461: Gathering the Gang of Four
Dodgy Synopsis
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465: Saisho no Pokémon! Saigo no Tatakai!
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May calls out her own Squirtle to meet Ash's, and it umm... blows water up its ass before wrestling with it.
Brock gives Ash his camping gear, and Professor Oak explains to Max that Ash is heading up into the mountain forest with his original "Gang of Four" (poor Pidgey and Caterpie) to get a feeling for how it used to be back in the day when he was first starting out. He hopes to get an idea finally on HIS own battling style. To further get him into the fighting mood, Nurse Joy gives him some homemade cookies, well known for their "enraging properties", and then Charizard gives Ash a proper greeting by blasting flames into his face, and then they head off into the mountain forest.
Once there, Charizard throws some logs, Bulbasaur Razor leafs them into chunks, and the gang of four catch them and form them into a square. Squirtle Rapid Spins up some leaves and Pikachu and Bulbasaur gather them with Vine Whip and Quick Attack to form a nice bed for them to sleep i.... and then Charizard jumps into it to settles in for a nice nap! Squirtle Water Guns Charizard in the face and it leaps up angrily to attack, and Bulbasaur steps up and uses Vine Whip, slapping Pikachu by accident. Ash tries to stop them fighting and gets a face full of flamethrower, so Pikachu thunderbolts them all. That seems to calm everyone and they decide to get some food, all of them working together, but when they find a tree, Charizard ignores Ash's commands and uses Steel Wing to knock the berries down. Ash is impressed, when did Charizard learn that move? The other Pokémon gather up the berries and they soon have a large pile of food. As the sun sets, Ash gathers up firewood but Charizard uses too much power and blasts the firewood into soot.
He tries again with a dainty flame and starts a fire, and they settle down for the night. Ash talks about the first time he met all of them, including Pikachu on his first day as a trainer. Then he remembers Bulbasaur protecting the other Pokémon in a hidden village and head butting Misty's ass before eventually becoming a Pokémon Ambassador (ahem, that's "Sheriff Bulbasaur" to you). Charizard started out as just a little Charmander, and then became a Charmeleon, then Charizard - he was a weak quivering little lizard, and now he just kicks all kinds of ass. And Squirtle.... ahh Squirtle. At first a juvenile delinquent in the Squirtle Squad, he finally found the homoerotic fratboy atmosphere the little homophobic turtle wanted in the Pokémon Fire Squad.
And so they set to training with really soft-ass music playing in the background, Ash working them on different attacks throughout the day and sleeping with them in their leaf bed by night.
Meowth weeps as they indulge in some nostalgia too, and James suggests they go back to their roots too and just grab Pikachu. They drive up in a truck pretending to be noodle salesmen, and even Ash can see that selling noodles in a van up this far in the mountain forest is weird.... then promptly decides that just because it is weird doesn't mean it isn't perfectly okay! He rushes up and asks for some noodles, but they sadly explain that they can't actually make any at the moment (but decided to drive up and offer to sell him some anyway?). Oh if only they had an electric Pokémon they could make oodles of noodles! Ash is astonished, why it just so happens that HE has an Electric Pokémon! They agree that Pikachu could do the trick, haul Pikachu up, jump into their truck and.... just drive away!
Ash is horrified and accuses them of being Team Rocket, and they laugh when he demands Pikachu back, saying they've been waiting for 9 seasons now and they'll still be Team Rocket through Season 10!
They take off in a lead Happy Buddha Face Meowth Balloon, chased by the Ash on Charizard's back. They attempt to blast down the balloon but for once flying in a lead balloon is working out for them as each of the attacks fails to make an impact on the balloon. But then Ash has his Pokémon alternate attacks on the metal Meowth, alternating fire and water to cool and crack the metal, allowing Bulbasaur to cut through it and send Team Rocket crashing down, Pikachu falling into Ash's arms.
They land in front of the crashed Team Rocket and Ash is ready to murder! He has Pikachu Thunderbolt, Squirtle Water Gun, Bulbasaur Razor-Leaf and Charizard Flamethrow them, just absolutely completely fucking hammering the absolute ever loving shit out of Team Rocket.
As they blast off again, Meowth and James notice that Jesse.... actually did have some noodles! They fight angrily as they blast off, while Ash congratulates all of his Pokémon and then Charizard gets his attention, someone is in the bushes.... Brandon!
Brandon congratulates Ash on working so well with his Pokémon, saying he enjoyed seeing his combinations. He tells Ash that after getting the Pokémon he was after, he came straight back to give Ash the battle he deserves... and now having seen Ash working with his Gang of Four, he's decided he'd like to work with a gang of four himself. He suggests they have a four on four battle, so he can see how Ash handles varying Pokémon and their attacks/weaknesses and strengths etc. It seems like Brandon gets to change up battles however the fuck he wants which seems a little unfair, but there is a reason as Ash discovers the next day.
