(2)A Masked Man Had HO-OH Kidnap Me At 8, So I Stole Galar's ETERNATUS And My Pokemon Beat DIALGA!

Recap

The story opens with Mr. B bringing a very suspicious “guest” to dinner with Karen and Will: Blue, disguised with a Ditto mask. Karen immediately teases him for “abducting” another girl, while Blue has to sit quietly as Karen casually asks where the real Blue ran off to. The reunion is tense, but Mr. B needs information about Ho-Oh—and all Will can offer is a sailor’s rumor about a white bird rescuing shipwreck victims.

The conversation turns to Team Rocket’s worsening situation. Kanto’s Elite Four have been dismantling Rocket bases, and Will admits Bruno put him in jail for six days. Karen says the remaining executives have been moved to Rocket’s enormous hidden base beneath Celadon’s Game Corner. Mr. B goes to inspect it, just in time for an intruder alarm to sound. Blue spots the intruder crawling through the vents and helps Mr. B intercept her: it’s Erika, Celadon’s Gym Leader, who has already sent information about the base to Lorelei. Mr. B captures her—but deliberately lets the League know where the base is.

That decision sets up a spectacular dawn raid. Lance, Mr. B’s cousin and Kanto Champion, destroys the Game Corner with his Dragonite twins’ Hyper Beams, collapsing the building on top of the Rocket base. Karen, Apollo, and the others break out, but Lance’s attack leaves them trapped in a street full of League officers. Mr. B enters the battle on Reshiram, blasting Lance’s twin Dragonites out of the sky. The two cousins then clash in a fierce dragon battle. Lance’s twin Dragonites combine their attacks into a massive hurricane, but Reshiram tears it apart. Lance’s regular Dragonite puts up a much better fight, yet Reshiram eventually knocks it down too.

The rest of the street turns into a chaotic set of matchups. Caitlyn takes down Apollo, Red corners Athena, and Bruno captures Will—who loudly protests that the League is picking on him because he’s short. Karen fights Lorelei with plenty of insults and clever tactics, but retreats when Bruno’s reinforcements arrive. Mr. B escapes with his friends, and Blue and Marne later blow up the base’s dangerous research tanks so the League can’t take the experiments. The running joke is that Lance’s “knock” on the hidden base is less a knock and more a dragon-powered demolition job.

Mr. B proposes that Rocket recover by taking over Silph Co. and its Master Ball research. Giovanni considers the idea, while Mr. B privately arranges to visit Dr. Fuji—an old debt he still feels he owes. Before that, however, he heads to the Tree of Beginning in Roa, hoping to find Mew. The legendary Pokémon turns out to be far less solemn than Blue’s childhood poster suggested: it disguises itself as an Aipom, then happily trades its company for biscuits and a chance to play with one of Arceus’s plates. Blue is devastated to discover that the mysterious ancient creature can apparently be bribed with snacks.

The trip also brings Mr. B back into contact with his estranged father. He calls home, asks his father to help arrange an alliance between their Dragon Clan and Roa’s House of Cameron, and finally admits that he joined Team Rocket by choice. His father doesn’t approve of Rocket, but still tells his son that the clan stands behind him. The conversation ends with a promise to meet again—a rare, heartfelt moment for a narrator who usually treats everything as a transaction.

Meanwhile, Lance travels to Unova and attacks Team Plasma’s buried castle, demanding that N hand over Zekrom. Lance defeats much of N’s team but can’t persuade Zekrom to leave its trainer. N escapes with the dragon, and Lance heads off in pursuit, adding another legendary dragon to his ever-growing list of obsessions.

The Hoenn Disaster

In Hoenn, Mr. B finds Team Magma and Team Aqua both converging on Mount Py to steal the Red and Blue Orbs. Zinnia, a Dragon Tamer with a Mega Salamence, is secretly driving the plan: she wants the two teams to awaken Groudon and Kyogre so Rayquaza will appear. Mr. B takes the Blue Orb for himself, while Zinnia leaves the Red Orb with Magma.

The plan works—but disastrously. Primal Kyogre rises from the ocean and unleashes the Primordial Sea, while Primal Groudon erupts from the land and creates the Desolate Land. The two titans begin reshaping Hoenn just by existing. Steven, Wallace, Cynthia, N, and other trainers try to contain them, but none can truly stop the rampage.

Mr. B joins the fight with Reshiram, Eternatus, and Genesect, while N and Zekrom do what they can to distract the Primals. Zacian also arrives after Mr. B summons it, reluctantly agreeing to help protect the region—not for Mr. B, but for the lives at risk. At last, the elder Rayquaza arrive: a powerful green Mega Rayquaza and a spectacular shiny black one. They subdue Groudon and Kyogre and restore the weather.

The black Rayquaza recognizes Mr. B as a suitable successor, and the younger green Rayquaza chooses him too. Mr. B catches the younger dragon after reassuring it that a professional dye job can fix its “tacky” green coloring. It’s a ridiculous way to acquire a legendary Pokémon, but the dragon willingly enters the ball.

Zinnia’s plan leaves her disillusioned, but Mr. B sees potential in her and brings her back to her people at Meteor Falls. Her community gives Blue an Altaria and Marne a Deino, and Zinnia joins the group.

