Crisis From the Underground Up!

**Crisis From the Underground Up!** (激走！バトルサブウェイ！！（前編） *Flat-out Run! Battle Subway!! (Part 1)*, ***Crisis From the Underground Up!***?) is the 52nd episode of Season 8 of *Guardians of Harmony* and the (TBA) episode of the series overall.

## Summary

*As Meowth and our heroes arrive in Nimbasa City, Jessie and James prepare to unleash a sinister plot under the guidance of Dr. Zager. At the remarkable Nimbasa City Pokémon Center, Meowth tells the Guardians about the local specialty, a soothing Pokémon massage, and convinces them to send all of their Pokémon into the secure Pokémon Center Vault for the treatment. Meowth then makes an excuse to stay behind while our heroes head off to explore—giving him a chance to contact Dr. Zager. It turns out Meowth is still working with Team Rocket, and his apparent change of heart when he joined our heroes was nothing but a ruse!*

*Meanwhile, the Nimbasa Subway Bosses, Ingo and Emmet, have been investigating the mysterious “Ghost Train,” which has been spotted roaming the subway system. Now, a series of events, instigated by Dr. Zager and Team Rocket, puts Nimbasa City into chaos! But Jim manages to put the pieces together: the Ghost Train sightings, the Poké Balls missing from the Pokémon Center, Kyubey and the Pokémon missing, the Power Necklsces and Harmony Gems gone, the drawbridge that leads out of town getting stuck in the open position...they’re all part of Team Rocket’s plot to pull off a huge Pokémon heist!*

*The Guardians, unable to transform without their items, take off in pursuit of the Ghost Train, thanks to Jim's and the Unovian Guardians' extensive knowledge of the subway system. But numerous decoys have our heroes—and the Subway Bosses—completely flummoxed! Will they be able to rescue their Pokémon, Kyubey, and their magical items, and bring Nimbasa City back from the brink of disaster?!*

## Plot

The Guardians and Meowth arrive at the outskirts of Nimbasa. While Ash wants to have his Gym battle, an exhausted Meowth insists they go to the Pokémon Center first so he can get some rest, and then tour around town. Nanette then suggests this to Ash. Ash, with his Gym battle being his top priority, argues that it should be first. However, Ash and Kyoko soon realize they are hungry when their stomachs rumble. Nate tells the group to follow him to the Pokémon Center. Neveah suggests they take the underground subway system as it is the fastest way to get around in Nimbasa, although Nanette suggests they just teleport. However, Nate agrees with Nevaeh and says it would be more interesting to see the subway in-person, and Nanette agrees. Nagisa is particularly excited to see an old double train carriage on display, much to her friends’ annoyance.

Inside of the subway car, Nagisa looks through the door to the subway control area with an excited look on her face. Iris asks Nagisa what she is doing and that she's embarrassing them. Nanette explains the train is run on automatic controls. All of a sudden the subway car comes to an abrupt stop leaving everyone wondering what caused it. Although not recognized at the time, the ghost train run by Team Rocket runs by the halted subway car. Neveah admits she doesn’t even recognize the model. Ingo and Emmet arrive to help get the subway car started again, with the Unovian Guardians recognizing them right away and explaining that they run the subway system as Subway Bosses. Emmet, Ingo, and the Unovian Guardians recognize each other from a previous Subway convention and become reacquainted, finding out what each has been doing since they last spoke. The Subway Bosses admit the ghost train has been plaguing the Nimbasa system for some time.

Later, they arrive at the Nimbasa City Pokémon Center. Madoka and Will remark on how big it is. Nurse Joy says that's due to it being very busy, plus it offers many exclusive Pokémon services, including massages and special baths. Madison also notes that this Pokémon Center is home to a Poké Ball vault, known to contain powerful Pokémon. Meowth suggests to the group that they have their Pokémon get these treatments, and that they themselves should as well and so should Kyubey. The Guardians, Kyubey, and the Pokémon agree, and Nurse Joy's Audino lead the Pokémon and Kyubey while the Guardians also follow them to the massage room.

While the Guardians, Pokémon, and Kyubey are headed to the massage room, Meowth remembers something he needed to do, and delays the trip while he makes a phone call. He walks into a Telephone Booth, closes the door, and calls Dr. Zager to confirm his location. Dr. Zager sends the order through to Jessie and James, who immediately action it. Dr. Zager hacks into the control for the Driftveil Drawbridge using a magical spell that makes technology go haywire, making it open and the controls break to act as a distraction for the authorities. Marina asks the Audino for a moment and makes a phone call to Aurea, and not too long after the call is made it becomes disrupted and connection is lost, and she dejectedly heads back to her massage. The Center’s security is also hacked into with Zager's same spell, allowing Meowth to enter the Pokémon vault undetected and clear it out using the ventilation system. Meowth also manages to trap the Pokémon and Kyubey and take the Guardians' Power Necklaces and Harmony Gem jewelry off, while all of them are too relaxed from their massages to notice. Underground, Jessie and James watch as the Poké Balls, the Guardians' Pokémon, Kyubey , and henshin items, pile into the ghost train, and they also have the Elements of Harmony after Dr. Zager stole them from Yumesora.

