Game Winning Assist – Pokémon Season 7, Episode 13

Filler / stand-alone episodeSkitty’s Assist revealed

Game Winning Assist is the 13th episode of Pokémon: Advanced Challenge, the seventh season of the Pokémon anime, and the 326th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 329, Bulbapedia code AG053). It first aired in Japan on 27 November 2003 and in the United States on 13 November 2004. It falls within the season’s Mt. Chimney & the Heat Badge stretch (EP52–EP56).

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

Synopsis

Skitty let itself out of its PokeBall again, this time angering some local Slugma and chasing Ash and the gang out of a cave. A crack in the wall is just the exit they needed. Pikachu uses Iron Tail to make a hole in the wall, allowing Ash and the gang to escape, and fall down a steep hill.

Skitty runs over to a Numel to start sniffing it and trying to play with it. The Numel wakes up because it’s hungry and a Furret runs up to it. Numel’s trainer, Julie, finds it, and introduces herself to Ash and the gang. The Numel runs off again and Furret stops it. She tells Numel they’re gonna go home and figures out that Ash and the gang are on their way to Lavaridge Town. Ash wonders how she knew and she tells them she sees travelers all the time. She offers to let them hang out at her ranch.

On the way to her ranch, she offers to let them stay overnight and even says she’ll cook for them. Brock starts flirting with her again by saying he should cook the meal. May and Max vouch for him and Julie agrees that he should be in charge of the food. Brock couldn’t be happier about that.

They herd the Numel back into the fence as Team Rocket plans to take them all. James thinks back to his childhood when he had a herd of Numel in his room keeping him warm. Jessie plans on catching all the Numel and selling them to trainers who are trying to keep warm. Ash and the gang offer to help her with the chores.

May challenges Ash to a battle with her Skitty. Julie wants to battle instead. May accepts Julie’s challenge and the battle begins. Skitty vs. Furret. May tells Skitty that it should watch its opponent’s moves, but Skitty just wants to play. Julie tells Furret to attack. Furret begins to chase Skitty, as Skitty chases Furret. Skitty is a mere centimeters away from Furret as Julie tells it to stop running, making Skitty crash into Furret. May tells Skitty to use Tackle and Furret dodges. Skitty uses Double Slap, but Furret dodges all of them, leaving Skitty really tired. Julie tells May to use her PokeDex to look at Skitty’s moves, and May tells Skitty to use Assist, allowing Skitty to use Ember. Skitty uses Assist again, but this time, it’s Silver Wind. Furret dodges again, and counters with Slam, ending the battle.

Back at the ranch house, Pikachu and Skitty are chowing down on PokeBlocks. Julie says she used to be a coordinator. Brock finishes dinner and Julie is impressed. While they are sleeping, Team Rocket are in a robotic Numel and they are going to the ranch to grab all the Numel. Furret hears the commotion and wakes up Julie. Pikachu also hears it and wakes everyone else up. They all run outside and Team Rocket reveal themselves and do their mantra. Ash tells Pikachu to use Thunderbolt, but it’s ineffective. Team Rocket attempt to run right at them. Skitty lets itself out and starts running toward Ash and the gang. May dives to grab Skitty and she also grabs onto one of the robotic arms that are protruding from the robot’s back. Team Rocket then walks away. Julie grabs her truck and they start speeding toward the robot.

Inside the robot Numel, May and Skitty are trying to wake the Numel up. She tells Skitty to use Tackle on a wall and that wakes one of them up. That one Numel then manages to wake the rest of the Numel up. Meanwhile, Team Rocket start talking about all the food they’re gonna order. Jessie talks about her dream house. The Numel start tackling the walls of the robot. Meowth then uses a sprinkler to cool the magma inside the Numel and calm them down. With one Numel still up, May asks if there’s anything it can do. The Numel starts tackling the wall as hard as it can. It gives up after a little bit. Skitty tries to use Assist a couple times to re-heat the Numel. The first Assist is Gust and doesn’t do anything. The second one is Ember, which heats up Numel. The Numel uses Flamethrower on the other Numel to get them going too. They all start using Flamethrower on the walls to try and melt them. Meowth uses the sprinkler again. Skitty destroys it with Doubleslap and the Numel end up burning through the walls and setting the robot on fire. The robot collapses and frees them all. Ash and the gang catch up and start battling Team Rocket. Seviper and Cacnea are sent out. Seviper uses Poison Tail and Furret counters with Slam, knocking out Seviper in one hit. Cacnea uses Needle Arm and Pikachu counters with Thunderbolt, sending Team Rocket blasting off again. One of the Numel runs toward a berry tree and starts eating the berries.

The next morning, Ash and the gang start to bid their good-byes. Julie directs them to a path that will take them right to Lavaridge Town.

Major Events

• The Fiery Path
• Julie’s Numel ranch
• Skitty’s Assist is revealed
• Team Rocket’s Numel mecha
• Numel’s TV debut

Pokémon making their anime debut

• Numel#0322 · AG053

Trivia

• The English title plays on a game-winning assist in sport, and Skitty’s Assist.
• The screenplay is by Shinzō Fujita.
• This is a stand-alone episode: it can be skipped without losing the thread of the Hoenn story.

Changes in the English Dub

• Team Rocket’s food wish-lists rewritten
• Pokémon Trainer’s Choice (dub only, in place of Who’s That Pokémon?): which Pokémon is best against Kirlia? Answer: Combusken (a wrong answer)

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