IL031: Dig Those Diglett!

Dig Those Diglett! is the 31st episode of the Indigo League season.

Episode Plot
Ash, Brock, Misty are lost in the mountains. They hear an explosion in the distance and they run to where they heard the explosion. Ash and his friends see several semi trucks in a pile up. A construction worker tells Ash and his friends that they were building a dam in the area, but a group of Diglett and Dugtrio are destroying the construction and the project has been forced to stop.

The worker tells them that the person who gets the Diglett to leave will get a big reward. Gary appears along with four buses full of trainers and says he will solve the problem. He tries to send out one of his pokemon, but his pokemon refuses to come out of its PokeBall. Ash tries to send out his pokemon, but he has the same problem. He asks Pikachu to battle the Diglett, but Pikachu refuses. Other trainers who are also there, try to send out their pokemon to battle the Diglett, but every one of their pokemon refuse to come out of their PokeBalls.

Meanwhile, Team Rocket decides to steal the trainers pokemon, but James realizes that they won't have much of a chance with Ekans and Koffing. Jessie and James start crying because they can't figure out why their pokemon won't evolve. Suddenly, Ekans and Koffing start evolving.

Back at the construction site, Gary realizes that its impossible to stop the Diglett and he and all the trainers except Ash and his friends leave. Ash asks Pikachu why he wouldn't battle the Diglett. Pikachu points to one of the Diglett, who had just stuck its head out of the ground, and Ash and his friends start chasing it and the construction worker tries to whack the Diglett with a mallet.

Ash and his friends chase the Diglett to a forest. In the forest, many Diglett and Dugtrio are planting plants. Ash and his friends realize that buliding the dam would make the forest hard to live in and it would destroy the work the Digletts and Dugtrios are doing. That's why all the pokemon refused to fight the Diglett.

Team Rocket appears and they are extremely happy because Ekans and Koffing have finally evolved into Arbok and Weezing! Pikachu uses Thunderbolt, which Arbok dodges. Arbok digs uderground, followed by Weezing. For a minute, nothing happens and then suddenly Arbok and Weezing come up out of the ground beaten and bruised by the Diglett. They crash into Jessie and James, who crash into the foundation of the dam.

When the construction company learns of what the Diglett and Dugtrio are doing, they agree to stop building the dam. Ash and his friends set off looking again for Fushia City.

Debuts

 * Jessie's Arbok
 * James' Weezing
 * Diglett
 * Dugtrio

Trivia

 * This is the last episode where Nathan Price voices Meowth before passing the torch on to the late Maddie Blaustein.
 * This is also the last episode we see Jessie's Ekans and James' Koffing.
 * The construction director tried to get rid of the Diglett by hitting them with a hammer. This is a fashion similar to the game "Whack-a-mole."

Quotes
~Brock after he, Ash and Misty emerge from the water in their swimwear.
 * "Ash, uh shouldn't we put some clothes on?"