ENGLISH NAME	JAPANESE NAME	POKEMOPOLIS NAME	DODGINESS RATING	ANIMATION	STORY	TEAM ROCKET	MORAL LEARNT
671: Sewaddle and Burgh in Pinwheel Forest!	677: Yaguruma no Mori! Kurumiru to Ati!	Drama Queen and Caterpillar Monkey			Ash annoys then befriends a caterpillar monkey; a drama queen watches	Nowhere to be seen and sadly not missed	Don't leave the goddamn path!

Today finds the twerps standing on a rock ledge looking out over a MASSIVE forest. Cilan warns them it is called the Pinwheel Forest, so named because if you don't go STRAIGHT through it you'll get incredibly lost so you must never leave the path. Iris tells them not to be concerned, she's a forest expert, and Cilan seems intrigued and delighted at the idea of maybe being lost and dying in the cruel indifferent grasp of mother nature. So in they go, to meet...



Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra?

They move through the path, surrounded by impressively massive roots and trees.... and a CATERPILLAR MONKEY!?! Out of nowhere a caterpillar comes swinging in from the trees on a string of its own silk and kicks Pikachu off of Ash's shoulder. Horrified, Pikachu blasts a Thunderbolt at the bizarre Pokémon which swings aside, and the electricity hits Ash instead. The caterpillar blasts Razor Leaf at Pikachu which jumps aside, then shoots a string into its forehead and hauls itself forward to hump Pikachu's face furiously while nibbling away at its forehead.

Kid's show? My ass.

Pikachu is able to kick it clear and Ash checks it out with his Pokédex - it's Sewaddle, the "Sewing" Pokémon, and it makes its own clothes out a leaf, creating a little hoody that always gives it the silhouette of a much tougher looking Pokémon. Apparently it can also eat the leaf if it gets hungry and there is no food around, and Cilan tells them that it is a Pokémon in high demand amongst clothing designers.

Ash is delighted, he wants to catch it, but when he tries, it blasts a load in his face and leaves him wrapped up in a massive sticky ball of string. Leaping back up to his feet, Ash is even more enthusiastic about wanting to catch it now, while Sewaddle energetically tells him to bring it on. Pikachu cuts Ash loose with Iron Tail and then blasts Sewaddle with Thunderbolt (enjoying it quite a bit more than it should). Sewaddle recovers and instantly cheeses it, followed by Ash and Pikachu who enthusiastically leave the path behind. Cilan and Iris are concerned, leaving the path means they run the risk of getting massive lost, but they just can't let poor dim Ash alone to die in there so they head in after him. He's well beyond any coherent thought (or what passes for it) and is just happily steamrolling ahead when he trips over and crashes facefirst into the ground. Pikachu comes back and Iris and Cilan catch up to him, and with Sewaddle nowhere to be seen they all agree the best thing to do is to return to the path and not risk getting lost.

Once back on the path, Iris leads them forward but is confused when they don't seem to be getting close to the exit. Ash wonders if they're going the wrong way but she insists that she has a sixth sense for this type of thing, and Cilan rolls his eyes at more unscientific reasoning. For Ash's part he mumbles that usually his hunches are right (they are fucking now!) but then she shushes them, convinced she can hear the voice of the forest.... at which point Ash's stomach starts rumbling! Iris shuts down Cilan's mocking though and leads them forward to freedom!


"Oopsy-doops"

She's lead them to a massive stone canyon smack-dab in the middle of the forest, and timidly points forward and mumbles that the forest wanted them to come see this wonderful scenery. Cilan notes that the warnings were true, they left the path for a second and are now completely lost. Still, Iris has a good idea, they need to get to higher ground and sort out where to go next and leads them on to a massive tree looming up over the rest of the trees. Iris starts to climb up and Ash eagerly decides to follow, scrambling up one massive root, crashing over and sliding back down before furiously rushing back up exactly the same path. An unseen number of crashes later, he joins Iris up near the top of the tree but they still can't get a good view and consider climbing higher.... till they spot something weird. A tight green bundle of cloth is hanging from the branches, what the hell is it? Some kind of Pokémon? An alien? Or maybe an incredibly campy drama queen? Wait! It IS an incredibly campy drama queen!

