RS052: Cheer Pressure

Cheer Pressure (Japanese: プラスルとマイナン！応援の道！？, Hepburn: Plusle and Minun! Cheerleading Road!?) is the 12th episode of Pokémon: Advanced Challenge.

Episode Plot

May is very happy to see her first ribbon. Ash is confident, so they go to the next city. Max wonders where he is going, when the direction he went to was wrong one. When they arrive to a town, they hear drums being played. A kid arrives to them, making them think who they are. Ash makes a flashback - the kid is Thatcher. Ash wonders why is Thatcher doing in the town, so Thatcher explains.

When Thatcher went to become a Pokémon trainer, he trained Plusle and Minun. A man appeared before him - a teacher for school in which they all practice cheer leading. Thatcher was lucky enough to be accepted and he learns to cheerlead. Team Rocket overhears, so they want to have their own cheering squad. Max thinks that Helping Hand would be illegal in battles, so he asks Brock, but Brock flirts with girls. Thatcher believes that cheering will improve the Pokémon efficiency.

Team Rocket appears before the cheerleading teacher and demand to become cheerleaders. They want to battle the gang and will pay the teacher for becoming cheerleaders. A woman arrives near the gang and asks them to battle some new students, to which Ash and Brock agree to. The gang arrives and Thatcher introduces them to the school teacher, Sheridan. Team Rocket arrives as well, so James (disguised as Jamester) will battle Brock. Jamester sends Cacnea, while Brock his Forretress. Cacnea uses Pin Missile, but the attack is deflected by Forretress' Rapid Spin.

Forretress uses Tackle, knocking Cacnea out. Ash thinks Cacnea's defeated, but the Squad begins to cheer for Cacnea. Sherigan whispers "Helping Hand" and Cacnea stands up. Cacnea uses Needle Arm, damaging Forretress and surprising the gang. Cacnea uses Sandstorm and Pin Missile. Forretress uses Rapid Spin, but gets defeated due to (improved) Pin Missile. Max goes to check as he saw some light coming from the drums. It is Jessie (disguised as Jessica) vs. Ash.

Jessica sends Seviper (Jessie planned that James and Meowth will take Pikachu using a new robot). Pikachu uses Thunderbolt to hit Seviper, then Quick Attack. Jessie is not ready to battle, but Pikachu uses Iron Tail, knocking Seviper out. Max sees the cheer squad from a closer distance. Pikachu uses Thunderbolt, hitting Seviper. Jessie demands some support, so the squad cheers. Sheridan whispers "Aromatherapy", so Max overhears those words. Inside the drum, Vileplume and Roselia use Aromatherapy to heal Seviper's status condition.

Sheridan whispers "Helping Hand", so inside the drum is Makuhita and Shroomish who uses Helping Hand to power up Seviper. Seviper uses Poison Tail, damaging Pikachu. Pikachu uses Thunderbolt, hurting Seviper. Vileplume and Roselia (inside the drum) use Aromatherapy to recover Seviper. Pikachu repeats the attack once more, but so does Sheridan. Seviper uses Poison Tail and Ash orders Pikachu to evade, but Pikachu is tired so he couldn't. Thatcher advises Ash to quit, but Seviper uses Wrap.

Sheridan whispers to use Helping Hand, but Max pushes the drums, so Roselia, Makuhita, Vileplume and Shroomish are revealed to be inside. Everyone is mad at Sheridan for pulling a scheme, so he escapes. Seviper uses Wrap to attack Pikachu, then uses Haze to dim Ash's vision. Nevertheless, Pikachu uses Thunder, defeating Seviper. Team Rocket takes their disguises off. Jessie wonders where is the robot they should have get, but Meowth replies that they paid for cheerleading, however James reminds them that Pikachu is worn out and they'll capture it. They use a robot arm to grab their foe. Ash orders Pikachu to use Thunderbolt, but Pikachu is worn out from the last battle, so he can't.

Thatcher's Plusle and Minum use Helping Hand, powering Pikachu up. Pikachu uses Thunder, freeing himself. The Thunder goes into the sky and back to Team Rocket, negating their electricity proof balloon and blasting them off. Thatcher realizes that one self power is greater than someone else's. A woman agrees with Thatcher and will make a new start, so Brock goes with flirting routine, but Max pulls his ear. The gang leaves to head to Lavaridge Town.

Debuts

Character

Sheridan

Trivia

• Featured Pokémon: Shiftry, Taillow, Swampert, Torkoal.
• Near the beginning of the episode, the classic Pokémon identification from previous seasons is shown. The Pokémon featured was Jigglypuff.

Mistakes

• When the episode name is announced, the location where Ash and co. are was wrong the entire time - before it seemed they were going in north-western town - Lavaridge Town - but in this episode the location was moved, so in this episode they are travelling from Fallarbor to Lavaridge Town, which is correct.

Gallery

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