EP118

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EP117 : Don't Touch That 'dile
Original series
EP119 : A Sappy Ending
The Double Trouble Header
  EP118  
ルーキーのチコリータ!
The Rookie's Chicorita!
First broadcast
Japan October 21, 1999
United States October 21, 2000
English themes
Opening Pokémon Johto
Ending
Japanese themes
Opening OK!
Ending ニャースのパーティ
Credits
Animation Team Ota
Screenplay 園田英樹 Hideki Sonoda
Storyboard 椎名ひさし Hisashi Shiina
Assistant director 福本潔 Kiyoshi Fukumoto
Animation director はしもとかつみ Katsumi Hashimoto
Additional credits

The Double Trouble Header (Japanese: ルーキーのチコリータ! The Rookie's Chicorita!) is the 118th episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on October 21, 1999 and in the United States on October 21, 2000.

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Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.
201

Blurb

In a Pokémon battle, Ash soundly defeats an ambitious young Trainer, who runs away dejectedly. Before Ash can comfort the novice, though, Team Rocket steps in, convincing the girl that Ash won by foul play, and recruiting her to their cause.

Plot

Venturing from New Bark Town, Ash and his friends stumble across a girl and her Chikorita in the midst of training. As a wild Rattata hops out of a bush, Chikorita is sent into battle. Chikorita's first Tackle misses its target, but the next attack manages to knock Rattata out. The young Trainer sees her opportunity and immediately captures it with a Poké Ball. She celebrates her latest capture with a rendition of the Team Electabuzz Baseball theme. Afterward, she calls back her Chikorita and soon spots Ash, Brock and Misty; her attention, however, is more focused on Pikachu. She pulls him off Ash's shoulder and soon asks for him to shock her since she's been wanting to know what it feels like. Despite Ash's protests against it, both she and Ash get shocked by Pikachu.

The group take the time to meet the budding Trainer, who introduces herself as Casey. The trio find out that Casey has an affinity for yellow striped Pokémon, and more than anything, she wants an Electabuzz for her own. She also reveals the fact that she's a huge Team Electabuzz fan, to which Ash notes that the team tend to place last. To settle their argument, Casey challenges Ash to a three-on-three battle. Casey starts the battle with Pidgey and Ash finds himself reminiscing over past events before sending out his Charizard. Both Brock and Misty are surprised by his choice, given that Casey is a new Trainer. However, Casey calls out the first attack and Pidgey flies in for a Quick Attack, where it merely bounces off Charizard's chest and it is soon blown away by a strong exhale by Charizard. After getting knocked out, Casey recalls Pidgey and then sends out her Rattata. Casey commands Rattata to use Tackle against Charizard, where, again, the Pokémon just bounces off Charizard's stomach. Becoming somewhat infuriated with how the battle is ending up, Casey finally sends out her Chikorita and tells it to use Vine Whip on Charizard. Ash, simply has Charizard use Flamethrower on Chikorita, causing the Grass-type's head leaf to catch fire and it soon faints. Brock officially calls Ash the winner, leaving Casey distraught.

Misty, Brock and Ash all say that even for a rookie Trainer, she did great. Ash tries to offer his hand in friendship to Casey. However, her pride is broken by the battle and Casey runs away while telling Ash to leave her alone. In the middle of fleeing, Casey trips and falls to the ground. With this, Casey recalls her family's tradition of cheering on the Electabuzz, because even though they haven't won any of their games, they never gave up. With that in mind, she gets back up and tells herself that she will be just like Team Electabuzz, that she wouldn't give up either and that nothing will stop her!

With this proclamation, Team Rocket applauds Casey and reveal themselves before her. Sporting Team Electabuzz baseball gear, they tell her that they're also big supporters of Team Electabuzz, and Casey starts to open up to them right away. James tells Casey that Ash has beaten them many times. Jessie, jabbing her arm into James' side to shut him up, steps in and tells Casey that she wouldn't have had a chance against Ash in the first place. After telling Casey this, Team Rocket then convinces her that he is a cheater for using a Charizard against her and that Charizard is forbidden from being used against new Trainers.

Finding Ash once again, Casey challenges Ash to another battle. The stage is set in a baseball diamond and Casey starts the battle with Chikorita while Ash uses Pikachu this time around. Both Brock and Misty root for Casey as she begins the battle by telling Chikorita to use Sweet Scent, the attack immediately leaves Ash and Pikachu a little dazed by the smell. Chikorita lands a Tackle attack on Pikachu. Team Rocket is watching the battle unfold from the scoreboard, just waiting to implement their cheating tactic to assist Casey. After a small discussion, Meowth presses a button which activates a group of robotic Electabuzz fans to cheer Casey on and boost her confidence.

