Recaps

Ye Li defeated Apollo through careful tactics, and Giovanni appointed him head of Team Rocket’s newly established Strategic Development Department. Ye Li realized his new position tied him firmly to Team Rocket, leaving no easy way back.

• Apollo recognized that Ye Li had outmaneuvered him and regarded him with deep wariness.
• Ye Li confirmed Eevee was safe, then collapsed from exhaustion as medical staff carried Eevee away.
• Giovanni led the applause and praised Ye Li’s strategic ability before Team Rocket’s executives and members.
• Giovanni established the Strategic Development Department, which would report directly to him and operate independently of combat and logistics departments.
• Giovanni named Ye Li the department’s sole member and highest-ranking officer, granting him authority over intelligence, logistics, and noncombat personnel.
• Ye Li was stunned by the appointment and understood that he was now firmly tied to Team Rocket.

After becoming the sole director of Team Rocket’s empty Strategic Development Department, Ye Li realized Giovanni was forcing him to build a team from marginalized members. He planned an internal recruitment drive for overlooked technical talent, and Giovanni secretly approved the plan and ordered Personnel to give Ye Li full support.

• Ye Li sat in his new executive office and recognized that Giovanni had made him a commander without any staff or troops.
• Ye Li concluded that Giovanni was steering him toward recruiting Team Rocket’s marginalized members and bringing its unconventional forces together.
• Ye Li decided to recruit overlooked technical specialists through professional assessments and generous project bonuses.
• Giovanni watched Ye Li’s thoughts through a concealed camera and approved his plan to create a new force within Team Rocket.
• Giovanni ordered the Personnel Department to fully support Ye Li’s internal recruitment and provide whatever people and resources he requested.

Ye Li recruited three technical specialists to form the Strategic Development Department’s first project teams. He set them the goal of using Dr. Anya’s research to increase the occurrence rate of Shiny Pokémon by one in a thousand, while Giovanni watched their work with interest.

• Ye Li issued a recruitment notice seeking technical specialists and designed challenging assessments for the applicants.
• Lin Feng decrypted encrypted communications, Engineer Wang built a signal jammer from scrap, and Dr. Anya submitted a paper on increasing the likelihood of Shiny Pokémon.
• Ye Li hired the three specialists and assigned Lin Feng to network intelligence, Engineer Wang to equipment development, and Dr. Anya to biotechnology.
• Ye Li launched the department’s first project to improve the Breeding Base’s genetic screening algorithm and increase Shiny Pokémon occurrence by one in a thousand.
• Lin Feng, Engineer Wang, and Dr. Anya began working intensively, while Apollo and the others dismissed their project and Giovanni observed them with interest.

Ye Li and Lin Feng used a predictive simulation program to guide Pokémon Egg hatching toward Shiny mutations. Their first experiment successfully produced a golden Shiny Magikarp, proving the method could artificially increase the odds of a Shiny Pokémon appearing.

• Lin Feng developed a program that simulated hatching mutations and calculated environmental conditions likely to produce a Shiny Pokémon.
• Ye Li presented the program and Dr. Anya's theories to Giovanni, who approved an A-Class Hatching Laboratory and thirty Magikarp eggs.
• Lin Feng used the program to control the eggs' incubation conditions while Ye Li and his team waited for them to hatch.
• The experiment produced one golden Shiny Magikarp among the thirty newly hatched Pokémon.

After the successful hatching of a Shiny Magikarp, Ye Li proposed mass-producing combat-capable Shiny Pokémon, beginning with Zubat, and Giovanni ordered all of Team Rocket to supply his department with high-quality Zubat eggs. Ye Li’s Strategic Development Department gained unprecedented authority and access to the organization’s resources.

• Team Rocket’s executives watched footage of a golden Shiny Magikarp hatching and recognized the potential value of the technology.
• Ye Li told Giovanni that Shiny Magikarp lacked combat value and argued that Team Rocket should mass-produce powerful Shiny Pokémon for its troops.
• Ye Li proposed Zubat as the next target, envisioning an army of fast, gifted Shiny Crobat.
• Giovanni approved the proposal and ordered every Team Rocket branch and operational squad to collect high-quality Zubat eggs for Ye Li’s department.
• Ye Li’s Strategic Development Department gained the authority to mobilize Team Rocket’s resources.

