Ash was currently monitoring Team Rocket using Aura sensing, he was currently following Archer leave the cave, he was followed by Jessie, James, Meowth, Cassidy, Butch, and the three grunts he beat.
'Seems like Archer was going to have them give a report on me, especially with the lie Jessie made, things are about to get more complicated,' Ash thought while rubbing his head 'What a drag,'
As he looked at the rest of the grunts, about half decided to leave, but the other half continued using their drills.
Surprisingly Ash could also see all the Clefary and the energy coming from the Moonstone, and hilariously they were not digging in the right spot.
"Ok," Ash said looking over to everyone, "The plan is simple to destroy the Drills and incapacitate the remaining grunts, a lot of them are leaving but if we fought the rest of them at the same time, I say we have 45% chance of winning, 50% if we can surprise them."
"Ok so how are we going to do that, I don't have a good way to quietly do much, and Seymour doesn't have any Pokemon," Brock responded.
"Well that is where these three come in," Ash said while he released Bellsprout, Oddish, and Poliwag, "These guys can put them to sleep, and if they can't release their Pokemon that is less of a problem for us."
Brock nods, "Ok, makes sense, obviously not foolproof but we don't have the luxury to sit down and create a plan so it's the best we have for now, I can have Zubat and Geodude attract them since they are native to Mt.Moon."
"Ok, We shall prove ourselves heroes and turn in Team Rocket for Justice, But a Plan like this requires a Name, I shall dub this Plan Operation Blast Off!" Seymour yells, thankfully they weren't in the cave when he did this.
"I'm not calling it that, anyway here is the Plan…"
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(POV Change)
'My name is Philip, I am a grunt, not much to say about it. It's a simple life where we can catch or steal Pokemon and turn them in for Credits in the base, and now and then we are called for bigger missions like this.'
'I have been a Grunt for a few years now, though if I can collect enough Moon stones and Fossils I may be able to rank up.'
Suddenly they all heard a sound, "Geodude!" Followed by the sounds of stones falling.
"What was that?" One grunt asked, "Why are there still Pokemon here, should they have all left?"
"There shouldn't be, but if a Pokemon can stay here that means that it must be strong, and there may be more," another Grunt said.
"Alright, let's separate, half of you guys follow me and the rest of you keep digging," Philip said, most of the grunts nodded and they separated, following him were 9 other grunts.
The grunts walked through the cave getting into a narrow passageway, but as they continued moving Two vines came out from a small clearing grabbing two of the grunts starting with their mouths so they couldn't scream then to their limbs so they couldn't reach their Pokeballs.
They were separated with none from the Group noticing, and as they were pulled to the source the two grunts saw a weed come out of a different hole and through spores onto them, making them fall unconscious.
Meanwhile, the group continued walking until they reached a fork, "Which way should we go, flip a coin" one grunt suggested.
Suddenly they heard another sound, "Zu-Zubat", "Geo-dude"
"Alright it sounds like there's one Zubat and a Geodude, you 3 go get the Zubat and the rest of us will follow the sound of the Geodude," Philip announced as they separated.
As the 3 Grunts that were separated followed the path they came across a Zubat harassing a Pokemon, as the Zubat saw them it flew away, meanwhile the Grunts were interested in the mysterious Pokemon.
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"Well hello there," one grunt said, "Who are you"
As all three grunts leaned forward to see this Pokemon that was crawling in fear, and as soon as they got close the Pokemon turned around revealing Poliwag.
The grunts were confused why a water Pokemon was in the cave but they didn't notice the tadpole use Hypnosis, Knocking the three grunts out.
Back with the group of 5, they continued walking forward and another Grunt was dragged off, this time one grunt felt like something was wrong.
"Hey weren't there 5 of us originally?" The Grunt asked.
"You're being paranoid remember the rest of them went on the other Path, if there were 5 of us then he Probably decided to go after them," Philip said not even turning around.
"I guess you're right, though this place gives me the creeps," the Grunt said as he saw a piece of grass behind a Rock.
His curiosity got the better of him and he walked back from where they came, and as he walked back he saw an Oddish, which threw a Sleep Powder on him.
As the remaining Grunts continued forward they finally saw that the one Grunt was Missing.
"Where is the Rookie?" Philip asked, "He was just with us."
"Maybe he saw something and got separated," one Grunt suggested.
"No he would have said something, and he isn't calling out for us to" The third grunt responded.
Suddenly, two vines came from the ceiling and grabbed the two Grunts dragging them up.
Philip went for his Radio to call for Backup when suddenly a Rock came out and destroyed it seeing the Geodude, before he could scream he suddenly felt pain in his head then his world went Black.
(Back to Ash)
'Thank you Aura enhancing, and Aura sensing' Ash thought as he put down the grunt he just knocked out and Pulled off some of Bellsprout's Vines since he can just separate them from his body and quickly grow new ones.
He tied up the grunts on this side when suddenly he saw Brock walking to him with Poliwag on his shoulder and holding on to the other grunts that were incapacitated.
