After walking out of the Petalburg Woods, Ash and his group were heading to the nearest Pokémon Center to rest up before going out to explore more of the area.
Since Brock followed Ash and his group, the problem of having no good food was solved very quickly, so he decided to slow down and train Dratini and Taillow properly, and he could also feel that the first Pokémon Egg he received from Norman would hatch pretty soon.
But just outside Petalburg Woods, May called out to Ash, who she regarded as her mentor and crush, "Ash, look, there is something strange stuck in the trunk of that tree."
Not only that, they found that there were such things on the tree trunks in all of the nearby trees, the tree trunks were also seriously damaged from something.
Ash frowned after seeing this, "These are the traces left by some arrogant poachers!"
Ash instantly realized what the marks were after using his Aura.
Not only that, he also memorized preety much everything that Lance had taught him over the months of him becoming part of the International G-Men.
Hearing this, the May and Max were really shocked!
Seeing that these traces were still new, Ash quickly led his group to find the Pokémon Center before continuing on his search.
Sure enough, as soon as he handed over his two Pokémon Eggs to Nurse Joy for a checkup, and even before Brock could have his chance to rush up to show his love towards Nurse Joy, Officer Jenny came over and said, "Nurse Joy!"
"Officer Jenny, what's wrong?"
Sure enough, Brock turned to Officer Jenny and tried to introduce himself to her, "Officer Jenny, my name is Bro—"
Max was explaining to May the fact that Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny all over the world look about the same, so they are not the same people.
Because Misty was not here to watch over Brock harassing girls, Ash personally pulled Brock's ears away this time, "Officer Jenny, do you have any information about any poachers near here?"
"Who are you?" Officer Jenny looked at Ash and became confused.
Ash just showed off the Investigator Badge he carried with him that showed he had a high degree of command over many Allaince units, "I am Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town, code name Red. I found traces left by poachers on the outskirts of the forest!"
"Yes, sir, it's a pleasure to meet you!" Officer Jenny saluted Ash after realizing who he was and what kind of power he held, "There are some poachers that have been very active around here recently. I came to the Pokémon Center just to ask Nurse Joy if any wild injured Pokémon have been found recently, or have been mysteriously taken away by others. "
Seeing this scene, May asked softly in Brock's ear, "Is Ash some kind of powerful person?"
"Ash is one of the main members of the Alliance Headquarters special force that Pokémon deals with high level crimes related to Pokémon's, he is also one of the very few decision makers in his unit. Once he discovers something that harms Pokémon during his journey, the entire Alliance will help him to solve it to not cause any major damages!" Brock explained to May and Max who were previously unaware of Ash's responsibilities.
"Wow!" Sure enough, the two siblings suddenly became starry-eyed.
As she spoke, Officer Jenny took out a wanted notice, which showed a man with a green algae head. "Judging from the tactics that are currently being used to capture the Pokémon's, we have narrowed down the culprit to a poacher called Pokémon Hunter Rico. He is well known in the industry as someone who doesn't care about hurting Pokémon as long as he gets paid!"
Ash looked at the person on the wanted poster and said, "Okay then, leave this guy to me!"
At this moment, the Team Rocket Trio were at the foot of the hillside not far from the Pokémon Center when they discovered a cage wrapped in camouflage materials.
After Meowth opened pulled down the curtain, they found that the cage was full of Ekans, and they all looked bruised and weak.
"What's going on, meow?" Meowth listened to the Ekans shouting a few times, "What, you were caught by a poacher and being treated badly, meow?"
"Okay, I'll take care of this! Trust!" However, as soon as Meowth touched the cage, he was surrounded by a strong electric current. There was a high-voltage electricity mechanism that flowed through the cage!
Jessie's Arbok was right next to her, watching its companions suffer in the cage and began to shed tears!
"Are those poachers just amateurs? They actually hurt a Pokémon that is so hard to catch! Why can't they catch them with a Pokémon battle?" Jessie said angrily while looking at all the bruised Ekans.
In fact, this is the main reason why Ash is willing to let the Rocket Trio go away. Although they will try to snatch other people's Pokémon to do bad things, they will never hurt the captured Pokémon in this kind of way.
Although they always caused trouble for Ash and his group, they did help him many times. Both parties had a tacit understanding and actually know that they don't want to hurt each other .
Seeing Arbok's expression, Jessie could also understand its mood, "Okay, Arbok, I will take care of all your companions and form a large army of Ekans for you to lead! Use Acid!"
However, Arbok's Acid was of no use to this hard cage.
Just when the Trio tried to open the cage, a Fearow flew over and knocked away Weezing who was about to attack the cage.
