BW121

←	BW120 : Ash and N: A Clash of Ideals!

Team Plasma and the Awakening Ceremony!

BW121

EP778

プラズマ団襲撃！復活の儀式！！
Plasma-dan Attacks! Ceremony of Revival!!

First broadcast

Japan	April 11, 2013
United States	July 13, 2013

English themes

Opening	It's Always You and Me
Ending

Japanese themes

Opening	やじるしになって！2013
Ending	サクラ・ゴーラウンド

Credits

No additional credits are available at this time.
Animation	Team Kato
Screenplay	武上純希 Junki Takegami
Storyboard	尼野浩正 Hiromasa Amano
Assistant director	西田健一 Ken'ichi Nishida
Animation director	小山知洋 Tomohiro Koyama

Team Plasma and the Awakening Ceremony! (Japanese: プラズマ団襲撃！復活の儀式！！ Plasma-dan Attacks! Ceremony of Revival!!) is the 121st episode of Pokémon the Series: Black & White, and the 778th episode of the Pokémon animated series. It first aired in Japan on April 11, 2013, and in the United States on July 13, 2013.

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

Blurb

Team Plasma continues to implement its evil plan to steal the Light Stone and secure N. But Cilan and Iris are battling back hard, while Ash and N are trapped underground. N can sense the disturbance on the surface, as he hears the inner voices of his Pokémon friends screaming in distress. Ash decides they have to get out of there and help, and recalls one of Professor Cedric Juniper’s adventure rules: Never give up until the very end! And as N watches in astonishment, Ash brings out the rest of his Pokémon, and they all work together to dig a tunnel to the surface as N marvels at the bond between them.

Meanwhile, above ground, Colress has again activated his Pokémon control device, forcing Cilan and Iris to return Crustle and Dragonite to their Poké Balls so the machine can’t control them. This leaves our heroes vulnerable, and Team Plasma moves in to capture them! Aldith wants Colress to send the controlled Pokémon underground after their targets—and just at that moment, Krookodile bursts through the ground, followed quickly by Charizard, Ash, and N, holding the Light Stone!

Colress refocuses his device on Ash’s Pokémon, and Ash scrambles to return them all to safety...all except Pikachu, who has a well-known dislike of its own Poké Ball. Colress’s machine takes control, and a growling Pikachu turns to attack our heroes. Ash gently attempts to make his best buddy recognize him, but it’s not working, and Pikachu unleashes a full-power Thunderbolt on Ash at close range, knocking him unconscious.

Desperately, N offers to give himself up—along with the Light Stone—if Colress turns off the device and sets Pikachu free. Colress agrees, N is taken into Team Plasma’s custody, and Pikachu comes back to its senses and sadly cuddles up to the wounded Ash. Ghetsis soon arrives and reveals his ultimate goal: awakening the Legendary Pokémon Reshiram from the Light Stone and taking control of its mind! Can our heroes stop this villainous scheme before it’s too late?

Plot

While Ash and N are still underground at the White Ruins, Team Plasma continues attacking Iris, Cilan, and Cedric Juniper. Iris and Cilan fight back with Dragonite and Crustle, only to have Colress threaten to control them with his mind control machine. They call back their Pokémon just as Colress tries to control them and are relieved, but that relief is short-lived as Team Plasma captures and restrains them with thick metal bands.

Meanwhile, as the events above get steadily worse, Ash and Pikachu try digging their way out as N watches, unsure of what to do. Ash calls out Krookodile, Charizard, Oshawott, Pignite, and Snivy to help. As N watches in amazement, he realizes that not only are the bonds between Ash and each one of his Pokémon unusually strong, but the bonds between the Pokémon themselves allow them to work together as a team. He bends down to help, and Krookodile is the first to reach the surface with its Dig attack. All of the Pokémon climb out, followed by Ash and N. Although Ash and his Pokémon put up a strong resistance to Team Plasma's controlled Pokémon, Colress begins to target all of them with his Pokémon Control Device.

