Review AG096: Muscle Battle!? Double Battle!!

[Dogasu]

Gotta earn my keep as a mod here somehow, right?

-The gang arrives on Ganga Island, which happens to be shaped like a flexed arm. After Satoshi and the gang disembark on the rocky island, Haruka starts to wonder if there are any shops around where she can relax and have a coffee. As they climb a hill, they hear a bunch of people repeating "one...two...one...two..." The kids are intrigued.

-Meanwhile, the Rocket-Dan's Koiking sub crashes onto the shore. Suddenly, the hatch opens, and Musashi, Kojirou, and Nyasu all frantically run away from it. Musashi asks Nyasu why they had to run, but before he can answer the Koking sub is swept away by a giant wave. Now they're stranded on the island! They start to walk when they hear the same "one...two...one...two..." that Satoshi and his friends heard earlier.

-Satoshi and the gang arrives to an open area where various people are weight training. We see a man with sunglasses lifting a heavy-looking steel Monster Ball, another man lifting two Ishitsubute like they were dumbells, and an athletic woman doing sit-ups while a Kamex spots her. The leader of the weight training group, Iwashimizu, greets Satoshi and his friends. Takeshi asks him if there are any shops in the area, and Iwashimizu reports that there are none. He then asks Satoshi if he has any good stories about his journey, and from that Satoshi is able to deduce that the weight trainers are also Pokemon Trainers.

-Everyone introduces themselves. Iwashimizu then tells them that the people on the island weight train to make themselves stronger. If the trainers are strong, then the pokemon will strive to be strong as well...or something like that. Anyway, everyone but Haruka decides that they want to try the training regimen as well, so Iwashimizu happily gets them ready.

-Elsewhere, the Rocket-Dan is eavesdropping on the group. Nyasu launches into one of his Boss Fantasies: I couldn't really understand it all that well, but it seems like that if the Boss is looking for something and he can't find it, then Musashi, Kojirou, and Nyasu (all in Men In Black-type uniforms) will cheer him up with their amazing physical strength. Nyasu launches into his promotion chant (ya know, Kanbu shoushin, shibuchou shuunin, ii kanji!), but Musashi interrupts him before he can finish. She dismisses the plan as another idiotic attempt to please the Boss, but Kojirou thinks that Nyasu's idea is brilliant. Suddenly, Iwashimizu shows up out of nowhere and invites them to join the training program with everyone else since they're obviously Pokemon Trainers.

-Back at the camp, Satoshi and the others have already started. Masato is lifting the steel Monster Ball from before while Haruka is on an exercise bike (she even says that she's having fun on it!). Satoshi and Pikachu are hanging from two ropes attached to two tires. The tires start to spin, which spins the ropes, and the goal is for Satoshi and Pikachu to jump from one rope to the other. It proves to be more difficult than Satoshi thought.

-Close by, the Rocket-Dan is running on a treadmill. They seem to be happy, all thinking about how much stronger they'll become. When Satoshi and the others approach them, they ignore them and keep running instead of starting any confrontations. Ash tells Iwashimizu that Musashi-tachi are bad people, but Iwashimizu says that they can't be bad because they're Pokemon Trainers.

-Suddenly, Iwashimizu challenges Satoshi to a battle! The other trainers say that Iwashimizu is the strongest trainer on the island, which only pumps Satoshi up for the battle. Haruka and the others want to watch, but Iwashimizu says that they're not allowed to. They have a rule against having spectators during battles, so Haruka-tachi will have to stay behind. As Satoshi and Iwashimizu leave to battle, the other trainers approach Haruka and her friends and tell them that they can resume their training.

-Satoshi and Iwashimizu are ready to battle at the beach. Iwashimizu calls out Tedozeruga and Nuoh, while Ash calls out Pikachu and Juptile. Pikachu is ordered to use Thunderbolt on Tedozeruga, but Nuoh jumps in front of it and takes the attack instead. Since Nuoh is part ground-type, Pikachu's electric attacks are unable to affect it.

