Ash and his friends arrive in Dark City, which appears to be a ghost town, much to Brock's dismay. They are even more curious to see a mother taking her wandering son back indoors for fear of Pokémon Trainers in the area. As they ponder why that is, Pikachu is hit by a rock thrown from the roof of a nearby building. When Ash tells Pikachu to retaliate using a Thunderbolt, it hits three children on the rooftop. When the group goes to apologize to the children, they get hit in the head with sticks, as the children want the group to leave their town. The children are then stopped by a local restaurant owner, who invites everyone back to his restaurant.
At the restaurant, while eating lunch, Pikachu takes a particular liking to eating ketchup from the bottle. The restaurant owner explains to Ash and his friends, as a mysterious patron listens close by, that Dark City has two rival Pokémon Gyms, the Yas Gym and the Kaz Gym, lead by Yas and Kaz, respectively. Both Gyms seek official status, but to do so, they would need the approval of the Pokémon League inspector, who is scheduled to arrive at any moment. As there can only be one official Gym per city, each of the two Gyms seeks to eliminate the other before the inspector arrives. The restaurant owner further explains that Pokémon Trainers who pass through Dark City are typically recruited for the cause of either Gym. Suddenly, a street fight between the two Gyms breaks out outside the restaurant. The Yas Gym's Scyther and the Kaz Gym's Electabuzz in particular are dispatching the men of the opposing Gym with ease, all the while damaging the town and terrorizing the townsfolk. As Ash and his friends watch from the safety of the restaurant, the three note that the fighting is not as much of a proper Pokémon battle as it is just a petty gang war.
At that point, the safety of the restaurant is completely shattered when Team Rocket, hired by the Kaz Gym as elite bodyguards, invades the building in disguise and demands food. They send out Arbok and Weezing to deal with the restaurant owner when he refuses due to the Kaz Gym having run up a large tab. Ash sends out Pikachu and Misty her Starmie to intercept Team Rocket, but they are beaten to the punch by Brock, whose Vulpix quickly forces Team Rocket out of the restaurant with a Flamethrower. Vulpix garners the attention of a female Yas Gym recruiter, and when she thanks the group for their efforts, Ash tries to take credit for the whole thing before Misty shuts him down and reminds him that it was Vulpix alone who stopped Team Rocket. The recruiter then tries to recruit Ash and his friends for their cause. At the advice of Misty, who claims that taking sides would ruin their reputations as Trainers, Ash, looking at Pikachu's ketchup bottle, introduces himself as Tom Ato, followed by Misty as Ann Chovy, and Brock as Caesar Salad. They are then taken to the Yas Gym.
Yas is introduced to Ash and his friends. To judge Ash's strength as a Trainer, the unofficial Gym Leader proceeds to release his Scyther to attack Pikachu. However, Scyther's Cut attack is blocked by Pikachu's ketchup bottle, to Pikachu's pure devastation. This results in Scyther getting squirted in the eyes with ketchup, blinding it and causing it to attack its Trainer. Surprised, Yas recalls Scyther and asks Ash to join him. When asked why the Yas Gym wanted to be an official Gym, Yas responds that it is simply a means to earn money quickly, as with official Gym status comes prestige and funding. Because Ash does not see this as a worthy cause, he declines. However, Yas, angry at Ash for refusing, orders his underlings to physically beat him up with several Fighting-type Pokémon. While the Pokémon are busy trying to attack Ash, his friends rescue him and they flee.
Back at the restaurant, Ash gets treatment for his wounds and comments that both the Yas and Kaz Gyms only see Pokémon battles as regular fighting rather than an honored sport, and Brock asserts that unless they're stopped, it could make all Pokémon and their Trainers look bad. Misty is curious as to why they were able to escape the Yas Gym so quickly and uncovers the answer from Ash's Pokédex: Scyther and Electabuzz are color-sensitive, and the color red in particular will send the two into a rage. Knowing this, Ash and his friends devise a plan to stop the fighting once and for all by defeating both the Yas and Kaz Gyms in one fell swoop.
Once again, fighting breaks out on the streets of Dark City between the Yas and Kaz Gyms. Scyther, with a boost from Swords Dance, manages to use Cut to destroy Kaz's forces and claimed buildings with ease. Meanwhile, Electabuzz's Thunder Punch manages to do the same against the Yas Gym's Pokémon. When Ash sees an opening, he tells his friends, the restaurant owner, and the children from earlier to dump a bunch of ketchup barrels from the rooftops onto all the Trainers below, covering them in the sticky red sauce. This enrages Scyther and Electabuzz as they proceed to attack their own Trainers. Yas and Kaz are at Ash's mercy, and Ash decides to end the conflict by having his Bulbasaur use Vine Whip to throw a pair of buckets filled with ketchup to soak Scyther and Electabuzz. Both Pokémon try to attack their counterpart, only to run into each other, knocking the two of them out.
When Ash asks whether the two Leaders have learned their lesson and resolved their differences, they finally agree to team up, but only to fight back against Ash and his friends. In response, Ash orders Pikachu to unleash Thunder, shocking both sides. Despite this, the Leaders refuse to give up and prepare to attack the heroes with sticks. However, the mysterious patron from before appears and reveals herself to be Nurse Joy, the Pokémon League inspector, and tells everyone that neither Yas nor Kaz deserve to be an official Gym, as their street fighting will not be tolerated by the Pokémon League. However, she allows the Leaders a second chance, and tells the two that Ash would make a fine tutor with regards to how to be a proper Pokémon Trainer and how to start over as one united Gym, but Ash admits he is at a loss of words with regards to how to be one. However, Ash does manage to order the Leaders to repair all the damage to the town that they had caused, as they promptly proceed to get to work on the restoration.
As Ash and his friends begin to leave Dark City, they are met again by the children from earlier. They have quickly become fans of Pikachu and exclaim that they have decided to become Pokémon Trainers themselves. Meanwhile, Team Rocket, having been covered in ketchup during the battle, are run out of town by the enraged Scyther and Electabuzz.
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