Note: This episode was updated to include a reference to a Paldean Pokémon that didn't exist at its original time of release.

Episode 95: Blinded by the Night

"Okay Dashilisk, use Aqua Jet!"

"Wispirit, out of the way!"

Ash and Brenda are having a training match. By the looks of the sky, it's just about sunset. Dashilisk launches itself at Wispirit, but Wispirit fades away, to reappear several feet to the left. Dashilisk attempts to redirect itself, but before it can, its momentum carries it face-first into a tree. Brenda chuckles at its misfortune.

With Ash's next gym battle quickly approaching, and Brenda having a brand-new teammate, it only seems fitting that we find the two of them fitting in some training before night falls.

Ash runs over to Dashilisk and helps it back to its feet. Despite what just happened, it seems as happy and carefree as always. It even does its quick dance upon returning to its feet. Ash then comments, "Wow Brenda, you and Wispirit sure got synced up fast there. You make really good partners."

Brenda nods in agreement. "Yeah, and who would've guessed that I only caught this thing because I was angry at it?"

Wispirit suddenly materializes immediately in front of Brenda. "Wisp!"

"Yikes!" Brenda leaps back. After recovering from the shock, she sighs and answers her own question, "Oh yeah, I would've…"

Wispirit laughs. "Wisp wisp wisp wisp wisp!"

Brock's sitting beneath a nearby tree watching them and browsing his Pokéssistant. Something catches his eyes. After glancing over it, he calls, "Hey, Ash! You might be interested in this!"

Ash strolls over to Brock. "What is it?"

"I was looking to see if I could figure out whether or not the Opti Gym Leader had returned or not, and I ended up finding this." He shows a webpage to Ash. "By the looks of it, the gym leader is a major astronomer, and tonight they're teaching a special astronomy class open to the public. We may not be able to get to Opti City until nightfall, too late for a gym battle, but I do think we can make it in time for this class. You could meet the gym leader early that way and make your battle request for the first thing tomorrow morning."

Ash seems to like this prospect. "Yeah, that's a great idea."

Brenda chimes in, "And an astronomy class sounds fun too! I'd love to be a part of that."

Brock nods. "Then it's settled, let's get back on the road."

Night has fallen as Ash, Brock, and Brenda climb a hill. At the top of the hill is a dome-shaped observatory with a giant telescope emerging from its roof. A large group of people have already gathered around the observatory's entrance. They join the group. Among the group are three inconspicuously dressed people, a man with a blue hair, a woman with red hair, and a short man.

Moments later, a woman steps out from the observatory. She has white-blonde hair tied up in a large ponytail, with a darker patch of hair in the front that nearly forms the shape of a star, and wears white pants and a yellow blouse. She also wears circle-rimmed glasses and a necklace with a star-shaped pendant. She introduces herself, "Hello everyone, my name is Astrid. You may know me as the Opti City Gym Leader, but my true passion is for astronomy. Hopefully, by the end of tonight, you'll all see why." She pauses for a moment. "Now please, everyone, just take a look up. Look up into sky and take it all in."

Everyone looks up and are treated to a spectacular view of a starry night sky. Several people can't believe the sight and let out sounds of wonderment.

Astrid explains, "For those of you here visiting from other regions, you've probably never seen skies so clear before. That's the wonder of the Tenno Region. Elsewhere in the world, city lights are so bright that they stop you from properly seeing the stars, but here in Tenno, astronomy was an important enough science that as cities grew larger, our scientists found ways to produce lights that don't interfere with the night sky to nearly as large of a degree. On top of that, here in Opti City we have a special ordinance that prohibits lights above a certain brightness being used outside. Opti City is the only major city in the entire world from which you can see a perfectly clear night sky."

Ash asks Brenda, "So you must have grown up with views like this, right?"

Brenda nods. "Yeah, I always used to love going out at night and staring at the stars. Why, did you not?"

Ash shakes his head. "Not at all. The stars were alright in Pallet Town, but nowhere near this clear."

Brenda can't believe it. "I guess I've just always taken the view for granted."

