DP138: Strategy Begins at Home!

"Strategy Begins at Home!"
Information
Series	Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl
Season	Pokémon: DP Galactic Battles
№	606
Opening(s) and Ending(s)	Japanese Opening High Five! 2009 Ending Get Fired Up, Spiky-eared Pichu! English Opening Battle Cry - (Stand Up!)
Staff credits	脚本(きゃくほん) (Screenplay) 松井亜弥 (Aya Matsui) 絵(え)コンテ (Storyboard) 大庭秀昭 (Hideaki Ōba) 助手(じょしゅ)監督(かんとく) (Assistant director(s)) 浅田裕二 (Kazuomi Koga) 作画(さくが)監督(かんとく) (Animation director(s)) 志村泉 (Izumi Shimura)
In other countries
Japan	Title ヒカリVSママ！親子対決！！ Airdate August 13, 2009
Japan	Title ヒカリVSママ！親子対決！！ Airdate August 13, 2009
Anglosphere	Title Strategy Begins at Home! Airdate(s) January 2, 2010 Notes ^ a: Signifies that it only applies to the US, UK, CA, AU, NZ and SG
Anglosphere	Title Strategy Begins at Home! Airdate(s) January 2, 2010 Notes ^ a: Signifies that it only applies to the US, UK, CA, AU, NZ and SG
Details
Main	Ash Ketchum, Brock, Dawn
Recurring	Jessie, James, Delia Ketchum, Professor Oak, Johanna, Wallace (photo)
Minor	Noelle, Sayer, Izzy, Cara, Nathaniel, Rapidash's Trainer (flashback)
Character(s) of the Day	Noelle, Nathaniel
Pokémon	Ash's Pikachu, Dawn's Piplup, Team Rocket's Meowth, Dawn's Pachirisu, Brock's Croagunk, Brock's Happiny, Johanna's Glameow, Johanna's Umbreon, Noelle's Bellossom, Feebas, Barboach, Whiscash, Crawdaunt, Finneon, Remoraid, Goldeen (multiple), Gyarados, Sunflora (multiple), Ledyba, Heracross, Rapidash (flashback)
Badges or Classes
Major event(s)	Dawn's Pachirisu is revealed to be male.
Title cards
Japanese
For other title cards, see here

Strategy Begins at Home! (Japanese: ヒカリVSママ！親子対決！！, Hepburn: Dawn VS Johanna! Parent-Child Showdown!!) is the 34th episode of Pokémon: DP Galactic Battles.

Synopsis

Arriving at Dawn’s home in Twinleaf Town, Dawn’s mother Johanna is in the process of planning the town festival’s events along with Izzy and Cara. Unfortunately, those two can’t seem to make up their minds on any part of their work. This is keeping Dawn’s mother very busy, which also seems to be keeping Dawn from the Contest Battle challenge against her mother.

So while Dawn plans her Battle strategy and Ash and Pikachu take a walk to get to know Twinleaf Town better, Johanna, Izzy, and Cara take care of the festival’s details. This finally leads to a two-on-two battle between Dawn and her mom, Johanna! Dawn looks quite impressive at the outset, but Johanna’s Top Coordinator experience shines through as Dawn, Piplup, and Pachirisu are eventually defeated.

Meanwhile, a disguised Team Rocket has been hired to catch as many Goldeen as possible for one of the festival’s events. Although slow to start, they end up catching a great many of the Pokémon but, as usual, they go for more than they bargain for and end up accidentally catching a Gyarados, which sends them blasting off again!

Feeling inspired after Johanna and Dawn’s battle, our heroes happily anticipate the next few day’s events, as they excitedly watch the Twinleaf Festival begin to take shape!

Episode plot

The heroes came to Twinleaf Town. To get faster home, Dawn has a race with Piplup. Ash feels as if he is in Pallet Town and see some people. Dawn sees her neighbors, Izzy and Cara. Dawn tells them she is going to be here during the Twinleaf Festival. Cara responds she and Johanna are in charge of setting the festival, but it is all too much work. Dawn introduces Brock and Ash to them, in addition to Pikachu and Piplup. The heroes came to Dawn's home and Dawn impatiently goes in.

Johanna comes and greets them all. Piplup greets Johanna's Glameow and Umbreon, but they do not seem very friendly. Noelle, Johanna's student for Contests, comes, as she reports she has set the rooms. Dawn shows her four Ribbons. Suddenly, Brock comes to flirt, so Croagunk uses Poison Jab and Noelle's Bellossom Stun Spore on him. Ash sees all the Trophies Johanna won. Dawn reminds him she is a Top Coordinator and now passes the knowledge to her students. Dawn challenges her mom to a battle, so Johanna agrees, though she made lunch, so they should go eat first. Johanna asks of Noelle to show them the rooms and Noelle agrees, though she evades Brock's flirting.

