DP122

← DP121 : The Lonely Snover!

Diamond & Pearl series

DP123 : Old Rivals, New Tricks! →

Stopped in the Name of Love!

DP122   EP588 進化！その時ポッチャマは！？ Evolution! This Time for Pochama!?

First broadcast Japan April 2, 2009 United States August 29, 2009

English themes Opening Battle Cry - (Stand Up!) Ending

Japanese themes Opening ハイタッチ！ Ending もえよ　ギザみみピチュー！

Credits Animation Team Iguchi Screenplay 藤田伸三 Shinzō Fujita Storyboard 小山賢 Masaru Koyama Assistant director 小山賢 Masaru Koyama Animation director 志村泉 Izumi Shimura Additional credits

Screenshots on Filb.de

Stopped in the Name of Love! (Japanese: 進化！その時ポッチャマは！？ Evolution! This Time for Pochama!?) is the 122nd episode of the Diamond & Pearl series, and the 588th episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on April 2, 2009, as part of a one-hour special along with The Lonely Snover! and aired in the United States on August 29, 2009.

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

Synopsis

As Dawn's upcoming Contest in Sandalstraw Town approaches, the group stops at a local Pokémon Center. Dawn decides to train and summons all her Pokémon, knowing she only needs one more ribbon to enter the Grand Festival. Piplup runs forward and collapses, everyone asking if he is okay. Piplup tries to get up and falls again, concerning Dawn. Barry suddenly appears and crashes into Ash as usual. Kenny also appears and after calling Dawn Dee-Dee (much to her annoyance), asks if she's entering the Contest. Barry reveals that he also knows Kenny since they are both from Twinleaf Town. Kenny plans to enter the Contest while Barry decides to enter the upcoming Pokémon Ping Pong Tournament which is also being held in Sandalstraw Town, showing Ash a flyer about it. Brock mentions that a Trainer and one of his or her Pokémon will partner up as a team to enter. Barry summons Empoleon in order to train, planning to enter with it. As everyone watches, Piplup starts to glow, causing Piplup to jump around. Kenny mentions that Piplup is starting to evolve into Prinplup. Everyone's excited, but Piplup braces himself, stopping the evolution and exhausting Piplup to the point of collapse. Brock urges everyone to go to the Center.

At the Center, Nurse Joy checks Piplup as she reassures Dawn that Piplup only needs to rest. During dinner, Dawn mentions that it still surprises her that Piplup will evolve. Kenny tells Dawn it's no surprise considering how well she's raised him and Barry also congratulates Dawn on a good job but advises that the evolution path from Piplup to Empoleon only gets harder. Kenny then mentions that as Prinplup is double the size of Piplup, she'll have more to show off in contests while Ash mentions that she will need to adapt her battling style just as he adapted when Turtwig evolved into Grotle. Although Ash is skeptical of Dawn mentioning her adaptation to Mamoswine, Dawn is still excited, but Brock displays concern. Outside, Team Rocket listens in and decides to steal the Piplup evolutionary line.

During the night, Piplup wakes up and looks at himself in the window's reflecton, imagining himself as Prinplup. Dawn comes up from behind and presents Piplup with food, but he refuses. Dawn reveals her excitement for Piplup's evolution, but Piplup doesn't seem enthusiastic as Dawn tries to reassure Piplup. Piplup jumps around as he begins to glow again, the evolution process starting. Dawn tries to get Piplup just let the evolution happen, but Piplup uses Bide to stop evolving, exhausting himself in the progress. Dawn questions Piplup's motives and brings up the positives of evolution, but Piplup gets angry that Dawn appears to be ignoring his unwillingness to evolve and jumps out the window and flees the Center, prompting Dawn to follow. Barry and Empoleon pressure Brock, Kenny and Ash to train for the Ping-Pong tournament (despite the fact that Brock and Kenny don't plan to enter), but Dawn shows up and mentions her situation. Outside, Brock mentions his concerns that Piplup does not want to evolve, using Bide to stop evolution and expend energy. Everyone splits up to search as Kenny summons Prinplup to help search. As Dawn searches on her own, she spots a light in the forest.

Piplup sits under a waterfall, stopping the evolution into Prinplup but collapses into the water. Dawn arrives and picks up Piplup, questioning his reason to not evolve. Piplup gets angry again and jumps out of Dawn's hands before firing BubbleBeam and running off. Dawn searches as she spots Piplup stuck in a web. She runs forward as an Ariados attacks her with Sludge Bomb. While she dodges, Piplup uses BubbleBeam to stall Ariados. Dawn runs forward as another Sludge Bomb grazes the top of her head, causing her to trip. The attack frees Piplup and sends him airborne, but Dawn quickly catches Piplup. However, multiple Ariados confront the two and all prepare to fire Hyper Beam. Just before the attacks hit, Piplup jumps forward and uses Bide to take the attacks before retaliating, sending all the Araiados flying. Piplup collapses exhausted as Dawn picks up Piplup.

As Barry and Kenny continue searching, a Bullet Seed attack knocks down Prinplup and Empoleon before two mecha arms grab them. Empoleon and Prinplup try to use Hydro Cannon and BubbleBeam, but the hands spin and disorient them as Kenny and Barry notice a large mecha. Meanwhile, Dawn carries Piplup to a lake as Piplup wakes up, Dawn thanking her Pokémon. Dawn mentions how a similar situation occurred when they first met and how Dawn chose Piplup. Ash and Brock find Dawn and are relieved that they're okay. Suddenly, another mecha arm grabs Piplup as a giant Prinplup mecha shows up, revealing the captured Piplup evolutionary line. Team Rocket recites their motto but Barry cuts them off. Ash has Pikachu fire Thunderbolt, but the mecha redirects the attack to harm Prinplup and Empoleon.

