EP249

I Politoed Ya So! (Japanese: ニョロトノのチアリーディング！ 's Cheerleading!) is the 249th episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on May 23, 2002 and in the United States on May 24, 2003.

Blurb
''When Ash, Misty, and Brock pause for a quaint picnic by a lake, Politoed wanders off and is mistaken by another trainer for her own Politoed, the rhythm leader in her Pokémon cheerleading squad that had gone AWOL. When Ash and friends clear up the misunderstanding, the trainer still begs for them to loan her their Politoed for use in an upcoming cheerleading competition. Meanwhile, her own Politoed returns and, none too pleased to find another Pokémon in its place, immediately runs away again. Not wanting to break up a happy Pokémon cheer team, Misty allows the trainer to borrow her Pokémon for the competition, but promises in the meantime to track down the missing Politoed and convince it to return to active duty.''

Plot
,, and pause for a picnic by a lake, and release all of their Pokémon for lunch. Ash compliments Brock on the food, a sentiment shared by and all of the Pokémon, to which Brock emotionally plies everyone with more food. eats two rice balls at once and begins to choke, but when Ash runs over to help, it uses Flamethrower to clear its airways and roasts Ash's face in the process. After lunch, everyone has a sleep, except for Misty's Politoed, who decides to have another rice ball. In the process of taking one, it knocks it off the plate and it rolls into the bushes. During Misty's search, Politoed is discovered by a female Trainer, who admonishes "Bean" for running away and losing its red headband. Resigned to Politoed's behavior, the girl takes its hand and starts walking home, just as another Politoed wearing a red headband wanders out and watched after them, confused. The girl returns to a large building and announces to a group of Pokémon that she found Bean. However, the, and  all crowd round, confused, and the girl realizes that Politoed is not her own. Politoed promptly begins clapping happily, and the Grass Pokémon all enthusiastically dance and sing to the rhythm. Astonished but happy, the girl exclaims that she loves Politoed.

Back at camp, Brock recalls and they prepare to head off, but Misty exclaims that she can't find Politoed. Just as they run off to look for it, they fall into 's pitfall and are confronted. In the closing line of the motto, Meowth sticks a large metal plate over the hole, sealing Ash and his friends inside. As Ash yells at them to let them out, a sad Bean walks past, which Team Rocket believes to belong to Misty. Misty, only being able to hear, cries for Politoed to run away, but Team Rocket tells Meowth to attack, as he is a Pokémon and doesn't do enough battling. Meowth leaps forward, but Bean sticks out its long tongue and stops him in midair, causing him to fall back. Impressed, Jessie and James attempt to entice the confused Bean into joining Team Rocket. However, Misty and the others escape from the hole and yell at Politoed not to believe what Team Rocket says. After yelling at each other, Bean tells Meowth that it's not interested, and Pikachu sends them blasting off with. Misty runs up to Politoed happily, but instantly realizes that it isn't hers.

Back with Misty's Politoed, the girl is instructing her Grass Pokémon to dance, conducted by Misty's Politoed. The group leaps into their signature finish with Politoed at the head of a pyramid, just as Misty, Bean and the others walk past. Misty bets that her Politoed and Bean have been mixed up somehow. Bean looks into the building courtyard and Misty spots Politoed with the girl. Misty explains that they must be a cheerleading squad. Bean becomes angry and upset at seeing Misty's Politoed, and runs up to the girl, who enthusiastically greets him at first. However, she then turns snide, informing Bean that he is late and has been replaced, saddening Bean. Misty runs up and informs her that Politoed belongs to her, introducing themselves while Misty's Politoed dances happily. The girl introduces herself as, and explains that her team is trying to enter the National Cheering Competition. After some small talk, Tammy asks Misty for a favor.

Tammy shows the trio how well her group does with Misty's Politoed conducting, and assures her that she would be certain to win first place if Politoed led them to the Nationals. However, Misty is worried about Bean, who is standing all alone, sadly watching the proceedings. Tammy explains that she was very angry at Bean earlier, who ran away. Misty asks if Bean can train again, but Tammy sadly says no, then orders her Grass Pokémon back to work. Ash and Misty feel bad for Bean, who is sadly walking away. Misty vows to do something for Bean. Misty and her friends chase Bean and tell it that it and Tammy are being stubborn and should simply reconcile. However, Bean runs away and Brock notes that it didn't go well. Ash and Pikachu follow Bean, but Brock and Misty go back to Tammy. Ash and Pikachu track down Bean who is practicing its moves. Pikachu attempts to make Bean laugh, but the game is up when Ash bursts out laughing at Pikachu's faces. Ash apologizes for blowing Pikachu's cover and tries to talk to Bean, who simply shoves Pikachu aside and walks away. Ash calls after Bean, but there is no response. Back at Tammy's, she is pleading with Misty to let her borrow Politoed until the competition. Misty says that she has spent longer with Bean, and Brock says that having to catch up with Misty just to return Politoed would be a lot of trouble just for a competition. Misty asks if the competition really is that important, to which Tammy replies that it is her dream to entertain the world with her Pokémon's cheering.