Continuing on in the battle, Ash commands Pikachu to use Thunderbolt against Chikorita. However, Chikorita easily deflects the attack by spinning the leaf upon her head. At this, Brock tells Ash that Grass-type Pokémon are strong against Electric-type, and therefore, he'd have to change his battle strategy. Casey follows up, and Chikorita lands another Tackle on Pikachu. After this, Team Rocket then turns on another machine, which appears to be a giant batting machine. Ash questions what it is while Casey accuses him of being a cheater and that the machine simply proves it. However, Team Rocket controls the machine and sends it after Chikorita, and it cowers in fear of not knowing what to do. This is where Ash's Pikachu jumps out in front of Chikorita to protect it against the contraption. At this motion, Casey gasps, surprised that he would do this since she had been convinced that Ash was indeed a cheater.

The machine soon 'hits a home run' with Pikachu and Chikorita, the two are sent directly to Team Rocket. As they get the two Pokémon, Team Rocket reveals themselves to everyone and recites their motto. Ash tells Casey that it's Team Rocket and Casey soon realizes that she had been tricked all along as Team Rocket tells them their plans with both Pikachu and Chikorita. Meowth presses a button on his remote, and several pitching machines emerge and begin sending a fury of baseballs towards Casey and Ash. As soon as a baseball hits Casey in the leg, she immediately gives up, and Ash declares that they can't just allow Team Rocket to defeat them. He makes a reference to a Pokémon match being just like baseball, that you have to hang in there till the last out. This is where Ash gets hit by a baseball and claims that a baseball is not a Poké Ball.

Touched by what Ash had said, Casey gets back up on her feet and pulls out her bat. With a new determination burning within her, she hits all the baseballs she can back, leaving Team Rocket red-faced. After enough hits to ward off the baseballs, Ash calls out Squirtle and Bulbasaur as Casey calls out her Pidgey and Rattata to help hit away the rest of the baseballs that were still being fired in their direction. Team Rocket are now facing an onslaught of baseballs and this allows Casey to attack James with her Rattata and Pidgey, getting both Chikorita and Pikachu back.

Casey has Chikorita to use Razor Leaf on Team Rocket, and Pikachu shocks them with its Thunderbolt attack. After the two attacks, Ash and Casey team up to have Chikorita and Pikachu to perform a double Tackle attack that sends Team Rocket flying out of the park. With the battle won, Pikachu and Chikorita congratulate each other while Casey and Ash share a high-five. Casey apologizes to Ash for letting Team Rocket convince her that he was a cheater. Casey leaves Ash and his friends on her own journey, hoping to encounter them at the Johto League. Ash looks forward to meeting her when she is more experienced, as he and his friends head in the opposite direction and towards Violet City.

Major events

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

Debuts

Humans

Pokémon debuts

Characters

Humans

Dare da?

Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?

Who's That Pokémon?: Heracross (US and international), Chikorita (Casey's) (Japan)

Trivia

  • The English dub of this episode first aired exactly one year after the original did in Japanese.
  • This episode's dub title is a reference to the popular saying, "double trouble," and the baseball term, doubleheader.
  • The baseball teams all seem to be representations of real-life Japanese baseball teams, with the Electabuzz based on the Osaka Hanshin Tigers team, and the teams with Magikarp and Starmie logos representing Hiroshima Toyo Carp and the Yokohama BayStars, respectively.
  • In this episode, Team Rocket uses a variation of their motto.
  • The book The Chikorita Challenge is based on this episode.
  • This episode is featured on Pokémon All-Stars: Chikorita from Magna Pacific's Pokémon All-Stars series.
  • The shot in which Meowth is crying behind a tree is a reference to the series Star of the Giants, in which the main character's sister is also shown crying behind a tree, as she watches her son and father practice playing baseball.
  • When Ash first sees Casey's Pidgey, he makes a reference to the first episode, where he also tried to catch a Pidgey himself.

Errors

Dub edits

  • Pokémon Karaokémon: Pikachu (I Choose You)
  • The shot of Ash getting hit by baseballs was covered by impact animations for the English dub. However, the shot of Meowth getting hit by a baseball in the face was not changed.
  • The exchange between Ash and his friends was different between the two versions. Originally, Ash mentions that he wants to hurry up and capture a new Pokémon. Misty states that she thought Totodile was cute and how she wanted one, and Brock then mentions he wants a Cyndaquil.
  • The robotic cheerleaders' cheers were originally "Ato hitori!" ("One person left!", as in, one more out until the end of a baseball game). This was changed to "Gotta catch 'em all!" in the dub.
  • Ash's advice to Casey was originally supposed to be that she should keep her eyes on the ball, and that Pokémon matches are similar in the sense that the Trainer has to keep their eye on the opponent. This was rewritten in the dub.
  • Ash's statement about a Pokémon not being a bean ball was originally an untranslatable pun relating to the words タマ tama and ボール ball, which are both used in Japanese in different contexts to refer to a ball.
  • In the dub, Brock wonders if Casey has an older sister he could date, while in the original version, Brock expresses interest in Casey herself, stating that she would be a lot of fun in eight years.
  • In the original version, Ash declares that Casey will be his new rival outright.

In other languages


EP117 : Don't Touch That 'dile
Original series
EP119 : A Sappy Ending
This episode article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation.