AG049

←	AG048 : ZigZag Zangoose!

Maxxed Out!

AG049

EP323

マサトとマサト！アメタマを守れ！
Masato and Masato! Protect Ametama!

First broadcast

Japan	October 30, 2003
United States	October 30, 2004

English themes

Opening	This Dream
Ending

Japanese themes

Opening	アドバンス・アドベンチャー
Ending	そこに空があるから

Credits

Additional credits
Animation	Team Ota
Screenplay	十川誠志 Masashi Sogo
Storyboard	吉田浩 Hiroshi Yoshida
Assistant director	大町繁 Shigeru Ōmachi
Animation director	たけだゆうさく Yūsaku Takeda

Maxxed Out! (Japanese: マサトとマサト！アメタマを守れ！ Masato and Masato! Protect Ametama!) is the 49th episode of Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire, and the 323rd episode of the Pokémon animated series. It was first broadcast in Japan on October 30, 2003, and in the United States on October 30, 2004.

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

Blurb

Ash and friends stop at a Pokémon Center where May's Skitty pops out of its Poké Ball and causes trouble. A kid that looks a lot like comes up to yell at them—and his name is also Max! The two Maxes get into a fight.

May and Max run into the other Max outside, saying hello to his Surskit. To avoid a fight, Brock suggests that everyone take out their Pokémon. Team Rocket arrives on the scene, but Skitty grabs Jessie's hair. Surskit escapes while Jessie goes berserk in another one of Team Rocket's giant contraptions, sending everyone blasting off.

While the kids are looking for Surskit, the other Max admits that he's jealous because he doesn't get to travel with his Pokémon. They find Surskit in a spring, but are attacked by Team Rocket again. The Maxes team up, and Surskit uses Water Pulse to break a rock dam, washing Team Rocket away.

Jessie emerges from the water to grab Surskit, but is hit hard by Skitty. Then a double-attack from Surskit and Pikachu sends the crooks blasting off for good.

The other Max decides to go traveling with his Surskit, and both Maxes shake hands, now good friends.

Plot

Ash and his friends enter a Pokémon Center near a beautiful lake, where Brock expresses his love towards the local Nurse Joy by presenting her a bouquet. All of a sudden, Skitty pops out of its Poké Ball and begins to chase its tail, causing everyone to make an attempt to stop it. Brock tries to get Skitty to go to him, only to get smacked in the face. Trying a different approach, May takes out a cattail. It tickles her and she sneezes. Max tries his luck with the cattail and succeeds. As an angry boy comes in, he complains about the noise the group is making. Max begins to argue with the boy until Nurse Joy asks "Max" to stop. Max is surprised that Nurse Joy knows his name, but Nurse Joy clarifies that the other kid's name is also Max. Both Maxes proceed to argue about who should change their name, and eventually the other Max leaves the Pokémon Center with a harrumph and retires to contemplate by the lake. Nurse Joy asks Max to go easy on the other Max, saying that they both love Pokémon. Brock promises Nurse Joy that he will see to it that the two boys make up.

Nearby, James wakes up from his ringing alarm clock. He goes through his morning routine and exclaims that it's another great day to catch Pikachu. Jessie asks him what's so exciting about that, bringing down his mood. He depressingly describes their day-to-day struggles, and determinedly exclaims that today is the day they will finally catch Pikachu. He stands up, ready to go, but realizes that while he was carrying out his monologue, the other two Team Rocket members had already left him to go get lunch. Later, May is relaxing on a large rock while Max is still mad that the other Max has the nerve to have the same name as him. Just then, a Surskit skids past them, and May scans it with her Pokédex. It turns a corner and the other Max goes down to meet it. Max gets mad at the sight of him, but May just drags him by the arm to talk to the other Max. The two Max immediately start arguing upon seeing each other, causing May to say that the two should be friends since they both love Pokémon. Max brushes past the other Max to pet Surskit, but the other Max slaps his hand away. The two start arguing again. May tries to stop them once again, but she just ends up confused by their shared names. Ash and Brock meet up with them, but after Brock tells the Maxes that it's silly that they're still arguing, the conflict only continues.

Meanwhile, Team Rocket is watching the twerps through binoculars. They spot Surskit and decide to give it to their Boss as they imagine how thankful he'll be. Tensions quickly settle as Brock suggests that the kids let their Pokémon out to play, to which Ash and May immediately agree before doing just that. The two Maxes marvel at all of the group’s Pokémon. May officially introduces Skitty to the other Pokémon, though it is too distracted by its own tail before curling up asleep from exhaustion. Jessie and Meowth recognize Skitty and begin to fume over May catching it, but James orders them to focus on their plan, Operation Surskit Steal. They leap out of a nearby bush, and Ash urges Pikachu to watch out for them. However, they declare that this time, they want Surskit. They recite their motto in a manner much like American football, getting close to Surskit while dodging the twerps. Ash tells Treecko to use Quick Attack, but Jessie hands Treecko the football, surprising and confusing it. Ash tells Pikachu to use Thunderbolt, but Meowth uses an umbrella to conduct the electricity. Just then, Skitty wakes up and becomes aware of its surroundings. Team Rocket runs towards Surskit, but Skitty, seeing the end of Jessie's hair as a toy, jumps up to catch it. As her locks are damaged, Jessie flips her hair in an attempt to shake Skitty off. After hitting James and Meowth, Skitty falls off and Jessie runs off crying about her hair, with her teammates following after her. The other Max points out that Surskit has run away, but has left watery tracks on the ground. He goes to chase after it. The group catches up with him, and Max explains that they want to help the other Max find Surskit.

