Pokebattles Episode IV: A New Hope

Background:

Long ago, a young girl named Amidala Ketchum was queen of the planet of Naboorina. When her planet fell under attack by the evil Trade Federation, she saved it with the help of two brave Pokemon Masters, a hilarious and lovable alien named Jar Jar Binks, and a young boy named Anakin Bikehopper. She and Anni fell in love. Many things happened. Anakin fought bravely against Mewtwo in the Clone Wars. Eventually, Amidala gave birth to twins. But she had to hide them from Anakin, because he had turned to the dark side...

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

Pokebattles

Episode IV: A New Hope

It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won thier first victory against the evil Rocket Gang. During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Rockets' ultimate weapon, the DEATH STARMIE, an armored space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet. Pursued by the Rockets' sinister agents, Princess Misteia races home aboard her starship, custodian of the stolen plans that can save her people and restore freedom to the galaxy...

Princess Misteia's ship was attacked by the Rockets. She and her Pokemon were taken captive, and all others aboard were killed. Only two Pokemon got away in an escape pod.

They landed on the harsh desert planet of Mewtwooine, where they were captured by the Jawa-E-Puffs, a race of Pokemon who survived in the unforgiving environment by collecting stray Pokemon and selling them to local farmers.

Ash Bikehopper lived on Mewtwooine with his Uncle Mime and Aunt Jynx. He worked on thier moisture farm all of his days, but he had dreams of one day leaving to begin his Pokemon journey.

This day, however, Ash and his uncle were going to buy some Pokemon from the Jawa-E-Puffs to help out on the farm. As they approached the line of Pokemon for sale, a strange one shaped like a trash can said, "Gonk, gonk, gonk!" Ash and his uncle weren't interested in that one, though. They needed a translator.

"Hey, Uncle, what about that yellowish one and that one with the dome-shaped top?" Ash suggested.

The yellowish one spoke up.

"If you have need of an interpreter, then I'm the Pokemon for you! I am Meowth. I can speak the languages of Pokemon and humans all over the galaxy! I suggest you also take my counterpart here, Togepi."

He pointed to the one with the rounded top.

"Okay, we'll take these. Come on, you two," Ash said.

His uncle paid and they took the Pokemon home. Ash began to clean off the dust and sand they had collected. Togepi had something stuck under his shell. When Ash finally managed to pry it out, a hologram appeared. It was of a young woman with her hair bunched up in a wierd style on the side of her head.

"Help me, O-Bill Wan KePoke, you're my only hope," the image said.

"Hey, who is she? Play the whole message!" Ash exclaimed.

"Togebrriii!"

"He says he's the property of an O-Bill Wan KePoke, and it's a private message for him," Meowth translated. Just then, Ash's aunt called him to dinner, so he left Meowth to try to convince Togepi to play the entire message.

At dinner, Ash told his uncle he suspected that thier Pokemon might be stolen and explained how Togepi claimed to be the property of O-Bill Wan KePoke.

"I wonder if he means old Bill, the Pokemaniac?" Ash said.

Mr. Mime said, "Mime, Mr.Mime..."[translation] "That Bill's just a crazy old man. He's never owned any Pokemon. He just likes to study them, and he has some wierd sexual fetish where he likes to dress up as them. Tomorrow we'll take the Pokemon into town to Drowzee and have them hypnotized so that their memories are erased, and that'll be the end of it. They belong to us now."

"But what if that O-Bill Wan comes looking for them?" asked Ash.

"He won't. I don't think he exists any more. He died about the same time as your father," Mr. Mime said.

"He knew my father?!" Ash asked in suprise.

"I told you to forget it!" Mr. Mime said angrily.

Ash spoke up again. "Yeah, I think those new Pokemon are gonna work out just fine. And since you'll have the extra help around here, I was thinking I could begin my Pokemon journey this year."

"But, Ash," Mr. Mime said, "You can't leave before the harvest. That's when I need you the most. Besides, you're not ready. You hardly know anything about Pokemon. You still need to use your Pokedex to identify even the most common Pokemon, and you never even try to catch any."

"But I have a Crystal Badge from the Mewtwooine gym already!" Ash said defensively.

"You didn't actually earn that badge in a battle," Mr. Mime pointed out, "The gym leader just gave it to you as thanks for saving her dehydrated Pokemon by giving her some of the water from our farm."

Ash got up and stormed out.

"Where are you going?" asked his aunt.

"Looks like I'm going no where!" he yelled.

"Mr. Mime, he can't stay here forever. Most of his friends have gone. Remember, Gary Carswerver left last season to begin his Pokemon journey," Jynx reasoned.

"I'll make it up to him next year," said Mr. Mime.

When Ash went to look in on thier new Pokemon, he discovered that Togepi was missing! It was too dark to look for him that night, so the next day Ash set off on his bike with Meowth to look.

They did find Togepi, but then they were attacked by vicious Sand Shrews! Luckily, an old man scared the Shrews off and came to Ash's aid. Ash realized that it was old Bill, the Pokemaniac. He told him of how Togepi kept insisting that he was the property of an O-Bill Wan KePoke.

"Do you know what he's talking about?" Ash asked.
"O-Bill Wan KePoke," Bill said thoughtfully, "Now there's a name I haven't heard in a long time."

"My uncle said he was dead," Ash told him.

"Oh, he's not dead. Not yet, anyway," Bill said.

"So, you do know him!" Ash exclaimed.

"Know him? He's me! But I haven't gone by the name O-Bill Wan since before you were born."

"So, the Pokemon do belong to you, then," Ash realized.
"I don't seem to remember owning any Pokemon. Let's take them back to my place and see what we can find out."

Meowth had been hurt by the Sand Shrews, but luckily, O-Bill Wan had some potion back at his place. Bill told of how Ash's father had been a Pokemon Master. Then, he gave Ash a gift from his father.

"What's this?" Ash asked.

"It's a master ball, a special Poke ball used by Pokemon Masters. Your father wanted you to have it when you were old enough, but your uncle wouldn't allow it. He was afraid you'd follow old O-Bill Wan on some fool journey like your father did."

"How did my father die?" Ash wanted to know.

"A man named Darth Vanni helped to hunt down and destroy all the Pokemon Masters. He betrayed and murdered your father. Vanni was a student of mine at one time. I even gave him his starter Pokemon. But then he was seduced by the dark side of The Force," Bill explained.

"What's The Force?"

"The Force is what gives a Master his power. It flows through all living creatures and binds together humans and Pokemon all over the galaxy," Bill told him.

Then Bill wanted to try to check out why Togepi was convinced he was the property of Bill. Suddenly, Togepi played back the holographic message in its entirety. It was Princess Misteia, asking Bill to help her by bringing Togepi and the vital information contained inside his shell to her father on her home planet of Arcaran, so that the rebellion against the Rockets could continue.

"You must learn about The Force, if you're to go to Arcaran with me," Bill said.

Ash said he could't go, though. He needed to stay with his aunt and uncle. Bill said that Ash had to do what he felt was right.

Bill went with Ash back to his house. But, when they got there, they discovered that the Rocket Gang had blown up Ash's home and blasted Jynx and Mr. Mime to bits. ESPECIALLY Mr. Mime.

Chaos: (laughs maniacly)

So, with no reason left to stay on Mewtwooine, Ash decided to go with Bill.

They met a pilot at a bar that said he'd fly them to Arcaran-for a price.

"What did you say your name was?" Ash asked the pilot.

"Brock Solo," the pilot told him.

"Uhh, why is your name Brock SOLO?" Ash inquired.

"Because I'm always SOLO! Alone! Rejected by all women..." sob, sob, whine, whine!

"Umm, OK, well, what's your first mate here's name?" Ash tried to change the subject.

"Oh, that's Todbacca," Brock said.

"Tobacco? I could use a cigarette..." said Bill.

