"We been in Pikachu pursuit since you've been alive!"
Score: 6/10
Ash and Brock see a huge electric attack off in the distance, so they rush to it, hoping it's Pikachu. It is not, sadly, it's merely Paul and his Elekid. Paul chides Ash's Starly for being weak and reveals that he owns three Starly; his philosophy is to catch multiple pokemon of the same type and determine which is the strongest, and then let the others go. Ash opposes this method because he thinks any pokemon can be strong if it’s trained well, and while he’s right, that doesn’t mean Paul is wrong. Paul defends his actions because two of his Starly only know tackle and sand-attack, whereas the third nets him those moves plus aerial ace. In any case, Paul declines to battle with Ash when he learns he only has two pokemon.
Off in the distance, Ash and Brock hear a volt tackle, and realizing that there probably aren't any other Pikachu in the vicinity, they rush forward. Cut to Team Rocket in a giant robot that is, as always, immune to electricity. Piplup's attacks are also ineffective, but Ash arrives just in time to attack using Aipom's swift and Starly's whirlwind. Good thing it knew whirlwind, eh? Imagine if it had only known tackle and sand-attack, it might have been too weak to help.
Team Rocket counters with their new motto, which... is eh. I'm sorry, I know it's wrong of me, but I can't give any motto a chance except the original one, it's absolutely better than the replacements. Tell me I'm wrong or unfair if you want, but I stand by what I said.
Ash jumps onto the robot (fortunately, Ash can jump sixty or seventy feet when he needs to), which impresses Dawn. After a short fight, Team Rocket's robot explodes, blasting off again, everyone reunites, and Pikachu meets Starly.
Everyone decides to go back to Rowan's lab after they call him in phone booth (those even still exist?), and as the heroes leave, Paul silently looks over the remains of Team Rocket's robot.
At Rowan's, Ash receives a package from his mom: new clothes, that are actually not as thick and warm as his old clothes. Dawn hears that Ash and Brock are heading through Jubilee City, which is her destination, so everyone agrees to travel together. As the heroes leave the lab, Paul challenges Ash, and even though Pikachu literally knows nothing about Paul at all, it violently goes "Pika..." as Paul challenges him. Paul is amused by the way Ash speaks, "like a little kid," and man, it's true. Ash’s old voice actor was better for that, though.
We begin with Starly versus Starly. Starly uses quick attack, but Starly takes the hit easily. Starly counters with an attack of its own, but Starly uses wing attack, only for Starly to use double team. Starly's ploy works perfectly, and Starly loses.
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Not changing this sig until I decide to change this sig.
Started: July 6, 2005