464: Home Is Where The Start Is
Dodgy Synopsis
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468: Tabi no Owari, Soshite Tabi no Hajimari!
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The smoke clears and the winner is......... ASH! Yes, Ash has won and.... wait, no! the winner is.......... MAY! Yes, May has won and.... wait, no! The winner is MAY AND ASH! Yes, it's a tie! Both their points remain equal and since this is a fun contest without any qualifications on the line, the final result stands.... Ash and May win!
Despite having just sat through several hours of a Contest and getting no clear winner for it, the crowd seems pretty damn excited, cheering happily as Ash and May shake hands and Sceptile and Blaziken grin at each other. Nurse Joy comes up to present them both with the Terracotta Medal, but there is only one to share with both of them! Luckily Ash and May seem to be on the same wavelength, and May throws the medal into the air where Sceptile Leaf Blades it into two, and Ash and May hold up their halves together in victory.
Brock and Max clap along with the crowd, as Ash and May wave their thanks and the announcer calls them true friends..... but true friends or not, time is ticking closer to their inevitable departure.
As the sun drops low in the sky, the twerps head down to the picnic area overlooking the docks. The Pokémon settle in to chow down, while the twerps sit at the picnic table and eat a hot meal cooked up by Brock. May looks over them all and tells them she has come to a decision, she means to enter the Johto League Pokémon Contests.... but by herself, she doesn't want Max to come with her!
Her little brother is horrified by this outright rejection, of course, but she explains that she doesn't want to have the option to fall back on someone else to depend on, even if it is just Max. She has come a long way since she first met them all, and she wants to continue to develop by throwing herself in at the deep end to sink or swim.
Ash and Brock both note that she'll have Soledad there, and even Harley.... and especially Drew! But where Ash and Brock are understanding (after all, she was leaving them anyway) Max is not, he just got all but told to fuck off by his own sister! He walks off dejectedly, sitting down on a swing and looking depressed as Ash approaches him. He tells Max that he knows it is hard to know he won't be going with May, and Max admits that lately he has actually been feeling jealous of her. She has been doing so well and he's hates that he can't grow up quicker and bang her... I mean become a Pokémon Trainer!
But Ash does know at least one thing, and that's how to make a young kid obsessed with Pokémon happy. He tells Max that he has been looking forward to Max starting up his own training, because he is eager to battle him. Max gets psyched at the idea, proclaiming that he KNOWS he can beat Ash, and they all laugh before the ferry horn blows and brings them back to reality.... it's time to go.
And that's.... it. They're gone, on their way back to Hoenn and then Johto for May.
Max tells May Ash promised him a battle, and as soon as he gets back he means to make their Dad start training him. Deciding to head inside and eat the lunch Brock packed for them, they turn and walk away.... and that's it, the end of May and Max after four good seasons. May came into the show hated and despised for taking Misty's spot, and came to be not only an excellent replacement, but a great character in her own right. Now she is gone, and the nerdish, humorously frustrating Max with her. They'll be back for certain, if only in a special or a cameo episode, but for now, they are gone.
Meanwhile, Ash and Brock have headed on, and reached the fork between Pallet Town and Pewter City.
It's time for them to part ways too, even if it isn't permanently. Ash is hungry, so is Brock, they've used up the last of their supplies, but Ash is soooo hungry. Brock points out that Pallet Town is close and they'll probably have a feast prepared for him, and Ash runs off with a quick goodbye, simple as that, leaving Brock behind.
But while Brock may have temporarily left, and May and Max are gone for good.... as we learned when Misty left the show, there are some people who will NEVER leave Ash... Team Rocket!
Floating overhead in the Happy Buddha Face Meowth Balloon, Jesse is pleased to see the twerps are "broken" up. James and Meowth are just hungry though, and Jesse has to sweeten the deal by pointing out that a solo twerp is easy pickings, however, and they head on after Ash to find him. As they travel, James and Meowth point out they never succeed trying to capture Pikachu, and maybe they should give up while they're behind, but Jesse offers an angry pep talk, insisting they not dwell in the past, and Meowth agrees that they should look forward to future mishaps. As they cheer, random Thunderbolts shoot up in the air and they look down and spot a weird yellow electric Pokémon that ISN'T a Pikachu.... and Jesse instantly insists that they MUST catch it! James and Meowth note that she only recently said that their job was to catch Pikachu, and she roars at them that their job is to do whatever she says!
The Pokémon - a weird monkey looking thing - is shooting down apples from a tree and happily eating them. Meowth blasts it with a net, completely catching it by surprise and dragging it towards them in their electric-proof net. They're delighted to have captured a brand new type of Pokémon, but while its blasts can't get through the net, they are seen by Ash and Pikachu, who run towards the sight. Team Rocket keep on dragging the large, heavy and struggling Pokémon towards them, but then a figure appears on a nearby cliff as Ash arrives and...
