AG137

←	AG136 : The Symbol Life

Hooked On Onix

AG137

EP411

イワークの王国！！
The Kingdom of Iwark!!

First broadcast

Japan	August 4, 2005
United States	May 6, 2006

English themes

Opening	Unbeatable
Ending

Japanese themes

Opening	バトルフロンティア
Ending	ポケモンかぞえうた

Credits

No additional credits are available at this time.
Animation	Team Ota
Screenplay	武上純希 Junki Takegami
Storyboard	浅田裕二 Yūji Asada
Assistant director	浅田裕二 Yūji Asada
Animation director	岩根雅明 Masaaki Iwane

Screenshots on Filb.de

Hooked On Onix (Japanese: イワークの王国！！ The Kingdom of Iwark!!) is the 137th episode of Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire, and the 411th episode of the Pokémon animated series. It was first broadcast in Japan on August 4, 2005, and in the United States on May 6, 2006.

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

Blurb

Ash's Battle Factory victory has him eager to reach the next Battle Frontier stop right away, but even he has to stop for food and water. Munchlax takes care of the Pokémon food by eating it all, which sets off a squabble that disturbs the local Geodude. The Geodude chase Ash and May's Pokémon, and some of them are separated in the commotion. Ash and May have to find their missing Pokémon!

An Onix leads the Rock-type Pokémon that live in the area, and they're none too happy about the intruders. Team Rocket sees this and convinces Onix that Ash and his friends are up to no good. Phanpy and Squirtle reunite with Pikachu, Corphish, and then Munchlax, but they're captured by Rock Pokémon working with Team Rocket. Elsewhere, Brock is captured as well!

Ash finds Onix and Team Rocket, but now all his friends and their Pokémon have been snagged! Ash tries to tell Onix that he's not a villain, and Onix decides that they'll battle. If Ash wins, his friends go free. If Ash loses... well, he'd better win! Ash choses Grovyle, who has a type advantage against Onix, and wins the round.

Team Rocket tries plan B: steal all the Pokémon outright. But Ash tells Grovyle to defend Onix against their attack, and it's clear now who the good guys are. May and the others are freed, and together everyone protects the wild Pokémon from Team Rocket. Once the villains are sent flying, Onix makes amends by giving our heroes an escorted ride out of its valley.

Plot

On his way to the Battle Arena, Ash admires the Knowledge Symbol he received as an award for his victory over Noland. When the water canteen becomes empty, Brock suggests they go search for water while Max and Pikachu look after the Pokémon while he is gone. Mudkip leads Brock and the others to a lake. Meanwhile, after serving all the Pokémon some food, Max decides to take a nap. Munchlax greedily eats everyone's Pokémon food, instantly stirring tensions. Corphish tries to attack Munchlax with Bubble Beam, but it misses and hits Squirtle instead. Squirtle uses Bubble which hits Corphish. Pikachu tries in vain to wake Max up while Squirtle and Corphish exchange attacks, unintentionally disturbing a group of Geodude. The angry Geodude surround the Pokémon, sending Munchlax flying as well as chasing off Pikachu and Corphish. Max rushes over to check what is going on and notices that Munchlax, Corphish, and Pikachu are gone. Ash and his friends return as Max tells them that some of the Pokémon are missing. They decide that they should look for the Pokémon with Mudkip coming along while Brock stays back to look after the remaining Pokémon just in case the others return.

Meanwhile, the angry Geodude go to their clan, consisting of multiple Graveler, Golem, and headed by a single Onix, to report the confrontation. Team Rocket overhears the conversation, and Meowth to translate, they realize the described troublesome Pokémon must be owned by the twerps. The trio quickly put a plan into motion, hoping to use the Rock Pokémon to help them capture Pikachu and the others. Jessie and her teammates convince Onix that Ash and his friends are evil, so it orders its fellow Rock types to get rid of the unwanted threats.

In a flower field, Squirtle is smelling flowers and admiring a large one when a Beedrill pops out and begins to attack. Phanpy uses Hidden Power to send Beedrill away. Squirtle returns to picking flowers until a swarm of Beedrill chase after them. Phanpy puts Squirtle on its back and runs away in fear. To their surprise, they run into Pikachu and Corphish, but keep running away. Pikachu and Corphish see the swarm of Beedrill fast approaching and use Thunderbolt and Bubble Beam to send them away.

Brock starts to get frustrated with everyone taking so long and thinks he should go look for them. A group of Geodude appear and surround him before a locked cage lands on him. Pikachu, Corphish, Squirtle, and Phanpy continue searching for everyone and find Munchlax eating apples in a tree. Geodude and Golem appear and use Rollout to chase them. The Pokémon jump on a log that is in a river and use it to avoid the Rock Pokémon since they hate water. They hit a rock and fall into the water and down the waterfall. Back on land, they end up surrounded by Graveler and Golem and are trapped in a cage as well. Pikachu uses Thunderbolt and Corphish uses Bubble Beam to try to break the cage, but they fail. The captives, Brock and the previously missing Pokémon, remain caged up and surrounded by the Rock Pokémon.

