BW055

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Scraggy and the Demanding Gothita!

BW055

EP712

ズルッグとわがままゴチム！
Zuruggu and the Selfish Gothimu!

First broadcast

Japan	November 10, 2011
United States	March 31, 2012

English themes

Opening	Rival Destinies
Ending

Japanese themes

Opening	ベストウイッシュ！
Ending	ポケモン言えるかな？ＢＷ

Credits

Additional credits
Animation	Team Kato
Screenplay	大橋志吉 Yukiyoshi Ōhashi
Storyboard	古賀一臣 Kazuomi Koga
Assistant director	古賀一臣 Kazuomi Koga
Animation director	夏目久仁彦 Kunihiko Natsume

Scraggy and the Demanding Gothita! (Japanese: ズルッグとわがままゴチム！ Zuruggu and the Selfish Gothimu!) is the 55th episode of Pokémon the Series: Black & White, and the 712th episode of the Pokémon animated series. It first aired in Japan on November 10, 2011 and in the United States on March 31, 2012.

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

Blurb

While Ash does some preparatory battle training on his way to the Driftveil City Gym, our heroes run into a feisty and bossy Gothita, who is immediately smitten with Ash’s Scraggy. To keep Gothita happy, its Trainer Katharine asks Ash to trade Scraggy to her, but he refuses. Katharine then challenges Ash to a high-stakes battle: if he loses, he has to make the trade! After she taunts him for a while, Ash finally agrees.

Ash sends his Tepig up against Katharine and her Mandibuzz. After a few close calls, Tepig manages to take Mandibuzz down, so Ash wins—but Gothita is not pleased, and makes this very clear to Katharine. Gothita’s tantrum is interrupted by a sudden rainstorm, and Katharine suggests that everyone take shelter in a nearby mountain cabin.

In the middle of the night, Gothita convinces Scraggy to sneak away. But while the two of them are having fun playing, they disturb a sleeping Garbodor, who wakes up mad! Our heroes and Katharine arrive just in time in their search for the runaway Pokémon—her Deerling’s Aromatherapy calms Garbodor, and it happily wanders off, leaving Gothita and Scraggy unharmed.

But Gothita is still mad at Ash for beating Katharine earlier, and it challenges Snivy to a battle…which Snivy wins easily, infuriating Gothita all the more. It storms off in a huff, Katharine quickly bids our heroes farewell to run after it, and they resume the journey toward Driftveil City!

Plot

Ash and Iris are battling each other using Scraggy and Axew respectively. Axew starts off with a Scratch attack, but Scraggy dodges then counters with a Headbutt. Axew uses Scratch once more and manages to hit Scraggy. Axew begins to charge a Dragon Rage attack but Scraggy uses a High Jump Kick which slams Axew's mouth closed preventing him from properly unleashing the attack, causing an explosion, knocking both Pokémon out. Finished with their training for the day, Axew and Scraggy run off to play. Ash and Iris are happy to see the two get along so well together as playmates. While Axew and Scraggy are running around, a Gothita runs out of a bush and crashes into Scraggy and Axew. As Gothita gathers herself, she notices Scraggy and has fixated her stare on him.

Katharine runs in to retrieve her Pokémon. Ash and his friends introduces themselves to her as she does the same. Katharine has started her Pokémon journey and has acquired two Badges so far. However, when Ash shows that he has four, Gothita becomes jealous. Cilan invites Katharine to have lunch with them. Katharine and Gothita tells them that they were on their way to Nimbasa City to battle Elesa. In the meantime, Gothita, since first meeting Scraggy, hasn't stopped staring at him. Annoyed, Scraggy tries to Headbutt and High Jump Kick Gothita but she easily dodges. Gothita proceeds to use Psychic to pull Katharine so she can ask her to trade one of her current Pokémon for Scraggy. Katharine asks Ash if he would trade and sends out her Deerling, Darumaka, and Mandibuzz. Ash is flattered by her offer but he doesn't want to trade away his Scraggy. Gothita, clearly displeased, convinces Katharine to battle Ash, and if he loses, Ash will have no choice but to trade Scraggy. Ash doesn't want to battle for ownership of Scraggy. However, Katharine accuses Ash for being scared of losing. She pushes Ash's buttons by stating that his Badges are fake. Displeased, Ash agrees to battle Katharine to prove that he truly earned them, falling right into Katharine and Gothita's plan.

