Episode 2: Enter Planetary

Ash and Pikachu are getting off of the hover boat in a small seaside town. We join our hero as he takes his first steps into the Tenno Region. But he's not the only one starting a journey. Let's first take a look at a young girl on her tenth birthday.

The girl from the previous episode steps out of her room. She is dressed in a white shirt with small red vest over it. She has a red skirt and wears a white sun hat with a red and black Pokéball design on it. She also has an over-the-shoulder bag. Her mom is standing in front of her. The girl twirls around and asks, "So, what do you think?"

"You look adorable honey. Just like a new trainer should."

"Na ah, that's coordinator."

The mom smiles. "Of course. You know your way to Professor Pine's lab, right?"

"Of course mom, everyone in town does."

"I know, but it is better safe than sorry."

She smiles. "Right. Alright, I'm ready to go."

"Just be careful, promise me you won't take any risks that would put you or your Pokémon in danger."

The girl grows a little annoyed. "I know mom, I know."

The mom bends over, hugs her, and gives her a kiss on the cheek.

The girl pulls away. "Mom, I'm not a kid anymore, I'm ten."

The mom chuckles. "You'll always be my little Brenda."

The girl, Brenda, begins to walk towards the door. "I promise that I'll call you when ever I get the chance. Don't worry about me."

"I don't think that anything could stop me from worrying, but I'll try. Good luck."

Brenda smiles. "I won't even need it." She walks out the door. Once out, she says to herself, "Oh boy, this is going to be great!" She runs down the street.

After a little while of running and taking a couple of turns, she makes it to a large building. A sign mounted on it above the door says, "Pine Research Laboratory. Discovering the link between Pokémon and outer space."

Brenda grins and walks in. Once inside she sees two people. One is a taller, older man with graying hair which is combed back neatly. He wears a lab coat. The other is only just older than Brenda. He wears a white suit with gray pants and has blue hair. On the left side of his chest, there is an emblem. It is a yellow P with a sun inside of the hole on the P, and several ovular lines around the outside of the P with dots on various parts of them, as if representing planets orbiting a star. The older man says, "I'm sorry, I would like to help out Team Planetary if I could, but I just can't."

The other asserts, "Of course you can! You have three available Pokémon, I only require one."

"Look, Team Planetary is a respectable organization, and I realize that without them we wouldn't be where we are today with technology, but these Pokémon are reserved for new trainers who have registered. If you want to go register, and come back after a week, once your registration is complete, I'll gladly give you a Pokémon, but for now, I just can't."

The man shakes his head. "You'll regret crossing Team Planetary." The man storms out, walking past Brenda.

The remaining man notices her and says, "Ah, Brenda, right on time. I'm sorry you had to see that. Those Team Planetary types, they think they rule the world or something." He shakes his head. "Let's not worry about that though, are you ready to chose your first Pokémon?"

"Yes Professor Pine."

"Excellent."

Then there is a knock on the door. Pine appears confused. He calls, "Come in!" The door opens and Ash and Pikachu walk in. Pine asks, "Hello, and who are you?"

Ash smiles. "My name's Ash Ketchum, I'm from Pallet Town. This is my partner Pikachu."

"Pika!"

"Ah, Pallet Town. Samuel Oak must have sent you."

Ash nods. He pulls off his back pack and digs into it. He pulls out the Meteoric Shard.

Pine's eyes light up. "My, my, this is the finest specimen I've ever seen! I must remember to express my gratitude to Samuel." He turns back to Brenda. "I'm sorry my dear, I've been waiting for this delivery for a while now." He takes the Shard from Ash and places it on a table across the room. "Now, for that Pokémon." He shows Brenda to a table with three Pokéballs on it. He presses the button on each, releasing three Pokémon.

Ash's eyes go wide with awe. He asks Brenda, "Are you picking your first Pokémon!?"

She nods. "Yup."

