EP156

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EP155 : Forest Grumps
Original series
EP157 : The Fortune Hunters
The Psychic Sidekicks!
EP156.png
  EP156  
キリンリキ!エスパーポケモンのむら!
Kirinriki! The Village of Esper Pokémon!
First broadcast
Japan July 13, 2000
United States August 11, 2001
English themes
Opening Pokémon Johto
Ending
Japanese themes
Opening OK!
Ending ポケモンはらはら²リレー
Credits
Animation Team Ota
Screenplay 冨岡淳広 Atsuhiro Tomioka
Storyboard 横田和 Kazu Yokota
Assistant director 大町繁 Shigeru Ōmachi
Animation director たけだゆうさく Yūsaku Takeda
Additional credits

Screenshots on Filb.de

The Psychic Sidekicks! (Japanese: キリンリキ!エスパーポケモンのむら! Kirinriki! The Village of Esper Pokémon!) is the 156th episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on July 13, 2000 and in the United States on August 11, 2001.

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Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.
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Synopsis

Our heroes are walking through a wood, and notice a sign that warns about Ghost Pokémon in the woods and they should use a Psychic Pokémon to keep them away. They don't have any Psychic types, but Brock remembers that Psyduck can use Psychic attacks. Misty releases her Psyduck and tells it to use its Confusion attack if they meet a Ghost Pokémon, but it doesn't seem to understand her.

The bushes rustle and something peeks out. Misty orders Psyduck to use Confusion but it returns to its Poké Ball. Ash and Brock examine the thing in the bush, it doesn't look like a Ghost-type. A girl walks up and says it isn't, it's her Girafarig's tail. Ash consults Dexter: a Girafarig is a Psychic Pokémon with a second face on its tail.

Ash introduces himself. The girl is Cherry. She picked a Girafarig to train because it's different. It's tradition in her home town to raise Psychic Pokémon because of the ghosts in the woods.

Team Rocket is listening to this and they make a plan to go to town and steal all the Psychic Pokémon. Wobbuffet comes out, annoying Jessie. Meowth says Psychic-types are tricky to catch but he has a secret weapon.

The kids are eating lunch together. Cherry says she wants to compete in the Johto League. She notices that Ash and Pikachu know each other very well, and says that it's thought if a Trainer and their Psychic Pokémon are very close they can communicate psychically. She challenges Ash to a battle and he accepts.

Pikachu starts with a Quick Attack that knocks Girafarig down, but Girafarig gets up and uses Future Sight. Nothing seems to happen, so Pikachu continues with Thunderbolt and Agility when Girafarig tries to Stomp it. Suddenly a wind rustles through the trees and a tremendous blast comes out of nowhere! Pikachu is thrown back but he's not out of the fight yet. Cherry explains that this is Future Sight: a time delayed Psychic attack. Now Girafarig uses Psybeam, Pikachu counters it with Thunderbolt, creating an explosion that raises a cloud of dust. Before Girafarig can attack again, Pikachu leaps out of the cloud and uses Thunder to win the match.

All of them congratulate Cherry for a great match, but she's worried because she can't communicate psychically with Girafarig. Ash reassures her that she's still a good Trainer. Cherry invites them all to her town to see all the other Psychic Pokémon.

In town, Misty is impressed with the Psychic Pokémon everywhere. A woman Trainer chases after her playful Abra which keeps Teleporting around. Then an exhausted man comes running up the street and warns them about a giant Ghost Pokémon that was immune to Psychic attacks! He and his Mr. Mime were fishing when a giant Gengar appeared. He had Mr. Mime do a Psywave but the attack bounced off the Gengar and hit them instead. Then the Gengar captured Mr. Mime with its tongue. Brock and Ash decide to check it out.

Jessie and James drink a toast to their mechanical ghost, but Meowth says they should go back to town and catch the rest of the psychic Pokémon. The woman Trainer finds her Abra in a tree, then they both see the Gengar. She tells Abra to use Psychic but the attack bounces off the Gengar's eyes and hits the Abra. The giant tongue comes down and grabs the Abra. Team Rocket gloats, this time they're unstoppable!

