Delia Ketchum stood on the front porch of the Oak Pokémon Research Laboratory and rang the doorbell. A few seconds later, Professor Oak opened the door and smiled at the sight of his pretty neighbor.

"Good morning, Delia! I didn't expect you to come over so quickly."

"Well, as soon as you told me that you had heard from Ash, I wanted to come over right away and find out what my little pumpkin is up to."

"Actually, right after I called, two young people showed up with a rather interesting Poké ball. I was in the middle of talking to them when you rang the doorbell."

"Oh. Well, if you're busy then, I'll stop by later." She turned to go.

"No, you don't have to do that." He enjoyed having her around and had been looking forward to her visit. "It shouldn't be too long if you don't mind waiting a few minutes. Why don't you have a seat in the living room?" He led her down the hall to where a young man and woman dressed in hiking clothes were seated on the living room couch.

"This is a friend of mine, Delia Ketchum." The young man and woman nodded in her direction. "I asked her to stop by before you showed up on my doorstep."

"I'm sorry if I'm interrupting anything," Delia said apologetically.

"Not at all," Professor Oak continued. He turned to face the young couple. "Now then, you were telling me that the two of you were hiking in the Mount Moon range when you were approached by another hiker?"

"Yes," said the blonde-haired girl. "He said that he had found this when he was backpacking near one of the caves." She held out her hand to reveal a shiny, metallic Poké ball.

Professor Oak took the Poké ball from her and examined it. "Unusual color," he commented. Instead of the usual red-and-white color, this Poké ball was black and silver.

"He also said that this Poké ball supposedly contained a rare Pokémon never seen before," added the green-haired young man. "He said that he had tried to open it, but couldn't. He mentioned that you might be able to and asked us if we could take it to you since we were heading in the direction of Pallet Town."

"Well, why don't we head to the lab and take a look," Professor Oak said, standing up. "Hopefully this won't take too long, Delia."

"Take your time. I'm in no rush," said Delia. "Matter of fact, it'll give me some time to clean up this place." She started picking up several books and scientific journals that were scattered on the floor. "I honestly don't know how you can live like this, Professor."

Professor Oak felt his face redden at Delia's comment on his sloppiness. "Uh, the lab is this way. Follow me, please."

Once inside the laboratory, the two teenagers watched eagerly as Professor Oak further examined the mysterious Poké ball.

"And you say that the man tried to open the ball, but couldn't, correct?"

"Yes," said the girl.

"Did he try pressing the button on the front?"

"We don't know. We didn't see him try to open it," said the boy.

"Well, why don't we start with the most obvious way to open a Poké ball and work from there, shall we?"

The boy and girl exchanged glances and stepped away from the laboratory bench.

As Professor Oak pressed the button on the front of the Poké ball, there was a loud "poof" as the room filled with a greenish-black smoke. The boy and girl reached inside their jackets and quickly donned a pair of gas masks. Coughing and choking, Professor Oak stumbled towards the doorway, only to be seized by the couple.

"You're not going anywhere, Professor, except with us."

He struggled vainly as he felt himself lose consciousness. As he slumped to the floor, the girl smiled at her partner.

"That went exactly as planned, didn't it, Butch?"

"Perfectly, Cassidy."

But one thing they hadn't planned on was Delia. Startled by the noise, she stuck her head out of the living room and saw green-black smoke issuing from the laboratory. As the smoke dissipated, she raced down the hall to the lab and saw two figures in gas masks bending over the unconscious Professor Oak.

"What's going on here? What are you doing?"

Startled, the two looked up at her. They had forgotten that she was in the other room.

"I'll take care of him," the girl told her companion. "You take care of her."

As the figure in the gas mask advanced menacingly, Delia turned and ran as fast as she could down the hall back to the living room. As she leapt over the couch and lunged at the telephone on the console, Delia could hear her pursuer's footsteps growing louder in the hallway. She knew she had only a few seconds to dial Officer Jenny's number. The instant she picked up the telephone receiver in her shaking hand, her other arm was grabbed from behind.

"Let go of me!" Delia swung the phone at her attacker, but he grabbed her wrist and held her tightly. A vicious kick to Butch's shins caused him to release his grip on her. Cursing, he lunged for her and seized her ankle, sending her crashing to the floor. As she struggled to get away, Butch reached inside his jacket and produced another black and silver Poké ball. He pressed the button on the ball and tossed it next to Delia's head. As the room filled with green-black smoke, Delia choked and tried desperately to hold her breath. Finally, the effort was too much for her. As she gasped for air, her lungs filled with the choking smoke. Butch felt her go limp and released his grip on her ankle. Delia made a feeble attempt to crawl away, but then her world went black.