EP022

←	EP021 : Bye Bye Butterfree

Abra and the Psychic Showdown

EP022

ケーシィ！ちょうのうりょくたいけつ！
Casey! Psychic Showdown!

First broadcast

Japan	August 26, 1997
United States	October 6, 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

Additional credits
Animation	Team Ota
Screenplay	武上純希 Junki Takegami
Storyboard	井上修 Osamu Inoue
Assistant director	井上修 Osamu Inoue
Animation director	酒井啓史 Keishi Sakai

Screenshots on Filb.de

Abra and the Psychic Showdown (Japanese: ケーシィ！ちょうのうりょくたいけつ！ Casey! Psychic Showdown!) is the 22nd episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on August 26, 1997 and in the United States on October 6, 1998.

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

Synopsis

The scene opens focusing on a silhouette of a woman, holding a visible little girl. In the woman’s eyes, she sees Ash and his friends making their way towards Saffron City. However, Ash and his friends appear lost and Ash blows up on Misty for her lack of directions, starting a full-scale argument among the group. They stop arguing when they spot a little girl giggle nearby bouncing a ball. She runs off as Ash follows. The forest gives way to a massive cliff drop-off and Ash plummets, but he calls out Bulbasaur to save him with Vine Whip. The Pokémon pulls him up to safety as they notice that the girl has disappeared. However, they spot Saffron City in the distance and Ash is excited for his upcoming Gym battle.

As they enter the city, Jessie and James, disguised as Hawaiian women, kiss Ash and put leis on him. They say that Ash and his friends are the one-millionth visitors to the city and they take them to a skyscraper for a prize. When they get there, James grabs Pikachu with rubber gloves and Jessie pushes the three onto a warp tile, sending them to an isolated room with no exit. They find out that they were set up as a television screen drops down. When Team Rocket removes the disguise, Ash freaks out at that they both kissed him. Team Rocket recites their motto, but Ash and his friends ignore Team Rocket. They show Pikachu bound up and Ash orders them to give Pikachu back. The monitor cuts off, but Team Rocket did not cut the link. As Jessie and James work to fix it, Meowth points to the little girl that got inside, the same one Ash saw earlier. She emits a blue aura, freezing Jessie and James, unable to move. The girl takes Pikachu and teleports into the same room with Ash, giving Pikachu back. Ash thanks her, but the girl glows again and points to Ash and his friends, teleporting them.

When Ash and his friends reappear, they find themselves in front of the Saffron Gym. A man runs up behind them and informs them where they are, suggesting that they avoid the Gym and runs off. Ash ignores the warning and heads inside, intending to win the Marsh Badge. They go inside, finding it empty at first. They run into a door and look inside, finding several people in the room practicing telekinetic powers. A man confronts them and Ash asks for a match against Sabrina. When Misty asks what the people in the room were doing, he demonstrates by holding up a spoon and bending it a little by telekinesis. Ash shows off by bending the spoon completely by force, prompting the others to turn away embarrassed. The man leads them to the arena and bows down in front of a gate, asking Sabrina to come out. The little girl appears, her eyes glowing red, using telekinetic force to send the man running. Ash asks for his official match from Sabrina and the little girl agrees. She agrees if Ash and his friends play with her if he loses. The gate opens as the little girl is revealed to be sitting on the real Sabrina’s lap. The doors close, sealing them in.

Sabrina and the little girl move over telekinetically as the arena lights up. The little girl tosses a Poké Ball, sending out Abra while Ash sends Pikachu. Pikachu acts aggressive but notices Abra is sleeping. Pikachu bounces around Abra, but it is sound asleep. Ash checks his Pokédex and it says that Abra sleeps eighteen hours a day but can employ telekinesis while asleep. Pikachu fires off a ThunderShock, but Abra wakes up and uses Teleport to dodge and get behind Pikachu. Abra suddenly evolves into Kadabra. Ash checks his Pokédex again. He thinks that it is unfair, but evolving during the match does not count. Ash orders Pikachu to fill the stadium with lightning to negate Kadabra’s teleportation. Pikachu launches several bolts of electricity into the ceiling, pooling it into a massive blast and sending it down towards Kadabra. It uses Confusion to coalesce the attack and send it back to Pikachu as a dragon, causing serious damage. It uses Psychic to control Pikachu’s body, forcing it to get up and dance. Kadabra suddenly sends Pikachu up towards the ceiling and back down, repeating the attack several times before Ash decides to forfeit the match.

