A man in a lavish suit was pacing around his office, muttering to himself. His plans had been going smoothly… for the most part. More people had been noticing his organization’s presence, which, granted, was obviously going to happen at some point, but it was still too early for law enforcement to be snapping at his heels.

Suddenly, a loud screeching noise broke him out of his thoughts. He looked up slowly, glancing at the woman who had just entered.

“Ariana,” he said. “The hinges on this door need oiling. Your entrance was… less than graceful.”

“Giovanni, this isn’t my office. I could care less.”

He glared at her.

“I’ll get a grunt on it, sir.”

Taking a sip from his glass, which contained a fine Galarian whisky, he nodded at his executive. “Good. Now, your report?”

“Yes, sir,” she responded. “Our operations in Celadon and Mt. Moon are underway and so far successful. Petrel has began preparations for the abduction of Mr. Fuji, and I am told that Archer has seen success in our Cerulean Labs. The only snag, as far as I’m aware, was in acquiring the ancient amber.”

Giovanni let a small frown grow on his face. “Was he caught?” he asked.

“No, sir. But a child found him hiding in a bathroom stall. He was defeated in battle and just barely escaped.”

“A child…” Giovanni growled. “Any other information?”

“Our agents in the league have gathered records from a rookie trainer matching the description. He recently received his first gym badge.”

“Only one badge?” Giovanni whispered, glaring. “The fool was defeated by a trainer with one badge?!”

“In all fairness, sir, the grunt was not provided with many assets. It was meant to be a simple stealth operation.”

“Clearly. But the fact that he was discovered in the first place indicates that he is a liability. Assign him to scrap missions from now on, or dispose of him- I don’t care which.”

Ariana nodded. “Will do, sir.”

“And keep an eye on this kid- what was his name?”

“Red,” she said, checking her notes.

“Hm…” Giovanni thought for a moment, swirling his whisky. “Remember that mercenary we contacted last month? Is she still active?”

“I believe so,” Ariana responded.

“If the boy becomes a larger threat, pay her to gather intel on him.”

Giovanni sat down in his chair, drumming his fingers on his desk. This was going to be rather interesting… that much he could tell.

Red was walking up Route 3, fresh from a victory against a passing hiker, when he heard a massive explosion. A couple of seconds later, and he could see it, too- a large plume of dust was erupting from the mountainside further up the path.

Curious, he decided to get a closer look… though not too close, since that would only lead to trouble. He was shocked to see a figure standing right in front of the rubble. How had she not been blown to pieces, or at least thrown off the mountain from the blast?

His conscience got the better of him, and he ran up to her. “Are you ok?” he asked.

The girl turned around, and Red got a better look at her. She was rather short, though she appeared to be a teenager. Her skin, which was a few shades darker than Brock’s, stood out, since such skin color was rather rare in eastern regions like Kanto. In fact, everything about her seemed a bit off. From her unkempt blue hair, and the combination of shorts, a newsboy cap, and a parka- Red wasn’t quite sure what to make of it.

So he couldn’t be entirely to blame for not hearing her response.

“Uh, I’m sorry, what did you say?” he asked, still trying to figure what her deal was.

“Not repeating myself.” she huffed, “Waste of time.”

“At least tell me your name!” Red said, thoroughly confused by the girl.

“Phoenix. Now let me get back to this.”

“But what is-” he asked, immediately cut off.

“I’m testing bombs. Are you blind?”

“Do you have… permission, like a permit or something?”

She turned to him, giving him a piercing look that only made him more frightened. “I’ve been making explosives for years. I’m not killing anyone, just giving them a scare.”

As if on cue, a rock shifted and fell down the cliff, landing right in front of a passing trainer. His face turned pale, and he looked up to see the two of them. He glared, shook his head, and moved on.

“Third time that’s happened today. I get a kick out of it.” Phoenix said, a grin on her face.

“Ah ha ha…” Red laughed awkwardly. “Well, I really should be going. My pokémon are getting weak, and I hear there’s a center up ahead.”

Her face fell, and she turned back towards the rock face. “Sure, not like I care,” she said dismissively. Red breathed a sigh of relief. He could really do without the constant headache he had been developing over the past couple of weeks.

“Five hundred poké?! That’s obviously a scam! How stupid would I have to be to-”

“Sold!”

Red turned towards Ritchie, exasperated. “Stop it! You’re encouraging him!”

“But it seemed like a good deal…” he said, frowning.

“No, it’s not,” he explained. “I took the liberty of fact checking his nonsense- the pokédex says, on the front page for Magikarp’s entry,

‘Warning! Magikarp, due to their weakness and frequency in the wild, are easy to catch and pawn off to unsuspecting trainers. Don’t fall for these scams.’ ”

Ritchie looked off to the distance, embarrassed. “Oh.”

Meanwhile, the middle-aged Magikarp vendor they had been talking to scowled at Red. “You think you’re so clever, do you? Driving a paying customer away?”

