Recaps

Matori persuaded Erika to join the Rainbow Game Corner's security force in creating a City Joint Defense Force, claiming an unidentified army threatened Celadon City. When Lorelei's League force arrived to raid the Rainbow Game Corner, Erika's forces blocked their route into the city.

• Matori showed Erika footage of an armed group supposedly approaching Celadon City and warned that its commercial district was the target.
• Matori urged Erika to bypass the Pokémon League's slow response and combine the Game Corner's security force with the Celadon Gym.
• Erika agreed, and the City Joint Defense Force set up checkpoints and cordons across major routes and commercial areas.
• Lorelei assembled an elite Pokémon League force outside Celadon City and prepared to attack the Rainbow Game Corner.
• Lorelei discovered Erika and Celadon Gym Trainers blocking the force's designated route into the city, and realized she had been trapped.

Lorelei’s attempt to arrest Team Rocket outside Celadon City stalled when Erika blocked her troops, convinced they were threatening the city. Ye Li’s plan turned the operation into a public controversy, and Giovanni decided to give Ye Li greater access to Team Rocket’s power.

• Lorelei ordered her troops to hold position and confronted Erika, but Erika refused to let the Pokémon League force enter Celadon City.
• Erika called the people behind her a legitimate security company, while Lorelei insisted they were Team Rocket.
• Reporters broadcast the standoff across the Kanto Region, and public opinion shifted toward Erika and the city’s defenders.
• Ye Li watched from the Rainbow Game Corner as his plan transformed Team Rocket into apparent allies of Celadon City.
• Giovanni admired Ye Li’s strategy and decided to give him a larger role within Team Rocket.

After public pressure forced Lorelei to withdraw from Celadon City, Giovanni formalized Team Rocket’s new influence and elevated Ye Li to Chief of Staff. Ye Li accepted the position’s badge but felt trapped by the responsibility and power tying him to Team Rocket.

• Pokémon League headquarters ordered Lorelei to withdraw after three days of public pressure and a standoff outside Celadon City.
• Team Rocket signed a long-term urban strategic cooperation agreement with the Celadon Gym, legitimizing the Rainbow Game Corner Affiliated Security Company.
• Giovanni announced that Ye Li’s Strategic Development Department would become Team Rocket’s Supreme Staff Headquarters and that Ye Li would become Chief of Staff.
• Giovanni gave Ye Li the black R Badge and authority to deploy Team Rocket’s units and resources, except for Giovanni’s Personal Guard.
• Ye Li accepted the badge but felt panic as he realized he had drifted from his plan to escape Team Rocket and now shared responsibility for its future.

After Team Rocket deciphered an ancient tablet pointing to Articuno’s resting place on the Seafoam Islands, Giovanni ordered an expedition to capture the Legendary Pokémon and appointed Ye Li to lead it. Ye Li realized the mission meant entering Articuno’s territory, but Giovanni’s coercion left him no choice but to accept.

• Dr. Anya’s team used Lin Feng’s program to decipher the tablet and identify the Seafoam Islands as a Legendary Pokémon’s resting place.
• Dr. Anya explained that the Seafoam Islands were an uninhabited, freezing island surrounded by dangerous reefs and icebergs.
• Giovanni ordered Apollo, Matori, and their elite squads to join an expedition to find and control the Legendary Pokémon.
• Giovanni appointed Ye Li as the expedition’s overall commander, shocking the conference room.
• Ye Li recognized the Seafoam Islands as Articuno’s territory and tried to refuse the mission.
• Giovanni pressured Ye Li to lead the operation, and Ye Li reluctantly promised to complete it.

Ye Li planned a detailed route through the Seafoam Islands and prepared specialized gear and Pokémon to protect his team. After reviewing the plan, Giovanni ordered the logistics department to fulfill Ye Li’s requests without regard to cost.

• Ye Li used his knowledge of the Seafoam Islands’ cave map to create a safe route that avoided dangerous areas and allowed for a quick retreat.
• Ye Li sent Engineer Wang designs for cold-resistant suits, thermal axes, and other specialized survival equipment.
• Ye Li asked Dr. Anya’s biotechnology department for cold-tolerant Fire-type Pokémon to serve as mobile heat sources.
• Ye Li compiled more than a hundred pages of preparations and contingency plans for the expedition.
• Giovanni reviewed the plan and ordered the logistics department to meet all of Ye Li’s requests, regardless of cost.

