Jessie and James were battling Rico while Meowth worked on unlocking the cages with an electric lockpick.
“Darn it!
Fearow, use Drill Peck on Meowth!”
“Not a chance!
Arbok, use Iron Head!”
Bang!
Fearow was knocked down.
Click?!
“It worked, meow!”
Meowth freed the Ekans and Koffing.
“Great!
The operation was a complete success!” Jessie shouted happily.
“Damn you!
You idiots have really made me mad this time!
Go, Pupitar!”
As soon as Pupitar emerged, its body began glowing with blue-white light.
It evolved!
The pseudo-legendary Pokémon, Tyranitar, appeared as a sandstorm began to rage around them.
“What?!
No way!”
“I knew it was close to evolving.
Tyranitar, use Hyper Beam!”
“Ah!”
Team Rocket was blasted away.
Another Hyper Beam came flying toward them.
“Wobbuffet, use Mirror Coat!”
But before Wobbuffet could successfully use the move, it was knocked down.
In the end, Team Rocket made a decision.
“Arbok, Weezing!
Take them and run!
We’ll hold him back!”
“That’s right!
Watch me use Fury Swipes, meow!”
“I’ll use Fury Swipes too!”
“Witness the power of Team Rocket’s bond—Fury Swipes!”
The three members of Team Rocket charged forward together.
Arbok and Weezing left the area with tears in their eyes.
“Damn it!
My prey!
You people really don’t know your place!
Tyranitar, use Hyper Beam!”
Just as the attack was about to strike—
“Pidgeot, use Protect!”
“Pidgeot!”
A huge protective barrier appeared before Team Rocket.
“Are you guys all right?!”
Ash and the others rushed over.
“I never thought you could be so brave!” May said, deeply moved by Team Rocket’s actions.
Brock and Max nodded in agreement.
“Thank you for your help.
I’ll make sure you’re properly rewarded.”
Officer Jenny turned toward Rico.
“Pokémon Hunter Rico!
Stop resisting and surrender!”
“Surrender?
Not a chance!
Tyranitar, Hyper Beam!”
[Tyranitar]
[Gender: Male]
[Type: Rock/Dark]
[Ability: Sand Stream — Summons a sandstorm when it enters battle.]
[Strength: Early Pseudo-Elite Tier]
[Moves: Hyper Beam, Crunch, Stone Edge, Earthquake, Shadow Ball, Dark Pulse]
[Tera Type: Ghost]
Gasp!
Perfect!
This Tyranitar is simply perfect!
And Rico has raised it well.
It had only just evolved, yet it had already reached the Pseudo-Elite Tier!
“Go, Pikachu!
Use Iron Tail!”
“Pidgeot, use Steel Wing!”
“Hmph!
Tyranitar, sweep the field with Hyper Beam!”
The relentless Hyper Beam barrage kept Pikachu and Pidgeot from getting close.
“Is Hyper Beam the only move you know?
Pikachu, use Thunderbolt for cover!
Go, Pidgeot!”
Ash took out a Steelium Z-Crystal and activated his Z-Ring.
“Wow!
A Z-Move!” Max exclaimed in surprise.
“Pidgeot, use Corkscrew Crash!”
“Pidgeot!”
Pidgeot shot through Tyranitar, and Tyranitar lost the ability to battle.
“Damn it!
Just you wait!”
Without even recalling Tyranitar, Rico turned around and ran.
“Trying to run?
Pikachu, use Thunder Shock!”
“Pikachu!”
“Ahhh!”
Rico was shocked and collapsed to the ground.
Officer Jenny immediately stepped forward and placed him in handcuffs.
“Thank you for your help,” Officer Jenny said.
“We couldn’t just stand by and watch something like that happen.”
Ash waved his hand before asking, “But Officer Jenny, can I catch this Tyranitar?”
“Hmm… As one of Rico’s Pokémon, it should technically be handed over to the Pokémon League.
