621: Short And To The Punch!
Dodgy Synopsis
|
627: Unare Reito Panchi! Buizeru VS Bariyado!
|
With a boo-boo on its head, Piplup is tended to by Dawn while Ash turns to tell Gible it needs to get Draco Meteor right next time.... and finds the insane little jerk nibbling busily away on the rock it is standing on! The rock breaks under the pressure of its huge mouth and it falls into the stream, sinking to the bottom purely because it WON'T LET GO OF THE ROCK and Ash has to send Buizel in to save the day. Floating back up to the surface thanks to the inflated natural life preserver around its neck, Buizel "saves" a completely oblivious Gible which Ash returns to its Pokeball. But as he thanks Buizel for the good work, shadowy figures come flying out through the waterfall and pose dramatically on the rocky incline in front of the twerps. It's a man and his Mr. Mime, and it seems that they're coming....
May learns about the horror that is Mr. Mime, and the man introduces himself as Clayton, the man with the sublime fists! They call him.... Clayton Sub-Fists!
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Even Brock and Ash seem taken aback by the terrible nickname, while Clayton introduces them to his partner - in short, his "Par" - and they're Pokémon Trainers, or.... Pokeners for short!
This dude is.... he's special.
The twerps introduce themselves and their Pokémon - well not Brock, he just calls himself a breeder (snicker) - and Clayton declares their names are Ash-Pika/Ash-Bui, Dawn-Pip and.... and Bro-Bree.
Bro. Bree.
He seems nice enough if completely fucking insane, and tells them he is a Trainer and a Martial Artist, and has been training for years with Mr. Mime, travelling for years till he reached this badass waterfall location and decided to stick around. He points to Buizel and tells it that he was impressed by its heroic rescue, and he wants to fight it to see just how tough it is!
Well all Ash has heard/retained from all this so far is,"Blah blah blah blah martial arts blah blah blah let's have a fight blah blah blah," so he's more than happy to have a go, and Buizel always enjoys a chance to tell ya something, brother! Ash and Clayton rush off to a nearby grass clearing in the forest, followed by a bemused Dawn and Brock.
Less amused, less than 100 yards away and in clear line of sight slumped over an open rocky surface alongside the stream are Team Rocket! Jesse is bored by Clayton, not liking someone who so craves the attention and never stops talking about themselves....
(snicker)
....and James doesn't seem too enamoured either. Meowth however has different ideas, telling them with utter conviction that Clayton's Mr. Mime has the eyes of a champion, and if they go spy on the match, Jesse and James will see it.
In the clearing, Ash kicks things off with Aqua Jet, and Buizel blasts towards Mr. Mime. Before it can hit though, Mr. Mime uses Psychic to lock the Aqua Jet in place, holding Buizel motionless in the air before spinning it around and smashing it head first into the tree.
Clayton tells Ash that he appreciates a head-on attack since it shows guts, while Ash tries to come up with a new strategy to deal with the Psychic Defence. He has Buizel use Sonic Boom, cutting through the Double Teams that Mr. Mime throws up. Ash sees the real Mr. Mime up in the air and tells Buizel to use another Sonic Boom, but Brock realises too late that it is a trap as Mr. Mime hits a Thunder Punch and sends Buizel crashing down to the ground down and out.
IS THIS THE END OF BUIZELMANIA!?!?
In the bushes, Jesse and James are impressed... though James still can't handle all of Clayton's bizarre abbreviations. Meowth insists that they forget this though and concentrate on catching Mr. Mime for the Boss.... but we don't even get a patented Crazy Meowth Giovanni Fantasy to "explain" why!
Clayton approaches Ash and asks if he understands what the most important thing is in a battle? It is within the capacity to stop the water within a lake......
Wait, what?
Clayton explains further, the "lake" is a mind, and the mind must learn to be undisturbed.
Well no wonder Ash is so great at battling!
Buizel seems impressed by this though, and Clayton guesses that it wants to train with him. Ash wants to train with him too (what 10 year old boy DOESN'T want to do Martial Arts!?!) and Clayton takes him to another smaller waterfall near a lean-to shelter and shows them exactly how best to train - by punching water!
He and Mr. Mime (it's a Kung Fu Clown, that's.... awesomely horrifying!) are a bit better at it though, using Ice Punch to freeze the descending water before Clayton smashes it. He has Ash and Buizel punch the water together, while Dawn, Brock, Pikachu and Piplup watch on.... as well as Team Rocket from the bushes. Meowth is already formulating a plan based on observation - at some point soon, Ash is going to ask for a rematch, and in the battle Mr. Mime SHOULD get tired enough for them to pounce.
As ideas go it's.... well it's less terrible than their plans usually are!
Clayton complains that Ash and Buizel are doing it all wrong and they can't punch weakly.... and shows them by punching so masterfully that it doesn't part the water when he puts his fist through it and his fist doesn't even get wet!
Wait, what?
Ash takes Clayton's suggestion of Concentration and Speed to heart by.... going for a run with Buizel and punching at the air as they go. As they run, Ash watches Buizel punching through the tall grass and.... I don't know, learns something or something I don't know it's not really very clear.
Back at the waterfall, as Brock prepares a meal and Dawn helps set up the table, Ash and Buizel try out punching again and Buizel actually forms a small piece of ice on its fist this time.
They soon settle down for a meal and Clayton and Buizel chow down hardcore, declaring Brock's food to be "unbe-licious!", short for unbelievably delicious... considering they normally eat nothing but berries.
