Chapter Summaries

Lin Hao defeated Xiao Ming’s Scyther with Pikachu and collected May’s promised money for seafood ice cream. When Team Rocket’s Hypnosis Gas filled the restaurant, Lin Hao stayed focused on eating, but he and May discovered that Pikachu had vanished.

• May promised Lin Hao limited-edition seafood ice cream if he finished the battle within five minutes, and Lin Hao sent Pikachu to face Xiao Ming’s Scyther.
• Xiao Ming ordered Scyther to attack, but Pikachu struck it with lightning and knocked it out in one hit.
• Lin Hao collected the money from May, while Red declined to return to the buffet with him.
• Team Rocket released Hypnosis Gas in the restaurant, and Mewtwo protected Lin Hao’s area with Psychic Power.
• May found that the other Trainers’ Poké Balls had been stolen, and she and Lin Hao realized Pikachu was missing.

May discovered Pikachu was missing, and Lin Hao learned that Team Rocket had taken him to the cruise ship’s cargo hold. Lin Hao and May reached the guarded passage, where Lin Hao prepared to fight the grunts as Jessie heard them outside.

• May panicked when she found Pikachu missing, while Lin Hao continued eating and dismissed her concern.
• In the cargo hold, Meowth recognized Pikachu in the cage and panicked, prompting Jessie and James to try to release him.
• A captain ordered Team Rocket to load the captured Pokémon despite Jessie and James warning him about Pikachu.
• May dragged Lin Hao to find Pikachu, and Lin Hao used Mewtwo to locate him in Cargo Hold Three.
• Lin Hao and May encountered four grunts guarding the cargo passage, and Lin Hao prepared a Poké Ball while May stood ready to protect him.
• Jessie heard the voices outside the cargo-hold door and shouted to find out who was there.

Lin Hao rescued Pikachu from Team Rocket aboard the S.S. Anne and helped May recover the stolen Pokémon. After the cruise ship reached Vermilion City, Lt. Surge confronted Lin Hao over the damage to the cargo hold.

• Lin Hao summoned Charizard, whose Flamethrower defeated Team Rocket’s Pokémon and burned through the cargo hold door.
• Lin Hao freed Pikachu from an Alloy Cage, and Pikachu tore through the bars and returned to his shoulder.
• Jessie and James fled into the sea, and the Team Rocket squad leader jumped in after Lin Hao threatened him.
• Lin Hao left the stolen Pokémon to May, who used her Investigator credentials to return them to their owners.
• The S.S. Anne reached Vermilion City, where Lt. Surge confronted Lin Hao about burning the cargo hold.

After Lin Hao helped stop Team Rocket aboard a ship, Lt. Surge challenged him to a Gym battle in Vermilion City. A League investigation found no records of Lin Hao before his Trainer registration three days earlier, prompting Champion Lorelei to investigate him in person.

• May showed Lt. Surge her League Investigator ID and explained that Lin Hao had recovered the Pokémon Team Rocket stole aboard the ship.
• Lt. Surge let Lin Hao off for the burned cargo hold but ordered him to battle at the Vermilion Gym before sunset the next day.
• Zhou Yuan searched League databases and found that Lin Hao had no records beyond his recent Trainer registration sponsored by Professor Oak.
• Zhou Yuan told Champion Lorelei that Lin Hao appeared in no records across Kanto or other regions.
• Lorelei ordered an observer to watch Lin Hao's Gym battle and decided to visit Professor Oak in Pallet Town.

Lorelei confronted Lin Hao in Vermilion City and challenged him to prove his strength. After Charizard overwhelmed her Lapras, Lorelei left to report what she had seen, while Lin Hao headed back to Pallet Town without earning the Gym badge.

• Lorelei canceled a League meeting and went to Vermilion City to investigate Lin Hao, whose trainer file was blank.
• When Lorelei confronted Lin Hao outside the closed Gym, she demanded that he withstand an attack from her Lapras or come with her for questioning.
• Lin Hao sent out Charizard, whose heat melted the street frost and whose Fire Blast overpowered Lapras's Ice Beam, sending Lapras into the Gym wall.
• Lorelei conceded defeat, questioned Lin Hao's identity, and left to report the encounter to the League.
• Lin Hao returned Charizard to its Poké Ball and set off for Pallet Town with May, leaving without the Vermilion City badge.