Now Astrid pulls out a laser pointer and points it at a relatively faint star. Everyone's eyes follow the beam to the star. "This star right here is a very special one. At 4.3 lightyears away from us, it's the closest star there is to us. But how large is lightyear? The obvious answer is it's the distance that light travels in a year. But even still, what does that mean? Well, let's shrink down the universe to find out. Let's start off by taking our Sun and shrinking it down to the size of a basketball." She reaches down into a box and pulls out a basketball. "This is pretty small of course, so everything around it will shrink at the same ratio, including our planet. Does anyone have any guesses as to how big our planet would be at this scale?"

Someone raises their hand and guesses, "The size of a Pokéball?"

Astrid shakes her head. "Nope, much smaller. Very much smaller." She reaches back into her box and pulls out a quilting pin with a tiny ball on its tip, and holds it next to the basketball. "This tiny ball right here, only one tenth of an inch across, would be our planet." Several people gasp at this revelation. "But that's not where it ends. Now we've got to figure out where the planet would be relative to the Sun. The Sun is over ninety thousand miles from our planet. So, with our planet being the size of a needle head, where does that place it?"

Nobody even hazards a guess.

Astrid smiles. She points to Ash. "You, there, could you come over here?" Ash approaches eagerly. "What's your name?"

Ash grins. "I'm Ash, from Pallet Town, and this is Pikachu."

She hands him the pin and asks, "Ash and Pikachu, could you please continue to back up while holding that pin up until I ask you to stop?"

Ash nods. "Sure thing." He begins pace backwards. Before long he has covered most of the distance across the hill's surface.

Astrid calls, "Okay Ash, stop." Ash stops and holds up the pin. Astrid explains, "Right now Ash is standing 31 yards, or 93 feet away from me. That's how far our planet would be in our scale model. But that's just the Sun to us. What about the Sun to the furthest planet in our solar system?" She points out towards a large tower off in the distance. "That building over there is nearly 3,000 feet away from us, 30 times the distance from this basketball to that pinhead. An entire half mile away. That's where the edge of our solar system is."

This leads to murmurs of disbelief across the audience. Someone raises their hand and asks, "So, if that's where the farthest planet it, then the closest star is just beyond that, right?"

Astrid smiles and shakes her head. "Nope, not at all." She grins broadly as she prepares to deliver the final part of her lesson. "At this scale, with the Sun as a basketball and our planet as a pinhead, the closest star would 4,300 miles away. That's longer than the entire width of the Tenno Region by a long shot. In fact, our planet has a radius of 3,900 miles, meaning that if this basketball were to be placed in the center of the planet, the closest star would still be 400 miles above us." She pauses to let it all sink in.

The audience simply can't believe this. Brenda asks Brock, "No way, that can't be true, right?"

Brock shakes his head, "She's the expert here."

The red-haired woman from the inconspicuous group complains, "So, what's the big deal?"

The blue-haired man encourages, "Come on, that's absolutely amazing. Just think about how far away that means the closest star is."

She responds, "What should I care about the closest star? Something tells me there's no beauty parlors or shopping malls there."

The short one shakes his head in disbelief. "You're hopeless."

Having let everyone squirm enough, Astrid continues, "But that's just the closest star at 4.3 light years away." She points to a particularly bright star. "That star is the brightest in our sky, and it would be double the distance away at 8.6 lightyears, or 8600 miles in our scale model." She points to a bright red star. "This star is one of the largest that can be visibly seen by the naked eye, and it's a whopping 640 light years away, or 640,000 miles in our scale model." She points to yet another star. "This star here is the furthest that can be seen by the visible eye. Its distance is 16,308 lightyears away. Even in our scale model, that's a humongous 16,308,000 miles! Over 10 million miles from right here! As a reminder, the Sun is 90 million miles away from us in actual distance. But in our tiny scale model, the furthest visible star would be nearly a fifth of the distance to the actual Sun! But what about things you can see with a telescope? Well, we can see things so far with a telescope that they begin to blur together. Instead of seeing stars, we see entire galaxies, and the farthest galaxy we've ever observed is 13.3 billion lightyears away. That's right, I said billion. Our scale model hardly even matters anymore! At our scale, that's 13 trillion miles! And what's 13 trillion miles? Why, that's over two light years! Halfway to that nearest star! Suddenly, we need a scale model to explain our scale model!"

