Ash felt weak. He was riding on a large blue and purple pokemon's back, hardly able to keep his eyes open. He started to slip off but another pokemon used its snout to push him back on. He turned his head to see the blurry outline of another pokemon about the same size as the one he was riding, except the other pokemon was yellow and purple. He could hear the angry voices of pursuers. For some reason, he was being chased. As the last of his consciousness slipped away, he could hear Misty's voice, pulling him back to reality… "Ash… Ash, wake up…"
"Ash! Ash, wake up!" Misty was shaking her friend desperately. She, Brock, and Pikachu had been trying to wake up the boy for fifteen minutes now. They were starting to get worried.
Ash's eyes popped open and he sat up quickly. Misty, Brock, and Pikachu jumped in surprise before breathing a sigh of relief.
"Ash! Don't worry us like that!" Brock scolded.
"Huh?" Ash said, confused.
"You wouldn't wake up! We tried almost everything! I used my mallet and Pikachu used his thunderbolt, but you didn't respond at all!" Misty said.
"Sorry." Ash said. "I didn't mean to. I was having a nightmare."
Misty and Brock exchanged glanced, while Pikachu gave a worried "Pika…"
"What was your nightmare about, Ash?" Brock asked.
"I was riding a blue and purple pokemon and I was barely conscious. There was a yellow and purple pokemon running alongside that was helping me stay on. I was being chased, but I don't know who by. Then, I heard Misty's voice and I woke up." Ash explained. "I don't understand though. Who were those pokemon? I couldn't see them clearly so I couldn't recognize them. Who were we running from and why was I so weak?"
"Something tells me you'll find out eventually, Ash. For now, it's time for breakfast." Brock said.
Ash immediately perked up, his nightmare forgotten. "Alright!" He jumped up and ran to the breakfast table, where he started gobbling down his share.
Brock, Misty, and Pikachu sweatdropped before joining him, but not eating quite as quickly.
Meanwhile…
Yohana smiled as Cerulean City came into view. It had only taken a few hours to get there and she was psyched and ready for her gym battle.
First, though, she wanted to mail a letter.
Humming to herself, she searched for a mailbox. Seeing one, she started running towards it, but crashed into a blonde teenager by accident.
"Hey! Watch where you're going!" The blonde said.
"Sorry! I was going to mail this letter and saw the mailbox and wasn't paying attention to anything but that!" Yohana said. She placed the letter in the mailbox. "There. You wouldn't happen to know where the gym is, do you ma'am?"
"Actually, I'm one of the gym leaders!" The blonde told her. "My name's Daisy. Would you like a badge?"
"Of course! Where's the…" Yohana began, but stopped mid-sentence when Daisy held out a badge to her. "Wait, you're just going to give it to me?"
"Yeah. There's no need to have a battle for it." Daisy said.
Yohana felt angry. "What kind of gym leader are you, just handing out free badges like that? I'd like to earn my badges, thank you very much!"
"Fine. Fine. We'll have a battle. Follow me." Daisy led the way to the pokemon gym. "Welcome to the Cerulean City Gym."
Yohana looked around with a smile before going to her side of the battlefield.
"Is a one on one good with you?" Daisy asked.
"Um… okay…" Yohana said before thinking silently. 'At least it's a battle and not a free badge.'
"Go! Seaking!" Daisy called out her pokemon.
Yohana thought to herself. 'Leafeon would have a type advantage, probably a level advantage too, but I want to try out some of my other pokemon in gym battles. Let's give Gloom a chance."
"Go! Gloom!" She threw a pokeball.
Daisy glanced at the Leafeon at Yohana's side before shrugging at the choice. "You can make the first move."
"Okay! Gloom, let's start with Acid!" Yohana shouted.
Daisy shrugged again. "Seaking, Horn Drill."
"Gloom! Dodge and use Mega Drain!" Yohana saw how fast the battle was ending and sighed. She realized not all gym battles were fun like her one with Flint was. "Use Acid to end it, Gloom!"
A few minutes later, Yohana stepped outside with the Cascade Badge in the badge case she'd bought.
"That… was boring." She told Leafeon as they walked towards the pokemon center. "No offense to Gloom, though. It was Daisy's fault it was boring. I guess they just don't care about gym battles here."
She had her pokemon healed and went sight-seeing again. This time though, she got the feeling she was being watched.
She just hoped Team Rocket hadn't discovered her position. It would be really bad if they did.
She sighed and headed back to the pokemon center for a good night's sleep.