JN074
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Nightfall? Nightmares!
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First broadcast
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English themes
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Japanese themes
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Credits
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Nightfall? Nightmares! (Japanese: ダークライ 真夏の夜の夢 Darkrai - A Midsummer Night's Dream) is the 74th episode of Pokémon Journeys: The Series, and the 1,159th episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on July 23, 2021, in Canada on December 4, 2021, in the United Kingdom on January 13, 2022, and in the United States on January 21, 2022.
Blurb
Amid reports of nightmares in residents of the Sinnoh region, Professor Cerise suspects Darkrai may be involved, so Ash and Goh prepare for some research! Meanwhile, Chloe sets off on her own vacation when Professor Cerise reveals their family won’t be taking one together.
Ash and Goh’s research shows Darkrai roaming near a forest in Sinnoh, while Team Rocket is off to capture a Cresselia, located somewhere in the same forest…
When Chloe sets up camp, Dawn and Piplup appear! Although Chloe has never entered a Pokémon Contest, she agrees to go with Dawn to Eterna City.
However, things take a turn when Dawn and Chloe discover a wounded Cresselia!
Plot
Over Fullmoon Island in the Sinnoh region, a Cresselia is being chased by Team Rocket's Matori Matrix. A blast from their airship's electroshockers hits Cresselia and hurts her, causing her to fall down. As Team Rocket Grunts descend down to search for Cresselia, she makes her getaway by flying away from the island. On the nearby Newmoon Island, a Darkrai senses something is wrong and also heads to the Sinnoh mainland.
Back in Kanto, Professor Cerise tells Ash and Goh about incidents in Sinnoh involving people being kept awake by horrible nightmares. Chrysa and Ren agree with the Professor's suspicions about the culprit being Darkrai, the Mythical Pokémon with the ability to induce nightmares on people and Pokémon alike. However, Darkrai usually never leaves its residence on Newmoon Island, making the situation all the more strange. Ash and Goh agree to travel to Sinnoh to investigate, and leave the Cerise Laboratory just as Chloe comes back from her school's end-of-semester ceremony. As she heads home, she tells her father that she's looking forward to their family vacation. Being reminded of the vacation, Professor Cerise realizes he had forgotten all about it, much to his horror.
At home, Chloe is annoyed to hear that her father is unable to come along to the vacation, as he needs to keep an eye on an Egg that's close to hatching at the laboratory. Furthermore, Talia mentions that she has an illustration work to do, and Parker says he's going on a summer camp with his friends, leaving Chloe all the more annoyed. Professor Cerise mentions how Ash and Goh had just left for the Sinnoh region, and suggests that Chloe should go there too and meet up with them. She rejects the suggestion, but still chooses to go to Sinnoh anyway, deciding to have the vacation on her own with Eevee. Seeing Chloe's overpacked suitcase, Talia instead hands Chloe the bag she used to carry things with while traveling, filled with most of the essentials.
Arriving in Jubilife City, Chloe starts looking around for sights to see. A giant television screen shows an interview with the legendary Top Coordinator Johanna, who talks about an upcoming Pokémon Contest in Eterna City. Chloe thinks seeing a Contest sounds interesting, so she decides to head there. However, instead of waiting for a bus, Eevee wants them to walk there, which Chloe agrees to. Despite encountering mishaps like being attacked by a flock of Starly and getting caught in the middle of a heavy rain storm, Chloe still finds the experience enjoyable.
Meanwhile, Ash and Goh are talking with Officer Jenny about the nightmare incidents. She mentions that the nightmare cases have moved from town to town, giving more evidence to Ash and Goh's suspicions of a Pokémon being behind everything. At Team Rocket trio's secret base, Matori is contacting them and telling them to join her on the hunt for Darkrai and Cresselia. At first, the trio is uninterested, but upon learning that this capture operation was a direct order from Giovanni and could result in them being promoted if they're successful, they immediately change their mind and agree to come. After ending the call, Matori muses to herself how she's actually calling in the trio just to have them take the fallout in case anything goes wrong.
