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| Season | Pokémon: Advanced Battle (Season 8) · The last Ribbon: Drew, Munchlax & Morrison arc (AG112–AG120) |
| Episode | Season 8, episode 26 · English episode 391 · Japanese episode 394 · Bulbapedia code AG118 |
| English title | Less is Morrison |
| Japanese title | ライバル登場！マサムネとダンバル！！ Raibaru Tōjō! Masamune to Danbaru!! — “Rival Enters! Masamune and Dumbber!!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 10 March 2005 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 11 February 2006 · Kids’ WB |
| Screenplay | Shōji Yonemura |
| 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 goes from land to sky in one evolution? (Noctowl / Trapinch / Loudred) → Trapinch |
| Previous episode | Berry, Berry Interesting (AG117) |
| Next episode | The Ribbon Cup Caper! (AG119) |
Plot episodeMorrison debutsBeldum debut
Less is Morrison is the 26th episode of Pokémon: Advanced Battle, the eighth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 391st episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 394, Bulbapedia code AG118). It first aired in Japan on 10 March 2005 and in the United States on 11 February 2006. It falls within the season’s The last Ribbon: Drew, Munchlax & Morrison stretch (EP112–EP120).
Synopsis
On the road to Slateport City, Ash and May bolt their lunch so they can get back to training, Ash on Snorunt’s unreliable Ice Beam and May on her Grand Festival routines, when a giant rice ball rolls down a hill followed by a red-haired boy chasing after it. May’s Munchlax eats the rice ball before anyone can stop it. The boy introduces himself as Morrison and announces that he is going to win the Hoenn League, which Ash insists is his job, and the argument over who is the better Trainer quickly escalates. To settle it, Morrison challenges Ash to a battle between Pikachu and his partner Pokémon, a Beldum, a Steel- and Psychic-type that Ash has never seen before.
May’s Pokédex explains that Beldum emits magnetic waves, and Max quickly notices that it knows only one move, Take Down, which it uses again and again while Pikachu answers with Quick Attack and Thunderbolt. The battle ends when Iron Tail and Take Down collide in a double knockout. Morrison boasts of his seven Badges, but deflates when Ash shows him eight; when Brock mentions that the Hoenn League is only two months away, Morrison panics and dashes off to find his last Gym. Somehow the two rivals keep running into each other, and they turn everything into a contest: racing to have their Pokémon healed at the Pokémon Center, an eating contest, and a hot-bath endurance test. That night they sleep in the trees with their Pokémon and talk until they drop off.
In the morning they race toward an apple, crash into the tree at the same moment and split the apple in two, yet another draw. Team Rocket then trap both boys in a cage and steal Pikachu and Beldum. With their other Pokémon left behind, Ash and Morrison break out of the cage together, chase the thieves on foot, take on Seviper and Cacnea by themselves, and, battered but determined, free their partners. Pikachu and Beldum combine to blast Team Rocket away. Morrison sails off to earn his final Badge, and the two new friends promise to meet again in the Hoenn League, where their rivalry will be settled properly. It is the first of several meetings between the two rivals on the road to Ever Grande City.
Major Events
- Morrison debuts and becomes Ash’s rival
- Pikachu and Morrison’s Beldum knock each other out
- The Hoenn League is two months away
- Beldum debuts
Pokémon making their anime debut
Beldum#0374 · AG118
Trivia
- The English title plays on "less is more".
- The screenplay is by Shōji Yonemura.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Hoenn storyline.
Changes in the English Dub
- Morrison’s giant rice ball turned into a sandwich and Team Rocket’s into a cracker
- Badge case edited
- Instrumental Advance Adventure and The Rivals
Part of our Pokémon: Advanced Battle guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.