Chapter Sixty-Three: The Galaxy Squad

After bidding farewell to Team Rocket, Cheng Cheng made his way to Gardenia Town. Just outside the town, he encountered Ash and his companions, and soon after, they saw Meowth collapsed in a sea of flowers.

Thanks to the attentive care of Cheng Cheng and Brock, Meowth finally regained consciousness.

“You brats, it’s you! Oh no, Jessie and James… Meow!” In his agitation, Meowth tugged at his wound.

“All right, Meowth, be careful, don’t move around. What exactly happened?” Cheng Cheng asked.

Meowth recounted what had happened: they stumbled upon Team Galactic’s base in an abandoned factory, where they witnessed Looker confronting Team Galactic. Team Rocket tried to help Looker, but Team Galactic was too strong. Meowth was blasted away, while Jessie, James, and Looker were captured.

“I’m going to rescue them, meow.” With that, Meowth stood up, preparing to head to Team Galactic’s base.

“Wait, Meowth, we’ll go with you.”

“No, you can’t come, meow.” Meowth blocked Ash. “After all, we’re enemies, meow. I’ll rescue Jessie and James myself, meow.”

“Meowth, we’re going to save Looker. He’s our good friend—we have to help him. So please, lead the way,” said Ash, walking forward.

“You all… Meow, I’m so touched.”

“All right, Meowth, let’s hurry,” Cheng Cheng said, patting Meowth on the head, his curiosity piqued by the gold coin there.

“Then let’s take the balloon, meow.”

Soon, Meowth summoned his hot air balloon. Such advanced technology!

Everyone climbed in, heading toward Team Galactic’s base. Before long, they saw the abandoned factory.

“Great, this is it, meow.”

As they approached, a swarm of Golbat flew out from the factory.

“I’m counting on you, Pikachu.”

“Go, Pachirisu!”

“Come out, Gliscor, Staraptor!”

Ash released his two flying Pokémon, letting Pachirisu and Pikachu ride on their backs. The flying Pokémon carried the Electric types forward, heading straight for the Golbat.

“Pikachu, Thunderbolt!”

“Pachirisu, Discharge!”

The Electric moves were highly effective against the Golbat, but it wasn’t enough.

“Lunatone, use Rock Slide!”

Rock Slide was also highly effective against Flying types. With the combination of Thunderbolt and Rock Slide, all the Golbat were defeated.

Soon, they entered the factory grounds. Suddenly, someone appeared on the rooftop.

“Skuntank, use Flamethrower!”

“Piplup, Bubble Beam!”

Bubble Beam collided with Flamethrower, creating a dense smoke screen. Taking advantage of the confusion, the group landed.

“Skuntank, Flamethrower again!”

“Dodge!” Everyone evaded the attack.

“Don’t block the way, move aside!” Ash shouted.

The opponent neither attacked again nor retreated, but instead studied the three intently.

“You’re really something—no matter where I go, I always run into you. What now? Are you looking to join Team Galactic?”

“Of course not,” Dawn replied.

“Mesprit,” the adversary said, looking at Dawn.

“Azelf,” she turned to Ash.

“Uxie,” finally, her gaze fell on Brock.

“How could it be you three? Why were you chosen by them?”

“What are you talking about?” Ash asked.

“I mean, why were you chosen by the lake Pokémon?”

“The lake Pokémon?”

At this, Ash and his friends recalled the shadows they had seen in the lake before.

“You must have seen them—the lake Pokémon, the spirits of legendary Pokémon. Why were you chosen by them? It should have been us who resonated with them.”

“What are you talking about, meow?” Meowth asked in confusion. Cheng Cheng, however, understood: she was talking about the Lake Trio.

“If you don’t understand, that’s fine. Go, Skuntank, Flamethrower!”

“Piplup, Bubble Beam!”

The two Pokémon’s moves clashed again, smoke rising. When the smoke cleared, Team Galactic was gone.

Suddenly, a helicopter rose beside them.

“Pika~”

Pikachu hopped onto Staraptor, attempting to give chase.

“Wait, Pikachu, rescuing Team Rocket and Looker comes first,” Ash said.

Cheng Cheng didn’t intend to pursue either; he knew he couldn’t take on Team Galactic alone.

They descended the stairs and entered the abandoned factory.

