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| Season | Pokémon: Battle Frontier (Season 9) · Mulberry, Pewter & the Battle Pyramid arc (AG173–AG179) |
| Episode | Season 9, episode 33 · English episode 450 · Japanese episode 454 · Bulbapedia code AG178 |
| English title | Battling the Enemy Within! |
| Japanese title | バトルピラミッド！VSレジロック！！ Batoru Piramiddo! Tai Rejirokku!! — “Battle Pyramid! VS Regirock!!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 25 May 2006 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 6 December 2006 · Cartoon Network |
| Screenplay | Shōji Yonemura |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Supāto! (Spurt!) – Satoshi (Rica Matsumoto) · Watashi, Makenai! ~Haruka no Tēma~ (I Won’t Lose! ~Haruka’s Theme~) – Haruka (KAORI.) |
| English opening | Battle Frontier – Jason Appleton |
| Previous episode | Grating Spaces! (AG177) |
| Next episode | Slaking Kong! (AG179) |
Plot episodeBrandon debutsAsh possessed
Battling the Enemy Within! is the 33rd episode of Pokémon: Battle Frontier, the ninth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 450th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 454, Bulbapedia code AG178). It first aired in Japan on 25 May 2006 and in the United States on 6 December 2006. It falls within the season’s Mulberry, Pewter & the Battle Pyramid stretch (EP173–EP179).
Synopsis
The Battle Pyramid is finally in sight when the ground gives way and the group tumble into an ancient ruin covered in hieroglyphs, with Team Rocket soon falling in after them. Ignoring Max’s warning, Ash picks up a Pikachu statue, setting off a trap that sends a giant boulder rolling after them, until an explorer’s Regirock smashes it with Focus Punch. The explorer, Brandon, scolds them for disturbing the ruins, then tells them the legend of the King of Pokélantis, who tried to rule the world by controlling Ho-Oh; Ho-Oh destroyed his kingdom, and the King was sealed inside a stone sphere in the tomb. Team Rocket overhear and decide to catch Ho-Oh, while Ash runs ahead, eager to test himself. A sealed door opens for him and slams shut behind him. In a torchlit chamber beneath a vast statue of the King, he lifts a stone orb from the throne, thinking Ho-Oh is inside. Dark energy pours out, and Ash rises with a sinister laugh, possessed by the King of Pokélantis.
The possessed Ash demands everyone’s Pokémon and tries to seize May’s Poké Balls, but she and Max hold on. Brandon challenges the King to a battle at the Battle Pyramid, offering his own Pokémon as the prize. Outside, Scott is waiting, and he tells the others that Brandon is the Pyramid King, the seventh and last Frontier Brain. In the one-on-one battle, refereed by Samuel, Brandon uses Regirock, while the King, with the real Ash trapped in another dimension and watching through his own eyes, controls Sceptile. Iron Defense shrugs off Leaf Blade and Bullet Seed, so the King has Sceptile shoot the ceiling and bury Regirock in rubble. Brandon calls the move cowardly, and for a moment Ash breaks through to deny it before losing control again.
Regirock bursts free and aims Hyper Beam, but the King hides Sceptile behind the referee, forcing Brandon to hold back. Sceptile slashes Regirock’s legs, but Regirock uses Lock-On and its next Hyper Beam knocks Sceptile out. The King then demands Pikachu, and May, Brock and Max shield it while Brandon calls on Ash to remember his friends. Ash orders Pikachu to hit him with Thunderbolt, and the shock drives out the King’s spirit, which Brandon seals back into the orb. Meanwhile, Team Rocket’s hunt for “Ho-Oh” turns up only an angry Pidgey, a Salamence and a Hoothoot before a spring tile launches them out of the ruins. Brandon warns Ash that his carelessness let the King in and turns down a proper battle for now, promising to be in touch. The Battle Pyramid lifts off on rotors and flies away, and the real Ho-Oh soars past in the distance.
Major Events
- Battle Pyramid, first meeting. Pyramid King Brandon and the referee Samuel debut
- The ruins of Pokélantis
- Ash is possessed by the spirit of its King
- Regirock beats the possessed Ash’s Sceptile in an unofficial battle
- Ho-Oh is sighted
- Regirock’s TV-series debut
- The first episode with a caught Legendary
Pokémon making their anime debut
Regirock#0377 · AG178
Trivia
- The English title plays on "the enemy within", for Ash’s possession.
- The screenplay is by Shōji Yonemura.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Kanto storyline.
Changes in the English Dub
- The Pokémon Symphonic Medley and a Kanto arrangement
- The next-episode preview uses the Red and Blue opening theme
Part of our Pokémon: Battle Frontier guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.