At last he'd met the True Protagonists of this world and heard the full motto; even in a foul mood Ash had to admit—childhood officially restored.
"Team Rockets—what do you clowns think you're doing?!" Li Ke roared, snapping back to reality.
"Isn't it obvious?" Musashi swung her shovel. "We're mining Moon Stones, of course!"
"The more we dig, the fatter the profit!" Kojiro kept swinging his pickaxe, sweat flying.
"Gold coins for Meowth, Moon Stones too!"
"If you want Moon Stones, just dig Li Ke everyone else—why all this shady nonsense?" Ash scowled.
Team Rockets were crooks, not demons; they pulled plenty of stunts, yet sometimes showed a decent streak.
Still, their shortcut-seeking, others-be-damned attitude could be downright infuriating.
Hiking in and quarrying a few Moon Stones wasn't even illegal—why stir up the whole mountain and terrorize every Pokémon in it?!
"Play fair? Boring!" Musashi smirked. "Plus, we're after more than Moon Stones—right, Ekans?"
"How thoughtful of you to bring back the runaway Clefairy!" Kojiro sneered, producing a Poké Ball. "Koffing, show your gratitude!"
"W-what are you doing?!" / "Geodude, block them!"
Slow-witted Li Ke was still processing, while Brock had already readied for battle.
"Think you can steal our Pokémon? Not a chance—Charmander, front and center!" Ash called, adding, "Brock, watch yourself."
"Hmph, just a brat and an oversized brat—get them, Ekans, Bite!"
"Geodude, Defense Curl first!" Following Ash's cue, Brock boosted defense before countering.
"Tucking in won't save you—Koffing, Tackle!"
"Ignore it—Charmander, Dragon Dance!"
Charmander leapt into the spirited war-dance; even a direct Tackle from Koffing failed to faze it.
At the same moment Ekans clamped onto Geodude—yet the rock-type hardly flinched.
"Now strike—Charmander, Slash!" / "Geodude, Rollout!"
At the command Charmander's claws flashed, flipping Koffing away, while Brock's Geodude—now buffed by Defense Curl—slammed Ekans aside.
"Tch—Ekans, Poison Sting!" / "Koffing, spew Smog!"
"Are you sure about that?" Ash grinned. "Charmander, Flamethrower!"
BOOM!
Koffing's gas had only begun to leak when a jet of flame roasted the whole squad, leaving Team Rockets soot-blackened.
"Stupid cat, you two are useless—watch Meowth's Fury Swipes!"
"Pika… CHU!"
Team Rockets's last hope sprang into the air—only to be blasted flat by Pikachu's Thunderbolt.
"Consider this a warning, Team Rockets—pull a stunt Li Ke this again and I won't go so easy."
"You little—" / "What do you think you're doing?!"
"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!" A thick bolt of lightning answered them.
BOOM!
The blast ripped open the mountainside beneath the trio, gifting the True Protagonists their first sky-high exit of this world.
"Curse you, brat and oversized brat!"
"All those Moon Stones gone to waste—outrageous!"
"How can a cat lose to a mouse?!"
"We're… blasting off agaaain!" ×3
"Yep, that's the spirit," Ash smiled, shading his eyes as the two humans and one cat streaked across the sky—this trip had been worth it after all.
As expected, this is the flying youth... if only there were a Sonas, it would be perfect~
Of course, he also knew that from now on Team Rockets would probably have him in their sights, but that should be pretty fun—a nice bit of spice for the journey.
"Haha, great! The bad guys have been driven off!" After taking out the two humans and one Meowth, Li Ke couldn't help dancing with excitement.
He bounced over to Ash, grabbed his hands and shook them nonstop. "Brilliant! This is practically a portrait of Love and Justice—so many Pokémon don't have to suffer anymore..."
"So many?" Hearing that, Ash instinctively frowned.
"No!" Suddenly, as if a light bulb had gone on, Ash looked at the Clefairy in Takeshi's arms. "Little guy... the ones wrecking Mt. Moon weren't just those few, right?!"
"Cleffa..." The Clefairy nodded weakly.
It had actually escaped from deep inside Mt. Moon; it just happened to run into Team Rockets's trio digging for Moon Stones and got another scare.
Deeper inside Mt. Moon, even more bad guys were making trouble!
"Let's go—downward!" Ash didn't dare delay and immediately unleashed his Aura Power at full strength.
For tracking and scouting, Aura Power covers a wider range than Viridian Power; a strong Aura Guardian can sense the slightest movement a kilometer away!
Ash couldn't manage that, but he could roughly tell a whole cluster of complex signals lay deep underground!
"Ash, how do you know others are still causing trouble?" As the group headed down, Takeshi asked, puzzled.
"Too many Pokémon are affected—way beyond what this little Team Rockets show could reach," Ash explained grimly. "Something else is happening beneath Mt. Moon; we have to hurry!"
As they spoke, they picked up the pace—only to be blocked by a wall of black rock.
"Onix, dig an entrance!" Takeshi sent out Onix at once, but when it slammed into the wall, its whole body was bounced back!
"No good! Years of mountain body pressure have hardened this rock until it's as tough as Steel!" Takeshi said, frowning.
"Stand back, let me try!" Ash tossed a Poké Ball. "Onix, smash through!!"
Rumble—!!
The ground shook; a gigantic Onix burst out ferociously and blasted the entire rock wall to pieces!
"That's... Ash's Onix?!" Takeshi nearly gasped—only now realizing Ash hadn't gone all-out in the previous Gym battle!
Cracked stones slid down the slope. Behind the shattered wall yawned a huge cavern.
Below, crowds of people bustled about while large mining machines roared annoyingly, extracting ore nonstop.
They all wore black uniforms, gray combat boots and tactical gloves, with a glaring blood-red "R" on their chests!
Team Rockets other than the True Protagonist!