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| Friend and Foe Alike
|
セキエイスタジアム！ＶＳヒロシ！
Sekiei Stadium! VS Hiroshi!
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First broadcast
| Japan
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January 14, 1999
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| United States
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November 27, 1999
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English themes
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Japanese themes
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Credits
| Animation
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Team Ota
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| Screenplay
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園田英樹 Hideki Sonoda
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| Storyboard
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福本潔 Kiyoshi Fukumoto
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| Assistant director
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福本潔 Kiyoshi Fukumoto
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| Animation director
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福本勝 Masaru Fukumoto
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| Additional credits
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Friend and Foe Alike (Japanese: セキエイスタジアム！ＶＳヒロシ！ Sekiei Stadium! VS Hiroshi!) is the 79th episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on January 14, 1999 and in the United States on November 27, 1999.
Synopsis
After foiling one of Team Rocket's heists in the last episode, Ash and Ritchie are battling against each other in the round five battle! Brock, Misty and Nurse Joy think Ash is lucky he gets to battle a friend, and he and Ritchie vow to make it the best battle they've had. Unfortunately for Ash, due to Team Rocket's sneaky tricks, he becomes distracted on the way to the next battle. Team Rocket kidnaps Ash and demand that he either surrenders his Pikachu to them or be unable to battle Ritchie in Round five. Ash is trapped in the back of a truck, but manages to escape by flooding the entire truck with Squirtle, and escapes when the truck runs over. Team Rocket returns, but Ash uses his Bulbasaur to defeat them. They return yet again, with bikes. Pikachu uses Thunder Wave to paralyze them. They return a final time by hooking a crane on the bike Ash stole from them, and lifting him into the air. Ash takes out Pidgeotto to fly Pikachu up into their air balloon, where Pikachu uses Thunderbolt on them, and they drop into the forest. Ash orders Pidgeotto to fly the Rocket Air Balloon to the Pokémon stadium.
Meanwhile, Ritchie and everyone else is awaiting Ash's arrival. Everybody is getting tired of waiting and the referee approaches Ritchie to inform him that as it appears that Ash is not going to turn up he is to be disqualified and Ritchie will win the match by default, but Ritchie begs the referee to wait. Ritchie tells the referee that he and Ash promised each other a great battle and that Ash must have a good reason for not being there but he is certain that his new friend will turn up. The referee, seeing that Ritchie is desperate that Ash not be disqualified, agrees to give Ash ten more minutes. Misty, Brock, Delia and Professor Oak are beginning to worry, but are proud of Ritchie. Delia and Professor Oak note that Ash certainly seems to choose his friends well.
The ten minutes pass and there's still no sign of Ash. By now the referee has had enough and is about to disqualify Ash and award the match to Ritchie when suddenly Ash appears overhead in the Meowth balloon, certainly making quite an entrance. Ash's friends are very relieved, while Delia shouts at her son to apologize for keeping everyone waiting while Professor Oak tries to calm her down. Unfortunately Pidgeotto is exhausted from flying the entire Balloon to the stadium and won't be able to participate in the match, but Ash thanks it for all its effort.
The battle between Ash and Ritchie finally begins with Ash using Squirtle and Ritchie using Happy. Happy defeats Squirtle easily with Sleep Powder, and the ringer counts this as an elimination. Ash is truly surprised to see that Pikachu has enough energy to battle. Pikachu is at a disadvantage due to his lack of energy, but wins by putting the rest of his power into one Thunder. Ritchie sends out Zippo, who uses multiple Flamethrowers that Pikachu dodges. Pikachu is finally completely out of energy, and Zippo uses Tackle, finally beating Pikachu. Ash is left with only one Pokémon to use. Pidgeotto is too tired out, and Bulbasaur will be at a disadvantage against a Fire-type. Ash then realizes he only has one choice, and it's a very risky one. He uses this one choice and sends out the disobedient Charizard. Everyone is shocked by Ash's choice, especially Brock and Misty, but to their surprise, Charizard battles after he is almost hit by Zippo's Flamethrower, by shooting a Flamethrower of his own. Ritchie recalls Zippo, which immediately eliminates him. Ritchie sends out Sparky, who is ready for anything. Charizard, however, stomps on the ground twice, then uses Whirlwind, but falls asleep, and even after Ash begins to beg, it doesn't budge, and is eliminated, giving Ritchie the victory. Ash is very sad, but calms down and congratulates Ritchie, showing they still have a true friendship.
Major events
Debuts
Characters
Humans
Pokémon
Who’s That Pokémon?: Aerodactyl (US and international), Pikachu (Leon) (Japan)
Trivia
- Ash didn't command any of his Pokémon to use an attack when battling Ritchie.
- Jessie, though through the voice changer, calls Misty by name.
- This is the only episode where Pikachu has used Double-Edge.
- The book Charizard, Go! is based on this episode.
Errors
- In the English dub both Professor Oak and Brock refer to Charmander as a "Flame-type" when it's actually a Template:Type2.
- Squirtle is ruled unable to battle after it is put to sleep by Happy, despite the fact that both in the games and in the anime, sleeping Pokémon are still considered able to battle until they are knocked out.
Dub edits
In other languages
- Finnish: Ystävä vai vihollinen
- French: Amis ou ennemis?
- German: Möge der Bessere gewinnen!
- Hebrew: חבר ואויב chaver veoyev
- Italian: Amici nemici
- Mandarin: 石英運動場VS阿弘
- Portuguese (Brazilian): Amigo e Inimigo
- Russian: Друг и соперник
- Spanish:
- Iberian Spanish: Igual amigos que enemigos
- Latin American Spanish: ¡Amigos y enemigos por igual!
- Hungarian: Harcostársak
