JN139

Must Be Our Heroes and the Witch! (Japanese: タケシとデントともりのまじょ！ and and the Forest Witch!) is the third episode of Pokémon: To Be a Pokémon Master, the 139th episode of Pokémon Journeys: The Series, and the 1,224th episode of the Pokémon animated series. It first aired in Japan on January 27, 2023, in Canada on May 27, 2023, in South Africa on June 6, 2023, and in the United States on September 8, 2023.
==Blurb==
Ash and Misty stop at a restaurant where they’re surprised to learn Brock is the chef! He’s helping out a woman who works there, but when he finds out she’s engaged to someone else, his mood turns sour. Outside, the group runs into Cilan, and they all take Brock to a flower field to cheer him up. Brock suddenly runs into the woods, so our heroes ask a Hatenna for help. It turns out a Hatterene is trying to trap Brock in the forest so it can feed on his negative emotions. A confrontation ensues, but when Hatterene sees Ash and Brock helping Hatenna, it has a change of heart!
==Plot==
 and decide to relieve their hunger by stopping at a café. The sandwiches they're served taste familiar to them, and the reason turns out to be because they're made by , , who explains that he's trying to win over the café owner Kathy's heart. However, Kathy suddenly informs Brock that her boyfriend is going to be returning soon and they'll get married once he does, resulting in Brock's heart getting broken once again. Later, while Ash and Misty try to cheer Brock up, they're approached by another one of Ash's old traveling companions, , whom Misty recognizes from the lure that Ash used recently. Misty introduces herself as the Cerulean City Gym Leader, with Cilan recognizing the Cerulean Gym as the place run by the Sensational Sisters, whom Misty sheepishly admits to be her sisters. Cilan, in turn, introduces himself as a Pokémon Connoisseur and demonstrates his profession by evaluating Misty's Psyduck. Ash tries to introduce Cilan to Brock, only to learn that they've actually met before in Johto and also watched his battle in the Masters Eight Tournament finals together, with Cilan also remembering to congratulate him on his victory. Up above, observes the reunion from their balloon while once again scheming to steal .
Cilan figures that the sight of beautiful flowers could cheer Brock up, so the group takes him to see a flower field nearby. While the sight does momentarily cheer Brock up, he's quickly reminded of Kathy and falls into depression again. His negativity is sensed by a lurking in the nearby woods, who uses her powers to create an illusion of Kathy for Brock to follow. The others try to run after Brock, but Hatterene induces headache on them to keep them from following until she and Brock are out of sight. Once the headache is over, the rest of the group runs into Glimwood Tangle as well, secretly followed by Team Rocket. When they fail to locate Brock, Cilan assumes his "Connoisseur Detective" mode. He deduces that Hatterene, which is able to sense emotions from away, sensed the heartbroken Brock's negative emotions and used her Psychic powers to lure him into the forest. Also known as "the Forest Witch", Hatterene are said to lure in those with negative emotions and trap them inside their forest. Moreover, they are also known for violently attacking those who get too loud around them, putting Brock in serious danger.
While looking for Brock, the group finds a . Ash scans her with his Rotom Phone, which reveals that Hatenna is able to sense the emotions of other creatures with the protrusion on her head. This gives Cilan an idea to ask Hatenna to help them find Brock. Ash agrees and asks Hatenna to do so, which she agrees to. It doesn't take long for Hatenna to sense Brock's negativity, but along the way to him, they encounter a , which doesn't take kindly to the strong emotions they're exuding and angrily chases after them until they manage to lose her. Continuing on their way, Ash and Cilan both start feeling hungry again from all the running, while Misty gets scared of a hanging from a tree. Ash explains to Cilan that Misty loves types but hates types. This prompts Cilan to ask her how she'd react to a Pokémon that's both of those types, like , which she doesn't have an easy answer to. Unnoticed by them, Hatterene appears behind them and starts casting illusions on the group: for Ash, she creates an illusion of offering him some s; for Misty, the illusion is a group of Water-type Pokémon; and Cilan's illusion is Ingo and Emmet offering out boxed lunches. While each of them chases after their respective illusion, Team Rocket encounters Hattrem and is chased by her due to their own strong emotions.
As Ash and his friends run out of the forest, the illusions they were chasing change into much less pleasant forms, with Ash being crushed by a falling tower of giant croquettes, Misty's Water types transforming into Bug types, and Ingo and Emmet driving away from Cilan on a railroad cart. Finally, Pikachu uses on all three of them, snapping them out of their illusions. After recovering from the return to reality, the group resumes following Hatenna's lead, soon leading them to Brock and Hatterene. With Hatenna relaying the emotions she's sensing to Pikachu, Cilan is able to deduce that Hatterene is making Brock feel love and rejection in an endless cycle to feed from the negativity of each heartbreak. Fearing that this could permanently scar Brock, Ash rushes to help him, only for Hatterene's illusions to make Brock see him as Kathy's boyfriend. Wanting to defend his "love" from him, Brock sends out to confront him, with Hatterene also attacking Ash. When Ash tries to protect Hatenna from the attacks launched his way, Hatterene's influence on Brock starts to falter, ending completely just before Hatenna is struck by a from Hatterene. He immediately rushes to help Hatenna, treating the injured spot with a Potion and bandages. With Brock's negativity gone, Hatterene also calms down, and she expresses her gratitude for Brock helping Hatenna. Above them, the invisible resumes secretly following and observing Ash.
