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EP008

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← EP007 : The Water Flowers of Cerulean City
Original series
EP009 : The School of Hard Knocks →
The Path to the Pokémon League
EP008.png
  EP008  
ポケモンリーグへのみち
The Road to the Pokémon League
First broadcast
Japan May 20, 1997
United States September 17, 1998
English themes
Opening Pokémon Theme
Ending
Japanese themes
Opening めざせポケモンマスター
Ending ひゃくごじゅういち
Credits
Animation Team Ota
Screenplay 冨岡淳広 Atsuhiro Tomioka
Storyboard 鈴木敏明 Toshiaki Suzuki
Assistant director 鈴木敏明 Toshiaki Suzuki
Animation director 志村隆行 Takayuki Shimura
Additional credits

The Path to the Pokémon League (Japanese: ポケモンリーグへのみち The Road to the Pokémon League) is the eighth episode of the Pokémon animated series. It first aired in Japan on May 20, 1997, and in the United States on September 17, 1998.

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Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.
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Blurb

On the way to Vermillion City, Ash meets AJ, a Gym Leader at an unsanctioned Gym who has 98 wins and zero losses. They battle, and Ash is surprised that AJ's Ground-type Sandshrew can easily beat his Flying-type Pokémon. (Flying-type Pokémon are usually strong against Ground-type Pokémon.)

Ash and his friends later see that AJ puts his Pokémon through very tough training—he makes his Sandshrew, normally weak to Water-type attacks, train in a swimming pool! Although Ash doesn't approve of the intensive training session, Brock is impressed. Ash begs for a rematch, but AJ refuses. The two argue a bit and when they fall into the pool, AJ's Sandshrew goes missing.

Are AJ's training methods too tough? Will Ash get his rematch? And what happened to AJ's Sandshrew?

Plot

Ash and his friends are on their way to Vermilion City. Along the way, Ash has a battle with another Trainer, and Pidgeotto defeats a Rattata, securing his tenth victory. The Trainer admires Ash's two Badges, leading Misty to muse that giving Ash the Badge may have been a mistake. The Trainer points Ash to an unofficial Gym, where a strong Trainer named A.J., who has purportedly never lost a match, trains savage Pokémon.

The sign outside A.J.'s Gym indicates that the Gym is unlicensed by the Pokémon League and that he has a record of 98 wins to zero losses. As Misty insults Ash, A.J. walks up and challenges him to a battle. A.J. snaps a whip, making Ash jump. He says that he plans to start competing for Badges after his 100th consecutive win. Ash smugly tells him that he has ten wins and two Gym Badges, at which point A.J. insults the Gyms, angering Misty and Brock. A.J. summons his Sandshrew to battle against Ash's Pokémon. Misty reminds Ash that Pikachu's electricity is useless against a Ground Pokémon, but Ash rejects her advice. He summons Pidgeotto to battle Sandshrew. Brock notes that a Flying Pokémon should have the advantage. However, Sandshrew uses Defense Curl to roll up into a ball and hurls itself into the air, striking and defeating Pidgeotto.

After recalling Pidgeotto into its Poké Ball, Ash calls out Butterfree to fight Sandshrew. He orders a Stun Spore attack, but A.J., with a crack of his whip, orders Sandshrew to Dig underground to avoid it. It bursts out of the ground, taking Butterfree down as well. Ash wants Pikachu to fight next, but the Mouse Pokémon refuses, grabbing hold of the edge of the battlefield. Ash tries to pull Pikachu off by the tail, but Pikachu, refusing to let go, hits his Trainer with a Thunder Shock. While all of this is happening, Team Rocket is spying on the match from a tree nearby and decides to steal Sandshrew. Refusing to believe that anyone's Pokémon could be so strong, Ash accuses A.J. of cheating and demands a rematch, but A.J. tells him to quit whining. Later, Ash overhears A.J. training his Pokémon, yelling angrily and cracking his whip. Ash intervenes to stop A.J. from hurting the Pokémon, but A.J. tells him to mind his own business. His Sandshrew is wearing a strength intensifier brace invented by A.J. himself. It enables the Sandshrew to withstand the weakening effects of water. A.J. says he's tougher on Sandshrew than his other Pokémon because it was his very first.

