399: Shocks and Bonds
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401: Kessho Tonamento e! Atsuki Tatakai no Hibi!
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The episode begins with Ash vs a hipster called Clark with his own cheerleader squad, in their third and final qualifying match. Clark is known as the Conductor because of the way he controls the flow of his matches, while Ash is known as the idiot savant because he's a moron who is good at fighting. Ash is using Glalie and Grovyle, while Clark has chosen Quilava and.... oh shit..... Charizard!
Clark believes he has the advantage, pulling out his baton (GETCHA MINDS OUTTA DA GUTTA!) and kicking things off with a Flamewheel/Heatwave combo on Glalie and Grovyle. Clark is smugly confident that he has this in the bag, and his Pokémon are smug too as they easily absorb an Icy Wind. Charizard and Quilava move in with speed that only Grovyle is able to dodge, but Ash insists he isn't part of Clark's "orchestra" and has Grovyle and Glalie move in with a Pound/Headbutt combination. Clark tells Quilava to use its speed to dodge, but Quilava is shocked to discover that Grovyle can easily keep up; slapping it upside the head and leaving it open to Glalie's Head Butt.
Grovyle protects Glalie from getting hit and has Glalie use Icy Wind, which hits Charizard's Heatwave and creates an explosion that knocks Quilava aside, and Grovyle follows through with Pound to knock Quilava out of the fight.
And now Clark "only" has Charizard left!
Charizard uses Steel Wing, and Ash tells Grovyle to dodge at the last second.... but Charizard was expecting it and comes back around, smashing Grovyle into the wall and knocking it right out. now it's the disembodied demon head from Ice-Hell vs the kickass killer dragon fire lord!
Charizard uses Flamethrower but Glalie uses Ice Beam on the ground to create pillars of ice that blunt the attack, also creating spears of ice all around it as added protection. Charizard comes in with Steel Wing again, and Glalie uses Double Team around the ice pillars, which really doesn't stop Charizard soaring in and smacking through them all and then bashes into Glalie and sends it pinballing off of the pillars. Everyone thinks Ash has had the tables turned on him, including Clark and the twerps, but Ash isn't done yet, having Glalie use the ricocheting between pillars to build up speed and prevent Charizard from getting a bead on it. The Dragon takes to the sky, but that just leaves it open to a top speed, full power Head Butt from Glalie which crashes it into and through a pillar of ice and out for the count!
Ash wins! And if it had been HIS Charizard.... HIS BITCH WOULDN'T HAVE GONE DOWN LIKE THAT!
Outside of the stadium, Ash and the other twerps are celebrating his qualification into the ACTUAL Victory Tournament when Morrison shows up. He's successfully qualified as well, and as they shift from friendly competitiveness to fury and angry bragging over which of them will win the tournament, Max informs them that his PokeNav has registered that Tyson's final match is about to begin.
Ash and Morrison race each other to the stadium.... going the wrong way.... while the rest of twerps just head over to see it. At the fight, Tyson and his opponent (a furious looking solidly muscular middle-aged man called Johnny) are both down to one Pokémon each left - Sceptile for Tyson and Aggron. Aggron uses Metal Claw, but Sceptile dodges using Detect, avoiding each swinging blow.
As the twerps (sans Ash and Morrison) settle down, Team Rocket pass by selling snacks and spot them and Pikachu and realise they can take the chance to steal.... and then forget about it momentarily as a small girl asks for some snacks.
Sceptile unloads Bullet Seed on Aggron, uses detect to dodge again and leaves Aggron sweating and breathing hard. Brock appreciates Tyson's use of the hit and run technique, while Team Rocket are slowly raising up their net to grab Pikachu when.... Ash wins the race!
Team Rocket duck back down before May can spot them, and Morrison insists he would have won if he was wearing his sandals.... and May points out that he IS wearing his sandals. Max asks for an explanation of the hit and run technique-
YOU HIT AND THEN YOU RUN! MORON!
-and Brock explains it, Sceptile is keeping at range, getting Aggron to swing and miss over and over and then take it down when it is exhausted. Johnny seems to realise what is going on as he has Aggron stop and use Harden, and Tyson takes the opportunity to order Sceptile to prepare a Solar Beam. Johnny can't resist the temptation and tells Aggron to use Metal Claw again. It moves in for the kill as Tyson waits to see if he timed it right.... and he did!
BLAM! Aggron is out! Tyson makes it through with a nonsensical and meaningless 0:21 on the "timer" on the screen.
