Goh pressed himself against the wall in the entrance way between the Fire and Lightning chambers. Cinderace and Inteleon did likewise, both staying back while Grookey hid himself behind Goh's head.

He saw Ash still struggling against the binds that held him, and Pikachu was fruitlessly firing a Thunderbolt inside the container he was trapped in. Eevee was slapping her face against the glass, trying to get free, but it didn't seem to be enough.

Chloe kept glancing in his direction, but she seemed to be trying not to be obvious about it. Clearly, she was wondering what happened to him.

Standing over all of them were the members of Team Rocket that Goh had come to know and loathe. By Ash's explanation, they had been following him around since almost the beginning of his journey. And Ash wasn't exactly a fresh newbie trainer with his first Pokémon, having been on his Pokémon Journey for a bit over four years at this point. So in a way, Goh wasn't exactly surprised to see them out here.

At the same time, he grimaced because these three had a way of always showing up when and where they were the least welcome.

The trio of Rockets were still laughing, their voices echoing around the lightning chamber.

The woman, the self-described leader of this group, was the first to cease her mocking laughter. "Oh, my dear little twerp," said Jessie, "after all this time, you've ended up getting caught in one of our nefarious schemes. Finally, your Pikachu is ours!"

Ash sat up, still not able to fully fight back. "You guys won't get away with this!" he shouted at them. "If you wanted to fight fair, I'd show you!"

"A fair fight?" James replied, shrugging. "That's the LAST thing we'd want!"

The Pokémon by their feet, a Meowth, grinned. "Team Rocket's a group o' bad guys. Who'd wanna let a twoip have a fair chance?"

As Goh watched things play out in front of him, Chloe once again glanced in his direction. It was this time that their eyes met, and so Goh did his best to communicate to Chloe that she should keep quiet about him. He quietly moved a finger over his lips and hoped his childhood friend could understand his meaning from that.

Chloe nodded and turned her attention back to Team Rocket. "How'd you guys even get in here?! This is an ancient temple! It's not exactly the sort of place you all usually hang out!"

Jessie chuckled. "Oh, my dear twerpette," she said. "It's actually very simple how we managed to get in here." She leaned down into Chloe's face with a villainous sneer. "You twerps let us in here!"

Goh felt his eyes go wide. The footprints he discovered at the entrance and the loud noise back when they were setting up the aeolipile the first time were the clues he should have been focused on. Mentally, he was beating himself up. 'Stupid, STUPID Goh. You should have done something, warned them! Now they're in the clutches of these guys…!'

Ash seemingly hit on the same idea. "So it was you guys who made that noise!" he shouted.

"Yes, and I'm honestly surprised our camouflage cloak managed to trick that Brainy twerp's Pokémon," James said. "We hid behind a blanket that looks like cave walls and he seemingly didn't see us!"

Goh nodded, frowning. Of course, without light, there's no way Inteleon's night vision could see in color. And he likely didn't have any sort of infravision, either. Unless Inteleon went and touched each wall, there wouldn't be any way for him to make sure he saw through them.

Team Rocket had the perfect storm of advantages to allow them to sneak in behind Goh and the others.

"Speakin' o' th' Brainy Twoip, where is 'e?" Meowth said, looking around. Goh ducked back into the doorway, still trying to avoid getting seen.

"H-He probably left to go back to the town," Chloe said, stammering out her lie. "He's totally unreliable in places like this."

"Chloe, that's not nice…" Ash said. "He's your friend, you shouldn't say stuff like that."

Of course, Goh was right there, and Chloe knew that. Would Team Rocket buy into her lie? That was the question. If they believed he was truly gone, this could be the chance he needed to ambush them on their way out.

"Oh, that's wonderful! Thank you, you dim little twerpette!" Jessie said, barely containing her laughter. "I guess this is where we take Pikachu and your cute little Eevee back to be primo gifts for our boss!"

Meowth tapped on her leg with his paw. "But Jess, dat's not even th' reason we're here."

"Meowth's right," James said. "We're supposed to get to the innermost chamber here and recover the treasure that's supposed to be inside."

'Treasure?'

Goh's mind began to race. Was this what Danika and Professor Amaranth had sent him in here for? To recover a lost treasure that could be related to Mew in some way?

Somehow, this all made sense to him. After all, if Project Mew were somehow aware of this temple's existence despite the remoteness and lack of information out there, it only stood to reason that Team Rocket would have access to similar information.

"R-Right," Jessie said, puffing out her chest. "We're going to get the treasure and then leave. That's what I meant!"

