Lurker > Anagram

Well, okay, if you've got to throw out Mr. Radmore, that's okay.

Disappointed Jane is out, too, but alright.

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Started: July 6, 2005

Three of my characters are NA.

>_>

Why is Mr. Radmore NA?

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Natwaf_akidna posted...

I seem to recall thinking Anagram made The Ambassador specifically to counter Anastasia when I first read it. Not that it would have worked, really.

Oh, just read the exhibition matches. Poor Anastasia.

Oh hey, my characters are up there too.

I had not read Anastasia, I swear. I made him specifically because people said Eveny was too powerful, so I made a human-level guy. A dumb reason, I admit.

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Wanglicious posted...

alright so i'm through:

- finalized.
- the 'incomplete'
- some of the 'will eventually be finalized.'

still need to tweak characters internally for some that need minor changes.
and do terrain preferences.
and update the ___ by creators section.

also diff note, i swore Radmore said he has control of a spanish rapper, not rapier.

Dude I wish I'd been clever enough to make him control a Spanish rapper.

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mnkboy907 posted...

I want to try one of those Japanese grapples. An apple that tastes like a grape.

That sounds horrible.

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Thank you for agreeing with me on red versus green apples, Gen. We're the only islands of sanity in a sea of madness.

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I've never had a yellow apple either, Gen.

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Kinglicious posted...

Update today.

Lies

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Started: July 6, 2005

COTTONEE IN LOVE!
"When I think about love and romance, then I eat!"
Score: 4.5/10

Honestly, I could give you a real review of this episode, or I could post pictures of Iris eating things.





Which do you think is the best option? Also: green apples suck, red apples are the master race. I’ve never had an orange apple, though.

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GenesisSaga posted...

Lol.

No mention of that adorable scene with Oshawott and a Joltik? :3

That was okay, but I lumped it in with the "Oshawott tries new stuff" part.

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Started: July 6, 2005

OSHAWOTT’S LOST SCALCHOP!
"My beautiful serving dome!"
Score: 6/10

The heroes meet a guy named Stephan, who challenges Ash to a battle and throws out a Blitzle. Ash sends out Pikachu, but Oshawott wants to battle. Then the opening credits happen, then the narrator tells us what happened one minute before. Thanks, bro.

Oshawott's scalchop can deflect electric attacks, and it performs admirably against Blitzle, but when it tries to attack Blitzle with its scalchop, Blitzle accidentally kicks the item miles away into a nearby forest. Stephan agrees to wait for tomorrow, and Oshawott and Ash run into the forest to search. Ash, Oshawott, and Pikachu look through the forest, Ash not sending out his other pokemon to help because he’s kind of a dumbass.

The heroes just kind of give up searching for the scalchop, and when Iris and Cilan finally decide to help, guess Iris' brilliant plan? Replace Oshawott's scalchop with a berry. When it fails, Iris laments that it "seemed like a good idea at the time," but honestly, it didn't. Not really. Eventually, Cilan has Dwebble carve a new shield out of rock to protect itself, but it’s larger than Oshawott and like twelve hundred pounds. Still, Ash insists they learn to use the rock shield. We then literally get a training montage or Oshawott getting used to its new scalchop.

The next day, the heroes go looking for Stephan for their battle, and find him using an electrical generator for enhancing Blitzle. Don’t worry. This isn’t important. It’s just padding.

Blitzle's attacks are now extremely powerful, and Oshawott's rock shield is destroyed in less than a minute. Ash decides that the best defense is a strong offense, so he has Oshawott just run up and punch Blitzle in the face, also known as the Superman Defense. Deciding he has nothing left to lose, Ash just has Oshawott use aqua jet - but its aim is still poor. For some reason, Blitzle runs alongside it in a flame charge, and they collide with a boulder, knocking Blitzle out but leaving Oshawott up.


As the episode ends, Axew finds Oshawott’s scalchop. How did it do this? Why was it still searching for it? The answers to these questions will not be found in this episode.

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Bump

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Team Rocket Elite posted...

Actually, you might be thinking of Pika Cup from Stadium 1. You use Lv15-20 Pokemon and Dragon Rage was allowed.

That sounds accurate. I never played Pokemon Stadium 2.

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Team Rocket Elite posted...

Dragon Rage is banned in Little Cup!

Whaaaaaaat

Man I haven't kept up with competitive Little Cup since Pokemon Stadium. Anything else banned in it?

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Druddigon versus Tepig. Iris coaches Emmy on how to battle, apparently really good at commanding a pokemon she's never used before, even though she can barely command any of her own pokemon. Druddigon even wins! Let’s give Iris Mewtwo and see what happens.

Meanwhile, Team Rocket watches over the heroes in a giant robo-plane or something, I don't know, annoyed that the heroes freed Druddigon from their deadly, deadly rope. They attack and steal Pikachu, Axew, and Druddigon, but Druddigon is able to free Pikachu before it and Axew get trapped in a cage. I do love how Iris jumps up to Team Rocket's robot, then falls literally like a hundred feet and is completely fine except for like a small grunt.

