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This episode is essential viewing because: We learn that the Petalburg Gym Leader is May's father. Masato, May's younger brother, joins the group. May's father gives Ash and May a badge case each, and a Poké-Navi to Masato.

Ash runs up to a cliff seeing that Touka City is just ahead. However Haruka lags behind, as usual. They settle down in a park, Ash talking about how he wants to get the badge from the Gym Leader. Haruka however is not so thrilled about it. Maybe she's hiding something? Then she goes off somewhere without Ash saying she'll meet up with him as soon as she can. Ash doesn't mind however, and tells Pikachu that they're going to the gym to battle.

Ash soon reached the gym, taking a look at it. The gym looks like a large oriental building with a large front entrance. Determined than ever to get the badge, Ash steps into the gym. He reaches the main arena, a rather large room with wooden floors, introducing himself to present a challenge. There was no response. Ash tries again, then a young nerdy looking boy carrying books walks to the arena. Ash thinks this might be the gym leader so he asks. The boy recognizes Ash asking if he was in the Silver Tournament. Ash said he was in, and got all the way to last round. The boy tries to recognize Ash from that and asks if he was "Satoru". Ash makes an anime fall, saying that his name's "Satoshi". Then the boy answers Ash's previous question. He makes a pose and says that he's the gym leader. Ash immediately asks if he could challenge him and the boy accepts, saying that it'll be interesting taking on someone.

Both of them get ready for the fight. The boy says that it's a two on two (not a double battle) battle. Just one little problem, Ash only has Pikachu to fight for him. Luckily enough, Haruka comes back with two other people, her parents. Haruka asks the boy, which happens to be her little brother Masato, what's he doing here acting like the gym leader. Masato's too young to be a trainer, but he'd like to be one just once. Instead, Masato spends a lot of his time studying to be a Pokemon trianer. Both Masato and Haruka's father is actually Senri, the real gym leader. Ash is surprised, giving Masato a glare before looking back at Senri. He was just about to ask Ash for a challenge, but Haruka pulled him over, saying that it's almost lunch and she's hungry. Haruka's mother doesn't mind the extra company so Ash stays over for lunch.

And while they go on their way, the notorious Rocket trio spy on them through a window. They plan their next move to see if they can snag the Pikachu, and maybe the gym leader's Pokemon.

During the meal, Ash asks about the rules and regulations Senri uses for matches. Masato makes a comment that it's the "same rules" as he used. Senri then says he prefers a two on two match. Ash hangs his head, now he can't fight in the gym. Then he asks Senri if he can just have a sudden death match since he left all his old Pokemon except Pikachu back in Palette town. Senri understands and gives just Ash a temporary rule change. Just after lunch, everyone goes back to the arena for the battle. Masato cheers Ash on in the back, having a lot of confidence for someone who was in the Silver Tournament.

The battle starts off, Ash uses Pikachu and Senri sends out Yarukimono. Ash looks it up on his PokeDex to see how to handle the Pokémon. The Dex tells him that Yarukimono is both a power-house and quite the speederster. Ash feels likes he has equal playing field since he emphasizes on speed. The first strike is a Thunderbolt from Pikachu, however the quick reflexes of Yarukimono easily jump away from the blast. Yarukimono soon runs to Pikachu with deadly speed and gives Pikachu quite a wide slash. Ash now realizes Yarukimono is a force to be reckoned with. Ash switches from the electric to the physical, and soon Pikachu starts using Quick Attacks. Even so, Pikachu's speed is still no match for Yarukimono's might. Pikachu ends up being tossed around left and right.

But just before a winner could be decided, a wall explodes on the side. When the dust settles, it reveals the Rocket trios as they say their motto. Ash does a quick explanation of who they are and gets ready to bump them out of the gym. Haruka says she'll help them fight and sends out her Achamo. Jesse releases Arbok and James releases Weezing to attack the group. Arbok fires a volley of Poison Pins, but Yarukimono simply slices them all away. Arbok goes out for the all offensive, but Yarukimono simply takes care of the snake. James takes over and his Weezing shoots out some Sludge Bombs, all easily defeated by Yarukimono. Finally Weezing sprays around a giant cloud of smoke. Everyone but the Rockets freeze, trying to figure out where everything is. The Rockets make their move, saying that they got Pikachu. But soon Yarukimono does a whirlwind-like ability and clears the smoke.

Once everything is clear, everything looks okay. Ash still has Pikachu, Yarukimono is unhurt.... but Haruka lost her Achamo! They probably think that the Rockets accidently stole Achamo than Pikachu. They see the Rockets float away in their balloon, off into the distance. In their balloon, the Rockets take a look at their prize, which they expect to be Pikachu. Instead their surprised to find a confused Achamo. Achamo then pecks at everyone of them angrily, but the Rockets manage to get it under control. Then they have a plan that they could use Achamo as bait to get Pikachu.

Meanwhile, everyone looks for Achamo in one group, but they decide to split up and cover more ground. As the search went on, Ash managed to find a field where Team Rocket's balloon was and where Achamo was trapped in a cage. The other soon meet up with Ash, Ash says he found where Team Rocket is. Haruka and Masato run after Achamo, but Ash tries to call them back. Too late, the two fall into a hole. Ash makes a dissapointed face as Haruka's parents run after her. Ash tries to stop them, but they fall in a hole before Haruka's. Ash slaps his face in grief and decides to go out and help them. He helps out Haruka and Masato first, while Senri and Haruka's mom make it okay.

Just after everything is hunky-dory, Team Rocket pop out and they try to keep them busy with a fight. After a few moments in another heated battle, Masato sneaks by and gets to Achamo's cage, freeing it. Achamo goes back to Haruka and they have a short happy reunion. But before Ash could make another move, Haruka says that she wants to fight them. Except that Haruka stil doesn't know Achamo's attacks quite yet but Masato tells her which one to use. Haruka tells Achamo to attack and Achamo sprays out Embers to the Rockets to drive them back into their balloon. Then Pikachu finishes it off with a Thunderbolt.

Later back in front of Senri's gym, Senri explains that's actually a gym leader Ash is supposed to fight later on. The first gym he should try is the one in Kanazumi City, they'll have to get through Touka Forest though. As a gift, Senri gives the group a PokeNavi, but Masato snatches it as soon as he sees it. Masato messes around with the Navi, explaining what it does. Ash and Haruka are ready for their journey, but Masato is going to follow them. Haruka's parents says that if he wants to be a trainer, it'd be more helpful if he saw examples rather than read it in textbooks. Masato is so excited that he goes off right away to Touka Forest, Ash and Haruka quickly follow afterwards.

This episode guide has been written by lain.

Characters appearing in this episode

Ash

Brock

Max

May

Jessie

James

Meowth

Ash's Pikachu

Pokémon appearing in this episode

• Pikachu belonging to Ash
• Meowth

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