Hi humans.

If you remember my blog post from last week about my first experiences with solo queue ranked games on League of Legends, you are probably aware that I am basically getting no enjoyment out of League of Legends anymore because the games are so traumatizing. I decided that I should not be playing a game that puts me in a negative mood (particularly because games are supposed to be fun), so I got started on a playthrough that I will be streaming live on my Twitch.TV channel at http://twitch.tv/Parkzer.

As you’ve probably guessed from the title of this blog post, the game is going to be Pokémon White 2.

I’m in the generation where pretty much every single one of my peers during elementary and middle school played the Pokémon games on handheld gaming systems. When I was a kid, I played through Yellow and Gold versions. Since then, although I’ve played a little bit of Pokémon here and there, watched the cartoons, and did some competitive Pokémon battling, I’ve never actually really played a full game and completed the storyline how it was intended.

I decided that Pokémon would be a game that would bring back good memories of my young childhood, as well as be a game that can inevitably make me happy and relaxed. I got started on it a few days ago, and the first parts of the playthrough are already archived as video replays on my Twitch channel.

If you’d like to check them out, you can go to the “videos” section of my channel and search for the replays tagged as [Pokémon White 2]. I’m not going to be streaming on a regular schedule, but be sure to follow my channel to be notified whenever I go live.

As the episode opens, the heroes are approaching Lilly of the Valley Island, the site of the upcoming Sinnoh League. The island is populated with trainers and media reporters, all bustling with excitement for the upcoming tournament. In the Pokémon Center, Ash approaches the front desk and registers for the Pokémon League. He receives a key for his room in Trainer Village, and Nurse Joy wishes him luck.

Around the corner, Team Rocket plans on poaching all the powerful Pokémon in the Pokémon Center, turning them in to the boss, and becoming rich.

Meanwhile, the heroes are exploring the area; Dawn notes how different everything is from the Grand Festival when Conway suddenly appears from behind. In the room, Ash finds that Professor Oak has left him a gift. In return, Ash gives Professor Oak a call to greet him and see how all his other Pokémon are doing. Ash asks for some of his different Pokémon, and says he will send five Pokéballs first. Ash inadvertently gives his Pokéballs to Jessie of Team Rocket disguised as a Pokémon Center worker, and she ends up stealing the Pokémon with James.

Moments later, the real clerk behind the desk appears and asks how she can help Ash. Ash notices that something is wrong, and runs outside to find the people who took his Pokéballs. He finds out it’s Team Rocket as they drive off with Ash’s Pokéballs. Ash tells Pikachu to use Thunderbolt on the getaway vehicle, sending Team Rocket blasting off. Unfortunately, Ash’s Pokéballs go blasting off as well.

The heroes quickly manage to find the Pokéballs a short distance away, but all five Pokéballs are empty. After looking for a little while, the heroes manage to find Corphish walking around and Totodile playing in a fountain. In a nearby kitchen, Ash finds Snorlax eating all the food. Ash quickly tells Snorlax to return to its Pokéball. As he moved on to the next Pokéball, he noticed that it didn’t belong to the Pokémon that he asked Professor Oak to send.

Back at Professor Oak’s lab, Professor Oak notices that Heracross is still at the lab trying to drink out of Bulbasaur’s bulb. Professor Oak swears that he sent Heracross to Ash earlier, but realizes that he may have made a mistake.

Meanwhile, the heroes run through the forest looking for the remaining two Pokémon when they run into Barry. Barry says that he was recently hit in the head by a spicy Pokémon – Ash realizes that it is one of his Pokémon, Bayleef. When Bayleef sees Ash, it jumps on him, showing its affection.

Over with Team Rocket, Ash’s Cyndaquil runs into one of Team Rocket’s machines as they try to catch it. Cyndaquil manages to avoid all the traps, but is soon cornered against a building. Cyndaquli fires up its back and uses Flame Wheel to roll out of the way of all the other traps, setting a tree on fire in the process. The smoke from the fire alerts the heroes and they start running towards the smoke. They make it just in time to save Cyndaquil; Dawn tells Piplup to use Hydro Pump and Ash tells Corphish and Totodile to use Bubblebeam and Water Gun to put out the fire. After seeing all the Pokémon, Team Rocket tries to catch them all, but their plan fails when Bayleef uses Razor Leaf to cut off all the machine’s arms. Ash attempts to finish off Team Rocket by telling Pikachu to use Thunderbolt, but soon finds out that Team Rocket’s machine is electric-proof. From the inside of the machine, Meowth pushes a button and switches out its arms. Ash tries to slice off the arms again with Bayleef’s Razor Leaf, but Team Rocket uses a chainsaw to intercept the leaves. Ash sends out Snorlax to use Body Slam, which brings the machine down to the ground. To finish it off, the water Pokémon use their water attacks again while Pikachu uses Thunderbolt to take advantage of the water conductivity. Unfortunately, the machine still stands strong.

