130: Tanks A Lot!
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Brock lays on his stomach, using his forearms for pillows, his legs stretched out in a very un-heterosexual manner. Ash - always trying to impress Misty - has gone for the classic brooding teen look, despite not being a teenager yet.
He lies with his arms crossed and his cap pulled down over his face, but the effect is somewhat marred by the cute little yellow rodent snuggled up close by, also enjoying a siesta.
Togepi, however, is wide awake and wants something to abuse and torture, and Pikachu is always handy for such a task.
"Togepi!" it proclaims to the sleeping Pikachu, tapping it's shoulder insistently.
Translation - Awaken, yellow thing, and dance for my amusement.
But Pikachu is too deeply asleep to respond to Togepi's dark siren call, and just rolls over and ignore it.
Togepi's eyes glare and narrow with black fury at being ignored by anything so lowly as a Frenchman, but even it has it's limits, and away from Misty it can't maintain such anger for long.
Staring up at the clouds, Togepi gets tired, closing up it's head and dropping to the ground in a dead, drunken stupor.
The camera trucks and pans away to reveal a small, round, brown looking Pokemon holding an apple and apparently very confused.
It turns and rushes back to it's family, bumping it's fat little belly along the ground, and they're all as round - if not rounder - than the chubby little brown thing, each with a little white circle on their bellies.
"Sentrit? Sentrit?" it asks them as they chow down on the apples.
"Sentrit, Sentrit," they reply.
"Sentrit," it moans sadly.
Yeah well, you get the idea.
Of a more understandable nature, thankfully, are our beloved Team Rocket, all fitted out with a brand new plan and a brand new toy to play with.
Yes, they have their very own, brand spanking new, shining and sparkling Arbok Tank!
"We can't miss with this!" laughs Jesse, lover of all things Arbok, knowing she got the better part of the deal when she and James practised the theory of induced evolution on their Pokemon.
"HAHAHAHA!" laughs Meowth, doing all the driving, "Dis has gotta be our best invention yet! And it handles nice too!"
"With this weapon in our arsenal, we're guaranteed to succeed!" gushes Jesse happily, "And designing it to look like an Arbok was a stroke of genius if I do say so myself, it's the perfect Pokemon to represent us!"
James, however, looks less pleased than his comrades, noting, "I still say Weezing would have been a better choice."
Even he doesn't believe it, a natural Rr-teeest like James would be all dynamic and dramatic if he truly believed the words he was saying, but he's just punching them out as a matter of course.
"Forget Weezing!" laughs Jesse, saying what's on all of our minds, "Now let's see, what shall we call this magnificent machine?"
"How about," suggests Meowth, "The Arbo-Tank?"
"I like that!" gushes James happily, "It sounds so.... military!"
Oh James, you are a gay one, aren't you!
"Good," smiles Jesse, letting James close his eyes tight and dream of the shower rooms and all those sweaty, muscular men, going a little cross eyed herself at the thought (just check the episode out for yourself if you don't believe us!) as she pulls down the periscope and checks out the surrounding area,"Now we know those kids are around here somewhere, let's see....."
She spies them immediately through the periscope, sleeping under the tree like, uh, sleeping, um, kids under a, uh, tree.
"There they are!" laughs Jesse happily, "Twerps spotted at 12 O'clock! And that's not even the best part."
"It isn't?" asks James, imagining that maybe some muscular, shirtless men might be doing squat thrusts nearby.
"What is?" asks Meowth, imaging that they might have a pepperoni pizza with extra anchovies they could swipe.
"They're fast asleep!" chuckles Jesse.
"Oh," replies James, lowering his head, disappointed.
"I thought you was going to say they had a pepperoni pizza with extra anchovies we could swipe," sighs Meowth.
Jesse explains that, with the twerps asleep, they can sneak up on them and swipe their Pokemon, and the others are instantly keen to try this revolutionary concept out.
However, as Meowth points out, if they roll up on the kids in The Arbo-Tank, they're sure to awoken. Instantly it skids to a stop and James lets out a little squeal of astonishment - man he's so gay! - before we cut back to the sleeping kids.
Togepi is still all rolled up, but now a little Sentrit has stopped close by to examine it. It isn't sure what to make of the freaky little egg thingy, and chews away at it's apple nervously, finding solace and happiness in food, glorious, undemanding, unjudging food.
