Episode 108: The More they Stay the Same

Gillian announces, "Welcome! Welcome one and all to the Starnight City Contest! It's been a bit of a wait, but I hope you're all just as excited as me for this contest to finally get underway!"

That's right, Gillian! Brenda's next contest is here at long last, and I, for one, am very excited! Back to you, Gillian!

Gillian continues, "You know who else is excited? Our fabulous panel of judges! Let's meet them! He's the director of Pokémon Contests, put your hands together for Mr. Contesta!"

Mr. Contesta grins and announces, "I'm always excited to see a contest, but this one has me especially thrilled!"

"Next it's the president of the Pokémon Fan Club! You could even say it's his job to be excited! Mr. Sukizo!"

Mr. Sukizo waves energetically. "Hello all! You could say that I'm remarkable-ly excited!"

"Rounding off this prestigious group is Starnight's own Nurse Joy!"

Nurse Joy smiles broadly. "Excitement doesn't begin to express how I feel! Let's get started already!"

"I couldn't agree more, Nurse Joy! Let's kick things off! Here to do exactly that is the one and only princess of the cosmos! Put your hands together for Princess Jessileia!"

The audience cheers as Jessie, dressed in the elegant gown of Jessileia, rushes out onto the stage. Once on stage, she takes a moment to bask in the glory of the spotlight.

In the audience, James and Meowth clap too, but seem somewhat apprehensive. James comments, "This is going to either be really good… or really bad."

Meowth agrees, "And knowing Jessie, it's probably the latter."

Wobbuffet, who's sitting next to James and Meowth, agrees, "Wobbuffet!"

Jessie produces a Pokéball and announces, "Prepare to witness a masterwork of coordinating!" She throws the Pokéball. Thanks to its seal, a burst of light emerges from the Pokéball. And from the glittering show of light, James' Ivine appears. "Do it, Ivine!"

Ivine holds its arms out and upwards towards the open sky, visible due to the retracted roof.

Jessie waits expectantly for something to happen, but nothing does. In frustration, Jessie shouts, "Come on people, it's transpiration!" Crickets can be heard. Jessie groans. "There's something called a dictionary. You people may want to read one, one of these days!" Still crickets. Jessie groans again and quotes, "'Transpiration, the passage of water through a plant from the roots through the vascular system to the atmosphere.'" Even more crickets. "Come on people! Ivine is a plant Pokémon! It's performing transpiration right before your very eyes! You know, transpiration, the secret to an amazing Pokémon Contest performance!" Now even the crickets have gone silent.

The judges have had enough. All at once, the three of them pound down on a button, calling up a large red X on their display. Gillian explains, "That's it! The judges have called this performance off! Jessileia has been disqualified!"

Jessie shouts in fury, "Disqualified!? Do you not see what Ivine is doing!? It's transpiration!"

Gillian is taken aback. "Please leave the stage."

"It's not my fault you people don't know your basic vocabulary! I'm not going anywhere."

At this point, a Machamp and Conkeldurr march out on to the stage.

Jessie rants, "It's biology 101!" She notices the two buff Pokémon walking her way. "Let me guess, you two hate plants, don't you? Why would you hate plants!?"

The Machamp grabs Jessie and slings her over its shoulder.

Jessie continues to rant, "Plants are an essential part of life! They recycle the air! You'd all be dead without plants! You can't hate plants! And newsflash! Without transpiration, plants couldn't survive! Transpiration is an important factor of life! We wouldn't be here without it!" She continues to rant on like this as the Pokémon carry her from sight.

James and Meowth groan in embarrassment. James comments, "That's the last time I ever loan my dictionary to Jessie…"

Meowth is too speechless to respond. He simply shakes his head slowly.

Wobbuffet too is baffled. "Wobbuffet…"

Attempting to break the silence of the stadium, Gillian announces, "Well, now that that's in our past, we can look forward to our next coordinator! Put your hands together for Damien!"

Damien walks out on to the stage. He does no showboating and conveys no sense of excitement of being in the spotlight. He simply strolls out with his head down. Also of note is that he makes no attempt to dress up for the contest.

Ash questions Brock, "It almost looks like he doesn't enjoy this. Why do you think he does this to begin with?"

Brock responds, "It's not for us to question something like this. Clearly it means something to him, and that's his business."

Ash nods. "I guess."

Once in position, Damien produces a Pokéball. He throws it into the air and with his first show of energy, shouts, "Forward, Scartouche!"

