AG148

← AG147 : Sweet Baby James

Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire

AG149 : Wheel of Frontier →

A Chip Off the Old Brock

AG148   EP422 ミズゴロウとモココ！恋の特効薬！？ Mizugorou and Mokoko! Wonder Drug of Love!?

First broadcast Japan October 20, 2005 United States September 16, 2006

English themes Opening Battle Frontier Ending Pokémon Go!

Japanese themes Opening バトルフロンティア Ending ポケモンかぞえうた

Credits Animation Team Ota Screenplay 藤田伸三 Shinzō Fujita Storyboard 井硲清高 Kiyotaka Itani Assistant director 中村圭三 Keizō Nakamura Animation director たけだゆうさく Yūsaku Takeda No additional credits are available at this time.

Screenshots on Filb.de

A Chip Off the Old Brock (Japanese: ミズゴロウとモココ！恋の特効薬！？ Mizugorou and Mokoko! Wonder Drug of Love!?) is the 148th episode of Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire, and the 422nd episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on October 20, 2005, and in the United States on September 16, 2006.

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

Blurb

Brock's Mudkip evolves into Marshtomp while training with Grovyle, but when it shows off its Mud Shot attack, it accidentally hit s a nearby Flaaffy! Luckily, Flaaffy's owner, Mariah, works at a pharmacy that makes Pokémon medicine. Soon Flaaffy is well, but Marshtomp has developed a crush on it! Mariah and her friend McCauley are helping the pharmacy's doctor, using Electric Pokémon to help make medicine. It's not easy, and McCauley is really starting to doubt his abilities.

A disguised Team Rocket tries to clean out the pharmacy using Meowth in a Snorlax suit, but McCauley and Brock drive them off. Team Rocket doesn't give up: later that night, they return with a rocket-powered balloon and steal the entire building while Mariah and Flaaffy are still inside! McCauley and his Ampharos leap into the building as it's carried off. Back on the ground, Ash and his friends try to stop Team Rocket, but Pikachu and the doctor's Mareep are hurt when Marshtomp's attack is deflected by Team Rocket's latest device.

Up in the flyaway pharmacy, McCauley and Mariah mix up a Pokémon medicine, then toss it to the doctor. The hurt Pokémon are restored to full health, and the Electric Pokémon pool their power to defeat Team Rocket. McCauley now has confidence in himself, but poor Brock and Marshtomp realize that romance with Mariah and Flaaffy will never pass! Yes, everything's definitely back to normal as our friends head towards the next stop on the Battle Frontier!

Plot

In the lead up to his Battle Arena challenge, Ash and Grovyle have a practice match against Brock and his Mudkip. Grovyle fires a Bullet Seed, but Mudkip dodges it. Mudkip withstands a direct lash of Leaf Blade and suddenly evolves into Marshtomp. Marshtomp attacks with a new move, Mud Shot, but Grovyle dodges it and the move hits a Flaaffy instead.

Brock offers to help, but Flaaffy’s Trainer, Mariah doesn’t respond. Instead Mariah runs to her Grandma Katie's drugstore for treatment, to which Ash and his friends follow after her. After a quick sip of medicine, Flaaffy heals in an instant. Ash and Brock immediately apologize and introduce themselves. Brock and Marshtomp quickly move on to holding Mariah and Flaaffy's hands and showing attraction. However, Max and May jump in and pull the lovesick twosome away. Suddenly McCauley and his Ampharos enter the store to show Katie his energy elixir. After a quick examination, she notes that McCauley didn't mix the Cheri Berry well, so she can't sell it. McCauley is disappointed by his efforts, admitting that he may never improve. Mariah tells him to focus on the positives and that he can always try again. Outside, Team Rocket spy on the drugstore and plot to steal and on-sell the medicines.

Katie orders McCauley to mind the drugstore while she makes medicine. Brock also asks to see the medicine-making process, so he May, Max go with Katie and Mariah, while Ash and Pikachu train for their next Frontier battle. In her storeroom, Katie mixes some ingredients into a watery paste and Brock takes notes as they watch Katie make medicine. When all the ingredients are mixed Katie puts it into a bottle and uses her Mareep's Thunder to purify the medicine. Katie admits the amount of electricity required is still a rather experimental process.

Back at the drugstore, Jessie and James disguise themselves as an elderly couple with an ill Snorlax; none other than Wobbuffet and Meowth inside a costume. Jessie and James begin clearing the shelves, throwing all of the medicine directly into the Snorlax costume. McCauley is alarmed by the amount of stock the duo are taking, when Jessie suddenly throws him and his handful of pharmaceuticals into the costume’s mouth. McCauley immediately sees Meowth and Wobbuffet inside and realizes that it isn't a real Snorlax. Team Rocket promptly run away with the medicine, but Ash sees them and commands Grovyle to use Bullet Seed to trip them up. Team Rocket's disguises fall off, revealing their true identities. They don't give the medicine to McCauley, so Brock tells Marshtomp to use Mud Shot, and Team Rocket falls into a boat and are carried down a waterfall. Mariah rushes out to see if everything is alright, and McCauley admits the medicine has been all recovered. However, Mariah blushes as she adds that she was really asking about him.

During the night, Brock combs Marshtomp and tells him that together with Mariah and Flaaffy they will be good couples. Suddenly, Ash notices an incredible amount of electricity coming from inside the drugstore, so the group decide to investigate. Inside is Ampharos and McCauley practicing to make medicine but the bottle cracks open from the overcharge. May tells him that it is too late to practice, but McCauley says that he wants to be as good as Katie. He explains that he and Mariah have been watching Katie make medicine since they were both children. As McCauley admits he’ll never come good, Katie enters the room and assures him that he needs to improve his confidence to succeed. McCauley commits to be more confident in himself.