Gothita chooses Mandibuzz to battle for Katharine. Ash looks over his current Pokémon and decides to use Tepig. Mandibuzz starts off with a Fury Attack but Tepig dodges and counters with Tackle. Mandibuzz flies up high and uses Air Slash. Tepig shakes off the attack as Mandibuzz uses Dark Pulse. Tepig dodges and counters with a Flamethrower. Mandibuzz flies up high then uses Brave Bird. The move hits Tepig but Mandibuzz suffers massive recoil. Taking advantage of the situation, Ash has Tepig use Tackle then Flamethrower but both moves miss. Katharine tells Mandibuzz to use Brave Bird once more as Ash has Tepig use Flame Charge. Both attacks collide and as the dust settles, Mandibuzz is knocked out, and Ash wins the battle.

Gothita is not pleased by the result even though she is the one who was mostly telling Katharine what to do during the battle. Seeing as she lost fair and square, Katharine tells Gothita to give up but Gothita refuses to. Suddenly a thunderstorm picks up over head. Katharine invites everyone to come to her cabin nearby. Since the storm wouldn't be passing anytime soon Ash and his friends would have to stay for the night, much to Gothita's pleasure. In the middle of the night Gothita wakes up and convinces Scraggy to go out with her to get some food, which Scraggy happily agrees. Meanwhile, Axew has a nightmare, imagining what would have happened if Ash had lost the battle. Axew wakes up and notices that both Scraggy and Gothita are gone. As Axew panics and leaves the cabin to find them, Snivy wakes up as well.

Axew finds Scraggy and Gothita at an apple tree. Seeing how they are getting along, Axew tries to bring Scraggy back but Gothita tugs back. Back at the cabin Pikachu wakes everyone up. Ash, Iris, and Katharine notice that Gothita, Scraggy, Snivy, and Axew are all missing. Outside, Ash sends out Tranquill to look for the Pokémon. As Axew and Gothita continue to fight over Scraggy, Gothita attacks Axew with a Psyshock which Axew dodges. Axew retaliates with a Dragon Rage and knocks Gothita into the air. After she lands Gothita stands up and finds herself on a Garbodor. As the Garbodor breathes out a Stench cloud, Gothita uses Double Slap, angrily awakening the sleeping Pokémon prompting it to attack. Axew and Gothita panic but Scraggy uses Leer. Garbodor fires off a Sludge Bomb but Snivy manages to pull Scraggy and Axew out of the way. Gothita takes damage from the attack and angrily attacks with Hidden Power. Garbodor continues to attack with Toxic and Sludge Bomb which hits only Gothita as Snivy continues to protect Scraggy and Axew.

Ash, Iris, Cilan, and Katharine finally catches up to see the battle already in progress. Garbodor uses Clear Smog which hits Gothita and Snivy. Ash asks Pikachu to tell Garbodor that they didn't mean to attack. Pikachu tries to but Garbodor uses Clear Smog again. As Pikachu continues to try to convince it, Gothita, annoyed, starts to use Psyshock but is stopped by Snivy, who uses Vine Whip on her. Cilan asks Katharine if her Deerling knows Aromatherapy, which fortunately it does. Katharine sends Deerling out and promptly has it use Aromatherapy. Garbodor, now calmed by Aromatherapy, calmly leaves.

