188: The Dunsparse Deception
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"Dunsparce, the land snake Pokemon, when discovered, the Dunsparce uses its tail, to burrow into, the earth, and, evade, capture."
It looks like a maggot.
Misty likes the idea of a Bug Pokemon that runs away, but likes less the Caterpie the kid calls out to show which Pokemon will battle the Dunsparce when he finds one. After her panic dies down, the boy sits down with the twerps and introduces himself. His name is Bucky and his greatest desire in life is not to be the President or an Astronaut, but to find and capture a Dunsparce.
....wooooh, yeah, reach for the stars....
But apparently he does have very, very good reasons for wanting to capture a Dunsparce, you see..... EVERYONE ELSE HAS ONE!
Yes the child has quickly learnt the value of conforming to the norm to evade standing out in the crowd. Speaking of the crowd, a group of kids walk by, all of them with horrible, horrible maggotlike Dunsparce. They are heading down to the local playground to play with their Dunsparce.... the symbolism here is horrible, small children playing with limp yellowish-white things.... and it only gets worse when one little boy proclaims proudly that his Dunsparce is bigger than another boys!
Oh dear!
Another kid offers to measure!
Oh dear, oh dear!
All kinds of further Dunsparce loving goes down, people comparing photo albums, girls sharing wing polishing secrets, seeing which Dunsparce can fly a little higher than the other. Bucky explains to the twerps that a few months ago his Grandfather got sick and his family went to visit. When granddad got better they went home only to find a whole heap of Dunsparce had shown up and every kid in town had gotten one. And so now of course Bucky needs to have one as well, or THEY won't think he's cool and he'll just DIE!
But apparently the other kids are still willing to give Bucky pity-entry into their clique, as they offer him a place in their Dunsparce race. He sends in his Caterpie, which is much, much smaller than the Dunsparce. It of course can't keep up with the maggoty Pokemon which begin zooming ahead of him as, from the bushes, Team Rocket watches with great interest. Jesse is none too interested in the Dunsparce, it's slimy and slithery... though James suggests that would make it perfect for Team Rocket!
As they form whatever half-assed but amusing plan they have for todays episode, we return to the great maggot race. Caterpie has been completely humiliated, getting lapped and falling backwards off of a slide, knocking itself out. Bucky takes it away as the boy whose Dunsparce lapped Caterpie gets yelled at for humiliating Bucky.... but as the hurt little boy points out, he didn't mean to! It seems that Caterpie just sucks that much!
But the twerps move along with Bucky, assuring him that yes conformity is the way to go, and if everyone else has a Dunsparce then he has to have one as well.
That'll make his parents love him!
They pull out their Pokemon to help him search out a Dunsparce and everyone gets looking. It really comes as no surprise that the vile Togepi is the first to find it, it's unholy mind drawing the blind maggotlike Dunsparce out of the dirt like a corpse bursting loose to stalk the earth again. Bucky just stands there staring at it before it just burrows back into the ground, leaving a group of the twerps Pokemon standing around the hole in the ground in one easily nettable group.
AND A NET FALLS ON THEM!
"Prepare for trouble, we've just dropped out net!"
"And make it double, let's see what we get!"
"To protect the world from devestation."
"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, blasting off at the speed of light."
"Surrender now or prepare to fight, fight, fight!"
"MEOWTH! DAT'S RIGHT!" Yes the net was thrown from the Happy Buddha Face Meowth Balloon by none other than Jesse - dressed as an Admiral - and James and Meowth..... apparently dressed as festive cabin boys!
Well.... yes!
Misty of course ain't having that, she demands to know why Team Rocket are dressed up like pirates!
"Because..." starts Team Rocket,".... BECAUSE!"
Meowth looks a little startled, as always a victim of the fashion desires of these strange humans Jesse and James, when he himself is happy to go nude. He thought the costumes were due to a muck up (Muk up?) at the drycleaners. Poor, innocent Meowth!
James pulls up Pikachu, Chikorita, Totodile and Togepi in an extra strong steel net that electricity or razorleaf will be powerless against.... so Ash calls out Cyndaquil and has it burn them free.
Poliwhirl uses Water Gun to knock the balloon down and once again a Dunsparce pops out of the ground near the crash site.... just in time to get blasted off with Team Rocket by Cyndaquils flamethrower.
