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elementalheroAfter a few weeks in which my parents weren't around so I had to take care of the house instead of lounging around on the interwebz, the recaps may resume!
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Vs. Mr. Mime (American title: Peace of Mime)
To catch us up, Red and Green were just ambushed at Oak's Lab by a creepy Psychic Pokemon that could kill them in their sleep and a creepy psychic lady who told them to come to Saffron if they want to give Team Rocket some dinner entertainment sometime.
As the rubble clears and the two get their bearings, Red realizes he'd sent Eevee to Oak's Lab, and rushes to check the PC system. His fears are confirmed - Eevee is gone. Green also checks, and finds that none of his Pokemon have been touched. It seems that, for now, Team Rocket is only targeting Red. Green tells Red that's what he gets for being so high-profile and trying to protect everyone.
Red swings at Green again and gets his hand caught again. Green remains too badass for this shit.
Red is outraged that Green seems to think he has the monopoly on badassery and hero-dom. Green says he doesn't give a damn what Team Rocket is doing (to which Red gives the logical rejoinder, "Then you should be staying out of it!"), but they have his grandpa and that shit is just not acceptable. Green goes on to monologue about how Pallet Town is the only large population center left in Kanto that remains untainted by industrialization and pollution. He rages that Team Rocket is attempting to stain the last pristine place left; that Pallet is his town, goddammit, and that their invasion of his territory has his Alpha Dog hackles raised. So Green flies off for Saffron.
Red snarls after him, "Aren't I from Pallet Town, too? Who are you to tell me to stay out of this?" and follows.
At the west entrance, Green is still attempting to kill the barrier with fire, reasoning that there must be a weak point but not knowing how to find or exploit it. Red shows up, Hyper Beams it (no effect) and ends up running into Green, and they accuse each other of copying each other. Blue just watches and lols at their testosterone-fueled idiocy.
Green finally gets wise and goes to ground, sends out Golduck, and has Golduck scan the city with its psychic powers and transfer its thoughts visually to his Pokedex. He finds that a Mr. Mime outside the Silph Co. complex is responsible for creating the barrier. MEANWHILE, Red has Pika use Substitute. Pikachu's energy clone, not being made of matter (or something lol), is able to cross the barrier and get in. But he doesn't know where to strike! Green knows the weak point, but is powerless to do anything! IF ONLY THEY KNEW HOW TO COMMUNICATE.
Blue lols and glances at the fourth wall for good measure. "You've got to work together, boys, otherwise you're just keeping score!" she crows. "What, do you think this is all some kind of game?" Oho~
Red and Green grudgingly sort of start strategizing without making eye contact (primal non-aggressive behavior, lol. I love sociology). Golduck transmits its knowledge of the enemy to Pikachu, who sends his energy clone to go whack Mr. Mime and disrupt the barrier. It works, Green charges in, Red follows, and Blue is happy they did all the work while she sneaks in to get up to her devious ways. ♥~
Red tags along behind Green like a little bro who wants to run with the big boys. Green shouts, "Where are they? WHERE IS MY ENEMY!"
And the badass of all badasses answers...
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Vs. Golbat (American title: Go for the Golbat!)
As they enter the office building of the manufacturing company Silph Co., Red wonders how such a legitimate-looking business center could be the headquarters of an evil organization. You can tell these are pre-Enron chapters, apparently. Green explains that this is a centrally located building with entrances on four sides - perfect for access to all their shady endeavors...or for escaping in the case of a raid.
Suddenly, Red falls through a trapdoor that opens in the floor! Well....shit.
This is a good sign.
Green finds himself facing off against the ninja master Koga. Green, before even fully turning around, orders Scyther to attack. Scyther plunges its blade-arm into Koga's shoulder, but Koga has his Grimer wrapped around his torso like armor. Grimer strikes and wraps itself around Scyther and Green, smothering his before he can scream and preventing his arms from reaching his Pokeballs to release the rest of his team.
Meanwhile, Red finds himself in an empty room. The walls, he discovers, are electrified, so touching them at all is a no-go. Luckily the floor seems okay. However, he's in for a rough day as several Voltorb and Electrode come swarming in. Red puts the pieces together and recognizes the modus operandi of none other than LIEUTENANT SURGE.
He's like Pokemon Rambo, for god's sake.
Red is shocked to find that a gym leader could be in league with Team Rocket (for crying out loud, Red, at this stage in the manga, there are no bad people who are not in league with Team Rocket). But he shuts up quick as Surge pulls out a bazooka that shoots Electrode at him. Red is knocked against the wall and shocked badly. Surge spouts off the required electricity-based puns as he explains that the electricity in this room will triple the powers of his Pokemon.