"No, no TODbacca, not tobacco. He's..." Brock broke off.

"Waaarrrreeeeerrrrr!" Todbacca howled.

"Uh, what did he say?" asked Ash.

"He said, 'I like to take pictures of Pokemon.' That's all he EVER says."

"I'm sorry." And Ash DID feel sorry for him.

On the Death Starmie, Darth Vanni held Misteia and her Pokemon prisoner. He tried to convice her to reveal to him the location of the rebel base.

"I will beat and torture your Psyduck if you do not tell me!" Vanni threatened. For some reason, this strategy failed to work.

On Mewtwooine, they prepared to go to Arcaran. Brock was happy to get this job, because he owed a lot of money to Richie the Hutt, whom he smuggled for. After a little battle with some Rocket troops, the three humans, two Pokemon and one THING were on their way in Brock Solo's space ship, the Millennium Fearrow.

Up in space, they had even more trouble with the Rockets, but luckily, Brock escaped them.

As they flew through space, Bill tried to teach Ash to use The Force to understand Pokemon better and win in Pokemon battles. Soon, they reached the place that Arcaran was supposed to be. But it wasn't there! It had been blown away by the Rockets. All they saw was what looked like a small moon. They soon realized, though, that it was no moon. It was a battle station! The Death Starmie! They tried to turn around, but were pulled inside of it by the tractor beam!

Once inside the battle station, they hid in thier ship to avoid detection. Then they stole some Rockets' uniforms and disguised themselves. They ventured out. O-Bill Wan went to shut down the tractor beam so they could escape. The others were just going to wait in hiding, but then Togepi sensed that Mistiea was aboard as a prisoner. Brock, in hopes of finally getting some if he actually saved a girl's life, agreed to help Ash rescue her. After many adventures too tiresome to recount here, they saved her and made it back to the ship.

O-Bill Wan had managed to shut down the tractor beam, but he had also run in to Darth Vanni. Vanni challenged him to a Pokemon battle. Bill accepted.

Vanni chose a Persian to begin the battle.

Unfortunately, Bill suddenly remembered that he hadn't trained any Pokemon in a long time. The only Pokemon he owned any more were stone drawings, which weren't very good in a battle. And so, Bill was defeated. Even worse, Bill now remembered that the last Pokemon he had caught, back in his youth, was Missing No., so now that he was defeated, all his saved data was lost and he was unable to continue. He disappeared.

Ash was upset, but they had to move on. They got in the ship and headed for the rebel base. The Rockets had put a homing device on their ship to track them, though. The Death Starmie followed them to the rebel base.

Back at base, Mistiea refused to sleep with Brock, so he left to go pay Richie the Hutt the money he owed. Ash and the rest of the pilots prepared to attack the weakness of the Death Starmie that the rebel leader had uncovered using the plans in Togepi.

They couldn't use large ships to attack because then they would be easy targets. Instead, they rode on the backs of swift, hard to hit Dragonites. Many pilots died in the mission. But in the end, Ash used The Force to communicate effectively with his Dragonite and aim his Hyper Beam in the correct spot to blow up the Death Starmie. He couldn't have done it without Brock Solo, though, who came back to help him after realizing that there were plenty of women in the Rebellion whom he hadn't asked for a date yet. The Zapados which was carring Darth Vanni on its back was sent spinning off into space by Brock's Millineum Fearrow. And so, the Death Starmie exploded. Only one escape pod was safely jettisoned from it. All the others on board died.

Inside the escape pod, a young man commented to a young woman that he'd never realized until now how awful the Rockets really were. She agreed and suggested they join the rebellion.

"But, how will we find them?" he asked.

The Rebels celebrated the destruction of the Death Starmie. Ash and Brock were given medals by Princess Misteia. Score one for the Rebellion.

Narrator: Who was in that escape pod? Will Brock ever get some? Will J+J show up? Will Team Twerp blast off? To find out, tune in to the next episode....

Episode V: The Rocket Gang Strikes Back