The heroes follow Team Rocket's robot as it escapes. Fortunately, Axew is able to use dragon rage to force the robot to the ground, and the two escape, but are still too far for the heroes to see where they landed. Iris pauses the heroes, and psychically senses where Axew and Druddigon are. That’s not a joke. Iris is apparently in possession of psychic location powers.

Yamask and Woobat are about to defeat Druddigon and Axew because Team Rocket still has some lingering traces of competency this episode, but the heroes appear and attack. During the battle, Druddigon learns draco meteor somehow, but this only makes Team Rocket want to catch it more. Iris tells Axew to use dragon rage, which by the way looks more powerful than draco meteor, and it finally gets it right-- blasting Team Rocket o-- Oh, huh. Team Rocket escapes at the last second with their jetpacks. This is interesting. I hope they continue to not blast off in the future.

Iris is extremely pleased at Axew finally learning dragon rage. All of the Abra in the Little Cup are screwed now, and the episode ends.

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THE DRAGON MASTER'S PATH!
"Glorp.”
Score: 5.5/10

Scraggy and Axew, as the official weakest pokemon the heroes have, are sparring again. As with every single sparring battle they have, it ends with Axew misusing dragon rage. Jesus, you would think Iris would by this point just stop doing that. Well, whatever. A Druddigon appears and attacks because it feels it should have been dragon/rock, and dammit, someone needs to pay for this. Pikachu stops it, and Iris falls in love with it because she loves all dragon pokemon. Hey, my demand earlier (for a major female character to like a pokemon that’s not cute) was finally answered!

Druddigon's owner, a woman named Emmy appears, and Druddigon runs off into a forest, Emmy following behind, and behind her, the heroes. We also see that Druddigon's got a piece of rope around its ankle. Bizarrely, the heroes unite with Emmy off screen and agree to work together, so in the next scene, it's like... there they all are.

They find Druddigon in a cave, who wants them to go away. Cilan says that it's angry and dangerous, so Iris ignores him and goes right up to the angry-as-**** dragon and removes the rope around its ankle, which was causing it pain because it "was wrapped around its ankle and cutting into its skin." Seriously? This is a pokemon with the ability Rough ****ing Skin, I don’t think something you can buy at Home Depot is going to hurt it.

Well, Emmy thanks them for the help, and asks how Iris tracked Druddigon down off screen. She explains that Druddigon can't move very far when their body temperature drops, so she knew it had to find a cave where the sun could shine into. HINT: THIS IS TO DISPLAY THAT SHE IS KNOWLEDGABLE REGARDING DRAGONS. Iris tells the heroes that she wants to become a Dragon Master, apparently forgetting about her earlier refusal to tell them her dream, and Emmy asks to be taught more about Druddigon, as this is her first dragon type, and she's not comfortable enough to even go on a journey. Iris challenges her to a battle, and Emmy agrees to battle... Ash.

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SCARE AT THE LITWICK MANSION!
"A dark and rainy sky casts an eerie pall over the surroundings..."
Score: 9/10

The heroes are walking along when a thunderstorm brews in literally three seconds. They see a mansion on a cliff, and because they have never seen a horror movie in their entire lives, when the front doors open on their own and no one answers their calls of "Is anyone in here?", they enter.

Elsewhere in the mansion, watching the heroes via cameras, Team Rocket laments that the heroes have accidentally found their new super-secret hideout. Team Rocket has earned the trust of four Litwick that live here. By the way, "Catch Pikachu and chase away the twerps" translates to "Ya ya yamask."

The heroes decide to spend their time in the entry room, but the Litwick start moving furniture, opening windows, and so on. When the heroes try to escape, the Litwick lock the doors. Team Rocket is confused as to why the Litwick didn't do as they were asked and chase away the heroes, but the Litwick continue to throw sharp objects at the heroes and move around clothing as if people were in them to freak them out.

Eventually, Pikachu catches the Litwick, and the heroes manage to catch one as the others escape. Ash tries to scan them with the pokedex, but it breaks down. Rather than take this as a sign that something is wrong, he shrugs and moves on. They ask if Litwick's trainer owns the place, but since they can't understand its response (even Pikachu, I guess?), they just take it with them, and they happen to run into Meowth.

Meowth runs off, and Team Rocket realizes that they all look exhausted and haven’t slept for days. James notices that the Litwicks' flames are larger than they were before, and we learn that the Litwick are misleading both the heroes and Team Rocket. Meanwhile, the Litwick kidnap Axew and Pikachu. Ash uses his pokedex again, which informs him that Litwick feed off your life energy and trick you into going into the ghost world.

Team Rocket calls up Doctor Monocle for help, and he tells them that Litwick feed off of life energy. Before he can say more, the Litwick stop Team Rocket’s skype call from working, but even Jessie and James can tell what's going on now. Before more can happen, the Litwick steal Meowth as well.

