030 - Rescue Moltres! The Final Showdown!

'''!!!!! HEY TRAINERS, THERE BE MAJOR SPOILERS HERE!!! AND I DON'T KNOW HOW TO MAKE SPOILER HEADERS YET!!! THIS IS YOUR FINAL WARNING! !!!!!'''"'Crisis mode: activated.'"

Episode Summary
The first leg of Rose and Coblat's journey ends here! With time running out, they must act fast to save Moltres from the Rocket's Ultra Secret base. But things are much more complicated than that and emotions are running high. Can they save Moltres and Victor? Will they defeat the Rockets? Join Jake, Josh, and Alan in the Act One finale of Pokemon World Tour United to find out!

Episode Synopsis
Immediately after leaving the elevator in the Top Secret Base, Rose and Cobalt make a beeline for the base's exit. On their way out of the mansion, they steal all of the files left on the long table.

They immediately run south, to the Pokémon Center. Rose notices a set of heavy footsteps entering the Center, which are heavier when leaving–as if they were carrying something...or someone.

As they enter the Pokémon Center, Rose and Cobalt are immediately assaulted with a wave of Jigglypuff's Sing. They plug their ears, and see that everyone in the Center, except the attending Chansey, is fast asleep. The Sing audio turns out to be coming from a boombox emblazoned with the Team Rocket logo; Cobalt shuts it off while Rose runs to check on Victor. Cobalt wakes up the Chansey, who tells him (through pantomime) that somebody brought in the boombox, turned it on, and then took off with Victor.

Rose's search upstairs confirms this: Victor's resting room has been overturned, and he, his belongings, his Pokémon, along with Sakura, Bass, and Baritone, are all missing. A 15 perception check nets Rose a note left under Victor's pillow: "This is what you get for trying to cross us. –R" When Cobalt comes upstairs, they decide to throw caution to the wind, discarding parts of their disguises and the backpack that Scramble and Treble had been hiding in. They run from the Pokémon Center, declaring, "We're gonna get our babies back."

They reach the south harbor of Vermilion City, easily finding the parked truck that hides the Ultra Secret Base. Rose has TBD turn into a pier so that they can get to the island, and after crossing, she puts the truck in neutral so that they can move it. Together, Rose and Cobalt move the truck far enough that they can access the hatch (Cobalt jump-kicks it). Cobalt notices that the hatch is, however, locked with an electronic keypad. Rose enters in Lilith's security code from the elevator, and the hatch opens, revealing a long ladder that ends in darkness. Cobalt, and then Rose, descend into the base. On their way down, they notice that the darkness at the bottom of the ladder isn't driven away by the light that Treble casts; after some deliberation, Cobalt carefully goes through the darkness; it feels like being slowly dipped into water, but he reaches the main entryway for the base. After getting a confirmation from Cobalt, Rose joins him in the main hallway.

Three Grunts guard a main door into the Base; as Rose and Cobalt get their bearings, they are approached by two Scientists, wearing black lab coats with the monogrammed R and casual clothing. Rose's 11 intuition notices that there is something off with the way that they carry themselves. When the scientists ask who Rose and Cobalt are, she angrily declares that they're from Internal Affairs, but her 15 guile isn't enough to get out of the conversation. She reams out the scientists for the moved truck and open hatch, and for their inappropriate footwear. Rose bluffs her way through the rest of the conversation, with Cobalt glaring at the Scientists when they mention that they don't believe in loving their Pokémon. The Scientists direct Rose and Cobalt down a set of stairs, telling them to wear their ponchos.

The next room is a large cavern. There is a U-shaped deck above a cliff surrounding a pool of water, dotted with Rocket Scientists holding computers and laptops and taking measurements; the pool of water holds four Gyarados, who are continuously using Waterfall to contain Moltres. There is a waterfall at the mouth of the U-shaped deck, with a small island at its base and a platform at its top. With their 3 and perception checks, Cobalt and Rose respectively notice that the platform has several Scientists, two shadowy figures, and a bound Victor, and that Victor is breathing. None of their Pokémon are in sight.

