Cutting the Ties that Bind!
"Beedrill! Millions of them!"
Score: 4/10
The heroes have reached Metallica Island, which is less about music and more about the Battle Palace. While training his pokemon, Ash finds that Sceptile still can't use grass attacks, and the heroes mention its broken heart again. Jesus, Sceptile, you knew that Meganium for a day. Not even an entire day! I once got rejected by a girl I asked out whom I’d known for weeks, and then proceeded to get a B+ on my Major American Novels exam later that day.
Angry, Sceptile runs off and Ash follows, and they accidentally stumble upon a horde of Beedrill, so numerous that Pikachu can't fight them off. Sceptile tries to fight, but it still can’t use any attacks, so it helps by taking attacks meant for Ash. It doesn’t help, however, and all three are knocked into a fast-moving river. If I understand the geology of Japan correctly, and all of my understanding comes from this show, Japan is roughly 80% waterfalls, 10% rivers, and 5% cities, with the remaining 5% being split between deserts, snowy mountaintops, and mysterious caves.
Ash is faced with a choice: save Pikachu, or save Sceptile. Ash chooses Pik-- woah what Ash actually chooses Sceptile because it’s wounded and Pikachu can fend for itself? What in the hell is this logical thinking on his part?
May, Max, and Brock meet Scott, and they're concerned because "it's not like Ash to be late!" even though responsibility is so far from being one of Ash's character traits that I can't even come up with an analogy to make this sentence entertaining to read. Scott explains that it's Kakuna evolution season and Ash has probably gotten into trouble, and agrees to help the heroes find Ash by using some repel to keep the Beedrill away.
Cut to Ash, who drags Sceptile to the shore, but it's too wounded to move easily. Ash helps it walk so they can look for Pikachu.
Hours late, we cut to Pikachu, who is wounded and tired and crawls out of the river at night, so-- wait, Pikachu spent hours traveling downstream? So it's, what, tens of miles away from Ash? Fortunately, a hermit and his Venusaur find Pikachu and heal it. Scott and the heroes find the hermit, who introduces himself as Spencer, the Frontier Brain for the Battle Palace. Even though they could not possibly have traveled tens of miles through a forest on foot in the few hours they’ve been searching.
Spencer explains his philosophy to the heroes. "Our way of life is the natural way. If we're tired, we rest, if we're hungry, we eat. By staying close to Mother Nature, we thrive." I hate characters like this. You know what makes humanity thrive? Freaking agriculture and metallurgy. You can be as natural as you want, but when you add agriculture and metallurgy to the mix, natural life is, by comparison, able to sustain a vastly smaller number of people.
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Not changing this sig until I decide to change this sig.
Started: July 6, 2005