ENGLISH NAME	JAPANESE NAME	POKEMOPOLIS NAME	DODGINESS RATING	ANIMATION	STORY	TEAM ROCKET	MORAL LEARNT
707: The Four Seasons of Sawsbuck!	713: Mebukijika! Shunkashuto Seizoroi!	Pokémononoke			Ash and a character of the day get lost in time and space	Chance would be a fine thing	Put a fucking auto-focus on your camera!

Today finds the twerps - of course - not in Driftveil City but a local Pokémon Centre along the side of the road. Ash is scratching a delighted Pikachu's head, watched on by Iris, Cilan and an absolutely delighted Axew. Cilan remarks on the perfect match that Ash and Pikachu make, but when Ash finishes scratching and reaches for his bad, Pikachu begs for more. Ash is happy to oblige, scratching the top of Pikachu's head AND under his chin, then his belly as Pikachu flops about in delight. They're interrupted though when a tall, lean young man steps up to observe Pikachu, asking if he can take photos. Ash is momentarily dazzled by his truly appalling haircut, then agrees to let this Unova version of Snap do his thing. Pikachu seems somewhat caught offguard by either the photography or the man's incredibly bad hair, but soon gets into the swing of things and begins beaming.



Pikachu starts posing and the photographer asks where Ash caught a Pikachu, finding one in Unova must be incredibly rare. Ash explains they came over together from Kanto, which is shocking to the photographer who must have some familiarity with the impossible immigration process in his country. Ash introduces himself, as does Iris and Cilan, and the photographer's name is revealed as Robert, who is just starting his career as a Pokémon Photographer.

He shows them some samples of his photography of various Unova Pokémon, including a battered old photo album of his Grandfather's photographs. Suddenly Iris and Cilan gape in wonder at one particular photo, confusing Ash who has no idea why it is so important. Cilan asks Robert if his Grandfather took this photo that is in his Grandfather's album of photos his Grandfather took, and Robert reveals the astonishing truth that he did! It is the photo he was the most proud of, but what is the big deal? Cilan explains that Sawsbuck change their appearance with the changing of the seasons, so how in the hell did Robert's Grandfather get a photograph of each season's version all together in the same image?

For Ash, perception is reality, there's a photo of it and therefore it is real! Robert enthusiastically agrees, explaining that as a boy his friends told him it wasn't possible but his Grandfather insisted it happened and he took the photo. Robert vowed to find the same place himself but the background in the photo wasn't clear enough to get a location (and apparently his Grandfather never told him), but he found a clue in another photo. Flowers from a photo of a Deerling match those in the Sawsbuck photo, and he narrowed down places where the Antliage Flower grows to a nearby mountain. He plans to climb up the mountain, try to find the location and then wait as long as it takes to see the Sawsbuck assemble. Cilan is impressed by the dedication and patience required by a Pokémon Photographer, causing Iris to moan that she hopes he isn't a Photographer Connoisseur as well. He isn't, but he is an enthusiastic supporter of their craft of course, much to Iris' consternation. Ash asks if he can come along and help Robert out, since it's not like he's been desperate to get to Driftview City or anything.

They head up into the forest, Robert's Swoobat flying ahead in search of Deerling or Sawsbuck. They spot the latter and give chase as it runs in terror from their approach, disappearing into the fog along with Robert and Ash, who somehow lose Cilan and Iris on the way. Luckily Swoobat finds them and leads them out of the fog to some Antliage flowers, but after checking it against the Deerling photograph Robert is sad to see it's not the same location. A big tree is missing from the modern day location, and since it's absolutely impossible for a tree to have been removed from a forest location sometime in the intervening 40-50 year time period he guesses they need to keep on looking.

But Pikachu is distracted by what appears to be Pokéballs underneath a bush. He approaches to get a closer look and discovers Amoonguss, which don't seem entirely pleased to see a small foreign rodent in their forest. One of them purses its lips and Robert rushes to the rescue, hauling Pikachu away as it lets loose with a burst of a poisonous attack. Ash checks on Pikachu first, then thanks Robert for saving his buddy. He checks out Amoonguss with his Pokédex and he and Robert warn Pikachu to be careful around Amoonguss. The weird-ass mushroom Pokémon head away, and Ash and Robert are delighted to see the Deerling return. Robert sends in Swoobat to chemically alter Deerling's mindset and make it friendly and helpful. He freely admits he uses this artificial aid to help get him better photographs, which as the slippery slope argument warns us will inevitably lead to him breaking the legs of Pokémon to get them to stay in place for the photos he wants.

