The Pokémon Peninsula > Episode Guide > Episode 3: "There's No Place Like Hoenn"

Pokémon Advanced Generation, Episode 3

There's No Place Like Hoenn

Written by Optic for The Anime Network; used with permission

Ash runs up and sees Petalburg City ahead, home of the first gym. Once again, May is left behind and tells him to wait up. She then asks what's the rush. Ash eagerly says that there's a big gym battle waiting for him. May tries to tell him to slow down again but Ash doesn't listen. She takes a deep sigh and closes her eyes.

Ash and May are now at a playground. Ash explains why badges are a big deal. Once he gets all the badges he can compete in the Hoenn League. May thinks that sounds great. When Ash asks if May can come along to the Gym with him, she politely declines. She says that she has to go take care of a few things first. Pikachu waves goodbye and Ash says "Er... okay. Cya."

He then stands outside the Petalburg Gym. After announcing himself, he finds no reply. He then walks around seeing if anyone is in the gym. A small kid with a green shirt and glasses walks towards Ash and tells him to keep it down as he is right in the middle of watching a video of the Silver Conference. Ash apologises. The kid then shouts "Hey! It's really you! You were in the Johto League Silver Conference!" Ash nods. "You lost in the second round!" Ash and Pikachu then hang their heads and go "Uhh..."

The kid then tries to guess Ash's name, and says it's Alph. Ash then corrects him by saying "It's Ash..." He then points at Pikachu. "And that's your Pikachu!" He grabs it and hugs it. "Hi there Pikachu! My name's Max!" Max continues to rub it in on how Ash lost the second round against Harrison during the Johto League Silver Conference.

Ash cannot take anymore and says that he came here to challenge the Gym Leader. Max says that he is the gym leader, and at first Ash doesn't believe him. This agitates Max and Ash then believes him. He tells him to calm down and asks what the gym rules are. Max says that it will be a 3vs3 in accordance with the Petalburg Gym rules. He gives the honour for Ash to show his three Pokémon but declines as he thinks the gym leader is supposed to show their Pokémon first.

They continue arguing until May pops up at the window and greets Max. She asks what's going on. Max reples by saying "Hi there sis..." Ash then says "Your sister?" May then introduces her father (Norman), mother (Caroline) and little brother (Max). Max says that Norman is the real leader of the Petalburg Gym. Caroline thanks Ash for escorting May back to her home at the Petalburg Gym. Max then announces "Mum, Dad! This is the guy who lost in the Silver Conference second round! His name is Alph!" Once again Ash corrects his name.

Caroline wonders what happened to May's bicycle. A flashback appears showing how Pikachu barbequed her bicycle when Pikachu used it's electric attacks against Team Rocket's machine in the first episode. Ash apologises to May once again. Norman says it's not a big deal, as bikes can be replaced. Caroline says walking is better for your health anyway. Norman then asks what sort of Pokémon May ended up getting from Prof. Birch.

May happily sends out Torchic, and Max is not very satisfied with May's choice. If it were for him, he definitely would've picked a Treecko. Out of anger, Torchic uses its peck attack on Max. May orders it to stop Torchic from attacking Max. Norman thinks Torchic is a fine choice and Caroline finds it as cute as a button. Max wishes he had his own Pokémon, a Treecko especially. This causes Torchic to peck Max again out of anger.

Caroline invites Ash to lunch and he happily accepts. They then discuss Ash's travels. May tells Norman that Ash wanted a gym battle from him, and says that he'd be happy to do so. Unfortunantly, Ash only has one Pokémon with him and though he could have them all of his other Pokémon transferred through the Pokémon Centre, he explains that he wanted to start a whole new journey with just his Pikachu and only use Pokémon that he catches from the Hoenn Region. Norman finds Ash's plan admirable.

Despite Ash's lack of Pokémon, Norman is happy to have a battle with Ash since he came this far. Of course it won't be an official gym battle, rather a friendly battle. Ash really appreciates it.

