Battle For the Underground!

**Battle For the Underground!** (激走！バトルサブウェイ！！（後編） Flat-out Run! Battle Subway!! (Part 2)), ***Battle For the Underground!***?) is the 53rd episode of Season 8 of *Guardians of Harmony* and the (TBA) episode of the series overall.

## Battle For the Underground!

### Japanese

激走！バトルサブウェイ！！（後編） Flat-out Run! Battle Subway!! (Part 2))

## Staff

### Writer

CheerfulSteekip
Foodyeater
GaryBones
GlorysiaMelodyYT

### Director

CheerfulSteekip
Foodyeater
GaryBones
GlorysiaMelodyYT

## Summary

*Team Rocket’s sinister plot to steal all the Poké Balls from the Nimbasa City Pokémon Center continues at a frenetic pace, and our heroes, along with Subway Bosses Ingo and Emmet, are in hot pursuit! They chase down one decoy after another, until Jim figures out that the real Ghost Train must be heading for the rail yard in Anville Town.*

*Meanwhile, our heroes’ trapped Pokémon and Kyubey have been trying to escape! Working together, they finally manage to break through their cages, and then figure out how to release the coupler that links their car to the Ghost Train. Back in the subway tunnels, Jim's electricity provides the needed boost for our heroes’ railcar to catch up with the Ghost Train in Anville Town, and Ingo’s Chandelure joins the fight to help them defeat Team Rocket and retrieve their magical items.*

*Although Kyubey is still seething about Meowth’s betrayal, our heroes tell Meowth that they really enjoyed their time together traveling to Nimbasa City, and earn their Stage 2 upgrades!. Team Rocket and Dr. Zager escape in their helicopter, vowing to come back to fight another day. Meanwhile, Ash is looking forward to his long-delayed battle with Elesa, Nimbasa City’s Gym Leader, but our heroes might need a well-deserved rest first...*

## Plot

Team Rocket continues to inhibit the Guardians from picking up their trail by deploying many ghost train decoys, overloading the subway sensors with phantom contacts. The Pokémon and Kyubey are still trapped in their cages along with the stolen Poké Balls, Power Necklaces, Harmony Gems, and Elements of Harmony. Meanwhile, the Guardians are still on the tracks. They spot a train approaching and Nanette takes it in at a glance, concluding that it was a ghost car. With no way to tell the ghost trains apart, Jim knows that it was part of Team Rocket's plan to escape.

Elsewhere, as he is flying a transport helicopter towards Nimbasa City, Dr. Zager checks in with Meowth and the others. Meanwhile, Thunders tries to break the door with Iron Tail, but it fails to damage it. Gigi then attempts to attack the door with her magic-infused Flamethrower, but it also fails to do anything. The recoil sends Thunders and Gigi flying back, knocking a Poké Ball down. Thunders looks at the Poké Ball, upset.

The Guardians try to pursue another train, but fail to catch it and mark it as a decoy. Jim believes that Team Rocket might have slipped through the radar already, above ground. The note surprises Emily and Ash, thinking subway trains stay underground. The coincidental quote gives Jim the answer that the train's entry point is possibly the exit point. Ingo and Emmet support the theory by pointing out that the subway trains all originate from the Anville Town railyard. With this knowledge, Ingo and Emmet plan to join up with the Guardians, racing down to a spare train car.

Back in Team Rocket's train, Dragonet cries hysterically at being imprisoned, but Kyubey comforts her before Mist spots the Poké Ball holding Ash's Snivy, Leaf. Mist uses Psychic to activate the Poké Ball and release Leaf. Leaf then uses Vine Whip to fish out Star Lucario, who then uses Metal Claw to free the other Pokémon and Kyubey from their cages. Dragonet tries to use Mucus Shuriken on the door, but only leaves a small dent. Star fires Aura Sphere against it, but the attack also fails. Snivy releases Bouncee from captivity. Magical Leaf and Charlotte tackling the door also fail to break it. Pikachu thinks about the other Pokémon that could help. After rejecting several Pokémon, Thunders finds that one of the stolen vault Poké Balls has a Crustle in it. He asks it to use its corrosive spray to destroy the door, which it does.

The Guardians continue to run along the tracks with Ingo and Emmet catching up to them on their crew car, powered by Emmet's Eelektross. After Ash checks it with his Pokédex, the Guardians hop in a train car that Jim stole from Galar and teleported onto the tracks using the Celestial Stones, and race after the ghost train. Meanwhile, the Crustle manages to carve a hole out of the door. A part of the door drops, alerting Team Rocket. Meowth goes to check and opens the door, coming face-to-face with the Pokémon and Kyubey. Though shocked at first, Thunders soon becomes fit with rage at the betrayal, charging up electricity. The train heads out to the surface, and Meowth knows that the Pokémon and Kyubey cannot escape since the train is traveling too fast for them to jump. Love attempts to fire an Egg Bomb at Meowth, but he shuts the door and blocks the attack. Meowth notifies Jessie and James about the situation and Dr. Zager proceeds to catch up with them.

