ENGLISH NAME	JAPANESE NAME	POKEMOPOLIS NAME	DODGINESS RATING	ANIMATION	STORY	TEAM ROCKET	MORAL LEARNT
537: Pika and Goliath!	542: Pikachu! Raichu! Shinka e no Michi!	Electric Shock Showdown II: The Wigga-ing			It's pretty much exactly the same story as Electric Shock Showdown!	Freshly convinced they haven't been wasting their lives!	No moral learned but we got a good battle!

Today's episode begins with the twerps having lunch in a forest clearing, Brock making a stew while the Pokémon eat their little pellet things. One of these is knocked loose and Piplup and Pikachu chase after it laughing, only for it to roll to the feet of a Pokémon that picks it up and eats it. It's a.... oh fuck, for fuck's sake, it's a fucking Pichu. FUCK!



Ash finishes a FIFTH BOWL of stew before noticing that Pikachu and Piplup aren't back, and they rush down to find Pikachu, Piplup, the Pichu and its trainer, an embarrassingly white young man who uses words like rad and peep this and snizzle ma drizzle. When Ash calls out to Pikachu, the trainer tells Ash to "back up, Jack!" and find his own Pokémon, then sends in Raichu with an Iron Tail to attack Pikachu. Ash has Pikachu hit back with an Iron Tail of its own, and the embarrassing trainer figures out at last that Pikachu isn't wild, it belongs to Ash.

The Trainer seems unconcerned by this though, offering Ash a Mareep for Pikachu, and when he tells him no deal the trainer pushes on, offering to throw in a couple more Pokémon for trade. An increasingly infuriated Ash tells him no again, and Brock asks why he wants a Pikachu so badly. He explains he has a Pichu and Raichu but wants a "Full Power Evolution Set" by adding a Pikachu, and doesn't want to evolve his Pichu because then he'll have to find another one. He then tells Ash to "book" since he doesn't want to do business, and Ash and Pikachu are so infuriated with his awful slang that they decide to challenge his Raichu to a battle. He agrees but says that if he wins he gets Pikachu, and when Ash refuses the trainer says he is being "straight up" and Ash is bailing because "he can't cut it". Ash insists Pikachu isn't going anywhere and the trainer tells him he's a "germ" who gives "real men" a bad "rap" and he'll have to show him the fine battle art of busting chops, chump.

Jesus, just fucking kill him already.

So the battle is on, the twerps and the trainer moving to the clearing where Ash introduces himself and the trainer replies by undergoing a bizarre lightning infused introduction and reveals his name is either the "Lord of Lightning" or "Mr. Show" or something, and Dawn mutters she kind of lost track of where he was going with that, which finally gets a non-wigga response from him. Mr. Show tells Ash that his Raichu says Pikachu is going down with a one-shot KO and then refers to Pikachu as a "noob" that he wants to "bumrush"

Jesus Christ.

Both Pokémon absorb the other's Thunder, and then Pikachu tries Volt Tackle and Raichu reciprocates, the two moves crashing head to head and sending both Pokémon flying back. Raichu lands safely however and Pikachu crashes into a rock. It gets back up and tries an Iron Tail which clashes with Raichu's, and again Raichu's larger size means it reacts better to the attack. Pikachu flies in with Quick Attack but Raichu doesn't move, absorbing the attack before firing up with..... HYPBERBEAM!?!?! Ash screams for Pikachu to dodge but Raichu slaps it against the rock with its tail and.... BOOM!

Pikachu just got served.

It struggles to get back up but can't, and the last thing it sees before passing out is Raichu grinning over it seemingly unhurt from their battle. Mr. Show says this is all she wrote and laughs that he had a harder time getting out of bed, and Pikachu's only chance would have been if it belonged to him. He offers again to make the trade and again Ash refuses, and Mr. Show laughs at him to give him a call in 100 years when he catches up to him. He walks away, and then a new voice speaks up, agreeing that Ash WAS pathetic.... it's Paul!

Trust him to only ever show up when Ash is getting his ass kicked!

Ash insists they'll win next time, but Paul mutters that Pikachu needs to evolve, that would make him and Show about evenly matched, then turns and leaves. Brock notes that it's true that Pikachu can't learn Hyperbeam until it evolves, and Dawn asks if this means they'd need a Thunder Stone. Then Pikachu collapses and they have to rush it to the Pokémon Centre, where Nurse Joy takes it into.... well, not surgery, but whatever the hell it is that Nurse Joy's do in that little background section of the Centres... read magazines or something.

As the twerps watch from the observation window, Team Rocket watch from outside the window, depressed themselves because of all the time they've put into trying to capture it.... could this be the end? There's a flashback sequence of Pikachu memories, culminating in Raichu fucking its shit up. This causes it to suffer a breakdown physically, and Nurse Joy's reaction is to blast its tiny little heart with massive bursts of electricity.

Ash watches his little Pikachu getting zapped and yells for it to come on, and this seems to pick things back up for it, and by sunset it's in a little bed with Ash sitting next to it with the other twerps, pleased to see it better. But Pikachu tries to rush out of the bed and Ash has to haul it back in. It babbles its name a few times and Ash seems to pick up the meaning, it wants to go rumble with Raichu! But Dawn points out that in its current condition it can't beat it, and this causes Ash to take another trip down memory lane, as he pulls out.... the Thunder Stone!