Ye Li suspected Erika’s proposed game-machine purchase was a Pokémon League investigation arranged by Lorelei, but saw a chance to turn it into a partnership that would legitimize the Rainbow Game Corner and attract new customers. Giovanni approved Ye Li’s plan, and Team Rocket’s machines were installed in the Celadon Department Store.

• Erika’s representative contacted Matori about buying game machines for the Celadon Department Store.
• Ye Li concluded that Lorelei had prompted Erika to investigate the game corner through a business deal.
• Ye Li proposed selling the machines at a discount and giving Erika vouchers to draw department-store customers to the game corner.
• Giovanni ordered Matori to follow Ye Li’s plan and use Erika’s reputation to publicly legitimize the business.
• Matori reached a cooperation agreement with Erika’s representative, and Team Rocket’s machines were installed prominently in the Celadon Department Store.

Ye Li cared for Eevee after its battle with Apollo and chose Umbreon as its future evolution, preparing to trigger it through friendship and moonlight. As Giovanni watched from the surveillance room, Eevee began to evolve beneath the simulated full moon.

• Ye Li helped Eevee recover and watched it grow more confident, including when it growled at a contemptuous Team Rocket member.
• Ye Li rejected the Evolution Stone forms and decided Umbreon's defensive, disruptive fighting style best suited his tactics.
• Ye Li spent nights with Eevee in the Simulated Ecosystem Garden to build their friendship beneath simulated moonlight.
• Giovanni monitored Ye Li's activities, learned about Espeon and Umbreon, and chose to observe without interfering.
• When Eevee's friendship reached a critical threshold under a full simulated moon, it began glowing and entered an evolution cocoon as Ye Li and Giovanni watched.

Ye Li’s Eevee evolved into the unknown Pokémon he named Umbreon, impressing researchers with its unusual Dark-type energy and defensive stats. The next day, Apollo sought Ye Li’s tactical advice for his Houndoom, while Giovanni watched Ye Li’s influence on Team Rocket grow.

• Eevee completed its evolution under the moonlight, and Ye Li named the new Pokémon Umbreon.
• Researchers measured Umbreon’s exceptional Defense and Special Defense and detected energy unlike any known type.
• Giovanni watched the researchers’ findings and concluded that Ye Li possessed knowledge of Pokémon evolution from the future.
• At the Advanced Training Ground, Apollo approached Ye Li and asked for advice about his Houndoom and the unfamiliar Pokémon evolution.
• Ye Li suggested that Apollo teach Houndoom Nasty Plot and use the boost to deliver a decisive attack.
• Apollo hurried to the Move Training Area to try Ye Li’s advice, while Giovanni watched and recognized Ye Li’s growing influence on Team Rocket.

Team Magma sent Tabitha and an elite squad to infiltrate Team Rocket’s Pokémon Breeding Base and steal its research data and Flash Plan secrets. Lin Feng detected a faint anomaly in the base’s Energy Field, and Ye Li suspected Team Magma had arrived.

• Maxie sent Tabitha and an elite squad from Hoenn to infiltrate Team Rocket’s base and steal its technology.
• Tabitha’s squad used Ground-type Pokémon to dig an underground passage that bypassed the base’s surface sensors.
• Lin Feng noticed a faint anomaly in the Energy Field and reported it to Ye Li.
• Ye Li received Lin Feng’s warning and suspected Team Magma was behind the infiltration.

Ye Li took command of the Strategic Development Department’s response to Team Magma’s infiltration, choosing to test the department’s combat capabilities without requesting combat support. His traps and deception drove Tabitha’s squad toward an abandoned warehouse, where his final plan awaited.

• Ye Li reported the intruders to Giovanni and asked to handle the response himself, receiving full command authority.
• Ye Li used the base’s detection network to locate Tabitha’s squad in the pipe area and ordered Engineer Wang to activate defensive traps.
• Magnets immobilized the intruders’ Poké Balls and equipment, while concealed Hydro Pumps scattered them.
• Ye Li directed Dr. Anya to prepare hypnosis gas and had Lin Feng play a recording of Apollo’s troops over the intruders’ communications.
• Believing Team Rocket’s main force had surrounded them, Tabitha’s squad panicked and fled toward the abandoned warehouse in Zone D.

