EP032

The Ninja Poké-Showdown (Japanese: セキチクにんじゃたいけつ！ Sekichiku Ninja Confrontation!) is the 32nd episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on November 4, 1997 and in the United States on October 20, 1998.

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

Synopsis

Ash, Misty and Brock are sitting by a lake with Pikachu, Vulpix and Psyduck. Misty tries to teach Psyduck a move but it doesn't do a thing. Misty asks if they want to trade Psyduck but they refuse. The trio come across a Venonat watching them from the trees. They follow the Venonat to an old house where it disappears into the corridor. Misty leans against a wall and falls through it. The others search the wall and eventually open it up to find her. Ash then falls out of the side of the house and is hanging on. The others manage to pull him up when Ash is stuck to a wall with throwing stars. Then Aya falls down onto them. She explains who she is and that she is the Gym Leader. She and Ash begin a battle and she sends out Venonat. Ash chooses Bulbasaur. Bulbasaur uses Tackle but Venonat jumps out of the way. Then Bulbasaur uses Leech Seed and Venonat is defeated. Aya returns Venonat and the real Fuchsia Gym Leader appears, Koga. He says Aya is his sister and that he will rematch Ash.

Outside Koga and Ash send out their Pokémon, Charmander and Venonat. They start the battle and Venonat evolves into Venomoth. But Team Rocket arrives and send out Arbok and Weezing. Psyduck uses his Template:M2 and blasts Arbok and Weezing away. Koga and Aya both offer to trade for Psyduck but Misty says "I wouldn't trade Psyduck for the world." Ash gets his sixth badge after defeating Koga and the trio go on their way.

Major events

• Ash earns a Soul Badge by defeating Koga.
• Psyduck battles for the first time, showing off its unique characteristic of using super-powerful attacks when its headache grows severe.

Debuts

• Aya
• Koga

Pokémon debuts

• Venomoth (Koga's)
• Golbat
• Voltorb

Characters

Humans

• Ash
• Misty
• Brock
• Aya
• Koga
• Jessie
• James

Pokémon

Who’s That Pokémon?: Venonat

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Pidgeotto (Ash's)
• Bulbasaur (Ash's)
• Charmander (Ash's)
• Psyduck (Misty's)
• Vulpix (Brock's)
• Arbok (Jessie's)
• Weezing (James's)
• Venonat (Aya's)
• Venonat (Koga's; evolves)
• Venomoth (Koga's; newly evolved, debut)
• Voltorb (Koga's; multiple, debut)
• Golbat (Koga's; debut)

Trivia

• This is Maddie Blaustein's first episode as Meowth.
• Brock's eyes open after being hit by Charmander's Flamethrower.

Errors

• Ash commands his Bulbasaur to use Whirlwind, though in the games, Bulbasaur cannot legitimately know this move.
  • This was most likely a dubbing error, since Whirlwind is known as ふきとばし Blow Away in Japanese. Ash was most likely telling Bulbasaur to simply "blow it away" rather than the actual attack.
• Koga has his Venomoth attack Ash's Pidgeotto with Stun Spore and Sleep Powder, which paralyze it and put it to sleep, respectively. However, no Pokémon can have more than one major status ailment on it at the same time.
• Ash instructs his Pikachu to use "electric attack," which does not exist (although he could have been referring to an Template:Type2 attack in general).

Dub edits

In other languages

• Brazilian Portuguese: Os Poderes do Poké-Ninja
• Dutch: De Pokémon en de ninja
• Finnish: Ninjajengi ja Pokémonien välienselvittely
• French: Le ninja Pokémon
• German: Die Arena der Ninjas
• Italian: La villa dei ninja
• Latin American Spanish: ¡El duelo Pokémon ninja!
• Iberian Spanish: El Pokenfrentamiento ninja
• Swedish: Ninjaherrgården

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