"This is Alamos Town, Meowth!"
On the streets of Alamos Town, Team Rocket, who had been tracking Ash and his friends' footsteps, hid in a corner, secretly observing Ash and Pikachu battling others not far away.
"Alright! Team Rocket, begin action!" Jessie said excitedly as she stood up: "The Pikachu capture plan officially begins!"
"Now's the time, Meowth!" With a swish, Meowth extended several gleaming, cold claws from its paws: "We'll capture Pikachu and deliver it to the boss, and then we'll be praised, Meowth!"
"Let's go!"
Meowth, Jessie, and James suddenly threw a Smoke Bomb onto the battlefield ahead.
With a "bang," thick white smoke spread out all around.
This sudden change immediately caught the attention of Ash, Dawn, Brock, and some other Trainers.
"What happened?"
Just then, three figures of varying heights emerged from the mist.
A cautious "Pika-Pika" sounded from within the fog.
Luckily, at this critical moment, a Trainer had their Drifblim use Gust move.
With a rush of airflow from Drifblim's mouth, the surrounding smoke was quickly blown away.
The crowd soon saw clearly the three figures standing beside Pikachu.
One man, one woman, and one Meowth.
They had already caged Pikachu inside.
"Pika—Pika!"
Pikachu gripped the cage bars tightly, discharging electricity from its body, trying to use it to escape the cage.
Watching this, James couldn't help but laugh: "It's useless. This is a specially made cage that isolates Electric Type moves!"
They looked just like evil Pokemon hunters!
Seeing this, a Trainer frowned and loudly questioned: "Who are you?!"
"Hmm?"
Upon hearing this, as if triggered by some keyword, Team Rocket's gazes darted over.
"Since you sincerely asked."
"Then I'll mercifully tell you."
"To prevent the world from being destroyed."
"To uphold the world's peace."
"To carry out the truth and love's evil."
"Adorable yet charming villains."
"Team Rocket!" Ash frowned: "It's you three again!"
"Hey! You pesky kid! We haven't finished our lines yet, Meowth!" Meowth was very displeased.
"Release Pikachu right now!" Ash had already taken out a Poke Ball with his right hand.
"It's too late!" James declared confidently: "Meowth Hot Air Balloon No. 3, appear!"
As he pressed the button in his hand, a Meowth Hot Air Balloon swiftly descended from the sky.
The trio grabbed the ropes on the hot air balloon and began to float quickly upwards.
Ash threw the Poke Ball in his hand with force.
A flash of white light, and a Starly appeared in mid-air.
"Starly, use Wing Attack!" Ash quickly commanded.
"Coo, coo!"
Starly locked its gaze on the hot air balloon in the air, a surge of white light appeared on its wings, and it quickly charged toward the hot air balloon.
Team Rocket wanted to release their Pokemon to intercept, but because the balloon wasn't fully airborne, they didn't have time to retrieve their Poke Balls before Starly successfully struck their hot air balloon.
Starly's energy-covered wings instantly tore through the hot air balloon.
"Pffft, pffft!"
The now unbalanced hot air balloon immediately flew off into the distance.
The cage holding Pikachu fell to the ground and shattered, with Pikachu running out.
In the air, Team Rocket's trio clung to each other in fright, their figures vanished with the balloon, leaving only a terribly scared voice behind.
"Such an awful feeling, Meowth!"
"Sonaaaace!"
In the sky, the strong impact caused the trio to scatter. Meowth drew a parabola in the air before accurately landing on the top of the Tower of Space-Time.
Meowth closed its eyes in fear.
However, the anticipated pain didn't come.
Its body seemed to be controlled by a Psychic Type Pokemon, gradually halting its fall.
Sensing something was off, Meowth opened its eyes.
The next second, it saw two familiar figures.
A Teddiursa and a Mew.
Seeing its appearance, the Mew curiously approached to investigate.
"Miu?"
Meowth: "!!!"
It's the Heroic Expedition Team, Meowth!
With the Heroic Expedition Team around, it meant Meowth was safe.
Meowth breathed a sigh of relief, it was controlled by Mew as it landed on the top of the tower.
"It's you, Meowth!" Meowth thanked the two Pokemon: "Thanks for your help, Meowth, but by the way, why are you two here, Meowth?"
Teddiursa replied: "Eemo eemo!"
Meowth paused: "What? You're saying there's a mysterious Pokemon here that can give people nightmares, and you want to see it, Meowth?"
"Eemo!" Teddiursa nodded its small head.
Meowth: "..."
It let out a soft breath, unable to resist saying: "You're really carefree, Meowth... so why aren't you going over, Meowth?"
Teddiursa blinked its eyes, then lifted the camera on its neck, aimed at Meowth and the Tower of Space-Time behind it, and snapped a picture.
With a "click," the scene was captured.