Ye Li turned Team Magma’s infiltration of Team Rocket’s base into a controlled test of the Strategic Development Department’s defenses. Tabitha and his squad were trapped, incapacitated by drowsiness pollen, and surrounded by miniature robots.

• Ye Li ordered Lin Feng to take control of the base network and flood Team Magma’s earpieces with false alarms.
• Tabitha dismissed the alerts as a diversion and followed a stolen duct map that Lin Feng had secretly altered, leading his squad into dead ends.
• Ye Li directed Engineer Wang to activate humiliating traps that stuck a Team Magma member to the floor and trapped the squad between closing alloy walls and a boulder.
• Dr. Anya released concentrated drowsiness pollen into the ducts, putting the squad to sleep one by one.
• Tabitha resisted the pollen long enough to see miniature robots surround him before he succumbed to sleep.

Ye Li’s Strategic Development Department captured an elite Team Magma squad without casualties by using technology to render them unconscious. Giovanni praised the department and promoted its clearance and budget, then assigned Ye Li to lead the interrogations and introduce his methods across Team Rocket.

• Ye Li’s department used technology to put the Team Magma squad to sleep and restrain them without firing a shot.
• Apollo and the other executives arrived expecting a battle and were shocked to find the enemies unconscious and Ye Li’s team unharmed.
• Giovanni publicly commended the Strategic Development Department, raised its clearance level to S-rank, and doubled its budget.
• Ye Li considered using psychological tricks to interrogate the captured Team Magma members.
• Giovanni assigned Ye Li full responsibility for the interrogations and told him to introduce his methods throughout Team Rocket.

Ye Li broke Tabitha’s resistance by showing him fabricated videos of his squad betraying him, then learned Team Magma was searching Kanto for ruins linked to Groudon. After Ye Li reported the intelligence, Giovanni ordered Team Rocket to change its strategic focus.

• Ye Li confined Tabitha in a soundproof room for three days before confronting him with fabricated confessions from his squad members.
• Tabitha’s anger and disbelief gave way to despair, and he agreed to reveal everything if he could deal with the supposed traitors himself.
• Tabitha told Ye Li that Team Magma was searching Kanto for ancient ruins connected to Groudon and a key item that might awaken or control it.
• Ye Li compiled the intelligence and sent it to Giovanni.
• Giovanni recognized the opportunity and ordered an immediate change to Team Rocket’s strategic focus.

The Strategic Development Department expanded after its success against Team Magma, and Ye Li launched the Flash Crobat Legion project with a specialized speed-and-stealth training plan. Apollo then sought Ye Li’s advice on teaching his Houndoom Nasty Plot, leaving Ye Li to hope his improvised guidance would work.

• Ye Li welcomed a flood of technical specialists into the Strategic Development Department as its reputation grew.
• Dr. Anya, Lin Feng, and Engineer Wang helped hatch the first batch of thirty Flash Zubat from the organization’s collected eggs.
• Ye Li designed an extreme speed-and-stealth training course to turn the Flash Zubat into covert attackers.
• Apollo visited Ye Li and asked how to train his Houndoom to use Nasty Plot.
• Ye Li recommended scenario simulation to develop the Houndoom’s patience and concentration, and Apollo eagerly left to try it.

Ye Li and Lin Feng planted fabricated intelligence to mislead the Pokémon League agent investigating Team Rocket's game machines. Lorelei believed the fake report might be real and diverted League investigators to search for a supposed spatial distortion in Celadon City.

• Lorelei sent a League agent undercover to Celadon Department Store to investigate Team Rocket's game machines.
• Lin Feng detected the agent's infiltration, and Ye Li ordered him to let the agent access a fake database.
• The agent downloaded and sent Lin Feng's fabricated files to League headquarters.
• Lorelei read the report claiming Team Rocket planned to create a spatial distortion in Celadon City.
• Despite her doubts, Lorelei assigned personnel and experts to investigate the supposed spatial energy fluctuations.

