AG189

Gathering the Gang of Four! (Japanese: 最初のポケモン！最後の戦い！！ First Pokémon! Final Battle!!) is the 189th episode of Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire, and the 463rd episode of the Pokémon animated series. It was first broadcast in Japan on August 24, 2006 and in the United States on February 10, 2007.
==Blurb==
At the Fennel Valley Pokémon Center, Ash gets a special delivery from Oak's Lab—his Bulbasaur. Officer Jenny soon arrives with his Squirtle, and his Charizard flies in too. Ash is going on a retreat with these three Pokémon and Pikachu to train for his upcoming rematch with Brandon. Out in the forest, the four Pokémon work together to build a bed to sleep on, but Charizard hogs it at first and starts a fight. Eventually they calm down and rebuild the bed, get some food, and even practice their moves. That night Charizard lights a campfire, and Ash remembers how he met Pikachu, Charizard, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur.
Team Rocket happens to be watching, and they drive up in a noodle truck in which they manage to grab Pikachu. The truck releases a metal balloon that they then escape in. Ash takes to the air on Charizard, and has his Pokémon perform various attacks on the balloon to no avail. Eventually Charizard and Squirtle alternate their attacks, causing the balloon to crack so Bulbasaur can break it open. The four Pokémon then team up their attacks to send Team Rocket blasting off. Brandon emerges from the bushes nearby to tell Ash it's time to battle, and that they should make it a 4-on-4 battle with his four Pokémon.
Back at the Pokémon Center, Scott lets Ash know that he could be a Frontier Brain if he beats Brandon, but Ash is more worried about winning first. At the Battle Pyramid, the battle begins with Charizard versus Brandon's Dusclops. Dusclops traps Charizard in battle with the move Mean Look, and then uses Confuse Ray to confuse it. Eventually Charizard snaps out of its confusion. Ash makes a fatal error by having Charizard use Seismic Toss, which has no effect on Ghost-types like Dusclops. Dusclops performs Shadow Punch, knocking Charizard out.
==Plot==
The last stride of the is upon , as is outside of a local Pokémon Center. As they are about to begin their departure, exits from the establishment and hands Ash a . Ash throws the Poké Ball, unleashing the magnificent force of , his old companion of Kanto. rushes over to Bulbasaur and they both reacquaint themselves. The mysterious of the devious Squirtle Squad rides in Officer Jenny's motorcycle as the two speed towards Ash. Squirtle, Bulbasaur, and Pikachu reacquaint themselves with the old group. once again falls for Jenny's charm but is broken out of his trance by Max's firm grip on his ear. After a few seconds, a silhouette resembling appears in the skies and begins closing in on his location. The grumble of Charizard's call can be heard from the distance. Ash welcomes Charizard with open arms and is welcomed by a blast from Charizard's .
 calls upon her and as the Poké Ball explodes open, Ash's Squirtle uses to keep May's Squirtle suspended in the air. After the water recedes, the two begin dancing gently together. Ash's Squirtle towers over May's unusually small turtle . As the two play, Brock hands Ash his faithful backpack. Nurse Joy gives Ash a parting gift of homemade cookies while Ash prepares his Pokémon for the journey to the Battle Pyramid. Charizard reassures Ash that he is ready by charring Ash, Pikachu, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur with another spray of his Flamethrower.
As the group continues down a nearby path, Ash comes across a group of logs blocking the path. Charizard uses his strength to propel the logs into the air as Bulbasaur uses to slice the logs into small pieces, with each Pokémon catching a small piece. After all of the logs have been successfully cut, everyone places the logs into place, forming a box. Squirtle uses to create a wind current as Bulbasaur uses to capture nearby leaves, and Pikachu uses to force the foliage inside of the box structure. After the group finishes, a soft bed of underbrush is formed. Charizard slams down into the box, scattering leaves into the atmosphere. Squirtle becomes furious and launches a Water Gun, hitting Charizard directly on the forehead. Charizard wakes up from his nap and walks over to confront Squirtle. Bulbasaur and Squirtle prepare to dodge Charizard, but soon after, Bulbasaur makes the decision to attack Charizard with Vine Whip. However, Charizard evades the attack and the whip-like vines strike Pikachu. Pikachu's tail begins glowing brightly as he ascends into the air and hits Charizard with an attack. When Ash tries to stop the fight, he and Pikachu are blasted with Charizard's Flamethrower. Pikachu begins building electrical energy and launches a , shocking Ash, Bulbasaur, Squirtle, and Charizard.