From the direction it flew from, a truck came carrying another large cage. The person who got out of the truck was none other than the green algae-head poacher Ash was searching for, Rico!
"What do you morons want to do to my prey?"
Upon hearing the question, the Rocket Trio immediately started a roll call, and then replied, "Does that need to be said? We want to create the world's strongest Ekans Army!"
However, they discovered that the cage above the truck was filled with tons of Weezing's pre-evolution form, Koffing!
Rico's prey turned out to be Weezing's and Arbok's companions!
"I am the Pokémon Hunter Rico! After being entrusted by a client, I am capturing large quantities of Poison-type Pokémon! If you give up your Weezing and Arbok to me, I will let you two off!" Rico did not think that the Rocket Trio will defeat him at all. The look in his eyes showed that even he didn't believe what he had just said now.
"Do you think we would let you take away out Weezing and Arbok?" Jessie and James were struck by lightning!
"My client said that if I can catch the evolved version, the reward will be greatly increased!" This Rico set his sights on the Rocket Trios Pokémon's.
The Trio of Team Rocket have been planning to snatch other people's Pokémon all their life, well for the later half, but they didn't expect that their own Pokémon would be targeted by someone else!
"How do you think you are? You must be kidding me! Arbok is an important partner of mine that shares all the joys and sorrows with me!"
"I also love my Weezing deeply! Just look at his adorable face!"
That's right, in terms of pure Bind Value, Ash believes that the ones with the highest compatibility and Bond Valie other thin him are Jessie and James' Arbok and Weezing!
"Then there's nothing I can do. Get ready to get a beating of a lifetime!" Rico's expression became ferocious, and even that Fearow of his showed a fierce look!
The Rocket Trio accepted the challenge. Weezing and Arbok stood in front of the Trio to protect them, fighting for their beloved masters and companions!
"Arbok, attack with a Poison Jab!"
"Weezing, attack with a Mud Shot!"
However, all their attacks were avoided by Fearow, and then Rico ordered his Fearow to use Ariel Ace, sending them flying backwards and hitting the Team Rocket Trio!
"So strong, nya!"
"It's not over yet, Weezing, use Smokescreen!" James gritted his teeth, looked at Jessie, nodded, and gave the order.
Weezing's Smokescreen blocked their vision, but sure enough, Rico ordered his Fearow to blow away the Smokescreen with a Gust.
"Arbok, use Bite attack!"
Under the influence of Jessie, Arbok also became more violent. It pounced on the Fearow and gave it a Bite on its neck, then dragged it into the cage where the large amounts of Ekans were trapped in!
Suddenly, the electric current swallowed them all together, but it had a much more outstanding effect on Fearow than Arbok because it was a Flying-type!
"Fearow!" Rico exclaimed, and at the same time, his powerful rage filled to mind. He decisively raised a gun at Jessie and James, but was suddenly attacked by Meowth's crazy Fury Swipes, so the gun fell to the ground before he could shot it!
"Looks like we've got a big victory for ourselves!" Jessie and James struggled to stand up from the ground.
Rico got angry, "You guys really pissedd me off!"
He threw out a second Poké Ball, "Go kill them, Pupitar!"
The Pupitar that came out suddenly started to glow, and then evolved into the Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon Tyranitar!
This Tyranitar looked small, much smaller than Ash's one and even smaller than the one from Mount Silver.
Seeing this scene, Rico's face became even more ferocious and happy, "I knew it was going to evolve, and this time I'm going to tear you into pieces with my new Tyranitar!"
"Tyranitar, use Hyper Beam on them!"
This Tyranitar actually hit toward Jessie and James without any second thought but was stoped from hitting them by something!
It was their Arbok and Weezing.
The Rocket Trio had already tried their best just to face Rico's Fearow. Because of this, this Tyranitar was something that they couldn't handle right now with their Pokémon's.
Weezing and Arbok, they were under attack from the front, should have already lost their fighting ability after getting hit by that Hyper Beam, but they refused to fall down.
Seeing Rico's power, Jessie and James gritted their teeth and said, "Meowth, go to the Pokémon Center and find Boss!"
"But..."
"There's nothing to worry about here, go quickly, we will delay him for you!" Jessie and James said and rushed towards Tyranitar, their were ready to face the Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon of Johto Region with their human body, even if they were far stronger than any regular humans, they were still people!
"It's just one or two blasts of Hyper Beams, there's nothing to be afraid of. After all, the Boss did beat us up harder than thsi guy could ever di!"
"That's right, Meowth, go away quickly and call Boss here!"