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| Curbing the Crimson Tide!
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摩天楼の赤いイナズマ！
The Red Lightning of Skyscrapers!
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First broadcast
| Japan
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March 2, 2006
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| United States
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November 18, 2006
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English themes
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Japanese themes
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Credits
| Animation
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Team Ota
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| Screenplay
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十川誠志 Masashi Sogo
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| Storyboard
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大山和弘 Kazuhiro Ōyama
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| Assistant director
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秦義人 Yoshito Hata
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| Animation director
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志村泉 Izumi Shimura
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| Additional credits
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Curbing the Crimson Tide! (Japanese: 摩天楼の赤いイナズマ！ The Red Lightning of Skyscrapers!) is the 166th episode of the Advanced Generation series, and the 440th episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on March 2, 2006 and in the United States on November 18, 2006.
Synopsis
A bright and sunny day begins our story as a gust of wind blows through the city. Three young boys stand in an alley confronting the Red Lightning. One of the boys calls out a Poliwag, launching an Ice Ball attack towards the Red Lightning. The Red Lightning retaliates with a Hyper Beam attack knocking out Poliwag. The Red Lightning strides over and leaves his mark upon his defeated foe. The Poliwag's Trainer rushes to his Pokémon as the Red Lightning disperses into the atmosphere.
Ash, now with his fifth Frontier Symbol, plans to head to the Battle Tower. Our heroes walk along a sidewalk inside of the city as Ash goes on search for the nearest Pokémon Center. Brock quickly locates Nurse Joy and begins his usual romantic speech. After a few moments, Max drags Brock off into the distance. Suddenly, the three boys arrive with the injured Poliwag. Nurse Joy recalls a past experience of another young boy's Gulpin being defeated by The Red Lightning in the same manner.
Nearby, Team Rocket are disguised in janitor's clothing and plan to capture the defeated Pokémon. Meanwhile, May is outside diligently studying information concerning Pokéblocks, feeding Eevee one. Munchlax is quick to notice and begins to complain as May offers it a Pokéblock also. May then recalls Munchlax, Combusken and Eevee back into their Poké Balls as she tries to figure out which of her Pokémon is missing. After a few seconds, she realizes that Squirtle is missing as she searches for it. May finally catches up to Squirtle whom is smelling the nearby flowers. A gust of wind engulfs a nearby Butterfree whom is lifted off into the sky. The Red Lightning arrives on the scene offering May a Pokémon battle. The Red Lightning doesn't give May much of a choice as he thrusts forward with his usual Hyper Beam attack. Squirtle avoids this attack and counterattacks with a Water Gun. As The Red Lightning descends upon Squirtle, it dodges Squirtle's Water attacks before getting a lock on Squirtle and striking down with a final Hyper Beam, knocking Squirtle unconscious. The mark of The Red Lightning is left as evidence of Squirtle's defeat.
Inside the Pokémon Center, Ash notices that majority of the Pokémon have the same weird markings that the young boy's Poliwag had. May arrives on the scene with her Squirtle and Red Lightning's marks. Ash and heroes head out on the search of this "Red Lightning". A scream is heard from the distance as Ash rushes over to find a young girl and her Chansey defeated by the Red Lightning. May looks in the general direction and locates the Red Lightning about to make his escape. Ash pursues the Red Lightning as Pikachu rushes forward with a Quick Attack. Pikachu fires a Thunderbolt attack but misses, and the Red Lightning moves in to take advantage of the situation. A Hyper Beam is launched in Pikachu's general direction as Pikachu uses Quick Attack to bounce off a nearby wall and barely dodge the attack.
When the trio lands on the ground, a net explodes from the distance as Team Rocket make their appearance on the scene. The Red Lightning realizes that Team Rocket is after him, as Meowth turns around and fires another net in his direction. The Red Lightning quickly dodge the Rocket's attack as everyone heads in the general direction that The Red Lightning was headed. Ash and heroes temporarily form a truce with Team Rocket as everyone boards the balloon and heads towards Lightning. Lightning finally arrives at his destination as a young girl is seen holding a small notebook computer. With a press of a button, one of the nearby trees rocket into the sky and collides into Team Rocket just as Ash and gang escape from the explosion. Ash observes her and Lightning as she notices them in the distance. A sophisticated man comes from the house as he comes to give apologies for her actions. She is quick to interrupt him as Ash is more than ready for a Pokémon battle. Pikachu moves into position as Lightning begins with another Hyper Beam attack. Pikachu uses his Volt Tackle to explode into the sky and respond with a Thunderbolt. Lightning launches his counterattack with a Swift attack. Both attacks collide and explode in the arena thrusting Lightning's cape off his body and revealing him to be a Scizor. Pikachu begins with another Volt Tackle blasting towards Scizor but Pikachu realizes that it can't fly.
Ash says that he will match Scizor's speed with his own as he calls upon Sceptile. As Scizor flies off into the distance, Sceptile is right behind him scaling the nearby buildings. Scizor then rotates around to launch another Hyper Beam attack just as Sceptile moves to avoid the attack. A gust of wind throws Sceptile in the direction of the attack as it collides for a direct hit. Sceptile begins falling uncontrollably but finally recovers, gripping onto a skyscraper. Sceptile notices the gusts within the city and uses them to his advantage to float through the air creating the temporary effect of flight. Sceptile then comes down with a devastating Leaf Blade knocking Scizor unconscious. Sceptile then rotates toward the ground to rescue Scizor by reflecting off nearby skyscrapers and successfully saves it from his impending disaster.
With Scizor's defeat now within grasp, Ash and heroes turn around to question her about her actions. The old man then begins to explain how her parents had left her at a young age. May goes over to comfort the young girl suggesting to her a Pokémon battle, Scizor versus Squirtle. Scizor begins the battle with a Swift attack as Squirtle Withdraws in defense. Squirtle launches a Water Gun towards Scizor but it quickly avoids the attack. Squirtle then follows up with an Ice Beam attack which quickly freezes the ground and causes Scizor to lose its balance. Squirtle begins rotating at a high speed along the icy battlefield as Scizor moves to dodge but is too late as Squirtle blasts into the sky colliding with Scizor for a direct hit. Both Pokémon crash into the ground as Squirtle returns to the ground and Scizor being knocked unconscious. A new frontier waits ahead of our everlasting heroes.
Major events
- For a list of all major events in the animated series, please see the history page.
Debuts
Characters
Humans
Pokémon
Trivia
- 私、負けない！ 〜ハルカのテーマ〜 I Won't Lose! ~Haruka's Theme~ debuted as an insert song.
- The opening バトルフロンティア (Battle Frontier) was changed to スパート！ (Spurt!)
- This episode's dub title is a pun on "surfing the crimson tide," a euphemism for menstruation.
- Luna's house bears a striking resemblance to one in another episode.
Errors
- When May came to the Pokémon Center, the drawings on Squirtle's face changed.
Dub edits
In other languages
- Chinese (Taiwan): 摩天樓的紅色閃電！
- French: Le fantôme rouge!
- German: Unfug! Nichts als Unfug!
- Italian: Il Pokémon mascherato
- Latin American Spanish: Curveando la marea roja
- Iberian Spanish: Frenando a la marea roja
