Ep 18. A Poached Ego

Ash, May, Max, and Brock are traveling through the woods when they come across a poacher capturing wild Pokemon. The poacher claims that he's only capturing the Pokemon to release them later, but Brock knows that it's illegal to capture wild Pokemon without a permit.

The poacher runs off when a group of wild Cacnea and Cacturne attack him, but upon further investigation, they discover that he has a poached Pidgey in his possession. The group decides to track down the poacher and turn him in to the authorities.

Meanwhile, Team Rocket is also on the hunt for the poacher, hoping to capture some of the Pokemon for themselves. They run into the poacher, who tries to sell them an Eevee, but they realize that it's a decoy and demand that he show them the real Pokemon.

The poacher leads Team Rocket to a cave, where they find a group of captured Pokemon but are quickly ambushed by the poacher and his men. Pikachu, who had been hiding in Ash's backpack, jumps out and attacks the poacher, causing a brawl to break out.

The group is able to subdue the poacher and his men with the help of the wild Pokemon, but they learn that the poacher was working for a larger organization that plans to capture and sell rare Pokemon on the black market.

The group decides to turn in the poacher and his men to the authorities, but not before freeing all of the captured Pokemon from their cages. Ash and his friends continue on their journey, hoping to find and stop the larger organization before they can do any more harm.

In the end, the group learns a valuable lesson about respecting and protecting the rights of wild Pokemon, and they vow to continue fighting against those who would do them harm.