AG046

Candid Camerupt! (Japanese: かちぬきファミリー！４VS４！！  Family! 4 vs 4!!) is the 46th episode of the, and the 320th episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on October 9, 2003 and in the United States on October 9, 2004.

Blurb
Ash and his friends are walking through the desert when they pass out because of the heat. They are rescued by the Winstrate Family, who in return for the hospitality offered, want to have a Pokémon battle between the four Winstrates and all four of the kids.

Team Rocket also faints in the desert, where they are discovered by Vito Winstrate. He left home a while ago to battle in the Pokémon League, but he'd rather just raise Pokémon. His family is very proud of him going off to the League, and he's afraid of them finding out the truth. James offers to help him talk to his family.

The battle begins back at the Winstrate residence. Brock uses his Mudkip against Victor Winstrate's Zigzagoon, but is knocked out by a surprise Thunderbolt attack. May takes out Victoria's Roselia with her Beautifly. Max doesn't have any Pokémon yet, so he borrows Ash's Corphish and easily knocks down Vivi's Marill, breaking the little girl's heart.

Ash takes on Grandma with Pikachu. The battle is close until her Camerupt uses Eruption and begins to chase Pikachu everywhere. Camerupt gets confused and charges the Winstrate's house instead.

Vito and Team Rocket are watching the whole thing, so Vito secretly has his Alakazam start a rainstorm to calm Camerupt down. Team Rocket tries to steal Pikachu but Vito uses his Pokémon to stop them. Grandma Winstrate realizes that Vito is helping them and never went to the Pokémon League. She announces that it's okay for Vito to choose his own path. Vito leaves the Winstrate farm, to become the best he can be at raising Pokémon.

Plot
On their way to Fallarbor Town,, , , Max, and are in the middle of the desert with no water left. Pikachu faints due to heat exhaustion, and soon the other four do the same. Fortunately, a finds them. The and Victoria rescues the gang and bring them to her house, giving them plenty of water to help them. Victoria and her family—Victor, Vicky, and Vivi—are farmers, whose house is the only one in the area, so they don't get visitors often. Victoria and Victor's eldest son Vito, who left two months earlier, is revealed to be a Pokémon Trainer on a quest of his own to become the Hoenn League Champion. Meanwhile, Jessie, James, and are trapped in the heat of the desert too. Soon they fall over from exhaustion, and they are given food and water by Vito. Vito is on his way back to his family after realizing that he prefers raising and taking care of Pokémon rather than battling with them. Though he is worried that his family will be disappointed that he is not returning as a champion. James empathizes with Vito since he ran away from home after not living up to his family's expectations, and offers to help Vito out.

After Ash and the gang recover, they offer to do something in return for the help they got. In response, the family reintroduces themselves as the Winstrate family, and challenge the gang to a Pokémon battle. Because there is no one else around, they get bored battling each other. They start a four-on-four Pokémon battle, with Max borrowing from, on a surprisingly professional-looking Pokémon field that the family built. The battle starts its first round with Victor and his versus Brock and his. Mudkip opens by using, which Zigzagoon dodges. Zigzagoon shockingly responds with a, ending the battle with just that one move. Vivi explains that since there are no power plants around, the family taught Zigzagoon that move to generate power for them. The second round begins with Victoria and versus  and. May immediately gets fired up by Roselia due to her rival Drew having a as well. Beautifly opens the battle with a quickly followed by, both of which hit their target and Roselia goes down, ending the battle.

The third match is Max and versus Vivi and her. Max has trouble concentrating because he has a crush on Vivi. Max tries to instruct Corphish to wait for Marill to attack, and block with, waiting for Marill to get tired. However, Corphish doesn't listen, and rushes into the battle, quickly ending the match against Marill on his own. Vivi gets angry with Max and says she hates him, breaking Max's heart. The final match is between Ash and Vicky, though since the Winstrate family has lost two of the three rounds, the worst-case scenario for Ash is that the battle ends in a tie. Meanwhile, Vito and arrive at the front of the house, with James continuing to be confident that he can talk to Vito's grandmother, Vicky, about Vito not becoming Hoenn League Champion. Since the house is empty, Vito assumes that the family is in the Pokémon battlefield, so they go there and begin watching the battle between Ash and Vicky in hiding.

