AG192

←	AG191 : Once More With Reeling!

Home is Where the Start Is!

AG192

EP466

旅の終わり、そして旅のはじまり！
End of a Journey, and Then the Start of a Journey!

First broadcast

Japan	September 14, 2006
United States	March 3, 2007

English themes

Opening	Battle Frontier
Ending	Pokémon Go!

Japanese themes

Opening	スパート！
Ending	私、負けない！～ハルカのテーマ～

Credits

Additional credits
Animation	Team Iguchi
Screenplay	園田英樹 Hideki Sonoda
Storyboard	日高政光 Masamitsu Hidaka
Assistant director	浅田裕二 Yūji Asada
Animation director	岩根雅明 Masaaki Iwane

Screenshots on Filb.de

Home is Where the Start Is! (Japanese: 旅の終わり、そして旅のはじまり！ End of a Journey, and Then the Start of a Journey!) is the 192nd and final episode of Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire, and the 466th episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on September 14, 2006 and in the United States on March 3, 2007.

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

Blurb

The smoke finally clears at the Terracotta Town Pokémon Contest, and the winner is revealed—it is a tie between May and Ash. Both are declared the winner with only one prize medal between the two, so Sceptile cuts it neatly in half. That night, during dinner, May announces her intention to go to Johto and compete in Pokémon Contests. She doesn't want Max to come, though, because she'd depend on her brother too much. Max is sad, but Ash cheers him up by promising to battle some day.

Max and May board a ship headed to Hoenn and wave goodbye until the ship is out of view. Ash and Brock also separate, with Ash rushing home to eat. Team Rocket watches the two boys, but they are too demoralized to do anything. They psych themselves up just in time to catch an Electivire in a net. Ash runs over to help the Electric-type Pokémon, but Gary shows up and orders it to escape with Iron Tail. Gary sends the thieves blasting off, and though Ash wants to battle, Gary would just rather go back to Professor Oak's lab. Ash then heads home.

Back at the Ketchum household no one is there to greet Ash, so he goes to Oak's lab instead. It seems quiet there, until everyone jumps out to surprise him. Ash gives his Battle Frontier symbols to his mom Delia to keep, and challenges Gary to a battle. Outside, Electivire and Pikachu face off with similar move sets, until Electivire manages to knock out Pikachu with a Protect and Thunder Punch combo. Gary then leaves, returning to Sinnoh. Ash decides he wants to go to Sinnoh as well. That night, Delia makes Ash some new clothes, and the next morning he leaves with just Pikachu at his side. However, Ash's Aipom sneaks on board the boat to Sinnoh and meets up with him. Unknown to any of them, Team Rocket has stowed away as well.

Plot

As the smoke clears, both Ash and May are left with the same amount of points, and the match is a tie. They are both happy about this and the crowd gives them a huge cheer, as Ash and May meet in the center of the field and shake hands. Nurse Joy presents the Terracotta Medal to Ash and May; however, there is only one medal because she was not expecting the tie. Ash and May have an idea: May grabs the Medal, throws it in the air, and Ash orders Sceptile to use Leaf Blade slicing the Medal in half so that both of them can share it.

Later that evening, Ash, May, Max, Brock, and all of their Pokémon are sitting around a bench having some hard-earned dinner. Brock places his freshly cooked stew on the bench; May however seems somewhat distant. She announces that she is leaving to go to Johto alone to compete in the Pokémon Contests there, meaning Max will also have to leave and return to his parents in Petalburg City. She explains that she has had a great time traveling through Hoenn and Kanto with Brock and Ash but she has been thinking about going off to Johto for a while now and the fact that they are finished in Kanto is perfect for her and Max to leave.

Max is very upset, getting up and walking off, ignoring May's calls. Ash gets up and pursues Max and Pikachu follows too. Max sits on a swing over the other side of the park, Ash follows close behind and starts to offer comforting words to Max. He knows Max is upset that he will be missing his friends and Max explains that when he was watching Ash and May battle in the Contest he wanted so much to be doing it too; all he wants to do is grow up quick so he can be a Trainer too and get to do all the things they do. Ash says once Max becomes a Trainer he promises to challenge him to a battle which brightens Max up and he jumps to his feet to acknowledge Ash. Suddenly from the distance, a large horn goes off; the boat which Max and May are supposed to be leaving on is due to depart in five minutes. Ash and his friends run off down the lane to the harbor and luckily make it in time. Max, May, and her Pokémon all wave goodbye to Ash, Brock and their Pokémon as they sail off into the sunset.

