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Home is Where the Start Is (Japanese: 旅の終わり、そして旅のはじまり！ End of a Journey, and Then the Start of a Journey!) is the 191st and final episode of the Advanced Generation series. It first aired in Japan on September 14, 2006 and in the United States on March 3, 2007.

Ash returns to Pallet Town, ready for his new adventures in Sinnoh. However upon his return he meets Gary and it's time for a Pokémon battle! But with Gary using a Pokémon Ash has never seen before, how can Ash win?

Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.

Synopsis

The episode begins out by recapping the contest which took place last episode, Eevee's wonderful display of Shadow Ball and Pikachu's intuitive use of Thunderbolt and Iron Tail are all shown before they recap the battle between Ash's Sceptile and May's Blaziken and leaves it right after the explosion from the collision of the very powerful Overheat and SolarBeam attacks launched from each Pokémon.

As the smoke clears we see that both Ash and May are left with the same amount of appeal points, the match is a tie. This is the best result for both Ash and May, they are both happy about this and the crowd gives them a huge cheer, as Ash and May meet in the center of the field and shake hands. Joy presents the ribbon to ash and May, however she explains that there is only one ribbon so she doesn't know who to give it to but Ash and May have an idea; May grabs the ribbon, throws it in the air and Ash orders Sceptile to use Leaf Blade slicing the ribbon in half so that both of them can share it.

Outside, later that evening Ash, May, Max, Brock and all their Pokémon are sitting around a bench having some hard earned dinner, Brock places his freshly cooked stew on the bench, May however seems somewhat distant. She announces that she is leaving to go to Johto to compete in the Pokémon contests there. She continues to explain that she has had a great time travelling through Hoenn with Brock and Ash but she has been thinking about going off to Johto for a while now and the fact that they are finished in Kanto is perfect for her and Max to leave.

Max is very upset, he gets up and walks off ignoring when May calls over to him, Ash gets up and pursues Max and Pikachu follows too. Max sits on a swing over the other side of the park, Ash follows close behind and starts to offer comforting words to Max. He knows Max is upset that he will be missing his friends and Max starts to explain how when he goes off to Johto with May he will be a whole region away, but Ash says once Max becomes a trainer he promises to challenge him to a battle which brightens Max up and he jumps to his feet to acknowledge Ash. Suddenly from the distance a large horn goes off, the boat which Max and May are supposed to be leaving on is due to depart in 5 minutes! Our heroes run off down the lane to the harbour and luckily make it in time. Max, May, Eevee, Squirtle, Munchlax, and Blaziken all wave goodbye to Ash, Brock and their Pokémon as they sail off into the sunset.

Earlier next morning Ash and Brock come to their crossroads, they look at the sign together, Pewter city off in one direction leading to Brock's home at the gym and Pallet town off in the opposite direction where Ash's family and Professor Oak reside. Except there's one last thing on Ash's mind, his stomach, Ash is hungry already, but as soon as he gets over this he runs off home, while Brock goes his own way. Overhead Team Rocket's balloon is floating by, James and Meowth have a very unhappy look on their face, they are starting to doubt themselves but Jessie puts them back on the right track by offering a few words of wisdom. Suddenly out of nowhere sparks of Electricity fly into the sky, Team Rocket get out their goggles and spot the Pokémon thinking it is Pikachu but on a closer inspection recognise it as Electivire. Electivire uses Thundershock to knock an apple down from the tree and begins to eat it, Team Rocket poke up from behind a bush and Meowth fires a net from the launcher and grabs Electivire. It struggles under the net as Team Rocket start to pull it in. It fires out wild electric attacks which Ash sees from the other side of the trees and runs to try help.

Team Rocket finish pulling in Electivire but then a voice comes from atop the ridge and tells them to let go of the Pokémon they have got in the net and the person jumps down from atop the ridge and reveals himself, it's Gary!. Gary orders Electivire to use Iron Tail, which it does and breaks free from the net. Team Rocket are furious and jump to try and grab Electivire but Gary orders a Thunder Punch which scores a direct hit and knocks Team Rocket away. Once Team Rocket are gone Ash tries to use his Pokédex to get some information on Electivire but there is no data available, Gary explains that Electivire is a newly discovered Pokémon which Ash gets excited about this and challenges him to a battle, but Gary says no and just walks off.

Later on we see Ash arrive home, he calls for his mother at his house, but neither he nor Mr. Mime are around, he runs over to Professor Oak's laboratory but he cannot find Tracey or Oak anywhere, he thinks this is really strange and starts to wander around the rooms and when he gets to the sitting room, all of a sudden Tracey and Mr. Mime jump up from behind a sofa and set off some party poppers welcoming Ash home, while Oak, Gary and Delia come from the door on the other side of the room. Ash presents his mother with the plaque with all the Battle Frontier symbols on and then after the pleasantries re-challenges Gary to the battle and he accepts.

