ENGLISH NAME	JAPANESE NAME	POKEMOPOLIS NAME	DODGINESS RATING	ANIMATION	STORY	TEAM ROCKET	MORAL LEARNT
729: A Restoration Confrontation! Part 2	735: Nejiyama no Gekito! Abagora no Kiseki!! (Kohen)	Time Rocket			The twerps try to protect the past from Team Rocket	The Borg?	Proof of your crazy theories is nice, but personal validation is nicer

Last episode the twerps met Ferris, a nerdy amateur archaeologist who unearthed a fossil inside Twist Mountain. It was stolen by Team Rocket, who meant to restore it to life and then sacrifice it (godDAMN!) in order to stabilize a Time Gate inside Twist Mountain, giving them access to the past and an army of now extinct Pokémon that could kill the shit out of anything in the future. Ash and Ferris helped the restored Tirtouga escape, but it has no idea that they're trying to help (Ferris travelled through the Time Gate as a boy and befriended the Tirtouga) and the episode ended with it attacking them with Ancient Power

Ash has Oshawott and Pikachu blast the ball of Ancient Power out of the air, but Tirtouga blasts at them with Brine when Ferris tries to talk to it. The Brine blasts a nearby bush, infuriating three Whirlipede which roll out looking for a rumble. It looks like it is time for....



They zip towards the terrified Tirtouga, which ducks down in fright till Ferris leaps in the way and takes the hit for it. It approaches to see if he is okay, while Pikachu and Oshawott are alarmed to find themselves the focus of the baleful anus-eyes of the Whirlipede. Oshawott of course tries to put up Pikachu to do the fighting for him, and then the show how predictable it has become by having a Crustle car-surf to the rescue!

Wait... what?

Crustle uses Rock Wrecker from the roof of Sierra's car and creates a crater that unbalances the Whirlipede and knocks them on their side. Ash, Ferris, Pikachu, Oshawott and Tirtouga get into the car and drive away, Ash checking out Tirtouga with his Pokédex. Sierra is surprised to see it but she at least believes what she sees with her own eyes. Ferris explains Team Rocket's scheme and they realise that Team Rocket is going to keep coming after them, needing Tirtouga to stabilise the Time Gate. They promise Tirtouga they'll look after it, and then notice that it seems to be in pain or otherwise uncomfortable. Cilan suggests it may be hungry, and they all agree this must be the case. After all, it hasn't eaten in hundreds of millions of years!

Back at Team Rocket's damaged helicopter, Zager is examining the brine from Tirtouga's attack and is pleased to see it matches up exactly with the make-up of ancient seawater. James launches several remote-camera drones to seek out and find Tirtouga, while Zager cackles evilly - he WILL capture Tirtouga.

Meanwhile Pikachu, Axew and Tirtouga are playing as Ash and Cilan bring berries they've collected. Pikachu and Axew greedily chow down, while Tirtouga stares in confusion at the berries. Iris offers it one and it takes a bite, then spits it out in disgust - it's hungry, but it doesn't want any part of this modern food. Sierra doesn't understand, but Ferris returns saying that even a hungry Pokémon won't want to eat food it doesn't like the taste or smell off. He offers some fruit he has collected, and Tirtouga seems unsure but takes a bite, then eagerly begins gobbling it down.

Cilan is confused, the berries they offered are traditionally enjoyed by Water Types. Ferris reminds them that the berries they offered didn't exist when Tirtouga lived. Neither did the ones he offered, but they smell the same as the ones he and Tirtouga ate when he was in the past, and he assumed it would taste similar too. Ferris takes a bite and blanches with disgust at the taste, and Tirtouga looks up and recognises the look as the same on the little boy he knew so long ago. Tears well up in its eyes, spotted from afar by the remote camera that transmits back to Team Rocket. Zager orders the trio to get after it and bring it back to him.

A short time later, Tirtouga naps in the sun as the twerps sit around watching it. Iris is delighted by how cute it is, wanting to touch it's sleeping face, but Axew gets in the way to tell her to back the fuck off, causing everybody to laugh. Just then Sierra notices the pendant that Ferris is holding, taken from Tirtouga. She is shocked, it's their Explorer's Club Pendant? The one he lost all those years ago as a child in Twist Mountain!



Ferris ignores the question, putting the pendant away and picking up Tirtouga and saying they should head away before Team Rocket arrives.... and then Team Rocket arrives!

The twerps are horrified by a screeching noise coming from Yamask, and then Team Rocket come flying in on jetpacks. Jesse - wearing a Borg-like eyepiece - declares "resistance is futile", making the Borg comparisons more prominent. They want Tirtouga, but Ferris refuses to hand it over, so Woobat blasts the fuck out of them with Gust. Yamask follows up with Shadowball, knocking the twerps, Ferris and Sierra over and knocking Tirtouga clear. Meowth fires a net from a rocket launcher that wraps around Tirtouga and tightens.... but then Tirtouga begins to glow bright blue. The net snaps and Tirtouga grows larger, taller, broader, stronger - Tirtouga evolves into Carracosta!

It blasts Hydro Pump at Team Rocket who have to zip aside in the air. The massive Pokémon glares at them and then suddenly goes wide-eyed, turning pink (not literally, it seems, as the twerps don't seem to notice) and then flinching and taking off into the bushes, disappearing amongst the trees. Ferris seems to have an inkling of what is happening, but when they try to chase after Carracosta they're blocked by Team Rocket who have Yamask use Haze on them.

