Laid out across the mountains of middle Kanto, a few miles to the west of the Gulf of Vermillion, was a town that seemed almost to blend in with its surroundings. Trees and buildings were laid out together almost as if both were a natural part of the forest. From the sky, the greys of the city could be seen to stop at regular intervals, with large patches of green trees filling the holes.

        Being nestled in amongst the mountains, Dioton City itself had multiple levels of height in its layout. On every level except the lowest, there were multiple places where travellers could stop and rest on the park benches, and look out over a beautiful view of the buildings and trees below. And it was at one of these rest stops where one would have met an unexpected combination of young Pokémon trainers, on this particular noon.

        The ages of these trainers didn't make them an unusual combination in itself. And although it was uncommon for trainers to travel in groups rather than solo, it wasn't rare either. What was unusual was their backgrounds, which would only be known to one who was well-versed in all aspects of Who's Who among famous Pokémon trainers of special importance.

        The eldest of the three would be the easiest to know about- Brock Harrison, the squinty-eyed young man now sitting on one of the park benches consuming rice cakes. He'd been the Gym Leader of Pewter City, until returning that title to his father a few months earlier, and since then had been travelling with his two newfound friends. His reason for travelling was twofold- he hoped to pick up knowledge to help him become a skilled Pokémon breeder, and to pick up a girlfriend too while he was at it!

        Then there was the fiery redheaded young girl currently attempting to help her Psyduck get a drink from the nearby water fountain, and not having much luck as the waterfowl's headache was making it forget to open its mouth. Thirteen-year-old Misty Williams, by far the youngest of four sisters, wasn't a gym leader like her older sisters but would be next in line to become one. She was travelling in hopes of becoming the ultimate water Pokémon trainer, but her reason for travelling in this group in particular wasn't nearly so grandiose- a certain younger trainer owed her one bicycle to replace one he'd wrecked, and she refused to stop following him until he paid that debt!

         And finally, there was the aforementioned bike-wrecker, ten-year-old Ash Ketchum, sitting alongside Brock and his number one Pokémon, Pikachu, and also currently consuming rice cakes. The youngest, most determined, and by far least experienced member of the group, Ash's ultimate goal was simple, and grandiose on such an unrealistic scale that achieving it would be next to impossible- to be the greatest Pokémon trainer in the world!

         Thus far, this trio's travels had already been filled with many bizarre sights, from Seymour the Scientist to 1,000-foot-high Pokémon robots, from a man in a bikini to Tommy, the Kangaskahn Kid. And in the days, perhaps years, to come, they'd certainly see many more odd sights if the trend continued. But this particular day seemed like it was going to be relatively normal: no sightings of their usual pursuers from Team Rocket, and aside from the great views the town was known for being pretty average as a whole. It seemed as if the trio wouldn't be going through any bizarre occurrences today.

        They should have known better.

        "Pi-kahh!"

         Ash stopped eating just a moment, and looked to his right at his short, yellow, furry Pokemon companion. Then he realized Pikachu hadn't picked up a rice ball from Ash's box of them, even though the Pokémon knew he was perfectly welcome to.

        "Pikachu? What's the matter, aren't you hungry too?"

         Pikachu shook his furry head, and stood up on the bench. "Pi!" he said, indicating his throat with one front paw. "Pi-pikachu."

         Brock leaned forward, and looked to Pikachu's gesture. "I think he's saying he has a sore throat, Ash. It hurts to eat rice cakes like that. He might be catching a cold."

         Ash blinked. "What? Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

         "Pika-pi..." Pikachu looked down.

         Brock furrowed his brow. "He might not have wanted to worry us. It's obviously not too serious yet, but we'd better take him to a Pokémon Center. Remember what happened when he magnetized and got the same types of symptoms as a cold, back in Gringi City?"

         Ash winced. The memory of Pikachu losing control over his release of electrical discharges a month or so ago was all too fresh. "Yeah, better not find out if a real cold is even worse!"

         "Psy-ay-ay-ay-duck-duck-duck!" Psyduck suddenly began struggling when the fountain water he was supposed to drink went up one of his nostrils and distracted him from his perpetual headache.

