EP233

← EP232 : Just Waiting On a Friend

Original series

EP234 : Xatu the Future →

A Tyrogue Full of Trouble

EP233   バルキーとからておうノブヒコ！ Balkie and the Karate King Nobuhiko!

First broadcast Japan January 24, 2002 United States February 1, 2003

English themes Opening Believe in Me Ending

Japanese themes Opening めざせポケモンマスター (Whiteberry) Ending 前向きロケット団！

Credits Animation Team Ota Screenplay 藤田伸三 Shinzō Fujita Storyboard 志水淳児 Junji Shimizu Assistant director 石倉健一 Ken'ichi Ishikura Animation director 斎藤和也 Kazuya Saitō Additional credits

Screenshots on Filb.de

A Tyrogue Full of Trouble (Japanese: バルキーとからておうノブヒコ！ Balkie and the Karate King Nobuhiko!) is the 233rd episode of the Pokémon animated series. It was first broadcast in Japan on January 24, 2002, and in the United States on February 1, 2003.

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

Blurb

Ash and friends chance into a Tyrogue, nearly falling victim to a ploy it lays out in an attempt to make off with all of their Pokémon food. Just as they tie things up with the Tyrogue, they learn that it is in fact not wild, but owned by a devoted student of Chuck, the Cianwood Gym leader. This student, who prides himself for his martial arts ability, explains that he is now taking his Tyrogue to an exhaustive tournament in which Fighting type Pokémon vie for the title. Meanwhile, though, he is having a terrible time disciplining his mischievous Pokémon. As if to accent this complaint, an angry local arrives, exclaiming that Tyrogue has wrought havoc in town for the last time.

Plot

The group emerges from a cave and spots a sitting Pokémon wearing a neckerchief. Ash checks his Pokédex, which identifies the mystery Pokémon as a Tyrogue. Brock tries to give him some food, but the Tyrogue refuses the offer. As Brock checks his bag for more food, the Tyrogue swipes three containers of food and runs off with them. It sends out a call for help, and a storm of chestnuts rains down on the group. Tyrogue makes his escape while his friends, a Mankey and Primeape, leap out of a nearby tree. The Tyrogue tosses the food to them and they all climb up a cliff. Bayleef is called out to assist, but her Vine Whip causes a rockslide. Just seconds away from getting squashed, a man followed by a Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee destroy the boulder. The trio of Fighting-types flee the scene.

The man turns his attention to Ash and his friends, and slides down the cliff to meet them. He figures that Ash must be heading towards Mahogany Town. Ash confirms this and shows off his six Johto League Badges. The Storm Badge captivates the man's attention, and he is surprised that Ash defeated Master Chuck. The man introduces himself as Chuck's protégé, Black Belt Kiyo. He escorts the group to his training camp and offers them food. He explains that he is training for the P1 Grand Prix event. He says that the Tyrogue from earlier has been causing a lot of ruckus in the foothills area. A villager suddenly alerts Kiyo to another incident, this time at a farm property.

The group and Kiyo rush over to the scene where they examine the broken windows. Everyone is forced to flee as Tyrogue and its gang have sparked a Tauros stampede. Misty realizes her Togepi is about to be crushed, but Tyrogue leaps to save it before jumping back on his Tauros. Kiyo grabs the lead Tauros by the horns and pushes him backward. Kiyo takes Togepi from Tyrogue and allows the rampaging Tauros to continue on. Team Rocket, who has been spying on them, comes up with the idea of snatching this Tyrogue to join Team Rocket. The villagers are clearly annoyed by Tyrogue’s antics and demand that it be thrown in jail. Kiyo steps in and asks for more time to reason with Tyrogue. The villagers consider the offer and reluctantly give Kiyo some more time to settle the situation.

Later, Kiyo explains that Tyrogue appears to have issues with larger Pokémon. He informs them that Tyrogue was abandoned by his Trainer. Kiyo recalls encountering him all tired from some intense training. He offered him some replenishing food, but Tyrogue attacked him before leaving. Kiyo admits that the abandonment has left Tyrogue's heartbroken and bitter. He declares that he wants to battle Tyrogue and compete with him in the P1 Grand Prix.