Cherry's Girafarig indicates that something is wrong, just as the giant Gengar is seen at the town limits. The man with them recognizes it as the same one that ate his Mr. Mime, and the woman returns with the same story about her Abra. All the townsfolk grab their Pokémon and run inside, but Cherry believes that her Girafarig can take on this thing despite its size.

As Team Rocket prepares to capture Pikachu, Cherry tells Girafarig to attack with Psybeam. The attack bounces off the Gengar's eyes and hits, knocking it down. Team Rocket appear and say their motto, then explain that the Gengar works by using mirrors to reflect the Psychic attacks. Brock admits that this time they've been pretty smart. Misty grabs his ear and demands to know whose side he is on.

Cherry gets angry. She and her Girafarig glow for a moment, then she orders Confusion. The attack is reflected and Girafarig gets stunned! Not giving up, Cherry encourages her Pokémon to get up and use Psybeam. This attack is bounced back as well, and to protect Girafarig both Ash and Cherry stand in front of it and take the blast themselves.

Ash tells a weakened Cherry to leave Team Rocket to him, but she tells Girafarig to use Future Sight. Team Rocket watches the Girafarig just stand there and wonder if Future Sight will tell them what their future is going to be.

As Pikachu runs forward to attack, Cherry suddenly has a vision of the Gengar trying to lick up Pikachu. She realizes that this is Girafarig's vision and warns Ash of the attack, so Pikachu is able to avoid the robot's tongue at the last second. All attempts to catch Pikachu fail, because he's now flying high thanks to Girafarig's Confusion ability. Eventually the robot's tongue can't stretch any farther, and Pikachu uses a Thunder attack which disables the robot and frees the Abra and Mr. Mime that were inside.

Team Rocket are about to get out their Pokémon to continue the fight, but a wind rustles the trees and the Future Sight attack goes off, sending Team Rocket blasting off again.

Cherry is happy, she and her Pokémon finally connected psychically. Ash and friends depart, and Cherry vows that she and Girafarig will become as good a team as Ash and Pikachu are.

Major events

For a list of all major events in the anime, please see the history page.

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

TV episode debuts

Characters

Humans

Pokémon

Dare da?

Who's That Pokémon?: Ursaring (U.S. and international), Girafarig (Japan)

Pokémon seen at the Len Town

Trivia

  • When The Johto Journeys went on a two month hiatus on Kids' WB! in 2001, this episode was promoted as a "lost episode." Even though it was classified as a lost episode, it was rerun four more times after its premiere. (October 19, 2001; December 10, 2001; July 9, 2002; June 3, 2008)
  • This episode, along with Beauty and the Beach and The Fortune Hunters, has never been released on VHS or DVD in the United States.
  • During this episode, it is mistakenly stated that Psychic-types are strong against Ghost-types, when, by Generation II (the time of this episode's airing), the reverse was true (though Gastly, Haunter, and Gengar were weak due to their secondary type). Similarly, in the Generation I episode Abra and the Psychic Showdown, it is said that Ghost-types are strong against Psychic-types, although Psychic-types were actually immune to Ghost-type attacks at the time.
    • Ghost-types that are immune to Psychic-type attacks were later introduced as actual Pokémon, in the form of Sableye and Spiritomb.
  • The sign that the group encounters is based on the trainer tips from the games.
  • When Team Rocket is driving with their mecha, they chant, "We've gotta catch 'em all!"

Errors

  • When the group comes across Girafarig for the first time and Misty is telling Psyduck to use Confusion, Psyduck's bill turns into the same color as the rest of its body.
  • At the end of the episode, the narrator says "What will happen to our heroes on their way to Johto" when he should have said "on their way through Johto."

Dub edits

In other languages



EP155 : Forest Grumps
Original series
EP157 : The Fortune Hunters
Project Anime logo.png This episode article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of the Pokémon anime.