When they return to the Pokémon Centre the following day, they find Scott, Jenny, Joy, Oak and the other twerps waiting.... and Scott has a bombshell. It seems that if Ash IS able to beat Brandon, then he can become a Frontier Brain too! Scott explains to the surprised twerps that the entire purpose of the Battle Frontier is to attract top quality trainers to become brains themselves - in fact trainers who win the Battle Frontier actually enter the Hall of Fame! In fact Scott himself is the creator and owner of the Battle Frontier.... he just kind of forgot to mention it! The whole reason he made the Frontier was to expand and improve the "art" of Pokémon battling, it's not enough just to go in and power your way through - he wants to see skill and strategy and adaptation and all round excellence.
The others are excited about the idea of Ash as a Frontier Brain in charge of his own battle facility (yes, Ash as a brain, that makes sense!), but Ash stops them by pointing out that before that can happen, he still needs to defeat Brandon.
And thus, Ash's rematch finally begins inside the Battle Pyramid, the roof opening as Ash gets another chance to prove that winning the Orange Islands League wasn't a fluke and he actually CAN do better than getting knocked out in the Semi-Finals of a Contest!
Brandon's assistant introduces Ash and then Brandon, explaining it will be a four on four battle with only Ash allowed to make substitutions. Brandon calls out Dusclops, a bizarre "black hole" Pokémon inside a mummified cyclopean form. Ash calls out (who else) Charizard as Jenny and Joy say this'll be a good match, and Brock pops up from behind them to moan that THEY'RE A great match and he can't choose, and Max drags him away before he can suggest to the two disinterested girls the only three French words he knows.
Dusclops uses Willow Wisp to dissipate Charizard's Flamethrower, so Charizard tries a Steel Wing on for size. But the swooping, speedy attack is outpaced by Dusclops' Shadow Punch, a disembodied fist that smacks Charizard right in the face and... pisses him off! He uses Dragon Breath to smash Dusclops, which retorts with "mean look", blasting its purple eye beam into Charizard and "Trapping" him in the battle... as if Charizard would ever have any intention of stopping a fight before one of the participants was a bloody unconscious mess. Charizard uses Steel Wing and Dusclops leaps into it, grabbing Charizard's wing and using Confuse Ray to leave Charizard confused, but also unable to return due to Mean Look, which means Ash can't recall it to its Pokeball to get rid of Confusion.
Dusclops uses Shadow Punch and sends Charizard crashing back as Ash begs it to snap out of it, but Charizard is beyond Ash's call now. Dusclops fires Willow Wisp into Charizard which roars in pain as Ash remembers all of Charizard's former victories and cries out that it can't give up, it has always stood up and faced down battles!
But there comes a time, Gentle Dodgers, when we must accept reality. Charizard is mighty, of that there is no doubt, but sometimes even it will come up short, and in this case Dusclops has had the upper hand from the beginning. Not only is Brandon outsmarting Ash in his use of battle tactics, but Charizard is clearly outclassed, and thus we must accept Charizard's defea....
Mother.
FUCKING.
CHARIZARD!
Charizard shakes off its confusion and lets loose a roar of defiance before blasting Dusclops with Dragonbreath. Brandon calls for another Willow Wisp to smack Charizard back, and both Pokémon end up facing off with each other, panting with exhaustion. Ash sends Charizard in with Steel Wing and it smacks in with a direct hit, but again Dusclops holds onto its wing, and Ash sees the opportunity for Seismic Toss!
Yes Ash has screwed up and blown Charizard's fight-back, and as Charizard spins about, Dusclops disappears from its grasp and Charizard is completely exposed, taking a direct hit from Shadow Punch and goes.... down!
Charizard is out, all of Brandon's Pokémon are still standing, and Ash's ace in the hole is gone. Does Ash stand any chance of victory, or are we going to once again see him learn a "valuable" lesson by getting beaten at the last hurdle after coming so far. He has the tough Frat-Boy Squirtle and tough-as-nails Sheriff in Bulbasaur, but can he do it without the Mighty Charizard?
And as we ponder this, deep in the soul of Pikachu we see a dark tavern, and inside a small Pikachu sitting at the bar. Stepping away from the bar, the Pikachu stubs out its unfiltered cigarette pushes away its wine and grabs its beret from the hat-stand, muttering to itself.
"Charizard? c'est magnifique.... mais ce n'est pas la Pikachu."
| BEST QUOTES |
 "Noodles! Hot and fresh off the noodle tree!"
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