Thread: AG 100: ""Mossdeep Gym! Lunatone and Solrock!" (SPOILERS)

This is the first Gym Leader battle I've been able to see since I came to Japan in March. It'll also be the last one I'll get to see here. Anyways, here's the bullet points:

-Rei, Fuu and Ran's mother, is acting as the referee for the match. She explains the rules of the double battle, explaining about the special field that they're in. The field has mock-ups of all the planets floating freely in the air, creating obstacles that wouldn't be there ordinarily. Fuu and Ran start by choosing Solrock and Lunatone. Satoshi instantly chooses Pikachu and, after thinking about how it would be good to have an aerial fighter against these particular foes and in this particular field, he chooses Ohsubame.

-Outside, Team Rocket plots to steal Lunatone and Solrock. They launch into a Boss Fantasy, in which they imagine him being sad in the dark. Suddenly, Solrock and Lunatone arrive, filling the room with light. An ecstatic Sakaki, donning a top hat and suit, begins to dance happily as the two pokemon continue shining light on the Team Rocket boss (I expect Blackjack will be getting an avatar of top-hat Sakaki as soon as she can ). After the fantasy concludes, Musashi and Nyasu happily rush off to the Gym to begin, but Kojirou stops them. He explains that both Solrock and Lunatone are psychic types, so they'll be more difficult than usual to capture. Nyasu says not to worry as he tells them his plan...

-Back at the gym, the battle begins. Solrock uses Tackle on Pikachu, hitting the mouse pokemon. Lunatone uses Tackle as well, hitting Ohsubame. Now it's Satoshi's turn. He orders Pikachu to use Quick Attack on Solrock and tells Ohsubame to use Peck on Lunatone. As Pikachu charges into its attack, Solrock floats out of the way, causing Pikachu to crash into one of the floating planets. The same thing happens with Ohsubame--it charges toward Lunatone, Lunatone dodges, and Ohsubame crashes right into a floating planet. Pikachu falls down, and soon after Ohsubame lands on it. Things aren't looking too good for Satoshi.

-Fuu and Ran are now ready for the next attack. Solrock is told to use Solar Beam while Lunatone is told to use Ice Beam. The two attacks combine and are headed right for Pikachu and Ohsubame, who are still reeling from their last defeat. Suddenly, the two beams stop in midair! Satoshi wonders what happens, and soon he sees Fuu and Ran arguing amongst themselves! They’re blaming each other for their mistakes, which is keeping them from continuing the battle. Satoshi sees this as his chance, so he orders Ohsubame to use Aerial Ace on Lunatone. The attack hits! Pikachu is also ordered to attack, so it hits Solrock with an Iron Tail attack. Fuu and Ran notice that their pokemon are getting beaten while they quarrel, so they both rejoin the battle and order their pokemon to use Tackle attack on Pikachu. Pikachu is about to be sandwiched by the two psychic pokemon, but it is rescued when Ohsubame swoops in and scoops it up. Lunatone and Solrock crash into each other, which causes Fuu and Ran to begin arguing again.

-As the twin Gym Leaders blame each other for their constant blunders, the ground starts to rumble. Suddenly, a hole is blown into the roof, and Musashi and Kojirou appear! The two Team Rocket members ride in on a flying sun and moon, and they perform their motto like some weird opera duo (I loved it when they said their names..."Musashiiiiiiii~~~~~~~! Kojirooooou~~~~~~!") The motto ends with the roof caving in even more, and we see a giant robot, piloted by Nyasu! Nyasu tells the group that this mecha has been designed specifically to capture Lunatone and Solrock! Ran complains about the battle field being ruined, so Fuu and Ran send out their pokemon to attack. The Team Rocket mecha fires two round cages (think of the cages used to catch the three legendary birds in the second movie) at the pokemon, capturing them both. Lunatone and Solrock are ordered to use Psychokinesis, but the attacks are being absorbed by their cages! Team Rocket laughs at their futile efforts as the mecha makes its escape.

