Richie continues his journey to become a Pokémon Master. He is sailing on the S.S. Anne with Sparky. Suddenly four Gyarados pops out from the water. They roar and surround the boat. The captain leads everyone back into their cabins. The captain tells Richie his plan. He plans to turn the boat around real quietly so the Gyarados aren't disturbed. Suddenly, a trainer calls out his Salamence. Richie takes out his Pokédex to scan in Salamence. The trainer walks up with a Chikorita perched on its shoulder. Salamence uses Hyper Beam. Scared, the Gyarados swim away. The trainer yells to the captain to get the boat moving again. Then he brings Salamence back into its Pokéball. Richie is amazed at the trainer's performance. The trainer tells Richie that he wants to capture a Moltres.

Richie tells the man that know one even knows where Moltres appears at. The man introduces himself as Silver and tells Richie to not call him "mister". Richie introduces himself to Silver as well. Two other people confront Silver. The woman says that she is Dr. Louise Armstrong. The man says that he is Dr. Senchmo. Richie asks if they know Moltres's location. The two people tell Richie that they don't even know where Moltres is at. Dr. Senchmo puts his hand on Silver and suggests for him to lie down. Silver gets mad, and tells them to never touch him again. Richie thinks that they are hiding something.

The boat finally arrives at the island. A volcano rests in the middle of the island. The captain tells Richie that the volcano is very dangerous. People have said that the volcano could erupt at any minute. Richie sees Silver and his assistants walk by. The boat is about to leave the island. Richie makes an excuse, and he quickly jumps off the boat. Richie asks Sparky if it's okay. When Sparky says yes, Richie decides to follow Silver.

He finally catches up to Silver, and wants to see Moltres. The assistants tells Richie that he shouldn't be here, and that they came to study some rocks. Silver doesn't think Richie will be any trouble. He has his assistants explain of what is going on. Dr. Senchmo explains about how Moltres flies from island to island. Their prediction is that Moltres will be here tomorrow on top of the volcano. Keeping the island a secret was very big in their plan. The assistants say that they need to do some research with Moltres. They hope to catch some of Moltres's fire to study. Silver plans on battling Moltres. Richie wants to come along, but Silver and his assistants thinks that Richie will just slow them down. Richie says that he won't get in their way, but Silver refuses to take him with them.

Its getting darker, and Silver decides to set up camp for the night. On another part of the volcano, Richie continues to walk. Suddenly, Richie hears something. He decides to take a closer look. Richie sees the assistants talking into a radio device. They are talking to Professor Nanba! The assistants are really Cassidy and Butch in disguise, and they plan to capture Moltres. Richie accidently steps on a twig. Team Rocket hears Richie and they rush over to see what happened. Richie is hiding by hanging on the cliff. Team Rocket doesn't see anything, and they go back. Professor Nanba asks if they heard anything. Suddenly, Silver approaches Team Rocket. He tells them to be careful around the volcano. They agree, and walk away. Silver walks down to Richie. Richie is still holding onto the cliff. Richie can't hold on the cliff anymore and falls off it. Chikorita quickly uses Vine Whip, and grabs Richie's arm. It pulls Richie safely up onto the land. Richie tells Silver about the assistants. Silver doesn't care about their plan as long as he gets to battle Moltres. The Silver decides to let Richie join them. They walk back to the camp. Team Rocket is sitting by the campfire. They decide to get some sleep.

Inside the tent, Team Rocket discusses their plan with Professor Nanba. Meanwhile, Richie thanks Silver for not getting mad. Silver tells Richie that Richie reminds him as a kid. Richie gets really excited over things, and he doesn't think about anything else when he does. Richie tells Silver about Ash who is also pretty stubborn. Silver calls stubborness determination. He adds on that if you want to do something, then you should not let anyone stop you from doing it. Then Silver tells Richie that he saw Moltres when during his childhood. Finding and battling Moltres became Silver's dream. Tomorrow the dream will come true.

It's morning now, and the group has arrived at the top of the volcano. Lots of smoke floats out of the volcano. The group sits on a rock to wait for Moltres. Cassidy is a bit disappointed that she skipped breakfast. Suddenly, they sense something in the sky. Moltres is flying above the clouds. Richie looks up Moltres in his Pokédex. Silver sends out his Salamence for battling Moltres. Salamence uses Hyper Beam, but Moltres dodges the attack. Moltres uses a Flamethrower, but it dies out before it can reach Salamence. Team Rocket says that Moltres is at its weak point when it flies to the island. They encourage Silver to battle Moltres. Silver doesn't want to battle Moltres anymore because it is not strong. Team Rocket is mad now. Cassidy sends out Tentacruel and Butch sends out Cloyster. The Pokémon attack Moltres will full force. Then Cassidy shoots out a net and traps Moltres inside. The net shocks Moltres, weakening it.

Silver is mad at Team Rocket. Salamence destroys the net with a Dragon Claw. Tentacruel and Cloyster attacks Moltres again, but Salamence protects Moltres with a Dragonbreath attack. Cassidy fires another net which captures Salamence and zaps it. Cassidy even fires a net zapping both Silver and Richie. Then they recite their motto. Silver asks Richie if he knows the villians. Richie tells Silver that they are people who steal Pokémon and do other kinds of bad things. Tentacruel and Cloyster fires another Water Gun. This time the attack scores a direct hit on Moltres. Another net is fired capturing Moltres. Team Rocket wonders if capturing a legendary Pokémon would make them legendary. Silver tells Chikorita to use Razor Leaf on the net. The net breaks and Silver and Richie are free. Salamence uses its full strength and breaks the net with its claws. Lastly, Sparky uses Thunderbolt which sends Team Rocket blasting off again.

Moltres is about to fall into the lava. Salamence tries to save it, but misses. Moltres falls deep into the lava. Silver and Richie both hope that Moltres can survive the lava. Suddenly, a bright yellow light flashes from out of the lava. Moltres bursts right out of the lava with lots of energy. Richie thinks that Moltres comes to the volcano when it's weak in order to regain its strength. Moltres flies around, and shoots a bunch of Flamethrowers out. Moltres and Salamence are now ready to battle. Salamence attacks with Hyper Beam, and Moltres uses Flamethrower. The two attacks collides against each other resulting an explosion. Moltres fires again hitting Salamence. Salamence uses Double Team. A bunch of copies surrounds Moltres. Then Salamence attacks with Dragonbreath, but Moltres takes the hit.

The volcano begins to erupt. Silver tells Richie to get out the volcano. Suddenly, a boulder comes falling down. Before the boulder can hit Silver and Richie, Moltres demolishes it with a Flamethrower. Silver and Richie both fly out from the volcano with Salamence. Moltres flies away into the clouds. Richie is sorry that Silver didn't get to finish his battle, but Silver tells him not to worry.

Silver and Richie arrives at the dock. Silver decides to stay on the island to train with Salamence. He hopes to battle Moltres again. Richie asks Silver if they will ever see each other again. Silver tells him to stop by once in awhile for a battle. They both know that they won't go easy on each other when they do battle. Silver waves goodbye and Richie takes the boat back to sea.