Ye Li tested Umbreon’s powerful defenses and disruptive moves, then devised a control-focused battle strategy that trapped and wore down opponents. Giovanni secretly watched the training, classified Umbreon’s information as top-secret, and ordered the base to leave Ye Li undisturbed so Team Rocket could benefit from his knowledge.

• Ye Li tested Umbreon against Machoke and Koffing, and Umbreon shrugged off both a powerful physical strike and corrosive sludge.
• Umbreon demonstrated Confuse Ray and Mean Look, drawing intense interest from the base’s researchers.
• Ye Li rejected the researchers’ requests to examine Umbreon, then privately resolved to protect it and its evolution secrets.
• During a spar with Raticate, Umbreon trapped and confused its opponent, then restored its stamina with Moonlight, inspiring Ye Li to devise the “Torture King” tactic.
• Giovanni watched Ye Li through hidden surveillance, classified all information about Umbreon as S-rank secrets, and ordered everyone to leave Ye Li’s training undisturbed.

Giovanni appointed Ye Li as strategic adviser for Team Rocket’s surprise attack on Team Magma’s Kanto base, despite Ye Li’s reluctance to go near the battlefield. Ye Li accepted the assignment and boarded a military transport plane with Apollo, Umbreon, and fifty elite Team Rocket members.

• Team Rocket’s intelligence department located Team Magma’s secret base in an abandoned volcanic mine and learned it stored research on Groudon.
• Giovanni ordered Apollo to command the Volcano Sweep Operation and appointed Ye Li as its accompanying strategic adviser.
• Ye Li dreaded the dangerous deployment, while Apollo welcomed him and praised his tactical skill.
• Ye Li accepted the order, packed a few belongings, and brought Umbreon as his guard.
• Ye Li and Apollo boarded a military transport plane with fifty elite Team Rocket members and headed toward the battlefield.

Ye Li prevented Apollo from launching a costly frontal assault by proposing that Team Rocket disable Team Magma’s electronic defenses with a new electromagnetic pulse device. The raid succeeded without casualties, and Apollo’s admiration for Ye Li grew.

• Apollo prepared fifty elite operatives to storm Team Magma’s heavily guarded mine entrance.
• Ye Li reasoned that the defenses depended on electricity, and Giovanni ordered Apollo to follow Ye Li’s suggestion.
• Ye Li directed technicians to use Engineer Wang’s electromagnetic pulse device, which disabled the mine’s electronic systems.
• Apollo led the operatives into the darkened base, where they subdued Team Magma’s guards without losing a soldier or shedding blood.
• Apollo admired Ye Li’s tactics and recognized that Ye Li was more valuable than he had expected.

Team Rocket defeated Team Magma’s final defenders after Umbreon blocked Camerupt’s Flamethrower and helped Houndoom bring it down. In the Central Command Room, Ye Li found secret files about Groudon, an ancient energy signature beneath Kanto ruins, and the Red Orb, giving him a new lead on ancient power.

• Kaji ordered Camerupt to hold the Central Command Room, and its Flamethrower stalled Team Rocket’s advance despite Apollo’s Houndoom fighting back.
• Umbreon used Mean Look to trap Camerupt, then stood unharmed against its full-power Flamethrower.
• Umbreon confused Camerupt with Confuse Ray, allowing Apollo’s Houndoom to defeat it with Dark Pulse; Team Rocket subdued the remaining guards.
• Ye Li picked up Umbreon after its first real battle, and Apollo praised it as a monster.
• Team Rocket entered the Central Command Room and began copying its database while Ye Li examined the secret files.
• Ye Li learned of Groudon’s legends, a matching ancient energy signature beneath Kanto ruins, and Team Magma’s theory that the Red Orb could control Groudon.

After Team Rocket captured Team Magma’s volcano base, Giovanni became fascinated by a mysterious tablet tied to the Legendary Birds and Lugia. Ye Li recognized the tablet’s dangerous purpose, but Giovanni embraced the possibility of controlling legendary power.

• Apollo led Team Rocket’s successful assault on Team Magma’s base and sent its research documents and ancient tablet to headquarters.
• Giovanni ordered a new project team to decipher the tablet, which Apollo said might relate to Kanto’s Legendary Birds.
• Ye Li recognized the tablet as the ancient musical-score tablet used to capture the Legendary Birds and summon Lugia.
• Giovanni sensed Ye Li’s fear and questioned him about the tablet’s danger.
• Giovanni declared that Team Rocket would use the tablet to gain power above nature and legends.

