The Pokémon Water War – Pokémon Season 2, Episode 26

Filler / stand-alone episodeTeam Wartortle

The Pokémon Water War is the 26th episode of Pokémon: Adventures in the Orange Islands, the second season of the Pokémon anime, and the 106th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 108, Bulbapedia code EP106). It first aired in Japan on 29 July 1999 and in the United States on 26 August 2000. It falls within the season’s The last badge & the Winner’s Cup stretch (EP106–EP112).

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

Synopsis

Today our heroes have decided to take a detour and do some big city exploring. As they’re trying to decide where to go to eat they spot a big fire at a warehouse in the distance and lots of crowds gathered around being held back by Officer Jenny. Misty and Ash go rushing over and send out their water Pokémon who both start firing their water guns at the fire but it isn’t enough, the next warehouse is imminent to catch fire when the fire service, a guy named Captain Aidan and a Team of Wartortle arrive to tackle the blaze.

The powerful waterguns of the six wartortle and their excellent Teamwork quickly dispatch the blaze. Squirtle looks a little put out by the situation. Capt. Aidan takes Ash and friends back to the station and introduces them to Team Blastoise who use their hydro pumps to put out large fires, and Team Squirtle who they use to put our fires in tight spots, Capt. Aidan then goes on to state that team Wartortle are the perfect team as they combine the speed of Squirtle and the power of Blastoise.

It becomes apparent that Squirtle is quite upset about what happened at the fire, Squirtle then pulls out the Squirtle squad glasses which haven’t been seen for quite some time. Tracey concludes that as a great firefighter himself, Squirtle must have been pretty hurt that it couldn’t put out the fire on its own. Ash asks Capt. Aidan if Squirtle can take on one of his Wartortle head to head, but Capt. Aidan isn’t convinced that Squirtle would stand a chance, Ash begs him and Aidan agrees to the challenge. Team Rocket are watching the whole thing unfold from the bushes and are plotting to steal, basically everything.

The first challenge is Squirtle vs. the Wartortle in a race. Squirtle starts well and keeps up but eventually slips over on a rock, sending it spinning toward one of the Wartortle who also gets knocked into a spin and the two of them cross the finish together, accidentally setting a new land speed record. Captain Aidan is pretty impressed that Squirtle was able to keep up, and suggests that it joins his Wartortle for a whole day of training.

The next drill involves Captain Aidan releasing Frisbees into the air and Squirtle and the group of Wartortle having to shoot them down. But then a strange Frisbee arrives, dodges their attacks and flies off – with all the Wartortle and Squirtle giving chase.

Captain Aidan, Ash and gang also give chase and discover a hole in the ground, there they find Team Rockets air balloon emerging with all of the Wartortle and Ash’s squirtle captive in a net. Team Rocket then use a mechanical grabber to catch Pikachu and get ready to make their escape, but they aren’t done yet… James sends out Weezing who unleashes a smokescreen, and then Team Rocket begin to escape. Ash is undeterred by the smokescreen and tries to give chase, Tracey sends out Scyther who clears the smoke with swords dance.

Team Rocket have all the kidnapped Pokémon at a hut in the woods, the Wartortle and Squirtle try to bite through the net but to no avail, and Pikachu is still trapped in an anti electric jar. Team Rocket start to argue between themselves about who gets to keep which of the kidnapped Pokémon for themselves and start fighting. Captain Aidan, Ash and friends are searching for the kidnapped Pokémon using Tracey’s Venonat to guide them. Captain Aidan then gets an emergency call from Officer Jenny who tells him that theres a terrible fire, Team Blastoise can’t get there as a truck in the road has blocked them, Team Squirtle are on the scene but aren’t powerful enough to put out the blaze, so it has to be Team Wartortle or the whole building will burn down!

Misty says she has to try and help and rushes off to the scene of the fire with Staryu, Tracey also loans her Scyther and Marill to help, and the others continue searching for the kidnapped Team Wartortle. As Team Rocket continue to squabble about who gets to kidnap what, the Squirtle and Wartortle have an idea, they all use their waterguns together and flood the building, sending Jessie and James flying. Despite being trapped in a net the Wartortle and Ash’s Squirtle move together and get outside the building, there Meowth tries to attack them with fury swipes but breaks the net doing so, Ash and co turn up just then and send Team Rocket blasting off.

Team Squirtle are continuing to try and put out the blaze with the help of Misty, Marill, Staryu and Scyther but its still not enough. Just as a huge burning piece of debris is about to hit Misty, Squirtle and the leader of Team Wartortle arrive and deflect it with their waterguns. A little boy can be seen on one of the balconies of the building calling for help, Ash volunteers to run in but Captain Aidan says its too risky. One of Team Blastoise then sends the Team Wartortle leader and Squirtle straight up to the balcony where they get to the kid.

After some amazing teamwork by Ash’s Squirtle and the Team Wartortle leader they manage to save the boy, and then with the combined effort of Team Squirtle, Wartortle, Blastoise + Marill, Scyther and Staryu they manage to tackle the giant fire and get it under control. The lead Wartortle and Squirtle now have great respect for each other, shake hands and say goodbye.Today our heroes have decided to take a detour and do some big city exploring. As they’re trying to decide where to go to eat they spot a big fire at a warehouse in the distance and lots of crowds gathered around being held back by Officer Jenny. Misty and Ash go rushing over and send out their water Pokémon who both start firing their water guns at the fire but it isn’t enough, the next warehouse is imminent to catch fire when the fire service, a guy named Captain Aidan and a Team of Wartortle arrive to tackle the blaze.

