661: Saving Darmanitan From the Bell!
Dodgy Synopsis
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667: Darumakka to Hihidaruma! Dokeito no Himitsu!
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The bizarre THING is a Darumakka, one of nature's cruellest mistakes. For some reason, Iris thinks it is cute and tries to tug on its eyebrows, and it leaps away and blasts her in the face with a burst of Flamethrower. As everyone's attention is on the odd round Pokémon, a hand creeps up behind Pikachu and Axew and grabs one of the bowls of Pokémon Food. Pikachu is horrified, thinking that Axew ate it, and Iris insists that Axew says otherwise, then ponders if maybe Pikachu ate it and then just forgot?
Cilan had been saying that Darumakka is considered a good-luck Pokémon because of its never say die attitude, but the argument that has kicked off seems to negate that. Ash asks Darumakka if it saw anything but it appears to have fallen asleep, and according to the Pokedex once asleep it forms into a tight ball that simply cannot be knocked over. Being kids, Ash and Iris immediately want to try and Darumakka gets poked and wobbles back and forth. While that's happening, the sneaky paw again lifts up and grabs the other bowl of Pokémon Food, but this time Pikachu sees it, turning in time to see another Darumakka moving surprisingly quickly into the bushes. Unfortunately Axew did NOT see, and when it turns and sees the food is gone it accuses Pikachu, refuses to wait for an explanation and jumps him to fight!
Ash and Iris haul them apart, and they notice the food is gone.
Axew insists that Pikachu ate it, Ash translates Pikachu's squeaking as blaming Darumakka, but Darumakka was asleep? Ash approaches and pokes the wobbly Pokémon again, but then the second Darumakka appears behind them, holding the bowls of Pokémon Food AND Iris' Dumplings (oh get your minds outta da gutta).
The twerps take off after it, and the first Darumakka suddenly "wakes up" and leaps high into the air, blasting Flamethrower down in front of them before joining its buddy. Ash calls out Oshawott, impressing Cilan who notes the Type Advantage, but not impressing the Darumakka at all. They easily dodge the attempted Water Gun, grin back at the twerps and blast Oshawott with twin Flamethrowers, knocking it out before taking off with the Food.
The twerps head to the Pokémon Center where Oshawott is taken away for treatment, leaving Ash to worry despite Nurse Joy's assurances that the little otter being set on fire is nothing to worry about.
Meanwhile, Team Rocket are apparently enjoying a quiet cafe lunch. Seating in their trenchcoat/hat/sunglasses disguises, they smirk at each other and decide that now is the time. With a snap of her fingers, Jesse calls over the waiter and orders a cappuccino... rocket fast. The waiter takes note of the odd wording and immediately places a drink down in front of her before walking away. Team Rocket grin down at the drink, the frothy milk on the surface forming an image that could be a tower or a gate. Whatever the secret message of their undercover contact is, they seem to understand it, and be very pleased.
The sun setting, the familiar Pokémon Center from the games plays to indicate that the healing is done. Oshawott is perfectly fine now, and Ash happily recalls it to its Pokeball. For the first time, Iris mentions the Darumakka, and Joy is shocked to hear they're responsible. She explains the story behind the two thieves/con-pokes - they arrived in town some time ago in company with a Darmanitan - a gigantic monstrous ape-like creature that is the final Evolved form of the cooked chicken Darumakka for some reason. They enjoyed the company of the townspeople and hung out in the park, but then one wintry day the Darmanitan was nowhere to be seen and the Darumakka began to steal food. Nobody knows why, though the twerps suspect it may have something to do with being hungry.
Iris then notices the Clock Tower out the window and is enthralled by it for some reason. Joy happily changes the subject, noting that it is the oldest building in town, but so old that the clock and the bell inside no longer worker, and it's due to be torn down soon.
Ash's belly grumbles and Pikachu shoots him a disgusted look, while Iris, Axew and Cilan laugh. In all the excitement, they never got to eat, so Iris suggests they stay at the Center for the night and eat dinner there like a bunch of fucking freeloaders.
Settling down at the communal dining room provided by the Government funded Pokémon Centers because somebody has to supply dining opportunities for the small children bumming around the countryside cockfighting - Ash and Iris eagerly shovel heaped plates of food into their mouths, while Cilan foolishly notes that they're quite alike and they roar angrily in unison at him,"WAIT!?! YOU THINK I ACT LIKE HIM/HER!?!"
Cilan's nervous laughter is saved by Joy stepping out to inform them that due to the full moon, there will be Moon Watch Dumplings tonight. Ash offers to help hand them out and goes with Joy, Iris and Cilan to the pantry where they discover... the Darumakka! Caught in the act of thieving, they leap out the window closely followed by Ash, who sends out Pidove to track them. The Darumakka try to lose the pursuing bird, which once again shows its quality by tracking them every step of the way. The Darumakka split up, so Cilan goes one way and Ash and Iris the other, but they both end up losing their targets. Reuniting on the oddly empty city streets under a lamppost, they figure they've lost their shot.... but then along comes Pidove - reliable, overlooked Pidove and shows the right way to do - the Darumakka are hiding out in the old Clock Tower that Iris took a completely out of nowhere interest in earlier allowing us to learn about it! What a stroke of luck that was!