Ash approaches the table and pulls out his Pokédex. He points it at the first Pokémon. It is a green and tan quadruped Pokémon. Growing out of its back is a small fern plant. On its head is a just sprouted fern fiddlehead. The Pokédex activates. "Sporout, the Fiddleheaded Pokémon and a Grass and Ground combo-type. It is believed that long ago Sporout were only Ground-Type Pokémon, but they formed a symbiotic relationship with spores from another planet. Now all Sporout are given spores at birth. Evolves into Buffern at Level 16."

The next one is a red and orange turtle. On its shell is a single cell from a solar battery. "Turcell, the Solar Cell Pokémon and a Fire and Steel combo-type. The panel on Turcell's back is used to absorb energy from the sun to power its Fire-Type attacks. If threatened Turcell will retreat into its shell. Evolves into Turtsol at Level 16."

The final is a purple and blue bipedal Pokémon. It stands in a hunched position and has a large head. Its hands and feet are webbed and it has large, black eyes. "Kappaqua, the Psychic Kappa Pokémon and a Water and Psychic combo-type. For a long time, Kappaqua were thought to be nothing but myth. No one is sure where Kappaqua come from. Some even believe that they came from outer space. Evolves into Kappaqueous at Level 16."

Ash puts away his Pokédex and exclaims, "That's so cool! I remember the day I got Pikachu, he was my first Pokémon. Which one are you going to chose?"

Brenda looks them over. She responds, "To be honest, I haven't fully decided yet. I wanted to see them for myself first."

Professor Pine says, "There's no need to rush. This could be one of the most important decisions you make. Take your time."

Brenda nods. As she's looking, there's a sudden crash. The entire back wall collapses. Pine shouts in surprise, "Great stars above! What just happened!?"

The dust clears revealing three men on the other side of the broken wall. One is the guy from before, and the other two are new. They both wear the exact same outfit, a white and grey jumpsuit with the same P emblem as the first's, except larger, and more centered. The top, sides, and back of their heads are covered by the same sort of hats that astronauts wear underneath their space helmets. In front of the one on the right is a Solrock and the one on the left has a Lunatone.

Pine demands, "Cosmo, what are you doing!?"

The guy from before, Cosmo, says, "You chose not to assist Team Planetary. I need a Pokémon, and now I have no choice but to take one from you." Cosmo walks forward a few steps. Turcell and Kappaqua appear frightened by the collapsing wall. They leap off the table and run out.

Ash shouts, "Don't you dare touch one of those Pokémon!"

He charges at Cosmo, but one of the Team Planetary grunts commands, "Solrock, Psychic Attack!" Ash is thrown back by the attack. He says smugly, "None of you are moving a muscle."

Cosmo approaches the remaining Pokémon, Sporout. It appears unafraid. Cosmo says, "You are a brave one. You'll suit me fine." He picks up the Pokéball next to it and returns it to the ball. He looks up towards Pine. "This could have been easy. I truly regret having to go to such extremes." He turns around and walks out. "Oh, yeah. Send the bill for the wall repair to Team Planetary. We'll handle it." He and the grunts leave. The psychic field around Ash, Brenda, and Pine dissipates.

Ash shouts, "I'll get that guy!" and runs out.

Brenda follows him and says, "I'll get the Pokémon that ran away!"

After the two have left, an overwhelmed Professor Pine says to himself, "And I'll…just clean up here."

Ash and Pikachu manage to catch up with the Team Planetary group on the outskirt of the town. Ash shouts, "You're going to give back that Pokémon you stole! Pikachu, Thunder Bolt!"

Pikachu leaps off of Ash's arm and charges for its attack. "Pikaaa chuuuuuuu!"

One of the grunts stops running and commands, "Solrock, Protect!"

"Sol!" The sun Pokémon creates a barrier around it that halts Pikachu's attack.

Cosmo says, "We have no time for this. Take care of him you two!"

Both grunts say, "Yes sir!"

One shouts, "Solar Beam, now!"

The other, "Use your Lunar Beam!" Both Pokémon charge up energy. The Solrock fires a golden beam of energy, while Lunatone lets loose a shadowy beam.

"Pikachu, dodge, and then use Electro Ball!"

Pikachu leaps above the attacks and then charges a ball of electricity on its tail. "Pikaachu!" It launches the ball at the two Pokémon.

Both grunts command, "Deflect it with Psychic!" Both Pokémon's eyes glow purple and purple energy appears around the Electro Ball, catching it. It is then thrown back at Pikachu.

Pikachu attempts to escape, but is unable. "Pika!"

Both grunts continue, "Now let's finish this! Stone Edge!"

"Solrock!" "Lunatone!" Both summon several sharp-edged stones and send them flying at Pikachu.

Ash shouts, "Pikachu, no!" Pikachu is hit by the stones and falls to the ground, knocked out. Ash runs over to Pikachu and picks him up.

Cosmo looks at Ash and says, "That's what you get for following me. Come on, move out." He and the grunts run off.

A tear comes to Ash's eye. "Pikachu, I'm sorry." He looks around frantically, and to his luck, there is a Pokémon Center nearby. He gets up and runs towards it.

Watching from the top of a nearby building via binoculars is Team Rocket. Jessie asks in shock, "Did you just see that? Those guys just beat the Twerp's Pikachu!"

James looks deep in thought. Meowth says, "They may have beat Pikachu, but think about their name! They call themselves Team Planetary! They're obviously copying us!"

Jessie exclaims, "You're right! We're the original space-based team! They're trying to steal our image! Come on James, what do you think?"

"Oh, sorry. I just can't help but shake the feeling that I've heard of Team Planetary before. Something from my boot camp days."

Meowth says, "Don't worry about it! We need to go show those phonies who the real team is!"

Jessie and James cheer, "Yeah!"

Wobbuffet appears. "Wobbuffet!"

Jessie grunts, "Did I ask for your opinion?" and returns him to his Pokéball.

Ash bursts through the door of the Pokémon center. Behind the counter is a Nurse Joy (the same one as from Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh). She says in surprise, "Oh my, your Pikachu looks badly hurt!"

Ash nods. "Please Nurse Joy, can you help my Pikachu?"

She nods. "Don't worry, we have one of the best doctors around right now." She calls off, "Doctor, we need you!"

A familiar voice shouts back in a dream-like fashion, "Coming my dear!" Someone in a doctor's coat comes running around the corner. The view of him is from behind, so we can't make out who it is. He suddenly stops cold upon seeing Ash. He says in shock, "It's Ash…"

Ash also looks surprised. He stammers, "It's…it's Brock…" Sure enough, standing there is none other than Brock.

The Team Planetary group is standing in a forest clearing. Cosmo states, "We'll simply wait here for our pick-up. I think we discouraged any followers."

Just Jessie can be heard chuckling. James shouts, "Think again!"

The group looks towards the sky to see the Meowth balloon descending towards them. Cosmo demands, "Who are you!?"

Meowth comments, "I sense a motto coming on."

Sure enough, Jessie begins, "Prepare for trouble, all you fakes!"

James continues, "And make it double, we'll be an ache!"

"To protect the world from shameless copycats!

"To unite all people against you brats!"

"To announce the evils of copyright infringement!"

"Trust me, it is not a compliment!"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket is the original all day and night!"

"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"

"Meowth, that's right!"

"Mime mime!"

"Wobbuffet!"

Cosmo puts his hand to his forehead in annoyance. He says sarcastically, "Great, Team Rocket is in Tenno now, this is just what I need."

One of the grunts laughs and says, "I wouldn't worry too much about these two goofs."

Meowth says with offense, "Three goofs, that's three goofs!" He quickly takes it back. "Forget I said that goof part."

Jessie states, "Besides, it's you who is the goof. How dare you copy such a great and powerful organization as Team Rocket?"

Cosmo turns away from them and simply says, "Get rid of them."