From nearby, Cyndaquil emerges and uses Flamethrower on the machine, but the machine is fire-proof as well. The machine uses Rapid Spin to send the flames falling back down to Cyndaquil. The machine then chases Cyndaquil with drills and revolving saws and goes to grab it, but right as the machine makes contact with Cyndaquil, it evolves into Quilava. Quilava runs near the machine and uses a new attack, Eruption. This sends Team Rocket blasting off again.

Back in the Pokémon Lab, Ash tells Professor Oak of the recent event, and asks for five more of his Pokémon. Ash then gets frozen by his Glalie and melted by his Torkoal, watches his Noctowl fly as he gets body slammed by his Muk, and observes his Donphan use Rollout on a pile of rocks.

As the episode comes to a close, the opening ceremony takes place as the torch gets lit for the league. In the distance, Ash sees Cynthia; in the crowd of trainers, he sees Nando, Conway, Barry, and Paul. The first round match-ups are revealed, and Ash sees that he will be battling Nando first.

As the heroes continue on their journey, they run into a wide open space perfect for training. Ash challenges Dawn to a battle, and Dawn accepts. They begin the battle with Dawn sending out her newly acquired Togekiss and Ash sending out his Gible. As the battle commences, Team Rocket is shown watching from the bushes; Jessie shows a strong desire to steal Togekiss. Gible attacks with Rock Smash, but Togekiss dances around while using Sky Attack and hits Gible multiple times. As Togekiss continues to dance around, Gible uses Dragon Pulse but misses. Dawn commands Togekiss to use Aura Sphere, but Togekiss dances around some more before releasing the attack. During the delay from the dancing, Gible is able to use Dig to get away and dodge the attack. After dancing some more, Togekiss uses Air Slash and hits Gible. Gible uses Draco Meteor, but the attack fails and starts plummeting down towards Piplup again. Togekiss manages to protect Piplup and deflect the Draco meteor back at Gible.

After the battle, the Pokémon and the trio have a conversation and begin eating. Dawn, however, is sitting in front of her food with a troubled look on her face; she says that she does not think she fully understands Togekiss because she is unsure why there is so much time between Dawn’s command and Togekiss’ attack. Ash and Brock assure her that it will get better, and to just give it some time. Meanwhile, Togekiss is flying around with Pikachu and Piplup on its back; while observing them, Brock says that Togekiss was simply brought up that way, to show off to others. Directly behind where the trio is standing, Team Rocket pops up from the exit hole of an underground tunnel they dug; unfortunately, the ground collapses and Team Rocket is unable to carry on with their plans.

Moments later, Team Rocket comes out of another underground tunnel, but this tine hit water and get blasted upwards by a geyser. After flight, Team Rocket lands directly in front of the trio, and explain their intentions to steal Togekiss. Jessie sends out Sevipr to use Poison Tail and James sends out Carnivine to use Vine Whip on Togekiss, but Togekiss is able to dodge both attacks and dance away. Jessie sends out her Yanmega to initiate a pursuit on Togekiss while Brock sends out his Sudowoodo to join the battle, telling it to use Double-Edge while Pikachu uses Thunderbolt.

Over at Togekiss, Dawn orders it to use Sky Attack, but Togekiss is too slow and misses. Yanmega strikes back with a Sonicboom and scores a hit. Then it attacks again with Silver Wind, but Togekiss dodges it while circling around the sky. After dancing some more, it unleashes an Aura Sphere, but Yanmega counters with a Steel Wing that sends Togekiss plummeting down from the sky headed straight for a rock. While falling, Togekiss manages to regain control and land gracefully on top of the rock. Dawn then realizes that Togekiss’ graceful dancing can be put to effective use during battle, and tells it to start dancing in order to avoid Yanmega’s two Sonicbooms. Jessie becomes frustrated and tells Yanmega to use Silver Wind, but Togekiss gracefully dances into it, riding it upwards and unleashing an Air Slash. Yanmega attempts to run away, but gets hit anyway with the Air Slash.

After realizing that Togekiss is far too difficult to capture and steal, Team Rocket goes on to their back-up plan and use their hot air balloon machinery to catch Pikachu and Piplup. However, Togekiss saves them by destroying the machine and allowing Pikachu and Piplup to ride on its back. Then, Togekiss uses Aura Sphere, Pikachu uses Thunderbolt, and Piplup uses Bubblebeam in coordination to send Team Rocket blasting off. As the episode closes, Dawn explains to the others that she learned how to use Togekiss’ grace to her advantage during battle.

The episode opens showing Team Rocket dressed up in a disguise running the Mime Jr. Day Care; they claim that they can make any customer’s Pokémon evolve, guaranteed. A young boy with a Magby approaches the Day Care, and Team Rocket lures him into leaving his Magby with them by showing him evolution charts. Ultimately, the boy gives Team Rocket his Magby in hopes that he will get it back as a Magmar.

Meanwhile, the young boy finds Ash, Dawn, and Brock, and asks to play with Ash’s Pikachu. When Ash asks the little boy if he has a Pokémon of his own, he says that his Magby is currently at a Day Care getting ready to evolve. The trio believes this is suspicious, and asks the young boy to take them to the Day Care center. When they arrive, they realize that the place where the Day Care used to be is no longer a Day Care, but an abandoned area.

