While the meeting room of Indigo Plateau Summit was silent in the literal sense, any outsider would agree that, in some ways, it was actually quite the opposite. The tension in the air was palpable, as the four pokémon trainers seated there each held a massive weight. Lorelei, Bruno, Agatha, and Lance of Kanto’s elite four rarely gathered in one place, but when they did, seldom was it for any small matter.

“So?” Agatha said, glaring at Lance from across the table. “What did you call all of us here for? I’m a very busy woman.”

Bruno snorted. “Busy doing what? Playing shuffleboard at the old folk’s home?”

“Shut it, you! You’re still bitter because you lost against me in the championship match all those years ago.”

“Right… Except that I’m not a crabby old geezer who holds a grudge for decades. You’re the one who’s bitter.”

“Looks like someone’s in a bad mood,” Lorelei observed, her chilling stare sweeping across the room. “What is it then, Lance? While Agatha put it… a little too bluntly, for my tastes, I’ll admit that she has a point. We only ever meet here for urgent business. Where, exactly, is the urgency?”

Lance was quiet for a couple of seconds, deciding how best to articulate his words. Then, he spoke.

“I’m here to talk about Team Rocket.”

There were mutters of recognition across the room, but it was a while before anyone decided to say anything proper- eventually, however, Agatha cleared her throat, and began to talk. “What about them, Lance? They’re a random bunch of punks running Kanto committing petty crimes. I don’t see the-”

“That’s not true. Team Rocket is much more than that, if our recent reports from Interpol are anything to go by. Take a look at this.”

While taking care to maintain eye contact with the rest of the elite four, Lance picked up a manila folder from the table in front of him and presented it to his peers.

“Two months ago, a man going by the codename Looker infiltrated Team Rocket’s ranks, disguising himself as a grunt. He uncovered a decent amount of information on the group, mostly pertaining to its true scale and motives- exact missions were, obviously, only for the higher-ups' ears. However, no less than ten days ago, he was dispatched to Mt. Moon. It was meant to be a breakthrough for him, a way to gain trust with the organization’s admins.”

“Get to the point,” Agatha grumbled.

“Give me a moment. As I was saying, in Mt. Moon, he uncovered a few more pieces of the puzzle. Team Rocket’s up to something involving genetic engineering, which, as you know, was outlawed in Kanto years back.”

“I remember that. That time was something else.”

“Stop interrupting the man, please,” Bruno said, the frustration showing in his voice.

“Thank you, Bruno. See, this mission was, as of six days ago, aborted, and ultimately deemed a failure. However, it’s the reason he was forced to abandon this endeavor that’s most concerning. Proton, one of the admins of Team Rocket, was observed holding a child hostage and threatening to kill them along with two others in the cave, simply for, and I quote, ‘tying up loose ends.’”

This prompted shocked gasps across the room, and this time, Agatha didn’t dare interrupt- the gravity of the situation was beginning to become clear.

“Looker decided that the best course of action would be to out himself as an Interpol agent in order to save the children’s lives- Proton was shot in the leg after attempting to attack Looker with a knife and then fainted from what was later diagnosed as a heart attack. He was apprehended and in line for a trial next week, but escaped through unknown means yesterday.”

“That kind of man, still at large… this is concerning, to say the least,” Lorelei muttered.

“I take it there’s more?” Bruno said, his brow furrowed.

“A little. Mr. Fuji, a scientist who did a lot of work on genetic engineering back when it was still legal, among other things, was kidnapped three days ago. And the amount of Team Rocket sightings have increased in general over the past month or so. All the more reason to worry.”

“So I take it you’re suggesting the obvious…” Lorelei said, sighing, “That we nip this in the bud before it grows into a larger problem?”

“As much as I’d love to do that, there are issues,” Bruno grumbled. “This organization is clearly already well-established, and its plans long set in motion. And whoever the guy behind all of this is, they’re good at covering their tracks, I assume?”

“Yes. There’s currently no information on his, or her, identity. A shadowy figure pulling the strings, who, for all we know, could even be one of us.”

“Or a gym leader,” Agatha pointed out. “That’s happened before, you know. Though on a much lesser scale. Corruption creeps in like that.”