Unexpectedly the whole building begins to shake as Team Rocket lifts the drug store off the ground. Everyone escapes in time, but they realize that Mariah and Flaaffy are still trapped inside the store. While Team Rocket recites their motto, McCauley climbs up another house with Ampharos and they both jump inside the open store door. In realization of his attempt, Jessie commands Meowth to shake McCauley off. Subsequently all of the stocked medicines smash and break on the ground. To stop Team Rocket making a getaway, Brock orders a Mud Shot from his Marshtomp. Meowth retaliates by deploying a protective dish that sends the attack right back at them, injuring both Pikachu and Mareep. Katie quickly asks for some Electric Pokémon medicine to heal the Pokémon, but Mariah and McCauley inform her that the medicine has been smashed. Katie is angered at this, and Team Rocket only respond by laughing at her nonsense bickering. James's Mime Jr. jumps up to the balloon's controls and starts playing with them happily, making the balloon and the store rock even more. McCauley spots two remaining medicines that weren't destroyed, and he decides they must take action quickly even without the magic Sunkern dew. Ampharos, with all its electric might appears to be struggling mixing the medicines, so Flaaffy joins in, but before they are done Team Rocket fixes their rocket boosters. Instantly, McCauley throws the newly made medicine down to Katie. She promptly heals Pikachu and Mareep and they both deploy a ferocious double Thunder. Meowth activates the reflective dish once again, but the pair dodge the reflected attacks in time. Inside the floating store, Ampharos and Flaaffy use the same attack to successfully destroy the balloon engines and make the ship crash down. On ground, Mariah, McCauley, Ampharos, and Flaaffy escape the store to leave Ash and his friends to fight Seviper and Cacnea. James has Cacnea attack with Needle Arm and Seviper uses Poison Tail while Marshtomp uses Water Gun to crash both of the Pokémon into Team Rocket. Ampharos and Flaaffy use Thunder to immobilize Team Rocket while Pikachu and Mareep also use Thunder to send Team Rocket blasting off again.

Afterwards, Mariah realizes that McCauley's confidence was the reason they created the medicine and defeated Team Rocket, and Katie, seeing this, gives the store to them. Brock and Marshtomp are let down and left heartbroken at this. The following day, May thanks Katie for the medicine supplies as she and her friends continue their journey towards the Battle Arena.

Major events

• Brock's Mudkip evolves into Marshtomp and learns Mud Shot.

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

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

• Brock's Marshtomp

Characters

Humans

• Ash
• May
• Brock
• Max
• Jessie
• James
• McCauley
• Katie
• Mariah

Pokémon

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
• Mime Jr. (James's)
• Grovyle (Ash's)
• Mudkip (Brock's; evolves)
• Marshtomp (Brock's; newly evolved)
• Seviper (Jessie's)
• Cacnea (James's)
• Mareep (Katie's)
• Flaaffy (Mariah's)
• Ampharos (McCauley's)

Trivia

• Pokémon Symphonic Medley plays when Mariah and McCauley create medicine for Pikachu and Mareep, who had been injured by Mud Shot.
• The dub title is a pun of the old saying "A chip off the old block". The line was used earlier in A Family That Battles Together Stays Together! by Brock to describe Forrest.
• Marshtomp and Flaaffy are both in the Monster Egg Group, meaning that they can indeed breed.
• This is the first episode Mime Jr. participates in Team Rocket's motto, replacing Chimecho.
• As of this episode, all of the main characters' Hoenn first partner Pokémon are in their middle evolutionary stage.
• This is the first episode that Brock's Marshtomp has used a move other than Water Gun since its debut, 123 episodes ago.
• This is the first episode where a main character's Water-type first partner Pokémon has evolved.
• Prime Video calls this episode "A Chip Off the Old brock", with a lowercase B in Brock.

Errors

• The scene when Ash tells his Grovyle to use Leaf Blade is mirrored.
• May's Pokédex incorrectly refers to Marshtomp as the Mud Pokémon instead of the Mud Fish Pokémon. This was fixed in later airings.
• Max incorrectly calls Mud Shot an Earth-type attack in the dub instead of a Ground-type attack. However, this error was corrected for all subsequent airings.
• In one of the scenes, shortly after Flaaffy was healed, Ash's gloves were skin-toned, making it appear as if he only had green wristbands on.
• When May drags Marshtomp off screen, her gloves are missing.

In other languages

Language		Title
Chinese	Cantonese	水跃鱼和羊咩咩 爱的特效药
	Mandarin	水躍魚與綿綿！戀愛的特效藥！？
Danish		Ikke så meget Brock!
Dutch		Een Brock onzekerheid
Finnish		Brockin jalanjäljissä
European French		Les remèdes Pokémon
German		Der Zauberlehrling
Hebrew		התפוח לא נופל רחוק מברוק
Hindi		Brock एक बार फिर से फस गया! Brock ek baar phir se phas gaya!*
Italian		La farmacia
Korean		물짱이랑 보송송! 사랑의 특효약!?
Norwegian		Ikke så mye Brock!
Portuguese	Brazil	Uma Lasca do Velho Brock
	Portugal	Remédio para Pokémons
Russian		Чувства к Флааффи
Spanish	Latin America	De tal Brock, tal astilla
	Spain	Un palo para el pobre Brock
Swedish		Pokémonapoteket!

← AG147 : Sweet Baby James

Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire

AG149 : Wheel of Frontier →

This episode article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation.