303: Abandon Ship!
|
|
Why if it isn't that dastardly Team Rocket! And what is their plan? Maybe to....
Abandon Ship!
Jesse stops the boat and offers them a mid-trip refreshment, and the twerps thank the two for all the kindness they've shown them. Jesse even offers Pikachu a snack and it rushes up to greedily chow down... and gets a sack thrown over it! The twerps are horrified, and Jesse and James laugh as they reveal their true identities.
"Prepare for trouble! You're so naive!" cries Jesse, pulling off her fisherman costume to reveal her Team Rocket uniform.
"Make it double, as we deceive!" adds James, doing the same.
"To protect the world from devastation."
"To unite all peoples within our nation."
"To denounce the evils of truth and love."
"To extend our reach to the stars above."
"Jesse."
"James."
"Team Rocket floats off at the speed of light," says Jesse as she and James float through the air on a giant R.
"Surrender now or prepare for a fight!"
"Meowth! Dat's right!" cries Meowth, popping out of the Magikarp submarine behind the boat.
"WOBBUFFET!" agrees Wobbuffet from beside him.
"Team Rocket!" shouts Ash.
"I can't believe I thought you were just a nice old couple!" yells Max.
"No one's ever accused us of being old!" smiles Jesse as she climbs onto the rail of the boat to get into the submarine.
"And certainly not a couple!" agrees James.
Somewhere in a cold and lonely room lies the festering corpse of Rocketshipping. A door tentatively opens with a squeak, and a small, pale-skinned boy tiptoes into the room. Standing over the rotting corpse of the failed pairing, he grabs at the stake sticking through its heart, grabs it firmly.... and shoves down even further, driving the stake through the floor beneath. He then spits on the corpse's face.
Back on the boat, Ash sends out Corphish which tears open James' sack with a pincer (ouch!) allowing Pikachu to fall to the deck. Jesse calls out Seviper which uses Poison Tail but Corphish dodges, then Crabhammers Seviper and sends it crashing to Jesse and James feet. May calls out Beautifly which uses Gust to knock Jesse and James onto the submarine, then Pikachu Thunderbolts the whole shebang and sends Team Rocket blasting off again, Jesse complaining they took out a loan to finance the boat and James mutters they spent their last penny on the snacks for the twerps.
But the twerps' troubles aren't over, Brock can't get the boat to start and mutters that they're out of gas and there is no radio. As dark clouds pour overhead, the twerps drift aimlessly with the tide, a fog spreading around them as in the distance they see a grounded boat on some rocks. They decide to check out the massive boat, May telling an imaginary camera that May and her Detective Squad are going to investigate the mystery of the missing boat.
They wonder around on the deck of the huge ship, but no one seems to be there. Ash moves to the railing and notices another boat moored on the other side, and May asks the imaginary camera if this is a key to the case. A door opens on the boat and a grey haired young man in a green sweat top steps out, shocking the twerps and May (who was talking into an imaginary microphone which gave the impression she was mimicking something a little dirtier). May throws up her fingers to frame the confused man in "camera" as he approaches, introducing himself as Tommy and asking what they're doing on the ship. Brock explains they drifted their way here after they ran out of gas, and Tommy explains he came to check out what is known as the "forsaken" Ship. It turns out that he was a passenger on the boat the night it crashed onto the rocks, and though everyone made it off safely the boat was left behind. Now he wants to see if it can be salvaged as well as look for the Marshtomp he left behind in the confusion the day of the crash. Ash takes out Dextina to get an idea of what a Marshtomp is.
"Marshtomp, the Mudfish Pokemon," says Dextina, "Marshtomp is the evolved form of Mudkip. It is able to move and swim through mud more quickly than water."
Tommy tells them he was hoping to get back sooner than this (several years, apparently) and Brock wishes him luck finding Marshtomp, the "Character of the Day" appreciating the comment and offering to give them a ride to the nearest port when he is done searching.
The dark clouds part and the sun comes out as Ash watches May chow down on food and says Tommy is a nice guy to give them snacks, but as Pikachu eats happily Torchic sees something looking at it through a cabin door and goes in to look, and a massive silhouetted Pokemon looms over it. The twerps hear Torchic cry out and run into the cabin, but Torchic is nowhere to be seen. Tommy comes in and asks what is the matter and they explain Torchic has gone missing, so he quickly exclaims they should split up and walk around the spooky ship so they can be picked off one by one.