Bucky is upset, but not because he sucks so much (that's incidental) but because a Dunsparce had popped up (twice!) and he'd just stood there doing nothing. But the twerps assure him they'll do everything in their power to make sure he slots right into the herd and becomes an indistuingishable member of the crowd.
Meanwhile Team Rocket are discussing the Dunsparce they caught. Jesse is none too impressed, saying the Boss won't care about one measly Dunsparce... and then they realise that they can capture dozens of the horribly maggotesque things and that is sure to impress the Boss!
So they head back into town and prepare to capture the Pokemon using the tactic they know they're best at..... am-dram!
Yes they quickly set up a stage back in town while James goes out to spread the word that a special show is going to be put on in the park. All of the local kids grab their Dunsparce and go to see the show. And what is the show pray tell? Well it seems that Team Rocket are putting on the debut performance of.... DUNSPARCE VERSUS MOLTRES!
Only sadly it's not that impressive.
The curtains part to reveal a confused looking Meowth in a horribly bad Dunsparce costume, and a depressed James wearing not a stylish, skintight, bulging FLAMING MOLTRES costume, but a fat pantomime bird outfit.
The kids mutter about how lame everything looks, Wobbuffet popping up to agree before Jesse angrily charges out to boot it away. The kids continue to complain and Wobbuffet pops out again to agree once more... and once more taking a booting from Jesse.
Having got rid of Wobbuffet, Jesse leaps on stage to narrate the tale of the epic battle between Dunsparce and Moltres! She explains how Moltres used a Wing Attack on Dunsparce.
"Wing, wing," mutters James, flapping his wing at a cringing Meowth. Jesse tells Meowth to use Defense Curl which, unfortunately, he can't do. So she tells him to use Glare which, unfortunately, he can't do either. Angrily, Jesse insists that he just look nasty like always and boots him back onto the stage after his complaints. Dejectedly, Meowth turns to James.
"Glare!" he proclaims.
"Glare at what?" asks James, confused.
"Who knows," sighs Meowth.
James then performs a Fire Spin with some red streamers that serve to confuse and irritate the audience. He then finishes off with a Sky Attack which entails him flinging Meowth into the air. Jesse and James then announce they are going to trade every Dunsparce for a Moltres!
Suddenly the show doesn't seem so lame to the kids, even more suddenly those 'oh my God so awesome I have to have one or I'll die they're so cool and I love them!' Dunsparces don't seem so great! Everybody wants to ditch them and get a Moltres!... except for one confused looking girl.
The twerps arrive back in town having had no luck finding a Dunsparce. They comment that maybe they should go get the one that Team Rocket 'stole', which fails to acknowledge that Team Rocket didn't steal it, it got blasted off with them BY Ash's Cyndaquil.
Getting into town they find a horrifying sight, all the kids (whose parents apparently all work in another town somewhere else) sitting around crying over obviously fake Pokeballs. They explain how a bossy redhead and a wimpy bluehaired with a Meowth and a Wobbuffet 'tricked' them into trading their Dunsparce for Moltres.... but all the pokeballs were fakes. Only that confused girl from earlier didn't trade, because she loves her little maggoty Dunsparce and wouldn't trade it for anything. Bucky asks the twerps to get the Dunsparce back for everyone because they worked so hard to catch and train their Dunsparce and they love them more than anything!
Except free Moltres apparently.
But Team Rocket are having troubles of their own, unfortunately. All those Dunsparce they traded have gotten away! They run here, there and everywhere but they can't track down a Dunsparce anywhere! And then the twerps show up (apparently they followed the sign saying,"Team Rocket here,") and a battle ensues. Misty and Ash cheat, using two Pokemon against one against Jesse's Wobbuffet. The towns kids show up and their Dunsparce crawl out of the forest, using Screech on Arbok and then Glare to get it into a state of shock and fear before they group Tackle it to send Team Rocket blasting off again!
As the comedy gets blasted away, another Dunsparce pokes its head out of the ground and Bucky finally (with a little coaxing) gets his ass into gear and battles it. He uses Caterpie to bitchslap it about a bit, then captures it and immediately sets to racing it against the other Pokemon, now happily reunited with the trainers who were so eager to get rid of them for the promise of something better.
But the important thing is, Bucky got his Dunsparce, and the twerps are able to set off on their meandering journey once again, secure in the knowledge that now Bucky is accepted and in with the crowd.
An individual, just like everyone else.
| BEST QUOTES |
 "Glare? Glare at what?" |
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