The next morning Ash and Brock come to their crossroads, they look at the sign together, Pewter City off in one direction, leading to Brock's home at the Gym, and Pallet Town off in the opposite direction where Ash's family and Professor Oak reside. Except there's one last thing on Ash's mind, his stomach. Ash is hungry already, but as soon as he gets over this he runs off home, while Brock goes his own way. Overhead Team Rocket's Meowth Balloon is floating by, James and Meowth have a very unhappy look on their face, they are starting to doubt themselves but Jessie puts them back on the right track by offering a few words of wisdom. Suddenly out of nowhere sparks of electricity fly into the sky, Team Rocket get out their goggles and spot the Pokémon. At first they think it is Pikachu but on a closer inspection recognize it as an Electivire. Electivire uses Thunder Shock to knock an apple down from the tree and begins to eat it. Team Rocket poke up from behind a bush and Meowth fires a net from the launcher and grabs Electivire. It struggles under the net as Team Rocket start to pull it in. It fires out wild Electric attacks which Ash sees from the other side of the trees and runs to try help.

Team Rocket finish pulling in Electivire but then a voice comes from atop the ridge and tells them to let go of the Pokémon they have got in the net and the person jumps down from atop the ridge and reveals himself. Much to Team Rocket's shock, the owner of the voice happens to be Gary. Gary orders Electivire to use Iron Tail, which it does and breaks free from the net. Team Rocket is furious and jumps to try and grab Electivire but Gary orders a Thunder Punch which scores a direct hit and knocks Team Rocket away. Once Team Rocket is gone, Ash tries to use his Pokédex to get some information on Electivire but there is no data available.

Gary explains that Electivire is a newly discovered Pokémon from Sinnoh, which Ash gets excited about. Ash challenges him to a battle, but Gary says no and just walks off.

Later on, Ash arrives home and calls for his mother at his house, but neither she nor Mimey are around. He runs over to Professor Oak's Laboratory but he cannot find Tracey or Oak anywhere. He thinks this is really strange and starts to wander around the rooms. When he gets to the sitting room, all of a sudden Tracey and Mimey jump up from behind a sofa and set off some party poppers welcoming Ash home, while Oak, Gary and Delia come from the door on the other side of the room. Ash presents his mother with the plaque with all the Battle Frontier Symbols on and after the pleasantries, re-challenges Gary to the battle and he accepts.

Outside the lab Ash and Gary are lined up ready to battle, Tracey is refereeing while Delia and Oak watch from the sidelines. Gary sends out Electivire and Ash sends out Pikachu, Pikachu starts with a Thunderbolt while Electivire counters with another Thunderbolt. Pikachu tries a Quick Attack but Electivire uses its tail to jump into the air out of the way and uses Iron Tail, which Pikachu counters with its own Iron Tail attack. Pikachu uses Thunderbolt again but Electivire jumps out of the way yet again. Ash calls Pikachu to use Volt Tackle on Electivire but Electivire uses Protect and then finishes Pikachu off with a powerful Thunder Punch. Gary and Electivire are the winners.

Gary walks over to Ash and starts to talk to him, saying that he may have won the Battle Frontier but he should not take it for granted. Gary announces that he is going to go to Sinnoh to train his Pokémon and learn more about Pokémon. Tracey and Oak support this decision and back up Gary, offering him some words of advice. Gary looks over to Ash, turns his back on him and wanders off into the distance. Ash sits there and starts to talk to himself about Sinnoh and the newly discovered Pokémon. Delia watches on and senses the change in his heart. Ash stands up and announces his move to go to Sinnoh. As night time comes Delia is upstairs with a sparkle in her eye. She is sewing together fabric while talking of Ash.

Morning comes and outside Ash has lined up all the Pokémon he has traveled with in Hoenn and the Battle Frontier: Sceptile, Donphan, Corphish, Swellow and Aipom. He says goodbye to Professor Oak, Tracey, and all his Pokémon, but before he goes Professor Oak hands over to him a newly updated Pokédex with all the Sinnoh information on it. Ash turns around and runs off down the lane, but Aipom looks very sad compared to the rest of Ash's Pokémon.

A boat sails down across the screen, on board Ash and Pikachu are looking out to the sea and towards Sinnoh. The wind is blowing strongly, knocking Ash's hat off and heading to a staircase but suddenly stops. Aipom is there. She grabbed Ash's hat and gives it back to Ash, who welcomes Aipom to the Sinnoh team. On the side of the boat, Team Rocket is hanging on for their lives, determined to follow Ash and Pikachu anywhere so that they can steal the latter and give him to the boss. Then, they get washed up by a wave as the boat sails off into the distance to Sinnoh where Ash's newest adventures await.