Ye Li took command of Team Rocket’s elite expedition force and departed for the Seafoam Islands, anxious about facing Articuno and focused on keeping himself alive. The fleet set sail with Giovanni’s specially trained Fearow as Ye Li’s hoped-for escape route.

• Team Rocket assembled Apollo, Matori, two other Action Team Leaders, fifty elite operatives, and more than a hundred cold-resistant Fire-type Pokémon for the expedition.
• Giovanni gave Ye Li a specially trained Fearow for transportation and told him to be careful.
• Ye Li worried that the experienced operatives would ignore his orders and that he might be caught in a battle with Articuno.
• The expedition fleet of one flagship and three escort ships left the harbor for the Seafoam Islands.
• Ye Li watched the mainland recede and hoped that everyone, especially himself, would return alive.

Ye Li guided the fleet through a blizzard and safely landed the team in a hidden harbor on the Seafoam Islands. His preparations helped the team withstand the extreme cold, and they readied themselves to enter the island’s cave.

• Ye Li took command during the blizzard and guided the fleet safely between icebergs to a sheltered harbor.
• Apollo asked how Ye Li had navigated the dangerous waters, and Ye Li claimed he had simulated routes using hydrographic data.
• The team landed on the Seafoam Islands, where extreme cold left several Pokémon struggling to function.
• Ye Li’s volcanic-rock-lined suits and cold-resistant Ponyta and Growlithe protected the team from the cold.
• Ye Li told everyone to check their equipment and replenish their calories before advancing into the cave in ten minutes.

Ye Li guided the expedition through the Seafoam Islands’ Ice Maze, using his uncanny knowledge to avoid hazards and cross an underground river. Matori grew suspicious of his familiarity with the maze, while Ye Li worried he would have to keep pretending to predict its dangers.

• Ye Li led the expedition around dangerous Pokémon nests, fragile ice, and a dead end.
• Ye Li told Apollo to have Machoke push a boulder into the underground river, diverting the current and exposing a crossing.
• Matori questioned Ye Li about his remarkable knowledge of the maze.
• Ye Li claimed he had deduced the routes from documents and geological reports, but Matori remained suspicious.
• Ye Li privately worried that the expedition would encounter more mechanisms he would have to predict.

Ye Li and the expedition reached the Ancient Ruins altar, where a team member touched the tablet and awakened Articuno. As Apollo prepared to fight the Legendary Pokémon, Ye Li realized they had to stop provoking it and find a way to communicate.

• Ye Li led the expedition through the Seafoam Islands caverns to an altar holding the other half of the stone tablet.
• Ye Li tried to stop Apollo from approaching the tablet, but an elite team member touched it first.
• Articuno awakened and emerged from the shattered frozen waterfall, overwhelming the intruders with its presence.
• Apollo sent out his Houndoom and ordered the team to prepare for battle.
• Ye Li recognized that the tablet was Articuno’s core interest and resolved to stop the provocation.

Ye Li tried to negotiate with Articuno rather than fight, offering it a way to protect its glacier in exchange for copying the writing on its Plate. As Giovanni listened to Ye Li’s transmitted thoughts, he began directing the negotiation from Team Rocket Headquarters.

• Ye Li persuaded Apollo and the others to recall their Pokémon and lower their weapons.
• Ye Li ordered Dr. Anya to offer Articuno a case of high-purity Pokéblocks, easing its hostility.
• Ye Li devised a plan to help Articuno keep outsiders away from the glacier in exchange for making a rubbing of the Plate’s writing.
• Giovanni heard Ye Li’s thoughts through the hidden communicator and decided to direct the negotiation remotely.
• Giovanni spoke to Ye Li through his earpiece and told him to repeat his words to Articuno.

After Articuno withdrew, Ye Li explained his apparent foresight as knowledge gleaned from ancient texts, but Matori secretly took one of his hairs to investigate him. As Giovanni watched her actions, Ye Li prepared to lead the expedition toward the poachers’ camp for Articuno’s trial.