It begins tapping Togepi's head, trying to ascertain if the strange little egg thingy might perhaps be food or maybe even a toy. It starts rolling Togepi back and forth in a bizarre twist on the way things usually turn out, using Togepi as a plaything instead of the other way around.
To the chubby little Pokemon's delight, Togepi starts rolling down the hill and it chases breathlessly after.
Meanwhile Team Rocket are planning to capture Pikachu, figuring they'll sneak up, snatch it, run back to The Arbo-Tank and make their getaway, leaving the kids to a rude awakening once they awake from their nap time.
Fear not gentle Dodgers, James speaks not of Rude Awakening, the worst sitcom ever created, but of the shock they will face when they awaken to find their Pokemon gone.
"Any plan that involves rudeness is hunky-dory with me!" laughs Meowth, suggesting..... something?
"All right!" proclaims Jesse, "Let's start Operation Pikachu!"
"Yeah!" they all agree.
Meanwhile, Togepi has rolled to the bottom of the hill and awoken with a mighty squeak of, "TOGEPI?"
The Sentrit stares down at it, confused at what happened to it's plaything, and seconds later the roles are reversed and it is The Sentrit that is the plaything for Togepi.
"Toge-Toge-PI!" laughs Togepi, rubbing itself against Sentrit to leave it's mark of dominance. Then with a cry of dark glee, it forces Sentrit to double itself over and roll away as it gives chase, enjoying the mockery of play-time.
Both Pokemon fly off the side of the cliff, but unfortunately it is not to Togepi's doom, as they land inside The Arbo-Tank, the entry hatch closing behind them.
"Huh?" asks Meowth, stealing Ash's line, "I tink I just hoid a noise?"
Jesse and James agree, and turn to stare at The Arbo-Tank as, inside, Togepi roars happily at finding a new weapon of mass destruction it can make use of.
Spotting the vile little Egg Thingy and the Sentrit through the glass bubbles set into The Arbo-Tanks trunk, they realise with shock that they're playing around right by the control panels.
Togepi - which knows all too well what it is doing - leaps onto the control stick and shoves it down, setting The Arbo-Tank off on a wild joy-ride.
Team Rocket barely avoid being crushed, and as Meowth clutches fearfully to James' crotch (just look for yourselves if you don't believe us) Jesse snaps at him, "James, don't tell me you forgot to put the parking brake on!"
"Okay," James replies, who for the first time in his life is happy to have a pussy pressing against his crotch, "What do you want me to tell you?"
That horrendously set-up joke aside, they have to get The Arbo-Tank out of Togepi's menacing club/paws, and they instantly give chase as their tank powers on ahead of them.
Meanwhile, Misty has finally awoken and sits up with a yawn, mentioning that she needed that. What she needed was a chance to recoup her massive amounts of youthful vigour and energy, which Togepi has been continually draining for the past year and a bit. However, when she notes Togepi is not around, she immediately gets anxious as a pre-installed mental command left by Togepi in case of emergency sets itself off, making her believe she actually cares for the monster.
As she calls for him, an even fatter Sentrit than the last stands beside Ash, poking the stupid little boy in the cap, trying to awaken him.
Ash rolls over with a groan, mumbling, "Go back to sleep, Pikachu."
Pikachu hears Ash's voice and, with a grumble, sidles up closer to him as Ash continues to complain,"I don't wanna get up yet, I'm trying to sleep, cut it out, Pikachu! Pikachu I'm...."
Finally his eyes open as he realises the thing poking him in the face isn't Pikachu at all.
"Pika-chu?" he asks. His eyes slowly turn and take in the terrifying image of a daunting, pot-bellied, brown, ring-bellied, happy looking raccoon/squirrel thingamajig.
He sits up in shock, crying out, "What's that?"
Misty turns, asking what he means, but when she spots the new Pokemon all thoughts of the vile Togepi instantly flee from her mind, replaced with glee at the sight of this cute, pot-bellied Pokemon.
"What kind of Pokemon is that?" she asks.
"Let's find out," mutters Ash as Brock wakes up to find Misty clambering all over him, not a bad way to wake up at all.
