Making Team Rocket Do the Heavy Lifting

Mingyou greeted them with a smile. Ash snapped out of it and looked puzzled. Mingyou seemed familiar, but he couldn't remember where they had met.

"Pika!"

Unlike Ash, whose memory was often spotty, Pikachu did remember him. They had only met once, but that was enough.

"Haha, it was at the Festival of Masks in Kitakami. You helped me stop Munchlax."

At Mingyou's explanation, Ash punched his fist into his palm. "Now I remember! Are you here for the Lily of the Valley Conference too?"

"No, I'm here on business. I run a fruit stand, so I couldn't miss a place as busy as the Lily of the Valley Conference. But what are you doing here? And this Safari Ball..."

Mingyou held out the Safari Ball he had just picked up. Ash accepted it gratefully, and Brock, seeing that Mingyou was someone they knew, began to explain.

"Here's what happened..."

After listening, Mingyou rubbed his chin and nodded. "I see. Team Rocket stole your Poké Balls, and then they all fell into the forest... Got it. I'll help look!"

An idea had just struck him...

"Thanks!" Ash said with a smile. "But we've already found all five Poké Balls, so you don't need to go to the trouble."

He opened the five Poké Balls they had recovered. The smile vanished from his face. Dawn and Brock froze too. All five Poké Balls... were empty!

"How could this happen?"

Dawn looked worried, and Piplup slumped down on the ground.

After a moment's thought, Mingyou said, "The blast probably knocked them away, and landing triggered their release switches. The Pokémon won't have gone far in such a short time. Let's search nearby. Which Pokémon were they?"

"Totodile, Corphish..."

Mingyou memorized the names as Ash listed all five Pokémon, then said, "I'll search