Episode 20: The Maze the Thing

It looks like our heroes are taking a well-deserved break from training in order to relax in a vibrant grotto.

Ash, Brock, and Brenda are relaxing, watching their Pokémon play. All of their Pokémon are out of their Pokéballs, and running around the in the grotto. Apprentichick and Meteorfight seem to be sparring, Blissey is chasing Glitterfly, Turcell is basking in the sunlight, absorbing solar energy, and Pikachu and Kappaqua are splashing around in a nearby river. Near the banks of the river, Rabbolt is examining some flowers.

Brenda stretches and proclaims, "We've been walking for so long, it's nice to take a short break."

Ash agrees, "Yeah, and the Pokémon look like they're enjoying it too. We found a nice spot."

Brock is reading something on the Pokéssistant. He says, "According to this, we're right on the outskirts of the Forest of Minos. Supposedly the trees grow so densely that the forest itself is like a maze. There are lots reports of people getting lost in there."

Brenda asks, "We don't have to travel through it, do we?"

Brock shakes his head. "Luckily, all we have to do is follow a path that leads around it. That shouldn't be too hard."

Pikachu and Kappaqua continue to splash at each other, having an all-out splash fight. Kappaqua sends a wave of water at Pikachu, hitting it. Pikachu laughs, and then retaliates by sending a large splash back. Kappaqua manages to dodge, however the splash keeps on travelling, hitting Rabbolt.

Rabbolt turns around and angrily shouts at Pikachu, "Rab rab rabolt!"

Pikachu shakes its head quickly and responds, "Pika pik chu!" as if to say it was an accident.

Rabbolt doesn't seem to care. It launches an electric attack at the water. "Rabbbbolt!" Kappaqua manages to leap out of the water, but Pikachu remains in and gets a major zap. Rabbolt laughs and makes a face at Pikachu.

Now past talking it out, Pikachu angrily returns the attack with a Thunderbolt. "Pikkkkkkka chuuuuuu!" The attacks hits. Pikachu leaps out of the water, and the two prepare to fight.

Just as they're both about to attack, Ash and Brenda come in and pick up their respective Pokémon, stopping the fight. Brenda scolds, "Rabbolt, why would you do that?"

Ash also scolds, "Come on Pikachu, what got into you?"

Both electric Pokémon point accusingly at the other. Each trainer takes their Pokémon and sets them down away from each other. When they walk back over to their original spot, Ash says, "I don't get it, Pikachu normally gets along so well with any Pokémon, I've never seen him behave so poorly."

Brenda shrugs, "I guess that Rabbolt's good at invoking a reaction."

Brock comments, "I think those two need a way to get rid of the animosity between then." He thinks for a moment. "Hey, I've got an idea! Why don't you two have a battle? Maybe we can channel that animosity into a constructive rivalry."

Ash and Brenda look at each other. Ash says, "Alright, that sounds like a good idea."

Brenda agrees, "I'm up for it."

Ash and Brenda are now positioned on opposing sides of a field. In front of each of them is Pikachu and Rabbolt. Ash commands, "Pikachu, get in close and use Iron Tail!"

Pikachu runs at Rabbolt. "Chuuu pika!" Pikachu lands the hit, knocking Rabbolt back.

Brenda declares, "Quickly, close range Hidden Power!" Rabbolt launches several green orbs of energy at Pikachu, each one hitting. Both Pokémon then jump backwards. "Now use Shockwave!"

Ash shouts, "Block it with Thunderbolt!" The two electric attacks collide midfield, and block each other.

Brenda commands, "Bounce now!" Rabbolt leaps into the air and starts to fall towards Pikachu.

Ash counters, "Quick Attack, straight up!" With a burst of speed, Pikachu leaps up towards Rabbolt. The two Pokémon collide, and knock each other to the ground. Both instantly get back up, ready to fight more.

Ash is just about to call his next move, when Jessie suddenly declares, "Prepare for trouble!"

