So I recently realized I could combine this story with Danny Phantom and only a few small things would have to be changed. Would kind of screw up the next two stories though.

Oops, spoilers.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon or the Jak series. Duh.

"Hurry up!" a yellow mouse called as he bounded through Baker Street (which, ironically, had no bakers on it). Behind him struggled his young human friend, holding a huge box in his arms that obscured his vision and ever-present red hat on his black hair.

"Hey wait, this box is heavy! I can't see over it- you're supposed to be my eyes! Pika? Pika! Hey, where'd you go?! I need you to see where I'm going!"

"Relax!" Pika answered, suddenly dropping on top of Red's head, making the sixteen-year-old jump in surprise and almost drop the box. "Watch it! You want to explain to Joey why his new supply of Pokefood is all over the street?"

"Well, if you hadn't surprised me...!"

It had been a long night for Red the day he met Pika. First the place he was living in had fallen in of him, then he had encountered the Mouse Pokemon fleeing from Team Rocket, escaped a brawl between Team Rocket and Team Plasma, barely survived an encounter with a Rocket grunt, and Poli had evolved; it made all of his previous worries look tame. Needless to say, his nerves were shot when he first heard Pika speak.

Learning he could speak complicated things immensely. They had both freaked out at first; Red realized why the Rockets were so desperate to recapture the Pikachu, and Pika was surprised Red understood him and worried he might turn him in to the Rockets.

It was a valid fear. They both knew firsthand that the Rockets would do almost anything to get Pika back in their clutches. But Red knew there wouldn't be anything short of his death that would make him give his new friend up to the hated crime syndicate. The problem was that the Pikachu panicked.

It had taken another hour of talking to convince Pika that the wouldn't betray him. The former experiment was skittish and nervous the entire time, hardly talking again. But Red's truthful and kindhearted nature, along with some convincing from Poli and Saur, finally won the Pokemon over. He didn't even voice a complaint when Red started calling him Pika a couple weeks later. Pika eventually started growing out of his shell, becoming more comfortable with his new friends and companions. He hadn't been much of a talker in the beginning due to his self-consciousness and reluctance to get close to Red and the others, but began to open up and talk more as they grew closer. He wasn't exactly a chatterbox, but he would often speak his mind without prompting. Thankfully, he also retained being able to speak the Pokemon language, making it much easier to hide in plain sight whenever they were in public.

"Whoa, hold up," Pika whispered, climbing down onto Red's right shoulder. "There's a group of people clustered all along the street. Pretty big crowd. Think the Rockets are up to something again?"

"Don't know. Can't see," Red quietly deadpanned back, but a chill began to run down his spine.

Whenever people congregated in large numbers in Pallet, it was for two reasons: there was a fire or some kind of destruction or if Team Rocket was "disciplining" someone, which often involved acts of destruction. Since no Rocket wanted to spend any time at all in Pallet, it wasn't often that people had to be "disciplined." But when there was such an event, people tended to flock to the spectacle; some of the crueler-minded people enjoyed the shows while most people just wanted to mourn the probable passing of another neighbor(s). Sometimes they would entertain the thought of overpowering the Rockets, but there was never any opportunity; the Rockets always had the advantage in Pokemon strength and cruelty. Red tried to console himself by thinking that it was the thought that counted.

Red emerged onto West Avenue, hastily turning so that he could look over his left shoulder to see where he was going. "'Scuse me!" he called, pushing his way through the murmuring crowd. The flat, resigned faces people kept giving him made him quicken his pace, dread beginning to creep into his mind as he made out muffled shouting up ahead.

Without warning, a brown-haired boy about his age darted in front of him and slammed into him, sending all three of them to the ground. The box landed with a loud thud and boxes of Pokefood spilled out onto the street.

The sound of the large box attracted the attention of a certain Rocket, drawing him away from the ongoing "discipline" and gazing into the crowd. "What was that?" he demanded, striding purposefully towards the mass of people, his Spinarak following. Normally he wouldn't have investigated such a trivial sound, but his instincts were screaming at him to find the cause of it.

"Watch where the hell you're going!" Red snapped as he scrambled over to the upended box and began to repack the boxes of food. Pika hissed at the boy before scampering back on Red's shoulder. Neither of them noticed the harsh shouts of the grunt ordering people to get out of the way nor the tightening of the group of people around them.

"Sorry," the boy muttered, picking his way over next to red, reaching for a box. Suddenly his arm shot out, gripping Red's shoulder in a tight grip.

"Hey, what the hell-"

"You need to get out of here," the boy's voice cut across Red's protests and Pika's sparking, his green eyes serious yet panicked. "They're here for you!"

"What?" Red asked, confused.

"Move it!" the Rocket shouted, shoving people away as he attempted to see what had made that sound.