Everyone could tell she was lying, but it mattered very little that she was at this point.

"Which means you twoips are comin' wit us," Meowth said. "Can't have you runnin' off or grabbin' one of yer Pokémon t' fight against us."

"Unless you want something really nasty to happen to your little fuzzball here," Jessie said, gesturing to the glass container holding Chloe's Eevee. Goh couldn't see Eevee's expression from this angle, but the heartbroken look on Chloe's face told him all he needed to.

Chloe stood, and Goh saw that each of the metal cuffs wrapped around her and Ash were connected by a glowing rope made of light, and these ropes were themselves being held by James and Meowth.

"C'mon, move it, twerps!" Jessie ordered. Ash stood as well, and Goh could see that his teeth were clenched in barely restrained anger. He made sure that Ash didn't see him as his friends began heading down into the maze, led by Team Rocket. While he trusted Chloe to stay quiet about seeing him there, Ash would probably blurt out his presence and he'd lose the element of surprise.

With the map of the maze Chloe had sketched out earlier, Goh had a pretty good idea of the way Team Rocket would wander. They had to make it through to get the treasure on the other side, after all. Gesturing for Cinderace and Inteleon to follow him slowly, Goh and his Pokémon began moving slowly through the maze, making sure to not stumble into a path where Team Rocket may need to cross to reach the other side. Thankfully for him, they seemed a bit more competent at navigating mazes than they seemed at the rest of their operations, and soon the sounds of their walking faded as they made their way into the next chamber.

Goh and his Pokémon navigated the maze easily enough, finding the doorway that led to the next chamber fairly simply. Similarly to the previous chambers besides the first long staircase, this one was angled slightly upwards, with a short hallway that opened into a fairly small chamber. Goh saw no maze this time in the chamber, only stairs in the middle of the chamber that separated it between a lower half and an upper half. On the back wall there were a few more stairs leading up to a sealed door. The chamber was made of cool, blue stone. Following the patterns set forth by the previous two, this would be the Water Chamber, Goh thought.

The sealed door had that same unidentifiable symbol that was repeated in the entrance way that Ash had suggested meant 'god'. Speaking of Ash, he and Chloe had been set in one corner of the small chamber, with Eevee and Pikachu set in the opposite corner.

Team Rocket themselves seemed to be struggling. Like the previous two chambers, there was a puzzle in this one that one had to solve before the next door would open. From his vantage point hidden in the doorway, he could see that they were all looking at these strange, helmet-like shapes and heard them all speaking over each other, debating on what they should do with them to solve the puzzle and make their way into the next room.

With them trapped against the sealed door like this, there would be no better chance for Goh to attack and free his friends. But he knew that if he approached unprepared, he could be overwhelmed two-on-one. He would have to find a way to even the odds against them.

As his eyes scanned the chamber once more, he hit upon the perfect idea.

He turned to Inteleon and whispered in a low voice. "Inteleon, camouflage yourself and sneak in there and free Ash and Chloe. Cinderace, Grookey, and I will distract Team Rocket while you get the important work done."

A wily smirk grew on Inteleon's lips, and he nodded. "Inteleon,' he said, and in a blink, he disappeared.

He turned to his first Pokémon. "And then the next part is up to us," he said.

"Cinderace!"

Goh turned to his first Pokémon and readied a high five as Cinderace flipped, offering his foot to Goh's hand. Grookey, not to be left out, leapt from Goh's shoulder with his stick extended, meeting both Goh and Cinderace in the middle. Their spirits raised and feeling more in sync with each other than ever, Goh and his Pokémon turned to the door and made their grand entrance.

As Inteleon crawled across the walls towards where Ash and Chloe were captured, Goh proudly, loudly stepped up into the Water Chamber with a confident, heroic grin on his face. "Team Rocket!" he shouted. "You better let my friends go right now, or you're gonna be in BIG trouble!"

"Dace, cind ace!" Cinderace shouted as well, backing up Goh's threat with serious firepower.

"Grooki! Grooki!" shouted the chimp as he hopped from Goh's shoulder to stand side-by-side with Cinderace. He took his small stick and hit it against the ground in challenge.

"Well well," Jessie said, discarding the helmet-like object in her hands. "I thought we might have to contend with one more twerp."

"Sorry to burst your bubble, 2.0," James said, approaching him with a Poké Ball in hand, "but there's no way we're giving up Pikachu or this temple's treasure, so you can turn with your twerpish tail between your legs and tattle to the police for all we care!"