James is now heard, "And make it double!" From the sky descends Team Rocket's balloon.

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all people within our nation!"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

Meowth pops in. "Meowth, that's right!"

"Wobbuffet!"

"Mime mime!"

Ash, apparently annoyed, asks, "What is it this time?"

James responds, "How dare you show annoyance towards us!?"

Jessie says, "Yeah, Team Rocket is the spice of your life!"

Meowth nods. "If it weren't for us, this show would be a whole lot worse!"

Brenda says, "I don't know, I think I could go without you three clowns trying to steal my Pokémon."

Meowth replies, "Well these three clowns are about to succeed in stealing your Pokémon!" He presses a button on a remote. "Activating the Pokélectro-magnet!" A slot on the bottom of the balloon's basket opens up, and a cartoonishly large magnet lowers out from it. Meowth explains, "This device takes advantage of the electric waves produced by Electric-Type Pokémon, and can pull them in just like metal!" He presses another button, and the magnet turns on. A wave of electricity comes out of it and hits Pikachu and Rabbolt. The two Pokémon are pulled towards it.

Pikachu cries, "Pika!"

Rabbolt also cries, "Rabb!"

Ash shouts, "Pikachu!"

At the same time, Brenda shouts, "Rabbolt!"

The Pokémon fly towards the magnet, and stick to it. Jessie gloats, "Ha ha, we got a Pikachu!"

James adds, "Not to mention a nice Rabbolt as a bonus!"

Pikachu and Rabbolt struggle to break free, but the magnet is too strong. Brock says, "Hey, maybe Pikachu and Rabbolt can overload the magnet if they use their electric attacks together!"

Ash and Brenda nod. Ash shouts, "Pikachu, give it as strong of a Thunderbolt as you can!"

Brenda then adds, "And Rabbolt, use your most powerful Shockwave!"

The two Pokémon begin their attacks. Jessie laughs, "Ha, you think we weren't prepared for that!? We have built in safeties!"

Meowth looks nervous. He pulls Jessie down and whispers something in her ear. Jessie freezes in fear. "What do you mean we have no safeties?" The magnet begins to smoke.

Meowth laughs awkwardly. "Yeah, you see…you only left me so much of a budget, so I had to cut out the safeties and hope the twerps wouldn't think of this…"

James shouts, "Meowth you fool! How could you!?"

The magnet blows up. The resulting explosion sends Pikachu, Rabbolt, and Team Rocket flying away. They all land in a nearby forest.

Brock says, "Not good, that's the Forest of Minos!"

Ash shouts, "Pikachu!" and runs after them, right into the forest. Brenda and Brock follow behind.

Pikachu and Rabbolt fall through a thick canopy of leaves and branches. They plummet through them until the hit the ground. All around them is a thick wall of trees, except for a path going forward, and another going back. The thick canopy blocks most of the sunlight. Pikachu gets up and looks around. He calls, "Pika!" There's no response.

Rabbolt gets up and surveys its surroundings as well. It looks at Pikachu and angrily scolds, "Rab rab bolt!" as if to blame them getting lost on Pikachu.

Pikachu responds, "Chu pika chu."

Rabbolt shakes its head and points at Pikachu. "Rab!"

Pikachu sighs, and apparently gives up the argument. It looks around again. It points forward and says, "Chu, pika," telling Rabbolt to move in that direction. Pikachu begins to walk in that direction.

Rabbolt simply makes a face at Pikachu, turns around, and walks in the other direction.

As soon as the Pokémon have walked several feet away from each other, a bolt of electricity appears between them, and then pulls them back together. Apparently there is still some sort of residual effect from Team Rocket's magnet.

Rabbolt shouts accusingly, "Rab rabbolt rab!"

Pikachu shakes its head and asserts its innocence. "Pikachu pik!"

Rabbolt tries to walk away again, but is quickly pulled back towards Pikachu. Rabbolt, beginning to understand what's happening, points in its chosen direction and asserts, "Bolt."

