DP154

← DP153 : The Treasure is All Mine!

Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl

DP155 : Double-Time Battle Training! →

Mastering Current Events!

DP154   EP620 エアバトルマスター登場！グライオンＶＳハッサム！！ The Air Battle Master Enters! Glion VS Hassam!!

First broadcast Japan December 3, 2009 United States April 24, 2010

English themes Opening Battle Cry - (Stand Up!) Ending

Japanese themes Opening ハイタッチ！ 2009 Ending ドッチ～ニョ？

Credits Animation OLM Screenplay 大橋志吉 Yukiyoshi Ōhashi Storyboard 大庭秀昭 Hideaki Ōba Assistant director 近橋伸隆 Nobutaka Chikahashi Animation director 木下和栄 Kazue Kinoshita Additional credits

Screenshots on Filb.de

Mastering Current Events! (Japanese: エアバトルマスター登場！グライオンＶＳハッサム！！ The Air Battle Master Enters! Glion VS Hassam!!) is the 154th episode of Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl, and the 620th episode of the Pokémon animated series. It first aired in Japan on December 3, 2009 and in the United States on April 24, 2010.

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

Blurb

As our heroes continue toward Daybreak Town and Dawn's next Pokémon Contest, they find themselves lost in a deep forest. Suddenly, they come across a retired Air Battle Master named McCann, as well as his granddaughter, Maya, and McCann's Scizor. Even though McCann is now retired, he mentions that he still occasionally has an aerial battle with a worthy opponent...if he can find one. In an instant, Ash's Gliscor wants to have an aerial battle with McCann, who agrees. As the battle ensues, it becomes obvious that Gliscor knows little about battling mid-air. Afterward, Gliscor, Ash, and Dawn head out in the middle of the night for some training based on McCann's secret key to air battling-"reading the wind."By morning, with newfound knowledge and confidence, Ash and Gliscor challenge McCann and Scizor again! Ultimately, Gliscor is defeated, but shows much-improved skill in reading the wind, and Ash realizes Gliscor has learned a new move-Giga Impact!

Impressed by Gliscor's abilities, McCann offers Gliscor the opportunity to stay and train with him, to which Gliscor agrees wholeheartedly. Ash accepts Gliscor's decision, and our heroes head off once again on their journey as Gliscor stays behind for some sure-to-be amazing and comprehensive training with Mr. McCann!

Plot

After finding themselves lost on route to Daybreak Town, Ash sends out Gliscor to check out the surrounding area. Gliscor leads them to a battle between a Chimecho and Scizor. Chimecho is pushed into Dawn's Piplup by a Double Hit attacking, knocking both Pokémon out. Chimecho's Trainer, Maya, soars down in her balloon and apologizes for Piplup getting caught up in her training. Her grandfather and his Scizor arrive soon after. While Ash doesn't recognize the man, Dawn reveals she watched a Sinnoh Now special on McCann, who is an Air Battle Master. After hearing about McCann's strength and skill as an Air Battle Master, Ash decides to have an Air Battle with him: Scizor versus Gliscor. McCann is curious about Gliscor's abilities and agrees to a one-on-one match.

The opponents get into their starting positions, and a whipped up current starts the Air Battle. Gliscor tails Scizor before rushing forward with Steel Wing, but Scizor quickly dodges. Then Scizor hits Gliscor with Metal Claw. As Gliscor is falling, Ash orders it to use the currents in order to regain its position. Then, Scizor hits it with a Double Hit. Gliscor tries a Sand-Attack but it's blocked by the currents. Scizor then hits Gliscor with a Metal Claw followed by a Double Hit. After it gets back in the match, Gliscor proceeds with a Fire Fang but Scizor avoids its attack by using Double Team. Then it tries a Steel Wing but Scizor dodges its attack again. Maya thinks her grandfather should wrap things up, and he admits he doesn't like wasting any time. McCann has Scizor hit Gliscor with a Hyper Beam. Ash realizes there will be a momentary delay thanks to Hyper Beam, so calls for Gliscor to come back with a Fire Fang. However Scizor uses the currents to climb higher thus avoiding any possible counterattacks while it recharges. Soon enough, Scizor comes down on Gliscor with a steep dive and knocks it out with a Double Hit. Scizor is victorious, with Gliscor feeling terrible and ashamed that it did so poorly. McCann comments that it will be tough to teach Gliscor, but he decides to mentor Ash in the basics of Air Battles like reading the wind. McCann offers the group to stay over for the night.

As the day goes on, Gliscor is still feeling bad; refusing to eat and unwilling to get into its Poké Ball. That night, when the group is sleeping, Pikachu wakes up and goes out where Gliscor is gazing at the moon. He tries to cheer it up while Ash also shows up, admitting he couldn't sleep as he is still feeling bad about his loss. Then he suggests doing some night time training to read the wind. Ash calls out Staraptor, and has it fly around with a ribbon tied to it so Gliscor can follow the wind pattern as Staraptor flies. Dawn wakes up and comes to help Ash train by giving him some shredded tin foil. She explains that if it is thrown into the wind, they can see the wind's direction and help Gliscor glide much better. The tin foil strategy works, and Gliscor is quickly gaining confidence. While training, Gliscor has a little run-in with Team Rocket and explains to Meowth that it's training so that it can defeat McCann's Scizor in a rematch tomorrow. Team Rocket's balloon is then blown away by the strong gusts as they recite their motto. Gliscor proceeds with its training and continues to follow the tin foil till sunrise.