HOLY FUCKING SHIT IT'S BATMAN! I MEAN BATGARY! I MEAN GARY!
He tells his Pokémon (Electivire) that it shouldn't worry, if it can't use Electric Attacks there are other moves it can use, like for instance Iron Tail. It cuts itself free and Team Rocket rush it, and it... THUNDERPUNCHES THE FUCK OUT OF THEM!
Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again... for the season!
Ash checks out the Electivire with his Pokedex. but there is no data. Gary tells him he got it in Sinnoh, and Ash eagerly asks for a chance to battle it. Gary says it has used up too much energy for now... but if he really wants to battle, he'll be at Professor Oak's lab later.
Some time later, Ash is back in Pallet Town and arrives home, rushing inside but finding nobody about. So he figures that if he can't find his Mother at home, the next best place to try is Professor Oak's!
Getting there, he finds Oak's Lab empty too. He looks about various rooms and then moves into the lounge and.... Tracey fires a shitty little streamer from behind the couch with Mr Mime, while Professor Oak, Delia and Gary walk in from the bedroom... OH MY GOD! YOU DIRTY BASTARD OAK, HE'S YOUR GRANDSON! Ash shows Delia the plaque he got for winning the Battle Frontier and she actually seems impressed. Tracey grabs some food (no shock there) and calls for the pathetic little party to get started, but Ash wants to battle Gary first, and Gary is more than willing!
Pikachu kicks things off with a Thunderbolt and Electivire responds with the same, the two moves clashing. Pikachu tries a Quick Attack which Electivire Dodges, leaping high and coming back down with Iron Tail as Pikachu comes back with the same.
Ash is impressed by the new Pokémon, but knows he can't lose, he won the Battle Frontier! Pikachu rushes in with a Thunderbolt and once more Electivire leaps high, which Ash figures makes it defenceless. He orders a Volt Tackle, but Gary smirks, saying,"Come on Ash!" before ordering Protect, which absorbs the Volt Tackle and leaves Pikachu open for a Thunder Punch RIGHT IN THE FUCKING FACE!
Ash loses!
He grabs Pikachu and apologises, saying he thought they could win. Gary walks up beside him and tells him it is great he won the Battle Frontier, but that doesn't mean he should relax.... there are plenty of Pokémon out there - like those in Sinnoh - that Ash doesn't know anything about yet, so he needs to always keep working, because the world is a big place.
Having achieved his objective of putting Ash back in his place following the beating he himself took at Johto, Gary tells the others he has to get back to Sinnoh, he just has too much work to do. He turns and looks at Ash before walking out, and Ash grunts that the world is a big place, then leaps up and declares to Oak, Delia and Tracey that he has to go to Sinnoh!
That night, Delia sits up working at her sewing machine on new clothes for Ash. She smiles to herself over the thought of once again letting her only son take off on his own to some other country to fight with and collect wild animals - Mother of the Year folks!
The next day Ash tells his collected Pokémon that much like his Kanto, Orange and Johto Bunch, they'll be remaining here with Professor Oak... which is pretty fucking cold, he could have let them know on the way home as opposed to after arriving! Also this means no more Sceptile! NOOOOO!
Oak in turn tells Ash to be sure to visit Professor Rowan when he gets to Sinnoh, a colleague of his and expert on Pokémon Evolution. He then gives Ash a new Pokedex and with barely a goodbye to his mentor/unknown Father, mother, close personal friend (Tracey to those of you who have forgotten) and all his Pokémon, Ash is out the door!
As he leaves, his Pokémon wave happily goodbye, all except cool as ice Clint Eastwood Sceptile which watches his trainer go coolly, and Aipom which is just plain horrified.
Delia says setting off on new adventures is what he is good at, that's what makes her Ash... Ash.
Not long after (well, probably a couple of days later), Ash and Pikachu grin at each other on the ferry as they head out into the sea towards Sinnoh. The wind blows Ash's hat off.... and it is caught by.... Aipom! Yes unlike that other obsessed Pokémon - Bayleef - Aipom actually followed him! Ash grins as he, Pikachu and Aipom head back to the railing while alongside the ferry, clutching desperately to the side we see once again the group we know will NEVER leave Ash, Team Rocket!
Why are they going? Well if Ash is heading to Sinnoh, then Team Rocket have angrily and defiantly decided that they'll follow him no matter what! Brock is gone (but for how long, unlike Delia, Brock is a mother who can't stand to be parted from his "kid" for long.... unless of course that kid is actually a blood relative!); May and Max are gone, and apart from Pikachu and Aipom he's all alone. Any ordinary person with a functioning brain would be feeling a bit depressed or introspective, but Ash ain't no ordinary person with a functioning brain! He yells out to the inanimate, uncomprehending and uncaring far distant landmass oh Sinnoh that it had better be ready for him, and the narrator declares that true to form, Ash is once more on a new adventure.
And we'll be there to see him. See you next season, Gentle Dodgers!
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