The Pokémon that appears is small, only several inches long. It's an ovoid beetle-like Pokémon that looks like an Egyptian hieroglyph come to life. A straight bar sits attached perpendicularly to its bottom. Its carapace is a shiny gold color with etchings of various colors crisscrossing the body. In addition to the etchings, several symbols seem to be carved across its back.

This Pokémon prompts Ash to pull out his Pokédex. "Scartouche, the Spirit Tag Pokémon, and a Bug and Ghost Combo-Type. It is said that a Scartouche is born when someone passes away. The markings on its back are said to represent the name of that person in an indecipherable language. Evolves into Scarabti at level 24."

In the back room, seeing the Pokémon on the television sends a shiver down Brenda's spine. She comments, "It's a bug and a ghost? Of course Damien would have such a creepy Pokémon."

Damien begins his performance by commanding in his signature monotone, "Start with Double Team."

Scartouche spreads the wings beneath its carapace and flies up. Once in the air, two dozen or so phantasmal clones of the Pokémon appear throughout the air.

Gillian points out, "For those of us on the entomophobic side of things, Damien has certainly put us on edge with his battalion of beetles. What does he have planned?"

In response, Damien orders, "Infestation."

The horde of illusory bugs begin to fly in circles around each other. They continue this and begin to fly faster and faster. As they hit their terminal speed, it's as if they morph together to form a spiraling vortex of gold light contrasted with purple shadows.

This sight enthralls the audience. Gillian says, "Wow, I take back what I said. This is a breathtaking sight!"

The slightest of grins can be seen peeking up above Damien's face-obscuring hood. He simply states, "Phantom Force."

The Scartouche comprising the vortex all vanish at once, leaving behind a faint afterglow where they once flew. This garners the amusement of the audience.

Just as everyone is least expecting it, Damien raises a hand and snaps a finger. At this signal, Scartouche and its clones abruptly reappear all around the stage, in such a spread that no audience member is too far from a Scartouche. This causes much of the audience to either jump, scream, or both.

Gillian, with a hand on her heart, declares, "What a jump scare! I'm too speechless to say anything else, so I'll defer to the judges."

Contesta says, "You might question whether or not it's a good idea to scare your audience, but I say that a good scare can be fun. Why else would people watch scary movies?"

Mr. Sukizo says with no shame, "I may need a new pair of pants, but that doesn't make that performance any less remarkable!"

Nurse Joy subtly inches away from Sukizo, then says, "I can't say that performance was for me, but I also can't say that means it's a bad performance."

Brenda is still slightly dismayed. She says to herself, "Well, he's consistent, if nothing else."

Damien's monotone voice suddenly responds, "Am I?"

Brenda freezes up as a jolt rides up her spine. "I… didn't see you there…"

"No one ever does." This leads to an awkward silence between the two of them. As he finally prepares to leave, he comments, "Take note of what a real performance using a Ghost-Type looks like." He walks away.

Brenda breathes a sigh of relief.

Gillian proclaims, "Before we finish our Appeal Stage, we have one last treat for you all! Put your hands together for Brenda!"

Brenda energetically runs out. She is clearly excited to premiere her new style. She produces a Pokéball and shouts, "Frostcicle, center stage!"

She throws her Pokéball straight upwards. Opposed to what one might expect to be paired with an Ice-Type, a burst of fire explodes from Frostcicle's sealed Pokéball. With this fire still fluttering about the stadium, Brenda promptly orders, "Icy Wind! Deep freeze!"

"Frooooost! Frostcicle whips up a super-cold breeze that blows across the stage, crystallizing snowflakes as it goes. Within moments, these snowflakes begin to interact with the lingering flames. The ice crystals flash sublimate, transforming instantly into steam. The floating embers now glitter and glow through the haze, creating a brilliant orange glow.

Gillian marvels, "Wow! Normally performances using Ice-Types are all about chilling out, but instead, Brenda's decided to bring the heat! Talk about a transformation!"

These words make Brenda grin, reassuring her that she's doing the right thing. Riding this momentum, she continues, "Now use Crystal Beam, but give it a spin!"

Frostcicle begins to rotate on its vertical axis as it starts up its Crystal Beam. A golden-orange light begins to emit from its body. Because of the spinning, this energy doesn't focus into a beam, but rather emits outwards in an array of multiple light rays. These rays interact with both the steam and remaining ice crystals in the air, amplifying the glow effect from earlier.

Brenda seems slightly giddy, seeing how well her new style is working. "Now for the last layer! Aurora Beam! Keep up the spin!"