---commercial break---

-Haruka, Masato, and Takeshi are all doing sit-ups while Ishitsubute are spotting them. Masato complains about wanting to see Satoshi's battle. Meanwhile, the Rocket-Dan is still on the treadmill, and they're told that they only have three more hours to go!

-Back to the battle. Tedozeruga uses Ice Ball, but Pikachu uses its Quick Attack to avoid it. Then, Pikachu is ordered to use Iron Tail while Juptile is ordered to use Leaf Blade, but both attacks are stopped by another Ice Ball attack. Pikachu then tries to use Thunderbolt on Tedozeruga again, but another Ice Ball attack hits both Pikachu and Juptile before the Thunderbolt can connect. Things aren't looking good for Satoshi!

-Back at the camp, everyone has moved on to push-ups. Masato is doing push-ups with Haruka's Eneko on his back, Haruka is doing push-ups with her Fushigidane on her back, and Takeshi's doing push-ups with his Hasubrero on his back. Meanwhile, Musashi and Nyasu want to sneak away, but they can't because they are surrounded by trainers, all monitoring their progress. Musashi tries to distract the trainers by telling them that there's a Sonansu right behind them. All the trainers fall for it, so Musashi and Nyasu get ready to make a run for it. But Kojirou fell for it as well! Because he's busy looking for a Sonansu, the trainers have the time to turn around, foiling Musashi's escape plan.

-Back to the battle. Juptile is ordered to use Bullet Seed, but Tedozeruga hits it with another Ice Ball before it can attack.

-At the camp, Masato and the others are tired as well. Masato tells the trainers that he left something back at the boat and that he needs to go get it. The trainers say that they'll go with him, and Haruka and Takeshi say that it would be easier if it was just the three of them. They're allowed to go, and you can almost see the smirks on their faces as they pass the members of the Rocket-Dan on the treadmill. As Musashi sees the twerps leave, she yells at Kojirou once again.

-Battle time! Walrein uses Ice Ball again, and Satoshi notices a weakness! He has Pikachu use Thunderbolt, and, as predicted, Nuoh jumps in front of it to take the attack. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Juptile appears and uses Leaf Blade on Nuoh! Nuoh's knocked out, so Pikachu proceeds to use Thunder to defeat Tedozeruga. Satoshi figured that it takes a while for Tedozeruga to charge up its Ice Ball, so as long as his pokemon were quick enough, it would be just Nuoh against Pikachu and Juptile. Satoshi wins the battle, and Iwashimizu congratulates him on his victory.

-Masato and the others arrive on the beach and are disappointed to see that the battle's already over. Iwashimizu shows the group to the ferry, and it turns out that its next stop is Tokusane City! The ship sets sail...

-On the ship, the Rocket-Dan is seen in disguise, all of them wearing mustaches. They're all sore from their experience, but they seem confident that they'll be able to snatch Pikachu. They approach Satoshi and the others and says that they need to check Pikachu (or something). Kojirou reaches over and tries to forcibly take Pikachu, which obviously sets off some red flags for Satoshi-tachi. Musashi and Kojirou start their motto, but Nyasu tells them that they're supposed to remove their disguises before they start their motto. So, the disguises are removed and the motto is finished.

-One of the Rockets takes a net and snatches Pikachu with it. Satoshi and the others are able to grab ahold of the net, and soon a great tug-of-war begins between the two groups. The two groups pull on the net for a while, and soon Pikachu shocks both groups with its electric attacks. The Rocket-Dan's sent blasting off again...but so are Satoshi and the others! To be continued!

Name Guide (in order of appearance)

Satoshi=Ash
Haruka=May
Rocket-Dan=Team Rocket
Koiking Sub=Magikarp Sub
Musashi=Jessie
Kojirou=James
Nyasu=Meowth
Monster Ball=PokéBall
Ishitsubute=Geodude
Kamex=Blastoise
Masato=Max
Tedozeruga=Walrein
Nuoh=Quagsire
Juptile=Grovyle
Eneko=Skitty
Fushigidane=Bulbasaur
Hasubrero=Lombre
Sonansu=Wobbuffet
Tokusane City=Mossdeep City

 

[Argy]

but so are Satoshi and the others!