"Sentrit," explains Dexter, "The Scout Pokemon, Sentrit is able, to see great, distances, by rising up, on it's tail. When it spots an enemy, or any kind of danger, it emits a loud, shrill cry, as a warning."
"Hey!" says Ash, fulfilling his contractual obligations to the heartless Nintendo Corporation, "Sentrit sounds pretty cool!"
Sentrit scoops up it's son's discarded apple core and goes through a complicated series of mimes to try and tell them that it's worried for it's son, which has disappeared without finishing it's apple, a sure sign of foul play.
"What's it trying say to us?" asks Misty.
"Uhhh, an apple a day keeps the Chansey away?" suggest Ash, demonstrating his remarkable stupidity.
"Sentrit, Sentrit," disagrees Sentrit, wobbling it's fat belly to show it's displeasure.
"Well," deduces Brock, rubbing his chin in his best 'nothing beats a jelly filled doughnut' manner, "From the way it's gesturing, it looks like it's trying to find something it lost."
"Brock!" gasps Misty, eyes growing wide and sightless as Togepi's vile mind control asserts itself once more, "Maybe Sentrit can help us find Togepi."
Her face is emotionless and the suggestion is totally out of place given Sentrit's obvious concern for something close to it's own heart - for once not it's stomach - which can only indicate some outside force is exerting itself on her mind.
"Togepi is missing?" asks Brock, but Misty continues to stare straight ahead, not even blinking until a sudden crash far in the distance gets their attention.
They stare up at the plumes of dust far in the distance and Sentrit raises up on it's fat little tail to see what's up. The kids gasp and gape in pleasure at the sight, but Sentrit is none too pleased at what it sees, and takes off as fast as it's fat little body can go.
Pikachu heads off after it, fascinated by the sight of all the jiggling, and Ash, Misty and Brock are not far behind.
The Arbo-Tank, meanwhile, is smashing uselessly against a large rock face, finally turning to the side and continuing on as Togepi - and by psychic extension, Sentrit - dance a mad jig.
"Whaddya we do," pants Meowth, actually keeping pace with Jesse and James as they give chase, "If we can't catch up with de Arbo-Tank, Jesse?"
"Don't start worrying!" she snaps at him.
"Just keep running!" gasps James.
They're suddenly cut off by a number of Sentrit charging by in front of them, bringing them up short. The fat little Pokemon leap up and down madly in front of The Arbo-Tank, trying to tell it to slow down or stop. But Togepi is not about to be stopped from his mad, destructive jaunt - especially not by Pokemon with eating disorders - and it drives ever onwards, the fat Sentrits barely diving aside in time.
The Arbo-Tank begins grinding it's way through a too narrow cavern, scaring Jesse immensely as she realises it'll be ruined by scraping through those rocks.
"YOU BETTER NOT PUT A SCRATCH ON THAT TANK!" roars James in a fury, shaking his clenched fist at the Arbo-Tank, "NOT AFTER I EMPTIED TEAM ROCKET'S BANK ACCOUNT TO BUILD IT!"
"What?" asks Jesse, to whom this is news, "You spent our savings?" "All of it?" gasps Meowth.
"Well," chuckles James nervously, "Sort of!"
"But!" gasps Meowth in tears, "I switched from my top o de line, gourmet grub to de cheap chow to save dat dough!"
As Meowth tells his sob story, we're treated to images of, firstly, a tin of (relatively) delicious looking cat food with a happy blue cat on the label to, secondly, a single, rusty looking can with pink crap set into it and the word cat slapped rudely onto it. Next we see an exhausted Meowth with his paw on the Kitty-Bank - a small, happy, Buddha faced Meowth with one paw resting on an over-sized Meowth charm.
"I suffered too!" insists James, as images of chocolates and candies and treats appear on screen, before we see a depressed James dropping money into the Kitty-Bank, "I adore expensive bonbons but I made do with hard sucker candies instead!"
You heard the man, ladies and gents, he made do with sucking hard things in his mouth.
"Oh yeah!" snaps Meowth, as The Kitty Bank appears again, "We'll we're the suckers!"
"What do you mean?" asks James, "I sacrificed just as much as you to save that money! What about Jesse? She didn't do anything to help out!"
The image of the Kitty-Bank cracks to reveal Jesse sitting by a table, laughing evily as she sips fine wines and eats fancy foods which are definitely Japanese delicacies and NOT hamburgers.
