“Ugh,” Ash groaned, “This is taking too long.”

Misty turned to him, glaring. “Well, buckle up, because we’ll be in Viridian Forest for another couple of days. Maybe if you hadn’t wrecked my bike, we’d have been in Pewter City already!”

Ash clenched his fists, and said, “That wouldn’t have helped me! It’s not like I can ride your bike.”

“That didn’t stop you from doing it earlier.”

“Well- Gah! You know what I mean!” Ash shouted.

Misty shook her head, and said, “Just stop complaining. It’s not doing us any favors.”

“Why are you still following me, anyway?!”

Ash was exasperated. That red-haired loser had been hounding him ever since he left Viridian City, and he was tired of listening to her constantly complaining. She even had the nerve to hypocritically call him out whenever he did the same thing!

‘I’ll bet Gary is having the time of his life right now. He’s probably already in Pewter City!’

“Pallet Town is full of idiots, you know,” Misty remarked, “This other kid bothered me for five minutes just to ask me how to cross a river.”

“Other kid? Was he a jerk with brown, spiky, hair?” Ash asked.

“No,” Misty responded, “He had black hair.”

Ash remembered seeing someone like that when the Pokécenter had blown up in Viridian City, though he couldn’t remember the boy’s name.

‘Professor Oak said that nine people had came to the lab before me, but only three of them were taking on the gym challenge. Gary and the other guy make two… so who’s the last one?’

A scream from Misty broke Ash out of his thoughts. “What’s wrong now?” he said, knowing what she was going to say.

“I think I see another bug!”

‘Knew it,’ he thought, as Pikachu, who was walking beside him, sighed.

“Maybe it’s a… Delcat-erpie,” he deadpanned.

Misty glared at him, and said, “That’s not a pun! You just mashed two pokémon names together! Besides, you know I hate bugs, and there really is one right other there!”

Ash looked over to where she was pointing, and saw a small Weedle crawling around the forest floor. He opened his pokédex and scanned the bug type, skimming over the entries.

“A stinger, huh?” he muttered to himself. “Well, you can’t expect a great trainer like me to let a Weedle escape. I’m gonna catch it! Pidgeotto, I choose you!”

Pewter City was a settlement rooted in tradition, as unchanging as the rock face it was built upon. Kanto as a whole was much more forward-thinking than its neighbor Johto, and thus the classic Kantonian buildings of Pewter were a pleasant surprise to Red, who had to resist the temptation to explore as he made his way to the city’s Pokécenter.

He spent the following hour hanging around the center while his pokémon were healed, and eventually decided to book a battle with Brock on one of the public computers; the longer he waited to schedule it, he figured, the longer he’d have to wait for the battle. Still, he was surprised to see that the wait time was a full three days.

Though, from what he’d heard, even that was on the shorter end for wait times. Gym leaders faced around eight challengers a day, in hour-long slots, which meant that over twenty people had battles booked before him.

He knew he’d have to take what he was offered, though, so a few key presses later, the battle was fully scheduled.

The next couple of days were spent wandering around the city, exploring all sorts of local oddities and tourist traps. Red was surprised by just how many merchants made a living selling random curiosities in offbeat alleyways- people could sell anything if they talked it up enough, he supposed. He did a decent amount of shopping, too, buying a new supply of food and stocking up on other amenities.

On the morning of his third day in Pewter City, Red decided to visit the local science museum, which was offering a discount on tickets for trainers. He had recently learned that discounts like this were actually rather common; since trainers traveled so much, they were a frequent target of local businesses.

The museum was much more impressive than Red had expected. It was filled with all sorts of exhibits on ancient world history and fossil pokémon, including some spectacular dioramas. Though he was rather annoyed by the museum's curator, who wouldn't leave him alone.

"Aha! You're taking an interest in the exhibits, I see!" he proclaimed, standing at a distance that was both too close and too far at once.

Red sighed, exasperated. "That's what they're here for, right? To be looked at?"

The curator, who, according to his name tag, was called Harold, laughed a little, then nodded vigorously. "Indeed, indeed!" he said. The man cleared his throat, and added, "You seem like a fine young lad! Well then, I have something to show you!"

Red tried to object, but he wouldn't listen, practically dragging him outside to an empty plot of land behind the museum.

"Look at it!" he said, gesturing at the land, "isn't it marvelous!"

"Uh… yeah, that sure is a nice looking… empty field?" Red responded, confused.

Harold laughed. "It is an empty field, but it won't be for long! We've got big plans to make this a hands-on fossil digging experience!"

Nodding along, Red desperately searched for a way out of the conversation. "Well, um, that's nice and all, but I really need to get to the bathroom…"

Harold pointed back inside, smiling at Red. "We have one in the museum! There's a big sign- you can't miss it."

Red breathed a sigh of relief, hurrying back inside. He was happy to be away from the guy- though, now that he thought about it, he did need the bathroom.

The bathroom was as easy to find as Harold had said, and Red made it there without much difficulty. But, as he stepped in, he heard a sharp intake of breath that made him pause. Why would someone have panicked as soon as he walked in a bathroom?

He could think of many reasons why, but most of them weren’t very appropriate.