The Baby Lugia and the Master Ball

Mr. B next investigates a Rocket outpost hidden beneath Ogi Isle, where Dr. Namba has been secretly studying Lugia. Namba’s plan to lure a baby Lugia with a crude mechanical duck works absurdly well: the baby follows the toy straight into a trap. When its mother attacks the base, Mr. B chooses to rescue the child rather than destroy the facility. He returns the baby to its mother, who gives him a Silver Wing and asks him to look after the youngster while she goes to search for Lugia’s missing father. The baby promptly bonds with Mr. B over expensive energy cubes and joins the party.

The episode also has an extended joke about Mr. B’s habit of recruiting powerful Pokémon through increasingly bizarre means. Mew wants biscuits; Rayquaza wants a new paint job; and Zacian is only convinced to help by Mr. B’s carefully worded appeal to its sense of duty.

Mr. B and Giovanni then take over Silph Co. with surprising ease. Rocket operatives infiltrate the company as employees, and Giovanni makes the president a “prisoner” in his own office. Mr. B leaves the Master Ball on display rather than using it, wary of how easily a device that forces capture could become another instrument of control.

Dialga, Palkia, and a Very Bad Paint Job

A crisis in Sinnoh brings Mr. B to Alamos Town, which has been trapped inside a spatial barrier with Palkia wounded and hiding above the city. Mr. B breaks the barrier with Reshiram and Rayquaza, but the act draws Dialga to the town. Darkrai shields the residents from an attack, inspiring Rayquaza—who had been reluctant to get involved—to finally fight.

Mr. B pushes Rayquaza toward Mega Evolution, and it succeeds after a brutal training regimen. The problem is that Rayquaza’s black coloring is artificial: the dragon had been painted after its capture, and the paint begins flaking off during the battle. Dialga and Palkia mock the garish green patches showing beneath the black. Mortified, Rayquaza finally unleashes Dragon Ascent and defeats Dialga. Meanwhile, Giratina appears and drags Palkia toward the Distortion World for what it calls a “free day trip” to inspect the damage.

Rayquaza’s victory is a huge breakthrough, though the dragon immediately demands another paint job—this time in red.

Lance vs. Leon

The new World Coronation Series ranking puts Lance at number one, Leon at number two, and Mr. B nowhere on the list. Mr. B expected to be excluded, but still checks. Lance accepts Leon’s challenge to a six-on-six match at Indigo Stadium.

Before the match, Mr. B gives Lance a Mega Stone, then deliberately frames it as charity. Lance rejects it in a fury—which is exactly the reaction Mr. B wanted. The next day, Lance reveals that he already has a Mega Stone for Gyarados and Mega Evolves it immediately, using its Mold Breaker ability to get around Leon’s Seismitoad’s defenses.

The battle becomes a showcase of Lance’s Dragon Clan training. His Gyarados defeats Seismitoad and Aegislash; a Dragonite twin helps take down Leon’s Dragapult, and another Dragonite beats Leon’s Inteleon. Leon rallies with Mr. Rime, then brings out his Mega Charizard. Lance answers with another Dragonite—and finally reveals the Dragonite that fought Mr. B in Celadon. This one is on another level: it catches Charizard by the throat, tanks its attacks, and wins their final clash of Outrage-fueled Dragon Rushes.

Lance defeats the undefeated Leon and keeps the world’s number-one ranking. But even in victory, he scans the stadium for Mr. B, desperate to prove himself to the one person who has beaten him. Mr. B slips away before Lance can find him, leaving their rivalry unresolved—and revealing that Lance still has a mysterious sixth Pokémon he has yet to show.

Where Things Stand

Giovanni asks Mr. B to hunt down a Rocket inventor who has stolen Dark Balls, devices that make captured Pokémon stronger but strip away their will. Mr. B is disturbed by the technology and sets off after the inventor, while also accepting an invitation from Alola’s Aether Foundation. The foundation wants his help with Ultra Beasts, and Mr. B is especially interested in the worlds beyond the wormholes—and the prospect of eventually reaching Necrozma.

The story ends with Mr. B heading toward Alola, accompanied by Reshiram, Eternatus, the painted Rayquaza, Mew, and the baby Lugia. His growing attachments are making him less purely self-interested, but he remains a Rocket executive who treats danger as entertainment—and sees his cousin Lance as the opponent he most wants to surpass.

Personalities Featured

• Mr. B — The powerful, calculating Team Rocket executive at the center of the story; increasingly protective of the people and Pokémon around him, though still a mischievous antihero.
• Blue — Mr. B’s childhood companion, a resourceful fugitive who often supplies the sharpest reactions and jokes.
• Marne — Mr. B’s close companion and practical battle observer.
• Lance — Mr. B’s cousin, Kanto Champion, and obsessive Dragon Tamer.
• Karen and Will — Rocket executives caught up in the Celadon raid; Karen is especially quick with a cutting remark.
• Giovanni — Team Rocket’s boss, whose authority Mr. B is steadily outgrowing.
• Caitlyn, Erika, Red, and Bruno — League figures involved in the Celadon operation.
• Mew, Reshiram, Eternatus, Rayquaza, Zacian, and the baby Lugia — Major Pokémon companions or allies, each involved in the story’s battles or comic moments.
• Steven Stone, Wallace, Cynthia, N, and Zinnia — Key figures in the Hoenn crisis and its aftermath.
• Leon — Galar’s undefeated Champion, who challenges Lance for the top world ranking.
• Ash, Misty, and Brock — Briefly appear when Ash challenges Sabrina’s Gym.