Disclaimer: I don't claim to own any part of the Pokèmon franchise and give full credit for Pokèmon characters named in my fanfiction to Nintendo, Inc. and (until recently) 4Kids Entertainment.

The Story REALLY Begins

Smoke rose into the sky from a small campfire nestled deep in the heart of Viridian Forest. Ash lay awake next to it, with Pikachu and several of his other Pokèmon nestled up against him. It had been a long day, and despite his endless questions on why Brock was so tense and hurried, Brock had refused to discuss anything related to their journey, other than to say that they needed to squeeze as many daylight hours as they could for traveling. He hadn't even flirted with Nurse Joy when they had stopped at the Viridian Pokèmon Center to let their Pokèmon rest after the trip from Pallet Town! And even now, as Ash tried to sleep, all he could think about was how Brock was sitting on a nearby tree stump, face in his hands, obviously disturbed about something. Oh well, Ash thought as he finally drifted to sleep, hopefully Brock will relax once he gets to Pewter...

Ash woke up at the break of dawn to Brock lifting him off the ground and yelling at him to get ready. Ash couldn't figure out what the commotion was, but something seemed terribly wrong. Brock could get upset, yes, but Ash had never seen him THIS distressed in the entire time he had traveled with Brock. Ash threw on his clothes, grabbed his backpack, and woke up all his Pokèmon, returning all but Pikachu to their Pokèballs and running after Brock, who had already taken off heading towards Pewter. At once, Ash saw what Brock was upset about: he could see giant plumes of dirt and smoke in the distance, coming from what he assumed was Pewter City.

