122 - Pokémon Adventures vol. 7

Now that the first-generation arcs of Pokémon Adventures are over, James and Will talk about the all action finale. The brilliance of getting us to root for girls in what many consider to be a shonen manga. And we even talk about the Mewtwo versus Lance fight and Pikachu and friends versus Lance! Perhaps there is a bit too many people fighting Lance in this volume but overall, we get a satisfying conclusion. Skip plot summary @ 9:55

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122: Pokémon Adventures vol. 7

Chapters 79 'Airing Out Aerodactyl' and 90 'The Legend'

Art by Mato

English Translation by Kaori Inoue

Lettering and touch up by Annaliese Christman

Yellow's journey to reunite Pika the Pikachu with the Pokémon trainer Red finally comes to an end, but not before a climactic battle on a remote Island with the Elite Four.

Lorelei cuts the arm of Green only to find it was a trick Ditto in disguise, her real arm, being hidden in her jacket. The Ditto confines and arrests Lorelei and her Pokémon Jynx. Sabrina is not too happy to find that was she handicapped and partnered to a secret ditto throughout the fight, but it worked non the less. One down, three to go.

Agatha's haunter is tricked into attacking the severed body of an Arbok, which can still move even without its head. Blue can counter attack it, in turn Agatha flees as it was the last of her Pokémon. That is two down and two to go.

And Bruce, no longer influenced by Agatha's spell accepts defeat from Red graciously. Afterwards Red seeks out Pika once Bill tells him that Pika is on the island with Yellow. Now Lance is the last one left standing.

Blaine uses Mewtwo to fight Lance but having a psychic link with Mewtwo means he becomes unconscuous during the fight. Mewtwo is also unique as a pokémon since they become weaker with every passing second once out of the master ball and their culture tank. Because of this Mewtwo is not able to defeat Lance and instead retreats it's special master ball not only to protect its own life but the life of Blaine aswell. This leaves Yellow to a showdown within the heart of an active volcano, where she learns that Lance has the same powers as her. Lance also learns of Yellow too by reading Pika's mind. Both Yellow and Lance are from Viridian Forest as is their Pokémon and both have the same powers to heal and read the thoughts of Pokémon.

From Learning how Mewtwo fought previously, Yellow uses Pika's surf move to lure Lance to the lava and generate a whirlpool to trap him. Once Lance is gone, she is helped by her Pokémon and exits the mouth of the volcano. But the recess from battle is short as Lance rises from the volcano with a bubble shield formed by his Gyrados. Yellow gets her hand broken by the Gyrados' bubble beam attack, which is invisible in the bright light of the sun. However Yellow retaliates by having her caterpie form a string net, her Omanyte wets the net and and her Raticate uses it to sense any bubbles that hit it. Pika charges the wet net with ellectricity, making sure to counter attack Lance and trapping him inside it. Once Yellow senses an opening she has her Doduo attack Lance. Sadly, Doduo and the rest of her Pokémon are not strong enough to defeat Lance's. It is at this point another Viridian Pokémon user arrives to assist. Giovanni, the leader of Team Rocket, but in doing so he loses his gym badge to Lance. With Lance having all badges his master plan is active and the island becomes the altar to which it will summon a legendary dragon Pokémon. One that Lance plans to capture and use to conquer the world. In Lance's eagerness he does not realise how weak and worn out from battle his Pokémon are. In the end the powers that he summons becomes a double edged sword for Lance. Yellow's Pokémon have evolved and so she makes her last stand.

Topics:

· The climax and battles of the Yellow arc.

· Giving context as to why Yellow Caballero is revealed to be a girl later in the manga.

· How too many twists can spoil the drama if they zig zag back and forth between similar scenes, often a common flaw in shonen battle manga.

· Giovanni and his son.

References and Trivia:

· Although Lugia looks like a dragon it is in fact the highest Pokémon on the hierarchy of the Legendary bird Pokémon. It is a flying and psychic type. Lugia is also original to the second Pokémon movie (Pokémon 2000) having made their first appearance in that movie. Lugia’s place in the wider franchise came as a surprise to writer and creator Takeshi Shudo, according to this ‘Did You Know Gaming’ video, and Dr. Lava’s blog.

· Arbok’s body being able to move without its head is a real-life phenomenon seen with ...