Battle Aboard the St. Anne

**English themes**

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**Battle Aboard the St. Anne** is the 15th episode of *Liam's Adventures of Pokémon: Indigo League*.

## Plot

After earning the Thunder Badge, Ash and his friends walk across a bridge and spot a luxury liner in the distance. The group takes a closer look at the ship and want to get on board, but Brock mentions that they cannot afford it, so they walk away. However, Jessie and James, disguised as ganguro girls, give them free tickets to participate in a Pokémon Trainer party that is going to be held aboard the St. Anne. While Ash and his friends look for the luxury liner, Jessie and James head to a nearby lighthouse to meet up with Meowth. Meowth opens up a call with the Boss and Meowth notices a Persian fondly rubbing its head against the boss; it has replaced Meowth due to the group's constant failure. Team Rocket reveals their plan: the party is a ruse to allow Team Rocket to steal the attending Trainers' Pokémon.

Ash and his friends board the ship and head into the main ballroom, noticing all the people, Pokémon, and merchandise. Ash notices a battle between a Starmie and a Raticate. Raticate uses Super Fang to break Starmie's jewel, giving Raticate the win. Ash decides to step forward to challenge the Raticate's Trainer, sending Butterfree out. Raticate attacks with Jump Kick, but Butterfree counters with Tackle. Raticate uses Hyper Fang, though Butterfree uses Stun Spore to paralyze it. Ash prepares to finish the duel, but the Gentleman recalls his Raticate and declares it a draw, even though Ash was actually winning. Meanwhile, James walks by the vendors. A salesman calls him over and convinces him to buy a Magikarp, tricking him into thinking that the Pokémon is worth a lot of money.

The ship sails out of Vermilion City as Ash and his friends chow down. The Gentleman comes up to Ash and commends his Butterfree. He proposes a trade between his Raticate and Ash's Butterfree. Ash asks Brock if he should go through with it, but Brock is too attracted to the woman next to him to respond, so Ash agrees to go ahead with the trade. They go to a trade machine and Ash acquires Raticate while the man receives Butterfree. Meanwhile, Jessie and Meowth are extremely displeased at James's being conned into buying a worthless Pokémon such as Magikarp. Misty finds Ash looking out at sea, having second thoughts about the trade, and unsure if Butterfree will be well care for. He mentions that, as the trade was happening, he remembered the experiences he had shared with Butterfree.

Team Rocket's plan goes into motion, with the ballroom being locked down and Team Rocket Grunts confronting the Trainers with vacuum packs to capture their Poké Balls. When one of the grunts walks up to Ash and demands his Pokémon, Ash orders Pikachu to attack the thugs with Thunder Shock. He spurs the other Trainers to fight back, and everyone sends out their Pokémon. Ash's Pikachu, Charmander, and Bulbasaur, together with Brock's Geodude, join the other Pokémon in stopping the Team Rocket thugs. Ash notices a Butterfree swarm attacking with Stun Spore and decides to summon his Butterfree. However, the Poké Ball reveals his Raticate and Misty reminds him that he traded Butterfree away. As he watches, Ash deeply misses his Butterfree, remembering his experiences with it and wanting it back.

Ash sends out Pidgeotto to join others in a group Gust attack. The Pikachu group uses Thunderbolt to send Team Rocket flying off the ship and foiling their scheme. However, during the battle the ship has sailed directly into a storm. Strong waves begin to batter the ship. James drops the Poké Ball holding Magikarp, and runs after it. Meanwhile, Ash finds the Gentleman, and requests that the trade be reversed. The man agrees, and they begin to execute a reverse trade. The captain tries to calm the passengers, assuring them that the ship is unsinkable, but, after another wave crashes against the ship, he enters a lifeboat. The passengers begin scrambling onto the other lifeboats to evacuate. Misty and Brock find Ash finishing the trade. Ash grabs his Poké Ball, but another wave causes him to drop it. Ash runs after it and his friends follow.

By this time, most of the passengers have gotten off the ship safely. As Ash grabs Butterfree's Poké Ball, the ship rocks again, throwing him and his friends into another room, and knocking them out. Likewise, just as James grabs Magikarp's Poké Ball, another wave sends Team Rocket flying against a wall; they too are knocked unconscious. The ship capsizes, and goes down. The captain, watching from his life boat, assumes that everyone is safe, not realizing that Ash, his friends, and Team Rocket are still trapped on board.

