AG082

A Shroomish Skirmish (Japanese: 森の格闘王！？ ワカシャモＶＳキノガッサ！ The Fighting King of the Forest!? VS !) is the 82nd episode of Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire, and the 356th episode of the Pokémon animated series. It was first broadcast in Japan on June 24, 2004, and in the United States on June 11, 2005.
==Blurb==
Ash and friends have stopped for lunch, and Brock has made food for all of their Pokémon. Corphish eats up its share quickly, so it snatches up Torchic's food. Corphish and Torchic start to fight, firing furious blasts of Bubble Beam and Ember at each other.
Team Rocket is starving, and they end up stealing apples from a group of Shroomish. Some of the Shroomish become angry enough that they evolve into Breloom, then attack Team Rocket. The thieves run into the camp where the kids are, and eat their leftover food. But the Breloom show up and attack, sending everyone blasting off to various parts of the forest.
Torchic and Corphish run into each other, and eventually find Max and Meowth. The quartet stumbles into the food stash of the Shroomish by accident, and have to fend off attacks from the Breloom. They are found by Pikachu and Swellow, but none of the Pokémon can fight off the Breloom.
Torchic evolves into Combusken, and begins a one-on-one battle with the leader of the Breloom. A titanic exchange of kicks and punches ends in a double knockout. The two Pokémon become friends, and together they attack Team Rocket. In the end, everyone sits down for a shared meal.
==Plot==
On their way to Fortree City, and have stopped for lunch in the Shroomish Forest. steals 's food after polishing off his own, which starts a fight. Ash attempts to get Corphish to apologize and tries to stop the heated exchange, but this leads to everyone getting by him. That doesn't stop the fighting, and everyone is forced to return their Pokémon to their s as Corphish and Torchic exchange several s and s. Elsewhere, is starving, and recalls the last time that they had real food. A piece of fruit rolls towards the group, catching James' attention and everyone begins to squabble over it. They soon realize it belongs to a group of , and go on to chase after them for more fruit. Back with Ash and , uses to end the conflict, and Torchic runs into 's arms crying and Ash thanks Grovyle for resolving the fight.
Team Rocket happily eat the stolen apples as the angry Shroomish watch on. translates their anger to Jessie and James, but dismisses their warnings. Several more Shroomish appear, jumping down from the trees and unexpectedly the new arrivals suddenly evolve into . While fleeing, Team Rocket run straight into Ash and his friends. They launch into their , but soon stop to eat some of 's cooking, and then resume the motto from where they left off earlier. However, the angry Breloom have followed them and proceed to confront them. When Ash and his friends ask Team Rocket why the Breloom are angry, they admit to taking their apples, which is bad enough, but is made worse when Jessie insults the Breloom, even going as far as telling them that their apples weren't all that good. The angry horde of use a combined which sends everyone blasting off. May and find themselves on a tree branch hanging above a large, deep ravine. Torchic, crying, lands with Corphish and follows the Ruffian Pokémon as he leads them away. Ash and Brock land together somewhere in the forest with Pikachu and . The two Pokémon are instructed to search for the others, but only seconds later, Ash and Brock are again confronted by the Breloom. Ash wants to fight but Brock doesn't, and they both flee.
Meowth and Max soon meet up with Torchic and Corphish. Meanwhile, May and Mudkip soon spot Jessie and James run past them. Despite May's warning, the pair land on the same precarious tree branch on which May and Mudkip had landed. Jessie and James hug each other desperately after noticing the steep drop. However, Torchic is still sad with worry over finding May, and it appears to be hungry. Meanwhile, Ash still wants to fight the Pokémon, but Brock drags him off. While running, the two friends end up rolling down a hill. Pikachu and Swellow later meet up with Meowth and Max, who have been cornered by the Breloom against a rock face. Pikachu joins the fight while Swellow searches for Ash. Ash and Brock fall on top of Team Rocket, breaking the branch, and they all plunge into the gorge below. They are saved by a attack from . Moments later, Swellow reports back.
