#75 "Round One - Begin!"

    Ash finds out that his first battle will be in the water arena. There are four arenas, and yours is chosen pretty much by random. Each person may use three Pokémon to fight with. Ash is put up against a trainer named Mandy - he's a crowd favourite who likes to show off, and is extremely arrogant/snobbish. He won't even shake hands with Ash. Team Rocket, disguised as reporters, try to find out what each trainer has so they can steal their rare Pokémon, but Mandy fobs them off (saying he'll only respond to networks with viewers! -_-;)... TR are not pleased.

    Gary has won his first match, in the ice arena. Good on him! But now it's Ash's turn, and he's really nervous. For the water arena, he decides to use Krabby, Squirtle and Pikachu. Everyone tries to discourage him from using Krabby, since he's not used it before, but he does anyway. Ash's Krabby - which evolves into Kingler after the first victory - beats ALL THREE of Mandy's chosen Pokémon (an Exeggutor o.O., Seadra and Golbat) by itself. Ash loses his nervousness in the battle and does well, not forgetting to congratulate Kingler (and show off in front of the cameras) after the win. Back in Pallet, everyone is cheering for Ash as they watch on TV.