EP008

← EP007 : The Water Flowers of Cerulean City

Original series

EP009 : The School of Hard Knocks →

The Path to the Pokémon League

EP008   ポケモンリーグへのみち The Road to the Pokémon League

First broadcast Japan May 20, 1997 United States September 17, 1998

English themes Opening Pokémon Theme Ending

Japanese themes Opening めざせポケモンマスター Ending ひゃくごじゅういち

Credits Animation Team Ota Screenplay 冨岡淳広 Atsuhiro Tomioka Storyboard 鈴木敏明 Toshiaki Suzuki Assistant director 鈴木敏明 Toshiaki Suzuki Animation director 志村隆行 Takayuki Shimura Additional credits

Screenshots on Filb.de

The Path to the Pokémon League (Japanese: ポケモンリーグへのみち The Road to the Pokémon League) is the eighth episode of the Pokémon animated series. It first aired in Japan on May 20, 1997, and in the United States on September 17, 1998.

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

Blurb

On the way to Vermillion City, Ash meets AJ, a Gym Leader at an unsanctioned Gym who has 98 wins and zero losses. They battle, and Ash is surprised that AJ's Ground-type Sandshrew can easily beat his Flying-type Pokémon. (Flying-type Pokémon are usually strong against Ground-type Pokémon.)

Ash and his friends later see that AJ puts his Pokémon through very tough training—he makes his Sandshrew, normally weak to Water-type attacks, train in a swimming pool! Although Ash doesn't approve of the intensive training session, Brock is impressed. Ash begs for a rematch, but AJ refuses. The two argue a bit and when they fall into the pool, AJ's Sandshrew goes missing.

Are AJ's training methods too tough? Will Ash get his rematch? And what happened to AJ's Sandshrew?

Plot

Ash and his friends are on their way to Vermilion City. Along the way, Ash has a battle with another Trainer, and Pidgeotto defeats a Rattata, securing his tenth victory. The Trainer admires Ash's two Badges, leading Misty to muse that giving Ash the Badge may have been a mistake. The Trainer points Ash to an unofficial Gym, where a strong Trainer named A.J., who has purportedly never lost a match, trains savage Pokémon.

The sign outside A.J.'s Gym indicates that the Gym is unlicensed by the Pokémon League and that he has a record of 98 wins to zero losses. As Misty insults Ash, A.J. walks up and challenges him to a battle. A.J. snaps a whip, making Ash jump. He says that he plans to start competing for Badges after his 100^th consecutive win. Ash smugly tells him that he has ten wins and two Gym Badges, at which point A.J. insults the Gyms, angering Misty and Brock. A.J. summons his Sandshrew to battle against Ash's Pokémon. Misty reminds Ash that Pikachu's electricity is useless against a Ground Pokémon, but Ash rejects her advice. He summons Pidgeotto to battle Sandshrew. Brock notes that a Flying Pokémon should have the advantage. However, Sandshrew rolls itself into a ball and hurls itself into the air, striking and eliminating Pidgeotto.

Returning Pidgeotto to its ball, Ash calls out Butterfree to fight Sandshrew. He orders a Stun Spore attack, but A.J. cracks his whip and Sandshrew digs underground, avoiding it. It bursts out of the ground, eliminating Butterfree as well. Although Ash wants Pikachu to fight, Pikachu grabs hold of the edge of the playing field and refuses to go, finally shocking Ash. While all of this is happening, Team Rocket is spying on the match from a tree nearby and decides to steal Sandshrew. Refusing to believe that anyone's Pokémon could be so strong, Ash accuses A.J. of cheating and demands a rematch, but A.J. tells him to quit whining. Later, Ash overhears A.J. training his Pokémon, yelling angrily and cracking his whip. Ash intervenes to stop A.J. from hurting the Pokémon, but A.J. tells him to mind his own business. His Sandshrew is wearing a strength intensifier brace invented by A.J. himself. It enables the Sandshrew to withstand the weakening effects of water. A.J. says he's tougher on Sandshrew than his other Pokémon because it was his very first.

Appalled at A.J.'s training methods, Ash asserts that a great Pokémon Trainer should make friends with his Pokémon. He asks for Brock's input, but Brock only wants to know what kind of food A.J. is using. A.J., like Brock, mixes his own food from a secret recipe. Pikachu attempts to pick up one of Sandshrew's dumbbells, but falls backward under the weight, while Sandshrew does rapid exercises. Meanwhile, Team Rocket is crouched behind A.J.'s tent, preparing for their attempted heist. After the training, A.J.'s Pokémon are all exhausted. A.J. insults Pikachu, and Ash takes a swing at him, causing them both to fall into the pool. Pikachu tries on the strength intensifier, but it fits badly and pulls him into a ball. Sandshrew laughs at Pikachu’s comical appearance and rolls itself into a ball as well.

