot in the middle.

"Okay." Yellow nodded. "Hey Hoopa. Come here."

"Hoopa?" Hoopa felt Yellow's hands gently placed around his body.

"I'm gonna place you on this machine okay?" Yellow smiled. "Your going to meet someone who loves Pokemon!"

"Hoopa!" Hoopa smiled, finding himself gently placed on the red spot of the machine.

"Okay." Green looked at Hoopa before turning to Oak. "Bill should've got the Machine Part back in the machine by now since I'm able to use this PC at all. He's all yours Gramps."

"Good." Oak smiled.

The Professor pressed the red button from his end. Nothing happened. No electricity, no beam of white light, no signals or noises in the machine. Nothing.

"Hey? Are you sure the transporter is working?" Oak repeatedly pressed the button.

"Hmm?" Green said. "Is it not working?"

"No. I think there might be something wrong on your end? Perhaps Bill didn't put the part in yet?" Oak said.

"He should've otherwise the PC I'm on shouldn't be working. Strange."

Green suddenly noticed a video message popping in saying "URGENT CALL!" It was from Bill.

"Hold on a minute. It's Bill." Green said.

"Okay. Update me as soon as the transporter is working! Or get to another Poke Center if you have too!"

"Will do. Cya Gramps." Green clicked the video message. Suddenly a video popped onto the monitor.

"Hey guys!" Bill smiled. "The machine part is already in! Is the transporter working?"

"No." Green replied. "It's not working."

"Wait? Seriously?" Bill said. "It could be a local issue."

"Maybe. I suppose there's no use standing around here. Were going to go to the Pokecenters nearby in other towns."

"I see. Well I'm heading back there now! Thanks for lending your Charizard by the way!" Bill said.

"Char!" Charizard popped in the screen, shoving Bill out of the video as he smiled at Green.

"Hello to you too Charizard. Well cya Bill." Green turned off the PC.

Green turned to the others. He could see Yellow and Blue looking towards Red as Blained silently watched from a corner.

"Um… Red? Are you okay?" Yellow said.

"Yeah." Red said. "Just worried is all. Hey Green. What did the Professor say?"

"He'll be right on it as soon as we can transport Hoopa." Green said. "Transporter isn't working here even after the machine part was given back to the Power Plant."

"Really? I guess will go to the Pokemon Center near Mt. Moon than." Red suggested.

"Why there?" Blue asked.

"I can't shake this bad feeling I have." Red explained. "That something may have happened to Brock as well. There was this Gym Leader stand-in who said Sabrina hadn't made it to the Gym now that I think about it."

"Gym leader stand-in?" Green said. "I've never heard of that before."

"What?" Red looked at Green.

"Never heard of that rule before either." Blaine said. "It's a direct violation of the rules. If a Gym Leader leaves, the gym closes for a certain limit of time. Only the Gym Leader can offer badges. There's no such thing as a Gym Leader stand-in."

"What. No." Red remembered that old man's smile.

Yellow looked afraid. "You don't think…"

"That Sabrina is also missing too?" Red said. "That old man could be responsible for Misty's disappearance? We need to head to Mt. Moon now!"

"Why?" Green asked. "I know our old man suspect probably won't stay in Saffron forever but why Mt. Moon?"

"That's where Brock said he was last time to search for fossils. Also Mt. Moon leads up to Pewter City, his hometown."

"You think Brock might have been attacked as well… that isn't good." Yellow said.

Green spoke. "Okay. Let's go find Brock."

"Thanks Green." Red said.

"I can't." Blaine said.

Red and the others looked to him, crossing his arms in concern.

"The reason why I wanted to hurry near the end of Cerulean City before this mess happened is because I wanted to make sure Hoopa was escorted safely before I head out to the Power Plant."

"Why didn't you just go with Bill?" Green stepped forward.

"I wanted to make sure Hoopa was transported safely. You can never be too careful." Blaine said.

"Why the Power Plant now?" Blue stepped forward.

"Easy. Zapdos." Blaine answered.

"Zapdos!?" They all shouted.

"Yes. Even though humans have now restarted the Power Plant, Zapdos still comes by from time to time roaming the tall wild grass outside of the Power Plant home to other electric-types." Blaine explained. "However. In recent reports, Zapdos hasn't showed up in the last few weeks."

"You think Zapdos not showing up has to do with what happened recently?" Red said.

"I don't know but it's worth looking into for clues." Blaine turned to the door. As he left he said. "I hope you four make it out very safely. Don't underestimate your foe."

As Blaine left the Poke Center, the trainers all looked puzzled on the news.

"Zapdos? Is missing?" Red said.