Recaps

Ye Li helped Team Rocket uncover the Legendary Birds’ connection to Lugia, then found himself caught between Giovanni’s plans and Lorelei’s pursuit. After a battle at a hidden base ended in a devastating explosion, Lorelei reached the injured Ye Li before Team Rocket could rescue him.

• Lorelei surrendered her unit’s weapons to protect her troops and their families, and Team Rocket cleared the valley without casualties.
• Giovanni entrusted Ye Li with three divine tokens, and Ye Li’s research revealed that the Sea Flute could use the Legendary Birds to open a hidden gate.
• Ye Li’s experiment summoned Lugia, whose warning showed him that the imbalance among the Legendary Birds could bring disaster, while Giovanni decided to pursue the powers’ fusion.
• Lorelei mobilized the League to recover the tokens and track Team Rocket, while Ye Li secretly recruited an online ally and created the Dark Moon Stone for Umbreon.
• As Mt. Ember erupted, Lorelei and Bruno attacked Ye Li’s hidden base, where Ye Li used Umbreon and the Dark Moon Stone to trigger an explosion that let Lorelei’s troops escape.
• Umbreon shielded Ye Li from the blast, and both Team Rocket and Lorelei’s forces searched the ruins for two days.
• Lorelei ambushed Team Rocket’s rescue squad at the excavation site and found Ye Li unconscious and badly injured beneath the rubble.

Ye Li escaped the Pokémon League and led Team Rocket into a race to gather the Legendary Birds’ Sacred Treasures, while the League pursued them and struggled with evidence of its own experiments. After securing the Fire Orb and escaping Lance through the Dragon’s Maw, Ye Li reached Thunder Island and began a plan to take the Thunder Orb.

• Lorelei escaped the ruins with Ye Li, while Giovanni ordered Team Rocket to recapture him at any cost.
• Held by the Pokémon League, Ye Li feigned interest in joining it and discovered its cruel experiments on Pokémon, including the mind-wiped Tyranitar Titan.
• The League released Ye Li under strict monitoring to advise on Cinnabar Volcano, where he helped its forces evade Moltres and proposed balancing the Legendary Birds’ powers instead of using the Gaia Spear.
• Ye Li escaped with Apollo’s Ghost Unit by disguising them as League patrolmen, and Lorelei let them pass, and back at Team Rocket Headquarters, Ye Li proposed raids on Fuchsia City and Vermilion City.
• Ye Li decoded the tablet rubbing, concealed Lugia’s role, and led an expedition to retrieve three Sacred Treasures as Lance mobilized the League fleet for the Orange Islands.
• On Fire Island, Umbreon crossed Moltres’s Sacred Fire and brought Ye Li the Fire Orb, when Lance pursued them, Ye Li led Team Rocket through the Dragon’s Maw and wild Pokémon disrupted the League fleet.
• Lance caught up with the damaged Tyrant, but withdrew when League forces reported attacks on coastal cities, and Ye Li then realized their repair stop was Lightning Island.
• Ye Li led Apollo and four elite members to Thunder Island, where they found the Thunder Orb guarded by Electivire, and Ye Li used the terrain to lure the guardian away as Umbreon approached the orb.

Ye Li gathered the Fire, Thunder, and Frost Orbs, survived confrontations with the Pokémon League, and passed Lugia’s trial on Shamouti Island. He escaped with the treasures and gained Giovanni’s authority to expand Team Rocket into Johto, while the League accelerated its biological weapons project.

• Ye Li took the Thunder Orb, then absorbed the island’s raw Thunder Stone energy into Umbreon, helping it defeat Electivire and reach Elite-level strength.
• Ye Li’s fleet reached Ice Island, where he took the Frost Orb after restoring balance to Articuno’s powers, then escaped Agatha and Drake with all three treasures.
• Ye Li secretly diverted his fleet to Shamouti Island, where the islanders welcomed him as the prophesied Mediator, but Agatha, Drake, and Lance arrived to intercept him before Giovanni joined the conflict.
• Ye Li placed the three orbs on the altar and played the Sea Flute, summoning Lugia and calming the storm, and he then balanced the orbs’ energy to pass the first stage of Lugia’s trial.
• Ye Li pledged to support Giovanni’s plan to overthrow the existing order, helped Team Rocket resist the League’s assault, and escaped Shamouti Island with the orbs as Lugia departed.
• Giovanni granted Ye Li authority over Team Rocket operations and approved his expansion into Johto, while the League leaders funded a biological weapons project after seeing Ye Li balance Legendary energy.

Ye Li helped Team Rocket seize control of Kanto and Johto by exposing the League’s biological weapons and defeating its resistance. When Giovanni revealed his plan to open the Genesis Gate, Ye Li secretly sought to prevent its catastrophic failure while preparing his own loyal forces.

• Ye Li recharged the three orbs at Mt. Silver, used their energy to stabilize Mewtwo, and escaped the League’s assault with the orbs.
• Ye Li stole evidence of the League’s Rampage weapons, allied temporarily with Ho-Oh, and exposed the League’s experiments at the Johto League Conference, where Team Rocket captured its officials.
• Giovanni appointed Ye Li Joint Grand Administrator of Kanto and Johto, and Ye Li introduced civilian relief measures and stronger protections for wild Pokémon.
• Ye Li used Laplace's Demon to defeat Hoenn’s fleet, then learned that Giovanni planned to open the Genesis Gate and secretly resolved to stop him.
• Ye Li retrieved the Space-Time Plate from Mt. Coronet, defeated its Bronzong guardians, and used the Plate’s data to complete a Safety Valve for the Genesis Gate.
• Team Galactic attacked Ye Li’s aircraft, but Ye Li survived the crash, defeated Jupiter’s forces with traps and the Space-Time Plate, and escaped with the Plate.
• Ye Li ordered Lin Feng to monitor the Genesis Gate while positioning loyal troops near key sites, and Giovanni dismissed his movements as ordinary ambition.