What a plan!
But as he talks, we get a shot of the top view of the ship, which includes a massive hole in it. What caused that hole?
Team Rocket!
Yes they're in the hold and complaining about being blasted off, and try to find an exit as they are watched by the glowing eye of the silhouetted Pokemon.
Meowth notices an open door and pops his head in, and two massive blue arms grab him and haul him in as he screams in fright. Jesse and James turn to see what happened, but Meowth is gone.
Elsewhere Tommy and the Twerps (sounds like a 60s band) are looking for Torchic, Max calling out next to a hole before screaming as he is hauled inside. The twerps look around to see him gone, with Max himself only aware an undetermined amount of time later that he is suspended above the floor in a storage hold, wrapped in some kind of string next to Torchic (which has its beak covered in the stuff) and Meowth.
May leads the others (or maybe they just like the view walking behind her?) as May tries to figure out what is going on, and then they hear a door rattling and.... some Marill and Azumarill bounce by them. Their presence is confusing, but Tommy says there is no better place to be for a water Pokemon.
Except maybe in the water?
Meanwhile Max tries to get loose, Meowth telling him there is no point, and he won't be able to get out. But while that might be true for Max, it doesn't have to be for Meowth! Max suggests he use fury swipes to get loose, and when Meowth says he can't get himself loose with his arms behind his back, Max says he should use his footpaws to cut him loose. Meowth asks what is in it for him and Max gently explains that he'll get him loose next. Well it sounds good to Meowth, who swings over and cuts Max free, who immediately starts to work on Torchic's thread. Meowth yells this wasn't the deal but Max dismissively tells him to hold his Horsea, and then a Spinarak walks up behind him and blows a load in his face.
Ewww.
Max soon finds himself tied up again, Meowth saying it is his fault for mot helping Meowth first. Perhaps out of a desire for revenge, he rocks himself sideways and bumps into Torchic who bumps into Max who bumps back into Torchic and pretty soon there is some awesome pendulum action going on, which probably isn't exactly what Meowth had in mind in the first place.
Meanwhile James is wondering what happened to Meowth. Jesse mutters it is always SOMETHING with Meowth, and then a crate falls to the ground, tears open and a Golduck leaps out, poses bravely, then walks on by without a word as Jesse and James stare on in shock.
Well okay then!
Jesse snaps back at the Golduck not to scare her like that again, then proclaims that she showed it, before heading away.
"Ahhhhh," ahhhhh's James, and then a big blue paw covers his mouth and pulls him backward. Soon he finds himself tied up with Meowth, Max and Torchic. Meowth offers to cut James free (since the Spinarak didn't think of binding his legs after he used them to get Max out earlier) and tells Max he isn't going to help him after last time. He extends the claws on his feet and rocks towards James, but Max rolls forward and the two crash into James with Torchic caught between, and everyone begins yelling at each other.
Elsewhere on the abandoned boat, the twerps walk along a gantry and May is suddenly pulled into the water. The others twist around, thinking maybe she just fell in, but Brock sends Mudkip into the water just in case, Tommy telling him it is good thinking and wishing he had his Marshtomp with him. Mudkip pops up with no May and the twerps FINALLY realise they're being picked off one by one (even if they never did the split up and search thing Tommy suggested).
"Well well, HI TWERP!" cried a coked-up looking James as May sighs in her now dangling, tied up position. Max asks what happened and May says she got caught out of the blue, though Max isn't giving up hope since they still have at least three buddies still out there while James and Meowth only have one. But Meowth and James are confident, that ONE friend is Jesse and their crazy Bitch-Goddess-Queen is more than a match for any Boogeyman out there.
"She'll make mincemeat out of that boogeyman and then make him her slaaaave!" cries James crazily, as both he and Meowth cackle madly.
But what of the Bitch-Goddess-Queen? Well Jesse is wondering through the corridor muttering that she's lonesome, and that James and Meowth are impolite to leave a lady on her own. Suddenly a Wooper excitedly runs by her, perhaps enraptured by the concept of having no arms, leaving a wide eyed Jesse to roar after it not to scare her. But then a massive silhouetted Pokemon rears up behind her and she turns with a gasp. Soon we find her tied up and hanging with the rest, Meowth wondering if maybe the mincemeat part was over the top while May and Max welcome Jesse to the party. Jesse rocks herself back and smashes into May, which kicks off the pendulum motion again as Wobbuffet pops out of nowhere to salute proudly, then moments later finds itself upside down and tied up next to Jesse who complains it is totally useless, a fact it patiently agrees with.