The young boy says that he must find Bertha and inform her of what has happened. When they meet Bertha, Brock notices that Bertha is Bertha of the Elite Four. When Brock points that out privately to Bertha, she tells Brock that he is correct, but asks him not to share the information with anybody else. Bertha informs the young boy that he must correct his own mistakes, including his mistake of getting his Magby stolen. The trio offers to help the young boy, and they head off to the Observatory.

They end up encountering Team Rocket, but lose them after they are exposed to a pink gas. Team Rocket runs away, but the group chases them. The pursuit leads them to a field of windmills where Bertha informs them that the skill of observation is vital to success. They then notice that one of the windmills is not turning. When they approach the suspicious windmill, they realize that Team Rocket is hiding behind it. Surprised that they were found, Team Rocket releases the windmill and reveals their hot air balloon, in which they begin to fly off. Ash sends out his Staraptor to attack the hot air balloon using Aerial Ace, but some machinery built into the hot air balloon successfully helps Team Rocket fend off Staraptor and get away. Seeing how far away Team Rocket has gotten, Bertha offers to help out by giving them a ride in her car.

When they get close to Team Rocket, Bertha sends out her Gliscor to attack the hot air balloon using Guillotine. Gliscor succeeds in damaging the balloon, and Team Rocket falls to the ground. Furious of their descent, Jessie and James send out their Sevipr and Carnivine for battle. Ash sends out his Buizel and Dawn sends out her Pachirisu. Sevipr begins the battle with Bite, but Buizel counters with Sonic Boom. Carnivine uses Bullet Seed, but Pachirisu counters with Spark. Buizel then uses Sonic Boom again, creating an explosion and causing the Pokéball with Magby to return to the young boy. The young boy then joins the battle with his Magby and instructs it to use Flamethrower. Team Rocket notices that their Pokémon are losing, so they release their power-up pods, which are custom-built for Sevipr and Carnivine to make them stronger. With a single Power Vine Whip from Carnivine and a single Power Poison Tail from Sevipr, Ash’s Buizel and Dawn’s Pachirisu get knocked out.

Clearly dissatisfied with the fact that Team Rocket is using machinery to enhance the performance of their Pokémon, Bertha steps forward. She sends out her Golem to use Rock Blast, which easily destroys all of Team Rocket’s machine enhancements. Then Magby comes in to use Fire Punch, sending Team Rocket blasting off. After Team Rocket is defeated, Brock accidentally reveals that Bertha is a member of the Elite Four. Ash eagerly challenges her to a Pokémon battle, and Bertha accepts.

Bertha begins the battle by sending out her Hippowdon, and Ash sends out his Torterra. Torterra attacks with Leaf Storm. Hippowdon uses Dig to go underground, and after a short while, pops up under Torterra while using Iron Head. Torterra prepares to use Rock Climb and charges toward Hippowdon, but Hippowdon intercepts the attack and counters with Iron Head. After Torterra has taken a lot of damage, Bertha reminds Ash to use his observation skills to his advantage. Hippowdon goes underground again to use Dig, but Ash is prepared this time. He closely watches the ground for movement; he notices that some rocks are moving, and tells Torterra to avoid that area. Hippowdon appears in the area that Ash predicted while using Iron Head, but Torterra manages to evade the attack. While Hippowdon is at the surface, Torterra uses Leaf Storm and scores a hit. Once again, Hippowdon uses Dig to go underground. However, this time, Ash is unable to predict where Hippowdon is going to surface because instead of just a small portion like the previous time, the entire ground is shaking. Torterra gets attacked directly by Hippowdon’s Iron Head, then is knocked out by Hippowdon’s finishing move, Fire Fang.

As the battle ends and the episode closes, Bertha and the trio are back inside her car and are heading off towards the sunset.

As the episode begins, Dawn is training with Piplup and tells it to use Whirlpool. Dawn cheers Piplup on, complimenting its moves. Next to her, Ash is talking with Gible and training as well. Nearby, Brock is preparing food when he sees an unconscious young woman in a boat headed towards a waterfall. Brock jumps in and tries to stop the boat, but the current is too powerful. Fortunately, he finds a rope and throws it to his powerful Happiny who pulls them back to shore.

After Ash and Dawn see what happened and surround the boat, the woman in the boat wakes up and searches for a basket. She asks why Brock is wet, and Ash and Dawn explain what happened. The woman jumps out of the boat and introduces herself as Marley. She says she was hiding from a group of very bad people and asks Brock to protect her and take her to the other side of the mountain. Brock says that they were going to go to the other side of the mountain anyway, so he accepts her offer and agrees to walk with her.

After they set off on their way, Marley explains that she is headed towards a secret garden. When Ash asks why Marley is being chased, she claims she is an alien, but then later declares that she is kidding. Dawn then notices that Piplup is hungry, and Brock takes a break from walking to feed the Pokémon. Marley becomes impatient and goes off for a walk into the woods to open up her basket. From inside, she pulls out her Pokémon Shaymin and offers to feed it, but Shaymin refuses to eat. Shortly afterwards, the trio find Marley and Shaymin, and Brock begins to tend toward Shaymin. Brock finds out that Shaymin has some poison in its system, and Marley remembers that it recently absorbed a Sevipr’s Haze. Brock pulls out a Pecha berry and feeds Shaymin to cure it of its poison. Shaymin coughs out some toxins, then eats another berry to regain its energy.

