AG003

There's no Place Like Hoenn (Japanese: トウカジム！VSヤルキモノ！  Gym! VS !) is the third episode of the and the 277th episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on December 5, 2002 and in the United States on November 15, 2003.

Blurb
''Ash and May have made it all the way to Petalburg City—the first city with a gym. Ash is very excited to take on the gym leader. May seems a little uneasy—perhaps it's because she hasn't yet told Ash that her father, Norman, is the gym leader in Petalburg! When Ash first gets to the gym, he meets May's little brother, Max, who is pretending to be the gym leader. Max knows a lot about Pokémon and can't wait until he's old enough to become a trainer. Once Ash finally meets Norman, he learns that he will need three Pokémon in order to battle at the gym. He only has Pikachu with him. When Norman agrees to an unofficial battle, Ash encounters his first Vigoroth. Ash realizes that he will have to train hard in order to win a badge in Petalburg City. After a quick scuffle with Team Rocket, Ash and May are ready to hit the road again. Max has decided to tag along, too!''

Plot
runs over to a cliff and sees Petalburg City up ahead. However, lags behind, and as they settle down in a park, Ash begins talking about how he wants to get the Badge from the Gym Leader. May on the other hand is not so thrilled about this, so she goes off without Ash, saying she will meet up with him as soon as she can. Ash doesn't mind, however, and tells that they are going to the Gym for his.

Ash soon reaches the Gym, steps inside, and reaches the main arena. He tries introducing himself to present a challenge, but there is initially no response. Ash tries again, just as a young boy carrying books walks into the arena. The boy recognizes Ash and asks him if he was in the Silver Conference. Ash confirms this and says he got all the way to last round. The boy tries to remember Ash's name and guesses it is Alf. After Ash corrects him, the boy claims he is the Gym Leader. Ash doubts it, but immediately asks if he could challenge him and the boy accepts.

As both of them get ready for their battle, the boy says that they will each use three Pokémon, though Ash only has Pikachu to fight for him. At that moment, May peers through a window and returns with two other people, her parents. May asks the boy, who turns out to be her little brother Max, what he is doing acting like the Gym Leader. It is revealed that Max is too young to be a, and Max and May's father, Norman, is the real Gym Leader. A surprised Ash tries to ask for a challenge, but May pulls him over, saying that it was almost lunchtime and she is hungry. May's mother Caroline doesn't mind the extra company, so Ash decides to stay over.

Max asks to see which starter Pokémon May chose, and she sends out. Max is disappointed that May picked Torchic, and states that he would have picked, which causes Torchic to start ing him, much to Ash's amusement. Unbeknownst to everyone, has been spying on them through a window. The villainous trio plan their next move to see if they can snag Ash's Pikachu, and maybe the Gym Leader's Pokémon.

During the meal, Ash asks about the rules Norman uses for his matches; Max makes a comment that it was the same rules as he stated before, a three-on-three match. When Ash is dismayed by this, Caroline tells him that he can have his Pokémon sent to the Pokémon Center. However, Ash tells the family he wants to start fresh and only use Pokémon he catches in Hoenn. He decides that he will come back to the Gym when he has caught more Pokémon. Norman tells Ash that he is willing to make an exception, though the match will be unofficial, but Ash doesn't mind. Just after lunch, everyone goes back to the arena for the battle.

As the battle starts, Ash uses Pikachu and Norman sends out. Ash looks it up on his Pokédex to see how to handle the Pokémon. When the Pokédex tells him that Vigoroth is both powerful and quick, Ash feels he has an advantage since he emphasizes on speed. The first strike is a from Pikachu, but with the quick reflexes of Vigoroth, it easily jumps away. Vigoroth soon runs to Pikachu at high speed and es Pikachu. As a result, Ash switches from Electric moves to physical moves, and Pikachu starts using. Even so, Pikachu's speed is still no match for Vigoroth; Pikachu ends up being tossed around, and is eventually defeated.

Suddenly, Team Rocket blows a hole in one of the Gym's walls. Unaware of the threat, Caroline thanks Team Rocket for assisting May on her journey so far, thinking they are friends. Team Rocket scoffs at the idea and launches into their. Jessie then sends out and James uses  to attack the group. Weezing uses, as Arbok use on Pikachu. Vigoroth decides to help, but when it cannot see through the Smokescreen, Max suggests that May should use her Pokémon. Nervous, she calls out her, but as she pauses to think, Arbok takes the time to attack Torchic. As Jessie gets ready to steal Vigoroth and Pikachu, Ash has Pikachu use Thunderbolt on them, but it hits Max by accident. As Ash checks to see if he is okay, Team Rocket escapes in the Smokescreen. Once the dust settles, May realizes she has lost her Torchic.

