h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

GOOD :D

Pokemon Update:

Last episode of Master Quest. Ash isn't quite in the Hounen region yet. Kinda shocking how it only took half an hour for Ash to leave the Silver Conference, have two battles with Team Rocket, say goodbye to Brock, Misty, and Gary, get his new Pokedex, etc, and this week they take the same time to get from one region for another.

Ash and Pikachu get on a cruise ship bound for New Bark Town, where he will meet Professor Birch to register for the Hounen League. Jesse and James get a little overconfident because, as they say, now they only have one twerp to deal with instead of three. They manage to kidnap Pikachu in a glass jar, but...well, let's just day Ash was silly enough to leave EVERY SINGLE POkemon that he had with Professor Oak except for Pikachu. He has to rely on a Machoke belonging to the ship's captain and a Pigeot belonging to Officer Jenny. The first time TR gets blown away Meowth and Pikachu get seperated from the others. They come across several city-dwelling Pokemon like Skiplume, Rattata, and Bellossom, who are angry to see them. This is their turf, Meowth translates. However, when Pikachu scares away several Haunter that are bullying them around they want Pikachu to be their leader. Pikachu wants to get back to Ash, but Jesse and James find them. They shackle Pikachu and draw him to an emourmous magnet. Ash and the captain arrive and blast TR away, but Pikachu won't wake up. He's fritzing because the magnet screwed up his electromagnetic field. So Ash is in a panic as he enters New Bark Town.

He left ALL of his Pokémon?! Geez. Well, I guess he can't really get the to Oak if he's in Houen, and he needs to get ahold of the new ones, so yeah.

I wish we were still showing Pokémon - it's annoying that we're not.

Pokemon Update:

Today was the premiere of Pokemon Advance. It was the same as the "sneak peek" they showed months and months ago, but they showed the new title song and a lot of plot points made more sense knowing what went on before.

To recap: Ash arrives in New Bark Town with a fritzing Pikachu. There is no Pokemon Center here (aside: Why would you have a world-class researcher like Professor Birch in a town so small that it doesn't have a Pokemon Center?) so Ash must call Birch's lab for help. The assistant answers and says that he'll send Birch right over. And he does, in a all-terrain vehicle that must drive through forests and up and down moutains to get to the lab faster. Birch says that the magnet screwed up Pikachu's polarity. He can't release his pent-up energy as usual, so they must drain the extra energy away before Pikachu explodes. Too bad Pikachu is so powerful that the draining machine is too small to contain the energy; it blows up. A delerious Pikachu dashes out: the energy has him so confused that he thinks Ash is an enemy. Ash and Birch run after him; Birch grabs the three starter Pokemon to battle Pikachu to use up the energy. They split up: Ash finds Pikachu and Birch gets chased up a tree by some dog-like Pokemon. May comes along and Birch tells her to use one of the Pokeballs to scare the wild Pokemon away. She's a little nervous and doesn't even know the attacks (aside: One would think that all prospective trainers (Ash aside) would have to pass some sort of written exam on basic type advantages and Pokemon care to get their Pokedex) but suceeds in rescueing Birch. Team Rocket shows up with an energy-draining robot; too bad Pikachu has so much extra energy that he blows them away, frying May's bike in the process. This clears Pikachu's head enough for everyone to get back to the lab. They finish curing Pikachu, and May decides to join Ash on his journey, ostentashiously for her protection but in reality to limit her exposure to Pokemon unaided. She chooses Torchick as her starter because it scares her the least, and they head out into Hounen.

Sorry, been having trouble getting online to reply. We still ain't got it back, and I've been neglecting the game too, cos I recently got Animal Crossing which is fun! Get it (on GameCube!)

Pokemon Update:

I had taping problems last Saturday. Thank goodness that they always rerun the previous Saturday's episodes on Friday afternoon.