• Apollo enthusiastically praised Ye Li for negotiating with Articuno, and Ye Li escaped his fervent attention to rest.
• Matori questioned Ye Li about his uncanny predictions, and he claimed ancient texts had helped him anticipate Articuno’s trial.
• Matori pretended to accept Ye Li’s explanation while secretly collecting a hair from his collar.
• Giovanni watched Matori take the hair and welcomed her investigation into Ye Li’s origins.
• Ye Li recalled the poachers’ camp’s location, route, and defenses from his game knowledge and prepared to guide the team.

Ye Li guided Apollo’s team safely across the Seafoam Islands’ dangerous snowfield and located the poachers’ camp. After Ye Li identified the camp’s vulnerable power and communications systems, Apollo ordered a coordinated assault while Matori recorded her growing suspicions about Ye Li.

• Ye Li presented Apollo with a safe route across the glacier, and Apollo ordered the elite squad to follow it.
• The squad avoided dangerous wild Pokémon and reached a sheltered ridge overlooking the poachers’ camouflaged camp.
• Ye Li identified the camp’s generator and communications antenna as weak points and proposed striking them simultaneously.
• Apollo assigned two squads to destroy the generator and antenna while the rest prepared a frontal assault.
• Matori secretly documented Ye Li’s uncanny achievements and resolved to uncover his secret.

Team Rocket captured the poachers on the Seafoam Islands and discovered rare Water-type Pokémon frozen alive in a hidden crate. Ye Li proposed turning the evidence and prisoners over to the Pokémon League to fulfill the agreement with Articuno, avoid handling the captives, and publicly embarrass the League, and Giovanni ordered Matori to arrange the delivery.

• Team Rocket disabled the poachers’ generator and communications antenna, then Apollo led an assault that subdued the camp.
• A search squad found a concealed cabinet containing dozens or hundreds of rare Water-type Pokémon frozen alive, including juvenile Dratini.
• Apollo ordered operatives to document the frozen Pokémon as evidence, while Ye Li devised a plan to hand the footage and captured poachers to the Pokémon League.
• Giovanni approved Ye Li’s plan and ordered Matori to make the League Marine Patrol discover the evidence and prisoners by chance.

Ye Li and Team Rocket fulfilled their pact with Articuno, earning permission to record the Plate’s ancient knowledge without taking it. As the expedition returned with the copied data, Matori grew increasingly suspicious of Ye Li’s hidden influence.

• Giovanni ordered Matori to follow Ye Li’s suggestion, so she had Team Rocket deliver the captured poachers and evidence to a Pokémon League patrol as a staged discovery.
• Ye Li told Articuno that the intruders had been driven out and their crimes dealt with, and Articuno permitted the researchers to approach the Altar.
• Dr. Anya’s team scanned and made impressions of the Plate, after which its blue glow faded and it became an ordinary gray stone.
• Articuno gave Ye Li a searching look, then flew back behind the icefall as the expedition prepared to leave with the recorded data.
• Apollo celebrated Team Rocket’s success aboard the returning ship, while Matori connected the mission’s unusual developments to Ye Li and wondered what secrets he concealed.

On the voyage home, Matori lured Ye Li to her cabin and threatened him with Weavile, demanding to know his true identity. Apollo burst in and rescued Ye Li, leaving Matori and Weavile facing Apollo and Machoke.

• As the fleet sailed away from the Seafoam Islands, Ye Li hoped to return to Team Rocket Headquarters and recover from the mission.
• Matori invited Ye Li to her cabin for coffee, where she confronted him about the suspicious knowledge and actions he had displayed on the islands.
• Matori ordered Weavile to hold a claw against Ye Li’s throat and accused him of being a spy or another organization’s operative.
• Apollo broke down the cabin door, saw Weavile threatening Ye Li, and shouted at Matori.
• Machoke drove Weavile away from Ye Li and stood between him and Matori, ready to fight.

Matori accused Ye Li of being a spy, provoking Apollo to defend him and bringing the two executives to the brink of battle. Giovanni stopped the confrontation and ordered an investigation upon their return to headquarters, leaving the rift between Apollo and Matori exposed.

