[Magmaster12]

At the end of the Fray - The battle with Tyson from the last episode continues and it's even more rushed then the last episode. Glalie and Sceptile are taken out immediately, and the rest are taken out easily as well. And yet the writers decide to insert yet another Team Rocket side plot, plus Meowth has to be established as watching from the stands. The real issue Ash has is with Tyson's Metagross. Ash manages to defeat by focusing his attack on one spot until he sends out Pikachu and it's Pikachu vs Meowth. Also Team Rocket's Meowth decides he likes Tyson's Meowth now without any explanation making these cuts to him kind of annoying. Tyson ends up winning but barely, clearly the meowth was at an advantage though since its boots prevented it from falling over. Ash takes the loss pretty well while Tyson goes on to win the entire league! Even though Ash lost he feels a sense of pride in his pokemon plus he got very close to beating the guy who won the entire league! It's going to take a lot to out do this in the next league. Even though it was rushed the battles in this episode were still pretty good, Meowth vs Pikachu and Metagross were what really grabbed my attention.

4.5/5

The Scheme Team - The episode starts with everyone going separate ways back home, we see Morrison and Tyson one last time. Max and May split ways with Brock and Ash but promise to stay in touch. Team Rocket also goes to the HQ and Giovanni does not care about what they witnessed from Team Aqua and Team Magma and that they're partially why they disbanded. There next assignment is Antarctica and oh man I wish they went through with that, however they run into Cassidy and Bultch on a special assignment even though if you've been following Pokemon Chronicles unlike me you'd now they are just as pathetic as Jesse and James now. Also they get pogo sticks, heh that's pretty funny. We then get a random scene with May and Max at home after which Brock and Ash split ways with Brock admitting this was the best journey ever. Despite being apart briefly Ash finds out he already misses everyone and starts heading home. He passes by the Viridian Gym and runs into an agent Scott only to run into Agatha who is currently the gym leader. It's not revealed why Giovanni is no longer gym leader but honestly in the context of the anime the head of Team Rocket also being a gym leader makes no sense anyways. Ash decides to battle Agatha who hasn't had a challenge in a while so it's his Pikachu against her Gengar. While Ash looses Agatha and Scott are both impressed and Scott reveals she's a member of the Elite Four. Scott tells Ash about the Battle Frontier and it basically works like the Orange Islands, same as any other league but with only one final boss instead. Team Rocket then shows up with a new motto to steal Pkachu however Agatha and Pikachu easily take care of them. A lot happens in this episode but it all feels really natural even with all this set up we even see Ash come home and Misty is present yay! Misty also an Azurill to replace Togepi er Tracey's Marill layed an egg apparently. Also Max and Birch have also arrived, err yay!

5/5