At the bottom of the cliff, Mudkip alerts Ash and his friends to something beyond a cliff. As Ash climbs the cliff, he sees Brock and some of the Pokémon are caged up. As he turns to alert May and Max to the situation, he sees that Team Rocket have now caught them. Team Rocket recites their motto to their truly captive audience and everyone realizes that the Rock Pokémon for some reason are working for the trio. Meowth says that they've waited a long time to capture Pikachu and finally have. Team Rocket thanks Onix for capturing the twerps and the Pokémon, requesting that they keep them from ever harming Pokémon again. Ash steps in hoping to convince Onix that he would never hurt the Rock Pokémon and that Team Rocket is the ones trying to steal all of the Pokémon. Onix doesn't know who to believe and Meowth translates that Ash must defeat it in a battle to prove that he has to be telling the truth. Team Rocket realize their ploy may quickly be undone as Ash brings out Grovyle to battle Onix. Brock warns that Ash must be careful since Onix is at a high level, despite being at a great disadvantage against a Grass-type.

Onix uses Slam, but Grovyle dodges and uses Quick Attack, hurting itself against Onix's hard body. Onix knocks Grovyle into the surrounding cliffs. Grovyle lands a hit with Bullet Seed. Onix tries to use Bind, but Grovyle avoids it. Grovyle uses Bullet Seed again but this time at Onix's head, causing major damage. Grovyle finishes it off with Leaf Blade. Team Rocket panics and thinks that they should just grab Pikachu and run for it. Though Meowth suggests they should also take the powerful Onix with them, so the trio deploy their latest mecha. They hurl a giant boulder toward Onix, though Grovyle uses Leaf Blade to reduce the rock to rubble. Onix finally realizes where Team Rocket's loyalties lie, and it orders its fellow Rock Pokémon to break the cages and to protect Ash and his friends from harm. Team Rocket douses the Rock Pokémon with water from the mecha's water cannons, knocking them all out. They use the robot's arms to grab Pikachu and Onix while trying to make their getaway, but the Rock Pokémon are holding them back. Mudkip uses Water Gun, Corphish uses Bubble Beam, and Squirtle uses Bubble to break the arms of the robot. Pikachu uses Thunderbolt and Onix uses Iron Tail to send Team Rocket blasting off. As thanks for helping the Rock Pokémon fight Team Rocket and perhaps an apology as well, Onix gives Ash and his friends a ride on its back as it transports them towards the Battle Arena.

Major events

May's Squirtle is revealed to know Bubble.
Ash's Phanpy is revealed to know Hidden Power.

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

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

Characters

Humans

Pokémon

Pokémon Trainer's Choice

Pokémon Trainer's Choice: Whiscash

Trivia

Advance Adventure is used as background music.
The dub title is a pun on the educational product Hooked on Phonics.
The episode's title is formatted as Hooked on Onix on Pokémon.com.
This episode is featured on Volume 20: Onix from VIZ Media's Pokémon All-Stars series.
Jessie makes a reference to Elvis Presley's song Jailhouse Rock.
This episode marks one of the rare occasions in which a member of Team Rocket refers to one of the main protagonists by name. This time, it's Meowth addressing Ash.

Errors

When this episode first aired in the United States, the title card misspelled Onix as Onyx. This mistake was corrected by the time the episode first aired in the United Kingdom, and remained corrected for reruns, streaming releases, and the DVD release.
When Ash tells his friends to hurry up, one of the green straps on his bag turns blue like his jacket several times.
Max only tells his friends that Pikachu, Corphish, and Munchlax are missing, but Phanpy and Squirtle were missing as well.
The cages are not supposed to have floors in order to capture people and Pokémon from the air, but they do.
Before James is shown and right after Pikachu and the others are caught, the Graveler are depicted as Geodude.
After Ash and his friends' Pokémon are caught, Munchlax's underside is colored yellow like its feet instead of blue.
When Brock, Pikachu, and some other Pokémon were taken to the leader Onix in the cages, a Graveler appears to be next to Pikachu in the cage.
In the English dub, Meowth incorrectly refers to the multiple Geodude as "Geodudes".
In the Brazilian dub, May incorrectly says that Grovyle is a Ground type. The same mistake occurred earlier in A Judgment Brawl.

Original English title card
Ash's miscolored bag strap
The Geodude error

Dub edits

In the English dub, a belching sound effect is added when Munchlax finishes eating all of the food.

Pokémon Trainer's Choice

Question: Trainers, which Pokémon would be most affected by Earthquake?
Choices: Altaria, Whiscash, Flygon
Answer: OK, Trainers! If you chose Whiscash, you were right

In other languages

Language		Title
Mandarin Chinese		大巖蛇的王國！！
Danish		Kong Onixes kongerige
Dutch		Helemaal weg van Onix
Finnish		Oiva Onix
European French		Solide comme un roc
German		Jagd auf Onix!
Hebrew		אוניקס המלך
Hindi		Onix की टोली Onix ki Toli*
Italian		Il regno di Onix
Korean		롱스톤 왕국!
Norwegian		Hekta på Onix
Brazilian Portuguese		Obcecado por um Onix
Russian		Король Оникс
Spanish	Latin America	El rey Onix
Spanish	Spain	Leales a Onix
Swedish		En stentuff utmaning!