Hot Matches! – Pokémon Season 3, Episode 36

Filler / stand-alone episodeSkarmory debutCyndaquil’s flame training

Hot Matches! is the 36th episode of Pokémon: The Johto Journeys, the third season of the Pokémon anime, and the 152nd episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 154, Bulbapedia code EP152). It first aired in Japan on 15 June 2000 and in the United States on 12 May 2001. It falls within the season’s On the road to Goldenrod stretch (EP148–EP155).

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

Synopsis

After getting a good night’s rest at a nearby Pokemon Center, Ash and friends are leaving to continue their journey to Goldenrod City when they bump into a young trainer who is rushing his Growlithe to the Pokemon Center after losing a really tough battle. Ash is excited to challenge the trainer that beat the kid, and they head up into the mountains where the young trainer said this really tough trainer is.

Team Rocket overhear that Ash and co are on the way to have a battle and as always they scheme to use this as leverage to capture Pikachu when the Pokemon are weakened from battle. Ash and friends meanwhile have made it to the part of the mountain the kid told them to go to when they discover a girl called Mickey, who brock immediately takes a liking to; she challenges Brock to a battle and tells him to use a fire type Pokemon. Ash quickly realises that Mickey must be the trainer that the kid outside the Pokemon Center had told them about.

Mickey sends out a Skarmory, a steel type bird that Ash and friends have never seen before. Mickey explains that she and her Skarmory have been training in these mountains for weeks and that Steel Pokemon are supposed to be weak against Fire types, and she wants a challenge. Brock sends out his Vulpix to face Skarmory and the battle begins; Skarmory flies high and begins diving full speed toward Vulpix who tries to retaliate with a flamethrower which Skarmory easily avoids. After one solid hit from Skarmory’s steel wing, Vulpix is beaten.

Mickey asks Brock if he has anymore fire type Pokemon she can battle; Ash interrupts and states that he does, sending out Cyndaquil to face Skarmory next, right from the very start its obvious that Cyndaquil’s flames aren’t ready yet and it’ll take time to warm up. Skarmory comes out Cyndaquil with everything, Cyndaquil has excellent defence and dodges really well but Skarmory is too fast and hits it all the same. Cyndaquil manages to get its flame lit and uses it’s flamethrower but Skarmory avoids it and hits Cyndaquil with a swift attack then heads at it with Steel Wing. Cyndaquil is just about to be hit by Steel Wing when a mechanical arm grabs both Skarmory and Cyndaquil…. It’s Team Rocket on their balloon above and they begin making their escape with both Skarmory and Cyndaquil captured.

Mickey tells Skarmory to try a swift attack, which cuts the rope and frees it…. As it falls out of the air Brock breaks its fall. Team Rocket still have Cyndaquil however and are getting away, or so they think until Skarmory shows up and sends them blasting off. Ash and Cyndaquil are reunited and Mickey invites the group back to her cabin where Brock cooks for them all.

Ash asks Mickey what her training secrets are to make Skarmory so strong, she tells Ash that everything she makes Skarmory do she also does herself, and makes sure she works just as hard as it does. Ash tells Cyndaquil that together they will train in the same way and the next day begins a gruelling training regime, intent on becoming as tough as Mickey and Skarmory. Ash commands his Cyndaquil to use its tackle attack on him, but it doesn’t really want to attack him. Ash continues to pressure Cyndaquil into attacking properly but its flames still won’t light. The pair instead decide to work on Cyndaquil’s defensive moves and it’s agility.

Mickey, Misty and Brock are back at Mickey’s cabin discussing where Ash might be. Ash continues training and this time gets Cyndaquil to hit him harder with a tackle, the two then spot some nice red apples growing on the trees and go over to grab some for breakfast. Unfortunately as they grab an apple they discover a Beedrill holding onto it, along with the rest of it’s swarm. Ash and Cyndaquil run with the Beedrill giving chase, but Cyndaquil stops, powers its flame up to full and sends the Beedrill packing. Ash and Cyndaquil continue their training and work on Cyndaquil’s aim and its flame before returning to Mickey’s cabin where Ash challenges Mickey to a rematch.

Ash sends out Cyndaquil to again face Mickey’s Skarmory and this time Cyndaquil’s flame is already lit and it’s obviously a bit more battle ready. A tense battle ensues and it seems that both Skarmory and Cyndaquil are evenly matched on defence and dodging. Skarmory goes straight in for a Steel Wing attack and Cyndaquil hits it with it’s Flamethrower, but Skarmory just keeps coming and knocks Cyndaquil to the ground. Cyndaquil gets back up and the two exchange Steel Wing and Flamethrower attacks once more with Cyndaquil being knocked to the ground again, but defiantly Cyndaquil gets up again, its flame burning stronger and brighter than Ash has ever seen it. Skarmory appears to be quite fatigued but comes at Cyndaquil again with its Steel Wing, Cyndaquil dodges the attack and Skarmory hits the ground hard… Cyndaquil hits it with another flamethrower before tackling Skarmory to the ground, defeating it.

Mickey decides to stop training in the mountains and says she’s going to take on as many gym leaders as she can. Ash and friends wave goodbye to their new friend as they continue on their journey to Goldenrod City.

Major Events

• Skarmory debut
• New ED *Exciting² Pokémon Relay*
• Cyndaquil learns to ignite at will, Agility/Smokescreen
• First mention of the Steel type
• Kids’ WB premiere cut 38 s for *Pokérap GS*
• Aired on Yūji Ueda’s 33rd birthday

Pokémon making their anime debut

• Skarmory#0227 · EP152

Trivia

• The English title plays on “hot matches for Cyndaquil’s flame, and a heated match”.
• The screenplay is by Shōji Yonemura.
• This is a stand-alone episode: it can be skipped without losing the thread of the Johto story.
• The Who’s That Pokémon? segment features Skarmory in Japan, where it almost always matched the episode, but Aipom in the US, where 4Kids picked the Pokémon at random.

Changes in the English Dub

• Kids’ WB premiere only: 38 seconds cut (the breakfast scene where Ash asks Cyndaquil to tackle him into an apple tree) to make room for the full Pokérap GS; restored in reruns.
• Fury Attack is called “Fury”.
• New Japanese ending: Exciting² Pokémon Relay (Hard Version). The dub adds “You Can Do It (If You Really Try)”, and the Kids’ WB premiere replaced Karaokémon with the full Pokérap GS.
• Pokémon Karaokémon: “You & Me & Pokémon” (Élan Rivera & PJ Lequerica) (replaced on the Kids’ WB premiere by Pokérap GS).

Part of our Pokémon: The Johto Journeys guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.