A short distance away, Team Rocket observes Marley and the trio, and says that they deserve the Shaymin after all the time they’ve spent trying to get it. A flashback occurs and Team Rocket is shown trying to capture the Shaymin because it’s rare. Unfortunately for them, Marley picks up and saves Shaymin, sending out her Arcanine to use Flamethrower on Team Rocket, making them blast off into the distance. After a short while, another different flashback occurs showing Marley trying to send Shaymin off on its way. However, Shaymin returns to Marley during the night and crawls into her sleeping bag with her. Finally, another flashback from the next morning is shown of Team Rocket’s Sevipr using Haze. Shaymin ends up absorbing all the Haze while it uses Seed Flare. From the impact of Seed Flare, Team Rocket is thrown off their feet, and Marley gets an opportunity to escape.

After all the flashbacks end, Marley and the trio continue on through the mountain to reach the Gracedia Flower Garden. In a tunnel, Pikachu and Piplup encounter a Shroomish that uses Poison Powder. Shaymin uses its Seed Flare to purify the air, then uses Aromatherapy on Pikachu and Piplup to cure them of their poison. Not long after, they reach the end of the tunnel, but realize that the flower garden is no longer blooming. Ash insists on searching for flowers anyway, and the team splits up to start searching.

After a long period of searching, Brock finally finds some Gracedia flowers on top of a rock. However, Team Rocket appears in a giant Caterpie machine and attempts to capture Shaymin with a giant String Shot. Ash and Dawn act quickly and tell their Pokémon to attack the String Shot and destroy it. Ash then sends out Torterra to use Energy Ball. The impact sends the Caterpie machine falling to the floor, but the Caterpie machine the begins crawling toward the team. Dawn then sends out Buneary and tells it to use Ice Beam directly under the crawling machine, making it slip. Torterra then uses Rock Climb to send the Caterpie flying up elevated, onto a plateau of ice, then Piplup attacks the machine using Whirlpool.

Ash and Dawn think they have defeated the machine, but Team Rocket changes the machine and makes it transform into its Butterfree form. Meowth then pushes a button in the machine, and the Butterfree uses a destructive Solarbeam attack. From the explosion, Marley loses Shaymin, but soon finds it climbing the rock for the Gracedia flower. Meanwhile, Ash and Dawn are still fighting Team Rocket.

Shaymin finally reaches the flowers and begins changing glowing. It changes into its Sky Forme and starts flying toward Team Rocket’s machine and attacks it just in time to cancel out its Solarbeam attack. Shaymin begins flying around the machine and confusing Team Rocket, then uses Air Slash to slice the machine in half.

After the battle, Shaymin falls to the ice and begins shivering. From its weakness, it returns to its Land Forme, and is now unable to change into the Air Forme again because during the battle, Team Rocket blew away the remaining Gracedia flowers. However, two other Shaymin appear from the trees and another Gracedia flower blooms, giving them enough power to transform into their Air Formes. Shaymin and Marley say their goodbyes, and Shaymin flies off with its friends.

As the episode opens, the trio head toward a seashore sunseet and spot someone that they had a meeting with – Dawn’s mother, Johanna. As the sun sets, the trio and Johanna discuss how Johanna teaches classes for beginning trainers. After giving Dawn a schedule outlining her class for the following morning, Johanna heads out to take a phone call. She returns dissatisfied because Nurse Joy is unable to be a judge for the contest the following day, and Johanna was asked to fill her spot, which conflicts with her scheduled class. The trio offer to teach Johanna’s class for her, and she agrees.

The next morning, the trio show the students their Pokémon and explain their acccomplishments. There is one boy, however, that acts as a rebel and starts abusing Dawn’s Piplup. The trio send out all their Pokémon and the students are intrigued. However, the rebellious boy, who we learn is named Tomas, refuses to show interest. While Brock is explaining how to feed Pokémon with the proper food and Ash is telling stories of his adventures, Tomas notices Piplup lying a rock and draws on it with a permanent marker. Piplup is enraged and starts chasing Tomas around. When the students are gathered around the trio, Ash explains how to use a Pokéball and initiates a practice session. Tomas, instead of aiming for the rock, aims for Piplup and hits it in the face. While eating, Dawn is worried about Tomas as she prepares for her lesson on coordination.

In the Pokémon Contest, Jessie from Team Rocket is up and uses out her Sevipr. After her first round, she finds out that she made it into the finals.

