AG161

← AG160 : Harley Rides Again

Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire

AG162 : Spontaneous Combusken! →

Odd Pokémon Out!

AG161   EP435 ジュプトルVSトロピウス！草原の決闘！！ Juptile VS Tropius! Grassland Duel!!

First broadcast Japan January 26, 2006 United States October 28, 2006

English themes Opening Battle Frontier Ending Pokémon Go!

Japanese themes Opening バトルフロンティア Ending GLORY DAY 〜輝くその日〜 ③

Credits Animation Team Ota Screenplay 武上純希 Junki Takegami Storyboard 秦義人 Yoshito Hata Assistant director ながはまのりひこ Norihiko Nagahama Animation directors 志村泉 Izumi Shimura 玉川明洋 Akihiro Tamagawa Additional credits

Screenshots on Filb.de

Odd Pokémon Out! (Japanese: ジュプトルVSトロピウス！草原の決闘！！ Juptile VS Tropius! Grassland Duel!!) is the 161st episode of Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire, and the 435th episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on January 26, 2006, and in the United States on October 28, 2006.

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

Blurb

The team is on Camomile Island, en route to May's next Pokémon Contest on Chrysanthemum Island. Everyone lets their Pokémon out to have some fun. When Ash's Donphan tries to play with some young Rhyhorn, its intentions are misunderstood and soon Ash and his friends are running from a Rhyhorn stampede! Nurse Joy and her Meganium come to the rescue, except Grovyle then picks a fight with a Tropius and Meganium has to calm things down once more.

Team Rocket wants Meowth to recruit Tropius, and Tropius agrees—if Meganium comes along. Tropius is in love with Meganium, but so is Grovyle, and it's not happy about losing. So when Team Rocket attacks the Pokémon Center and steals Meganium, Grovyle has already left for a rematch with Tropius. Love powers Grovyle to victory but when Team Rocket returns, Meganium only has eyes for Tropius. Poor Grovyle is devastated.

Ash and his friends arrive on the scene, and even Team Rocket has to help explain Grovyle's romantic woes to Ash. Team Rocket then kidnaps Tropius too, and Grovyle evolves into Sceptile to stop them. However, Sceptile's moves are all a bust! Pikachu comes to the rescue, and Tropius and Meganium combine to defeat Team Rocket. The two Pokémon are clearly a couple, but it looks like Sceptile may not recover from its broken heart!

Plot

Ash and his friends are on their way to Chrysanthemum Island so May can enter the Pokémon Contest for her elusive third Ribbon. However, they find there is no direct ferry service, so they head to Camomile Island to get on the connecting ship. They find the island full of Pokémon roaming the plains, so Ash, May, and Brock bring out their Pokémon.

A green ball of grass bounces to Donphan as a bunch of baby Rhyhorn approach. Overjoyed, Donphan picks up the ball and rushes to play with the Rhyhorn, but they flee in fear and bigger Rhyhorn step up to defend the young. Donphan drops the ball and runs back to Ash and the group, who notice the stampede and also run away. Nurse Joy pulls up in a Jeep and sends out her Meganium, which uses Growl to calm the Rhyhorn. May checks her Pokédex on Meganium, but Brock checks out Nurse Joy until Max pulls him back. After the group checks their Pokémon, Ash notices that Grovyle is missing. Pikachu points to it being near a tree and facing off against a Tropius, which Ash checks his Pokédex. Joy says that Tropius is protecting the tree as its territory.

Grovyle charges, but Tropius swats Grovyle away with Steel Wing before using Gust to pin Grovyle down, following up with Razor Leaf. Joy calls Meganium to stop Tropius with Razor Leaf, which ends Tropius's hostility. Nurse Joy points out that this has happened before and Tropius will not attack Meganium. With Grovyle critically hurt from the attack, the group heads back to the Pokémon Center. Team Rocket watches nearby, wanting to steal Tropius as a present for Giovanni. Jessie and James decide to let Meowth talk to Tropius and coerce it to come along. As Tropius eats fruit off the tree, Meowth approaches with a megaphone. Meowth asks Tropius about what it wants. Meowth tells Jessie and James that Tropius is attracted to Meganium. Remembering that Meganium has healing powers, Team Rocket decide to take it as well.

At the center, Meganium uses its powers to heal Grovyle, who wakes up and becomes instantly attracted to Meganium, the twig in its mouth sprouting a flower. Brock says that Grovyle is embarrassed because it lost to Tropius, but Ash is indifferent to the attraction. The group leaves the room to let Grovyle rest, but Grovyle is already up. Team Rocket approach the center in a mecha, using a mechanical arm to crash through and take Meganium. Nurse Joy alerts the group as Team Rocket recites their motto. Mime Jr. constantly interrupts Meowth throughout the motto, making him angry. Team Rocket leaves with Meganium as Ash and his friends follow. Grovyle decides to go back to the tree to face off with Tropius once again.

The wind blows as Grovyle and Tropius face off. Tropius uses Gust once again, stalling Grovyle. It charges with Steel Wing and uses Razor Leaf to knock Grovyle down before attacking again with Razor Leaf. Grovyle blocks the attack, notices the flower in its mouth, and remembers Meganium. Inspired, Grovyle speeds up the tree and hits Tropius from above with Bullet Seed before following with Leaf Blade, taking Tropius down. Team Rocket and their mecha approach with Meganium in tow and set it down. Grovyle and Meganium run to each other, but Meganium keeps running to tend to Tropius. Meganium heals Tropius and the two appear to be a couple, greatly upsetting Grovyle. The flower in its mouth wilts as Grovyle sinks to its knees.