Lin Hao returned to Pallet Town to sleep, where Professor Oak questioned him about Runic Eevee and warned him not to endanger the world. When Lance reported an abnormal eruption on Cinnabar Island and a possible Legendary Pokémon awakening, Lin Hao only agreed to go after hearing about free hot springs, meals, and accommodation.

• Lin Hao and May took the train back to Pallet Town, where May recorded him as a top-priority threat after his victory over Lorelei's Lapras.
• Lin Hao arrived at Professor Oak's Laboratory and learned that the League had heard about his battle with Lorelei and that Lance had been trying to reach Oak.
• Professor Oak questioned Lin Hao about the mutated Eevee, and Runic Eevee emerged from his backpack; Oak recognized it as a Mythical life-form but did not press Lin Hao for answers.
• Professor Oak urged Lin Hao to rest, then privately noted the Full Pokédex's law fluctuations and predicted an upheaval in the world.
• Lance called to report an abnormal eruption at Cinnabar Volcano and a possible Mythical Pokémon awakening, and Lin Hao sprang out of bed when Oak mentioned free hot springs and included meals and accommodation.

Lin Hao let Groudon, Kyogre, and Ho-Oh out in Professor Oak’s backyard, where their fight destroyed Oak’s premium cabbage patch. Oak ordered Lin Hao to earn money in Vermilion City to repay him, while May received a grave call from Champion Lance.

• Lin Hao released Groudon, Kyogre, and Ho-Oh in Professor Oak’s backyard, and they started fighting until Arceus stopped them.
• Lin Hao returned the Legendary Pokémon to System Space and punished them by withholding premium Pokéblocks for a month.
• Professor Oak discovered that his cabbage patch had been reduced to a steaming mud pit and demanded five hundred thousand League Coins from Lin Hao.
• Professor Oak ordered Lin Hao to battle at the Vermilion City Gym to earn money, threatening to keep his mutated Eevee as collateral.
• May answered a call from Champion Lance, who told her there had been a change of plan.

After Lance ordered May to keep Lin Hao in Kanto by becoming his traveling companion, she paid for their trip to Vermilion City, where Lin Hao went to challenge Lt. Surge. Gym apprentices blocked the entrance, but Pikachu kicked their Electrode through the doors and drew Lt. Surge’s angry response.

• Lance told May the League was divided over Lin Hao and ordered her to stay with him and keep him in Kanto.
• May offered to pay Lin Hao’s travel, food, and lodging expenses, and he agreed to let her accompany him.
• Lin Hao and May took a train to Vermilion City, where May explained they would need an icebreaker to reach Cinnabar Island.
• Trainers in Vermilion City recognized Lin Hao for his feats on the cruise ship and his fight with Lorelei.
• Two Gym apprentices refused Lin Hao entry and sent out an Electrode, but Pikachu kicked it through the Gym doors before it could use Self-Destruct.
• Lt. Surge roared from inside the Gym and demanded to know who had kicked in his door.

Lin Hao confronted Lt. Surge over the gym doors and challenged him to a Gym battle for prize money. The battle began with Lt. Surge sending out a huge Raichu against Lin Hao’s Pikachu.

• Lt. Surge emerged from the wrecked gym doors and recognized Lin Hao as the person who had melted the S.S. Anne’s cargo hold.
• Lin Hao challenged Lt. Surge to a Gym battle and secured a promise of two hundred thousand if he won; Lt. Surge threatened him if he lost.
• May warned Lt. Surge that she was a Special Investigator for the Kanto League, and he agreed to keep the fight within Gym rules.
• Lt. Surge chose a one-on-one battle and sent out an unusually large Raichu.
• Lin Hao put Pikachu on the battlefield, and the battle began as Lt. Surge ordered Raichu to attack.

Lin Hao’s Pikachu ignored Lt. Surge’s mockery and easily withstood Raichu’s Thunderbolt, then stopped Raichu’s Body Slam with one hand and hurled it into a wall. Lt. Surge ordered Raichu to use its strongest Thunder attack.

• Pikachu woke up on the battlefield as Lt. Surge and his apprentices mocked it, while May feared Raichu would overpower it.
• Raichu struck Pikachu with a full-power Thunderbolt, but Pikachu stood unharmed and Lin Hao dismissed the attack as too weak.
• Lt. Surge ordered Raichu to use Body Slam, but Pikachu caught the thirty-kilogram Pokémon one-handed.
• Lin Hao told Pikachu to toss Raichu, and Pikachu hurled it into a wall beside Lt. Surge.
• Lt. Surge called for Raichu to get up and use Thunder at maximum power.