"I CERTAINLY DID!" growls Jesse angrily, offended at being talked about in this manner, "I almost never order caviar anymore and I cut back to only one desert per meal!"
"She had desert!" gasps James.
"YEAH!" snaps Meowth.
"This isn't about me!" snaps Jesse, who like all women is an expert at making a man feel he's to blame when it's really her fault, "It's about you! you should never have spent our life savings without getting permission from me!"
"Ooooh, I'm sorry Jesse," moans James, clutching his head in fear of receiving a beating, "I just wanted you to be proud of me! I'll never spend our money like that again!"
"YEAH!" adds Meowth, getting repetitive now, "Coz we'll never have any money again!"
As this little faux domestive occurs, the twerps are following Sentrit as it follows the path of The Arbo-Tank. Ash spots The Arbo-Tank and instantly jumps to the correct conclusion, even if it is based entirely on prejudice,"It looks like another contraption dreamed up bu......"
He's cut off as the very subject of his words appears next to him, running out from an adjacent rock-face and finding themselves face to face
"....Team Rocket!" gasps Ash.
"It's the twerps!" snaps Jesse.
"I should have guessed you three were behind that big, ugly thing!! he growls at her, as James and Meowth move up behind her and Brock and Misty move up behind him.
"Dat tank happens to resemble a Pokemon Colleague of mine!" yells Meowth at Ash, "So don't call it ugly! Da nerve, if it was so ugly you shouldn't have let Togepi swipe it!"
"WHAT!" cries Misty, forced into pretending she cares for the monster, "Togepi is inside of that thing! TOGEPI!"
She charges after it.
"Misty! Wait up!" yells Ash, then turns back and does nothing at all.
"The squirt had an accomplice in the heist," Meowth mutters to himself, then points towards Sentrit, "And it looked a little like you!"
Sentrit is shocked that any son of it's could possibly have turned to a life of crime, not knowing that it's mind was not it's own, but rather under the control of dark forces beyond anyone's ken, yes, it is but a pawn.
Just like George W. Bush.
Sentrit charges after Misty and, for some bizarre reason, this excites Brock.
"All right!" he yells, "This is a job for Onyx!"
"GA-ROOOOAR!" ga-rooooars Onyx, and soon Ash, Brock and Pikachu are right on Misty's heels.
"Hey Misty!" Ash yells down to his girl, "This way is faster!"
He reaches out and she grabs his wrist before he displays remarkable strength for such a little punk, pulling her up onto Onyx as Sentrit runs up from the other side.
"Thanks for the lift," she says, then turns to Brock, asking him what next.
"I've got an idea!" cries Brock, but can't resist a catch phrasing, "But first we have to head them off at the pass!"
Where's Hedley Lemar when you need him, eh Mel Brooks fans?
"Hey twerps!" James yells after them. "This is all your fault!" Jesse adds "You better do something fast!"
"If dat dinky delinquent of yours wrecks da Arbo-Tank! You're going ta pay!" warns Meowth.
Togepi, meanwhile, is making great use of the tank, using first it's drill-head and then an extendible neck and giant boxing gloves (Team Rocket got that kitchy style!) to smash away the rocks blocking the vile Egg Thingy's passage.
Brock watches from the pass grimly, commenting that, as he suspected, the tank is able to plow through anything.
"Yeah, and it doesn't stop for anything!" Ash adds uselessly, only trying to help but just looking stupider by the second.
"Brock," says Misty, ignoring her brain-dead boyfriend for the moment, "You said you had an idea?"
Instantly Brock is all business, dressed up in camo-gear and set up in a General's tent, pointing to a map of the outlying region he just happened to have stashed in his pants.
As he explains his plans, the camera pans over the incredibly cute quartet of Misty, Ash, Pikachu and Sentrit, all dressed up in army gear, Misty obviously outranking everyone by the green beret on her head.
Brock has noted that The Arbo-Tank is heading right for them, and it's their job to stop it's rampage and 'rescue' the Pokemon trapped inside, not realising that they're the ones doing all the damage, or at least one of them is.
