Good ‘Quil Hunting – Pokémon Season 3, Episode 25

Plot episodeAsh catches Cyndaquil

Good ‘Quil Hunting is the 25th episode of Pokémon: The Johto Journeys, the third season of the Pokémon anime, and the 141st episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 143, Bulbapedia code EP141). It first aired in Japan on 30 March 2000 and in the United States on 3 March 2001. It falls within the season’s Azalea Town: Kurt, the GS Ball & the Hive Badge stretch (EP141–EP145).

Synopsis · Major Events · Trivia · Dub Changes · All episodes

Synopsis

Ash and friends are lost in the woods on the way to Azalea Town when a trainer comes out of the bushes and asks if they’ve seen any Cyndaquil nearby; Ash hears only the word Cyndaquil and promptly runs off into the bushes to look for one, this really angers the trainer who was looking for them who shouts that they better stay away from the Cyndaquil before heading back into the forest himself.

Brock and Misty search for Ash in the forest, and are being watched from a distance by Team Rocket; who have all apparently been working in part time jobs to save up for their newest mechanical device. Team Rocket approach Brock and Misty in a giant mechanical Meowth robot called the Meowthonator but when they say Ash and Pikachu aren’t there the robot takes off and goes to look for them, quickly locating them in the forest nearby and trying to capture Pikachu with their new toys.

Ash and Pikachu manage to get away and hide in the bushes but Team Rocket’s sensors manage to find them, it looks as though they’re going to catch Ash and Pikachu but the robot trips over a tree root. Ash reaches a dead end with lots of caves built into a rock formation; there he spots a Cyndaquil and starts climbing up toward it, just then the trainer from earlier arrives and spots the Cyndaquil; sending out his Sandslash to use Sand Attack on Ash and knock him back down the side of the rock face. The trainer then goes after the Cyndaquil which runs off into the caves. Ash gives chase and spots the Cyndaquil being chased by the other trainer and its Sandslash. Team Rocket have just arrived outside and fire a giant twerp-seeking putty ball into the caves after Ash.

The other trainer and his Sandslash meanwhile have the Cyndaquil cornered and just as they are about to attack Ash grabs the Cyndaquil and runs, the giant putty ball knocking the other trainer over flat as it went. The ball then explodes knocking Ash, Pikachu and Cyndaquil onto the ground at the feet of the mechanical Meowthonator outside. Team Rocket hit Ash with a putty ball and stick him to the wall, Team Rocket are about to steal Pikachu and Cyndaquil and Ash tells Cyndaquil to run, but it doesn’t; instead it faces down Team Rocket’s latest robotic monstrosity and incinerates it with its flamethrower.

Ash is still stuck to the putty but knows that Cyndaquil will be hit by the explosion from Team Rocket’s robot if he doesn’t do something, he uses Pikachu’s thunderbolt to dislodge the putty that holds them in place (despite it electrocuting him) and throws a Pokéball at Cyndaquil to save it from the blast. Ash releases Cyndaquil from the Pokéball just in time for Misty and Brock to show up and spot it. The trainer from earlier on then turns up and demands the Cyndaquil, challenging Ash to a battle and the winner gets Cyndaquil. The trainer goads Ash until he accepts, and actually uses Cyndaquil in battle against the trainers Sandslash. The Sandslash comes right at Cyndaquil and doesn’t stop, Cyndaquil however demonstrates amazing defence and dodges everything until it is eventually hit by a sand attack and a swift. Although its great at dodging it doesn’t seem forthcoming at attacking it back. Sandslash lunges at Cyndaquil one more time and gets its claw stuck in a tree, Cyndaquil seizes the opportunity to defeat it with a tackle attack.

The trainer then proceeds to try and catch the Cyndaquil himself in a net, but Cyndaquil’s flamethrower is now warmed up, and the trainer is incinerated. Ash has a new friend and a new Pokemon, and his hopes are burning brighter than ever.

Major Events

• Ash catches Cyndaquil
• Koji’s Sandslash
• Aired on Megumi Hayashibara’s 33rd birthday
• Team Rocket’s robot returns in JN142

Captures and evolutions

• Cyndaquil#0155 · Ash

Trivia

• The English title plays on the film Good Will Hunting (reused for DP045).
• The screenplay is by Shōji Yonemura.
• This is a plot episode: it advances the Johto storyline.
• The Who’s That Pokémon? segment features Cyndaquil in Japan, where it almost always matched the episode, but Slowking in the US, where 4Kids picked the Pokémon at random.

Changes in the English Dub

• Pokémon Karaokémon: “Two Perfect Girls” (Eric Stuart as Brock).

Part of our Pokémon: The Johto Journeys guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.