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Ash and co. have finally arrived in Goldenrod City, where Ash plans on challenging the Gym Leader for a Plain Badge. The group goes to the Pokémon Center, and Misty sees some kids, reading a book all about fortune telling, which seems to be the “In” thing at the moment. The kids tell Ash and co that some people are giving the books away free at the Breeding Centre.

Misty takes Ash and Brock to the breeding centre, and speaks to the owners, an old man and old woman. They give her a copy of the fortune telling book, and return to checking Pokémon guests into their center.

Later, while walking through the Nature Park, Misty reads her friends their horoscopes. Ash is disappointed to learn that his zodiac Pokémon is a pathetic Bellsprout. Brock is an Onix, which suits him just fine. Misty then looks up her own birthday, hoping she’ll end up with a cute Pokémon like Vaporeon for her zodiac. Then she finds out she’s a Gyarados...which upsets her to no end, and she explodes, crying, “I’m nothing like Gyarados!!!” Ash whispers aside to Brock that she’s performing her Dragon Rage attack.

Team Rocket chooses that rather inopportune moment to attack the kids, and Misty’s so annoyed that she hurls the fortune telling book at them, sending them flying!

After shaking off their injuries, the Rockets begin to page through the book. Jessie is delighted to learn that she’s an Eevee. Meowth asks for his zodiac, and Jessie snatches the book away from him, saying that he’s already a Pokémon, so he doesn’t need a Pokémon zodiac as well. Then she looks up James’ zodiac, and learns that he’s a Moltres...which

causes her to sweatdrop violently, because James is nothing like Moltres! She reads aloud Moltres’ attributes, and James decides that if he’s Moltres he’s Moltres; and like the fire bird, he’ll rise from the ashes of his defeats, and become a stronger person.

So saying, he dubs himself “Moltres-James,” and storms into the breeding center, proclaiming, “All of these Pokémon will become the property of Moltres-James!” The old lady responds by hurling him up against a wall.

Jessie and Meowth are flabbergasted, and cry, “Who are you people?!?” The old lady and the old man remove their costumes, revealing themselves to be Butch and Cassidy! They’re quick to tie up the other three Rockets, and lock them up in the storeroom, where they can’t do anything foolish, like switch sides and alert the cops. Moltres-James won’t stand for that sort of treatment, he breaks through the ropes, and busts through the storeroom door, leaving Jessie and Meowth in shock. Annoyed by their hesitance to act, he picks them up roughly, and carries them to safety.

Around the same time, Misty storms back to the breeding center, to demand an explanation for her Gyarados zodiac. She and her friends find Butch and Cassidy standing amidst a store of stolen Pokémon, in full Rocket garb. Naturally, a fight ensues. Misty, screaming at them for distributing phony fortune telling books, sends out Staryu; Ash uses Totodile. Butch and Cassidy send out Primeape and Raticate, who start beating up on Ash and Misty’s Pokémon.

Just then, the other Rockets reappear, James dressed in a Moltres costume. “Stand aside, little brats—this is a job for Moltres-James!” James sends out Victreebel, who tries to glomp him...but when it does, it receives a kick upside the head! James tells Victreebel that it may have gotten away with trying to eat him before, but he’s Moltres-James now, and Moltres-James don’t play that. Victreebel nods shakily,

and proceeds to beat up Primeape and Raticate. James laughs, and tells the other Rockets that they’ll never defeat him, because he’s Moltres James!

Butch scowls, and cries, “That zodiac was fake, you moron!” James is instantly deflated, Victreebel loses the battle, and he, Jessie, and Meowth are sent rocketing off into the sky. As he’s soaring through the air in his burning costume, James exclaims that he really is a fire bird. Jessie and Meowth just sigh.

