After the group was sure they weren't being pursued, Pikachu, Wartortle, and Meowth had taken on the task of filling Ash in on where infinity energy came from. Venusaur was silent, exhausted, and Charizard had concentrated on lighting the way.

"Pikachu—I…I had no idea." Ash curled in on himself, hovering closer to the flame on Charizard's tail.

Meowth sprawled on the ground with his head resting on a rock. He sighed. "Dat's not all, twerp. Looks like youse an enemy of da state too, now."

Venusaur opened one eye. "Whaddya mean by that?"

Another sigh. "It's obviously not just Team Rocket at play here." The cat stared at the ceiling of Venusaur's tunnel, resisting the urge to swat at the dangling roots. He held up his paw. "Three words, a thousand Jennies."

"Even Professor Oak knew…" Pikachu iron tailed the floor in anger.

"Take it easy, pipsqueak." Charizard lowered his head to her level.

"Professor Oak?" Ash scratched his head. He had seen the professor escaping the station. "How does he know?"

"I don't know, but he thinks it's 'for the greater good,'" Pikachu spat.

"I don't think I've ever seen you this angry." Ash blinked, then continued, "I mean, of course you're angry. I'm angry too. This whole—thing—is just very wrong."

"Let's just sleep." Venusaur yawned, "We'll emerge between Cerulean and Mount Moon tomorrow."

/

"YOU ARE AN IDIOT!"

"Misty, I—"

"Oh, 'Mr. Let's Retire and Disappear Off the Face of the Earth and Then Show Up Again as Public Enemy No.1', tell me why you thought it was a good idea to have the exact Pokemon matching the ones on the wanted posters steal from the busiest diner in the city."

"We were—"

"You are so lucky I was there. So lucky. You now owe me my bike, two dozen sandwiches, this delicious breakfast, and your freaking life!"

"So you know about the TV station?"

"Do I know about the TV station! Every channel, every radio station has been repeating your 'crimes' for the past twenty-four hours! Every video of Pikachu and Meowth's little speech has been scrubbed! I had to watch it in the basement of a bicycle shop! In disguise!"

"So you know about infinity energy?"

Misty sat back. "I don't know what I know anymore, Ash."

/

Jessie and James had been creeping their way up north ever since seeing Meowth and Pikachu taking over Professor Oak's show. Their disguises, for whatever reason, still worked and drew no suspicion. To Jessie's chagrin, most of the friendliness directed towards them on their passage through populated areas had been assisted by James's revealing dress.

When they passed Giovanni's gym in Viridian City, Jessie stopped. She wanted to march in there so desperately, but she also knew doing so would be a death wish. These costumes had fooled the twerps and the general populace for over a decade, but it would be too risky to mess with Giovanni.

James turned around, now a significant distance ahead of his partner. "Is everything alright?"

"I need to do…something."

"Jessie—"

"No, you're right." She started walking forward. "Now's not the time."

By the time they had reached Pewter City, they ran into one of the former twerps, the gym leader turned breeder, Brock.

"Hello, miss!" Brock ran over to James. "Do you need any assistance? Directions, perhaps?"

Jessie cleared her throat. "Actually, tw-sir, we could use some help finding someone."

"Anything for a lovely lady and her…companion!"

"Have you seen a Meowth that walks on two legs?" James leaned closer to Brock.

"…Like on the poster…" Brock backed away, and he pulled off Jessie's false moustache, still squinting.

"What's the big idea!" She covered her face.

"I thought you looked familiar!" Brock smiled. "Team Rocket!"

"No longer affiliated with them. I guess it's time to finally retire these disguises, huh." James looked down dejectedly at his dress. "Of course it would be one of the twerps to finally figure it out."

"You should know," Brock continued, "you're on those posters too."

"What!?" Jessie panicked. "I didn't even know there were wanted posters!"

Brock raised his hands. "Calm down. I'm actually on your side for once. I saw what Meowth and Pikachu did, and they wouldn't do that if what they were talking about wasn't true."

James nodded. "It is true."

"Doesn't surprise me, actually. I've seen things." Brock face grew stern as he mumbled, "…Ivy." He shrugged. "Well, I don't know where Meowth is, but I figure he's with Ash and his Pokemon. And I know someone who might have a better idea of where Ash is."