Dawn begins her lesson on coordination, but Tomas continues to rebel and says that Dawn is not beling clear with what she is saying. Dawn chooses to demonstrate instead and sends of Mamoswine and Cyndaquil. She tells Cyndaquil to use Flame Wheel and Mamoswine to use Ice Shard as a demonstration move, Flame Ice. Dawn then calls back Cyndaquil and sends out Pachirisu, claiming that it’ll be the same move, but with electricity instead of fire, making it Ice Chandelier. Mamoswine uses Ice Shard and shatters it, making the ice surround Pachirisu. Then Pachirisu uses Discharge, but the move fails and Tomas complains that it’s not a finished move. After the failure, Dawn thinks about the move and Tomas’ complaint, and modifies Ice Chandelier to try and make it work better.

In the second attempt, Mamoswine uses Ice Shard and shatters it again. As the ice surrounds Pachirisu, it begins to spin around in circles, but spins too quickly and becomes dizzy, exploding prematurely and causing dirt to fly everywhere. Tomas complains again, and Dawn has another idea. Meanwhile, at the Pokémon Contest, Jessie is crowned as the winner and achieves her fourth ribbon.

Back with Dawn, she chooses to use Buneary instead of Mamoswine, and tells Buneary to use Ice Beam while spinning around until a ball forms around Pachirisu. With Ice Beam, Pachirisu has more space to run around, and is able to move around inside the ice without making itself dizzy. At high speeds, the ball of ice glows with electricity. At the happiness of success, Tomas and Piplup become friends. Brock explains that Tomas had liked Piplup all along, but from his frustration, he didn’t know how to show his affection, so instead chose to tease it. Afterward, Tomas apologizes to Piplup.

Back at the seashore, the trio talk to Johanna and explain the day’s event. Johanna gives Dawn a new dress for the Grand Festival, and wishes Ash luck in his eighth gym battle.

At the beginning of the episode, a quick recap of the events from the previous episode is shown, depicting Ash and Volkner agreeing to have a Pokémon gym battle for Ash’s eighth final badge.

The match begins as the electronic official describes the rules of the battle: three on three with only the challenger permitted to use substitutions. Volkner begins by sending out his Luxray, and Ash starts the match with Grotle. Grotle begins by using Razor Leaf, but Luxray dodges the attack and uses Spark, scoring a direct hit on Grotle. However, Grotle is able to take the hit, recover, and prepare for its next move. Suddenly, all the lights turn off and everything shuts down, leaving Ash and Volkner in the dark.

Volkner tells Ash that they have to put their battle on hold, and walks over to the power control box where he finds that all the switches are still in the On position. Wondering what’s going on, they leave the gym by manually forcing the automatic door open, and run into Offier Jenny. Jenny brings them the bad news that the entire city is out of power. Volkner wonders how that can be, because the solar panels absorb the sunlight and convert it into electricity by sending it to the Tower. Then he sees the problem – there is something wrong with the Tower.

After rushing over to the Tower, they see that Team Rocket is involved with the malfunctioning of the Tower. Team Rocket reveals that they were the ones that cut off the power to the entire city, and explains that they are going to steal the Tower. They keep their word and carry the Tower away in a machine. Volkner, Flint, and the trio rush after the machine to get the Tower back.

Meanwhile, Team Rocket is in the Tower driving it around the city with their machine, imagining how their boss is going to reward them for bringing them the Tower. Finally, Team Rocket reaches their destination – a rocket set up near the ocean so they can blast off with the Tower. After a ten-count, the rocket blasts off, but Flint, Volkner, and Ash get an opportunity to grab on to the side of the tower, get a secure grip, and blast off with it. A short distance away, Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy see the rocket blasting off in the distance.

Back at the rocket, the three make sure the others are okay. Suddenly, Flint loses his grip and falls off the rocket, plummeting down toward the ocean. While Ash watches and tries to save Flint, he loses his own grip, but is caught by Volkner. Ash makes it back onto the rocket and learns from Volkner that the surface entrance of the Tower is nearby. Back on the ground, Flint surfaces from the ocean and is greeted by Brock and Dawn.

Ash and Volkner make it inside the Tower with their Pikachu and Raichu, and notice that the Tower has leveled off and is now flying horizontally. Brock, Dawn, and Flint join Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy in the Pokémon Center where they are having problems with their back-up electrical system. Officer Jenny hooks up an emergency electricity generator connected to two bikes; Flint and Brock hop on the bikes and start pedaling to generate electricity to help the Pokémon currently in the Pokémon Center.

In the Tower, Volkner and Ash talk about their interrupted gym battle and how Volkner ended up building all the solar panels to run Sunnyshore City. In the Pokémon Center, Brock begins to tire, but his infaturation of Nurse Joy gives him enough energy to pedal hard and bring the generator attached to his bicycle up to the limit. In the Tower, Volkner and Ash find the observatory, but Team Rocket predicted their arrival and set up a trap, putting Volkner and Ash into a cage. Ash tells Pikachu to use Thunderbolt and Volkner tells Raichu to use Thunder, but their electricity is simply rerouted through the cage into an electricity recycling system, and does no damage to the cage. Ash thinks up of a new strategy and calls out Gible to use Rock Smash. With one hit, Gible breaks through the cage and frees Ash and Volkner. Then, Gible breaks through the door and starts eating Team Rocket’s equipment.