Later, Brock declares that he'll resume traveling with Ash and Misty to train his heart to become stronger. Ash and Misty look forward to tasting the delicious cookings of both Brock and Cilan, but Cilan informs them that he won't be traveling with them, as he intends to check out a new that Ingo and Emmet are about to unveil, as well as taste the boxed lunches they'll be serving. As such, Ash, Brock, and Misty part ways with Cilan and wave him goodbye. Meanwhile, Hatterene has found new "playmates" in Team Rocket, making them think they're eating endless food without actually satisfying their hunger.
==Major events==
* Ash and Misty reunite with .
* Ash and Brock reunite with , while Misty meets him for the first time.
* Ash learns that Brock and Cilan have met each other before.
* Brock rejoins , while Cilan returns to Unova.
===Debuts===
====Pokémon debuts====
* 
==Characters==
===Humans===
* 
* 
* 
* 
* Jessie
* James
* (illusion)
* Nurse Joy (illusion)
* (fantasy)
* Sensational Sisters (fantasy)
** 
** 
** 
* Ingo (illusion)
* Emmet (illusion)
* Kathy
* Kathy's boyfriend (photo/illusion)
* Citizens
===Pokémon===
Who's That Pokémon?: 
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* (Professor Cerise's; Rotom Phone)
* (Trainer's)
* (Trainer's)
* ()
* 
* (debut)
* 
* 
* (fantasy)
* (illusion)
* (illusion)
* (illusion)
* (illusion)
* (illusion)
* (illusion)
* (illusion)
* (illusion)
* (illusion)
* (illusion)
* (illusion)
* (illusion)
* (illusion)
==Trivia==
* Get Inspired! Let's Solve a Poké Riddle!! - Episode Paldea: 
* As of this episode:
** Max is 's only traveling companion introduced prior to Pokémon Journeys: The Series who has not reunited with Ash following his departure from the main cast.
** is the only one of Ash's male friends whom hasn't met.
** has either met or seen all of Ash's friends.
* officially regains his status as a traveling companion in this episode after losing said status in Memories are Made of Bliss!, 567 episodes earlier.
* Shinji Miyazaki's music from Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire and Pokémon the Series: Black & White is reused as background music in this episode.
* This episode marks the first appearance of several Pokémon in the after long absences:
** , who last appeared in A Unova League Evolution!, 459 episodes earlier.
** , who last appeared in Splitting Heirs!, 380 episodes earlier.
** , who last appeared in A Towering Takeover!, 293 episodes earlier.
* This episode marks Ingo and Emmet's first appearance since Survival of the Striaton Gym!, 427 episodes earlier.
* This episode marks 's final physical appearance in the animated series.
* The boxed lunches offered by the illusions of Ingo and Emmet in this episode are based on the Darumaka boxed lunches featured in Kyurem vs. The Sword of Justice and Partners in Time!.
* This is the only episode of Pokémon: To Be a Pokémon Master in which Ash's rotated team, aside from , doesn’t appear.
* The farewell between and Cilan is reminiscent of the farewell between Ash, Misty, and Brock in Gotta Catch Ya Later!.
* This episode marks the final debut of a Pokémon in : .
* Unshō Ishizuka was added into the credits for this episode, with archived audio of his voice being used for Brock's Steelix.
* The English dub title is a reference to a lyric from the song by .
* Misty, Brock, Ash, , and Pikachu narrate the preview for the next episode.
===Errors===
* While is spying on Ash and his friends, the burner of their Meowth balloon is missing.
* When the group finds Brock in the forest, disappears from the top of Ash's head during the close-up shots of him and Cilan.
* Cilan mentions that is able to sense emotions from away. However, this only applies to Gigantamax Hatterene, not its base form, as this episode implies.
* The English dub subtitles mistakenly state, "We know it's our destiny" instead of "I know it's my destiny" during the opening.
===Dub edits===
==In other languages==
139
Category:Episodes focusing on Brock
Category:Episodes focusing on Cilan
Category:Episodes written by Shōji Yonemura
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 animated by Izumi Shimura
Category:Episodes by multiple animation directors
Category:Episodes in which a main character joins the group
Category:Episodes in which a Legendary Pokémon appears
Category:Episodes which aired in Canada before the United States
Category:Episodes which aired in South Africa before the United States
de:Unsere Helden und eine Hexe!
es:EP1228
fr:LV139
it:EP139
ja:新無印編第139話
zh:宝可梦 旅途 第135集