Frostcicle, still glowing with the Crystal Beam, begins to simultaneously emit a phantasmal wave of multiple colors. The spinning causes the usually focused colors to disperse across the stage, creating a virtual aurora borealis. Now all three light sources glitter and glow through the now clearing mist, creating a dazzling show of light and color.

Brenda and Frostcicle take a bow to signal the end of the performance, but the audience is too transfixed by the last of the lights to notice.

Gillian too was distracted, and only now realizes the performance is over. Still getting over her speechlessness, Gillian says, "Wow. What a show. Since I'm at a loss for words, I think I'll just leave things to the judges."

Mr. Contesta says, "A stunning performance. I've watched Brenda with great interest since she debuted, and I can say without a doubt that this is by far her best performance! Whatever it is she's changed, it's working!"

Mr. Sukizo declares, "I couldn't agree more! No word other than remarkable could explain that performance!"

Nurse Joy concludes, "Brenda took what we expected and changed it. What an amazing transformation!"

Brenda is an absolute awe from the kind words. She can't believe what she's hearing.

But then that moment is ruined when a voice shouts, "Did somebody say 'transpiration!?'"

Everyone looks up towards the source of the voice. There they see Jessie, or rather Jessileia, descending from the sky, being lowered by Ivine's vines.

James, still in the audience, buries his face in hands in embarrassment. "What is she doing…?"

Meowth, similarly embarrassed, points out, "Well, at least no one knows we're with her…"

"Wobbuffet!"

Jessie and Ivine hit the stage. Jessie announces, "I don't know why you're going on about transpiration, when little miss twerpette didn't even use a Grass-Type. Icicles can't transpire! Watch in awe at this masterful display of transpiration!"

"Ivine!"

Jessie is about say her next line, when there's a tap on her shoulder. She says, "Buzz off, I'm in the middle of a performance." There's another tap. She turns around and shouts, "I said buzz-!" She trails off as she turns around to see that it's the Machamp security guard that tapped her. The Conkeldurr standing next to it swings one of its concrete pillars at Jessie, knocking her upwards, and landing her on its shoulder. It then uses its pillars to grab Ivine as well. They march out, Jessie complaining the entire way.

Brenda mutters under her breath, "What a way to ruin the moment…"

Who's that Pokémon!?

This Pokémon uses the pressure of water it swallows to shoot toxic quills all at once from all over its body. It finds swimming to be somewhat challenging.

Brenda, Damien, and the other coordinators have gathered backstage. They watch the screen displaying the main stage with eager and nervous anticipation as Gillian prepares to announce the results of the first stage.

Gillian proclaims, "We had a mighty exciting Appeal Stage, if I do say so myself, and now it's time to figure out which lucky sixteen coordinators will be making it to the battle rounds! If everyone would turn their attention to the main screen, the judges have made their decision!"

Attention is changed to the large screen above the main stage. Brenda leans forwards with anticipation.

And she doesn't have to wait long. The very first image that appears on the screen is her own. Her jaw drops.

In the audience, Ash cheers, "Alright! Brenda got first place in Appeal Stage!"

Brock smiles and states, "After all her hard work, and that opening performance, she deserves it. What a perfect premiere of her new style."

Brenda is still in a state of disbelief, but she looks back at the screen in time to see Damien's image appear fifth on the list. She glances over to him to gauge his reaction. Perhaps unsurprisingly, he shows no reaction at all. Eleven more faces appear on the screen, and those moving on have been decided.

Gillian announces, "And there you have it! And now to see who will be matched-up in battle!"

The tournament bracket appears on screen, and images fill it. The first match is Damien's, while Brenda's is at the end.

Gillian declares, "Our first battle will be beginning shortly, so you all better be ready for a show! And to all you coordinators about to battle, good luck!"

Brenda gets up to leave the room. Damien notices this but doesn't pay much heed.

It's Qwilfish!

Brenda has gone outside the contest hall. She pulls out five Pokéballs and tosses them all up. Kappaqueous, Glitterfly, Rabbolt, Frostcicle, and Wispirit all emerge. They all look to her questioningly.

Brenda grins. "We did it, guys."

This leads to the collective cheers of all her Pokémon.

Brenda better explains, "We premiered our new style, and they loved it." She looks directly at Frostcicle, "Your performance landed us first place in the appeal round."

Frostcicle bobs up and down and cheers, "Frost frost frostcicle!"

