AG128

Shocks and Bonds (Japanese: 決勝トーナメントへ！熱き戦いの日々！ To the Tournament Finals! Every Day a Heated Battle!) is the 128th episode of , and the 402nd episode of the Pokémon animated series. It was first broadcast in Japan on May 12, 2005, and in the United States on March 18, 2006. 
==Blurb==
Ash, Tyson, and Morrison are all aiming for the top of the Hoenn League, but first they have to qualify for the Victory Tournament stage of the competition. In the third and final double battle qualification round, Ash sends out Glalie and Groyle against Clark, a conductor with two strong Fire-type Pokémon—Charizard and Quilava. Grovyle and Quilava are knocked out first, and it's an icy hot battle as Charizard and Glalie battle for victory! Thanks to Ash's quick thinking, Glalie bounces back for the win.
Morrison and Tyson advance to the Victory Tournament, too. In fact, the only ones not getting anywhere are Team Rocket. It's hard to steal Pikachu when they're busy selling snacks at the stadium, but honest work has its rewards... a delicious dinner they didn't even have to steal! Meanwhile, the Trainers have a day off to see the sights and do some extra training.
Now the Victory Tournament begins: 32 competitors, one winner! Ash's first opponent is Katie, a strategic Trainer who takes full advantage of type weaknesses and strengths. She starts out with Venomoth, but switches in Golduck to put Ash's Torkoal out of the match. Next up is Pikachu, but Katie counters with Dugtrio and sends Pikachu flying! Glalie knocks out Dugtrio, but is stopped by Misdreavus and its Destiny Bond attack. With Ash down three Pokémon and Katie only down two, will he be able to hang on to this match?
==Plot==
In the stadium, orders and to battle Clark and his and . They attack directly but end up taking damage from Charizard's and Quilava's . Glalie's does not affect its opponents, but Charizard's doesn't hit its target either. Quilava manages to hit Glalie with , but Ash's Pokémon retaliate with and . Grovyle blocks Quilava's Quick Attack, while Charizard's Heat Wave and Glalie's Icy Wind collide and explode. Then, Grovyle uses Pound to knock out Quilava, but Charizard quickly defeats him with Steel Wing. Ash orders Glalie to use on the ground, forming ice pillars that stop Charizard's oncoming . Glalie uses in the icy labyrinth to avoid damage, but Charizard succeeds in striking Glalie with Steel Wing. This sends it ricocheting from pillar to pillar, which Ash uses to his advantage. Glalie darts around the icy field and knocks out Charizard with a high-speed critical hit Headbutt, awarding Ash the victory.
After the battle, Morrison meets up with Ash and both are excited to have won another battle. They leave to see how is doing. Tyson and his opponent, Johnny, are each down to their last Pokémon. Tyson's using his against Johnny's . Sceptile uses to evade a barrage of attacks, and when its opponent uses , it charges up a that sends Aggron out of the fight, meaning that Tyson has also won his battle.
Ash, Morrison, and Tyson have now advanced to the third stage of the tournament. As they relax in the Pokémon Center cafeteria, Ash and Morrison are initially disappointed to learn that the next day will be a rest day. Nonetheless the pair use the day to their advantage to continue for the many Ever Grande Conference matches still to come, and competing against each other in several challenges like swimming. and Tyson use the time to check out Ever Grande City’s food scene with Max in tow while ’s heart is aflutter with all of the Nurse Joys and Officer Jennys around.
From now on, all of their matches will be Full Battles; six-on-six matches on changing battlefields. The next day, Ash is getting ready to face his newest opponent, a girl named from Lilycove City. The battlefield is selected by the computer as a craggy rock battlefield. Ash uses while Katie sends out a . Torkoal blocks with its , which Venomoth renders unusable with . Torkoal uses Flamethrower, but Katie quickly returns Venomoth and calls out . Ash orders Torkoal to use , but Golduck sends Torkoal flying with a and then cuts it down with .
