484: Mutiny In The Bounty!
Dodgy Synopsis
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488: Pokémon Hanta Je!
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What the hell is going on? She's screwed over her own men, whoever they are and whoever she is. This aggression will not stand, there's going to be a....
The twerps continue on towards Floaroma Town, stepping over a hill to find a pretty house at the centre of a field of flowers. A Salamence flies over them, ridden by a woman who lands the Pokémon next to a girl near the house with a Gardevoir. The woman looks at Gardevoir, notes she has acquired her target and calls out an Ariados that wraps up the girl with Stringshot. As the twerps rush up to help, the girl calls for Gardevoir to teleport away, but the visored, trenchcoat-wearing woman is able to use her visor to pick the location where Gardevoir will appear, then fires a wrist mounted laser that appears to turn Gardevoir into a brown statue. A six wheeled armoured truck rides up as a platform sweeps up underneath the statue and seals it with a glass dome. The Gardevoir is popped inside of the carrier and it rolls away as the business-like visored women hops back up onto her Salamence and flies away.
The twerps rush up and try to free the captive girl, and she begs them to help Gardevoir, so Ash does what he does best and runs headlong stupidly into danger, pitching head-first down the long dirt slope of the winding road.
He skids to the bottom as the Armoured Carrier zooms towards them, unaffected by Pikachu's Thunderbolt but pulling to a stop regardless as the woman in the Salamence lands behind him. He screams at her that she can't just steal Pokémon, but she ignores his anger to dispassionately note Pikachu's impressive power, noting it will fetch a great price. Ash is outraged, not so much at what she has said but the businesslike way in which she has ignored his accusations about Gardevoir. She calls out a Drapion, which is one of the most bizarre freaking Pokémon the world has ever seen.... I mean, what the hell is that thing supposed to be?
The woman tells Ash to bring it on, and he has Pikachu use Volt Tackle. The Drapion dodges and the woman notes Pikachu is marvellous, then turns it into a statue before having Ariados use Stringshot to hold up Ash, then transports Pikachu into the Carrier and drives away.
Watching from the bushes, Team Rocket are outraged that she's done what they've always failed to do, and declare they're going to take her down a notch or two, and then she'll beg to work for them!
The other twerps arrive and Pachirisu cuts Ash free with Spark, while down the road the armoured Carrier is brought to a stop by a sudden burst of smoke. A thickset grunt pops his head out of the top of the carrier to ask where it came from, and that's all the excuse that Team Rocket needs!
"It's speaking to me, loud and clear!"
"On the wind!"
"Past the stars!"
"In yer ear!"
"Bringing chaos at a breakneck pace."
"Dashing hope, putting fear in its place."
"A rose by any other name's just as sweet."
"When everything's worse, our work is complete."
"Jesse!"
"And James!"
"Meowth, dat's a name!"
"Putting the do-gooders in their place."
"We're Team Rocket!"
"And we're in your face!" they finish together.
"WOBBBBBB-UFFET!"
"Mime Mime, miiime!"
"SEVIPER!" adds Seviper, getting in on the action.
They thank the grunts for capturing Pikachu for them, but now they'll take it for themselves.... which is when the "business-woman" arrives with her Salamence and blasts them off of their feet!
She's impressed indeed to discover a Meowth that can talk like a human, and is certain that she can get a good price for it. Meowth grins that it is lonely at the top, then starts as he realises the implications of what she has just said. Jesse roars that no one is taking Meowth off of them, and sends out Seviper, while James tries to send out Cacnea only to get wrapped up with Jesse and Seviper by Ariados' Stringshot and sent rolling under a heavy rock, leaving Meowth on his own.
Jesse insists that Meowth get in there and defend her honour, but before he can do anything he's turned into a statue, dropped into the back of the armoured carrier and driven off! The twerps rush by past Team Rocket, ignoring their cries for help, but before they can get to the woman, an armoured ship flies up into the air and away.