The jeep arrives and Ash notices Grovyle on its knees. He confronts Team Rocket, thinking they did something to Grovyle, but they tell of the second battle between Grovyle and Tropius. Ash thinks Grovyle lost again, but Team Rocket say that Grovyle won the battle but lost Meganium’s love. Ash is still oblivious to the love triangle. Meowth activates the mecha and takes both Meganium and Tropius away. Regardless of rejection, Grovyle stands back up to face Team Rocket and begins to glow, evolving into Sceptile.

Ash checks his Pokédex as Sceptile rushes towards the mecha. Jessie and James send out Seviper and Cacnea, whom Meowth launches directly at Sceptile. Both Pokémon unwillingly crash into Sceptile, sending all three to the ground. Ash orders Sceptile to fire Bullet Seed at Cacnea and Seviper, but Sceptile is suddenly unable to fire any seeds. Ash orders Leaf Blade, but the attack also fails to function. Seizing their opportunity, Team Rocket order Seviper and Cacnea to attack with Poison Tail and Needle Arm. Sceptile is struck by both and becomes the target of the mecha's foot. Ash saves his Pokémon with Pikachu's Thunderbolt, which blows out a knee and topples the mecha. Nurse Joy runs to and hugs both Grass Pokémon. Meowth calls the Team Rocket balloon down with a remote so they can escape, but Meganium and Tropius step forward to attack together. Meganium uses Razor Leaf and Tropius uses Gust to amplify the attack, destroying the balloon and sending Team Rocket flying.

The group notes how close the Grass Pokémon are once they decide to live together at the Pokémon Center. Ash is concerned about Sceptile's sudden inability to attack, but Joy knows that Sceptile will get over it and grow. Shortly thereafter, Ash and company board the ship to head off to May's next Contest.

Major events

• Ash's Grovyle evolves into a Sceptile.
• The shock of Meganium's rejection causes Sceptile to become unable to use any moves.

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

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

• Ash's Sceptile

Characters

Humans

• Ash
• May
• Brock
• Max
• Jessie
• James
• Nurse Joy
• Giovanni (fantasy)

Pokémon

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
• Mime Jr. (James's)
• Donphan (Ash's)
• Swellow (Ash's)
• Grovyle (Ash's; evolves)
• Sceptile (Ash's; newly evolved)
• Corphish (Ash's)
• Combusken (May's)
• Munchlax (May's)
• Squirtle (May's)
• Eevee (May's)
• Forretress (Brock's)
• Marshtomp (Brock's)
• Bonsly (Brock's)
• Seviper (Jessie's)
• Cacnea (James's)
• Meganium (Nurse Joy's)
• Tropius
• Nidoran♀ (×2)
• Nidoran♂
• Nidoking
• Ponyta (multiple)
• Rapidash (multiple)
• Rhyhorn (multiple)
• Girafarig (×2)
• Wingull (multiple)

Trivia

• Tomoe Hanba voices James's Mime Jr. in this episode because Ikue Ōtani was on maternity leave. Ōtani still provides the voice of Ash's Pikachu, but Pikachu's voice was likely supplied by clips from the much more abundant amount of previous episodes.
• OK! is used as an insert song during the battle between Ash's Sceptile and Team Rocket.
• 4Kids background music is used in this episode.
• Meganium, Grovyle, Sceptile, and Tropius are all in the Monster Egg Group, meaning that the attractions expressed in this episode are consistent with Egg Groups, and that these Pokémon are able to breed. Meganium and Tropius are also in the Grass Egg Group.
• The episode's English dub title is a pun on the idiom "odd man out".
• This is the third time that Ash and one of his rivals both have a Pokémon of the same species. The first was Gary's Krabby, the second Ritchie's Pikachu, and the third Tyson's Sceptile.
• This episode marks the only time that a:
  • Main's character Grass-type starter Pokémon has evolved in two different regions.
  • Grass-type starter Pokémon has evolved outside its native region onscreen.
• This episode was adapted into the book Grovyle Trouble.
• This episode was skipped in the initial rotation on the Castilian Spanish Pokémon TV on April 1, 2016. It was later added on April 9, 2016.

Errors

• When Team Rocket gets blasted off, Wobbuffet can be heard, despite not being out of his Poké Ball.

Dub edits

• Ash refers to Sceptile as male by saying "...he won" and "he lost...", which wasn't present in the Japanese version. In fact, Sceptile's gender has yet to be confirmed in the Japanese anime.
• In the English dub, as Meowth calls Sceptile a wimp after failing moves, Jessie and James's laughter can be heard in the background. In the original Japanese version, there isn't any laughter.

In other languages

Language		Title
Mandarin Chinese		森林蜥蜴對抗熱帶龍！草原的決鬥！
Danish		En to tre for mange
Dutch		Vijfde Pokemon aan de wagen!
Finnish		Kolmas pyörä
European French		Duel amoureux
German		Schmerz - lass nach!
Hebrew		לב שבור
Hindi		पोकेमोन का प्यार Pokemon ka Pyaar*
Italian		Rivali in amore
Korean		초원의 결투! 나무돌이 VS 트로피우스
Norwegian		Neste Pokémon ut
Brazilian Portuguese		O Fora do Pokémon
Russian		Третий лишний покемон
Spanish	Latin America	La evolución de Grovyle
	Spain	Pokémon enamorados
Swedish		Fnurra på kärlekstråden!

← AG160 : Harley Rides Again

Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire

AG162 : Spontaneous Combusken! →

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