196: Current Events
|
|
So what happened in that town? You can bet that they took the chance to be distracted from Olivine City, and who knows what bizarre adventure they got up to? We'll never know because THEY don't want us to know, THEY want to us to be in the dark.
That, or poor continuity.
Anyways, they meander their way through windswept plains of grassy goodness with rolling hills as far as the eye can see. Atop those hills? Why.... fans?
Yes, Ash points out the pretty 'fans' to Pikachu, and with a sigh Misty and Brock explain that they're not so much fans as they are windmills.
Oh God Ash.
The basic function of the windmills is explained (They mill power from wind!) and Ash is just boggled by the idea that the winds could create electricity. As Misty comments that the breeze feels nice, Brock realises that Ash won't be able to think and talk at the same time so saves him the embarassment of falling on his ass by suggesting they stop for a bit.
Why not, it's not like there's a quickly impending Johto league or anything.
Ash calls out Bulbasaur, Cyndaquil, Totodile and Chikorita (apparently Noctowl has been bad and has to stay in it's Pokeball?) to enjoy the rest stop. Totodile dances with insane glee to be standing on actual grass! while Chikorita bounces into Ash's surprised arms, maybe trying to get up onto the shoulder that he promised Chikorita could rest on so many episodes ago. But what does Ash care for ancient (or recent) history, no his concern is....
Current Events.
Elsewhere around the windmill's powerstation we find Team Rocket stumbling about in desperate need of food. Meowth is starving while Jesse wishes for a restaurant, and when James spots what might be an abandoned building the suggestion is made that it could house some abandoned food.
They move to the door (a familiar pink Pokemon in pursuit, familiar marker/microphone in hand) and try and get it open, but it is looked by a fancy security system that appears to need both a numeric code as well as a security card. Still, Meowth is convinced he can claw his way in by picking the lock with a claw. But when his sharpened claw fails to shift the tumblers that don't exist in the electronic card reader, Jesse and James grumble at him to hurry up as they continue to hold him to the lock. Meowth tries harder, bending a claw in the process and angrily scratching at the lock which ends up electrifying all three.... and popping the door open!
"It's open!" gasps Jesse and James.
"I nailed it!" giggles Meowth.
They enter the tardis-like building which seems far larger on the inside, but there is no food to be found... but there are stairs! Jesse suggests the stairs might lead to a giant underground cafeteria and Meowth leads them down.
And Jigglypuff watches this all with a perplexed look.
Meanwhile the twerps are relaxing as Totodile shows its appreciation for being next to a real life honest to goodness rock! by dancing the traditional,"Oh my God a real life honest to goodness rock!" dance.
Brock suggests a picnic lunch and Ash offers to go and get firewood with Pikachu. But Pikachu and Cyndaquil are sleeping, tuckered out from all that riding on Ash's shoulder/sleeping in a Pokeball action they've been up to. So Cyndaquil gets the honour of being Ash's third pick when everybody else was busy.
You're in, girl!
Meanwhile Team Rocket are still futilely searching for a cafeteria, but instead find a Magnemite. The possibly soulless Pokemon is joined by others of it's ilk (how does one go about getting into an ilk anyway? Sure a cult is easy to get into and a sect or a movement practically happens everyday, but an ilk? That kind of shit doesn't go down every day) and they menacingly approach a confused Team Rocket, bursting with electricity which they zap at Jesse, James and Meowth.
Luckily J, J & M can run faster than the speed of light and outrun the electricity, which impresses the Magnemite so much that they drift off, leaving behind a still perplexed Team Rocket.
More meanwhile later, Ash and Chikorita approach the same building having failed to find any wood. Ash spots the open door of the building in front of the forest made of trees made of wood, and decides to enter the building in front of the forest made of trees made of wood, perhaps in the hope of finding wood in the building in front of the forest made of trees made of wood.
The door closes behind him after Chikorita and he enter, locking into place and trapping them inside. He bangs on the door and calls for Brock or Misty to help, or Pikachu!
Well Pikachu perks up out of its lazy sleep, apparently hearing Ash's low volume cries for help from behind a door in a building on top of a hill away from them. It rushes off and Brock predicts that it MUST be because Ash has gotten into trouble.
Or because Pikachu had to take a pika-poop.
But in this case Brock is right, and he and Misty find themselves outside the building in front of the forest made of trees made of wood calling through to Ash. The door is locked and they can't get in, and Ash can't get out, so they're in quite the quandary. But Brock has the answer, he'll call the Electric Company!
Morgan Freeman to the rescue! Or maybe the live-action Spider-Man? Hell even those two dudes who used to sound out words could do it!
Meanwhile Ash ponders how to get out, and Chikorita kindly points out a floorplan on the wall that neither he, nor the earlier Team Rocket, caught sight of. He sees there is a control room three floors down and decides to head down there to see if they can get the door open (and probably do irrevocable damage to the building as well). They move through the corridors and are beset upon (yes beset) by Magnemite, which blast at them with electricity. Another group of Magnemite block off their escape and Chikorita's fruity head-leaf spin is the only thing that saves them from an electric blast. They charge off down a side corridor, the Magnemite groups joining together and giving chase.