Outside the lab Ash and Gary are lined up ready to battle, Tracey is refereeing while Delia and Oak watch from the side lines. Gary sends out Electivire and Ash sends out Pikachu, Pikachu starts with a Thunderbolt while Electivire counters with another Thunderbolt. Pikachu tries a Quick Attack but Electivire uses the antenna-like things on it's back to jump into the air out of the way and uses Iron Tail attack which Pikachu counters with its own Iron Tail attack. Pikachu uses thunderbolt again but Electivire jumps out of the way yet again. Ash calls Pikachu to use Volt Tackle on Electivire but Electivire uses Protect and then finishes Pikachu off with a powerful Thunder Punch. Gary and Electivire are the winners.

Gary walks over to Ash and starts to talk to him, he says that he may have won the Battle Frontier but he still isn't as good as him, Gary then announces that he is going to go to Sinnoh to train his Pokémon and learn more about Pokémon. Tracey and Oak support this decision and back Gary offering him some words of advice. Gary then looks over to Ash, turns his back on him and wanders off into the distance. Ash sits there and starts to talk to himself about Sinnoh and the newly discovered Pokémon, Delia watches on and senses the change in his heart, he stands up and announces his move to go to Sinnoh. As night time comes Delia is upstairs with a sparkle in her eye, she is sowing together fabric, talking of Ash.

Morning comes and outside Ash has lined up all the Pokémon he has travelled with in Hoenn: Sceptile, Donphan, Corphish, Swellow and Aipom. He says goodbye to Proffesor Oak, Tracey and to all his Pokémon but before he goes Proffesor Oak hands over to him a newly updated Pokédex with all the Sinnoh information on it. Ash turns around and runs off down the lane, but we focus in on Aipom who looks very sad compared to the rest of Ash's Pokémon.

A boat sails down across the screen, on board Ash and Pikachu are looking out to the sea and towards Sinnoh, the wind is blowing strongly which knocks Ash's hat off which heads to a staircase but stops suddenly. Aipom is there! She grabbed Ash's hat and gives it back to Ash, who welcomes Aipom to the Sinnoh team. On the side of the boat Team Rocket are hanging on for their lives, determined to follow Ash and Pikachu anywhere so that they can steal it and give it to the boss and they get washed up by a wave as the boat sails off into the distance to Sinnoh.

Major events

• Ash and May tie in the final round of the Pokémon contest.
  • Both are declared to be the winners, without a sudden-death tiebreaker round.
  • As there is only one medal, Ash and May decide to split the medal in half and take one each.
• May announces her decision to go to Johto alone.
• Max returns to Petalburg City.
• Brock returns to Pewter City.
• Ash returns to Pallet Town before setting off again.
• Gary's Electivire defeats Ash's Pikachu.
• Gary returns to Sinnoh shortly thereafter, and then Ash sets off the next day.
• Ash recieves a new Pokédex from Professor Oak.
• Ash leaves behind all his Pokémon except Pikachu; however Aipom stows away on the ship.
• Team Rocket follows Ash to Sinnoh by clinging on to the hull of the boat.

Debuts

• Electivire

Characters

Humans

• Ash Ketchum
• May
• Brock
• Tracey Sketchit
• Max
• Jessie
• James
• Gary Oak
• Professor Oak
• Delia Ketchum
• Nurse Joy
• Announcer
• Audience

Pokémon

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
• Sceptile (Ash's)
• Aipom (Ash's)
• Corphish (Ash's)
• Swellow (Ash's)
• Donphan (Ash's)
• Blaziken (May's)
• Squirtle (May's)
• Munchlax (May's)
• Eevee (May's)
• Marshtomp (Brock's)
• Bonsly (Brock's)
• Forretress (Brock's)
• Electivire (Gary's)
• Mr. Mime (Delia's)

Trivia

• The screenplay is by 園田英樹 Hideki Sonoda, who is the screenwriter for the Pokémon movies.
• The storyboard is by 日高政光 Masamitsu Hidaka, who was the former director for the Pokémon anime.
• The (assisant) director is 浅田裕二 Yūji Asada, who usually also handles the storyboard; as assistant director, he has handled the most of any person.
• The instrumental version of 小さきもの A Small Thing from Jirachi: Wish Maker is used as background music.
• 前向きロケット団！ Face Forward Team Rocket! and an alternate cut of めざせポケモンマスター2001 Aim to be a Pokémon Master 2001 are also used as background music.
• As in Hoenn Alone, the usual To be continued is omitted and replaced with Next time... A new beginning!.
• The preview for DP001 is narrated by the Pokémon Sunday narrator 木村匡也 Kyōya Kimura.
• This is the final episode of the Advanced Generation series.
• The English name of Sandgem Town was first revealed through the airing of this episode.
• This episode's title is a pun on the saying "home is where the heart is".

Errors

Dub edits

• Much of the original background music was removed and replaced.
• In the Latin American Dub, when Ash is on the ship en-route to Sinnoh, he refers to it as an island (La isla Sinnoh) instead of calling it a region.

In other languages

• French: Un nouveau départ
• Italian: La decisione di Vera
• Latin American Spanish: ¡El hogar es donde está la batalla!

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This episode article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of the Pokémon anime.