Elsewhere, Tyrogue and his group find a fruit tree and decide to get some fruit from it. The Mankey and Primeape kick the trunk and three fruits fall down. When the Tyrogue picks one up, a Hoppip, Skiploom and a Sandshrew stand there, wanting some fruit. So Tyrogue gives the three Pokémon the fruit with no trouble. Team Rocket approaches Tyrogue and offers him the deal of a lifetime, to join Team Rocket. During the spiel, Jessie swipes the fruit out of Sandshrew's paws, which makes the Tyrogue angry. He promptly gives Jessie a beating before sending them all off into the sky. Tyrogue returns the fruit to Sandshrew before he and his gang continue their walk.

Out in the open road, Kiyo wants to prove himself to the Tyrogue in a battle. His calls are soon answered when Tyrogue accepts the challenge. Tyrogue urges Primeape and Mankey to remain on the sidelines as he takes on Kiyo's Hitmonchan. The Hitmonchan starts the fight by throwing a few Comet Punches, but Tyrogue easily dodges them all. Kiyo changes tact and orders Hitmonchan to try a Mega Punch. Tyrogue leaps behind a rock, and lands a direct Headbutts on Hitmonchan, knocking it out in one hit. Kiyo recalls Hitmonchan and tries out Hitmonlee. Hitmonlee goes for a Rolling Kick, but the Tyrogue merely leans back to dodge it. After recovering from the dodge, Tyrogue performs a Double Team and confuses the Hitmonlee. Kiyo now finds this a situation that's impossible to get out of. Finally, the Tyrogue gives the Hitmonlee a Headbutt taking that Pokémon down in one shot as well.

As Tyrogue anticipates another opponent, Team Rocket swoops in and lassos him with a rope. Ash begins to pursue the Rocket balloon. Kiyo rushes passed Ash, then runs up a steep cliff before using the added height to bounce onto the balloon. He punches through the balloon, causing it to rapidly deflate. Kiyo climbs down to Tyrogue and assures him that everything will be okay. The balloon soon crashes, but Kiyo and Tyrogue drop safely to the ground below. A boulder just above them falls down and just in the nick of time, Kiyo stops it with his brute strength. He tells the Tyrogue to get out of the way, but Team Rocket comes by and prevents Tyrogue from doing so. Before Team Rocket can do anything, the group catches up and Brock sends out Onix. First, Onix takes care of the boulder by pushing it towards Team Rocket. Jessie and James send out Arbok and Weezing respectively. Arbok spits outs a Poison Sting which Onix blocks easily. Weezing uses Sludge, but Pikachu takes care of that with a Thunderbolt. Onix Tackles the Pokémon back into Team Rocket and they get blasted off again.

Back at Kiyo's pad, Kiyo challenges Tyrogue to a duel, just him and Tyrogue. Tyrogue accepts and they begin. Tyrogue attempts to go for a punch, but Kiyo easily blocks it. With that Tyrogue tries a Double Team strategy, but Kiyo simply sits down and waits for the initiative. As soon as Tyrogue comes out with the punch. Kiyo easily blocks this with his palm, before pushing Tyrogue backward. Tyrogue rushes into a Jump Kick, but Kiyo grabs and tosses him to the other side. Finally, Tyrogue tries to deliver yet another blow, Kiyo easily makes a counterattack and punches the Tyrogue into the pond nearby. Tyrogue soon emerges but collapses onto his knees in defeat. The neckerchief suddenly slips off and the current moves it away. Kiyo picks up Tyrogue and brings him onto the land again. In a show of solidarity, Kiyo promises to stay with Tyrogue and ties his red armband around Tyrogue's neck as a neckerchief. Kiyo asks Tyrogue if he would like to join up with his other crew and compete in the P1 event. Tyrogue accepts the offer with a smile. Kiyo also offers Primeape and Mankey the same option, and the pair also agree. Later, the group says their goodbyes and wishes Kiyo luck in the P1 as they head off to Mahogany Town.

Major events

For a list of all major events in the animated series, please see the history page.

Debuts

Humans

• Kiyo

Pokémon debuts

• Tyrogue

Characters

Humans

Pocket Monster TV

• Ash
• Misty
• Brock
• Jessie
• James
• Kiyo
• Townspeople

Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?