However, since you helped stop him, if you can gain its approval, I can probably overlook it.”
Officer Jenny hesitated for a moment before finally making her decision.
She believed Ash had tremendous potential, and besides, no one else knew that Rico even possessed a Tyranitar.
“Really?
Thank you, Officer Jenny!”
Ash turned excitedly toward the Tyranitar, which had just regained consciousness.
“What do you say, Tyranitar?
Do you want to become my partner and become the strongest with me?”
“Pika~”
“Tyranitar…”
After listening to Ash, Tyranitar agreed.
Its relationship with Rico had never been good.
Tyranitar had originally been poached by Rico.
Unlike the other Pokémon that were captured and sold, however, Tyranitar had been kept as battle power and raised for combat.
Where you eat is where you live.
In the end, Tyranitar accepted Ash’s invitation.
“Great!
Go, Friend Ball!”
Ash destroyed Tyranitar’s previous Poké Ball and used a Friend Ball to catch it, increasing the Pokémon’s friendliness toward him.
“I caught Tyranitar!”
“Pikachu~”
“What?!
We’re Team Rocket!
How can we go to the police station to collect a reward?!”
Team Rocket’s voices suddenly rang out.
“Are you sure you don’t want it?
The reward is 100,000.”
Officer Jenny looked at them.
“What?!
A reward of 100,000?!
Hahaha!
What are you talking about, Officer Jenny?
We were just on our way to the police station!”
“Feels great!”
And so, Team Rocket happily climbed into the police car and headed for the station.
Since Ash had caught Tyranitar, he decided not to take the reward.
Afterward, Ash and his friends said goodbye to Officer Jenny and returned to the Pokémon Center to rest.
At dusk, after leaving the police station, the three members of Team Rocket entered a forest.
They sat together with the food they had just bought, reminiscing about Arbok and Weezing.
“I wonder if they’re doing all right,” Jessie said, taking a bite of her fancy bread.
“They should be strong enough to protect their companions, right?” James added.
“Don’t worry, meow.
They’ve battled the twerp so many times that they’ve grown strong enough to handle themselves.
They’ll definitely be fine, meow.
Munch…”
Meowth spoke while chewing his food.
“Wobbuffet~”
“That’s true.”
Jessie and James nodded in agreement.
At that moment, rustling came from the bushes.
“Hmm?”
The three members of Team Rocket turned around and saw a Pokémon that looked like a cactus.
“This is…”
“Cacnea, meow!”
“Are you hungry?
Here, this is really good.”
James took out some food and offered it to Cacnea.
“Cacnea!
Cacnea!” (≧ω≦)/
After taking one bite, Cacnea immediately began eating happily.
“Cacnea, how about it?
Do you want to come with me?”
“Cacnea!
Cacnea!”
Cacnea happily nodded, then jumped into James’s arms.
“Ah!
That hurts!”
James exclaimed in pain.
“I caught Cacnea!”
“Cacnea~”
And just like that, Cacnea joined the previously battle-deficient Team Rocket.
———————— Another Forest ————————
“Ah!
This is all your fault, sis!
Look, we’re lost!”
Max complained.
“How is this my fault?” May shot back.
“I said we should go right, but you insisted on going left!
That’s why we ended up like this!”
“But this way looked more interesting, and there were so many cute flowers along the road!” May defended herself before turning the blame back on Max.
“Besides, you were the one carrying the PokéNav!
You were supposed to be leading us!”
“That’s because we’re outside the signal range!
It’s still your fault!”
“What did you say?!”
“All right, all right!
Traveling is full of surprises.
If we only followed the navigation system, how would we ever encounter rare Pokémon?”
Seeing that the siblings were about to start fighting, Ash quickly stepped in to mediate.
“Exactly!”
Brock nodded.
Back in Kanto, getting lost had practically been routine for them.
Just then, several figures flashed across the trees.
To be continued…
….