Nobody says anything. Everyone is absolutely speechless. The blue-haired man mutters, "My head hurts…"

Astrid takes pleasure from this response. After waiting a moment more, she declares, "I hope you now all have a greater appreciation of just how vast our universe is. With that in mind, how about we do some telescope viewing?" She pulls out a Pokéball, and releases a Pokémon from it.

The Pokémon has a muscular, mostly humanoid upper torso with metal plating, but just about everything else about it is different. Instead of two legs, it has three skinny legs, which go out at an angle, appearing like a tripod. Its head is shaped like a dome that sits on its broad shoulders. Where its eyes might be, a single telescope-like extension emerges from the face, and seems to serve as its only eye. Another piece extends out of the back of its head for unknown reasons. The Pokémon is colored mostly dark blue, silver, and gold. If its eye is a telescope, then what's attached to its left forearm can only be described as a finderscope, the small viewfinder often attached to telescopes. Each of its fingertips looks like the eyepiece of a telescope.

Ash, walking back towards the rest of the group now, is enthralled by this new Pokémon. He instantly pulls out his Pokédex. It says, "Cycloptic, the Telescope Pokémon, and a Light and Steel Combo-Type. This Pokémon can see objects at great distances away. Its telescope eye grows with age, and the larger it gets, the further it can see. Does not evolve."

Astrid explains, "Alright folks, not only can Cycloptic see great distances itself, but it can also show you what it sees as well, making it one of the best small-scale telescopes you can use. Alright Cycloptic, how about we show them that closest star we were talking about?"

Cycloptic nods. "Clop." It then spreads out its tripod legs to steady itself, and aims its eye at the aforementioned star.

Astrid leans into the projection from the back of its head and looks into it. It's actually an eyepiece. "That's perfect, Cycloptic." She looks back up. "Alright, everyone in a single file line. One at a time." Everyone hurries to line up.

Everyone except the inconspicuous group. The blue-haired one is massaging his forehead. The short is transfixed on Astrid's telescope Pokémon. The red-haired one seems completely disinterested in everything. The short one speaks up, "Okay, it's settled."

The other two ask at once, "What?"

"We're nabbing that Cycloptic."

"We are?"

"Yeah, it'll be the perfect gift for The Boss. Just think about it." Meowth narrates his fantasy of Giovanni. In it, cartoon Giovanni stands alone outside at night. "Just picture The Boss staring up into that dark night sky. He wants to relax, but he just can't. You know why? It's because he can't stop thinking about Team Rocket's fleet of rocket ships out there in space."

Jessie interrupts, "Team Rocket has a fleet of rocket ships?"

Meowth assures, "Of course it does, where else do you think it got the name Team Rocket?"

James agrees, "Makes sense."

Meowth continues, "Anyways, so The Boss is just there wishing on a star that he could have a way to know how those rocket ships are doing. Then that wish is suddenly granted when he's presented with Cycloptic." Fantasy Giovanni joyously dances around the Pokémon in celebration. He then points up in the sky and Cycloptic positions itself to look there. "One look into that Pokémon's telescope, and he'll see there was nothing to worry about out at all." Through the telescope, fantasy Giovanni sees a fleet of rocket ships that seem to have been drawn by a child, all with the Rocket R. "With his restless mind now calmed, The Boss will come to a sudden realization." In his imitation of Giovanni, Meowth declares, "For allowing me to see out of this world, I will ensure that Meowth and friends are given out of this world payment!" The fantasy ends.

Jessie and James both seems convinced. Jessie declares, "I've had enough of this boring lecture, so let's get into action!"

Wobbuffet appears to agree, "Wobbuffet!"

Meanwhile, it's now Ash's turn to look through the telescope. In it, he sees the closest star. It's nothing impressive, but after the lecture they were just given, it somehow seems very impressive. Ash looks up to Astrid and asks, "Do you think that star has a planet with Pokémon on it?"

Astrid smiles. "Maybe it does. And maybe there's a Pokémon trainer there, looking through a telescope at us, asking the exact same question."

Ash smiles as he thinks about that possibility.

The thought is suddenly cut short when a metal mesh net ensnares Cycloptic. Astrid asks in surprise, "What's this!?"