Lance sighed, his eyes darting around the room as the thought of what Team Rocket could be planning began to weigh down on him. As the ‘ace’, or top member of the elite four, he was responsible for most of the decisions- or at least acted as the deciding vote, of sorts, which was effectively the same thing.

“I think we can start with a round of background checks, screenings, etcetera, for all of the gym leaders, yes. I know they already went through them to get their positions, but an extra go at it couldn’t hurt. Then… I don’t know,” he said, sighing again. “A curfew? More funding to the police force?”

“Lance, you’ve been overworking yourself recently. I’d recommend you start with a couple days off. Team Rocket isn’t moving that fast,” Bruno suggested.

“Maybe so…” he murmured, trailing off as he continued to think over the developing situation. This was really turning out to be a cruddy day…

“Ted’s Deep Fryer, we fry it, you buy it. Today’s special is Fried Dratini- we’re not sure if it tastes good, but we are sure that you’ll eat it anyway out of morbid curiosity. How can I help you today?”

Red was caught somewhere between an abrupt laugh and a feeling of pity for the unfortunate person on the other end of the phone. Both of these, however, quickly evaporated once he heard who was on the other side.

“Did I get the wrong number? Professor Oak said my son would be here, but, uh…”

“Ohhh, sorry,” Phoenix responded, the smirk on her face betraying her lack of actual remorse. “You want to talk to Red, then? He’s right over here.”

She handed the phone to him, and he nervously spoke into the receiver.

“H-hey, mom…”

“Who was that? And you really should have called sooner, I’ve been worried- kind of, I know it’s pretty safe out there but still!”

“Well, other than the numerous encounters with members of a criminal organization-”

“What?!”

“Yup, other than that, I’ve been pretty ok. I met some people, I guess. I’m gonna get my second gym badge today, hopefully.”

“I have a lot of questions.”

“Understandable,” Red muttered.

“I would be more concerned, but I do remember encountering my fair share of criminal activity in my own gym challenge- no, I won’t elaborate- so… I’ll leave it be for now. Just make sure to alert the authorities, alright?”

“I have been,” Red said, sighing.

“Good. I mostly called because Professor Oak wanted me to let you know about that new pokemon he said you caught? Apparently the data has been a huge help in learning about a new species- I don’t know much, but he said it was called a Cleffa, and it’s a pre-evolution of Clefairy. Which sounds good, I guess, so great work. Uh, keep it up, alright?”

Red nodded, then realized that his mom wouldn’t be able to see- so, instead, he let out a short ‘mhm’.

“Good luck with your gym battle, I suppose. When’s that?” she asked.

“About thirty minutes from now, actually.”

“Oh! I’d better not keep you waiting, then.”

“Alright,” Red responded a little awkwardly. “See you around.”

Then, there was silence. Phoenix had wandered off, presumably to find something to eat- as soon as they had arrived in Cerulean City, she had restocked on food, and was frequently munching on something since then. She said it helped to calm her nerves. Red sighed, enjoying the brief reprieve while it lasted.

Soon it would be time for his gym battle.

“You know, a lot of gyms actually double as facilities, especially in western regions. It’s a way more practical use of the space.”

“Right…” Red said, looking at Ritchie. “Because a synchronized swimming show is a practical use of space.”

“It’s still more efficient than separating it into two buildings, though? I’m pretty sure the pool doubles as the gym battlefield, which is neat.”

“And scary- none of my pokémon can fight in the water! They have a home field advantage, and can make way better use of the arena than me! How is that fair?”

“It could be worse,” Ritchie said, tilting his head in thought. “You could be fighting in a volcano.”

Red shivered. “I hope not. I’d be more likely to die than win that kind of battle.”

Before Ritchie could say anything in response, however, a voice sounded over the intercom. “Next up is Red Genshoku! Red Genshoku, would you please step onto the challenger’s platform!”

“Good luck!” Ritchie said, pumping his fist in excitement. “I’ll be rooting for you… as much as I can from in here, at least. It’s a shame they won’t let me watch your match.”

