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| Season | Pokémon: Advanced Challenge (Season 7) · Towards Fortree: Swellow, Combusken & the Feather Badge arc (AG079–AG085) |
| Episode | Season 7, episode 45 · English episode 358 · Japanese episode 361 · Bulbapedia code AG085 |
| English title | Sky High Gym Battle! |
| Japanese title | ヒワマキジム！大空の戦い！！ Hiwamaki Jimu! Ōzora no Tatakai!! — “Hiwamaki Gym! Battle in the Sky!!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 15 July 2004 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 9 July 2005 · Kids’ WB |
| Screenplay | Masashi Sogo |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Challenger!! – Rica Matsumoto · Ippai Samā!! (Full of Summer!!) – Naomi Tamura & the Himawari Chorus |
| English opening | This Dream – David Rolfe |
| Pokémon Trainer’s Choice | Which Pokémon is best against Baltoy? — Lapras (all three options were valid) |
| Previous episode | Who’s Flying Now? (AG084) |
| Next episode | Lights, Camerupt, Action! (AG086) |
Plot episodeFeather BadgeWinona’s Shiny Swellow
Sky High Gym Battle! is the 45th episode of Pokémon: Advanced Challenge, the seventh season of the Pokémon anime, and the 358th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 361, Bulbapedia code AG085). It first aired in Japan on 15 July 2004 and in the United States on 9 July 2005. It falls within the season’s Towards Fortree: Swellow, Combusken & the Feather Badge stretch (EP79–EP85).
Aired on 9 July 2005, a fortnight after Who’s Flying Now?: Kids’ WB showed no new episode on 2 July.
Synopsis
Ash and Winona take their places on raised platforms above the Fortree Gym’s open-air battlefield, Winona first praying to the wind for strength, and Zachary explains the rules: three Pokémon each, with only the challenger allowed to substitute. Winona opens with Altaria, and Brock warns that its Dragon typing makes it dangerous for Ash’s Grovyle. Grovyle’s Bullet Seed has no effect, and it has to dodge Peck by climbing a totem pole and evade a series of Dragon Breaths. When Altaria climbs higher, Grovyle springs off a pole and lands Leaf Blade, holding the attack and driving Altaria down onto the field, where it is knocked out. Winona admits that Ash’s strategy caught her by surprise and sends out her Water- and Flying-type Pelipper, against which Ash switches to Pikachu.
Pikachu’s Thunderbolt fails because Pelipper grounds itself by planting its Steel Wing in the field. The stray electricity runs through the ground and shocks Team Rocket, who are tunnelling under the Gym in search of treasure, blasting them away. Pelipper hits Pikachu with Quick Attack, and Brock works out the grounding trick. When Winona orders Hydro Pump, its force lifts Pelipper off the ground, and Ash seizes the moment with Thunder; both Pokémon are knocked out. Winona’s last Pokémon is a Shiny Swellow, the first Shiny Pokémon of the Ruby and Sapphire series. Ash sends Grovyle back in, but its Leaf Blade seems to have no effect, and Swellow’s Aerial Ace carries Grovyle into the sky and hurls it down onto the field, knocking it out.
Ash’s last option is his own Swellow, and both Trainers raise their platforms high for an aerial duel in swirling, unpredictable winds. Winona’s Swellow drives Ash’s towards the ground with Peck and lands a Hyper Beam, then dodges Quick Attack and answers with Aerial Ace as the two birds chase each other across the sky. Watching closely, Ash notices the dust thrown up when the Swellow make sharp turns near the ground. He has his Swellow dive low with Quick Attack and then strike the ground with Wing Attack; the dust cloud reveals exactly where Winona’s Swellow is, and a direct Wing Attack knocks it out. Zachary declares Ash the winner, and against the setting sun Winona presents him with the Feather Badge, his sixth, saying that the battle showed the trust between Ash and his Pokémon.
Major Events
- Feather Badge. Ash’s sixth Hoenn badge, against Winona
- Winona’s Swellow is the first Shiny Pokémon of the Ruby and Sapphire series
- Akiko Hiramatsu voices Jessie in Japan (AG085–AG092)
- Last Japanese episode before Destiny Deoxys
Trivia
- The screenplay is by Masashi Sogo.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Hoenn storyline.
Changes in the English Dub
- A “dowsing machine” pun turned into a joke about dancing
- Pokémon Trainer’s Choice (dub only, in place of Who’s That Pokémon?): which Pokémon is best against Baltoy? Answer: Lapras (all three choices were valid)
- Pokémon Heroes cues used in Japan
Part of our Pokémon: Advanced Challenge guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.