Brenda smiles back at it, and then returns attention to everyone. "We put a lot of work into creating this new style. I call it my style, but it really is all of ours. You all have put just as much work into this as I have, and it shows. But just because we've had a good start doesn't mean we're done. No, we have to keep on working just as hard, if not harder. Not only do we still have the battle round of this contest left, but then we still have at least one more contest after that for our fifth ribbon, and then it's the Grand Festival. We've got to keep on working and keep moving forward. If we want this style to define us, then we've got to define it first. Are you ready to do this?"

They all cheer together. "Kappapapa!"

"Glitterererfly!"

"Rabolt bolt!"

"Frost!"

"Wisp wisp!"

"Then this is it, guys. This is where we show the world what we have to offer. Let's do this!" They all rush at Brenda to hug her.

Brenda and Damien battle their way through the following rounds. Brenda is using Wispirit, with which she defeats another coordinator's Corviknight. Damien is battling with an Abyssoul, and they defeat a Whimsicott. The next round comes along, and Brenda and Wispirit, with little effort, battle and win against a Cosmet. And Damien battles and beats an Orbitross. The semi-final round comes around, where Brenda battles the coordinator who ranked second and their Drampa. It's a challenge, but Brenda and Wispirit prevail. For Damien's next fight, he faces a Tardiguard, and seems to come through without too much trouble. Both have made it to the finals.

Brenda and Wispirit are not once seen to use Rain of Terror.

Gillian begins the final round by announcing, "This is it, folks! The grand finale! Brenda and Damien, two very talented, and very different, coordinators have battled their way all the way to the top! Now one of them will go home empty-handed, and the other will be awarded with the glorious Starnight Ribbon!" She presents the colorful prize to the audience. "And who gets what will be decided by this battle! Five minutes on the clock, and begin!"

Brenda sends outs Wispirit, while Damien sends out Abyssoul.

Ash points out, "Brenda and Wispirit have made it this far, without once using Rain of Terror. They worked so hard on that move, what's up?"

Brock suggests, "My guess is that she wants to save it. It's her ace in the hole. By leaving something that the judges haven't seen yet, it will make it all the more impressive when she does use it. She took a gamble for sure."

Ash nods as he thinks this over. "I think that gamble will pay off."

Damien takes the first move and orders, "Abyssoul, Confuse Ray!" Abyssoul opens its chest and extends its arm. Reality itself seems to distort around Abyssoul.

Brenda's eyes widen. "We can't let that go through! Illusory Fire!" Wispirit summons a wall of white-blue fire between the two Pokémon, blocking the Confuse Ray from sight, and therefore nullifying it. This costs Damien some points.

Damien furrows his brow slightly. "Hydro Pump." His voice betrays no dismay or annoyance.

The flames, not being physical, provide no protection against the incoming attack, while also obscuring Wispirit's view. It has no chance to dodge and powerful jet of water pounds into it. Once hit, the wall of flames subsides. This costs Brenda a large chunk of points.

Gillian shouts, "Ooh, that looked like it hurt! Seems like Damien was able to use Wispirit's own Illusory Flames against it! This one might be hard for Brenda to bounce back from!"

Brenda says to herself, "Now's as good a time as ever. Wispirit, let's do it! Rain of Terror!"

Damien nods and says to himself, "Just what I was waiting for. Abyssoul, Rain of Terror!"

"Wiiiiiiispiiiiiirit!"

"Abyyyyyysoul!"

Brenda gasps. "No way!"

Not one, but two dark vortexes open above the stadium. From the one on Brenda's side, a cascade of light purple flower petals that blow in the breeze floats down, while from Damien's pitch-black, sharp, knife-like edges cascade down. Damien's more aggressive variant of the attack shred straight through the floating shower of Brenda's. Most of Wispirit's attack is completely nullified, while several daggers fly down towards Wispirit.

Brenda shouts "Stay out of the way!" Wispirit manages to avoid the blades the make it through.

Gillian shouts with excitement, "Wow! Two polar opposite variants of the same attack! Who could have guessed!? While Wispirit's was pretty, it wasn't able to stay out for long, and that's going to cost Brenda!" Both Brenda and Damien lose points, but Brenda loses double what Damien lost.

Ash accuses, "No fair, Damien must have prepared that after seeing Brenda train yesterday."

