In the fierce battle at the base of Mt. Moon, Ash's side consisted only of him and Brock, facing off against over a dozen Team Rockets grunts and dozens of hostile Pokémon... and unbelievably, he actually won?!
However, this was exactly the outcome Ash had anticipated.
If he hadn't been confident, why would he have acted rashly?
Team Rockets here might have had superior numbers, but their handheld Pokémon generally had low levels and relatively singular types. As long as he controlled the pace of the battle and prevented being instantly wiped out, Ash could at least hold them off for a while.
This way, as long as Brock could quickly rescue the captured wild Pokémon, Ash could unleash the Viridian Power to encourage them to join the fight. At that point, Team Rockets was guaranteed to lose!
The battle did indeed unfold this way, but the price Ash paid was not small.
All five of his current Pokémon were injured, and his own energy was severely depleted, leaving him sprawled on the ground, panting heavily.
"Cle... Clefable!"
Just then, a Clefable summoned a large group of Clefairy to surround Ash, and together they used Metronome Attack on him!
"Metronome... I wonder what move they'll pull out." Brock said worriedly upon seeing this.
Metronome is a completely random move, and Brock was afraid the Clefairy might roll out a lightning strike, making Ash's situation even worse.
"It's fine, they're trying to help me," Ash reassured with a smile. Immediately afterward, he felt a warm current flow into his body, and his previous exhaustion was greatly relieved!
"They actually managed to heal you? That's truly incredible..." Brock exclaimed in surprise.
"Pokémon are truly wondrous creatures. Sometimes the effects of moves aren't exactly what we expect," Ash said emotionally. "A simple Metronome might be random, but if a group of Clefairy focus their beliefs and use Metronome in unison, they might possess the power to make their wish come true."
"Something Li Ke that is possible? Clefairy truly live up to their reputation—they are both powerful and romantic... Uh, can someone let me down now?"
Li Ke was now craning his neck and shouting from the rock face. Seeing this, Ash reluctantly had Onix bring him over.
However, his boisterous attitude clearly wasn't very endearing; the Clefairy immediately ran back to Brock.
"Mr. Li Ke, if you have the energy, please help tie up these bad guys, and then have the Paras use Hypnosis on them. Also, there are a few other people who need to be rescued over there."
Ash pointed to the corner on the other side. Next to some large machinery was another cage, holding several researchers wearing white coats, just Li Ke Li Ke.
"How did you end up being captured here?"
Li Ke carefully identified them and realized these people were actually his colleagues from the Science Museum... He had been away for so long that he didn't even know what had happened at the museum.
After some small talk, Ash learned that the reason Team Rockets had kidnapped these researchers was to use the energy of a gigantic Moon Meteorite guarded by the Clefairy to revive three fossils from the Science Museum!
Furthermore, they intended to extensively mine Moon Stone and poach wild Pokémon!
"Now only the Old Amber and the Helix Fossil are left," one researcher said with a worried expression. "The other one, the Dome Fossil, we don't know where they hid it..."
"We didn't hide it!" the minor leader who was tackled by Golbat shouted resentfully. "That fossil was stolen by a hateful girl... Don't let me run into her again!!"
"A hateful girl?" Ash frowned involuntarily. He communicated with many of the Pokémon present and only then roughly understood what had happened.
There were three fossils in total at the Science Museum. After they were seized by Team Rockets, one of them was stolen on the way.
And based on the description provided by the Pokémon, Ash could roughly confirm that the person who stole the fossil must have been Blue!
Was she trying to revive the fossil to increase her handheld fighting strength?
Ash wasn't sure what Blue was trying to do, but since she had acted, he certainly needed to find a way to offer some assistance... "Brock, when will Jenny from Pewter City and the person in charge of the Science Museum arrive?"
"Counting from when we called the police, probably in about ten minutes," Brock replied after thinking for a moment.
"Got it." Ash nodded, but then suddenly turned to the Golbat. "How about it? Want to have a battle right now? I'm really keen on catching you~"
"Ash... you want to catch Golbat?" Brock was stunned for a moment. "Did you come to Mt. Moon specifically to catch this kind of Pokémon?"
"That's right! But I'm a bit greedy; I must catch a powerful one." Ash stared intently at the Golbat, waiting for its response.
He had indeed come specifically to catch a member of the Zubat family. Don't underestimate this kind of Pokémon; they become very powerful when properly trained.
A fully evolved Crobat has Base Stats comparable to a starter pokémon, and even a regular Crobat is powerful enough to rival an average final-stage Regional Bird.
Furthermore, it possesses the unique Poison/Flying Type, which is undoubtedly superior to Normal/Flying in terms of both movepool and coverage.
Ash's original plan was to find the strongest one possible to catch, which is why he didn't randomly throw a Poké Ball Li Ke Brock. He hadn't expected to encounter this already evolved Golbat at the base of Mt. Moon.
What surprised him even more was that this Golbat actually had the hidden Infiltrator ability!
Ash had specifically used his Porygon pokédex to investigate and was certain he hadn't misidentified it!
It would be a huge shame to miss out on such an excellent Pokémon~
"Hoo..."
"Absolutely not!"
After stating his intentions to the Golbat, Ash waited for its reply. But just as the Golbat was swaying its body, preparing to agree, Li Ke suddenly jumped out!
"Wait a minute, you can't do that!" He waved his hands, blocking the space between Ash and the Golbat, looking indignant. "The Golbat just helped us fight together. How can you turn around and try to catch it? It belongs here in Mt. Moon, wouldn't it be better to just let it continue living peacefully here?!"
"Heh..." Hearing this, Ash was so annoyed he laughed.
He sized up Li Ke for a few moments before saying indifferently, "I ate rice last night."
"What? Does that have anything to do with you catching Golbat?" Li Ke asked, puzzled.
"You know it has nothing to do with it, so what does my catching Golbat have to do with you?!" Ash retorted coldly, countering him directly.
"Besides, you didn't participate in the fighting. The battle just now was fought by me and Brock; you were just standing by the entire time."
"Furthermore, I am a Trainer. When I encounter a suitable Pokémon, I want to catch it. If it agrees, we battle. It's that simple!"
"Now, please step aside!!"