All Torkoal, No Play – Pokémon Season 7, Episode 18

Plot episodeAsh catches Torkoal

All Torkoal, No Play is the 18th episode of Pokémon: Advanced Challenge, the seventh season of the Pokémon anime, and the 331st episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 334, Bulbapedia code AG058). It first aired in Japan on 8 January 2004 and in the United States on 27 November 2004. It falls within the season’s The long way round: Torkoal, Manectric & Verdanturf stretch (EP57–EP62).

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

Synopsis

Brock’s shortcut to Mauville City leads the group into the Valley of Steel, a barren wilderness ruled by aggressive Steel-type Pokémon. Ash and Pikachu rescue a Torkoal that is being attacked by a Skarmory and two Magnemite. The grateful Torkoal covers them in soot, then rushes off towards a sound that only it seems to hear. Team Rocket fare even worse when a Skarmory slices open their balloon with Wing Attack, and the trio grumble that they are blasting off before the episode has properly begun. As the heroes cross a rocky gorge, the Magnemite return. Pikachu’s Thunderbolt does nothing to them, but May’s Torchic drives them away with Ember. Brock grows suspicious of how hostile the wild Pokémon are, and soon afterwards the group find Torkoal under attack again from Skarmory and three Magnemite.

May’s Skitty joins the fight and uses Assist, which this time produces Beautifly’s String Shot and tangles up the Magnemite. Pikachu draws Skarmory’s attention, Torkoal’s Flamethrower sends it packing, and the exhausted Torkoal collapses. Ash invites it to travel with them for a while and Torkoal agrees, until the mysterious sound calls it away again. Meanwhile, Team Rocket flee a Magneton straight into the path of a massive Steelix and try to flatter it by polishing its body, but its Iron Tail sends them flying. They land beside the heroes at the edge of a crevasse and drag May and Torchic over with them. May clings to a branch as a Magneton attacks, and while Torchic, Pikachu and Torkoal hold it off, Ash is lowered down on a rope to pull her to safety.

Torkoal’s Flamethrower drives the Magneton away, but it warns the Steelix, which tunnels towards the group with Dig and scatters the other Steel-types with a glare. Brock realises that Steelix is the reason Torkoal entered the valley: it wanted to test itself against a truly powerful opponent. In the one-on-one battle that follows, Flamethrower barely scratches Steelix. Remembering Flannery’s Torkoal, Ash orders Overheat despite Brock’s warning that the move weakens with every use. When Steelix bursts out of the ground, Torkoal hits it squarely. Steelix swats the attack away with Iron Tail and collapses, then rises again, but after a tense stand-off it turns and leaves, apparently acknowledging Torkoal’s strength. Once the group have crossed the river, Ash asks Torkoal to join his team, and the emotional Torkoal tearfully accepts a place in his party.

Major Events

• The Valley of Steel
• Torkoal faces a Steelix one-on-one with Overheat
• Ash catches Torkoal
• First use of Sky Attack in the anime
• First Japanese episode of 2004

Captures and evolutions

• Torkoal#0324 · Ash · after facing a Steelix in the Valley of Steel

Trivia

• The English title plays on "all work and no play".
• The screenplay is by Atsuhiro Tomioka.
• This is a plot episode: it advances the Hoenn storyline.

Changes in the English Dub

• Pokémon Trainer’s Choice (dub only, in place of Who’s That Pokémon?): which Pokémon evolves into Camerupt? Answer: Numel
• OK! plays during Torkoal’s battle with Steelix in Japan; replaced in the dub

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