AG085
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Sky High Gym Battle!
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First broadcast
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English themes
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Japanese themes
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Credits
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Sky High Gym Battle! (Japanese: ヒワマキジム！大空の戦い！！ Hiwamaki Gym! Battle in the Sky!) is the 85th episode of the Advanced Generation series, and the 359th episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on July 15, 2004 and in the United States on July 9, 2005.
Synopsis
The Fortree City Gym Leader and Ash take their places on an elevated balcony above the battlefield. Before the battle commences, Winona says a type of prayer, asking for strength. It's a three-on-three battle and Winona starts off with Altaria, while Ash chooses Grovyle.
May, who is on the sidelines with Brock and Max, checks Altaria's data on the Pokédex. Altaria begins the battle with a Peck attack, but Grovyle counters with Bullet Seed and then jumps out of the way, but gets pecked afterwards. Winona then commands Altaria to do another Peck, but Ash gets Grovyle to dodge it by climbing up a totem pole and doing a backflip.
Team Rocket, meanwhile, are in some kind of tunnel, possibly under the battlefield itself. James, however, doesn't understand why they're trying to get under the battlefield. Meowth attempts to explain and pulls out a pair of dowsing rods. Jessie and James are confused by the rods, and fantasize about disco dancing with them, but Meowth tells them the rods are used to search for water. Jessie is skeptical but the rods turn and bend and point directly to...another tunnel. Convinced of the rods' usefulness, Jessie and James run off with them down the tunnel.
Meanwhile, Winona tells Altaria to use DragonBreath but Grovyle doesn't seem too affected by it. Winona again commands Altaria to use the same attack, but Ash gets Grovyle to jump out of the way. Winona is concerned (and a little impressed) with Grovyle's Speed. Grovyle then attacks with Bullet Seed again and hits Altaria on the back, with no ill effect. Altaria flies away.
Altaria tries the same move a third time but Grovyle again jumps out of the way and into the air, above Altaria. Ash sees his chance and orders Grovyle to use Leaf Blade. Altaria falls to the ground under the weight of Grovyle's attack. Grovyle is victorious!
Winona recalls Altaria and sends out Pelipper. Ash recalls Grovyle and uses Pikachu. On the sidelines, Max points out that Pelipper is a hybrid Water/Flying type. Brock adds that Pelipper has a 4x weakness against Electric moves, so this should be easy for Ash. Pikachu starts its match against Pelipper by using Thunderbolt. Pelipper counters with Steel Wing and accidentally touches the ground. Pelipper is grounded, and electricity doesn't affect it now.
The Thunderbolt attack discharges into the underground tunnels, including the one Jessie and James are in. The metal rod points up at the spot where Pelipper is grounded. Team Rocket is blasted off again and they land on the battlefield. They plot to catch Pikachu while it's distracted by the battle.
They state their modified motto and run for Pikachu. The dowsing rods they're holding again become lightning rods when Pikachu attacks. Jessie seems happy about that property of the rods. Winona orders Pelipper to use what appears to be Headbutt. Brock understands; the Steel Wing attack is grounding Pelipper, nullifying Pikachu's electrical attacks. Ash changes his strategy and orders Pikachu to use Quick Attack.
Pelipper is still grounded and Winona commands it to use Hydro Pump. The force of the attack causes Pelipper to de-ground itself and Ash sees a chance to use a Thunder attack on Pelipper. Both Pokémon are knocked out.
Winona makes a speech in between battles, telling Ash and the others of her love for the sky. Winona then chooses Swellow, an alternate color Pokémon, as her final Pokémon, while Ash chooses Grovyle again. Ash commands Grovyle to use Leaf Blade. But Swellow is seemingly unscathed. Swellow is then ordered to use Aerial Ace. Ash uses the jump-and-Leaf-Blade combo again as a countermove, but Swellow dodges it. Grovyle is hit and is pinned down from the sky.
Ash then chooses his Swellow to battle. This battle, Swellow vs Swellow, takes the two Pokémon higher into the sky. Brock thinks that this is a bad idea. Winona orders an attack and Ash's Swellow is hit. It's apparent that when using Wing Attack, Swellow cannot actively stay in the air (i.e., hovering and unable to control movement). Winona orders her Swellow to repeatedly Peck Ash's Swellow. Then she orders a Hyper Beam attack, which Ash's Swellow dodges. However, she orders this attack a second time and it's a direct hit!
Ash counters with Quick Attack but Winona's Swellow is faster and dodges this attack, countering with Peck. The battle becomes an aerial chase between the two birds. Ash gets some inspiration when he sees the dust being stirred on the ground by Swellow's rapidly changing direction in midair close to the ground. Winona orders another Hyper Beam. Ash orders Swellow to rush towards the ground. Winona orders Swellow to use Aerial Ace. Ash commands his Swellow to use Wing Attack on the ground. The dust cloud that develops obscures the view of Winona's Swellow and slows it down. Ash takes advantage of the bird's disorientation and orders his Swellow to use Wing Attack. Winona's Swellow is knocked out, and Ash wins!
Max, Brock, and May comment on Ash's strategy. Winona presents the Feather Badge to Ash against a beautiful sunset background.
Major events
- Ash has his Gym match with Winona and wins, earning the Feather Badge.
- For a list of all major events in the animated series, please see the history page.
Debuts
Characters
Humans
Pokémon
Pokémon Trainer's Choice: Lapras
- Pikachu (Ash's)
- Meowth (Team Rocket)
- Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
- Chimecho (James's)
- Swellow (Ash's)
- Grovyle (Ash's)
- Swellow (Winona's) (Shiny)
- Pelipper (Winona's)
- Altaria (Winona's)
Trivia
- This episode was the final one to air before the Japanese debut of Destiny Deoxys.
- Due to Megumi Hayashibara's maternity leave, Akiko Hiramatsu takes over the voice of Jessie, a change that will last for the next several episodes.
- Team Rocket makes a reference to EP142, EP181, and EP182 when they had used the divining rods/ itemfinder previously.
Errors
- When Grovyle is facing off against Altaria, Ash tells Grovyle to "jump and use dodge", rather than to "jump and dodge".
- During the second round of the battle, Pelipper uses Steel Wing as a ground to render Pikachu's attack ineffective. In the real world, electricity is only dangerous when the target is grounded and not the other way round (this is a consistent error about electricity in the Pokémon universe). Brock also describes the technique as protecting Pelipper "like a lightning rod". Lightning rods act by diverting electricity into the rod and away from the building, not by acting as a ground for the building.
Dub edits
In other languages
| Language | Title | |
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| Mandarin Chinese | 茵鬱道館！天空之戰！ | |
 Finnish
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Taistelu taivaalla | |
 European French
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Duel en altitude | |
 German
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Kampf um den sechsten Orden | |
 Hebrew
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קרב בשמיים krav bashamayim | |
 Italian
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Una sfida nel blu | |
| Portuguese |  Brazil
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Batalha de Ginásio nas Alturas! |
 Portugal
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Um Combate nas Alturas! | |
| Spanish |  Latin America
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¡Batalla en el cielo azul! |
 Spain
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Un combate de gimnasio por todo lo alto | |
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This episode article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation. |
