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| Season | Pokémon DP: Galactic Battles (Season 12) · The snowbound road north arc (DP118–DP125) |
| Episode | Season 12, episode 19 · English episode 586 · Japanese episode 591 · Bulbapedia code DP124 |
| English title | To Thine Own Pokémon Be True! |
| Japanese title | ポケモンピンポン大会！エテボースがんばる！！ Pokemon Pinpon Taikai! Etebōsu Ganbaru!! — “Pokémon Ping Pong Tournament! Eteboth Does Her Best!!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 23 April 2009 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 12 September 2009 · Cartoon Network |
| Screenplay | Junki Takegami |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Hai Tatchi! (High Touch!) – Satoshi (Rica Matsumoto) & Hikari (Megumi Toyoguchi) · Moeyo Gizamimi Pichū! (Get Fired Up, Spiky-eared Pichu!) – Shōko Nakagawa |
| English opening | Battle Cry – (Stand Up!), Version 2 – Erin Bowman |
| Previous episode | Old Rivals, New Tricks! (DP123) |
| Next episode | Battling a Cute Drama! (DP125) |
Plot episodeAmbipom leaves DawnPing Pong Tournament
To Thine Own Pokémon Be True! is the 19th episode of Pokémon DP: Galactic Battles, the twelfth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 586th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 591, Bulbapedia code DP124). It first aired in Japan on 23 April 2009 and in the United States on 12 September 2009. It falls within the season’s The snowbound road north stretch (EP118–EP125).
Premiered on 12 September 2009, the day HeartGold and SoulSilver came out in Japan.
Synopsis
Dawn’s Ambipom shows a talent for ping pong at a Pokémon tournament and chooses to leave Dawn to train with the champion, O. Ash with Pikachu, Dawn with Ambipom and Barry with Empoleon enter the Sandalstraw Pokémon Ping Pong Tournament, where each Trainer partners one Pokémon, and Ambipom’s powerful returns impress O, the defending champion.
Jessie and Meowth are disqualified when Meowth’s Fury Swipes slice the ball, Ash loses to Wilkinson and his Farfetch’d, and Barry falls to O and his Shiftry and leaves the group. Dawn and Ambipom win two matches, then face O; when Dawn’s paddle breaks, Ambipom plays both sides with its two tails and nearly wins.
O and Shiftry go on to win the tournament, and O offers to train Ambipom, not Dawn. That night Ambipom practises alone, and the next morning Dawn offers it a choice between a ping-pong ball and its Poké Ball. Ambipom chooses the ball, hands it back to Dawn and leaves with O for his training centre in Vermilion City.
Major Events
- Ambipom leaves Dawn to train with the ping pong champion, O. The Pokémon Ping Pong Tournament, won by O and Shiftry
- Barry leaves the group
- Ambipom’s final appearance
Trivia
- The English title plays on Polonius’s “to thine own self be true” in Hamlet, for an Ambipom that follows its heart.
- The screenplay is by Junki Takegami.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Sinnoh storyline.
Changes in the English Dub
- A Small Thing and the Generation I healing jingle
Part of our Pokémon DP: Galactic Battles guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.