The group continues further down the path and soon comes to a large tree. Charizard takes to the skies with his wings growing brightly, and Ash recognizes it as . Charizard descends around the tree cutting the fruit loose. Squirtle uses its Water Gun to keep the fruit suspended in the atmosphere while Pikachu and Bulbasaur use Quick Attack and Vine Whip to capture the fruit from the fall.
Dusk has fallen while Ash prepares a fire for the night. Charizard uses his Flamethrower to light the fire as everyone moves away from his devastating force. The Flamethrower proves to be unsuccessful, only managing to heat the nearby rocks. Ash realizes that he foolishly forgot to place firewood into the fire pit. Charizard uses a smaller Flamethrower this time to light the fire gently. Night falls upon Ash and his Pokémon as the fire glistens and sparkles under the night sky. Ash reminds Pikachu of their past experiences in Kanto while he also brings up the same instances with Bulbasaur, Charizard, and Squirtle.
Morning has arrived for the group as training preparations continue throughout the day, Bulbasaur smashes rocks with its , Squirtle practices its , and Charizard once again shows off his Steel Wing attack. Throughout the day, the group's time goes well, with everyone splashing around in a small lake. However, things go down much the same as the day prior, with everyone once again getting into an altercation that leads to Ash attempting to step in and stop it. Pikachu just shocks him and the rest of the group again. The day concludes once more with everyone sitting at a glistening fire once more. Nearby, plans their devious attack to capture Pikachu. After a few seconds, a strange vehicle emerges from the forest while Ash runs to greet the couple. The couple is a pair of ramen dealers who prepare ramen for travelers. An older man greets Ash stating that he needs an Pokémon. While Ash is distracted, the old man snatches Pikachu with his companion and escapes into the vehicle. The group speeds off and reveals themselves to be Team Rocket. The vehicle soon collapses, revealing Team Rocket's balloon forged of a form of steel. Ash takes to the skies with Charizard. Bulbasaur attempts to stop the group from escaping with a Razor Leaf flurry, but the attack only is deflected by the balloon's outer surface. Charizard launches his Flamethrower, but the metal only absorbs the heat. Squirtle uses Water Gun soon after, which also proves ineffective. Both Pokémon continue heating and cooling the metal, weakening it after every attack. The steel soon begins to crack as Bulbasaur delivers the final blow, causing the balloon to crash into the ground. Pikachu, Squirtle, Bulbasaur, and Charizard launch a combination of Electric, , , and attacks clashing with Team Rocket for a direct hit and blasting the trio into the sky. As Team Rocket blasts off, Jessie begins devouring a bowl of ramen fighting off James, , and James's Mime Jr.. releases himself from the Poké Ball, giving his notorious cry. The trio disperses into the sky as a blinding light.
Ash checks the status of his Pokémon and notices the expression on Charizard's face. Charizard has noticed a nearby human within the vicinity. The underbrush moves gently as Ash welcomes with exuberance. Brandon extends an invitation for the second official battle. Morning arrives as the two head towards the Pokémon Center. As the group is seated inside the center, Scott reveals that any participant who can successfully complete the Battle Frontier is entered into the Hall of Fame and becomes a Frontier Brain candidate, giving them a chance to set up their own battle facility. When asked how he knows all this information, he surprises the group by introducing himself as the owner of the Battle Frontier. As the time for the battle comes and Ash and Brandon take their places on the battlefield, the Battle Pyramid's ceiling opens up. Brandon calls upon his , while Ash selects Charizard as his start.
