Get the Show on the Road

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**Get the Show on the Road** is the 1st episode of *Liam's Adventures of Pokémon: Advanced*.

## Plot

May is riding her bike towards Littleroot Town. Although today is the day she will receive her first Pokémon from Professor Birch, she admits that she would rather just travel, and is not really interested in training Pokémon. Suddenly, a Duskull appears next to her and scares her. She speeds off, loses control and crashes into a tree. She continues onward, before stopping briefly to take in the view when she reaches a cliff overlooking Littleroot Town.

Meanwhile, Ash is also arriving in Littleroot Town but all he can think about is trying to heal Pikachu. He then wonders if there's a Pokémon Center in town, and hopes that Nurse Joy can inspect Pikachu to see if he's okay. On the upper deck, Team Rocket hears the call for Littleroot Town. All are eager to enter this new land except for Jessie, who reminisces about her past and subtly reveals that she has been to Littleroot Town before. She enters a depressed state, and as James presses for answers, Jessie doesn't elaborate. When the boat docks, Ash disembarks and asks the port attendant where the Pokémon Center is. He is saddened to learn that there is none in the small town. He is about to give up when he remembers Professor Birch, and wonders if he would be able to heal Pikachu. He calls Birch's lab, only to find that he is out doing field work. Joshua, his assistant, tells Ash to stay where he is and that he will alert the Professor to the situation as soon as possible.

Ash waits on a bench, anxious for any word from the Professor. Out of the blue, Ash hears a screeching noise. He looks up to see Professor Birch in a SUV. Birch asks if Ash is the one who called about Pikachu, and he immediately responds. He carries Pikachu into the SUV and they speed off. Along the way back to the lab, Birch quickly diagnoses Pikachu with an electric overload, and Ash adds that he was strapped to Team Rocket's giant magnet. If the Electric Pokémon doesn't receive immediate attention, he might explode from all the energy. Their only hope is to drain all of it out of Pikachu. Once at the lab, the Professor attaches a machine to Pikachu's cheeks, while Joshua turns it on. However, Pikachu's electricity levels are so high, they cause the machine to explode. Pikachu then escapes, and Ash runs after him. Upon finding out Ash isn't carrying any other Pokémon, Birch grabs the three starter Pokémon and runs after the young Trainer. Joshua reminds Birch that the starters are supposed to be for May who is due to arrive that day, and Birch tells Joshua to ask May to wait until he gets back. As he explains this, Ash is desperately calling out and searching for Pikachu, but the Pokémon is nowhere to be found.

Meanwhile, May arrives at the lab. Joshua tells her that the Professor will be right back, but she ignores him and goes looking for Birch. She is unaware that he has fallen off a cliff and landed on top of a Poochyena while looking for Pikachu. After recovering, he apologizes to the Pokémon, but it just appears to get angrier. Two more Poochyena appear and they all begin to growl at the Professor. He realizes that they're about attack. Although initially proud of his knowledge, he soon realizes that their anger is directed at him, and runs away trying to escape from them.

As he takes shelter in a tree, May arrives and inquires as to why he is climbing a tree. Relieved that somebody has arrived, he tells May to get one of his Pokémon from his bag to ward off the Poochyena. Hesitantly, she takes out a Poké Ball and sends out Mudkip. The Professor tells her to command it to use an attack, but May is unfamiliar with the Pokémon's moves. Birch tells her to have it use Water Gun. When she commands it, the Water-type Pokémon sprays her in the face. Frustrated, Birch falls from his branch and is being pursued once again. He calls after Mudkip, who rushes to his side. Birch commands the Pokémon to use Water Gun on the Poochyena, scaring them off. Birch then realizes that Ash and Pikachu are still missing, and has May follow him.

Pikachu continues to weaken and become frightened. When Ash approaches him, Pikachu's eyes glow red as he furiously attacks him with Thunderbolt, thinking he is an enemy. Birch and May reach the area and see Ash dive off a cliff to save his friend. Luckily, he manages to grab onto a branch, but he is far from danger. Pikachu continues shocking him, and even bites him at one point to try to get away. Eventually, Ash calms Pikachu down, and he slowly realizes who is holding him. The Trainer makes it back up the cliff and meets up with the Professor and May.

Just then, Team Rocket appears in their latest mecha, a giant battery robot. When May and Birch inquire about them, Ash informs them about the trio and their evil ways. Meowth brags about the mecha's ability to absorb electricity and grabs Pikachu with one of the machine's arms. Team Rocket then has the machine put suction cups on Pikachu's cheeks to absorb his electricity. As James and Meowth celebrate the fact the machine is filling up with energy, Jessie yells at them, saying that Pikachu is getting stronger. After getting most of the energy drained, Pikachu shocks the machine, and a stray bolt of electricity fries May's bike. Then, the robot blasts Team Rocket off by exploding on them. This time, Jessie is happy, claiming she feels completely recharged thanks to Pikachu. However, the Electric Pokémon collapses on the ground, causing Ash to panic once again.