"That worked out way too well," Brock said as he set the Grunts down and Ash tossed him some vines.
"What can I say, when you study battle tactics you learn a thing or two."
"Right, well we need to get back to Yellow and Seymour before they get captured," Brock suggested as he finished tying as Belsprout came in with the rest leaving a total of 10.
"Don't worry I am sure Pikachu is doing his part of the Plan," Ash said smirking.
(Change POV)
Yellow and Seymour were currently hiding behind a rock with Pikachu hiding with them.
"Ok Pikachu you remember Ash's plan" Yellow whispered.
"Yes little friend, you saved me and now you will save all the Pokemon of the mountain," Seymour said, holding himself back from Yelling.
"Pika" Pikachu said, saluting and separating himself from the two and running forward to one of the drills.
In total 4 drills were left, the rest of the drills were taken by the Grunts that left.
Pikachu approached one of the drills, went into the side, and took a bite into the wires, absorbing the electricity and running away before the Drill turned off.
After it stopped the grunts walked over and started looking over what made the drill stop.
"What happened to this thing, why did it stop?" One Grunt walked forward and looked over the drill.
At this point, Pikachu got into another drill and did the same thing and ran away.
The grunts saw this and started getting angry, "What third-world region made these drills!" One grunt yelled as he hit the drill.
Pikachu stayed hidden since the grunts were now watching the last 2 drills to see if something was going to happen to them.
At this time Ash and Brock got back to the group.
"Alright, is everyone ok?" Brock asked
"Yes, they haven't found us and Pikachu broke 2 of the drills" Yellow whispered.
"Perfect, now to finish this," Ash said as he put his fist in his hand. "You all ready." Receiving a nod from his friends.
He signaled for Bellsprout to get two more Grunts before they start fighting, he then handed a Pokeball to Seymour, "We will distract them and you just need to sneak past them and release this."
At this point Bellsprout grabbed 2 more grunts, leaving a total of 8 Grunts left, all of which were now aware of them.
"Hey what are you doing, do you have any Idea who we are, there will be consequences!" One grunt said.
At this point Ash and Brock were standing in front of them, Brock had Geodude and Zubat out, and Ash had two Pokemon hiding.
The grunts all sent out their Pokemon revealing 3 Zubats, 2 Grimer, 2 Koffing, and one Ekans.
At this point, Pikachu was hiding in the ceiling, and as soon as all of the Pokemon released Pikachu jumped down and sent a Thundershock onto all of the Team Rocket Pokemon, taking down the Zubats and Injuring the rest.
"What, where did that rat come from?!" one of the Grunts with a Zubat yelled.
"Whatever that just means they can only win with a sneak attack let's take them down and take their Pokemon," the grunt with the Ekans said.
All the grunts sent their Pokemon to Attack, Just as Planned.
"Bellsprout" Ash called out as the familiar sapling jumped out of the cave.
As soon as he came out Belsprout sent out his vines and Grabbed one of the Koffing and started spinning it, as he was spinning the Koffing he started Glowing and changing revealing a Weepinbell.
________________
[Weepinbell (M)]
[Ability: Chlorophyll Hidden Ability: Effect Spore]
[Current moves: Vine whip, Growth, Wrap, sleep powder, poison powder, stun spore, Sludge Bomb, Slam)]
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'Well, that changes things but not in a bad way.' Ash thought
"Now Slam" As Weepinbell heard this he used the Koffing to bash into the other Koffing sending them both into the broken drill causing a small explosion and revealing both Koffing unable to battle.
And at this point, Seymour got to the other side and Yelled "GO!"
Caused all of the grunts to Look at him and Ash to put his face in his hand, 'So much for the element of surprise.'
Seymour sent out the Pokemon Ash gave him, Machop, as soon as he was released he grabbed the Drill and threw it at the other Drill destroying them both.
"Why You, Ekans go take care of that nuisance." The Grunt with the Ekans commanded his Pokemon to go after Seymour.
As the Ekans jumped to attack Seymour, Machop grabbed it by the tail and started slamming it (like what Hulk did to Loki) Machop kept doing it until the Snake lost Consciousness.
At this point, there were only 2 Grimer left, "Hey Brock you wanna take care of these two?"
"Sure I got these two," Brock responded as he sent his Pokemon to take care of the Grimer.
Ash walked forward to the Grunts, "Well are you going to surrender? Now we can do this the easy way, or we can do it the hard way. The choice is yours."
The grunts looked at each other and started running for the exit when suddenly Brock's Onix comes out of the mountain and blocks the exit.
"Ok, I-i see you choosin' the hard way." Ash said approaching the Grunts, "I'm a warrior!
Hours later the Rangers and representatives from the league were taking the Grunts and questioning Ash, Brock, Yellow, and Seymour.
Brock called them since he still had some reputation being a Gym leader.
As soon as the members of the league heard that an Executive came here under a direct order from the Boss they sent this information to the elite-4 and champion.
After which they decided to leave since all the grunts were taken in and informed them that the Rangers would start Guiding the Pokemon from the mountain back, and Brock informed them of the War in Route 3.