Chapter 138

"Stop yapping. If they escape, we're both going to be in big trouble," the female Team Rocket member reminded.

The man grinned, "Relax, relax. They're just a few kids; dealing with them is a piece of cake."

One minute later.

The male and female Team Rocket members were tightly bound with rope. To prevent them from making any noise, their mouths were stuffed with their own smelly socks.

Lance: "Team Rocket, Team Rocket again. What are they doing in Slowpoke Well? Could it be to kidnap Kurt?"

Chairman Goodshow: "I've heard that Team Rocket has been secretly developing a Master Ball that can capture any Pokémon. Their purpose in kidnapping Kurt is very likely for the Master Ball."

Bruno: "A Master Ball that can even capture Legendary Pokémon? Is that for real? Does Team Rocket really have that level of technology?"

Lorelei: "Of course it's real. To develop the Master Ball, that guy Giovanni previously bribed a large number of researchers from Silph Co."

Giovanni: "Idiots, we in Team Rocket have no interest in a ball maker."

Agatha: "No interest in Kurt? Then what are you doing at Slowpoke Well? Could it be for the Slowpoke?"

Apollo: "Of course it's for the Slowpoke."

Steven: "For Slowpoke? A Pokémon like Slowpoke isn't worth much, is it?"

Pokémon of the Slowpoke type are very demanding of trainers; trainers with lower skill levels can't even command a Slowpoke in battle properly.

Team Rocket members are of mixed quality; Steven doesn't believe they have the level to command Slowpoke.

Lambda: "To be precise, it's for the Slowpoke's tail. Don't you guys know that a Slowpoke's tail is very valuable?"

Lorelei: "You damn guys!!!"

As soon as Lambda said this, Lorelei immediately understood what Team Rocket was going to do.

Cynthia: "Unforgivable, simply unforgivable!!!"

Leon: "Team Rocket, truly a disgusting organization!!!"

Ash: "What exactly is Team Rocket doing? What do they want the Slowpoke's tails for?"

Ash, who had been listening along the way, was completely confused.

Gary: "To sell them for money, of course. Slowpoke tails are a very precious ingredient."

Lambda: "Bingo, you got it right. Slowpoke tails are sweet; if you use them for cooking, they're delicious. So, as long as you farm a large group of Slowpoke, you can infinitely produce a large number of tails. If you sell them all, what a huge income that would be! Also, don't be so indignant, one by one. It's not Team Rocket that eats the Slowpoke tails; it's the rich people in Kanto and Johto who eat them. If you really want to condemn someone, shouldn't you condemn those people?"

Lambda's words made everyone silent.

Professor Kukui: "Eating Slowpoke tails isn't an outrageous thing; small dishes made by drying Slowpoke tails and then boiling them in salt water are a common delicacy in Alola. However, your behavior of farming Slowpoke and artificially cutting off their tails is absolutely unforgivable!!!"

Picking up tails that Slowpoke have dropped and making them into ingredients is something Kukui himself certainly wouldn't do, but he could barely accept it. What he found most unacceptable was Team Rocket's attempt to farm Slowpoke and treat them as tools for making money.

Giovanni: "Tch. A bunch of hypocrites."

He didn't care about those messy things; he just wanted to make money. The original intention of founding Team Rocket was to make money.

Would the opposition of the big shots in the chat room make their Team Rocket earn a penny less?

Heh, impossible. It might even have the opposite effect, making more people want to try Slowpoke tails.

Giovanni understood the sinister nature of the human heart too well.

Moving forward, all the Team Rocket members blocking the way were taken care of. When Ash and the others arrived at the depths of the cave, what they saw was a tragic scene.

The Slowpoke in the cave had all been captured and were being chopped of their tails one by one.

"What exactly are you doing?!" Misty couldn't hold it in anymore. She never expected that people from Team Rocket would do such a terrible thing.

"Doing?" Lambda smiled slightly. "As you can see, cutting off the Slowpoke's tails."

"Young lady, don't worry. Slowpoke are very dull Pokémon; they won't feel much pain when their tails are cut off. As long as two or three months pass, their tails will grow back."

"Just like leeks, one crop after another, they can never be cut out."

"Oh, are you wondering why we cut off the Slowpoke's tails?"

"Of course, it's to make money. Slowpoke tails are very valuable."

Lambda had always considered himself a good person, so faced with Ash and the others' confusion, he told them everything he knew.

"Where is Kurt? What did you do to him?" Ash suppressed the anger in his heart.

