After several days of traveling, Red arrived at a city called Gringey City.
In the past, Gringey City was extremely prosperous because of its many factories. However, pollution caused by the wastewater and waste residue discharged from those factories contaminated the sky, rivers, and sea. As a result, the city was abandoned and came to be known as Gringey City.
The wind blowing in from the sea in Gringey City carried the smell of sludge, affecting the mood of passersby.
Red came here for only one reason: there were rumors that Zapdos had been appearing in Gringey City.
Zapdos often resides within thunderclouds. It can control lightning and even change the weather, which made people in ancient times revere Zapdos as the God of Thunder.
The only reason the abandoned Gringey City could attract Zapdos was because it possessed the largest power plant in the Kanto Region—the Power Plant.
The Power Plant had a towering smokestack that rose into the clouds. If the seawater intake was blocked, it could switch to thermal power generation to maintain industrial production, and this was also one of the important reasons why Gringey City became shrouded in dark clouds.
Recently, in order to avoid further pollution, Gringey City had stopped thermal power generation. However, this also led to a frequent predicament: Grimer would often block the seawater intake, causing power outages.
Red arrived at the Pokémon Center and handed the Poké Balls in his possession to Nurse Joy for safekeeping. The Nurse Joy here, compared to her many versions, had a bit more personality. Her working style was slightly lazy, and her tone was rather carefree. Passing trainers often complained about her, but fortunately she was just as attentive to Pokémon as every other Nurse Joy.
To wait for Zapdos to appear, Red decided to rest at the Pokémon Center for the afternoon. After all, Zapdos rarely appeared during broad daylight.
...
Late at night
At the Pokémon Center, Red sensed a powerful Aura abilities coming from afar. To verify his guess, the entire Pokémon Center suddenly lost power, startling the still half-asleep Nurse Joy awake.
If the Pokémon Center could not restore power soon, the Pokémon currently receiving treatment would be in serious trouble. Some severely injured Pokémon might even face life-threatening danger.
Because of Gringey City's foul environment, very few trainers were willing to stay here. At the moment, Red was the only trainer remaining in the Pokémon Center, and Nurse Joy looked at him with pleading eyes.
"Don't worry, Nurse Joy. I promise Gringey City will restore its electricity as soon as possible!"
After saying that, Red left the Pokémon Center. Guided by the travel map, he quickly arrived at the Power Plant.
"Come out, Abra, Cubone!"
The Power Plant was frequently harassed by Grimer. Their appearance was perfect for letting the two Pokémon train their strength. Once Abra and Cubone had tempered their abilities enough, Red would stack new Abilities for them.
"Autonomous battle!"
As soon as the words fell, several Grimer appeared "considerately" in front of Abra and Cubone, preparing to attack the two Pokémon who had barged in uninvited.
Seeing this, Abra used Teleport to leave its position. Before the Grimer could react, it used Psychic to suspend them in the air before slamming them violently onto the ground.
Cubone's method was far more brutal. After waiting for the Grimer to approach, it swung the bone club in its hand and used Bone Club Barrage, each strike viciously hitting the Grimer's vital points.
Psychic-type and Ground-type moves both doubly suppressed Grimer's attributes. Very quickly, the few Grimer in front of them became battle experience for Abra and Cubone, unable even to launch a single attack against the two Pokémon.
"Well done," Red praised.
After receiving Red's praise, the two small Pokémon revealed joyful smiles at the same time. Especially Abra—this little guy had been mocked relentlessly by the Hitmonchan who had won the championship belt a few days ago, making it extremely frustrated.
To be safe, Red first ran to the seawater intake of the power plant to check whether the unexpected blackout in Gringey City was caused by a buildup of Grimer.
After checking, Red found that only a few Grimer were wandering around the intake. They posed no threat to the power generation process, so Red chose not to harm them and instead turned to head deeper into the power plant.
Red was not the only one interested in Zapdos. Another duo had arrived at the Power Plant ahead of him and had successfully witnessed Zapdos absorbing electricity from the plant.
"The legendary Pokémon really is extraordinary!"
Cassidy, dressed in the black uniform of Team Rocket, looked at the Zapdos above with fear. She could not imagine how her superiors had made such a decision—actually sending her and Butch to capture Zapdos.
Capturing Zapdos would be difficult enough, but the Pokémon assigned to her were only Raticate and Houndour. These two Pokémon posed no threat to Zapdos at all.
"This is basically asking for a beating!" Butch complained. The Pokémon assigned to him were only Primeape and Hypno—there was no way they could withstand Zapdos's electric current.
Controlling lightning while soaring through the air, Zapdos looked down disdainfully at Cassidy and Butch. Zapdos appeared at the Power Plant simply to conveniently absorb electricity and quickly restore its stamina.
Unexpectedly, today it encountered two humans who clearly had a death wish, daring to attempt to capture it. This completely enraged Zapdos's pride as a legendary Pokémon. Zapdos was determined to let Cassidy and Butch witness the power of a legendary Pokémon.
With a threatening screech, Zapdos released electric currents throughout its body and used Discharge to attack Cassidy and Butch.
Just as the two prepared in despair to receive Zapdos's high-voltage electricity, the current heading toward them was suddenly manipulated by some unknown force and diverted elsewhere.
Seeing this, Zapdos turned its head in confusion, looking behind it to see what creature had managed to seize control of the electricity from its grasp.
"You're that brat from Silph Company!" Cassidy exclaimed in shock as she looked at Red, who had appeared behind them.
"I didn't expect you would save us!" Butch said emotionally.
"Death may be spared, but punishment cannot be avoided," Red said calmly as he threw a Poké Ball, releasing Charizard and Thousand-Year Gengar one after the other.
"Gengar, keep a close watch. Don't let these two slip away," Red instructed Thousand-Year Gengar.
"Don't worry, boss! I'll handle this small matter perfectly!" Thousand-Year Gengar said, patting its chest confidently.
Although Red had saved Cassidy and Butch's lives, he still intended to send them to the League prison. Hopefully this duo had already gotten used to running into Red by now.
"Zapdos, because you've been absorbing electricity without permission, the entire Gringey City has fallen into panic due to the blackout. I came here to stop you!" Red said.
After hearing Red's words, Zapdos continued absorbing electricity indifferently, completely unconcerned about whether Gringey City was in crisis. Zapdos had traveled all the way here simply to restore its stamina quickly by absorbing electricity from the Power Plant.
"It's simple. Lose to me, and you will become my Pokémon," Red said calmly, signaling that Charizard beside him could begin the battle.
Zapdos responded with a disdainful sneer. It had battled many Charizard before, and all of them had fallen beneath its proud electric current. Therefore, Zapdos did not take Red's Charizard seriously at all.
But there was one thing Zapdos did not know—Red's Charizard was completely different from ordinary Charizard.
It was not afraid of electricity at all.