EP097

← EP096 : Meowth Rules!

Original series

EP098 : A Way Off Day Off →

Tracey Gets Bugged

EP097   ストライクせんしのほこり Strike Soldier's Pride

First broadcast Japan May 20, 1999 United States April 1, 2000

English themes Opening Pokémon World Ending

Japanese themes Opening ライバル！ Ending タイプ・ワイルド

Credits Animation Team Ota Screenplay 冨岡淳広 Atsuhiro Tomioka Storyboard 井上修 Osamu Inoue Assistant director 井上修 Osamu Inoue Animation director 梶浦紳一郎 Shin'ichirō Kajiura Additional credits

Screenshots on Filb.de

Tracey Gets Bugged (Japanese: ストライクせんしのほこり Strike Soldier's Pride) is the 97th episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on May 20, 1999 and in the United States on April 1, 2000.

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

Synopsis

Ash and his friends arrive on Murcott Island. At the beach, Ash recalls his Lapras as Tracey brings out Marill and Venonat, excited to visit the island. Misty ducks at a passing Beedrill due to her fear of bugs. Tracey reveals that the island is famous for housing plenty of Template:Type2s. Misty wants to stay on the beach to avoid exploring as Ash tells Tracey of her fear. Tracey taunts her by calling her a chicken, persuading her to follow.

The group walks along as Tracey's Pokémon sense something nearby. Tracey uses his binoculars to spot a group of Caterpie. Ash wants to catch one, but Misty pulls him away. Tracey warns her of a Pokémon in her path as she stumbles across a hiding Pinsir, sending Misty running the other way. They continue along and Tracey's Pokémon spot something else. Tracey follows as they come across a badly injured Scyther on the ground, nearly passed out from exhaustion. Ash checks his Pokédex as Tracey steps forward to treat it. Scyther wakes up as Tracey tries to use a Potion, jumping back and assuming a battle position, but it is too weak to fight, barely able to stand. Ash steps forward to try and catch it. He throws a Poké Ball, but Scyther swats it away, falling to its knees before struggling back up. Ash attempts to send Pikachu to battle, but Tracey steps in with his Venonat. Tracey orders a Sleep Powder attack. Scyther tries to fly away and avoid the attack, but it falls back down, the attack hitting and putting it to sleep. Tracey tosses a Poké Ball, easily catching Scyther.

Team Rocket is flying over the island in their balloon surveying the land. A Beedrill flies towards them and cuts through the balloon, bringing it down. Team Rocket gets out of the wreck and notices all the bug Pokémon around. They stumble across a Scyther swarm. The leader, denoted by two cuts forming a cross on its forehead, leads an attack on Team Rocket.

At the Pokémon Center, Nurse Joy and Chansey work on Scyther. Ash and his friends watch through the window as Scyther glares at Tracey, seemingly mad at being captured. Chansey brings Scyther out of the room and takes it to recovery. Joy concludes that it lost its swarm leadership position from battling a younger Scyther challenger. The loss forced it to leave the swarm and live in exile unless it wins another leadership match. Ash calls Professor Oak, the professor commending Tracey. Oak points out that Scyther's self-esteem is probably low due to losing leadership and being captured. Oak suggests to Tracey to try and heal Scyther’s mood and get it back in shape.

Team Rocket managed to outrun the Scyther swarm, but not without hits. Meowth and James notify Jessie that her hair was crudely cut short. After checking it, she is clearly outraged, wanting to confront the Scyther. Meowth stops her to help plan a method to capture the entire swarm. Meanwhile, Tracey tries to help Scyther recover, but it is resistant. Ash knows Scyther loves battling and that Tracey should work to help Scyther prepare for a rematch.

Team Rocket watches the Scyther swarm resting at a pond. Jessie fires a bazooka loaded with yellow glue into the air, coming down and immobilizing the swarm. Meowth fires a net as the swarm cries out. Scyther hears the cry as Joy removes its bandages. Scyther flies up and crashes through the window, heading away. It crashes back to the earth, still weak. Tracey tries to stop Scyther, but it resists and flies away. Tracey and his friends follow.

Team Rocket has the Scyther swarm in a net, Jessie beside herself in anger as she taunts the swarm. Tracey's Scyther cuts them loose and steps forward to confront Team Rocket. Ash and the others arrive, noticing Jessie’s hair and quickly making fun of her. Furious, Jessie brings out Arbok and Lickitung while James brings out Weezing and Victreebel. Ash sends out Pikachu as Weezing uses SmokeScreen to cover the field. Scyther blows it away with Swords Dance, but it is still exhausted. Meowth translates that Scyther came back not to challenge the leader but to protect its brethren. Team Rocket's Pokémon outnumber Scyther four to one and Pikachu tries to step in, but Scyther wards him away. Ash tries to order Pikachu in, but Tracey stops him to allow Scyther to prove itself.