Goh's gaze went to the corner of the room, where Inteleon was already working on Ash's restraint. If he focused his eyes, he could barely see the invisible shape of his Pokémon picking the lock on the metal cuff with the small blade hidden in his tail.

Goh would have to keep Team Rocket's eyes on him if this plan was going to succeed.

"Not a chance!" Goh said. "You're going to have to go through me if you want to get this treasure OR their Pokémon!"

Jessie laughed at his bluster. "Big talk for a brainy twerp. I guess it's time for us to send little boys running home to bed."

She took James' hand in hers. The two Rockets raised their hands into the air, shouting "Come on down!" in unison.

There was a tense moment of silence as Goh awaited the falling Rocket Prize Master to join the fighting. Usually dropped in by a Pelipper in Team Rocket's employ, the Prize Master contained a veritable army for Team Rocket to employ in the battles with Goh and his friends. Goh wasn't exactly sure how the Prize Master would arrive, here in the deepest chamber of this hidden temple on a mountainside, but he waited for his opponents to make a move.

Quietly in the corner, Inteleon continued picking the first lock.

After a bit, James shrugged. "Oh well. It was a bit optimistic to assume it'd come all the way out here, don't you think?"

"That lazy birdbrain's probably sitting back at the hideout watching TV instead of getting our signal," Jessie groaned.

Goh furrowed his brow. "...I guess you guys can't get any reception out here, either."

Meowth threw up his hands, exasperated. "I neva thought we'd get so used ta modern conveniences as twerps like you, but even we can get soft if we don't watch it."

Goh smirked. "Well, then. I guess that means you've got no Pokémon to defend yourselves with?"

"Cinderace!"

"Au contraire, my little twerp," James said. "We still have a powerful Pokémon prepared to pounce right here!" He held up the Poké Ball in his hand before tossing it forward.

The ball snapped open, and in a flash of light appeared yet another familiar sight with the Rockets. He was a small rodent, shorter than Pikachu with a yellow, brown, and black coat. This Pokémon, Goh recognized without having to use his Pokédex, was Morpeko, the Two Sided Electric- and Dark-type.

"Pekopeko!" The small Pokémon challenged Goh's much larger one.

Still, a bead of sweat appeared on Goh's forehead. Despite the size mismatch, he knew enough about Team Rocket's little glutton that he shouldn't underestimate him.

His eyes glanced towards Ash. He saw him struggling against the binding, trying to work quietly with Inteleon to free himself so he could join the battle, but it would still take some time.

His goal was clear. He had to buy time for Ash to be able to join the battle.

"Alright, let's go!" he shouted. "Cinderace, Quick Attack!"

Cinderace charged forward, rushing up the stairs towards Morpeko, quickly crashing into him. The small Pokémon's body bounced across the hard ground inside the temple before landing on his feet.

"Don't take that from a twerpy rabbit!" James shouted. "Use Stomping Tantrum!"

Morpeko began hopping up and down on his small feet, shaking the ground and sending shockwaves across the ground, as well as breaking pieces of the stone stairs apart and sending them flying at Cinderace. Goh's striker held up his arms to block, and though he was pushed back, he kept standing and was ready to counter attack.

"Alright, if they wanna fight like that, then use Double Kick, Cinderace!"

"Der-ace!"

Cinderace leapt towards Morpeko, ready to bring his large, powerful feet to bear against the tiny rodent. As he zoomed close, though, a Poké Ball opened from Jessie's belt, and the blue, rubbery body of Wobbuffet was now blocking the way.

As Cinderace swung his legs at the new target, Wobbuffet's body began to glow with a red aura. The kicks smashed into Wobbuffet's body, only for him to bounce back, smashing Cinderace backwards, causing him to tumble down the stairs down to Goh's feet.

Goh gasped as he crouched down, taking his Pokémon's shoulders in his hands. "Cinderace! Are you alright?"

Cinderace shook the daze out of his head and stood up. He gave Goh a confident, somewhat cocky smile and nodded. "Cinderace."

"Wobbuffet!" shouted Jessie's Pokémon as he brought his arm to his forehead.

"Wow, good job Wobbuffet," James said, blinking.

"Way t' be a team player," Meowth added.

Jessie was even more pleased than her two companions. "Well well, how the turntables, my tiny little twerp," she said. "If you and your silly rabbit struggled against just one of Team Rocket's star players, what hope do you have against two?"