In their balloon, Team Rocket takes a look at their prize, but are surprised to see a confused Torchic. Torchic then pecks every one of them angrily, but Team Rocket manages to get it under control. Then, they form a plan to use Torchic as bait to get Pikachu. Meanwhile, everyone decides to split up to cover more ground in their search for Torchic. Ash eventually finds Team Rocket's balloon in a field and sees Torchic trapped in a cage. The others soon meet up with him, and May and Max run towards Torchic. Ash tries to call them back, but it is too late as the two fall into a hole. Norman and Caroline run after them; Ash tries to stop them as well, but they fall into another pitfall trap. Ash helps May and Max out first, while Norman and Caroline make it out on their own.

Just then, Team Rocket appears and try to distract them with a fight. As the battle rages on, Max sneaks passed and gets to Torchic's cage, freeing it. Torchic returns to May, who tries to use its attacks at Max's suggestion. Meanwhile, Arbok wraps itself around Vigoroth, so Ash has Pikachu help it by using Quick Attack on Arbok. Then, May tries to use Torchic's "Amber" attack, but Max corrects her, saying she meant "". When May commands it again, Torchic attacks Max by mistake. This time, she tells it to use Peck, but again it attacks Max. Meanwhile, Arbok Headbutts Pikachu and Vigoroth tackles them both into the balloon. Then, Pikachu finishes it off with Thunderbolt, sending Team Rocket blasting off.

Later, back in front of Norman's Gym, as May and Ash are about to resume their journey, Max insists that he is traveling with them. Norman notes that Max will be a good help thanks to his wide knowledge, while Caroline says it will be a lot less trouble for her. Despite May's clear irritation, Norman asks Ash, who quickly agrees to the idea. As a gift, Norman gives Ash and May a Badge case each and Max receives a PokéNav. Max messes around with the PokéNav, explaining what it does. With his new toy in hand, Max begins to rush ahead as Norman directs Ash to challenge the closest Gym in Rustboro City.

Major events

 * and arrive in Petalburg City.
 * Ash goes to the Petalburg Gym and meets May's brother Max, her mother Caroline, and her father Norman, the local Gym Leader.
 * Ash is unable to have an official Gym battle as he needs three . He is allowed to have an unofficial battle, but loses.
 * Max encounters for the first time.
 * Max joins.
 * Max receives a PokéNav while Ash and May receive a Badge case each from Norman.
 * Ash learns of the Gym in Rustboro City and decides to head there.

Humans

 * Max
 * Norman
 * Caroline

Humans

 * Max
 * Jessie
 * James
 * Norman
 * Caroline
 * Professor Birch (flashback)
 * Caroline
 * Professor Birch (flashback)

Pokémon
Who's That Pokémon?:
 * (flashback)
 * (Norman's; debut)
 * (flashback)
 * (flashback)
 * (Norman's; debut)
 * (flashback)
 * (Norman's; debut)
 * (flashback)
 * (flashback)

Trivia

 * The eyecatches are updated in this episode to include Max.
 * When first arriving in her home city, was also wary of  going to the local Gym because of it being run by family, just like  is in this episode.
 * When May calls out Amber instead of, an image of a mushroom goes across the screen. This was a joke that was only understandable in the Japanese version because kinoko (mushroom) sounds very similar to hinoko (Ember).
 * The title of this episode is a reference to the common saying "There's no place like home".
 * Music from Pikachu's Vacation can be heard in this episode.
 * This is the first episode where an instrumental version of Advance Adventure is used as the new action sequence in the Japanese version. This arrangement is used throughout the and as its preview theme.

Errors

 * The scene with 's hands being red instead of gray is used for a flashback.
 * Ash calls Max by name before knowing him.
 * After Ash's Pikachu lost the battle to Norman's, the back of Ash's shoe had a different design between scenes.
 * When Ash is thinking about his, his shirt is missing.
 * When they find 's hot-air balloon, Norman's left hand is missing.
 * At the end of the episode, Ash and May are leaving and waving goodbye. However, instead of walking off-screen, for a split-second, they appear to walk in place at the screen boundary.

Dub edits

 * Two separate scenes showing James's head and Max on fire due to 's Ember attack were cut from the dub for being too violent.
 * After the scene when James is caught on fire, the scene of Torchic with a sad expression was also taken out from the dub.
 * In the version of this episode and first two North American home video releases, the Poké Ball design on Ash's and May's Badge cases are painted over and replaced with rectangles. This edit occurs every time Ash's Badge case appears in the Hoenn saga, though it initially did not happen in international airings. This also does not occur in the 2017 North American home video release, Cartoon Network and Boomerang airings, Australian home video releases, Pokémon TV, Disney NOW, and digital home video releases.

In other languages
Nervensäge Max EP279 AG003 AG003 AG編第3話 精灵宝可梦 超世代 第3集