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| Season | Pokémon: Battle Frontier (Season 9) · New voices, new Symbols: the Arena & the Dome arc (AG146–AG153) |
| Episode | Season 9, episode 6 · English episode 423 · Japanese episode 427 · Bulbapedia code AG151 |
| English title | Weekend Warrior |
| Japanese title | ライバルはサラリーマン！？ Raibaru wa Sararīman!? — “Rival is a Salaryman!?” |
| First aired (Japan) | 10 November 2005 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 23 September 2006 · Cartoon Network |
| Screenplay | Aya Matsui |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Battle Frontier – Akina Takaya · GLORY DAY ~Kagayaku Sono Hi~ (That Shining Day) – GARDEN |
| English opening | Battle Frontier – Jason Appleton |
| Previous episode | May’s Egg-Cellent Adventure (AG150) |
| Next episode | On Olden Pond (AG152) |
Plot episodeSilver RibbonMay’s second Kanto Ribbon
Weekend Warrior is the 6th episode of Pokémon: Battle Frontier, the ninth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 423rd episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 427, Bulbapedia code AG151). It first aired in Japan on 10 November 2005 and in the United States on 23 September 2006. It falls within the season’s New voices, new Symbols: the Arena & the Dome stretch (EP146–EP153).
Synopsis
May is getting ready for the Silver Town Contest when Squirtle goes missing backstage. A woman named Mandy and her son Nicholas have not seen it, and it turns out to be hiding behind Brock’s leg, decorated with flowers. Outside, James spots a Contest poster, but Jessie has no time for it because their Pokéblock stall needs looking after. In the hall, Lilian introduces the judges, Raoul Contesta, Mr. Sukizo and Nurse Joy, just as a latecomer in a suit, Jeremy, bursts in with a heavy bag, apologising over and over before tripping flat on his face to laughter from the crowd. May sympathises, remembering her own embarrassing moments. In the Appeals Round Squirtle spins while firing Ice Beam to shower the stage with sparkles, fills a giant bubble with smaller ones, pops them with Ice Beam and freezes the whole thing into a sculpture, finishing with a pose on a pillar of ice.
When Jeremy’s turn comes, the lights dim, rock music blares and he strides out in heavy-metal gear and sunglasses while his Butterfree performs Stun Spore, Poison Powder and a glowing green Safeguard. Mandy and Nicholas, his wife and son, interrupt to beg him to stop embarrassing them and come home. Jeremy replies that Contests are a lifelong dream and that a good performance takes real effort, and May speaks up in his support. He bows to the audience and asks them to accept his appeal; one man starts to clap, and soon the whole hall joins in. In the battle rounds, Combusken beats an Exeggutor with Fire Spin and Jeremy’s Venusaur defeats a Vileplume. Nicholas runs outside to tell his mother how well his father is doing, and Mandy, remembering that she met Jeremy when he played in a travelling rock band and loved Pokémon, begins to accept his passion.
The final pits Combusken against Venusaur. Fire Spin burns away Razor Leaf, but Vine Whip scatters the flames and a Frenzy Plant cuts May’s points to a quarter. Ash reminds her that Venusaur must recharge after the move, so she attacks with Quick Attack and Peck, only for Jeremy to gamble on a second Frenzy Plant that blocks Fire Spin and leaves May with almost nothing left. As a last resort May calls for Sky Uppercut, and Combusken runs up one of the giant vines and drives its fist into Venusaur, which crashes down unable to battle with three seconds on the clock. Lilian presents May with the Silver Ribbon, her second in Kanto. Outside, Mandy and Nicholas congratulate Jeremy and the family walk home together, while Team Rocket, out picking Berries in the dark, mistake a Beedrill’s stinger for fruit and flee from an angry swarm.
Major Events
- Silver Ribbon. May’s second Kanto Ribbon, won by Combusken against the salaryman Jeremy’s Venusaur with three seconds left
- Squirtle’s frozen-bubble appeal
- Jeremy, Mandy and Nicholas debut
- Anime debut of Poison Powder
Trivia
- The screenplay is by Aya Matsui.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Kanto storyline.
Changes in the English Dub
- Smile as background music at the end
- The first use of Destiny Deoxys music, replaced in the dub
Part of our Pokémon: Battle Frontier guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.