As the twerps talk up Tyson's quality (giving us all a deep sense of unease over the eventual outcome of the Hoenn League), Team Rocket are sneaking up behind them to grab Pikachu... and crawl right up to their John Kricfalusi-style boss, demanding they get back to work or get fired!
That evening as Ash and Morrison hungrily chow down on their heaped plates, they discover from Max that tomorrow is actually an off-day to allow the trainers to rest up and prepare for the Victory Tournament. May plans to take the day to try out some good food, while Ash is only focused on training, training and more training.
Meanwhile, Team Rocket are ALSO being treated to a good meal by their grateful boss, who is once again pleased with their hard work during the day. He tells them that a good meal will help sharpen their minds and bring them good things, and after he leaves Team Rocket agree that this can mean only one thing.... they're going to get Pikachu!
The next day as a weird little song plays, the twerps wake up in their shared room (they're ALL in there, Ash, Morrison, Tyson, May, Max and Brock!) and then spend the day in a montage of training/shopping and stalking pretty girls until the day ends with Ash and Morrison and all their Pokémon tuckered out in the grass as the sun sets.
HEY TRAINERS, WHICH OF THESE POKEMON HAS AT LEAST TWO EVOLUTIONS!?! GULPIN, SPHEAL OR WAILMER!?! THE ANSWER IS SPHEAL BECAUSE IT ISN'T INTERESTING ENOUGH AS AN INDIVIDUAL AND NEEDS THE EXTRA EVOLUTION!
The next day, the OFFICIAL Victory Tournament has begun, with close to 600 people sent home miserable and only 32 making it through to the REAL event. The usual suspects are watching on television at home, including a truly bizarre and completely out of fucking nowhere scene of Delia treating a sick (and delighted!) Mr. Mime!
Wh... why? Why does this scene exist? Whose idea was this!?!
Misty appears to be heading for a cold shower as she stops to spot Ash on the screen, perhaps to cool down her mixed rage and lust for the boy who has forgotten she ever existed, perhaps because her shorts have disappeared halfway up her ass. While she attempts to move on with her miserable, empty life, Professor Oak and Tracey are carrying around big stacks of books in an effort to pretend they're academic instead of a dirty old man and his chubby 3rd wheel.
At the stadium, Ash and the green haired girl (Katie) he is facing have had their battlefield randomly chosen as a rock battlefield that comes up from beneath the ground. May doesn't know anything about Katie, but luckily for her she travels with a horny, tits obsessed pervert who has a book with creepy details on all the pretty girls he has seen. His advice is only good for stalking though, and Max has more useful information in his PokeNav.
The battle starts, Venomoth vs Torkoal. Torkoal uses Iron Defence but the move is disabled by Venomoth, whom Katie then recalls to send out Golduck. It Hydroblasts Torkoal through the air and rushes to meet it as it falls and lay on some fast fury swipes that..... knock Torkoal out immediately!
Holy crap, they don't fuck around in the Hoenn League!
Ash brings in Pikachu, going to his ace in the hole early, and Katie coolly recalls Golduck and sends out Dugtrio instead, giving her the big Type Advantage. Pikachu zooms in with Quick Attack, and Dugtrio digs beneath the ground leaving Pikachu standing confused.... and Dugtrio creates a Sandtomb and leaves Pikachu falling towards its doom. It blasts Thunderbolt at Dugtrio which makes little impact, and Dugtrio rushes to meet Pikachu with Double Edge... and Pikachu smashes it in its three faces with Iron Tail!
Pikachu is sent flying out of the resulting blast and is knocked out (what!?!) and Dugtrio wins it. Ash sends out Glalie as his third choice, and once again Dugtrio digs into the ground... and Glalie smashes a Head Butt into the ground and knocks them back to the surface to take a shot of Ice Beam that knocks them out!
With Dugtrio out, Katie sends in Misdreavus to deal with Glalie. The two floating Pokémon face off, Ash opening with an Ice Beam which Misdreavus... charges right into! Morrison is delighted while the others are uneasy about why this is happening. Glalie headbutts Misdreavus which uses Destiny Bond and Misdreavus is knocked out.... but the Destiny Bond causes Glalie to fall as well, the move designed to cause the opponent to fall if the Pokémon that does it falls too!
A callous move, perhaps, but it has given Katie the real advantage, and left Ash to ponder the unthinkable.... could he be about to lose at a big tournament.... AGAIN!?!
We can only hope not!
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