AG085

Sky High Gym Battle! (Japanese: ヒワマキジム！大空の戦い！！  Gym! Battle in the Sky!!) is the 85th episode of the, and the 359th episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on July 15, 2004 and in the United States on July 9, 2005.

Blurb
Ash begins his Gym battle with Winona by sending out Grovyle against her Altaria. Grovyle takes out Altaria with Leaf Blade. Next up is Pelipper, a Water-and-Flying-type so Ash counters with the Electric-type Pikachu. Pelipper uses Steel Wing on the ground, and Pikachu uses Thunderbolt with no effect. Team Rocket arrives to steal Pikachu, but the force of Pikachu's continued Thunderbolt sends them blasting off.

It turns out that Pelipper is being grounded by its Steel Wing, making the Electric-type attack ineffective. Pelipper uses Hydro Pump, which Pikachu uses as a conduit to shock the other Pokémon. It results in a double KO.

Ash sends out Grovyle again, which is then finished off by Winona's Swellow. Ash counters with his own Swellow. Winona's Pokémon has the advantage since it has more experience battling in mid-air, especially with its Aerial Ace. After taking several hits, Ash has his Swellow use Wing Attack on the ground, which gives his Swellow a chance to counterattack, knocking out Swellow and winning him the Feather Badge.

Plot
The Fortree City Gym Leader and take their places on an elevated balcony above the battlefield. Before the commences, Winona says a type of prayer, asking for strength. It's a three-on-three battle and Winona starts off with, while Ash chooses.

, who is on the sidelines with and Max, checks Altaria's data on the Pokédex. Altaria begins the battle with a attack, but Grovyle counters with  and then jumps out of the way, but gets pecked afterwards. Winona then commands Altaria to do another Peck, but Ash gets Grovyle to dodge it by climbing up a totem pole and doing a backflip.

Meanwhile,, are in some kind of tunnel, possibly under the battlefield itself. James, however, doesn't understand why they're trying to get under the battlefield. attempts to explain and pulls out a pair of dowsing rods. Jessie and James are confused by the rods, and fantasize about disco dancing with them, but Meowth tells them the rods are used to search for water. Jessie is skeptical but the rods turn and bend and point directly to...another tunnel. Convinced of the rods' usefulness, Jessie and James run off with them down the tunnel.

Meanwhile, Winona tells Altaria to use but Grovyle doesn't seem too affected by it. Winona again commands Altaria to use the same attack, but Ash gets Grovyle to jump out of the way. Winona is concerned (and a little impressed) with Grovyle's. Grovyle then attacks with Bullet Seed again and hits Altaria on the back, with no ill effect. Altaria flies away.

Altaria tries the same move a third time but Grovyle again jumps out of the way and into the air, above Altaria. Ash sees his chance and orders Grovyle to use. Altaria falls to the ground under the weight of Grovyle's attack. Grovyle is victorious!

Winona recalls Altaria and sends out. Ash recalls Grovyle and uses. On the sidelines, Max points out that Pelipper is a hybrid type. Brock adds that Pelipper has a 4× weakness against Electric moves, so this should be easy for Ash. Pikachu starts its match against Pelipper by using. Pelipper counters with and touches the ground. Pelipper is grounded, and electricity doesn't affect it now.

The Thunderbolt attack discharges into the underground tunnels, including the one Jessie and James are in. The metal rod points up at the spot where Pelipper is grounded. Team Rocket is blasted off again and they land on the battlefield. They plot to catch Pikachu while it's distracted by the battle.

They state their modified and run for Pikachu. The dowsing rods they're holding again become lightning rods when Pikachu attacks. Jessie seems happy about that property of the rods. Winona orders Pelipper to use. Brock understands; the Steel Wing attack is grounding Pelipper, nullifying Pikachu's electrical attacks. Ash changes his strategy and orders Pikachu to use Quick Attack.

Pelipper is still grounded and Winona commands it to use. The force of the attack causes Pelipper to de-ground itself and Ash sees a chance to use a attack on Pelipper. Both are knocked out.

Winona makes a speech in between battles, telling Ash and the others of her love for the sky. Winona then chooses, an Pokémon, as her final Pokémon, while Ash chooses Grovyle again. Ash commands Grovyle to use Leaf Blade. But Swellow is seemingly unscathed. Swellow is then ordered to use. Ash uses the jump-and-Leaf-Blade combo again as a counter-move, but Swellow dodges it. Grovyle is hit and is pinned down from the sky, knocking it out.

Ash then chooses his own to battle. This battle, Swellow vs Swellow, takes the two Pokémon higher into the sky. Ash tells his Swellow to use and Brock thinks that this is a bad idea. Winona orders an attack and Ash's Swellow is hit. It's apparent that when using Wing Attack, Swellow cannot actively stay in the air (i.e., hovering and unable to control movement). Winona orders her Swellow to repeatedly Peck Ash's Swellow. Then she orders a attack, which Ash's Swellow dodges. However, she orders this attack a second time and it's a direct hit.

Ash tells Swellow to dodge and counter with but Winona's Swellow is faster and dodges this attack, countering with Aerial Ace. The battle becomes an aerial chase between the two Swallow Pokémon. Ash gets some inspiration when he sees the dust being stirred on the ground by Swellow's rapidly changing direction in midair close to the ground. Winona orders another Hyper Beam. Ash orders Swellow to use Quick Attack and rush towards the ground. Winona orders Swellow to use Aerial Ace. Ash commands his Swellow to use Wing Attack on the ground. The dust cloud that develops makes Winona's Swellow visible thus allowing Ash's Swellow to launch a direct hit with another Wing Attack. Winona's Swellow is knocked out, and Ash wins.

Max, Brock, and May comment on Ash's strategy. Winona presents the to Ash against a beautiful sunset background.

Major events

 * has his Gym battle with Winona and wins, earning the.

Pokémon debuts

 * Winona's Altaria

Humans

 * Max
 * Jessie
 * James
 * Winona
 * Jessie
 * James
 * Winona

Pokémon
Pokémon Trainer's Choice:
 * (Winona's)
 * (Winona's; )
 * (Winona's)
 * (Winona's; )
 * (Winona's)
 * (Winona's; )
 * (Winona's)
 * (Winona's; )
 * (Winona's; )

Trivia

 * This was the last episode to air before Destiny Deoxys debuted in Japanese theaters.
 * Due to Megumi Hayashibara's maternity leave, Akiko Hiramatsu takes over the voice of Jessie, a change that will last for the next eight episodes. Hayashibara's other role, Brock's Mudkip, is taken over by Natsuki Yoshihara.
 * makes a reference to A Shadow of a Drought, A Ghost of a Chance, and From Ghost to Ghost, when they had used the divining rods/itemfinder.
 * All of the choices in the Pokémon Trainer's Choice segment would be correct, as is weak to Ice, Water, Grass, and Bug, which are the featured types of the segment. Ledian could be considered to be the best choice since it would be unaffected by Baltoy's  attacks.

Errors

 * When is facing off against,  tells Grovyle to "jump and use dodge", rather than to "jump and dodge".
 * Similarly, Ash tells to "use  and after that use dive", rather than "use Quick Attack and dive".
 * During the second round of the battle, uses  as a ground to render 's attack ineffective. In the real world, electricity is only dangerous when the target is grounded and not the other way round. This is a consistent error about electricity in the Pokémon universe.  also describes the technique as protecting Pelipper "like a lightning rod". Lightning rods act by diverting electricity into the rod and away from the building, not by acting as a ground for the building.
 * When performs their, Jessie's hair end appears to be by her leg, instead of behind James.
 * When Pikachu falls down after getting hit by Pelipper's, part of his tail is missing.
 * When Ash goes to pick up Pikachu, his platform is still raised in the background.
 * When Winona sends out her, sparkles do not come out of Swellow's Poké Ball.
 * In the scene where Winona's Swellow dodges 's, Grovyle appears to have a fang.
 * In the scene right before Ash's Swellow hits the ground with, the white aura covering its wings disappears for a split second.

Pokémon Trainer's Choice

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

In other languages
Kampf um den sechsten Orden EP361 AG085 AG085 AG編第85話 精灵宝可梦 超世代 第85集