With my PokéDex in hand and Poké Ball in the other. I tossed the capsule device rigorously towards Gastly. The ball ruptured to life, pulling his essence from within. Sealing his ghostly form inside the ball and quickly rebounding back into the palm of my hand.

The awe and the sight of it all.

This was not an expected move witnessed by either my opponent or my friends.

Gastly had claimed himself as mine and the data promptly filled the screen of the red, rectangular device.

Now I know what his moves are and how to use them.

"What-wha- so he is your Pokémon? I must admit little girl. You outsmarted my whit's in being able to detect your lie. But this will be your downfall, you just exposed yourself out in the open." Smiled the Lieutenant.

I then tossed the device out onto the field and the form reappeared with an even wider smile.

"Gasss!"

"Confuse Ray, Gastly." I commanded with zeal.

The ghoulish orb Pokémon's eyes glowed with bright fuchsia and sent a ray of light toward Raichu.

"Thunderbolt, Raichu!" Declared the Lieutenant.

The mouse once again threw an electric current toward Gastly, but the move quickly evaporated before him as the bolt moved silently through his ghost-like appearance.

"Incredible!" Shouted Brock.

"This Pokémon can foresee attacks before they even hit?" Inquired Misty with a raised brow.

"Not foresee, his accuracy is effective. The Pokémon's typing grants him the capability to be more evasive than his opponents. However, physical attacks can still affect him.

The rest of my friends were stunned. They never could have predicted that Gastly would move so swiftly to avoid an attack. Neither did they expect that Gastly would readily join my Pokémon team for this moment to count.

The Raichu was struck with another status inflicting move. The confuse ray was a powerful beam of light that was emitted from Gastly's mouth and now that it struck Raichu; he was having a hard time retaining his composure.

"Raichu! Snap out of it, Thunderbolt this pile of gaseous trash!"

But to no avail, Raichu looked to be in really bad shape, the poor, tough mouse ran into a nearby boulder, depleting his energy. Jolts of sparks lit up after his paralysis placated his movements.

"Raichu is both confused and paralyzed!?" Raised Blue.

".........." Smiled Red.

"With these status conditions, I have the field advantage," I smirked with contrast.

"Ah!?" Winced the Lieutenant in surprise. Raising his shades in the same confused state as his Pokémon before him.

"Night Shade, Gastly!" I raised to command him into position.

The gaseous form emitted a fuchsia light that pulsed from within his being. Racking the poor mouse into an almost terrifying state of physical and mental torment.

His body was raised about an inch off the ground and his body bending within a spatial dimension than one I was accustomed to observing. Almost like the Pokémon morphed in front of a mirror.

After the attack had finished causing physical damage. Gastly dropped the mouse on the ground and waited for the Pokémon to try and regain a footing.

"What the hell is this?! You decided to whittle him down only when you used his status infliction? You ain't offering me a choice in the matter!"

"Pokémon battles were never going to be a fair prospect Lieutenant, it's about strategically whittling down your opponent before he uses a move that could decimate you in every turn. You threatened my friends and now you get to pay the ultimate price." I declared with furrowed vehemence.

"Hahaha! You are a fighter little one, I'll give you that. But you are wasting my time. I need to find a Pokémon and if you don't think I'll cause more damage after using your Pokémon to try and stall mine, think again. Thunder Wave, Raichu!"

Suddenly, another current that came from below the polarity of the earth had instantaneously erupted and struck Gastly from below paralyzing him in his place. Making his evasive moves even more difficult than striking within several turns.

"Now we are a little more even." He grinned with glee.

"Tch."

I forgot that electric types also paralyze with their electric moves.

If I had known he was going to use this move to try and be on equal footing with going first. I would have just used my physical moves foremost.

But now was not the time to think about the small details. I needed to get control of his electric mouse; he was the greater threat out on the field and would pose more of a threat to the rest of my friends if we couldn't figure a way out of this cave.

"Don't let him stoop to your level, Leaf. He has a lot to answer for using Pokémon for scientific experiments." Raised Yellow with contempt toward him.

"Oh, you are concerned about that? If it makes you feel any better the experiment was a dismal failure, to begin with. The Pokémon destroyed our lab and escaped without even a care, but know this, we aren't done with him, yet." Snickered Surge toward the young boy.

Yellow couldn't help himself; his anger and his emotions were being manipulated by this evil Rocketeer. All he ever wanted was to beat it out of him. To prove to him how much pain he had caused toward their beloved creation. Mewtwo didn't know his place in this world and that pain of discovery frightened him and Yellow knew that from the offset. Lieutenant Surge pushed Yellow on the brink. Provoking him to violence.

I kindly gestured for Yellow to remain calm.

"It's not over yet," I said while shaking my head against his better judgment.

"Trash like him needs to be taught a lesson." Curled Yellow's fist in defiance.

"If we let him get in our heads Yellow, Team Rocket has just as much power than they have of that Pokémon hidden in the mountains. Keep a cool head and stand aside." I instructed with haste.

"Easy for you to say Leaf, but this Pokémon is their objective and they will stop at nothing to make sure he is recaptured, that and we have multiple trainers here that are more than willing to take him on—

"I know, but it's not that simple, this man has his thumb on the trigger of all the Voltorb in this cave, there is another Pokémon that is in trouble. We need to be there to save him also. Mewtwo is not the only Pokémon they want."

