ENGLISH NAME
JAPANESE NAME
POKEMOPOLIS NAME
DODGINESS RATING
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TEAM ROCKET
MORAL LEARNT
562: A Trainer and Child Reunion!    567: Shitenno Ryo! Deai to Wakare no Mori!    Enter... Elite Idiot           The twerps meet a member of the Elite Four    They're in over their heads anyway, might as well be WAY over their heads!     If a good guy does something bad, it turns out to have been the moral thing to do!   


Today finds the twerps enroute to Hearthome City, but stopping off in a small town where they find a long queue of people. Officer Jenny approaches and tells them to get into line if they want to observe, but her finger pointing just causes Brock to grab her hand and declare his undying love for.... getting rammed in the back by Croagunk. Dragged away, Ash and Dawn reveal to Jenny that they don't know what they're supposed to be observing, and a surprised Jenny tells them the line is to see Aaron. They still don't know who this is supposed to be until Dawn suddenly gasps and pulls out her PokéChic Magazine, Aaron is the cover boy.... and a member of the Elite Four!

Aaron is demonstrating all right, as he shows off his Drapion, Vespiquen and Skorupi to a stand full of the delighted fans, 99% of whom are young girls. Ash remembers meeting Lucian not too long ago, and Jenny squirms with delight at the name before revealing the entire Elite Four for Sinnoh. Lucian and his Psychic Types, Bertha who uses Ground Types, Flint who uses Fire Types and Aaron who uses Bug Types.

But, according to the rather starstruck Jenny, it's only Aaron who combines the apparently important elements of strength AND popularity. Because being popular is the most important aspect of training Pokémon, right?

Also he's got a weird ass cowlick on his head.


Jenny says Aaron is the only one who can actually understand the language of Bug Pokémon, and he is apparently now challenging Cynthia for the role of Sinnoh League Champion. Jenny is lovestruck over it all, much to Brock's horror, and tries to get an autograph for herself while pretending to be maintaining the line.

Watching all this from high up at the back of the stands is Team Rocket, and Jesse is eager to get her hands on Aaron's Pokémon. But James, Meowth and Wobbuffet are a little more grounded in reality, with James declaring he doesn't want a member of the Elite Four "in his face" (insert your own joke here, like James wants Aaron to insert something else). They try to walk away but Jesse hauls them back and grips their cheeks, telling them that they're not thinking about all the money they can make from Elite Four merchandise once they've captured the Pokémon. Despite in no way laying out a plan or strategy, James and Meowth are convinced by her pie in the sky fantasising, and quickly agree to do as they're told.

Aaron and his ridiculous Cowlick have gotten through everyone in the line, giving out indecipherable signature after indecipherable signature up till he reaches the last in the line, Dawn. As he signs her picture, she reveals that they know Cynthia and he takes more of an interest in them, taking their claims at face value. This gives Ash a chance to declare his goal of becoming a Pokémon Master, to which Aaron replies with a hilarious,"Well... you give it a shot...." before asking if they'd like to see him train at his training centre. Brock is amazed, NOBODY gets to see a member of the Elite Four train.... like that entire stand of people including the twerps just got to see him do..... like 2 seconds ago.

His training centre is out in the forest, he reveals he built the place after becoming a member of the Elite Four. He calls out his Drapion and Vespiquen to enjoy some time off while the twerps get to witness his exciting, top secret training.



Oh.


As he grunts away and they're left to stand watching a process fascinating only to himself, Aaron tells them he works out every day to keep his scrawny frame in shape so he won't be mocked by his Pokémon (his cowlick surely does that for him). Ash declares he wants to try it and leaps onto Aaron's exercycle and spasms his legs like a retard while Aaron tells him to try not to overdo it. As Ash, who hasn't warmed up or stretched at all flails away on the bike, Dawn notices a picture of a young Aaron with a Wurmple.

Outside, Team Rocket have smeared honey on a tree in the hopes of attracting one of Aaron's Pokémon (and surely not some furious Beedrill or a horny Ursaring). They toss out a net and haul in a.... Munchlax! Furious they demand it de-net since they can't afford to feed it, and Jesse reveals that she didn't actually use honey, she used syrup - James' pancake syrup!



Ewwwww!


And then the furious Beedrill show up, as we knew they must.

Meanwhile Aaron has finished his workout, while Ash turns out to have overdone it, just as we knew he must. Aaron convinces him to take a rest, and tells Dawn that the Wurmple in the picture is the first one he ever caught, back when he was a kid with exactly the same haircut. He lived in town but would come into the forest (in the same area where he built his training centre) to try and climb the highest tree, but when he finally succeeded he became so scared that his hair would have stood on end if it wasn't already. Luckily for him Wurmple showed up and they went ass-to-ass, and they became fast friends after that (well you would, wouldn't you!). Ash insists on forcing himself into the conversation again by mentioning the first Pokémon he ever caught was Caterpie, though he seems to be missing the point since they parted ways over a decade ago now (or 5 months in Ash's timeline!). Aaron humours him hilariously again by saying he is impressed that Ash was able to capture a Caterpie, and then becomes subdued when Dawn rather callously asks what happened to that Wurmple.