Jessie and James start searching for Meowth, and we get scenes that are literally taken straight out of The Shining.

The heroes find their kidnapped pokemon (and Meowth), but Jessie and James appear, and with Meowth, do their motto, barely forcing it out through their exhaustion.


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When Team Rocket says that everyone just needs to escape, the Litwick all reappear, led by a Lampent. They create a portal to the ghost world, and we're pretty explicitly told here that if you go in, you're ****ing going to actual Hell. The Litwick try to force the pokemon into it, and when that fails, the walls crumble, revealing a ghostly ether all around the heroes. Cilan decides that they need to fight the Litwick (probably because no problems on this show are solved by anything other than fighting or friendship, and the latter seems unlikely to work here), so everyone (except Iris) sends out a pokemon to fight. However, the Litwick are just too powerful, and almost knock Jessie and Cilan into the ghost world. Ash and James, however, rescue the other on the other team, and both groups agrees to help each other. Working together, they’re able to fight the ghost pokemon-- Yeah, Dwebble! Use X-Scissor on pokemon with a quadruple resistance! Go, Iris! You stand there and look scared! You are a model of valiance, girl!

They knock the pokemon back into the ghost world, which somehow instantly cures Team Rocket's exhaustion and thunderstorm is gone now or something, I don’t know. The mansion reveals itself to be nearly destroyed and falling apart, the Litwick having used vaguely defined illusion powers to make it appear almost new, and Team Rocket escapes in jet packs because there's not enough time left in the episode to fight the heroes and blast off. Rain brews again, and even though the mansion is now empty, the heroes decide to just seek shelter elsewhere.

Yeah, this episode would be 8/10 just for Jessie's face alone. This is easily the best filler episode since Evil Togepi, and it very well might be better. **** anyone who uses that quote of pokemon not being evil, these Litwick literally try steal peoples’ life energy and send them into Hell when they’re no longer useful. ****, that is as evil as you can get without involving an orphanage or Germany.

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EMOLGA AND THE NEW VOLT SWITCH!
"Wow, a battle between electric-types! A spicy pairing like that could turn out to be electrifying!"
Score: 5/10

Bianca, who is still traveling with the heroes for some reason, challenges Iris to a battle.

Emolga versus Pignite. I dislike how attract is portrayed as the be all and end all of attacks, and after one use of it, Bianca has to recall her pokemon. She sends out Minccino, and their attracts cancel each other out (because that’s how it works). Against Iris' orders, Emolga uses volt switch (so all of one of Iris' pokemon will obey her), causing Excadrill to come out. Emolga's volt switch is "a little different," and doesn't cause it to recall to its pokeball, instead just causing another pokemon to come out. Huh. Well, I’m glad the details of this are explained, right? Iris tries to chew Emolga out for disobeying orders, but it just gives her puppy dog eyes and she stops.

Iris sends Emolga back in to battle, but it just uses volt switch again, somehow sending out Cilan's pokemon. Pansage gets angry when it's hit by accident and knocks out Minccino, and Cilan declares Pansage the winner. Ha, what a dick. Emolga continues to act ultra-cute, but now even Iris doesn’t fall for it, and she declares that Emolga must battle. Bianca sends out Pignite again, but Emolga just volt switches Snivy into the battle and then disappears. Only Iris is concerned by her pokemon disappearing, so Bianca and Ash just start battling. Ha, everyone is dicks.

Iris finds Emolga lazing off by itself in a tree, so Snivy (like three hundred feet away) just uses vine whip to grab it. Iris insists Emolga battle, so it just shocks all everyone... except Snivy, who sees it coming and jumps out of the way. Nice.

They stop for lunch, and Emolga uses attract to get the food of all of the other pokemon. Somehow, this causes them to think the others all stole the food and attack each other. I do enjoy Snivy just staying out of it, though. The humans figure out that someone stole their food, and they honestly can't figure it out. It's Snivy who points it out to them, but Iris defends Emolga, saying it wouldn't. Somehow, the other humans are convinced by Iris' complete lack of evidence, but this sparks angry eyes between Snivy and Emolga. Uh oh.

The heroes stop for a nap, but Emolga, who's still awake, runs off to find some food. Snivy, Oshawott, and Axew follow. Emolga tricks Oshawott and Axew into thinks some wild Watchog attacked it and stole an apple it found, so Oshawott takes some of the apples of the Watchog, causing them to attack in retaliation. They accidentally anger a wild Simisear, so they run off and leave the Simisear to attack the heroes’ pokemon. Simisear kicks Oshawott's ass and knocks it unconscious, and Emolga decides the most logical thing to do is throw an apple at it and just leave Simisear to murder Axew. Fortunately, Snivy appears to help, and the heroes arrive soon after.