Jessie leaps into view, tossing aside a net launcher, and declares, "Prepare for trouble on this starry, starry night!"

James also appears. "And make it double in the starlight!

"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 to the stars at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"

"Meowth, that's right!"

"Wobbuffet!"

"Mime, mime!"

Jessie and James immediately begin to pull in the tether attached to the net.

Ash shouts, "That's not your Pokémon, Team Rocket!"

Jessie scoffs, "And when has that ever stopped us before?" They all leap upwards, landing in their balloon, and continue to reel in Cycloptic.

Ash and Pikachu prepare to attack, but Astrid raises an arm to stop him. "No, let me handle this." She commands, "Cycloptic, use Laser Vision!" A red laser beam fires from Cycloptic's eye, the heat of which instantly melts through the net. After traveling through the net, it continues upwards and pops the balloon as well.

In the remaining moments they have left, James says, "Well, that went worse than normal…" Suddenly, the deflating balloon sends them all rocketing away.

They shout, "We're blasting off again!" and disappear into the night.

Having freed itself while in the air, Cycloptic falls towards the ground. It attempts to orient itself to land on its tripod, but doesn't have enough time. Instead it lands on its side, and its telescope hits the ground too. Something is heard shattering.

Astrid's eyes widen. "Oh no." she runs over to Cycloptic and helps it up. "Are you alright?"

Cycloptic looks around frantically and shouts, "Cloptic!"

Astrid sighs. "It's as I feared…"

Ash, Brock, and Brenda run over. Brenda asks, "What's wrong with Cycloptic?"

Astrid explains, "I'm afraid it broke the lens it uses for long-distance seeing. It can still everything around it, but its telescope vision won't work like this. And for a Cycloptic, that's practically the same as being blind. I'll have to get it a replacement."

Brock says, "You work at an observatory, surely it can't be too difficult to get a replacement lens."

Astrid shakes her head. "Unfortunately not. Cycloptic uses an incredibly unique lens. The glass it's made from has to vitrified from an extremely special type of silicate."

Ash asks, "And that means…?"

"Sorry, glass is made from sand, and I need a special type of sand to make a new lens. If I could get the sand, then I could make a new lens easily, but getting the sand is not easy."

Brenda asks, "Is there anywhere nearby you can get the sand?"

She thinks about it. "Well…it's thought that Mt. Starview, which is nearby, would have the right mineralogy for it." She points to a mountain on the horizon.

Ash declares, "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go get some of that sand."

"I wish it were that simple. Mt. Starview used to be a premier destination for stargazing, but now it's closed to the public due to a berserk Pokémon that moved in. Nobody's supposed to go there."

Ash offers, "You're a gym leader, and we're all trainers. If we go together, then we'll be able to fight off any berserk Pokémon we encounter."

"Are you offering to help?"

Ash nods. "Yeah."

Astrid nods slowly. "Alright, if it will help ease the suffering of Cycloptic sooner, let's do it." She looks to the still panicking Pokémon. "Don't worry, Cycloptic, we're going to get that sand and make you a new lens."

Who's that Pokémon!?

This Pokémon has an enormous, oversized claw. It waves this huge claw in the air to communicate with others. However, because the claw is so heavy, the Pokémon quickly tires.

Astrid leads Ash and the others on a hike into the mountains. She has backpack full of gear with her. Cycloptic follows close behind her. It's no longer panicking, but it seems extremely anxious.

Brock asks, "Astrid, is there anything you can tell us about the berserk Pokémon?"

She responds, "Not much, really. It first appeared a couple months back and no one knows why. It attacks from the shadows, so no one's ever been able to identify it."

Ash declares, "Then I guess we'll be the first."

Brenda suggests, "Or maybe we can get lucky and not run into it at all."

Astrid points out, "Whatever the Pokémon is, it is extremely territorial. There has not been one report of someone passing through the mountains without encountering it since it first appeared." She looks around. "Still, we're making good progress. Most have already been attacked by now. Barring the Pokémon attacking, it shouldn't be too much longer until we make it to the grotto where we can find the sand to make the lens with." She looks to Cycloptic. "Do not fear, my friend. It won't be long now."

