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The Semi-Final Frontier!
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First broadcast
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English themes
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Japanese themes
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Credits
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The Semi-Final Frontier! (Japanese: シンオウリーグ準決勝！ダークライ登場！！ Shin'ō League Semi-Finals! Enter Darkrai!!) is the 189th episode of the Diamond & Pearl series, and the 655th episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on August 26, 2010, and in the United States on January 22, 2011.
Synopsis
It's now time for the semi-finals of the Lily of the Valley Conference, and Ash has found himself up against Tobias, the trainer who has managed to defeat all the Sinnoh Gym Leaders and all the other competitors using only his Darkrai. Tobias, unsurprisingly, sends out Darkrai to battle first, and Ash sends out his Heracross to battle the Pitch Black Pokémon. Tobias tells Darkrai to use Ice Beam while Ash has Heracross use Hyper Beam and the two attacks collide. Ash then commands Horn Attack, but Darkrai intercepts it with a Dark Void which puts Heracross straight to sleep. Luckily Ash is prepared for this and calls out for a Sleep Talk, which turns into Megahorn. The Megahorn slams into Darkrai, who quickly rebounds and strikes Heracross with a Dream Eater attack knocking it out.
Ash calls back Heracross, and sends out Torkoal and commands a Flamethrower but Darkrai intercepts it with Dark Pulse. This causes a huge explosion which sends Torkoal flying back and knocking it out. Now that two of his Pokémon are fainted, Ash knows Tobias and Darkrai are living up to their reputations. Ash decides to send out Gible next and has him begin with Rock Smash which manages to land a direct-hit. Tobias calls for Ice Beam, and Ash orders Gible to keep dodging. Eventually Gible fires a Draco Meteor, but Darkrai dodges and uses Dark Pulse, knocking out Gible.
Ash sends out his next Pokémon: Sceptile which has speed and power on its side. Darkrai fires an Ice Beam, but Sceptile dodges and uses Quick Attack, which Darkrai avoids. Ash then orders Sceptile to use Leaf Storm but Darkrai dodges, gets up close and hits with Ice Beam. Sceptile is hurt and stumbles, allowing Darkrai to hit with Dark Void putting Sceptile to sleep. Darkrai then attacks Sceptile with Dream Eater which hits Sceptile and causes him to react in pain from the attack. At this point, Sceptile is floating in his dream, wondering what's happening, when he hears Ash's voice calling to him and wakes up immediately in response much to Tobias's surprise and shock. Ash tells Sceptile to use Leaf Blade, and Sceptile lands some hard and direct-hits which manage to knock out Darkrai! Everyone cheers for Ash, but Brock reminds Dawn and Barry that Tobias still has five other Pokémon to battle.
Tobias recalls Darkrai into its Poké Ball and is impressed with Ash. For the first time in Sinnoh, he now has to send out a second Pokémon. He even admits to Ash that he earned his spot in the semi-final rounds for accomplishing what no other Trainer could while battling him. Not worried in the slightest, he throws a Poké Ball into the air which releases Tobias's second Pokémon...
...a Latios! The Eon Pokémon descends from the sky, strafes past an astounded Ash, Pikachu and Sceptile then flies around the stadium at an extremely fast speed then heads over to Tobias ready to battle. Ash can't believe what he's seeing, while an equally surprised Dawn looks Latios up on her Pokédex which explains that Latios can fly faster than a jet plane. Barry is confident in Sceptile's abilities.
Ash tells Sceptile to use Leaf Blade on Latios, but Tobias is ready for this and commands a Giga Impact from Latios who is far faster than Sceptile and hits it in mid-air knocking it out straight away to Ash's shock.