Since he lost, he has to fulfill the request of being the little girl’s friend. She employs telekinesis to teleport them to another area. They reappear in a deserted town. They check the nearest house and find it empty. However, there is a set table complete with cake. Ash checks around as Brock samples the cake. When he bites into it, he finds it to be a plastic fake. Ash enters the bathroom and sees a woman in the bathtub. He turns away, but Pikachu points to the mirror, noticing that the figure is really a doll. Misty and Brock realize that they are in a dollhouse. The place rumbles as the house roof comes away, showing a giant Sabrina and the little girl towering above them. She slams her hand into the dollhouse as they run away, noticing that they were shrunk by telekinesis and are in her toy box. The little girl laughs uncontrollably as Ash and his friends run into a picture frame, showing the little girl and her parents. With nowhere to run, the little girl approaches, dribbling a ball and rolling it towards Ash and company. The man they ran into earlier appears and uses teleportation to get them out.

Ash and company reappear in Saffron as the man orders them to leave, mentioning that Sabrina is very dangerous. Ash is not willing to leave without the badge and thinks that he just needs to attack faster to beat Sabrina. The man’s eyes glow red as he employs telekinesis on Ash, dropping his pants and forcing him to dance, Misty covering her eyes. The man laughs as he stops the telekinesis. Ash charges forward and asks to be taught telekinesis, but the man pushes him back, mentioning that a person must be born with it. Ash is still determined and steps forward as the man forces him to the ground. Ash gets back up as the man continues to use telekinesis to push Ash to the ground. He continues to crawl forward, shocking the man as he asks for help. It convinces the man to tell Ash that Ghost Pokémon can beat Sabrina, found in Lavender Town. The man teleports away as his friends help Ash up. Ash decides to go to Lavender Town as the man reappears nearby and mentions that he may be able to help Sabrina. Ash and his friends press on to Lavender Town. Meanwhile, Meowth drags Jessie and James, still frozen, as they follow.

Major events

Ash and his friends reach Saffron City.
Sabrina's Abra evolves into Kadabra and learns Confusion.
Ash battles Sabrina but loses by forfeit.
Ash heads to Lavender Town to catch a Ghost Pokémon to take on Sabrina's Kadabra.

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

Debuts

Sabrina

Pokémon

Abra (Sabrina's)
Kadabra (Sabrina's)

Characters

Humans

Dare da?

Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?

Who's That Pokémon?: Abra

Pikachu (Ash's)
Meowth (Team Rocket)
Bulbasaur (Ash's)
Abra (Sabrina's; evolves; debut)
Kadabra (Sabrina's; newly evolved; debut)

Trivia

During this episode, it is mistakenly stated that Ghost-type are strong against Psychic-type, when, during Generation I, the generation of this episode's airing, Psychic-types were actually immune to Ghost-type moves. Similarly, in the Generation II episode The Psychic Sidekicks!, it is said that Psychic-types are strong against Ghost-types, although the reverse was true by then. However, Gastly, Haunter, and Gengar's secondary Template:Type2 does make them weak to Psychic moves.
Sabrina holding a doll of her younger self and using it to do her bidding may be a reference to The Twilight Zone episode Living Doll, and her ball rolling down a narrow hallway is possibly referencing the first Indiana Jones film, Raiders of the Lost Ark.
The book Night in the Haunted Tower is partially based on this episode.
This episode is featured on the Volume 7: Psychic copy of Pokémon Elements.

Errors

Sabrina's dad states that only Ghost-type Pokémon can beat Psychic Pokémon. However, even in Generation I, Psychic-types were weak to Bug-type moves.
The Pokédex claims that Kadabra is the Psychic Pokémon, not the Psi Pokémon.

Dub edits

The scene where Team Rocket say their motto on the big screen, as well as the scene where Ash and his friends comment about it getting canceled soon, was only in the dub.

In other languages

Language		Title
Arabic		التأثير بالطاقه الذهنيه
Mandarin Chinese		凱西，超能力大決鬥 / 凯西，超能力大决斗
Czech		Abra a zápas plný kouzel
Dutch		Abra en de Uitzonderlijke Krachtmeting
Finnish		Abra ja yliluonnolliset voimat
European French		Quand la télékinésie s'en mêle
German		Abra und das Psycho-Duell
Hebrew		סברינה והפוקימון העל חושי Sabrina vehaPokémon ha'al-chushi
Hungarian		Abra és a nagy erőpróba
Italian		Sabrina
Korean		강적! 초능력 포켓몬 gangjeog! choneunglyeog pokétmon
Polish		Abra i psychiczny nokaut
Portuguese	Brazil	Abra e o Show de Paranormais
Portuguese	Portugal	Abra e o Espectáculo Psíquico
Romanian		Abra și Confruntarea Psihică
Russian		Абра и психическая атака
Spanish	Latin America	¡Abra y el duelo psíquico!
Spanish	Spain	Kadabra y el enfrentamiento psíquico
Swedish		Den övernaturliga Sabrina