• Apollo burst into Matori's cabin and demanded to know why she was attacking Ye Li.
• Matori declared that she believed Ye Li was a high-level spy infiltrating Team Rocket.
• Apollo defended Ye Li's loyalty and threatened anyone who tried to harm him.
• Apollo's Machoke and Matori's Weavile prepared to fight as Ye Li feared the damage to the airborne warship.
• Giovanni ordered Apollo and Matori to stand down and warned that anyone acting rashly would be executed.
• Apollo and Matori recalled their Pokémon, but their distrust deepened as Giovanni promised to investigate at headquarters.

Matori presented evidence that Ye Li was an unidentified outsider and possible League spy, leaving his fate in Giovanni’s hands. Giovanni praised Matori’s investigation instead of immediately condemning Ye Li.

• The fleet returned to Team Rocket’s headquarters, where Giovanni summoned all A-rank and higher executives to an emergency meeting.
• Matori showed the executives evidence of Ye Li’s extraordinary knowledge and apparent foreknowledge during the Seafoam Islands operation.
• Matori revealed that Ye Li’s genetic sequence matched no records in Team Rocket’s database or the known residents of Kanto, branding him a person of unknown origin.
• Apollo defended Ye Li, but the executives became suspicious, while Ye Li feared his secret identity would be exposed.
• Giovanni smiled at Matori’s report and praised her insight and loyalty to Team Rocket.

Giovanni turned Matori’s investigation of Ye Li into a false account of an ancient family that could predict the future, presenting Ye Li as Team Rocket’s secret special advisor. He promoted Matori to lead a new Internal Inspection Department, while Ye Li realized Giovanni had bound him tightly to the organization.

• Giovanni told the executives that Ye Li was not a spy and claimed his identity was an S-rank secret.
• Giovanni fabricated a story that Ye Li came from an ancient family of star-watchers and was recruited as a special advisor for his ability to predict the future.
• The executives accepted Giovanni’s explanation, while Matori stood stunned and Apollo proudly admired Ye Li.
• Giovanni established the Internal Inspection Department and appointed Matori as its first director, giving her independent authority and direct access to him.
• Ye Li recognized that Giovanni had neutralized the crisis, strengthened his control, and made Ye Li’s false identity—and continued service to Team Rocket—difficult to escape.

After Dr. Anya's team deciphered the Seafoam Islands tablet and identified Zapdos's location, Giovanni ordered Ye Li's Supreme Staff Headquarters to lead an operation to capture it. Ye Li accepted the assignment and realized the Abandoned Power Plant held dangers beyond Zapdos, including Voltorb and Electrode that could explode at close range.

• Dr. Anya's research team deciphered the tablet, revealing how the Sea Flute could affect the Legendary Birds and locating Zapdos at the Abandoned Power Plant on Route 10.
• Giovanni read the report, summoned Team Rocket's executives, and ordered an immediate Zapdos capture operation under Ye Li's command.
• Ye Li reluctantly accepted Giovanni's order, despite dreading the power plant's hazards and wishing for a break after the Seafoam Islands mission.
• Ye Li returned to his office and recalled that Voltorb and Electrode could disguise themselves as items before using Explosion, making the power plant especially dangerous.

Ye Li planned to upgrade the Ghost Unit for the Abandoned Power Plant by evolving its Flash Golbat into Crobat and equipping them with specialized gear. Giovanni approved Ye Li’s plan and ordered every relevant department to prioritize its resources.

• Ye Li decided the Ghost Unit needed to evolve into Crobat to handle the Abandoned Power Plant’s terrain and magnetic interference.
• Ye Li asked Dr. Anya to research a scientific method for quickly increasing friendship between Golbat and their Trainers.
• Ye Li gave Engineer Wang designs for geomagnetic-navigation helmets and tactical launchers with insulating capture nets, and Engineer Wang promised prototypes in three days.
• Ye Li submitted his Ghost Unit Upgrade Plan to Giovanni, who approved it and ordered all relevant departments to fulfill Ye Li’s resource requests as a top priority.

Officer Jenny’s interrogation of the Seafoam Islands poachers led Lorelei to suspect Team Rocket was targeting Legendary Pokémon, prompting Champion Lance to issue a Red Alert. Lt. Surge dismissed the order and assigned only a few inexperienced Gym Trainers to watch the Abandoned Power Plant, leaving Team Rocket’s Ghost Unit free to approach it.

