ENGLISH NAME	JAPANESE NAME	POKEMOPOLIS NAME	DODGINESS RATING	ANIMATION	STORY	TEAM ROCKET	MORAL LEARNT
775: What Lies Beyond Truth and Ideals!	781: Reshiramu tai Enu! Riso to Shinjitsu no Kanata e!	Ash vs. the Anti-Climax			Ghetsis summons Reshiram; Ash and Pikachu save the day	Deputised!	Prophecies don't always come true!

Last episode saw Team Plasma on the verge of utter triumph. Looker, N, Cilan, Iris and Juniper had been captured, the Light Stone was in their possession, Ghetsis had arrived and Ash was KOed. Beginning the Summoning Ritual, Ghetsis looked set to take control of Reshiram using Colress' Pokémon Control Device. But of course, Ash was back awake with Pikachu back on his side, and Team Rocket have been on the sidelines waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Can they throw a monkey-wrench into Ghetsis' works or will he succeed and bend Reshiram to his will? Can Colress' device control such a powerful Pokémon? And the final, most important question of all....



Hearing Ash declare such a philosophical question is a bit of a head-trip!

Ghetsis summons Reshiram as Ash comes charging up demanding they stop at once (he still hasn't grasped that he can't change reality by shouting), but as if on cue something DOES happen. As the Light Stone lifts into the sky, a fog rolls in over them all and Team Plasma grunts are blasted backwards by attacks. Even Ash can figure out what that means - Anthea and Concordia have come to rescue N. Their voices speak to N (telepathically or not, I'm not sure) asking what has stained his heart, and he calls out to them a warning of what Team Plasma are doing - the tragedy of their last summoning will happen again, and he needs to understand why Reshiram is filled with such rage for humanity.

Probably that whole "humanity keeps trying to control me for power" thing!

Within the fog, Iris whispers to Axew which is still hiding in her hair, and asks him to please try and break through the restraints holding her arms to her sides. Axew begins hammering away with his paws, keeping as quiet as possible.

Team Plasma grunts grab at N as he calls out his warning to the women, but he throws them off angrily, displaying remarkable strength and aggression for the usually gentle character. They beg him to return with them, but he says he won't run away, and asks for them to join him in fighting. As he speaks, Gardevoir and Gothitelle's eyes appear out of the fog and Aldith spots them, calling out an order to Colress to turn the Pokémon Control Device on them. They're blasted and immediately the fog dissipates, revealing Anthea and Concordia on a nearby rock, looking confused and telling their Pokémon they need to rescue N. Instead, they turn and attack on Aldith's command (much to Ghetsis' savage pleasure), blasting the two women off of their feet. They're surrounded by the Liepards and Aldith mocks them, now their Pokémon are weapons of Team Plasma.

Ghetsis cries out again to Reshiram to answer the summons, and before everybody's eyes the Light Stone transforms into the Legendary Pokémon. As everybody's attention is on Reshiram though, Axew succeeds in breaking through Iris' restraints, and then gleefully, headlong rushes to Cilan's side to help him too. N runs to Reshiram as it lands, calling out to it, but Ghetsis catches its attention (and anger) again when he speaks, amused by its rage because it is meaningless. At his signal, Colress fires the Pokémon Control Device, and before the horrified eyes of all the onlookers, the legendary Reshiram - like every other Pokémon before it - falls to the control of Colress' device.

Colress cackles with delight, his scientific theories proven, and his genius indisputable. Ethical considerations mean nothing, the nobility and independence of any Pokémon - let alone a Legendary one - are irrelevant. All that matters to him is the cold demonstration of soulless, scientific fact. He has taken control of Reshiram, and now it's own thoughts and feelings are discarded - it is nothing more than a tool, an object of manipulation for Ghetsis' own glory. The prophecy spoke of a great hero being tested by battle with Reshiram and achieving a parent/child like union under the guiding, protective influence of Reshiram, and gaining the benefit of thousands of years of wisdom and knowledge, as well as power and riches. Well Ghetsis wants all those benefits with none of the hard work. He doesn't want the benefit of Reshiram's protective guidance, he just wants Reshiram's power.... and now he has it.

