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| Season | Pokémon: Advanced Battle (Season 8) · Izabe Island: Harley, Ludicolo & Snorunt arc (AG102–AG109) |
| Episode | Season 8, episode 15 · English episode 380 · Japanese episode 383 · Bulbapedia code AG107 |
| English title | Absol-ute Disaster |
| Japanese title | アブソル！忍び寄るわざわいの影！！ Abusoru! Shinobiyoru Wazawai no Kage!! — “Absol! Creeping Shadow of Disaster!!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 16 December 2004 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 7 January 2006 · Kids’ WB |
| Screenplay | Masashi Sogo |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Pokémon Symphonic Medley – Pokémon Symphonic Orchestra · GLORY DAY ~Kagayaku Sono Hi~ (That Shining Day) – GARDEN |
| English opening | Unbeatable – David Rolfe |
| Pokémon Trainer’s Choice | Which one does not evolve? (Remoraid / Relicanth / Goldeen) → Relicanth |
| Previous episode | Beg, Burrow and Steal (AG106) |
| Next episode | Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snorunt! (AG108) |
Filler / stand-alone episodeAbsol clearedAbsol debut
Absol-ute Disaster is the 15th episode of Pokémon: Advanced Battle, the eighth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 380th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 383, Bulbapedia code AG107). It first aired in Japan on 16 December 2004 and in the United States on 7 January 2006. It falls within the season’s Izabe Island: Harley, Ludicolo & Snorunt stretch (EP102–EP109).
Synopsis
Crossing Izabe Island toward a village, the group are nearly swept away when a wooden bridge collapses in an unusually powerful current, and Pikachu has to leap from the water onto Ash’s head. On the far bank stands an Absol, and armed villagers arrive, blame it for wrecking the bridges and chase it away. To deal with the “disaster Pokémon” they hire a team of Absol hunters, who are of course Team Rocket in disguise; the trio reason that handing an Absol to Giovanni would only bring them bad luck, so they decide to go after Pikachu instead. Young Nicky, whose older brother Gordon set off weeks ago to catch an Absol and has not come back, defends the Pokémon and challenges the “hunters”, and he leads Ash and his friends up the mountain called Square Top to find Absol.
High on the mountain Absol confronts Max and Nicky, and Pikachu fires a Thunderbolt to protect them just as water bursts out of the rocks and washes everyone over a cliff. Absol leaps to save Nicky from the fall, Ash’s Swellow catches Max, and Pikachu is rescued by a Heracross that belongs to none other than Gordon. Nicky’s missing brother has been living on the mountain all this time studying Absol, and he explains what he has learned: Absol never cause disasters, but appear near people to warn them that one is coming, and attack only when provoked. Brock, looking at the strange behaviour of the water, works out that pressure is building up dangerously inside the mountain’s spring, and that the bridges were destroyed by the swollen river rather than by Absol.
The spring erupts in a geyser that sends a torrent toward Gordon and Nicky’s village. All of the group’s Pokémon together cannot shift a giant boulder that could divert the flood, but Absol fires a point-blank Hyper Beam that knocks the boulder into place, turning the water aside and drenching Team Rocket so thoroughly that their disguises wash away. When the exposed trio try to grab Pikachu, Absol knocks them away with Razor Wind. Having watched Absol save their homes, the villagers finally accept that it predicts disasters rather than causing them, and they abandon the hunt. Gordon and Nicky are reunited, and the travellers set off again with Absol watching over the valley from the heights, no longer hunted by the people it protects.
Major Events
- Square Top
- The villagers learn that Absol warns of disasters rather than causing them
- First US episode after the 2005 holiday break
- Absol debuts
Pokémon making their anime debut
Absol#0359 · AG107
Trivia
- The English title plays on "absolute disaster".
- The screenplay is by Masashi Sogo.
- This is a stand-alone episode: it can be skipped without losing the thread of the Hoenn story.
Changes in the English Dub
- Team Rocket stay in their hunter disguises after the flood
- Music from Mewtwo Strikes Back and The Power of One reused
Part of our Pokémon: Advanced Battle guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.