TB032: The Ninja Poké-Showdown

is the 32nd episode of of , Season 1 of , and of .
==Synopsis==
Fuchsia Gym, the authorized gym where Ash seeks his next badge, turns out to be a hidden ninja's lair. After finally discovering and entering the gym, he is held up by a complex system of traps. At last, the gym's eccentric trainer challenges Ash to a match. Just as he defeats the trainer, the official battle with the Master begins. The battle goes out of control as Team Rocket also enters the gym and its vast array of traps. Can Ash actually earn the gym badge?
==Episode plot==
Ash, Misty, and Brock are sitting by a lake with Pikachu, Psyduck, and Vulpix. Psyduck starts drinking the lake water and Misty tells it that the cold water will only make its headache worse. Brock says Vulpix's fur is beautiful thanks to Suzy. This annoys Misty and she asks Brock if he would like to trade Psyduck for Vulpix, but he refuses. They all head to the gym and a Venonat watches them from the nearby trees.
Ash and his friends continue walking and they come across an odd looking mansion where they ask for directions to the gym. They are directed to an old house. They open the front door and they enter and empty hallway. Misty leans up against a wall and she falls through it. Ash and Brock search along the wall and they open up the wall and they find Misty. They also find the same Venonat that was spying on them before. It runs away and Ash and his friends decide to follow it.
The Venonat runs around a corner and when they run after it, Ash hits his head on an invisible wall. They turn around and decide to leave, when they walk into another wall. Ash falls through the side of the house and he hangs onto the side of it. Misty and Brock manage to pull him up. Ash goes through a door and yells for Misty and Brock to help him. They run through the door and they find themselves in an empty room.
They start calling out for Ash and the door closes behind them and it reveals Ash, stuck to the wall. A girl drops down through the ceiling and says her name is Aya. Aya says they can't leave until she and Ash have a battle. Ash agrees and after she helps Ash get down from the wall, Aya sends out Venonat as Ash sends out Bulbasaur. Bulbasaur uses Tackle but Venonat avoids it. Venonat uses Stun Spore but Bulbasaur deflects it by using Whirlwind and then uses Vine Whip. Venonat manoeuvers through and uses Psybeam, which hit Bulbasaur confusing it for a few seconds. Venonat uses Psybeam again, but Bulbasaur evades and uses Leech Seed. Aya recalls Venonat. Ash is happy until a Voltorb appears and self-destructs. Koga appears as he advises his sister Aya that she needs a lot to learn and also explains that they are at the Fuchsia City Gym and that he is the gym leader. He also says that Aya is his sister, that he will battle Ash, and that they can't leave until he and Ash have a battle. Outside the Mansion, Team Rocket is seen and are now formulating a plan to infiltrate the Mansion and steal as many Poison Pokémon as possible.
Inside the Mansion, Ash accepts Koga's challenge and sends out Pidgeotto. Koga sends out his own Venonat. Since he just beat Aya's Venonat, Ash is sure he will win. Koga warns him that his Venonat is more experienced than Aya's and in an instant, Venonat then evolves into Venomoth. Koga tells Venomoth to use Stun Spore. As he did before, Ash uses Whirlwind. But the Stun Spore gets through, paralyzing Pidgeotto, and Venomoth uses Sleep Powder putting Pidgeotto to sleep. Ash recalls Pidgeotto and sends out Charmander. Venomoth uses Stun Spore again, but Charmander uses Flamethrower to burn the powder to nothing.
Team Rocket then breaks into the gym and do their motto wearing Kabuki attire, but are forced to take them off due to how heavy they are. They then call out their Pokémon to attack. Forced to stop their battle and join forces, Koga and Ash send Venomoth and Charmander to attack Team Rocket while Aya sends out her Venonat to help them. James throws a sticky substance at them, sticking them to the floor. Pikachu steps up to fight, but Jessie throws the substance at Pikachu also, sticking him to the floor.
Misty tries to send out Starmie, but Psyduck comes out instead much to her annoyance. Ash informs Misty about Psyduck's abilities as told from his Pokédex and she tells Psyduck to use Tail Whip, but it does nothing. Psyduck then uses Scratch on Arbok. This doesn't work and Arbok starts biting Psyduck's head, making its headache worse. Koga then uses some Voltorb to distract Team Rocket long enough. However, Jessie uses the webbing to capture the Voltorb. and just as Meowth was thinking of using them as practice for bowling. James who was cautious warns Meowth that he's holding a Voltorb, which self-destructs. Ash and friends then notice something about the new room they're in: everything is slanted.
They try to get the webbing off but it was no use, not even Pikachu's electric attack would work. Team Rocket (with a bag full of Voltorb) then appears and notices the room is slanted too, so to their advantage, Meowth rolls a Voltorb at the heroes, which explodes before it could reach them. When the smoke clears, Psyduck then runs around like a maniac. Misty tries to recall it but misses every opportunity, annoying her. Meowth also becomes annoyed and kicks Psyduck out of the way. James tries to grab it but Meowth says they don't need it. Misty then felt sorry for it and comforts it. To the surprise of everyone, Psyduck starts using Psychic type moves on Team Rocket such as Disable and was blast them off with Psyduck's Confusion and remove the sticky substance from all the Pokémon. Koga and Aya offer to trade for Psyduck but Misty says she wouldn't trade Psyduck for anything.
Ash and Koga continue their battle outside. Ash chooses Charmander and Koga chooses Golbat. Charmander defeats Golbat by using Ember and Fire Spin. Koga gives Ash the Soul Badge and Ash and his friends head off for the next gym.
==Debuts==
===Characters===
*Koga
*Aya
===Pokémon===
*Venomoth (Koga's)
*Golbat (Koga's)
*Voltorb (Koga's)
===Moves===
*Ember
*Leech Seed
*Tail Whip
*Disable
*Self-Destruct
*Screech
===Item===
*Soul Badge
==Quotes==
:"That thing." - Ash
:"This Venonat told me that three stupid looking people entered the building." - Aya
:"Venonat. Veno." - Venonat
:"For your information, we're not the stupid ones! I accept your challenge! Hm. But first, could you let me down from here?" - Ash
==Trivia==
*This is the first episode to feature Maddie Blaustein as the voice of Meowth. She kept the role until season 9 when she passed it on to Jimmy Zoppi.
*Brock's eyes are open after he is hit by Charmander's Flamethrower.
*This episode marks the first time Psyduck comes out of its Poké Ball when Misty is calling out a different Pokémon.
*This episode was banned in South Korea, likely due to its overt focus on Japanese culture.
*The "Who's that Pokémon?" in this episode is Venonat.
*Koga's hair in the original series is black but in the Best Wishes series during The Fires of a Red-Hot Reunion, his hair is blue-green which is from his game counterpart.
===Mistakes===
*When Ash withdraws Pidgeotto from the battle, the pockets on his jacket are blue instead of yellow.
*Koga has Venomoth attack Pidgeotto by using Stun Spore and Sleep Powder but in the games, a Pokémon can't be affected by more than one status ailment at a time.
===Dub differences===
*English - In the Japanese version, Ash tells Bulbasaur to blow away the spores. In the English dub, Ash tells Bulbasaur to use Whirlwind, a move it can't learn. This may have been a dubbing error due to Whirlwinds Japanese name being "Blow Away".
*French - In the first part of Team Rocket’s motto, when James starts, He coughs a little bit.
==Gallery==
==References==
Category:Episodes in which a main character obtains a badge
Category:Episodes featuring a main character's Pokémon learning a new move
Category:Episodes featuring Gym Battles
Category:Episodes focusing on Ash
Category:Episodes focusing on Misty