Yay! The first episode of Pokémon: Advanced Generation is finally at hand. ^_^ And well, its a good start and has a good introduction of Haruka, advance girl, the new girl, Misty's replacement, whatever you want to call her (I'll refer to her as Haruka though, because that's her name officially in the show). Professor Odamaki has a nice introduction too, and he seems to be alot fitter then the other 3 Professors we know (well ok, maybe Professor Ivy was fitter then him) and he provides some comic relief as well, especially the scene with the Pochiena. Houen is a whole new world, and its overflowing with pokémon, there was a fair amount of new Pokémon seen in this episode, but thats ofcourse due to this being the first episode, so it needs to give us a good introduction to the new world (which surprisingly looks alot like Kanto and Johto, especially when they're in the forest). Ash yet again proves his love for Pokémon and especially Pikachu with a daring stunt. Surprising little fact is, that Team Rocket seems to be a name that is not known in Houen, when Ash mentions them (as Jesse and James stand before them, intimidating with another one of their machines) both Haruka and Odamaki are stumped and tell Ash that they've never heard of that before.
All in all, it's a good episode, and a definate improvement over earlier episodes. Ofcourse, I can't really say that yet, because this is just one of many episodes to come. Check below for a full synopsis of the episode, and heaps of screenshots!
-Review written by Fox the Sharkdog
The episode starts out as Haruka is on her way through the forest towards Mishiro Town to see Professor Odamaki and get her first Pokémon, so that she can start her journey. Although, she does explain that she isn't really interested in training Pokémon, but she just wants to travel and see more of the world. What a great opportunity, no? As she passes through the forest, a Yomawaru pops out and startles Haruka (which ofcourse, was exactly its intention). She loses control of her bike and first thing she does is hit a tree dead on.
Without any other troubles on her way, she soon reaches a cliff from-of which she can see Mishiro Town, her goal is in sight!
We now join Ash, who is traveling towards Mishiro Town as well, but by boat. Although Ash isn't really his happy springy self, because Pikachu seems to be very sick (something happened in the episode prior to Pokémon: Advanced Generation to cause this). Ash tries to reassure Pikachu that they'll be in Mishiro Town soon and he'll take him to the Pokémon Center there.
Team Rocket also happens to be on the exact same boat, and Jesse seems to be a little depressed, and she has been since she got on the ship. James and Meowth think that there's something wrong with her, even when Wobbuffet pops out she didn't even flinch, and just grabbed her Pokéball and returned him.
In the mean time the ship has docked and Ash inquires about the location of the local Pokémon Center, which happens to be non existent, because there isn't a Pokémon Center in Mishiro Town.
Ash, growing more worried about Pikachu, decides to call Professor Odamaki's lab and see if he's in, Odamaki's assistant tells him that he's out doing field work, but he'll call him immediately and send him over to the docks to pick Ash and Pikachu up.
Soon thereafter Professor Odamaki rushes into the docks and hits the brakes of his car, he immediately checks Pikachu's condition and tells Ash they need to hurry, so they hop into his car and race to his lab through the forest.
In the car Professor Odamaki tells Ash that Pikachu has too much energy stored in it's body, which might be possible due to a big blast. Ash tells him that he's right and that Pikachu received a big blast not too long ago. The professor puts the pedal to the metal and takes a shorter route through the forest.
They quickly arrive at his lab where Josh (his assistant) has already prepared a device which apparently replaces electricity, they swiftly hook up Pikachu and turn the machine on. The machine overloads within a minute and explodes. Pikachu escapes through the window (it seems to have enough energy to actually run away, although ill) and Ash immediately follows. Professor Odamaki shouts after Ash that he should watch out for the wild Pokémon and Ash then tells him that he doesn't have his with him, resulting in Odamaki swiftly grabbing the three Pokéballs he has at hand, and follows Ash into the forest.
Team Rocket watches Pikachu run away and James thinks they should chase it as well, and Jesse makes another depressing comment on how its so boring.
Odamaki quickly catches up with Ash and tells him that they need to find Pikachu quickly, for if his condition worsens, the energy inside Pikachu might explode. They each take a different route through the forest.
In the mean time, back at the lab Haruka just arrived and inquires about Professor Odamaki's whereabouts. Josh tells her he's not there right now, and Haruka decides she'll go find him in the forest then and rushes off on her bike.