Team Rocket rolls into the tent inside a rubber ball, intending to steal Pikachu, but they instead grab Sandshrew. After A.J. ends the rest break, he realizes that Sandshrew is missing. He releases Pikachu from the harness, but Pikachu doesn't know where Sandshrew is either. Ash suggests that it ran away because it saw that Pikachu was treated better. A.J. is extremely insulted at this, insisting Sandshrew would not have run away after all they had been through together. He sends his other Pokémon to look for Sandshrew, but Ash tries to convince A.J.'s Pokémon to leave with him. Despite the way A.J. has treated them, they ignore Ash. Meanwhile, while arguing over who carries the bag, Team Rocket is startled when Sandshrew flies out. Meowth bites Sandshrew's tail and Sandshrew burrows underground in pain. While Ash and A.J. are still arguing, Sandshrew bursts out of the ground next to him, dragging Meowth. Seeing how happy A.J. and Sandshrew are to be back together, Ash and the gang realize how deeply A.J. cares for his Pokémon.

Surrounded by angry Pokémon and their Trainers, Meowth tries to figure a way out of his situation, when James and Jessie begin their motto. Jessie tells A.J. that taking his Sandshrew was a mistake; James calls it second-rate, earning A.J's ire. He challenges them to a battle. Sandshrew avoids Koffing's Sludge and Ekans's Wrap and takes them out, then defeats Meowth, who tries to Bite its armored skin. Team Rocket flees after Sandshrew's Fissure attack. As this is A.J.'s 100^th win, he and his Pokémon now leave to begin earning Badges. Like Ash, he too wants to be the world's greatest Pokémon Master. They part as friendly rivals, agreeing to meet in the future at one of the League competitions.

Major events

• Ash learns that there is a Gym in Vermilion City.
• Jessie's Ekans is revealed to know Wrap.
• Meowth is revealed to know Bite.

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

Characters

Humans

Dare da?

• Ash
• Misty
• Brock
• Jessie
• James
• A.J.
• Trainer

Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?

Who's That Pokémon?: Sandshrew

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Butterfree (Ash's)
• Pidgeotto (Ash's)
• Ekans (Jessie's)
• Koffing (James's)
• Sandshrew (A.J.'s)
• Butterfree (A.J.'s)
• Beedrill (A.J.'s)
• Rattata (A.J.'s; ×3)
• Rattata (Trainer's)

Trivia

• This is the first "filler" episode in the anime.
• This is also the first episode without any Pokémon debuts.
• This episode is the last in which Ted Lewis voices James, as well as Eric Stuart's first episode voicing James. He takes over the role when James summons Koffing in battle. Lewis had left for a time to do theater, only to eventually return as Giovanni and Tracey.
• This is the first episode not explicitly set within a location from the games.
• The English dub of this episode mentions a real animal. Misty claims that A.J. controls Sandshrew with the crack of his whip just like a lion tamer. In the Japanese version, she simply remarks that it is amazing A.J. can control Sandshrew with the crack of his whip.
• Early in the episode, Team Rocket expresses an interest in Sandshrew. However, later on they say they take no interest in A.J.'s "second rate" Sandshrew.
• This episode marks the first time a one-hit knockout move is seen in the anime.
• Parts of this episode are remade in I Choose You!.
• Ash's nose extending is a reference to the Japanese saying "Tengu ni naru", which is used to describe a person getting a swelled head.
• This is the first episode where an unofficial Pokémon Gym is shown.
• A.J.'s Sandshrew's strength intensifier resembles a Macho Brace, an item that does not appear until Generation III.

