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| Season | Pokémon: Battle Frontier (Season 9) · Mulberry, Pewter & the Battle Pyramid arc (AG173–AG179) |
| Episode | Season 9, episode 34 · English episode 451 · Japanese episode 455 · Bulbapedia code AG179 |
| English title | Slaking Kong! |
| Japanese title | 驚異！巨大ケッキングの山！！ Kyōi! Kyodai Kekkingu no Yama!! — “Marvel! Mountain of the Giant Kekking!!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 8 June 2006 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 7 December 2006 · Cartoon Network |
| Screenplay | Shinzō Fujita |
| 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 | Battling the Enemy Within! (AG178) |
| Next episode | May, We Harley Drew’d Ya! (AG180) |
Plot episodeAipom steals Ash’s hat
Slaking Kong! is the 34th episode of Pokémon: Battle Frontier, the ninth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 451st episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 455, Bulbapedia code AG179). It first aired in Japan on 8 June 2006 and in the United States on 7 December 2006. It falls within the season’s Mulberry, Pewter & the Battle Pyramid stretch (EP173–EP179).
Synopsis
On the road to Indigo Plateau and the Kanto Grand Festival, the group are overrun by a band of Aipom that have stolen a farmer’s watering can and Berries. The Aipom bounce on everyone’s heads, one making off with May’s Ribbon case and another with Ash’s hat. The farmer, Taylor, invites them to his farmhouse and explains that he grows Berries for Pokéblocks, but the mountain Aipom, which used to take only what they needed, are now stripping his orchard. A traveller has also reported a giant monster on the mountain road. Everyone sets off to investigate and recover their belongings. Up the mountain, Team Rocket, disguised as worshippers, watch the Aipom present their loot at a large wooden gate, which opens to reveal a roaring silhouette. Jessie snatches May’s Ribbon case, calling it her ticket to the Grand Festival.
Ash’s group see Mankey, Vigoroth and Slaking bringing Berries, with one Aipom wearing Ash’s hat, and when the gate opens again they rush inside after Team Rocket. The monster turns out to be an enormous Slaking, whose roar, which Meowth claims is an order to drive off the twerps, sets the mountain Pokémon on them. Pikachu fires a warning Thunderbolt and the group split up. Chased by the Aipom, Ash, Brock and Pikachu distract them with Pokémon food, but the hat-wearing Aipom knocks Ash down a hill, and he grabs a sapling to save it as they fall, landing safely in a bush. After washing in a river, Ash warns the now friendly Aipom not to trust Team Rocket, and it returns to the others still wearing his hat.
The giant Slaking lifts Team Rocket onto its shoulder and starts marching toward Indigo Plateau, blowing away Combusken’s Fire Spin and tearing down the wall. It grabs May and climbs a rock tower, swatting Swellow aside and dropping May, but Sceptile catches her. Swellow’s Aerial Ace knocks the giant off the tower, and a combination of Fire Spin and Marshtomp’s Water Gun reveals that it is a metal robot with Team Rocket inside. The mountain Pokémon pelt it with rocks, fists and Scratch until its joints explode, spilling the stolen food and ejecting the trio. Combusken beats Seviper with Quick Attack and Sky Uppercut, sending Jessie flying so that May catches her Ribbon case, and Pikachu’s Volt Tackle blasts Cacnea and Team Rocket away. As the group leave, Ash spots his hat on a rock, decorated with a pink flower and an apple, while Aipom watches him go from a nearby tree.
Major Events
- Ash meets Aipom. Taylor’s Berry farm
- A band of Aipom steal Ash’s hat and May’s Ribbon case
- Team Rocket’s giant robot Slaking
- Aipom returns Ash’s hat and follows him
- Brandon joins the Japanese opening
Trivia
- The English title plays on the film King Kong; the title was suggested by Brock’s English voice actor, Bill Rogers.
- The screenplay is by Shinzō Fujita.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Kanto storyline.
Changes in the English Dub
- An instrumental Spurt! and the Pokémon Symphonic Medley
Part of our Pokémon: Battle Frontier guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.