Ash thanks Sceptile for a great job after recalling it, sends out his Swellow to combat Latios next. The two let out a battle-cry at each other, and Brock tells Dawn that as Swellow is very fast it should have a good chance against Latios. Ash tells Swellow to use Quick Attack, and Swellow speeds forward. However, Latios easily dodges it. Despite its high speed, Swellow is no match for Latios and finds itself on the run from the Eon Pokémon. He manages to get behind him and tries another attack, but Latios once again dodges and begins chasing Swellow. Ash tells Swellow to head to the ground and then use Aerial Ace. Swellow flies up towards the sun blocking it from view and then descends quickly with Aerial Ace powered up. Tobias orders Latios to use Luster Purge, and Latios hits Swellow in the middle of the descent, and Swellow crashes to the ground knocked out having not managed to score any hits against its opponent.
Ash recalls Swellow thanking it for trying its best, but fights back tears knowing he only has one Pokémon left and this battle is all but over. Dawn, Brock, and Barry are not giving up on Ash, and Pikachu is ready for a fight. Not giving up yet, Ash pulls back his hat backwards and sends Pikachu in knowing that no matter what he and his Pokémon will always give it their all. Despite having gained respect for his opponent, Tobias is certain that this will be their last bout, and hopes that Ash will give him a good fight.
Pikachu starts off with a Quick Attack, and lands a small hit. Pikachu turns around and uses Volt Tackle and Latios spins around as well and uses Giga Impact to counter. The two attacks collide, and Pikachu comes out of it the worst and is sent flying backwards. Wincing, Pikachu lands on its feet and watches as Latios flies into the air and begins another Giga Impact. Pikachu tries to intercept once again with Iron Tail, but like before is sent flying backwards. Latios flies high up in the sky until it was barely visible, then flies back down, a sparkling pink Luster Purge glowing at its mouth. Ash sees Pikachu laying on the ground injured, and orders Pikachu to dodge, which Pikachu does, the Luster Purge narrowly missing.
Latios flies by and arcs up back into the sky, and unbeknownst to it, Pikachu has managed to get onto its back! Latios turns and sees Pikachu hanging on tightly. Pikachu uses Thunderbolt on the flying Latios, causing severe damage. Tobias tells Latios to shake Pikachu off, and Latios flies around trying to shake Pikachu off. However, he is hanging on for dear life and uses Thunderbolt again, causing Latios more damage which is now beginning to take its toll. By now Tobias has had enough and orders Latios to use Light Screen. Pikachu uses Thunderbolt again, but with Latios protected by Light Screen the attack's damage is lessened.
Pikachu tries again and again to knock out Latios but to no avail, while Latios flies high into the sky. Latios twists suddenly to descend and as Light Screen wears off it Pikachu loses his grip and starts falling. Latios lands inches from the ground and Tobias tells Latios to finish Pikachu with Luster Purge. Ash yells out for a Volt Tackle and Pikachu somersault and dives directly towards Latios with Volt Tackle fully powered. The Luster Purge meets the Volt Tackle, but the Volt Tackle slowly cuts through. Pikachu's strength is waning and he is struggling to cut through the attack. Ash yells at the top of his lungs for an Iron Tail, which cuts through the Luster Purge fully and scores a direct hit on Latios, causing a giant explosion which nearly knocks Ash and Tobias off their feet and manages to knock out all of the monitors.
The battlefield is covered with smoke as everyone is desperate to see what happened. Eventually the smoke clears and it turns out that Pikachu successfully took down Latios but was also knocked out in the process. As Ash has no Pokémon able to continue Tobias is declared the winner by default. Paul is watching the battle on TV and walks away, disappointed for Ash upon seeing him lose. Tobias approaches Ash and they thank each other for the battle.
Tobias is then shown defeating a Trainer's Magmortar with his Darkrai, winning him the Lily of the Valley Conference. Tobias is presented the Winners' Trophy by Cynthia and Mr. Goodshow as fireworks fire off around the stadium.
Later, Ash stands outside the stadium ready to get on his way when Dawn arrives and notes that although their journey together is ending soon, it feels like they've just begun. Brock then arrives and reminds them both that their journeys really are just beginning. Ash agrees, knowing he's still got a lot of work to do if he's ever going to get into the Champions League, while Dawn comments that she's got a lot to do if she's ever to become a Top Coordinator. Brock is happy to see that his friends are still heading towards their goals... but then starts to wonder about his own and if he's made any real progress. Just then Barry turns up, telling Ash that while he might be stronger than him now, he plans to train and defeat him in their next battle. Ash laughs, and the two rivals say a final goodbye before Barry leaves, full of energy as always. And so, the gang prepare to set forth on the final leg of their journey back to Twinleaf Town.
