AG112
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Showdown At Linoone
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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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Showdown At Linoone (Japanese: マッスグマ！友情のカタチ！？ Massuguma! The Shape of Friendship!?) is the 112th episode of the Advanced Generation series, and the 386th episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on January 27, 2005 and in the United States on February 4, 2006.
Synopsis
As the episode starts, Ash and his friends are on a boat again, heading for Pacifidlog Town. Admiring his full collection of Badges, Ash can’t wait to get into the Hoenn League. May is excited as well about her upcoming Contest in Pacifidlog Town.
The ship docks at an island, and Ash calls Professor Oak from the Pokémon Center. Ash says he plans to do some serious training before the tournament. Oak says he and Delia will be there to cheer him on. Outside, at their campsite, Ash is anxious to do some training, and runs off with Pikachu. May gets excited again about her Contest, saying that if she wins, she’ll qualify for the Hoenn Grand Festival. She begins to polish her Poké Balls in preparation. Meanwhile, we see something watching from the bushes. Once she has her Poké Balls all polished up nicely, she puts them back into her bag, one by one. She takes Combusken’s and Skitty’s Balls, but when she looks up, the Balls containing Bulbasaur and Beautifly are gone!
May freaks out and frantically looks around for them. Brock and Max ask what’s wrong, and she explains. Max instantly says it must have been Team Rocket. Unknown to them, Team Rocket is actually relaxing nearby, behind the bushes, and are startled by this. Watching May continue to freak out, it’s not too hard for them to figure out the reason for the commotion. Suddenly, Max notices some tracks around the table May had been using. The three of them conclude that whatever made the tracks must have taken the Poké Balls, and decide to follow them.
Ahead, Ash is about to send out a Pokémon to start training, but is suddenly hit from behind by a charging Linoone. Ash and Pikachu go flying, and upon landing, Ash checks out Linoone in the Pokédex. Linoone runs off, breaking the trail’s handrail in the process. The next thing Ash knows, a foot lands on his back! May, who accidentally stepped on him in her hurry, turns around in surprise. Max and Brock show up as well, and Max asks if Ash just saw a Pokémon run by. Ash says he saw a Linoone. May says that Linoone must be what they’re looking for. Ash asks if it had puffy cheeks, and imitates the face of the Linoone that hit him. May angrily confirms it. Ash asks what’s going on, and Brock fills him in. The four join up now to find Linoone and get May's Pokémon back. Linoone’s trail leads them to a house, and they discuss this, since it seems the Linoone has a Trainer.
Inside, a young boy sadly throws an empty battered Poké Ball across an empty room. Ash and friends appear at the entrance and Ash asks if he’s seen a Linoone. May explains that it stole two of her Poké Balls. The boy is quite upset by this, and apologizes profusely. It seems that his “Tokin” (his nickname for his Linoone) has been giving him some trouble. An adult couple appear now and greet Ash and friends, asking if they can help with something. Ash explains, and the boy confirms that Tokin is at it again. The adults now introduce themselves as the Shoney family. The father is Korben, the mother is Harmony, and the boy is their son Kimmy. Ash and friends introduce themselves as well. Kimmy now takes Ash and friends to a shed which contains an abundance of various round objects. Ash and friends are surprised at the collection, and Kimmy sheepishly explains that this is all Tokin’s doing.
Max is surprised, and Kimmy goes on to explain in a flashback that back when Tokin was a Zigzagoon, Kimmy often played fetch with it using its Poké Ball. Tokin loved this game, but took things too far. Even now that it’s a Linoone, it’s been habitually bringing back any round object it can find, and storing them at home. Kimmy says that he tried to explain that he only wanted the ball he actually threw brought back, but Linoone didn’t understand. Ash says that this reminds him of how his Charizard used to misbehave, but confidently says that Charizard is over that now. Kimmy asks how he did it, and Ash says it was persistence.
While all this has been going on, May has been searching through the piles of balls and other round objects, but has been unable to find her two missing Poké Balls, and cries because of it. Kimmy says that Linoone sometimes hides things in a clearing near their home, so everyone heads out there. Ash and friends are surprised at the size of the place. Korben comforts May by saying that they’ll all help her search, and May thanks him. The gang begins searching in bushes, in holes in trees, and so on. Harmony spots something shining inside a crack in a tree stump, and pulls out a ring. She and her husband are both delighted at the recovery of this ring which obviously has a lot of sentimental value, and they promptly start dancing, probably reliving some memory or other.