Appalled at A.J.'s training methods, Ash asserts that a great Pokémon Trainer should make friends with his Pokémon. He asks for Brock's input, but Brock only wants to know what kind of food A.J. is using. A.J., like Brock, mixes his own food from a secret recipe. Pikachu attempts to pick up one of Sandshrew's dumbbells, but falls backward under the weight, while Sandshrew does rapid exercises. Meanwhile, Team Rocket is crouched behind A.J.'s tent, preparing for their attempted heist. After the training, A.J.'s Pokémon are all exhausted. A.J. insults Pikachu, and Ash takes a swing at him, causing them both to fall into the pool. Pikachu tries on the strength intensifier, but it fits badly and pulls him into a ball. Sandshrew laughs at Pikachu's comical appearance and rolls itself into a ball as well.

Team Rocket rolls into the tent inside a rubber ball, intending to steal Pikachu, but they instead grab Sandshrew. After A.J. ends the rest break, he realizes that Sandshrew is missing. He releases Pikachu from the harness, but Pikachu doesn't know where Sandshrew is either. Ash suggests that it ran away because it saw that Pikachu was treated better. A.J. is extremely insulted at this, insisting Sandshrew would not have run away after all they had been through together. He sends his other Pokémon to look for Sandshrew, but Ash tries to convince A.J.'s Pokémon to leave with him. Despite the way A.J. has treated them, they ignore Ash. Meanwhile, while arguing over who carries the bag, Team Rocket is startled when Sandshrew flies out. Meowth Bites Sandshrew's tail and Sandshrew burrows underground in pain. While Ash and A.J. are still arguing, Sandshrew bursts out of the ground next to him, dragging Meowth. Seeing how happy A.J. and Sandshrew are to be back together, Ash and the gang realize how deeply A.J. cares for his Pokémon.

Surrounded by angry Pokémon and their Trainers, Meowth tries to figure a way out of his situation, when James and Jessie begin their motto. Jessie tells A.J. that taking his Sandshrew was a mistake; James calls it second-rate, earning A.J's ire. He challenges them to a battle, with his Sandshrew facing off against Ekans and Koffing. Sandshrew avoids Koffing and Ekans's respective Sludge and Wrap attacks and takes them out, then defeats Meowth, who tries to Bite its armored skin. Team Rocket flees after Sandshrew's Fissure attack. As this is A.J.'s 100th win, he and his Pokémon now leave to begin earning Badges. Like Ash, he too wants to be the world's greatest Pokémon Master. They part as friendly rivals, agreeing to meet in the future at one of the League competitions.

Major events

For a list of all major events in Pokémon the Series: The Beginning, please see the timeline page.

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

Characters

Humans

Dare da?

Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?

Who's That Pokémon?: Sandshrew

Trivia

  • This is the first "filler" episode of the animated series.
  • This is also the first episode without any Pokémon debuts.
  • This episode is the last in which Ted Lewis voices James, as well as Eric Stuart's first episode voicing James. He takes over the role when James summons Koffing in battle. Lewis had left for a time to do theater, only to eventually return as Giovanni and Tracey.
  • This is the first episode not explicitly set within a location from the games.
  • The English dub of this episode mentions a real animal. Misty claims that A.J. controls Sandshrew with the crack of his whip just like a lion tamer. In the Japanese version, she simply remarks that it is amazing A.J. can control Sandshrew with the crack of his whip.
  • Early in the episode, Team Rocket expresses an interest in Sandshrew. However, later on they say they take no interest in A.J.'s "second rate" Sandshrew.
  • This episode marks the first time a one-hit knockout move is seen in the animated series.
  • Parts of this episode are remade in I Choose You!.
  • Ash's nose extending is a reference to the Japanese saying "Becoming a Tengu", which is used to describe a person getting a swelled head.
  • This is the first episode where an unofficial Pokémon Gym is shown.
  • A.J.'s Sandshrew's strength intensifier resembles a Macho Brace, an item that is not introduced until Generation III.

