DP054

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Diamond & Pearl series

DP055 : Throwing the Track Switch →

Once There Were Greenfields

DP054   EP520 ナタネとサボネア！さよならは誰のため！？ Natane & Sabonea! Farewell to Whom!?

First broadcast Japan November 15, 2007 United States April 19, 2008

English themes Opening We Will Be Heroes Ending

Japanese themes Opening Together Ending 君のそばで 〜ヒカリのテーマ〜 (Winter Version)

Credits Animation Team Iguchi Screenplay 十川誠志 Masashi Sogo Storyboard 於地紘仁 Kōjin Ochi Assistant director 宮原秀二 Shūji Miyahara Animation director たけだゆうさく Yūsaku Takeda Additional credits

Screenshots on Filb.de

Once There Were Greenfields (Japanese: ナタネとサボネア！さよならは誰のため！？ Natane and Sabonea! Farewell to Whom!?) is the 54th episode of the Diamond & Pearl series, and the 520th episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on November 15, 2007 and in the United States on April 19, 2008.

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

Synopsis

The episode opens with some young kids running out into a school yard and gathering around Gardenia. The group then walks by and notice her. They greet her and Brock launches into a romantic story of how they could be together, but he is abruptly stopped by Croagunk. Gardenia then explains that she is promoting battling by having battles all over the area.

Team Rocket watch from nearby bushes and decide to steal Pikachu. They race out into the open and perform their motto. Jessie then sends out Seviper and James sends out Cacnea, which grabs on to him. Ash asks Pikachu to use Thunderbolt, but before it can Gardenia is swooning over Cacnea calling it "cute" and "cuddly", the latter of which makes Dawn comment that Gardenia never met a Grass-type which she didn't fall in love with. James takes Cacnea off her telling her to grow her own. Gardenia asks to borrow it, but James refuses. The children then remind Gardenia that she is supposed to show them a battle. Gardenia then persuades James to join her in a tag battle agains Ash and Dawn. Brock agrees to referee.

Gardenia sends out Turtwig to face Pachirisu and Aipom alongside Cacnea. Aipom starts with Swift, which hits Cacnea while Turtwig dodges. Cacnea then fights back with Pin Missile and Turtwig uses Leaf Storm. Both are dodged and Gardenia says that she had never seen such a gorgeous Pin Missile. Pachirisu uses Spark, which Turtwig dodges before hitting Pachirisu with Bite. Pachirisu then uses Discharge, which is dodged by all the others except Cacnea. Aipom uses Focus Punch and Cacnea counters with Needle Arm, which breaks through the Focus Punch and hits Aipom. Meowth comments that the Needle Arm was pretty good and Gardenia suggests that Cacnea should use Needle Arm again. Pacirisu uses Spark and James tells Cacnea to counter with Needle Arm, but Pachirisu dodges and hits Cacnea. Aipom prepares to use Focus Punch, and Gardenia suggests James should tell Cacnea to use Drain Punch, and then explains how it is performed. James does so and Cacnea hits Aipom with a powerful Drain Punch, surprising everyone except Gardenia.

While Gardenia was distracted with Cacnea, the others were taking advantage, and a cry makes Gardenia remember Turtwig just as it is hit by Pachirisu's Spark, knocking it out. Aipom uses Swift and James calls for another Drain Punch, but the move fails and Cacnea is hit. Aipom then hits it with Focus Punch as it tries to use Drain Punch again, knocking Cacnea out and ending the battle. The kids blame James for the loss. Gardenia says that she was right about Cacnea being strong enough to use Drain Punch. Dawn asks why it didn't work the other times, and Cacnea says it was an accident that it worked at all. Gardenia says that it was really because James and Cacnea weren't quite in sync. Gardenia then offers to train Cacnea, before heading to the Pokémon Center with the kids.