Most meanwhile later, Team Rocket have failed to find food or something valuable to bring to the Boss. Which is when Ash charges by with Chikorita, giving the villains an idea - they can steal Chikorita!
Not a great idea, but an idea.
Ash stops running and decides to fight, or rather decides to get Chikorita to fight for him. It uses Razor Leaf, knocking down Magnemites one by one. But for each they knock down, more replace them, until eventually a Magneton arrives and blasts at Chikorita with a huge burst of electrical energy. Luckily Ash, like Team Rocket, has disproved Einstein by moving faster than the speed of light. He sweeps Chikorita out of the way and congratulates them for escaping!
Well, they haven't so much escaped as they have moved slightly to the left, but as they face off with Magneton and the Magnemites again (there oughta be a band by that name, they could play electronica or industrial rock and disband within a year due to creative differences, all get horrible drug addictions then reform 20 years later to play mellow versions of their original hardcore stuff to aging fans to pay for their retirement!), Team Rocket watch and plot. If the Magnemite and Chikorita tire themselves out fighting, they can swoop in and get them all. Wobbuffet thinks that is a fantastic idea and pops up to let them know, getting forced down by Jesse (where it apparently disappears into the parallel dimension where Noctowl is hanging out right now) as Jigglypuff makes it's grand appearance.
It prepares to sing proudly to it's audience, but James whips it's microphone/marker away before it can lull them all into a lullaby. An enraged Jigglypuff slaps James around but he passes the marker to Jesse who tosses it down the corridor towards Ash. Then the trio legs it as Jigglypuff charges after it's lost microphone, terrifying Ash who is at least cognitive enough that Jigglypuff equals sleep plus humiliating facial markings. Luckily Magneton's blast cleared a hole through a wall revealing a staircase, and they flee down it as Jigglypuff picks up it's microphone and sings the Magnemite to sleep.... then grows enraged and takes it out on their faces.
Outside, Brock tells Misty that he rang the electric company (with his magic phone of invisible) but it is going to take awhile to get a guy out who can open the door.
Inside, Ash and Chikorita have made their escape into the deep depths of the tardis-building and Team Rocket have found the inevitable markings of an enraged Jigglypuff on the sleeping Magnemite. But they've lost the twerp and Chikorita, and don't know where to find them.... until the spot the hole in the wall and the stairs leading down.
Ash and Chikorita wander about the next level, trying to find their way down to the control room. They walk into a room divided by four squares that create a cross section to walk through, and when they get to the middle they find all of their avenues of escape blocked off by Electrodes.
One charges and Chikorita fails to Vine Whip it away. It charges up to explode and Ash and Chikorita start running, followed by other Electrodes that explode every few feet, always just a little too far away to get at Ash or Chikorita. More and more Electrodes keep on coming though, and Ash and Chikorita dart through a doorway, which is luckily blastproof. However on the otherside is Jigglypuff which tries to sing to them to calm their frazzled nerves. Chikorita grabs Jigglypuff's marker with a vine and tosses it away, Jigglypuff giving chase and running right into Team Rocket who.... travel back in time and perform exactly the same piece of animation as earlier when they threw away Jigglypuff's marker and throw away.
They even leave in James' G.A.S.
But somehow the looped animation leads them to a security room manned by an angry Electabuzz.
"Eru?" asks Electabuzz, which Meowth translates as, "I am Electabuzz, head of security for this fine tardis-like building, and I'm going to pound your unfortunate posteriors into the ground with my angry electric flares of doom."
Or words to that effect.
Team Rocket speak with eloquence born of terror (the good kind of terror, not the Islamic kind) and convince Eru (as we shall call him, since Electabuzz is easy to misspell) that they're from the Home Office and have come to congratulate him on a job well done... but they saw a sneaky kid with a Chikorita sneaking around sneakily just a second ago!
Eru rushes off in a rage and Team Rocket cackle cacklelingly (that is the worst spelling of a made up nonsense word you have ever seen, EVER!), knowing that all of the Pokemon are going to wipe each other out and leave themselves helpless to resist capture by Team Rocket.
Outside a van pulls up, an official looking woman getting out and strides bosom first up to Brock.
"Have you been waiting long?"
"For you?" asks Brock, grabbing her by the hands, "I've been waiting my whole life for you."
Misty pulls him away by the ear as the woman (who is the Head of Security) works on the busted lock, commenting on how patient Ash is, he hasn't said a word since she got there.
But Ash isn't patient, explains Misty, he went off to try and find a way out. This information speeds up the head of security as she thinks about the lawsuit potential when Ash runs into the highly trained Pokemon left in charge of the building without human supervision.
