Showdown at Linoone (Japanese: マッスグマ!友情のカタチ!?, Hepburn: Linoone! The Shape of Friendship!?) is the 21st episode of Pokémon: Advanced Battle.
Synopsis[]
When two of May’s Poké Balls turn up missing, she’s quick to place the blame on Team Rocket, but the dastardly trio—conveniently hiding out nearby—quick assert their innocence. Shortly thereafter, our heroes meet a man who explains that the true culprit must in fact be his Linoone, which since evolving from a Zigzagoon has avoided its trainer and instead gathered random items from far and wide—sometimes even taking things belonging to others. As our heroes search for the missing Poké Balls, Ash shares some of his own training experiences with Linoone’s trainer, in hopes of restoring the fond relationship that once existed between the man and his Pokémon. Meanwhile, Team Rocket drools over the prospect of gaining a Pokémon already well practiced in theft.[1]
Episode plot[]
While sailing on a ship, Ash is glad he has all eight Hoenn badges. He knows he needs to train well for the Hoenn League. May reminds him she needs to go get her final ribbon to keep up with him. Ash reports to Prof. Oak via the computer in a Pokémon Center, who is surprised and delighted to hear about Ash's eight badges. Oak knows already as soon as he tells the other residents, Pallet Town would have a big party. Prof. Oak reminds Ash he has to work well for the League and not to underestimate his opponents, which Ash promises to. Oak is glad and promises to cheer for him, then logs off. Ash goes away to train, as he tells Brock he has only three months. May decides to catch up by training for the Contest, so she begins by cleaning up her Poké Balls. A Pokémon watches her from the bush.
May has cleaned her Poké Balls up and goes to put them in her bag, but sees the Poké Balls of Beautifly and Bulbasaur are missing. She panics, though Brock and Max suspect Team Rocket is behind this. Team Rocket watches from the bush and are somewhat angered their enemies think they stole something. James is sad they did not catch anything yet, but Jessie thinks it is nice they got the blame for it. Max spots some footprints, so he, Brock and May go to find him, while the latter decides to make a payback to that thief. Ash found a good spot to train, but notices something approaching. The Pokémon sends him and Pikachu flying away. Ash sees it is a Linoone, and a very fast one. Ash also noticed its face was somewhat fatter as well. By accident, May stomps on Ash. The latter reports a Linoone ran over with big cheeks, so May knows Linoone must be the thief. Brock remembers that Linoone usually run in a straight line and Max confirms this fact. This makes May even more determined to face Linoone. They reach a house where Linoone's footprints end. However, May claims it is Linoone's hideout.
Inside, a boy throws an old Poke Ball. The heroes ask him if he saw a Linoone nearby, so the boy starts apologizing, as Tokin, his Linoone, again stole the Poké Balls. The boy's parents come, greeting the heroes. The family introduces themselves: son Kimmy, mother Harmony and father Calvin. Kimmy takes them to a place with many round objects Linoone has gathered. Kimmy explains he threw Tokin, when it was a Zigzagoon, the Poké Ball to let Tokin fetch it. However, when it evolved into Linoone, Tokin started to hoard round objects, even from other people. Kimmy tried to explain stealing was wrong, but Tokin kept on hoarding stuff. Ash remembers his Charizard, for Ash told it that Ash also worked as hard as Charizard. Charizard showed more respect to Ash after that event, even if Max reminds Ash Charizard can launch a Flamethrower at Ash. Brock claims Kimmy and Tokin need more time to learn to appreciate each other. May searched the stash and did not found her Poké Balls. Kimmy replies that sometimes Tokin places stuff at the mountains.
However, the heroes are very surprised to hear that Tokin could have hidden the Poké Balls anywhere in the trees. May doesn't feel good, but Calvin and Harmony promise to search as well. While everyone is searching, Harmony found her ring, making her and Calvin very happy, who claim love made them find the ring again. Pikachu found something, but May is terrified to have a bone in her hands. Max tells Ash he is holding a Thick Club and explains if Marowak or Cubone have that item, they become more powerful. Also, Ash finds a Soothe Bell, which makes the Pokémon able to deal more attacks. Also, Brock finds the Dragon Fang, which is good for a Pokémon that use Dragon-type attacks. Brock notes these are all rare things to find. May is still in despair, but Brock promises they'll find her Poké Balls and recalls Linoone has the Pickup ability, that makes it find some stuff around. However, he understands Tokin actually finds much rarer stuff. Team Rocket is thrilled to hear this and think that Linoone will get presents to the boss, so they decide to catch it.