Simisear begins beating up Snivy, and Iris yells for Emolga to help. Emolga finally decides to man up and help, and they bravely defeat Simisear in a two-on-one battle. Yeah, you go girl(s)! When Simisear is almost crushed by a rock it dislodges from a nearby cliff, they rescue it, and it finally just gives up and walks away, hoping to find fewer evil Emolga in its future (little does it know that all Pikachu clones are evil).

Emolga offers an apple to Snivy as a peace offering, which it accepts, Bianca runs off to Castelia City to challenge Burgh (I guess she was traveling away from it this entire time?), and the episode ends.

Pretty much the saving grace of this episode is Snivy, who is consistently competent and pretty darn cool.

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I look forward to it, then.

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GenesisSaga posted...

Loved the Emolga ep. Had me rollin'!

You promise Bianca being horrible, Gen. This was not horrible. This was Bianca being amusing, I actually had to cut out a few scenes of her getting her ass kicked by Emolga because I already had too many Bianca captions.

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Bump

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Ah, I found Cairn's sheet in the topic, nevermind.

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Sceptilesolar posted...

An Evil PC, huh?

It's hardly the first time someone's tried it. I play an evil PC in a party good characters once, though she was only barely evil. Tiro's warlock is more obviously evil.

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Tiro, could you post a link to both of your characters, then? I lost the links.

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Triofrog posted...

Anagram posted...

Hey, Tiro, if we do another campaign directly after this one, are you still planning on your evil tiefling warlock chick?

Yeah, either her or Sol. Leaning towards her as a change of pace, though. Hope you guys are doing okay without me!

Who's Sol again? I forget.

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Some_Character posted...

It's pretty obvious that Emolga joined to get more apples.

This leads to the question of how much Bianca would've been willing to spend on apples per day to get Emolga to join her.

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Started: July 6, 2005

EMOLGA THE IRRESITIBLE!
"Emoemo!"
Score: 6.5/10

A few wild Patrat find some apples, and a wild Emolga uses attract to make them give it all of their food. When they realize what happened, they get angry and exit the episode, reasoning that if they’re not on screen, heartbreaker Emolga probably won’t appear.

Later, the heroes are eating lunch with Bianca in the middle of a field. Where did they get a table and chairs? I do not know. Iris picks some apples for dessert, but Bianca protests because that’s not really a dessert. I can only point out that you’re not supposed to have dessert for lunch, if you want to be that way.

Axew has its apple stolen by Emolga, but when it sees Iris holding an entire platter of them, it creates a cunning plan: give Axew back its apple, and Iris will reward its generosity with all of the others. It does so, playing up its cuteness, and its plan actually works - Iris is about to give it all of her apples when Bianca suddenly appears and declares that she wants to own it because it’s so cute. I would like one major female character who at no point catches a pokemon because it’s cute. I think the only who matches that description is Zoey. By the way, Oshawott falls instantly in love with Emolga.

Bianca sends out Minccino to attack, but when it tries to use attract, but Emolga counters with its own attract. Minccino is saved by Oshawott, who wants to be hit by attract - haha, okay, this is actually funny. Regardless, Emolga finally decides that it's had enough of these weirdos and just leaves, so everyone follows.

Bianca and Iris both desperately want to find Emolga (the latter because Axew wants to give it an apple as a thank you and because it develops a crush), but it's Iris who finds it first. When Emolga learns about Axew’s crush, it thinks about this for a second, realizing that if it pretends to like Axew, Iris, who's already displayed that she's good at picking apples, will provide it will more apples. That’s not thinking very far ahead, Emolga. Sure, Axew is cute now, but imagine when it inevitably turns into a Haxorus and becomes ten times your size and twenty times your weight. Will the apples be worth it then?!

Unfortunately, Bianca appears again and sends out Minccino. Emolga's volt switch allows it to win and escape, however, and Iris and Axew go after it. It is at this point that I realized the episode could only end with Iris catching Emolga, and that the writers wanted to show off all of Emolga’s known moves in its debut episode.

Iris, Axew, and Emolga end up trapped in a dark, scary part of the forest surrounded by Swoobat. I’ll skip the padding here and tell you the ending: Pikachu and the heroes rescue them and Bianca acts like a dumbass.

That evening, as the heroes set down for dinner, Emolga appears and asks to join Iris because, I don’t know, of their bonding, I guess. It allows itself to be captured, which breaks Bianca's heart.

I’ve got to tell you, Bianca is what makes this episode.




She’s still annoying, but the fact that she keeps getting punished for her stupidity somewhat makes up for it, to a point where she actually becomes entertaining.

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Started: July 6, 2005

Wait, wait, wait. How is Coaster incomplete?

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charmander6000 posted...

Well Looker was in the game.

I think I vaguely remember this, but it's still interesting.

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Hey, Tiro, if we do another campaign directly after this one, are you still planning on your evil tiefling warlock chick?

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What was the default 3.5 god of death? I know a lot more about Forgotten Realms than Greyhawk.