"This is where operation Sink-Tank comes in!" Brock says, tapping the centre of the map where a red cross lies, "First, we'll have Onyx dig a deep, wide hole here, right in the path of The Arbo-Tank and we'll fill in the hole with chunks of earth, from the surrounding cliffs! We'll have our Pokemon use their Water Gun attacks to soak the earth and turn it into a soft, wet mud. Then, when the Arbo-Tank comes along it'll fall in and become trapped!"
Misty clutches her hands to her chin and stares at Brock with unabashed adoration, proclaiming, "Then we rescue Sentrit and Togepi!"
"RIGHT!" snaps Brock, turning to point a white cylindrical object at the cute little red-head, which really doesn't bear thinking too deeply about, "When we're certain that The Arbo-Tank is stuck! We'll need a few good Pokemon to enter the vehicle, their mission will be to search and rescue those Pokemon!"
"That'll be our mission!" Ash bravely proclaims, forgetting he's not a Togepi for the time being.
"OKAY!" Brock orders, "Now we need a trainer with Water Pokemon, how about you!"
"Yes sir!" laughs Misty happily, raising her hand,"I volunteer!"
"We're gonna have to work fast to make this operation a success!" Brock informs them sternly, "So lets get to work!"
"YES SIR!" they all reply.
"PIKA!" adds Pikachu, in that wily way the French have of undermining authority.
Soon Onyx, Ga-Rooooar and all, is smashing his way into the ground to dig it's hole, and then the dirt from the nearby cliffs is being thrown in as Misty orders Staryu, Poliwag and Psyduck to use their Water Gun Attacks.
Staryu and Poliwag instantly do as told as Psyduck clutches it's head and looks on in confusion. Ash sends out Squirtle to make up the numbers, and the feisty, homophobic little turtle gets to work at once.
Not a moment to soon the work is done, Operation : Sink-Tank ready to be executed as The Arbo-Tank draws closer and closer, even as Misty scowls down at a back-stroking Psyduck.
"You deserve to be dishonourably discharged!" she snaps at it,
even though none of them are in their army uniforms anymore. Psyduck, for his part, just looks more confused than ever.
The Arbo-Tank approaches, as inside Togepi continues to revel in it's new found invulnerability. It spots Misty, Ash, Brock and the others but could care less, not needing Misty any longer to help it, not with this deliciously powerful tank at it's command.
It continues it's mad jig of destruction as Sentrit accidentally speeds up the Arbo-Tank and sends it smashing into the Sink-Trap as Misty and Sentrit's Daddy just barely manage to leap to safety.
As Brock takes a moment to congratulate himself, Misty leaps down into the mud, followed by Ash, Pikachu and Daddy Sentrit. They wade their way to the clear bubble of plastic that looks into (and out of) the trunk of The Arbo-Tank.
Togepi, knowing it's massive engine of destruction has come to a gooey end, sighs and then pretends to be happy to see Misty, knowing that her copious life energy will have to suffice for the time being.
Ash, meanwhile, finds the hatch to the Arbo-Tank and pulls it open, then EXXXXXXTREEEEEEEMLY slowly begins to work his way in.
Sentrit, meanwhile, has got it's fat little body trapped within some wires. Sensing it's Daddy nearby, it turns and jiggles about happily, shorting some of the wires and sending an electric current through The Arbo-Tanks controls, starting the big machine up again.
With a screech, it rises back to an upright position, knocking Ash back into the mud and sending Pikachu flying down deep inside of the massive robot.
It stars forward again, blasting the side of the Sink-Trap with an angry rocket which clears a rampway up onto the ground, letting it head off again. "We almost had it!" snaps Brock, wanting to remind everyone that his plan kind of worked.
"Yeah, but now it's got Pikachu," complains Ash.
Psyduck floats by on it's back and an infuriated Misty growls at it to help them out, commanding it to use a psychic attack on the soulless, heartless, mindless machine currently getting away.
"Psy?" it asks, staring up at her with an expression close to, if not an exact mirror of, the usual slack jawed gaping of one Ash Ketchum.
"Uhhh, now what are we going to do?" asks Misty.
"Sit back and enjoy the show!" laughs a familiar voice, and the twerps look up to spot Jesse and James standing on a rock, dressed up to the nines. James in suit with top-hat and cane, Jesse in suit and holding a deck of cards.
"We've got something prepared you won't believe!" Jesse laughs.
