EP268

Tie One On! (Japanese: メガニウムＶＳフシギダネ！くさタイプのいじ！ Meganium VS ! Spirit of the Grass Types!) is the 268th episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on October 3, 2002 and in the United States on September 19, 2003.

Blurb
''As the Johto League Silver Conference gets underway, Ash will take on Jackson from New Bark Town. Ash is looking forward to the match, but perhaps not as much as his Bulbasaur. Bulbasaur is very anxious to take on Jackson's Meganium and the feeling is mutual. Bulbasaur and Meganium are so eager to test their skills that they get into a fight before the battle and get caught by Officer Jenny. Luckily for Ash and Jackson, Gary and Harrison convince Officer Jenny that the Pokémon had really just een practicing. After all, trainers whose Pokémon fight get disqualified! With all of the drama, the battle is sure to be intense. Ash wins round one, but Jackson's Magneton is really strong, and Jackson wins round two. It comes down to Meganium and Bulbasaur in the final round of the match. They're battling for their honor as grass type Pokémon, and neither is willing to lose. The match ends in a draw. Ash has more points altogether, and so he will proceed in the tournament. But is Ash ready for his next opponent—Gary Oak?''

Plot
During the second match of Group H of the Silver Conference, Macy faces off against Jackson, the group's third competitor. Though Macy is ready, Jackson is more prepared to showboat than battle, saying hi to and  to one of the stadium cameras. Once the match gets under way, the three-on-three match is down to a winner-take-all - Macy down and  and Jackson down  and, with Macy's  and Jackson's  battling for the match. Jackson's showboating gets to the better of him, as he trips over his cape issuing orders to Poliwhirl, leaving Poliwhirl standing as it eats a. This, combined with a Starmie from an earlier battle, seals the match for Macy. As and  watches from the stands,  notes that Macy saved herself from elimination by winning, which also meant that Ash and Macy are tied at the top of Group H (with Ash still having to battle Jackson), and that Ash will only need a tie against Jackson in order to advance, while Jackson must win outright to force a three-way tie. Noting this, Brock also mentions that a second tiebreaker round-robin would be needed should Jackson win outright.

Back at the Athlete's Village, and  are rekindling their old friendship outside, everyone else moves inside, where they notice Jackson talking to Professor Elm. As they exchange pleasantries, Jackson explains that Professor Elm had given him, his , and that it had only recently evolved into a. Asking why Meganium wasn't entered, Jackson thought that it would have been better for him to save Meganium for the Victory Tournament, which, in retrospect, was a mistake.

Back outside, the dynamic duo sees an apple from a tree, which Bulbasaur tries to grab. At the same time, a Meganium, accompanied by an, also see the same apple. The two Grass types do a tug of war for the apple, which ends up splitting in half. Bulbasaur recovers the larger top half, while Meganium ends up with the bottom half. As the two Water types receive their halves, Azumarill throws its half towards Squirtle, hitting it in the face and knocking off the other half of the apple. As Meganium and Azumarill laugh at Squirtle's misfortunes, Squirtle's short-tempered side shows its face. Putting on his Squirtle Squad glasses, he prepares to pick a fight with the two, only to be restrained by Bulbasaur. As Bulbasaur tries to apologize, Azumarill slaps it in the face, bringing on Squirtle's anger once again. Bulbasaur easily shakes it off, and tries once again to restrain Squirtle once again. As the two leave, Meganium's vine latches on to Bulbasaur, tripping it, and causing Azumarill and Meganium to laugh once again. Now with the better half of the duo also angered, the four Pokémon begin to fight each other.

Inside, Professor Elm updates Ash on, and how it and its mother, , living in peace under Ranger Mason's preserve. Just then, they hear of a Pokémon brawl breaking out outside, with Bulbasaur and Meganium involved. Ash and Jackson figure that their Pokémon are involved, and rush outside. Seeing their Pokémon grappling, they try in vain to quell the fighting. Only when appears with  does the fighting stop, by way of. As both Ash and Jackson thank Harrison for breaking up the fight, Officer Jenny arrives to see what the commotion was about, and warns that any brawls could get their Pokémon's Trainers disqualified. Harrison covers for Ash and Jackson, saying that the four Pokémon were only practicing against each other, with appearing to back up Harrison's claim. With Officer Jenny gone, Gary and Ash exchange a bit of trash talk, before Gary leaves.

Later, as Ash and company are deciding on the three entrants against Jackson, noting that, in addition to Azumarill and Meganium, he also has a, but Meganium is the strongest Pokémon on his team. Misty advises Ash to enter (as a Meganium counter) and  (as an Azumarill counter).

The next day, the match begins in a smaller stadium, with Jackson having the first move (showboating off once again). Jackson leads off with Azumarill, so Pikachu leads off. Azumarill leads off with, while Pikachu evades with. As Pikachu reverses for the attack, Azumarill dodges at the last minute. After exchanging a Thunderbolt and a, Azumarill connects with and follows up with. Pikachu, however, grabs the tail just as it connects and reverses with a, knocking it out.

Next up for Jackson is Magneton. After exchanging Thunderbolts, Ash attempts a speed game. Pikachu tries to do a Quick Attack, but Magneton dodges and uses, holding Pikachu down. Finally, Jackson ends it all with a. Pikachu is hurled right into a wall, and is out for the count. Sending out Cyndaquil, as Brock remarks that Magneton, as a Steel type, would have the disadvantage. After exchanging a Thunderbolt and a, Cyndaquil manages to use a into , which hits Magneton as it was attempting to use Thunder Wave. Magneton uses to evade another Flamethrower. As Cyndaquil tries to slowly sweep with Flamethrower for the real Magneton, it is on the receiving end of the Thunder Wave and Tri Attack combination, knocking it out.

