IL012: Here Comes The Squirtle Squad

Here Comes the Squirtle Squad is the tenth episode of the Pokémon anime series, except in the United States, after Battle Aboard the St. Anne was broadcast as the first episode. The episode was first broadcast in Japan on June 7, 1997 and in the United States on September 23, 1998.

Episode Plot
The episode starts with a small recap of Ash catchingBulbasaur and Charmander. Ash was feeling very confident and he hummed the Red/Blue theme as he,Misty, and Brock walked down the road.

They all fall into a pit and immediatly think Team Rocket dug it. But they didn't, a group of sunglasses-wearing Squirtles dug it. They stare at Ash and his friends and laugh.Pikachu used ThunderShock, but one of the Squirtles( most likely the leader) defended the other Squirtles.

A battle started, Pikachu aganist the Squirtle that was the leader. Suddenly, sirens started going off and the Squirtles grabbed their hurt friend and ran off.Officer Jenny quickly appeared and Ash thought he had met her before. Officer Jenny told him that all of the Officer Jennys were related, they all look alike, and they are all named Jenny.

At the police station, Officer Jenny explained that the group of Squirtle they met call themselves " The Squirtle Squad ". The Squirtle Squad were abanoned by their trainers and they pull pranks on people.

A little ways away, Team Rocket was watching Ash and his friends.Jessie was focused on catching Pikachu, but James andMeowth only wanted to get some food, making Jessie hit them. Soon Jessie realized that she was getting hungry too and pulled out a picnic basket, which cheered James and Meowth up.

They noticed that the Squirtle Squad was watching them. The Squirtle Squad's leader told them to hand over their food or else. Jessie and James said no and walked over to battle them. They quickly fell into a pit that the squad had dug.

Later, the squad was happily eating Team Rocket's food, with them tied to a tree. Jessie asked them to help them capture Pikachu, but they said no, because they said humans couldn't be trusted. Meowth thought of an idea and he explained to the squad that Jessie and James were owned by him. James got mad Meowth said to be quiet that he will explain later. Meowth said that Jessie and James were his pets and started kicked James for speaking. The Squirtle Squad bought this and untied Meowth. They let him join them at eating the food, with Jessie and James still tied up.

Far away, Misty was fishing while Ash and Brock were sitting by the river. A member of the Squirtle Squad appeared and soaked them all with Water Gun. Pikachu tried to use ThunderShock on it, but only shocked Ash, Misty, and Brock.

Ash was sick of all of this and confronted the Squirtle when it jumped out of the water. Pikachu started to attack, but the Squirtle withdrew into its shell and spun, knocking Pikachu into the water. And it was at the worst possible time, a Goldeen was in the water.

Ash yelled to Pikachu to swim to shore, but Pikachu couldn't swim faster than the Goldeen. Pikachu got hurt by Goldeen's horn and knocked out of the water. Ash ran to help, but three lassos came out, tieing up Ash, Misty, and Brock. Running around them, the Squirtle Squad tightened the ropes. Then Meowth came out of hiding.

Later, Ash, Misty, and Brock were tied up in a cave with Pikachu trapped in a cage nearby. Meowth said that he was in charge and Ash tried to convince the Squirtle Squad not to listen to Meowth, but Meowth used a Scratch attack on his face and asked the squad who would they believe, a human or a Pokémon?

Brock saw that Pikachu was badly hurt and that they would need Super Potion to heal it. Ash asked the squad if he could be let go to get some medicine for Pikachu. They refused. Ash begged and even cried to convince them. They decided that only Ash would be let go to get medicine. They warned him, translated by Meowth, that if he didn't get back by noon tommorow, Misty would get her hair dyed purple. Misty got mad at Meowth and Ash promised that he would be back by then.

Ash raced towards town and he tripped on a rock. The image of Pikachu badly hurt kept him going. He soon came to a dangerous bridge and when he was halfway across it, it broke sending Ash into the river where he got hurt from a Goldeen.

Ash finally made it into town, but he was so exsauted that he was using a walking stick. He reached out to open the door to the shop when Gary pushed it open it hit Ash in the head, knocking him unconsious.

Back in the cave, Pikachu is getting worse and Brock and Misty are worried about Ash. Meowth is worried too because Jessie and James were taking a long time to come.

In town, Ash wakes up to yelling coming from inside the shop. Team Rocket is holding up the shop with ice guns and demands all of their Flash Powder and Dental Floss. When they got what they wanted, they fired a rocket that made it snow inside the store and they ran off to their balloon.

Ash ran into the store to get the medicine and when he walked in, he had four gun barrels pointing at him. Officer Jenny stopped the people holding the guns saying that he wasn't with Team Rocket.

Ash was soon riding on the back of Officer Jenny's motorcycle and heading towards the cave. Unfortunately, they came to the bridge that broke and they were fored to take a longer route. Team Rocket flew over the broken bridge and made Flash Bombs.

Ash and Officer Jenny found another way into the cave but it was too small for an adult to fit through, so Ash went in alone. It was too dark too see, so he had Charmander be his walking torch. Ash came too where the Squirtle Squad was but they weren't there anymore.

Ash ran out of the cave where the squad was he demanded to know where Misty and Brock were and they were right there. It turns out that the Squad was joking when they said they would dye Misty's hair. Pikachu was quickly sprayed with the Super Potion.

