While Ash and his friends were making their escape plans, Team Rocket had just finished digging their tunnel and as they burst to the top, they happily declared "Tunnel complete!" But their jubilation was cut shot as they found themselves facing the outer wall of the building and they realised they had stopped digging too soon, leaving them still outside the Pokémon Centre!
"Okay, so I was off by a smidge," groaned Meowth, when there came a fearsome growling sound from behind them. Turing around, Team Rocket were surprised to find themselves facing Team Magma and their Houndoom, with one grunt guarding Professor Alden and another holding a tied-up Misty.
"Team Rocket!" exclaimed Misty as she struggled against her bonds. "Don't tell me you're working with these creeps!"
"It's the annoying red-headed twerp!" realised James.
"Yeah, but who are those other guys?" wondered Meowth.
The Team Magma Leader regarded Team Rocket with disdain. "Would you mind telling me what you're doing here?"
"We're doing whatever we want to do," leered Jessie.
"You're looking at this region's top Team Rocketeers!" boasted James.
"Prepare for trouble and make it double and all that jazz!" taunted Meowth.
Deciding to go on the offensive, Jessie and James sent out Arbok and Weezing to attack Team Magma. But the Houndoom snarled and gave out such a fearsome roar, that both Team Rocket Pokémon jumped in fright and retreated back into their Poké Balls! Then, the Houndoom began snarling at the astonished Team Rocket, who panicked and retreated back into their hole!
"We must have taken a wrong turn," said Jessie sheepishly.
"Sorry for the confusion, boys," added James.
"Bye now!" said Meowth.
"Wobbuffet!" said Wobbuffet, as Team Rocket slinked back into their tunnel and disappeared from sight.
"Oh boy, what a bunch of scaredy cats!" groaned Misty, as she and the Professor were shoved along by Team Magma towards the hill.
Meanwhile, Ash had managed to get the metal grill off the wall, and was now crawling along the narrow air-vent with Pikachu, while Nurse Joy waited anxiously in the storeroom with a concerned Togepi. Still worried sick about what might be happening to Misty, Ash and Pikachu boldly pressed on, when a voice called to them from behind:
"Hey Ash, slow down!"
Turning his head, Ash was surprised to see that May had followed them into the vent. "Hey May, why are you coming?"
"Why should I miss out on the adventure?" retorted May, as they carried on crawling along, until they reached a junction with two different paths.
"Now which way?" mused Ash as they tried to work out which direction they should take to get to the reception area.
Concentrating hard, Pikachu wiggled his ears and listened carefully for any sound that can tell them which was the correct path. After a few seconds, he pointed eagerly towards the path leading to the left.
"That way, huh?" said Ash, as Pikachu led the way further down the vent. With Pikachu leading them on, they soon reached another turning, and to their delight, they saw another grill, leading straight into the reception area!
"Hey, the exit!" cried Ash elatedly.
"Wow, your Pikachu's pretty smart, Ash," said May admiringly.
Moving fast, Ash kicked the grill covering away, and they all scrambled out of the shaft and into the reception area. Running over to the main desk, Ash quickly managed to retrieve the building's master-key that Nurse Joy had told him about, while May switched on the reserve power. As the lights came back on, the two trainers hurried back to the storage room and unlocked the door, freeing Nurse Joy and Togepi.
"Great work, Ash!" congratulated Nurse Joy in relief.
"Will you be okay here looking after Togepi, Nurse Joy?" asked Ash.
"You bet!"
"Then we'll go and rescue Misty and Professor Alden," said Ash, before he and May dashed out of the building and headed for the Oldale ruins.
After being dragged back up the hill by Team Magma and arriving back at the Oldale Ruins, Misty had been dumped in a corner near a fallen stone column, while the Team Magma Leader conversed with Professor Alden near a large stone block with some kind of door set in it. Straining against the ropes binding her arms and legs, Misty listened on as Alden furiously demanded answers from Team Magma.
"What is the meaning of this? Tell me, why did you bring us here?"
"What'd you think?" said the Group Leader with an evil chuckle. "We brought you so that you'd help us gain access to the stone chamber."
The Group Leader gestured to the stone door next to them, which had strange markings and four small round holes set in it.
"It won't work!" insisted the Professor. "If we try to force our way into it, the chamber will collapse!"
"But you yourself said the way in is written on this little tablet, isn't that right, Professor?" replied the Leader as he held up the stone tablet that Alden had shown earlier to Ash and the others.
"That's true, but I also said I'd need to have the four treasures as keys," pointed out Alden.
"Of course. Here you are," smiled the Leader, as one of his comrades suddenly presented a presentation box, containing four glistening spheres, each about the size of a large marble and in a different colour from one another; blue, green, yellow and red.
The Professor could not believe his eyes. "What? Where did you...?"
"You see, we have friends in high places," stated the Group Leader. "The only thing left to do is to find out which key goes in which hole, and you will help us with that."
"I won't!" stated the Professor defiantly.
The Group Leader seemed amused by this. "Really? Then I can assume that you don't care about the fate of the young lady we've brought along with us? Not to mention the poor people in the Pokémon Centre?"
The Professor was appalled. "You wouldn't!"
"We would and will unless you obey! So, what will it be?"
"Don't do it, Professor!" cried out Misty bravely. "You can't let these guys get what they want!"
"I... don't have any choice," said Alden dejectedly, unwilling to let Misty or anyone else come to harm.
Taking the keys from the Team Magma goon, Alden carefully inserted each sphere into the holes in the door, taking care to make sure he placed the different coloured keys in the correct order. The very next second, the globes glowed brightly and the whole stone block slid inwards, revealing a passage leading inside.
"Excellent!" said the Group Leader. "Let's get inside and bring the Professor with us."
With that, Team Magma and the reluctant Professor Alden all rushed inside, leaving the tied-up Misty alone outside.
"Oh great, they've all forgotten about me already," grumbled a slightly offended Misty, as she struggled against the ropes binding her. "I hope Ash and the others are okay. Oh, if only I can get free!"
Just then, she spotted her backpack, which one of the crooks had carelessly dumped on the ground a short distance from her. Checking first to make sure that all the Team Magma grunts were inside the chamber, Misty wiggled her way urgently over to the backpack, and with her back turned, she managed to open the bag and began to rummage inside for one of her Poké Balls. The problem was, since she had to keep her back to the bag due to the way her wrists were tied behind her, Misty could not see which of the Poké Balls she was able to grab hold of.
"I'll just have to hope it's a Pokémon that can help me get loose," said Misty quietly, as she just managed to open the Poké Ball with her fingers. There came a flash of light, and Mudkip emerged from the Ball with a cheery smile.
"Mudkip!" said Mudkip cheerfully. But its smile immediately faded as it quickly saw that its new trainer was in trouble.
"Mudkip, great!" said Misty in relief. "Hurry, see if you can loosen these ropes!"
With a nod, Mudkip leapt over to Misty and tugged determinately at the knots of the ropes binding Misty. Within a minute, the ropes came loose and Misty was free!
"Thanks, Mudkip," said Misty gratefully as she stood up and rubbed her sore limbs. "Now let's see if we can save the Professor!"