*points and laughs*

So it's actually a three-parter? Not that this episode had much to do with the next two, but it led into them.

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

Dogasu--when you say that TR is in "Man-in-black" outfits, do you mean stagehand outfits? You know, like in a play where you're supposed to know 'oh, that object is moving on its own!" even though you can see the stagehand...

 

[GoldChaos]

Dogasu--when you say that TR is in "Man-in-black" outfits, do you mean stagehand outfits? You know, like in a play where you're supposed to know 'oh, that object is moving on its own!" even though you can see the stagehand...

No, think more of the U.S. Secret Service bodyguards.

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

Aaaah, I see. Gotcha now.

...wait, even Meowth?

 

[Murgatroyd]

-Elsewhere, the Rocket-Dan is eavesdropping on the group. Nyasu launches into one of his Boss Fantasies: I couldn't really understand it all that well, but it seems like that if the Boss is looking for something and he can't find it, then Musashi, Kojirou, and Nyasu (all in Men In Black-type uniforms) will cheer him up with their amazing physical strength. Nyasu launches into his promotion chant (ya know, Kanbu shoushin, shibuchou shuunin, ii kanji!), but Musashi interrupts him before he can finish. She dismisses the plan as another idiotic attempt to please the Boss, but Kojirou thinks that Nyasu's idea is brilliant. Suddenly, Iwashimizu shows up out of nowhere and invites them to join the training program with everyone else since they're obviously Pokemon Trainers.

Nyasu's fantasy is that if the Boss is feeling paranoid (after all, the leader of such an organization has lots of enemies), muscular bodyguards would be very reassuring. Kojirou doesn't fully agree, but thinks that physical weakness is a large part of the reason they keep failing, so the training is a good idea.

Ash tells Iwashimizu that Musashi-tachi are bad people, but Iwashimizu says that they can't be bad because they're Pokemon Trainers.

No, he says that they welcome anyone here, that TR hasn't done anything bad here on the island, and that they seem to be really enjoying the training.

-At the camp, Masato and the others are tired as well. Masato tells the trainers that he left something back at the boat and that he needs to go get it. The trainers say that they'll go with him, and Haruka and Takeshi say that it would be easier if it was just the three of them.

The trainers offer to go get it while the group keeps training, but Haruka and Takeshi say the forgotten item is really hard to describe, so they'd better go themselves.

Musashi and Kojirou start their motto, but Nyasu tells them that they're supposed to remove their disguises before they start their motto. So, the disguises are removed and the motto is finished.

Nyasu says that if they're going to do the motto, there's no point in being in disguise. Musashi or Kojirou (I don't recall which) points out that they haven't said the motto yet today, so they take off the disguises and continue.

 

[Pokemon Fan]

Thanks for the clarifications Murgatroyd, it's nice to have critiques made without people going mad over it (hope that doesn't happen here, once saw a really immature display at serebii).

Now for a question, did Walrein ever use any attack besides Ice Ball? From the screenshots it looked like it may have used Ice Beam as well.

Did Quagsire ever actually use an attack or did it just block Electric attacks?

This episode looks and sounds pretty good even among Hoenn fillers, what with the uncharacteristic ending and all. :ksmile:

 

[Dogasu]

Thanks for the clarifications Murgatroyd, it's nice to have critiques made without people going mad over it (hope that doesn't happen here, once saw a really immature display at serebii).

I remember that incident :ksmile: Anyway, thanks Murgatroyd for the corrections.

Now for a question, did Walrein ever use any attack besides Ice Ball? From the screenshots it looked like it may have used Ice Beam as well.

It was always Ice Ball. When he was charging up Ice Ball later in the episode, it looked like Ice Beam from Pokemon Colosseum, but everyone in the show called it Ice Ball.

Did Quagsire ever actually use an attack or did it just block Electric attacks?

From what I recall, it just blocked attacks the whole time.