Suddenly, an explosion happened and Team Rocket recited their motto. They threw some more bombs and dropped down a ladder for Meowth to climb up with Pikachu. Ash yelled for everyone to go into the cave for cover.

Ash looked back and saw that the squad leader had been knocked onto its back and couldn't move. Ash ran back and protected Squirtle from the bombs. Ash told Squirtle to save itself, but the Squirtle picked up Ash and ran to the cave.

Team Rocket was celebrating and Ash told them that everyone had survived. They were stunned and Ash told all of the Squirtle to use Water Gun. It blew a hole in the balloon and James dropped Pikachu. Ash ran and caught Pikachu. Team Rocket and their balloon went blasting off again.

The bombs they had thrown started a fire and Ash said to the squad that if they worked together, they could stop the fire. They did.

When the fire stopped and the town was saved, they made the Squirtle Squad their new firefighter squad.

Ash and his friends left to go to Vermilion City with Pikachu back to his regular self. Misty noticed that the leader of the Squirtle Squad was following them. Ash asked Squirtle if he wanted to join them and he accepted.

Debuts
Pokemon
 * Ash's Squirtle
 * Squirtle Squad

Major Events
Ash aquires a Squirtle

Trivia

 * Ash was singing the Pokémon video game theme near the beginning of the episode.
 * This is the second episode Ash and friends fell into a pitfall trap, only it was made by the Squirtle Squad.
 * The part where Goldeen was sneaking up on Pikachu is near similar to the same part of the movie "Jaws".
 * The "Who's that Pokémon?" of this episode is Squirtle.
 * Gary makes a cameo in this episode, though he does not speak.

Quotes

 * "No! Not another hole." &mdash; Misty
 * "Ow! I landed on my head." &mdash; Brock


 * "Someone has a bad sense of humor." &mdash; Misty


 * "With my very own Squirtle, Gary will never beat me. Go Pikachu!" &mdash; Ash


 * "My cousins are all police officers, all of us look identical, plus we're all named Jenny." &mdash; Officer Jenny about her family


 * "Talk about family resemblance." &mdash; Ash
 * "At least they remember all their names." &mdash; Misty


 * "Do you see a restaurant? I'm really starving here." &mdash; Meowth
 * "But no more pizza." &mdash; James
 * "I'm sick of pizza every meal." &mdash; James
 * "You'll never eat again if you mess up this mission!" &mdash; Jessie
 * "Can we order chinese food?" &mdash; James
 * "Or maybe some tacos?" &mdash; Meowth
 * "Am I the only member of this team who thinks world domination is more important than what's for lunch?! Now let's focus ourselves on what really matters and that's how we're going to capture Pikachu." &mdash; Jessie
 * "Now my stomach says it's time to eat." &mdash; Jessie


 * "You're threatening us? We're Team Rocket. We threaten." &mdash; Jessie


 * "Those aren't Squirtles, they're pig-les." &mdash; Jessie about the Squirtle Squad


 * "Don't ever raise your voice to me again you bad human! Bad human! Bad, bad Human!" &mdash; Meowth


 * "We gotta keep up this act until the Squirtles trust me and that's gonna take a little time." &mdash; Meowth about his plan


 * "Knock it off Pikachu!" &mdash; Ash while he's getting shocked


 * "You're not gonna Squirtle outta this one." &mdash; Misty


 * "The Squirtle says if you're not back here by noon tomorrow, the red-headed girl gets her hair dyed purple." &mdash; Meowth
 * "Purple?! Why you mangy little flea-trap! When I get out of this I'm gonna wrap your tail around that-" &mdash; Misty
 * "Misty, don't worry. I'll be back, Okay?" &mdash; Ash


 * "Just don't look down." &mdash; Ash about crossing the bridge


 * ''"These are ice packs we're gunning. I mean, ice guns we're packing." &mdash; James


 * "Cool, we're just like the supervillains from those comic books except better looking." &mdash; Jessie
 * "And even meaner." &mdash; James


 * "You wanna get rid of the Squirtle Squad, don't you? The flash powder will scare them out of town. The floss is for our teeth." &mdash; Jessie


 * "Charmander, lead the way." &mdash; Ash


 * "What've you done? I told you I'd be back by noon and I am. What did you do with my friends?" &mdash; Ash
 * "We're right here." &mdash; Misty


 * "So Misty, your hair isn't purple." &mdash; Ash
 * "Nope, I'm still a red-head." &mdash; Misty
 * "The Squirtle Squad was bluffing." &mdash; Brock
 * "They play tricks, but they'd never change a girl's natural hair color." &mdash; Misty


 * "Meowth, carry Pikachu up the ladder." &mdash; Jessie
 * "And the rest of you are in for a real 'blast', get it?" &mdash; James


 * "And so, we gratefully award this certificate to the Squirtle Squad. Thank you for saving our town from the fire. Because of your skill and bravery, we proudly appoint you the town firefighters." &mdash; Officer Jenny congratulating the Squirtle Squad


 * "Welcome to the team Squirtle." &mdash; Ash welcoming Squirtle

Images




Links
Watch this and other episodes: Pokémon Episode 12: Here Comes the Squirtle Squad