As soon as I felt the wind of the door closing behind me, I whirled around, just in time to see a locking mechanism slide into place on an otherwise feature-less door. There was no knob, what looked like a digital lock, and the huge steel bar that fit across the door, so it couldn’t open. What was going on? Was this some kind of super secret Team Rocket base? Two Nidorinos stood on either side of the door, eyeing me warily. I eyed them back, albeit very nervously.

Turning, back around, I found myself in a chamber that looked like the vault to some kind of bank that had heavy steel walls on all sides of me. There was some kind of central room in this room, and walls with doors at right angles to the door I just came through. The central room seemed to have a door on it facing towards the door. Glancing around, I found that the only Pokemon in the room besides the Nidorinos in this room was an Abra, and its eyes were open, gazing at me intently. I felt something pushing at my mind…I felt…violated was the only word I could think of. A consciousness roaming around freely in my mind, touching every portion of my memories, from the time I was born to the emotions I felt about it going through my mind.

The Abra closed its eyes, turned away from me, then teleported away. The old man pushed one hand against his ear, as if he were listening to somebody. “So,” I said, trying to start a conversation, “Who does your interior decorating? I could really help you with that, and you should fire whoever’s doing it now.”

The girl smiled at me, then bit her lower lip as if trying not to laugh. Suddenly, the old man he came forward and took me by the arm. "Young man, I'm sorry that I did that to you, but before I do anything, I have to ask you a question. Since you're a Pokemon Trainer, you have a Pokemon right? Which Pokemon do you have?"

I glanced around the room, and saw that the Nidorinos had relaxed. "Well, sir, I just got my License just a few days ago. I'm not joking. If you doubt me, you can have that little Abra teleport back here and probe my mind AGAIN, and you'll see that I'm telling the truth. Well, sir, I've never been a person to leave home much for anything, but I have gone camping several times, and I am well aware how dangerous the Pokémon are. Several times, I've managed to hold off two Beedrills at once, with only a couple of sticks, but that’s because I have had some training in fencing.. I bought a few pokeballs and came into this here forest with the intentions of finding some Pokémon as I came. So far I haven't found any that I would want, that is to say, I've found Kakunas and Beedrills, Metapods and Butterfrees, and Raticates and Pidgeottos, but I've always wanted to raise one from its first stage, and so I haven't caught one, and I would like to catch one so that I can catch others and teach that no good Team Rocket a lesson!" I was almost to the level of shouting when I stopped, I looked at the girl, and she was just staring. Then a grin slowly spread across her face, I glanced back at the old man and he was frowning at me.

"And just what," he began in a tone that said that he disapproved, "do you propose to do about them? Yes, they are a problem to the society, a burr under the saddle, or a thorn in the side if you will, but what would YOU do if you had to do this all by yourself? An all out attack?" he snorted, his tone rising, and his eyes flashed, "Son, listen to me, I've known men to throw themselves in the Dratini’s face, so to speak, trying to defeat Team Rocket! They all have been killed, tortured, captured and have never been seen again, unless they've escaped! And some of the stories that I've heard would make you want to go to another planet and become a hermit just to be rid of Team Rocket!" he looked down his nose at me, and it was my turn to be angry.

"Sir!" I said, adrenalin racing though my veins as if it were a Rapidash, "I respectfully say that I wouldn't go flying into the Dratini's face as you put it! If I got caught, then so be it as long as I take more of them down with me! I've heard about Team Rocket's atrocities! I know how Ash Ketchum, Misty Waterflower, and Brock Slate went up against them right outside of Viridian! I was there! And somewhere, I don't know where, they're out there! Not captured by Team Rocket like everyone says, I know that much! That Pikachu's of Ash Ketchum's, that was the only thing that kept all three of them from capture!" I said, feeling my face start to grow hot.

What TV cameras and reporters never knew, what nobody knew besides me, Team Rocket, and those few hardy trainers out there somewhere in the wilderness, was that Pikachu and Brock Slate kept Team Rocket at bay, so that Misty could get Ash away. I also know that Gary Oak's disappearance is not a coincidence. He pulled all three, four including Pikachu out of a very sticky situation. The only thing that kept them from capture, however, was those Team Rocket Members, Jessie, James, and Meowth. They made their bumbling way into the battle, disrupted it accidentally, and that let this Brock fellow and Pikachu get away.

“I will do whatever I can do find Gary, Ash, Misty and Brock, and bring them back and defeat Team Rocket, I mean-if I only have my two fists, I'll get in there and get them back! And I'll whack whoever is in charge of Team Rocket with my own two fists, and I'll get there, even if I lose my arms and legs, and have to wriggle across red hot coals for thirty miles—somehow I’ll get there!" I stopped and took a breath, waiting for what was to come. I was not prepared for what happened next.

The girl stepped forward suddenly, and shoved towards the closed door of the central room—except it wasn’t closed anymore. It hissed open as she shoved me through. The old man and the girl followed me into the room, and the door hissed shut behind them. Swallowing hard, I wondered what they took offense at in my little speech. The girl brushed past me and pushed her hand to a handpad. It glowed, and she turned it to the left ninety degrees.

Suddenly, I felt my stomach come up to my throat. We were going down, and fast. My heart sank. I HAD fallen in with Team Rocket, and now I was going to be a prisoner, and I'd never be able to see Kanto free. The room began to slow, and the old man came forward, and he said, with a twinkle in his eyes, and a big old open mouthed grin as the elevator stopped and the door opened. "That is exactly what I wanted to hear, but forget doing it with just your fists, if you accept my offer, then you'll have part of an entire army to command!" with that, he made a grand, sweeping motion towards the doors, so, of course I turned and looked through the doors.

Through the doors, I could see a huge cavern; it had to be about a mile high, and about three miles wide. It was shaped like a giant arena, with what appeared to be giant steps but were actually different tiers of buildings. I could make out several hundred buildings on one tier on the near side alone. A few humans walked around in what appeared to be military uniforms, and several very tough-looking top-evolutionary Pokémon walked beside them, either talking to, being talked to, or ignoring everyone else. Everyone walked with a sense of purpose, as if they were about to find out the meaning of life.

Hundreds of Ampharos stood at regular intervals around the cavern, flashing out as much light as they could, and three other Ampharos standing next to each one of them, ready to take over after that one was tired. Despite the cavern's size, it was filled with Pokémon. Golems, Clefaries, Clefables, Wigglytuffs, Geodudes, Gravellers, Sandslashs, Digletts, and many other cave, ground and rock type Pokémon hurried about, with a few Nido families, a few Pikachus, one or two Raichus sprinkled among them, and there, in the center of it all—I rubbed my eyes to see if I was dreaming. But no! What I saw was really there. Sitting on a raised platform in the perfectly circular cavern, stood Mew, with Suicine, Entei, and Raikou. Four Pokémon said to only exist in legend, but now standing here in front of me, in the flesh! My jaws dropped, I turned to the old man, my eyes wide open and my jaw hanging straight down.

The old man was walking slowly towards the door, and leaned his arm against it, and chuckled at me as I gaped at the sheer scope of the arena-town. He said in a quiet vi saying in a low tone, "Welcome, Tyco Sanders, to the land of the free. To the Halls of The Tribes."