Team Rocket reveal themselves and begin for battle, sending out their Pokémon. Ash and Volkner act quick and tell their Pokémon to use Thunderbolt and Thunder, but the recycling orb attracts the electricity and makes the attacks useless. Jessie tells Sevipr to use Poison Tail and James tells Carnivine to use Vine Whip; both attacks hit Pikachu and Raichu directly. Sevipr and Carnivine then approach to use Bite, but Ash sends out Grotle to block their attacks. Ash then tells Grotle to use Razor Leaf, but instead, Grotle starts glowing and evolves into Torterra first, then releases a vicious Leaf Storm. After Team Rocket complains for a little while, Ash tells his Torterra to use Leaf Storm again, which is powerful to send Team Rocket blasting through the side of the Tower. After the battle, Volkner quickly rushes up to the control panel and uses an emergency switch to repair the hole in the wall. He then starts thinking about how he can bring the Tower back down to the ground.

Back in the Pokémon Center, Brock starts losing energy again, and his bicycle isn’t giving enough electricity. Dawn begs Brock to keep going, but it isn’t enough; Nurse Joy enters and asks Brock to do it for her, and Brock gains another explosion of energy. Suddenly, they see the Tower attached to the rocket headed down for Earth again, and moments later, the lights come back on after the generator gets fixed. In the Tower, Pikachu, Raichu, and Luxray are using their electric attacks to power the Tower and bring it safely back down to the ground. Volkner assures Ash that he’s the one that built the tower, and confidently zeros in on the landing spot, placing it back down in its original position.

After everything is settled, Volkner asks Ash for some time as he repairs the Tower, but assures Ash that he will contact him as soon as he’s ready for his battle. They depart for now.

When the episode begins, the trio, Pikachu, and Piplup are sitting on top of a large hill during the night, watching a meteor shower. Suddenly, one of the meteors glistens in the sky and hurtles straight for the trainers. Bravely, Piplup stands in the way and uses Whirlpool on the incoming meteor. The scene suddenly changes to the Grand Festival, where Piplup’s Whirlpool collides with a Meteor Shower and sends sparkles all over the arena, securing Dawn’s Grand Festival victory. While Dawn is celebrating her victory, Ash’s Gible appears and uses its signature Meteor Shower, which hits Piplup and sends it flying backward. Piplup then awakes from its dream, sighs in relief, and goes back to sleep.

In the next scene, the trio are taking a break, and Ash chooses to train Gible. Ash tells Gible to use Draco Meteor, and all of them continue to fail, ending up hitting Piplup instead. Piplup gets attacked while smelling flowers and observing a stream, then gets pounded over and over again. When Piplup approaches Gible to complain, Gible bites down on Piplup’s head. In fury, Piplup uses Bubblebeam and Whirlpool over and over again, hurting Gible. After Dawn and Ash find out what is happening, Piplup starts crying and running toward Dawn, beginning to daydream about how Dawn and Ash will punish Gible. After Piplup regains awareness of its surroundings, it notices that it is hugging Pikachu instead of Dawn. Piplup looks around again, and sees that the trio is comforting Gible instead of itself. Angry and depressed, Piplup slowly walks away. A distance away, Team Rocket is observing Piplup.

After finishing Gible’s encouragement, the trio gets ready to leave, but notices that Piplup is gone. Piplup has by now made it into the forest, where it continues to daydream about Dawn appearing and apologizing, assuring Piplup that she will punish Gible. When Piplup hears rustling in the bushes, it jumps toward the noise to hug Dawn, but realizes that the rustling was a Rhyperior, not Dawn. Rhyperior uses Hyper Beam on Piplup, and Piplup runs away. Shortly afterward, Piplup is found by a disguised Team Rocket. Team Rocket takes Piplup away to a clearing where it demonstrates that they help Pokémon in distress, properly bringing justice to both the Pokémon and trainer. After Piplup becomes emotional, Team Rocket sees that they hit the spot and agrees to help Piplup.

Meanwhile, Ash and his Staraptor are searching for Piplup. Ash asks Gible to help too, but all Gible manages to do is bite the tail of a hiding Rhyperior and make it angry at them. Rhyperior sends blasts at the trio, and the trio take cover. They conclude that they have to find Piplup quickly, and start heading on their way.

Back with Team Rocket, Piplup says that it was planning to walk back to Professor Rowan’s lab. Piplup started explaining the situation to Team Rocket, and emphasized how much it was neglected by its trainers. Team Rocket feels sorry for Piplup and says that they will adopt it into its family.

Back with the trio, Ash recalls Staraptor after it fails to find any trace of Piplup again. Ash then realizes that Piplup most likely became angry when the Draco Meteor kept hitting it from the sky. Suddenly, Team Rocket appears from behind them, introducing them as a Pokémon Rescue Squad. They claim that they recently encountered a Pokémon that was betrayed by its trainer and its friends. Team Rocket begins scolding Ash and Dawn, explains Piplup’s intentions, and encourages them to participate in a Pokémon educational sensitivity class. They then demand that Ash and Dawn give them their Pokéballs so they would be cared for during the training session. As Ash and Dawn prepare to hand over their Pokémon, they get interrupted by the Rhyperior, and get separated from Team Rocket. The trio then notice that Pikachu is missing, while Team Rocket sends Piplup to fetch Pikachu for them.

