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| Season | Pokémon: Battle Frontier (Season 9) · Toward Fuchsia: Donphan, Celebi, Bonsly & Eevee arc (AG154–AG158) |
| Episode | Season 9, episode 11 · English episode 428 · Japanese episode 432 · Bulbapedia code AG156 |
| English title | From Cradle to Save |
| Japanese title | ウソハチと忍者スクール！！ Usohachi to Ninja Sukūru!! — “Usohachi and the Ninja School!!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 15 December 2005 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 14 October 2006 · Cartoon Network |
| Screenplay | Aya Matsui |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Battle Frontier – Akina Takaya · GLORY DAY ~Kagayaku Sono Hi~ (That Shining Day) – GARDEN |
| English opening | Battle Frontier – Jason Appleton |
| Previous episode | The Green Guardian (AG155) |
| Next episode | Time Warp Heals All Wounds (AG157) |
Plot episodeBrock catches Bonsly
From Cradle to Save is the 11th episode of Pokémon: Battle Frontier, the ninth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 428th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 432, Bulbapedia code AG156). It first aired in Japan on 15 December 2005 and in the United States on 14 October 2006. It falls within the season’s Toward Fuchsia: Donphan, Celebi, Bonsly & Eevee stretch (EP154–EP158).
Synopsis
During a picnic, while May polishes her Egg, Ash sets up a practice match between Pikachu and Donphan. Donphan shrugs off Volt Tackle and counters with Rollout, but when Pikachu dodges, Donphan smashes into a rock formation and exposes a hidden boy named Evian and his Ninjask. Evian is a student at the Pokémon Ninja School and invites the group to spend a day training there. Head teacher Angela warns them that thieves have been spotted nearby, and when Brock rushes to hug her she swaps herself for a log, then drops out of a tree to lecture him about being ready for surprises. Team Rocket, watching from the bushes, decide to enrol as ninjas so they can sneak up on Pikachu. The day’s lessons include breathing underwater through bamboo stalks and a stealth exercise that Max passes easily while Ash and Pikachu give themselves away. Then the class hunt for Angela’s camouflaged Kecleon, which outwits them all and runs off with Ash’s hat.
One student uncovers a wailing baby Bonsly, and the others accuse it of being the thief. Brock defends it and tries to feed it an Oran Berry, then realises it is too young for solid food and gives it a bottle instead; once it has drunk its fill, it bursts into tears again and headbutts him with startling strength. Team Rocket then drop in dressed as ninjas and trap the Pokémon in sticky fluid with a kite-shaped mecha. Angela’s Shiftry smashes into it, Grovyle’s Leaf Blade frees the captives, and Rock Smash, Combusken’s Fire Spin and Marshtomp’s Water Gun knock the trio out of the trees. Jessie challenges Angela to a ninja duel, using Seviper’s Haze to cover a net attack that only snares a decoy and a “Double Team” in which James and Meowth dress up as copies of her. Shiftry shows them what a real Double Team looks like, and its Razor Wind, Ninjask’s Fury Swipes and an Ariados’s web send Team Rocket off a cliff.
The students sneer at Bonsly for running away during the fight, but Angela tells them that only cowards pick on the weak. Seeing that the little Pokémon has no one, Brock offers to take it with him, and Bonsly eagerly demands a battle first. It distracts Forretress with Fake Tears and knocks it back, but Forretress answers with Rapid Spin and surrounds it with Spikes. Brock’s first Poké Ball fails, then Bonsly bounces off a spike straight into the second, and Brock has caught it, his first and only on-screen Rock-type capture. Back at the school Bonsly is soon crying for its bottle again, and Angela declares Brock its new father. Everyone laughs as the group set off once more for the Battle Pike.
Major Events
- Brock catches Bonsly. The Pokémon Ninja School and its head teacher, Angela
- Forretress’s Rapid Spin and Spikes
- Brock’s only on-screen Rock-type capture and the only time he battles to catch a Pokémon on screen
- Bonsly’s TV-series debut
- From here the English ending sometimes plays as an instrumental
Pokémon making their anime debut
Bonsly#0438 · AG156
Captures and evolutions
- Bonsly#0438 · Brock · his only on-screen Rock-type capture
Trivia
- The English title plays on "from cradle to grave".
- The screenplay is by Aya Matsui.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Kanto storyline.
Changes in the English Dub
- The vocal Advance Adventure plays during the capture battle
Part of our Pokémon: Battle Frontier guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.