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I really don't know why you guys despise the Raven Queen so much, but I don't know much about the default setting.

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I can't find Omega's or Accel's EDs. Could you guys maybe just post the fluff for me?

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Bump

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Pokalicious posted...

"After the Venipede attack within Castelia City, Ash & Co. go out to the Desert Resort where they meet up with Professor Juniper and Looker. It seems that Team Rocket are causing disturbances in one of the ruins of the castle, sending the Pokémon to the city. However, as Team Rocket starts to enact their plan, Team Plasma arrive..."

Woah, Looker was going to appear back when BW wasn't continuous with the rest of the series?! Interesting.

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Pokalicious posted...

Oh, okay. I can forgive this sort of goof-up, then. Does the earthquake have anything to do with Team Rocket going back to how they used to be?

The episodes never aired, not even in Japan. So, only the writers know (and who knows, maybe even they don't have a clue).

The episodes never leaked or anything? Damn, it's tempting to know what they're about.

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Pokalicious posted...

The heroes reach the Castelia Gym, and Burgh is happy to take Ash's challenge. Huh. I guess Trip was just kind of wrong.

Not entirely wrong. The Team Rocket vs. Team Plasma episodes were supposed to air between these two episodes, but because of the earthquake in Japan, they didn't air. So the episodes were skipped.

Oh, okay. I can forgive this sort of goof-up, then. Does the earthquake have anything to do with Team Rocket going back to how they used to be?

Didn't Burgh see Pikachu at Pinwheel Forest?

Yes, Burgh has seen Pikachu in two previous episodes, which makes his comment even weirder.

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Team Rocket Elite posted...

Good thing you gave up that nasty, useless volt tackle in favor of electro ball.

Pikachu's Volt Tackle was pretty much useless ever since he met Zekrom.

It defeated one of Trip's pokemon!

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BATTLE FOR THE LOVE OF BUG-TYPE!
"Pikachu is the main ingredient in Ash's strategy recipe!"
Score: 5/10

The heroes reach the Castelia Gym, and Burgh is happy to take Ash's challenge. Huh. I guess Trip was just kind of wrong.

Burgh sends out his first pokemon: Dwebble. Ash counters with Tepig, a move which Iris compliments even though it's his worst possible choice. And indeed, Tepig loses easily. Good work, everyone. Fortunately, Sewaddle picks up the slack and defeats Dwebble for Ash.

Next up: Whirlipede. Whirlipede exists because GameFreak thought Kakuna and Metapod were too damn dignified. Cilan muses that a flying pokemon would be best here, but Ash already sent Tranquill to Professor Juniper because he knew he was going to a bug gym and having an advantage would be too smart. He probably plans to use Oshawott against Elesa, too.

Well, whatever. Sewaddle is hit by a solar beam, causing it to evolve into Swadloon. With its new power, it defeats Whirlipede. Finally, Burgh sends out Leavanny, and Iris mutters that she was afraid of this, as if Burgh using his own signature pokemon was ever in question. In fairness, this next part of the battle is kind of interesting, where Swadloon is strung up by string shot and has to hit itself with razor leaf to escape, but Leavanny wins without taking damage anyway, making Swadloon’s bravery and cleverness completely pointless.

Oshawott escapes its pokeball again and asks to fight, but Ash chooses Pikachu instead, promising to use Oshawott next time. Holy crap, he does plan to use Oshawott against Elesa, I can’t even make jokes about Ash anymore.

But don’t worry.

Burgh comments about the rarity of Pikachu.

Pikachu is hit by string shot, which gets all over its tail and ruins its balance, preventing it from using its moves properly. Fortunately, Ash tricks Leavanny into using leaf storm on the string shot, freeing Pikachu and allowing it to win using electro ball, because we have to justify replacing volt tackle with it somehow.

Meanwhile, Team Rocket calls up Giovanni's secretary, who tells that their next mission is up to them. Left unsure of what to do, Team Rocket gets into an argument about what the boss expects of them, and for the first time since Sinnoh, they actually act like Jessie, James, and Meowth, and… oh, they switch back into their white uniforms and pledge themselves to catch Pikachu again. Oh. Okay. I kind of liked the competent, dangerous Team Rocket, and I was hoping they’d remain competent while still having their old personalities, but I… guess not. That’s kind of disappointing, I’ve gotta say.

A wild Yamask wanders by, and Jessie decides to catch it. James, however, simply offers it some food, and then offers to let it join the team. Wow, that was literally the easiest capture ever.

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GenesisSaga posted...

I did not like that episode much at all. <_>



Now I will never look at the traditional Japanese bow of apology the same way again. Thanks Anna.

No problem, broseph.



A VENIPEDE STAMPEDE!
"I couldn't care less about your REASONS."
Score: 4/10

Ugh, Trip is awful.