Professor Odamaki makes his way through the forest in his search and slips up on a small hill, he drops his bag accidentally and he slides down and lands comfortably on top of a cute little Pochiena. This doesn't exactly make Pochiena a very happy Pokémon, so it howls out, and two other Pochiena immediately lunge out of the bushes, growling at Odamaki, followed by chasing after Odamaki (coincidentally, around a tree in circles ^_~). Up on the small hill Haruka arrives just as Odamaki climbs into a tree, the three Pochiena angrily barking at it's base. Odamaki tells Haruka to grab the bag, open it and use one of the Pokéballs in there. She picks one randomly and tosses it besides her, and out comes... Mudkip! Odamaki tells Haruka to tell Mudkip to use his water gun attack, she looks at Mudkip and asks it to do this, and gets the full blast right in her face. In the meanwhile the branch Odamaki was clinging too breaks and he's back to being chased by the Pochiena. Odamaki calls Mudkip to his side and lets it use its water gun, with one blast the three Pochiena are defeated and run off with their tails between their legs (figuratively ofcourse).
Ash finally finds Pikachu, but due to Pikachu's illness he doesn't even recognizes Ash and sees him as a threat so he attacks Ash with quite a large shock. Odamaki and Haruka see this shock from afar, and immediately head towards the point which it came from.
Ash withstood the blast from Pikachu fairly well (ofcourse, he's the one that's had the most shocks by Pikachu probably) but Pikachu isn't doing very well himself. Odamaki and Haruka arrive and Odamaki tells Ash that Pikachu's energy might explode any second. Pikachu manages to get up and run away again, Ash immediately follows him and sees Pikachu lunge himself off of a cliff (quite a high cliff I might add) and Ash makes the leap of doom right after Pikachu, managing to grab him, and grab hold of a tight fitting branch sticking out of the face of the cliff, all at the same time. Odamaki and Haruka use a rope to help Ash get up again, and in this process Pikachu struggles an awful lot, even bites Ash, but then comes to his senses and sees that all Ash, whom he recognizes again, is trying is help him.
And just as all seems to be well again, Team Rocket emerges in classic style, with a huge battery shaped robot, they say a nice verse, then hop into the robot, aiming to steal... Pikachu's energy!
Ash tells Odamaki and Haruka that Team Rocket chases after him wherever he goes, but Odamaki, nor Haruka had ever heard of Team Rocket. The robot fires a grapple and grabs Pikachu, pulling him back close to the machine, and quickly starts draining Pikachu. The machine quickly overflows with Pikachu's energy, as Pikachu is still a overloaded himself, and the robot is uncontrollable for Team Rocket from then. Pikachu regains his strength and releases a huge jolt, frying the battery robot (and ironically, Haruka's bike) and letting Team Rocket blast off again into the sky. Pikachu collapses again, this time because of exhaustion.
Back at the lab Odamaki and Josh analyze Pikachu once more and analyze that he will be ok. Haruka comes in to ask if Pikachu will be ok, which he will. Odamaki then asks Haruka to come with him, so she can select her first Pokémon. Ash tags along to check out the Pokémon Odamaki has up for selection for Haruka.
Odamaki first releases Treecko from it's Pokéball. Haruka doesn't like it at all, and Treecko even gives her the evil eyes, Ash loves it though.
Next Odamaki releases Mudkip, in which Haruka isn't very interested either after their first meeting ^_~.
And last but not least, Torchic is released from its Pokéball, which immediately hops over to Haruka, and clings to her, so the choice is easily made.
Odamaki hands Haruka a few Pokéballs and a PokéDex, and tells her that she will probably become a great trainer like her father and Ash wishes her luck as well. Haruka acts all innocent and keeps the fact hidden that she doesn't care about Pokémon training still, and just wants to travel.
Haruka gets ready to leave, but well, she can't, because her bike is fried. Which is Pikachu's fault. She heads back into the lab looking for Ash to tell him off, but she finds him sleeping near Pikachu. She admires Ash's love for Pikachu and decides to let it go.
A few minutes later as Haruka just let Torchic go from it's Pokéball for a moment Ash walks outside with Pikachu. Pikachu jumps off of Ash's should and goes to play with Torchic for a moment.
Odamaki and Josh tell Ash and Haruka that they should head towards Kotoki Town and bid them a good journey. Haruka doesn't want to travel alone, and since Ash is the cause of breaking her bike, she decides to travel with Ash. Odamaki and Josh wish them both good luck as they head off towards Kotoki Town.
To be continued...-Synopsis written by Fox the Sharkdog
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