Piplup finds Pikachu in the woods and brings it into a tent, which ends up being a cage. Team Rocket then laughs menacingly while they watch Pikachu using Thunderbolt to try and escape from the cage. Back with the trio, Gible randomly uses Draco Meteor, and Brock realizes that the Draco Meteor has most likely found where Piplup was. The trio go to the spot where the Draco Meteor landed, and they end up finding Piplup, along with Pikachu and Team Rocket. Dawn accuses the Pokémon Rescue Squad of wrongdoing, and Team Rocket reveal their true identities. Then, out of nowhere, Rhyperior attacks them and allows Piplup and Pikachu to reunite with their owners. Piplup’s daydreams come true when Dawn and Ash apologize to Piplup.

Team Rocket sends out Sevipr and Carnivine to attack the trio, and Ash counters with Grotle while Dawn counters with Piplup. Jessie begins the battle by telling Sevipr to use Haze, but Ash tells Grotle to quickly use Energy Ball, which travels through the Haze and hits Sevipr. Carnivine uses Bullet Seed, while Piplup attacks back with Bubblebeam. Then, Carnivine uses Vine Whip and hits Piplup directly. Suddenly, Piplup begins bubbling with power, and uses a new move, Hydro Pump. The attack scores a direct hit on Team Rocket, sending them blasting off again.

Rhyperior then approaches the trio, but a trainer comes out from the woods and finds Rhyperior, apologizing to it and telling it that he was wrong. The trio realizes that the Rhyperior had run away from home as well, and Dawn promises with Piplup that they will always be together.

As the episode opens, a massive group of people is crowded around two trainers having a Pokémon battle, one of the trainers being Barry. Barry commands his Empoleon to use Hydro Cannon, and his opponent tells his Mothim to use Signal Beam. Empoleon blocks it with its wings then uses Metal Claw. Mothim uses Silver Wind, but misses Empoleon and suffers a direct hit to lose. Barry and Empoleon win and receive applause; Barry then notices that Ash was watching him battle as well.

After the battle, the trio and Barry sit near a tree and discuss their past adventures. Barry laughs when he finds out that Ash still hasn’t earned his eighth badge, and Barry shows all of his badges to the trio. Barry declares that he is ready for the Sinnoh League, and learns that Paul is also qualified for the Sinnoh League. Barry says that the Sunnyshore Gym is the best, and the Beacon Badge is waiting for Ash.

In a nearby cabin, Team Rocket is discussing their past failures and future plans. James claims that he has discovered what is causing so much failure in their plans, and explains his new plan of trapping the trainers in addition to their Pokémon.

Back outside, Barry and the trio head to the Pokémon Center to get something to eat. After entering, Brock becomes infatuated with Nurse Joy while Dawn notices Paul at a nearby table. Barry approaches Paul and discusses his plans of competing in the League, then challenges Paul to a Pokémon battle that Paul rejects. Paul suggests that Barry battle Ash instead. After Ash says that he is going to go to Sunnyshore Gym, Paul suddenly says that the gym is the worst gym he’s seen, then leaves the Center. Ash then recalls the full battle he had with Paul, and tells Barry of his experiences. Barry then challenges Ash, but a Pokémon Contest Grand Festival announcement comes on and says that Lake Valor is the official site of the upcoming Grand Festival.

Once they’re outside, Barry says the battle he challenges Ash to will be a three-round three-Pokémon battle. Barry sends out Empoleon and Ash sends out Monferno. Empoleon starts with Hydro Cannon, but Monferno dodges it and uses Mach Punch for a direct hit. Empoleon uses Drill Peck, but Monferno evades the attack with Dig. Monferno then pops out of the ground and strikes Empoleon. Monferno goes head-on against Empoleon again, but Empoleon uses Hydro Cannon for a direct hit and sends Monferno flying.

As Ash runs to find Monferno, an electricity-proof orb captures him. After Ash is captured, all his friends are captured in their own individual orbs again. Piplup tries to free Dawn, but nothing happens. Team Rocket then make an appearance, but Pikachu, Piplup, and Empoleon send attacks toward the balloon. Suddenly, the balloon transforms and captures all three Pokémon, throwing them into a cage attached to the machine. Brock sends out Happiny from inside his orb and tells Happiny to break the orb, but instead, Happiny just sends the orb spinning around. Suddenly, a spinning blaze of fire appears from the forest and strikes Ash’s orb. After the fire subsides, it’s clear that the fireball was Monferno. Its special ability, Blaze, was activated because it took a lot of damage from Hydro Cannon. Monferno starts raging and gets caught by the machinery, but is able to power out because of its special ability. Monferno then uses Flame Wheel and Mach Punch to break the machine, and the machine begins to fall, putting Pikachu, Piplup, and Empoleon in danger.

