FLINT SPARKS THE FIRE!
"Glorp"
Score: 7/10
The heroes have finally reached Sunnyshore City, and it has airport-style walkways instead of sidewalks. Yes. Yes, somewhere in Japan is a man who both works on Pokemon and whose favorite episode of Seinfeld is the one where George suggests this very idea, and he ignores the part where the other characters explain all of the obvious reasons why it wouldn't work.
Ash has been told that Volkner is extremely strong, but that only makes him look forward to the battle more. The heroes march right up to the gym, and when a computerized voice asks Ash why he's standing in front of the door, he says he wants a battle. Next to the door opens a bucket of free badges, and the voice explains that in this gym, they skip the battles. Ash insists that you should only get a badge if you legitimately defeat the leader, and by the way, don't talk to Erika, Koga, Sabrina, Wattson, and possibly also Brock.
Ash pounds on the door, so giant robot hands appear to "escort you off the premises by force." Fortunately, who should arrive that moment but Flint and his Infernape, a member of the Elite Four (and Flint is pretty cool too). Flint frees him, and agrees to bring him to Volkner at the Sunnyshore Tower. Flint explains that Sunnyshore is powered with solar panels, and they're all controlled from this tower. They soon meet Volkner, who doesn't feel like a battle because he's completely lost interest in battling. Volkner just wants to stare out into the sky and walk through sliding doors, however, so the heroes and Flint go to a... tea and coffee shop, I think?
Flint and the bartender there tell the heroes about how awesome Volkner and he were as kids. They were constant rivals, and even defeated a pokemon poacher together, but when Flint became an Elite Four member, Volkner became bored by the gym challengers and instead focused on his solar panels. Volkner shows up at the tea shop, but he's still bored, so the bartender tells Flint to battle Ash in Volkner's place and Volkner to watch.
Cut to the gym, (Flint's) Infernape versus Buizel. I love how Ash actually has Buizel use ice punch here. Infernape defeats Buizel with one attack. Ash sends out his own Infernape, but it becomes instantly clear that Flint's Infernape is way stronger than Ash's, and it also defeats it with a single attack. Volkner considers leaving when the bartender insists he stays.
Ash sends out Pikachu. Unlike the others, Pikachu actually does land multiple attacks, and ridiculously survives a mach punch, two close combats, and a flare blitz when Infernape went down to a single mach punch. Still, Pikachu loses without having ever seriously put Infernape in danger of losing, and Ash grabs it in his arms, telling it he's proud of it. Volkner has a flashback to defeating the poacher with his own Pikachu at that age, and we learn that the bartender and the poacher are one and the same. Volkner’s spark for battling has be rekindled, so he agrees to battle Ash next episode.
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Started: July 6, 2005