Charizard doesn't hesitate to begin the battle with his Flamethrower as Dusclops counterattacks with with both attacks clashing and dispersing into the atmosphere. Charizard charges and uses Steel Wing as Dusclops uses , making for a direct hit. Charizard recovers and strikes it down with . After Dusclops manages to recover, it counterattacks with . Charizard charges his wings again and descends towards Dusclops for another Steel Wing attack, which hits directly. Dusclops takes advantage of Charizard being up close and uses to confuse Charizard, which works perfectly. Ash attempts to recall Charizard back into his Poké Ball, but proves unsuccessful due to Mean Look. Dusclops strikes Charizard with another Shadow Punch, sending it flying back into a wall as Ash tries to help Charizard recover. Dusclops strikes down with another Will-O-Wisp for a direct hit. Ash attempts to remind Charizard of his past battles while the tries to come back to his senses. Charizard snaps out of his confusion and launches another Dragon Breath attack for a direct hit. Dusclops launches another Will-O-Wisp attack, knocking Charizard backward. Charizard is now pretty tired after all the damage taken, and Dusclops is also showing signs of fatigue. Charizard blazes forward with another Steel Wing attack, hitting directly, and rotates around to use . As Charizard prepares to execute the attack, however, Dusclops's body suddenly disappears from Charizard's grasp, Ash realizing too late that he had completely forgotten about the type's immunity to moves. Dusclops takes advantage of this blunder and uses another Shadow Punch to incapacitate Charizard. With one of Ash's most powerful Pokémon down, his chances of beating the Battle Frontier are now looking quite uncertain.
==Major events==
* Ash's Bulbasaur is sent over by from Professor Oak's Laboratory.
* Ash's Squirtle returns from the Squirtle Squad and is revealed to have learned .
* Ash's Charizard returns from the Charicific Valley and is revealed to have learned .
* meets again, and is allowed to have a rematch with him.
* Scott explains that those who successfully defeat the enter the Hall of Fame and become Frontier Brain candidates.
* Scott is revealed to own the Battle Frontier.
* Ash and Brandon begin their rematch.
* Brandon is revealed to own a .
===Debuts===
====Pokémon debuts====
==Characters==
===Humans===
* 
* (flashback)
* 
* 
* Max
* Jessie
* James
* 
* Officer Jenny
* Nurse Joy
* 
* Scott
* Samuel
* Pokémon Trainers
===Pokémon===
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* (; flashback)
* (; flashback)
* ()
* ()
* ()
* (; flashback)
* ('s)
* ()
* (; flashback)
* (Melanie's; flashback)
* (Squirtle Squad; flashback)
* (flashback)
* (flashback)
* (flashback)
==Trivia==
* Music from Pokémon Heroes: Latios & Latias, Destiny Deoxys, Lucario and the Mystery of Mew, a ballad version of , and an instrumental version of Advance Adventure from Jirachi: Wish Maker are used in this episode.
* 4Kids background music is used in this episode.
* Emily Williams voices Officer Jenny for the first time.
* During 's plan to steal Pikachu, Jessie says "noodles, hot and fresh off the noodle tree". This may be a reference to the infamous broadcast on the British program in 1957.
===Errors===
* refers to , , , and as his first Pokémon, when in reality, he and before the latter three. They have not been in his possession since Bye Bye Butterfree and Pallet Party Panic, respectively. However, this is possibly due to Pikachu, Bulbasaur, Charizard, and Squirtle being the first four Pokémon that he caught that he technically still owns, as he formally released Butterfree and Pidgeot.
* When Charizard returns, his eyes are light-green, but before he uses , his eyes are colored blue.
* Charizard is missing the pads on his feet when he comes out of his Poké Ball during the battle against Brandon.
* When says that he is wondering what Officer Jenny will be doing after work, the collar on his shirt turns the same color as his body, making it appear as though his head is disconnected from his body.
* In Ash's flashback of Charizard, he is shown battling Noland's Articuno in his original series clothing instead of his outfit for Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire. Also, it shows Charizard using on Harrison's Blaziken, when he hadn't learned that move at that point.
* In the dub, Scott incorrectly states that he's the owner of the Frontier Brain, instead of the .
AG189 error 2.png|Charizard's missing pads
AG189 error 3.png|Brock's miscolored collar
AG189 error.png|Ash's outfit error
===Dub edits===
* Team Rocket refers to waiting for "nine seasons" in the English dub.
* In the English dub, when says his senryū, Max adds a final line to it and says he always wanted to try it. In the original Japanese version, Max says "Everyone catch Pokémon", the line Professor Oak says at the end of every Pokémon Lecture session.
==In other languages==
189
Category:Episodes written by Shōji Yonemura
Category:Episodes storyboarded by Yoshito Hata
Category:Episodes directed by Yukihiro Makino
Category:Episodes by one-time animation directors
Category:Episodes by multiple animation directors
Category:Episodes focusing on Ash
Category:Episodes focusing on Pikachu
Category:Episodes with Frontier Brain challenges
de:Alte Freunde
es:EP466
fr:AG189
it:RZ189
ja:AG編第189話
zh:宝可梦 超世代 第188集