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| Season | Pokémon: Master Quest (Season 5) · Blackthorn City: the Rising Badge arc (EP251–EP255) |
| Episode | Season 5, episode 44 · English episode 253 · Japanese episode 256 · Bulbapedia code EP254 |
| English title | Better Eight Than Never |
| Japanese title | フスベジム! さいごのバッジ!! Fusube Jimu! Saigo no Bajji!! — “Fusube Gym! The Final Badge!!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 27 June 2002 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 21 June 2003 · Kids’ WB |
| Screenplay | Shōji Yonemura |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Ready Go! – Naomi Tamura · Pokettāri Monsutāri – Kana |
| English opening | Believe in Me – David Rolfe |
| Who’s That Pokémon? | Muk (US) · Charizard (Japan) |
| Previous episode | Great Bowls of Fire! (EP253) |
| Next episode | Why? Wynaut! (EP255) |
Plot episodeRising Badge – eighth badge
Better Eight Than Never is the 44th episode of Pokémon: Master Quest, the fifth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 253rd episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 256, Bulbapedia code EP254). It first aired in Japan on 27 June 2002 and in the United States on 21 June 2003. It falls within the season’s Blackthorn City: the Rising Badge stretch (EP251–EP255).
Synopsis
The battle begins again. Team Rocket are now tunneling to get the ancient dragon fang. It fails. The battle comes down to Charizard against the newly evolved dragonair. The dragonair avoids Charizard’s attacks by diving under the water. Charizard dodges and uses fire attacks to completely evaporate the water. Charizard wins the battle by combining Seismic Toss and Fire Spin, turning his attack into a Flaming Seismic Toss. BOOM.
Ash now has all eight badges. But all through the past three episodes, some pokémon has been stealing food. Arms like a wobbuffet, but the cry is not identifiable.
Major Events
- Rising Badge (Clair)
- Snorlax recalled (Ice Punch)
- Charizard returns to the Valley
Trivia
- The English title plays on “better late than never”.
- The screenplay is by Shōji Yonemura.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Johto storyline.
- The Who’s That Pokémon? segment features Charizard in Japan, where it almost always matched the episode, but Muk in the US, where 4Kids picked the Pokémon at random.
Part of our Pokémon: Master Quest guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.