At Ghetsis' command, Reshiram unleashes a massive blast of Fusion Flare, knocking back N beside Anthea and Concordia, but also knocking back the twerps, Juniper and Looker, the Team Plasma grunts (including Aldith) and even Colress and his device are shifted back by the force of the attack. From their hiding place in the bushes, Team Rocket are buffeted as well, with Meowth's tail humorously catching alight and the Scratch-Cat zipping about in a panic trying to put his tail out. Jesse and James are amazed by the incredible power of Reshiram... imagine having that on call 24 hours a day! But they are alarmed by Ghetsis' self-centred nature, he doesn't care about his allies/underlings at all, even smirking to see his Grunts and the other controlled Pokémon being knocked aside.

Colress raves happily over the data he is gathering, but he wants to see more, calling for another Fusion Flare. Reshiram does as it is told, sending the controlled Golurks flying, while the twerps find themselves sheltering behind blasted debris. Iris and Cilan ask if Juniper is okay, and he replies in his typical fashion that he is fine..... if he wasn't hurt! Cilan calls out Crustle to bread through Juniper's restraints, while Aldith calls out to Ghetsis to remind him that she's on his side, and he sneers that her and Barrett are useless. Trying to prove themselves still an asset, they and their Liepards turn on Ash as he reunites with N, and they find themselves facing a very dangerous line-up.



Pikachu jumps up and blasts the Liepards away with Thunderbolt, and while everybody adjusts their position to prepare to fight, Team Rocket decide the time has finally come to make their move. Their motives are selfish but somewhat adjusted from their original scheme, they've only just come to realise that Ghetsis' plan involves taking over the world... and they live in the world! Angry at the idea of being the slaves of an asshole like Ghetsis, they declare their loyalty to Giovanni, and then get a nasty shock when a hand grabs them and a voice identifies them. Turning around, they leap away in a panic to see Looker - an International Policeman! - facing them down... and then he smiles and declares they're the only ones who can save them! Of course the last time Looker met them, they turned out to be of some assistance to him in defeating Team Galactic, and now he's hoping they'll step up to the plate again!

It's a novel idea to Team Rocket, but they accept, saying they'll do it for their rep, and Jesse and Meowth both happily embrace the idea, with James surprisingly the only one to look slightly upset at this shift in their attitudes.

Barrett calls to Colress to use the Pokémon Control Device on Pikachu, and Ash overhears and leaps in front of Pikachu to protect him. Colress smirks, utterly confident in his ability to get what he wants - after all he's controlling Reshiram - and re-targets the machine to zoom in on Pikachu's face between Ash's feet. But then suddenly a wide beaming face fills the screen, and Colress flinches in surprise and looks up to see Meowth doing a happy handstand in front of an equally surprised Ash and Pikachu. Barrett realises a talking Meowth can only mean Team Rocket are about, but that knowledge doesn't prevent him from getting his face slashed up by Meowth's Fury Swipes, as do the Liepard shortly after. Meowth blows smugly on his paw and then quickly rushes behind cover, telling Ash and Pikachu to hide as well, and the twerp follows Meowth only to find Looker waiting for him with his unexpected new deputies - Jesse and James!

They tell him they're going to stop Colress' Control Device, and Ash decides that if that's the case then he's going to rush in and attack right now... without Pokémon! He tells Pikachu to stay behind for his own protection, then returns to his old strategy of running and yelling despite Looker's horrified protest. Jesse and James smirk that Ash doing this provides them a helpful distraction, and they zip away too, leaving Looker freaking out because NOBODY IS MAKING A GODDAMN PLAN!

Ash is shocked to discover that just running out into the open has left him exposed to all the controlled Pokémon! Pikachu is moments behind him, unwilling to stay back and leave him to take the risk, and the strength of their bond is apparent not only to N but even Anthea and Concordia, and he tells them that Ash represents everything they've been trying to achieve themselves all this time.