Suddenly, Paul, who had been standing by and watching, sends out his Electabuzz and tells it to use Protect. Monferno is still enraged and starts destroying the machine, but Ash grabs it head-on and holds on, being engulfed in massive fire. A short distance away, Electabuzz’s Protect starts fading and the machine collapses, but Monferno is able to bolt out and grab the falling machine. It then evolves into Infernape during the save, and safely brings everyone out of the machine and back onto the ground.

After everyone is saved, Paul says that Monferno was able to put Blaze’s power under control and use it to evolve into its final evolutionary form. At the end of the episode, Ash thanks Paul for his save, and Paul says that he will battle Ash and Infernape at the Sinnoh League.

At the beginning of the episode, the trio is walking through the forest toward Daybreak Town, continuing their adventure. A short distance away, Team Rocket has a new machine that they’re testing out. As Team Rocket is chatting, the Gible from the previous episode appears in front of the machine and refuses to move out of Team Rocket’s way. After Team Rocket waits for an extended period of time, Gible jumps on the machine and starts eating it down. Eventually, so much of the machine is eaten that the rest of it explodes and Team Rocket blasts off into the distance.

Ash, Dawn, and Brock finally approach a town, and Brock pulls out his PokéGear to find out where the closest Pokémon Center is. Meanwhile, Gible pops up from the ground and pokes Ash’s leg. After this event repeats itself several times without Ash knowing who is poking him, Gible jumps up from the ground and bits Ash’s cap. After pulling Gible off, Ash asks Gible if he would like to come along. Gible agrees, and Ash throws a Pokéball at Gible, only to find out that Gible has changed its mind and eats the Pokéball. Ash asks again, and Gible changes its mind again. Then, Officer Jenny appears and questions Ash about his Gible. Gible bites Officer Jenny’s hat and runs off, while Jenny escorts Ash and the rest of the trio to a location where Gible has apparently caused trouble.

Nearby, Jenny shows the trio a park where everything has been eaten, including the fountains and benches. Gible appears again, and tries to eat some more. Ash pulls Gible off and prevents it from eating another bench, and Gible runs away again. Suddenly, Barry shows up from a path and collides into Ash. They argue and Barry challenges Ash to a Pokémon battle. However, Brock breaks them up. After the argument ends, Barry notices that Gible has eaten his bicycle.

From the bushes, Team Rocket is watching and says that Gible could help their boss at the Team Rocket Headquarters when Giovanni has too much metallic garbage. Shortly after, Barry tries to catch Gible and sends out his Empoleon to weaken it. He starts off by commanding Empoleon to use Drill Peck. Gible manages to dodge a few attacks, but a consecutive string of Steel Wing and Hydro Cannon sends Gible flying off into the distance. The trio chase after Gible toward the distance of its cry to see if it is all right, while Barry notices that he forgot to throw a Pokéball.

Ash ends up finding Gible stuck in a brach half-way down a cliff, and Ash offers to help save Gible. Ash slowly climbs down the wall of the cliff, but loses his footing and starts falling. Gible acts quickly and is able to bite Ash’s clothing in order to save him from falling all the way down. Ash climbs up a small platform to safety and pulls Gible out from the branch in which it is stuck in. Ash then holds on to Gible while Gible uses Rock Climb to safely bring them back up to the top of the cliff. Just as they arrive at the top, Team Rocket’s new machine grabs Gible. Gible attempts to eat itself out of the machine, but the material of the machine is too powerful. The machine releases a smokescreen and runs away, but Ash chases it, only to find himself and Pikachu also captured by the other arm of the machine. Ash remembers that Gible is a ground-type Pokémon, and tells Pikachu to use Thunderbolt to shock the machine and destroy it. After being released, Pikachu uses Iron Tail on Gible’s trap to free it as well. The machine falls apart from the shock and impact, and Team Rocket blasts off. After Gible is saved, it makes the final decision to come along with Ash, and Ash successfully catches it in a Pokéball.

Barry shows up shortly after and says that he wanted to catch the Gible, but instead challenges Ash against a battle with his Empoleon against Ash’s new Gible; Ash accepts the challenge. Empoleon starts the battle with Drill Peck. Gible counters the attack with Rock Smash and creates an impact in the center of the arena. This continues on for a few more turns until Barry tells Empoleon to switch its attack to Steel Wing, scoring a direct hit on Gible. Empoleon uses Steel Wing again, but Gible manages to Dig out of the way, then use Rock Smash from behind. Empoleon counters the attack with Steel Wing, then uses Hydro Cannon. Just in time, Gible uses Dig and avoids the attack. Barry then tells Empoleon to use Hydro Cannon again into the hole that Gible created, and that successfully brings Gible back to the surface. Then, without Ash’s command, Gible tries to use Draco Meteor. The attack is unsuccessful and only creates one firework, which Empoleon successfully strikes back with Steel Wing and hits Piplup. Empoleon prepares for Hyper Beam, but Gible uses Dragon Pulse to distract it. Empoleon then uses Hyper Beam and hits Gible directly for the victory.

After the match is over and the episode comes to a close, Ash tells Gible to listen to him in the future, and to not use moves unless Ash tells it to. Barry says that he will be the best trainer in the world.