Major events

Ash and May holding the Terracotta Medal

Ash and May tie in the final round of the unofficial Terracotta Contest and decide to split the Terracotta Medal in half.
May announces her decision to go to the Johto region alone.
May and Max return to Petalburg City, while Brock returns to Pewter City.
Ash encounters Gary, who is revealed to have obtained an Electivire.
Ash returns to Pallet Town and challenges Gary to a battle, but loses.
Gary returns to Sinnoh to continue his research.
Ash receives a new Pokédex from Professor Oak.
Ash decides to go to Sinnoh, leaving behind all his Pokémon except Pikachu.
Ash's Aipom stows away on the ship Ash and Pikachu are riding, following them to Sinnoh.

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

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

Electivire (Gary's)

Characters

Humans

Pokémon

Trivia

This is the season finale of Pokémon: Battle Frontier.
An instrumental version of A Small Thing from Jirachi: Wish Maker, Face Forward Team Rocket!, and an alternate cut of Aim to Be a Pokémon Master 2001 are used as background music.
This is the last episode to air in Japan before the earliest release of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl.
Ash and May being declared winners of the Terracotta Contest is only possible because the event is not sanctioned by the Pokémon Activities Committee. As established in Going for Choke!, Contest Battles ending in a tie go into sudden-death overtime, lasting until a winner is decided.
- To date, this is also the only time Ash has won a Contest.
As in the final episode of the previous series, the usual To be continued is omitted and replaced with Next time... A new beginning!.
Dawn narrates the preview for the next episode.
This is the final episode, until Alola to New Adventure!, to be played at 24 frames per second. The following three series play at 30 frames per second.
This is the first time Sarah Natochenny voices Delia, and the only episode where Craig Blair voices Tracey.
This episode marks Max's last speaking appearance.
- This would also mark Tracey's last speaking appearance until The Rainbow and the Pokémon Master!, 766 episodes later.
This is Gary's only physical appearance in Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire.
The English name of Sandgem Town was first revealed through the airing of this episode.
This episode's title is a pun on the saying "home is where the heart is".
Meowth breaks the fourth wall when James asks upon blasting off if Team Rocket will ever learn; Meowth responds that they'll find out next season.
The overall episode number is the same as the debuting Pokémon Electivire's Pokédex number: 466.
Ash's Pokédex does not recognize Electivire, although it previously recognized two other Generation IV Pokémon: Mime Jr. and Bonsly, and May's Pokédex recognized Weavile and Chatot.
Electivire's method of using its tails to propel itself into the air is similar to the strategy used by Ash's Bayleef and Gary's Nidoqueen in Can't Beat the Heat!.
This marks the only debut of a Generation IV Pokémon outside of a movie prior to Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl.

Errors

At the beginning of the episode, Ash and May's points are less than the previous episode.
In several scenes, the black spot on Electivire's face is missing.
In one scene, Electivire's fingers are white instead of black.
When Gary calls Electivire to blast Team Rocket off with Thunder Punch, Gary's eyes are incorrectly colored light-blue.
In one scene, when Ash is talking to Gary, a close up is shown of Gary being outside, when he was inside.
When Electivire uses Iron Tail during his battle with Ash, its tail is yellow for a second before it glows.
When the camera pans across Ash's Pokémon while they are eating, Sceptile's lower jaw is colored green instead of red.
When Max walks away from the table, the swings are missing.

Electivire's miscolored fingers
Electivire's miscolored tail
Electivire's missing spot

Dub edits

When Ash is on the ship en route to Sinnoh, he refers to it as Sinnoh Island, instead of calling it a region. This may be due to the fact that, like Hoenn, it is not visibly connected to any of the other regions he visited.
In the original Japanese version, after capturing Electivire in a net, James wonders if Giovanni has ever seen the new Pokémon before. In the English dub, he is simply looking forward to seeing Giovanni's reaction to their successful capture.

In other languages

Language		Title
Mandarin Chinese		旅程的終點，以及旅程的開始！
Danish		Tilbage til start!
Dutch		Uit het Oog aan de Start
Finnish		Kotiinpaluu
European French		Un nouveau départ
German		Jedes Ende hat einen Anfang!
Hebrew		הכול מתחיל מהבית!
Hindi		घर से ही होगी नयी शुरुआत Ghar se hi hogi nayi shuruaat*
Italian		La decisione di Vera
Korean		여행의 끝! 그리고 여행의 시작!
Norwegian		Tilbake til start!
Brazilian Portuguese		O Lar é o Início de Tudo!
Russian		Приключения начинаются дома
Spanish	Latin America	¡El hogar es donde está la batalla!
Spanish	Spain	¡El hogar es el punto de partida!
Swedish		Slutet är början på något nytt!