IL028: Pokémon Fashion Flash

Pokémon Fashion Flash (ロコン！ブリーダーたいけつ！) is the 28th episode of Pokémon: Indigo League.

Synopsis
At the Scissor Street, Brock leads Ash and Misty to a store where his idol, a breeder named Suzie, works. Though Misty goes after her idea to improve her Psyduck's appearance, Brock and Ash believe a Pokémon should improve its inner strength first and decide to work for Suzie to get more customers for her. Meanwhile, Team Rocket are making ridiculous changes to the Pokémon, all for getting more cash...

Episode Plot
Ash, Misty, and Brock continue their travels and come to Scissor Street which is known as Breeder's Lane. Brock explains that the street is well known for its many salons and beauty parlors for Pokémon. Misty and Ash look at a poster outside one of the salons and it has a Koffing and an Ekans wearing many accessories. Debating whether or not to try to enter the Salon Roquet, as there are customers in the salon, they are interrupted by Brock, who has found the place he was looking for. Ash and Misty follow him to a store that's nearly empty and Brock suddenly becomes very nervous. Ash and Misty enter the store first and they are greeted by a woman's voice. Hearing the voice, Brock gets over his nervousness, and follows Ash and Misty into the store.

They meet a Pokémon Breeder named Suzie, who is massaging a Chansey. Misty notices a Vulpix sleeping on a chair. She walks over to it, picks it up, and gives a big hug, saying how cute it is. Vulpix is mad that Misty woke it up from its nap and burns her face with a Flamethrower attack.

Brock, who has been very quiet until now, blurts out that he would like to become Suzie's pupil. Everyone is shocked, especially Suzie. Brock explains that Suzie is a famous breeder and is his idol.

Later, Suzie serves Ash and his friends some tea and Brock gives Pikachu some food to eat. Suzie admires Pikachu's shiny coat and asks Brock if he made Pikachu's food. Brock says he did and Misty says its his own recipe. Vulpix walks over to Pikachu and sniffs at the bowl of Pokémon food Pikachu is eating. Pikachu offers some of it to Vulpix and it accepts it. This surprises Suzie, who explains that Vulpix usually only eats food that Suzie made herself.

Misty mentions the flashily dressed Pokémon they saw at Salon Roquet. Suzie sighs and explains that ever since Salon Roquet opened up, people have stopped coming to Suzie's salon and have been focusing on making their Pokémon look good, not making their Pokémon happy. Ash says that looking flashy is stupid and Misty says that even Pokémon like to dress up every once in a while. They start fighting over if it is more important to make your Pokémon happy or to make them look good. Ash jokingly suggests that if Misty thinks fashion is so important, she should take Psyduck to Salon Roquet. Misty thinks its a great idea and takes Psyduck over to Salon Roquet at once, a move that Ash just laughs at and thinks will not work out.

After Misty leaves, Suzie doubts her ways, but Ash and Brock quickly tell her that she is doing the right thing. Brock suggests a way for Suzie to compete with Salon Roquet: combine style and substance. Soon, Suzie gives a lecture outside her store on Pokémon Breeding. She explains that after a Pokémon is hurt in battle, its trainer should give it a therapeutic massage, which she demonstrates on Pikachu. As Brock planned, the lecture draws away the crowd from the Salon Roquet. As Suzie, Ash, and Brock explain how important it is to take care of your Pokémon, many of the people begin to doubt if they made a good choice by spending their money at Salon Roquet.

Meanwhile, at Salon Roquet, Jessie tells Meowth to send in the next customer. Meowth says he and James are too busy counting the money they have made. He then notices that Misty is the only customer left. Team Rocket drags her in for a makeover while she protests that Psyduck was the one that needed a makeover, but she loves the bright and flashy costumes they put her in and she asks Jessie and James to continue.

Meowth mentions how they may be able to kidnap Pikachu now and Misty realizes who the Salon Roquet stylists are. Misty yells that she will never tell Team Rocket anything, but James threatens to paint her face like Frankenstein if she doesn't. Misty notices that Psyduck has gone missing and she yells for Psyduck. Psyduck, it turns out, has gone back to Suzie's Salon, where it goes into a panic. Pikachu manages to translate that Misty is in trouble. Ash, Suzie, Brock, Pikachu, and Psyduck hurry to Salon Roquet where they find Team Rocket painting Misty to make her look like a clown.