Iris calls out to Ash, warning him about Colress's new device and urging him to put everyone back in their Poké Balls. Thanks to last-minute intervention from Looker, buying him more time, Ash manages to safely return Snivy, Oshawott, Charizard, Pignite, and Krookodile to their Poké Balls, but he realizes too late that Pikachu is still vulnerable. Ash tries running at Pikachu, but Colress's machine hits him with its laser, bringing him under the scientist's control. Filled with rage, Pikachu directs its Thunderbolt at Cilan, Iris, and Professor Juniper, who flee desperately. Ash runs out in front of Pikachu, yelling at him to stop. However, as his Trainer tries to approach him, Pikachu hits Ash with another violently powerful Thunderbolt, causing Iris and Cilan to cry out in alarm. Ash continues approaching Pikachu, begging his best friend to come back to his senses, but his efforts are in vain. As Ash touches Pikachu, Pikachu lets loose another attack and this time it knocks Ash unconscious.

N, overcome with sadness, begs Colress to stop. He offers to give Team Plasma the Light Stone and himself if Colress frees Pikachu from his control; if they refuse, he will destroy the Light Stone. The Plasma Grunts are conflicted, but Aldith decides to agree to N's terms, noting that their primary objectives are procuring the Light Stone and capturing N. Accordingly, Colress turns off the machine, shutting down Pikachu's mind control. Upon returning to his senses, Pikachu realizes what he had inadvertently done to Ash, and he collapses in exhaustion and shame.

Ghetsis arrives as Team Plasma finishes restraining N. Taking the Light Stone, Ghetsis begins a ceremony to resurrect Reshiram, revealing his plans to control Reshiram with Colress's mind control device. After Ash and Pikachu both wake up and share a happy reunion, they make their way over to where Ghetsis, N, and the rest of Team Plasma are about to resurrect Reshiram and accomplish their goal of controlling it.

Major events

Team Plasma continues their attack on the White Ruins.
N surrenders the Light Stone to Team Plasma in exchange for Colress freeing Ash's Pikachu from his control.
Ghetsis arrives and starts the ritual of awakening Reshiram.

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

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

Characters

Humans

Dare da?

Ash
Iris
Cilan
Jessie
James
Cedric Juniper
Looker
N
Ghetsis
Colress
Team Plasma Grunts
- Aldith
- Barret
- Weiss
Cedric Juniper's assistants

Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?

Who's That Pokémon?: Timburr (US and international) Charizard (Japan)

Pikachu (Ash's)
Meowth (Team Rocket)
Axew (Iris's)
Charizard (Ash's)
Oshawott (Ash's)
Pignite (Ash's)
Snivy (Ash's)
Krookodile (Ash's)
Dragonite (Iris's)
Crustle (Cilan's)
Liepard (Team Plasma Grunts'; multiple)
Golurk (Cedric Juniper's assistants; multiple)
Conkeldurr (Cedric Juniper's assistants; multiple)
Timburr (Cedric Juniper's assistants; multiple)

Trivia

Professor Oak's Pokémon Live Caster: Munna

Errors

As Cedric Juniper shouts that the Pokémon are heading their way, his eyebrows are colored the same as his hair.
After Iris warns Ash about Colress's machine, the Poké Ball symbol on Ash's hat changes size, being smaller than usual in the first shot.
As Ghetsis turns around after walking up to the altar for the Awakening Ceremony, his hand is briefly flesh-colored instead of covered by his black glove.

Juniper's miscolored eyebrows
Ash's hat error
Ghetsis's ungloved hand

Dub edits

In other languages

Language		Title
Mandarin Chinese		電漿團襲擊！復活的儀式！！
Danish		Team Plasma og Opvågningsceremonien!
Dutch		Team Plasma en de lichtsteenceremonie!
Finnish		Plasmaryhmä ja herättämisseremonia!
European French		La Team Plasma et la cérémonie du réveil !
Greek		Η Ομάδα Πλάσμα και η Τελετή Αφύπνισης!
Italian		Il Team Plasma e la cerimonia del risveglio!
Korean		플라스마단 습격! 부활의 의식!
Norwegian		Team Plasma og oppvåknings-seremonien!
Polish		Zespół Plazma i ceremonia przebudzenia!
Brazilian Portuguese		Equipe Plasma e a Cerimônia do Despertar!
Russian		Команда Плазма и церемония пробуждения!
Spanish	Latin America	¡El Equipo Plasma y la Ceremonia del Despertar!
Spanish	Spain	¡El Equipo Plasma y la Ceremonia del Despertar!
Swedish		Team Plasma och uppväcknings-ceremonin!
Thai		แก๊งพลาสม่าบุกโจมตี! พิธีกรรมฟื้นคืนชีพ!!
Turkish		Plazma takim ve uyanis seremonisi!