Back at Birch's lab, the Professor determines that Team Rocket's machine drained all the excess energy out of Pikachu until his levels were returned to normal levels. After a rest, he says that Pikachu should make a full recovery. With that situation over, Birch now turns his attention to May and her first Pokémon. He first shows her Treecko, but May thinks the Grass-type looks scary. Mudkip is next, but May says she doesn't want it because it refused to listen to her. Finally, the Professor reveals Torchic, a Fire-type. The Pokémon hops up to May and begins brushing up against her leg. She then decides that she will take Torchic as her first Pokémon. Birch gives her six empty Poké Balls and a Pokédex. She makes a few comments under her breath, Birch wondering what she said before she tries to cover it up.

The next morning May looks at her bike, angry that it has been destroyed. She goes to find Ash and scold him, but when she opens the door, she finds Ash still asleep by Pikachu's bedside. May softens up and watches as Ash mutters a few things in his sleep and Pikachu awakens. The Pokémon soon wakes up Ash, and Pikachu's reassuring nudge instantly cheers Ash up. May then realizes that her bike can wait. Outside, May releases Torchic and Ash soon steps outside. May greets him and Pikachu leaps off Ash's shoulder to meet Torchic. The two Pokémon soon play around, and Ash comments that Pikachu has already made his first friend in the Hoenn region. Later, Birch and Joshua inform the pair that their next destination should be Oldale Town's Pokémon Center to register for the Hoenn League. May makes a few remarks about going alone. Then, she purposely says she would have, but Pikachu destroyed her bike. May asks Ash if she could come along with him, and Ash agrees. The pair waves goodbye to the Professor and his assistant before beginning their walk towards Oldale Town.

## Major events

* Lilo and Stitch are revealed to have rejoined the group, with Lilo revealing to own a Mantyke.
* Ashley is revealed to have chosen Treecko nicknamed Macapuno.
* Ash, Dora, Lilo, Stitch, The Light Music Club (minus Azusa), Ben, Sydney, Ashley, Negi, Asuna, Chamo, Nodoka Miyazaki, Tim, and Alvis arrive in Littleroot Town and meet with Professor Birch.
* Miki and The Aladdin Gang meets Negi, Chamo, Asuna and Nodoka Miyazaki for the first time.
* Ash, The Light Music Club (minus Azusa), Dora, Lilo, Stitch, Dora, Ben, Sydney, Ashley, Negi, Asuna, Chamo, Nodoka Miyazaki, Tim, and Alvis meet May, a beginning Trainer.
* May encounters Team Rocket for the first time.
* Sydney catches a Wingull.
* Pikachu accidentally destroys May's bike.
* Team Rocket accidentally heals Pikachu.
* Miyazaki reveals to Ben about her owning a Rotom Phone.
* Mugi helps Miyazaki how to use her Pokédex, due to knowing how to register a Pokémon in the Pokédex.
* May starts her Pokémon journey with a Torchic, a Pokédex, and six Poké Balls.
* Ash, Lilo, Stitch, The Light Music Club, Dora, Ben, Sydney, Ashley and May decide to travel together.

## Characters

### Humans

* Ash Ketchum
* Agent Ben
* Ashley Masenado
* May (debut)
* Professor Birch (debut)
* Joshua (debut)
* Nodoka Miyazaki
* Sydney

### Others

* Stitch
* Chamo

### Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?: Lanturn

* Pikachu (Ash's)
* Meowth (Team Rocket)
* Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
* Torchic (May's, new; debut)
* Mudkip (later Liam's; debut)
* Treecko (Ashley's; new; debut)
* Mightyena (Ben's; Banzai)
* Ralts (Miyazaki's; Shiny)
* Wingull (Sydney's; new)
* Poochyena (debut)
* Beautifly (debut)
* Duskull

## Trivia

* Professor Oak's Pokémon Lecture: Entei
	+ Pokémon senryū summary: Large eruption, fire rising to surface, Entei.
* Beginning with this episode and lasting until DP120, a new "To Be Continued" graphic is introduced, and the arrow that follows it is gone.
* This episode aired in Japan on the same day that Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire was first released. The dubbed version aired two days before the games' release in North America.
	+ *Nice Pryce, Baby* had been the previous episode to air in North America, leaving 36 more Johto episodes to air before the end of the original series.
* On DVD releases of Pokémon: Advanced, this episode is considered the season premiere. However, on televised airings, that title falls to *Address Unown*.
* Advance Adventure replaced Ready Go! as the Japanese opening theme.
* Because the Sky is There replaced Pocket-ering Monster-ing as the Japanese ending theme.
* Kanji are used in episode titles for the first time starting from this episode.
* The eyecatches shown in this episode feature Ash and May.
* The episode's English dub title is based on the idiom "Let's get this show on the road".
* The title card sequence changes to show a map of Hoenn and Ash's location on it. In the Japanese version, the music is also changed to the successful evolution fanfare from the games, while the English dub continues to use the original series theme until TPCi's dub begins.
* Ash's journey in Hoenn begins much like Kanto, with Pikachu being injured and destroying a girl's bike.
* Although May claims Treecko are "creepy" in this episode, she says they are "cute" six episodes later.
* Music from *The Power of One* is used.
* This is the first region with no cameo by a Legendary Pokémon in the first episode. Kalos is the second.
	+ However, Ash saw Ho-Oh before he left for Hoenn at the end of the original series.
* Pikachu having problems with his electricity in this episode is seen again in a later episode.
* The same Mudkip will appear again under the ownership of Liam, four episodes later.

## Transcript

*Main article: Get the Show on the Road/Transcript*