TB022: Abra and the Psychic Showdown

is the 22nd episode of of , Season 1 of , and of .
==Synopsis==
The party finally arrives in Saffron City where a young girl manages a gym of Pokémon using her psychic powers. If Ash defeats this particular Gym Leader, Ash can earn a gold badge. Gathering all their strength, Ash and Pikachu challenge her. She happily accepts, but adds the strange condition that if Ash loses, they must become her friend. The official gym battle begins, but Pikachu is helpless against the young girl's Pokémon, Abra. To make matters worse, Abra evolves in the middle of the match, turning into the more powerful, Kadabra. Employing even stronger psychic powers against Pikachu, Saffron City's Gym Leader defeats Ash. As this strange story unravels, Ash encounters a mysterious man who seems to be the key to solving the puzzle to this young girl's disturbing power.
==Episode plot==
As Ash and Misty argue on their way to Saffron City over whose fault it was that they got lost, a mysterious woman is watching. Ash then notices a little girl with a ball running into the forest. Giving chase, Ash nearly plummets off a cliff, barely saved by Bulbasaur. They wonder where the little girl could have gone. They then continue on their way to Saffron City. As they enter the city, Team Rocket disguised in Hawaiian Hula clothes stop them and put leis over their heads, welcoming them as the millionth visitors to the city. With the promise of a prize, they follow Team Rocket, only to be trapped in a room without doors via a warp tile. Jessie and James reveal themselves and that they've pilfered Pikachu. However, they eventually are stopped by a little girl who uses psychic powers to stop Team Rocket, rescue Pikachu and rescue Ash, Brock and Misty. They're teleported outside of the Saffron City Gym. It is there that a man tells them to avoid the Gym, but Ash brushes the man off and enters. Within, he finds people practicing telekinesis. He is unimpressed though, and instead wishes to go straight to Sabrina, the Gym Leader. When he arives, he introduces himself and his intent, and Sabrina accepts his challenge and offers the ante that should Ash fail, he must remain there to play with her. The match is 1 vs. 1, and as the battle goes on, Sabrina uses her psychic power to catalyze her Abra's evolution into a Kadabra. Ash thinks this is cheating, but Misty tells him that it isn't against the rules. As the battle continues, Ash commands Pikachu to fill the area with electricity, but as he does so, Kadabra utilizes its powers to harness Pikachu's attacks, turning them against the Electric Mouse Pokémon. Ash is forced to surrender for Pikachu's safety. Due to his forfeiture, he must hold up his end of the bargain. Ash, Brock and Misty are teleported to a strange town that is proven to be made of plastic. They then realize that they're in a child's toy box. Suddenly, the little girl opens the toy box and sees the miniscule heroes and attempts to grab them. But before she can, the mysterious man appears and uses his powers to teleport the tiny heroes out. They appear outside of the gym, and the man warns them to never again return. But stubborn Ash is eager to get his badge, and in the face of the man's psychic powers, Ash persists, causing the Man to reveal that Ghost-types will trump Sabrina's Psychic-types, and tells them to find them in Lavender Town. And so, the heroes begin to travel there. Meanwhile, Meowth drags Jessie and James, still frozen, by ropes, following the heroes...
==Debuts==
===Character===
*Sabrina
*Sabrina's father
===Pokémon===
*Abra (Sabrina's)
*Kadabra (Sabrina's)
===Move===
*Teleport
*Confusion
*Thunder
*Psychic
*Kinesis
==Quotes==
:"So now, time for us to play." - Sabrina
:"It's Team Rocket! EW! GROSS! They both kissed me! Bleh! Blek blek blek!" - Ash
:"Ash, you're not gonna believe this, but we're inside a dollhouse!" - Misty
:"This is a dollhouse?!" - Ash
:"Everything in here is made out of plastic, including the food!" - Brock
:"How can that be?" - Ash
:"Now I can play with you all."- Child Sabrina
==Trivia==
*During this episode, it is stated that Ghost-Type are strong against Psychic-type when, during Generation I (the time of this episode's airing), Psychic-types were actually immune to Ghost-type moves. Similarly, in the Generation II episode Psychic Sidekicks!, it is said that Psychic-types are strong against Ghost-types, although the reverse was true by then (however, Gastly, Haunter, and Gengar's secondary Poison-type does make them weak to Psychic moves).
*The book Night in the Haunted Tower is based on this episode.
*The Gym Leader order of the anime differs from the games, with Sabrina being the sixth Gym Leader challenged instead of the fourth.
*Interestingly, the man bended the spoon with his mind, which is actually the signature move of Kadabra and Alakazam called Kinesis.
*"Who's that Pokémon?": Abra (JA, EN and KO)
===Mistakes===
*Since this episode was made during the Generation I era, Ghost attacks don't affect Psychic Pokémon.
===Dub differences===
*In the original Misty complained that they've heard Team Rocket's motto a lot, and Ash told Jessie and James to hurry up and finish it.
==Gallery﻿==
==References==
Category:Episodes focusing on Ash
Category:Episodes featuring Ash losing a Gym Battle
Category:Episodes featuring Gym Battles