Pikachu sighs, "Pika…" and follows Rabbolt in its chosen direction.

Who's that Pokémon!?

This Pokémon's cries sound like incantations. Those hearing it are tormented by headaches and hallucinations.

Ash runs by a giant tree, Brenda and Brock aren't far behind. They are in a similar setting to Pikachu and Rabbolt. Brock shouts, "Ash, you have to slow down! We need to make a plan!"

Brenda adds, "Yeah, we're going to get lost!"

Ash shouts back, "I need to find Pikachu!"

Brock catches up to Ash, puts a hand on his shoulder, and stops him. Ash turns around and Brock says, "Ash, we'll find Pikachu, but this isn't the way."

Ash sighs, "Are you sure?"

Brock nods. "Certain."

Brenda approaches, "Don't forget, Rabbolt's out there too. You're not the only one who lost a Pokémon."

Ash asks, "What should we do?"

Brock looks around. He points off to the right. "I believe that that's the way the Pokémon flew." He then points to a path just to the left of that. "The trees are too thick for us to go just that way, so that path seems to lead us in the closest direction."

Ash looks and realizes that he was running in the complete opposite direction. He nods. "Alright, let's go." They head off on Brock's path.

It's Mismagius!

Team Rocket is drudging through the forest as well. Jessie, who looks completely exhausted, complains, "How much further do we have to walk until we get out of here?"

James answers, "I don't know, this forest seems to go on forever. Maybe we wouldn't have to be in this situation if Meowth had just bought the necessary safeties."

Meowth delivers a Fury Swipes to each of them. "Stop complaining or we'll never get out of here!"

Jessie grabs Meowth and throws him at a tree. "Then why don't you go and find us a way out!?"

Meowth flies towards the tree and hits it with a loud thump. He bounces off of it and lands on the floor in front of some bushes at the tree's base. A loud buzzing sound is heard. Jessie and James freeze up. Meowth gets up and slowly looks behind him. Out of the tree comes a Vespiquen. It looks angrily at Team Rocket. It makes an unintelligible buzzing noise, which is apparently a call. Out of the surrounding trees and bushes, a swarm of Combee and another Pokémon come out from hiding. The other Pokémon appears similar to Combee, except composed of only one head instead of three. Similar to Combee, some have a red spot on their foreheads, while others don't. The swarm flies towards Team Rocket, who promptly run away screaming.

Pikachu and Rabbolt are continuing to walk in Rabbolt's chosen path. Rabbolt seems to be happily bouncing forward, while Pikachu walks close behind, appearing slightly annoyed. Pikachu makes a motion towards a near rock, and says, "Pika pik." Pikachu then walks to the rock and sits down, taking a break.

Rabbolt, however, continues to bounce forward. Once it passes the maximum distance, it and Pikachu are pulled to a center point. Rabbolt shouts angrily, "Rab rabbolt rab bolt!"

Pikachu shouts back, "Chu pika pik chu!" They start to argue back and forth.

They suddenly stop when they are interrupted by a screaming. They both look to the left, where Team Rocket is running towards them. Both Pikachu and Rabbolt prepare to fight, but Team Rocket runs right past them, not even noticing them. This puzzles Pikachu, who watches as Team Rocket runs away. "Pi?"

Pikachu and Rabbolt's questions are answered when they hear a buzzing behind them. They slowly turn around to see the swarm of bee Pokémon flying angrily towards them. The swarm splits into two groups, one going after Team Rocket, and the other turning towards Pikachu and Rabbolt. The electric Pokémon widen their eyes in surprise. They both attack the oncoming Pokémon with their respective electric attacks, but the bee Pokémon completely avoid attacks. Pikachu and Rabbolt both run in completely separate directions, but are quickly pulled together. Without stopping to argue, the two run off in the direction Pikachu initially ran.

Ash, Brock, and Brenda continue their trek through the forest. Ash calls, "Pikachu!"