Brock shakes his head. "I don't think so. That move was practiced and polished. I think he had already independently discovered how to transform Rain of Terror. And remember what Blaise said? Rain of Terror is the sort of move that's a blank slate. How it is used demonstrates the essence of that coordinator's style. We already knew Damien and Brenda are opposites when it comes to styles, but this juxtaposition of the same move firmly demonstrates this immense difference. Fascinating."

Ash points out, "But that means Brenda just lost her advantage. She wasted her ace in the hole. Her gamble was for nothing…"

And this makes Brenda worried, and Damien can tell. He takes advantage of this show of doubt and orders, "One more time, Confuse Ray!" Abyssoul begins to emit the mind-bending light once again.

Brenda shouts, "Look away!" But it's too late, both she and Wispirit were too distracted to react in time. Wispirit's eyes have turned into spirals, and it floats erratically. Brenda gasps, "Oh no!"

Damien follows up, "Now we've got it where we want it. Use Hex." Abyssoul sticks its hand-head straight upwards, bearing its single red eye. And eerie distortion of shadows spreads out from the eye. These shadows then snap towards Wispirit.

Brenda shouts, "Wispirit, you have to counter that attack with Pyromancy!" Wispirit summons several orbs of fire, but they fly aimlessly about before fizzling out. The Hex attack hits its mark, inflicting massive damage to Wispirit.

Gillian shouts, "Not only was that Hex super-effective, but it caused even more damage since Wispirit was confused! And to add to that, the attack has certainly created an unsettling atmosphere in the stadium, and knowing Damien, that's exactly what he wanted." In accordance with this, Brenda's points take another hit.

Brenda looks worried. She says under her breath, "With Wispirit confused, there's not much I can do to fight back…" She glances at Wispirit. "And with that Hex dealing so much damage, I'm not sure we could withstand another… I have to think fast." Then inspiration hits. "You don't need to be able to aim to use a wide-spread move like Rain of Terror! Wispirit, Rain of Terror!"

Wispirit, despite its confusion, manages to summon the shadow vortex, though instead of opening straight above, it's off to the side of the stage.

Damien objects, "This won't go over any better than last time. Rain of Terror!" Abyssoul once more uses its own Rain of Terror, managing to adjust its vortex to open in the right place to counter Wispirit's. Just like before, the more whimsical and spectacle-oriented variant of Wispirit's Rain of Terror is shredded by Abyssoul's more concentrated and violent version. This causes Brenda's points to drop even more. She's getting dangerously low, while Damien's remain fairly high.

Damien points out, "There's nothing you can do. As I said yesterday, Ghost-Types were meant to scare and startle. Whimsical cannot defeat spooky. You might as well admit defeat."

Taking some offense, Brenda shouts, "We'll never give up!"

Damien shrugs indifferently. "Your choice. Let's wrap this up with another Hex." Abyssoul prepares for its next and likely final attack.

Brenda thinks, Even if Wispirit can withstand this attack, which is unlikely, I don't think my points will. There's got to be something I can do. But Wispirit's confusion stops me from doing anything. She clenches a fist. We've got to find a way to transform this situation. Saying that suddenly causes the solution to dawn on her. Her eyes widen. As the attack is launched at Wispirit, Brenda shouts, "Wispirit, fly straight towards the attack!"

Damien is taken aback this. "What!?"

Gillian questions, "That doesn't sound right, what is Brenda planning!?"

Wispirit seems even more confused by this order but has no time to question. It flies in towards the incoming waves of shadows, and suddenly veers to the right. Its confusion makes it incapable of flying in a straight line. This causes it to avoid the attack entirely. Damien's points drain.

Damien shouts, "No way! Hit it again!"

"Don't dodge, fly at it!" Once again, Wispirit ends up doing exactly the opposite of what is ordered.

"Keep attacking! It can't dodge them all!"

"Just keep it up, Wispirit!"

Gillian exclaims, "Unbelievable! Brenda is turning Wispirit's confusion to her advantage! Its erratic movement is making it impossible to hit! What a transformation!" Damien's points continue to drop as he continues to fail at his attacks.

Brenda grins at hearing Gillian's mention of transformation. She thinks to herself, Okay, now I've just got to figure out a way to fight back…

Damien decides the attacks aren't worth the points he's losing. "Stop the attacks!" Abyssoul lowers its arm and ceases its constant attack.

At this moment, Brenda receives her next inspiration. "Wispirit, full spread Illusory Fire!" With its confusion in effect, it's unable to focus the flames into a wall, and instead the entire stage ignites in a white-blue fire.

Damien asks, "What's your game?"

"Let's show him, Wispirit, use Rain of Terror!"

