AG082

← AG081 : Take This House and Shuppet

Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire

AG083 : Unfair-Weather Friends →

A Shroomish Skirmish

AG082   EP356 森の格闘王！？ ワカシャモＶＳキノガッサ！ The Fighting King of the Forest!? Wakasyamo VS Kinogassa!

First broadcast Japan June 24, 2004 United States June 11, 2005

English themes Opening This Dream Ending

Japanese themes Opening チャレンジャー!! Ending スマイル ②

Credits Animation Team Ota Screenplay 十川誠志 Masashi Sogo Storyboard 浅田裕二 Yūji Asada Assistant director 浅田裕二 Yūji Asada Animation director 岩根雅明 Masaaki Iwane Additional credits

Screenshots on Filb.de Dub review thread on BMGf

A Shroomish Skirmish (Japanese: 森の格闘王！？ ワカシャモＶＳキノガッサ！ The Fighting King of the Forest!? Wakasyamo VS Kinogassa!) is the 82nd episode of Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire, and the 356th episode of the Pokémon animated series. It was first broadcast in Japan on June 24, 2004, and in the United States on June 11, 2005.

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

Blurb

Ash and friends have stopped for lunch, and Brock has made food for all of their Pokémon. Corphish eats up its share quickly, so it snatches up Torchic's food. Corphish and Torchic start to fight, firing furious blasts of Bubble Beam and Ember at each other.

Team Rocket is starving, and they end up stealing apples from a group of Shroomish. Some of the Shroomish become angry enough that they evolve into Breloom, then attack Team Rocket. The thieves run into the camp where the kids are, and eat their leftover food. But the Breloom show up and attack, sending everyone blasting off to various parts of the forest.

Torchic and Corphish run into each other, and eventually find Max and Meowth. The quartet stumbles into the food stash of the Shroomish by accident, and have to fend off attacks from the Breloom. They are found by Pikachu and Swellow, but none of the Pokémon can fight off the Breloom.

Torchic evolves into Combusken, and begins a one-on-one battle with the leader of the Breloom. A titanic exchange of kicks and punches ends in a double knockout. The two Pokémon become friends, and together they attack Team Rocket. In the end, everyone sits down for a shared meal.

Plot

On their way to Fortree City, Ash and his friends have stopped for lunch in the Shroomish Forest. Corphish steals Torchic's food after polishing off his own, which starts a fight. Ash attempts to get Corphish to apologize and Pikachu tries to stop the heated exchange, but this leads to everyone getting shocked by him. That doesn't stop the fighting, and everyone is forced to return their Pokémon to their Poké Balls as Corphish and Torchic exchange several Bubble Beams and Embers. Elsewhere, Team Rocket is starving, and Meowth recalls the last time that they had real food. A piece of fruit rolls towards the group, catching James' attention and everyone begins to squabble over it. They soon realize it belongs to a group of Shroomish, and go on to chase after them for more fruit. Back with Ash and his friends, Grovyle uses Leaf Blade to end the conflict, and Torchic runs into May's arms crying and Ash thanks Grovyle for resolving the fight.

Team Rocket happily eat the stolen apples as the angry Shroomish watch on. Meowth translates their anger to Jessie and James, but dismisses their warnings. Several more Shroomish appear, jumping down from the trees and unexpectedly the new arrivals suddenly evolve into Breloom. While fleeing, Team Rocket run straight into Ash and his friends. They launch into their motto, but soon stop to eat some of Brock's cooking, and then resume the motto from where they left off earlier. However, the angry Breloom have followed them and proceed to confront them. When Ash and his friends ask Team Rocket why the Breloom are angry, they admit to taking their apples, which is bad enough, but is made worse when Jessie insults the Breloom, even going as far as telling them that their apples weren't all that good. The angry Pokémon use a combined Mach Punch which sends everyone blasting off. May and Mudkip find themselves on a tree branch hanging above a large, deep ravine. Torchic, crying, lands with Corphish and follows the Pokémon as it leads them away. Ash and Brock land together somewhere in the forest with Pikachu and Swellow. The two Pokémon are instructed to search for the others, but only seconds later, Ash and Brock are again confronted by the Breloom. Ash wants to fight but Brock doesn't, and they both flee.

Meowth and Max soon meet up with Torchic and Corphish. Meanwhile, May and Mudkip soon spot Jessie and James run past them. Despite May's warning, the pair land on the same precarious tree branch on which May and Mudkip had landed. Jessie and James hug each other desperately after noticing the steep drop. However, Torchic is still sad with worry over finding May, and it appears to be hungry. Meanwhile, Ash still wants to fight the Pokémon, but Brock drags him off. While running, the two friends end up rolling down a hill. Pikachu and Swellow later meet up with Meowth and Max, who have been cornered by the Breloom against a rock face. Pikachu joins the fight while Swellow searches for Ash. Ash and Brock fall on top of Team Rocket, breaking the branch, and they all plunge into the gorge below. They are saved by a Rapid Spin attack from Forretress. Moments later, Swellow reports back.

