Candid Camerupt! – Pokémon Season 7, Episode 6

Filler / stand-alone episodeThe Winstrate familyMay’s first Trainer-battle win

Candid Camerupt! is the 6th episode of Pokémon: Advanced Challenge, the seventh season of the Pokémon anime, and the 319th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 322, Bulbapedia code AG046). It first aired in Japan on 9 October 2003 and in the United States on 9 October 2004. It falls within the season’s Across the desert: the Winstrates, Skitty, Zangoose & the other Max stretch (EP46–EP49).

Aired in the US on 9 October 2004, exactly one year after its Japanese premiere; Love at First Flight followed a week later.

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

Synopsis

On their way to Fallarbor Town, Ash’s Pikachu faints from exhaustion, along with everyone else. A Camerupt happens by them and its trainer helps them out. An elderly man tells them about their house being the only house in the area. The elderly woman tells them that Victoria’s Camerupt happened by them.

Team Rocket is wandering through the desert and they all pass out like Ash and the gang did. Someone comes along and helps them out. The person who helped them was Vito, the same person that the elderly woman told Ash about. He tells Team Rocket about his dilemma with not being a Champion but not wanting to battle. James offers to explain everything to his grandmother for him, but Vito tells him that might not be a good idea. Ash and the gang are about to leave when he asks if there’s anything he can do to repay the people that helped them out. The family then challenges Ash and the gang to a battle. The elderly woman suggests a 4v4 battle. Max, not having any of his own Pokemon, asks Ash if he could borrow one of his Pokemon.

Victor, Victoria, Vivi, and Vicky line up to battle. They go to a professional looking battle arena. Victor goes first vs Brock. Victor sends out Zigzagoon and Brock sends out Mudkip. Mudkip leads with a Water Gun and Zigzagoon dodges. Then he uses Thunderbolt. Mudkip goes down in one shot. Victoria goes next and sends out Roselia and May sends out Beautifly. She uses Gust and Silver Wind and knocks out Roselia. May wins that round, tying the score 1-1. Max borrows Corphish to go against Vivi’s Marill. Max tells Corphish to use Harden, but Corphish doesn’t listen and just starts hitting Marill until its knocked out, winning the battle. Next is Vicky vs. Ash.

Team Rocket and Vito get to his house, and no one’s home. He mentions that they’re probably on the battlefield. Vicky sends out Camerupt and Ash sends out Pikachu. Pikachu leads with Thunderbolt, doing very little damage to Camerupt. He then uses Quick Attack, sending Camerupt flying. Camerupt gets up and uses Sand Storm, then Take Down. Pikachu uses Iron Tail to counter. Camerupt is setting up for Eruption, and flaming rocks fly all over the place. Team Rocket then bails out of fear. Camerupt is chasing Pikachu around the battlefield. Camerupt then starts running towards their house. Ash and the gang attempt to catch up to Camerupt. Vito sends out his Alakazam and it uses Rain Dance. The rain cools Camerupt off and it stops before it could get to the crops. The clouds clear and Vicky concedes the battle.

Team Rocket comes back to grab Pikachu. They do their mantra and Vito’s Alakazam uses Psychic to free Pikachu. Vito sends out his Swellow to use Wing Attack to break the balloon and send Team Rocket blasting off again. Vicky then realizes that Vito is nearby and gives a speech. Ash and the gang then head off before Camerupt uses an Eruption.

Major Events

• Four-on-four against the Winstrate family
• May’s first Trainer-battle win (Beautifly beats Victoria’s Roselia)
• Max borrows Corphish and beats Vivi’s Marill
• Vito chooses raising Pokémon over battling
• Swellow and Camerupt debut
• Aired in the US exactly one year after Japan

Pokémon making their anime debut

• Swellow#0277 · AG046
• Camerupt#0323 · AG046

Trivia

• The English title plays on the TV show Candid Camera.
• The screenplay is by Junki Takegami.
• This is a stand-alone episode: it can be skipped without losing the thread of the Hoenn story.

Changes in the English Dub

• The Kachinuki family become the Winstrates, their game name
• Vicky concedes the unfinished match (in Japanese she apologises)
• Pokémon Trainer’s Choice (dub only, in place of Who’s That Pokémon?): which Pokémon is best against Camerupt? Answer: Nuzleaf (none of the three choices was actually correct)

Part of our Pokémon: Advanced Challenge guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.