AG059

←	AG058 : All Torkoal, No Play

Manectric Charge

AG059

EP333

キンセツジムふたたび！VSライボルト！！
Return to Kinsetsu Gym! VS Livolt!!

First broadcast

Japan	January 15, 2004
United States	December 4, 2004

English themes

Opening	This Dream
Ending

Japanese themes

Opening	アドバンス・アドベンチャー
Ending	スマイル

Credits

Additional credits
Animation	Team Ota
Screenplay	松井亜弥 Aya Matsui
Storyboard	吉田浩 Hiroshi Yoshida
Assistant director	大町繁 Shigeru Ōmachi
Animation director	たけだゆうさく Yūsaku Takeda

Manectric Charge (Japanese: キンセツジムふたたび！VSライボルト！！ Return to Kinsetsu Gym! VS Livolt!!) is the 59th episode of Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire, and the 333rd episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on January 15, 2004 and in the United States on December 4, 2004.

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

Blurb

Ash and friends return to Mauville City, where they encounter a carnival run by Team Rocket. They let all their Pokémon out to enjoy the festivities, and Team Rocket tries to steal them. Wattson and Watt arrive to help fight off the thieves, and after the battle Wattson's Electrike evolves into a Manectric.

Everyone heads to the Mauville Gym for two practice battles. First up, May's Skitty faces off against Watt's Ampharos. Skitty is victorious with Assist, using Quick Attack and Double Slap in quick succession.

Meanwhile, Team Rocket falls into Wattson's new improved Gym traps, eventually encountering a group of robotic Raikou that they mistake for the real thing.

The second battle is Ash's Torkoal versus Wattson's Manectric. Torkoal uses Overheat too many times, and Manectric takes out the Fire-type with a Charge/Thunder Wave combo.

Watt tells May about a Pokémon Contest taking place in Verdanturf Town, so the kids make that their next destination.

Plot

Ash and his friends return to Mauville City for a pit stop on the way back to Petalburg City. Before they get ready to make any plans, Max notices a huge sign for an entrance to a carnival. They decide to check it out. They check out the toy stand first, mainly full of Pokémon plushies, and it's run by a disguised Team Rocketwearing a Gengar and Tauros costume. The group sends out all their Pokémon to play, and Ash introduces his new Torkoal smogs them up as a friendly greeting, but they don't seem too happy. Next, they check out the soccer target game, where Brock scores a ten. The rest of them are about to take their turn, but then Ash notices his Torkoal standing right in front of the ball. Ash is excited and ready to watch it go, but Torkoal instead falls over, landing on its back. Moving onto the water target game, Brock uses the supplied water super soaker, while his Lotad and Mudkip help him with their Water Gun attacks. Max is having a shot at the ring toss game, with the help of Pikachu and Skitty. Treecko and Corphish are working on the ring-the-bell game, using Corphish's pincers and Treecko's tail, and Torkoal smogs them both again. May is playing a DDR-style game, with the help of Torchic, Forretress, Beautifly and Taillow. A silhouette of a Meowth, none other than Team Rocket's Meowth, appears on the screens and shows them the moves. He pulls out a remote and presses a button, which transforms the carnival attractions into Pokémon stealing traps.

With all the Pokémon trapped in a net underneath, Team Rocket recites their motto from their balloon. The group's Pokémon all try to attack the net, but none of their efforts work. Team Rocket laughs about their expensive capture net working so well and floats off. The situation seems hopeless, but some familiar friends Mauville Gym Leader Wattson and his assistant Watt show up in the nick of time. Wattson's Electrike's Thunder Wave does nothing, but Watt's Ampharos uses Iron Tail which severs the rope holding up the net. As the Pokémon get away, Jessie yells at Meowth for not using a reinforced rope. Together, Wattson, Watt, and Ash have their Pokémon use Thunder Wave, Thunder Shock, and Thunder, respectively, which become one massive beam of electricity that zaps Team Rocket even with their electricity protection. The balloon explodes and Team Rocket blasts off. As everyone is admiring Watt's Ampharos, Wattson's Electrike suddenly evolves into Manectric. Everyone is happy for him, and Torkoal shows it by smoking them all. Ash and Wattson decide to have a battle between Torkoal and Manectric, while May and Watt decide to have a battle between Ampharos and Skitty.

The group immediately notices that the front of the Mauville Gym looks different than it did the last time they were there. Ash is about to open the front door, but Watt yells at him not to open it. Wattson tells them that the front of the building isn't the only thing that's changed, hinting at a series of new traps. Inside the Gym, the first battle is between May and Watt. May starts off strong by having Skitty use Double Slap, followed by Tackle. Watt retaliates with Thunder Shock, which Skitty dodges, but Ampharos redirects the attack and scores a hit. He follows up with Iron Tail, almost knocking Skitty out. However, it gets back up. Ampharos uses Thunder Shock again, but right before it hits, Skitty uses Assist. It gets Torchic's Quick Attack, and easily dodges the Thunder Shock and hits Ampharos. It follows up with a Double Slap and knocks Ampharos out, giving May the win. Meanwhile, Team Rocket arrives at the Gym to steal some powerful Pokémon, and obliviously enter the front door, and find themselves on a rollercoaster ride.