Red does the usual "why" and Surge waxes poetic about how he used to be a good Gym Leader who followed the rules and regulations until he decided one day that rules are DUMB and being a jerk is much better.
Red interrupts his monologue by sending Pikachu at him. Surge seems to be badly shocked at first, but then lols and reveals that he is wearing insulated clothing that blocks electric current from reaching his body. He may be a jerk but he's not stupid, after all.
We have a well-constructed split-screen that shows how much trouble Red and Green are in:
With that out of the way, Surge blasts Red again. Through the haze of pain and possible nerve damage, Red wonders how Surge can be attacking at full power from the start and not run out of power. Surge guesses exactly what he's thinking, of course, and reveals that the electricity in this room is powered by none other than Zapdos, the legendary bird of lightning! Well, Red's screwed.
Koga shows Green all this with his Golbat's Supersonic, and Green concentrates on not losing consciousness due to asphyxiation. However, since Koga needs to ask him some questions, he lets Green get some air. Koga reveals that they have Professor Oak somewhere in the building, but he won't talk or help them with their evil planz. Perhaps, though, if he sees his grandson in excruciating agony...? But all they need is his cooperation, so Green has two choices: Convince his grandpa to help Team Rocket by asking him, or by dying painfully.
Green nods to Scyther and chooses a third option: screw you, Koga, and screw your mom, too. Koga is enraged and decides that Green can just die. Golbat strikes Green with a Razor Wind from point-blank range. Green's pupils shrink in shock, and he collapses to the floor. No blood, but it's heavily implied he's internally bleeding to death. Red, meanwhile, has the problem of thousands of volts of electricity arcing through his body at once.
...
Our heroes don't seem to be doing so well.
Chapter Thirty: Vs. Zapdos (American title: Zap! Zap! Zapdos!)
Well, it seems the boys have failed and are about to die, so let's jump over to the competent one. Blue's sneaking around the Silph Complex, ohoho~ing to herself how simple life is when you come in via the back door. When she reaches her target, the third floor, however...
The door opens on a wasted landscape with a large multi-tiered Japanese-style tower in the background, populated by carrion birds cawing and screeching towards the sky. Blue gasps, and Sabrina pops up behind her. It's mindfuck time, as Sabrina explains that Blue is being forced to endure her most powerful, secret fears!
Blue is like "screw that shit," and releases Blastoise to do some damage - but Sabrina teleports to the other side of the room immediately. She introduces herself as the third member of the command triad of Team Rocket, and the master of Psychic Pokemon. Kadabra blasts Blue with a psychic assault that Blue braces against, only to find her Pokeballs have been knocked from her waist to where she can't get at them. Sabrina smirks. "You're so good at fooling silly boys~" she taunts.
Kadabra and Blastoise duke it out, and Sabrina conjectures that Blastoise must be Blue's strongest Pokemon...so if it loses, she must be done, yes? Blastoise goes down, and Blue manages to kick one of her Pokeballs into the action. It's...the real Blastoise?!? Oh boy, looks like Blue can fool more than just silly boys - the first Blastoise was her Ditto. Her Horsea, meanwhile, lays down a Smokescreen that keeps Sabrina from being able to see. Blue can see just fine, thanks to her Silph Scope. Aww yeah BD
Meanwhile, back on the first floor, Lieutenant Surge is proving his army-forged manliness by beating the shit out of an eleven-year-old kid. Red finally manages to get another team member out, Ivysaur, but Surge blasts him so hard his leaves begin falling to the ground. Red urges Saur to bust through the pain and Razor Leaf the enemy. Which...seems useless. Surge powers up to maximum strength, but turns out, the Razor Leaf has sliced the wires that connect Zapdos to the generator! Now, Red shouts, the energy Zapdos has charged will pass straight into Surge's body.
Surge scoffs and reminds him about his insulated clothing. Except...the Razor Leaf attack sliced his clothes full of holes, too?!? Oh, shit. Surge is violently electrocuted and left to twitch and drool on the floor. Yeeaaaaaah, comeuppance BD Red loots his body and finds the Thunderbadge. He also takes Surge's insulated gloves (fridge logic: insulated fingerless gloves), because hey, they could come in handy.
Somehow, though, the mood seems heavy.
He makes it back to the second floor to find Koga ordering his Golbat to finish Green off! He lets out a BIG NOOOOOO! IS THIS THE END?!?