Politoed leads the signature pose once more, but one of the Jumpluff trips and the whole pyramid collapses. Brock and Misty are horrified but Tammy just yells at the group, admonishing them for their failure and saying that she is ashamed of every one of them. The Pokémon begin to cry and Tammy only yells at them for that, until Misty rushes over. Tammy apologizes for the mess-up, but Misty berates her for not caring about her own Pokémon, not even checking if they were injured. Misty checks on Politoed, who is fine, who then begins to clap, cheering Tammy's Pokémon out of their tears. Tammy watches Misty check the Pokémon, getting a flashback of her younger self, nurturing a young Bellossom who just suffered a fall. She remembers Bean conducting the group and exclaiming their dreams of entertaining, not winning.

These memories cause Tammy to start crying, much to the surprise of Misty, Brock, Politoed and Tammy's Pokémon. Politoed's clapping only makes her cry harder, as she explains her obsession with winning the competition had begun to override everything else. She had been trying to make people happy while upsetting those closest to her. However, her Pokémon begin to cheer, showing that they are not angry at her at all. She emotionally embraces all of her Pokémon. At this moment, Team Rocket attacks in a giant Cheering Politoed mecha. The robot's giant tongue seizes Misty,, Brock, Tammy, Politoed and all the Cheering squad and everyone is dumped in the giant robot's stomach cage. Nearby, Ash hears and sees the mecha and rushes back with Pikachu and Bean in pursuit. The mecha turns around and faces Ash; Jessie taunts him for being tardy. Brock yells a warning to Ash, but it is too late and Ash and Pikachu fall into another pitfall, into a large sticky flytrap that immobilizes the pair of them. Team Rocket's mecha uses an antenna to seize Pikachu and cut him free, but Ash is left stuck.

Inside, Jessie dreams about her hard work paying off, to which James complains that he and Meowth did all the work. Pikachu uses Thunderbolt but it doesn't work: Team Rocket has insulated the robot against electric attacks. As the mecha turns to leave, it is confronted by Bean. Team Rocket attacks, but Bean dodges the tongue and uses on the glass behind which Tammy and the others are trapped. The glass shifts and everyone falls free. Bean and Tammy happily reunited, but the mecha attempts to squash the pair, who are only saved when Tammy tackles Bean out of the way. Tammy apologizes to Bean and pleads with it to let her work with it towards their goals, which Bean happily accepts. Misty and her Politoed vow to help, and it conducts the cheer squad. Jessie becomes sour and orders to use, which Misty's Politoed immediately counters with a Headbutt of its own. Politoed lands and begins clapping while Arbok is dazed. Bean uses and Politoed, knocking out Arbok. Bean and Politoed then double up a Water Gun and drench the mecha in water. Brock frees Ash from the pitfall and Ash orders Pikachu to use Thunderbolt, zapping the robot and sending Team Rocket blasting off. Politoed and Bean both begin to clap, much to Tammy's astonishment. Bean's clapping does just as good a job as Politoed's, as the Grass Pokémon begin to dance just like they did for Politoed. Grateful, Tammy promises to cheer for Ash in his Johto championship and bid farewell to the trio, who sets off towards their next adventure.

Humans

 * Jessie
 * James
 * (fantasy)
 * Jessie
 * James
 * (fantasy)

Pokémon
Who's That Pokémon?: (US and international),  (Japan)
 * ('s; Bean)
 * ('s; ×5)
 * ('s; ×3)
 * ('s; ×3)
 * ('s; Bean)
 * ('s; ×5)
 * ('s; ×3)
 * ('s; ×3)
 * ('s; Bean)
 * ('s; ×5)
 * ('s; ×3)
 * ('s; ×3)
 * ('s; Bean)
 * ('s; ×5)
 * ('s; ×3)
 * ('s; ×3)
 * ('s; ×5)
 * ('s; ×3)
 * ('s; ×3)

Trivia

 * This episode aired in the U.S. exactly one year and one day from its Japanese airing.
 * The English title of this episode is a pun of the phrase "I told you so".
 * This episode is one of the rare times where does not flirt with a girl, in this case.

Errors

 * When explains how  could have gotten lost, she says, "My Politoed must have gotten lost while we were all busy eating our lunch." However, Misty did see Politoed during lunch and what she should have said is that Politoed wandered away while they were all asleep.
 * When the cheerleaders are crying, one of 's flowers flickers on and off between two frames.
 * When steals, he is facing backwards to the machine, but when Pikachu uses , he is facing towards the machine.

Dub edits

 * In the dub, before Pikachu blasts Team Rocket off, tells him to use, while in the Japanese version, Ash tells Pikachu to use.

In other languages
Folgenschwere Verwechslung EP251 EP249 無印編第249話 精灵宝可梦 第250集