Lin Hao's Pikachu overwhelmed Lt. Surge's Raichu with a Thunderbolt too powerful for Volt Absorb to handle, winning their battle. Lin Hao collected the Thunder Badge and his promised prize money, then left the Vermilion Gym with May.

• Lt. Surge ordered Raichu to unleash its full-power Thunder while May warned Lin Hao to surrender.
• Lin Hao told Pikachu to counter with Thunderbolt, and Pikachu's attack cut through Raichu's Thunder and struck it down despite Volt Absorb.
• Lin Hao explained that Pikachu's electricity had exceeded Raichu's absorption limit and knocked it out.
• Lt. Surge gave Lin Hao the Thunder Badge and the promised two hundred thousand, and Lin Hao left the Vermilion Gym with May to get a meal.

May began doubting Lance’s warning that Lin Hao was dangerous after seeing how kindly he treated Pikachu, then lied to Lance about Lin Hao’s Gym battle. Lin Hao dragged her to Vermilion Harbor to reach Cinnabar Island before a buffet voucher expired, where they encountered two armed, black-clad strangers.

• At a restaurant, May watched Lin Hao tenderly wipe Pikachu’s mouth and began questioning whether he was truly dangerous.
• May told Lance that Lin Hao had beaten Lt. Surge, but claimed he had used Pikachu and won through luck; she defended his gentleness when Lance called it an act.
• Lance ordered May to take Lin Hao to Cinnabar Island and keep him under watch.
• Lin Hao woke May and insisted they go to the harbor that night so he could use an expiring Cinnabar Island hotel buffet voucher.
• A black speedboat arrived at the deserted harbor, and its two black-clad occupants spotted Lin Hao and May and threatened to kill them.

Lin Hao and May escaped from men in black aboard a stolen speedboat, while the League ordered May to keep the powerful Lin Hao on its side. After the boat ran out of fuel, it drifted toward the dangerous coast outside Fuchsia City, where Lin Hao spotted something on the beach.

• Lin Hao had Pikachu knock out the men in black's Weezing and Golbat, then took their speedboat and set off with May.
• May received an emergency League call, where Lorelei and Lance reported Lin Hao's strength and Charles Goodshow ordered May to appease him while Koga secretly went to assess and protect him.
• The speedboat ran out of fuel, and Lin Hao and May drifted off course toward the coast outside Fuchsia City.
• Lin Hao spotted something lying near the distant beach.

Lin Hao and May found a badly wounded Greninja carrying an encrypted hard drive on a beach near Fuchsia City, where Team Rocket attacked to seize it. After Pikachu defeated the pursuers, Greninja told Lin Hao that others were after it too.

• Lin Hao and May followed a blood trail to an injured Greninja clutching a Black Metal Hard Drive.
• A Team Rocket squad led by a scar-faced man surrounded them and demanded that Greninja surrender the hard drive.
• The scar-faced man ruined Lin Hao's biscuits and ordered Houndoom to attack, so Lin Hao sent Pikachu to fight back.
• Pikachu shattered the flames with a Mega Punch, knocked out a Houndoom, and used Thunder to defeat the Team Rocket squad and its Pokémon.
• Lin Hao took League Coin notes from the scar-faced man as payment for his biscuits, while May discovered Greninja's file was encrypted and had no record of it living in the wild.
• Greninja grabbed Lin Hao's jacket and sent an Aura message warning that others were also after it.

Lin Hao rescued Greninja and accepted it as a new Pokémon after learning it carried evidence of Team Rocket’s crimes. When May decrypted the hard drive in Fuchsia City, she discovered Team Rocket’s plan to create an artificial Pokémon called Mewtwo, and Lin Hao warned that cracking the drive had likely alerted them.

• Mewtwo read Greninja’s memories and told Lin Hao that its former trainer, a Senior Investigator, died after entrusting it with confidential files about Team Rocket.
• Lin Hao healed Greninja with a Full Restore, but May took the hard drive when he refused to accept it.
• Pikachu shared a cracker with Greninja, and Lin Hao invited Greninja to join his team.
• Lin Hao and May went to a Fuchsia City restaurant, where May decrypted the hard drive and found Team Rocket’s Mewtwo Project.
• Lin Hao told May that cracking the drive likely alerted Team Rocket, then urged her to eat before they had to run.

Lin Hao defeated Team Rocket’s ambush with Greninja, then overwhelmed Fuchsia Gym Leader Koga with Pikachu and claimed the Soul Badge and prize money. Koga reported to President Charles Goodshow that Lin Hao had never taken the battle seriously.