Actually, yeah, it's the end of the chapter. >D
Next Time: The incident with the Pokeballs and the lingerie. You know the one.
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Vs. Mr. Mime (American title: Peace of Mime)
To catch us up, Red and Green were just ambushed at Oak's Lab by a creepy Psychic Pokemon that could kill them in their sleep and a creepy psychic lady who told them to come to Saffron if they want to give Team Rocket some dinner entertainment sometime.
As the rubble clears and the two get their bearings, Red realizes he'd sent Eevee to Oak's Lab, and rushes to check the PC system. His fears are confirmed - Eevee is gone. Green also checks, and finds that none of his Pokemon have been touched. It seems that, for now, Team Rocket is only targeting Red. Green tells Red that's what he gets for being so high-profile and trying to protect everyone.
Red swings at Green again and gets his hand caught again. Green remains too badass for this shit.
Red is outraged that Green seems to think he has the monopoly on badassery and hero-dom. Green says he doesn't give a damn what Team Rocket is doing (to which Red gives the logical rejoinder, "Then you should be staying out of it!"), but they have his grandpa and that shit is just not acceptable. Green goes on to monologue about how Pallet Town is the only large population center left in Kanto that remains untainted by industrialization and pollution. He rages that Team Rocket is attempting to stain the last pristine place left; that Pallet is his town, goddammit, and that their invasion of his territory has his Alpha Dog hackles raised. So Green flies off for Saffron.
Red snarls after him, "Aren't I from Pallet Town, too? Who are you to tell me to stay out of this?" and follows.
At the west entrance, Green is still attempting to kill the barrier with fire, reasoning that there must be a weak point but not knowing how to find or exploit it. Red shows up, Hyper Beams it (no effect) and ends up running into Green, and they accuse each other of copying each other. Blue just watches and lols at their testosterone-fueled idiocy.
Green finally gets wise and goes to ground, sends out Golduck, and has Golduck scan the city with its psychic powers and transfer its thoughts visually to his Pokedex. He finds that a Mr. Mime outside the Silph Co. complex is responsible for creating the barrier. MEANWHILE, Red has Pika use Substitute. Pikachu's energy clone, not being made of matter (or something lol), is able to cross the barrier and get in. But he doesn't know where to strike! Green knows the weak point, but is powerless to do anything! IF ONLY THEY KNEW HOW TO COMMUNICATE.
Blue lols and glances at the fourth wall for good measure. "You've got to work together, boys, otherwise you're just keeping score!" she crows. "What, do you think this is all some kind of game?" Oho~
Red and Green grudgingly sort of start strategizing without making eye contact (primal non-aggressive behavior, lol. I love sociology). Golduck transmits its knowledge of the enemy to Pikachu, who sends his energy clone to go whack Mr. Mime and disrupt the barrier. It works, Green charges in, Red follows, and Blue is happy they did all the work while she sneaks in to get up to her devious ways. ♥~
Red tags along behind Green like a little bro who wants to run with the big boys. Green shouts, "Where are they? WHERE IS MY ENEMY!"
And the badass of all badasses answers...
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Vs. Golbat (American title: Go for the Golbat!)
As they enter the office building of the manufacturing company Silph Co., Red wonders how such a legitimate-looking business center could be the headquarters of an evil organization. You can tell these are pre-Enron chapters, apparently. Green explains that this is a centrally located building with entrances on four sides - perfect for access to all their shady endeavors...or for escaping in the case of a raid.
Suddenly, Red falls through a trapdoor that opens in the floor! Well....shit.
This is a good sign.
Green finds himself facing off against the ninja master Koga. Green, before even fully turning around, orders Scyther to attack. Scyther plunges its blade-arm into Koga's shoulder, but Koga has his Grimer wrapped around his torso like armor. Grimer strikes and wraps itself around Scyther and Green, smothering his before he can scream and preventing his arms from reaching his Pokeballs to release the rest of his team.
Meanwhile, Red finds himself in an empty room. The walls, he discovers, are electrified, so touching them at all is a no-go. Luckily the floor seems okay. However, he's in for a rough day as several Voltorb and Electrode come swarming in. Red puts the pieces together and recognizes the modus operandi of none other than LIEUTENANT SURGE.
He's like Pokemon Rambo, for god's sake.
Red is shocked to find that a gym leader could be in league with Team Rocket (for crying out loud, Red, at this stage in the manga, there are no bad people who are not in league with Team Rocket). But he shuts up quick as Surge pulls out a bazooka that shoots Electrode at him. Red is knocked against the wall and shocked badly. Surge spouts off the required electricity-based puns as he explains that the electricity in this room will triple the powers of his Pokemon.