Soon Ash and Wattson's battle begins. Torkoal uses Flamethrower, but Manectric dodges and hits with a Tackle. It doesn't do too much damage though, as both Pokémon are strong. Team Rocket is still on the ride, which they are not enjoying at all. They decide to get off at the top, but before they can, a hole opens up in the ground and they fall into the water below. Manectric uses Bite, but Torkoal uses Iron Defense and neither side takes any damage. Manectric uses Thunder Wave, but Torkoal uses Overheat. The attacks collide in mid-air, but Overheat is more powerful, so it pushes Thunder Wave back and scores a powerful hit on Manectric. Manectric didn't take too much damage and it still has plenty of energy left, and so does Torkoal. Team Rocket is now on a small raft in the middle of a huge pool of water, being sucked into a whirlpool. Torkoal uses Overheat again, and Manectric uses Charge. Overheat hits, but Manectric doesn't move. After Overheat, Torkoal uses Flamethrower, but Manectric still doesn't move. It finally finishes charging and lets loose an extremely powerful Thunder Wave. Ash tries to counter with Overheat, but he already used it twice so it doesn't have much power left. Thunder Wave hits and knocks Torkoal out, earning Wattson the victory. Team Rocket is out of the water, but they go through a door into a room with three mechanical Raikou. Believing the robots to be the actual Legendary Pokémon, the trio decides to capture them and sell them, so they send out Seviper and Cacnea.

As Ash and his friends prepare to leave for Petalburg, Watt tells May that there's an upcoming Pokémon Contest in nearby Verdanturf Town, so the group decides to head there first. Meanwhile, Team Rocket is still trying to catch the Raikou. Seviper uses Poison Tail on one, Cacnea uses Needle Arm on another, and Meowth uses Fury Swipes on the last one. Each attack chops off the Raikou's head, revealing them to be robots. Team Rocket is feeling dejected and is soon blasted off when the damaged robots explode.

Major events

Ash and his friends return to Mauville City while on their way to Petalburg City, and meet Wattson and Watt again.
Wattson's Electrike evolves into a Manectric.
May has a battle with Watt and wins.
Ash has an unofficial rematch with Wattson and loses.
Ash's Torkoal is revealed to know Iron Defense.
May learns that a Pokémon Contest will be held in Verdanturf Town.

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

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

TV episode debuts

Manectric (Wattson's)

Characters

Humans

Pokémon

Pokémon Trainer's Choice

Pokémon Trainer's Choice: Larvitar

Trivia

The episode's English dub title is a pun on the term "electric charge".
The Gengar and Tauros costumes that Team Rocket are wearing had previously appeared in In the Pink.
This is the first time Ash has a battle with a Gym Leader other than Brock and Misty after winning their Badge.
Pocket-ering Monster-ing, OK!, and music from Mewtwo Strikes Back are used as background music.
Team Rocket recites a football-themed variant of their motto.
While Larvitar is said in the Pokémon Trainer's Choice segment to be the most effective against Manectric, it is actually equally effective as Swampert, with both being Ground-types.

Errors

Team Rocket does not recognize or want Torkoal, despite trying to steal one four episodes earlier.
Torkoal was knocked out by Thunder Wave, even though it is a move that does no damage.
In the European Portuguese dub, when Team Rocket battles against the three Raikou, James tells Cacnea to use Pin Missile and it uses Needle Arm instead.

Dub edits

In the original Japanese version, the prizes Team Rocket offered were Pokémon dolls. In the English dub, the dolls were replaced with various other items, with the Torchic doll that May originally had her eyes on being replaced with a Ribbon box.

Pokémon Trainer's Choice

Question: Trainers, which one of these Pokémon is the best choice to battle Manectric?
Choices: Swampert, Larvitar, Torkoal
Answer: OK, Trainers! If you chose Larvitar, you were right!

In other languages


Language		Title
Mandarin Chinese		再訪紫菫道館，VS雷電獸！
Danish		Mødet med Manectic
Dutch		Manectrische ontlading
Finnish		Manectricin lataus
European French		Des matchs électriques
German		Voltenso in Hochspannung
Hebrew		מתקנים ואימוניםmitkanim veimunim
Hindi		शोक लगाके हाईशा! Shock lagake haisha *
Italian		Incontri tra amici
Korean		또다시 찾아 온 보라체육관
Norwegian		En magnetisk ladning!
Portuguese	Brazil	O Manectric
Portuguese	Portugal	Manectric Carregar
Russian		Заряженный Манектрик* Заряд Манектрика*
Spanish	Latin America	¡Manectric ataca!
Spanish	Spain	Carga Manectric
Swedish		Träningsmatch!