Ill-Will Hunting! – Pokémon Season 10, Episode 45

Plot episodeGary returnsHunter J returns

Ill-Will Hunting! is the 45th episode of Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl, the tenth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 509th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 512, Bulbapedia code DP045). It first aired in Japan on 30 August 2007 and in the United States on 12 January 2008. It falls within the season’s The road to Hearthome: Happiny, Cynthia & Gary stretch (EP38–EP47).

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

Synopsis

On Mount Coronet, the friends find a wild Shieldon just as a lorry full of Hunter J’s henchmen pulls up, and a henchman’s Golbat dodges Pikachu’s Thunderbolt and strikes back with Wing Attack. Then Gary Oak arrives with an Electivire, which scoops up the Shieldon and leads everyone to a hidden valley where more Shieldon live. Gary explains to Dawn, meeting Ash’s old rival for the first time, that he is working on a project to make part of Mount Coronet into a Pokémon preserve, and Professor Rowan, on his laptop, warns about the hunters and asks him to bring the Shieldon to a meeting point. Ash offers to help. When the lorry returns, Blastoise’s Water Gun and Pikachu’s Thunderbolt stop it, and Umbreon’s Sand Attack makes Golbat’s Air Cutter hit a tree, unleashing a swarm of Beedrill on the henchmen.

Team Rocket, meanwhile, decide to take revenge on J by stealing her collection, but they are spotted on camera and caught in trap walls inside her base before they can finish their motto. As J’s men close in, Gary refuses Ash’s urge to attack and plots a new route across a steep cliff face, where Ash’s rope saves a panicking Shieldon from dragging the others over the edge. Learning that Rowan is waiting near the mountain, J guesses the plan and flies there on Salamence. Pikachu’s Iron Tail blocks her first shot, but Drapion’s Cross Poison and Salamence’s Hyper Beam overpower Pikachu and Blastoise, and when a Shieldon slips and falls behind, J turns it to stone and loads it into her vehicle as Dawn and Brock lead the rest to Rowan and Officer Jenny.

Ash and Gary cling to the underside of J’s lorry all the way to her base, sending Staravia unnoticed to fetch help, and inside they set their Pokémon loose to wreck the machinery, freeing Team Rocket from their trap in the process. In the explosion, Ash leaps out of the smoke with the petrified Shieldon and restores it. J’s client, about to land by helicopter, cancels the deal to avoid arrest with Officer Jenny nearby, and J and her henchmen withdraw. Rowan, Jenny, Brock and Dawn arrive, and Jenny vows to open a full investigation into J. Gary thanks Ash, the two rivals promise to stay friends, and the group say goodbye to Gary, Rowan and Jenny before going their separate ways.

Major Events

• Gary returns, now a researcher, and meets Dawn for the first time
• Hunter J returns
• A Shieldon preserve on Mount Coronet
• Professor Rowan and Officer Jenny join the rescue

Pokémon making their anime debut

• Shieldon#0410 · DP045

Trivia

• The English title plays on the film Good Will Hunting.
• The screenplay is by Shinzō Fujita.
• This is a plot episode: it advances the Sinnoh storyline.

Changes in the English Dub

• Ash’s “no mercy” line added
• Gary’s “best friends until the end”

Part of our Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.