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| Season | Pokémon: BW Rival Destinies (Season 15) · Virbank City & the eighth Badge arc (BW080–BW084) |
| Episode | Season 15, episode 35 · English episode 736 · Japanese episode 741 · Bulbapedia code BW083 |
| English title | Rocking the Virbank Gym! Part 1 |
| Japanese title | 激闘タチワキジム！VSホミカ！！（前編） Gekitō Tachiwaki Jimu! Tai Homika!! (Zenpen) — “Fierce Fighting at Tachiwaki Gym! VS Homika!! (Part 1)” |
| First aired (Japan) | 14 June 2012 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 13 October 2012 · Cartoon Network |
| Screenplay | Atsuhiro Tomioka |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Besuto Uisshu! (Best Wishes!) – Rica Matsumoto · Mite Mite☆Kotchitchi (Look Look☆Here) – Momoiro Clover Z |
| English opening | Rival Destinies – Alex Nackman & Kathryn Raio |
| Who’s That Pokémon? | Koffing (US) |
| Previous episode | An Epic Defense Force! (BW082) |
| Next episode | Rocking the Virbank Gym! Part 2 (BW084) |
Plot episodeVirbank Gym, part 1Roxie debuts
Rocking the Virbank Gym! Part 1 is the 35th episode of Pokémon: BW Rival Destinies, the fifteenth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 736th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 741, Bulbapedia code BW083). It first aired in Japan on 14 June 2012 and in the United States on 13 October 2012. It falls within the season’s Virbank City & the eighth Badge stretch (EP80–EP84).
Premiered on 13 October 2012, the first new episode after the English release of Black 2 and White 2; in Japan it had aired as the first half of a one-hour special with BW084.
Synopsis
Ash challenges Roxie, the punk-rock Gym Leader of Virbank City, for his eighth Badge, but her Poison-type Pokémon tear through half his team. At the Pokémon Center Ash sees Trainers returning with poisoned Pokémon, while Team Rocket receive anti-cloaking glasses from Dr. Zager to track Meloetta.
The Gym, hidden behind a plain metal door, doubles as the concert hall where Roxie fronts her band, Koffing and the Toxics. Roxie lets Ash use six Pokémon against her three, which he protests as unfair. Meloetta watches unseen as her speedy Koffing blows away Boldore’s Sandstorm with Clear Smog, deflects Rock Blast and knocks Boldore out with Gyro Ball.
Unfezant turns Koffing’s Will-O-Wisp back with Gust but is poisoned by Sludge Bomb and falls to Gyro Ball. Ash then surprises everyone with Leavanny, despite its weakness to Poison: Energy Ball lowers Koffing’s Special Defense, String Shot catches its Gyro Ball, and Leavanny reels Koffing in for a point-blank Energy Ball. Roxie’s Scolipede, however, shrugs off Razor Leaf and leaves Leavanny badly poisoned with Toxic, and it collapses.
Major Events
- Roxie debuts. Roxie of Koffing and the Toxics lets Ash use six Pokémon against her three
- Koffing beats Boldore and Unfezant
- Leavanny beats Koffing
- Scolipede’s Toxic beats Leavanny
- Aired in Japan as a one-hour special with BW084
- The English title was revealed before the Japanese airing
- The first US episode after the English release of Black 2 and White 2
Trivia
- The English title plays on “rock music, for a Gym that doubles as the concert hall of Roxie’s band”.
- The screenplay is by Atsuhiro Tomioka.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Unova storyline.
Part of our Pokémon: BW Rival Destinies guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.