James and Cacnea are sitting on a hill overlooking the town when Jessie tells them to snap out of it. James then reveals that he isn't sure whether to give Cacnea to Gardenia or not. Cacnea then says that it would like to learn to use Drain Punch. The "twerps" then come up the hill, and Jessie suggests getting them to help Cacnea train. James and Cacnea start training, making Dawn comment that team Rocket do the right thing "once in a while", angering Jessie and Meowth. Ash and Pikachu offer to help them train. Dawn is doubtful, but James and Cacnea are delighted. Pikachu uses Quick Attack, which Cacnea counters with Needle Arm. Pikachu uses Thunderbolt, which Cacnea dodges, causing it to hit James instead. Cacnea uses Needle Arm and Pikachu counters with Iron Tail, but Needle Arm breaks through it and hits Pikachu. Cacnea then tries Drain Punch, but it fails and Cacnea trips on a rock. Brock comments that the timing is still off.

Later Cacnea is using Carnivine and Chimchar to practice punching. One of Cacnea's punches then hits Chimchar in the face, so James then tells it to use Drain Punch, but the resulting Drain Punch isn't very strong. That evening James is pondering whether to give Cacnea to Gardenia, and then decides to have a training battle with Aipom. Gardenia comes up to watch. Aipom opens with Focus Punch, but Cacnea dodges and uses Needle Arm. They try again, but this time Cacnea misses and is hit by Focus Punch. Cacnea dodges another Focus Punch and counters with Needle Arm, before trying another Drain Punch, but it fails. Cacnea tries to counter repeated Focus Punches with Drain Punch, but is hit repeatedly. Cacnea is tired, and is still trying to continue, but James Stops it and tells Cacnea to go with Gardenia. As he holds up Cacnea's Poké Ball he fondly recalls his time with Cacnea, and then says goodbye as the returns it. He then gives it to Gardenia and runs off crying, with Jessie and Meowth in hot pursuit.

The next day at the Pokémon Center the group say goodbye to Gardenia with Turtwig and Cacnea by her side while Team Rocket watch from the roof.

Major events

• Gardenia appears again.
• Ash and Dawn have a tag battle with James and Gardenia and win.
• James's Cacnea begins to learn Drain Punch and he gives it to Gardenia for training.

Characters

Humans

• Ash
• Dawn
• Brock
• Jessie
• James
• Gardenia
• Children
  • Seiyū: 大谷育江 Ikue Ohtani*, 阪口大助 Daisuke Sakaguchi*, 林原めぐみ Megumi Hayashibara*

* No official credit was given for this character.

Pokémon

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
• Aipom (Ash's)
• Chimchar (Ash's)
• Pachirisu (Dawn's)
• Croagunk (Brock's)
• Seviper (Jessie's)
• Cacnea (James's; given to Gardenia for training)
• Carnivine (James's)
• Turtwig (Gardenia's)

Trivia

• One of the boys calls Kojirō "Kosanji", which usually is used to refer to Kosaburō. In the dub, the boy calls James "Old man".
• The instrumental version of A Small Thing from Jirachi: Wish Maker is used as background music.
• Professor Oak's Pokémon lecture: Weavile
  • Pokémon senryū: ながいつめ　ニューっとひっかく　マニューラよNagai tsume, nyū 'tto hikkaku, Manyūra yo.
• Ash and Dawn narrate the next episode preview.
• Team Rocket does not blast off in this episode
• Jessie breaks the fourth wall when she says to start up the season in style with the old get-up and go strategy. This is the second episode of the season.
• Dawn has her first battle with a Gym Leader.
• In the Latin American dub, James's Cacnea is referred to as female.
• This is the second time Ash has rebattled a Gym Leader after winning their badge. The first was against Wattson in Manectric Charge.
• This is one of the few episodes of the Diamond & Pearl series where Dawn's Piplup does not appear.

Errors

• Once again, the black part under Gardenia's mantle is invisible.

In other languages

• German: Entscheidung des Herzens!
• Latin American Spanish: ¡Qué verdes eran los pastos!
• Iberian Spanish: ¡Érase una vez unos campos verdes!
• Brazilian Portuguese: Era uma vez os campos verdejantes!
• Polish: Pożegnania nadszedł czas
• Dutch: Zo groen als gras!
• Czech: Kdysi tu bývaly zelené louky
• Italian: Addio, Cacnea!
• Finnish: Missä ruoho on vihreämpää
• Hebrew: !גארדיניה וקקניאה! הפרידה

← DP053 : Tears For Fears!

Diamond & Pearl series

DP055 : Throwing the Track Switch →

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