EP269

The Ties That Bind

EP269   けっしょうリーグ！フルバトル６VS６!! League Finals! Full Battle 6 vs 6!!

First broadcast Japan October 10, 2002 United States September 20, 2003

English themes Opening I Believe Ending

Japanese themes Opening Ready Go! Ending ポケッターリ・モンスターリ

Credits Animation Team Ota Screenplay 冨岡淳広 Atsuhiro Tomioka Storyboard 誌村宏明 Hiroaki Shimura Assistant director 誌村宏明 Hiroaki Shimura Animation director 宍戸久美子 Kumiko Shishido No additional credits are available at this time.

The Ties That Bind (Japanese: けっしょうリーグ！フルバトル６VS６!! League Finals! Full Battle 6 vs 6!!) is episode 269 of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on October 10, 2002 and in the United States on September 20, 2003.

Ash and Gary's rivalry heats up as the two prepare to face each other in battle.

Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.

Major events

• Ash is reunited with Charizard.
• Harrison gets through to the second round.
• Ash begins his battle with Gary.

Characters

Humans

• Ash Ketchum
• Brock
• Misty
• Jessie
• James
• Gary Oak
• Professor Oak
• Delia
• Harrison
• Crowd (includes Macey and Jackson)

Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?: Umbreon

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Togepi (Misty's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
• Charizard (Ash's)
• Tauros (Ash's)
• Heracross (Ash's)
• Nidoqueen (Gary's)
• Magmar (Gary's)
• Blastoise (Gary's)
• Bulbasaur (Ash's; flashback)
• Cyndaquil (Ash's; flashback)
• Magneton (Jackson's; alternate color; flashback)
• Meganium (Jackson's; flashback)
• Sneasel (Harrison's)
• Machamp (Unknown trainer's)
• Magikarp (flashback)

Seen on Gary's profile:

• Pinsir
• Houndoom
• Fearow
• Alakazam
• Umbreon
• Skarmory
• Arcanine
• Nidoqueen
• Magmar
• Kingdra

Trivia

• Gary's starter is revealed to have been a Squirtle - the Pokémon Ash originally intended to start with.
• When Ash is looking for his half of the broken Pokéball, you can see the rubber gloves Delia gave him in the very first episode when he had to hold onto Pikachu with them to avoid being shocked.

Errors

• The 'Broken Pokéball' scene is stated to have happen after Ash started his journey despite the fact that a look back at Ash's beginnings shows that this could not have happened then.

In other languages

This episode article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of the Pokémon anime.