Yes he's had it ever since Pikachu took an assbeating from Lieutenant Surge's Raichu all those many..... several weeks.... ago! He's held onto it in case Pikachu ever wanted to evolve into Raichu, but then Pikachu collapses back asleep, so the twerps leave it to rest, leaving the Thunder Stone on the side table. Outside, Team Rocket are considering the ramifications of the Thunder Stone, seemingly none too pleased at the concept of Pikachu becoming Raichu, even if it did grow in power as well. Meowth is furious at the concept, after all he himself has long been against the concept of evolution for its own sake, he longs for the day when he can sit on Giovanni's lap and be petted without being a Persian!



Later that night, the light of the moon wakens Pikachu and it sees the Thunder Stone. It turns aside, then remembers Raichu mocking it as it lay beaten. The twerps step into the room and find Pikachu gone, but so has the Thunder Stone! Has Pikachu evolved into Raichu? Ash doesn't know, he says (sadly) that this would be fine by him and obviously doesn't mean it and then they head out to try and find it. He calls out for Pikachu then rushes off from the others, remembering all the times they've been through, before a burst of lightning out of the forest catches his attention. He rushes into the clearing and discovers.... Pikachu! Pikachu is still Pikachu and.... it is beating up rocks!

Yeah! Take that you goddamn rocks!

He rushes up to it and is pleased to see Pikachu is looking fit again.... and is still a Pikachu! Ash figures out that it wants to beat Raichu as itself, and then Team Rocket appear on the scene sans motto, holding the Thunder Stone and telling Ash that they'll do their stealing later after they've won their battle, then disappear into the woods with the Thunder Stone.

The next day they leave the Pokémon Centre with Pikachu fighting fit, spotting Paul who looks momentarily surprised to see that Pikachu is still a Pikachu before putting on his usual facade and walking silently past him. No one thinks to ask what happened to his Gym Battle, and he doesn't deign to tell them.

Ash and Pikachu proceed to engage in special training, Ash tossing frisbees and Pikachu catching them with its tail, doing what looks more like Coordination Moves than battling. A massive blast of Thunder catches their attention and they rush to discover Raichu blasting tree trunks, Show calling for more power. Ash asks for another battle and Show agrees, laughing that it'll end exactly the same way, and Show sends out Pichu so it can see Raichu whomp on Pikachu again.

Ash and Pikachu are far more confident after their four minutes of Special Training however, and Pikachu calls on Raichu to bring it on, which actually seems to infuriate Mr. Show who doesn't like to see such empty posturing.

Also a pot called a kettle black.

He sends in Raichu with Iron Tail, but Pikachu dodges, the circles Raichu's attempted Iron Tails as the bigger Pokémon struggles to keep up. But Show suddenly has an idea, he tells Raichu to catch Pikachu instead of missing it, so it does that instead! If only Ash had thought of this incredible strategic counter! Pikachu is tossed high into the air and then comes flailing downwards as Raichu charges in with Volt Tackle. Ash calls for Pikachu to counter with Iron Tail, and the two moves crash together.

This has the same result as their first battle as it is Pikachu who is sent flying backwards. Raichu tries another Volt Tackle but Pikachu spins out of the way while Team Rocket watch from the bushes quietly cheering it on. Raichu tries Iron Tail again and a repeated loop of animation proves too much for Raichu to handle, and it loses its footing with momentary giddiness, allowing Pikachu to stagger it with Quick Attack. Show isn't impressed though and Raichu leaps in with Iron Tail, but Pikachu dodges and blasts Raichu clean in the face with another Iron Tail of its own.

Show orders Thunder in retaliation but Pikachu dodges and blasts the opened up Raichu with Volt Tackle, but the far larger Raichu seems not to feel it, and slams Pikachu up against a tree and prepares to blast it once again with a massive burst of Hyperbeam.

"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" cries a desperate Ash, and.... BOOM!



Welp, hope you like BBQ Pikachu!

But when the smoke clears, Pikachu is still standing! The Thunderbolt somehow split the power of the Hyperbeam (....what? HOW!?!) and Raichu can't react after using all that energy for Hyperbeam. Pikachu charges in with Volt Tackle/Iron Trail and blasts back the now exhausted Raichu. Show orders it to use Volt Tackle.... and Ash tells Pikachu to do the same!



Show can't understand how the Volt Tackle's are easily matched considering Raichu's greater bulk and strength, but Ash laughs there is more to battling than size. Both Pokémon charge in with Iron Tail, wrapping their tails around each other and spinning around and around, Pikachu getting the best of the leverage and smashing Raichu into a tree. A desperate Show tells Raichu to use Hyperbeam but Pikachu dodges the spearing tail and then spins off the energy of the Hyperbeam, spinning high into the air and forming an Iron Tail and...... BLASTING THE FUCK OUT RAICHU!

Pikachu wins!



Pikachu wins and Ash loves his Pikachu :)

Watching from the bushes, Team Rocket are in delighted tears, they HAVEN'T wasted their lives pursuing Pikachu, it really IS a special Pokémon! So they'll leave the twerps to their tender moment, and sell the Thunder Stone! Also watching from the bushes was Paul! But if he's impressed he makes no sign, just grunting and walking away.

Afterwards, Show returns Raichu to its Pokéball to have a rest and tells Ash that he and his "crew" are great, but he intends to win their next battle. They go their separate ways, having gained nothing from the encounter outside of knowledge we already had - Pikachu doesn't want to evolve and it's a tough little bastard.

But we got to see a pretty fucking cool battle!

BEST QUOTES

"Nice set-up, but no motto today!"

Previous Episode Next Episode Episode List