The next morning, Dawn informs McCann that they have been training all night, trying to read the wind and Ash challenges him to another Air Battle. McCann thinks about his offer, while Maya convinces her grandfather to accept. The battle begins and Scizor flies around using the currents. Gliscor successfully follows it trying to hit it with an X-Scissor but with little success. Then Scizor comes behind Gliscor trying to land a Metal Claw which Gliscor dodges. McCann acts surprised seeing it do so. Then he orders Scizor to use Double Hit. Gliscor uses the currents to climb but Scizor manages to land a hit on it. Gliscor quickly counters with a Sand-Attack landing a hit on its opponent. Gliscor then hits Scizor with a Fire Fang which in turn replies with a Double Hit. Gliscor uses Fire Fang again while Scizor tries to avoid it by using Double Team, but with no chance of success. Gliscor rides an air current upwards before making a speedy descent which builds into a new move, Giga Impact. The attack connects, though McCann is aware Gliscor now needs time to recharge before its next move. Using McCann’s own tactic, Ash has Gliscor ride the winds to keep away from its opponent as it recharges. Gliscor returns with added momentum, effectively blocking Scizor’s next move. Gliscor proceeds to use X-Scissor, but Scizor's Metal Claw lands first. Ash orders Gliscor to use Giga Impact, but Scizor hits it with a Hyper Beam before Gliscor is able to react. After an intense shot from Scizor's attack, Gliscor plummets to the ground, losing for a second time. Ash goes over to Gliscor, telling it that even though they lost, it has really improved and learned a new move as well.

McCann sees Gliscor's potential and tells Ash he is willing to train Gliscor, remarking on its massive improvement in just a single night. McCann muses how it was like the day that he first met his Scizor. Suddenly faced with the possibility of separating from Ash, Gliscor recalls its time traveling with Ash. Ash gives Gliscor the option to leave and train with McCann. Gliscor gets teary for a few seconds, but then shakes them away and walks to McCann, indicating it wishes to train. Ash assures Gliscor that he's fine as long as Gliscor is doing what it truly wants, and Dawn remarks that Gliscor has grown a lot from the babyish Gligar it used to be. McCann notes that Pokémon and Trainer share the same desire to become as strong as possible, and Ash gives Gliscor's Poké Ball to McCann and asks him to take good care of his Pokémon. Team Rocket, who are watching from a distance, are moved to tears.

The group later say their farewells to Gliscor, as Ash tells the Fang Scorp Pokémon that he is certain they'll meet again. With that, the group continue their travels, as Gliscor flies above to see them off. Gliscor holds back its emotions knowing it has a lot of work to do.

Major events

• Ash's Gliscor learns Giga Impact.
• Ash leaves his Gliscor with McCann for training.

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

Characters

Humans

• Ash
• Dawn
• Brock
• Jessie
• James
• McCann
• Maya

Pokémon

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Piplup (Dawn's)
• Staraptor (Ash's)
• Gligar (Ash's; flashback)
• Gliscor (Ash's; leaves)
• Bastiodon (Byron's; flashback)
• Scizor (McCann's)
• Chimecho (Maya's)

Trivia

• Professor Oak's Big Pokémon Examination: Ditto
• Dawn narrates the next episode's preview.
• Together With the Wind and music from Celebi: The Voice of the Forest, Jirachi: Wish Maker and Giratina and the Sky Warrior are used during this episode.
• The English dub uses a remixed version of I'll Always Remember You as background music.
• This episode marks the first time one of Ash's Pokémon has left his party mid-region since Bulbasaur... the Ambassador!, 395 episodes earlier.
• Jessie's Wobbuffet doesn't appear in this episode.
• This episode resembles a similar episode, where a main character's Pokémon learns a new move and is left to train. That episode was exactly 100 episodes ago.
  • It also takes place 30 episodes after To Thine Own Pokémon Be True!, another episode where a main character's Pokémon is put under the tutelage of another Trainer.
    • It also takes place 421 episodes after an episode with a similar name.
• The episode's Finnish dub title is a wordplay. When someone is in a good mood, one can say, "Olen hyvällä tuulella." However, if translated literally, it can also mean "I'm on a good wind", since "tuuli" can mean both mood or wind in Finnish.

Errors

• Even though Ash learned how to take advantage of wind currents in PokéRinger competitions, he doesn't know the basics in this episode.
• In the Finnish dub, Maya speaks with Dawn's voice in a couple of her lines.

In other languages

Language		Title
Mandarin Chinese		空中對戰大師登場！天蠍王對巨鉗螳螂！！
Czech		Mistr vzdušných proudů
Danish		En mester til lejligheden!
Dutch		Hoe de wind waait!
Finnish		Hyvällä tuulella!
European French		Un Scorvol au vent !
German		Eine frische Brise!
Indonesian		Pertarungan di Udara! Gliscor Melawan Scizor!!
Italian		Padrone degli eventi!
Korean		에어배틀 마스터 등장! 글라이온 VS 핫삼
Norwegian		Mestring av dagens gren!
Polish		Opanować wiatr
Portuguese	Brazil	O Senhor dos Eventos!
	Portugal	Dominando os Acontecimentos!
Romanian		Vântul, Cheia Succesului
Russian		Куда дует ветер? Kuda duet veter?
Spanish	Latin America	¡Dominando los Eventos Actuales!
	Spain	¡Dominando las Corrientes de Aire!
Swedish		Ha koll på rådande händelser!

← DP153 : The Treasure is All Mine!

Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl

DP155 : Double-Time Battle Training! →

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