Jostling for the Junior Cup! (Japanese:ジュニアカップ開幕！カイリューVSツンベアー！！The Junior Cup Gets Underway!Kairyu VSTunbear!!) is the 90th episode ofPokémon the Series: Black & White, and the 747th episode of thePokémon animated series. It first aired in Japan on August 2, 2012 and in the United States on December 1, 2012.
Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.
The Lacunosa Town Tournament Stadium is buzzing with excitement, as the Pokémon World Tournament Junior Cup gets under way! With commentary from Freddy The Scoop and Champion Alder, the tournament begins with an exhibition match between Cynthia, the Sinnoh League Champion, and Caitlin, a member of the Unova Elite Four. These two top Trainers show their stuff with an elegant and beautiful battle between Caitlin’s Gothitelle and Cynthia’s Garchomp, which ends in a draw when time is called.
Then it’s time for Round One! Ash’s rival Trip is paired up against the Pokémon Connaisseuse Burgundy, who only wants to battle her old nemesis Cilan. But Trip’s Serperior manages to take down her Darmanitan in a flash—despite the type disadvantage. Burgundy is furious, but Trip is quietly confident that he’ll win the whole tournament and go on to prove his strength by beating Alder.
Cilan, Ash, and Dawn defeat their first-round opponents as well—and then, in the last battle of the round, it’s Iris and her new Dragonite versus “Dragon Buster” Georgia and her Beartic! This is Dragonite’s first battle with Iris, and it’s clear they’re not connecting: Dragonite repeatedly ignores Iris’s orders to dodge, instead standing its ground as Beartic lands hit after hit. When Beartic’s supereffective Ice Beam freezes Dragonite solid, Iris has had enough, and screams at her headstrong Pokémon to pay attention and get serious. In response, Dragonite breaks free of the ice and—without a command from Iris—launches a powerfulThunder Punch at Beartic, knocking it out! Georgia insists that she lost to Dragonite and not to Iris, but Iris is thrilled about defeating her rival anyway.
Alder declares the day’s battles a success, the crowd erupts in excitement, and Round Two awaits!
Plot
Ash,Iris,Dawn, andCilan enterLacunosa Town for thePokémon World Tournament Junior Cup.Meloetta is with them to cheer them on. When two young men rushing to get good seats run into it and Ash, however, Meloetta is scared off. Cilan tells them that the opening ceremony is about to start and the friends head toward the dome, noticing a temporaryPokémon Center on the way in. Ash hears a familiar voice, and turns to seeAlder talking toCynthia and trying to get her to eat lunch with him. They are interrupted byTrip, who is determined to win the tournament to face off and defeat Alder.
As Trip, Cynthia, and Alder all leave to enter the dome,Georgia, Iris's rival, appears behind the friends and she and Iris exchange insults about each others' hair and talents as Trainers before Georgia leaves, promising to defeat Iris. Cilan starts to lead the way in, but is interrupted asBurgundy, a rival of his, appears, also promising to win and telling Dawn to watch out around Cilan.
The tournament opens with all of the 16 participants standing in line together asFreddy O'Martian and Alder make announcements. They start it with a ten-minuteexhibition match betweenUnovaElite Four memberCaitlin andSinnoh LeagueChampion Cynthia. Cynthia sends outGarchomp and Caitlin sends out herGothitelle. The two battle, and when Garchomp'sDraco Meteor and Gothitelle'sThunderbolt collide it sets off a fireworks-like display in the arena, impressing Dawn who tellsPiplup to watch closely as this can help them in their futureContest Battles. Before either Pokémon can gain the upper hand, however, the timer runs out and the exhibition battle is declared to be a draw.
The first round matches are announced: Trip versus Burgundy,Manning versusKenton,Shepherd versus Cilan,Horatio versusSimeon,Marris versus Ash,Geraldo versusCassie,Ramone versus Dawn, and Georgia versus Iris. Meloetta appears after the matches are announced to cheer Ash and his friends on. The first battle pits Trip and his newly evolvedSerperior versus Burgundy and her brand newDarmanitan. Serperior usesLeer to lower Darmanitan'sdefense and uses a match-winningSolarBeam. When the smoke clears, Darmanitan isno longer able to battle and Trip is victorious.
The other battles are briefly shown, with Manning, Cilan, Horatio, Ash, Geraldo, and Dawn winning before Georgia and Iris face off. Geogia usesBeartic to exploitDragonite's weakness to ice and starts the battle withHidden Power. Dragonite ignores Iris's orders to dodge the attack, instead batting it away. Dragonite refuses to dodge any of Beartic attacks, including anIce Beam, and appears to be losing as he is also too stubborn to use type-effective attacks. Dragonite finally wins by knocking Beartic out with aThunder Punch, and Iris wins the match. Georgia approaches Iris and tells her that it was Dragonite that won, not her, as the Pokémonhad refused to listen.
Freddy and Alder conclude the day's events with a quick announcement, and Trip glares at Alder with determination.
TheWho's That Pokémon? segment was skipped in the original airing of the English dubbed episode.
This episode aired on November 26, 2012 inItaly (on K2), five days before it aired inthe United States.
This is the first episode sinceDawn's return to not feature theTeam Rocket trio.
This episode marks the first time a member of theUnova Elite Four appears in the animated series.
The quotes thatCaitlin andCynthia use before and after theexhibition match are similar to the ones used in theGeneration V games, when the player character interacts with them during the battle.
Caitlin and Cynthia battling could be a reference to the fact that inPokémon Black and White, Caitlin mentions having battled against Cynthia several times and being unable to defeat her.
WhenIris notices thatNurse Joy andAudino are at the Pokémon World Tournament Junior Cup as well,Audino's tail is colored pink instead of white.
WhenCilan tells everyone to hurry, Cilan's eyes havesclerae.
WhenDawn's Piplup defeatedRamone'sStoutland, Stoutland's face when it fainted is colored the same way as its cream fur near its mustache.
When Iris sends outDragonite, Dragonite's antennae are orange instead of cream.
Audino's tail error
Cilan's eye error
Stoutland's face error
Iris's Dragonite's antennae error
Dub edits
On the UK BBC IPlayer/CBBC print of the episode,Georgia and Iris's snarks about each other's hair is edited out. As such, when Iris discovers Georgia, her “Funny!” remark from when Iris insults her is used in place of “A big head with big hair”.
Audino's tail error
Cilan's eye error
Stoutland's face error
Iris's Dragonite's antennae error
