EP156
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The Psychic Sidekicks!
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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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The Psychic Sidekicks! (Japanese: キリンリキ！エスパーポケモンのむら！ Kirinriki! The Village of Esper Pokémon!) is the 156th episode of the Pokémon animated series. It was first broadcast in Japan on July 13, 2000, and in the United States on August 11, 2001.
Blurb
Our heroes come to a town whose residents all raise Psychic Pokémon to repel the Ghost Pokémon that lurk nearby. Soon thereafter, Team Rocket makes its appearance in a Ghost Pokémon machine impervious to Psychic attacks, and begins to steal all the town's Pokémon.
Plot
Ash and his friends are walking through a wood, and notice a Trainer Tips sign that warns of Ghost Pokémon in the woods and recommends the use a Psychic Pokémon to keep them away. They don't have any Psychic types, but Brock remembers that Psyduck can use Psychic attacks. Misty releases her Psyduck and tells it to use its Confusion attack if they meet a Ghost Pokémon, but it doesn't seem to understand her.
The bushes rustle and something peeks out. Misty orders Psyduck to use Confusion, but it returns to its Poké Ball. Ash and Brock examine the creature in the bush, and comment that it doesn't look like a Ghost-type Pokémon. A girl walks up and says that it isn't, it's her Girafarig's tail. Ash consults Dexter and learns that Girafarig is a Psychic Pokémon with a second head on its tail.
Ash introduces himself, and the girl presents herself as Cherry. She picked a Girafarig to train partly because it is an unusual Pokémon, and partly because it is tradition in her hometown of Len Town to raise Psychic Pokémon in order to protect against the ghosts in the woods. Team Rocket is listening to this, and they make a plan to go to town and steal all of the Psychic Pokémon. Meowth comments that Psychic types are tricky to catch, but he has a secret weapon in mind.
The trainers are eating lunch together. Cherry says she wants to compete in the Johto League. She comments that Ash and Pikachu seem to know each other very well, causing them to blush. She then says that if a Trainer and their Psychic Pokémon are very close, they can communicate telepathically. She wishes this for her and Girafarig, and challenges Ash to a battle in order to grow stronger. Always ready for a match, Ash accepts.
Pikachu starts with a Quick Attack that knocks Girafarig down, but Girafarig gets up and uses Future Sight. Nothing seems to happen, so Pikachu continues with Thunderbolt and Agility when Girafarig tries to Stomp him. Suddenly a wind rustles through the trees and a tremendous blast comes out of nowhere. Pikachu is thrown back, but he's not out of the fight yet. Cherry explains that this is Future Sight: a time-delayed Psychic attack. Now Girafarig uses Psybeam, Pikachu counters it with Thunderbolt, creating an explosion that raises a cloud of dust. Before Girafarig can attack again, Pikachu leaps out of the cloud and uses Thunder to win the match. All of them congratulate Cherry for a great match, but she's worried because she can't communicate psychically with Girafarig. Ash reassures her that she's still a good Trainer. Cherry invites them all to Len Town to see the other Psychic Pokémon.
In town, Misty is impressed with the Psychic Pokémon everywhere. A woman, Mrs. Bellows, chases after her playful Abra which keeps Teleporting around. Then an exhausted man, Toku comes running up the street and warns them about a giant Ghost Pokémon that was immune to Psychic attacks. He and his Mr. Mime were fishing when a giant Gengar appeared. He had Mr. Mime use Psywave, but the attack bounced off the Gengar and hit them instead. Then the Gengar captured Mr. Mime with its tongue. Brock and Ash decide to check it out.
Jessie and James drink a toast to their mechanical ghost, but Meowth says they should go back to town and catch the rest of the Psychic Pokémon. Mrs. Bellows finds her Abra in a tree and suddenly they both see the Gengar. She tells Abra to use Psychic, but the attack bounces off the Gengar's eyes and hits Abra. The machine’s giant tongue comes down and grabs Abra. Team Rocket gloats that this time they're unstoppable
Cherry's Girafarig indicates that something is wrong, just as the giant Gengar is seen at the town limits. Toku recognizes it as the same one that ate his Mr. Mime, and Mrs. Bellows returns with the same story about her Abra. All the townsfolk grab their Pokémon and run inside, but Cherry believes that her Girafarig can take on this machine despite its size. As Team Rocket prepares to capture Pikachu, Cherry tells Girafarig to attack with Psybeam. The attack bounces off the Gengar's eyes and hits Girafarig, knocking it down. Team Rocket appear out of the machine and say their motto, then explain that the Gengar works by using mirrors to reflect Psychic attacks. Brock admits that this time they've been pretty smart. Misty grabs his ear and demands to know whose side he is on.
Cherry gets angry. She and her Girafarig glow for a moment, then she orders Confusion. The attack is reflected and Girafarig gets stunned. Not giving up, Cherry encourages her Pokémon to get up and use Psybeam. This attack is bounced back as well, and to protect Girafarig both Ash and Cherry stand in front of it and take the blast themselves. Ash tells a weakened Cherry to leave Team Rocket to him, but she tells Girafarig to use Future Sight. Team Rocket watch what seems to be Girafarig just standing there, and wonder if Future Sight will tell them what their future is going to be.