Officer Jenny drives up beside the twerps (having ignored Team Rocket as well!) and asks if their Pokémon were stolen, and tells them what the hell is going on. The woman - named J - is the leader of a band of Pokémon Hunters that catch Pokémon either on demand or on spec in order to sell them on to bidders or other interested parties.
She's a completely ruthless, uncaring hunter for whom the poaching is only business. Ash is furious, channelling Howard Beale as he proclaims that he can't stand it and he's NOT going to take. He declares that he won't let her get away with it, while further back up the road Jesse declares angrily that she knows she is prettier than J, but she won't let the "Team Rocket wannabe" out-nasty her!
Meanwhile, inside J's ship - which is also cloaked - the fat grunt who drove the armoured carrier unstatues Meowth's head only, and films Meowth talking to show around to bidders. When Meowth learns they mean to sell him, he demands a cut, then desperately tries to negotiate with the grunt, while trying to figure out a way to get his paws on the statue switch.
Ash asks Officer Jenny where J went, but she admits that J is a mystery and she has no way to track her. Brock suggests that maybe they could try to predict where she was going to strike next, and the girl whose Gardevoir was stolen says she might just have a Deus Ex Machina to help them with that - Kirlia! Yes it's a Pokémon that can show the future, which just raises a bunch of questions about potential uses and misuses in the world that AREN'T happening!
She shows Kirlia the wanted poster of J that Officer Jenny bought, and Kirlia shows them an image of a farmhouse with a waterwheel next to it, then it collapses in exhaustion. Officer Jenny knows where the farmhouse is, and puts in a call for reinforcements before putting Dawn on the back of her motorbike (with a skirt that short, Dawn is REALLY going to enjoy the ride) and the Gardevoir's trainer in the sidecar while Brock and Ash ride on the back of Arcanine. They race to the farmhouse, arriving in time to see J capturing an Absol but before Jenny's backup has arrived. Ash charges down the hill screaming at J to give him back Pikachu, and Officer Jenny rushes up alongside him to put her under arrest. She tries to block Salamence's Hyperbeam with Arcanine's Flamethrower, but it isn't enough and they're blown off of their feet. Ash staggers to his feet and races underneath the Armoured Carrier, clutching on as it drives off and he realises to his surprise he's not the only unwanted passenger!
James tells Ash that the "Hunter Hussy" stole their Meowth, and Brock and Dawn race in front of the carrier and try to stop it. It leaps over their heads and they spot Ash, Jesse and James clutching on for dear life, Jesse complaining that she just lost her lunch. As the carrier gets inside of the ship, it takes off and Officer Jenny calls on her base to activate the tracking radar, and then discovers that Ash is onboard.
Indeed, Ash has joined with Jesse and James, the three of them putting their own enmity aside to free their friends. Ash calls out Aipom and asks it help them find Pikachu, and they split up, Ash one way, Aipom another, and Jesse and James in a third (and they also split up as they run).
Meanwhile, J has been brought to see Meowth by the fat grunt, telling her that he can act as a Pokémon Translator for her and make it easier for her to capture Pokémon. He's sure he'll have her eating out of his paw in no time, but she completely no-sells his pitch, telling the grunt to refreeze him, then turns to leave. Meowth squeals desperately to try and prevent himself from being frozen again, while J notes the open door where Aipom has been peeking at them. She tells Fatty that they have intruders on board, and he sets out to track them down, leaving Meowth behind with his face still alive.
Meanwhile, James has found a suspicious door and.... men!
He takes off at a run, and meets Jesse running the other way telling all the men chasing HER that they dare not touch her.
Together, Jesse and James rush off down their corridor chased by the men, while elsewhere, Ash is following Aipom back towards Pikachu when he is suddenly grabbed up by the Drapion. J steps out of a corridor and congratulates him for being able to track her down, but tells him that she can't let it go any further. But then Aipom leaps up and scratches Drapion's face, letting Ash free to call out Turtwig.