“They do have to keep the element of surprise, remember,” Red responded, before heading out into a spacious natatorium decorated with numerous large murals of water-type pokémon. Just as he and Ritchie had suspected, the large pool that was the centerpiece of the room also doubled as the battle arena- two raised platforms served as places for the challenger and gym leader to stand, and several other small platforms dotted the waterscape. That was a relief- at least there’d be somewhere for his pokémon to stand on, too.

Red tentatively walked up to the challenger’s platform, looking down at the pokéballs containing his two chosen pokémon, Bulbasaur and Cleffa. While Mankey was arguably stronger, he had seen the Cerulean gym leaders appear frequently with Starmie, a half psychic type pokémon- not a matchup that was likely to end well. Besides, if luck went his way, he should be able to win with Bulbasaur alone.

“Don’t lose!” he heard a familiar voice shout from the side of the room. “I’ve got two thousand poké riding on this!”

He looked over to the bleachers, where Phoenix, who had changed into a pale yellow shirt and overalls, sat. Apart from her, the benches were mostly empty, though off to the far right of the room he could see the two of Cerulean’s three gym leaders who weren’t fighting him, Daisy and Violet. The blonde and blue-haired teens appeared rather despondent, and were nervously looking towards their sister, Lily, who was standing across from him in the arena, tapping her foot impatiently. From what Red had gathered, the gym leaders took turns facing challengers- though he didn’t expect there to be much difference between them, so he hadn’t cared which one he ended up fighting.

It was then that he realized that Lily had been waiting for him to take the final step onto the challenger’s platform, so he awkwardly moved forward to the front of the roped-off area, gripping Bulbasaur’s pokéball tightly. He didn’t want to drop it in the water.

“So, you ready?” Lily said, looking at him with a steady gaze. “Cause, like, my sisters just lost two battles in a row, and I’m not gonna let that streak continue.”

“Bring it on,” Red responded, smirking. After his defeat at the hands of Proton a week and a half ago, he was ready to turn the tables and win a major battle this time- he wasn’t going to let a pink-haired teenager who cared more about makeup and clothes than their gym duties bring him down.

Dang, he normally wasn’t one for insulting people, but that felt satisfying.

The referee cleared his throat, drawing the eyes of everyone in the arena to him; then, he began to speak. “This will be a two on two battle between Red Genshoku of Pallet Town, and Lily Williams of Cerulean City! At first badge level, the challenger is allowed one substitution!”

“Three…”

“Two…”

“One…”

“Begin!”

In a flash of light, two pokémon appeared on the field- Red’s Bulbasaur materialized on one of the floating platforms that dotted the arena, while Lily’s first pokémon, a rather irate-looking Shellder, landed in the water with a splash. The latter wasted no time making a move, as without even being given a command, it started moving towards Bulbasaur with an attack already charging.

Red, however, wasn’t going to let his opponent get the first hit in. “Bulbasaur, grab it with Vine Whip!” he shouted, holding tightly onto the ropes around the challenger’s platform. Lily, however, seemed entirely unimpressed by this.

“You really think a grass type attack like that will do anything?” she asked. “You’re, like, even more stupid than I thought.”

Taking offense to this, Red glared at her and shouted, “That’s not the point! If I can hold Shellder in place with vines, it’ll be way easier to hit it!”

Lily put on a look of mock surprise. “Oh, how clever,” she said, smirking. “Too bad we know your strategy now.”

It took Red all of a second to realize his mistake, and he groaned as he saw that Shellder had, in fact, heard what he was saying, and responded accordingly- a loud whine began to emit from inside its shell, which quickly disoriented Bulbasaur. Its vines stopped dead in their tracks as it tried to regain focus, and it was left wide open as Shellder rushed forward and fired several icy pellets at it. Each one hit it directly in its face, shattering into glittering shavings of frozen water that fell down in a fine mist.

This battle had very quickly gone wrong, and Red’s mind was racing as he looked for an alternative strategy. Meanwhile, Bulbasaur had managed to recover from its confusion, but the damage had already been done- less than a minute in and it was already covered in cuts and bruises.

Red sighed- there was really only one reasonable option here. “Bulbasaur, return,” he said, sighing as he pressed the recall button on his pokéball. Cleffa very shortly took its place, jumping around excitedly at a chance to fight, and he took a moment to carefully assess the situation.

