In the days before Team Rocket, Celadon City had been conquered by a force led by the "Fighting Dojo" of Saffron City Gym. The Ponyta had been rounded up, seized from their stables and briefly conscripted into the army, although their tendency to burn their riders led to their dismissal and/or execution. The air was patrolled by Charizard, the ground by Dugtrio, atrocities were rampant and it seemed that there was no way to communicate them to the outside world. They would have been right, if it had not been for for one young journalist hero and her Doduo.
With more heroism than caution, or perhaps more courage than brains, she had hopped onto her pokemon and made her way to the west end of the city, dodging roadblocks and soldiers along the way. The city walls were difficult for fliers (who would be shot down by cannon or Charizard flame) and land pokemon (who could not scale them) but her Doduo cleared them in a single bound, yet stayed under or around the projectile attacks. She had made it to cycling road, but she had not yet gained freedom: the horde chasing her grew ever larger by the minute, for Saffron had many allies among the biker gangs. Her Doduo stayed one step ahead of them, avoiding attack after attack and outrunning them with amazing speed until she made it to the safety of Fuchsia City.
Her pictures and reports outraged the people of the pokemon world, and a vast coalition of armies soon freed her city from the clutches of Saffron. When interviewed about her efforts, she would only say that Doduo were good at obstacle courses, and amazing at running away.