Who's That Pokémon?: Spinarak (US and international), Tyrogue (Kiyo's) (Japan)

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Togepi (Misty's)
• Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
• Bayleef (Ash's)
• Onix (Brock's)
• Arbok (Jessie's)
• Weezing (James's)
• Hitmonlee (Kiyo's)
• Hitmonchan (Kiyo's)
• Tyrogue (Kiyo's; new; debut)
• Mankey (Kiyo's; new)
• Primeape (Kiyo's; new)
• Butterfree
• Sandshrew
• Tauros (multiple)
• Hoppip
• Skiploom

Trivia

• This episode was initially going to be called Fit to be Tyrogued. This title was used on Pokémon TV.
• In this episode, Team Rocket uses a variation of their motto.
• Team Rocket breaks the fourth wall in this episode.
• In the original Japanese version, Aim to Be a Pokémon Master is played when Tyrogue and Kiyo battle each other head to head.
• Kiyo battling Tyrogue is a rare instance of a human fighting a Pokémon.

Errors

• The Pokémon.com blurb for this episode refers to Tyrogue as being owned by Kiyo. While Kiyo does own Tyrogue by the end of the episode, Tyrogue is in fact a wild Pokémon for the majority of the episode.
• When Ash runs after Tyrogue after he stole the Pokémon food, his shoes are white.
• Bayleef changes to a smaller size after Kiyo destroys the boulder falling near Ash and his friends.
• When Kiyo says that Ash must have battled at the Cianwood Gym, Ash's jacket is colored black like his shirt instead of blue.
• After Kiyo says that he is known as Black Belt Kiyo, Misty's bag is missing.
• When a villager runs over to Kiyo, the white stripe on Ash's bag is missing.
• In one scene, as Mankey, Tyrogue, and Primeape are walking away from the viewer, Mankey's tail is missing.
• When Jessie says her name during the motto, she is wearing her normal outfit instead of her boxing outfit.
• When Kiyo climbs down the rope, his armband is on his left arm instead of his right.
• Tyrogue uses Jump Kick, a move that it cannot legally learn in the games.
• Kiyo instructs his Hitmonchan to use "Punch Attack", a move that doesn't exist. He, however, had been instructing him to perform a generic punch on Tyrogue.
• Hitmonchan's eye color changes as he was battling Tyrogue. At first, it was black, then blue, then blue and black.
• When Brock throws his Poké Ball and it spins, the white button on it is missing, along with the white ring.
• In one scene, Brock's Onix's "stomach" is colored the same shade of brown as a boulder Kiyo was holding up.
• In the end, as Ash, Misty, and Brock are walking, a glitch happens when the camera moves past Brock.
• In the English dub, the Pokédex incorrectly identifies Tyrogue as the evolved form of Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan, when it should have said it was their pre-evolved form.
  • The Pokédex entry also did not mention Hitmontop, despite being one of Tyrogue's evolutions along with Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan.
• In the Brazilian dub:
  • Hitmonchan is mistakenly called "Hitmonchuck".
  • When Mankey and Primeape appear for the first time, Misty calls them both Mankey.

• 

  Ash's miscolored jacket

• 

  Mankey's missing tail

• 

  Kiyo's wristband

In other languages

Language		Title
Bulgarian		Неприятности с Тайрог
Mandarin Chinese		巴爾郎與空手道王信彥
Dutch		Een Tyrogue vol Problemen
European French		Le trouble-fête
German		Rabautz macht Rabatz!
Hebrew		טיירוג עושה צרות Tyrogue osé tsarot
Hindi		मुसीबत खड़ी करने वाला Tyrogue Mussibat khadi karne wala Tyrogue *
Italian		Il potere dell'amicizia
Polish		Tyrogue z problemami
Brazilian Portuguese		Um Tyrogue Cheio de Problemas
Spanish	Latin America	¡Un Tyrogue lleno de problemas!
	Spain	Un Tyrogue con muchos problemas

← EP232 : Just Waiting On a Friend

Original series

EP234 : Xatu the Future →

This episode article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation.