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| Season | Pokémon DP: Battle Dimension (Season 11) · Lake Valor & the Wallace Cup arc (DP073–DP079) |
| Episode | Season 11, episode 21 · English episode 536 · Japanese episode 540 · Bulbapedia code DP073 |
| English title | Crossing Paths |
| Japanese title | さよならドクケイル！ Sayonara Dokukeiru! — “Goodbye, Dokucale!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 3 April 2008 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 23 August 2008 · Cartoon Network |
| Screenplay | Junki Takegami |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Together – Fumie Akiyoshi · Kaze no Messēji (Message of the Wind), PokaPoka-VERSION. – Mai Mizuhashi |
| English opening | We Will Be Heroes – Kirsten Price |
| Previous episode | Pokémon Ranger and the Kidnapped Riolu! Part 2 (DP072) |
| Next episode | Pika and Goliath! (DP074) |
Plot episodeJessie releases DustoxFirst DP Shiny
Crossing Paths is the 21st episode of Pokémon DP: Battle Dimension, the eleventh season of the Pokémon anime, and the 536th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 540, Bulbapedia code DP073). It first aired in Japan on 3 April 2008 and in the United States on 23 August 2008. It falls within the season’s Lake Valor & the Wallace Cup stretch (EP73–EP79).
Premiered on 23 August 2008, straight after The Bells Are Singing! (DP070), because the Ranger two-parter that comes between them in Japanese order was held back until November.
Synopsis
Pikachu and Piplup are singing along the road when Piplup’s hunger sends everyone hurrying towards a Pokémon Center beside a lake. Nearby, while James and Meowth gather fruit for lunch, Jessie heads off to train for Contests and releases her Dustox, decked out in yellow ribbons to match her Jessilina disguise. Dustox suddenly flies off, and Jessie follows it to the lake, where it circles a Shiny Dustox belonging to a Trainer named Austin, the dust from their wings forming a heart. Austin explains that on the night of the full moon the local Dustox pair up and fly over Mount Coronet in a great arch, says he will see Jessie that night and walks away. His face reminds Jessie of a boy from her youth, Astin, who once invited her to leave town with him to become a Coordinator; she refused, went to an audition with two friends instead, and was the only one of the three to fail.
A thunderstorm breaks, lightning splits a tree, and Dustox pushes Jessie out of the way of a falling rock. When she comes to and thanks it, she discovers that the lake’s edge has broken and the water is pouring out. At the Pokémon Center, Nurse Joy fears for the Crossing, and Austin arrives to report the flooding. Jessie decides to let Dustox go with its love and, cutting off her teammates’ motto, asks everyone to work together. Ash sends out Turtwig, Chimchar and Buizel, Happiny hauls heavy rocks, and both teams build a dam, which Buizel’s Water Gun and Piplup’s Whirlpool soak so that Buneary’s Ice Beam can freeze it solid. The lake is still too low to reflect the full moon, Joy explains, because the snowmelt that normally fills it has not arrived. So Water Gun, Whirlpool and Chimchar’s Flamethrower melt the snow, and the Dustox lift the water with Confusion and blow it back with Whirlwind until the lake glows orange at sunset.
That night conditions are perfect and both Dustox take off, but Jessie’s turns back, refusing to leave her. Recalling how she once chased Astin’s bus as he left town, Jessie drops Dustox’s Poké Ball, steps on it, and tearfully tells her partner to go with its love. As Dustox flies away she remembers catching it as a Wurmple, its evolution into Cascoon and the Ribbon they won together, and the Dustox form a shining golden arch across the night sky. The narrator closes by reflecting on the bond between Trainers and Pokémon and suggesting that Jessie, too, will find love someday. It is the first time a main character deliberately damages one of their own Poké Balls, the first permanent change to Jessie’s team since her Cascoon evolved in Hoenn, and the first Shiny Pokémon of the Diamond and Pearl series. Team Rocket never finish their motto or blast off, too busy building the dam alongside the heroes.
Major Events
- Jessie releases Dustox. Austin’s Shiny Dustox, the first Shiny Pokémon of Diamond and Pearl
- Jessie’s memories of Astin
- The heroes and Team Rocket repair the lake for the Dustox Crossing
- Jessie steps on Dustox’s Poké Ball
- The Japanese ending changes to the PokaPoka-VERSION.
- Storyboarded by Kunihiko Yuyama
Trivia
- The English title plays on the Dustox Crossing, where Jessie’s and Dustox’s paths part.
- The screenplay is by Junki Takegami.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Sinnoh storyline.
Changes in the English Dub
- The cold-open song by Dawn, Piplup and Pikachu is very different in English
- “Together With the Wind”
- The Japanese ending changes to the PokaPoka-VERSION. of Message of the Wind
Part of our Pokémon DP: Battle Dimension guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.