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Having a Wailord of a Time

AG034   はじめてのポケモンで大パニック!! The Great Starter Pokémon Panic!

First broadcast Japan July 17, 2003 United States May 22, 2004

English themes Opening I Wanna Be A Hero Ending

Japanese themes Opening アドバンス・アドベンチャー Ending ポルカ・オ・ドルカ

Credits Animation Team Ota Screenplay 松井亜弥 Aya Matsui Storyboard 藤本義孝 Yoshitaka Fujimoto Assistant director 渡辺正彦 Masahiko Watanabe Animation director 志村泉 Izumi Shimura No additional credits are available at this time.

Having a Wailord of a Time (Japanese: はじめてのポケモンで大パニック!! The Great Starter Pokémon Panic!) is episode 34 of Advanced Generation. It was first broadcast in Japan on July 17, 2003 and in the United States on May 22, 2004.

While May trains Beautifly for the upcoming contest, she leaves Torchic with the others. Nurse Joy asks Ash and Max to look after the starting Pokémon for when a new trainer arrives but when the Torchic runs off and evolves into a Combusken, will they be able to get away with having May's Torchic stand in its place? Meanwhile, Team Rocket steal a Wailord.

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

Synopsis

The Pokémon Contest is rapidly approaching, and May is training hard for it. She thinks about how she can't wait to battle Drew, and runs off to train with her Beautifly, leaving her Torchic with the others. Torchic feels left out and upset as it watches its trainer running off.

Ash, Brock and Max, and all their Pokémon, are eating, when Max jumps up. He is annoyed because May keeps leaving Torchic alone; it seems like she doesn't care about Torchic anymore, only Beautifly. Ash explains that it's OK, Torchic will always be special to May because it was her first Pokémon. Max wants to know what Brock's first Pokémon was and Brock remembers back to his tenth birthday when he woke up and found an Onix leaning into his room, with a red ribbon around its neck. He and his father (Flint) sat on Onix's head and watched the sunrise. Max imagines the Pokémon he'd have when he became a Pokémon trainer, thinking that his father could give him anything, even a Slakoth. In the imagination bubble, Slakoth falls on top of Max and squashes him.

Nurse Joy comes by on her way to do her rounds of the Pokémon, and Brock grabs her and insists on coming with her (even when she says she doesn't need help). Joy suggests that they all come along to check on the Pokémon. She sees Mudkip, Torchic and Treecko all eating, and is surprised at their great condition, telling the gang that there is a new trainer coming to the Pokémon Center to choose a Pokémon. The kids follow Joy to another room, where Max is allowed to release the Pokémon from their Poké Balls. The Torchic is in a fighting mood; the Mudkip bursts into tears and is comforted by Brock's Mudkip, while the Treecko clasps its hands together and simpers (it's obviously a girl, later you see it's got a flower instead of a twig). Max gets very excited when saying "Treecko, I choose you!" because it's something he's always wanted to say.

A video call from a rather panicked May comes in. She explains that there's a Wailord beached where she's training, and Nurse Joy runs off to help it, telling the kids to look after the three starters and not let them go outside because they're not used to it. Brock follows her. Team Rocket are standing outside the window and hear about the Wailord. They decide they want to catch it.

The Pokémon Center's Torchic runs off towards the outside. It seems rather strong; every time one of Ash's or Brock's Pokémon (or May's Torchic) tries to stop it, it attacks them and keeps going, even Corphish. Corphish tries to attack it but Ash stops it from hurting the smaller Pokémon. Pikachu stops it momentarily with lightning cheeks, but it pulls a tears-in-its-eyes trick and Pikachu relaxes and lets down its guard, allowing the PC Torchic to run by again. It makes it outside and Corphish chases it, attacking it to make it stop. The Torchic evolves into a Combusken. Ash and Max are less than amused. They panic.

Ash and Max decide that the only thing to do is to substitute May's Torchic for the evolved one, and try and stop the trainer from choosing it. They flinch as they imagine what May would do if she caught them, so they just have to keep her away.

It turns out that the Wailord will be OK, and it just needs to rest a bit. May and Joy return to the Pokémon Center. May sits down and Max brings her a cup of tea, asking her if she needs anything else. She starts to get a bit suspicious and asks where her Torchic is. Max freaks slightly and says it's outside. She heads for the door to go find it. Max tries to stop her and she gets really suspicious.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the same door, Stephanie, the young trainer, is inspecting the starting Pokémon with her father. She's very indecisive and can't choose between them. She stops in front of Torchic and says that she chooses it, but Ash says "forget it!" She doesn't quite hear him and Ash quickly covers up by saying that Torchic is a bad choice, because it's smelly and noisy and disobedient etc. There is a banging noise and Nurse Joy doesn't know what it is, but Ash says it's just the wind. May comes into the room, and her Torchic sees her and runs to her. She hugs it and demands to know what's going on. This is when Combusken, who Ash and Max hid in a cupboard, bursts out. Nurse Joy is surprised at this and Ash and Max explain what happened.

They look out the window and see Wailord floating in the sky, high above them, in a sling with the Team Rocket "R" on them. They run outside and Team Rocket, in their balloon, do their motto XD. Then Combusken jumps up and attacks the balloon. The ropes holding the Wailord are cut and it falls into the sea. Pikachu attacks Team Rocket and they blast off before falling down again.

Nurse Joy tells Stephanie that Combusken probably isn't the best choice for a beginner, so she chooses Mudkip. Treecko gets upset and starts to cry. Stephanie's father looks at Treecko and gets upset too, and asks if it's too late for him to have Treecko and become a trainer. The others assure him that's fine, so Mudkip and Treecko prepare for a new life on the road with their new trainers.

Major events

Debuts

• Combusken

• Wailord

Characters

Humans

Pokémon

Who’s That Pokémon?: Lotad

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Taillow (Ash's)
• Treecko (Ash's)
• Corphish (Ash's)
• Torchic (May's)
• Beautifly (May's)
• Onix (Brock's; flashback)
• Forretress (Brock's)
• Lotad (Brock's)
• Mudkip (Brock's)
• Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
• Roselia (Drew's)
• Slakoth (Norman's; flashback, debut)
• Treecko (starter Pokémon)
• Torchic (starter Pokémon)
• Mudkip (starter Pokémon)
• Combusken (Pokémon Center guard, debut)
• Wingull (unnamed contestant's)
• Azurill (unnamed contestant's)
• Aggron (unnamed contestant's)
• Wailord (debut)

Trivia

Errors

Dub edits

In other languages

• French: Un Poussifeu bien capricieux
• Portuguese: Cadê o Meu Torchic?

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