The boy glanced towards the sound of the Rocket's voice. "You need to run! They've ransacked the shop and got their clutches on Joey!"

"What? Why would they-"

"They got tired of his anti-Rocket attitude!" the boy whispered harshly. "You know he was the only person in Pallet that wouldn't serve them and would chase them off! Well, he made that mistake on an actual admin, and now he's taking his revenge! They've eliminated him, now they're waiting for you! You need to go! Head for the Sums, they won't chase you there!"

"Move your asses!" the Rocket snarled as the people around the boys reluctantly began to part.

"Go!" the boy hissed, giving Red a shove towards the alley before darting off.

Red made the fatal mistake of taking a moment to reflect upon what the boy had told him. During that moment, the last of the people around him parted before the Rocket, who stepped out of the crowd.

"Well, well, well," the Rocket chuckled darkly, snapping Red out of his frenzied thoughts. "Look who we have here."

It can't be... Red's eyes moved up the the Rocket's smirking face, breath escaping his lungs as he recognized the admin. His brain, in its infinite wisdom, decided he needed to say something. "You got a promotion."

"It's been a while, brat," the admin said menacingly as he took another step forward, his Spinarak matching his step. "And you kept the specimen! How thoughtful of you... Now I can kill three birds with one stone." His eyes narrowed. "Maybe you'll last longer than your pathetic boss."

At his words, Red glanced behind his enemy and saw a sight that made his blood run cold: two other Rockets dragging a beaten and bloodied Joey out of his destroyed store.

"I'll admit, he put up a good fight, but honestly that specimen put up better resistance than him," the admin laughed. His gaze sharpened. "Now, I'll ask nicely once before I kill you- will you come quietly?" His Spinarak chittered threateningly (if chittering could be threatening).

Pika provided their collective answer when he zapped the duo; the sparks jolted Red out of his stupor and he immediately began sprinting back down Baker Street. The Rocket and his Pokemon collapsed on their knees, sparks still coursing through their bodies. "Hey!" the admin shouted to his squad. "New objective! That kid we're after's escaping, and he's got a cold case mission with him! GET HIM!" Struggling to his feet, he began moving toward the alley, but was cut off by the crowd. An evil look crossed his face. "If that's the way you want to play it..."

Red continued running as fast as he could. He could hear his pursuers behind him, and although he couldn't be sure, he thought they were catching up with him.

"Why... did I.. have to... save you?!" Pika asked him between pants, running beside him.

"Dunno," Red puffed. "Just... froze."

"Next time... don't!"

There were shouts behind them and Red desperately tried to gauge how far ahead of their pursuers they were. Although he was focused on running and escaping the Rockets, Red subconsciously realized they were heading north.

The noises behind them were definitely getting louder; the Rockets were catching up no matter how many trash cans, boxes, and other obstacles Red and Pika overturned behind them. Red overturned another trash can and turned around. In front of him was the seemingly-aptly-named Haven Street, the official entrance to the Slums. The street was covered in junk like trash and boxes so that it was only wide enough for one person at a time and towered at least ten feet in the air, te entrance covered in darkness.

The world seemed to slow to a crawl. Nothing seem moved as Red stared at the darkness.

Did he dare enter the lair of whatever dwelt there? Despite any claims he'd previously made, the simple truth was that the Slums did scare and intimidate Red. The stories he'd heard may have been exaggerated and embellished to the point of legends, but all legends had to have some grain of truth, right? Red had a hard time believing, like some stories claimed, a demon lurked around the Slums, killing anyone who couldn't escape in time, but a murderous Pokemon? That was much more believable. Not to mention Pika didn't exactly have any good memories in there.

Despite the apparent slowness of time, Red's breath came in icy pants, sweat dripping off his face as he looked hard at his decision. It was like a scene out of a nightmare. One one hand, he could follow that green-eyed boy's instructions, hopefully escape from the Rockets, and try to fend off whatever inspired the nightmarish stories about this part of Pallet. On the other hand, he could turn right here and hopefully give the Rockets the slip until they gave up the chase, then figure out what to do next.

Decisions, decis-

"There they are!" a close voice jolted Red from his reverie, and he reacted without thinking- he threw himself to the right and kept running, away from Haven Street and Pika following at his heels.

"We're not going to be able to outrun them!" Pika shouted as the sounds behind them grew closer. Red gritted his teeth and turned suddenly onto a smaller street, hoping the sudden change would confuse their purs-

"Shit!" Red swore as he skidded to a stop.

It was a dead end.

"Shitshitshitshitshit-" Red chanted as he desperately looked for another escape route. The alley he had turned into was one of those stereotypical, abandoned, dead end alley surrounded by two-story buildings, covered in trash and shadows and standing water. Red's eyes roved the area as Pika slid to a stop next to him and the footsteps behind them grew ever louder.