And so the battle commences. Ash sends out Pikachu and Norman sends out Vigoroth. Pikachu's attempts on evading Vigoroth's attacks prove quite futile as Vigoroth is more faster, in conjunction with its scratch attacks. Pikachu manages to land a hit with a quick attack, but gets defeated. Ash is impressed by Vigoroth's strength.

Suddenly a blast smashes through the wall and Team Rocket once again recite their motto. Caroline thinks that they are May's friends, but May quickly corrects her by saying "No mother, those are the bad guys!"

Jessie and James send out Arbok and Weezing. James orders Weezing to use smokescreen, which creates a smokescreen throughout the gym. Arbok then headbutts Pikachu. Norman then orders Vigoroth to retaliate. Max wonders why May isn't helping out as she has a Pokémon. She sends out Torchic but asks what to do next. Max suggests giving it an attack. Arbok then headbutts Torchic, which sends it flying.

Ash orders Pikachu to use thunderbolt on Team Rocket, but it ends up hitting Max. "Well it's one thing learning about Pikachu's thunderbolt on TV but a whole another thing to feel it in the flesh. Wow! Got to say it's impressive!" says a shocked Max.

As the smokescreen clears, they discover Team Rocket has escaped, and that May's Torchic is missing. Ash assures May that he'll get her Torchic back. He promises it.

Meanwhile, Team Rocket believe that they have captured Pikachu. But to their surprise they find that they captured May's Torchic instead. "It's a Torchic!" says James. Torchic then uses Ember in his face and gets a bit burned. Jessie finds it cute, but they all agree that it's too small to please the boss for 'Team Rocket material'.

Ash, May, Max, Norman and Caroline are currently discussing where Team Rocket could've gone. Ash doubts they could've went too far by this time. They decide to split up to go look for them with Norman and Caroline going off in another group. Max tries to find any clues, but isn't able to find any. May points out the reason why is because perhaps Team Rocket took off in a balloon. Max continues babbling on nonsense and May gives Max a light whack on his head whilst saying "Give me a break!"

Max puts on the fake crying act. Eventually he gets up and decides that his act would eventually get old. Norman and Caroline return to where Ash, May and Max are and say that they have located Team Rocket's hot air balloon.

At the scene, they see Torchic in a cage. May and Max rush out of their hiding position towards Torchic and though Ash tries to stop them they fall into a pithole trap. Norman and Caroline rush in to help May and Max but despite Ash's warnings, they fall into another pithole trap. Ash then orders Pikachu to distract Team Rocket while he goes to rescue May, Max, Norman and Caroline.

Norman then sends out his Vigoroth to attack Arbok. He then orders it to use its Scratch attack on Weezing. In the background of the action, Max slips by and retrieves the cage holding May's Torchic inside. May thanks Max a lot and gives Torchic a hug.

Back at the battle, Arbok has held Vigoroth tight with it's Wrap attack. Pikachu is able to rescue Vigoroth by tackling Arbok. May is angered by what Team Rocket has done to Torchic and orders it to use an attack. She mistakenly orders it to use Amber instead of Ember. Max kindly corrects May. Unfortunantly, Torchic uses Ember on Max by mistake. "Ugh! It's one thing to see ember on TV but another thing to feel it! I'm impressed again!" says a burned Max. May then orders Torchic to use Peck but it attacks Max by mistake.

Meanwhile, Pikachu has just gotten headbutted by Arbok. Vigoroth quickly rescues Pikachu by nudging Arbok and Weezing towards Team Rocket. Pikachu then uses Thunderbolt and Team Rocket once again go flying. Afterwards, Torchic is very grateful for being saved from Team Rocket. It becomes very fond of May.

It is now time for Ash and May to get going. Max suggests that he should come along as they don't know very much about Pokémon in their opinion. Norman agrees and thinks that he'll be a big help to the team. He then gives Ash and May badge cases to hold their winning badges. Norman then gives Max a Pokémon Navigator. With one of those, they will always know exactly where they are.

And now, having been joined by May's little brother Max, Ash sets his sights on Rustboro City.