The powerful waterguns of the six wartortle and their excellent Teamwork quickly dispatch the blaze. Squirtle looks a little put out by the situation. Capt. Aidan takes Ash and friends back to the station and introduces them to Team Blastoise who use their hydro pumps to put out large fires, and Team Squirtle who they use to put our fires in tight spots, Capt. Aidan then goes on to state that team Wartortle are the perfect team as they combine the speed of Squirtle and the power of Blastoise.

It becomes apparent that Squirtle is quite upset about what happened at the fire, Squirtle then pulls out the Squirtle squad glasses which haven’t been seen for quite some time. Tracey concludes that as a great firefighter himself, Squirtle must have been pretty hurt that it couldn’t put out the fire on its own. Ash asks Capt. Aidan if Squirtle can take on one of his Wartortle head to head, but Capt. Aidan isn’t convinced that Squirtle would stand a chance, Ash begs him and Aidan agrees to the challenge. Team Rocket are watching the whole thing unfold from the bushes and are plotting to steal, basically everything.

The first challenge is Squirtle vs. the Wartortle in a race. Squirtle starts well and keeps up but eventually slips over on a rock, sending it spinning toward one of the Wartortle who also gets knocked into a spin and the two of them cross the finish together, accidentally setting a new land speed record. Captain Aidan is pretty impressed that Squirtle was able to keep up, and suggests that it joins his Wartortle for a whole day of training.

The next drill involves Captain Aidan releasing Frisbees into the air and Squirtle and the group of Wartortle having to shoot them down. But then a strange Frisbee arrives, dodges their attacks and flies off – with all the Wartortle and Squirtle giving chase.

Captain Aidan, Ash and gang also give chase and discover a hole in the ground, there they find Team Rockets air balloon emerging with all of the Wartortle and Ash’s squirtle captive in a net. Team Rocket then use a mechanical grabber to catch Pikachu and get ready to make their escape, but they aren’t done yet… James sends out Weezing who unleashes a smokescreen, and then Team Rocket begin to escape. Ash is undeterred by the smokescreen and tries to give chase, Tracey sends out Scyther who clears the smoke with swords dance.

Team Rocket have all the kidnapped Pokémon at a hut in the woods, the Wartortle and Squirtle try to bite through the net but to no avail, and Pikachu is still trapped in an anti electric jar. Team Rocket start to argue between themselves about who gets to keep which of the kidnapped Pokémon for themselves and start fighting. Captain Aidan, Ash and friends are searching for the kidnapped Pokémon using Tracey’s Venonat to guide them. Captain Aidan then gets an emergency call from Officer Jenny who tells him that theres a terrible fire, Team Blastoise can’t get there as a truck in the road has blocked them, Team Squirtle are on the scene but aren’t powerful enough to put out the blaze, so it has to be Team Wartortle or the whole building will burn down!

Misty says she has to try and help and rushes off to the scene of the fire with Staryu, Tracey also loans her Scyther and Marill to help, and the others continue searching for the kidnapped Team Wartortle. As Team Rocket continue to squabble about who gets to kidnap what, the Squirtle and Wartortle have an idea, they all use their waterguns together and flood the building, sending Jessie and James flying. Despite being trapped in a net the Wartortle and Ash’s Squirtle move together and get outside the building, there Meowth tries to attack them with fury swipes but breaks the net doing so, Ash and co turn up just then and send Team Rocket blasting off.

Team Squirtle are continuing to try and put out the blaze with the help of Misty, Marill, Staryu and Scyther but its still not enough. Just as a huge burning piece of debris is about to hit Misty, Squirtle and the leader of Team Wartortle arrive and deflect it with their waterguns. A little boy can be seen on one of the balconies of the building calling for help, Ash volunteers to run in but Captain Aidan says its too risky. One of Team Blastoise then sends the Team Wartortle leader and Squirtle straight up to the balcony where they get to the kid.

After some amazing teamwork by Ash’s Squirtle and the Team Wartortle leader they manage to save the boy, and then with the combined effort of Team Squirtle, Wartortle, Blastoise + Marill, Scyther and Staryu they manage to tackle the giant fire and get it under control. The lead Wartortle and Squirtle now have great respect for each other, shake hands and say goodbye.

Major Events

• Captain Aidan and his firefighting Team Wartortle
• Squirtle trains with the Wartortle crew
• A Squirtle Squad flashback
• Shortened Pokémon World opening from here
• New dub Who’s That Pokémon? announcer
• Counted as Season 3 by Kids’ WB!

Trivia

• The screenplay is by Shinzō Fujita.
• 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 Wartortle in Japan, where it almost always matched the episode, but Tangela in the US, where 4Kids picked the Pokémon at random.

Changes in the English Dub

• 2 s of Meowth clawing Jessie’s and James’s faces replaced by impact stars (the scratch marks remain in the next shot)
• The Squirtle Squad flashback repeats EP012’s paint edits
• The first US airing ended with Meowth’s Party in Japanese
• Pokémon Ondo background music removed; Hirokazu Tanaka’s Summer Vacation cues used instead

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