The sound of police sirens wakes up the Guardians and alerts them that something is amiss, and they notice that their Pokémon and Kyubey are gone and their Power Necklaces and Harmony Gems aren't on them, which confuses them. They approach Nurse Joy and learn that the Driftveil Drawbridge has malfunctioned. Jim is quick to draw a connection to the other strange occurrences including the ghost train, and realizes that those responsible must be after the Pokémon. Nurse Joy takes the Guardians to the vault where they discover all the Pokémon are gone. Aurea, who teleported in, sees the air vent is open and suspects someone used it as an escape. While Nurse Joy goes to alert Officer Jenny, the Guardians jump down and follow the system until they reach the end. When they reach the subway tracks, they see Meowth standing in front of the ghost train and ask what's going on. Meowth explains that he tricked them the whole time into thinking he was on their side, which causes Nanette to become furious at Elizabeth for being too trusting. Jessie and James also appear, and recite their motto. Jessie brings out her Woobat (Wendy) and has it attack the powerless twerps with an Air Slash, allowing Team Rocket to start the ghost train again. They head for Anville Town, where Dr. Zager will be waiting to take the Pokémon back to Giovanni. Jim explains to the others that the next course of action should be to go back to the control room to speak to Ingo and Emmet.

The Subway Bosses learn of Team Rocket’s meddling, and add that their automatic train system has also been hacked using magic. While all trains have been ground to a halt, Team Rocket’s ghost train is still able to use the connecting lines used to keep trains moving. Emmet and Ingo (using a magically-created lightbulb to light up the dark) quickly come up with a counter strategy, they’ll set up an ambush at a central location known as D3. Everyone goes to find the backup subway car and gets in, to be able to use that to get to the location quicker. Everyone takes their seats and Jim begins to operate the backup subway car to get them to the location. They stumble upon what looks like Team Rocket's ghost train. Ash decides to try to jump on top of the car, but it explodes gas indicating that it was a fake. The backup car is also derailed as a result. The Subway Bosses call Jim and asks if he had seen the ghost train yet. Team Rocket's ghost train passes them by. Suddenly Ingo and Emmet see numerous other decoy cars entering the Subway System, leaving everyone unsure which one they should follow.

## Major Events

* The Guardians arrive in Nimbasa City.
* The non-Unovian Guardians meet Ingo and Emmet for the first time, while it is revealed that the Unovians and Jim met them previously.
* Meowth is revealed to have been lying about being fired from Team Rocket and that his joining the group was just part of a plan to steal their Pokémon, Kyubey, the Power Necklaces, Harmony Gems, and Elements of Harmony.
* Meowth rejoins Jessie and James.
* Team Rocket successfully steals all the Pokémon from the Nimbasa City Pokémon Center (including those belonging to the Guardians), Kyubey, the Power Necklaces, Harmony Gems, Elements of Harmony, and make a getaway using the Nimbasa Subway Network.

## Characters

### Pokémon

* The Guardians' Pokémon
* Meowth (Team Rocket)
* Audino (Nurse Joy's; ×2)
* Ninja Dragonet (Nurse Joy's)
* Trainers' Pokémon (seen in the Pokémon Center)

### Villains

* Jessie
* James
* Dr. Zager

### Secondary Characters

* Nurse Joy
* Officer Jenny
* Ingo
* Emmet
* Takane Lui
* Admin Haruto
* Nora Leaffield
* Trainers
* Civilians

## Trivia

* The **Harmony Color** is not announced in this episode. Instead, the **Disharmony Color** that Jessie and James announce is **Rocket Red.**
* Unlike the canon episode, instead of a mail car since it would be too small to carry all the Guardians, the Guardians use a spare subway car driven by Jim (who is also the one to keep in touch with Ingo and Emmet while doing so since Cilan isn't part of the main cast).
* Unlike prior and future episodes in which the Guardians' Pokémon are captured, Kestin fails to prevent himself from being captured, as he fell asleep before he can do anything. This was lampshaded two episodes ago.
* It was confirmed in a made-up interview that Jim knows how to drive a train car due to his perception an intelligence, as well as the fact that he's the only one (if not counting Nina) who is old enough to drive.

### Dub Edits

* In the original, when Nonomi is furious at Nijiko for being too trusting and insisting on inviting Meowth to the group, she calls her "the densest, most molecularly compact piece of lead in the Multiverse." In the dub, Nanette simply calls Elizabeth a "bonehead."
* In the English dub, Neveah says that Nimbasa is nicknamed "battle central." In the Japanese version, the nickname is "Pokémon battle holy land."
* In the English dub, when closing in on the D3 point, Jim says that they're 500 yards away from it. In the Japanese version, he says 500 meters, which is closer to 547 yards.

### Easter Eggs

* When Rosa and Julia complain that their Power Necklaces are never going to upgrade if they're stolen, it foreshadows them upgrading to Stage 2 after they are retrieved at the end of the next episode.