The heroes searches more and Kimmy spots Tokin on a cliff. Kimmy orders it to get the Poké Balls back. Tokin refuses to, but is captured by Team Rocket, who claim Tokin is a criminal anyway. Kimmy goes to get Tokin, so Jessie sends Seviper, who uses Haze. Kimmy got distracted by the attack; he does not see a rock and falls, so Tokin cries out and drops May's Poké Balls. Kimmy is injured and May takes her Poké Balls back. Pikachu goes to help Tokin, so James sends Cacnea to stop him, but instead the latter clings to the former. Pikachu cuts the net using Iron Tail. Seviper uses Poison Tail, but Pikachu dodges and hops on to its head. Kimmy holds Tokin and both are glad to be fine. Pikachu uses Thunderbolt, shocking Seviper and throws it onto Team Rocket (who also got shocked), destroying their Meowth balloon. However, the smoke clears and Team Rocket are not blasted off, due to them having upgrades on their balloon.
Team Rocket captures Pikachu using the net, so Ash goes after them, but they are too far away. Kimmy apologizes to Ash for going to save Tokin and that Pikachu got captured. Ash tells him not to worry, for Pikachu will be saved in no time. Linoone sees Team Rocket's balloon shaped like a Poké Ball and goes after it. Brock sees Tokin's desire to hoard round objects came to its mind. Kimmy recalls that he did throw the Poké Ball for Tokin to fetch to play, so Brock concludes it wants round objects to play with. Brock notes even if a Pokémon acts differently upon evolving, it still likes their trainer a lot. Kimmy tells Tokin to go after the balloon, so it jumps, landing on the balloon itself. Meowth tells Jessie and James it could pop the balloon, so Cancea uses Needle Arm on Linoone. Linoone evades and Cacnea pierced the balloon. Before they land to the ground, Linoone cuts the net to free Pikachu. Ash and Kimmy rush to Tokin and Pikachu, who are fine. Kimmy hugs Tokin and promises to play with it again.
Team Rocket is not satisfied, so Seviper goes to attack with Poison Tail while Cacnea uses Needle Arm. Tokin uses Water Pulse, knocking Seviper and Cacnea out. As Cacnea and Seviper clash (due to their confusion from Water Pulse) with Poison Tail and Needle Arm, they begin to attack Jessie, James and Meowth using Pin Missile and Haze. Pikachu and Tokin use Thunderbolt, blasting Team Rocket off. At Kimmy's house, Kimmy promises to play with Tokin more from now on, so it will not steal from other people. Calvin and Harmory thank the heroes, who state Kimmy did all the work. Kimmy throws his old Poké Ball, so Tokin fetches it.
Debuts[]
Character[]
Pokémon[]
Item[]
Quotes[]
- "All right, let's go! No sense wasting time!" - Ash
- "Uh, Ash, wait. You do have three months, and you just ate!" - Brock
- "You mean ONLY three months. And lots of training to do. You guys relax for me!" - Ash
- "They're gone! Gone! This can't be true!" - May
- "Hey, May, is something wrong?" - Max
- "Yeah, what's gone?" - Brock
- "Beautifly and Bulbasaur's Poké Balls! They're gone!" - May
- "Let me guess!" - Brock
- "Team Rocket!" - Max
- "Aaah!" - Jessie, James, and Meowth
- "Yes, that's us." - Jessie
- "When I get my hands on those crooks, they're gonna wish I hadn't!" - May
- "The twerpette's upset." - Jessie
- "Dat blubbering brat thinks we pinched her Poké Balls!" - Meowth
- "And normally, she'd be exactly right! But we haven't stolen a thing all day! [sobs]" - James
- "Well, at least we got the blame for it, right?" - Jessie
- "So what else is new?" - Meowth
- "OW!" - Ash
- "Oh, Ash, what are you doing resting in the middle of the road?" - May
- "I'm not resting, May!" - Ash
- "Hey, Ash, did you see anything strange going on around here?" - Max
- "A Linoone ran by, if you call that strange." - Ash
- "A Linoone, huh?! Did it happen to have two Poké Balls?!" - May