Meanwhile, Pikachu peers into a hole in another tree stump, and cheers when it finds something. May runs over, thinking Pikachu found her Poké Balls, but instead, Pikachu places a bone in her hand! May freaks out and juggles it like a hot potato. Ash and Brock come over to find out what’s wrong, and Ash takes the bone. Max comes over and recognizes it as a Thick Club and explains that it enhances the strength of Cubone, and Marowak. Pikachu points at the stump’s hole again and says something, indicating there’s more to be found. Ash reaches in and pulls out a little bell that Max identifies as a Soothe Bell. Brock finds a Dragon Fang, but May is disappointed because her Poké Balls aren't among the items. Brock now explains to the group about Linoone's Pickup Ability, and observes that this particular Linoone seems to be quite good at finding valuable things. As he talks, we get a view of the items in the stump. Inside the treestump is a King's Rock, a Thick Club, a blue crystal, a Stick, a bell, two DeepSeaScales, and two DeepSeaTeeth.
Team Rocket, of course, has been listening from the bushes. They're delighted upon hearing of Linoone's ability to find valuable things, and James says they should steal it for the Boss. Meowth has a fantasy of Linoone repeatedly zipping by and dropping off presents galore for Giovanni, and Team Rocket does their usual cheer. Meanwhile, the search for the Poké Balls continues, while Kimmy's parents are still distracted with their earlier discovery.
On a cliff above, we see Tokin, still with the Poké Balls in its mouth, watch the group search. Kimmy spots Tokin, alerting the rest of the group. Kimmy calls to it, saying they need those Poké Balls back. Tokin shakes its head and turns around, but just then, it’s caught in a net! Everyone is startled, but of course, the net is coming from Team Rocket’s balloon. Team Rocket says their motto and starts to leave. Kimmy desperately climbs up after them, yelling for them to give back Tokin, but Jessie sends out Seviper to do a Haze, preventing Kimmy from going any further. He cringes and steps back, but loses his footing and falls! Ash calls out, and Linoone finally drops the Poké Balls in surprise. Kimmy lands, beaten, at the bottom, and his parents rush to his aid.
May’s Poké Balls land next to her, and she happily picks them up. May and Ash now turn their attention to Team Rocket. Ash tells Pikachu to go rescue Tokin, so Pikachu begins running up the cliff. James will have none of this, so he sends out Cacnea, but it of course hugs him. Ash calls for Pikachu to use Iron Tail to cut the net. It does, and Linoone is sent falling! Kimmy starts to run towards it. Jessie calls for a Poison Tail, and Pikachu repeatedly jumps back to avoid the attack. It makes a final jump to land on Seviper’s head. Seviper tries to shake Pikachu off, but it hangs on. Meanwhile, Kimmy is able to revive Tokin, and they have a tearful reunion. Ash calls for a Thunderbolt, and the attack hits Seviper and sends it back at Team Rocket’s balloon. It appears to explode, and Ash and Pikachu cheer.
But when the dust clears, Team Rocket is still there, except that the balloon looks like a Poké Ball now instead of Meowth’s head. Team Rocket brags about their preparations, and Meowth hits a button that sends out another net, this time ensnaring Pikachu! Ash runs up the cliff after it, as Team Rocket cheers and Pikachu struggles in the net.
Everyone else catches up now, and Kimmy apologizes, blaming himself and Tokin for Pikachu’s capture. Ash says not to worry, he’s gotten Pikachu back from them before. Tokin now notices the Poké Ball balloon and remembers the games of fetch it used to play with Kimmy. It suddenly runs off towards the balloon, jumping several gaps along the way. Brock realizes the Poké Ball balloon reminds Tokin of its games with Kimmy, and concludes that Tokin wants to get this “ball” too. Kimmy sheepishly admits that he hadn’t been playing fetch with it nearly as often since it evolved into Linoone, and Brock realizes that Tokin kept going after round things because it was feeling neglected. Kimmy now realizes how much it loves him, and asks Ash if it’s okay if he and Linoone handle getting Pikachu back.