Remember when Team Rocket was in this show? Neither do I! Well, the writers do, bizarrely enough, and Team Rocket, Peuce, and Doctor Monocle are in their laboratory-helicopter looking for another meteorite under the Desert Resort.

Cut to the heroes reaching Castelia City, and Cilan insists they go to the Castelia Cone, a famous ice cream shop. However, Ash insists that there’s no time for ice cream (bastard), they must go to the gym first. On the way, they bump into Burgh, who informs them that he can't battle now because the wild bug pokemon in the city are restless, which generally happens when "something bad is gonna happen."

Pikachu feels something wrong with the sewer, and Burgh confirms that the sewer runs into a river nearby, so they all go to investigate, and soon find a trapped Venipede (and Ash uses the correct pronunciation of "antennae"). Burgh tells Ash not to touch it because its skin is poisonous, but he does so anyway because dammit, that’s how we roll in Japan. Amazingly, Ash is poisoned, but luckily, Cilan heals him instantly. Wow, what drama we have in this show.

A colony of Venipede stampede by, and Burgh questions why they're here, since Venipede normally live outside of the city. As they leave the sewer, they see thousands of Venipede are swarming the city. I love how Officer Jenny comes and warns only Burgh and the heroes to leave - all of the helpless civilians she does nothing for, but Burgh, the pokemon expert who can survive days in the forest with no problem? He needs to be warned for his own safety. We also learn that Professor Juniper is trying to determine why the Venipede are freaking out. Well, that’s actually pretty simple: Unova needs a “freaky bug swarm” pokemon and the Beedrill are all busy in Japan.

An explosion occurs near the pokemon center (except when they get there, there’s no sign of it), and the heroes see several trainers defending it with fire pokemon, including Trip, who now has a Lampent. Ash tells them not just attack the Venipede because Professor Juniper is trying to figure out what's happening, and when the mayor appears, Burgh and the heroes convince him to let them drive the Venipede into the city’s park and keep them there rather than just attacking. Burgh knows that Venipede leaders usually hang out at high points to watch out for danger, so they look for a completely anonymous high building in a city of nothing except high buildings and successfully locate the identical Venipede (among tens of thousands) in twenty seconds.

After a lot of filler, during which Trip joins the heroes temporarily and Ash’s Pidove evolves (and if you think I’m unfairly skipping over the significance of a pokemon evolving, it’s only because the episode does too), the Venipede are all in the park.

Trip leaves, saying the gym won’t be open for a while so he’d rather go on ahead. Professor Juniper arrives at this point, telling everyone that she’s located two enormous energy sources coming from the Desert Resort, which freaked out the Venipede and sent them into the city. Well, this looks dangerous, so let’s send only a noncombatant professor and Officer Jenny, who, like all American cops, is armed only with green hair, to investigate, while Burgh and the heroes stay in the city.

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Started: July 6, 2005

We learn that when the ferry shut down and Sally moved away, Gothitelle joined her and her father. When she grew up, Sally went to medical school, leaving Gothitelle with her father, and several years later learned that Gothitelle had disappeared. What? Her father never called her to say that her pet ran away? Jesus Christ, what a dick. Well, she happened to be assigned to a hospital near here and came to look at the bridge for old time’s sake, and now they're reunited. Sally tells Gothitelle that it needs to release everyone, however, because you “can’t turn back time” even though Gothitelle has pretty much done exactly that. Well, whatever, Gothitelle takes everyone out of the memory world, but decides not to go with Sally because... I don't know. It does say that Sally can come visit it if she likes, and then it leaves.

So… this episode is kind of nice, so I gave it a high score, but it also makes no real sense at any point. The heroes are completely superfluous here and do literally nothing except observe the entire episode, making Gothitelle the protagonist. This would be interesting, except that the writers aren’t talented enough to even realize what they did, so the heroes are still the protagonists and as a result, the episode is much worse than its potential implies.

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Started: July 6, 2005

THE LOST WORLD OF GOTHITELLE!
"It's like a dream, the memories, hidden within the mists of a passing fog."
Score: 7/10

The heroes are heading to the Skyarrow Bridge, the last major obstacle before the plot advances. Just before they escape the filler, Ash stops at a pokemart by the bridge and runs into a woman named Sally.

In the mart, Ash exchanges Sewaddle for Pidove and is then flabbergasted to see Sally, whom almost ran into in front of the store as they both entered the store, in the store. She's looking at a few pictures of a ferry that used to run here before the bridge was built.

They take their leave of the character of the day, but suddenly, the area is foggy, so Officer Jenny appears and sends out a Swanna to use defog... but it doesn't work. Rather than deal with this problem, Officer Jenny instead prioritizes giving tickets to people who try to drive in the fog. I would call her the worst cop ever, but honestly, real cops love to park behind trees and wait for people to run stop signs instead of stopping murders and stuff, so yeah, this is pretty realistic.