Settled into the bushes in the late afternoon sunlight, Team Rocket are miserable and muttering out their own little abbreviations too, impatient and getting irritated as they wait for Ash to fall into his normal pattern of operation after taking a beating and demand a rematch that he then wins.
Buizel isn't eating and neither is Ash, and when Dawn asks if he is going to eat he mutters,"....yeah," and then gets up and goes off for a run with Buizel instead, because he isn't very intelligent. Clayton grunts that Ash-Bui has potential and she shouldn't worry about him/them, and then bellows out that he wants a second helping of dinner and he's saying please, while Dawn and Brock offer weak attempts at their own bizarre abbreviations.
That night, Ash, Buizel and Pikachu stand out in the grass and look up at the moon, and Ash remembers Buizel punching the grass and forming ice when it punched the waterfall and comes to some kind of inspirational realization of something and declares to Buizel that they are going to master Ice Punch!
Meanwhile, Clayton and Mr. Mime are standing dramatically up on top of their wooden shack for the sole purpose of standing dramatically on top of their wooden shack. Clayton tells Mr. Mime that he looked into Buizel's eyes and realised it would master Ice Punch... so tell the truth, Mr. Mime, can you defeat it again?
Mr. Mime's reply is to utter the syllables of its own name in a variety of ways, so there you go.
In the clearing, Ash is having Pikachu hold a small pile of leaves which he takes and releases one by one into the wind. As it sails towards Buizel, the little Buizelster attempts to hit it, focusing on hitting the leaf, judging where it will be as the wind blows, causing its paw to glow white each time as it grows closer and closer in one night to mastering the tactic that took Mr. Mime years and years.
The next day the sun rises and Ash challenges a surprised Clayton to a rematch. He's amazed that Ash appears to have mastered in a night what it took him so long to achieve, but he accepts the challenge.... and stormclouds roll in and it begins to lightning and thunder as rain threatens.... and Meowth shouts out in a sudden panic that they can't wait for the rain to ruin their plans so they'll have to grab Mr. Mime NOW!
Wait, what?
A horrified Jesse and James throw caution to the wind and leg it after him, shouting out to Ash to hand over Mr. Mime. He's annoyed and very slightly surprised to see them as they prepare to kick off their motto... and lightning strikes directly in front of them and sends them blasting off again! As they fly through the air they bemoan their abbreviated motto, and James suggests that since they have the extra time now maybe they should work on an abbreviating blast off too?
And thus, Team Rocket are bla oar uhhh!
Moments later, seemingly completely unconcerned by this bizarre turn of events, Ash and Clayton kick off their fight again... and both use EXACTLY the same strategy as before. Ash uses Aqua Jet and it is stopped by Psychic... but this time Buizel rebounds off of the tree trunk with its back legs and lands safely before using Sonic Boom. Once again, Mr. Mime has used Double Team and Brock shouts out that Ash can't rely on the same moves, and Clayton agrees that Bro-bree (sni-er) is right... it's time to see Ice Punch! Ash agrees and Buizel actually successfully pulls off the move, while Mr. Mime uses Thunder Punch at the same time!
The two moves press against each other, fist to fist.... but Mr. Mime is stronger and pushes through to knock Buizel out again!
But Buizel's improved speed and concentration has worked, and it dodges the punch and backs off. Ash is worried though, how can he beat such a powerful Kung Fu Clown?
And then, as it always does for Ash, something completely random and unstrategised comes up to save the day! The rain comes down at last and Ash and Buizel come to an unspoken agreement. Once more it is time for Buizel and Mr. Mime to clash fist to fist - Thunder Punch vs Ice Punch! As they charge at each other, suddenly Buizel puts on a burst of incredible speed - Brock identifying it as Swift Swim, made possible due to the rain. The speed isn't enough though, Buizel's concentration must be perfect, and all the effort it put in over the previous night trying to punch the leaves must not be stacked against the taller, stronger, more powerful Mr. Mime which has trained for YEARS under a Martial Arts Master. It's an impossible task that nobody can possibly be expected to succeed in, all that can be hoped for is a course of gradual improvement over the yea-
WELL LET ME TELL YA SOMETHING, BROTHER!
It's the old classic Pro-Wrestling Story, dude! The Buizelster might get destroyed in the first fight! But it'll go away and work out, and take its vitamins and do its exercises and say its prayers.... and when all the words and spirit and hopes and dreams of the little Buizelmaniacs reach out and lift the Buizelster up, brother, then WHATCHA GONNA DO, MR. MIME, WHEN BUIZELMANIA RUNS WILD.... ON YOU!?!?!
The next day (or later that day when the convenient rain is gone) Ash explains to Brock that he used the leaves to increase Buizel's concentration (or rather, Brock explains to Ash after Ash happily tells him,"I got my doggy to punch at leaves, Momma!" and Clayton points out that it was a combination of the bond between Ash and Buizel, the clever use of the rain to increase its speed AND the concentration boost that allowed them to defeat Mr. Mime. Clayton tells Ash that he and Buizel still has a long way to go (he defeated you after one day of half-assed training in the field you've dedicated your life to!) but they will meet him again and fight him again, and he wishes him the best of luck till then.
And so the twerps head away, saying goodbye to the bizarre lunatic freak and his Kung-Fu Clown with a happy wave, a few lessons learned, a defeat balanced out and some new skills.... safe in the knowledge that one thing at least is almost entirely certain.
They'll never see him again!
| BEST QUOTES |
 "Perhaps we could forge an abbreviated blast off?"  "We bla oar ah!" |
|
