BW104

← BW103 : Curtain Up, Unova League!

Best Wishes series

BW105 : Lost at the League! →

Mission: Defeat Your Rival!

BW104   EP761 熱闘！ライバルバトルを勝ちぬけ！！ Fierce Fighting! Win Out in the Rival Battle!!

First broadcast Japan November 29, 2012 United States March 16, 2013

English themes Opening It's Always You and Me Ending

Japanese themes Opening やじるしになって！ Ending みてみて☆こっちっち

Credits Animation Team Kato Screenplay 武上純希 Junki Takegami Storyboard 牧野吉高 Yoshitaka Makino Assistant director 吉村文宏 Fumihiro Yoshimura Animation director 篠原隆 Takashi Shinohara No additional credits are available at this time.

Screenshots on Filb.de Preview thread on BMGf Closed Original review thread on BMGf Dub review thread on BMGf

Mission: Defeat Your Rival! (Japanese: 熱闘！ライバルバトルを勝ちぬけ！！ Fierce Fighting! Win Out in the Rival Battle!!) is the 104th episode of the Best Wishes series, and the 761st episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on November 29, 2012 and in the United States on March 16, 2013.

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

Blurb

The Unova League qualifying round between Ash and Trip continues, with Trip’s Serperior appearing to have victory—and Pikachu—all wrapped up! But Ash is determined not to let his rival knock him out of the competition, and a combination of Iron Tail and Electro Ball turns the tables, allowing our hero to move on to the main event!

And so it begins with Cameron vs. Bianca as the first match of the day. Cameron’s Samurott immediately goes on the offensive against Bianca’s Escavalier, and though Bianca maxes out Escavalier’s defensive power with Iron Defense, a successful double Razor Shell from Samurott still gets through, and Escavalier is out.

Bianca calls up Emboar, which seems like a strange choice—as a Fire type, it’s at a disadvantage against the Water-type Samurott. But Bianca’s strategy is sound—Emboar uses Attract, and Samurott is immediately smitten! With a couple of powerful Fighting-type attacks, Samurott is down for the count. Cameron then calls on his beloved Riolu, who proves to be quite a powerhouse despite its small size. Its speed, dexterity, and expert timing—combined with moves like Copycat and Vacuum Wave—are enough to finish Emboar off, and Cameron claims the first win in the Unova League’s main event!

Plot

The battle between Trip and Ash continues... Pikachu manages to get up after getting hit by Serperior's Dragon Tail. Before Pikachu could have retaliated, Serperior hits him with Energy Ball and Dragon Tail. Then Serperior uses Wrap and Pikachu is in a tight squeeze. Ash calls out for a Thunderbolt, but Serperior merely passes the electricity underground by burying his tail and using it as a lightning rod.

Ash yells to him, and all the memories of his previous battles come on his mind. Ash quickly hatches a new plan. As Pikachu's tail was outside of Serperior's grip, he commands an Iron Tail which allows him to break free. Once more, the attack is repeated, but Serperior's Dragon Tail once again causes Pikachu to flinch. Ash, to Trip's sheer astonishment, orders Pikachu to gather electricity on his tail and he uses a unique Electro Ball and Iron Tail combo. Serperior counters with Dragon Tail, and a large explosion occurs. When the smoke clears, Pikachu collapses onto the ground, but manages to stand up within a few seconds with faltering steps. Serperior, however, is unconscious, and Trip has been defeated. Their rivalry ends, and friendship blooms its first bud.

With Trip and Ash's battle done, the League goes on to the first round. Cameron is matched up with Bianca, and their battle begins in earnest. Bianca starts up with her Escavalier, while Cameron goes on with Samurott. Escavalier uses Iron Defense several times, but Samurott still manages to beat it. Next up, Bianca sends out Emboar. Cameron thinks that he will win because of type advantage, but Bianca surprises everyone by using Attract on Samurott to infatuate her, and then knocks her out. Now one on one, Cameron sends out his Riolu. Riolu displays quite a battling prowess, and manages to turn hostile situations into an advantage. Riolu finally knocks out Emboar with a Vacuum Wave, giving Cameron the win, and knocking Bianca out of the Vertress Conference.

Major events

• Ash defeats Trip, eliminating the latter from the tournament.
• Ash and Trip make peace with each other.
• Virgil defeats Ultimo, advancing to the next round.
• Bianca defeats Mikael, advancing to the next round.
• Cameron defeats Kendrick, advancing to the next round.
• Cameron defeats Bianca, eliminating the latter from the tournament.

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

Characters

Dare da?

Humans

• Ash
• Iris
• Cilan
• Nurse Joy
• Trip
• Bianca
• Stephan
• Cameron
• Virgil
• Freddy O'Martian
• Mikael
• Ultimo
• Kendrick
• Katharine
• Dino
• Antonio
• Emmanuel
• Flora
• Geraldo
• Ramone
• Manning
• Kenton
• Russet

Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?

Who's That Pokémon?: Vaporeon

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Axew (Iris's)
• Oshawott (Ash's)
• Pignite (Ash's; flashback)
• Snivy (Ash's; flashback)
• Tepig (Ash's; flashback)
• Audino (Nurse Joy's)
• Serperior (Trip's)
• Snivy (Trip's; flashback)
• Frillish (Trip's; flashback)
• Vanillite (Trip's; flashback)
• Emboar (Bianca's)
• Escavalier (Bianca's)
• Riolu (Cameron's)
• Ferrothorn (Cameron's)
• Samurott (Cameron's)
• Eevee (Virgil's)
• Vaporeon (Virgil's)
• Watchog (Mikael's)
• Crustle (Ultimo's)
• Dwebble (Ultimo's)
• Eelektross (Kendrick's)
• Tranquill (Ramone's)
• Minccino (Katharine's)
• Sandile (Antonio's)
• Foongus (Flora's)
• Blitzle (Trainer's)
• Deerling (Trainer's; ×2)
• Pidove (Trainer's; ×2)
• Patrat (Trainer's)
• Woobat (Trainer's)
• Gothitelle (Trainer's)

Trivia

Preview image from the Episode N teaser

• Professor Oak's Pokémon Live Caster: Preview of upcoming episodes and the Unova League Pokémon World Tournament download*/Samurott*.
• This episode marks Ash's first victory against Trip.
• Trip's Serperior's use of his tail as a lightningrod for Pikachu's Electric attack is similar to the tactic used by Jeanette Fisher's Bellsprout in The Fourth Round Rumble and Winona's Pelipper in Sky High Gym Battle!.
• This is the first time since his capture that Pignite was not used in a battle against Trip.
• This episode was followed by a brief teaser for Best Wishes Season 2: Episode N.
• Iris narrates the preview for the next episode.
• This episode marks the last appearance of Trip.

Errors

Woobat's blue colored wings

• In one of the crowd shots, Woobat's wings are colored blue like its body, instead of black.
• When Kendrick first commanded his Eelektross to use an attack, he said "Crunch Claw" when he should have said Crunch.
• While Bianca is commanding her Emboar to use Attract, she says "Emborn" instead of "Emboar".

In other languages

Language		Title
Mandarin Chinese		熱鬥！從勁敵對戰中勝出！
Dutch		Missie, versla je rivaal!
Italian		Missione: vincere a tutti i costi!
Korean		뜨거운 시합! 라이벌 배틀에서 승리하라!
Polish		Misja: Pokonać rywala!
European Spanish		¡Misión: Derrotar a tu rival!

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← BW103 : Curtain Up, Unova League!

Best Wishes series

BW105 : Lost at the League! →

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