 |
|
| Season | Pokémon: BW Adventures in Unova and Beyond (Season 16) · On the road to Vertress arc (BW098–BW102) |
| Episode | Season 16, episode 4 · English episode 754 · Japanese episode 759 · Bulbapedia code BW101 |
| English title | Drayden Versus Iris: Past, Present, and Future! |
| Japanese title | ソウリュウジム！アイリスVSシャガ！！ Sōryū Jimu! Airisu Tai Shaga!! — “Soryu Gym! Iris VS Shaga!!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 8 November 2012 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 23 February 2013 · Cartoon Network |
| Screenplay | Shinzō Fujita |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Yajirushi ni Natte! (Be an Arrow!) – Rica Matsumoto · Mite Mite☆Kotchitchi (Look Look☆Here) – Momoiro Clover Z |
| English opening | It’s Always You and Me (Version 1) – Neal Coomer & Kathryn Raio |
| Who’s That Pokémon? | Haxorus (US) |
| Previous episode | A Village Homecoming! (BW100) |
| Next episode | Team Eevee and the Pokémon Rescue Squad! (BW102) |
Plot episodeIris loses to Drayden
Drayden Versus Iris: Past, Present, and Future! is the 4th episode of Pokémon: BW Adventures in Unova and Beyond, the sixteenth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 754th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 759, Bulbapedia code BW101). It first aired in Japan on 8 November 2012 and in the United States on 23 February 2013. It falls within the season’s On the road to Vertress stretch (EP98–EP102).
Synopsis
Iris faces her past at Opelucid Academy and loses a rematch against Gym Leader Drayden, who then reveals he hopes she will succeed him one day. In Opelucid City she climbs the radio tower until Officer Jenny orders her down, and the elderly caretaker Martha leads the group to the academy, where Drayden is the principal.
Iris explains that after her first loss to Drayden she enrolled in the academy’s Dragon-type course but could not fit in, and that homesickness, fed by Shannon’s postcards, made her run back to the village. She also apologises to the academy’s Fraxure, which she once pushed past exhaustion in a battle against an Altaria, and recalls receiving Axew from the elder.
In the two-on-two Gym battle, Excadrill’s Drill Run and Haxorus’s Giga Impact end in a double knockout. Drayden’s Druddigon then seizes Dragonite by the neck during Dragon Rush and finishes it with Dragon Tail. Martha reveals that Drayden himself suggested Iris learn by travelling, and Drayden says he wants her to become the next Opelucid Gym Leader; Iris asks for time to think, and Ash vows not to fall behind her.
Major Events
- Iris loses to Drayden. Opelucid City, its academy and the caretaker Martha
- Iris’s past at the academy
- A two-on-two Gym rematch in which Excadrill and Haxorus knock each other out and Druddigon beats Dragonite with Dragon Tail
- Drayden wants Iris as the next Opelucid Gym Leader, as she is in Pokémon White
Trivia
- The screenplay is by Shinzō Fujita.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Unova storyline.
Part of our Pokémon: BW Adventures in Unova and Beyond guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.