Vicky sends out her and while Ash chooses  and immediately sends out a, which is a direct hit. However, since Camerupt is a on top of being a  Pokémon, the Thunderbolt has no effect. Ash and Pikachu try again with a, which is also a direct hit but to much more effect. Vicky tries to get Camerupt to stand up by asking it what it would do if Vito was watching, not knowing that Vito really was watching. Camerupt gets up and uses, followed by a , but Pikachu fights back with an to the face before Camerupt can make contact. Vito and the rest of the family pull out hard hats and warn the others to find cover, and Vicky reveals that Camerupt have a nasty habit of getting uncontrollably angry after being hit in the face and use. Sure enough that's what happens leaving Ash and the gang to run in fear and try to dodge the flaming rocks from Eruption, with a couple of the rocks hitting Team Rocket. In anger they take off, leaving Vito to talk to his grandmother on his own.

Camerupt continues to chase Pikachu around the field with its Eruption going off, but Pikachu trips and Camerupt runs right over Pikachu. Camerupt is confused and continues to rampage straight towards the family's crops, so Vito sends out his and tells it to use  to stop Camerupt. The move is successful and Camerupt calms down and stops before reaching the crops. No one realizes where the rain came from and assume it was luck. Thankful, Vicky concedes the battle to Ash, but the joy doesn't last long as Jessie, James, and Meowth appear in their balloon and take Pikachu. Vito realizes that the three aren't as good as he thought, and they announce how grateful they are to Vito for leading them there so they could capture Pikachu. The family is shocked to hear Vito's name, and Vito decides to pay Team Rocket back by using Alakazam's attack to rescue Pikachu.

tries to steal Pikachu again, but Vito summons his and has it use  on Team Rocket's balloon, sending them blasting off again. Vicky recognizes the Swellow and knows Vito is hiding. Vicky talks loudly enough for Vito to hear, and says how she shouldn't have pushed Vito to become a Pokémon Trainer. She continues by saying if Vito found something else that he really enjoys, then that is what Vito should do because there's nothing wrong with chasing your dreams. Vicky just wants him to know that whatever he does, his family is right behind him. Vito is thankful for his grandmother's words, and he leaves to make his dreams come true. Ash and the others get ready to leave, so as a send-off the family pulls out their hard hats and has Camerupt use Eruption again. The gang runs off in fear, continuing on their journey to Fallarbor Town.

Humans

 * Max
 * Jessie
 * James
 * Drew (flashback)
 * Winstrate family
 * James
 * Drew (flashback)
 * Winstrate family

Pokémon
Pokémon Trainer's Choice:
 * (flashback)
 * (Vicky Winstrate's)
 * (Victor Winstrate's)
 * (Victoria Winstrate's)
 * (Vivi Winstrate's)
 * (Vito Winstrate's)
 * (Vito Winstrate's; debut)
 * (Vicky Winstrate's)
 * (Victor Winstrate's)
 * (Victoria Winstrate's)
 * (Vivi Winstrate's)
 * (Vito Winstrate's)
 * (Vito Winstrate's; debut)

Trivia

 * The English dub title is based on the television series , possibly to describe the way Vito was watching the family from a distance without being noticed.
 * This episode was aired in English exactly one year after the Japanese airdate.

Errors

 * In one shot, Ash's left thumb is colored black, like his glove.
 * When Brock sends out his, its mouth doesn't move when it says its name.

Dub edits

 * In the Hungama TV dub, all of May's speculations and references to the possibility of a romantic relationship brewing between Max and Vivi are diluted to the level of just a 'good friendship', for obvious reasons.

Pokémon Trainer's Choice

 * Question: Trainers, which of these Pokémon is the best choice to battle ?
 * Choices:, ,
 * Answer: OK, Trainers! If you chose, you were right!
 * The Pokémon Trainer's Choice states that Nuzleaf would be best against Camerupt. However, Nuzleaf would be less effective as Camerupt is a . In truth, none of the Pokémon would be effective battle choices, though Magcargo would suffer the least damage from Camerupt's Fire attacks, due to its Rock and Fire-types, but also has a double weakness against Camerupt's Ground attacks.

In other languages
Camerupt außer Rand und Band! EP322 AG046 AG046 AG編第46話 精灵宝可梦 超世代 第46集