Ye Li and Dr. Anya completed the first batch of trained Flash Golbat, forming a technologically equipped Ghost Unit for Giovanni. Giovanni assigned Ye Li to plan their first real combat operation: a surprise raid on a Pokémon League supply station near Celadon City.

• Dr. Anya’s team prepared thirty evolved Flash Golbat, trained in silent, coordinated attacks and equipped with silenced flight wings and infrared detectors.
• Giovanni visited the breeding room and decided to test the Ghost Unit in actual combat.
• Giovanni revealed that a Pokémon League transfer station near Celadon City held Pokémon Energy Detection Equipment from the Devon Corporation.
• Apollo warned that the station was heavily guarded by a Jenny Family elite and troops equipped with Arcanine.
• Giovanni assigned Apollo’s forces to perimeter support and the Ghost Unit to the core surprise attack, appointing Ye Li remote commander-in-chief and tasking him with the battle plan.

Ye Li planned a stealth raid on the Pokémon League's secret supply transfer station, using thirty Shiny Golbat to disable its command system. Team Rocket captured the station with little resistance, and Apollo left impressed by Ye Li's Ghost-type unit.

• Ye Li studied the transfer station's defenses and planned a silent decapitation raid to avoid a head-on clash.
• On the night of the operation, Ye Li directed thirty Shiny Golbat to scout the station and surround its command center.
• Ye Li ordered the Golbat to unleash Confuse Ray, incapacitating the operators and plunging the station's defenses into chaos.
• Apollo led Team Rocket's main force through the opening and quickly seized the transfer station.
• Apollo saw the Golbat disappear into the night and felt awe at Ye Li's surgical attack.

After investigating the attack on a Pokémon League supply station, Lorelei identified the unusual Supersonic as evidence pointing to Team Rocket and chose to abandon covert tactics. She mobilized League forces around Celadon City to strike Team Rocket bases, bringing a direct clash closer.

• Lorelei examined the supply station and detected an aggressive Supersonic variant mixed with psychic interference.
• Lorelei analyzed the lingering energy and suspected Team Rocket, linking its advanced technology to the Rainbow Game Corner.
• Lorelei decided to launch a forceful strike against Team Rocket instead of continuing a covert investigation.
• Lorelei mobilized Ace Trainers, Gym apprentices, and League combat units around Celadon City.
• Lorelei prepared to attack several known Team Rocket bases as a large-scale conflict approached.

As the Pokémon League prepared a major assault on Team Rocket, Ye Li devised a plan to use Erika and Celadon City’s citizens as a shield by presenting Team Rocket as the city’s defenders. Giovanni rejected retreat and publicly asked Ye Li for his thoughts, beginning a direct test of his scheme.

• Team Rocket’s Network Monitoring System detected the Pokémon League’s troop movements and encrypted communications, prompting an emergency meeting.
• Most executives urged Giovanni to withdraw Team Rocket’s forces from around Celadon City rather than confront the League head-on.
• Ye Li devised a plan to enlist Erika and portray Team Rocket as helping defend Celadon City from unidentified armed militants.
• Giovanni recognized the political potential of Ye Li’s plan and rejected the executives’ proposals to avoid battle.
• Giovanni addressed Ye Li in front of the executives and asked for his thoughts on the situation.

Giovanni recognized that Ye Li’s panicked act concealed the source of his strategic insights, but chose to play along. He presented Ye Li’s plan to bind Team Rocket to the Celadon Gym against Lorelei, leaving Ye Li terrified that Giovanni had exposed his thoughts.

• Giovanni questioned Ye Li, who nervously pretended to know nothing about the war.
• Giovanni realized Ye Li’s flashes of inspiration had come from the young man but kept his discovery to himself.
• Giovanni told Matori to ask Erika for help against an unidentified armed force supposedly threatening Celadon City.
• Giovanni proposed joining Team Rocket’s interests with the Celadon Gym through a City Joint Defense Force and framing the conflict as protection from outside enemies.
• Ye Li listened as Giovanni repeated his plan and feared that the Boss could see through him completely.