That’s Just Swellow – Pokémon Season 7, Episode 40

Plot episodeTaillow evolves into SwellowPokéRinger win

That’s Just Swellow is the 40th episode of Pokémon: Advanced Challenge, the seventh season of the Pokémon anime, and the 353rd episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 356, Bulbapedia code AG080). It first aired in Japan on 10 June 2004 and in the United States on 28 May 2005. It falls within the season’s Towards Fortree: Swellow, Combusken & the Feather Badge stretch (EP79–EP85).

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

Synopsis

Arriving in Crossgate Town, Ash and May rescue a Swablu struggling in the wind. Its Trainer, Shane, explains that they are preparing for the town’s PokéRinger tournament, an aerial sport in which Flying Pokémon compete to grab a ring hanging in the sky and drop it through a goal. It will be Shane’s first tournament. Ash and May sign up, and so does James, who reveals that he once trained under an early PokéRinger champion. The competitors are split into three blocks of four: Shane in the first, Ash in the second alongside the defending champion Volt and his Volbeat, and James and May in the third. Shane and Swablu ride the wind to win their block, and in Ash’s, Volbeat’s Thunder knocks out the other Pokémon, but Taillow withstands it, forces Volbeat to drop the ring and wins.

In the third block May and Beautifly focus on the other competitors and underestimate James, whose borrowed Dustox rides Beautifly’s own Gust all the way to the goal. Meanwhile, Jessie and Meowth trick Trainers into handing over their defeated Pokémon for a “relaxing treatment” and pack them into a net for a getaway. In the semi-finals Taillow beats a Skarmory, and Shane’s Swablu starts strongly against James until the sun dazzles it and James’s experience wins out. Before the final, Meowth uses flag signals to call James back to the scheme, but James, determined to compete, throws a flag at him. In the final, Dustox’s Psybeam and Taillow’s Wing Attack are traded before a sand tornado suddenly forms around the ring, turning the match into a test of speed and strength.

Taillow is pushed back by the whirlwind on its first attempt, but as it tries again it evolves into Swellow inside the storm. The newly evolved Swellow powers through the tornado and seizes the ring, and when James makes a last dash for the goal, Swellow’s Wing Attack knocks the ring through, giving Ash the title with James in second place. Jessie and Meowth then appear in their balloon with the stolen Pokémon, recite their motto with Meowth filling in for James, and haul James aboard as they flee. Swellow’s Wing Attack frees the captives from the net and Pikachu’s Thunderbolt sends Team Rocket flying. At the evening ceremony Ash is made an honorary lifetime citizen of Crossgate Town, Shane praises his teamwork with Swellow, and Ash’s picture joins the gallery of past champions.

Major Events

• Crossgate Town’s PokéRinger tournament
• Ash’s Taillow evolves into Swellow and wins the final against James and Jessie’s Dustox
• Ash is made an honorary citizen
• Meowth fills in for James in the motto

Captures and evolutions

• Taillow → Swellow#0277 · Ash · in the PokéRinger final

Trivia

• The English title plays on "that’s just swell".
• The screenplay is by Shinzō Fujita.
• This is a plot episode: it advances the Hoenn storyline.

Changes in the English Dub

• A shop sign corrected
• Pokémon Trainer’s Choice (dub only, in place of Who’s That Pokémon?): which Pokémon evolves into Swampert? Answer: Marshtomp
• Team Rocket’s original theme plays in full for the first time since the original series; an instrumental OK! is also used

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