        "Wahhh!" Misty screamed, and a thud followed. Ash and Brock looked to their companion, who had fallen over backwards and now was lying on her back with Psyduck sitting on top of her stomach.

         "Duck?"

         "Oww... yeah, let's go..." Misty moaned as she removed Psyduck's Pokéball from her pocket and got the waterfowl off of her stomach with it.

        "Maybe Nurse Joy can give Psyduck a brain transplant..."

         The group arrived at Dioton's Pokémon Center to catch hold of a most unexpected scene. Usually, efforts were made to keep Pokémon Centers quiet and tranquil, though sometimes one of the patients got unruly or Pokémon thieves would attack. But in this case, there were no robbers, and the only Pokémon inside were frantic Chanseys, hurrying left, right, and center to various duties in a rushed frenzy.

         As many as six telephones were ringing at a time from the front desk, with one of the identical nurses with the Joy surname trying frantically to keep up with all the callers. Her efforts were in vain, however, as every time she put a phone down, it'd immediately start ringing again. Surely, if these phones had been set on their original default "Ring-ring-ring! Ring-ring-ring! Phone-call! Phone-call!" voice as the ringtone, as opposed to the more traditional rings they were emitting, the nurse would be tearing her hair out right now.

         "I know, but... there are other callers... we're doing all we can... no, I don't know what the problem is... I'm sorry, but..."

         Brock, recognizing the seriousness of the situation, didn't act on his usual tendency to attempt to charm Nurse Joy this time, and instead merely commented, "Wow, she's busy..."

         Misty couldn't believe the center was so busy. "Was there an accident somewhere? I didn't see any ambulances..."

         "IMPOSSIBLE!!" a man's shout came from a room behind the front counter.

         Nurse Joy, having just put one of the phones down, jumped suddenly at the sound and abandoned the ringing phones in order to see what was the matter.

         Ash, Misty, and Brock looked to each other and nodded before following her to the PST room. Normally, going into the Pokéball Storage and Transfer room was not allowed, but this was an emergency, and if any of the trio could help in any way, they would.

         "Why isn't it working? Nothing's wrong with the system!" the man shouted again in frustration.

         "But how can that be, Professor?" asked the distressed Nurse Joy. "There's so many trainers calling and complaining that their Pokémon aren't arriving that I can't keep up with the calls!"

         As they came in behind Nurse Joy, the trainers saw a sight that few ever caught more than a passing glimpse of as they passed by this room when the door was open.  On one wall was a massive series of shelves, each one with Pokéballs set into indentations in the shelves. Suspended from the ceiling was a track running alongside the shelf, and moving on that track was a robotic arm. This arm was totally dedicated to picking up Pokéballs off the shelf and putting them on a conveyor belt, which then deposited them to the sender component of the Pokéball teleporter system, and to picking up Pokéballs from the receiver component of the same system, on the opposite end of the belt, and putting them on the shelf.  And between the trainers and the conveyor belt was the computer console for overseeing the otherwise completely automated procedure.

         At the moment, there was a teal-haired man in a lab coat typing away at the computer in a hurry, while a worried Nurse Joy looked on. The robotic arm was completely ignoring them, and putting Pokéball after Pokéball on the conveyer belt, and ball after ball disappeared in an electric crackle as it reached the sender. Everything was going to the sender- the receiver remained empty the entire time.

         "What's the matter, Nurse Joy?" Ash asked, finally alerting the nurse to his presence.

         Nurse Joy whirled around, surprised at the intrusion, at first looking angry. But instead of scolding the trainers for being in a room that was off limits to all but Center employees, she just softened her face and sighed. "I wish I knew," she answered. "The Pokéball teleporter's going haywire. Each time we send a Pokémon, either nothing comes out, or the receiver on the other end gets a Pokémon sent hours ago for another destination..."

         A small beeping started emitting from the computer station, interrupting Nurse Joy's explanation. The scientist leaned closer to the screen, and started to mumble.

         "... no... no, this can't be possible..."

         "Hm?" Nurse Joy inquired. "Did you find the problem?"

