Interlude X - Judgement

In Johto, Laura receives the emergency alert while investigating a mysterious Silph asset in Lavender Town. Recognizing the severity of the crisis, she allows her desperate taxi driver to take her car and teleport to Vermilion to save her sister. Meanwhile, Professor Oak is attempting to persuade university presidents to bypass predatory academic journals. When he receives the alert, he immediately abandons the meeting, teleports to Pallet Town to gather his combat team, and heads straight into the storm to find Blue and Daisy.

In Vermilion, a cynical civilian named Seto cowers in his apartment, too cowardly to use his weak pokemon to protect his mother from a magnemite. She is killed, and the apartment is subsequently ripped open by the rampaging nidoqueen outside. Seto contemplates suicide as Zapdos passes overhead, interpreting the Stormbringer's terrifying aura as divine judgment for his failures. However, Red spots him from the street and screams at him to fight the Pressure. Inspired, Seto uses his venonat to momentarily distract the nidoqueen with Supersonic, giving Red the opening he needs to capture the titan.

High above the city, Elite Four Karen rides her hydreigon into the storm, craving the adrenaline and the test of her own willpower against the Pressure. She coordinates with Lorelei and Giovanni to draw Zapdos away from the city. Once over the ocean, Karen takes the lead, pushing her hydreigon to its absolute limits with stimulants to pull the Thunder God south, deliberately steering it away from populated islands. The legendary bird eventually outmaneuvers her, blasting her out of the sky with a Zap Cannon.