"Rest assured, Kurt is perfectly fine. It's just that because we were worried he would cause us trouble if he went out, we temporarily imprisoned him in the cave."

Lambda told Ash and the others not to worry; they came to Azalea Town to seek wealth and had no interest in taking lives.

"You're Ash, right? Hearing your name is not as good as meeting you; you really are a talent." Lambda looked Ash up and down and said with a smile.

129: The strongest man on earth, Black Ash! Lambda's teeth were knocked crooked.

"Oh, you want to ask how I know you?"

"You're a big celebrity in our Team Rocket. The Boss made your portrait into a dartboard and uses it to throw darts every day."

Ash: "..."

Lance: "Hilarious. Giovanni, is this your capacity? Knowing you can't beat Black Ash, so you can only use this method to vent?"

Bruno: "Forgive Giovanni; after all, Black Ash took away his Mewtwo."

Lorelei: "Lambda really is a good person, saying everything out loud."

Giovanni: "..."

It was just that Giovanni couldn't jump into the video; otherwise, he really would have wanted to jump in and seal Lambda's mouth shut with tape.

This unlucky kid, why does he say everything!

The nonsense was over, and Lambda began to get serious. Don't look at him like this; he was an executive of Team Rocket after all. Meeting Ash today, he definitely had to have a good fight. If he could capture Ash and bring him back to Team Rocket, wouldn't his status in Team Rocket take off directly?

"Go, Weezing, Koffing, Koffing, Koffing." With a harmless smile, Lambda threw out four Pokémon in one breath.

"Three Koffing, one Weezing. Is this guy a fanatical fan of the Koffing family?" Misty frowned; she really didn't understand Lambda's team composition.

"Bad!!!"

Misty, Brock, and Erika hadn't realized the seriousness of the problem; only Ash reacted.

"Come out, Heracross, use Endure."

Ash hurriedly told his companions to hide behind Heracross. If his guess was correct, a massive explosion was about to come.

Ash's premonition was correct. The moment he summoned Heracross, a series of massive explosions came.

The sound of explosions echoed one after another in the cave. Fortunately, Ash's reaction was fast enough that his companions suffered almost no damage.

As for himself, a mere massive explosion couldn't hurt him.

Because of the explosion, the entire cave was filled with smoke.

Suddenly, a piercing screech sounded in Ash's ear; it was the sound of a Golbat.

This Golbat was aimed specifically at him, its attack fast and fierce, striking directly at his neck.

The massive explosions of the Koffing and Weezing were just an appetizer; the real killing move was the Golbat's assassination.

Lambda's tactics could be described in one word: ruthless.

Don't look at this guy as harmless on the surface; he was more ruthless than anyone when it came to taking action. He was worthy of being a high-level executive of Team Rocket.

If it were anyone else today, they might have really fallen into Lambda's hands. Unfortunately, the opponent he faced today was Ash.

At this time, taking other Pokémon out from his belt was clearly too late, and with the smoke as cover, even if he summoned a Pokémon, it might not be able to save Ash in time.

Taking a deep breath, Ash decided not to pretend anymore; he showed his hand.

"Too noisy!"

Ash grabbed the Golbat that was preparing to sink its fangs into his neck. Before the Golbat could even react, it was thrown to the ground by Ash like trash.

"Bat~~"

A pig-like scream echoed in the cave.

The Golbat's cry was too loud; as long as Lambda wasn't deaf, it was impossible for him not to hear it.

Actually, he quite wanted to see what kind of inhuman torture the Golbat had suffered to scream so painfully, but a qualified Team Rocket member had to retreat when necessary.

Now was the necessary time; it was time to run.

Take advantage of the smoke cover to run; otherwise, it would be terrible if he were caught.

"Want to escape?" Ash smiled coldly.

Lambda was shocked. Could Ash's eyes see through the smoke? Otherwise, he had just taken a step; how did Ash know?

Was it a coincidence?

Lambda gritted his teeth. Better to believe it than not. To ensure he could retreat smoothly, Lambda called out his last Pokémon.

"Arbok, go entangle that guy!"

Lambda was definitely a tiger with a smile; he was amiable on the surface, but more ruthless than anyone in private. He would discard his own Pokémon as soon as he wanted to. In his heart, he himself was the most important; Pokémon were just tools that could be obtained easily.

Lance: "It really is the standard style of Team Rocket; when encountering danger, anything can be discarded."

Lance was quite disdainful of Lambda's behavior.