At a spooky bridge where an odd mist not seen anywhere else in the city is permeating the air, Team Rocket are waiting. Another trenchcoated figure approaches carrying a briefcase, pauses alongside Jesse and notes that it is cold. Jesse agrees, stating she'd like a nice hot cappuccino, and the woman drops the briefcase down beside them and explains it is the new "item". James asks for their next step, and they're told to continue on to Nacrene City and await further instructions. She moves on, leaving Team Rocket behind to pick up the briefcase and note happily (but menacingly, of course!) that this is the first step to Team Rocket's future.
The twerps have entered the Clocktower, chasing the Darumakka which freak out when they realise they've been rumbled. They head up the winding stairwell, reaching one of the upper floors but losing sight of the Darumakka. Ash wonders if they kept going up the stairs, but then the fat little cooked chickens leap down from a corner of the wall where they were hiding and strike. Blasting flamethrowers, they set the next set of stairs alight, and Ash has to send out Oshawott to douse the flames. They try Flamethrower again, but Pikachu lets rip with a blast of Thunderbolt that blocks the flames.
...hang on a second, WHAT!?!
Oshawott blasts them both with Water Gun and they're sent crashing against the wall, then drop to the ground round balls of sleep - more eggs than cooked chickens now. The twerps guess that this protected mode allows them to recover their strength and approach, but the two wake up and leap over them. The twerps shout at them to stop fighting, they're here because they're friends (since when?), and find out why they're stealing the food. The Darumakka look up at the trapdoor leading to the next roof, and Ash guesses they want to get up there and offers to help. Using Cilan as a ladder, he clambers up to the next floor, then has Snivy use Vine Whip to lift up first Pikachu, then the two Darumakka.
Cilan and Iris follow unseen, and they head up to the next floor, Iris noting that the ceiling appears to be very warm. They reach the top and..... what the fucking Christ is this shit?
Darmanitan is standing stock-still beneath the bell of the Clocktower, frozen in "Zen Mode", which according to Dexter it only does when it has little energy left. Using Psychic (which is enhanced in Zen Mode) it lifts up the Moon Watch Dumplings that the Darumakka stole and eats them. The twerps don't understand why it is still in Zen Mode though, it's supposed to revert to Standard Mode when it has recovered, but instead it has been constantly using Psychic, causing its body to overheat as the flames from its "flame sac" (grossss) began to filter through the Zen Mode.
The Darumakka approach holding something, and the twerps realise it is the hook that is supposed to hold up the Clocktower Bell. Looking up, they realise for the first time that Darmanitan is holding the bell in mid-air with Psychic, and Cilan figures out what has happened. They must have been using the Clocktower as a home, the bell broke and Darmanitan caught it. If it falls, it will do massive damage to the floors below and possibly bring down the tower itself. To prevent this, Darmanitan has been holding the bell aloft, and as its energy wore down it shifted to Zen Mode to maintain its position and keep the bell in the air. So this is why the Darumakka have been stealing food, they've been trying to keep Darmanitan's strength up.
But now Zen Mode is causing its own problems, the heat being generated by Darmanitan is going to burn through the floor sooner rather than later. Ash says they can fix this though, calling out Tepig while Cilan gets out Pansage. It throws the hook up and Tepig uses Ember, but it doesn't heat the hook up as much as needed. The Darumakka offer to help as well, and this time when Pansage throws the hook up, they add Flamethrower to Tepig's Ember and super-heat the metal. Pansage uses Bullet Seed to blast the hook into the right shape, and then Oshawott blasts it with Water Gun to cool and harden it. Pikachu manages to pick it up, but now they have a problem - how are they going to get up high enough to hook the bell back up?
Darmanitan exerts a little more energy and uses Psychic, lifting a surprised Ash and Pikachu into the air and getting them into place. Ash places the hook onto the beam, then strains for the bell itself, but he can't reach (also he's ten and his scrawny little muscles aren't going to lift it). Finally Darmanitan can't maintain any longer, and it shifts to Zen Mode. Ash and Pikachu falls, grabbing the bell, which falls and lands in Darmanitan's massive paw. Holding the bell up, it strains and then tosses it into the air before quickly bouncing off the walls and getting above it. It catches the bell as it begins to fall, placing it back onto the hook as Ash thanks it for saving their lives. Leaping back down, it pets the two Darumakka on their heads, and they all approach the twerps and happily growl and gasp their own names. Cilan wonders what they're saying, and Iris shows one of the only moments of sense we've seen from the twerps so far this episode when she says they're probably thanking them. Everybody laughs, even Darmanitan seems to have the sense to be slightly embarrassed by what a stupid question Cilan just asked.
The next day they're heading away from the city when Nurse Joy comes rushing down to say goodbye and give them an update. The Clocktower is no longer going to be torn down, instead it will be properly restored and the Darmanitan and Darumakka will be able to live there as long as they want (the property developer must be THRILLED) in order to thank them for saving the city from being damaged and any possible loss of life.
They look up at the Clocktower and see Darmanitan and the Darumakka waving a goodbye and grunting/gasping syllables of their own name. Ash waves goodbye and calls out that he was happy to hear the news, and then they're off and away, on to Nacrene City.
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