HUZZAH! The 3rd in the increasingly inaccurately named Butch & Cassidy

trilogy! (I hope it's inaccurately named!!!) Misty sees a bunch of kids

reading a Pokemon fortune telling book, in which you look up your birthday

and see what kind of Pokemon you have the personality of, and it tells your

fortune. Plus, having a Pokemon that matches your day is supposedly good

luck. Being an astrology lover myself, I was attracted to this episode for

that reason as well. Misty takes the boys to the daycare center where the

books are being sold and buys one. Brock, it says, is a hardworking and

detail-oriented Onix. Ash, quite correctly, is labeled as a Bellsprout.

Misty, even more perfectly, is called a Gyarados. Her profile states that she

is "grouchy, irritable, with a bad temper." However true this is, Misty

doesn't like it, and it sends her into a fiery rage. While she complains

about being a Gyarados, they fall into Jessie and James' hole (how original.

Cassidy and Butch are rewriting entire astrology books so kids will leave

Pokemon with them so they can "swap them for ones that match their

personality types," when in actuality they're going to steal them, and Jess

and Jim are digging some more worthless holes. Ah, well.) Moving on. Misty

aggressively sends J&J blasting off again. They land and start reading the

fortune book Meowth picked up. Jessie is a cute Eevee, according to it.

James, on the other hand, is a mighty Moltres-type, who apparently "always

prevail and triumph, and have a personality that soars high above all

others." When James accepts that, no words are really accurate to describe

the ridiculous hilarity that he displays for the rest of the episode. He

declares to Jessie, "From now on, you will be my loyal subjects, and I will

be the Moltres-like monarch whom you will obey and revere!" Meowth goes,

"Revere you?" James then says, with infinite majesty and calm, "Correct. We

shall go to that daycare center and you shall assist me in plundering their

Pokemon! Now away!" And he marches off proudly. When they arrive, and Meowth

suggests they sneak in, James says, "Sneaking and skulking are no way for

James the Moltres to arrive. We shall hold our heads high and proudly march

through the front portal! Make way!" He goes inside and sees Cass and Butch

dressed as old people (only he don't know it's them) behind the counter. He

says that he wants their Pokemon, and they pick up him and Jessie and throw

them in a corner. "How dare you treat James the Moltres this way! Where did

you get the audacity and where did you get the muscles?" he asks. In her

disguised voice, Cassidy begins the motto. Butch, who can't do much to hide

that voice of his, joins in, and on their names, they remove their costumes

and lock Jess and James in a closet, tied up. (WHO'S THAT POKEMON: Girafarig.

Cute!!) Misty hears Brock talking to Joy about her. "She really is just like

a mean, nasty, scary Gyarados," he said truthfully. That was the last straw.

Misty returned to the center to talk to C&B about their "defective" book.

They find them talking to Giovanni onscreen, with Pokemon in cages, ready to

be delivered to him. The boss says a few things about the plan, including that

people will always spend money for this kind of trendy new matchmaking service

thing, suggesting that their customers were quite gullible. When the boss

fades out, the twerps make themselves known. Cassidy starts to battle them

with Raticate, and we see that suspicions are confirmed: the rat indeed

belongs to her, Butch has a Primeape. James is dressed in a Moltres costume,

propelled by Jessie and Meowth, who are driving the crane that holds him up.

He tells them all that his soul is the soul of a Moltres, and he prepares to

battle. He chooses Victreebel, who is kicked and forced to listen to the new,

aggressive James. When Cassidy and Butch reveal the truth, that the book is a

work of fiction, James is depressed, and remains on the floor feeling sorry

for himself while Jessie and Meowth fight. Raticate's skull bash sends them

all blasting off again, but not before Cass tells Jessie once more how

incompetent she is in Giovanni's eyes. Finally, Misty accepts her

Gyarados-like temperament and wins against Butch and Cassidy. (*sniff*sob*)

Officer Jenny comes and takes them away, giving Misty a real Pokemon fortune

book. The sad looks on Cassidy's and Butch's faces as ropes are tied around

their wrists and they are forced to go to jail are painfully pathetic. I just

feel so bad for them. Hopefully the boss will bail them out quickly.

At any rate, James finds a real book too, and the way he reacts at the end

suggests he is something like a Magikarp or another really wimpy Pokemon.

~Michelle

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