Friends to the End – Pokémon Season 1, Episode 80

Plot episodeSeason finaleFirst Full Battle

Friends to the End is the 80th episode of Pokémon: Indigo League, the first season of the Pokémon anime, and the 80th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 82, Bulbapedia code EP080). It first aired in Japan on 21 January 1999 and in the United States on 27 November 1999. It falls within the season’s The Indigo Plateau Conference stretch (EP74–EP80).

Synopsis · Major Events · Trivia · Dub Changes · All episodes

Synopsis

Since the unfortunate events which lead to Ash being defeated by Ritchie in the Pokemon League Ash has been just lying in his bed in the Pokemon League chalet they’ve been staying at and won’t come out or speak to anyone. Ash’s mom, Prof. Oak, Misty and Brock are outside discussing whats wrong with Ash, Brock decides he must be depressed, Misty says he can’t just mope around and goes inside to speak to Ash, inviting him to go for something to eat, he rejects the request and she suggests a walk, he tells her to go and walk on her own, she then suggests they go and look at some souvenirs and takes Ash by the arm, he pushes her off and the pair start to argue. Professor Oak comes in and tells Ash he should’ve trained harder and trained his Charizard properly, which would’ve resulted in him potentially going further, advising him that theres only so far strength and intuition can get you. Ash and Misty start to argue again til Pikachu calms everyone down with some thunder. They then notice on the TV that Ritchie is about to begin his match.

Ritchie meanwhile is in the locker room waiting to go out to his next battle when Ash and friends arrive to wish him luck. Ritchie’s next battle is a 6v6 battle, which Ash tells Ritchie he’s sure he can win because he’s an awesome trainer and with that Ritchie leaves to begin his next match.

After a spectacular battle Ritchie and his opponent; Assunta both have just one Pokemon left, Assunta sends out her Ivysaur and Ritchie sends out Sparky, his Pikachu. Assunta’s Ivysaur wastes no time, and charges straight at Sparky, who manages to just about avoid it but is then hit with a Vine Whip. Sparky attempts to hit a charging Ivysaur with a thundershock but misses, Ivysaur uses its whips to launch itself into the air and lands a powerful solar beam attack on Sparky before finishing it off with a tackle. Ritchie loses and is out of the Pokemon League competition, Assunta progressing to the next round. Ash and friends are also sad about Ritchie’s defeat.

Later on Ash finds Ritchie by a lake, and now the two have one more thing in common, they’ve both been knocked out of the Pokemon League. They let their Pikachu play together, and Ritchie tells Ash that they can learn a lot from losing. Team Rocket are watching them from the bushes, scheming to steal both Pikachu. Ritchie tells Ash that losing taught him what mistakes not to make next time and made him a better trainer for it, Ash realises he has been acting like a big baby and the two promise each other that they will become Pokemon Master’s no matter what.

Just seconds later both Pikachu’s fall into one of Team Rockets traps and Ash and Ritchie rush over and meet the same fate. Looking up from the hole, they see Jessie and James standing over them as expected. Ash tells them they won’t get away with this and tries to climb out, before losing his grip, falling back onto Ritchie and the floor collapsing, landing them in an even deeper hole. It seems that Team Rocket set up this latest trap to have multiple tiers, so each time they try to climb out and fail they fall even deeper into the pit. Team Rocket use a mechanical arm to cage the Chu’s and start trying to depart, Ash and Ritchie use their Pidgeottos and Butterfree respectively to escape the hole and confront Team Rocket. Ash immediately sends out Bulbasaur, Weezing counters with smog but Ash shields Bulbasaur from it and uses Pidgeottos gust attack to send the smog right back at them. Ash tells Ritchie to send out Zippo, his Charmander, Ash uses Razor leaf to chop down the cage and get the chu’s out of the way before Zippo sets Team Rocket on fire. The Pikachu charge the cage with electricity and throw it back to Team Rocket who catch it and get shocked into oblivion, blasting off once more.

Ash and Ritchie shake hands and celebrate yet another defeat of Team Rocket. Misty and Brock arrive and suggest they all go out for dinner, inviting Ritchie to join them too. It’s the closing ceremony of the Pokemon League and all the trainers who participated line up in the stadium one more time to recieve there special commemorative trophy as a symbol of their achievement, and the top three trainers take to a pedestal and are congratulated by the crowd. A massive fireworks display begins to celebrate the closing of the league.

Team Rocket aren’t done yet and dig their way underneat the stadium, unfortunately for them, they dig directly under where a huge firework has just been lit, and it sends them blasting off (again). Later that evening Ash and Ritchie are sat side by side in the now empty stadium reflecting on the events of the past few days before saying their goodbyes. Ash reminds Ritchie of their promises to each other to become Pokemon masters no matter what, and the pair go their seperate ways.

Major Events

• — Ritchie loses his Top-8 Full Battle to Assunta (first Full Battle shown)
• Closing ceremony
• Ash and Ritchie’s promise
• Back to Pallet. Only League episode set entirely after Ash’s elimination. DVD season finale. Lecture: Conference memories with Mr. Goodshow.

Trivia

• The screenplay is by Shinzō Fujita.
• This is a plot episode: it advances the Kanto storyline.
• The Who’s That Pokémon? segment features Spearow in Japan, where it almost always matched the episode, but Fearow in the US, where 4Kids picked the Pokémon at random.

Changes in the English Dub

• Sayuri becomes Assunta
• Dub ending: Pikachu’s Jukebox — Together Forever
• The closing montage plays Mezase Pokémon Master in Japan and the Pokémon Theme in the dub, which also adds music under the emotional farewells

Part of our Pokémon: Indigo League guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.