Jessie asserts, "Excuse me, I was talking to you!"

James adds, "Yeah, how rude!"

The grunts are already commanding their Pokémon, "Solrock, Solar Beam!" and "Lunatone, Lunar Beam!" The combined attacks impact Team Rocket and explode, causing them to be sent flying away.

On their way out, Jessie says with anger, "Those phonies get me so angry!"

James shout, "How dare they attack us!"

Meowth turns forward, shrugs, and states, "Take this as a lesson kids, copyrights exist for a reason."

They all say in unison, "Looks the originals are blasting off again!"

Brenda is running through the forest. She appears nervous. She calls out, "Turcell, Kappaqua, where are you!?" She continues to make her way forward.

Out of nowhere she hears the cry of a distressed Pokémon, "Kap! Kappaqua! Kappa!"

Brenda dashes forward and finds herself right before a cliff. There, hanging off of a scrawny tree over the cliff, is the missing Kappaqua. The branch its on is sagging, and seems dangerously close to snapping. Brenda shouts, "Kappaqua, are you okay!?"

The Pokémon responds with a panicked, "Kappa! Kappa!"

"Right, of course, hanging over a cliff. Alright, just hang in there, I'll figure out a way to get you down." She looks around and sees a fallen branch. She runs over and picks it up. "I'm going to extend this branch towards you, you just need to grab onto it. Okay?"

"Kappa! Kap!" Brenda does as she explained. Kappaqua looks towards the branch, towards Brenda, and then back to the branch. It shouts, "Kappaqua!" as it leaps from its branch to hers. She pulls the branch and falls backwards as she does. Kappaqua lands on her stomach.

She asks, "That wasn't too bad, was it?"

It sighs, "Aqua…"

"Come on, let's get back to the lab." She gets up and tosses the branch into some nearby bushes. As soon as it lands a buzzing sound can be heard. She looks towards Kappaqua and asks, "Do you hear that, or is it just me?" It gulps in nervousness.

Out of the bushes rise ten or so Beedrill. They can be heard buzzing, as well as saying, "Bee, bee, bee!"

"That's a lot of Beedrill…" Brenda, still carrying Kappaqua runs away. The Beedrill follow them in pursuit. They run through the forest, weaving through trees.

After running through the forest for a little Kappaqua starts to complain, "Kappa, kap, kappaqua!"

Brenda questions while still panicking, "What is it Kappaqua?"

Kappaqua jumps out of her arms and lands before the Beedrill, who stop as soon as they see that Brenda and Kappaqua have. "Kappa kappa!"

Brenda realizes what it means. "You want to protect me?"

It affirms, "Kappa!" It closes its eyes in concentration and then shouts, "Kappaqua!" as its eyes glow purple. A purple energy appears around all the Beedrill and they're thrown to the side.

Brenda exclaims, "That was a Confusion attack, and a powerful one at that!"

As if to show it has more, it fires a jet of water from its mouth, soaking the Beedrill.

"And that was a Water Gun! You're a powerful Pokémon!"

The wet Beedrill fly away. Kappaqua gives a prideful, "Aqua!" it jumps back into Brenda's arms.

She smiles and says, "I guess we're even now, aren't we?"

Ash is standing in front of a window in the Pokémon center. On the other side is Pikachu, lying on a hospital table. Ash sighs. Out of a door next to the window, Brock walks out. Following him is a Blissey. He says, "I've done all I can, Pikachu should recover shortly."

Ash breaths a sigh of relief. "That's good to know." He turns to Brock. "Alright, so tell me what's up. The last time we talked, you were going to study to become a doctor."

Brock smiles. "Yeah, those were the good old days. I did anyways. I got through all of that though. Now I'm a traveling Pokémon doctor. Blissey here and I travel from Pokémon Center to Pokémon Center helping out the Nurse Joys." At the mention of Nurse Joy, Brocks face goes into a dream-like state. "Ah…all the Nurse Joys…it's the best job a man can ask for."

