Aipom and Circumstance!
"My hat's sure been gettin' around."
Score: 3.5/10
Which is more than we can say for Brock, amirite?
Aipom is angry that Pikachu is Ash's favorite pokemon and runs off with his hat. I should be annoyed at its behavior, but, well. Ash really does play favorites, and it’s not like he pretends otherwise. When we were little kids, my grandparents told my sister and me that we were their favorite grandchildren, and if they had more grandchildren, they would still love us more than them. When my second sister was born, they never mentioned it again.
While searching for it through one of Japan’s many forests, Ash and Brock come across a pyramid with a Greek column built on top of it. Around it is a village, in which is a crowd of people. They meet Hank, who explains that every year, this village chooses someone to be king for a year. How is the king picked? At the column is the crown, and if you can grab it and hold it until sunset, you’re declared king. Truly, I can see why they prefer this system over a more standardized democracy. Hank's dream is to be king, but Brock wants to join the contest because he hopes to leverage the position to impress women. No, I'm serious. That's why. That's literally why. He doesn't even live here, but he figures that if he’s king, he’ll be able to more easily pick up chicks.
Everyone runs up the pyramid, but Aipom grabs the crown and runs up a column too high for anyone to grab the crown from it. A... guy tells everyone that whoever has the crown, even a pokemon, is king. Who is this guy? I have no idea, but he's like sixty years old and is wearing a toga, so I'm assuming he gets to make the rules or something. Ash begs Aipom to give the crown to someone else, but it gets angry at Pikachu (which is on Ash’s shoulder) and runs off into the forest. Everyone in the village (plus Brock and Ash) runs into the forest to chase Aipom, but only Pikachu can keep up with it. Brock and Ash run into May and Max again, and literally, all they say is "if we can't find Aipom soon, it will become king!" And that's all the explanation May needs. That's it. She needs no context outside of that, and requests no more information. Can you imagine if you were walking along, and your best friend appeared and told you that if you couldn’t find his dog by the end of the day, it would be declared Pope? This is the exact same situation. Don’t you think you would ask for more information? Apparently, in Japan, they would not.
The heroes and Hank find Pikachu and Aipom after what I assume is a few hours (the sun is almost down), but Aipom accidentally wedged the crown on its head so securely that Ash can't remove it, so he vows to stay with Aipom for the year if it's necessary and give up his chance at the Battle Pyramid, because he won't leave it behind. This touches Aipom, who forgives Ash for his obvious and continuing favor of Pikachu.
Everyone makes a last ditch effort at prying the crown off of its head, but it’s no use. The sun almost setting, Hank gives Aipom a blue berry, which... somehow gets the crown off. I don't understand how. Aipom eats the berry, it makes a motion like the berry is very sour-tasting, and now Hank can pull the crown off. I’m not leaving anything out, I really do not understand what is happening.
Hank is left with the crown and is declared king. Love live King Hank, the least impressively named royal since Empress Jennifer of the House of Santa Monica.
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Not changing this sig until I decide to change this sig.
Started: July 6, 2005