Damien instinctively declares, "We'll just stop it the same way! Use Rain of Terror!" Abyssoul's vortex opens above the illusory fire. Damien immediately realizes his problem.

Brenda smiles. "Drop the fire!" The illusory fire fades away, revealing the result of the two Rains of Terror.

Gillian understands Damien's mistake as well. "Under the cover of that fire, Damien and Abyssoul couldn't determine the location of Wispirit's erratic attack! It can't neutralize Wispirit's Rain of Terror!"

Because of this, Wispirit's flowery attack isn't immediately shredded, allowing for its full splendor to finally be appreciated. It's a wonderful display, that's visual effect is amplified by the element of randomness added by Wispirit's confusion. Also due to its confusion, Wispirit manages to dodge and weave at seemingly random through the blades of Abyssoul's attack. This visual effect coupled with the dodging causes Damien's points to drop fast. Meanwhile, Abyssoul has a nearly impossible time dodging the unpredictable incoming projectiles.

At precisely the same time, Damien's points hit zero and Abyssoul is knocked out.

Gillian proclaims, "And that's it! By an unbelievable combination of both knock out and points, Brenda and Wispirit are our winners!"

Brenda jumps up and cheers, "We did it! We won!"

Wispirit, who is still confused, babbles something incomprehensible.

Brenda chuckles and pulls out its Pokéball. "You deserve a break. Thank you." Wispirit is recalled.

Damien shakes his head disbelief. "How could this happen? How could I lose to that? Flowers?

As if to respond, Gillian shouts, "And what a wonderful spectacle Brenda gave us with the final attack! We couldn't fully appreciate it until now! That flower-filled Rain of Terror was a wonderful spectacle!"

Then a voice shouts, "Flowers!? Yes, they enact transpiration, but can they do so on the level that we have mastered!?"

Jessie and Ivine leap down onto the stage. Jessie has changed into a comical tree-suit.

All James can say in response is, "Oh no."

Jessie shouts, "Maybe if Ivine's transpiration wasn't enough for you, then take a gander at mine!" She strikes a pose with her arms straight up towards the Sun. "Transpiration!"

Machamp wastes no time picking her and Ivine up, and throwing them at Conkeldurr, while Conkeldurr raises one of its concrete pillars and swings it like a baseball bat. This sends Jessie and Ivine flying up into the sky.

Jessie shouts, "Transpiratioooooon!"

James leaps up and shouts, "Ivine!" He runs out.

Meowth sighs. "Do I really have to follow?" James rushes back, grabs Meowth, and drags him away. Meowth groans.

Brenda, Wispirit, and Frostcicle stand center stage as Mr. Contesta presents her with a ribbon. He says, "You transformed what looked to be a complete defeat into a perfect success. Your entire style has changed since your last contest. It's more focused, and your performances are the better for it. It is my pleasure to present you with the Starnight Ribbon."

Brenda happily accepts the ribbon. She triumphantly holds towards the sky and announces, "Alright! The Starnight Ribbon is all mine!"

"Frost frost!"

"Wispirit!

How marvelous! The debut of Brenda's signature style was a total success! With this fourth ribbon in her possession, Brenda is just one ribbon away from the Grand Festival! And it's looking like her new style will get her there! Stay tuned!

Jessie and Ivine hang by their feet from a tree. James and Meowth approach. Jessie shouts angrily, "Get me down!"

James yanks her down and returns Ivine to its Pokéball.

Jessie complains, "I can't believe I lost that contest. I should have had it in the bag." She looks at the tree and grimaces. "This is all your fault. You and your smug transpiration. You think you're better than me." She kicks the trunk of the tree angrily. This does little to the tree, and hurts Jessie's foot. She jumps up and down on one leg, holding her hurt foot. "Ow, ow, ow!"

In response to her attack against the tree, an angry Trevenant bursts out from the trees. "Trevenant!" It summons multiple vines from the ground, all of which are used to whip Team Rocket and launch them into the sky.

As they fly upwards, Jessie fumes, "I hate plants!" She pauses for the second to ponder something. "Wait a second, the twerpette never said transpiration! She said something completely different!"

Meowth sarcastically responds, "Oh really, I never would have guessed."

Jessie nods. "Yeah, I just realized that she actually said transportation! The secret to winning contests is transportation!"

James and Meowth groan. They say in unison, "Here we go again…"

They all say, James and Meowth less enthusiastically, "We're blasting off again!" and disappear.

To Be Continued…