When Gym Leader Lt. Surge saw Lin Guang and his companions return to the Gym, he walked over to greet them. "Hahaha, you're here! So, who's challenging me today?"
After yesterday's battle, Gym Leader Lt. Surge had also learned from Lin Guang that Mio Takamiya and Kaguya Ōtsutsuki wanted to challenge him.
So when Lin Guang and his companions arrived, Gym Leader Lt. Surge began guessing who it would be today.
While Lin Guang and his companions were taking on their Gym challenges, the Team Rocket trio had already changed targets and were preparing to deal with Ash Ketchum and his companions.
By the time the Team Rocket trio had finished building their machine, Lin Guang and his companions had actually finished their Gym challenges and left ahead of them. When the trio arrived, they happened to run into Ash Ketchum challenging the Cerulean Gym.
As a result, Ash Ketchum's Pikachu destroyed their machine and sent them flying again.
Ash Ketchum also received the Cascade Badge for protecting the Cerulean Gym and continued toward the next city.
After comparing and analyzing the two groups, the Team Rocket trio concluded that although Lin Guang and his companions had many powerful Pokémon, every encounter with them had ended in a crushing defeat.
Among Ash Ketchum's group, however, only Pikachu had shown extraordinary ability, so the Team Rocket trio decided to capture Ash Ketchum's Pikachu first to strengthen their team.
Then they would return to capture Lin Guang and his companions' Pokémon, which would greatly improve their chances of success.
Meanwhile, without the Team Rocket trio causing trouble, everything went exceptionally smoothly for Lin Guang-so smoothly that he felt as though something was missing.
After checking, he discovered that Ash Ketchum and his companions had just encountered an abandoned Charmander, while the Team