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| Season | Pokémon DP: Battle Dimension (Season 11) · Pastoria & the Fen Badge arc (DP080–DP085) |
| Episode | Season 11, episode 33 · English episode 548 · Japanese episode 552 · Bulbapedia code DP085 |
| English title | Fighting Fear with Fear! |
| Japanese title | グライガー！友情の翼！ Guraigā! Yūjō no Tsubasa! — “Gliger! Wings of Friendship!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 3 July 2008 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 13 December 2008 · Cartoon Network |
| Screenplay | Shōji Yonemura |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Together2008 – Fumie Akiyoshi · Kaze no Messēji (Message of the Wind) – Mai Mizuhashi |
| English opening | We Will Be Heroes – Kirsten Price |
| Previous episode | Hungry for the Good Life! (DP084) |
| Next episode | Arriving in Style! (DP086) |
Plot episodeGligar evolves into GliscorGary’s Razor Fang
Fighting Fear with Fear! is the 33rd episode of Pokémon DP: Battle Dimension, the eleventh season of the Pokémon anime, and the 548th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 552, Bulbapedia code DP085). It first aired in Japan on 3 July 2008 and in the United States on 13 December 2008. It falls within the season’s Pastoria & the Fen Badge stretch (EP80–EP85).
Synopsis
During lunch Ash’s Gligar wanders off and comes back to show him an X-Scissor that is still a work in progress. Brock suggests it is trying to recover from its defeat by Paul’s Gliscor, so Ash promises to train with it. In a practice match against Buizel, though, Gligar loses its nerve when Buizel sneers at it and leaps onto Ash for cover, and Buizel’s Aqua Jet knocks Ash over. Ash snaps at Gligar, and while Dawn comforts it, Brock tells Ash that harshness is not working either. Against Turtwig, Gligar escapes Energy Ball only by fleeing, freezes under Turtwig’s glare when ordered to use Steel Wing, and crashes into Ash once more. When Ash tells it to toughen up, Gligar flies away in tears, and Team Rocket, watching nearby, see a lone Gligar as an easy catch for Giovanni.
Staravia leads the group to a clearing where Gligar has found Gary Oak, on his way to Lake Valor at Professor Rowan’s request. Gary assumes Ash has been training Gligar too hard, which offends Ash, and Gligar hides behind Gary when Ash calls it, but Dawn and Brock persuade Ash to accept Gary’s help. In a practice battle with Gary’s Umbreon, Gligar dives for Steel Wing but panics at a Shadow Ball that misses entirely, and Gary diagnoses fear as the problem. He shows Gligar how to jump high by bouncing on its tail, but once airborne it panics at the height and falls. Learning that Gligar has hardly battled since its loss to Paul, Gary offers Ash a Razor Fang that would evolve it into Gliscor. Gligar reaches for it eagerly, but Ash pulls it away, saying evolution can wait until Gligar conquers its fear.
Team Rocket swoop in with a Gliscor-shaped balloon whose tail spike snatches Gligar; Ash grabs hold and is carried off too, and Seviper’s Haze and Yanmega’s Silver Wind knock out Staravia. That night, locked in a cage while the trio feast on canned food, Ash urges Gligar to break out, and after two weak attempts its third X-Scissor loosens a bar and Ash and Gligar strike together to escape. When a rickety bridge snaps, Ash hauls them both to safety by the rope, and Gligar fells a tree with a second Steel Wing to bridge a chasm, earning Ash’s praise. As the balloon returns, Ash is captured protecting Gligar and tells it to drop free, then falls himself, tossing Gligar the Razor Fang. Gligar evolves into Gliscor in mid-air, catches Ash and cushions their landing with its tail. Gliscor’s X-Scissor and Steel Wing split the mecha in half, Pikachu’s Thunderbolt blasts the trio off, and at sunrise Gary departs, crediting Ash as the real hero.
Major Events
- Gligar evolves into Gliscor. Gary gives Ash a Razor Fang
- Gligar masters X-Scissor and overcomes its fear
- The only item-based evolution of one of Ash’s Pokémon
- The last battle between Ash and Gary
Captures and evolutions
Gligar → Gliscor#0472 · Ash · with Gary’s Razor Fang, in mid-air
Trivia
- The English title plays on “fighting fire with fire”.
- The screenplay is by Shōji Yonemura.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Sinnoh storyline.
Part of our Pokémon DP: Battle Dimension guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.