/

"Okay. Run it by me again, because I don't get it." Psyduck was uncomfortable using his psychic powers, especially across long distances.

Pikachu wanted Psyduck to transmit messages to wild Pokemon across Kanto to ask for their support. "So can you transmit a message, or not?"

Psyduck burst out laughing. "I can't do anything like that except give other Pokemon my headache for a few minutes!"

"So it's a no." Pikachu rested her head on her paw.

Wartortle paddled around them—he was making the most of the moats installed in Misty's gym. "What about the Mr. Mime living at Delia's? He's psychic, right?"

"He's…not reliable." Pikachu's ears perked up. "Hide. There's someone at the door."

Ash scrunched behind the gym leader's podium as Wartortle dove underwater. Charizard flew up into the rafters, and Venusaur hid behind a potted plant. Pikachu and Meowth ran into a supply closet.

"Stop shocking me!" Meowth backed into a broom handle.

"It's just static, calm down." Pikachu shuffled closer to the line of light outlining the door frame. "And shut up, Misty's opening the door."

Misty opened the door a crack. "Gym's closed! Come by later!"

"Hi Misty." Brock sheepishly waved.

"Oh! Come in! Hurry!"

"And there's these two." Brock pushed Jessie and James inside and slipped in behind them.

"Jessie? James? You got ol-mature. Mature! Ha!" Misty stammered.

Jessie rolled her eyes as James retorted, "Well, it's not like anybody can stay ten years old for twenty years."

There was a crash as Pikachu and Meowth tumbled out of the closet, mops and brooms behind them.

"We're supposed to be hiding!"

"Well dat's what happens when you shock me!"

"It was just static!"

Meowth stood up, brushed himself off, and froze. "Jessie! James!" He ran over to his teammates. "How'd you guys find us?"

Jessie and James beamed as they hugged Brock. "This twerp!"

"Get off of me." Brock crossed his arms. "I guess you found Ash and company, Misty. Where is he?"

Ash popped up behind the stadium, and Charizard, Wartortle, and Venusaur emerged as well.

Misty marched back to Ash and dragged him forward by the ear. "This retiree decided to send his high-profile Pokemon out for breakfast at the Exeggcute Diner!"

"Yeah, yeah, I was wrong, you were right. I know." Ash grinned. "Hi Brock!"

"Hi yourself. What have you gotten yourself into?"

Jessie interrupted, "Fighting for lives of Pokemon."

"But what are you going to do?" Brock leaned against a wall.

James examined his fingernails. "We need to head to Lavender Town. The infinity energy plant is headquartered—"

Glass shattered. Officer Jenny rappelled down from the broken skylight. "You are harboring fugitives! Turn yourselves in!"

Misty palmed a Pokeball. "Gyrados! Thrash!" The water serpent complied, hiding them in the resulting chaos. "We have got to go now!"

"I can fit, like, three people tops," Charizard grumbled as Ash, Brock, Jessie, James and Wartortle squished onto his back. "Watch the tail, Wartortle."

"Togekiss! Help the rest of us out!" Misty climbed onto the Pokemon's back. "Gyrados! Psyduck! Return!" Togekiss used her claws to grasp Meowth and Pikachu.

Meowth squirmed. "Watch it! I am not a vending machine toy!"

Ash called to a green blur still on the tiled floor of the gym. "Venusaur!"

Venusaur had realized that he was too big to be carried by either Charizard or Tokegiss and was no longer bound by a Pokeball. Concentrating, he aimed at the ground, releasing a solar beam that propelled him upwards. He hit Officer Jenny, sending her flying.

Jessie tilted her head towards James. "Hey, we're not the ones blasting off this time."

Quickly falling, he released two vines, one wrapping around Charizard and the other around Togekiss.

Charizard grunted from the additional weight. "You're fat, Venusaur."

"Tell me something I don't know." Suspended between the two flying-types, Venusaur looked down to see a mass of motorcycles and police cars following them. "They're following us!"

Ash furrowed his brows. He shouted, "Wartortle! Use bubblebeam to create a mist around us. And Venusaur, reinforce your vines, then use solar beam again to propel us forward! As much as you can!"

As Wartortle's mist shrouded the unusual formation, Venusaur released as many solar beams as he could, jerking everyone.

James wailed. "We are blasting off again!"