DP104

← DP103 : Jumping Rocket Ship!

Diamond & Pearl series

DP105 : Get Your Rotom Running! →

Sleepless in Pre-Battle!

DP104   EP570 クレセリアＶＳダークライ！ Crecelia vs. Darkrai!

First broadcast Japan December 4, 2008 United States May 2, 2009

English themes Opening We Will Be Heroes Ending

Japanese themes Opening ハイタッチ！ Ending あしたはきっと

Credits Animation Team Iguchi Screenplay 武上純希 Junki Takegami Storyboard 古賀一臣 Kazuomi Koga Assistant director 古賀一臣 Kazuomi Koga Animation director 志村泉 Izumi Shimura Additional credits

Screenshots on Filb.de

Sleepless in Pre-Battle! (Japanese: クレセリアＶＳダークライ！ Crecelia vs. Darkrai!) is the 104th episode of the Diamond & Pearl series, and the 570th episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on December 4, 2008 as part of a one hour special with Get Your Rotom Running!, in the UK on April 17, 2009 and in the United States on May 2, 2009.

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

Synopsis

The group go to Canalave Gym, only to hear the gym referee screaming. He comes out, telling the gang that everyone has been having nightmares, and that the Gym Leader is out training on Iron Island. Dawn decides that some shopping will cheer up the disappointed Ash, however, they find the most popular shopping area on the island is deserted. Brock sees a police station, and goes to make a move on Jenny.

At the police station, the group is told by Officer Jenny that all the people in the town are having nightmares, and that the cause of the nightmares seems to be the Pokémon Darkrai. She pulls out a Lunar Wing, telling them that even though she paid good money for it, it doesn't seem to be working. Brock examines it with a magnifying glass and finds out it's just a lacquered Pidgey feather. Jenny runs out in a rage.

Meanwhile, Meowth and Jessie are selling their "Lunar Wings". They sell their last one, so they go inside their tent and their Nightmare Machine, which they have built to scam people into buying their Lunar Wings. However Jenny hears them speaking and moves to arrest them. Pikachu uses Thunderbolt and sends them blasting off, destroying the machine.

Later that night, the group awaken to the same nightmare, and find figure that the real Darkrai is nearby, and that they must summon Cresselia to stop it. They set off for Fullmoon Island, with Team Rocket following closely in their Magikarp Submarine. They plan to catch Cresselia and Pikachu as an added bonus.

On the island, the gang discovers a real Lunar Wing, and Piplup picks up a scent. However, this is only the scent of a Psyduck, so Dawn brings out Swinub. Swinub tracks down the shrine which Cresselia is supposed to appear at, and sure enough, Cresselia appears in a flash of light. Meanwhile, Team Rocket launches a missile from their sub and traps Cresselia in a net. They extend legs on the sub, then move up to the cliff where the shrine is and trap everyone but Swinub, who uses Take Down, but gets knocked back every time.

Pikachu attempts a Thunderbolt, but only succeeds in shocking Ash. Swinub continues to attack, failing, when it evolves into Piloswine. Using Take Down, it destroys the sub, sending Team Rocket blasting off. They free Cresselia, who proceeds to battle Darkrai, who was originally drawn to the electromagnetic pulses from the Nightmare Machine. After battling, Darkrai leaves and disappears once more. With Darkrai gone, everyone can get a good night's sleep before Ash starts training for his upcoming Gym battle.

Major events

• Ash arrives at the Canalave Gym only to find out that the local Gym Leader is away training on Iron Island.
• Dawn's Swinub evolves into a Piloswine.

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

• Dawn's Piloswine

TV episode debuts

• Darkrai
• Cresselia

Characters

Humans

• Ash
• Dawn
• Brock
• Jessie
• James
• Officer Jenny
• Gym referee

Pokémon

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
• Piplup (Dawn's)
• Swinub (Dawn's, evolves)
• Piloswine (Dawn's, newly evolved)
• Croagunk (Brock's)
• Cresselia (debut)
• Darkrai (debut)
• Psyduck

Trivia

• Professor Oak's Pokémon lecture: Flygon
• Music from Destiny Deoxys, Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea and The Rise of Darkrai are used as background music.
• Dawn displays the Lunar Wing that she bought in the movie The Rise of Darkrai, marking the first mention of the events of that movie in the anime and thus making it at least partially canon. Ash's nightmare is very similar to the one he had in the same movie.
  • Despite having the aforementioned Lunar Wing, Dawn still suffers nightmares when Darkrai arrives.
    • Also, in this episode, no-one knows what Darkrai is, despite some having spoken to him in The Rise of Darkrai. This is particularly shown when Ash refers to Darkrai as "a creepy Pokémon", and exclaims "so that's Darkrai!" when first seeing him.
• This episode aired in the same week that Hungry For the Good Life!, in which Dawn captures Swinub, aired in the U.S. The same thing happened with Ash's Gliscor.
• This episode is related to the game's event where the player has to go to Fullmoon Island to get a Lunar Wing from Cresselia to stop a nightmare most likely caused by Darkrai.
  • It may also be related to the in-game event to get Darkrai, which was released over the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection three days before this episode's first Japanese airdate.
• The dub title for this episode parodies the successful romantic comedy thriller film Sleepless in Seattle.
• This is the last episode of the eleventh season, Pokémon Diamond & Pearl: Battle Dimension.
• This is also the second time a main character's Pokémon evolves in the same episode a legendary Pokémon has appeared in. The first time was in Entei at Your Own Risk.
  • Coincidentally, a Swinub and Piloswine were also in that episode.
• In this episode, Team Rocket uses a variation of their motto.

File:DP104 Error.PNG

Dawn's Piloswine as a Mamoswine

Errors

• Mamoswine was added in the place of Swinub in the opening instead of Piloswine.

In other languages

• Dutch: Slapeloze Nachten Zijn Lang!
• German: Ein legendäres Pokémon!
• Brazilian Portuguese: Epidemia de Pesadelo!
• Latin American Spanish: ¡Durmiendo Antes de la Batalla!
• Czech: Bezesný den
• Italian: Incubi prima della battaglia!
• Polish: Cresselia kontra Darkrai!
• French: Nuit blanche à Joliberges !

← DP103 : Jumping Rocket Ship!

Diamond & Pearl series

DP105 : Get Your Rotom Running! →

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