EP254

Better Eight Than Never (Japanese: フスベジム！さいごのバッジ！！ Gym! The Final Badge!!) is the 254th episode of the Pokémon animated series. It was first broadcast in Japan on June 27, 2002, and in the United States on June 21, 2003. 
==Blurb==
Having finally seen stability restored to the Blackthorn Gym, Ash and Clair face off in a gym battle. Ash opens with a surprise entry, his Snorlax, and defeats Clair's Kingdra to take victory in the first round. Clair quickly comes back, wearing Snorlax down with her Gyarados. Ash sends in Pikachu, hoping its advantage as an Electric Pokémon will be enough to defeat Clair's Water Pokémon. It isn't until he puts Pikachu's speed to use, however, that he emerges victorious. At two to one, Ash is only one win away from earning his final badge, but this last round—against Clair's Dragonair—promises to be the hardest one yet.
==Plot==
 and Clair are standing inside the Blackthorn Gym, preparing to start their rematch, which will be a three-on-three . Clair chooses her , while Ash leads off with , surprising Clair. Ash explains that he visited the Pokémon Center the day before and changed his Pokémon around. Ash starts the match with Snorlax's , though Kingdra dodges the attack with . Kingdra tries to hit Snorlax but just bounces off of its bulky body. Clair has Kingdra follow up with , but the attack once again harmlessly bounces off of Snorlax. Ash tries to use Snorlax's , but Kingdra dodges it with Agility. Kingdra hits Snorlax again, but Snorlax is unaffected. Clair notes that her attacks aren't working against Snorlax's big body, and has Kingdra use . Ash tells Snorlax to dodge the attack, but it is unable to and is hit. Clair orders a Hyper Beam, which Snorlax narrowly avoids by diving into the battlefield’s pool. Ash congratulates Snorlax on its quick thinking before ordering a Body Slam. The attack lands, causing both Pokémon to sink underwater. However, Snorlax begins to weigh less, allowing Kingdra to float back to the surface unharmed. Clair tells Kingdra to use Hydro Pump once Snorlax comes up for air. This worries and , but Ash tells Snorlax to jump out of the water. As Snorlax leaps into the air and Kingdra fires a Hydro Pump, Ash orders Snorlax to lean back, and it manages to successfully dodge the attack without sustaining any damage. Clair orders Kingdra to use Swift, but Ash tells Snorlax to just take it. Clair orders another Hydro Pump, but it only douses Snorlax's face. Kingdra is starting to look tired, and Brock realizes that Ash's plan must be to just wear Kingdra out, as Snorlax has a lot of endurance. Clair orders another Hyper Beam, but Snorlax dodges it once again by going underwater. With Kingdra's stamina starting to run low, Snorlax uses , which knocks Kingdra out of the match. After feeding Charla, joins Brock and Misty on the sidelines to watch the unfolding match. Misty quickly pulls Brock aside as he begins to flirt, before filling Liza in on the current situation of the match.
Meanwhile, is trying to dig a tunnel to reach the Dragon Holy Land and steal the Dragon Fang. Jessie and James are beginning to question when they will reach their target. glances at his map and orders his teammates to strike the section above them. However, water begins to pour in and Meowth quickly realizes that they have been digging directly under a lake. The lake water starts flooding into the tunnel, washing Team Rocket away.
Back at the Gym, Clair sends out as her second Pokémon. Clair orders Gyarados to use Hydro Pump, while Snorlax uses Hyper Beam. However, Snorlax is starting to tire out, causing Gyarados's Hydro Pump to overpower its Hyper Beam. Gyarados uses , and as Snorlax is still in the middle of recharging, it is unable to counter the attack. As such, the Dragon Breath lands a direct hit on Snorlax, it and preventing it from moving. After taking a Hyper Beam, Snorlax finally faints. Ash decides to use next in the hopes that its typing will overcome Gyarados. Clair has Gyarados use Hyper Beam, but Pikachu avoids the attack before slamming into Gyarados with . Clair is momentarily surprised by Pikachu's but quickly orders Gyarados to use . Pikachu avoids the attack before retaliating with a . However, Gyarados uses Dragon Breath to form a barrier that blocks the incoming attack. Gyarados follows up with a Hydro Pump, which Pikachu tries to dodge, but gets grazed by it and is knocked down to the ground. In a surprising maneuver, Gyarados leaps out of the water and starts squeezing Pikachu in a tight wrap. This, however, allows Pikachu to land a close-range Thunderbolt on Gyarados, dealing notable damage on the before it can move away. Gyarados tries to use Bite, but Pikachu dodges the large jaws before finding himself trapped in a corner. Gyarados attempts to finish Pikachu off with a Hydro Pump, but Ash has Pikachu use Agility to race up the torrent to get into point-blank range of Gyarados's face, before delivering another close-range Thunderbolt, knocking Gyarados out.
Underground, Team Rocket takes a snack break as their latest mecha digs a tunnel for them instead. The mecha soon detects signs of the Dragon Fang and they surface, but instead of the Dragon Holy Land, they discover themselves near the Blackthorn Gym. They spot Charla sleeping nearby, and, after examining her, they realize that the mecha mistook her fangs for the Dragon Fang. Charla suddenly wakes up and, clearly disliking her sleep getting disturbed, proceeds to send Team Rocket blasting off again with a attack. In the process, the trio drops their bag of food, which is taken away by .