“Looker, where are you?” Ash called out.

“James, Jessie, where are you?” The group searched the factory.

“Ash!”

A voice called out from a nearby room. They hurried over.

“Looker, there you are! Where’s Team Rocket?”

“They’re here too.”

“All right, stand back and I’ll get you out. Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!”

Pikachu’s Thunderbolt struck the door, blasting it open.

“Looker, are you all right?”

“I’m fine.”

“Jessie, James, I’m so glad you’re safe.”

“Meowth, you came to rescue us, what a relief.”

“What about Team Galactic?”

“They’ve fled.”

“In that case, we must give chase. This time, we owe you one, brats.” With those words, Team Rocket dashed off.

“Looker, what should we do now?” Ash asked.

“Let’s see what this factory was used for,” Looker replied, donning a pair of glasses and inspecting the factory. Soon, they found a piece of experimental equipment.

“This must have been their lab. I want to see what they were up to,” Looker said, carefully examining the machine. He discovered a red stone inside, apparently a data storage device.

“Let’s take this back and analyze it first.”

They left the factory and followed Looker back to Gardenia Town. At the police station, they prepared to transmit the data inside the stone to Interpol headquarters for analysis.

“Officer Jenny, I’ll leave it to you.”

“All right.”

Officer Jenny activated the equipment, beginning to read and transmit the data. Just as the process was nearly complete, the red stone suddenly exploded, destroying the transmission device. Moments later, a communication came through from Interpol headquarters.

“Something’s wrong—the data you just sent caused a problem, and now the entire international database is down. We can’t access any information at the moment.”

“We’ve fallen into their trap. They must have left this device here on purpose,” Looker realized.

“I’ll get to the bottom of this, but Ash, you all should go back for now.”

Cheng Cheng and Ash’s group left the police station. Outside, Dawn stopped, looking troubled.

“What’s the matter, Dawn?”

“I’m worried about the lake Pokémon.”

“Yes, we only glimpsed them once, but Team Galactic somehow knows. And what did she mean by all that?” Brock pondered.

“Let’s just head back to the Pokémon Center for now,” Brock suggested.

The group returned to the Pokémon Center and settled in for the night.

The next morning, Cheng Cheng went to the lobby for breakfast, only to find Ash and the others looking exhausted.

“Are you all right? Didn’t sleep well last night?”

“It’s you, Cheng Cheng. Last night we dreamed of the lake Pokémon—they seemed to be in danger. It was more like a nightmare, and we couldn’t sleep.”

“I see. But don’t worry about them. They’re legendary Pokémon, after all—not so easily harmed.”

Cheng Cheng grabbed his breakfast and began to eat.

“Ah!” Ash suddenly cried out, his spoon clattering to the table as he clutched his head in pain.

“Ash, what’s wrong?”

“It’s Azelf—I think something’s happened to it.”

“You mean the dream was real?” Brock recalled the nightmare from the night before.

“What should we do? The lake Pokémon seem to be in trouble,” Dawn said anxiously.

“Let’s contact Professor Rowan,” Brock suggested.

They used the video phone at the Pokémon Center to call Professor Rowan. Ash recounted their experiences.

“Oh, so you’re affected as well. Right now, Team Galactic and Hunter J are at Lake Valor. Gary is fighting them.”

The screen shifted to show Lake Valor, where Team Galactic and Hunter J were capturing something. A massive sphere of light appeared.

Then, Hunter J’s Salamence flew over, unleashing Hyper Beam. The attack struck the light sphere, gradually revealing the figure of a Pokémon.

“It’s Azelf!”

Ash recognized the Pokémon as the one he shared a connection with.

“Go, Golbat!”

Team Galactic released a horde of Golbat, which flew toward Azelf.

“Golbat, use Supersonic!”

The Golbat’s Supersonic attacks targeted Azelf, who dodged continuously. Then Azelf retaliated, defeating all the Golbat.

Seizing the opportunity, Hunter J fired a weapon, turning Azelf to stone.

“Ah!” Ash cried out as pain shot through his head.

Soon after, two more Pokémon appeared: Uxie and Mesprit.

“Uxie!”

“And Mesprit!”

Brock and Dawn both sensed the connection with their respective Pokémon.

Sensing something was wrong with Azelf, the two legendaries rushed over, confronting Hunter J.