“It’s your own fault for trying to trick people,” Red responded. “Someone’s bound to catch on eventually.”

“You’d think a ten year old would be more naive…” the man muttered.

Red glared at him, and he noticed the nurse looking over at them.

“Hey! How many times have I told you- the pokécenter is not a place to scam trainers!”

The Magikarp vendor growled at her. “You keep letting me in,” he noted.

“That’s because I’m trying to place trust in you! Though at this rate I will have you removed from the premises.”

“Just try.” He smirked. “You know you need that extra money.”

The woman turned away rather pointedly. “I’m shocked that you have the audacity to discuss this in public.”

Ritchie looked between the two, halfway between surprise and confusion, while Red simply shook his head.

“I came here to heal my pokémon, not watch some sort of soap opera,” he deadpanned.

“Wait, what’s going on?” Ritchie asked.

Red rolled his eyes, sitting in one of the nearby sofas. “Something that we probably shouldn’t get involved in.”

“You don’t think it’s good to help people?” Ritchie seemed uncertain, but sat next to him.

“I didn’t say that,” Red responded, snorting. “I just don’t want to interfere in a conflict that I’m not a part of. I’m more interested in achieving my own goals.”

“I… suppose that makes sense…”

“Anyways,” Red walked over to the counter. “How much longer until my pokémon are ready?” he asked the nurse.

She checked her computer. “Another hour, I’m afraid.”

Red sighed. ‘It’s already four in the afternoon. At this rate it’s probably best if I stay here overnight.’

“So, Ritchie,” he asked. “How’d your battle with Brock go?”

Ritchie looked away from the argument, which was still going on, even after Red’s interruption. “Oh, it went fine. Sparky and Zippo weren’t very useful, so I mostly relied on Happy for the battle. I managed to pull through, though.”

“Sparky? Zippo? Who are they?”

“That’s my Pikachu and my Charmander. And Happy is my Butterfree.”

Red thought for a moment. “Huh. Those are odd nicknames.”

Ritchie shrugged. “I kinda just picked them at random. Except for Sparky, obviously.”

“Where are you headed to next?” Red asked.

“Cerulean City. I’m guessing you’re going there as well?”

He nodded.

“Well…” Ritchie’s eyes lit up. “Did you know there are three gym leaders there?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh. Uh… how about this? There actually used to be fourth gym leader, but she left one day for unknown reasons.” Ritchie looked at Red hopefully.

“Uh-huh. They’re the Sensational Sisters, right? They put on shows and stuff.”

Red paused for a moment, realizing something. That redhead he had seen on Route 1…

‘No way. Don’t tell me that was really her.’ He put his head in hands. ‘Not that it matters much anymore…’

“Oh, right! I nearly forgot!”

Red looked over at Ritchie, who stood up rather abruptly, and raised his eyebrow.

“Do you know where Mt. Moon got its name from?”

Caught off guard by the non-sequitur, Red shook his head. Ritchie grinned, then went on to explain.

“It’s because, in certain levels of the mountain, you can find these pokémon called Clefairy.”

Red began to talk, but was cut off before he could finish his question.

“Ah-ah-ah! I’m not done yet! Rumors say that Clefairy comes from the moon! And that’s how Mt. Moon got its name.”

“Uh… yeah,” Red answered, feeling a bit awkward. “But I’m not sure what was so pressing about-”

“So you know how some pokémon have evolution rituals, right? Well, Clefairy also has an evolution ritual. Very rarely, people have observed them gathering together under a full moon and dancing. And then some of them evolve into Clefable!”

“Okay. I still don’t get-”

“A scientist I talked to the other day, he told me that-”

“CAN YOU SHUT UP FOR A MOMENT, PLEASE!”

Red immediately regretted shouting at Ritchie, and stammered, “I- uh- I’m sorry, I just, uh…”

“It’s my fault. I was rambling, wasn’t I?”

He mentally kicked himself for putting a damper on the boy’s mood, and sighed. “No, I’ve had this massive headache recently, and I was getting overwhelmed. I’m sorry for snapping like that. What were you saying?”

Ritchie looked at him sympathetically. “Well,” he said, “These scientists I was talking to- they’ve been doing some research, and they think the Clefairy are going to do one of these rituals soon.”

“Let me guess, you want to go and watch it.”

Ritche looked at him, surprised. “Was it that easy to tell?”

“I mean, it seemed like the logical conclusion to make.”

“I guess that makes sense.”

The two of them sat in silence for a moment, neither sure what to say next. The Magikarp vendor had long since left, to Red’s relief- hopefully he wouldn’t be coming back, though odds were against that.

“Ring ring ring, ring ring ring! Phone call! Phone call!”

Red looked over to the video phones. One of them was flashing, and he realized that the call was for him. He walked over to it, and pressed the button to accept the call, seeing none other than Professor Oak appear on the screen.

“Hello, Red! I trust you’ve been keeping well?”