Ash looks at the Blissey and asks, "So is this the same Chansey you had back then?"

"You bet she is. She's been a big help to me. Isn't that right?"

"Blissey!"

Brock's expression turns more serious. "Now you have something to tell me. What happened to Pikachu?"

Ash sighs. "I was at Professor Pine's lab when these bad guys calling themselves Team Planetary stormed in and stole one if his Pokémon. I chased after them, and they did this to Pikachu."

A chime goes off and Brock says, "Ah, Pikachu must be ready to go now."

"That's good to hear." Brock leads Ash into the next room. Ash bends down next to Pikachu's bed and asks, "Pikachu, how do you feel?"

Pikachu smiles. "Chu."

"That's great. I was worried for you. Come on, we need to go." Pikachu hops onto Ash's shoulder. The two start to leave.

Brock gets in his way and says, "Stop right there. Don't tell me you're going after Team Planetary again."

Ash clenches his fists. "Brock, I have to. You don't get it. I think about those guys just stealing Pokémon because they want to. It gets me so mad. I have to go."

Brock sighs. "Fine, just be careful. I don't want to see you in here again."

Ash smiles. "Don't worry Brock, I won't"

Ash is traveling through the forest. As he's running, he hears the terrified cries of a Pokémon, "Tur, tur! Turcell!"

Ash goes through some trees, towards the cry. There's a river and on a rock in its center is the missing Turcell. Ash shouts, "That Turcell is in trouble!" The Turcell sees him and starts to cry even more. "Don't worry, I'll help you!" Ash wades into the water and picks up the stranded Pokémon. Holding it above his head, he carries it back to the shore.

He sets it down and the Turcell grows excited. It cries out in joy, "Turcell! Tur!" It rubs up against Ash's leg.

Ash says to it, "You're welcome. Hey, would you mind heading back the lab by yourself? There's something important I've got to do."

It nods. "Turcell."

Ash starts to move again. He calls back, "See you later!" He gets back to running through the forest. He says to Pikachu, "They left in this direction, hopefully we can catch up with them. Are you ready Pikachu?"

Pikachu gives a determined , "Chu!"

They keep on running, and after a little bit they make it into the clearing were the Team Planetary group is waiting. Sure enough, they're still there. One of the grunts says, "Um…boss…"

Cosmo sighs and turns around to see Ash. He comments, "My, my, we are determined, aren't we?"

Ash shouts, "I won't stop until you give back that Pokémon!"

The two grunts ready their Pokéballs for a battle. Cosmo steps forward and says, "You two sit this one out. I'll handle it personally." He pulls of a Pokéball from his belt and enlarges it.

"Let's do this Pikachu." Pikachu jumps off of his arm and lets loose some sparks.

Cosmo throws his Pokéball. "Go Sporout!" The fern covered Pokémon emerges.

Ash says, "Alright Pikachu, Sporout is part Ground-Type, so your Electric-Types moves won't work. We'll have to stick to your other moves. Let's start this off with a Quick Attack!"

Pikachu dashes with high speed at the Sporout. Cosmo commands, "Spore Guard!" Sporout stands still. Pikachu rams into it, knocking it back.

Ash shouts, "Perfect, now hit it again with an Iron Tail!"

Pikachu starts the attack. "Chu…Pika!" Something about Pikachu's move is sluggish and Sporout easily dodges.

Ash asks, "What gives? You're normally way faster than that!"

Cosmo explains, "Spore Guard is an interesting move. It cloaks the user in special spores which will spread to any Pokémon that makes direct contact with it. These spores slow down any non-Grass-Type Pokémon."

Ash is annoyed. "Alright, don't worry about it Pikachu, use another Iron Tail."

Pikachu moves in to attack again. Cosmo shouts, "Dodge, and use Razor Leaf!" Sporout jumps out of the way once more, and then sends several leaf projectiles at Pikachu. It tries to dodge, but is too slow.

Ash shouts, "Pikachu!"