Team Rocket is fishing, but they have not caught anything. The man who lent them fishing sticks is angry, as they need the Goldeen for the festival, and goes away. Jessie and James remind Meowth they need money or they won't be members of Team Rocket anymore. The heroes eat and they are impressed by the taste. Johanna has heard Brock is a good chef, even she sees Glameow and Umbreon enjoy his food. Brock admits he wants to be a breeder and Johanna has trust in his abilities. Noelle asks of Brock to teach her something about making the Pokémon food, causing Brock to flirt and gets stabbed and sprayed by Bellossom and Croagunk.

Ash contacts Professor Oak and lets him know they are at Dawn's house. Oak advises him to train, but have fun as well. Dawn and Johanna come to see Oak and Johanna explains Oak will come to attend the Festival. Ash's mom, Delia, appears in good timing to see them all. While she is glad to see her son, she advises Dawn's mom to scold him any when if needed.

Team Rocket caught something; James has a Barboach, Meowth a Finneon and Jessie a Whiscash. Jessie is not pleased, as they need to get a Goldeen. Continuing the fishing, they get other fish Pokémon, but do not get Goldeen. Brock helps Johanna by tending the garden, so Johanna thinks she can now have the battle with Dawn.

Cara and Izzy appear, along with Sayer (who lent Team Rocket fishing rods). They have not decided where and which food to put. Johanna recalls there is some money left and settles the dispute that they can have both stalls placed. Sayer comes again, as they now cannot decide where to put all the food. Johanna goes with them to decide, leaving Dawn disappointed. Ash goes to sightseeing and invites Dawn, but she decides to stay and wait. Ash and Pikachu walk in the forest and spot a boy. He is Nathaniel; he puts some honey on a nearby tree. Though not old enough to be a trainer, he still studies to be one. Ash recalls how he wanted to be a Trainer and Nathaniel promises to catch mostly Bug-type Pokémon. Ash tells Nathaniel how he got his Heracross.

Dawn plans her battle against her mom with Piplup and Pachirisu. Pachirisu sees that Dawn's mom got some photos of her. Johanna arrives and soon have the battle. Dawn's Piplup and Pachirisu are against Johanna's Umbreon and Glameow. Piplup uses Whirlpool and Pachirisu combines with Discharge, though Umbreon and Glameow dodge using Quick Attack. They retaliate using Shadow Ball, which hits both Piplup and Pachirisu. Piplup uses Bubble Beam, which creates a wall of bubbles, allowing Pachirisu to hit Umbreon and Glameow using Super Fang. So, Glameow and Umbreon retaliate using Attract, causing both Pokémon to be charmed. With Swift, Umbreon and Glameow defeat Piplup and Pachirisu.

Dawn admits the defeat and still sees how her mom is a Top Coordinator. Nevertheless, Dawn's mom is impressed by her skills and her bond with her Pokémon.

Meanwhile, Team Rocket has collected many Goldeen. They go to get a last one, but end up getting blasted off by a Gyarados.

Trivia

• This is the first episode of the four-part Twinleaf Festival arc.
• The flowers in Johanna's garden look strikingly similar to Gracideas.
• In Ash's flashback, he was wearing the same outfit as seen in a photo in Spell of the Unown.
• Daisuke Sakaguchi is credited for voicing Brock's Sudowoodo, even though Sudowoodo didn't appear in this episode.
• This is the first English episode of the 2010s.
• The English title of this episode is a reference to the phrase, "charity begins at home".
• This episode was initially given the title The Mother of All Battlers!, somewhat similar to another episode's title, but this was later changed. This title was later used by Cartoon Network Video on their list, but the video used the new title.
• The English title of the episode was narrated by both Dawn and her mother.
• Team Rocket doesn't appear in their standard uniforms throughout the Twinleaf Festival arc.
• Team Rocket doesn't recite their motto in this episode.

Mistakes

• Dawn's Ribbons are far smaller than normal when she shows them off during this episode.
• The Rapidash shown in this episode is much smaller than other Rapidash shown in the anime. Its size was closer to that of a Ponyta, its pre-evolution.
• When Croagunk used Poison Jab on Brock, its Japanese voice can be heard.
• When Dawn did her Whirlpool-Discharge combination, Glameow and Umbreon dodged it and Umbreon's eyes were blue. In the next scene, they were back to normal.

Gallery

Johanna meets Piplup

Ash is happy to know they are going to eat

Brock fails to hug Noelle

Brock tends the garden

Ash's memory

Young Ash

Johanna got photos of Dawn's Contests

Bellossom and Croagunk intimidate Brock

Pachirisu and Piplup get hit by Swift