Back in the second car, Thunders directs the Pokémon to destroy the coupling holding the two cars together. A combination attack of Thumders' Thunderbolt, Axi's Dragon Rage, Gigi's Flamethrower, Star's Aura Sphere, Love's Egg Bomb, Dragonet's Pound, and Charlotte's Flamethrower works cooperatively to destroy the coupling. Meowth reopens the door and realizes what is happening when the combined attack creates an explosion, knocking Meowth back and separating the cars. Jessie and James learn what's happened and start to slow the train down in order to allow the second car to catch up. Kyubey looks ahead and notices that the track splits off. Love jumps on top of the car and uses Psychic to change the track's orientation, allowing the second car to head away from Team Rocket. They are forced to backtrack to the switch line, but now they're chasing the car and quickly start to catch up, with Dr. Zager's chopper flying alongside as well.

The Guardians continue to race towards the terminus, reaching the surface. Jim uses more power to speed up the train to insane velocities. Meanwhile, Dr. Zager tries to position the chopper above the loose car to hitch it to the helicopter. The Pokémon attempt to attack the chopper's hooks, but the attacks fail to damage it. Meowth notices Jim driving the other Guardians on a parallel track. The other Guardians want to head over to the train car with their Pokémon, but it is almost impossible to get to them at the rate of speed they are traveling at. So Ingo brings out his partner, a Chandelure, and has it use Psychic to lift Nanette, Ash, and Cheren to the car. The Pokémon are happily reunited with their Trainers as they prepare to fight off Team Rocket. Gigi and Love both use Flamethrower to propel the car faster, moving ahead of Zager's helicopter. Axi attempts to use Dragon Rage to help, but Zager’s chopper simply flies up and picks up speed, making the Pokémon's efforts moot.

Seeing another track switch, Cheren has Kazmar use Water Gun to change the car's track orientation, slipping from Zager's grasp once again. Roggan and Gigi use their attacks again to accelerate away. When Zager attempts to catch up with them, Kazmar uses Razor Shell to attack the chopper's main blades. Thunders' Electro Ball attack destroys the four cargo hooks on the helicopter, forcing Zager to back off. The trio attempts to catch up, but Roggan and Gigi do their best to push ahead. Chandelure joins the fray and uses Will-O-Wisp on the locomotive, destroying it. Team Rocket jumps up with their jet packs, dodging the damage. Though upset by the betrayal, Elizabeth does admit to having fun while traveling with Meowth, but the Scratch Cat Pokémon is unimpressed and swears revenge on them. However, the Guardians then angrily say that stealing their Pokémon, Kyubey, and their magical items are wrong and that they won't allow them to ever do this again since they worked so hard to defeat them without transforming. James pushes a button to destroy the locomotive unit as they get into Zager's helicopter and fly off, much to Kyubey's anger. Jim notes that Team Rocket did think of a good plan, while Iris is only relieved that she didn't manage to capture Meowth after all.

On the helicopter, Team Rocket are furious that their plan failed despite all the work and having come so close, but decide to look ahead and prepare another plot. Meanwhile, the Guardians check out the Anville Town railyard, much to Jim's enjoyment. Ingo and Emmet report that the subway has completely recovered and the stolen Poké Balls have been returned to the Pokémon Center, while the Power Necklaces, Harmony Gems, and Elements of Harmony have also been recovered. They are surprised to find that their necklaces have upgraded to Stage 2 despite not being on their person at the time. Ash knows he can now go and challenge the Nimbasa Gym and Ingo and Emmet wish him luck while warning that the Gym Leader, Elesa, is very tough. Ash isn't worried by this, however, although the others tell him that they should take a break first, which he agrees to, as the episode ends.

## Major Events

* The Guardians, with the help of Ingo and Emmet, retrieve all of the Pokémon stolen by Team Rocket (including their own), Kyubey, the Power Necklaces, Harmony Gems, and Elements of Harmony, and force them to withdraw from Nimbasa City.
* Lui and Haruto both arrest Team Rocket grunts due to their stealing behaviors.
* The Guardians' Power Necklaces upgrade to Stage 2.

## Characters

### Pokémon

* The Guardians Pokémon
* Meowth (Team Rocket)
* Crustle (from the Pokémon vault)
* Chandelure (Ingo's)
* Eelektross (Emmet's)

### Villains

* Dr. Zager
* Jessie
* James

### Secondary Characters

* Ingo
* Emmet
* Laplus Darknesss
* Takane Lui
* Admin Haruto
* Serene (on screen)
* Nora Leaffield
* Ryan Snow
* NoraBot
* Subway workers

## Trivia

### Dub Edits

* During the ending scenes, an instrumental version of Black and White replaced Best Wishes' instrumental version.
* In the English dub, Hilbert says that to figure out which train is the real one, they'll have to catch up to each one. In the Japanese version, he says that they'll have to verify each one.
* In the English dub, Meowth says that Team Rocket will catch up to the Pokémon whether they separate or not. In the Japanese version, he says that Team Rocket can just slow down their train and wait for the Pokémon's train car to catch up to them.
* In the Japanese version, the Narrator says the "Pokémon battle holy land" nickname for Nimbasa City when talking about Ash being ready for his Gym Battle. In the English dub, the Narrator doesn't bring up the city nickname.