"Now, Razor Leaf, once more!"

"Pikachu, counter it with Thunderbolt!"

"Pikaaachuuuuuu!" Pikachu's attack destroys all of the leaves.

"Now let's get your speed back up! Use Agility, and follow it up with a Quick Attack!" Pikachu begins to pick up speed as it runs towards Cosmo's Pokémon. It turns into a full out Quick Attack.

"Dodge it Sporout!" The Pokémon tries to, but Pikachu is too fast.

"Yeah, now an Iron Tail!" Pikachu switches into an Iron Tail and smacks Sporout away. It gets back up. The two Pokémon face each other, ready to go back at it.

Ash begins, "Once more, Quick-!" but before he can finish, an odd noise is heard. Overhead comes a hovering vehicle with a rope ladder hanging off of it.

Cosmo apologizes, "I'm sorry, but that's our ride. I must be off." The grunts jump on to the ladder and climb up. "Sporout, return!" The Pokémon returns to its ball.

Ash shouts, "Hey, get back here!" Cosmo grabs onto the ladder and the hovercraft flies away. "Pikachu, stop it with Thunder!"

"Pikaaachuuuuu!" The craft is too far away for the attack.

Ash sighs. "They got away…"

Later, Ash arrives back at the lab, which is still in ruins. Professor Pine and Brenda are there, and Brenda is still carrying Kappaqua. Ash sighs. Pine walks up to him asks, "Ash, what happened?"

"I caught up with those thieves, but then they got away. I'm so sorry I failed."

Pine slowly shakes his head. He turns to Brenda. "I'm sorry that I can't offer you the full selection of starter Pokémon."

She smiles. "Don't worry, I've already decided which one I want."

She laughs and Kappaqua happily says, "Kap kap!"

Ash looks around and asks, "Hey, where's Turcell?"

Pine asks, "I don't know, why?"

"I saw it in the forest, and I told it come back here, it said it would."

"I'll just have to wait for it to show up. I hope that that little Pokémon is okay." He sighs. "Anyways, on a lighter note, I talked to Professor Oak, he told me that you like to challenge Gyms."

Ash perks up a little. "Yeah, it's my goal become a Pokémon Master!"

"Perfect, because we actually have a Pokémon League here in Tenno."

"Did you hear that Pikachu!? They have Gyms here!"

"Pika!"

"I guess we'll leave for those right away!"

Brenda asks, "You're going to travel across the region?"

"You bet!"

"Would you mind if I came with you? I want to do the same."

"Why not, the more them merrier, right Pikachu?"

"Pika!"

Pine claps his hands together. "It always makes me happy to see new friends being made. I wish you both the best of luck on your journey."

Ash starts to run out through the broken wall. Brenda follows and calls back, "Good luck with fixing your lab Professor!" The Professor sighs.

As they're leaving town, Ash is saying to Brenda, "You'll love being a Pokémon trainer! You get to go wherever you want, and every day is an adventure!"

Brenda cheers, "I love adventure!"

"Who doesn't!?"

Brock's voice says, "I hope that you don't plan on having an adventure without me." They look behind him, and sure enough, Brock, in full travel clothes and a backpack is walking towards them.

Ash asks, "What are you doing here Brock?"

Brock laughs, "Do you think that I'd allow you to travel around with out me? Ha! I'm coming with you!"

"But what about your job?"

"That's the best part, I'd still be doing my job, traveling from town to town, that's what you do, right?"

Ash smiles. "Glad to have you back." He turns to Brenda. "Brenda, this is Brock, he's an old friend of mine. We go way back."

Brock extends a hand and they shake. He says, "It's a pleasure to meet you Brenda."

She says, "The same."

The three continue on walking out of the town.

Ash's new adventure has only just begun! Now with a group of friends, he embarks on a journey through the Tenno Region. One thing's for sure, you must stay tuned!

As the group walks off, the Turcell from before peeks its head out from behind a building, and then races off after Ash.

To Be Continued…