Before he can tell them though, Pikachu, Piplup, Skorupi, Vespiquen and Drapion are hauled into the air by the suction of a vacuum pipe attached to a Happy Buddha Face Meowth Balloon.

"You may be elite but you can't always get what you want!"
"Makes it that much more fun to taunt!"
"On the wind!"
"Past the stars!"
"Love tah flaunt!"
"Bringing chaos at a breakneck pace!"
"Dashing all hope and putting fear in its place."
"A rose by any other name is just as sweet."
"When everything's worse, our work is complete."
"Jesse!"
"And it's James!"
"Meowth, dat's a name!"
"We're putting the do-gooders in their place."
"After all we're Team Rocket!"
"And we're in your face!" they finish together.

Yes it's Jesse, James and Meowth, talking all about flaunting it before we get lingering close-ups of Jesse and James' crotches.



Oh like you woul-du... duhh..... uhh..... crotch....


Aaron has no idea who they are and Brock explains they're horrible thieves, but Team Rocket are simply amused, they caught Elite Four Pokémon AND twerp Pokémon! Aaron tries to leap through the air after them but gets a face full of Haze for his problems, and then Team Rocket sail away.... victorious!

Oh we know it won't last.


Sailing far too slowly away and enjoying the chance to brag to themselves that they're the new Elite Four (Wobbuffet is out too!) they're suddenly shocked by rocking - the Pokémon don't know they're inventory, they think they're artillery!



Aaron leads the twerps through the forest and are shocked and gasp with horror to hear Aaron reveal that he really wants his Pokémon back! WOW! This is certainly strange and aberrant behaviour! He apologises to the twerps for this outlandish display of care, and reveals that years ago he was a real crybaby and whiner who hated losing, and after one particularly brutal loss he angrily blamed his Wurmple and ran away from it. When he realised what he'd done he came back but Wurmple was gone, and ever since then he has dedicated himself to training hard.

Maybe he could have devoted some of that time to finding Wurmple?


A Ledian arrives on the scene and tells Aaron (who speaks Bugese, remember) that it saw a giant Meowth head crash into the forest and they rush off to find Team Rocket. The objects of their search, meanwhile, are angrily complaining about the Pokémon crashing their ship when Pikachu kicks the container open. In a rather businesslike fashion it ignores Team Rocket and starts leading the other Pokémon away. James calls out Carnivine and yells out backbiter when it... bites his back (at least he isn't biting the pillow!) and then Jesse sends Seviper in to block the departing Pokémon. Drapion locks into a shoving match with Seviper while James finally gets control of his insane Carnivine and has it attack Vespiquen from behind (a rear attack again!), knocking it down and distracting Drapion which is knocked out by Seviper.

Aaron is going to face off with Cynthia using Pokémon that Team Rocket can beat!?!


The twerps and Aaron arrive and he realises they're by the tree that he first met Wurmple at. As he stands about looking though, Meowth has apparently had time to fix the sucker and takes off in the balloon (leaving Jesse and James behind)) and activates the sucker. Aaron grabs onto Drapion and Vespiquen while Pikachu, Piplup and Skorupi cling onto the tree. Meowth turns up the juice and the tree begins losing leaves and branches as the Pokémon lose their grip and are pulled clear.... and then a Solar Beam blows the vacuum up!

A Solar Beam from a Beautifly!

Yeah, you know where this is going. And just in case you don't, the show doesn't rely on subtlety, showing Wurmple superimposed over the Beautifly.


Aaron translates Beautifly's insectile whimpering, apparently him abandoning it and never looking for it was actually a GOOD thing because the Beautifly concentrated on building up its strength and power so you see the bad thing the good guy did turns out to be a good thing and we don't have to worry about moral ambiguity!

Jesse and James, much like you should be, are sickened by this sappy, self-satisfied justification. They send in Carnivine and Seviper to fight Piplup and Pikachu, but Aaron has his Pokémon beat them so badly that Jesse and James' pants suddenly become multiple sizes too big for them.

....what?


Pikachu, Piplup and Beautifly all send Team Rocket blasting off again with a combined trio of moves, and Meowth realises that somehow taking one group of Pokémon better than them and combining them with another group of Pokémon better than them results in a large group of Pokémon much better than them.

Aaron is delighted to be reunited with his first Pokémon, especially by the tree where they first met (why did he never think to look there!?!), and announces that now they are a force that can't be stopped.



I don't think Cynthia needs to lose any sleep over this particular challenger.
BEST QUOTES
"But I'll have one of the Elite Four in my face!"




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