"What's doubly deceiving is up our sleeve!" hints James.
"To protect the world from devastation!"
"To unite all peoples within our nation!"
"To extend our reach to the stars above!"
"Jesse!"
"James!"
As they say this, Ash, Misty, Brock and Sentrit crawl up out of The Sink-Trap.
"Team Rocket blast off at the speed of light!" cries Jesse, tossing the cards back and forth between her hands.
"Surrender now or prepare to fight!" laughs James, Pidgey after Pidgey flying out of his top-hat, followed finally by Meowth, who proclaims happily,"Meowth, that's right!"
"What's up with them?" asks Ash.
"Why are they dressed up like magicians?" asks Misty.
"Cause we've got a trick!" explains Jesse.
"We've got a way of making large objects disappear that will simply amaze you!"
Hear that, gentle Dodgers, James has a talent for making large objects disappear.... any guesses where?
EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!
"Observe closely!" states Meowth, and then as one Team Rocket make the count.
"1."
"2."
"3."
And with a simple gesture, the Arbo-Tank.... disappears!
Ash is shocked, Misty surprised and Brock suspicious at the apparent piece of magic.
"It's gone!" cries Ash, always willing to believe anything his eyes perceive.
"Let's go check it out!" suggests Brock, not quite as gullible as his young friend.
They rush off to see what happened and find The Arbo-Tank slamming against the side of a big, big, deeeeeep hole.
"It's not magic," says Ash after about 5 minutes of staring at it,"It's just a big hole."
"Why'd they make such a big deal out of it?" asks Brock, not understanding the Rr-teeeest's need to entertain. "They dig these all the time," adds Misty.
"Dis ain't no ordinary hole, young lady!" proclaims Meowth, appearing in full-screen with a massive beard on his face for some reason. Jesse and James are similarly attired, each with full, greying beards, brown robes and white jandals. James is looking through a telescope and making notes on a piece of paper while Jesse just looks irritated at being forced to dress up like an old man.
We gotta admit, even The Dodgemaster's are puzzled by this particular one.
"First we selected the site," explains James in a quavery old man's voice.
"Then we made observations and calculations," adds Jesse, carefully reviewing a set of weights.
"And den we handcrafted a one uffa kind, custom hole," Old Man Meowth explains, hammering at a chisel embedded in the rock beside him.
Throwing off their bizarre disguises, Team Rocket leap into the air before a crudely drawn crayon background. "No one can get themselves into a hole like Team Rocket can!" they proclaim, "It's our specialty!"
They grab shovels and a pick and pose bravely.
"When we dig we dig with three-o!"
Suddenly they're buried underground, their heads sticking out with a Dugtrio mask on over their heads, "We're a great trio, trio, trio!"
"Okay!" says Misty, stomping by them with Ash and Brock in tow, an appropriate sweat-drop on her head,"This is getting way too weird."
We'll have to agree with you on that one, young Misty.
"If only we got get down there!" complains Misty as she looks down the hole at the slamming, rebounding, slamming Arbo-Tank.
"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!" laughs Meowth madly, leaping through the air and landing on the head of the Arbo-Tank with cat-like grace (surprise that, isn't it). He turns to face the twerps with a smile,"Finders keepers!" he laughs, pulling open the hatch,"Oh Pikachu!"
He leaps down it as Ash calls out no, hoping his word will somehow become law and Meowth will freeze in time.
Surprisingly, this doesn't happen, and Meowth lands deep in the heart of The Arbo-Tank, claws raised and ready.
"Okay everybody, I'm in charge here!" he snaps angrily, then freezes when he sees the chaos in the control room. The fat little Sentrit, Togepi and Pikachu are all hanging up in some wires, trapped and helplessly to pull themselves free.
Spotting Meowth, Pikachu lets loose with a Thundershock attack which hurts the poor little Scratch-Cat terribly, at the same time blasting a panel free and setting of an emergency escape system. The Arbo-Tank blasts free from the hole, a giant spring emerging from it's base, sending it far away.
"It's hopping away!" gasps Ash as The Arbo-Tank hops along the ground, wildly out of control.
"Oh look James," mutters Jesse deadpan, still in her part of The Dugtrio disguise, as is James.
"Must be spring-time," mutters James.