With Torkoal defeated, Ash sends into the arena. Katie responds by recalling Golduck and sending out . Pikachu uses a , but Dugtrio s to dodge, and then uses to engulf the ground in an ever-growing sand trap. Sliding down the ominous pit, Pikachu uses on Dugtrio to no avail. Before being swallowed up, Pikachu attacks with against Dugtrio's , but Pikachu is knocked out. Ash quickly picks up Pikachu and proceeds to send out Glalie. Dugtrio escapes underground, but is forced above by Glalie's powerful Headbutt on the ground. Using this opportunity, Glalie knocks it out with an Ice Beam. Katie sends out Misdreavus, but after taking an Ice Beam and a Headbutt without even attempting to dodge, Misdreavus uses . Misdreavus faints, but Glalie suddenly glows purple and collapses as well. Ash now has three remaining Pokémon while Katie has four, so the match is set to continue.
==Major events==
* , Morrison, and are revealed to have made it to the third qualifying round.
* Ash defeats Clark in a Double Battle, advancing to the Victory Tournament.
* Morrison also defeats his opponent, advancing to the Victory Tournament.
* Tyson defeats Johnny in a Double Battle, advancing to the Victory Tournament.
* Tyson is revealed to own a and a .
* Ash begins his Full Battle against .
===Debuts===
====Humans====
* 
====Pokémon debuts====
* 
==Characters==
===Humans===
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* Max
* Jessie
* James
* Morrison
* 
* Nurse Joy
* Officer Jenny
* 
* 
* Clark
* Johnny
* 
* Referee
* Team Rocket's employer
* Crowd
===Pokémon===
Pokémon Trainer's Choice: 
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ('s; Mimey)
* ()
* (Morrison's)
* (Morrison's)
* (Morrison's)
* (Morrison's)
* (Morrison's)
* ('s; debut)
* ('s; on a screen)
* (Clark's)
* (Clark's)
* (Johnny's)
* (Johnny's; on a screen)
* ('s)
* ('s)
* ('s)
* ('s)
==Trivia==
* The episode's English dub title is a pun of "s and ".
* The announcer mentions that 's finishing against "looks like a critical hit". This marks the first time the name of this game mechanic has been mentioned in the English dub of the . In the Japanese version, the term was first used in the preceding episode.
* As of this episode, all forms of the Hoenn first partner Pokémon have appeared in the animated series.
* This is one of the few episodes prior to in which neither blasts off nor recites their in any form.
===Errors===
* is misspelled as "Groyle" in the Pokemon.com blurb.
* Right after the title screen, and Clark's Pokémon are already on the scoreboard despite not having been sent out yet.
* 's wings do not glow white when he prepares to attack Glalie and its copies with despite doing so in a previous scene.
* was defeated by Glalie's , despite being immune to attacks.
* In the English dub, Max states that Ash chose the perfect Pokémon to battle Clark, yet both of Clark's Pokémon are and therefore strong against Ash's and .
* In the ian dub, is sometimes referred to as "Goldluck". The same error is repeated in the following episode.
* On the Australian DigiPack DVD release of season 8, this episode's recap from the episode that follows is played instead of the recap of the previous episode.
===Dub edits===
* In the English dub, during the montage of the s' day off from competition, You & Me & Pokémon is used as background music. In the original Japanese version, Pokémon Symphonic Medley is used as the background music.
* When and look for a place to go eat food, May mentions a burrito made out of peanut butter and cactus in the English dub. In the original Japanese version, she recommends a type of spicy bread.
====Pokémon Trainer's Choice====
* Question: Trainers, which of these Pokémon has at least two evolutions?
* Choices: , , 
* Answer: OK, Trainers! If you chose Spheal, you were right!
==In other languages==
128
Category:Episodes animated by Izumi Shimura
Category:Episodes directed by Masahiko Watanabe
Category:Episodes focusing on Ash
Category:Episodes storyboarded by Kiyotaka Itani
Category:Episodes written by Shōji Yonemura
Category:Pokémon League episodes
de:Die Attacken-Sonate
es:EP405
fr:AG128
it:RZ128
ja:AG編第128話
zh:宝可梦 超世代 第127集