{{EpisodePrevNext|
prevlink=AG180 |
prevtitle=AG180: Thinning the Hoard! |
nextlink=AG182 |
nexttitle=AG182: Aipom and Circumstance |
series=Advanced Generation |
episodelist=List of Advanced Generation episodes }}
{{EpisodeInfobox|
epcode=AG181 |
title_en=Channeling the Battle Zone |
title_ja= ハルカVSシュウ！最後の戦い!!|
title_ja_trans=Haruka VS Shū! The Final Battle!! |
screen=yes |
screenshot=MayVSDrewFinalBattle.jpg |
broadcast_jp=June 29, 2006 |
broadcast_us=December 13, 2006 |
en_series= |
en_op=[[Battle Frontier (dub)|Battle Frontier]] |
ja_op=[[Spurt!|スパート！]] |
ja_ed=[[I won't lose! ~Haruka's theme~|私、負けない！～ハルカのテーマ～]] |
olmteam=Team Iguchi |
scenario=冨岡淳広 |
storyboard=浅田裕二 |
director=浅田裕二 |
art=岩根雅明 |
footnotes=[[filb-eppics:ag181|Screenshots on Filb.de]] }}
'''Channeling the Battle Zone''' (Japanese: '''ハルカVSシュウ！最後の戦い!!''' ''{{tt|Haruka|May}} VS {{tt|Shū|Drew}}! The Final Battle!!'') is episode 181 of Advanced Generation. It was first broadcast in Japan on June 29, 2006 and in the United States on December 13, 2006.


{{spoilers}}

== Synopsis ==
The magnificent cup shines and glimmers in the middle of the arena, giving our hero, May, great confidence required to conquer her awaiting foes just around the corner. Through May's prior strategic efforts, we are thrown into the next part of the exuberant Grand Festival.

As a brilliant array of bubbles from Squirtle's {{m|Bubble}} attack shimmers throughout the stadium, Combusken glides through towards Absol but is met with a devastating energy strike from Absol. One twentieth of May's score is deducted as Squirtle and Combusken struggle to recover. Flygon continues the attack with a ferocious {{m|Flamethrower}} closing in on Combusken and Squirtle at a high rate. Combusken counterattacks with his own Flamethrower with the two attacks fusing and exploding throwing both Pokémon back and deducting one-twentieth from both contestants scores. Drew doesn't hesitate to continue the attack as Absol launches another wave of energy and Flygon releases a gust of wind to speed up Absol's attack. Both Combusken and Squirtle attempt to evade but manage to take direct damage from the attack and are thrust towards the ground. One-tenth of May's score is removed in the effort. Flygon and Absol explode forward with a {{m|Steel Wing}} and {{m|Iron Tail}} attacks. As the two opponents close in, May evaluates the situation and directs Combusken and Squirtle to launch their Flamethrower and Bubble attacks. The two attacks fuse creating an electrical effect colliding and making for a direct hit with Flygon and Absol enveloping them in shards of electricity and heat. Only 1/20th of Drew's score is reduced. Ash recalls his prior battle with Tucker's strategic effort using Arcanine and Swampert's attacks to create the same effect. Both Flygon and Absol are thrown backwards removing one-tenth of Drew's score. Meanwhile, Drew displays his anger with May out loud as a group of children stand in amazement.

