DP181

Bucking the Treasure Trend! (Japanese: トレジャーハンター・バクとヤジロン！ Treasure Hunter - & !) is the 181st episode of the, and the 647th episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on June 17, 2010, and in the United States on November 13, 2010.

Blurb
Ash and the gang are on their way to Lily Of The Valley Island and the Sinnoh League via ferry when they meet a treasure hunter named Buck, along with his Baltoy. Armed with a pirate map—and Baltoy’s knack for finding hidden treasure—Buck is trying to track down a magnificent fortune. Buck asks Ash and the rest of our heroes if they will come along to help, and they excitedly agree.

Buck’s map guides the treasure hunters to Dandelion Island, where they soon discover that the mysterious pictures of Pokémon on the map were actually a warning about all the Pokémon guarding the treasure! The Pokémon put up a mighty struggle, and at the same time Team Rocket, armed with a copy of the same map, are on their way to get the treasure first. Fortunately, our heroes’ superior skills defeat the guardian Pokémon and send Team Rocket blasting off again.

When Buck, Ash, and the crew finally find the ruins where the treasure is located, they discover a powerful Claydol protecting it. Buck’s Baltoy is too fast for the larger Pokémon, and Buck manages to catch Claydol for his own!

When the treasure is discovered, our heroes are dismayed to find that it’s just some old pots instead of gold and silver. But Buck explains joyfully that he wants to become an archeology professor when he grows up, and this is exactly what he hoped the treasure would be!

And so, thanking our heroes for all their help, Buck heads off on another treasure hunt. Ash and friends resume their journey toward the Sinnoh League!

Plot
and are on a boat to Lily of the Valley Island for the Sinnoh League. As the group exits onto the ship deck, a ball rolls by and Dawn's chases after it. However, he ends up bumping into a at the corner. Just as Piplup is recovering from the collision, he is overshadowed by Buck, who does not seems to be happy about the incident. ran forward and grabs Piplup and apologizes to Buck, who forgives them. Buck and the gang then exchange introduction, and Dawn takes the chance to scan Baltoy with her Pokédex.

Buck asks the group if they are going to Lily of the Valley Island for vacation but Ash replies that they're heading there for the Sinnoh League. The group is surprised when Buck reveals that he isn't too familiar with the Sinnoh League, and reveals himself as a treasure hunter.

Buck tells the group that his Baltoy has the special ability of finding hidden treasure. , who are working on the ship as waiters, overhears this and instantly become curious. Buck explains that this whole treasure hunting business all started when he first found a sunken ship. In a flashback, Buck is on a boat, wearing scuba gear and Baltoy begins to spin around over a spot in the ocean where it seems to have found treasures. Buck then dives down with his and finds the sunken ship. He locates the treasure chest only to find it empty.

Back to the present, Buck reveals that although there was no treasure, he did find a map, which have marks where the pirates hid their treasure. This happens to be on Dandelion Island. Dawn notes that that is where the ship is docking off next for supplies. Buck flips over the map for a close-up of Dandelion Island. The map is covered with symbols of several Pokémon such as, , , and. Team Rocket walked past them several times to hear what the gang were discussing. Ash and his friends try to find out connections between the Pokémon. However, there seems to be nothing in common. Buck then directs their attention to the center of the map where two Pokémon that look like the sun and the moon ( and ) are depicted. After being unable to think of an answer, Buck puts the map away and asks Ash to help on his hunt. Ash agrees, noting that it will be a great training for the Sinnoh League. Dawn and Brock also agree. The ship approaches Dandelion Island and while the group is getting ready to get off, Team Rocket hatches a plan to steal the treasure.

The group is now in the forests of Dandelion Island. Eager to help, Piplup runs off ahead and tells the group to follow. However, he has only taken a few steps before an occurs and he is blasted into the air. The group finds the source of the explosion to be a bunch of Voltorb. Ash then orders to use, which knocks the Voltorb unconscious. Ash and the group take the chance to escape.

Ash and the group rest under a tree whilst trying to catch their breaths. Piplup, still eager, runs off again only to be once more blasted into the air. This time, it is a bunch of Pineco and their explosions once more scare off the group. Buck finally realizes that the Pokémon drawn on the map are traps to prevent people from reaching the treasure. The group then come up with a way to deal with these Pokémon traps (using Pokémon against Graveler and  Pokémon against Vileplume). The group prepares to use Piplup and Ash's.

Meanwhile, Team Rocket are following the map they copied from Buck. Jessie believes that the Pokémon drawn on the map are Pokémon welcome parties, there to guide them to the treasure. On cue, the Voltorb roll out of the bushes, only to explode in Team Rocket's faces.

Ash and his friends have now reached a river. Piplup skips ahead and lands on a Vileplume. Startled, the Vileplume blasts Piplup away with and Piplup lands on the rocks, paralyzed. The use  to attack the group and Ash responds with Infernape's, which scares off the group of Gloom and Vileplume. Brock then feeds Piplup some medicine and the instantly-recovered Piplup is happy enough to run off again. Meanwhile, Team Rocket is attacked by the same group of Pineco that attacked Ash and his friends.

Ash and his friends reach a set of caves. Piplup says that the group should head into the left cave, but, unsure, Buck asks his Baltoy to lead the way. When Baltoy is at the opening of the right cave, it begins to spin, so the group continues on their hunt. Piplup, on the other hand, is disappointed and starts to lag behind. Meanwhile, Team Rocket comes across the group of Gloom and Vileplume, which uses Acid on them. Jessie, having had enough, responds with, who uses to knock a path through the Gloom and Vileplume. While the Gloom and Vileplume are still spinning, literally, from the attack, Team Rocket make their getaway.

