The Joy of Pokémon – Pokémon Season 2, Episode 12

Filler / stand-alone episodeMagikarp evolves into Gyarados

The Joy of Pokémon is the 12th episode of Pokémon: Adventures in the Orange Islands, the second season of the Pokémon anime, and the 92nd episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 94, Bulbapedia code EP092). It first aired in Japan on 15 April 1999 and in the United States on 4 March 2000. It falls within the season’s Island-hopping stretch (EP86–EP92).

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

Synopsis

Our heroes are aboard Lapras, sailing the peaceful sea when they see splashing in the distance that looks a little like a motorboat, it zips past so quickly that Ash and Misty can’t even see who or what it was, Tracey however seems convinced it was someone who looked like Nurse Joy rowing the boat. Ash and friends give chase on Lapras, they land on the coast and find a boat and two sets of footprints leading away from it, Tracey concludes that one set is from Nurse Joy and one is from a Chansey. Ash, Misty and Tracey continue to follow the footprints, but then reach a point where the footsteps stop at the waters edge, as they’re discussing whether or not it was Nurse Joy, a giant Magikarp leaps out of the water and almost lands on them, its the biggest one they’ve ever seen.

Misty worries that the big flailing Magikarp will run out of air if they can’t get it into the water. A rather muscular, tanned Nurse Joy then appears and tells them they should stay back from it, she comforts the Magikarp whom she says is low on calcium, she feeds it some calcium tablets and using her sheer brute strength returns it to the water. Magikarp swims away happily.

Tracey guesses that Nurse Joy doesn’t actually run a Pokémon Center on this island, but instead travels between the islands with Chansey treating injured Pokémon, a guess which she confirms to be true; her and Chansey cover all of the minor islands in the Orange Archipelago that are too small to have their own dedicated Pokémon Center’s.

The group all introduce themselves to Nurse Joy, and Ash’s stomach begins to rumble, she invites them to her little hut she uses as a clinic on the Island for lunch, which they gratefully accept. Tracey volunteers the group to help Nurse Joy check up on the Pokémon.

Nurse Joy takes Ash and co out on boats and tells them to keep an even pace, she paddles quickly off into the distance at super speed with Ash and gang struggling to keep up and they go island to island treating Pokémon. Eventually between islands, Nurse Joy and Chansey completely disappear and Ash and co happen upon their empty Kayak. A pink blob surfaces from the water, they think its Chansey and approach it to get a closer look, but it turns out instead to be Jigglypuff, who the group flee from. Nurse Joy and Chansey then pop up out of the water and it seems that they had been on the seabed treating a sick Cloister, Nurse Joy offers to show Ash and co how she treats sick Pokémon underwater and together they dive toward the seabed, Nurse Joy begins treating a sick Shellder, but Ash runs out of air and is then grabbed by a Dewgong who wants to play (and holds him under the water), he is however rescued by Nurse Joy and taken back to her little clinic hut.

Tracey suggests that it would be much easier for Nurse Joy to work out of a Pokémon Center like the other Nurse Joy’s, but she tells the story of how as a little girl she found an injustred Magikarp and took it home to take care of it until it was better, before releasing it into the ocean once more, then one day she was at sea with the other Nurse Joys and fell into the water, she was then rescued by the Magikarp she once helped. It looks as though a hurricaine is coming, and strong winds start to hit the Island, but Nurse Joy is still going to go and finish her rounds, needing just to treat some baby Seel who aren’t doing too well. She paddles off in her Kayak despite Tracey’s warnings, as Joy paddles off Tracey (followed by Ash and Misty) follow her but are then all knocked into the water by a big wave. Nurse Joy tells them all to get their water Pokémon out to help them get to a small island nearby, she guides them there in her Kayak.

Ash and co find themselves washed up on the little island with Nurse Joy. They apologise for being more trouble than help, and Nurse Joy tells them its OK and that they’ll take a little rest and all go and treat the baby Seel’s together.

Team Rocket meanwhile are watching events unfold from their sub and are excited at the prospect of catching not only Pikachu, but Chansey too. Meowth unveils his new secret weapon and fires a torpedo that catches Nurse Joy, Chansey + Ash and friends in a net. Team Rocket emerge from the water and begin their motto.

Nurse Joy knows that the sick baby Seel are waiting for her help and starts to cry, a giant Magikarp then rams Team Rocket’s sub, its the one Joy had rescued. Magikarp begins ramming Team Rocket’s sub, but isn’t strong enough to beat it, it sees Nurse Joy crying and in its frustration it evolves into a huge Gyarados, quickly sending Team Rocket blasting off into the distance. Gyarados now towers above our trapped heroes and Joy who are all in the net, and it looks as though its going to attack, but infact it just wanted to rub against Nurse Joy, who it firmly remembers. Gyarados rescues everyone from the net, and Joy along with Ash and co go and treat the sick baby Seel.

As Joy continues to pet her old friend Gyarados (Who still has the personality of the Magikarp she saved) she recommends that Ash and co make their next stop a visit to Navel Island because it has a gym where he can compete for a badge. And so as our heroes head toward Navel Island another exciting adventure has come to a close, but one things for sure… a new one is bound to begin.

Major Events

• A kayaking Nurse Joy
• Her giant Magikarp evolves into Gyarados to save the group
• The next Gym is revealed to be on Navel Island

Captures and evolutions

• Magikarp → Gyarados#0130 · Nurse Joy’s giant Magikarp

Trivia

• The English title plays on "The Joy of Cooking", and Nurse Joy.
• The screenplay is by Junki Takegami.
• This is a stand-alone episode: it can be skipped without losing the thread of the Orange Islands story.
• The Who’s That Pokémon? segment features Chansey in Japan, where it almost always matched the episode, but Geodude in the US, where 4Kids picked the Pokémon at random.

Changes in the English Dub

• Together Forever inserted in place of a Pikachu’s Summer Vacation cue; the motto plays without its usual music

Part of our Pokémon: Adventures in the Orange Islands guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.