As they drive the next day, Lucario comes across the place he was trapped in the staff, and yes, it's identical to how it was centuries ago. He wonders why Sir Aaron trapped him, and just then notices a time flower that shows him yet another flashback, this time to when Sir Aaron trapped him. Yes, I guess that time flower had been there, unplucked and alive, for centuries. When the average lifespan for a flower is, what, a year? I have no idea.
Seeing that Lucario's story is true, Ash apologizes for acting exactly as maturely as Lucario had acted. Lucario makes Ash promise to never desert Pikachu, and Ash agrees so long as he can still take hot springs breaks when his friends are in danger.
You know what this tearful and serious scene needs? Flow-breaking action.
A Regirock appears and attacks everyone, and its voice literally -- literally -- sounds like SNES sound effects, with little beeps and everything. I really wish I could capture audio. Since this scene of the protagonists being in danger is obviously boring, we cut to Lady Irene, who worries for the heroes and thinks their quest might fail even though as far as she knows, everything is completely fine and Lucario can track down Mew using aura effortlessly. Lucario thinks Regirock is protecting the Tree of Beginning from intruders, but takes the heroes into it anyway because no one can protect themselves like small children can. Inside the tree is a huge lake and ecosystem full of extinct pokemon, and no one mentions this. Everyone heads up the tree, somehow knowing Mew and Pikachu are at the top, while Kidd uses flying robots to take data from the tree and send it to her computer, run by Banks (remember him?). The survey robots tell her that the rock formations are alive, and it's really driven in here that the Tree is part of an ecosystem that exists separately from the rest of the world. We learn that a Registeel and Regice also protect the tree, which begin hassling the heroes, but Pikachu hears Ash calling and starts trying to find him.
One of the crystals absorbs Jessie (they followed the heroes to find Meowth), and after the most emotionless "NOOOOO" ever from James,
Jessie is absorbed into a crystal, and honestly, there are layers of symbolism in this shot I cannot even begin to analyze.
I mean, there is no way that only I see that. There is no way I am the only person who sees that.
Another crystal grabs James. Banks tells Kidd that the crystals act as white blood cells and eliminate intruders, and the Tree is like a single living entity. One of the crystals grabs Lucario but lets go, and Kidd decides that "pokemon aren't considered dangerous" just before Regirock launches a hyper beam.
Ash tells the others to go while he creates a distraction, and Kidd, the adult explorer, enthusiastically agrees. Lucario refuses to leave Ash until he has Pikachu, however. I like how this is all for Pikachu, as if Ash would risk being absorbed by a magic crystal to save, say, Noctowl.
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Not changing this sig until I decide to change this sig.
Started: July 6, 2005