They are shocked when they see what Team Rocket has done to Misty. Team Rocket says they are doing important beauty research on her. Meowth, accidentally lets slips that they are trying to get information about Pikachu out of her.

Team Rocket offers a trade: Misty for Pikachu. Ash refuses and challenges them to a battle. Team Rocket pushes a button on a microphone and reveals their newest invention, The Salon Roquet Battling Stage. To start the battle, Jessie and James send out Ekans and Koffing, still in their crazy costumes. Ash sends out Pikachu and Brock sends out Geodude. Brock tells Geodude to use Seismic Toss and Geodude picks up Ekans, throws him into the air, and throws him back down into the ground. Ekans turns the momentum into a spinning attack and rams into Pikachu. Ash tells Pikachu to use ThunderShock, but Ekans and Koffing's outfits block the attack. James orders Koffing to give Pikachu and Geodude a Sludge makeover, which blinds Pikachu and Geodude. As Ekans and Koffing are about to end the battle, they trip over their costumes and get all tangled up. Meowth tries to help them, but he gets tangled up too. Suzie says if you focus on only outer beauty, strength will be lost. She tells Vulpix to use Fire Spin, which sends Team Rocket blasting off, their costumes all charred and burnt from the Fire Spin.

Seeing that inner beauty is stronger than outer beauty, the crowd starts pulling off their Pokémon's flashy costumes and wiping off the makeup.

Back at Suzie's salon, Suzie thanks Ash and his friends for helping her regain her confidence. She plans to leave her salon for a while and go on a journey to discover what it really means to be a Pokémon breeder. She also says Brock is the first person besides Suzie that Vulpix has trusted, and asks Brock to take care of Vulpix for a while. Brock accepts and receives Vulpix. Meanwhile, Misty still has her clownish makeup on, and Ash has to do his best in not laughing just from looking at her. It seems he did get the last laugh in the end.

Soon, Ash and his friends are on their journey again and they wave good-bye to Suzie. Team Rocket runs past them, being chased by an angry mob of their former customers.

Character
Suzie

Pokémon

 * Vulpix (Brock's)
 * Venonat
 * Dodrio

Move
Fire Spin

Trivia

 * Meowth's Song replaced One Hundred Fifty-One as the ending.
 * Interestingly enough, Rachael Lillis, the voice of Jessie, also voiced Utena, the main protagonist of "Revolutionary Girl Utena" who dresses in men's clothes.
 * This episode marks the first time a variation of the Team Rocket's motto was used.
 * According to the third book of the "Kids Pocket Books Pocket Monsters" series, the Chansey Trainer in this episode is a homosexual.
 * This could be the first example of Pokémon Contests (most commonly resembling Super Contests in Sinnoh), as Team Rockets's Ekans and Koffing dress up (Visual), and do movements (Dance) before an attack (Acting). However, this is not confirmed.
 * The "Who's that Pokémon?" in this episode is Vulpix.

Mistakes

 * When Misty yells for Psyduck, her head overlaps James' arm. James also doesn't have his gloves on in this scene.
 * In the English Dub, when Ekans and Koffing spin their dresses to deflect Pikachu's Thunderbolt, Ekans' Japanese voice, Arbo, can be heard.

Quotes

 * "What makes her such a great breeder anyway?" - Ash
 * "Auuu. HOW DARE YOU! The sensational Suzie of Scissor's Street has been awarded the Trophy for Excellent at the World Pokémon Breeders Contest for three consecutive years. Wait, there's more. (Lights.) In addition to that, the readers of Pokémon Friends magazine named her The Most Popular Breeder four years running. And her hugely popular website records over 10,000 hits per day." - Brock
 * "Now that's what I call a great breeder." - Misty
 * "You'd better believe it." - Brock


 * "I wonder if this Vulpix has won any awards in competition." - Misty
 * "That's an fabulous question Misty. Vulpix is the hottest supermodel of the Pokémon world. Notice the gorgeous flowing tails that have made Vulpix a champ. Plus-" - Brock
 * "We get the idea Brock! Vulpix is terrific too." - Ash


 * "Shouldn't you try to stop them?"﻿ - Suzie
 * "That's like trying to stop the tide." - Brock


 * "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! Now we'll see who gets the last QUACK!" - Ash


 * "A Pokémon is like a fashion model, all that counts is a pretty face." - Jessie