Japanese Title: Ancient Pokémon and Mysterious Teams!
Original Airdate: November 28, 2002
US Airdate: March 15, 2003 (special airing), November 8, 2003 (in sequence)
Oh, come on, May, give him a break. At least Ash didn't steal your bike like he did Misty's.
Ash takes May under his wing as an upstart Pokémon Trainer. When they visit the Pokémon Center at Oldale Town, they find a ruin being attacked by the mysterious Team Magma. Team Rocket is also intrigued by the rival evil team. Ash and May will need to combine their forces to combat both threats.
This episode contains examples of the following tropes:
- Adaptation Expansion: We already knew that Nurse Joy's job at the Pokémon Center in the anime could get more involved than popping Poké Balls into a machine and magically making the Pokémon inside better. This episode shows more of the services available for trainers, including sleeping quarters.
- Big Brother Mentor: This is where Ash begins teaching May the basics of being in a Pokémon journey.
- Call-Back: May tries to catch an Azurill straight away. Just like Ash with Pidgey in EP001, she fails.
- And because Fire types are weak to Water type moves, Torchic ends up fainting in battle. So May and Ash have to rush it to the Oldale Town Pokémon Center, just like Ash had to rush Pikachu to the Viridian City Pokémon Center in EP002.
- Continuity Nod: Once again, Pikachu can be seen delightedly licking from a bottle of ketchup.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Ash gives May a tour of the Pokémon Center, and one of their stops are the sleeping quarters. If it weren't for the fact that he's a Chaste Hero, that scene could be taken slightly out of context...
- Early-Installment Weirdness: May has to remove the cover of her Pokédex manually before turning it on. Later episodes show that the Pokédex's cover automatically opens up when turned on.
- Foreshadowing:
- May doesn't want Ash to find out anything about the Petalburg Gym leader.
- Jessie and James accidentally run into Team Magma.
- Guilt-Tripping: May tries to get Ash to walk slower since she's not used to long-distance walking. Ash tries to get her to hurry up, but May reminds him she used to have a bike. This guilts Ash and Pikachu, as the ones responsible for ruining her bike, into accommodating her slower walk.
- Kick Them While They Are Down: The Marill evolutive line tries to keep attacking Torchic after knocking it out, fortunately Pikachu manages to chase them away.
- Mama Bear: May tries to capture an Azurill, only to run afoul of a Marill and Azumarill.
- Overly Narrow Superlative: Meowth proclaims his group the top Team Rocket members in Hoenn, but James reminds him that they're the only Rockets in the region.
- Sigil Spam: The gem arrangements in the ruins near Oldale Town show up in a later episode, but no one seemed to bat an eye.
- Uriah Gambit: Giovanni allows "the clowns" to start operations in the Hoenn region, for two reasons: to get intel on Teams Aqua and Magma, and also to have them out of his hair.