Ash says to go for it, so Kimmy runs ahead and tells Tokin, who had been hesitating on the edge of the cliff, to “go get that ball”. Linoone happily nods, and with the added confidence, is able to steel itself and jump far enough to reach the balloon. When it lands on top of the balloon, Jessie and James are delighted, because they think it wants to go with them. But Meowth quickly explains that it’s actually trying to stop them. James orders a Needle Arm from Cacnea, but Meowth exclaims that that’s a bad idea. Tokin dodges, and the Needle Arm hits the balloon instead, puncturing it and sending it plummeting towards the ground. Tokin lands on the net and slashes it open just before they hit. The balloon crashes in the background, but Tokin and Pikachu are okay, since Tokin apparently jumped off just before impact. Ash and Kimmy run up and reunite with them, and Kimmy promises to play with Tokin more often from now on. Everyone else joins and looks on.
Suddenly, they hear a noise, and the dust from the landing clears to reveal Jessie and Meowth beating up on James because of his dumb move with Cacnea. Jessie notices the group, and calls for a Poison Tail from Seviper. James furiously calls for a Needle Arm from Cacnea. Kimmy calls for Tokin to use Water Pulse. Ash says it’s cool that Linoone can use a Water attack, and Kimmy says that Water Pulse can also confuse the opponent. Seviper and Cacnea are indeed confused, and begin attacking each other! Jessie asks what’s going on, and James explains about Water Pulse. Jessie yells at their Pokémon, who then turn on them. Cacnea launches a Pin Missile at Jessie and James while Seviper uses Haze. Ash suggests that Pikachu and Tokin team up to finish them off, and Kimmy agrees. Pikachu and Tokin both use Thunderbolt, sending Team Rocket blasting off. Ash and Kimmy congratulate their Pokémon.
Later, it’s time for everyone to say goodbye. Kimmy says he plans to spend a lot more time with Linoone from now on, and his parents thank Ash & friends for everything. Kimmy pulls out a Poké Ball and throws it, telling Linoone to go fetch. As everyone watches, the narrator ends by explaining what everyone has to look forward to. Kimmy and Tokin will be bonding, Ash has the Hoenn League, and May still has that Contest coming up in Pacifidlog.
Major events
- For a list of all major events in the animated series, please see the history page.
Debuts
Pokémon debuts
TV episode debuts
Characters
Humans
Pokémon
Pokémon Trainer's Choice: Mareep
- Pikachu (Ash's)
- Meowth (Team Rocket)
- Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
- Chimecho (James's)
- Seviper (Jessie's)
- Cacnea (James's)
- Zigzagoon (Kimmy's; nicknamed "Tokin", flashback)
- Linoone (Kimmy's; nicknamed "Tokin", debut)
- Cubone
- Marowak
Trivia
- The dub title is a play on words of the old west phrase "Showdown at High Noon."
- Tokin likes to collect round things, just like Quagsire in Once in a Blue Moon.
- This is the first time in the anime that Team Rocket's get away balloon was a poké ball instead of the traditional Meowth faced Balloon.
- This is the second time in the anime that Pikachu's Thunderbolt has formed a dragon shape, the first being Abra and the Psychic Showdown when Kadabra's Confusion turned it back on Pikachu.
- When Pikachu was dodging Seviper's Poison Tail, Pikachu was using the dodging skills he learned in Flower Power.
Errors
- Flaaffy was spelled Flaafy during the Pokémon Trainer's Choice. This happened in a previous episode's Trainer's Choice.
- Tokin was able to say its name with its mouth closed.
- When May was polishing her poké balls, it showed three on the table next to her, four in a close up shot, and then three again in the exact same position after she picked up one of the poké balls.
Dub edits
Pokémon Trainer's Choice
- Question: Trainers, Which of these Pokémon comes first?
- Choices: Flaaffy, Mareep, Ampharos
- Answer: Ok, Trainers! If you chose Mareep, you were right!
In other languages
| Language | Title | |
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| Mandarin Chinese | 直衝熊！友情的形式！？ | |
 Finnish
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Linoone näyttää kyntensä | |
 European French
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Le Petit Chapardeur! | |
 German
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Frust macht Diebe | |
 Hebrew
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מצוקתו של ליינון metzukato shel Linoone | |
 Italian
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Il ladruncolo | |
 Brazilian Portuguese
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A Revelação de Linoone | |
| Spanish |  Latin America
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La revelación de Linoone |
 Spain
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Enfrentamiento con Linoone | |
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This episode article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation. |