With that strangeness behind us, we see Ash, Misty and Brock giving chase to the Arbo-Tank. Suddenly they find themselves joined by Jesse and James, out of their outfits now and giving chase.
"Hold on, Meowth!" cries Jesse.
"We'll save you!" yells James.
Meanwhile a Sandshrew and Diglett have popped out to see Wassup, and wassup is up indeed as The Arbo-Tank hops towards them, crashing back down to it's tracks and speeding through a large boulder blocking it's path.
Brock realises that it isn't going to stop for anything, so Ash calls for Sentrit to get up ahead and warn the other Pokemon using it's shrill warning cry.
It charges it's fat belly up to a rocky outcropping, raising up on it's tail and sends out a long, echoing, "SENTRIIIIIIIT!"
Soon Sentrits, Sandshrews and Diglett's are charging away from the path of The Arbo-Tank, as inside Meowth confronts the fat little instigator of all this destruction.
"Okay come on!" Meowth snaps, "Dis ain't no playground!"
Sentrit responds by reaching out and grabbing Meowth's whiskers, tugging playfully at them and making Meowth scream in pain as Pikachu warns Meowth to leave Sentrit alone!
"Leggo my whiskers!" Meowth cries, "Dat don't tickle ya know! Come on whaddid I ever do ta you? Gimme a break!"
Sentrit releases Meowth and they both turn to look with some surprise at the view-bubble, which is showing a very quickly approaching cliff-face.
Meowth knows that if they don't figure out a way to stop the tank soon, they're going to be squished.... but wasn't he the one driving it earlier?
Jesse and James warn the twerps that, as fast as the tank is going now, it'll be destroyed the moment it hits the rocks, and Misty screams out to Togepi as Meowth desperately tries to remember where the brakes are.
"Togepi!" smirks Togepi, swinging it's club-paws to and fro, making them glow with evil light.
Translation : Oh I think not, this bitch ain't going out like that!
The Arbo-Tank hits the rocks hard, dust smashes up and.... a massive hole is revealed in the rock-face.
James figures the drill must have somehow been activated, and a gushing Jesse, well, gushes over the Arbo-Tank, telling James how much she loves it.
Hear that, gentle Dodgers? Jesse is in love with a vibrating piece of metal with a cylindrical head capable of penetrating where men thought they never could!
James mutters that, with options like that, it's no wonder the sticker price was so high..... but didn't James say earlier that he built it?
The hell if I understand it, I guess he just wanted to impress everyone by making them think he built it.
Soon Brock is back in army gear and explaining his latest plan to the assembled Ash, Misty, Sentrit.... and Jesse and James!
Yes, all decked out in their finest army gear, Jesse and James have joined the troops to hear how they can possibly stop The Arbo-Tank.
Brock explains that the tank is far more powerful than they had at first thought, not even a mountain capable of stopping it.
So then, if a mountain can't stop it, if no natural obstacle in all of Mother Nature's cruel, unforgiving world can stop it? Than what possibly can?
Charizard!
Yes, the Pokemon that any trainer would be a fool to give away is their only hope. Luckily Ash has a Charizard, wouldn't it be silly of him were he to ever think about giving it away, especially for a silly reason like thinking it was too weak or something silly like that, because that's just silly.
Luckily, such a silly think could never happen, because no one in their right mind would ever throw away a Charizard.
Yes, it seems a city is in The Arbo-Tanks path, and The Togepi will destroy us all unless Charizard can stop it. As the only Pokemon capable of rescuing Pikachu and the others AND also halting The Arbo-Tank, they need Charizard.
Unfortunately, Jesse and James are none to pleased with this plan, which will see their expensive, extremely effective Arbo-Tank shattered and melted to slag. They demand that any damages be paid for, Missy, and then suffer Misty's wrath.
"NO WE'RE NOT AND THE NAME IS MISTY!" screams a furious Misty, as Jesse and James quickly cower down.
"Oh," says James weakly, "Sorry."
Ash - back in his regular clothes all of a sudden - calls out the mighty Charizard, who flies through the air towards The Arbo-Tank as Onyx gives chase with Ash, Misty, Brock, Sentrit and a petulant Jesse and James besides.
They have every right to be petulant, you know, the tank is theirs, they did pay for it, Misty's Pokemon stole it and now Ash's Pokemon is going to destroy it.
