Go for the Golbat (Japanese:VS ゴルバットVS Golbat) is the 29th chapter of thePokémon Adventures manga.
Plot
Arriving at theSilph Co. building,Red is barely able catch up toBlue, who is already checking every angle for an attack. Suddenly, a trapdoor opens underneath Red, prompting Blue to try and reach out for his hand. A shuriken strikes the ground in front of him, blocking him from preventing Red's fall.Koga appears behind him, laughing, giving him credit for breaking through the barrier. Blue reacts quickly, sending out hisScyther to strike Koga withSlash, but the attack is blocked by his armor. Mocking Blue for striking before appraising his opponent, his armor is revealed to be aGrimer, and envelops Scyther, followed by Blue himself. Koga admits thatlast time when they met in thePokémon Tower, he was careless enough to let Blue access hisPoké Balls, but he won't make the same mistake again. As Grimer constricts around Blue, Koga mocks him, saying that a Trainer without his Pokémon is just a normal child.
Elsewhere, Red looks around the room the trapdoor lead to, wondering where in the building he could be. He bumps into an electrified wall, shocking him, before realizing that he's completely fenced in by them on all sides. He is suddenly struck by the thought that he's experienced this same kind of shock before, as a swarm ofVoltorb andElectrode start attacking him. Remembering his past encounter, he knows it must beLt. Surge, theGym Leader and Pokémon smuggler who usesElectric Pokémon. Lt. Surge reveals himself, wearing aMagneton on each shoulder and Voltorb and Electrode on an ammo belt. He admits that thelast time they met, he gave him some trouble, but he won't go easy on him this time. He feeds the belt into his weapon, and begins launching the Pokémon at Red.
Magneton striking from behind as Electrode strikes his chest, Lt. Surge laughs and brags that the room's electricity will triple the power of his Pokémon. Red asks why a Gym Leader would want to ally himself withTeam Rocket, and he explains that there was no true power in it despite the intense discipline the position requires, and Team Rocket was able to give that power to him. He then goes over the technology Team Rocket's power was able to give him, a belt-fed launcher to increase the power and speed of his Electrode, as well as the two Magneton that useSonic Booms as a defensive barrier. While Lt. Surge talks, Red sends inPika to electrify Lt. Surge, but the attack proves futile against Lt. Surge's insulated underclothes. TwoMagnemite grab Red by the arms, keeping him in place. Lt. Surge mocks him for not anticipating the unexpected when he's on the enemies turf.
Everything in the building is designed to increase their power, he says, as we're provided a look back at Koga and Blue, and tells Red that his friend no doubt has it even worse than he does. Red takes the attacks of all the Voltorb and Electrode, mystified as to how they aren't running out of power yet. Lt. Surge begins to laugh again, telling him the source of their infinite electricity is actually theLegendary PokémonZapdos, which they captured at thePower Plant. Now his Pokémon will be eternally powerful, and tells Red that this is a true demonstration of why he stopped being a Gym Leader.
Meanwhile, Koga is taunting Blue by showing him the suffering Red is going through on through a visual in hisGolbat's mouth. Blue carefully tries to reach for his Poké Balls again, concerned for Red, but again has his movement stopped. Koga admits that it would be trivial to simply kill him now, but allows his Grimer to release a little bit of the tension so he can ask some questions. He tells Blue that he knows he'sProfessor Oak's grandson, and comments that even though they were able to capture him, he's been unwilling to help them, and asks how Blue thinks they might be able to change his mind. Blue stays silent, and Koga grabs his shirt, wondering if maybe his suffering would encourage a change of heart.
Blue looks back at Scyther, both nodding to each other as Scyther is able to break free of Grimer's grip, allowing him to strike Koga. Unfortunately hisEkans stops Scyther, and quickly slashes Blue's chest with Golbat'sRazor Wind, seemingly delivering a final blow as he slumps over onto the ground, his thoughts on his grandfather. Koga smirks, commenting that stubbornness must run in the family, looking back on his screen to see that Red is having a similarly tough time.
Major events
- For a list of all major events in the Pokémon Adventures manga, please see thehistory page.
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Debuts
Pokémon debuts
Characters
Humans
Pokémon
Trivia
- The English title for the chapter comes from the saying "Go for the gold!".
Errors
- In bothVIZ Media versions and theChuang Yi version, on page 23Blue erroneously refers toLavender Town as "Lavender City".
- In both VIZ Media versions and the Chuang Yi version, on page 27 multipleElectrode are referred to as "Electrodes".
- In the VIZ Media second edition, on page 27Red says "Pikachu... read?!" instead of "ready".
In other languages