- "Well, I'm not sure. It had puffy cheeks...like that." - Ash
- "THEN IT HAD THEM!!" - May
- "Looks like that's the only house around here." - Max
- "That's not a house, that's a hideout!" - May
- "Oh no!" - Kimmy
- "Someone took Tokin!" - Harmony
- "Prepare for trouble, we're not someone, we're us!" - Jessie
- "So make it double, and stop all the fuss!" - James
- "To protect the world from devastation." - Jessie
- "To unite all people within our nation." - James
- "To denounce the evils of truth and love." - Jessie
- "To extend our reach to the stars above." - James
- "Jessie." - Jessie
- "James." - James
- "Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!" - Jessie
- "Surrender now or prepare to fight, fight, fight!" - James
- "That's right!" - Meowth
- "Oh, could it be? Let's see. I found it! I found my ring!" - Harmony
- "[laughing]" - Korban
- "I thought I lost it forever!" - Harmony
- "It's our love, dear! It's the power of our love that found your ring!" - Korban
- "You're right! Our love truly is a many splendored thing!"Harmony
- "My dearest Harmony!" - Korban
- "Oh, Korban!" - Harmony
- "Sweet Harmony!" - Korban
- "Dearest Korban!" - Harmony
- "[singing] Harmony." - Korban
- "[singing] Korban." - Harmony
- "Harmony." - Korban
- "Korban." - Harmony
- "Mom, Dad, this really isn't the time." - Kimmy
- "Cacnea, please! Do I look like a teething ring?!" - James
- "Surprised we're still hanging around?" - Jessie
- "We've made a few upgrades so we don't have to leave the party so soon today." - James
- "[excited] What's a party without Pikachu invited?" - Meowth
- "Pika? PIKA!" - Pikachu
- "Linoone!" - Linoone
- "Oh, no!" - Kimmy
- "Pikachu!" - Ash
- "Now that we have Pikachu, you can keep your looting Linoone!" - Jessie, James, and Meowth
- "Pi! Pika!" - Pikachu
- "NOW we'll leave!" - Jessie and James
- "By choice!" - Meowth
- "It came back! I knew it will feel a kinship to our illicit ways!" - Jessie
- "Just like a Venomoth to a flame." - James
- "Will you dopes snap out of it?! One toenail from dat Linoone...AND WE'LL BE BLASTIN' OFF TO DA MOON!!" - Meowth
- "Aaaaah!" - Jessie and James
- "Point taken." - Jessie
- "Cacnea! Needle Arm and pronto!" - James
- "Are you crazy?! Do you know what'll happen if you launch a Needle Arm onto a balloon?!" - Meowth
- [POP]
- "Something like THIIIIIIIS?! Thanks for the warning after the fact!!" - James
- "That was quite an attack. We'll probably blast off twice as far!" - Jessie
- "So who cares?! It scared Chimecho half out of its wits! Aaaaaaand...WE STILL HAVEN'T STOLEN ANYTHING!!" - James
- "Right now, we got a bigger problem." - Meowth
- "Chime." - Chimecho
- "Looks like we're BLASTING OFF AGAIN!" - Jessie, James, and Meowth
- "Wobbuffet!" - Wobbuffet
Trivia[]
- Featured Pokémon: Mareep, Flaaffy, Ampharos
- The dub title is a play on words of the old west phrase "Showdown at High Noon".
- For the sake of the episode's plot, this is the first time in the anime that Team Rocket's get away balloon was a Poké Ball instead of the traditional Meowth-faced balloon.
Mistakes[]
- The Pokémon Trainer's Choice misspells Flaaffy as Flaafy for the third time.
- Tokin was able to say its name with its mouth closed.
- When May was polishing her Poké Balls, it showed three on the table next to her, four in a close up shot, and then three again in exactly the same position after she picked up one of the Poké Balls.
Gallery[]
References[]
- ^ (n.d.) . "Showdown at Linoone | Pokémon TV (pokemon.com)". From The Official Pokémon Website | Pokemon.com. Archived from the original on January 28, 2024.
Characters · Pokémon · Transcripts | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
See also | ||
Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire |