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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 7 · English episode 424 · Japanese episode 428 · Bulbapedia code AG152 |
| English title | On Olden Pond |
| Japanese title | ハクリューの湖！ Hakuryū no Mizuumi! — “Hakuryu’s Lake!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 17 November 2005 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 30 September 2006 · Cartoon Network |
| Screenplay | Shōji Yonemura |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Battle Frontier – Akina Takaya · GLORY DAY ~Kagayaku Sono Hi~ (That Shining Day) – GARDEN |
| English opening | Battle Frontier – Jason Appleton |
| Previous episode | Weekend Warrior (AG151) |
| Next episode | Tactics Theatrics!! (AG153) |
Filler / stand-alone episodeCorphish vs CrawdauntSquirtle learns Rapid Spin
On Olden Pond is the 7th episode of Pokémon: Battle Frontier, the ninth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 424th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 428, Bulbapedia code AG152). It first aired in Japan on 17 November 2005 and in the United States on 30 September 2006. It falls within the season’s New voices, new Symbols: the Arena & the Dome stretch (EP146–EP153).
Synopsis
May is so excited about her new Egg and Ribbon that she wears Max out, while in the woods Ash and Pikachu practise Volt Tackle, which fizzles out halfway through. Max’s PokéNav points them to a famous fishing lake for a rest, but they find it eerily silent and empty. Borrowing rods from a deserted boathouse, Ash and Brock fish until something huge takes Ash’s line, and when everyone heaves together they haul out a furious Crawdaunt. It overpowers Ash’s Corphish with Vise Grip, Crabhammer and Bubble Beam, then snaps the fishing rods. A young woman named Tiffany chases it back into the water, to Brock’s instant delight. She explains that the lake used to be busy until businessman Mr. Saridakis of Saridakis Industries tried to buy it for a luxury resort. When she refused to sell the boathouse, a Crawdaunt began driving off fishermen and the lake’s Pokémon.
The group set out to track the culprit down, some of them diving into the lake with Corphish while the others search from Tiffany’s boat. Following the Crawdaunt underwater to a cave, they discover that it belongs to Saridakis, who has two Team Rocket members on his payroll posing as architects. He denies ordering any attacks and explains that he nearly drowned in the lake as a boy, which is why he wants it filled in. Ash challenges Crawdaunt to a battle: if Ash wins, Saridakis drops his plans. That evening Tiffany’s grandmother Galea watches Ash train Corphish and warns that his tactics will not work. Her Vaporeon demonstrates by melting into the lake with Acid Armor and beating Corphish with Quick Attack and Hydro Pump, teaching Ash that a Trainer must use the surroundings.
The next day Corphish puts the lesson into practice, standing its ground in an exchange of Crabhammers, diving under the surface to avoid Bubble Beam, using Harden to absorb an attack and finishing Crawdaunt with a Crabhammer that sends it into the rocks. Team Rocket then swoop in with a walking mecha and grab both the weakened Crawdaunt and Pikachu. Corphish hurls May’s Squirtle at the machine and Squirtle tries Rapid Spin for the first time; Marshtomp’s Water Gun saves it when it bounces off, and with Corphish’s Bubble Beam boosting its spin, Squirtle drills into the engine. The mecha crashes into the lake and explodes, and the wave washes everyone ashore except Saridakis. He is rescued from the depths by Galea and a Dragonair, which he recognises as the Pokémon that saved him as a child. Realising the resort would destroy its home, he abandons his plans, and Dragonair’s cry purifies the water and calls the lake’s Pokémon back.
Major Events
- Mr. Saridakis’s Crawdaunt and resort plan
- Galea’s Vaporeon teaches Corphish to use its surroundings
- Corphish beats Crawdaunt
- Squirtle learns Rapid Spin
- A Dragonair guards the lake
- The Japanese opening swaps the Mew and Lucario shot for Pokémon Mystery Dungeon box art on the game’s launch day
Trivia
- The English title plays on the 1981 film On Golden Pond.
- The screenplay is by Shōji Yonemura.
- This is a stand-alone episode: it can be skipped without losing the thread of the Kanto story.
Changes in the English Dub
- Music from Celebi: Voice of the Forest
Part of our Pokémon: Battle Frontier guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.