Lily, however, wasn’t one for waiting. “Shellder, use Withdraw,” she said, lazily picking some dirt out from underneath her fingernails. “Let’s, like, make this fast, okay? I’ve got an appointment with my hair stylist in an hour.”

“Cleffa, let’s go,” Red shouted, snapping out of his thoughts, “use Disarming Voice!”

Nodding, Cleffa began hopping across the floating platforms, drawing in closer to Shellder- then, once it was at a sufficient distance, it began screeching at the top of its lungs. Thankfully, Red was far enough away that it didn’t bother him too much, but regardless, he and the people in the stands all covered their ears in discomfort. Shellder, however, felt a much more potent effect, and if what he had read about the attack was correct, it was likely suffering from internal bleeding from the sheer force of the sound.

Which, for a pokémon, was honestly rather mild- Red was rather surprised when he learned about the extremely high pain tolerance that almost all pokémon possessed, compared to humans. So high, in fact, that the simple fact alleviated most of his misgivings about sending pokémon into battle; they could handle far worse than this.

It didn’t take long for Shellder to recover from the assault on its hearing, and Lily began to smirk as she called out her next attack.

“Time to hit him with Whirlpool, Shellder. You know what to do.”

Shellder responded with as much of a nod as the bivalve could manage, and began focusing on the platform that Cleffa was standing on- soon the water underneath it began to churn, as a large whirlpool formed. Red, however, wasn’t going to take this lying down. He had a trick up his sleeve too.

“Cleffa,” he said. “Use Copycat.”

Alarm spread across Lily’s face as she saw her own attack used against her- and while Cleffa was able to jump to another platform to avoid the swirl that was developing beneath it, Shellder was trapped in the center of a second rapidly developing whirlpool. It spun around and around, growing more and more dizzy- Cleffa took this opportunity to run in as the whirlpool began to die down and slam into Shellder with a Pound attack, pushing it deep into the water. This, however, left Cleffa wide open to a retaliatory Ice Shard as it tried to make its way back to dry land. Panicked, Red shouted, “Copycat, again!”

Cleffa fired a volley of jagged icicles at its opponent, which collided with the oncoming projectiles- the two groups smashed into each other with a loud crashing sound, and for the second time that day, ice shavings rained down upon the arena.

Sensing an opportunity, Red called out for Cleffa to use Pound- it rushed in, slamming into its opponent with gusto, and it sank beneath the water. This time, it didn’t get back up.

Lily watched all of this with a grimace on her face- this, however, soon faded away in place of a more characteristic smirk.

“You might, like, think you’re a big shot after beating Shellder,” she said, taking out a worn-down dive ball. “But there’s no way you can handle the strongest my second-badge team has to offer. Come on out, Starmie!”

Red took in a sharp breath, as he saw the purple, star shaped pokémon appear in the arena. Since it was part psychic type, Bulbasaur would be screwed against that one, too, thanks to its poison typing. Gym leaders really knew how to cover their weaknesses, and it was starting to annoy him.

But for now, Cleffa was still in action- if, by this point, rather exhausted. Unwilling to waste any more time, he shouted, “Quickly! Use Disarming Voice!”

Once again, Cleffa began hopping around the stage, letting out an ear-rending screech that was even louder than before (much to Lily’s annoyance); this time, however, its opponent seemed entirely unaffected, and began moving towards it threateningly, the gem embedded in its center pulsating with psychic energy.

‘Uh… Why isn’t it working?’ Red thought, beginning to panic.

Lily winced, and, still covering her ears, she looked up at him, grinning evilly. “Psychic types like Starmie have much more control over their mind, you know. So it can, like, completely no-sell that irritating sound by just… removing it from their awareness.”

‘That makes… both no sense and all the sense in the world at the same time.’

“Ugh,” he muttered, watching as Starmie drew ever closer. “Try Pound, then?” He was starting to run out of ideas.

Cleffa, who had been running away from Starmie before, now dashed towards it, slamming into it with all the force it could muster- Lily, however, simply called out, “Harden,” and Starmie was able to completely ignore the assault, its body now sparkling with a silvery sheen. To make matters worse, Cleffa had landed at such an angle that it had somehow managed to not fall off the rapidly-charging Starmie, and was in prime position to receive the full force of a close-range Psybeam.

