Challenge of the Samurai!

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**Challenge of the Samurai!** is the 4th episode of *Liam's Adventures of Pokémon: Indigo League*.

## Plot

As the group continues walking through the Viridian Forest, Misty lets out a shrill scream. Ash turns to find her up in a tree because she saw another bug type Pokémon, though Ash makes fun of her fear. Ash then spots the Pokémon responsible, a Weedle, and decides to catch it. He notices that Pikachu is asleep, so he sends out Pidgeotto to handle the problem. As Misty walks off after Ash makes fun of her phobia of bugs, she encounters a stranger wearing Samurai armor and wielding a Katana. The stranger, later known simply as Samurai, asks Misty if she's from Pallet Town, but she says no, and Samurai tells her to keep quiet, unless she's trying to attract a swarm of Beedrill, as he departs.

Misty then realizes that Samurai is looking for Ash. Meanwhile, Pidgeotto swoops down and defeats Weedle. But before he can capture it, Samurai comes up and asks if he's from Pallet Town, to which Ash says yes, and Samurai draws his blade. Misty arrives to warn Ash, just as Samurai points the tip of his sword at Ash and challenges him to battle. Ash remembers the Weedle he was about to capture, but finds that it escaped. Ash blames Samurai, but Samurai tells him that he let it escape.

Soon, the two begin their Pokémon battle. Samurai sends out a Pinsir, while Ash uses Pidgeotto, who's still exhausted after its battle with Weedle. Samurai calls Ash a novice for sending a weary Pokémon into battle, but Ash has Pidgeotto use Sand Attack. The attack is ineffective, and Pinsir uses Tackle to take Pidgeotto out. Ash then sends out Metapod, and has it Harden in order to protect it from Pinsir's pincers. The pincers end up breaking, and Metapod wins the battle.

Samurai recalls Pinsir and sends out his own Metapod, and the Pokémon are locked in a standstill with both having no choice but to use Harden. The battle ends when Samurai spots a Beedrill swarm approaching, recalls his Metapod, and flees. Ash checks Dexter for details about Beedrill, but a Beedrill captures Metapod and flies away, even though Ash tries to recall it. Pikachu brings down a Beedrill with a Thunder Shock, and Misty grabs Ash's hand and tells him to start running. They soon catch up with Samurai, but they end up hiding near a hive of Kakuna. But their troubles and running start again when the Kakuna evolve into Beedrill, along with Liam's which evolved as well.

The group, along with Liam, the Negima group and Liam's Beedrill, then flee to Samurai's cabin. Samurai shames Ash for letting Metapod get captured, and then admits that he lost to three other trainers who came from Pallet Town, while once again calling Ash a novice. Ash says nothing, and promises to himself that he'll find Metapod the next day. That night, Ash can't sleep, nor stop thinking about Metapod. Early the next morning, Ash goes looking for Metapod, and eventually finds him within a Kakuna and Beedrill hive. However, Meowth comes in and uses Scratch on him.

Team Rocket comes in and loudly says their motto, against Ash telling them to keep quiet, which alerts the Beedrill and causes them to dive-bomb Ash and Team Rocket. Ash rolls under and reaches Metapod, while Team Rocket goes for their cardboard anti-Beedrill tank, but find that some Weedle are eating it, and they run. Ash attempts to get Metapod back into its Pokeball, but it refuses. As Ash runs with Metapod in his arms, he sees a look of sorrow in Metapod's eyes, indicating that Ash lost the trust of his Pokémon. Ash tries to explain what happened, pinning the blame on Samurai, but he realizes that he's just lying to himself and to his Pokémon. Ash then apologizes to his Pokémon and vows to both take better care of his Pokémon and to never leave a friend in trouble again.

As Misty and the others arrive in a protective bug net, a Beedrill tries to attack Ash with a Twineedle attack, but Metapod blocks the attack and saves Ash. Ash checks on his Pokémon, thinking Metapod was injured, but Metapod begins to glow, signaling its final stage of evolution. With a look of awe, everyone watches Ash's Metapod evolve into Butterfree. Even Misty isn't afraid of it, going as far as to call it beautiful. Another swarm of Beedrill approach, but Ash has Butterfree put them and Team Rocket to sleep by using Sleep Powder. Samurai applauds Ash for being able to control his Butterfree so soon after evolving.

Samurai shows the group the path out of the Viridian Forest and toward Pewter City. He also takes back everything he said to Ash, and calls himself a novice. With that, our heroes head toward Pewter City, and their next adventure. Meanwhile, Team Rocket find themselves wrapped up like Kakuna amongst a hive of angry Beedrill as the episode ends.

## Major events

* Ash tries and fails to catch a Weedle.
* Liam's Charmander is revealed to know Ember.
* Liam tries and fails to catch a Paras.
* Ash has his first fair battle, with no official winner.
* Meowth is revealed to know Scratch.
* Ash's Pidgeotto is revealed to know Sand Attack.
* Ash's Metapod is revealed to know Harden.
* Ash's Metapod evolves into Butterfree and learns Sleep Powder.
* Liam's Kakuna evolves into Beedrill and learns Twineedle.

## Characters

### Humans

* Ash
* Misty
* Jessie
* James
* Samurai
* Liam Hammerfield
* Agent Ben Rockefeller

### Pokémon

* Pikachu (Ash's)
* Meowth (Team Rocket)
* Metapod (Ash's; evolves)
* Butterfree (Ash's; newly evolved)
* Pidgeotto (Ash's)
* Charmander (Liam's)
* Spearow (Liam's)
* Mankey (Liam's)
* Kakuna (Liam's; evolves)
* Beedrill (Liam's; newly evolved)
* Squirtle (Gary's; flashback)
* Pinsir (Samurai's; debut)
* Metapod (Samurai's)
* Bulbasaur (Trainer's; flashback)
* Weedle (multiple)
* Kakuna (multiple; evolve)
* Beedrill (multiple; some newly evolved)
* Paras

## Trivia

* This is the first time the lines "Prepare for trouble! / And make it double!" are included in Team Rocket's motto.
* In this episode, Metapod and Kakuna's evolution processes are depicted as their shells cracking and their evolved forms emerging, leaving behind an empty carapace, similar to real-life insects' emergence from pupation. In later episodes, however, Metapod and Kakuna are shown to evolve like any other Pokémon.
* Ash tries and fails to catch a Weedle; however, he would later succeed in catching its final form, only to give it away shortly thereafter.
	+ In that episode Ash once again tries and fails to capture a Weedle.
* This episode features the first anime move error, as Pinsir cannot legally learn Tackle in the games.
* This episode features the first character of the day, namely Samurai.
* During the Metapod vs. Metapod battle, each side uses Harden in a futile attempt to defeat the other. However, Ash's Metapod should technically know Tackle as well, since it evolved from a Caterpie. It does, in fact, appear to use this move later to protect Ash from a Beedrill's Twineedle attack.
* When Ash, Misty and Samurai are settled down for the night and Ash is shown to be awake and worrying about Metapod, "Satoshi", Ash's Japanese name, is written on his sleeping bag.
* Samurai blames Ash for letting the Weedle escape, even though he only failed to catch it due to Samurai himself interrupting his capture attempt.
* This episode was banned in South Korea due to featuring a samurai.
* In the Dutch and Polish dubs of the episode, Ash refers to Gary as "**Bailey**" while talking with Samurai. The same error appears in Pokémon Stickers series 1 by Artbox, possibly indicating a preliminary name for Gary in the anime's dubbing production.

## Transcript

*Main article: Challenge of the Samurai!/Transcript*