Ash, realizing that Pikachu isn't going to stay back, shrugs and smiles and says in that case, Pikachu needs to move with Quick Attack. Colress smugly taps away on his device to target in on Pikachu, but is furious when Pikachu suddenly zips to the side and out of his targeting reticule, leaping up high on some debris and ready to attack. Before the controlled Pokémon can make their move, a blast of Dragon Rage distracts them, with Iris and Axew joining the fray. The controlled Pokémon move to attack but are hit by attacks from an unexpected angle, now Jesse and James are attacking from higher ground with Woobat and Yamask, while Meowth fights on the ground. Even Iris can't believe it!

"Prepare for trouble, surprise surprise!"
And make it double, we helped the good guys!"
"To protect the world from devastation!"
"To unite the people within our nation!"
"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"
"To extend our reach to the stars above!"
"It's Jesse!"
"And it's James!"
"Team Rocket blast off at the speed of light!"
"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"
"Meowth, dat's right!"

Team Rocket tell the twerps they'll buy them the time they need to take the fight to Colress and stop his device. They even go back to their old rhyming scheme when they say it, harkening back to brighter days (in the minds of some viewers, like myself - the only one who really matters!) when they weren't always so super grim and serious. But as things are starting to look up for the twerps, Ghetsis apparently gets bored of watching his underlings fail to stop a 10 year old boy and his yellow rat and reminds everybody that he has control of motherfucking Reshiram! Ash is surprised but undaunted, telling Pikachu to use Electro-Ball on the Control Device. But just as Pikachu is about to let rip... Colress finally locks on to the fast moving rodent and fires, and Pikachu is blasted with the control device again!

And says FUCK YOUR CONTROL DEVICE!

Before Colress' disbelieving eyes, Pikachu - still sparkling with residue of the aborted Electro-Ball, a kind of quasi-THUNDER ARMOUR - struggles to fight off the influence of the Control Device, listening to Ash exhorting him to fight on. Eyes flashing between red and normal, Pikachu staggers forward as Colress' permanent arrogant look finally slips, and then lets rip with Thunderbolt directly into Reshiram! Reshiram crackles with the same energy, shocked enough to shake off the all-encompassing control of the device and N senses that Reshiram's conscious mind has returned and is now also struggling for freedom from Colress' control. Enraged, Ghetsis demands that Colress crank up the power and blast Pikachu with a full blast, and he does!

And Pikachu says FUCK YOUR CONTROL DEVICE! Again!

Letting rip with a massive blast of Thunderbolt into the air, all Colress can do and stand and gape in disbelief, while Ghetsis realises what Giovanni also realised and Jesse, James and Meowth believed long ago - this is a special goddamn Pikachu! Ash calls to Pikachu, asking him to hear his words, he has to destroy the control device! Pikachu unleashes an Electro-Ball, and the device is blasted to pieces, leaving Colress a broken man on hands and knees beside his ruined life's work, trying to come to terms with the revelation that not only is his work destroyed, but that his theories and beliefs were all wrong in the first place.

So what does this mean, have they won? N isn't sure, but everybody else is celebrating. Ash hugs Pikachu while everybody else gathers around to beam happily, while Team Rocket celebrate to the side with the knowledge that they played a part, it was team work that won the day. N gloats to the distraught Colress that he'll never understand, nothing is stronger than the bond between Ash and his Pokémon. It's a revelation for N as well, one he has slowly been coming to. Colress, his own beliefs shaken, doesn't like having them openly challenged and leaps up to angrily declare that their theories are fact. But the final death blow to his beliefs come when Reshiram, now free of the Pokémon Control Device, charges up with even more power than before. Colress scans Reshiram and is horrified, now that it is free of his control, it is even more powerful, which goes completely against all his theories!