He nodded. ‘As well as I can be, at least…’

“I heard about what happened in the museum. Brock told me all about it.”

‘Wait- huh?’

“I didn’t realize you were friends with Brock,” Red said.

The professor chuckled. “I keep in contact with all of the gym leaders. The elite four, too. Information spreads, you know.” Red considered this for a moment.

“Anyways, Red, I wanted to say a couple of things. First of all, congratulations on getting a gym badge! And in less than two weeks, at that- in my experience it can take as long as a month to reach that milestone.”

“Thank you, professor.”

“My second point of discussion is that of your pokédex- I haven’t received too much data from you. Even Ash has caught more pokémon than you, and he started out with a bit of a disadvantage.”

Red was embarrassed for a moment. He hadn’t been using his pokédex a lot- he felt rather guilty, given how important it was.

“Ah… I’m sorry about that,” he said. “I had been meaning to ask about Ash, though. Didn’t you say you had given me and Gary the last starters?”

He waited for a moment, then realized that the room on the other side of the screen was empty.

“Uh… Professor?” he called out.

The man in question popped back in front of the screen. “Oh, I’m sorry! I was just making some ramen. There’s a busy night ahead of me, so I need to eat dinner while I still have the chance.” He went out of view for a moment, returning with a cup of instant ramen. “Now,” he said, lifting some noodles to his mouth, “What were you saying?”

Red rubbed his temples. “I was wondering what the deal with Ash’s starter was. He couldn’t have gotten any of the normal ones.”

“Ah! Wait- one sec.” The professor picked up some tissue paper from his desk and wiped his mouth, then looked back at the phone. “The two of you received the last standard starters, but I did have one backup starter lying around. It was rather... temperamental, but the league approved it, and I, quite frankly, think it’s better in his hands. I was zapped at least once a day handling that thing!”

There was a lull in the conversation, and Ritchie walked up behind Red, curious.

“Ritchie! It’s good to see you,” Professor Oak said, waving.

“You know each other?” Red asked.

“Of course!” he responded, blowing on his ramen to cool it down. “He’s from Frodomar City, which is one of the towns I supply starters to.”

“Is Zippo doing well?” the professor asked Ritchie. “He hasn’t evolved yet.”

“Oh no, Zippo’s fine. He just doesn’t want to evolve right now.”

“That’s a wise decision,” Oak said, nodding sagely. “Charmeleon value strength above all else. Unless their trainer is highly accomplished, they won’t respect them.”

Red was confused. “Pokémon’s personalities can just… change like that?” he asked the professor.

“Well, you see, Red, while pokémon do seem to have a high degree of self-awareness, they’re influenced by natural instincts a lot more easily than humans. That means that, yes, they can seemingly change personalities upon evolution. It is quite rare, however.”

Red mused on this for some time, while Professor Oak and Ritchie caught up with each other. He learned that the boulder badge had been Ritchie’s second badge- he had fought Lieutenant Surge first. The ‘Lightning Unovan’ was a rather intimidating opponent, and he was glad that he wouldn’t have to worry about him for some time.

“So, Red, back to our discussion- there was something I wanted you to do for me.” The professor set his ramen down on the table, then scanned his desk, looking for something. “Where… Aha! There it is!”

He turned back to Red, and held up what seemed a lot like a pokédex- but was just a little bit different.

“This device right here is Model 2.0 of the pokédex, which I’m currently developing. I have several new features planned for it, but I want to test their usefulness in the field first.”

Red looked at the device curiously. “What kind of new features?” he asked.

The professor smiled. “Well now, that’s a secret, isn’t it?” he said. “But I will tell you about the functionality I’m currently testing- it’s a tracking feature. If you scan any pokémon with the pokédex, it can attempt to find it, as long as its within a certain range. It should be particularly useful for teleporting pokémon like Abra.”

“So you want me to test it?”

“That’s right,” Oak said, looking down at his desk again. “I’ve already created an addon for your version of the pokédex that should allow it to use this feature- it is a bit rough around the edges, though.”

“But why me?” Red said. It sounded interesting, but he didn’t understand why he needed to test it, of all people.

“Oh, just a simple matter of circumstance. You’re near Mt. Moon, and my colleague, Professor Elm, has been looking into rumors of a Clefairy pre-evolution. He’s the foremost expert on pokémon breeding, you know.”

Ritchie used this opportunity to speak up. “Oh, so Red could travel with me, and we could use the tracking device to find where all the Clefairies live, right?”

“Precisely!”

‘There’s no getting out of this, is there,’ Red thought.

The professor put down the pokédex, then looked around. A second later, panic spread across his face.

“Red, I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to cut this short,” he said, reaching for the phone. “I think I left the oven on by accident.”

“Uh-”

Before Red could even say goodbye, the screen went black, ending the call. Ritchie looked at him excitedly.

“Does this mean we’re-”

“Yeah, I think so.”

And that was when Red heard his second explosion of the day.