## Major events

* Ash and his friends set off on a cruise aboard the St. Anne luxury liner.
* Ash trades his Butterfree for a Gentleman's Raticate, but later trades back.
* Ritsu's Egg hatches into a Pichu.
* James buys a Magikarp from the Magikarp salesman.
* Ritsu nicknames Pichu, Chupy (pronounced chew-pee).
* Chupy is revealed to know Thundershock, Volt Tackle, and Charm.
* Liam's Oddish is revealed to have learned Solar Beam.
* Liam's Charmeleon is revealed to know Flamethrower.
* Forearms is revealed to know Dynamic Punch and has No Guard as its Ability.
* Cadel is revealed to know Double Slap.
* Azusa is revealed to own an Espurr nicknamed Snowbelle.
* Corona is revealed to know Flamethrower.
* Huggy is revealed to know Tackle, Dragon Breath, and Water Gun.
* Huggy evolves into Sliggoo, and learns Ice Beam.
* Sawako's Jolteon is revealed to know Thunderbolt.
* Lucky is revealed to know Egg Bomb.
* Spike evolves into Linoone, and learns Night Slash.
* The St. Anne sinks with Ash, Misty, Brock, Ben, Liam, and Team Rocket and the rest of the heroes on board.

## Characters

### Humans

* Ash
* Misty
* Brock
* Jessie
* James
* Liam
* Ben
* Yui
* Ritsu
* Mio
* Tsumugi
* Azusa
* Ui
* Jun
* Sawako
* Giovanni
* Magikarp salesman
* Gentleman
* Team Rocket Grunts
* Samurai (flashback)
* Captain
* Passengers

### Pokémon

* Pikachu (Ash's)
* Meowth (Team Rocket)
* Caterpie (Ash's; flashback)
* Metapod (Ash's; flashback)
* Butterfree (Ash's; traded to Gentleman; traded back)
* Pidgeotto (Ash's)
* Bulbasaur (Ash's)
* Charmander (Ash's)
* Squirtle (Ash's)
* Staryu (Misty's; flashback)
* Geodude (Brock's)
* Oddish (Liam's)
* Spearow (Liam's)
* Voltorb (Liam's)
* Goomy (Yui's; Huggy; evolves)
* Sliggoo (Yui's; Huggy; debut; newly evolved)
* Pichu (Ritsu's; nicknamed Chupy; new; debut)
* Flareon (Ritsu's; Corona)
* Chansey (Mio's; Lucky)
* Bulbasaur (Mio's; Sprout)
* Eevee (Mugi's; Espia)
* Spritzee (Mugi's; Floaroma; debut)
* Skitty (Azusa's; Cadel)
* Espurr (Azusa's; Snowbelle)
* Sylveon (Azusa's; Vivian)
* Pidgeotto (Ui's; Skyler)
* Foongus (Ui's; Angus)
* Zigzagoon (Sawako's; Spike; Galar Form; evolves)
* Linoone (Sawako's; Spike; Galar Form; newly evolved)
* Jolteon (Sawako's)
* Magikarp (James's; new)
* Persian (Giovanni's; debut)
* Raticate (Gentleman's; traded to Ash; traded back; debut)
* Squirtle (Gentleman's)
* Squirtle (Trainer's)
* Bulbasaur (multiple)
* Charmander (multiple)
* Caterpie
* Butterfree (multiple)
* Beedrill (multiple; flashback)
* Pidgey
* Pidgeotto (multiple)
* Rattata
* Pikachu (multiple)
* Oddish (multiple)
* Weepinbell
* Geodude (multiple)
* Staryu
* Starmie
* Persian (fantasy; debut)
* Eevee (multiple)

## Trivia

* An instrumental version of U&I was inserted when Huggy confronts Team Rocket and evolving into Sliggoo.
	+ Coincidentally, it was also used as a performance song.
* When the episode aired as a sneak peek in the United States, it was not shown everywhere, as some areas ran the annual *The Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon* instead.
* According to Rachael Lillis, this and *Pokémon Shipwreck* were the first episodes to be dubbed into English.
* The *St. Anne* retains its Japanese name in the anime, despite being called the *S.S. Anne* in the games. This is probably due to the number of paint edits required to make the change, but it actually prevents a future dub error when Ritchie is on a ship called the *S.S. Anne* in *The Search for the Legend*.
* This is the first episode in which Ash is seen making a Pokémon trade.
* The button the Gentleman pressed to start the trade was a "record" button. There were also play, fast forward, and pause buttons.
* This is the first episode in which Team Rocket members besides Jessie, James, and Meowth appear.
* While there wasn't an attack by Team Rocket on the ship in the games, an undercover Global Police officer mentions he is on the trail of Team Rocket, hinting that there may be an attack.
* The scene where all of the Pikachu are jumping over a wall to battle the Team Rocket soldiers is identical to the scene in *Pokémon Emergency!* where the Pikachu are jumping over a wall in the Pokémon Center to battle Team Rocket.
* The captain calling the St. Anne unsinkable and then sinking is an obvious reference to the RMS Titanic. Indeed, in the next episode's recap, the narrator acknowledges this by exclaiming "Holy Titanic!".
* This episode was partially adapted into the book Island of the Giant Pokémon.
* While not in the episode itself, the preview for this episode from the previous episode had Ash directly referring to Giovanni by name, the only instance where one of the protagonists ever used his name.

## Transcript

*Main article: Battle Aboard the St. Anne/Transcript*