— (Japanese: ロケット団VSプラズマ団! (前編), Hepburn: Team Rocket VS Team Plasma! (Part 1)) is the skipped 23rd episode of Pocket Monsters: Best Wishes! of Pocket Monsters: Best Wishes!.
Episode plot[]
Ash and co. are headed to the Desert Resort accompanied by Professor Juniper in the helicopter piloted by Officer Jenny to help solve the mystery regarding the situation with the Venipede. Team Rocket, meanwhile, has arrived in a hovercraft piloted by two Team Rocket members in black uniforms. In the center of the desert, a large pit has been made into an excavation site. In the cockpit of the aircraft, a reporting device shows that the earth's energy is being twisted. The point that the energy is focused in is the excavation site. All of the members of Team Rocket are waiting to get in on the act.
Team Rocket's hovercraft lands in the desert. Giovanni and the other Team Rocket members meet to discuss the plan to find the Meteonite hidden somewhere underground within the Desert Resort and bring it back. Giovanni tells them this will be the start of their mission. Giovanni and members of Team Rocket descend the stairs and Zager brings up the ancient civilization that it belonged to according to the excavation equipment, and that they had discovered a huge building underground there. They then head into the entrance. The heroes are seen in the helicopter piloted by Officer Jenny. Officer Jenny and Professor Juniper notice the excavation site in the distance and Cilan suggests this is probably why the Venipede were fleeing. Juniper replies that the energy is indeed coming from this direction.
Meanwhile, Team Rocket is inside the Relic Castle, looking at the structure, and Zager notes that the ancients who once lived may have been using the Meteonite as a source of energy, and Giovanni vows to revive the techniques those people possessed. Officer Jenny is looking through a pair of binoculars and identifies Team Rocket. Ash takes a look and notices them as well. Meanwhile, Team Rocket is still on their mission, with Jessie holding a search device with a meteorite from Nacrene City's museum. They intend on using it to pinpoint the location of the Meteonite. A response pops up from the search device that Jessie is using and indicates the Meteonite is present within the vicinity. The meteorite lights up and a beam of energy hits the floor, with the pulses of energy spreading.
Waves of irradiation flow from the excavation site to the desert. Juniper notices the reaction and states that the energy that upset the Venipede must have come from here. As Pikachu turns around to look behind him, a destructive beam from above the ground destroys the helicopter and an alarm goes off, forcing Officer Jenny to make an emergency landing. The beam is revealed to have come from a Liepard owned by a few Team Plasma grunts.
Nearby, once the helicopter makes an emergency landing, Officer Jenny requests emergency assistance and the heroes see the broken tail of the helicopter, with Ash suspecting this is Team Rocket's doing. Officer Jenny says this is possible and that they need to approach carefully. Juniper sees no reaction from the Pokémon in the desert, and it's suspected that the Pokémon all fled as there are normally many Ground-type Pokémon here. After the energy from underground starts to spread again, Ash, Iris, and Cilan decide to go but Juniper says they have to approach carefully. Both Jenny and Juniper sink into the sand and fall into a pit, landing in a room on the floor below. The heroes turn around and end up falling in as well.
The ceiling crumbles as they fall down the sand. Juniper finds that they are inside the ruins, and Ash tries to get them out with Snivy's Vine Whip but the beams from the meteorite device pulse again and the waves of light vibrate, causing the sand to fall rapidly. Officer Jenny and Juniper decide to wait for help while Ash and the gang pursue Team Rocket to see what they're up to. Inside the Relic Castle, the pulsing in the floor continues and James notices something large resonating with the meteorite's energy. As Zager puts in the last of the pillars in the ground around the altar, the stone in the floor divides into four parts and reveals a giant hole with strong light protruding. The Meteonite appears on the platform, and Giovanni declares that the sun is going to be theirs.
In the underground, Officer Jenny and Juniper are stuck until a rope hangs before them from a mysterious man who goes by the name Looker. Jenny asks who this man is and he presents his identification badge. Meanwhile, the gang is looking at the excavation site from a small hill. There are three Team Rocket members watching, so Iris suggests using Pansage's Dig to get closer. Pikachu turns around and is surprised to see the Sunglasses Krokorok looking at him.
Krokorok and Pansage work together to dig a tunnel. Meanwhile, in the desert, a dune buggy is parked and Officer Jenny and Juniper look at Looker's identification. He explains he is going after a different organization and promises to tell them about it. Underground, Krokorok and Pansage smash into a wall and as the sand falls, it's shown to be made of bricks. Since they can't dig any further, they decide to go directly up. The gang climbs out of a hole and Pansage and Krokorok hide behind the wheel of an aircraft, with Ash, Iris, Pikachu, and Cilan looking up at it. Ash silences Iris saying they don't want to get caught, and Cilan notices it's the big helicopter from before. Cilan says they have to do something about the Team Rocket guards, after which Krokorok makes a leap forward.
Inside the Relic Castle, Jessie and James face a gun-like device at the Meteonite and shoot it. A drill-like bit expands and latches onto the Meteonite. Zager measures the energy. Back with the gang, Krokorok stands behind a guard and chomps on his leg. As another guard tries to pry Krokorok off, Ash and co. come rushing towards the pit when a third guard comes over. The gang run to the open hatch of the special helicopter and climb inside the aircraft. Meanwhile, Team Rocket is continuing to collect the energy from the Meteonite. Inside the special helicopter operated by a Team Rocket pilot, the hatch is shut and locked and they begin flying. The ceiling opens up and they witness a giant mechanical hand. The special helicopter is flying over the excavation site, where Krokorok has escaped the guard and digs into the ground. The giant mechanical hand reaches through the hole in the ceiling of the Relic Castle and grabs the Meteonite.