The mecha deploys tank treads and proceeds to escape, but Dawn spots Piplup and decides to run after the mecha, getting on the side. Dawn notices a hatch up top and gets in that way. While Dawn demands her Pokémon back, Piplup destroys the ventilation gates with Peck and BubbleBeam, getting into the control room with Dawn. Meowth translates Piplup's talk as he plans to take them down and that he wants to protect Dawn just like the first time, revealing that past events have motivated him to stay the way he is. Dawn accepts Piplup's decision and has him attack with Whirlpool, destroying the mecha and freeing everyone. Outside, Team Rocket gets up and summons Seviper and Carnivine. They attack with Poison Tail and Vine Whip, but Piplup's BubbleBeam stops both in their tracks. Piplup starts to glow again as he tries to stop the evolution, leaving him and Dawn vulnerable. James wants Piplup to not evolve to maintain the family, but Jessie opts to let it and instead present the boss with Empoleon triplets. Seviper and Carnivine rush to attack the defenseless Piplup, but Pikachu's Thunderbolt stops both Pokémon, Ash and the others arriving on site. Piplup is still immobile as Seviper and Carnivine attack again with Bullet Seed and Poison Tail, but Pikachu defends with Thunderbolt. Piplup manages to stop evolving and attacks with Whirlpool, sending Team Rocket flying away.

Dawn thanks Piplup for saving her again, and realizes that Piplup's memory of their first day together is why he wants to stay as he is, and tearfully apologizes to her Pokémon for not understanding his feelings. Piplup tells Dawn that it's ok and with her friends watching on, Dawn happily picks up her partner and best friend telling him she's happy for him to remain as her Piplup forever which delights Piplup, and the two reaffirm their bond together.

At the Center, Nurse Joy finishes tending to Piplup, Prinplup and Empoleon and three happily run to their respective trainers. Nurse Joy then tells Dawn she has something for her, and Chansey presents Dawn with an Everstone, which has the power to prevent a Pokémon from evolving for as long as it wants. Dawn and Piplup gratefully accept the gift, knowing this means Piplup won't have to use Bide to prevent the evolution anymore. With the excitement over for now, Ash and Barry start training for the Ping Pong competition while Dawn and Kenny practice for the Sandalstraw Contest, with everyone more focused than ever on achieving their goals.

Major events

• Ash and his friends meet up with Barry and Kenny again.
• The gang learns about an upcoming Pokémon Ping Pong Tournament which Barry is planning to enter.
• Dawn's Piplup begins to evolve, but chooses not to.
• Nurse Joy gives Dawn an Everstone to prevent Piplup's evolution.

For a list of all major events in the animated series, please see the history page.

Characters

Humans

• Ash
• Dawn
• Brock
• Jessie
• James
• Barry
• Kenny
• Nurse Joy

Pokémon

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
• Piplup (Dawn's)
• Buneary (Dawn's)
• Pachirisu (Dawn's)
• Ambipom (Dawn's)
• Mamoswine (Dawn's)
• Seviper (Jessie's)
• Carnivine (James's)
• Prinplup (Kenny's)
• Empoleon (Barry's)
• Chansey (Nurse Joy's)
• Ariados (×8)
• Budew
• Jigglypuff

Trivia

File:Piplup web 122.png

Piplup on another web

• There is no Professor Oak's lecture following this episode.
• Darkrai and Giratina replace Dialga and Palkia respectively in their appearance before and after the preview of the next episode.
• Music from Pikachu and Pichu, Celebi: Voice of the Forest, and Pokémon Heroes is used during this episode.
• In this episode, Dawn and Piplup underwent the same experience against a group of wild Ariados as when they first met; the same encounter that helped Piplup trust Dawn.
• This episode is similar to Bulbasaur's Mysterious Garden, where Ash's Bulbasaur was in the process of evolving and ultimately decided not to.
• When the dub's title was revealed, it was originally thought to air with Old Rivals, New Tricks! on September 5, 2009 but was pulled back to August 29, 2009.
• The dub title is a reference to Stop! In the Name of Love, a song recorded by The Supremes.

Errors

• In the dub, when Dawn was talking to Ash she said "Plinplup" instead of "Prinplup".

Dub edits

• In the dub, Piplup opted to not evolve in order to preserve the memories of the day he met Dawn. In the original, Piplup didn't want to evolve because it was afraid of ending up like Mamoswine.
• In the European Portuguese dub, Kenny reads the title card.

In other languages

Language		Title
Mandarin Chinese		進化！這時候波加曼會如何？
Finnish		Rakkauden pysäyttävä voima!
German		Stopp! Im Name der Liebe!
Italian		Per sempre insieme!
Polish		Wiecznie młody w imię miłości
Portuguese	Brazil	Parado em Nome do Amor!
	Portugal	Adiado em Nome do Amor!
Russian		Отказ во имя любви!' Otkaz vo imya lyubvi!
Latin American Spanish		¡Detenida En Nombre Del Amor!
Swedish		Stoppad i kärlekens namn!

← DP121 : The Lonely Snover!

Diamond & Pearl series

DP123 : Old Rivals, New Tricks! →

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