Brenda calls, "Rabbolt!"

Ash suddenly stops and looks forward with horror. Brock asks, "What is it Ash?"

Ash points at a large tree in front of them. "It's that tree again! We're right back where we've started! We've passed that tree four times now, and taken a different path each time. They all lead back here!"

Brock scratches his chin. "That's odd. We must have missed another branching path somewhere."

Ash sighs. "I guess that there's nothing else to do but pick another path." He starts to go towards another path, when a buzzing can be heard.

Brenda asks, "Hey, what's that noise?"

Out of the wall of trees emerges more Combee and the other Pokémon. Ash and Brenda both take out their Pokédexes.

Ash's, on the unknown Pokémon, says, "Honbee, the Mini Bee Pokémon and a Bug and Flying combo type. Honbee are the most basic form in a hive of Combee, serving as the individuals that will eventually combine to form a Combee. They train with older Combee in order to learn how to most efficiently gather honey. Evolves into Combee through friendship while holding Honey."

Brenda's says, "Combee, the Tiny Bee Pokémon and a Bug and Flying combo type. Three Honbee combine to form a Combee. Combee perform different tasks depending on their gender. The males spend all their time gathering and making honey, while the females are trained to possibly take over as the next queen of the hive. Evolves from Honbee through friendship while holding Honey and evolves into Vespiquen or Vespidrone, depending on gender, at level 21."

Brenda states, "Look at them, they're so cute!" That cuteness doesn't last for long, as their faces quickly change to anger.

Brock exclaims, "I think we might be encroaching on their hive's territory!"

Ash shouts, "Run!" They all run away, chased by the Honbee and Combee.

Pikachu and Rabbolt seem to have made it away from the swarm, at least momentarily. They both stop running and take a moment to catch their breath. They both pant heavily. They look at each other, as if about to start another argument, but then give up, deciding it isn't worth it. They look around and survey their surroundings. Pikachu breathes a sigh of relief when it realizes that there are no Combee or Honbee anywhere around them.

Rabbolt Begins to walk in a direction. Pikachu quickly stops it. "Pik chu Pika pi," explaining that that's the way they came from.

Rabbolt shrugs, decides not to argue, turns around, and walks the other way. Pikachu smiles and follows.

They walk for a little bit longer, making a little bit of progress, at least until they hear the buzzing of the bees again. Before they can react, they are surrounded. Rabbolt begins to run away, but Pikachu is stuck by the swarm. Pikachu unleashes a Thunderbolt at the swarm, but they simply dodge it.

Rabbolt, who's still running away, quickly comes to a stop as it realizes Pikachu isn't following. It turns around and sighs. "Rab…" It runs back towards Pikachu, without the influence of the magnetic field, and attacks with its own Shockwave.

The two Pokémon fight back-to-back, each releasing an attack in tandem. They manage to start to hit some of their targets. Despite this, the more they beat back, the more appear to take their place.

A Combee manages to dive in towards Rabbolt and knock it back. The swarm then begins to target the knocked down Pokémon.

Pikachu quickly reacts and first uses Iron Tail to knock away the nearby Combee and Honbee, and then Thunderbolt to hit the rest. Pikachu extends a paw to Rabbolt. Rabbolt accepts it and gets up with Pikachu's help. The two Pokémon look at each other and nod. While holding hands, both Pokémon begin an attack.

"Pikaaaaa chuuuuuuu!"

"Rabbbbbbbolt!"

The two combined attacks create a massive pulse of electricity that zaps every Honbee and Combee around them. The Pokémon flee. Pikachu and Rabbolt look at each other with a newfound understanding. Without even arguing, the two Pokémon walk away in the same direction.

Ash, Brock, and Brenda now find themselves at a dead end, surrounded by Honbee and Combee. Brenda asks, "Why are they so angry?"

Brock answers, "Honbee and Combee would do anything to protect their queen Vespiquen, they must think we're threatening her."