• Officer Jenny learned that an unidentified, highly trained force had defeated the poachers and left them for the Pokémon League patrol.
• Lorelei connected the Seafoam Islands incident to earlier attacks and found an energy anomaly resembling Articuno’s power, leading her to suspect Team Rocket was pursuing Legendary Pokémon.
• Champion Lance issued a Red Alert and ordered surveillance of sites associated with Legendary Pokémon.
• Lt. Surge dismissed the threat and sent a few inexperienced subordinates to guard the Abandoned Power Plant without conducting patrols inside.
• Team Rocket’s Ghost Unit prepared to head quietly to the Abandoned Power Plant, unaware of the League’s alert or the weak guard detail.

Ye Li devised a plan for Team Rocket to infiltrate the Abandoned Power Plant disguised as a utility crew, using Erika’s authority to obtain an official access permit. Apollo led the disguised team through the League checkpoint, leaving Team Rocket inside the restricted area.

• Ye Li proposed posing as a Celadon City Electric Company maintenance crew to enter the Abandoned Power Plant legally.
• Giovanni approved Ye Li’s plan and assigned Matori to secure a permit from Erika through Team Rocket’s business dealings.
• Matori offered Erika a discounted electricity agreement, and Erika signed the agreement and access permit.
• Apollo and the elite operatives disguised themselves as electrical maintenance workers and drove utility trucks to the power plant checkpoint.
• Apollo presented Erika’s signed permit, and the guards let the convoy pass into the restricted area.

Apollo and Ye Li led an infiltration team into the abandoned Power Plant, where Ye Li’s detailed map helped them evade Electrode disguised as Poké Balls. After they found Zapdos’s feathers and confirmed the Legendary Pokémon was deeper inside, an alarm sounded, and Ye Li arranged a diversion to draw Lt. Surge’s guards away.

• Apollo split the team into groups to stage maintenance outside the Power Plant while he and Ye Li led an elite squad inside.
• A team member nearly approached Poké Balls scattered through the workshop, but Ye Li warned that they were Electrode traps and guided the team around them using his map.
• The team found golden feathers in an abandoned control room, and Dr. Anya confirmed they belonged to Zapdos and that the Pokémon was near the core generator unit.
• An alarm went off, and Ye Li ordered Lin Feng to falsify electrical fault reports at Generator Units Three and Four.
• The guards rushed toward the reported faults, giving Ye Li’s team time to continue its infiltration.

Ye Li’s newly evolved Flash Crobat disabled the Abandoned Power Plant’s electrified defenses, allowing the team to reach its core. There, they encountered the Legendary Pokémon Zapdos.

• Thirty Flash Golbat evolved into Flash Crobat under Dr. Anya’s accelerated Friendship breeding program and Ye Li’s investment in training and resources.
• Ye Li sent the Flash Crobat through the electrified maze while Apollo’s regular troops could not advance.
• The Flash Crobat skillfully dodged the electrical hazards and fired insulating nets at the grid’s power supply nodes.
• The nets disabled the defensive grid, and Apollo watched the Flash Crobat return in awe of their capabilities.
• Ye Li and the team crossed the safe passage and reached the central generator, where Zapdos appeared from its nest.

Zapdos unleashed a devastating assault on Team Rocket in the Power Plant, overwhelming their Pokémon and resisting Apollo’s Houndoom. Hiding nearby, Ye Li recalled that Zapdos might briefly stagger after using Thunder and realized the moment could be their only chance.

• Zapdos’s cry overloaded the Power Plant’s remaining systems and filled the core with lightning.
• Zapdos struck the battlefield with a relentless storm, quickly defeating Team Rocket’s Golem, Sandslash, Onix, and Rhyhorn.
• Apollo ordered Houndoom to attack Zapdos with Flamethrower, but an electric field dispersed the flames before they reached it.
• Ye Li hid behind an abandoned transformer and searched his memories for a way to survive.
• Ye Li remembered that Zapdos might briefly stagger after unleashing Thunder and identified the recovery interval as a possible opening.