Ash and Iris scold Scraggy and Axew for running off into a dangerous situation. Katharine is glad that Gothita is okay. However, Snivy disapproves of Gothita's personality and promptly snubs her actions. Gothita sees this and tells Katharine that she wants to fight Snivy. The next day, the battle begins. Gothita stars off with a Psyshock, but Snivy dodges. Gothita uses Hidden Power, but Snivy blocks it with a Leaf Storm. Snivy attacks with a Vine Whip but Gothita swats away the attack with Double Slap. Snivy attacks with Leaf Blade knocking Gothita out of the air. Gothita attacks with Psyshock, but Snivy dodges and attacks with Leaf Storm, knocking Gothita out.

Gothita, upset with her defeat, promptly throws a tantrum. Gothita glares at Snivy, but she ignores Gothita. Gothita snaps and promptly runs off while throwing a fit. Katharine runs off to go get her as she says farewell to Ash and his friends. Ash, Iris, and Cilan wishes her well. Axew and Scraggy thank Snivy, who happily accepts their gratitude.

Major events

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

Debuts

Humans

Katharine

Pokémon debuts

Garbodor

Characters

Humans

Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?

Who's That Pokémon?: Mandibuzz

Trivia

Professor Oak's Pokémon Live Caster: Purrloin
Iris narrates the preview for the next episode.
Kerry Williams, who previously voiced Casey and Jirachi, among others, when the anime was dubbed by 4Kids, returns in this episode as the voice of Katharine.
- In addition to this, the original version of this episode featured the return of Rikako Aikawa, who had not voiced any characters since the end of Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire. She played the role of Katharine's Gothita.
During Axew's dream, Cilan is wearing the mask and cape outfit he wore in Movie Time! Zorua in "The Legend of the Pokémon Knight"!.
While it had previously contained spaces for the eight Badges the player gains in Pokémon Black and White, from this episode onward, the vacant slots in Ash's Badge case are now a generic circular shape.
This episode features only four human characters, matching the record previously set by Ash Catches a Pokémon, Sewaddle and Burgh in Pinwheel Forest!, Emolga the Irresistible!, Emolga and the New Volt Switch!, Oshawott's Lost Scalchop!, and Facing Fear with Eyes Wide Open!. One more Pokémon the Series: Black & White episode, Battling the Leaf Thieves!, would also later come to share this record.
- This record would be broken 304 episodes later by Guiding an Awakening!, which features only three human characters.

Errors

When Axew uses Scratch on Scraggy, Scraggy's arms are colored the same as his baggy pants, same when he rolls on the floor after missing a High Jump Kick attack.
Katharine's hair changes in length multiple times during the Garbodor confrontation scene.

The first scene with Scraggy's miscolored arms
The second scene with Scraggy's miscolored arms

Dub edits

In other languages

Language		Title
Mandarin Chinese		滑頭小子與任性的哥德寶寶！
Danish		Scraggy og den krævende Gothita!
Dutch		Scraggy en de veeleisende Gothita!
Finnish		Scraggy ja vaativa Gothita!
European French		Baggiguane et la capricieuse Scrutella !
German		Ein Mollimorba, das weiß, was es will!
Greek		Ο Scraggy και η Απαιτητική Gothita!
Italian		Scraggy e un'ostinata Gothita!
Korean		곤율랭과 오만방자 고디탱!
Norwegian		Scraggy og den krevende Gothita!
Polish		Scraggy i zaborcza Gothita!
Portuguese	Brazil	Scraggy e uma Exigente Gothita!
Portuguese	Portugal	Scraggy e a Gothita exigente!
Russian		Скрэгги и требовательная Гофита.
Spanish	Latin America	¡Scraggy y el Gothita exigente!
Spanish	Spain	¡Scraggy y la Gothita caprichosa!
Swedish		Scraggy och den krävande Gothita!
Thai		ซึรุกกุ และ โกจิมูผู้เอาแต่ใจ!
Vietnamese		Zurugu và Gothimu xấu tính