Major events
- Ash battles the mysterious Trainer Tobias in the semi-finals and loses.
- Ash's Heracross is revealed to have learned Hyper Beam.
- Ash's Sceptile is revealed to have learned Leaf Storm.
- Tobias is revealed to own a Latios.
- Tobias wins the Lily of the Valley Conference.
- For a list of all major events in the anime, please see the history page.
Debuts
Pokémon debuts
TV episode debuts
Characters
Humans
Pokémon
- Pikachu (Ash's)
- Meowth (Team Rocket)
- Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
- Piplup (Dawn's)
- Heracross (Ash's)
- Swellow (Ash's)
- Sceptile (Ash's)
- Torkoal (Ash's)
- Gible (Ash's)
- Darkrai (Tobias's)
- Latios (Tobias's)
- Magmortar (Trainer's)
- Granbull (Trainer's; silhouette)
- Empoleon (Trainer's; silhouette)
- Magnezone (Trainer's; silhouette)
- Zangoose (Trainer's; silhouette)
- Mismagius (Trainer's; silhouette)
Trivia
- There is no Professor Oak's lecture at the end of this episode. Instead, a minute-long preview for the Best Wishes series is shown.
- This episode marks the only time Ash has flipped his hat in the Diamond & Pearl series during battle.
- Following League Unleashed!, this episode marks the third time a legendary Pokémon is entered in a Pokémon League tournament. All of these legendary Pokémon were entered in the same tournament as well, the Lily of the Valley Conference.
- Even though Ash has defeated legendaries before, this episode marks the first time Ash has defeated more than one in a single battle.
- Music from Pokémon Heroes, The Rise of Darkrai and Giratina and the Sky Warrior was used in this episode.
- This episode's English title is a reference to the phrase the final frontier.
- This episode's English title draws a comparison with Pace - the Final Frontier!, where Ash's journey officially comes to end (completion of the Battle Frontier/elimination from the Lily of the Valley Conference) and the title makes a play on the phrase final frontier.
- This is the only episode of Pokémon Diamond & Pearl: Sinnoh League Victors that kept the entire Japanese music unaltered, including the title card music.
- This currently is the farthest that Ash has ever gotten in a Pokémon League, reaching the Top 4.
- Ash uses 3 of the Pokémon from his Hoenn (Aside from Pikachu) in his battle with Tobias.
Errors
- After Tobias defeated Ash, in the scoreboard a Mismagius silhouette appears in place of Swellow's one. Also, the Torkoal and Darkrai silhouettes are slightly different from before.
- Latios's Giga Impact seemingly does not have to recharge after usage. The same can be said about Heracross's Hyper Beam.
- After Ash told Pikachu to use Quick Attack the first time, he said for Pikachu to use Volt Tackle. When it hit Latios's Giga Impact, it was Quick Attack.
- The red stripe on Sceptile's stomach is missing when he uses his first Quick Attack.
Dub edits
In other languages
| Language | Title | |
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| Mandarin Chinese | 神奧聯盟準決賽！達克萊伊登場！！ | |
 Italian
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La semifinale! | |
 Polish
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Półfinałowa przeszkoda! | |
 European Spanish
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¡La frontera de las semi-finales! | |
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This episode article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of the Pokémon anime. |
- Pages with broken file links
- Diamond & Pearl series episodes
- Episodes written by Masashi Sogo
- Episodes storyboarded by Hiroyuki Yamada
- Episodes directed by Kazuomi Koga
- Episodes animated by Kunihiko Natsume
- Episodes focusing on Ash
- Episodes focusing on Pikachu
- Pokémon League episodes
- Episodes in which a legendary Pokémon appears
