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| Season | Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl (Season 10) · Oreburgh City & the Coal Badge arc (DP013–DP018) |
| Episode | Season 10, episode 18 · English episode 482 · Japanese episode 485 · Bulbapedia code DP018 |
| English title | O’er the Rampardos We Watched! |
| Japanese title | クロガネジムふたたび！決戦ラムパルド！！ Kurogane Jimu Futatabi! Kessen Ramuparudo!! — “Return to Kurogane Gym! Decisive Match with Rampald!!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 1 February 2007 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 3 July 2007 · Cartoon Network |
| Screenplay | Atsuhiro Tomioka |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Together – Fumie Akiyoshi · Kimi no Soba de ~Hikari no Tēma~ (By Your Side ~Hikari’s Theme~) – Grin |
| English opening | Diamond and Pearl – Chris “Breeze” Barczynski |
| Previous episode | Wild in the Streets! (DP017) |
| Next episode | Twice Smitten, Once Shy! (DP019) |
Plot episodeCoal BadgeFirst Sinnoh Badge
O’er the Rampardos We Watched! is the 18th episode of Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl, the tenth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 482nd episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 485, Bulbapedia code DP018). It first aired in Japan on 1 February 2007 and in the United States on 3 July 2007. It falls within the season’s Oreburgh City & the Coal Badge stretch (EP13–EP18).
Aired on Tuesday 3 July 2007, the day before Independence Day — hence the “Star-Spangled Banner” pun in its title.
Synopsis
Ash strides back into the Oreburgh Gym brimming with confidence, while Dawn, in a cheerleader’s outfit, leads Piplup and Buneary in cheering him on. Roark opens with Onix and Ash with Pikachu. Pikachu dodges Slam and clings to Onix’s rocky body through Screech and violent shaking, striking with Iron Tail, then borrows Dawn’s trick of spinning out of the way of Double-Edge. Slammed into a boulder, Pikachu blasts away the Stealth Rock Onix has laid with a Thunderbolt that also catches Onix, and a final Iron Tail knocks the giant out despite another Screech. Roark sends out Geodude, and Ash switches to Aipom. Meanwhile, Team Rocket pick the lock and sneak into the Gym, and Brock’s Croagunk slips away to investigate.
Aipom’s Swift is met by Rollout, and its Double Team sends Geodude crashing into a boulder. Geodude blocks Focus Punch with one rocky arm and hurls Aipom across the field with Seismic Toss, but Aipom flips upright on its tail to avoid the next Rollout and lands a second Focus Punch for the win. Roark’s newly evolved Rampardos shrugs off Swift and knocks Aipom out with a single Headbutt. Pikachu returns and trades Quick Attack and Iron Tail with Zen Headbutt and tail swipes, and although contact triggers Static, Rampardos’s Mold Breaker breaks through and another Zen Headbutt knocks Pikachu out. Elsewhere, Croagunk’s stare drives the intruders out of the building, and when Jessie decides it must want to join them, a Poison Jab to the stomach sends her to hospital in her partners’ arms.
Ash’s last hope is Turtwig. It rolls clear of Headbutt and bites Rampardos’s tail, but Flamethrower burns through Razor Leaf and Head Smash slams it into a boulder, the recoil hurting Rampardos too. Another Flamethrower stops Turtwig from healing with Synthesis, and Ash begins to panic until inspiration strikes: Turtwig runs in circles firing Razor Leaf, and the burning leaves fill the field with smoke that hides it. Roark realises what Ash is doing and calls for Zen Headbutt, but Turtwig leaps aside, slides under Rampardos as it jumps after it and fires Razor Leaf into its back. Rampardos collapses, Ian declares Turtwig the winner, and Roark presents Ash with the Coal Badge, his first in Sinnoh, eighteen episodes after he arrived in the region.
Major Events
- Coal Badge, Ash’s first in Sinnoh, eighteen episodes after his arrival. Pikachu’s Iron Tail beats Onix
- Turtwig’s burning-leaf smokescreen beats Rampardos
- The dub uses a lengthened English opening as battle music
- Adapted into the book Coal Badge Battle
Trivia
- The English title plays on "O’er the ramparts we watched", from "The Star-Spangled Banner", aired the day before Independence Day.
- The screenplay is by Atsuhiro Tomioka.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Sinnoh storyline.
Changes in the English Dub
- Three seconds added to the To be continued card
- The extended Together plays under the climax in Japanese
- The dub loops a lengthened Diamond and Pearl theme under the Gym battle (Dogasu’s Backpack: “Lazy lazy lazy”)
- The dub adds music to the silent Croagunk scene
Part of our Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.