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| Season | Pokémon: Advanced Battle (Season 8) · The last Ribbon: Drew, Munchlax & Morrison arc (AG112–AG120) |
| Episode | Season 8, episode 20 · English episode 385 · Japanese episode 388 · Bulbapedia code AG112 |
| English title | Showdown at Linoone |
| Japanese title | マッスグマ！友情のカタチ！？ Massuguma! Yūjō no Katachi!? — “Massuguma! The Shape of Friendship!?” |
| First aired (Japan) | 27 January 2005 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 4 February 2006 · Kids’ WB |
| Screenplay | Junki Takegami |
| 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 comes first? (Flaaffy / Mareep / Ampharos) → Mareep |
| Previous episode | Eight Ain’t Enough (AG111) |
| Next episode | Who, What, When, Where, Wynaut? (AG113) |
Filler / stand-alone episodeLinoonePoké Ball balloon
Showdown at Linoone is the 20th episode of Pokémon: Advanced Battle, the eighth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 385th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 388, Bulbapedia code AG112). It first aired in Japan on 27 January 2005 and in the United States on 4 February 2006. It falls within the season’s The last Ribbon: Drew, Munchlax & Morrison stretch (EP112–EP120).
Synopsis
After docking at Giban Island, Ash phones Professor Oak from the Pokémon Center and vows to train hard for the Ever Grande Conference, now that he has all eight Badges. At camp May polishes her Poké Balls in preparation for her final Contest, but when she puts them away, the two holding Bulbasaur and Beautifly have vanished. Max suspects Team Rocket, and the group follow a trail of footprints into the forest, where a Linoone barrels into Ash and knocks him flat, and May accidentally steps on him in the chase. Ash noticed that the Linoone’s cheeks were bulging, so the group follow it to the home of a boy named Kimmy, who admits that his Linoone, Tokin, is a troublemaker that collects anything round.
Kimmy explains that when Tokin was still a Zigzagoon it loved playing fetch with its Poké Ball, and that since it evolved he has not played with it much at all. Searching the forest for Tokin’s hidden hoard, the group turn up a ring, a Thick Club, a Soothe Bell and a Dragon Fang, but no Poké Balls. Team Rocket, learning that Linoone have the Pickup Ability, decide that Tokin would make an excellent treasure-finder for their boss and net it from their balloon. Kimmy bravely climbs after them, but Seviper’s Haze makes him lose his grip, and he falls and hurts himself. In the struggle Tokin finally drops May’s missing Poké Balls, which it had been carrying in its cheeks all along.
A second net snatches Pikachu, and this time the trio’s balloon is shaped like a giant Poké Ball, the first time they have flown anything other than their Meowth balloon. Tokin cannot resist chasing the round balloon; when James’s Cacnea accidentally pops it with Needle Arm, Tokin frees Pikachu, and the two Pokémon fire a double Thunderbolt, which takes the shape of a dragon, to blast Team Rocket off. Kimmy apologises to Tokin for neglecting it and promises to play with it more, and he hurls a Poké Ball for Linoone to fetch as May, reunited with Bulbasaur and Beautifly, gets ready to move on toward Pacifidlog Town. Tokin’s habit of hoarding round objects recalls the Quagsire of Cherrygrove City that the group met in Johto.
Major Events
- Giban Island
- A Linoone with the Pickup Ability hoards May’s Poké Balls
- Team Rocket’s first Poké Ball-shaped balloon
- Linoone debuts
Pokémon making their anime debut
Linoone#0264 · AG112
Trivia
- The English title plays on "showdown at high noon".
- The screenplay is by Junki Takegami.
- This is a stand-alone episode: it can be skipped without losing the thread of the Hoenn story.
Changes in the English Dub
- Badge-case close-up removed and the case redesigned
- One shot cut
- Ready Go! as Japanese background music
Part of our Pokémon: Advanced Battle guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.