The Keystone Pops! – Pokémon Season 11, Episode 4

Filler / stand-alone episodeSpiritomb debutsFirst mention of Aura

The Keystone Pops! is the 4th episode of Pokémon DP: Battle Dimension, the eleventh season of the Pokémon anime, and the 519th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 523, Bulbapedia code DP056). It first aired in Japan on 29 November 2007 and in the United States on 10 May 2008. It falls within the season’s Chimchar’s fresh start & the road to Solaceon stretch (EP53–EP59).

Scheduled for 3 May 2008 but pulled for unstated reasons, which led some fans to think it had been skipped; it premiered a week later, on 10 May.

Synopsis · Major Events · Trivia · Dub Changes · All episodes

Synopsis

Eager to get to know their newly traded partners, Ash and Dawn hold a practice battle, but when Aipom deflects Buizel’s SonicBoom with Focus Punch, the blast topples an old stone tower. The rubble glows, the sky darkens, an Odd Keystone appears among the bricks and a bolt of lightning releases Spiritomb. The furious Pokémon attacks with Shadow Ball and Hyper Beam; Buizel’s Water Gun passes straight through it, and Dark Pulse knocks Buizel out before Spiritomb flies off, blasting Team Rocket on its way and bonking Jessie on the head with its Keystone. The next day the group reach a village that seems deserted. The villagers describe a terrifying Pokémon that attacked in the night, and an elderly woman explains that 500 years ago an Aura Guardian and his Pikachu sealed a rampaging Spiritomb inside the Hallowed Tower. Realising they have just knocked it down, the friends apologise to the furious woman and promise to set things right.

Team Rocket appear disguised as psychics, Jessie reading the group’s “past lives” and Meowth, dressed as a Sneasel, claiming he can talk telepathically with Pokémon. When the woman’s grandson reports that Spiritomb has returned, Meowth “translates” that it wants Pikachu, and the trio net Pikachu and take off. Spiritomb destroys their balloon with Ominous Wind, flattens Seviper with Hyper Beam and gives chase, and Meowth learns that it wants revenge on the Aura Guardian who sealed it away. Dawn guesses that Spiritomb is following Team Rocket and sets a trap: Pikachu pretends to sleep alone in a meadow, the trio swoop down and fall into a pit, and Ash, Dawn and Brock recite a parody of their motto, infuriating Jessie. When Spiritomb arrives, Team Rocket save their own skins by convincing it that Ash is the Aura Guardian’s descendant, and it turns its fury on him.

Ash accepts the challenge and races towards the ruined tower with Spiritomb in pursuit. Pikachu’s Quick Attack misses and its Thunderbolts are matched by Hyper Beam, while Spiritomb shrugs off blow after blow and wears Pikachu down; a stray Shadow Ball sends Team Rocket flying. Then Spiritomb’s Giga Impact slams into Ash and Pikachu, and Pikachu collapses as storm clouds gather overhead. Ash urges it to get up and fire a Thunderbolt into the sky, and the answering bolt of lightning recharges it. Pikachu follows up with Volt Tackle and Thunderbolt and defeats Spiritomb, just as the Aura Guardian’s Pikachu did in the legend. The group seal the Keystone back inside the Hallowed Tower, and the old woman declares that a new legend has begun with Ash and Pikachu. Hearing Dawn’s stomach growl, she invites everyone to dinner before they move on. It is the first episode to mention Aura and Ash’s sensitivity to it.

Major Events

• Buizel and Aipom topple the tower and free Spiritomb from the Odd Keystone
• The legend of an Aura Guardian and his Pikachu
• A bolt of lightning recharges Pikachu, which beats Spiritomb
• The first episode to mention Aura and Ash’s sensitivity to it
• Spiritomb’s TV debut
• Its US premiere was pulled from 3 May 2008

Pokémon making their anime debut

• Spiritomb#0442 · DP056

Trivia

• The English title plays on the Keystone Kops of silent comedy, for the Odd Keystone that pops out of the toppled tower.
• The screenplay is by Yukiyoshi Ōhashi.
• This is a stand-alone episode: it can be skipped without losing the thread of the Sinnoh story.

Changes in the English Dub

• Spiritomb is voiced by Dan Green, his first episode for the Pokémon USA dub

Part of our Pokémon DP: Battle Dimension guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.