Errors

• Pokémon.com's blurb for this episode misspells Vermilion as Vermillion.
• When Misty says that she and Brock giving Ash the Badges was a mistake, the strap of her bag is the same color as her shirt.
• When Ash and his friends are standing in front of A.J.'s Gym, Ash's sleeves are briefly colored blue instead of white.
• When Ash and his friends turn to see A.J, Ash's left hand briefly overlaps Brock.
• When A.J.'s Butterfree takes his bag, the straps on Ash's bag are colored black instead of green.
• Sandshrew hits Butterfree with Dig, despite the fact that Butterfree, as a Flying-type is immune to a Ground-type move such as Dig.
• When Sandshrew dives into the pool, its eyes have their colors reversed.
• When A.J.'s Sandshrew curls into a ball to be passed around by A.J.'s three Rattata, it is mistakenly drawn without its brace on.
• When Team Rocket is sneaking around A.J.'s Gym while inside of a ball, Meowth's forepaws are colored orange instead of cream.
• When A.J. is grateful when Sandshrew returns, his Butterfree's antennae disappear several times.
• In this episode, A.J.'s Sandshrew uses Defense Curl. However, in the games, Sandshrew couldn't learn Defense Curl until Generation II.
• In the English dub:
  • When Ash tells A.J. that Sandshrew are weakened by water, he incorrectly says "Sandshrews." The plural of a specific species of Pokémon is the same as the singular.
  • When Pikachu is holding a pillow, Ash's Japanese voice can be heard.

• 

  Ash's miscolored straps

• 

  Sandshrew's miscolored eyes

• 

  Meowth's miscolored forepaw

Dub edits

• Kanto Pokérap: Day 3
• The sign over the Gym is heavily edited:
  • The text is translated.
  • The background changes from plain white to a gray that fades into white.
  • The numbers are made into a dot-matrix format. In the original version, they were in a 7-segment LED format.
  • The number of losses (0) is added.
• A sign inside the tent saying "Fight! Work Harder!" is changed to a picture of a Poké Ball being hit with a whip.
• The scene where Pikachu holds a pillow is different between the two versions, due to the original Japanese version incorporating both an untranslatable pun and pop culture reference. In said original version, Ash tells A.J. that Sandshrew (whose Japanese name is "サンド (Sand)") is not a "サンドバッグ" (or "sandbag", which is the Japanese word for punching bag), and Pikachu pulling out a zabuton (a type of pillow) is a reference to the Japanese comedy program Shōten, where participants are awarded with zabuton for giving humorous responses, causing Ash to shout at Pikachu for not taking him seriously. In the English dub, the script was rewritten to have Ash mishear A.J., thinking he said pacing, not passing, and Pikachu's pillow further stammers him into saying padding.
• Team Rocket experiments with a different motto:
  • Japanese:
    • Jessie: "We are the pretty thieves..."
    • James: "Target: Pikachu!"
  • English dub:
    • Jessie: "Team Rocket will do what it has to do..."
    • James: "To snatch that little Pikachu!"
• At the end, a five-second panning of the battle field is cut by three seconds and replaced by a three-second clip from earlier in the episode.

In other languages

Language		Title
Arabic		الطريق إلى دوري البوكيمون
Valencian		El camí cap a la lliga Pokémon
Chinese	Cantonese	百戰百勝的小明 * 通往精靈寶可夢擂台之道 * 邁向寶可夢聯盟之路 *
	Mandarin	通往神奇寶貝擂台之道
Czech		Cesta do Pokémonové ligy
Danish		Vejen Til Pokémon Ligaen
Dutch		Op Weg naar het Pokémon Kampioenschap
Finnish		Matkalla Pokémon-liigaan
French	Canada	En route vers la Ligue de dressage
	Europe	Le chemin qui mène à la Ligue Pokémon
German		Harte Schale - weicher Kern
Greek		Ο Δρόμος για το Πρωτάθλημα Πόκεμον
Hebrew		הדרך לליגת הפוקימונים Ha'derekh le'ligat ha'Pokémonim
Hindi		पोकेमोन लीग की ओर! Pokémon League ki oor! * पोकेमोन लिग मे जाने का रास्ता! Pokémon league me jaane ka rasta! *
Hungarian		A Pokémon liga
Italian		Impegnati e vincerai * Il viaggio verso la Lega Pokémon *
Korean		가자, 포켓몬 리그로! Gaja, Pokesmon ligeulo!
Norwegian		Veien til Pokémon-ligaen
Polish		Droga do Ligi Pokémon
Portuguese	Brazil	O Caminho para a Liga Pokémon
	Portugal	O Caminho para a Liga Pokémon
Romanian		Drumul Către Liga Pokémon
Russian		Путь в Лигу Покемонов
Serbian		Пут до покемон лиге
Spanish	Latin America	¡El Camino a la Liga Pokémon!
	Spain	El camino hacia la Liga Pokémon
Swedish		Vägen till Pokémon Ligan * Vägen till Pokémon-ligan *
Turkish		Pokémon Ligi'ne Doğru Giden Yol
Ukrainian		Дорога до Ліги Покемонів
Vietnamese		Cuộc so tài Pokemon

← EP007 : The Water Flowers of Cerulean City

Original series

EP009 : The School of Hard Knocks →

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