Once the rain has ended, Chloe and Eevee decide to camp out by a beautiful lakeside. At first, Chloe has trouble setting up a campfire, but as the night falls, she finally succeeds and starts cooking food. Suddenly, a Piplup runs in and starts eating directly from the pot, only to find out that the food is still way too hot. Piplup is followed by a girl, who explains to Chloe that she had forgotten to buy food and was lured in by the scent of Chloe's cookings. She introduces herself as Dawn, and Chloe introduces herself to Dawn as well. When Chloe mentions that she's en route to Eterna City, Dawn reveals she's going to be taking part in the Contest there, but is surprised to find out Chloe only wants to go see it and isn't interested in participating. Dawn goes on to mention that she's participated in Contests in not only Sinnoh, but in Hoenn, Unova, and Johto as well, sometimes traveling by herself and sometimes being in a group. She suggests that she and Chloe could travel to Eterna City together, which Chloe happily agrees to.
Back at the Cerise Laboratory, Ash and Goh have returned to report that they were unable to figure out the cause of the nightmares. Strangely, however, Chrysa and Ren are only interested to hear if they caught any strong Pokémon, before suddenly revealing Team Rocket-like uniforms and performing a modified version of the Rocket trio's motto, announcing themselves as members of "Team Cerise". To Ash and Goh's shock, they suddenly find themselves wearing similar costumes, and Professor Cerise reveals himself in a dark suit, laughing evilly as he orders an all-out assault with all the Pokémon at the Cerise Park. Ash, Goh, Pikachu, and Grookey suddenly jolt awake from the nightmare. Upon finding out they all had the same dream, they realize the culprit behind the nightmares must be close, and rush outside to see Darkrai nearby, before it vanishes into the shadows.
The next morning, after getting their hairs done by Piplup, Dawn and Chloe head to Eterna City. However, Dawn constantly keeps getting distracted by various things along the way, such as a clear spring, a cute Budew, and a field of flowers, all the while assuring Chloe that there's no need to worry. Chloe eventually grows tired of Dawn's attitude and calls her thoughtless, while Dawn calls Chloe a spoilsport in return. Meanwhile, Ash and Goh have arrived in another town, only to discover that Darkrai is no longer present there. Goh, however, has gathered the reports about Darkrai together and figured out that it seems to be circling around a certain forest, so they decide to go check it out. Above said forest, the Team Rocket trio is flying in their balloon while looking down and trying to find Cresselia.
As the sun starts to set, Dawn and Chloe are still not at their destination, and they continue to berate each other's behavior. Their argument is quickly interrupted, however, as a sleep-deprived and aggressive Rhydon appears on their path. Chloe tells Eevee to use Tackle, but it fails to do much. Dawn takes over, knowing that their Ground/Rock-type opponent is weak against Water-type moves, and has Piplup use Bubble Beam. While the attack deals notable damage on Rhydon, it still has enough energy left to counterattack with Rock Blast, which hits Piplup. Eevee steps in front of Piplup and uses Copycat to temporarily learn Piplup's move. Seeing this, Chloe has Eevee use Bubble Beam as well. The attack hits, and Rhydon collapses, having fallen asleep instead of fainting. Both Dawn and Chloe are impressed by the other's performance, and find themselves holding hands before they even realize it.
Chloe and Dawn notice a glow further along their path. Simultaneously, Ash and Goh are approaching the forest. Goh acknowledges the possibility that they may have to battle Darkrai, and Ash says they should avoid falling asleep, although having one of Cresselia's Lunar Wings would be helpful too. While Dawn and Chloe approach the glow and see it coming from an injured Cresselia lying on the ground, Ash and Goh rush into the forest.
Major events
- A Cresselia and a Darkrai are targeted by Team Rocket's Matori Matrix.
- Ash and Goh travel to Sinnoh again, while Chloe travels to the region for the first time.
- Dawn meets Chloe for the first time.
- Ash and Goh encounter Darkrai.
- Dawn encounters Cresselia.
- For a list of all major events in the animated series, please see the history page.