The Battle Timer slides to just below four minutes while Drew and May continue the attack. Squirtle withdraws into its shell and begins rapidly spinning towards Absol and Flygon. Absol uses {{m|Flash}} blinding Combusken but having no effect on Squirtle. Flygon attempts to use its Steel Wing attack to divert Squirtle but only manages to knock him above the arena. With Flygon's back turned, Squirtle launches a devastating array of bubbles towards Flygon. Absol responds to divert the attack with its energy but Combusken blocks Absol's attack with his Flamethrower. The Bubblebeam attack makes direct contact with Flygon removing another 1/10th of Drew's score. Upon Squirtle's decent, he strikes down with a finishing {{m|Ice Beam}} just inches away from Flygon knocking him unconscious and unable to battle. As Squirtle begins its final descent, Absol takes advantage of the time and uses its Iron Tail to harshly knock Squirtle into a stadium wall making Squirtle unable to battle. Both trainers return their unconscious Pokémon. The battle now resides between May's Combusken and Drew's Absol. Combusken's feathers begin glowing faint blue as he rushes towards Absol but Absol manages to counterattack with its Iron Tail with both Pokémon colliding and knocking each other backwards. As Combusken manages to recover, Absol manages to strike with an additional beam of energy hitting Combusken for a direct hit before he is able to recover from the prior attack removing one-fifth of May's score. Combusken launches another ferocious Flamethrower but Absol manages to gain the type advantage with a {{m|Water Pulse}} attack. The gigantic wall of water crashes onto Combusken removing another one-fifth of her score leaving her with only 2/5 of her original score. As the water dissipates, Combusken's body begins glowing red as steam begins forming around his body. Drew doesn't hesitate to attempt to gain the battle advantage directing Absol to launch another attack towards Combusken. As the attack beings its descent, Combusken overheats launching a extraordinary amount of fire power dissipating Absol's attack and hitting for direct damage. Absol's entire body is engulfed in flames. The battle timer moves to just under 1:30. Both trainers attempt to guess the other's strategy but May makes the first move directing Combusken with {{m|Overheat}}. Another devastating ball of energy is launched towards Absol but Absol counterattacks with its Water Pulse attack dissipating the flame attack. Another fifth of May's score is removed reducing her score to only 1/5th of her original. Absol glides forward attempting to blind Combusken as he rotates forward striking Absol but managing to make no damage. Combusken uses the advantage of the close range launching another devastating Overheat attack engulfing Absol in the magnificent flames. After the continuous Overheat attacks, Combusken begins showing fatigue. Absol disperses the flames from the previous Overheat attack. Drew notices Combusken's fatigue from the continual Overheat attacks and takes advantage with Absol striking forward with a blazing beam of energy hitting Combusken for direct damage. Combusken is thrown backwards reducing May's score to only 1/20th of her original. Absol strikes forward with another Water Pulse attack as Combusken manages to use other Overheat attack with much weaker force proving no effect on the water type attack. The water engulfs Combusken causing steam to rise from Combusken's body. Absol launches forward with a last Iron Tail propelling into the air. Combusken attempts to take advantage of the airborne attack creating an electrical effect around his right arm and ascending upwards with a magnificent {{m|Sky Uppercut}}. The attack manages to make contact just as the battle timer expires. May is announced as the winner of the round between herself and Drew advancing her to the semifinals.

The contest music begins playing majestically in the background while Combusken begins his battle stance moving up and down in excitement. Drew thanks Absol for his effort and turns around approving May of her effort with a simple eye gesture. May grasps onto Combusken's body thanking him greatly. In the confusion, Aipom manages to snatch Ash's hat once more and begins escaping outside of the arena. After running a few seconds, Aipom rotates around and throws Ash's hat back to him. Ash, confused, stands as Aipom jumps up and down in its battle stance. Ash begins his second attempt to try to capture Aipom as Pikachu blazes forward with {{m|Agility}}. Aipom evades the attack and strikes down with the magnificent stars of {{m|Swift}} making direct damage. Pikachu recovers and counterattacks with his Iron Tail but Aipom manages to recover from the attack and counterattacks with his own Iron Tail striking Pikachu towards the ground.

Aipom continues jumping up and down in excitement. Ash finally decides to attack long-range with Pikachu's devastating {{m|Thunderbolt}} enveloping Aipom's body with electrical energy. As Aipom manages to recover from the attack, Ash launches a Poké Ball which opens and captures Aipom's energy within. The two forces collide with the Poké Ball's brilliant red light shining off and on and off and on. After a few moments, the red light finally disappears confirming Aipom's capture. As Ash goes to collect his newly captured Pokémon, an audience of people around him begins applauding.

Scott arrives obtaining Ash's attention. Above our two rivals, Solidad is featured on the screen above and is finally announced as the winner with her Butterfree and Lapras. We are taken deep into the final round between Solidad and May leaving Solidad with 9/10ths of her original score and May with only 1/5'th as the battle timer moves to just below two minutes. Solidad has chosen her Pidgeot and Slowbro as May has chosen Munchlax and Combusken. Munchlax launches forward with a {{m|Focus Punch}} while Slowbro uses its psychokinesis powers to rotate around and counterattacks, dissipating Munchlax's attack and knocking him backwards. Combusken's devastating Flamethrower envelops Pidgeot but after a few seconds, Pidgeot manages to recover and counterattacks with {{m|Feather Dance}}. The extraordinary feathers dissipate the flame attack and being raining down on Combusken and Munchlax with a flame effect. Slowbro uses {{m|Yawn}} creating a gigantic bubble which manages to collide with Combusken causing him to fall into a deep sleep. Munchlax collects energy for his {{m|SolarBeam}} attack but is only evaded by his opponents and met with Slowbro's psychokinesis and Pidgeot using {{m|Double Team}} to create illusionary copies of himself and striking for direct damage. Slowbro launches a finishing {{m|Hyper Beam}} as Pidgeot blasts forward making contact with both targets knocking both opponents unconscious, advancing Solidad to the next round. May shows her support for Solidad and greatly thanks Munchlax and Combusken for their effort. May walks away in a saddened state while our heroes Ash and Brock attempt to comfort her. Solidad is presented with the magnificent cup as our contestants applaud for her victory.