Ash and May are entering the first town that has a Hounen gym. May wanders off saying she has some errands to run (sound familiar?) Ash goes in and finds this kid named Max who claims that he is the Gym Leader. He's like eight years old and says he saw Ash's battles in the Silver Conference. At first he's awed, but then starts heckling Ash about only making it two rounds. He says it's gonna be a three on three battle, but Ash only has Pikachu on him at the moment. Luckily before he must admit this Max's parents come in. Max's dad is the real Gym leader, and also May's dad as it turns out. She lives here and left for Professor Birch's lab a few days ago. She explains how her bike was fried and how she travells with Ash now. Ash tries to explain why he only has one Pokemon, and May's dad agrees to battle one on one. Pikachu faces Vigoroth, this white-furred bigfoot Pokemon with sharp claws. Pikachu loses, and TR attacks again. They meant to capture Vigoroth, but Weezing has put out so much smoke that they capture Torchick instead (cute moments of Max telling May what attacks Torchick has, only to have them used against him). Anyway, everyone heads out to find TR, they blast them away and Max decides to come along on Ash's journey. His dad gives him a gadget that is basically an electronic map/GPS system.

Pokemon Update:

Saturday had two new episodes. The first one saw Ash, May, and Max walking in the forest. May wants to stop for lunch, and Max wants to keep looking for Pokemon. Ash finally agrees to take a short break, too bad all the food they have is one chocolate-covered cookie in Max's emergency stash. Before they can split it it gets stolen by a Tailow. Eating the chocolate leaves a stain around its mouth that we can use to identify it when the rest of the flock arrives. Pikachu tries Thunderbolt to scare them away, too bad Tailow ignore the damage inflicted to them until they either win or are knocked out. Pikachu just can't handle so many Thunderbolts in a row over such a large area, so he's quickly overwhelmed. Lucky thing Brock appeared and had Foratress use Explosion to scare them away. Ash introduces his new and old friends, because Brock's done with his errands and can travel again. Brock gets a pot of stew going, after some grumbling that the sandwiches he had seem to be gone. It turns out Jesse and James stole them to bribe the Tailow into helping to capture Pikachu. The chocolate-smeared Tailow comes to our heroes and wants a battle with Pikachu. This time it's more even, and Ash catches his first Hounen Pokemon. Team Rocket appears with the flock of Tailow, but Ash convinces them that TR is bad because they stole Brock's sandwiches to bribe the Tailow with. TR is blasted away again, and our heroes move on.
The second episode features Nikolai the Knickerbocker. Who uses his "Pokemon Change" technique to quickly change the Pokemon costume he is wearing to better understand the Pokemon he is studying. He is on his way to the gym Ash just left, and gets all gushy about how May and Max both wear knickerbockers too. May gets a little steamed about Nikolai's exuberance and says that she's wearing plain old shorts. He wants to battle her with his Mudkip to train for his gym battle with her dad. Torchick quickly loses, and the friends move on. Ash and Company are going to the next gym, and Nikolai is staying to catch a Zigzagoon in preparation of his gym battle. Zigzagoon are like a racoon/dog mix with brown and black fur zigzag stripes. After they beat TR again, Ash and Nickolai battle, and Pikachu wins.

Pokemon Update:

The first episode is basically about the departure of Arbok and Weezing. Jesse and James stumble across two cages full of Koffing and Ekans. They are being held captive by a poacher who is going to sell them for big profit. Long story short, TR manages to distract the poacher long enough for Arbok and Weezing to lead the captives away. It was very painful for J&J. It starts out looking like all they'll have is Meowth and Wobbofet, but they befriend a Keknia who wants to join them (it looks like a walking cactus)
The second episode involves Ash's attempts to capture a Treeko, which is the grass-type starter for the Hounen Region. This Treeko is the rebellious one of his group, identified from all the other Treeko by a series of twigs that he carries in his mouth and can spit out like a dart. He wants to save the tree that the Treeko live in, but the others feel that it's a lost cause and shoudl move on. Ash tries to help bring water to the tree and do other things to help save it, thus endearing him to the rebellous Treeko. A TR attack splits the tree, but a seed comes out, showing that the event was a beginning as well as an ending. This time Ash and Pikachu defeat the Treeko, and Ash captures his second Hounen Pokemon.

They GOT RID of Arbok and Weezing?! That sucks! I think that Ash should get rid of Pikachu then, it's not fair

Yeah, I guess it is, but at least they got a decent sendoff.