-Satoshi and the others start chasing after, and they are able to keep up until they get to the cliff where Team Rocket has parked their giant Nyasu balloon. Team Rocket attaches the mecha to the blimp, and soon the robot is seen dangling from the hot air balloon as Satoshi and the others arrive on the scene. Satoshi orders Pikachu to use Thunderbolt, but the mouse pokemon's attack isn't able to reach. So, Satoshi has Pikachu jump on Ohsubame and has them chase Team Rocket that way. Musashi and Kojirou look worried, but Nyasu tells them not to worry as he presses a button, causing the robot to fire yellow globs at the two pokemon. Ohsubame presses through as Pikachu uses Thunderbolt on the mecha, causing it to release the two pokemon (they're alright, though, because they're both rock-types). The newly-freed pokemon are told to use Psychokinesis on the robot, crushing it into a small cube. The mecha explodes, and Team Rocket is sent blasting off again.

-Now that everyone's safe, Ran complains about the gym field being destroyed. Rei suggests that they just have the battle there, on the cliff that Team Rocket took off from, and everyone agrees that this is a good idea.

---commercial break---

-Rei announces the start of the battle! Pikachu uses Thunderbolt on Solrock, but Lunatone slides in front of it and guards it with Reflect. The attack hits Pikachu, smashing it into a rocky cliff. Takeshi comments on how much better their combination has gotten since the Team Rocket battle.

-After Pikachu recovers, it is ordered to hop on Ohsubame's back. The now-airborne Pikachu uses Thunderbolt on Solrock, but the same thing that happened before happens again--Lunatone reflects the attack right back at it. However, this time both Pikachu and Ohsubame are hit. Fuu and Ran know that Pikachu will be alright, but they're surprised to see that Ohsubame doesn't seem to be affected as well, considering that it's a flying type and all.

-Next, Ohsubame is ordered to use Double Team, surrounding Solrock and Lunatone. The two psychic types fly back to back as Fuu and Ran gauge the situation. Solrock uses Solar Beam while Lunatone uses Ice Beam as the two pokemon spin around, sweeping the air and taking out all the shadow Ohsubame and Pikachu. Soon they're all disposed of, and Fuu and Ran are confused about the whereabouts of the real Ohsubame and Pikachu. Suddenly, they see the two pokemon flying from above, ready to strike! Solrock and Lunatone are ordered to quickly whip up a Solar Beam and Ice Beam combination, hitting Satoshi's pokemon! The pokemon start plummeting toward the earth, but Ohsubame is able to recover quickly enough and swoops up to safety in the knick of time.

-Ran tells Satoshi that he'll never break through their combination as the young trainer wonders how he'll win. He notices some clouds forming overhead, and suddenly he has an idea. He tells Pikachu to use Thunderbolt on the clouds, confusing the Gym Leaders. Soon, the clouds spit back a streak of lightning, directly hitting Pikachu and Ohsubame. Pikachu is being supercharged by the lightning, but what about Ohsubame? It's doing fine as well, and after the shock of electricity the two pokemon appear to be covered in a golden coat. Satoshi is ready to attack.

-The now super-powered Ohsubame uses Quick Attack, so Solrock fires a Solar Beam attack on it. Ohsubame and Pikachu are hit, but they just ignore it and power on through. Lunatone tries an Ice Beam, but its attack is just as futile. Golden-Pikachu uses Iron Tail on Solrock while Golden-Ohsubame uses Aerial Ace on Lunatone. Both super-powered attacks hit, and as the pokemon’s golden power-ups fade the two rock-type pokemon faint! Rei announces that Pikachu and Ohsubame have won the battle! Satoshi goes to hug his two pokemon and receives a shock from the two. Guess they're still a little supercharged from their battle...

-After the battle, Fuu and Ran do the standard "give Satoshi a Gym Badge during a sunset" scene. As Satoshi proudly holds the Mind Badge up, the narrator announces that he only has one badge left before the Houen League!

The golden-type power-up at the end of the battle seemed too deux ex machina-ish for my tastes, but otherwise it was a nice battle episode. I hope the eighth Gym Battle (whoever it's against) doesn't pull this "a bird type is somehow superpowered by a shock of electricity" type of nonsense.

Characters (in order of appearance):
Rei=Tate & Liza’s mother
Fuu=Tate
Ran=Liza
Satoshi=Ash
Ohsubame=Swellow
Sakaki=Giovanni
Musashi=Jessie
Nyasu=Meowth
Kojirou=James

Maybe it's supposed to be special electricity somehow...but you probably don't like that either...(I dunno what deux ex machina means...exactly)

This 'Golden Pikachu' stuff kinda reminds me of Blanche's Hyper Mode from Angelic Layer. When Blanche get's damaged enough, she glows yellow/gold and becomes... well, more powerful.

