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| Season | Pokémon: Advanced Challenge (Season 7) · Road to Petalburg: Lombre, Grovyle & the Balance Badge arc (AG063–AG070) |
| Episode | Season 7, episode 30 · English episode 343 · Japanese episode 346 · Bulbapedia code AG070 |
| English title | Balance of Power |
| Japanese title | トウカジム戦！五つ目のバッジ！！ Tōka Jimu Sen! Itsutsu-me no Bajji!! — “Touka Gym Battle! The Fifth Badge!!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 1 April 2004 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 19 March 2005 · Kids’ WB |
| Screenplay | Atsuhiro Tomioka |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Challenger!! – Rica Matsumoto · Smile (second version) – Toshiko Ezaki |
| English opening | This Dream – David Rolfe |
| Pokémon Trainer’s Choice | Which Pokémon evolves into Magcargo? — Slugma |
| Previous episode | Love, Petalburg Style! (AG069) |
| Next episode | A Six Pack Attack! (AG071) |
Plot episodeBalance BadgeNew Japanese opening
Balance of Power is the 30th episode of Pokémon: Advanced Challenge, the seventh season of the Pokémon anime, and the 343rd episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 346, Bulbapedia code AG070). It first aired in Japan on 1 April 2004 and in the United States on 19 March 2005. It falls within the season’s Road to Petalburg: Lombre, Grovyle & the Balance Badge stretch (EP63–EP70).
Synopsis
Ash’s long-awaited Gym battle with Norman begins, with Kenny refereeing a three-on-three match in which only the challenger may substitute, and May, Max, Brock and Caroline watching from the side. Norman says he has been looking forward to a rematch since their first encounter. Outside town, Team Rocket start building a new secret base in the hope of a promotion. Norman opens with Slakoth against Pikachu. Quick Attack and Iron Tail both miss the lazy-looking Pokémon, which answers with Shadow Ball and a Hidden Power that sends Pikachu flying. Brock explains Norman’s strategy: a slow, evasive Pokémon forces the challenger to fight at Norman’s pace. Slakoth dodges Thunder and freezes Pikachu with Blizzard, so Ash recalls Pikachu and brings in Torkoal, whose Flamethrower breaks through a Blizzard and knocks Slakoth out.
Norman then switches to the hyperactive Vigoroth, the opposite extreme, which Brock notes is designed to throw an opponent off balance. Vigoroth dodges Torkoal’s Overheat and defeats it with Scratch, and Pikachu returns. Vigoroth evades Thunderbolt and lands a Flamethrower, but Ash has Pikachu deliberately take a Scratch so that the contact triggers its Static Ability, paralysing Vigoroth. Pikachu’s Iron Tail knocks Vigoroth out, but Pikachu collapses at the same moment for a double knockout. It all comes down to Grovyle against Norman’s Slaking. Slaking catches Bullet Seed in its hands, snatches Grovyle out of a Leaf Blade and throws it, and when Bullet Seed interrupts its Focus Punch it flies into a rage and unleashes Earthquake, which far away rouses a family of Dugtrio that chase Team Rocket through their tunnels.
Grovyle leaps over the quake, but Slaking catches it in mid-air with Pound, slams it into the ceiling and overwhelms a Bullet Seed with Hyper Beam. Norman suggests withdrawing, but Grovyle refuses to give up, and with Ash’s encouragement its Overgrow Ability activates. Powered up, Grovyle dodges Earthquake and Slaking’s grabs and lands a heavy Pound. Norman warns that speed alone will not win, and the two Pokémon strike simultaneously with Focus Punch and Leaf Blade; after a tense moment, Slaking falls. Norman presents Ash with the Balance Badge, his fifth, but Max snatches it and locks himself in the greenhouse, upset that his father has lost. Norman tells him that defeat teaches valuable lessons, and Ash says the battle itself was reward enough. Max returns the Badge and vows to battle his father himself one day.
Major Events
- Balance Badge. Ash’s fifth Hoenn badge, against Norman
- First activated Abilities (Pikachu’s Static, Grovyle’s Overgrow)
- Max snatches the badge, then returns it
- New Japanese opening Challenger!!
- Aired in Japan on the seventh anniversary of EP001
Trivia
- The English title plays on the balance of power, and the Balance Badge.
- The screenplay is by Atsuhiro Tomioka.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Hoenn storyline.
Changes in the English Dub
- Max adds that Norman could join the Elite Four
- Pokémon Trainer’s Choice (dub only, in place of Who’s That Pokémon?): which Pokémon evolves into Magcargo? Answer: Slugma
- OK! plays during Grovyle’s battle with Slaking in Japan; new Japanese opening Challenger!!
Part of our Pokémon: Advanced Challenge guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.