This episode is essential viewing because: Ash continues to battle in the League.

Ash starts to lose his cool, much to Misty’s dismay, but then Gary pulls out a rusted half of a pokéball. Ash says something about Ash and Gary having a draw a long time ago, but Gary says that tying with Ash is the same as losing. Ash loses his temper again, but Gary just leaves with a threat to crush Ash.

Ash is rummaging around in his backpack, looking for something and Brock and Misty are a tad worried about him. Ash finally finds what he’s looking for – the other half of the pokéball that Gary showed Ash earlier. He tells Misty and Brock the story of what happened a long time ago between him and Gary just before they started on their journeys.

Ash was fishing by the river when he finally snagged a magicarp. However, the magicarp simply douple slapped him in order to get away. Gary laughed and Ash, upon noticing him, yelled at him for being in Ash’s secret fishing spot. Gary mentioned that that spot was one of the best places in Palette Town for catching fish. Ash was quite proud of himself for finding it, but Gary said that he’d know about the place for years. He made fun of Ash for having such poor luck with the magicarp, a member of the weakest of all the species of pokémon, then went on to brag about how his grandfather is Professor Oak, someone whom Ash greatly admired. He then proceeded with his usual, “You’ll never be a pokémon master” speech and Ash said that you don’t know what you can do until you try. Gary reminded Ash that even though Ash tried to defeat Gary several times, he had never succeeded. Ash kept getting angrier and angrier until the boys finally caught something. They pulled it out just to discover that they had caught the same thing – a rusty, old pokéball. They both wanted it to start on their journeys, so they played tug of war with it. Gary told Ash to give up on it, as he’ll never become a pokémon master anyway, but Ash said that in the end Gary would be the loser. The kept exchanging insults and running alongside the riverbank until they both came onto a bridge. They finally break the pokéball in half. Ash offered to call it a draw, but Gary said that he refused to tie with a loser such as Ash.

Ash tells Misty and Brock that he kept the pokéball all this time as a good luck charm and says something about it representing all of his hopes and dreams. He says that Gary is going down tomorrow, but Misty reminds him that tomorrow is a day off. Ash falls down anime-style, but Brock says that this is the perfect opportunity to work on his strategy.

The day off means bad news for JessieCo, as they probably won’t get much business without the crowd that’s come to watch the battles. James, however, suggests having a one-day sale to sell collectable badges. Meowth and Jessie agree.

Misty gets up early and goes to wake Ash up, too, but finds that he and Brock had stayed up all night to study. Brock is working his way through a rather large stack of books and Ash has been on the Internet all night. Misty asks if he’s tired, but Ash says he’s too psyched up to be drowsy. Brock says he isn’t the best with computers, proven by the fact that Ash accidentally causes the computer to crash again. Misty tells him that he should take a break and have some breakfast.

Misty asks what Ash and Brock have learned overnight while everyone’s eating breakfast and Brock says that Gary has all the different types of pokémon. He also says that Gary probably rotated his pokémon a lot since they’re all in good shape, which fits perfectly with what Ash knows about him. Ash wonders what to do as far as strategy goes, when suddenly everyone sees something fly in from above. It’s Ash’s charizard! Brock says that he called Liza because he thought Charizard would be able to help Ash. Gary comes and there is an intense moment when Ash and Gary just stare at each other intensely. They say good morning to each other in strangely calm tones of voice, but other than that stay silent. The moment is shattered by one of Professor Oak’s famous poems, “Rivals – now they meet, Ash and Gary, to compete.” Delia also arrives. Ash and Gary wonder what they’re doing here and Professor Oaks says that they just had to see the battles live. Oak tells the rivals to lighten up, otherwise they’ll be exhausted by tomorrow. Gary smiles and says that he’s right.

Oak asks for their pokédexes so that he can update them. Misty immediately asks if there are any newly discovered water types and Ash says something about there always being more to learn about pokémon. Gary, listening to all this, seems to have an idea and keeps staring at his own pokédex. Everyone asks what’s wrong, but he just says he has things to do and walks off. Oak says that he’s probably thinking about his strategy and Brock tells Ash that he should work on his strategy, too. Delia and Oak both talk about how they’ve been lifelong rivals and that this will probably be a historical battle. Who’s that pokémon?! It’s Umbreon!

JessieCo’s business is booming. Meowth and Jessie are celebrating, but James is already busy preparing for the next day.

The battlefields are randomly chosen. Harrison and his opponent have the ice field first. Harrison’s Sneasle takes out Machoke, which happens to be Harrison’s opponent’s last pokémon.

Ash is in the locker room, staring intensely at his half of the old pokéball. Harrison comes in and Ash congratulates him on his most recent victory. Harrison says that he battles the winner of the battle between Ash and Gary, and so wishes Ash luck and says that he’ll be waiting for him.

Ash and Gary have the rock field first. Gary’s cheerleaders are appearntly back, much to Misty’s dismay and Brock’s delight. Gary starts off with a Nidoqueen and Ash responds with Tauros. Gary orders his Nidoqueen to use rock smash and Ash tells his Tauros to knock the rocks away then use horn attack. Delia is delighted to be able to get such great shots for her photo album and Oak says something about Tauros charging around in his garden and getting strong. Tauros isn’t strong enough, though, and Nidoqueen stops it by grabbing its horns and using hyper beam at a close range. Tauros is out.

Brock says that Gary’s pokémon are much stronger than Ash’s, so Ash will have to come up with a more creative strategy. Ash sends out Heracross and Gary recalls Nidoqueen. Misty wonders why he made such a move and Brock says that Gary probably wants to use a type that strong against Heracross. He sends out Magmar instead and starts off with a flamethrower. Ash tells Heracross to dodge and use fury swipes. Heracross does so and is able to deal some damage and toss Magmar up into the air at the same time. Gary however, orders a fire blast from above, which Magmar jumps into as it’s landing. The attack hits dead on and Magmar, while still on fire, pushes Heracross onto a nearby rock. It also uses a flamethrower attack, dealing even more damage. Ash however orders Heracross to blow the flames away with it’s wings and effectively turns the tide for this round. He orders Heracross to use horn attack which goes right through Magmar’s flamethrower. Magmar is out, impressing everyone except Gary, it seems. Gary says something about Ash being really reckless. I’m on a master quest! Pokemon!

Gary sends out Blastoise next. Brock mentions that Gary started with Squirtle and Oak says it’s the most powerful pokémon Gary has. Ash orders Heracross to use fury swipes and Gary orders his Blastoise to counter with hydro pump. To be continued…

This episode guide has been written by KasumiMizuno.

Characters appearing in this episode

Ash

Misty

Brock

Jessie

James

Meowth

Ash's Pikachu

Pokémon appearing in this episode

• Pikachu belonging to Ash
• Meowth

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