Suddenly, both Ash and Brock are forced to the ground by a blur of movement. Brenda leaps back in surprise. "What was that!?"

Ash quickly gets back up. "Something attacked from behind. It must be the Pokémon!" He points in the direction the motion blur went toward. "Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!"

"Pikaaaaa chuuuuuu!" Nothing happens as the attacks hits empty ground.

Brock says, "It's no use, the Pokémon escaped back into the shadows. It could be anywhere now. It's probably preparing its next strike."

Astrid looks to Cycloptic and suggests, "Cycloptic, lock onto it and track it with low-light mode! Tell us what we're up against!"

Cycloptic attempts to focus on the direction the blur of motion went towards, but it doesn't seem to work. It shakes its head sorrowfully. "Clop…"

Astrid says to the others, "It's no use, without its lens, Cycloptic can't locate it."

Suddenly Pikachu is hurled into the air. It cries out in pain, "Pika!"

Brenda shouts, "It's too fast, and there's not enough light! I couldn't see anything!"

Ash concurs, "Neither could I." He surveys the area, looking for any hint of movement.

Astrid declares, "Alright then, if this thing likes hiding in the shadows so much, let's get rid of the shadows!" She throws a Pokéball, sending out a large Pokémon shaped like a fiery orb with arms and a wise face, a Gigastar. "Gigastar, let's light up the night!"

"Gigaaaaastaaaaar!" The Red Giant Pokémon generates a huge amount of light from its body, lighting up the surrounding area.

Ash points. "Look! There it is!" Standing before them is an oversized Bisharp. It appears stunned by the sudden light. After a moment, it gathers itself, and then flees, having been exposed.

As it dashes off, Brock takes note of the fact that the blade atop its head seems to have a small chip in it.

Brenda quickly pulls out her Pokédex to check it. It says, "Bisharp, the Sword Blade Pokémon and Dark and Steel Combo-Type. Bisharp are honor-bound to defend the land they were born in. They command a gang of Pawniard to do their bidding. Evolves from Pawniard at level 52 and into Kingambit by proving itself as a leader."

Brenda comments, "Well, I guess that explains why it's so territorial."

Brock skeptically shakes his head. "No, I don't think it does. Notice how your Pokédex mentioned that it defends its birthland. That means that Bisharp will never move from one place to another. For a Bisharp to show up to a new area is very rare. There's also the fact that it didn't have its gang of Pawniard with it. This is no ordinary Bisharp attack."

Ash says, "Well, it doesn't really matter, right? We drove it off."

Brock shakes his head. "I'm afraid not. Regardless of how unusual this Bisharp may be, odds are it's just as persistent as any other. Once it readies itself again, I'm sure it will be back."

Ash doesn't seem worried about this. "Now that we know what we're up against, we can take it no problem." He urges everyone forward. "Come on, no sense in standing around here, waiting for it to come back."

Everyone agrees and hikes on.

It's Kingler!

After hiking a little further, they make it to a relatively flat portion of the mountain. Gigastar is still out and lighting the way. Astrid points to a cave ahead. "That's it! That grotto is where we can get the sand!"

Brenda exclaims, "We made it without another Bisharp attack!"

Just then, "Bisharp!"

Everyone turns around to see the Bisharp behind them. Ash observes, "I guess it's given up on surprise attacks." The Bisharp brandishes its blade and leaps forward. Ash orders, "Pikachu, Thunderbolt!"

"Pikaaaaa chuuuuu!"

The Bisharp avoids the attack by leaping to the side. It then attacks Pikachu with a powerful Night Slash, sending Pikachu flying backwards, and into Ash's arms.

Astrid asks, "Cycloptic, can you manage a Laser Vision attack?"

Cycloptic, tries to no avail. "Cyclop…"

She turns to Gigastar. "In that case, how about a Photon Beam, Gigastar?"

Gigastar gathers light energy, and then attacks with a golden beam of light.

Bisharp anticipates the attack, braces itself, and then absorbs the attack. Once this has happened, it attacks back with powerful burst of white energy. Gigastar is knocked to the ground by the unexpected counterattack.

