Separation

After the Silver Conference ended, the gang left the Johto Region and returned to the Kanto Region. Right now they were at Viridian City.

"You can definitely see that we are back in Kanto again." Ash said.

"Yes and soon we will be back in Pallet Town again." Tomo said.

"It's a shame our journey in the Johto Region is over." Misty sighed.

"Yeah, but we had some cool new adventures there." Ash said. "We got to visit new places, saw some cool new Pokemon and we captured a lot of new Johto Pokemon for ourselves."

Tomo, Misty and Brock agreed with Ash's words.

The gang stopped at the Pokemon Center. The Nurse Joy there was a new Nurse Joy; she replaced the one Ash and Misty met at the start of the journey in Kanto. Nurse Joy told Misty that her sisters wanted her to call them. Misty felt like this might be some bad news if her sisters wanted her and she contacted them. Daisy took the call and she told Misty that she placed third in a beauty pageant and her prize was tickets for a trip around the world. Daisy was going to travel the world with Lily and Violet, and they left the gym duties to Misty.

"I figured you wouldn't want to come, so take care of the gym okay." Daisy said. Then she hung up.

Misty was not happy with what just happened.

"Those three always do this." She said, irritated. "They leave the gym alone when they decide to take off somewhere and leave me to take care of the gym and house."

"What are you going to do Misty?" Tomo asked.

Misty sighed.

"Well honestly, I can't leave the gym alone while my sisters are on their holiday." Misty said. "And if I do then it may end up getting shut down, since the rules say that the gym leader must never leave the gym alone for long."

"That's true actually." Brock said. "So then does that mean you'll be going back to Cerulean City?"

"Yes." Misty said.

She felt a bit unhappy with this; she wanted to continue traveling with the gang.

"That's a shame." Ash said. "I mean we all had fun traveling together through Kanto, the Orange Islands and Johto."

"We certainly did." Misty smiled. "But as a sensational sister, it's my responsibility to take over as leader of the gym."

"You'll do great as a gym leader." Tomo said.

"I agree." Ash added. "I mean, you have gotten stronger as a water type Pokemon trainer during our journey together."

"Yeah, there's no doubt that you will be a great gym leader Misty." Brock said.

Misty felt better; she had good friends in the form of Ash, Tomo and Brock.

Suddenly three female trainers ran into the Pokemon Center with their Pokemon in their arms.

"Please help us Nurse Joy." They pleaded.

"What do you suppose happened?" Misty asked.

"Maybe they challenged the gym." Ash said.

The gang soon found out the girls hadn't battled the gym; they had battled three trainers calling themselves the Invincible Pokemon Brothers.

"These trainers are cheaters though." One of the girls said.

"That's right." Another added. "When we were in a one on one Pokemon battle, the boys sent out more Pokemon and then just defeat our Pokemon before we had the chance to fight back."

"They are also thieves." The third girl said. "They took our purses after we lost."

The gang became angry.

"Those three don't deserve to be called Pokemon trainers if they're going to cheat like that during battles." Brock said.

"Yeah, especially since they're thieves." Tomo said.

"I say we track them down and teach them a lesson they'll never forget." Ash declared.

"Let's do it." Misty agreed.

The gang left the Pokemon Center to find the Invincible Pokemon Brothers.

The Invincible Pokemon Brothers were in the park, waiting for their next victims to show up. They were brothers and their names were Kim, Kai and Kail. Kim was the shortest, Kai was the fattest and Kail was the tallest. Kai was counting the money they had taken so far.

"We have done well here." He said.

"You're right." Kail agreed. "And this is much easier than the way other people get their money."

"We'll steal some money from one more sucker and then we get out of this city before Officer Jenny shows up." Kim said.

"I don't think so." A deep voice said.

The gang had arrived in the park.

"You three crooks won't be stealing anything anymore." Misty said.

"Oh, it seems we have new victims already." Kim said.

"Hand over your money and we will go easy on you." Kai said.

"Forget it." Ash snapped.

"All right then." Kail said. "Then you will have to fight us; the Invincible Pokemon Brothers."

"We accept." Tomo said.

So the gang ended up having a Pokemon battle with the brothers. Ash challenged Kim, Misty challenged Kai and Brock challenged Kail. Tomo stayed on the sidelines to look after Togepi. Kim had a Hitmonchan, Kai had a Hitmontop and Kail had a Hitmonlee. Ash sent out Flaaffy, Misty sent out Politoed and Brock sent out his Forretress. Flaaffy, Politoed and Forretress easily defeated the three fighting type Pokemon, but the brothers didn't give up. They each released a Tentacruel and told them to attack the gang with Hydro Pump. But then a Safeguard attack stopped the Hydro Pump attacks; it was Tomo's Wynaut.

"We were warned about what big cheaters you three were." Ash said. "So we came prepared when we challenged you."

Flaaffy shocked the three Tentacruel and the brothers with Thunderbolt and then Politoed used Ice Beam to freeze them and their Pokemon.

"That should keep them from going anywhere until we get Officer Jenny." Misty said.

They didn't need to though; Officer Jenny had received word from the three girls in the Pokemon Center and she just arrived on her motorbike.

"Thanks for keeping them from leaving." She told the gang. "My cousin in Neon Town had a lot of trouble with these guys and now we are relieved that they have been caught."

She and her men arrested the brothers and their Pokemon and they picked up the purses and wallets to return them to their rightful owners. So now the brothers were on their way to prison.

That evening the gang was preparing to leave Viridian City. Misty had her bike with her; she had left it at the Viridian City Pokemon Center ever since she began traveling with Ash. Then Brock had important news to tell the others.

"I got an email from my parents asking me to come home too." He said. "They wanted to discuss something very important with me."

"Is something wrong?" Ash asked.

"They didn't say." Brock answered. "So it would be best if I went back home to Pewter City to see if everything is okay."

"I see." Ash said. "So I guess it's time for us to go our separate ways."

"Yeah, but we do have millions of memories of each other." Brock said.

"Yeah especially about what happened on our journeys through Kanto, the Orange Islands and Johto." Misty said.

"And even if we're apart, we will always be friends." Ash said.

"Totally." Brock said.

Ash and Tomo were wished lots of luck on their journey in Hoenn, Misty was given lots of luck as the Cerulean Gym leader and Brock was asked to say hi to his family from the others. Then with a lot of handshakes and hugs, Misty, Togepi and Brock left Ash, Tomo and Growlithe for their respective homes. Tomo started to cry missing Brock and Misty already, but Ash comforted him.

"Don't worry Tomo." He said. "We can speak to them on the phone whenever we want."

Tomo knew Ash was right.

As soon as Misty, Togepi and Brock were out of sight Ash, Tomo and Growlithe headed back to Pallet Town.