Team Rocket contact Zager to let him know that Tirtouga has evolved. He ponders if the resurrection from a fossil accelerated the evolution, and then a warning flashes on his screen to show the Time Gate's energy is expanding again. He tells Team Rocket they don't have time to waste, they have to get that Carracosta for him NOW!

The Pokémon in question staggers to a cliff-face and blasts a tunnel into it with Ancient Power, continuing on. Team Rocket aren't far behind, guessing that it is trying to get back to Twist Mountain. Ferris has guessed the same as he leads Sierra and the twerps on, telling them that it must have heard/sensed its friends through the expanding Time Gate and is trying to get back to them.

Inside Twist Mountain, Carracosta arrives at a fork and seems confused for a moment till it senses the others through the Time Gate and continues on. Team Rocket are able to follow thanks to Zager giving them directions, while Sierra's knowledge of the mining tunnels allows her to take them by shortcut to the area where she and Ferris played so many years ago.

The Time Gate glows in the same cave where Ferris found it in the past. Carracosta arrives and blasts the rock blocking in the temporal energy, seeing the past world through the other side. It moves forward but then feels cold steel clamping around its wrists and ankles... the prehistoric sea turtle has been caught by a talking cat!



I love Pokémon.

Borg-Jesse informs Zager they have captured Carracosta, and he informs them that the Time Gate's energies have expanded to their utmost - it's time for BLOOD SACRIFICE! They pump massive amounts of electricity through Carracosta's body, blasting the shit out of it and causes a wave of energy to rush into the Time Gate and stabilise it in place, further amplifying the Star Trek comparisons as now it looks like the Guardian of Forever.

Carracosta crashes to the ground, possibly lifeless, but Team Rocket have only eyes for the Time Gate. Zager orders them to enter the past and they are aglow with enthusiasm as they prepare to do so, only to be stopped by the arrive of the twerps. They yell that they won't let them though, and Team Rocket decide to stand and fight despite the fact there is currently nothing stopping Team Rocket other than Ash's words. They call out their Pokémon and the battle is on, Woobat and Yamask vs. Pikachu and Pansage. Meanwhile, Ferris, Sierra and Iris are checking on Carracosta which is still alive, but only just. Axew uses Scratch to tear away the manacles, and Carracosta struggles to its feet before collapsing to a knee once more. Ferris helps support it, telling it that they're friends, and Carracosta looks over and sees both Ferris as he is now and as he was when he was a small boy.

Woobat and Yamask get the upper hand on Pikachu and Pansage, knocking them back. A VERY smug Meowth laughs that they can't beat them, and Jesse and James order their Pokémon to present another attack. Ferris explains to Carracosta what is happening, that Team Rocket means to invade their world, and Carracosta replies.... with a scream?

No, not a scream, a call to arms! An answering roar comes from the other side of the Time Gate, and three Carracosta come thundering through to attack. Rather than being scared though, Team Rocket are delighted that they're being saved the trouble of hunting them down. They throw a device to the ground just in front of the charging Carracosta, causing a cube of light to surround them and trap them. They hammer against the light-walls but they can't break through, and Team Rocket declare they'll be sent to Team Rocket Headquarters along with whatever other Pokémon they collect on the other side.

Pikachu and Pansage have recovered by now though and attack at Ash and Cilan's order, attack with a Thunderbolt and a Solar Beam respectively. Meowth joins in the fight, while Carracosta lets loose a roar that gets the attention of the three captured ones. They glow with Ancient Power inside the cage as Carracosta blasts Ancient Power at the outside, and the combination shatters the cage and frees them to attack. Pikachu uses Electro-Ball, bypassing Team Rocket's Pokémon to go straight at Jesse and James, and they cringe in terror as it approaches.

Do they escape as usual or get blasted off like they did in the past? We don't get to see, a massive explosion of smoke is seen from outside the mountain, but when it clears Team Rocket are nowhere to be seen. Whether they escaped or were blown away, they're not there any longer.

The twerps, Ferris and Sierra step through the Time Gate and find themselves in the ancient world. They get to see the lush fields and unpolluted air, the smoking mountains and flying Archens high overhead. Behind them the Time Gate begins to grow smaller and they know they have to return. Ferris gives Carracosta the pendant once again and everybody steps through the Time Gate, Ferris hesitating to turn and say a final goodbye to Carracosta. He calls back to it that they have always been friends and always will be, then turns and jogs through the closing Time Gate, passing flashes of his trip there as a child as Carracosta roars out a goodbye.



Zager reports to Team Rocket (turns out they escaped safely rather than being blasted off) that the Time Gate has closed and there is no sign of any more temporal energy. He doesn't think the Gate will ever open again, and Team Rocket comment rather coldly that since there is nothing for them here now, it's time to go. They jet away through the air, followed by Zager in his now repaired helicopter. Hopefully there won't be a long delay before their next return.

Sierra notes to Ferris that his fossil is gone and thus any proof that he travelled to the past as a child. He tells her it doesn't matter, he got to befriend Tirtouga as a child and meet it again as an adult, that's enough for him. With that, they head outside with the twerps and wave their goodbyes. It may be enough for him, but the twerps' journeys continue, as do Team Rocket's - there's more to see, more to do, and more to experience. Hell, this probably won't even be close to the last time that Ash travels through time, it sure wasn't the first!

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