Goh clenched his teeth. Jessie's mangling of the phrase aside, it was true that Cinderace couldn't fight as effectively in a two on one situation, but Inteleon was busy freeing Ash to regain the numbers advantage and he didn't bring any other Pokémon with him on this research trip. At least, any other Pokémon besides-

"Grooki!"

Shouting and smacking his stick against the ground was the little chimp, who roared out at Team Rocket in challenge, making the high pitched wooden tone echo through the chamber as he continued to beat a rhythm with his stick.

"You'll fight with us, Grookey?"

"Kiki!"

Goh's eyes went to Team Rocket's Pokémon. He thought about his Pokémon and their capabilities as quickly as he could. At first, he saw a huge issue with allowing Grookey to fight in a battle - this would be his very first! He hadn't ever even ordered him to use a move before! But the more he thought, the more he realized this very fact could be turned to his advantage.

"Alright, let's keep going!" he shouted. "Cinderace, use Blaze Kick on Morpeko!"

Jessie scoffed. "Really? You know doing the same thing and trying for a different result is the definition of insanity, right?" She pointed forward. "Alright, Wobbuffet! You know what to do!"

Now it was time for Goh to spring his trap. "Grookey, go jump on Wobbuffet!"

"Grooki!"

Cinderace began charging towards Morpeko, his feet quickly becoming engulfed in flames as he charged. Wobbuffet leapt to stand between them, ready to once again counter Cinderace's attack and deal massive damage in return.

That was when Grookey leapt in. The chimp hopped on top of Wobbuffet's bouncy body, jumping on top of him like a trampoline. The surprising action caught Wobbuffet off guard, and the Psychic-type fell over, leaving Morpeko open for a direct attack.

Cinderace leapt over Wobbuffet's body and swung his blazing foot into Morpeko's small body. With a foot about the same size as himself coated in flames smashing into him, he was knocked backwards, bouncing off the ground and into the wall behind Team Rocket.

"Morpeko!" James shouted in shock as he rushed over to where Morpeko had been smashed by Goh and Cinderace.

"Nice!" Goh shouted. "My strategy worked!"

Jessie stomped her foot. "Wobbuffet, why didn't you counter that twerp Pokémon jumping on you!"

"Because getting jumped on like that isn't a move."

She blinked. "Isn't a what?"

Goh didn't feel like giving them an explanation would be that helpful to them, but if he could burn some time talking, then that would just give Inteleon more time to finish unlocking Ash's binding while he did so. "You see, Wobbuffet's Counter and Mirror Coat moves can only reflect Pokémon moves," he said. "If a Pokémon just runs over or jumps on him, he can't counter attack that. It's not the same thing!"

"Oh you little rules shark!" Jessie shouted. "You're not going to beat us on a technicality!"

"Yeah, you little cheater!" Meowth growled.

Goh was taken aback at the complete lack of irony in their words. "Really? You all sneak attack my friends and I'm the one who's suddenly not playing by the rules?"

"I've had quite enough from this mouthy twerp!" Jessie snarled. "Meowth, take care of that little green traitor!"

"On da double!" Meowth said, brandishing the long, sharp claws in his paws. "I'll show that twoip my Fury Swipes!"

"Cinderace, protect Grookey!"

As Meowth leapt forward, bearing down on the chimp, Goh's Cinderace leapt in the way, shielding Grookey from the attack with his body as Meowth raked his claws across Cinderace's white fur.

While that played out, Morpeko was finally ready to rejoin the fight after a pep talk and a snack from James. "Alright, Morpeko! Time to rejoin the fray!"

"Peko!" The little rodent immediately began charging in towards Cinderace.

"Use Crunch and take a bite of the action!"

Morpeko lunged forward and the large fang in his mouth started to glow and extend. The empowered tooth bit into Cinderace's arm, causing him to shout in pain and shake the Electric and Dark-type off.

Goh shot a glance at Inteleon, and there didn't seem to be any more progress on his end. The lock must have been incredibly intricate. But the time Goh had was running very thin.

"Cinderace, use Double Kick and knock Morpeko back!" he shouted. "Grookey, get back!"

Cinderace turned to Morpeko and quickly kicked him into the air like he usually did to tiny pebbles when using his Pyro Ball attack. He then did a spin kick, knocking Morpeko back once again, tumbling up the stairs to land at James' feet.

"Now, use Pyro Ball!"

Cinderace kicked up a tiny pebble from where Morpeko had damaged the structure with his Stomping Tantrum and it quickly became engulfed in flames. He leapt and kicked the newly formed fireball straight ahead. The force of the kick sent it hurtling towards Meowth, who couldn't move out of the way fast enough before it collided with him.