But as they follow the now compliant Deerling, Robert spots the same mossy tree from his Grandfather's photograph and comes to a halt. He compares the photo to the real life location and gets excited before realising that Deerling never stopped and they've lost it again. Ash has a more optimistic point of view though, this means they're close to the location of the Sawsbuck photograph. Ash wants to get moving immediately but Robert tells him no, they'll wait there the night since the mountains are dangerous as night. Ash is a little surprised but agrees, and shortly after they're settled down around a campfire, having eaten some tins of food. Pikachu is sleeping happily in Ash's lap as Ash goes through the photo album, Robert saying that once he's seen and photographed all the Pokémon in Unova, maybe he'll go to Kanto. Ash totally agrees, despite the fact he's spent much of the last 15 years (I mean 9 months!) bumming around other regions. Robert takes this opportunity to suddenly remember that his Grandpa told him that this particular mountain contained areas that felt like thin stretches in the fabric reality leading to other worlds, which isn't the type of thing that is likely to stick in your head.

Oh by the way, where the fuck are Cilan and Iris?

The next morning they're woken by Deerling licking Ash's face, and Ash makes the rather telling statement that the Deerling "thinks" they're its buddy - indicating that they really are just using it for their own purposes. They follow it to a collection of other Deerlings, and are surprised by how at ease they appear to be despite a couple of humans showing up. Robert then proceeds to teach them a valuable lesson about being skittish around humans.



Of course he's actually SAVING it from an unwarranted attack by Amoonguss that he spotted through his camera lens under the bushes. But saving Deerling costs him, as he takes a face full of the poison and collapses to his knees. Ash runs up to check on him and asks if he has an antidote, but Robert admits he ran out and forgot to pick up some up in the Pokémon Centre.

This guy is a real fucking survivalist.

Ash tries to get him down the mountain, carrying him on his back (funny how he went from seeming to be about Cilan's height and age to now being obviously roughly Ash's size and age) but struggling with the weight. He drops to his knees and struggles to get back up, alarmed to see a fog rolling so he can't see where to go. But just as all is looking lost, Deerling returns, walking side by side with a... Sawsbuck! Well... that or the Forest Spirit from Princess Mononoke.



It indicates with its head to follow and heads back into the fog, followed by Deerling. Ash is somehow able to grasp this simplistic communication despite his incredible retardation and follows on, amazed to see the same spring as that seen in Robert's Grandpa's photograph. The other three Sawsbuck join the first on the other side of the spring, and Ash settles Robert on the grass and tries to bring him around. It doesn't seem to be working though, but then the spring begins to glow golden, like a sun shining bright with positive healing power.... or the result of generations of collective pissing into the water.

The light shines brightly over Ash, Pikachu and Robert, and then brighter still on Robert alone who begins to glow. Ash is astonished, and watches as the light clears and places a hand on Robert's forehead, amazed to find his fever gone.



Waking, Robert has no idea where he is until Ash points out the Sawsbuck to him, and in his excitement he manages to slam headfirst into Ash. He apologises, then is alarmed to see them heading away and grabs his camera, rushing to get a photo and dragging Ash along with him since the camera is around HIS neck, not Robert's.

Ash struggles to break free as Robert tries to focus the shot and take the photo. Did he get it in time? When he takes the camera away from his eye the Sawsbuck are gone, but he thanks them regardless. They head away from the spring and the fog starts to lift, and Ash is delighted to see Iris and Cilan approaching. They're relieved too (no show for them without Ash around!) and Cilan says he's happy the fog lifted so quickly and they were only separated for a short amount of time. Ash and Robert are confused, the fog kept them trapped overnight on the mountain, but Iris and Cilan insist that they've only been apart for 10 minutes.

They insist they saw the Sawsbuck though, and Robert shows them the photo he took on the camera's viewscreen. They eagerly look and... it's a foggy, unfocused mess in which you can vaguely make out the shape of some Sawsbuck, with no real way to differentiate if they are seasonal variations.

A furious Ash insists that of course it is them, but Robert is surprisingly unconcerned, saying that what matters is that he now knows his Grandpa's photo was the real thing. Some time then seems to pass, because the twerps are gone and Robert is now back at his family home, happily putting HIS photo up alongside his Grandpa's. The imagery is pleasant, because not only does it show a link between the past and the present, it also proves something beyond all debate.

Robert is a really shitty photographer compared to his Grandpa!

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