"Guess this'll be our last stand, huh?" Pika growled, spinning around on all fours to face the approaching Rockets, cheeks sparking with his anger and determination.

Red didn't want to fight, especially in a fight they couldn't win. He didn't want to have to die, for his friends to have to die or be captured, for absolutely nothing. If he was going to die, then he wanted to die doing something, something to bring order and justice back to Kanto. Not making a last stand in the middle of a dingy alley after running away from a Rocket with a personal grudge.

I'll be damned if I just let Pika, Poli, and Saur die here for nothing, he thought to himself. There's gotta be... His eyes landed on the roof of the nearest building. ...a way out.

He needed to act fast. He tore off his belt and the Pokeballs on them, scooped up a surprised Pika, shoved the belt into the protesting Mouse Pokemon's arm, and threw the Pokemon up to the top of the roof.

Pika landed on the roof and rolled over to lean over the edge of the roof. "Red, what the hell?" he exclaimed, angry and confused. "What are you doing?"

"Don't!" Red yelled as Pika made to jump back down. "Just go! Leave! Run! I'll be fine!"

"Bullshit! I'm not leaving you! We're not leaving you to die! We fight together, we die together, not matter what!"

"Pika, please!" Red pleaded, and the Mouse Pokemon was surprised to see tears in his friend's eyes. "Just... keep each other safe and get the hell out of here!"

Pika, stunned into silence by the desperation and fear in his voice, was shocked, to say the least. He, Red, and the other two had agreed to always fight together and for each other, never leaving anyone behind. Now Red, the one who saved him, his best friend, wanted him- them- to leave him to the mercy of the Rockets. "But-"

"GO!" Red shouted, desperately waving him off. As the sounds of the Rockets grew ever closer, Pika did the only logical thing: he ran until he was hidden by the roof of another building, and watched the scene below him. If there a chance, even a small, minuscule chance, of Red being able to escape, then Pika, Poli, and Saur would all help him, his instructions to flee be damned.

When the first Rocket grunt entered the alley, the first thing he saw was Red halfway up the front of one of houses, climbing up the gutter downspout that, miraculously, held his weight. "Stop him!" he commanded, and his Elekid immediately sprang forward, rotating her arm at high speed. As electricity built, sparks began crackling between her plug-pronged horns. Extending a clawed hand, she touched the metal downspout.

The electricity immediately raced through the metal pipe, shocking Red, who gave a startled cry and instinctively let go of the pipe. He crashed to the ground next to the Electric Pokemon. Used to years of Pika's shocks, the Thundershock attack didn't faze Red much, and he immediately jumped to his feet, only for Elekid to sucker punch him with Thunder Punch. Clutching his stomach, Red hit the dirt again as sparks flickered over his body.

Pika was watching the entire time, of course. He had barely refrained from making a sound when Red fell from the ground, and when Elekid Thunder Punched his friend, his red cheek pouches sparked and the two Pokeballs with him twitched violently. He was about to jump to his friend's rescue, Red's orders could go to hell for all he cared. But once the rest of the grunts started pouring into their little alley, even he realized the futility of the action; there were just too many. He gritted his teeth furiously, angry tears beginning to pool in the corners of his eyes.

As Red pushed himself up onto his hands and knees, the grunts surrounded Red, making sure he couldn't escape. Their admin lazily strode through their ranks, his Spinarak scuttling beside him. He stopped beside the grunt that found and captured Red. "Restrain him," he ordered, and the grunt nodded at his Elekid. Spinarak spit a Spider Web at Red and Elekid hitting it with a Thundershock. The electrified web bound Red and he cried out painfully as the grunts jeered. The last of Red's flagging strength left him and he collapsed on the ground.

"Not so tough now, are you?" the admin sneered down at him. "Nice work Ken," he added, briefly turning to Elekid's owner. He turned back to the fallen boy struggling against his bonds before noticing something. Or rather, he absence of something. "The specimen's not here." His eyes narrowed dangerously. "Where is it?"

Red remained silent, purposefully looking away. The Rocket knelt down next to him, grabbed him by the hair, and forced him to look at his face. "Where. The hell. Is. It." he ground out, anger rippling across his face.

Red's expression hardening in defiance was the only answer he gave. The admin's eyes darkened furiously and he opened his mouth to say something, but he was interrupted by Ken, the grunt that captured Red. "Al, he doesn't appear to have any Pokeballs on him either. He probably sent them off with the specimen."

Al's eyes scanned Red's figure, confirming his subordinate's words. With a curse, he dropped Red and turned to a grunt with a Rattata. "You, get that backpack off him. We'll check that." The purple Mouse Pokemon jumped on Red's back and began gnawing through the backpack's straps. Red started thrashing to get the Pokemon off him, but at a look from Al, three grunts quickly rushed to hold him down. Red still struggled futility, but the Rattata easily chewed through the straps. Ken picked up the free backpack and quickly rummaged through it. "They're not in here," he quickly reported.