Brock shouts, "That was Metal Burst! It reflects any attack you send at it!" Brock takes another moment to observe the Bisharp, and once again takes note of the small, almost indiscernible chip on Bisharp's forehead blade. Suddenly Brock gets an idea. "I know what's wrong with Bisharp, and I can fix it!" He pulls out his two Pokéballs and throws them. "Blissey, Meteorfight, I need your help!" Brock looks to the others, "I need you guys to distract it."

Ash and Astrid both nod. Ash orders, "Pikachu, Electro Ball!"

Astrid adds, "Gigastar, Solar Flare!"

The two Pokémon attack in tandem. While Bisharp is busy dodging the attacks from two sides, Brock commands, "Alright, Blissey, Meteorfight, grab ahold Bisharp and keep it still!"

Brock's Pokémon leap in, and each one grabs one of Bisharp's arms. Bisharp struggles to break free of their hold, but the two Pokémon have too much physical strength for it to do so.

Brock then approaches the Bisharp carefully. Brenda cautions, "Be careful, Brock!"

As Brock approaches the now enraged Pokémon, he reaches into his bag and pulls out a stone used for knife sharpening from his cooking supplies. He tries to soothe Bisharp by saying, "There, there, this isn't going to hurt a bit." Brock is now right in front of it. Bisharp squirms even harder. Brock begins to pass the stone across Bisharp's blade. He soothes, "Now, now, everything's going to be alright."

"Bi…sharp…"

Brenda asks, "What's he doing?"

Astrid realizes the answer. "He's sharpening Bisharp's blade! If a Bisharp has its blade chipped, even just a tiny bit like that one, then it's forced to retire from its position as leader of the Pawniard. That's why this one showed up out of nowhere! It must have had its blade chipped, and was forced to come here alone."

At this point, Bisharp seems to have realized that Brock isn't trying to hurt it, and has calmed down somewhat. Brock passes the stone over the blade several more times, and then pockets the stone. "There, good as new." He steps back and pulls a personal mirror out from his backpack. "See?"

Bisharp looks into the mirror and is quite surprised by what it sees. "Bish?"

Brock nods to his Pokémon, and they release Bisharp.

Bisharp reaches to its blade and feels the side of it. It can't believe that its blade is back to pristine shape.

Ash points out, "Now that your blade has been fixed, you can go back to your gang of Pawniard."

"Sharp?"

Brock confirms, "It's true. They'll take you back now."

Bisharp isn't sure how to respond. Finally, it thanks, "Bisharp." It nods respectfully at Brock, and then disappears in a blur of motion.

Brock looks to Astrid and says, "Alright, now you're good to get that sand."

Ash cheers, "Way to go, Brock!"

Astrid looks to Cycloptic. "You hear that, Cycloptic? We're going to get you that new lens."

Cycloptic cheers, "Cloptic!"

Astrid walks into the grotto, pulls out a bag, and fills it with the sand on the floor. "There, that should do it." Once done, she says, "Alright, now we can get back to the observatory and make the lens."

At the observatory, Astrid pours the sand into a stone cup, and then places that cup into a furnace. The sand begins to melt into molten material. Time passes quickly, then she pulls it from furnace with tongs, and then pours the molten material into a mold. More time passes, and the material hardens into a clear glass. Astrid then pulls on a tab on the mold, which causes it to fall away, leaving only a small slab of glass. She takes this slab of glass over to an electrical grind wheel, and begins to shape the slab into the circular shape of a lens. Once it's roughly the shape of lens, she removes it, and begins to file it down the rest of the way by hand. After some more time, she has a perfectly constructed lens.

She walks out into the next room, where Ash and the others wait with Cycloptic. She holds up the lens and proclaims, "Here it is. A brand-new lens."

Cycloptic runs up to her and cheers, "Cycloptic!"

Ash then gets up and declares, "And now that that's all done, I have a request to make of you, Astrid."

"Yes? What is it?"

"I want a gym battle."

Astrid grins. "I think that both Cycloptic and I are very ready for that."

"Cloptic!"

Ash cheers, "Woohoo!"

The closest star may be over four lightyears away, but Ash's closest gym battle is very near! With Cycloptic back at full fighting power, this is sure to be one exciting battle. Stay tuned!

To Be Continued…