Ash decides to just ignore the fog and cross the bridge anyway, but it just gets thicker as they go. A Gothitelle appears over the bridge and obstructs their passage, refusing to let them cross, so Ash attacks with Snivy. A leaf storm connects with a psybeam, plunging the heroes into another world. Yep. It’s that easy.

The heroes see that the bridge is still being built and a girl who looks exactly like a younger version of Sally is running a ferry across the river. She has a Gothitelle, so, seeing that this is where the plot is, the heroes board the ferry. The captain laments that his ferry will soon close with the bridge's completion, and it's Cilan who figures out that they've traveling "into another world" (not through time). Yes, Cilan, the guy who made a huge stink about science and reasonable explanations is the guy who talks about time travel and interdimensional movement here. When they reach the other side of the bridge, the heroes find they're on the same side of the bridge that they started on. Cilan realizes that they're stuck in a loop that will always result in them reaching this ferry because the writers had just finished watching Window of Opportunity before they made this episode.

The heroes watch Sally order her Gothitelle to help her get more supplies for the ferry, so she has it use psychic to open a door. No, literally, this happens. Amazing psychic powers from "the astral body pokemon" are used to open a door.

Cilan decides that Gothitelle might be the key to this, so they decide to ask about it. Sally explains that Gothitelle used to be wild, but one day decided to just help out and hang around - Gothitelle is extremely happy helping by opening doors and sweeping floors. Cilan now believes that Gothitelle can warp space and created a world made out of its memories of time spent with Sally, and Ash says that he doesn't think these memories are particularly special, what a dick.

They watch Gothitelle leave into the fog surrounding the area after it finishes helping for the day, and decide to follow it. It walks onto the bridge, and as soon as it's out of sight of Sally and her father, the heroes ask to be allowed to leave its memory world. Obviously, the most reasonable response is to attack, so Cilan decides that if they battle Gothitelle, they might learn something useful (spoilers: they don’t). Ash sends out Snivy, and during the battle, adult Sally appears and tells Gothitelle that she also got lost in this memory world.

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Started: July 6, 2005

SovietOmega posted...

Also, could I get a DM ruling on the Reparation Apparatus?

Property: When you use a healing power on a construct, that
creature regains an additional 2d6 hit points. When you use
a power to grant temporary hit points to a construct, that
creature gains an additional 2d6 temporary hit points.

The issue is that Warforged have apparently been changed to be 'living constructs' which supposedly completely different from just a construct. Essentially, this would add 2d6 THP to my two powers with the invigorating keyword.

I'm not really sure. Ruling in favor of this opens up the door to potentially much more ridiculous uses of construct-only effects on warforged.

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Started: July 6, 2005

Could you guys please each post your intended ED, and what book it is found in? I know Kan is planning Demigod and that's in PHB, but I don't know where the other EDs you guys are planning are, or even what ED each of you want.

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Started: July 6, 2005

GenesisSaga posted...

I hated this episode as well. What is it with duck type pokémon being trolls???

Farfetch'd helped his master steal pokémon and crap
Porygon gave a thousand Japanese children seizures (okay, not an intentional trolling)
And these three a-holes.

Nintendo is obviously trying to ruin the image of cartoon ducks after Donald Duck and Daffy Duck were the best characters in their canon.

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Started: July 6, 2005

DANCING WITH THE DUCKLETT TRIO!
"I'm afraid Excadrill's acting a bit Chili!"
Score: 3.5/10

Cilan cooks up some lunch, only for Ash and Pikachu to fall down a sudden hole in the ground (without his pokeballs), which instantly collapses into itself so Cilan and Iris can’t follow. Thus, they send out Pansage and Excadrill to dig through the collapsed dirt-- but Excradrill won’t help and a wild Ducklett steals Cilan’s silverware, so Iris goes after it while Cilan digs through the hole.

We learn that the hole was dug by Sunglasses Sandile, which wanted to battle Ash by separating him from the rest of the heroes: it desperately wants to battle Pikachu for… some reason, I guess. It’s followed Ash like fifty miles on foot, I assume its desire is pretty intense. When was the last time you walked fifty miles? Freaking never is when. Ash has Pikachu lead with thunderbolt because he's an idiot, and the battle commences, but it's interrupted by a wild Derplett.

I find that image absolutely hilarious for some reason. It's like... "I don't even know why I exist." Ducklett actually only pretends to be a derp and puts its head in Sandile's mouth to examine it, but soon reveals its true colors: blue. Then it steals Sandile’s sunglasses and flies off.

Sandile is cowardly without its sunglasses, so Ash agrees to help it retrieve them... only for another Ducklett to steal Ash's hat. Ash does track down the Ducklett and defeat them, but then the one that stole Cilan's silverware appears, rescues its friends, and they then trap Pikachu in an umbrella while it uses thunderbolt, which I guess damages Pikachu’s ability to use electricity? It’s… not really clear? But in any case, Pikachu can no longer use thunderbolt.

