The Meowth hot-air balloon and its R logo left no doubt: this was the Team Rocket Trio.
As for why they had stolen a prize from the satellite venue in Hoenn...
Mostly, they were broke again. After spending the money they had saved from working on a robot that failed to capture Pikachu, they had gone bankrupt once more.
Team Rocket was an illegal organization to begin with, and Jessie and James constantly danced back and forth along the edge of the law.
Working honest jobs did not mean they would always obey the law.
But stealing things from this venue was not so easy. To prevent an on-air disaster-and, more importantly, protect their jobs-the backstage crew had already thrown themselves into action.
The hot-air balloon was flying high, but no matter how high it flew, it could never outfly Dragonite.
The Dragonite participating in the Year of the Dragon Spring Festival Gala were not merely dancers who knew how to look cute. In special circumstances, they would immediately turn into martial artists.
For the people here, the hardest part was not bringing down the balloon overhead, but keeping the audience below from realizing that something had gone wrong during the live broadcast.
In the end, they put on a display of Dragonite heroically capturing the balloon, then used Team Rocket's balloon to deliver the car to the stage.
As for the Team Rocket Trio...
Without some mysterious force swooping in to rescue them, they would probably be disappearing for a while.
Judging by the outcome, the on-air incident had been resolved perfectly. Before the Spring Festival Gala had even ended, the Dragonite making the delivery had arrived at Xin Mu's doorstep.
Both the Dragonite and the staff were dressed festively as the God of Wealth, and the car keys