But we suppose when you're the 'bad guys' it doesn't matter what rights of yours are stepped on, does it.
The Arbo-Tank punches it's way through the side of the mountain, coming closer to the nearby town as a lazy Officer Jenny twists her head to the side, wondering what could possibly be going on.
Charizard lands before the Arbo-Tank as Meowth realises they're going to destroy a city and tries desperately to pull on the brakes, breaking them instead.
"Arrgh!" he cries, unable to prevent a horrible quip from popping loose, "I guess dems the breaks!"
The Arbo-Tank goes wild, shooting out a Pidgeot on a spring and firing rockets into the air as behind them, onboard Onyx, James despairs at seeing all of their money go up in smoke.
Charizard, at Ash's command, steps forward and slams his mighty claws against The Arbo-Tank, slowing it's forward momentum to a screeching crawl as the Mighty Dragon pushes back with all of it's considerable might. What a fantastic Pokemon, what a mighty specimen of Charizard, surely then no idiot child - yes even someone as idiotic as Ash Ketchum himself - could never, I said EEEEEEEEEEEEEEv-er, give away such a noble, majestic and powerful creature.
But we digress.
The Arbo-Tank is still moving forward, albeit extremely slowly now, and the jolt of it's sudden speed drop has knocked Pikachu, Sentrit and Togepi free from the wires holding them in place.
Daddy Sentrit, knowing Charizard needs help, rolls off of Onyx and along beside The Arbo-Tank, placing his considerably fat bulk against Charizard's leg to aid the Mighty Dragon in it's halting of the powerful engine of destruction. Like John Henry - The Steel Driving Man - Charizard will not surrender and continues to push and shove as he is inexorably pushed back towards the cliff overlooking the city.
Pikachu tries to help to, smashing the controls with a thundershock as Onyx grabs the tail of The Arbo-Tank and pulls backwards, slowing it's forward momentum even more.
Knowing that this is his last chance, Ash calls for Charizard to use it's Flame-Thrower on the viewing bubble, melting it away and letting Pikachu, Togepi and Sentrit make their escape.
Left behind is a seared and shocked looking Meowth, who suddenly realises that The Arbo-Tank is about to explode, having finally come to a full stop.
Jesse and James can't let that happen, they won't let that happen and they can't let that happen. Scrabbling over the top of The Tank, they slide inside in the hopes of stopping the destruction of their investment (which is an extremely viable intention) but it's too late.
As Charizard, Onyx, Sentrit, Pikachu, Togepi, Ash, Misty and Brock charge clear, The Arbo-Tank gives out it's last hurrah and explodes, sending them flying through the air.
"What does this leave us with!" sobs Jesse.
"A tankless job!" moans James with the inevitable quip.
"Yeah, but someone's gotta do it!" snaps Meowth angrily.
"TEAM ROCKETS BLASTING OFF AGAIN!"
The twerps watch the burning remains of The Arbo-Tank with satisfaction, secure in the knowledge that not only did they save the town, they also screwed Team Rocket out of some of their hard earned money too.
"Well I'm glad that's over," sighs Ash, "Good job everyone!"
"And you're not driving again until you're eighteen!" snaps Misty at Togepi, who whimpers appropriately, secretly enjoying the game a great deal. Let them think Misty is it's mother, that she controls it, and then, when they are at their most comfortable he shall strike and, dare we say it! Rule The World!
"Well, I'm glad we stopped that tank," Brock says happily as Daddy Sentrit informs it's no-good, fat-ass of a son that it's gone slap the blubber right offa him when they get home. "It was you?" asks Officer Jenny, pulling up on her motorcycle now that the job is done and the danger is past, "I've been looking all over for you, are you the ones responsible for that tunnel?"
"Ahhh, yeah," lies Ash, even though Team Rocket are technically the responsible ones.
Officer Jenny is extremely pleased, telling them that before now you had to drive around the mountain to get to Violet City, but now you can just drive straight through. Not only has Ash destroyed a significant portion of nature and Native Pokemon's habitats to make life easier for humans, but he's also saved the city having to actually pay people to do their work for them.
The Unions are going to have your ass, boy.
| BEST QUOTES |
 "Any plan that involves rudeness is hunky-dory wid me"
 "It sounds so military"
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