Ash and Misty are waiting for Brock's stew to be ready, so Ash decides to start admiring and polishing up his badges. Suddenly Pikachu sees something and it catches everyone's attention. Brock says that it looks like three feather dusters.
Togepi being the brave one goes over and touches one of them and three Murkrow emerge from the bushes. Ash checks them with his Pokedex and finds out that they like to steal things, but he says that they look too nice to do something like that. About a second or two after he says that, the Murkrow go and steal his badges! Ash sends out Noctowl who knocks the Murkrow out of the tree. Ash thinks it is over, but the Murkrow fight dirty by throwing mud in Ash's face. Noctowl continues to follow them, but they all attack it at once and knock it out. Once the Murkrow have gotten away, they all put out their bounty on a log to admire the glimmer that it gets off of the sun.
Meanwhile, Brock uses Golbat's Supersonic to track down the Murkrow. Ash goes over to them and asks them for the badges being totally trustworthy, but they trick him again and fly off. Golbat tries to follow, but it gets knocked out. Pikachu comes to the rescue by knocking out the Dark-type Pokemon all at once with a Thundershock.
Ash is about to get his badges back, when Pikachu is captured by Team Rocket. They start out with saying their usual motto, but the don't have much luck because the Murkrow pop the balloon and steal James' bottle cap collection which really infuriates him. James tries to get them, but he trips and the Murkrow fly away with their stash. James continues to try and get back his prized collection by trying to capture the Murkrow with a net, but Team Rocket gets a boulder instead and gets thrown away. After another triumphant win, the Murkrow yet again admire their loot.
Ash says that he has to get his badges back, so he uses his Bulbasaur to climb up the hill. Once on top, he decides to spy on the Murkrow and makes a plan. Ash tries to sneak up to them and snatch the badges, but he only gets pecked instead and knocked down the hill. The Murkrow start to mock our heroes because they keep getting the better of everyone. Suddenly the Murkrow see something shiny, but it is only a diversion. Everything is going great until Togepi blows their cover. After another failure that results in Pineco getting blown up, Ash has a brilliant plan and sends in Noctowl. Noctowl flies in and plays dead and the Murkrow let their guard down for just one second and Noctowl snatches the badges. Team Rocket then ruins the day with a giant robot resembling a giant Murkrow. They go on a rampage and steal everything insight.
The Murkrow are about to be sucked away, but Ash saves them. Pikachu ends up also getting caught which results in our heroes fighting back! Noctowl and Murkrow decide to team up and they go in and dodge the fans, which results in the robot short-circuiting and the release of Pikachu and everything else. Pikachu then delivers the usual Thunderbolt which sends Team Rocket packing for the sky's yet again. Ash finally gets back his missing Fog Badge and he thanks the Murkrow for all their help and with that our heroes are off for more adventures.