Ash tries just asking for the sunglasses back, but the Ducklett just pretend to give them back before attacking again. Pikachu can no longer use electricity, so it’s a three-on-three battle (Ash helps fight the Ducklett), but Ash, Pikachu, and Sandile all lose handily.

Somehow, Pikachu learns electro ball, it’s not really clear how, and defeats the Ducklett. Iris and Cilan appear again, as do the Ducklett, so Pikachu volunteers to fight them again, and can now use thunderbolt again I guess, it’s not really explained. After being defeated again, the Ducklett just kind of leave. At the pokemon center, Nurse Joy tells everyone about the annoying Ducklett that live around here and that’s that, I guess. No further explanations.

Sandile wants another battle with Pikachu, and here we learn Pikachu's known moves are now iron tail, quick attack, electro ball, and thunderbolt. Phew. Good thing you gave up that nasty, useless volt tackle in favor of electro ball. During the battle, Sandile evolves into Krokorok, and... I don't really know why, but Krokorok gets blasted off into the sky or something, I guess. I don't know. It’s not really clear how it happens.

Nothing at any point in this episode is clearly explained.

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Started: July 6, 2005

GenesisSaga posted...

She then proceeds to examine all of Ash’s pokemon (except Pidove, who’s not with him)

But of course Pidove gets boxed when Ash has an excess of pokémon with ATTITUDES half of which are starters. You're next, Sewaddle. Enjoy your spotlight now..

Burgundy is closest in personality to Ursula I'd say (so of course she sucks and it's great to watch her lose).

I didn't mention this, but Burgundy also looks like she's Ash's age and not Cilan's.

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Started: July 6, 2005

A CONNOISSEUR'S REVENGE!
"Snivy also has no respect for my tongue!"
Score: 5/10

The heroes are traveling when they find a brand new Walmart-sized pokemart in the middle of a forest, filled with customers, because everyone knows that city-dwellers love driving out hours into the middle of a forest to buy basic supplies. Personally, I don’t feel right unless I drive to Fresno at least once a week.

Inside the pokemart is a connoisseur shop, where someone checks your pokemon and evaluates your compatibility. Cilan then explains the ranking system for connoisseurs - he's A-class, but there's also S-class above that. What’s the deciding factor in Ash wanting to get his pokemon evaluated? That the connoisseur is female. How… strangely potentially sexist? I don’t know.

Ash dislikes the long line, but another female connoisseur tells him that she's free. Ash thinks this is not suspicious at all, even though he's last in line of dozens and she offers to see him specifically. This connoisseur is named Burgundy - and don't worry, she comments on the rarity of Pikachu. She then proceeds to examine all of Ash’s pokemon (except Pidove, who’s not with him) and inform him that he has no chemistry with any of them because of things like Tepig being too happy or Snivy’s eyes being too narrow. When Cilan and Iris appear, Burgundy reveals that she knows Cilan - she lost a battle to Cilan, and he said "ridiculous and hurtful things" to her. By the way, she did not know Ash is Cilan’s friend, so apparently she just randomly ambushed a trainer to insult.

She became a connoisseur as revenge (and you just know that any revenge plot that involves learning a trade and becoming a professional in whatever field you study is probably very complex), but Cilan joined Ash’s journey before she came back to the gym. She now just wants to defeat Cilan, and also eventually admits that she's only a C-class (so her insults to Ash’s pokemon are incorrect, I guess). Cilan tells her that the manual isn't always right, so Burgundy challenges him to a battle. Wait - the manual tells you that a Tepig that’s too happy is a bad Tepig? That’s oddly specific.

Dewott versus Dwebble - Cilan's choice surprises everyone because it's weak to water pokemon. Cilan then promises that if he loses, he'll give up his A-class rating and make Ash replace all of his pokemon, because… he totally has the authority to do that, I guess. Cilan's plan for using Dwebble is to let it get hit, because its ability is Sturdy, and then to use shell smash and defeat Dewott. Cilan then chides Burgundy for being a crappy connoisseur (not that he uses those exact words), so she sends out a Sawsbuck. I like how the pokedex claims people use them to measure the passing of the seasons, because in Unova, apparently they hate going outside. Cilan just sends out Pansage, then uses confusing, sneaky attacks to defeat her. After the battle, Cilan tries to give her some advice, but she just gets angry and leaves. He is satisfied, however, that she’ll become a good connoisseur one day.

So, uh… I don’t really like Burgundy, sorry. Aside from her personality being annoying, a rival is supposed to be at least vaguely on the level of the person she’s a rival to, which is how she challenges him and makes him better. Freaking Ash had a more of a chance against Tobias than Burgundy had against Cilan. Still, Burgundy does get beaten up a lot over this episode, which is gratifying to watch, as, as I mentioned, she is very annoying.

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Started: July 6, 2005

BK_Sheikah00 posted...

It's probably Team Rocket's fault

Partly. When they're acting competent, they're not saying silly things.

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