Pokemon: Path to the Peak Episode 1 recap: The Club

Pokemon: Path to the Peak is the latest animated project in the Pocket Monsters franchise and was announced just a few days ago during an official presentation on August 8, 2023. Soon after, during the franchise's World Championships, the first episode aired on August 11. The four-part series follows a young girl named Ava who falls in love with the official Pokemon Trading Card Game.

Taking place outside of the traditional Pocket Monsters universe, Ava inhabits our very own world viewed through a 3D animated lens. Through the fun and community of the Pokemon TCG, Ava meets new friends as she starts on the path to becoming a TCG champion.

This article will cover the major events of the first episode of Pokemon: Path to the Peak.

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Examining the story of Pokemon: Path to the Peak's first episode

After moving from her childhood home, Ava, a young girl, travels across the country to a new house with her parents. While unpacking, she finds a box of her mother's that contains Pokemon TCG cards, deckboxes, coins, counters, dice, and even an Oddish plushy.

As the stormy night at her new home continues, Ava watches the rain splatter on the window as her dad sits down to talk to her. She's not happy about the move, but her father says that a new home means a new start, and her new school is currently having a Club Week where she might be able to pick up a new hobby.

The next day, Ava makes her way to her new school and tries out multiple hobbies like beekeeping, archery, and baking, but she doesn't do well at any of them and annoys the other kids in the clubs. She gets glared at during lunch, so she sits by herself in the cafeteria.

Just then, a person walks by and leaves an origami Pikachu on her lunch tray. She checks the bottom of the paper figure to find "TM10" written on it (in most Pokemon games, TM10 is the Technical Machine for the move Hidden Power). Later on in the school hallway, Ava finds a classroom with the same TM number taped to its door, and she decides to enter.

Before Ava can enter the room, a boy bursts through the door shouting "Challenge accepted." He states that the room is for the Pokemon Club and asks if Ava received his note during lunch. The boy remarks that the club comprises his friends and that Ava can play with them if she has a deck. Immediately after, she runs home and grabs the box she found the night before.

Ava returns to school to the Pokemon Club and attempts to learn to play the TCG with the boy. The boy lists off the rules extremely fast and worries that Ava didn't understand, but she decides to play a match and says she gets the TCG just fine. Right before the battle begins, the two shake hands, and the boy introduces himself as Joshua.

As Ava and Joshua play, other members of the Pokemon Club gather around to watch the match. Ava uses Scyther to beat Joshua's Pikachu, but then Joshua rattles off a long combo and wins the match before Ava can respond. She heads home in a foul mood, mocking Joshua and ready to throw her box of cards in the garbage before her father intervenes.

Ava explains that all of the clubs didn't pan out well for her, and she lost her first game of the Pokemon TCG. Her dad states that he used to lose all the time when he played until he discovered "the secret," which Ava demands to know. The two head into the basement and play a match, and her dad tells her to close her eyes and imagine the Pokemon battle unfolding.

According to Ava's dad, visualizing the matches was the secret that helped him play better. With her newfound knowledge, Ava returns to the Pokemon Club and requests a rematch with Joshua. As the two play, Ava imagines a real battle between her Oddish and Joshua's Eevee.

As the battle continues, Joshua ups the ante by evolving Eevee into Jolteon, and Ava is impressed by the card's foil sheen. Kids from the club continue to gather around as the match proceeds, but Ava is backed into a corner with only her Oddish left.

In her imagination, Ava views a swirl of TCG cards around her and continues eliminating the possibilities until Oddish reappears in a sparkling visage. Ava pets the creature and it purrs. She then snaps back to reality and uses the Defiance Band card to power up her weakened Oddish.

With its newfound power, Oddish strikes the decisive blow against Jolteon, and Ava collects the final two prize cards to win the match. Joshua and the other club members cheer Ava on, and a montage begins that shows her using Oddish to defeat many more kids in the club until she beats the entire school club.

Joshua flips Ava a Pikachu coin and formally welcomes her to the Pokemon Club. As Ava dances in victory in the school hallway, a girl wearing a Ghost-type Pocket Monster outfit asks her how she would fare in a "real competition" with "championship points" on the line. Joshua points out that the girl's name is Celestine, the best TCG player in the school. Ava asks Joshua what Celestine is referring to, and Joshua says that she is talking about the Regionals.

It appears that the story of Ava and her friends has only begun, and many more TCG battles are likely to unfold in the future when the next episode of Pokemon: Path to the Peak debuts online on August 16, 2023.