Now down to his last Pokémon, Ash brings out Bulbasaur. Jackson begins with a Thunderbolt, which Bulbasaur counters with. Magneton evades with. Bulbasaur avoids the same combination that had done in Pikachu and Cyndaquil by using a spinning to mow down the afterimages, which eventually hits Magneton. Nevertheless, the combo is tried again, but Thunder Wave is blocked by a last-minute Razor Leaf, and Vine Whip is used to evade the Tri Attack. Finally, Bulbasaur manages to connect with a, which manages to sap much of its energy. Magneton then falls to the ground due to the energy loss from Leech Seed and Ash uses this chance to order Bulbasaur to use Vine Whip to grab and spin Magneton around. This wraps up the match-up, as Magneton is knocked out.

Bulbasaur and Meganium are now battling for the match, and the prior bad blood is still fresh in their minds. Trading off Razor Leafs and Vine Whips, Meganium comes off as being more powerful as some of Meganium's Razor Leafs hit Bulbasaur and it manages to throw Bulbasaur while locked in the Vine Whip. Narrowly dodging attempts, Bulbasaur connects on another Razor Leaf. Evading another Meganium Vine Whip with its own Vine Whip, however, allows Meganium to hit Bulbasaur while airborne with Razor Leaf. However, Bulbasaur manages to reverse Meganium's Body Slam, and uses another Vine Whip to hook on to Meganium's neck and pelt it with more Razor Leafs. Both slowly get back up, and slowly wear each other down by hitting each other in the face with Vine Whips. On the sidelines, Misty wonders why neither are taking time to evade the attacks, in which Brock responds with the fact that to the combatants, the battle may be of pride as well, and thus both are willing to take as much as they are willing to give. As they talk, both Grass types cross counter with their Vine Whip attacks. Getting up one last time, both Pokémon prepare to trade off s, which manage to knock out both Pokémon.

Despite the draw, both Trainers congratulate on a battle well done. With the tie game, Ash advances to the Victory Round from Group H. Macy, also in the audience, also cheers Ash on, believing he can go all the way. Back at the concession stands, Team Rocket has also sold out of its new Thunderbolt Badges, thanks to James's knack of what the collector would want. Once again, Team Rocket redouble their efforts into making more money.

Back at the Athlete's Village, the preliminary rounds have been decided. Ash discovers that Harrison advanced from his group, as did Gary. What surprises him even more, though, is that his first round match in the Victory Tournament is against none other than Gary.

Major events

 * Macy beats Jackson in their Silver Conference match.
 * Jackson is revealed to own an, a , a , a , and a.
 * Macy is revealed to own a.
 * is revealed to own a.
 * and Jackson's match ends in a draw, meaning Ash has advanced to the Victory Tournament.
 * and Harrison also advance to the Silver Conference Victory Tournament.
 * Ash learns that he will battle Gary in the first round of the Silver Conference Victory Tournament.

Main series debuts

 * Jackson

Main series debuts

 * Jackson's Meganium

Humans

 * Jessie
 * James
 * Officer Jenny
 * Professor Elm
 * Jackson
 * Macy
 * Professor Elm
 * Jackson
 * Macy
 * Jackson
 * Macy

Pokémon
Who's That Pokémon?: (US and international),  (Japan)
 * (Jackson's)
 * (Jackson's)
 * (Jackson's; )
 * (Jackson's; image on scoreboard)
 * (Jackson's; image on scoreboard)
 * (Jackson's)
 * (Macy's)
 * (Macy's; image on scoreboard)
 * (Macy's; image on scoreboard)
 * ('s)
 * (×2)
 * (Jackson's; image on scoreboard)
 * (Jackson's)
 * (Macy's)
 * (Macy's; image on scoreboard)
 * (Macy's; image on scoreboard)
 * ('s)
 * (×2)

Trivia

 * This marks the only time when has tied in a Pokémon League Conference.
 * Music from Mewtwo Strikes Back is used in the introduction to the episode.
 * Although the Who's That Pokémon? segment was random by this point in the dub, the featured was, which did play a significant role in this episode.
 * doesn't recite the or blast off in this episode.

Errors

 * In the English dub, when Jackson's knocks out Ash's Pikachu with,  says that Magneton using  limited Pikachu's speed, when in fact,  had used it.
 * The announcer claims Jackson used a, but it was actually a.
 * Jackson's Magneton doesn't sparkle when it emerges from its Poké Ball, unlike other Shiny Pokémon in the.
 * Prior to launching its final Tri Attack against, Magneton appears as if it is going to be hit with what seems like a coming in from the top of the screen.
 * One of the banners in the crowd misspells Pokémon as Pomémon.
 * When Magneton is hit by 's, all of its bolts are missing.
 * In the dub, when Ash's Pikachu loses to Jackson's Magneton, the referee says the both trainers have one Pokémon left each, when they in fact have two.

Dub edits

 * Two of Jackson's references to and  are removed, and replaced with references to his family back home. In a third, the dub refers to them as "Yoshi" and "Dani", indicating that these may have been the intended dub names at the time.
 * When shots are shown of Bulbasaur and hitting each other in the face with Vine Whip, two of the shots are cut out.

In other languages
Ein entschiedenes Unentschieden EP270 EP268 EP268 無印編第268話 精灵宝可梦 第269集