But what could possibly go wrong, even Ash is smart enough to run away if a dangerous Pokemon approaches, right?
"Hey! Electabuzz!" gasps Ash happily as the dangerous Pokemon approaches.
"Electabuzz," informs Dexter, "The Electric Pokemon. Electabuzz is, the evolved form of, Elekid. With powerful, electric currents, constantly, coursing through, it's body, Electabuzz appears, to blow."
!
Anyways, Electabuzz makes it clear that Ash and Chikorita aren't welcome there, so Ash of course responds by picking a fight with the big, beefy looking Pokemon than SHOOTS F**KING ELECTRICITY!
It throws a Thunderpunch at Chikorita who easily dodges, but Chikorita's Razor Leaf is burnt up by an electric charge from the furious Pokemon. Eru takes another shot but Chikorita dodges at Ash's call and smacks it in the face with a Vine Whip. Eru stumbles and Chikorita charges for another tackle, but Eru is a wily old Pokemon and smashes Chikorita with a Thunder Punch that blasts Chikorita back into Ash, knocking them both to the ground.
Outside, the Head of Security gets the door open. "Oh thank you miss!" proclaims Brock, "Now perhaps you could open your heart and allow my love to enter in!"
Misty drags him off, Togepi roars with laughter and the Head of Security leads them in.
Eru swings another Thunder Punch at Chikorita who tries to tackle, they fly together incredibly slowly and then.... a cage covers them both!
"HEY!" demands Ash, "Where did that cage come from?"
A fair question that, as the roof is too low to have dropped it OR to have been swung overhand and on top of them. But regardless, Eru and Chikorita are trapped!
"Prepare for trouble!"
"And make it double!"
"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, fight."
"Wobbbb," starts Wobbuffet, then gets kicked aside by Meowth.
"Watch it Wobby!"
Ash demands that they release Chikorita and Eru, but Team Rocket refuses, the cage designed to absorb electric attacks (there was one lying around) and far too strong for Chikorita to burst through. They push the cage away and Ash charges after, missing them just as they get to the lift (what lift?). He rushes for the stairs, spotted too late by Misty and Brock.
Outside, Team Rocket push the cage downhill, giggling with glee before Ash bursts out of the building and shoeboards down into their path to stop them. Team Rocket are shocked to see him there but refuse to give up Chikorita. Jesse calls out Arbok and James calls out Victreebell, which promptly tries to eat him. As James is shaken about with his ass in the air, it seems apparent that James has had the proverbial, well, let's just say that he appears to carrying an extra load in the seat of his pants.
But once out (and with a fresh pair of pants), Arbok and Victreebell get down to business and start attacking a Pokemon-less Ash (well, he has Noctowl, but let's forget about that, plus of course Bulbasaur and Cyndaquil are out and about somewhere too but let's just forget about that too). Arbok uses Poison Sting and Victreebell Razor Leaf, while Ash counters with the 'jump from foot to foot screaming like a bitch' technique.
Arbok wraps around him with a, well, a wrap attack, and then both Pokemon tackle him down, sending him crashing through the ground as a distressed Chikorita watches the object of it's hot latin lust get his ass handed to him. But Ash refuses (or is too stupid) to surrender and struggles to try and get back up, crying out to Chikorita which fires hot dew drops of vengeance from it's eyes and then begins to glow white.
The Head of Security, Brock, Misty and Pikachu skid down the hill to beside Ash just in time to see Chikorita evolve into.... Bayleef!
But, oh glorious day, this isn't the retardo Bayleef like Casey got stuck with. No hideous abomination that needs to be taken out to the barn and put out of it's misery with extreme prejudice. No Bayleef is cute! it smiles happily at Ash and, at his order, fires off a massive Razor Leaf that shatters the cage and releases both Bayleef AND Eru.
Team Rocket can pretty much see the end in sight now, as Eru and Pikachu hit them with a blast of electric energy and then Bayleef finishes off with a powerful Vine Whip that sends them blasting off again.
Ash celebrates, Bayleef is pleased, Pikachu is happy, Brock pines for the Head of Security, Misty ear tugs and Togepi roars with demonic laughter. The episode prepares to end as all episodes must for this season, with them heading into the sunset waving goodbye to the character of the day. Unlike most of the filler episodes that seem to be dragging out the twerps meandering way to the Johto League though, this one featured an important element in the evolution of Chikorita into the much cuter, larger and capable Bayleef.
Before this cliched ending can occur though, Jigglypuff appears again and this time there is no looped animation of Team Rocket to stop it. It sings with all of it's little heart and sends them all out for the lights, hits them with the obligatory face vandalism and then stalks off with a snarl.
But with that out of the way, one question still remains, beyond the load in James' pants, the inability of Team Rocket to find a cafeteria and who cleaned up the corpses of all those Electrodes.
Where the hell was Noctowl?
| BEST QUOTES |
 "Oh thank you miss! Now perhaps you could open your
heart and allow my love to enter in!" |
|