• Giovanni ordered Apollo to send three elite squads to Fuchsia City, keep Lin Hao under surveillance, and recruit him if possible.
• May spotted Team Rocket agents following Lin Hao, who led them into an alley instead of running.
• Greninja defeated six Team Rocket elites and their Pokémon in seconds, then Lin Hao told it to handle errands and takeout.
• Lin Hao challenged Koga at Fuchsia Gym, and Pikachu instantly defeated Venomoth with Thunder.
• Koga gave Lin Hao the Soul Badge and a bank card, then told President Charles Goodshow that he had not been worthy of Lin Hao’s serious attention.

After Koga’s defeat, Lin Hao swept through Kanto’s remaining Gyms and qualified for the Indigo League Conference, motivated by its prize money. On the eve of the tournament, he summoned the Legendary Pokémon in his System Space to announce something important.

• Koga told Charles Goodshow that Pikachu had defeated his Venomoth without using a move, and Charles ordered Kanto’s Gym Leaders not to provoke Lin Hao.
• Lin Hao ignored May’s warning about Team Rocket and set out to win Gym prize money, defeating Erika, Sabrina, Blaine, and the other remaining Gym Leaders over three days.
• Lin Hao presented all eight badges at the Indigo Plateau and registered for the Indigo League Conference after learning the champion would receive five million League Coins.
• May joined Lin Hao as an accompanying reporter, and they went to the free five-star competitors’ hotel on the Indigo Plateau.
• Lin Hao entered his System Space and told Groudon, Kyogre, Ho-Oh, Mewtwo, Zapdos, and the other Legendary Pokémon that he had an important announcement before the tournament began.
• Groudon volunteered to use Precipice Blade to flip the Indigo Plateau during Lin Hao’s first match.

Lin Hao ordered his Legendary Pokémon to stay out of the Indigo League tournament, and Arceus gave him a Light Scale to call for help if he faced danger. At the tournament, Lin Hao began his first match against A Qiang with Pikachu facing Machamp.

• Lin Hao forbade his Legendary Pokémon from competing, explaining that they would overwhelm ordinary opponents and draw unwanted attention.
• Arceus gave Lin Hao a Light Scale and promised to descend if Lin Hao called its true name in peril.
• Lin Hao went to sleep in the Competitors' Village, then woke to a packed Indigo Plateau stadium on tournament day.
• May urged Lin Hao to stop eating as he waited to enter the arena.
• Lin Hao began a one-on-one match against A Qiang, sending out Pikachu against A Qiang's Machamp.
• A Qiang ordered Machamp to use Submission and crush Pikachu.

Lin Hao’s Pikachu stopped A Qiang’s Machamp with one hand and defeated it with a shoulder throw, winning their match at the Indigo League. As Lin Hao headed to the cafeteria with May, a scar-faced, mohawked young man blocked his path and confronted him about the victory.

• Lin Hao told Pikachu to catch Machamp’s charge, and Pikachu halted the attack with one hand.
• Lin Hao ordered Pikachu to finish the match, and Pikachu threw Machamp into the arena barrier, knocking it unconscious.
• The referee declared Lin Hao the winner as the crowd cheered; Steven and Cynthia watched from the VIP box and discussed Pikachu’s impossible strength.
• Lin Hao recalled Pikachu and went with May toward the competitors’ cafeteria, dismissing her warning that his next opponent was a championship favorite.
• A scar-faced young man with a mohawk blocked Lin Hao in the passage and asked if he had beaten Machamp with Pikachu.

Lin Hao defeated Reggie’s Rhydon with Charizard’s blue-white flames, shocking the crowd and the VIP spectators. May then warned him that his round-of-sixteen opponent was a notorious member of the Dragon Tamer Family, but Lin Hao seemed more interested in seafood buffets.

• Reggie confronted Lin Hao and challenged him to an afternoon battle, but Lin Hao ignored him and went to eat.
• At Battle Arena Two, Reggie sent out Rhydon while Lin Hao chose Charizard instead of Pikachu.
• Charizard’s flames melted Rhydon’s Stone Edge and rock armor, knocking Rhydon out in one hit.
• Steven and Cynthia remarked on Charizard’s extraordinary flames as Lin Hao recalled it and left the arena.
• May told Lin Hao his round-of-sixteen opponent was a lunatic from the Dragon Tamer Family, and Lin Hao asked whether they had booked the seafood buffets.