"Wobbuffet, do something!" Jessie shouted.

Wobbuffet did indeed do something. He stood up in the path Meowth was flying in and prepared his counterattack. Meowth's body collided with his, and Wobbuffet ended up leaning backwards from the force. But like a rubber band stretched to its limit, once Wobbuffet had absorbed the force from Meowth's quick flight, he snapped forward quickly, launching Meowth like a catapult right back at Cinderace.

"Cinderace!" Goh shouted. His feet began to move on their own.

And if Cinderace's Pyro Ball was too fast for Meowth to avoid, Wobbuffet's Meowth-based Counter was too fast for the Striker to dodge. The cat collided with the rabbit and threatened to launch them both out of the room, if it weren't for Goh leaping in the way.

He caught Cinderace in mid air, putting his arms around his first Pokémon and cushioning the fall to the hard stone floor with his own body. Goh felt his head collide with the ground, and he saw stars for a moment until he could look up.

Meowth was lying on top of both he and Cinderace, but the dazed look in the cat's eyes told Goh that he wouldn't be putting up any more of a fight today, so Goh grabbed Meowth by the scruff of his neck and tossed him towards Jessie, who caught him out of the air also by the scruff of his neck.

"You alright, Cinderace…?" Goh asked.

"Der... derace…" he panted, clearly at his own limits.

"PEKOPEKO!"

Morpeko shouted and stomped his feet in the small chamber, kicking up dust and wrapping himself in a glowing light for only a moment as he swapped the yellow and brown for purple and more black. The perpetually hungry Morpeko was now running on empty, and as such changed into his Hangry mode.

"Alright, Morpeko, show this twerp his place! Use Aura Wheel!"

Morpeko began running in place, and a wheel of negative energy formed around him. The wheel began rolling down the stairs, bouncing as it quickly made its way toward Goh and Cinderace.

Goh clinched his teeth as things seemed to be going from bad to worse. If only Grookey had a move! If only he had one more Pokémon! Then he could buy just a bit more time…!

"AURA SPHERE!"

Thankfully, he had bought enough time already.

Ash was standing, throwing a Poké Ball toward the continuing battle. In a flash of light, Ash's Lucario appeared between Morpeko and Cinderace, already forming the focused orb of his very life energy in his hands. Taking the Aura Sphere in one paw, Lucario jabbed it through the negative energy of the Aura Wheel, crashing into Morpeko, sending him sailing back towards James.

"Ash!" Goh shouted, eyes going wide and a grin growing on his lips.

"Sorry it took me so long! Inteleon had some trouble figuring it out, but now I'm free!"

Team Rocket looked aghast. "I-Inteleon?!"

At the sound of his name, Goh's lizard turned off his camouflage and shook a finger at them. "Intel…"

"Thanks, Inteleon!" Goh said. He took out a Poké Ball. "And thank you, Cinderace. You did all I could ask for and more. Take a rest and let us handle it from here."

Cinderace gave a weary nod as he was pulled inside his Poké Ball to rest.

"We're not going to let you twerps ruin things!" Jessie shouted, shoving Wobbuffet forward. "We were SO CLOSE to a win, you can't steal it back!"

"Inteleon, quick! Go free Pikachu and Eevee!"

"Morpeko, stop that spy!"

"Oh, no ya don't! Lucario, Reversal!"

"Wobbuffet, do something useful for a change!"

As Inteleon clambered up the walls and across the ceiling towards the opposite side of the room from where Chloe still sat restrained, Morpeko began spitting seeds from his mouth, trying to knock him down. Lucario leapt in the way and blocked the seeds as they hit into his two arms crossed over his chest. Easily enduring the blow, he turned that damage into power and with glowing arms leapt towards Morpeko, only for Wobbuffet to jump in the way. Lucario attacked, swinging his paws into Wobbuffet's rubbery body, only for Wobbuffet to bounce back, smacking into Lucario.

"You can't out muscle us with brawn-headed tactics like that!" Jessie shouted.

Ash and Lucario both bore the same wild grin on their faces, as Lucario transformed that damage into even more Reversal strength. "Keep it going, Lucario!" At his trainer's command, Lucario continued to swing with his Reversal-powered fists, building up more and more power the more Wobbuffet smacked him back.

Importantly, this kept the blue blob from interfering with Goh's move.

"Now, Inteleon! Snipe Shot!"

Proving that all he needed was a better vantage point, Inteleon pointed his fingers at the glass containers holding Pikachu and Eevee and shot two intense sprays of water. The attack was fast and clean, shattering the glass and freeing Pikachu and Eevee from their confinement.

