"Out of all of our brilliant but not-so-well-thought-out plans, has a single strategy ever worked?!"
Score: 7/10
The heroes are setting up camp when they see a biplane and an Articuno.
Both the plane and Articuno disappear, and that's it. They don't bother following up on this at all, they're just like "Oh, it's an Articuno. That's pretty unusual. I wonder what its deal is?" and then they don't mention it again. Because if I was driving to Fresno and I saw Merlin in an Escalade, I would be like "Woah, it's Merlin, and-- oh, dammit, my Duran Duran CD is skipping again."
The next morning, they run into Scott, the Battle Frontier guy, who takes them to his car and drives them to the Battle Factory. Yes, remember all of those times the heroes had to hoof it, how they only got to ride in cars when time was a major factor (like when they were chasing Team Rocket with Lance), and normally, the best they could hope for would be a tram up a mountain? Nope: Car.
When they reach the Battle Factory, they're nearly killed by an out of control tank owned by Noland, the Frontier Brain, and I have to ask: Why is Noland building a tank. Why is Noland allowed to build a tank? Isn't Noland just some dude? You're telling me the Japanese Self-Defense Forces are going to be fine with some dude building a tank?
Well, in any case, after the tank stops, Noland explains the rules: he'll present a variety of pokemon, and Ash must choose one to fight. He has such exotic pokemon as Venusaur and Rhydon, and Ash can't choose, they're all so rare and cool, because he's never fought a Venusaur before, especially not when he fought Drake, the Champion of the Orange Islands.
Meanwhile, May and Max wander around the Battle Factory and bump into the biplane and Articuno. Articuno freaks out when it sees them and flies to Noland, who admits that it's his. He recounts how saved it when its wing was hurt while flying, and they've been friends since. Noland has been keeping it a secret and only going out at night with it, which is why when Max asks if he can join Noland on a flight right now during the day, Noland is fine with it, and Ash sneaks off to make a phone call.
Team Rocket attacks, so Noland does the only logical thing.
He could have just had Articuno fight them for him, but nope, crashing a plane into a giant robot works too. He only has Articuno finish them off, and seeing this, Ash is now absolutely certain of which of Noland's pokemon he wants to fight, and a few hours later, he challenges Articuno and points to Charizard. Yes, Charizard flew from Johto to Kanto in a few hours and isn't tired at all. Charizard greets Ash by using flamethrower, and May awkwardly says "Not again!" even though she has never seen Charizard before. Max I'll accept knowing about Charizard because he watched the Silver Conference on TV, but May?
Regardless, this episode has a lot of good build-up. Let's see if it pays off.
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Not changing this sig until I decide to change this sig.
Started: July 6, 2005