Reshiram screams in rage and blasts at the ground around it, but it isn't a mindless monster, and when N calls out to it, it listens. Allowing itself to be mollified, things almost go pear-shaped when Ghetsis - enraged that he has been thwarted again - begins bellowing at Reshiram that this is all unacceptable, and Barrett and Aldith actually have to physically restrain him to keep him from getting all them melted to death. They want to retreat, but Looker isn't going to allow that after everything that has gone down. He calls out a warning and Ash brings out Krookodile, which uses Stone Edge accompanied by Crustle's Rock Slide to surround the Team Plasma officers with rocks. Dragonite then uses Ice Beam, putting them into a hollow block of ice, now unable to escape. As the Pokémon high-five each other and are praised by their trainers - and all that is watched by Anthea and Concordia - Reshiram apparently decides this whole summoning thing has been a huge waste of time and it is time to go. It takes to the air but is stopped by N calling up to it, and turns to look as he explains that ever since he saw it destroy everything around it at the last summoning, he wondered how it view humans. But now it has seen people and Pokémon work together to combat evil, so how does it feel about humans now? Reshiram looks down on him and he seems to sense the answer he was seeking, and he thanks Reshiram. He promises that he will continue to work for a world where Pokémon and people can share a special bond, and hope that one day Reshiram will feel about humans the way he feels about Pokémon.

Reshiram leaves, disappearing into the light, and Iris and Cilan wonder what Reshiram told him. He struggles to think how best to put it into words, but is surprised when Ash tells him not to say. Why not? Ash smiles and says that he hopes to meet Reshiram again, and he'll ask for himself. It's a lovely sentiment that also makes no goddamn sense at all since Ash can't understand Reshiram's "words", but the notion at least pleases N. Rejoining Concordia and Anthea, N asks them to stay with him now and travel together in the sun, they've spend too long hiding away. But where will they go? To "the ideal" he says, they'll work towards turning their ideal of a better world into a reality. With a smile they agree.

Sirens sound and Looker's back-up FINALLY arrives, and Ghetsis, Colress, Aldith and Barrett are all piled into the back of the paddy-wagon to be taken away. Everybody is too miserable to speak, except for Colress who is bemoaning his theories being proved completely wrong... till he perks up and - perhaps taking a note from his recent run-ins with Meowth - declares that the next thing he'll work on is a device to allow Pokémon to communicate with people! They're driven away, Colress already enthusiastic, the others completely mentally and emotionally destroyed.

Looker says his goodbyes to Ash and is driven away, while Juniper bemoans miserably the loss of the Light Stones. His misery disappears as quickly as Colress' though when he's told by other researchers that they've uncovered Ice Ruins and they want his assistance. He happily declares to Iris and Cilan that they'll never meet again... unless they do! Leaving them reeling, he rushes away.

Team Rocket are also on the run, not pursued by anyone but smart enough to get clear of all those police. They're very pleased with themselves, and more "themselves" than they've been for a long time in my opinion. Pleased with the further confirmation of the rightness of their long-term pursuit of Pikachu as well as their part in the defeat of Team Plasma. They stop and cheer for themselves - they're Team Rocket, and they're feeling great!

N, Anthea and Concordia say their goodbyes to the twerps as well. It's time for them to begin their own journey as more pro-active pursuers of an idea world between people and Pokémon. Their entire plotline has ended in a vague kind of anti-climax, the stakes never really felt like they'd risen as high as you were supposed to think they were, and N has come to the inevitable conclusion that Ash's "truth and ideals" are the right ones, because heaven forbid that anybody ever not be obsessed with a society based on school drop-outs bumming around the countryside taking part in cock-fighting leagues using semi-sentient creatures!

As for the twerps, they're now at a strange cross-roads in their own journey - the Unova League is over, they've encountered the White Ruins (and left them even more ruined!) and saved Reshiram (and the world). What next for them? Where do the kids go next? Is there any more to be seen or done in Unova? Is it time to move on? And if so, will this be a parting of the ways for Ash, Iris and Cilan?

BEST QUOTES

"We'll handle these jerks!" "Long enough for you to give 'em the works!" "Make me proud of you, twerps!"

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