AG053

Game Winning Assist (Japanese: エネコとねこのて！ドンメルの牧場！  & ! Meadow of !) is the 53rd episode of the, and the 327th episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on November 27, 2003 and in the United States on November 13, 2004.

Blurb
Ash and friends are fleeing a group of rampaging Slugma along the Fiery Path, when they escape down a hill and end up on a Numel ranch. They are greeted by the owner Julie and her Furret.

Brock and Max offer to help with the chores on the ranch while Julie and May have a Pokémon battle. May looks up attacks in her Pokédex, and orders Skitty to use the move Assist against Julie's Furret. To May's surprise, Skitty uses Ember, then Silver Wind. Julie defeats May in the battle, and explains that the move Assist allows a Pokémon to use any of the moves known by their Trainer's other Pokémon.

That night, while everyone is sleeping, Team Rocket shows up in a robotic Numel to steal the sleeping Numel. The kids wake up, and try to stop them. May and Skitty are captured by the robot.

Inside the robot, Skitty wakes up the still-sleeping Numel and they try to escape. Team Rocket activates internal sprinklers to prevent the Numel from using their Ember attacks. Skitty uses Assist to recharge, and the Numel burn through the robot's shell to break free.

Team Rocket tries to battle May and her friends, but they are quickly zapped by Pikachu. The next morning, Julie gives the kids directions to Lavaridge Town and they depart.

Plot
While traveling through the Fiery Path to Lavaridge Town, and  find themselves being chased by an angry group of  after May's Skitty playfully attacks one. After a narrow escape Ash finds an exit from the cave, which brings them to a ranch owned by a woman named Julie. Recognizing them as travelers, Julie invites them to rest at her ranch for a bit. Interested in the Numel, and Max get some first hand experience on their physiology by helping Julie do her daily chores. Meanwhile, decides that the best way to redirect her Skitty's energy would be by teaching it how to. She asks Ash to battle with her, but Julie arrives and asks her to battle with her instead. During the battle, May discovers that Skitty knows an attack called, which allows it to copy attacks her other know, like 's  or 's. However, even Assist isn't enough to turn the battle around, and Furret easily defeats Skitty.

Elsewhere, Jessie, James, and find the Numel Ranch as well, and decided to steal the Numel so they can make money selling them as personal heaters. Late at night they sneak onto the ranch and begin stealing the Numel using a gigantic Numel shaped robot. Hearing the machine's noise, Furret and manage to wake everybody up, and they stumble out of bed to confront the. Ash orders Pikachu to attack the machine with but finds that it has no effect. With all of the Numel inside their robot, Team Rocket prepares to leave. Suddenly Skitty runs towards the machine and latches onto one of its arms. May rushes after Skitty, and the two wind up being trapped in the machine as well. With May, Skitty, and the Numel trapped inside their machine, Team Rocket beats a hasty retreat. Intent on getting her Numel back, Julie gets into her truck, and with Ash and the rest in the back they begin to follow Team Rocket's trail.

Inside the robot, May and Skitty try to rouse the sleeping Numel. They finally manage to do it, but the Numel fall back asleep after Team Rocket uses a hidden sprinkler system to cool down their bodies. Thinking quickly, May orders Skitty to use Assist to hit one of the Numel with Ember. The attack wakes it up and the Numel quickly wakes up the remaining Numel with. The Numel begin to melt through the side of the robot with their Fire attacks, causing Team Rocket to use the sprinkler system again. This time May is prepared, and has Skitty destroy the sprinkler with. Combining their Flamethrowers, the Numel succeed in destroying the robot and are able to escape. Climbing out of the wreckage, Team Rocket prepares to recapture the Numel, but are interrupted by the arrival of Julie's truck. Jessie and James call out and  to battle, but the combined forces of Furret and Pikachu are enough to send them blasting off again. The next morning, Julie shows them the route to Mt. Chimney and Lavaridge Town. After waving goodbye, Ash and his friends continue on their way.

Major events

 * May's Skitty is revealed to know.

Humans

 * Max
 * Jessie
 * James
 * (fantasy)
 * Julie
 * James
 * (fantasy)
 * Julie

Pokémon
Pokémon Trainer's Choice:


 * (Julie's; multiple)
 * (Julie's)
 * (multiple)
 * (Julie's; multiple)
 * (Julie's)
 * (multiple)
 * (Julie's; multiple)
 * (Julie's)
 * (multiple)

Trivia

 * This episode is featured on Volume 17: Skitty from Viz Media's series.
 * The dub title is a pun on "game winning goal", a term in . Also in ice hockey, an "assist" goes to the last two teammates to touch the puck before the player who scored the goal.

Errors

 * In one scene the "pins" on May's Skitty's tail were the same color as its body.
 * When Max wakes up his eyes are purple instead of brown.
 * When gets blasted off by, James's Cacnea wasn't there.
 * The Pokémon Trainer's Choice segment's given answer,, is incorrect since is a Psychic Pokémon and Combusken is a  Pokémon. None of the choices are correct.

Dub edits

 * In the Hindi Hungama TV dub of the episode, Julie says that can execute any random move, instead of stating that it can only randomly select and perform moves already known to the other members of the Trainer's party.

Pokémon Trainer's Choice

 * Question: Trainers, which Pokémon is the best choice to battle ?
 * Choices:, ,
 * Answer: OK, Trainers! If you chose, you were right!

In other languages
Ein Ass im Ärmel EP329 AG053 AG053 AG編第53話 精灵宝可梦 超世代 第53集