Later that night, an after-party is held for all the participating contestants. Drew beings to leave as May manages to catch up to him holding a solitary rose. She wishes him an exuberant parting as he walks off dispersing into the distance. May, as confident as ever, is now ready to head towards the artful Battle Pyramid. Max reviews his [[PokéNav]] as our heroes prepare for travel to the devious Battle Pyramid. We finally advance into the final stretch of the Battle Frontier with the Flames of Courage brighter than ever. (Written by: bgt)

== Major events ==
* May defeated Drew and went on to be defeated by Solidad, who won the [[Grand Festival]].
* Ash captured the Aipom that had been following the group since [[AG178]].
* May's Combusken learned {{m|Overheat}}.
=== Debuts ===
* Solidad's Pidgeot
* Solidad's Butterfree

== Characters ==
=== Humans ===
* {{Ash}}
* {{an|May}}
* [[Brock]]
* [[Max]]
* [[Jessie]]
* [[James]]
* [[Drew]]
* [[Harley]]
* [[Solidad]]
* [[Scott]]
* [[Lilian Meridian|Lilian]]
* [[Vivian Meridian|Vivian]]
* [[Contesta]]
* [[Sukizo]]
* [[Nurse Joy]]
* [[Tucker]] (flashback)
* [[Magikarp salesman]]
* Coordinators
* Audience

=== Pokémon ===
* {{p|Pikachu}} ({{op|Ash|Pikachu}})
* {{p|Meowth}} ({{TRM}})
* {{p|Wobbuffet}} ({{op|Jessie|Wobbuffet}})
* {{p|Swellow}} ({{op|Ash|Swellow}})
* {{p|Corphish}} ({{op|Ash|Corphish}})
* {{p|Aipom}} ([[Dawn's Ambipom|Ash's]]; newly captured)
* {{p|Combusken}} ({{op|May|Blaziken}})
* {{p|Munchlax}} ({{op|May|Munchlax}})
* {{p|Squirtle}} ({{op|May|Squirtle}})
* {{p|Eevee}} ({{op|May|Glaceon}})
* {{p|Flygon}} ({{op|Drew|Flygon}})
* {{p|Absol}} ({{op|Drew|Absol}})
* {{p|Wigglytuff}} ({{op|Harley|Wigglytuff}})
* {{p|Slowbro}} (Solidad's)
* {{p|Pidgeot}} (Solidad's)
* {{p|Lapras}} (Solidad's)
* {{p|Butterfree}} (Solidad's)
* {{p|Arcanine}} (Tucker's) (flashback)
* {{p|Swampert}} (Tucker's) (flashback)
* {{p|Hitmonchan}}
* {{p|Hitmonlee}}
* {{p|Magikarp}}
* {{p|Girafarig}}
* {{p|Zangoose}}

== Trivia ==
* During Ash's battle with Aipom, an extended version of ''[[Spurt!]]'' plays.
* The [[Magikarp salesman]] is seen among the crowd that watches Ash catch Aipom.
* The preview for the next episode is narrated by [[Brock]].

=== Errors ===
* During one scene in {{an|May}}'s and [[Drew]]'s battle, Drew's eyes were blue instead of green.

=== Dub edits ===

== In other languages ==

* French: '''{{tt|En route pour la coupe|On the way for the trophy}}'''
*Italian: '''{{tt|Lo scontro con Drew|The battle with Drew}}'''
{{epstub}}

{{EpisodePrevNext|
prevlink=AG180 |
prevtitle=AG180: Thinning the Hoard! |
nextlink=AG182 |
nexttitle=AG182: Aipom and Circumstance |
series=Advanced Generation |
episodelist=List of Advanced Generation episodes }}
{{Project Anime notice}}
[[Category:Advanced Generation episodes]]
[[Category:Episodes written by Atsuhiro Tomioka]]
[[Category:Episodes storyboarded and directed by Yūji Asada]]
[[Category:Episodes animated by Masaaki Iwane]]
[[Category:Grand Festival episodes]]
[[Category:Episodes in which a main character obtains a new Pokémon]]
[[Category:Episodes with contests]]
[[Category:Episodes focusing on May]]
[[ja:AG編第181話]]