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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 3 · English episode 420 · Japanese episode 424 · Bulbapedia code AG148 |
| English title | A Chip Off the Old Brock |
| Japanese title | ミズゴロウとモココ！恋の特効薬！？ Mizugorō to Mokoko! Koi no Tokkōyaku!? — “Mizugorou and Mokoko! Wonder Drug of Love!?” |
| First aired (Japan) | 20 October 2005 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 16 September 2006 · Cartoon Network |
| Screenplay | Shinzō Fujita |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Battle Frontier – Akina Takaya · Pokémon Kazoe Uta (Pokémon Counting Song) – Akiko Kanazawa |
| English opening | Battle Frontier – Jason Appleton |
| Previous episode | Sweet Baby James (AG147) |
| Next episode | Wheel of Frontier (AG149) |
Plot episodeMudkip evolves into Marshtomp
A Chip Off the Old Brock is the 3rd episode of Pokémon: Battle Frontier, the ninth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 420th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 424, Bulbapedia code AG148). It first aired in Japan on 20 October 2005 and in the United States on 16 September 2006. It falls within the season’s New voices, new Symbols: the Arena & the Dome stretch (EP146–EP153).
Synopsis
Before Ash takes on the Battle Arena, Brock gives him a warm-up match, pitting Mudkip against Grovyle. After weathering Bullet Seed and taking a Leaf Blade, Mudkip glows and evolves into Marshtomp, and immediately tries out its new Mud Shot. Grovyle dodges and the blast hits a passing Flaaffy instead. Its Trainer, a girl named Mariah, refuses Brock’s offer of help and rushes the injured Pokémon to her grandmother Katie’s drugstore, where a single dose of medicine cures it at once. Brock and Marshtomp both fall instantly for Mariah and Flaaffy and have to be dragged away by May and Max. Katie’s apprentice McCauley drops by with his Ampharos to show her a new energy tonic, but it is badly mixed and cannot be sold, and he wonders aloud whether he will ever be good enough. Mariah urges him not to give up. Outside, Team Rocket are already planning to steal the store’s medicine.
Katie shows Brock, May and Max how she makes medicine, purifying each bottled mixture with her Mareep’s Thunder, a technique she admits is still experimental. Team Rocket then return disguised as an old couple with a sick Snorlax, really Meowth in a costume with Wobbuffet inside, and sweep the shelves into its mouth. When McCauley spots them, Jessie throws him in as well, but Grovyle’s Bullet Seed trips them up and Marshtomp’s Mud Shot sends them over a waterfall. McCauley gets the medicine back, and Mariah admits she cares about him. That night, as Brock tells Marshtomp about their future with Mariah and Flaaffy, the group find McCauley overcharging a mixture with Ampharos until the bottle cracks. Katie tells him his skill will come once he believes in himself.
Team Rocket strike again, lifting the entire drugstore into the air with a rocket balloon while Mariah and Flaaffy are still inside. McCauley and Ampharos leap aboard, the stock is smashed, and Meowth’s reflector dish bounces Marshtomp’s Mud Shot back, injuring Pikachu and Mareep. With every Electric-type medicine broken, McCauley and Mariah combine the last two ingredients with help from Ampharos and Flaaffy, and Katie uses the result to heal both Pokémon. Ampharos and Flaaffy wreck the balloon’s engines with Thunder, the store crashes back to earth, Marshtomp’s Water Gun knocks Seviper and Cacnea back into their Trainers, and a four-way Thunder from Ampharos, Flaaffy, Pikachu and Mareep blasts Team Rocket off. Katie hands the store over to McCauley and Mariah as a couple, leaving Brock and Marshtomp heartbroken, and the group continue toward the Battle Arena.
Major Events
- Brock’s Mudkip evolves into Marshtomp. Marshtomp learns Mud Shot in a practice match against Grovyle
- Katie’s drugstore, Mariah and McCauley
- Team Rocket’s Snorlax costume and flying drugstore
- First episode with Mime Jr. in the motto
Captures and evolutions
Mudkip → Marshtomp#0259 · Brock · in a practice match with Grovyle
Trivia
- The English title plays on "a chip off the old block", which Brock once said of his brother Forrest.
- The screenplay is by Shinzō Fujita.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Kanto storyline.
Changes in the English Dub
- On its first broadcast Max calls Mud Shot an “Earth-type” attack and the Pokédex calls Marshtomp the “Mud Pokémon” (both fixed later)
- Pokémon Symphonic Medley as background music
Part of our Pokémon: Battle Frontier guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.