Leaping out of the tightly coiled bundle he was in, the strange man shushes them, winks dramatically and tells them not to scare the forest Pokémon. Back down by the roots, they ask him what he is doing in the forest and he goes over all dramatic, gasping that it's his pure heart, that's what it is! He draws and designs clothes, he's a genius but he's stuck in a slump! He came to the forest to live amongst the Pokémon and gain inspiration, and gasps out that A PURE HEART MAKES FOR PROFOUND ART! So why did they come into the forest?

"Well.... we strayed off the path and got lost," admits Cilan, which isn't anywhere near as dramatic.

He tells them he can guide them out easily enough, but asks them why they don't take advantage of living in the forest for awhile. Ash tells him that he's really eager to get to Castelia so he can challenge the Gym Leader there, but the drama queen tells him not to worry about that, since the Gym Leader - Burgh - isn't there at the moment... because HE is Burgh!

Cilan freaks out, HE is the world famous Bug Type Trainer? Not JUST a bug-type trainer, insists Burgh, but an ARTISTIC Bug Type Trainer! Yes, Gentle Dodgers, he's an Rrrr-Teeeest!

The twerps introduce themselves, and Burgh waxes poetic on the long gone days of innocent travelling never to return and gains the inspiration to start drawing, then gets irritated because his inspiration has come and gone, and hunches down into a ball. Iris asks him to explain how living in the forest gives him inspiration, and he shows him his functional but uninspired drawings, explaining how being in the forest has given him back the taste and smell and love for nature to inspire his artistic side again. Ash, who has NO IDEA what he is talking about, enthusiastically agrees with everything he is saying... and then Sewaddle kicks him in the face again!

Swinging in, the mad little caterpillar knocks Ash over and menaces at him with its cute little buck-toothed fangs. It bounces off of Ash's head and lands on Burgh's shoulder to eat at the leaves on some hanging vines. He tells them that it is sweet enough but quite stubborn, but it's not one of his, just a wild Pokémon. Ash wanted to catch Sewaddle, but Burgh rightly points out that it's important to get to know a Pokémon before trying to catch it and invites them to hang out with him and have a go at getting to know it. Cilan offers to prepare a meal, while Burgh tells Ash to introduce himself by pressing his forehead against the knobs on its head. He does so, followed by Pikachu, then a delighted Axew, then Iris, and finally an overexcited Ash leaps from foot to foot and bends down to do the same... and Sewaddle headbutts him angrily. Iris giggles that this is what he gets for trying to catch it right off the bat, and Burgh tells him not to take it personally, a tackle is "sorta" like a hello. Ash tries his best to make nice, saying hello again, but Sewaddle haughtily turns and waddles away, Burgh saying goodbye. Despite that, he and the others follow it to where it has stopped by some bushes, and tells them it isn't just standing there. Iris suggests it is listening to the forest and Burgh agrees this could be the case, exciting her greatly to be right until Ash notices that it is eating some leaves and it was just pausing to decide which ones to eat. It heads on and stops under an open section of field to have a nap, so Ash, Iris and Burgh decide to join it. They lie down and stare up at the sky, and Burgh starts talking about the infinite reaches of space because he's a goddamn hippy.

Some un-established length of time later, Sewaddle gets back up with a mighty yawn and heads on again followed by the twerps, and starts eating some more. They ask if it is just going to have a nap again afterwards and Burgh notes that this IS the cycle of life, and it's the kind of thing that baby people do as well. Rustling in the bushes gets their attention, and they're startled to see an angry Woobat emerge, pissed off at being disturbed while having a meal itself. It uses Double Team to intimidate Sewaddle, but it easily cuts through the illusions with string... but then a REAL second Woobat emerges and they try to hit Sewaddle from both sides.... but Ash leaps into the way and takes the hit! Sewaddle and Pikachu blasts the Woobat away, and then Sewaddle waddles a little apple up to Ash before haughtily turning its back on him when he thanks it.

