Outrageous Fortunes – Pokémon Season 5, Episode 38

Plot episodePoliwhirl evolves into Politoed

Outrageous Fortunes is the 38th episode of Pokémon: Master Quest, the fifth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 247th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 249, Bulbapedia code EP247). It first aired in Japan on 9 May 2002 and in the United States on 10 May 2003. It falls within the season’s The road to Blackthorn stretch (EP239–EP250).

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

Synopsis

Ash and company come to the next town and find Delaney, a trainer with a poliwrath taking on all comers. Misty winds up challenging him with Poliwhirl, but loses. Ash takes him on next with Bayleef and Brock calls the battle a draw on account that the poliwrath is now in the eighth straight battle in a row and could become ill, even if it does win.

Ash slips on a wet floor and his backpack spills its contents. While everyone is helping him pick everything else, Misty doesn’t notice Poliwhirl picking up Ash’s king’s rock and puts it in its pokéball so it can be healed in the Health Restoration Machine. Team Rocket tricks Delaney into giving them the pokéball that contains his poliwrath. Ash and company have arrived at the scene and everyone gives chase to Team Rocket. The group arrives and challenge Team Rocket for possession of the poliwrath. The battle heats up and Misty calls up Poliwhirl who is wearing the king’s rock which forces it into evolving into a politoad. Team Rocket’s pokémon are knocked into their masters and the poliwrath’s pokéball is caught by Delaney. Pikachu then uses Thunderbolt and send Team Rocket blasting off again.

The next day the heroes say their good-byes and continue on to Blackthorn City.

Major Events

• Misty’s Poliwhirl → Politoed (King’s Rock
• Politoed debut)
• Dub cut (restored 2016)

Pokémon making their anime debut

• Politoed#0186 · EP247

Captures and evolutions

• Poliwhirl → Politoed#0186 · Misty · King’s Rock

Trivia

• The English title plays on Hamlet’s "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune".
• The screenplay is by Yukiyoshi Ōhashi.
• This is a plot episode: it advances the Johto storyline.
• The Who’s That Pokémon? segment features Poliwhirl in Japan, where it almost always matched the episode, but Pinsir in the US, where 4Kids picked the Pokémon at random.

Changes in the English Dub

• EP247 two shots of Poliwrath slapping Jessie cut as too violent (restored 2016)

Part of our Pokémon: Master Quest guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.