Red glared at Lily from across the arena as the referee confirmed what was already obvious- both trainers were now down to their final pokémon, but he was in a much worse position than his opponent, as Bulbasaur had already taken a lot of damage at the beginning of the match. He closed his eyes in thought as he once again sent out his grass type- he needed to play carefully here, since things were getting down to the wire. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much time for deliberation, as Starmie immediately began spinning like a top, on a straight course towards its new opponent.

“Quick, dodge!” he called out, eyes widened in alarm. “And bounce back with Vine Whip!”

This, however, turned out to be a poor decision, as while Bulbasaur was able to jump out of Starmie’s way, it was immediately pulled back in- as, when it sent its vines towards the still spinning pokémon, the appendages had snagged on one of the star-shaped creature’s many spokes. All of this led to Bulbasaur being forcefully spun around in a display that made even Red start to feel a little bit sick.

This went on for a few more seconds, until finally, Starmie began to slow down- though, as Bulbasaur slipped free from its opponent, it was dumped rather unceremoniously into the water, left to sink beneath the waves. Red waited with bated breath, but, thankfully, it popped back up shortly after with a pained scowl on its face.

After breathing a sigh of relief, he furrowed his brow, uncertain what he should do next. Aside from Leech Seed, which would require a very long game of outlasting his opponent that he was very doubtful he would win, and Tackle, which wouldn’t do much damage, he didn’t really have any options. Standing there, frozen in place from indecision, he could only watch as Bulbasaur jumped around the arena, trying desperately to avoid a devastating Psybeam. And, after that…

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Goddammit! You can’t take a loss like this so hard! Who even fucking cares-”

“Phoenix, you’re not making Red feel any better. Leave him be.”

“Like hell I will!” Phoenix said, shooting a scathing glare at Ritchie. “He’s going to get up off his ass, march right back in there, and demand a rematch- not wallow in his own misery for the next week!”

“Why are you so angry, anyway? You’re not the one who lost.”

“Because, god knows why, I decided to tag along on your little adventure. I could have left you after I got Pineco back, but no. Instead, I stayed, because I knew that if I hadn’t been there to keep you on track, you could very well have been killed! Hell, you nearly were! I couldn’t leave you alone with Team Rocket still wandering around there. So, quite frankly, it’ll feel like a waste of time if you don’t get that badge.”

Red let out a wry chuckle. “Says the person who would barely even talk to me when we first met.” He had been sitting on this bench just outside the Cerulean gym for the past half-hour, deep in thought- only now was he finally starting to calm down.

“No shit, we were strangers. What do you expect me to be, Mrs. Sally Janes, friendliest person in the world?”

“Eh,” he said, sighing. “I kinda get it. I’m not super outgoing, either, I guess.”

“Pfft. There are way worse people. Did you see that gym leader? Stuck-up ass.”

“Phoenix, you shouldn’t swear so much!” Ritchie protested.

“I can do what I want, alright? I’m not in the mood to censor my own damn speech. I have places to go, and I want to see Red beat this chick before I head off.”

Ritchie opened his mouth, his head tilted in confusion, but Phoenix stopped him before he could get a word out. “I know you’re curious,” she said, dropping down next to Red with a grunt, “but it’s personal. So I’m not telling you.”

All was silent for a few seconds.

Then, rather abruptly, Red stood up, his face hardening with determination. “Phoenix is right,” he said, pulling out a pamphlet from his pocket. It read:

Check out the famous NUGGET BRIDGE! A premier training ground for trainers to get strong, stronger, and even more stronger!

“Pretty sure that’s not grammatically correct,” Phoenix muttered, looking to the side awkwardly.

Come today, for a low low fee of ₽40 an hour! Can you beat the five guardians of NUGGET BRIDGE? Find out, at NUGGET BRIDGE PARK AND TRAINING GROUND!

“I picked this up inside the gym lobby,” Red called over his shoulder, as he began marching away. “I didn’t think I’d need it, but now… I’m going there, and I’m not leaving until I’m strong enough to beat that gym leader into the ground!”

“That’s the spirit…” Phoenix murmured, following after him.