After going around in circles, Ethan found himself back in the same spot. He was completely lost in Viridian Forest. In his memory, other versions of Viridian Forest were not so complicated! Why was he lost this time?
Ethan had no choice but to let Riolu use Aura to detect the entire forest and find the exit. Although this process was relatively slow, it was still a way to train the power of Aura. When Riolu mobilized the power of Aura to scan the surroundings, it detected a special energy point not far away. Although the energy was still small, it showed signs of growth.
Riolu informed Ethan about its discovery. Ethan wasn't particularly interested in Viridian Forest, which was full of Bug-type Pokémon. But finding a place with special energy piqued Ethan's curiosity. So, Ethan and Riolu headed toward the source of the special energy.
Although it wasn't far, by the time Ethan and Riolu arrived at the energy point, the special energy had already distorted the nearby space. This strange spatial energy made Ethan and Riolu stay back, fearing that they might be affected.
Suddenly, a Pokémon with a blue bowl-shaped head, a pink body, and a flat red horn in the middle of its head fell out of the distorted space, along with a man with green hair wearing a black uniform and cap.
Ethan didn't recognize the Pokémon, but he did recognize the man. The "R" on the man's black uniform was too conspicuous to miss. The man was Lance, a cadre of Team Rocket. Ethan suddenly felt he was destined to encounter Team Rocket. He had just met Giovanni not long ago, and now he met Lance. Was it a bad fate?
The Pokémon that Ethan didn't recognize looked around nervously as soon as it landed, then ran in a panic towards Riolu.
"Still trying to escape? There's no way I'll let you go today!" Lance shouted as he chased after the Pokémon. Ethan immediately understood that Lance was trying to capture this strange Pokémon by force. Wasn't this Team Rocket's usual style, capturing all kinds of rare Pokémon? Since he saw it, he couldn't just stand by. Ethan immediately rushed out and blocked Lance's path.
"Who are you? How dare you stop me? This is a Shiny Ralts. I'm going to catch it today. Don't get in my way!"
Only then did Ethan realize that the strange Pokémon was a Ralts and a shiny one at that. No wonder he didn't recognize it at first. Shiny Pokémon are rare, and a Shiny Ralts is even more so. No wonder Team Rocket was trying to capture it.
"Ralts doesn't want to go with you. You're forcing it! If you want to capture this Ralts, you'll have to get past me first."
With that, Ethan instructed Riolu to prepare for battle. Seeing Ethan's refusal to back down, Lance knew he had to defeat this unexpected obstacle. So, he sent out Zubat. Zubat, a Poison and Flying type, was a troublesome opponent for Riolu. Not only did Zubat have a type advantage, but Riolu's melee skills were also ineffective against a flying opponent.
But Ethan decided to fight. He planned to disrupt Zubat's rhythm with a preemptive Vacuum Wave and then try to attack at close range. This was the best strategy Ethan could think of, but Lance wasn't going to make it easy.
When Riolu launched the Vacuum Wave, Lance commanded Zubat to dodge and simultaneously use Haze. The already dim Viridian Forest was suddenly covered in a thick layer of black fog. Under the black fog, Ethan completely lost sight of Lance and Zubat. He didn't know how to instruct Riolu to fight an unseen opponent.
At this moment, Riolu's Aura power burst out. Through Riolu's Aura, Ethan instantly sensed the locations of Lance and Zubat. Lance was cunning. He pretended to engage in battle but actually used the black fog to block vision and secretly tried to bypass Ethan to capture Ralts.
How could Ethan let Lance succeed? He immediately ordered Riolu to use Vacuum Wave in Lance's direction. The Vacuum Wave hit right at Lance's feet, forcing him to stop.
"Curse you! You're determined to stop me, aren't you? Then I'll make you experience despair!" Lance, stopped by Ethan, seemed furious and yelled. He then ordered Zubat to use Air Slash on Riolu. Air Slashes came at Riolu one after another, but Riolu avoided them with the help of Aura's predictions.
After dodging Zubat's Air Slash, Ethan instructed Riolu to jump onto the nearby tree trunk. Besides Vacuum Wave, Riolu's attacks struggled to hit Zubat in the air, so Ethan wanted Riolu to get closer to Zubat by jumping from tree trunks. Riolu immediately understood Ethan's intention and quickly leaped onto the tree trunk, taking advantage of the lingering black fog.
Standing on the tree trunk, Riolu confirmed Zubat's position again through Aura and shared the position with Ethan. Ethan quickly calculated Riolu's jumping ability and the distance to Zubat and concluded it was feasible.
Then, Riolu followed Ethan's instructions, jumped towards Zubat with all its strength, and used Metal Claw during the jump. The hard Metal Claw slammed Zubat from the air to the ground. This sudden attack surprised Lance. What surprised him even more was that Riolu didn't stop attacking.
After the initial Metal Claw strike, Riolu and Zubat were in close combat. At this moment, Riolu hit Zubat with Quick Attack and used another Vacuum Wave, rendering Zubat unable to resist. The final Vacuum Wave blew Zubat away and cleared the surrounding black fog, leaving Lance standing there in disbelief.
Lance never expected the black fog, intended to obscure vision, not only failed but also became the key to Riolu's counterattack. Without the black fog, Zubat could have reacted to Riolu's actions and wouldn't have been knocked out by the combo.
The arrogant Lance suddenly looked defeated. With Zubat unable to fight, he had no other Pokémon to battle. So, he could only leave a parting threat and retreat.
"Remember this, I will come back to capture this Ralts!"