Errors

  • Pokémon.com's blurb for this episode misspells Vermilion as Vermillion.
  • When Misty says that she and Brock giving Ash the Badges was a mistake, the strap of her bag is the same color as her shirt.
  • When Ash and his friends are standing in front of A.J.'s Gym, Ash's sleeves are briefly colored blue instead of white.
  • When Ash and his friends turn to see A.J, Ash's left hand briefly overlaps Brock.
  • When A.J.'s Butterfree takes his bag, the straps on Ash's bag are colored black instead of green.
  • Sandshrew hits Butterfree with Dig, despite the fact that Butterfree, being a Flying-type Pokémon, is immune to Ground-type moves such as Dig.
  • When Sandshrew dives into the pool, its eyes have their colors reversed.
  • When A.J.'s Sandshrew curls into a ball to be passed around by A.J.'s three Rattata, it is mistakenly drawn without its brace on.
  • When Team Rocket is sneaking around A.J.'s Gym while inside of a ball, Meowth's forepaws are colored orange instead of cream.
  • When A.J. is grateful when Sandshrew returns, his Butterfree's antennae disappear several times.
  • In this episode, A.J.'s Sandshrew uses Defense Curl. However, in the games, Sandshrew couldn't learn Defense Curl until Generation II.
  • In the English dub:
    • When Ash tells A.J. that Sandshrew are weakened by water, he incorrectly says "Sandshrews." The plural of a specific species of Pokémon is the same as the singular.
    • When Pikachu is holding a pillow, Ash's Japanese voice can be heard.
  • Ash's miscolored straps

    Ash's miscolored straps

  • Sandshrew's miscolored eyes

    Sandshrew's miscolored eyes

  • Meowth's miscolored forepaw

    Meowth's miscolored forepaw

Dub edits

  • Kanto Pokérap: Day 3
  • The sign over the Gym is heavily edited:
    • The text is translated.
    • The background changes from plain white to a gray that fades into white.
    • The numbers are made into a dot-matrix format. In the original version, they were in a 7-segment LED format.
    • The number of losses (0) is added.
  • A sign inside the tent saying "Fight! Work Harder!" is changed to a picture of a Poké Ball being hit with a whip.
  • The scene where Pikachu holds a pillow is different between the two versions, due to the original Japanese version incorporating both an untranslatable pun and pop culture reference. In said original version, Ash tells A.J. that Sandshrew (whose Japanese name is "サンド (Sand)") is not a "サンドバッグ" (or "sandbag", which is the Japanese word for punching bag), and Pikachu pulling out a zabuton (a type of pillow) is a reference to the Japanese comedy program Shōten, where participants are awarded with zabuton for giving humorous responses, causing Ash to shout at Pikachu for not taking him seriously. In the English dub, the script was rewritten to have Ash mishear A.J., thinking he said pacing, not passing, and Pikachu's pillow further stammers him into saying padding.
  • Team Rocket experiments with a different motto:
    • Japanese:
      • Jessie: "We are the pretty thieves..."
      • James: "Target: Pikachu!"
    • English dub:
      • Jessie: "Team Rocket will do what it has to do..."
      • James: "To snatch that little Pikachu!"
  • At the end, a five-second panning of the battle field is cut by three seconds and replaced by a three-second clip from earlier in the episode.

In other languages



← EP007 : The Water Flowers of Cerulean City
Original series
EP009 : The School of Hard Knocks →
Project Anime logo.png This episode article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation.
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