As they walk around the deck, Rose has Scramble hand her some fake glasses and the Operation TABB notes; the notes mention that Team Rocket had initially planned on capturing all three Legendary Birds, making them fight to summon Lugia. They captured Moltres in his habitat outside of Victory Road; the plan had been to keep him subdued with Jigglypuff's Sing, but then resorted to using Gyarados to douse Moltres. As they walk, Rose mutters to Cobalt that they have a "Code Brian" with the Gyarados. Cobalt starts to get angry.

One of the Rocket Grunts approaches Rose and Cobalt; after Cobalt fails an intimidation check, Rose flirts with him to get directions around the cavern, and Cobalt successfully fakes him out with a second intimidation check. As they pass a group of two Scientists, they overhear them talking about how successful the plan has been, and asking what they're supposed to do with the "spares." Cautious, and with a 10 perception, Rose notices that one of their clipboards has "Cubone? Nidoran? Bulbasaur?" on it, with the "Bulbasaur" circled. Rose immediately points this out to Cobalt; together, they push the two Scientists off the cliff, but after Rose grabs the first one's clipboard. The Scientists fall off the deck and into the pool.

Complete silence falls over the cavern, and all eyes are on Rose and Cobalt. With their 7 and 10 guiles, Cobalt and Rose cover it with "Trish, take note: very unsafe conditions," and "Very slippery." Rose scans the clipboard, and sees their Pokémon listed under the heading of "Spares." Baritone and Bass are marked "to be disposed of," and Sakura is marked with "Intriguing, put on sub." They continue their walk around the deck; there is another cluster of Scientists in front of them, and one of the Scientists goes to assist the two who "fell" in the water. Rose and Cobalt talk to the second one, warning them about the slippery deck; Rose asks where to find the "spares." The Scientist gloats over how Rose and Cobalt don't know what happens with "disposal" of Pokémon; when they become agitated, the Scientist tells them, "Well, have you ever seen a Cubone swim?" and gestures towards the island, where Rose is able to see a bound, gagged, and blindfolded Baritone, and the rest of their missing Pokémon tied up at the top of a ladder. Enraged, Cobalt pie-faces the Scientist off the deck.

Disregarding every ounce of secrecy, Rose and Cobalt rush towards the platform where Victor is. As they run, Rose hears a grinding noise, and sees a Gyarados-shaped submarine breach in the pool. As they reach the platform, Rose and Cobalt are greeted with two new Scientists and the shadowy figures. The figures clap sarcastically, saying, "About time...and nice hair." Rose intimidates the Scientists into scramming, and they make a hasty exit. The two figures exchange glances, and say, "For old times's sake?" But before they can say anything more, Rose tears away her Rocket uniform to reveal her classic outfit from 001, and Cobalt spins into his normal outfit. Together, they declare, "Prepare for trouble—and make it double!" and square up against the figures. The figures–Rocket Bosses Jessie and James–say "Aw, they stole our lines," and begin to say their trademark motto, but are quickly interrupted by Bango's Ember and Treble's Tackle, directly attacking the Bosses. Jessie and James look at Rose and Cobalt with new eyes, and ask, "You know what Team Rocket's good at? Blasting off again," before making a dash for the sub.

As they run, Rose hears Sakura screaming, and removes Scramble from her backpack, pointing her at the departing Bosses. Scramble uses Metronome as Mist Ball, which blasts a hole through the Smoke Screen that James's Weezing puts up. Rose sees Jessie and James perched on top of the submarine, and James painfully clutching Sakura.

Meanwhile, Cobalt runs toward the bound Pokémon. The Rocket is on the small island below; Cobalt releases Serenade, sending them to float in the water below, and jumps off the cliff with a 19 survival, landing on top of the Rocket. Serenade catches Baritone.

By the submarine, Jessie and James taunt Rose with "Any last words?" before Rose orders a Vine Whip from Sakura and sends out Pepper, pointing at the Rockets. Sakura whips James with her thorny vines, and in shock, he releases her. Pepper teleports to the submarine, grabs Sakura, and then teleports back, thoroughly dumbfounding the Bosses, who leave in the submarine as Rose hugs her Pokémon.