Regardless, I don't like the idea of this 'Golden Pikachu/Swellow'. I mean, what? What's next? Is Pikachu going to do a Digimon and merge with Swellow to form the ULTIMATE POKEMON? :P

I like things that imply that characters are special as long as it doesn't get out of hand (like more evolved forms and things like that), so supercharging pokemon doesn't really bother me.

i have no problem with pikachu gaining excess power from lightning.. but oosubame? =/

I did want to see this ep, just like I wanted to see the Groudon 2 parter. I didn't see that because it sucked, and this sucks as well. 3 months since an ep watched -_-;

Back to One Piece.

Originally Posted by Lady Dragonrider

Maybe it's supposed to be special electricity somehow...but you probably don't like that either...(I dunno what deux ex machina means...exactly)

Short answer...it's when the writers pull an ending out of their ass. Long answer...it comes from the old Greek plays, in which a deity (the deux) would appear out of nowhere and magically resolve whatever conflicts were coming in the story.

Another example of a deux ex machina is Flygon in the Jirachi movie. It just shows up, helps Satoshi for no reason, and then leaves, never to be herad of again.

Oh. I guess that would be kinda annoying to some people...but I still think it's kinda cool even if it could be better planned (of course, I've haven't seen it myself so I might change my mind).

Originally Posted by Dogasu

(I expect Blackjack will be getting an avatar of top-hat Sakaki as soon as she can ).

Why does everyone keep confusing me with KetMakura? Although I *do* want that screenshot...

But really, it took me five thousand posts to change my avatar, and I don't intend on changing it again for another five thousand.

And yes about the Flygon. It would have made a lot more sense if it had been Diane's.

SPP's pics are up...is it just me or did they actually turn into shiny gold? o_O

Wow. For what have been a really interesting Gym Battle episode, it turned out really contrived. First of all, Fuu and Ran came off like idiots who can't fight as a team. Kind of stupid. The reason they were so intimidating in the games was because Lunatone and Solrock constantly support eachother in battle. So Ash's defeat over them isn't very amazing.

Secondly, I HATE it when Team Rocket interrupts a Gym Battle episode. They're fine as supporting characters in those episodes, but I'd prefer that they butt the hell out of the plot.

Finally, the whole "Super Saiyajin Swellow and Pikachu" is moronic. I was hoping that there would actually be an interesting strategy to Ash's choice of Swellow and Pikachu, but instead it's more deus ex machina. I haven't seen a Gym episode this poorly done since the "battles" in early Kanto where Ash didn't truly earn his badges through a fair fight (Brock, Misty, Erika, Sabrina). Pikachu being a super-strong specimen of it's species - I can buy that.

Ash having ANOTHER oober-powered Pokemon that actually GAINS power from it's weakness? That's pushing it too far. I'm waiting for the episode where Corphish combines itself with an enemy's Razor Leaf attack to become RAZOR Corphish.

Or where Grovyle sets itself on fire to protest the vietnam war and enhance it's power in battle.

It's too bad, too. They were doing so well with the Gym episodes this season.

Just a small notice: shouldn't it be AG 100? Because the previous episode was 'AG 99: "Tate & Liza! Space Center Battle!"'. Or did I missed an ep?

Indeed. I'll fix it.

I was wondering was it Swellow who learnt how to do Double Team or Pikachu?

Or do they both know how to do it but just don't?

It seems like it was Swellow who was moving so fast, it was leaving illusion's in it's path. And since Pikachu was riding on it, it left images of Pikachu, too. Makes sense to me.

As far as I know, Pikachu knows Agility and Quick Attack - but not Double Team.

Pikachu knows Double Team. He's definitely used it before. Only example that jumps to mind, though, is some episode during the Kanto Pokémon League where he and Richie's Pikachu were both using it and confusing Team Rocket's Pokémon. Or maybe I'm thinking of another episode? I do remember Pikachus everywhere...

You know, I'm adding this to my theory that Pikachu's electricity sometimes turns into a Ground type attack. Think about it. He rips Rock/Ground types apart with it (like Brock's Onix...wet or not, it's still a Ground type, isn't it?) but couldn't hit an Aerodactyl with it (when they woke up the Aerodactyl and got Togepi's egg). And now he couldn't hit a non-Ground with Levitate or a Flying type. Then, when they found a way to apply the damage more directly, they destroyed the Rock types. The only type that fits is Ground!

On another note, Ash should really take advantage of this Midas Touch Pikachu has developed.