Red does the usual "why" and Surge waxes poetic about how he used to be a good Gym Leader who followed the rules and regulations until he decided one day that rules are DUMB and being a jerk is much better.
Red interrupts his monologue by sending Pikachu at him. Surge seems to be badly shocked at first, but then lols and reveals that he is wearing insulated clothing that blocks electric current from reaching his body. He may be a jerk but he's not stupid, after all.
We have a well-constructed split-screen that shows how much trouble Red and Green are in:
With that out of the way, Surge blasts Red again. Through the haze of pain and possible nerve damage, Red wonders how Surge can be attacking at full power from the start and not run out of power. Surge guesses exactly what he's thinking, of course, and reveals that the electricity in this room is powered by none other than Zapdos, the legendary bird of lightning! Well, Red's screwed.
Koga shows Green all this with his Golbat's Supersonic, and Green concentrates on not losing consciousness due to asphyxiation. However, since Koga needs to ask him some questions, he lets Green get some air. Koga reveals that they have Professor Oak somewhere in the building, but he won't talk or help them with their evil planz. Perhaps, though, if he sees his grandson in excruciating agony...? But all they need is his cooperation, so Green has two choices: Convince his grandpa to help Team Rocket by asking him, or by dying painfully.
Green nods to Scyther and chooses a third option: screw you, Koga, and screw your mom, too. Koga is enraged and decides that Green can just die. Golbat strikes Green with a Razor Wind from point-blank range. Green's pupils shrink in shock, and he collapses to the floor. No blood, but it's heavily implied he's internally bleeding to death. Red, meanwhile, has the problem of thousands of volts of electricity arcing through his body at once.
...
Our heroes don't seem to be doing so well.
Chapter Thirty: Vs. Zapdos (American title: Zap! Zap! Zapdos!)
Well, it seems the boys have failed and are about to die, so let's jump over to the competent one. Blue's sneaking around the Silph Complex, ohoho~ing to herself how simple life is when you come in via the back door. When she reaches her target, the third floor, however...
The door opens on a wasted landscape with a large multi-tiered Japanese-style tower in the background, populated by carrion birds cawing and screeching towards the sky. Blue gasps, and Sabrina pops up behind her. It's mindfuck time, as Sabrina explains that Blue is being forced to endure her most powerful, secret fears!
Blue is like "screw that shit," and releases Blastoise to do some damage - but Sabrina teleports to the other side of the room immediately. She introduces herself as the third member of the command triad of Team Rocket, and the master of Psychic Pokemon. Kadabra blasts Blue with a psychic assault that Blue braces against, only to find her Pokeballs have been knocked from her waist to where she can't get at them. Sabrina smirks. "You're so good at fooling silly boys~" she taunts.
Kadabra and Blastoise duke it out, and Sabrina conjectures that Blastoise must be Blue's strongest Pokemon...so if it loses, she must be done, yes? Blastoise goes down, and Blue manages to kick one of her Pokeballs into the action. It's...the real Blastoise?!? Oh boy, looks like Blue can fool more than just silly boys - the first Blastoise was her Ditto. Her Horsea, meanwhile, lays down a Smokescreen that keeps Sabrina from being able to see. Blue can see just fine, thanks to her Silph Scope. Aww yeah BD
Meanwhile, back on the first floor, Lieutenant Surge is proving his army-forged manliness by beating the shit out of an eleven-year-old kid. Red finally manages to get another team member out, Ivysaur, but Surge blasts him so hard his leaves begin falling to the ground. Red urges Saur to bust through the pain and Razor Leaf the enemy. Which...seems useless. Surge powers up to maximum strength, but turns out, the Razor Leaf has sliced the wires that connect Zapdos to the generator! Now, Red shouts, the energy Zapdos has charged will pass straight into Surge's body.
Surge scoffs and reminds him about his insulated clothing. Except...the Razor Leaf attack sliced his clothes full of holes, too?!? Oh, shit. Surge is violently electrocuted and left to twitch and drool on the floor. Yeeaaaaaah, comeuppance BD Red loots his body and finds the Thunderbadge. He also takes Surge's insulated gloves (fridge logic: insulated fingerless gloves), because hey, they could come in handy.
Somehow, though, the mood seems heavy.
He makes it back to the second floor to find Koga ordering his Golbat to finish Green off! He lets out a BIG NOOOOOO! IS THIS THE END?!?
Actually, yeah, it's the end of the chapter. >D
Next Time: The incident with the Pokeballs and the lingerie. You know the one.