Al crouched down in front of Red, trying his damnedest to keep from showing how pissed off he was. It didn't work. "Alright, brat," he growled, "we're going to play a little game. It's basically 20 Questions. I'll ask a question, and you'll give an an answer. An actual answer, not silence or a smartass response. Got it? Good. Now, where did you hide your specimen and your Pokemon?"

"Go to hell," Red grunted.

Al's eyes flashed dangerously before he smashed a fist into Red's temple. "What did I say about the smartass comments, huh?" Red swore violently as his vision began to swim. "Now, let's try again." Red felt his hair being painfully grabbed again and his head raised up. When his vision came back into focus, he was looking into the Rocket admin's furious eyes. "Where are the specimen and your Pokemon hiding?"

"Eat shit and die!" Red snarled, spitting on the admin's face.

Al calmly wiped off his face before standing up. With the heel of his boot, he violently shoved Red's face into the ground. Ignoring the boy's muffled yelp of pain, he ground it beneath his boot, his intense anger finally showing. "One more time," he said angrily. "WHERE ARE THEY?!"

Since his mouth was figuratively glued to the ground, Red was lucky Al couldn't understand his response. Unfortunately, his tone told the Rocket that Red was still being uncooperative. Growling furiously, he took his boot off the boy's head and, shooing away the grunts holding Red down, kicked him savagely in the side. Red gave a strangled cry and curled up protectively to the best of his bound ability.

"You think you're smart?" Al spat at him. "You think you're tough shit, standing up to us? Well, I'll admit, you do look like shit. But in the end, you're just a worthless nobody who doesn't know when to stop when he goes up against a higher power. Keep acting like that, and you won't last long." He smirked suddenly. "Actually, you won't last at all; I've figured out what to do with you." Al swiftly kicked Red's head, knocking him out before gesturing to the nearest grunts. "Alright everyone, head back to base. It's unlikely we'll find the specimen in this hellhole of a town, so there's nothing more we can do except take our prisoners to... proper authorities," he finished with a dark grin.

As they departed, Ken walked up to Al. "So what did you mean by 'proper authorities?'" he asked, curious by the expression of evil triumph on his friend's face and its dark implications.

"The owner will be detained according to regulation," Al answered. "I have something... special planned for the brat."

"...Special how?" Ken asked warily.

"Sabrina told me the other day that the Dark Warrior Program was always accepting new recruits," Al replied nonchalantly.

Ken's eyes widened in shock. "The... Dark Warrior Program?" he asked haltingly.

"Yep."

"But isn't that the-"

"Most dangerous, most experimental, and a zero-percent success rate?" Al answered with a grin. "Little shit's about to get what's coming to him."

Ken stopped for a moment, stunned by the admin's cruelty. He liked to think of himself as a not-terrible person; maybe he was a part of Team Rocket, but that didn't mean that he enjoyed torturing people and destroying their lives as they so often did. He joined for one reason, and one reason only, and despite everything that Team Rocket forced him to see and do, he knew he'd do it again in a heartbeat if he needed to.

Pika watched the Rockets filter out of the alley back to their base in North Pallet, every cell in his body rigid with fury and tears pouring down his face. His best friend had just been captured, questioned, and tortured, and he had been forced to watch. Well, he hadn't been forced to, but he just couldn't tear himself away from the scene. Now that they had left, he knew he needed to get to safety.

The Mouse Pokemon's eyes narrowed in determination. "Screw safety," he muttered to himself. "Red needs us. We're the only ones that can rescue him; after all he's done for us, we owe it to him." He looked down at the red and white spheres next to him. "Right?"

Both spheres rocked violently in confirmation. Pika grinned grimly and picked up the belt in his mouth before dashing across the rooftops in pursuit of the Rockets. Don't worry Red, he thought. We'll save you before you know it!

Welcome to the beginning of the game plot. This is where everything really starts to happen. It took longer than expected to get here (6 frigging months!), but eventually I did. I type slowly, get distracted, motivation switch, have a lot of different projects, etc.

Wish the story a happy birthday, cause it's a year old! Dammit I'm slow...

So, uh... How badly did I make you guys hate Team Rocket? Or Al? For that matter, does anyone recognize Al, Ken, and Harry (from the last chapter; remember him)?

Q&A Time!

Laties228: You did not mention which Gym Leaders sided with Team Rocket.

No. I did not. They'll be revealed next chapter. Though if you've read the Pokemon Adventures/Special manga, particularly the RGB chapter, you'd know.

Thanks for reading, guys. Have a nice day.