J grunts that Aipom and Turtwig aren't worth a thing and tells Drapion to do what it wants with them. It blasts at them with Poison Sting, but they dodge it and blast it back with Swift and Razorleaf.... but to little effect! It blasts them back with Cross Poison, knocking them down, and then Jesse and James come charging down the corridor calling for help, and Ash realises they're trapped. Aipom pulls the airshaft vent clear and they leap in, and rush down chased by a large collection of grunts.
Turtwig notes the grunts chasing them and blasts them with Razor Leaf, while outside, J heads off towards another location. Aipom leads Ash and the others through the shaft and they discover the captured Pokémon, and unfreeze Pikachu, Meowth, Gardevoir and Absol (though not before a quick screw-up by Jesse who accidentally turns Meowth into a full statue again!). Then the Fat Grunt leads a group of men through the door, and gets called stupid and ugly by Jesse and James.... which isn't very witty but is fairly accurate. He sends out a Golbat, but Pikachu Volt Tackles it down, and Thunderbolts it when it tries to Supersonic them all. The blast creates a hole in the side of the ship and the air begins to be sucked out, causing the grunts to grip in desperation to the walls, while Meowth clutches tenaciously to Jesse's buttocks!
Ash calls Aipom and Turtwig back to their Pokeballs before they can be sucked outside, then sends Staravia out to find Officer Jenny and tell her where they are. Meanwhile, the navigator piloting the ship reports the hull breach to J, who grunts that this is a real inconvenience..... since now they'll need to get a new Absol and Gardevoir for their client! She then coolly instructs the pilot to let loose hangar bay three. He's shocked, they have their own men inside, but she demands that he does it, because she has a cash register for a heart and her only concern is the bottom line.
In Hangar Bay 3, the air pressure has balanced and Fatty is leading his men against a resolute Ash and Team Rocket when the hangar is cut loose and they start plummeting towards the earth. The grunts cry out that they can't believe they've been screwed over like this... who would have thought that the cold business-only criminal enterprise they were involved in would see them treated without humanity!
Officer Jenny looks up through her binoculars and zooms in on Ash, Pikachu and Gardevoir in an admirably "shakey-camera" type of animation. Also up on the plummeting carrier is Team Rocket, who are huddling together ahead of oncoming death. Meowth admits that he stole the last of Jesse's doughnuts, and she shows a sensible understanding of priorities by shake him in a fury demanding it back.
Ash tells Pikachu to hold on tight, while down on the ground, Gardevoir's trainer "thinks" to her Gardevoir that it has to use Teleport. Apparently Gardevoir is either psychic or another of those Deus Ex Machinas, as it teleports everyone to safety!
Officer Jenny tosses a lasso (apparently the most high-tech restraint she has available to her) over the grunts, and everyone gathers around in happiness while in the background, Team Rocket sneak off into the forest!
As the sun sets, it's not just the usual twerp goodbye we see, but Team Rocket too! They're heading on down the road, Meowth telling Jesse and James he couldn't even scratch himself while a statue. James notes that he respects J but he sure as hell doesn't like her; and Jesse notes that while she is still clearly prettier, she has some work ahead of her to be a bigger bitch that J (well, words to that effect). But they declare they will show her who is boss, and cry out that Team Rocket rules and Pokémon Hunter J drools, Wobbuffet popping out of its Pokeball to agree. For J's part, she is furious that her profits have been cut by this whole exercise, and snaps at her pilot to take them somewhere else so they can make some more money.
And the twerps note to themselves that they can't believe a person like J exists, someone so basically lacking in humanity, empathy or kindness. But they placate themselves with the knowledge that surely Officer Jenny will catch her eventually, after all, no one like that can ever get away with it for long.
And as they make themselves feel better and ignore the possibility that it can be a cold, hard world out there, it is a sure bet that none of them are thinking of the name that puts the lie to their confidence in J's eventual capture.
| BEST QUOTES |
 "When it comes to slippery fingers, she rules!" "Unlike the looks department where "I" rule!"
"Though it pains me to say it... looks aren't everything!" |
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