Just then, Team Rocket reappears in a new mecha with a massive mallet. The two Maxes point out that Team Rocket scared Surskit off, causing James and Meowth to blame Jessie. The tense moment turns more lighthearted as everyone starts laughing at Jessie's messed-up hair, which May even compares to a dustmop. This causes Jessie to go crazy and start attacking the group with the mecha's giant mallet. The group runs away while Jessie drives after them in pursuit. She sends them flying, with Ash, Pikachu, and Brock in one direction and May, Max, and the other Max in another group. Ash later sends out Taillow to go search for the others. Meanwhile, the other Max reveals that he was jealous of Max and his friends for travelling and meeting so many Pokémon, while Max reveals that he was envious of the other Max for being friends with Surskit. May says that it was about time they made up. Just then, they notice Team Rocket's mecha in the distance and run off to find Surskit before Team Rocket does. However, Team Rocket finds them and chases after them as the other Max leads May and Max to a spring deep in the forest. There, they find Surskit in the water.

Jessie and James send out Seviper and Cacnea respectively. May steps in to battle, but the two Maxes stop her, saying that they'll handle it. Ash's Taillow notices them and turns back to tell Ash. May and the two Max leap away to evade an oncoming Poison Tail from Seviper. Cacnea aims a Pin Missile though Surskit evades and is instead struck by Seviper. James tells Cacnea to use Needle Arm, but notices Cacnea sinking into the water, leaving James no choice but to recall it. Max suggests they break the rock wall, so the other Max orders Surskit to use Water Pulse on some rocks, forcing more water to surge in and wash Team Rocket into the water. Jessie emerges from the water looking and walking like a monster and tries to wrestle Surskit away from the other Max's hands. May and Max try to help him, but when that doesn't work, May sends out her Skitty and has it use Double Slap on Jessie, causing her fall back into the water. Ash, Brock, Pikachu, and Taillow arrive on the scene. Pikachu uses Thunderbolt on Team Rocket, but Meowth blocks it once again with his umbrella. The other Max has Surskit use Bubble Beam, knocking the umbrella out of Meowth's hands. Thunderbolt finally blasts Team Rocket into the sky.

With the two Maxes finally friends, Ash and his friends say farewell to Nurse Joy and the other Max as they head towards Fallarbor Town.

Major events

May's Skitty is revealed to know Double Slap.

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

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

Surskit

Characters

Humans

Pokémon

Pokémon Trainer's Choice

Pokémon Trainer's Choice: Lotad

Trivia

This episode reveals that James's Cacnea cannot swim.
One of James's lines in the episode is a reference to the 1976 film Network.
This episode was aired in English exactly one year after the Japanese airdate, and is the last episode to do so.
Bella Hudson becomes the new voice of Nurse Joy.
Ready Go! was used as background music.

Errors

When all the Pokémon are sent out, Corphish and Mudkip are absent.
In the Hindi dub, Surskit is wrongly named as Sunskrit.

Dub edits

In the original Japanese version, the other Max was surprised that Skitty belonged to May and not her brother, and that it was the reason he didn't like him. In the English dub, the other Max says he has never seen so many Pokémon in one place; Max says that he is going to catch his own Pokémon and become a Gym Leader.

Pokémon Trainer's Choice

Question: Trainers, which one of these Pokémon evolves into Lombre?
Choices: Lotad, Electrike, Oddish
Answer: OK, Trainers! If you chose Lotad, you were right!

In other languages

Language		Title
Mandarin Chinese		小勝與勝人，保護溜溜糖球！
Danish		Max mod Max
Dutch		Maximaal Max!
Finnish		Max vastaan Maxx
European French		Un Max deux Maxx
German		Max im Doppelpack
Hebrew		פעמיים מקס pa'amayim Max
Hindi		दो दो Max! Do do Max! *
Italian		Max uno e Max due!
Korean		정인이랑 정인이, 비구술을 지켜라
Norwegian		Helmax! *
Portuguese	Brazil	Max ao Quadrado!
Portuguese	Portugal	Max a Dobrar!
Russian		Максимализм
Spanish	Latin America	¡Doble Max!
Spanish	Spain	¡Demasiados Max!
Swedish		Max och Surskit!