Sundance had just left Mt. Silver. His silver wings glinted in the 
moonlight. As he flew, he noted that the fall air was colder than usual. 
Perhaps because his friend had just told him that Pewter City had been 
leveled by Team Rocket. Or maybe it was because a man that had caused Jake 
and Sundance so much pain and misery was still alive. 
       A slight twinge of anger caused through Sundance’s body. How was it 
that a man as evil as Nikolai Kruschev was aloud to walk the earth.
       Sundance’s thoughts returned to the day he carried out Jake’s order. 
After that day Jake was guilt ridden, and because of the telepathic bond they 
shared, Sundance often woke up at night suffering from Jake’s nightmares 
about that day.
       Jake’s pain was obvious to Sundance, though he was very good at hiding 
it from the other humans. Not even Rascal knew about what happened that day 
in Slateport City.
       Sundance was nearing Pewter City. Even without sunlight, Sundance 
could still see a plume of smoke rising from the city’s streets. The city 
looked like a war zone. Sundance had not seen so much destruction since that 
day in Slateport City. Some buildings had been completely demolished, others 
were still on fire, and the buildings that had quit burning, left nothing but 
charred ashes.
       =Jake?= Sundance spoke telepathically.
       =Yeah?= Jake replied. 
       =You were right. The city is a wreck.= Sundance said. 
       =Alright. I was afraid of this.= Sundance could feel the worry 
rippling through his mind. =Get outta there. There could be stragglers.= Jake 
ordered.
       =Do you still want me to meet you in New Bark Town?= Sundance asked. 
He could sense the activity in Jake’s mind. 
       =No. Instead, meet me outside of New Bark Town. A little while after 
sunrise.= Jake finally replied.
       =I’m on the way.= Sundance acknowledged as he changed course.
       
       New Bark Town
       
       Jake had been two hours since Sundance confirmed Jake’s fears about 
Pewter City. He was worried if Sundance had been caught, and was 
incapacitated. That was the reason Jake ordered him to get out of there. It 
was now seven when finally Sundance said =Jake.=
       =Yeah= 
       =I’m outside of town, right now.= Sundance said.
       =Alright, I’ll be there in about a half hour.= Jake said as he got 
dressed. He stepped outside of his room and was met by Ben in the hallway. 
       “Where ya off to, so early in the mornin’?” Ben asked with a 
suspicious tone.
       “Honestly? I was gonna head out for Cherrygrove City.” Jake put on his 
hat. As he started walking, Ben walked with him.
       “You’ve still gotta give your report to Officer Jenny.” Ben gave Jake 
a stern look.
       “Ok” was the only response Jake could manage.
       They went down to the lobby to wait for Officer Jenny. While they 
waited, Jake noticed that Ash was talking very excitedly on the phone. He 
heard him say “Are you and your sisters alright?” and after a long pause he 
said “What about your gym?”
       After Ash hung up the phone, Jake asked “Are you okay?”
       Ash looked at Jake. “Team Rocket attacked Cerulean City last night.” 
His eyes were full of worry. “They were after a friend of mine, but they 
didn’t get her.”
       Jake wanted to slam his fist into something. “Team Rocket needs to be 
stopped!”
       “Jake, can I talk to you alone?” Ben interrupted. He pulled Jake 
outside. “I don’t think he knows this, but there were five cities that were 
attacked, Pewter City, Cerulean City, Fuchsia City, Vermilion City, and 
Cinnabar Island.”
       “There’s more.” Jake said which surprised Ben. “Nikolai Kruschev is 
still alive.”
       Ben’s lips parted for a moment. “Are you sure? How do you know?”
       “I went to see Giovanni this morning.” Jake replied. “He told me that 
Kruschev is gunnin’ for me. I think these attacks in the Kanto region are 
just a diversion to make me feel falsely secure.”
       “How do you know Giovanni didn’t lie to you?” Ben asked skeptically.
       “Because he’s apparently entered into a deal that isn’t favorable to 
him anymore. I think he wants me to get rid of Kruschev for him.” Jake 
answered. 
       “He could be trying to divert attention away from himself.” Ben 
finished for him 
       “I’ll admit the thought did cross my mind, but even so Kruschev is 
alive and gunnin for me.” Jake said. 
       Just as Ben opened his mouth, Officer Jenny showed up with her spiral 
note pad ready. “Ok Jake, I’m ready to take your statement.” 
       After Jake gave his statement he went into the Pokemon Center and 
picked up his bag. Rascal and Ash’s Pikachu were playing, and Ash was in a 
chair sulking. 
       “Ash I don’t have the words…” Jake trailed off. “I don’t know what 
you’re goin’ through right now, but I can tell you that if I were you, I’d be 
on my way to Cerulean City right now.”
       Ash looked up at Jake and forced a smile. “Thanks Jake.”
       “Any time, partner.” Jake said returning the smile. He looked over at 
Pikachu and Rascal who had become fast friends. “I hate to break ‘em up, but 
I planned on bein’ outta here by 8:45.” 
       “I think I’ll take your advice and go to Cerulean City.” Ash said 
standing up. “I guess I’ll see you around.”
       “I reckon so.” Jake smiled again. 
       Jake and Ash parted company after shaking hands. Jake on his way to 
see Sundance, and Ash on his way to see his friend.
       Jake made it to the edge of town, when he was stopped by Ben. “Jake, 
wait up. Before you go I wanna give you something.” He said.
       “What is it?” Jake said curiously.
       Ben reached into his coat pocket, and pulled out a shiny metal object. 
He took Jake’s hand and placed the shiny object in the palm of Jake’s hand. 
       Jake turned it to where he could read it. Jake could see that it was a 
badge. “I thought I didn’t get a badge.” Jake said with a grin.
       “It was your father’s. I thought maybe you’d like to hang on to it.” 
Ben replied, looking down at Jake. 
       “Thank you.” Jake tucked the badge into his chest pocket. “That means 
a lot to me.” Jake held out his hand.
       Ben grabbed it and pulled Jake in for a hug. “Now you listen to me 
boy. If you ever get into any trouble, don’t be afraid to call me. And don’t 
be a hero, if you don’t have to.”
       “I won’t. Thank you.” Jake smiled. 
       