After he did his business, he began checking the stalls, still suspicious. He began to hear panicked shuffling, and moved faster. And when he opened one of the stalls, he saw a person inside, and immediately regretted what he had done.

Red stood in front of a Team Rocket grunt, identifiable by his uniform, which was different from the ones the pair in Viridian City were wearing, but just as identifiable- the black sweater emblazoned with a small red ‘R’ on the upper right corner didn’t exactly scream ‘good samaritan’.

He was carrying a large orange stone, and had a panicked expression on his face. Red had a feeling he had just walked into a robbery.

It was up to him to defuse the situation. Again.

“Now, now,” he said, slightly nervous, “There’s no need to fight. We can resolve this peacefully.”

The death glare he was sending his way seemed to disagree.

“Piss off, kid,” he growled, “You’ve got no business messing with me.”

Inside, he agreed. But he knew he couldn’t in good conscience let him escape. At least not with the big rock, which he recognized from an exhibit. Apparently it was a highly valuable piece of amber that contained Aerodactyl DNA.

Red reached into his bag and grabbed Mankey’s pokéball, ready to fight. The criminal snorted, and said, “Ha! What makes you think I’m going to bother fighting you? Get out of my way!” He was about to retaliate, but the crook marched forward and tried to kick him in the chest. He just barely dodged the blow.

Red was scared, but had an idea that would (hopefully) make sure he wasn’t beaten up. He pulled out the pokéball he was holding, and let out Mankey.

“Take your pick,” he said, “Fight me in a pokémon battle, or fight the Mankey yourself. Trust me, this guy can hit hard.”

Mankey leered at the grunt menacingly, and he backed away, worry creeping across his face. “Alright, fine. Have it your way,” he muttered.

Red let out a breath, relieved. The man hadn’t caught onto his bluff. He couldn’t legally sic a pokémon on someone… but he didn’t need to be reminded of that.

“Don’t be fooled. It’s stronger than it looks,” the grunt growled, as he sent out a skinny, agitated Raticate with a scarf wrapped around the closest thing to a neck that it had.

‘Pfft,’ he thought, ‘sending a malnourished pokémon into battle? How does he expect to win doing that?’

“Mankey, let’s end this quickly. Use Seismic Toss!” he yelled.

But, of course- his opponent wouldn’t let the fight end that quickly. The Raticate swiftly, although shakily, evaded Mankey’s grasp.

He tried again, and again, but each time, he failed. It was maddening. No matter how many attempts he made, the rat managed to just barely get out the way, by some miracle. Given how weak it was, it should have by no means been able to do such a thing. And yet…

The grunt smirked. Red knew he was using some sort of trick, but he couldn’t for the life of him figure out what it was.

“All right, I’m tired of waiting around,” the grunt said. “Use Hyper Fang!”

The Raticate lunged forward, its teeth sinking into Mankey’s flesh before it jumped out of the way of another attempt at a counterattack.

'There has to be a way to catch it…’ Red thought, ‘but how?’

He skimmed over Mankey’s learned moves in his head, eventually settling on one that could help him.

“Mankey, try Mud Slap!” he shouted. Globs of sludge materialized in its hands, and the primeape hurled them at its opponent. Not expecting a ranged attack from a pokémon known for its strength in close combat, it was unable to dodge in time, and the muck splattered across its face.

Red took advantage of the opportunity, and ordered Mankey to get close to Raticate in a move the pokédex called ‘Covet’. He had a suspicion that he wanted to confirm. Raticate, which was still cleaning the mud off its face, didn’t realize Mankey had ripped off its blue scarf until it was too late.

All of a sudden, both the grunt and his pokémon looked rather worried.

And lo and behold, when Mankey doubled back and readied a powerful Low Kick, the Raticate wasn’t able to dodge the attack. It didn’t take much longer for Red to claim victory over his opponent, who- to his surprise (though he knew he probably shouldn’t have been), didn’t hand the amber back to him.

Instead, he recalled the Raticate, clutched the stone, and dashed out of the stall, pushing him out of the way as he headed towards a nearby window.

“Heh,” he said, “Your pokémon’s worn out now. It can’t help you much anymore.”

“I have another one,” Red retorted, as he recalled Mankey.

“Don’t care, didn’t ask,” the grunt responded, as he slipped out through the window frame. He landed on the other side with a ‘thud’, and let out a curse, though Red wasn’t listening anymore, as he ran out of the bathroom and back towards the exhibit hall.

Only a fool restricted themselves with a code of honor; that was a belief most of Team Rocket upheld. Other people saw that as a simple excuse to break the law, or a misguided sentiment enforced by the few victories the organization did achieve.

Still, for new trainers like Red, who took the unspoken rules of battling for granted, such a blatant disregard for them came as quite a shock.

So when he reported the theft to the museum staff, and later the police force, he felt somewhat unsettled. It didn’t help that the criminal wasn’t even caught- the museum was on the opposite side of town from the police station, and they had plenty of time to escape.

He went back to his hotel room that day (free Pokécenter rooms had a maximum stay of twenty-four hours) both excited for his upcoming gym battle, but also nervous. If defeating Team Rocket in a battle didn’t stop them, how could they be beaten?