They return to Cilan who has spent the entire time preparing a meal while they had fun (hey, he IS the new Brock!), and he has somehow managed to make Burgh's favourite meal, telling him it's down to him being a connoisseur. They settle down to eat, Ash noting that Sewaddle is nearby eating fruit as well, and then they head up into the tree for the night. Ash is excited, saying he has never slept in a treetop befor-

Well that's just out and out a goddamn lie!

and Burgh asks him how much he has discovered since he started his journey. Ash doesn't understand what he means, and Burgh explains about early in his journey he discovered a love for Bug Types, but even to this day he continues to learn new things about them. Ash takes in this open, honest and philosophical approach to a Pokémon Journey, considers all the Legends he's met, the time travel he's done, the inter-dimensional warfare he's been involved in and the time he met GOD, and replies to Burgh's important question by stating,"Yeah, Pokémon are awesome!"

....oh Ash....

They spot a shooting star and Iris gasps happily that sleeping under the stars is the best (she does it most nights anyway!), and Ash asks Sewaddle to sleep up there with them. It turns its back and pretends to go to sleep, so Ash tells it to have a good night's sleep and hunkers down himself. Later in the night, Sewaddle jumps down and nuzzles up to Ash, waking him up, then burrows into his sleeping bag and nestles in to sleep with him and Pikachu. Burgh notices and tells Ash this is a very peculiar thing for this Sewaddle to do, and Ash tells it to have pleasant dreams.

The next morning, Pikachu's shouting wakes the twerps up, and Ash peers out amongst the branches and leaves and realises that Sewaddle is curled up asleep on top of a running Patrat. Alarmed, Ash zips down the tree followed by the twerps and Burgh, chasing after it. Sewaddle wakes up and realises that is happening, and blasts a shot of string at a branch and pulls itself clear. It gets caught in a gust of wind and knocked into a Deerling, which panics and takes off with Sewaddle attached, while the Patrat dives into a little burrow and the twerps follow, thinking it still has Sewaddle. Inside, they find the Patrat angrily guarding another one, which is clearly sick. The leaf that Sewaddle uses as a hood could be used to make it better, and they guess this is what it grabbed Sewaddle for, but there is no sight of the Pokémon now. Burgh feeds the sick Patrat some medicine and they head outside, where they spot Deerling flailing about trying to get Sewaddle clear, only causing the string from Sewaddle to wrap around it tighter. It rushes away in a panic, straight towards the canyon that Iris lead the twerps to earlier, and they realise that in its fright, Deerling is going to kill both of them.



Ash yells at Sewaddle to use Slingshot and aim at his arm. It does so and Ash tells it to jump towards him and he'll pull it to safety. It does so, Deerling pulling clear and actually making it to the other side of the canyon (wow!), but another gust of wind catches Sewaddle and snaps the string, and it falls down towards the rushing water below. Ash hauls ass after and leaps over the side, crashing into the water himself and swimming after Sewaddle, catching it just before they reach the inevitable waterfall... which they then go over!

Burgh calls out his Leavanny - the final evolution of Sewaddle - and it uses Stringshot to haul them both back up to safety, though Sewaddle's clothes have become tattered in the process (that's all? After what should have been a fatal drop?

Burgh leads them back into the forest where they find the leaves they need, and Leavanny cuts up a new hoody for Sewaddle to wear, happily singing away as it uses its string to bind and design the costume. Burgh tells Ash he is impressed with his unthinking heroics (Ash is good at the unthinking part), and Cilan notes that Sewaddle is impressed too, as it nuzzles and rubs its face against Ash's stinky shoes. He asks it if it wants to come with him and it agrees, so he throws a Pokéball at its face and gets a measure of revenge for the earlier headbutt, then catches it. He holds up the Pokéball in celebration, but the catch grows red and as he clicks it to try and call out Sewaddle, nothing happens. Cilan reminds Ash that he has seven Pokémon now, and he can only carry six at a time. The reason that Ash doesn't remember this is because of course we have to remind new players of the games that this is the case.... but regardless, Ash wouldn't have remembered anyway, because the boy just isn't very bright. Burgh takes them out of the forest to a Pokémon Center where Ash contacts Professor Juniper and "takes care of it", then steps outside and calls out Sewaddle to say a proper hello to his newest Pokémon. They press heads against the backdrop of the setting sun, enthralling Burgh who gasps that NOW he has the inspiration he needs! He rushes off, telling them he's off to Castelia, and when Ash tries to call after him, he stops to dramatically tell them as the wind sweeps his hair that he'll be waiting for him at the Gym. Off he goes, waved goodbye by the twerps, leaving us to ponder the question.

Which Pokémon did Ash put into storage at Juniper's lab?

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