Meanwhile, Pikachu and one of the Breloom's s clash together, and much to Meowth's surprise, Pikachu is sent flying into a gorge wall. Corphish stands in the way and takes a Mach Punch to protect Torchic and continues to be beaten up by the four Breloom. Corphish is almost knocked out, but is saved by the sudden arrival of Mudkip's , as Max greets his older sister, along with a very happy Torchic. Corphish is well and truly battered, but Torchic, who had been cowering, intervenes and appears angry. The anger that Torchic feels is so great, in fact, that it evolves into .
Everyone is on the scene now, surprised to see May's newly evolved Pokémon. One of the Breloom orders a one-on-one battle against Combusken, which it accepts. Breloom prepares to land an Iron Tail attack, but is struck by Combusken's . Following Max's advice, May orders Combusken to use a attack. However, Breloom simply Mach Punches through the attack and is about to land another one on Combusken. Brock urges May to keep her calm, and Max recommends a . The attacks hit its mark, sending Breloom flying. The Mushroom Pokémon is not quite finished yet and challenges Combusken to hand-to-hand combat. Combusken obliges, and a vicious fight ensues. Both Pokémon are hit numerous times in the face by punches and kicks, and in the end a cross-counter knocks out both Pokémon. Team Rocket, after complimenting the Pokémon, are told by both Breloom and Combusken, to their utter terror, that they are now going to make them pay for stealing the Shroomish and Breloom's fruit, and are subsequently sent blasting off by their combined attacks. Combusken and Breloom have now developed respect for each other and shake each other's hands.
After the Breloom leave, Brock declares that it is time for another break and makes more food to satisfy everyone's appetites. Over the meal, Brock notes that he was impressed by Combusken's hand-to-hand combat skills while Ash admits the intense fight has given him new ideas for his upcoming Fortree Gym battle. Again, Corphish tries to steal some food, but this time, Combusken stops him with a glare. The Ruffian Pokémon is frightened off, causing Pikachu and Combusken to chuckle.
==Major events==
* 's evolves into and learns and .
===Debuts===
====Pokémon debuts====
* May's Combusken
=====TV episode debuts=====
* 
==Characters==
===Humans===
* 
* 
* Max
* 
* Jessie
* James
===Pokémon===
Pokémon Trainer's Choice: 
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* (; evolves)
* (; newly evolved)
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* (multiple; some evolve)
* (multiple; newly evolved)
==Trivia==
* Music from Pikachu's Vacation is used as background music, including the piece that was replaced by Catch Me if You Can.
* This episode is featured on Volume 19: Torchic from VIZ Media's series.
* While the Pokémon Trainer's Choice segment is correct, also has an over the .
* When blasting off, Jessie says that 's apples had anyway, which is similar to "".
===Errors===
* During one scene where and a group of were fighting, the tip of one Breloom's tail is red instead of green.
* During the end of the episode, the narrator says that May's Torchic showed off some great fighting abilities, when it was in fact her Combusken who did that.
* In the English dub, when blasts off, Jessie incorrectly pluralizes Weedle as Weedles when the plural of Pokémon species is the same as the singular.
===Dub edits===
* Several shots of the fight between 's Combusken and the lead Breloom were cut out.
* In the English dub, the fruit are called apples. In the original Japanese version, they are just called fruit. 
====Pokémon Trainer's Choice====
* Question: Trainers, which one of these Pokémon is the best choice to battle Sunflora?
* Choices: Venomoth, , Gastly
* Answer: OK, Trainers! If you chose Venomoth, you were right!
==In other languages==
082
Category:Episodes written by Masashi Sogo
Category:Episodes storyboarded and directed by Yūji Asada
Category:Episodes storyboarded by Yūji Asada
Category:Episodes directed by Yūji Asada
Category:Episodes animated by Masaaki Iwane
Category:Episodes in which a main character's Pokémon evolves
Category:Episodes in which a main character's Pokémon learns a new move
de:Apfeldiebe!
es:EP358
fr:AG082
it:RZ082
ja:AG編第82話
zh:宝可梦 超世代 第82集