In the Gym, Ash and Clair's match continues as Clair sends out her final and strongest Pokémon: . Pikachu repeatedly uses Thunderbolt, but Dragonair keeps dodging them all. Misty, Brock, and Liza wonder what Ash is up to, as Electric moves Pokémon. However, Ash's intentions suddenly become apparent as Dragonair dives close to the ground as it dodges the attacks, giving Pikachu a chance to use Quick Attack. Dragonair once again evades the attack and knocks Pikachu out with a Hyper Beam. After picking Pikachu up, Ash sends out as his final Pokémon. Kaburagi pulls a lever, opening the Gym roof so that the two Pokémon can use their flying abilities to their fullest.
Charizard attacks with Flamethrower, but Dragonair dives underwater to avoid the attack before countering with Hyper Beam. Charizard uses Flamethrower again, but once again, Dragonair dives into the water. Clair has Dragonair use , engulfing Charizard in a cyclone that smashes him down to the ground. Ash urges Charizard to stand up, and he does so, before launching another Flamethrower attack, which is yet again avoided by Dragonair diving underwater. Dragonair attacks with Hyper Beam, while Ash has Charizard use to block the attack. Misty, Brock, and Liza understand that Dragonair can use the water to its advantage, giving it an edge in the fight. Ash issues yet another command for a Flamethrower, prompting Clair to repeat the now common order for Dragonair to dive underwater. However, Ash changes his attack order into a full-power Fire Spin. Ash's intentions are finally revealed when the Fire Spin evaporates the remaining pool water, leaving Dragonair without a place to hide.
Charizard attacks with Flamethrower, but Dragonair blocks it with before striking Charizard with . Clair orders another Iron Tail attack, but this time, Charizard intercepts it and grabs Dragonair, preparing to use . As Charizard is building up momentum, Dragonair uses Dragon Rage to disrupt Charizard, causing him to crash hard into the ground. Despite the heavy landing, Charizard is still able to stand up. After an exchange of Hyper Beam and Flamethrower, Dragonair rushes in for another Iron Tail attack, but once again, Charizard grabs Dragonair and goes for another Seismic Toss. Once again, Clair has Dragonair use Dragon Rage, but this time, Charizard adds his Fire Spin to the mix, engulfing both Pokémon in flames and turning Seismic Toss into a "Flaming Seismic Toss". The combo attack slams into the Gym floor with a devastating force. As the flames die down, Dragonair faints and Ash is declared the winner of the match. Clair recalls Dragonair and congratulates Ash on his victory before handing him the . Ash, ecstatic of having just won his eighth Badge, performs a victory pose with Pikachu.
Later, Liza heads back to Charicific Valley with Charla and Charizard, and everyone waves her goodbye as she sets off into the sunset.
==Major events==
* temporarily returns his to his team to help in his battle with Clair.
* Ash's Snorlax is revealed to have learned .
* Ash beats Clair in a rematch and earns the , qualifying him for the Johto League.
* Ash's Charizard returns to the Charicific Valley.
===Debuts===
====Pokémon debuts====
==Characters==
===Humans===
* 
* 
* 
* Jessie
* James
* Clair
* 
* Kaburagi
===Pokémon===
Who's That Pokémon?: (US and international), (Japan)
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* (Clair's)
* (Clair's)
* ('s; Charla)
* ()
* ()
==Trivia==
* The English dub title of this episode is taken from the saying "Better late than never".
* This is the only time that has brought a Pokémon back from Professor Oak's Laboratory for a Gym .
* This is Ash's only Johto Gym battle where he doesn't use any Pokémon he in Johto.
* Parts of this episode were reanimated and used for flashback material for The Fires of a Red-Hot Reunion.
* The original Aim to Be a Pokémon Master version plays during the battle between and in the original Japanese version.
===Errors===
* When jumps out of the water, its feet are the same color as its body.
* After Snorlax uses , Brock states how Pokémon have trouble against attacks. While this is true, Kingdra is part Water type and only takes normal damage from Ice moves.
* In several scenes, 's right arm is colored the same as its body.
* states that is a dual type, and replies that Pikachu should "still" have an advantage over Gyarados because of his ity; this implies that Electric-type attacks are super effective against Water-type Pokémon but weak against Flying-type Pokémon. In reality, Electric attacks are strong against both, giving Pikachu a double advantage.
* When Ash sends out Charizard, the original generic animation of him throwing a is shown, a throwback to the first season. Because of this, Ash's hat is on backwards during this shot when it shouldn't be.
* When Ash tells Charizard to use while using , Charizard rotates its head a full 360 degrees.
* Dragonair's horn is missing when it faints.
* At the end of the episode in the English dub, when Clair says good-bye to , she mispronounces her name as "Laiza".
EP254 error 2.png|Snorlax's miscolored feet
EP254 error 3.png|Togepi's miscolored arm
EP254 error.png|Dragonair's missing horn
===Dub edits===
==In other languages==
254
Category:Episodes written by Shōji Yonemura
Category:Episodes storyboarded by Yoshitaka Fujimoto
Category:Episodes directed by Shigeru Ōmachi
Category:Episodes animated by Yūsaku Takeda
Category:Episodes focusing on Ash
Category:Episodes in which Ash gets a Badge
Category:Episodes with Gym battles
de:Orden Nummer 8!
es:EP256
fr:EP254
it:OA138
ja:無印編第254話
zh:宝可梦 第255集