Pokemon Update:
Our heroes have stopped for lunch in the forest. They let out their Pokemon (Pikachu, Torchick, Fortress, Tailow, and Treeko) to have some lunch. Treeko isn't quite comfortable with the other Pokemon yet, so he just climbs a tree to daydream while everyone else eats. A Seviper wanders by (think a black snake with colored stripes and zigzags). He wants food, but the rice ball Brock gives him isn't enough. Treeko comes down and tries to stop him, but Seviper is stronger. They have to take Treeko to the Pokemon Center. TR sees this, and decide to capture Seviper. Too bad Wobbofet can only reflect attacks and Meowth was never that good of a fighter (and presumably Keknia is still untrained). Too bad for Seviper when he bites off Jesse's hair. She blows up and attacks herself, weakening Seviper enough to capture him. Treeko runs away from the Pokemon Center to do some training so that he can beat Seviper next time. This consists of jumping off a waterfall so that he can pick up enough speed to whack at a rock with his tail. Finally he breaks the rock, showing how his skill has improved. When TR attacks with Seviper, Treeko wins this time. Pikachu blasts them away, and our heroes continue toward the first Hounen gym.

Ah, so they get a Seviper instead of Arbok/Ekans. That's... An interesting alternative! I hope we can see these episodes soon!

Pokemon Update:

Our heroes have reached a city after who knows how long camping out in the forest. Apparently there is no gym here, so Ash falls on his everyready Plan B for What to Do in Town. Namely, he wants to eat a burger. Max and Ash decide to have lunch and then look for city Pokemon. Brock and May will restock their supplies of food, medicine, etc and then go shopping. Ash and Max find a Shroomish in an alley (think a living muchroom/pig mix). Its scared, so Max gives it some Pokemon food and a hankerchief (ostentashibly as a present, but really so we can separate it from all of the other Shroomish we're about to see). May and Brock finish shopping and find an old mansion. Suddenly the Shroomish, Max, and Ash arrive. The Shroomish runs into the house and a guy stops our heroes. This is his house, and it must be torn down. He doesn't believe there are Shroomish in the city because they are forest Pokemon, but it turns out all of the deforestation caused by the city expanding has forced them into the abandoned house. TR shows up and wants the Shroomish, but our hankerchiefed Schoomish helps Pikachu blast them away. The man says he wants to stay and play with the Shroomish, but the building must be torn down. Instead he will replant the forest here to give the Shroomish a new home.

Pokemon Update:

The first episode begins with our heroes meeting a kid at the Pokemon Center who lost to "The most powerful Pokemon in the world." Ash of course wants to challenge him. It turns out to be a Pelifer that can "use grass, fire, and electric attacks, which it shouldn't be able to do. All of Ash's Pokemon get beat, and so they leave for the Pokemon Center with Max ranting about how impossible it is. Jesse and James challenge the Pelifer, because presumably Pelifer can beat Pikachu for them. However, it turns out the trainer cheated by keeping Magby, Oddish, and Magnemite in Pelifer's mouth so that Pelifer will appear to be able to use any kind of attack. J&J blackmail the trainer into letting them use Pelifer or else they will tell everyone his secret. They proceed to take the Pokeballs from the trainers they beat. Ash and company show up thinking that Pelifer's trainer went bad. J&J load up Pelifer with a few dozen Pokeballs to make him even more powerful. Meowth says that Pelifer can't possibly keep track of that many Pokemon, so Jesse stuffs him in there too to control the Pokeballs. Ash and Pikachu were on the run from so many attacks, but then Meowth decided to soak Pikachu so Magnemite could shock him. Too bad the only water Pokemon on hand was Pelifer himself, so when Meowth ordered the attack Pelifer sprayed out Meowth and all of the Pokeballs. J&J scooped them into a net and planned their getaway in the balloon, but Pelifer popped it. Pelifer's trainer promised not to cheat anymore.
The second episode features Puchienna and his evolved form Mightienna, which are wolf-type Pokemon. Our heroes enter another Pokemon Preserve, and the local ranger, a girl who Brock fawns over (seriously, are the only occupations for acual adults in the Pokeworld professors and teachers?) tells them that they're in the Preserve, which they didn't know. Back at the ranger station they talk about how Puchienna should have evolved to Mightienna by now, but hasn't. This leads into a lecture by Professor Brock (complete with slides!) about the different kinds of evolution. Max wants to see Puchienna evolve, so he takes him out to the woods to battle some Pokemon and gain experience. J&J overhear Max, and the next thing he knows we see J&J in scientist outfits with an "evolution machine." By opening and closing a door Meowth has time to change into different Pokemon costumes to make Max think he is "evolving." Ash and company arrive and stop J&J. Then Puchienna evolves anyway.

Thanks for these updates, it's good to know what's going on in the world of Pokémon at present!

Sorry if I don't reply, I'm going to be offline until the new year, about the 5th of January. Hope you have a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thanks again for the updates, it's interesting to read what's going on whilst we're deprived!

Pokemon Update:

The Pokemon of the day was Lowtad. Basically it's a frog-ish Pokemon with a head leaf that forms a flat rim that the Lowtad can use to carry water. The gang was swimming in a lake and they found some. The local scientist girl and her sisters tell them about how special these Lowtad are because they can use Watergun (which Max is amazed that they can use). There was a little tension at first because Brock flirted with all of them, and not in equal amounts. A subplot concerns the berries that grow around the area. Some berries give energy, some boost special attack strength, etc. Brock is interested in these berries to expand his knowledge of Pokemon breeding knowledge. Since the girls help out the Lowtad they help out in the garden by carrying water in their head leaves from the lake. Brock befriends one, who follows them when the youngest girl (who wants to find a Citrus Berry to impress Brock) wanders off at night. Team Rocket appears in a motorboat and starts scooping up the Lowtad. Brock's Lowtad friend carrys Pikachu in his head leaf and they blast TR away. Brock gets his list of berry properties and a Lowtad.

Pokemon Update:

Ash and company find a pair of trainers who are doing some unusual training with their Beautifly and Venomoth. The pagent they are entering doesn't concern the power of a Pokemon's attacks, but their beauty. It's a lucky thing registration is done, or else Ash would've entered. May and Max accompany them as assistants so they can be on stage and examine the beautiful Pokemon up close. Jesse trys to enter Seviper into the pageant, but he doesn't know any of the attacks Jesse trys to order, so she's disqualified. TR then barges in with their balloon and nets the Beautifly and Venomoth. I can't quite remember how they got out of that one, sorry.

heya!

Still no Pokémon, apparently, this new TV channel we go shows it in the mornings, but I'm yet to catch it. I see we're onto contests now. Cool!

Pokemon Update:

The first Hounen gym, yeah! It was a two-parter, and so much happened that it'll take awhile. Next to the gym is the Pokemon Academy, basically an elementary school for little kids who'll be Pokemon trainers someday. Max fits right in, except for one kid who thinks Max is a little snobbish (not entirely accurate, but not entirely unaccurate either). He challenges Max to a Pokemon battle. They use the academy's specially trained Pokemon. Max wins and proves that he knows a lot about Pokemon. May finally fesses up about her fear of Pokemon and says that she won't be doing anymore battling, but will instead be training to be a Pokemon coordinator (as seen on a previous episode). By the way, Professor Oak teaches classes at the Academy via videophone. Max gushes over him like everyone else does. "Oh, I've read all your books, your poems are teh best," etc.
The gym leader is also a head teacher at the school, and her specialty is Rock Pokemon. This means that Ash will have to depend heavily on Pikachu's new Iron Tail attack. It's very powerful, but Pikachu must concentrate and he can't do it twice in a row quite yet. The new Pokemon this week is Nosepass, which is basically a large stonelike floating head with a huge nose. Even when there's a sandstorm caused by Pikachu's Quick Attack, he can use his nose like a compass to sense Pikachu's EM field. Pikachu eventually beats it, and Ash gets his first Hounen badge.

Still no luck at my end. We're still stuck showing Yu-Gi-Oh as our only anime, however, I hear that Sonic X is coming to TV soon, so then we'll have two. Wooooooow.

But yeah, a lot of these Pokémon sound familiar, I've caught/seen them on my Gameboy Advance.

Hey, you in there?