Meanwhile, Pikachu and one of the Breloom's Iron Tails clash together, and much to Meowth's surprise Pikachu is sent flying into a gorge wall. Corphish stands in the way and takes a Mach Punch to protect Torchic. It continues to be beaten up by the four Breloom. Corphish is almost knocked out, but is saved by the sudden arrival of Mudkip's Water Gun, as Max greets his older sister, along with a very happy Torchic. Corphish is well and truly battered, but Torchic, who, up until then, had been cowering, intervenes and appears angry. The anger in Torchic is so great, in fact, that it evolves into Combusken.

Everyone is on the scene now, surprised to see May's newly evolved Pokémon. One of the Breloom orders a one-on-one battle against Combusken, which it accepts. Breloom prepares to land an Iron Tail attack, but is struck by Combusken's Peck. Following Max's advice, May orders Combusken to use a Fire Spin attack. However, Breloom simply Mach Punches through the attack and is about to land another one on Combusken. Brock urges May to keep her calm, and Max recommends a Sky Uppercut. The attacks hit its mark, sending Breloom flying. The wild Pokémon is not quite finished yet and challenges Combusken to hand-to-hand combat. Combusken obliges, and a vicious fight ensues. Both Pokémon are hit numerous times in the face by punches and kicks, and in the end a cross-counter knocks out both Pokémon. Team Rocket, after complimenting the Fighting Pokémon, are told by both Breloom and Combusken, to their utter terror, that they are now going to make them pay for stealing the Shroomish and Breloom's fruit, and are subsequently blasted off by their combined attacks. Combusken and Breloom have now developed respect for each other and shake each other's hands.

After the Breloom leave, Brock declares that it is time for another break and makes more food to satisfy everyone's appetites. Over the meal, Brock notes that he was impressed by Combusken's hand-to-hand combat skills while Ash admits the intense fight has given him new ideas for his upcoming Fortree Gym battle. Again, Corphish tries to steal some food, but this time it is glared at by Combusken. The Ruffian Pokémon is frightened off, causing Pikachu and Combusken to chuckle.

Major events

• May's Torchic evolves into Combusken and learns Fire Spin and Sky Uppercut.

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

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

• May's Combusken

TV episode debuts

• Breloom

Characters

Humans

• Ash
• May
• Max
• Brock
• Jessie
• James

Pokémon

Pokémon Trainer's Choice

Pokémon Trainer's Choice: Venomoth

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
• Swellow (Ash's)
• Grovyle (Ash's)
• Corphish (Ash's)
• Torkoal (Ash's)
• Torchic (May's; evolves)
• Combusken (May's; newly evolved)
• Beautifly (May's)
• Skitty (May's)
• Bulbasaur (May's)
• Forretress (Brock's)
• Lombre (Brock's)
• Mudkip (Brock's)
• Shroomish (multiple; some evolve)
• Breloom (multiple; newly evolved)

Trivia

• Music from Pikachu's Vacation is used as background music, including the piece that was replaced by Catch Me if You Can.
• This episode is featured on Volume 19: Torchic from VIZ Media's Pokémon All-Stars series.
• While the Pokémon Trainer's Choice segment is correct, Gastly also has an advantage over the Grass-type Sunflora.
• When blasting off, Jessie says that Shroomish's apples had Weedles anyway, which is similar to Aesop's fable "The Fox and the Grapes".

Errors

Breloom's miscolored tail

• During one scene where Ash and a group of Breloom were fighting, the tip of one Breloom's tail is red instead of green.
• During the end of the episode, the narrator says that May's Torchic showed off some great fighting abilities, when it was in fact her Combusken who did that.

Dub edits

• Several shots of the fight between May's Combusken and the lead Breloom were cut out.
• In the English dub, the fruit are called apples. In the original Japanese version, they are just called fruit.

Pokémon Trainer's Choice

• Question: Trainers, which one of these Pokémon is the best choice to battle Sunflora?
• Choices: Venomoth, Wailmer, Gastly
• Answer: OK, Trainers! If you chose Venomoth, you were right!

In other languages

Language		Title
Mandarin Chinese		森林的格鬥王！？力壯雞對抗斗笠菇！
Danish		En heftig skovtur
Dutch		Een Shroomish schermutseling
Finnish		Kiivastuneet Shroomishit
European French		Un Chapignon plutôt grognon
German		Apfeldiebe!
Hebrew		מריבה ביערmeriva baya'ar
Hindi		Shroomish और स्करमिष Shroomish aur Skirmish *
Italian		Le mele della discordia
Korean		영치코 대 버섯모! 숲속의 격투왕은 누구게?
Portuguese	Brazil	A Luta na Floresta dos Shroomishs
	Portugal	Que Confusão de Shroomish
Russian		Шрумиш-непоседа
Spanish	Latin America	¡La escaramuza de Shroomish!
	Spain	La manzana de Shroomish
Swedish		Storkris!

← AG081 : Take This House and Shuppet

Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire

AG083 : Unfair-Weather Friends →

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