"PIKAPI!"

"Pikachu!"

Pikachu leapt up, hopping across the faces of James and Jessie before landing in Ash's arms. Being the little copycat she was, Eevee followed Pikachu right behind, also leaping off their faces before landing next to Chloe.

Ash and Pikachu shared a nod before Ash gestured towards Chloe. "Pikachu, use Iron Tail!"

"Chuuu pi-ka!"

With a mighty swing of his tail clad in metal, Pikachu sliced through the metal clamp holding Chloe's arms down, and she immediately used them to pick up Eevee.

"I'm so glad you're alright," she said, nuzzling her fuzzy Pokémon.

"Eievui!"

Jessie was stomping her foot at the sight of the reunions. "No no NO NO! This isn't how things are supposed to go! We came up with the perfect scheme and this stupid twerp 2.0 had to ruin everything!"

Ash finally had a chance to hop down the stairs and stand by Goh's side. "Thanks for the save, Goh," he said, offering Goh a fist.

Goh formed his own fist and gave Ash's a friendly bump. "Of course. There's no way I'd ever let Team Rocket have their way!"

"In case you brats haven't noticed, we're not quite finished yet!" James shouted.

Goh smirked. "I dunno, I think we've got this just about wrapped up," he said.

James gestured towards him. "I'm sure Morpeko has something to say about that!" he shouted. "Use Aura Wheel!"

"Use U-Turn, Inteleon!"

Once again, Morpeko began running in place as a wheel made of his own negative energy began to form. Unfortunately for Morpeko, it wasn't to be as Inteleon descended from the ceiling, and his long tail was enveloped in the iridescent green energy as he smacked the rodent backwards. Morpeko fell dazed and unable to continue the fight as Inteleon recalled himself into his own Poké Ball as part of the move.

Ash pumped both of his fists. "Let's wrap this up!" he shouted. "Lucario, use Aura Sphere! Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!"

Lucario formed another orb of his focused life energy as Pikachu leapt up. Lucario tossed the Aura Sphere towards Team Rocket and Pikachu discharged ten-thousand volts of electricity into the Aura Sphere, powering the attack up into a combination between the two Pokémon.

Team Rocket's eyes went wide before they cringed, anticipating the coming blast off, only for Wobbuffet to leap in the way. Surrounding himself with a strange psychic power, Wobbuffet caught and then repelled the electrified Aura Sphere back towards Ash, Goh, and their Pokémon.

The Rockets laughed mockingly. "Now's the time for two twerps to hoist themselves by their own petard!" Jessie gleefully shouted as the attack quickly moved towards them.

Goh and Ash had barely any moments to react, but thankfully for them, someone else was already moving.

"Eevee!" Chloe shouted, her arm pointing forward.

Eevee leapt in the way of the combination attack, and she had surrounded herself with the same mysterious power as Wobbuffet, rebounding the attack back at Team Rocket, twice as fast as before.

"W-Wobuffet!" he shouted, once again using the same power to bounce it back, this time directly towards Eevee down the stairs.

"Vui!" Eevee shouted, continuing to hold the power active, bouncing the attack towards Wobbuffet and Team Rocket at the top of the stairs.

And so the attack remained bouncing rapidly again and again between Eevee and Wobbuffet, stalemated between the two of them.

"What can we do now…?" Goh asked, wondering to himself how to safely break the stalemate.

"Uki!"

Looking down at his feet, he saw Grookey there with a mischievous, eager smile.

Goh nodded, the final pieces falling into place. "Alright, Grookey, go!"

Grookey ran up on all fours, quickly climbing the stairs until he came to standing at the top near Wobbuffet. He leapt on the Psychic-type, causing his rubbery body to bounce and stretch, but most importantly, it made him lose his concentration on the move he was using to hold the attack back.

As Grookey leapt backwards towards the wall Ash and Chloe had been held prisoner near, the combined attack rebounded off of Eevee one final time as Wobbuffet finally righted himself just a second too late.

The speed of the attack caught Team Rocket completely off guard. Not only did it crash into all of them, lifting them all off the ground, but it punched a hole through the sealed door and presumably out the back wall in less than the time it would take Goh to blink.

He didn't even hear an explosion as the combined move took them away. Just the crashing of stone as the attack carried them through and their trademark shout upon their defeat:

"We're blasting off again!"

A high-pitched ping, perhaps them crossing the sound barrier, echoed in their wake.