Debuts
Pokémon debuts
Characters
Humans
- Ash
- Dawn
- Goh
- Jessie
- James
- Chloe
- Officer Jenny
- Professor Cerise
- Johanna (on television)
- Matori
- Chrysa
- Ren
- Talia
- Parker
- Team Rocket Grunts
- Citizens
Pokémon
Who's That Pokémon?: Cresselia
- Pikachu (Ash's)
- Meowth (Team Rocket)
- Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
- Piplup (Dawn's)
- Mr. Mime (Ash's; Mimey; dream)
- Grookey (Goh's)
- Eevee (Chloe's)
- Yamper (Professor Cerise's)
- Rotom (Professor Cerise's; Rotom Phone)
- Magnemite (Ren's; Francois; dream)
- Skuntank (Team Rocket Grunt's)
- Toxicroak (Team Rocket Grunt's)
- Purugly (Team Rocket Grunt's)
- Rhyperior (Team Rocket Grunt's)
- Bidoof (Trainer's)
- Psyduck (Trainer's)
- Shinx (Trainer's)
- Roselia (Trainer's)
- Exeggcute (Coordinator's; on television)
- Darumaka (Coordinator's; on television)
- Cresselia (anime)
- Darkrai (anime)
- Starly (multiple)
- Drifloon (multiple)
- Drifblim (multiple)
- Budew
- Burmy (Plant Cloak)
- Rhydon
Trivia
- Get Inspired! Let's Solve a Poké Riddle!!: Darkrai
- The Japanese title of this episode is a reference to William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.
- Ash makes an indirect reference to Tobias when Goh asks him if he's met a Darkrai before, with Ash saying that it is strong in battle.
- This episode marks the first physical appearance of Dawn in the main series since Goodbye, Junior Cup - Hello Adventure!, 409 episodes earlier.
- Dawn returns to wearing her Pokétch as of this episode in place of her Xtransceiver, which she wore during her last appearance in Pokémon the Series: Black & White.
- This episode reveals that there are Pokémon Contests held in the Unova region.
- Piplup gains a redesign, now having blue eyes like the games instead of having black eyes as it was depicted from Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl to Pokémon the Series: XY. Although this seems exclusive to Dawn's Piplup, as another Piplup shown earlier in the same series had its original design.
- This episode marks the first appearance of a number of Pokémon species in the main series after long absences:
- Cresselia, who last appeared in Sleepless In Pre-Battle!, 589 episodes earlier.
- Shinx, who last appeared in A Campus Reunion!, 312 episodes earlier.
- Darkrai, who last appeared in Dream a Little Dream from Me!, 262 episodes earlier.
- Starly, who last appeared in A Full-Strength Battle Surprise! , 241 episodes eariler.
- Chloe attempting to take along an overpacked suitcase and Talia giving her a more reasonably sized bag instead are references to how Dawn and Johanna did the same in Following A Maiden's Voyage!.
- This is the only main series episode to feature a previous traveling companion's return where said traveling companion doesn't meet Ash at any point during the episode.
- Chloe, Dawn, Ash, Piplup, and Pikachu narrate the preview for the next episode.
Errors
Dub edits
- The Japanese text depicting the Sinnoh region's name is edited out.
- Team Cerise's logo in Ash and Goh's nightmare is changed from "S" to "R".
Team Cerise Uniforms in original
Team Cerise Uniforms in dub
In other languages
| Language | Title | |
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 Dutch
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Als het donker wordt... Nachtmerries! | |
 Finnish
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Unelmia vai painajaisia? | |
 Italian
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Nottate da incubo! | |
 Brazilian Portuguese
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Pesadelos ao Anoitecer! | |
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This episode article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation. |
- Pokémon Journeys: The Series episodes
- Episodes written by Michihiro Tsuchiya
- Episodes storyboarded by Noriaki Saito
- Episodes directed by Makoto Nakata
- Episodes animated by Chiaki Kurakazu
- Episodes animated by Hiromi Niioka
- Episodes animated by Izumi Shimura
- Episodes animated by Saki Ebisawa
- Episodes by multiple animation directors
- Episodes in which a Legendary Pokémon appears
- Episodes in which a Mythical Pokémon appears
- Episodes focusing on Chloe
- Episodes focusing on Dawn
- Episodes which aired in Canada before the United States
- Episodes which aired in the United Kingdom before the United States