Ash had to sprint to catch up to Brock, and almost ran into Brock's back as he suddenly skidded to a halt in front of Ash. As Ash looked over Pewter City, Ash's eyes went wide and Brock began to cry, the first time Ash had ever seen Brock do so. But Ash didn't notice much, because his eyes were locked on the source of the giant cloud of smoke; a large pile of rocks in the same location that the Pewter Gym should've been.

~~~Meanwhile, on Route 7, just outside Saffron...~~~

Blade cursed under his breath. This was probably the 6th time he had been pulled over since he had left Celadon. He knew from experience that the Saffron police were strict, but this was just ridiculous. Officer Jenny was taking a long time checking his driver's license, much longer than the other officers had; something was wrong. He waited patiently until she came back, but the look on her face made him nervous. "Is something wrong, Officer?" He began to sweat; the Pokèmon League was supposed to have taken care of his police record; something was out of place. Jenny began to speak: "'Blade', huh? Well, Blade Shaw, you're under arrest for multiple counts of breaking and entering, trespassing, vandalism, impersonating a police officer, accessory to burglary, accessory to assault and battery, and resisting arrest. Get off your bike, NOW." He grew extremely tense; this kind of arrest would put him behind bars for decades. He sighed and began to dismount his bike when suddenly, there was a huge explosion straight ahead in Saffron. Officer Jenny spun around in shock and Blade took his chance; he grabbed his license from her hands and took off towards Saffron.

He looked back; Jenny had been so taken aback he had gained serious ground on her in the time it took her to get back to her bike, but he knew that he would have to avoid police from now on, and that was so much harder than it sounded, especially in Kanto, ESPECIALLY in Saffron City. As the city came into view, he heard sirens coming from behind and ahead of him. It looked like he was caught no matter what he did; his bike was mobile but it couldn't handle the forests; he needed to make it into the city to lose the police, and the police would reach him before that happened. Blade began to brake, planning an escape into the forest surrounding Route 7, when all of a sudden, the surroundings changed from a forest to total darkness, and he panicked, his bike skidding to the ground in 3-digit speeds.

He prepared for impact, knowing full well he was probably dead when he hit the ground, but it never came. He uncovered his face from his hands, and realized that he was...hovering??!! His body slowly drifted to the ground as a figure began to appear from the darkness in front of him.

"How have you been, Blade? What happened to your legendary escapes from the police that you're well-known for?" That voice....it couldn't be...

"Sabrina??!!" And as he looked closer, he realized that he was correct, Sabrina's face coming into clearer focus the more time that passed.

"Yes, Blade, but we don't have much time, so excuse me if I don't waste time on greetings. I can't tell you much, due to the content and legal issues of and surrounding the letters you've been delivering, so I will show you instead, since they didn't include a provision prohibiting PSYCHIC communication." And she winked as she disappeared from view into the darkness, replaced by a copy of what Blade presumed to be the Pokèmon Leagues letters to each Gym.

Dear Sabrina,

~ Pokèmon League

Blade was heavily confused; what did the letter mean by 'protective Gyms'? And what on earth were Elemental Sources? Suddenly, the letter faded out and the room changed to a large meeting hall full with people obviously bothered about something. Blade recognized some of them, including Erika's mother and Lt. Surge. One man, whom Blade didn't recognize, came up to the podium and started speaking.

"Look, we have finally retrieved all 8 of the Sources; there is only one way to make sure this type of war never happens again. We MUST destroy these items! If we don't act, we will never stop people from misusing these items!"

At this, a huge uproar began to accumulate among the present members. Blade had a confused look on his face, trying to figure out what was going on during the chaos; the last war, the Johto-Kanto war, was 30 years ago, and had involved technology allowing humans to channel Pokèmon powers through their own bodies; could this be what they were referring to? He saw 8 items in an open suitcase; he assumed these were the Sources that were constantly being referred to. Could they be the technology referred to? Only two, a red gun and a silver sword with a brown hilt, even looked like weapons though; the rest didn't seem even REMOTELY technological; he saw a black glove, a blue necklace, yellow boots, a purple headband, a green bracelet, and a darker green wrist guard that looked very similar to a gauntlet. And besides, according to history, the technology was destroyed!

All of a sudden, a man stood up from the audience and yelled for everyone to be quiet. He was very sharply dressed, and Blade knew he'd seen him from somewhere, but just couldn't place WHERE. He began to speak in a very calm tone.

"Commissioner, you can't expect us to give up the advantage these items give Kanto over Johto and the other world regions? If we dispose of these items, I guarantee you there will be an attack on our country!" At this, a murmur erupted from the crowd. "I propose that we instead set up a series of hiding spots for the Sources, so that they could both be gathered in case of an attack and not be controlled by one person. This way, we can maintain control over them without losing control."

Blade saw the commissioner start to sweat as more and more people stood up to challenge him. He had never seen this kind of political power from one person; who could it be? Then, it suddenly dawned on him; the man was Giovanni! But...he looked much younger, and he was respected by most of the people there. What was going on?

Blade didn't have much time to think about it as the room suddenly disappeared and he landed in the middle of a forest clearing, which he recognized as being on Route 3. That left him right outside Cerulean City! He walked over to his bike, but noticed a piece of paper lying on the ground. He picked it up and began to read.

Sorry I had to leave in such a hurry; you're in a lot of danger and I needed to cut off the connection early; please take the attached item and WEAR IT, even if it looks stupid. And FINISH YOUR JOB, even though you know what's going on; if you don't, your police record won't be expunged!

~ Sabrina; P.S. Check the left inside pocket of your jacket; Erika should've helped you out too. Oh, and sorry about the side effects :p.

As he finished reading the letter, he was taken aback at the object that mysteriously formed in his hands; the same purple headband he had seen in the vision! Shaking, he put his hand in his inner left pocket and pulled out another one; the light green bracelet. Sabrina couldn't be serious; they had to be the most feminine things he had ever seen! Blade sighed; it was better than dying or going to jail for his whole life, and he owed her a lot. And besides, he thought, he could always hide them with his jacket cuff and hat. As he slipped them on, however, he suddenly felt a lot of power brew inside him. It was strange; he felt almost like he was floating, but, when he looked down, his feet were still touching the ground. He felt like he needed to test this feeling though; he jumped, and felt the lightest he ever had. Now he was good at martial arts (necessary from how he grew up and police involvements), but he had never felt this limber. He tried to do a back flip and wound up doing a perfect 720 degree triple back handspring. Suddenly, voices began filling his head as well, but he couldn't tell from what direction. They became louder and louder, and he decided he needed to get out of there. But while he was on the way to his bike to escape, he suddenly felt extremely lightheaded and collapsed in excruciating pain. It only lasted a few minutes, but it felt like it lasted an eternity; he sat up and waited for his vision to gather. As he stood up, he found the world strangely unfamiliar; he looked around and managed to cover his mouth before he yelled out as he realized what had happened. Now this was the last straw; he NEEDED to find Sabrina; she had to explain what was going on to him. But first thing's first; As Sabrina said, he had to finish his job first, no matter what. And he only had two letters left to deliver.