Back in the caves, Buck uses Baltoy to help lead them through the maze of caves. However, just as they're about to continue, they see a group of Graveler rolling their way. Piplup uses but is only able to knock away one of the Graveler and ends up being knocked into the air. The group try to make a run for it but the rolling Graveler knock Ash, Pikachu, Dawn, and off the ledge and into the caverns. Now at the bottom of the caves, Ash and friends find a. Ash quickly sends out, which uses to scare off the Golem. Ash and friends are then at a lost as to how to find Buck and Piplup. Gible uses to find Piplup, much to Dawn's distress, but the idea works and the group is reunited.

Meanwhile, Team Rocket are now stuck at the caves. picks which cave to enter, but Jessie and James aren't too confident about Meowth's choice. Meowth tries to reassure them while unknowing climbing onto the head of an. Meowth realizes his mistake, but it's too late. The angry Onix sends Team Rocket blasting off in the air.

Meanwhile, Ash and his friends have made it out of the caves and now find themselves at a set of ruins. These ruins have an engraving of a gigantic Solrock and Lunatone. The Solrock and the Lunatone on Buck's map represented the paintings on the ruins. At the top of the ruins, Buck finds a set of purple and blue symbols but before the group can ponder on this further, Baltoy directs their attention to a triangular panel on the floor. Before they can figure out whether to press the panel or not, Team Rocket interrupts their thinking by arriving in their signature Meowth balloon.

After doing their motto, Team Rocket lands on the ruins and declares that they plan to steal the treasure. Meowth steps on the triangular panel and then a square region of the floor along with the symbols begin to light up. A then appears. Using her Pokédex, Dawn realizes that patterns they saw before are the same patterns that appear on Claydol. Buck notes that Claydol must be guarding the treasure. Jessie sends out her Seviper and James sends out his to battle. Jessie orders a Poison Tail and Carnivine uses. However, Claydol easily dodges the attacks and retaliates with. Team Rocket is sent blasting off once more.

The angry Claydol then faces Ash and his friends. Piplup uses but Claydol uses  to block and retaliates with. It then uses to scare the group back down the stairs. Ash then sends out his to battle by using  but Claydol blocks using another Rapid Spin. Ash then orders but Claydol dodges once more.

Noting that Claydol evolved from Baltoy, Buck thinks that he can win and sends in Baltoy. Baltoy uses Shadow Ball, but it, too, is blocked by Claydol's Light Screen. Claydol responds with another set of Psybeam. Baltoy is able to dodge the first two but gets overconfident and ends up getting hit with the third wave. After a swift recovery, Baltoy follows up with. Baltoy ends up being too fast for Claydol and is able to hit Claydol several times without retaliation as Ash and his friends cheer it on. Claydol tries to retaliate with Psybeam but Baltoy easily dodges them and continues with its Gyro Ball. Baltoy then switches for. Claydol blocks again with Light Screen but ends up getting confused. Baltoy finishes with another Gyro Ball, crashing Claydol into the ground and thus making it unable to battle. Buck throws in a Poké Ball and, after a few blinks, the red light is extinguished and Buck has successfully captured Claydol.

A stone cabinet then rises out of the ground and its doors automatically open amidst golden light. When the light finally dims, the cabinet is revealed to be full of earthenware. Ash and his friends are rather disappointed because they thought that the treasure was supposed to contain gold and silver. However, Buck is absolutely exhilarated. After analyzing the clay, he will be able to tell which era the pottery comes from and notes that they are all museum-quality artifacts and reveals that he wants to become an archaeology professor.

The group returns to the ship and Ash and his friends say goodbye to Buck. Buck is going on a different ship to look for other treasures. He thanks Ash and his friends for their help and wishes Ash luck in the Sinnoh League. The boat continues toward Lily of the Valley Island.

Major events

 * and meet Buck.
 * Buck catches a.

Humans

 * Buck

Humans

 * Jessie
 * James
 * Buck
 * Ship passengers
 * James
 * Buck
 * Ship passengers

Pokémon

 * (Buck's)
 * (Buck's; new)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)
 * (flashback)
 * (multiple; flashback)
 * (engraving)
 * (engraving)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)
 * (flashback)
 * (multiple; flashback)
 * (engraving)
 * (engraving)
 * (engraving)
 * (engraving)

Trivia

 * One of the clay artifacts discovered in this episode also appeared in Fossil Fools, over nine-and-a-half years earlier; and in Me, Myself and Time, over six years earlier.
 * As of this episode, all five Stat Trainers have appeared in the at some point.
 * Music from Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea and Giratina and the Sky Warrior was used in this episode.
 * This episode marks the first appearance of a in the anime since Brock's Pineco evolved into, 388 episodes earlier, in Entei at Your Own Risk.
 * The dub title is a reference to the phrase "buck the trend".
 * The English version aired on 's 160th birthday, who is the author of . This episode coincidentally also focused on finding a treasure on an island.
 * This is the last episode in which  recites their.
 * Jessie's Wobbuffet doesn't appear in this episode.

Errors

 * In the scene where is seen to be biting James' head, the white part above 's "beak" disappears.
 * When catches  after Claydol uses  on him, Dawn's hands are larger than they should be.

In other languages
Auf Schatzsuche! EP650 DP181 DP編第181話 精灵宝可梦 钻石＆珍珠 第179集