Ash shouts to them, "Hey Honbee, Combee, we don't mean you or your queen any harm! We're just looking for my friend!" The Pokémon don't seem to care, they prepare to attack. Ash shouts, "Pikachu!"

Pikachu and Rabbolt are continuing to attempt to find their way out of the forest. Pikachu suddenly stops and perks its ear up.

Rabbolt looks at it and asks, "Rab?"

Pikachu points of to the right. Both Pokémon run in the indicated direction.

A Combee is just about to attack Ash when "Pikaaaaa chuuuuuu!" is heard. Pikachu's Thunderbolt comes out of nowhere and knocks away the closest Pokémon.

Ash shouts in joy, "Pikachu!"

Then comes, "Rabbbbbbolt!" And Rabbolt's Shockwave also hits some Combee and Honbee.

Brenda cheers, "Rabbolt!"

Both Pokémon come in and each launch an electric attack at the swarm. Brock observes, "It looks like those two are actually working together!"

The two Pokémon then look at each other and nod, as if agreeing on a tactic. Pikachu begins to run towards the swarm with its Quick Attack and Rabbolt begins to glow yellow and small sparks come off of it.

Brenda asks, "What's Rabbolt doing?"

Brock answers, "It looks like Rabbolt is using Static Cloak! That move instantly Paralyzes a Pokémon if physical contact is made!"

Pikachu runs into the swarm, and hits the maximum distance from Rabbolt. Rabbolt is yanked by Pikachu's speed. As it is being towed, Rabbolt knocks into the Combee and Honbee, causing each one to flee upon contact. Pikachu runs back and forth, pulling Rabbolt in all different directions.

Ash asks, "Now what's happening?"

Brock suggests, "Maybe that electromagnet Team Rocket used is still having an effect on them, causing them to attract to each other like magnets."

Pikachu and Rabbolt's combined attack manages to scare off the last of the swarm. The two Pokémon shake paws.

Ash runs over and hugs Pikachu. Brenda does the same to Rabbolt. Ash says, "That was great buddy, I've never seen anything like it!"

Brenda says, "If you can pull that off, you'll be great in contests Rabbolt, I know it." She then looks to Brock and asks, "What should we do about the magnet?"

Brock thinks about it. "If you return Rabbolt to its Pokéball, you should discharge it."

Brenda nods, and does as he says. She then lets Rabbolt back out and asks, "There, how do you feel?"

Rabbolt cautiously takes several steps away. Nothing happens. Rabbolt and Pikachu both cheer.

Ash gets back up. "Come on guys, now we need to get out of here."

It's a little later, Ash, Brock, and Brenda continue their journey to get out. Ash points ahead and exclaims, "Guys, look! Daylight!" Brenda and Brock laugh with cheer. They all race towards the exit. Within moments they have made it out.

Brenda exclaims, "I never thought I'd be so happy to be back in wide-open space!"

Pikachu and Rabbolt jump for joy.

And so our heroes have made it through yet another challenge. Perhaps even more important, a certain two Electric-Type Pokémon have finally but their differences aside and made friends.

Pikachu begins to run forward, but Rabbolt extends out a foot and trips it. Pikachu looks back in surprise and Rabbolt makes its signature face back, laughing.

Well…maybe not entirely…

Team Rocket is near a gnarled looking tree. Meowth exclaims, "We've passed that tree five times now! I'm certain of it!"

James suggests, "Maybe it's just another tree that looks similar."

Meowth retorts, "No, it's the same tree!"

Jessie says, "Fine, we'll go this way this time." She begins to turn towards a path to the left.

Meowth grabs her and shouts, "No, you've picked the wrong path five time now! I'm picking the path this time, and I say we go this way!" He pushes them towards a path in the other direction. He suddenly shouts, "Wrong way! Wrong way!" They all run away, chased by a swarm of Honbee and Combee.

They run off down Jessie's path of choice, out of sight, shouting, "Looks like Team Rocket's running off again!"

To Be Continued…