"Mew...two?" Tilted Red and Blue in unison

"You're catching on if you guys had thought about the here and now like Leaf. Then you would have been able to defeat me. I'll be the judge on who wins and who loses in this battle." Emphasized Surge.

Raising my arm toward the war-torn soldier. I gestured for my new friend to make another move.

A move that had an impact on my psyche. A move that opened up all of my vulnerabilities.

He's significantly weakened enough for me to use it.

"Curse, Gastly."

"Leaf are you insane!" Declared Blue. "This is the same move that exposed yourself out in the open, you could be affected by its influence again!"

He was right, this move did expose my sin. However, I was no longer afraid; I came to realize what Red and Yellow meant about Pokémon under the control of humans.

It is not their fault they have these God-given capabilities. They are used for their survival and humans use them as tools for evil purposes.

I am not going to be the trainer that is afraid, never again. I am going to get stronger. I need to understand my Pokémon's feelings and this will be my way of attempting to understand. That's what Red had taught me.

Gastly's large eyes surrounding his orb-like body glowed with a brilliant white shine and suddenly the room fell into a darkness that was not understood in this dimensional plane. It became thick and the light appeared to become faint from the move.

Suddenly, the gaseous ghost fell into a depression and it almost seemed like the energy he exuded had depleted him.

Then soon after the move had made an impact. Raichu was also affected by it, his breathing and energy were staggering, much like Gastly's.

Somehow, this move had equalized the energy and they both had exchanged it out onto the battlefield together.

They were both under equivalent depletion and were tired and exhausted from this move.

"W-w-what did you do!? Raichu's not in the best of shape and neither is yours?" Inquired Surge with shocked apprehension.

"I took away your Pokémon's energy. It looks like you and I are also even in this fight." I declared with furrowed intent.

"Don't mess with me! Do you know who we are little girl?! We are the Triad of the organization, the best of the best. The most elite squad in the echelon of Team Rocket. Do you realize who you are trifling with!? Giovanni will know all about you Trainers and your exploits. You will not be able to go quietly after this fight is finished." He spouted with an insidious tone.

"Send your worst, we've come too far to turn back now." I threatened with momentous intent.

"Tch, Raichu Thunderbolt, jolt this bitch to oblivion!"

"Raiii!" Screeched Raichu.

The mouse sent a massive shock of electrical current that undulated and bounced with malicious intent. Striking Gastly from where he stood, fading toward the ground. He had now fainted from the exhaustive force summoned by Raichu's most immense attack.

But just as soon as Raichu had depleted all of his energy, he too, fell to exhaustion at the same time as his opponent. Countering Raichu's move altogether and leading the match to a draw.

".........." Said Red with a shocked look upon his face.

"W-what happened?" Raised Blue alongside the four of them.

"Did you just use Curse to take out my Raichu?" Deduced Surge with an appalled look across his façade.

"I took away half of his energy and equalized it, Curse was used as a means to an end. If you took out my Gastly that means your Pokémon would also lose from the move. Raichu became cursed as soon as the move Thunderbolt was used to destroy the Pokémon who utilized it."

"You're too easy to read Lieutenant. Your biggest hubris is your over reliance on Thunderbolt, you rely more on strength than your ability to think through on a strategy." I informed.

"Oh, and you think you have it all figured out, and now that you used the move Curse you decided you could take out an entire infrastructure of bombs that I have laid out throughout the cave?"

His Voltorb! I widened from the thought. He's still got the place surrounded.

"True, you may have defeated me, but I still have a plan z." He interjected with a thumb on a device.

"Leaf, retrieve Gastly he's gonna blow this place up!" Shouted Brock from behind me.

With swift reaction, I threw my device to retrieve Gastly. The capsule rebounding back into my hand as I ran straight towards Brock and the others.

Lieutenant Surge then pressed down on a red button on the wireless device that was connected to all the explosives and we could faintly hear a blast that was building up from all sides of the cave.

I ran frantically alongside Red, Yellow, and Blue at a heightened pace to escape. Desperately sprinting back towards the entrance of the Pokémon Center in the hopes we would have enough time to make it.

Unfortunately, the light of the tunnel I observed had been obscured by falling rock and there was nowhere else for us to turn. This didn't stop us from running, we needed to hurry. The Lieutenant was not going to let us out unless we fought with all our might.

But it was too late.

"Leaf!" Shouted Red from behind as the ceiling from above us had rocks of falling stalactites all crumbling between us.

"Red!" I shouted back with desperation.

This cannot be.

"We need to move, now!" Shouted Blue as he grasped hold of my wrist to pull me away from the falling debris. Tugging me further into uncertain darkness that I didn't expect from Lieutenant Surge's dimensional thinking.

Surge had caved us in on all sides and all Brock, Misty, me and Blue could do was survive. When there was no way out, Brock had brought out his Onix to try and shield us from the falling boulders that were collapsing on top of all of us.

The Lieutenant had won and successfully manifested his trump card to elaborately escape to find Cubone.

This event was such a blunder to my morale.

Red, Yellow, please be alright.

Yellow and Red were separated from us, but the uncertainty of whether they had survived also weighed on my mind. Wondering whether or not boulders had crushed them from above was a terrifying thought. Even as our very own survival was being threatened by the hand of a very powerful Triad member of Team Rocket.

We needed another plan and that plan was for all of us to find a way out and hopefully find them alive.