At Viridian City, Officer Jenny announces the presence of pokémon thieves. Just then, she sees Ash running into town with his injured Pikachu. She stops him, thinking he's a pokémon thief, but Ash shows her his hurt Pikachu and informs her that he needs to get to the pokémon center right away. Officer Jenny understands, but she still needs to see some identification. She spots his pokédex and a button on it. The pokédex announces itself as Dexter, property of Ask Ketchum from the town of Pallet, thus effectively acting as ID. Once that confirmed, Jenny drives Ash to the pokémon center on her motorcycle, as Misty follows behind angrily with her broken bike. A wanted poster in the background is then lifted up to an air balloon that is holding members of Team Rocket. We are introduced to Jesse and James who swear vengeance on Viridian City for putting up wanted posters of them. We then see "their pokémon" Meowth who acts as the boss of this troublesome trio and reminds them that they are here to capture rare and unusual pokémon. After a dashing entrance into the center by Jenny and Ash in the motorcycle, Nurse Joy has some Chanseys take Pikachu to the Critical Care Unit. She then reprimands Ash for not taking better care of his pokémon and leaves to heal Pikachu. As Officer Jenny departs, Ash feels quite depressed and calls home. His mother tries to encourage him, but he is still downtrodden. So, she calls Professor Oak who calls Ash to confirm that he is at Viridian City. Despite the fact that the other three trainers from Pallet already came through, both Professor Oak and Ash's Mom are quite surprised and proud that Ash got their so soon. Ash then tells Professor Oak that he saw a golden flying pokémon (from last episode) like one pictured in the center, but Oak refutes, saying that that pokémon hasn't been seen by trainers who have searched for it their entire lives. After they say good-bye, Ash is confronted by Misty who rants about her destroyed bike. She wants a new one and Ash is quite sorry, but he can't do anything while Pikachu is hurt. She feels sorry and wants to know how bad it is, but soon Nurse Joy returns with a resting Pikachu. She says the operation went fine and that it is recovering. They are then interrupted by an alarm as Jenny alerts the whole town of the pokémon thieves' presence. Team Rocket makes their grand entrance into the center accompanied by their pokémon Ekans and Koffing, and their declarative motto. They reveal that they are going to steal pokémon and start tearing the place apart. Nurse Joy, Misty, and Ash pushing the stretcher with Pikachu run and hide in a room. The power goes out, but a back-up generator full of Pikachus keeps the lights on in the room they are in. Nurse Joy begins an emergency pokémon transport to save all the pokémon in Viridian City by teleporting them to Pewter City but Team Rocket breaks in. After a failed attempt of trying to fight them with the pokéballs they were trying to save, Misty distracts Jesse and James allowing Ash to try and escape. However, Ekans and Koffing are close behind and Ash runs into the broken bike Misty left in front. The bump wakes up Pikachu who calls all the other Pikachus from the generator as they shock Team Rocket. Meowth then tries to get Pikachu, but Pikachu tells Ash to help give him power.Ash jumps on the bike and pedals it to run the generator for the little head light. Pikachu uses this electricity to shock Meowth and the other members of Team Rocket with such a force that it ignites some of the gas from Koffing causing a major explosion that demolishes the center. Officer Jenny arrives too late, as the badly burnt Team Rocket retreats in their air balloon, they agree that Pikachu is quite rare and powerful and must be caught. The next day, Nurse Joy's twin sister in Pewter City informs her that all the pokémon were transported safely. Ash and Misty are on their way there, but will they be able to get through the Viridian Forest Nurse Joy worries. We then cut to the forest where we hear Misty scream about a gross bug she sees. Ash recognizes it as the pokémon Caterpie and takes out a pokéball to try and catch it...........