The Battle of the Badge event : Ash and friends finally make their way to Viridian City where Ash hopes to earn his Earth Badge. They get to the gym just in time to see his rival, Gary, being defeated by a never-before-seen Pokémon that he insists must be evil![1] Ash and his friends arrive in Viridian City for the first time in a year, and they instantly make their way towards the Viridian City Gym. He resolves himself to defeat the Gym Leader and ascend to the prestigious Pokémon League. Suddenly, Gary arrives on the scene with his cheerleaders, mocking Ash. Gary reveals that he has already won 7 Gym Badges, and attempts to enter the Viridian Gym to fight its leader. Ash attempts to follow in after him, but the guards refuse, on the grounds that only one Trainer can enter the Gym at a time. After Misty's Togepi accidentally ends up inside a Fearow's mouth, Ash and his friends go search for it. Meanwhile, Team Rocket is similarly searching for them.

Fearow drops Togepi onto the ground next to Team Rocket, as Jessie attempts to capture it. It manages to elude her, walking across a slim beam. Jessie follows it, but falls to the ground as it cannot support her weight. However, her efforts are rewarded as Togepi lands in her hands. Giovanni accepts Gary's challenge for the Gym Badge, as Gary's Nidoking is pitted against his Golem. Nidoking manages to defeat Golem with a simple Tackle attack, as Giovanni sends out his Kingler. Gary follows suit, replacing Nidoking with his Arcanine. Similarly to how the previous battle went, his Arcanine use Fire Blast to defeat Kingler without much difficulty. When Gary tells Giovanni that he should give up, the latter summons his third and most powerful Pokémon: Mewtwo.

Mewtwo manages to defeat Arcanine with its Psychic, sending it sprawling to the ground. Gary checks his Pokédex, which explains that there is no available data on it. Giovanni explains that he wants to test the full capabilities of his Pokémon's power, offering to Gary the use of as many Pokémon as he likes. Gary