       Outside of New Bark Town
       
       “Where is he?” Sundance thought to himself as he sat by a lake. Jake 
had said “ a half hour”. Where was he? 
       He turned and saw Jake hurrying down the road. Jake walked up to 
Sundance who lowered his head to be eye level with Jake. =Where were you?= 
Sundance asked.
       “I was sayin’ goodbye to Ben.” Jake answered.
       =Well, it’s been along time.= Sundance finally said after a long 
moment of silence. 
       “Yeah,” Jake said as he pulled back his denim jacket, “I hung on to 
this in case we were to ever meet again.” He pulled out a pokeball that was 
different from all of the others Jake carried. It was gold and silver 
colored, with the gold on top, and the silver on the bottom.
       Even though the Lugia couldn’t smile, Jake saw the equivalent in 
Sundance’s eyes. =I haven’t seen that in…=
       “Four years, six months and seven days.” Jake said. 
       =When I left, I thought you didn’t care.= Sundance said thoughtfully.
       “You’ll never lose me as a friend.” Jake said. He put his hand on 
Rascal’s head. “Just like Rascal here, you’re part of the team, and always 
will be in my book.”
       =Someone is coming.= Sundance said suddenly. 
       Jake turned. “It’s Rose. Do you think you wanna meet her?” Jake asked.
       
       
       Rose ran down the path. She knew Jake was out here, because she had 
just seen him. As she ran down the path she heard Jake say “Over here!” She 
whirled around to see him standing by the lake. Next to him stood a pokemon 
she could only ever dream about. It was Lugia. 
       Words couldn’t describe her amazement. “The guardian of the sea,” was 
all she could manage.
       Jake smiled and proudly patted Lugia’s neck. “Yep, his name’s 
Sundance.” Jake looked at Lugia, and then realized Rose had come to give him 
something. “What did you bring me?” he asked. 
       Without saying a word, she handed him a Pokedex that Professor Elm had 
given her to give to Jake.
       Jake stared at it for a moment then said “Oh wow a Pokedex!” He took 
the red device. 
       “He has a legendary pokemon standing right next to him, and he’s 
marveling at a Pokedex?” Rose thought to herself.
       =Don’t mind him, he’s easily amused.= an unfamiliar voice echoed in 
her mind.
       Rose pointed at Sundance (a little disturbed at what she just heard) 
and said “He just spoke didn’t he?”
       “I didn’t here anything.” Jake said as he tinkered with his new 
gadget. Then he paused, as if he was listening to a sound that only he could 
hear. Next he looked at Sundance and said, “Don’t do that, you’re scarin’ the 
poor gal.”
       Sundance looked at Jake, and Jake looked back. It was like they were 
having a conversation with their minds. 
       “That’s it!” Rose shouted excitedly as she pulled out her own Pokedex.
       “Lugia, the diving pokemon. Lugia is so powerful even a light 
fluttering of its wings can blow apart houses. As a result, it chooses to 
live out of sight deep under the sea.” The Pokedex continued on. “Its known 
types are  flying, water, normal, and psychic.” 
         Sundance, Jake, and Rascal all stared at the electronic device. 
       Sundance finally broke the silence with. =That was wicked.=
       “I know right?” Jake nearly shouted. “That was freakin’ awesome!”
       Rascal chimed in with a gleeful roar.
       “But Lugia can communicate telepathically right?” Rose asked.
       Jake nodded. After another silence filled moment he said “Ooh I wanna 
try mine.”
       =You’re like a little kid!= Sundance said as Jake pointed his Pokedex 
at Rascal.
       “Luxray, the gleam eyes pokemon. Luxray has eyes that can see through 
anything. It spots and captures prey hiding behind objects. Its known type is 
electric.”
       =That never gets old= Sundance said.
       “That rocks.” Jake replied.
       Jake stood for a moment, and then said “Ok, enough playin’ around.” He 
looked at Sundance. “You got a choice, you can go in the ball, or you can fly 
up above us.”
       “Us?” Rose asked pointedly.
       “Well I naturally assumed you were coming with us.” Jake said as he 
clipped the gold and silver pokeball back to his belt.
       =C’mon, you know you want to.= Sundance said. He then leaned in close 
to her and said =And you know he wants you to come too.=
       “I heard that.” Jake said as he looked at Rose, who looked away; her 
face turned a bright shade of red. 
       “Well I don’t know.” She stifled a giggle as Jake played with his 
Pokedex. “You know, you two are two thirds of the three stooges.”
       =I know, isn’t it great?= Sundance looked at Rascal who did a “Ta-da” 
type pose as if to say he was the third stooge. 
       “Well, let’s get started then. It’s the adventures of the three 
stooges, featuring Rose.” Jake announced to the entire lake.
       Rose couldn’t help but allow a giggle to escape. 
       Rascal turned and used a fairly weak electric attack on Jake.
       A grin spread across Jake’s face. “Oh, wise guy eh?” He reached around 
to the back of his head, and pushed his cowboy hat forward, just over his 
eyes. He chased after Rascal who started down the road to Cherrygrove City. 
       Rose ran after Jake, and Rascal, which left Sundance all alone. After 
taking one last look at the lake, he took flight and said =Onward to 
Cherrygrove City!=