As Pikachu runs forward to attack, Cherry suddenly has a vision of the Gengar trying to lick Pikachu. She realizes that this is Girafarig's vision and warns Ash of the attack, so Pikachu is able to avoid the robot's tongue at the last second. All attempts to catch Pikachu fail, because he's now flying high thanks to Girafarig's Confusion ability. Eventually the robot's tongue can't stretch any farther, and Pikachu uses a Thunder attack which disables the robot and frees the Abra and Mr. Mime that were inside. Team Rocket is about to send out their Pokémon to continue the fight, but a wind rustles the trees and the Future Sight attack goes off, sending Team Rocket blasting off again.
Cherry is happy, as she and her Pokémon finally connected telepathically. Ash and friends depart, and Cherry vows that she and Girafarig will become as good a team as Ash and Pikachu.
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
Who's That Pokémon?: Ursaring (US and international), Girafarig (Japan)
- Pikachu (Ash's)
- Meowth (Team Rocket)
- Togepi (Misty's)
- Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
- Psyduck (Misty's)
- Girafarig (Cherry's)
- Mr. Mime (Toku's)
- Abra (Mrs. Bellows's)
- Fearow (×3)
- Alakazam
- Slowpoke
- Drowzee
- Hypno
- Exeggcute
- Exeggutor (×3)
Trivia
- When Pokémon: The Johto Journeys went on a two month hiatus on Kids' WB! in 2001, this episode was promoted as a "lost episode". Even though it was classified as a lost episode, it was rerun four more times after its premiere (October 19, 2001; December 10, 2001; July 9, 2002; June 3, 2008).
- This episode aired April 20, 2001 in Italy. Because of the "lost episode" incident, this is the longest distance between a European airdate and the correspondent American one with the European coming first: 113 days.
- Up until the November 10, 2015 DVD release of Pokémon The Johto Journeys: The Complete Collection, this episode, along with The Fortune Hunters, wasn't released on Region 1 VHS or DVD much like the lost episode Beauty and the Beach.
- Both the European Portuguese and the European Spanish versions of this episode and The Fortune Hunters were released by Salvat, the company that distributes DVD versions of the episodes in the Iberian Peninsula. Both of these episodes were also included in the Australian season 3 box set.
- Ghost-types that are immune to Psychic-type attacks were later introduced as actual Pokémon, in the form of Sableye and Spiritomb.
- Through the use of its Wonder Guard Ability, Shedinja is also immune to Psychic-type attacks.
- The sign that the group encounters is based on the Trainer Tips from the games.
- When Team Rocket is driving with their mecha, they chant, "We've gotta catch 'em all!"
- Abra was freed alongside Mr. Mime, although it could have easily teleported itself to safety.
- This episode was the first to air in Japan after the theatrical release of M03.
- Psyduck was not the only Pokémon of the team to display psychic moves on the occasion. They could also use the newly caught Noctowl, that would be more useful against ghosts for being part-Normal.
- Despite forest surrounding Len Town to be described as filled of Ghost Pokémon, not a single real one is in fact seen within it, besides three Fearow, that are not Ghost type.
Errors
- During this episode, it is mistakenly stated that Psychic-types are strong against Ghost-types, when in fact the reverse is true (though Gastly, Haunter, and Gengar were weak due to their secondary type). In Generation I, an error in programming resulted in Ghost-type attacks having no effect on Psychic Pokémon, rather than being super effective against them as was intended; as this particular episode was released well into Generation II, after the mistake was fixed, it is unclear how this error entered into the script.
- Indeed, the only Len Town resident to possess a Pokémon really effective against Ghost type was precisely Cherry, for her Girafarig being part-Normal.
- When Ash and his friends look at the bushes, Misty's bag is missing.
- When the group comes across Girafarig for the first time and Misty is telling Psyduck to use Confusion, Psyduck's bill becomes the same color as the rest of its body.
- When Girafarig speaks after Cherry tells Ash to relax, its voice plays before its mouth moves.
- After Brock says that Misty has a Psyduck, the strap on Misty's bag is missing.
- When Jessie opens up her compact, which gives a reflection of James and Meowth, the "R" on James' shirt is facing the correct way instead of being flipped horizontally as it should be seen on a mirror.
- At the end of the episode, the narrator says "What will happen to our heroes on their way to Johto?" However, they are already in Johto.
Psyduck's miscolored bill
The reflection error
Dub edits
In other languages
| Language | Title | |
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 Arabic
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مساعدون أقوياء | |
 Bulgarian
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Психомощни приятели! | |
| Mandarin Chinese | 麒麟奇，超能力神奇寶貝之村 | |
 Czech
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Psychický pomocník | |
 Dutch
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De Psycho Partner | |
 European French
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Psychiquement vôtre | |
 German
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Der magische Blick | |
 Hebrew
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הרפתקה על חושיתharpatka al chushit | |
 Hindi
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दिमागी हमला Dimgai Hamla * | |
 Hungarian
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Cherry, az új barát | |
 Italian
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Questione di telepatia | |
 Polish
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Psychokop | |
| Portuguese |  Brazil
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Os Amigos Psíquicos! |
 Portugal
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Os Braços Direitos Psíquicos! | |
 Romanian
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Lovituri Psihice | |
| Spanish |  Latin America
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¡La pareja psíquica! |
 Spain
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Los amigos psíquicos | |
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This episode article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation. |