         The scientist jumped, and turned around, revealing for the first time his rounded facial features and thick eyeglasses. The glasses were so thick, in fact, that it was amazing he could see out of them- the light on the side his eyes were on got so refracted passing through that it looked like a bizarre swirl was where his eyes should have been, like a side view of a weirdly shaped funhouse mirror. He chuckled nervously. "N-n-no... nothing yet, heh-heh..."

         Brock frowned and stepped forward to take a look. "Could it be a computer virus?"

         Ash blinked, then looked at Misty and whispered. "Virus? I didn't know computers get sick"

         Misty looked at him oddly, as did Pikachu, who'd been sitting on Ash's head the entire time. Misty smiled a bit nervously, and said "Um... yeah, something like that." Although such ignorance could be correctible, now was not the time to be explaining what admittedly little she understood about how computer viruses really worked.

         While Ash stood there in a daydream stupor, imagining such things as a computer with an icepack on it's monitor and a thermometer in a 'mouth' on the screen, Brock was enquiring about the state of the computer. 

        "Does this computer have any antivirus software?" he asked. Then he remembered something one of his younger brothers had seen on TV and babbled to him about once. "What about that new Vaccine software that's supposed to hunt down any virus even if it's never been seen before?"

         Nurse Joy's eyes widened, and started to smile as if she thought that such software might be just the perfect solution. The professor, on the other hand, wasn't so happy at the thought. He immediately stood up from the chair.

         "Idiot!" he shouted, shaking slightly. "I invented this teleporter! I designed every piece of circuitry in it! There's no way anyone could know how to write a virus that would affect it!"

         Nurse Joy stepped back. "But surely it's worth a tr..."

         "NO!" the professor shouted.

        "It CAN'T be infected!"

        Suddenly, and without warning or reason, the professor whirled around and ran past Brock and Nurse Joy, his face a mixture of disbelief, shock, horror, and crushed pride. Ash and Misty only barely managed to avoid getting hit as the man ran in between them. Nurse Joy's plea of "Professor! Wait..." fell on deaf ears, and before anyone could do anything, the professor had already left the Pokémon Center completely.

         The younger two trainers and Pikachu stood there in silence, and Brock furrowed his brow. "What's his problem?" he asked, trying not to let the annoyance show in his tone.

         Nurse Joy shook her head. "I know he acts odd, but Professor Sinclare's really a scientific genius." She motioned a hand to the equipment. "He invented the Pokéball transporter system."

         Misty looked to the nurse, her eyes widened. "The transporter was made by someone like that?!"

         Joy nodded. "Yes, he did. Without it, people would have wait days for someone to deliver their Pokémon from the storage facilities they'd been deposited at." She looked at the computer screen. "If this doesn't get fixed, the League might be forced to eliminate the technology altogether. And without teleporting any seventh caught Pokémon to appropriate storage, we can't enforce the six Pokémon limit."

         Ash snapped out of his daydream. "Huh? Enforce?"

         "She means that you'd see more creeps like Damien, practically carrying a small army of Pokémon in their bags," Misty elaborated.

         "More Pokémon than they could ever properly care for if they wanted to." Joy confirmed. "This Damien probably got by because he somehow had old Pokéballs that the satellites don't detect. Before we had this system, you couldn't legally carry any Pokéball amount greater than six, empty or not, and how many you had was constantly being documented in League computers. But if we took out this system..."

         Brock finished. "... then with all the people who've bought a lot of empty Pokéballs since then, anyone could carry dozens of Pokémon with them at a time. And the unscrupulous ones would use those Pokémon for all sorts of crimes!"

         "Wah!?" Ash blurted out, seeing full well the danger. Even one evil trainer marching upon a city with an army of Pokémon would be devastating- hundreds of such trainers warring with each other would seem apocalyptic to those caught in the cross fire. "Everything would be destroyed! We've got to fix that computer!"

         "Pikapi!" Pikachu cried, having far more important matters to deal with than its throat.

         Misty frowned, and placed a hand on her hip. "Is it just me, or was Professor Sinclare acting like he was hiding something earlier? He seemed pretty terrified when he ran off..."

         Ash frowned. "I can't believe he'd run off like that when so much is at stake..."

         Misty nodded. "Yeah.

        Let's go investigate."

NEXT >>>

BACK TO CHAPTER MENU