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| Season | Pokémon DP: Battle Dimension (Season 11) · Chimchar’s fresh start & the road to Solaceon arc (DP053–DP059) |
| Episode | Season 11, episode 2 · English episode 517 · Japanese episode 521 · Bulbapedia code DP054 |
| English title | Once There Were Greenfields |
| Japanese title | ナタネとサボネア！さよならは誰のため！？ Natane to Sabonea! Sayonara wa Dare no Tame!? — “Natane & Sabonea! Farewell to Whom!?” |
| First aired (Japan) | 15 November 2007 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 19 April 2008 · Cartoon Network |
| Screenplay | Masashi Sogo |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Together – Fumie Akiyoshi · Kimi no Soba de ~Hikari no Tēma~ (By Your Side ~Hikari’s Theme~), Winter Version – GRIN |
| English opening | We Will Be Heroes – Kirsten Price |
| Previous episode | Tears For Fears! (DP053) |
| Next episode | Throwing the Track Switch (DP055) |
Plot episodeJames leaves CacneaGardenia returns
Once There Were Greenfields is the 2nd episode of Pokémon DP: Battle Dimension, the eleventh season of the Pokémon anime, and the 517th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 521, Bulbapedia code DP054). It first aired in Japan on 15 November 2007 and in the United States on 19 April 2008. It falls within the season’s Chimchar’s fresh start & the road to Solaceon stretch (EP53–EP59).
Synopsis
In Emeragrove Town, Ash, Dawn and Brock run into Eterna Gym Leader Gardenia, who is touring Sinnoh holding battles for local children to promote the sport. Team Rocket pop up to steal Pikachu, but when James sends out Cacnea, clinging affectionately to him as always, Gardenia, who falls for every Grass-type she meets, melts over it and asks to borrow it. James refuses, yet the children are waiting for their promised battle, so Gardenia talks James into a Tag Battle: her Turtwig and his Cacnea against Ash’s Aipom and Dawn’s Pachirisu, with Brock as referee. Midway through, Gardenia suggests that Cacnea try Drain Punch, and to everyone’s surprise it lands a powerful one on Aipom. But Gardenia is so busy admiring Cacnea that she forgets her own partner, Pachirisu’s Spark knocks out Turtwig, and when Cacnea’s next Drain Punch fizzles, Aipom’s Focus Punch ends the battle.
Gardenia insists Cacnea is strong enough for Drain Punch; the real problem, she says, is that James and Cacnea are out of sync, and she offers to train it herself. On a hillside, James cannot decide what to do, while Cacnea declares that it wants to master the move. Jessie swallows her pride and asks the twerps for help, and Ash and Pikachu agree. Training goes badly: Pikachu’s stray Thunderbolt hits James, Needle Arm beats Iron Tail, and Drain Punch keeps failing as Cacnea trips over rocks. James even has Carnivine and Chimchar act as sparring partners, and Cacnea accidentally punches Chimchar in the face. That evening, with Gardenia watching, James stages a training battle against Aipom. Cacnea dodges a Focus Punch and lands Needle Arm, but every attempt at Drain Punch fails and Aipom’s Focus Punches keep connecting, and the exhausted Cacnea still begs to continue.
James calls a halt. Watching his battered partner, he realises that he cannot draw out its full potential himself and decides that Cacnea would be better off training with Gardenia. Holding its Poké Ball, he remembers their adventures together through Hoenn, Kanto and Sinnoh, says a tearful goodbye and returns it. He hands the ball to Gardenia, asks her to look after his friend, and runs off sobbing, with Jessie and Meowth chasing after him. The next morning the group say goodbye to Gardenia outside the Pokémon Center, Turtwig and Cacnea at her side, while Team Rocket watch quietly from the roof. James calls out one last farewell from a distance as Cacnea leaves with its new teacher. Unusually, Team Rocket never blast off in this episode, and the Tag Battle is Dawn’s first battle against a Gym Leader, while the parting brings Cacnea’s long time on James’s team to an end.
Major Events
- James leaves Cacnea with Gardenia. Gardenia returns, touring Sinnoh to battle with local children
- Ash and Dawn beat Gardenia and James in a Tag Battle, Dawn’s first battle against a Gym Leader
- Cacnea tries to learn Drain Punch
- Team Rocket never blast off
Trivia
- The English title plays on “Greenfields”, the Brothers Four song that begins “Once there were green fields”, for James’s farewell to a Grass type.
- The screenplay is by Masashi Sogo.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Sinnoh storyline.
Changes in the English Dub
- A boy’s “Kosanji” for James becomes “old man”
- Japanese voices can still be heard under the English ones
- In Japan, “Team Rocket Forever”
Part of our Pokémon DP: Battle Dimension guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.