Rose then sends Bango and Scramble to free the bound Pokémon; among them are a Geodude, a Mareep, Bass, and Biscuit. The others are fine, but Biscuit is not moving; Rose carries them over to Victor, where she returns them to their Pokéball. Rose makes a medical check on Victor; he is drugged and poisoned, but stable, with some kind of puncture wound on his neck. After making his way up the ladder, Cobalt is reunited with Bass, and he rejoins Rose and her Pokémon. Seeing Victor, with a 15 in Pokémon Knowledge, Cobalt is able to guess that it was Arbok poison, a neurotoxin that paralyzes their prey; Rose sprays Victor with an Antidote, to little effect. As a remedy, Rose has Sakura use a very tiny Leech Seed on Victor's wound; with a 12, it is successful in leeching some of the poison from his system, and he breathes easier.

The clipboard/data pad that Rose stole begins beeping; when she checks it, the screen shows "TERMINATE OPERATION." Rose and Cobalt hear the Rocket Grunt that Cobalt landed on mutter, "Gyarados...get 'em." The Gyarados turn away from Moltres; however, instead of attacking Rose and Cobalt, they attack the squished Rocket Grunt. Moltres's wings reignite, and he screeches joyfully. "Any way you think we can hitch a ride on that?" Cobalt asks, and Rose responds with "ONLY ONE."

Feverishly, they return all of their Pokémon except Bango and Treble, who will be immune to Moltres's heat; Rose releases Nightlight from their Pokéball, and after loading Victor and his backpack onto them, sends Nightlight out of the base with an Extremespeed. Cobalt recovers Baritone's club from Victor's backpack as Rose asks Moltres if they can hitch a ride. In response, Moltres screams and releases an intense stream of fire at the ceiling, burning a hole in it and causing molten rock to drip down into the pool. Rose commands the Gyarados to leave, which they do, and Rose and Cobalt brace themselves before jumping out towards Moltres's talons. Rose's 10 athletics is almost not enough, but with his 16 survival Cobalt manages to get them both securely onto the Legendary's feet.

As the ceiling breaks open, and natural light pours in, Moltres launches from the underground cavern. As they climb above Vermilion City, both Rose and Cobalt decide that it's the perfect time to take pictures of Moltres, and manage to get some good ones. They fly northward, over Vermilion City, and Pewter City, and Cerulean City, and Kanto in general, making a majestic loop before landing on top of the Pokémon Mansion, where Articuno and Zapdos are perched.

After a moment, Moltres bows to the two. Articuno also bows, and Zapdos merely discharges some electricity without directing it at the humans. Rose thanks the Birds, and Moltres plucks two feathers, giving one each to Rose and Cobalt. After bestowing the tokens, the Legendary Birds alight from the Pokémon Mansion, dancing together in the sky. Their dance causes the heavy cloud layer over Kanto to evaporate, and the sun finally emerges as the Birds vanish into the distance.

Rose and Cobalt happily collapse onto the roof. "Oh, I hope there's a hatch up here..." he says, and Rose responds with, "We'll figure it out."

Cast
Alan Sells as GM/Victor/Everyone Else/Everything Else

Jake Mason as Rose Jenny

Josh Nichols as Cobalt

Trivia

 * This is the first episode where the main actors were all in one location. There was much rejoicing.  As a treat, Alan brought the real-world equivalent of Friendship Jerky.
 * The closing lines of the episode are a callback to Rose and Cobalt starting their journey together, back in 001.
 * Jake promises to try not to swear anymore.
 * They joke that the next season will be "bigger, badder, wetter stunts, bigger hair," and that it will be set in the 80's.
 * Possible page quotes that didn't make the final cut include:
 * "Time to do some crime."
 * "[Today] is a red-letter day, and that red letter is an R."
 * "When did this podcast become about murder?"
 * "Do you remember the first episode of the show, where a computer mispronounced my name as Carl, and now I'm riding a frickin' Moltres out of a cave into the sunset?"