I've sadly missed the last half of this yesterday (blame my mom,) but I've watched the rest of it this morning, & that's what made this BP summary possible.
Oh, I also want to mention that this is the first time I've seen the new intro to the Galactic War-zone.
Okay, here we go!
- Piplup is underneath a waterfall, meditating between upgrading or not; she decided not to, & prevents it using Bide. Why isn't it upgrading? We'll find out after the intro.
- Sandalstraw Town... so that's what that town was previewed at the end of last episode!
- In any case, the whole gang is at the Pokemon Center, with Dawn "attempting" to get her team ready for the contest, when all of a sudden...
- OMG it's Barry!! He barges into the group, & as he crashes onto Ash, he demands a fine from him.
- What strikes me is the fact that Ash's hat found its place on top of his head on its own after being sent flying. I don't know how it can do that...
- After a bit of a "dispute," Kenny joins up.
- Why Dawn is angry at Kenny for calling her DeeDee, I haven't a clue...
- Barry claims that since Kenny is from Twinleaf like him, that they're best friends. What are you smoking, Barry?? You've just met him!
- Barry is going to enter the Ping-Pong competition, which allows for a Pokemon partner, & insists on having Ash join up.
- As they head out, Dawn's Piplup is acting strange, almost like it's drugged or something. Then, the upgrade glow emerges!
- Piplup uses Bide to stop the process, & we still don't know why...
- The said upgrade prevention process takes a huge toll on Piplup, & they head back into the Pokemon Center.
- Turns out, Piplup just needs rest, as that Bide took out most of its energy.
- In Piplup's room, it decides on whether it should upgrade or not, but when Dawn barges in, it decides it doesn't want to upgrade, & leaves via the window.
- In the meantime, Barry & his Empoleon are shoving the rest of the gang, barring Dawn of course, out of the Center so that they can train for the competition, when dawn interrupts them & tells them that Piplup is gone. Noes!! We must look for it!!
- As the gang split up & leave Dawn by her lonesome, she finds a glow out in the distance. It turns out to be her Piplup.
- She approaches it & try to calm Piplup down, but it goes against her! Drama!!
- After some more running, her Piplup get caught in an Ariados Web. Dawn tries to save it, but the Ariados have other plans...
- After dodging its attacks, she manages to free Piplup. The situation is grim, however, as several more Ariados get ready for the kill with what else but the SBC.
- Her Piplup steps in their line of fire & uses Bide to withstand the rapid-firing SBCs. How the SBC can become a pulse beam, I haven't a clue.
- The resulting counterattack from Piplup's Bide sends the Ariados flying out to god knows where.
- Come to think of it, that's what happened in the very first episode of the Sinnoh Series, so Piplup had Bide to begin with.
- We cut to Barry & Kenny, who are looking for her Piplup that she had already found, when all of a sudden, a pair of Mechanical Hands come out & swipe both Empoleon & Prinplup. The two of them start flipping out & run in the general direction that these hands came from.
- Back to Dawn, they begin reminising about how they first met, when her Piplup gets snatched from a mechanical arm that's not dissimilar to the ones that snatched both Barry's Empoleon & Kenny's Prinplup, & as in cue, Ash & Brock join them, & so do Kenny & Barry.
- Guess what? It's TR inside their PipPrinPoleon mecha, & they're reciting their motto. Where's Barry's Motto Breaker?!
- There it is. Barry interrupts them, & they try to stop them to no avail. Since Dawn is desperate to get back her Piplup, she grabs ahold onto their mecha & trys to figure out a way to free it. Nothing works, but she finds a hatch up top.
- Dawn enters their mecha & starts demanding her Piplup back, to no avail. In the meantime, her Piplup finds its own way out, & after rejoining Dawn & some more reminising, they escape together.
- They manage to destroy the PipPrinPoleon mecha, & so they fight. Since we all know how that's going to end...
- Fast forward to the Pokemon center, in which everybody is recovered from this ordeal.
- Nurse Joy gives Dawn an Everstone, so that Piplup won't have to use Bide to stop itself from upgrading. Good for her, but bad for us, as that means it'll continue to hog the limelight away from Pikachu...
Overall, I think the fact that her Piplup doesn't want to upgrade is nothing short of a disapointment for everyone, but since it's the Sinnoh Mascot, I pretty much saw it coming a mile away. However, once she leaves the main cast, what will happen to her once that happens will be left up to god, & possibly the writers at the FanFiction Department.
*continues to linger around*