Tommy, Brock and Ash wander around trying to find their lost friends in a kind of aimless fashion, and the big mystery Pokemon pops its hand out of the water to make a grab for Pikachu. But the chubby little rodent sees it coming and blasts it with electricity. The monster pops out of the water and we see it clearly for the first time, though we knew its name from the moment it first growled it. It is a Swampert.
"Swampert, the Mudfish Pokemon," says Dextina, "Swampert is the evolved form of Marshtomp. It is able to easily drag large stones over weigh one ton. It is also able to see through cloudy swamps and detect approaching storms with its fin."
Tommy stares at the rabid looking Pokemon and can't believe it, and they chase it as it gallops through the corridors and dives into the water. Brock tells Mudkip to follow and the others swim after it, all of them apparently Olympic level swimmers with no need for air. They surface and run into the storage port to find the others all strung up, Jesse demanding they stop gawking and free them.
Swampert and Spinarak are between them and the captives though, and when Brock tells Mudkip to use Water Gun to cut through the threads (how will water snap threads?) Swampert interferes, using Mudshot and sending a spinning ball of sandy dirt directly into their feet. Ash knows a challenge when he sees it and says he'll fight Swampert... or rather, his Pokemon will.
He sends out Corphish which looks eager, and it uses Crabhammer which Swampert dodges, countering with Iron Tail to knock Corphish out. Brock and Tommy are both surprised to see it knows Iron Tail and Ash tells Pikachu to help out, but Tommy interrupts, telling Ash he believes this may be his old Marshtomp. He approaches Swampert and says it is him, Tommy, and asks if it remembers him.... and it fires Mudshot at him.
That's a yes then, but not a good one.
Tommy pleads with Swampert, telling it that he didn't abandon it even if it thinks he did. He tells it that he thinks that because it thinks it was abandoned it now hates humans and this is the reason it is putting up such a fight. May and Max watch on, not knowing what is going on while Team Rocket plain don't care, they just want to get free!
Tommy keeps trying, telling Swampert to remember him and says that when the ship ran aground everyone was in a panic and got separated, and he thought it was safe in its Pokeball, he never meant to abandon it. Brock's Mudkip approaches as Tommy asks Swampert if it remembers their days together when he was a kid and it was a Mudkip, and Swampert looks at Mudkip and Tommy and remembers the good old days, beating up on old soda cans and then evolving into Marshtomp, which certainly pleased wickle Tommy from back in the day. Tommy forges on, asking Swampert if it remembers how tired they were, and mentions the Iron Tail which leads to another shared memory of Tommy training it to use Iron Tail successfully for the first time, and their pleasure as they hugged. He tells Swampert he came back to the ship to get it, and Swampert remembers and approaches Tommy, who hugs him and asks for forgiveness and the chance to be part of a team again.
Soon everyone is free, May stretching and thrusting out her boobs as she is freed, then hugging a freed Torchic which jumps into her bosom. Max says it is amazing to think Swampert used to be a tiny Mudkip, while Team Rocket stretch out their bodies (Wobbuffet getting carried away as it does arm stretches behind them) and Jesse says they are not going to let a Pokemon that big and strong just have its way with them and get away with it.
Ever been in prison, Jesse?
She calls out Seviper as Wobbuffet keeps stretching, and it tries Poison Tail and gets KNOCKED THE FUCK OUT by one clubbing blow from Swampert, which then uses Hydro pump and sends them blasting off again, Meowth muttering they're getting too old for this and Jesse yelling at him to speak for himself.
As the sun sets, Tommy says the abandoned ship seems to have become a home to abandoned Pokemon and a refuge for Pokemon to stop on while crossing the ocean, so he and Swampert are going to stick around and fix it up. The twerps wish him good luck, and then Tommy and Swampert take them on their speedboat towards Slateport, May excited and Ash seemingly confused as he declares Slateport City Gym, here he comes!
Uhh.... Ash, the gym is in Mauville, Slateport is where May's contest is going to take place.
Poor, dumb Ash.
| BEST QUOTES |
 "No-one's ever accused us of being old!" "And certainly not a couple!" |
|