Meowth even joins the Pokémon to attack, leading the charge, but Scyther easily swats him away. Lickitung and Victreebel try to hit Scyther in a pincer attack, but Scyther flies up, Victreebel biting Lickitung. Arbok attacks from underneath Scyther, but Scyther uses Double Team to throw Arbok off, sending it back to the ground. Scyther lands and tries to rest as Victreebel attacks with Razor Leaf. Scyther stops the attack with its scythes as Tracey reveals how he knew Victreebel would use the move. Arbok attacks with Poison Sting as Scyther dodges. It collapses, low on stamina and unable to dodge the second Poison Sting. The new leader steps forward to stop the attack. The two Scyther team up and attack Team Rocket with Slash attacks against their Pokémon. Jessie tries to fire a bazooka, but Ash's Pikachu stops her with Thunderbolt. Scyther attacks Team Rocket and leaves them with mohawks. Team Rocket retreats.

The Scyther swarm washes off the glue as the new leader and Tracey's Scyther give respect to each other. The swarm departs as Tracey's Scyther regains its confidence, joining Tracey. Tracey officially announces his capture as Ash tries to correct his style to resemble how Ash celebrates his captures.

Major events

• Tracey's Venonat is revealed to know Sleep Powder.
• Tracey captures a Scyther.

For a list of all major events in Pokémon the Series, please see the timeline page.

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

• Tracey's Scyther

Characters

Humans

• Ash
• Misty
• Tracey
• Jessie
• James
• Nurse Joy
• Professor Oak
• Others at the Pokémon Center

Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?

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

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Togepi (Misty's)
• Lapras (Ash's)
• Venonat (Tracey's)
• Marill (Tracey's)
• Scyther (Tracey's; new)
• Arbok (Jessie's)
• Lickitung (Jessie's)
• Weezing (James's)
• Victreebel (James's)
• Chansey (Nurse Joy's)
• Caterpie (multiple)
• Metapod
• Weedle
• Beedrill
• Paras
• Venomoth
• Scyther (multiple)
• Pinsir

Trivia

• Professor Oak's lecture: Ekans: Oak discusses Ekans's ability to sense temperature and swallow prey ten times its own size whole. Oak tries to feed an Ekans some Pokémon food, but gets swallowed whole.
  • Pokémon senryū summary: Swallowing something whole, its belly gets full: Ekans.
• Tracey's capture of Scyther marks the first and only time that he is seen capturing a Pokémon in the anime.
• When Tracey caught Scyther, he grabbed the Poké Ball as soon as Scyther was inside. The ball never shook as it did with nearly every other capture before and afterwards. This also happened to Ash's Charmander and Brock's Vulpix.
• Ash decided to catch a Caterpie in this episode but was quickly dragged off by Misty, which was the only time where he wanted to catch a Pokémon from the same species that he had previously successfully caught.
  • Ash says, "I haven't caught a Caterpie in a long time". This marks the first time Ash's Butterfree was mentioned, albeit indirectly, since its release 76 episodes prior.
• In this episode, Team Rocket uses a variation of their motto.

Errors

• In the Pokédex picture of Scyther, it shows that it has a third wing on its right side when it should be just two on each side. This made Scyther have a total of five wings.
• When Tracey explains how well Venonat and Marill work as a team, Misty comments "At least they're not Template:Type2s". This is untrue in the sense that Venonat is indeed a Bug-type.
• In the English dub Jessie tells Arbok to use "Poison Needle" rather than Poison Sting. "Poison Needle" is actually the translation of どくばり, the Japanese name of Poison Sting.

In other languages

Language		Title
Mandarin Chinese		飛天螳螂，戰士的尊嚴
Czech		Traceyho nový kamarád
Dutch		Tracey Krijgt de Kriebels
European French		Histoire de bé-bêtes
German		Tracey und die Käfer-Pokémon
Hebrew		טרייסי נתקל בחרקיםTracey nitkal becharakim
Hungarian		Tracey bogaras lesz
Italian		Alla conquista degli insetti
Portuguese	Brazil	Um Novo Amigo para o Tracey
	Portugal	Os Insectos do Tracey
Russian		Новый друг Трейси
Spanish	Latin America	¡Tracey se apasiona!
	Spain	Tracey captura un insecto

← EP096 : Meowth Rules!

Original series

EP098 : A Way Off Day Off →

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