In the desert, Looker is driving the sand buggy with Officer Jenny in the passenger seat and the energy has disappeared, meaning there's no response from the Pokémon anymore. The special helicopter's mechanical hand brings the Meteonite to the cargo area and the gang notices it. Back with Team Rocket, Zager notes that the Meteonite has been stabilized and Zager and the three Team Rocket guards hop aboard the special helicopter. From the desert, Looker, Officer Jenny, and Professor Juniper notice the special helicopter and chase after Team Rocket. Inside the cargo area of the special helicopter, the Meteonite is discharging sparks and Pikachu's cheeks are discharging electricity in the same pattern. When the Meteonite and Pikachu spark again, the spark comes through the cage of light the Meteonite is enclosed in and hits Pikachu. Pikachu is hit by a shock wave that sends him crashing to the ceiling, and then hitting the floor. Pikachu suffers as his whole body is sparking.
Zager takes a look at the alert on the Meteonite monitoring screen. Back in the cargo area of the helicopter, Ash holds onto Pikachu and tells him to hang in there. Cilan thinks that Pikachu's energy and that of the Meteonite have synchronized. The door in the wall unlocks and Ash and co. try to hide themselves from view. When Pikachu's cheeks spark again, a Team Rocket guard notices and Ash asks to take care of Pikachu while he draws the guard away. Ash says he and his Pokémon ended up boarding the helicopter carelessly and the guard drags him away while Cilan and Iris watch. The guard locks him in a storage room, while Zager asks him to keep Ash locked in there until they're done.
An amusement park appears in the desert and the special helicopter quickly descends to the ground near the landing spot on the roof of the Desert Hotel. Iris and Cilan jump onto a container truck, while a helicopter lowers its container car onto it. The truck takes off towards the hotel, and the helicopter ascends to the helipad. Iris and Cilan notice a neon cord dangling from above and jump out. Iris grabs the cord, holding Pikachu, and Cilan follows but crashes into the foliage.
In a hall, Giovanni addresses a gathering of people and introduces the Meteonite, which is surrounded by a cage of light and rises up from below the stage. Zager activates the Meteonite, causing it to glow in response to a spark from his remote. The audience is excited, and the Team Plasma members recognize the power of heroes. Meanwhile, Ash has his hands tied behind his back, and the guard is glaring at him. Ash looks around anxiously, and the guard tells him to settle down until their big event is over.
In the hall, Looker and Juniper, wearing elaborate masks, discuss the possibility of the organization they're after being present. Meanwhile, Giovanni continues his demonstration of the Meteonite's energy levels. Juniper accidentally bumps into a masked waiter, who is actually Cilan. They briefly chat before Looker approaches and asks about Ash's whereabouts. Giovanni increases the Meteonite's energy even further as Zager presses buttons on the console.
In the courtyard, Pikachu begins to emit strong light and opens his eyes wide open. In the hall, Giovanni presents the Meteonite to the audience and proposes a partnership with Team Rocket to control its immeasurable power. Meanwhile, three Team Plasma members in the audience disagree and express their belief that the power should be used by the right people. Looker, Juniper, and Cilan observe the situation, while Ash remains captive with a sparking Pikachu. Team Rocket's scheme continues and a mysterious organization has their eyes set on the Meteonite.
Trivia[]
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「リゾートデザートに現れる影!」「ナゾの組織がついに動き出す‼」
- This episode was originally intended to air on March 17, 2011 but got postponed indefinitely because of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. Although TV Tokyo has stated that unlike a Ruby and Sapphire episode that was canceled entirely, it would be broadcast and that it would be announced on the site when decided, such broadcast has never occurred, and since then, the promise to air the episode was deleted from their website along with the deletion of all episodes and summaries from Pocket Monsters: Best Wishes!.
- As of "Team Plasma's Pokémon Power Plot!", the events of these episodes were rewritten out of continuity.
- According to Tom Wayland[1], The Pokémon Company International and the English dub's production staff at DuArt were sent both this episode and "Team Rocket vs. Team Plasma! Part 2" from Japan and he has therefore seen them, although the episodes were not dubbed as a result of them never airing in Japan to date. According to him, this decision was made by TPCi, not him or DuArt.
- This is contrary to what happened with "An Undersea Place to Call Home!," where an early June 2014 schedule confirmed that the episode was already dubbed and sent to Cartoon Network with a planned U.S. air date of July 5, 2014 prior to Japan's decision to skip it over.
- This episode's original Japanese script, along with the following one's, surfaced online in May 2023.
- The aforementioned script reveals that this episode was originally titled 悪の組織集結・リゾートデザート An Evil Organization Gathering: The Desert Resort as a tentative title used during production. The script does not distinguish this episode as "Part 1", and the following episode's script uses the episode's final title.
References[]
- ^ VanWayland [@VanWayland] (2013, May 15). "@Mathius6 I've seen those eps but we haven't dubbed them. Those kind of decisions are all up to TPCI, not me or DuArt." [Tweet]. Twitter.
