DP001

Following A Maiden's Voyage! (Japanese: 旅立ち！フタバタウンからマサゴタウンへ！！ Setting Off! From Town to  Town!!) is the first episode of the, and the 467th episode of the Pokémon anime. It aired in Japan on September 28, 2006, the same day as the Japanese release of the Nintendo DS games,. It aired in the US on April 20, 2007 as part of a special preview, two days before the American release of Diamond and Pearl. It was later broadcast in sequence in the United States on June 4, 2007.

Blurb
It's always exciting when new Pokémon Trainers receives their first Pokémon, but for a girl named Dawn, things will be far more exciting than she'd ever imagined! Here in the Sinnoh region, Trainers receive their Pokémon from Professor Rowan, whose lab is near Sandgem Town—but soon after Dawn leaves her home in Twinleaf Town and heads for the lab, she's hopelessly lost. Fortunately, she runs into Professor Rowan on the street and follows him to the lab. But while the Professor was out, his assistants accidentally let two of the starter Pokémon, Chimchar and Pilplup, break out of the lab.

Dawn volunteers to find the missing Pokémon and soon finds Piplup, who runs off and gets into trouble with some Ariados. Though Dawn comes to the rescue, Piplup isn't exactly grateful. Once the angered Ariados return, however, Piplup and Dawn must work together in order to escape. They end up on the shore of Lake Verity, where they spot a mysterious Pokémon. Then, back at the lab, Dawn makes their partnership official and chooses Piplup to be her companion.

Meanwhile, Ash has arrived in Sinnoh with Pikachu and his stowaway Aipom. He's ready for adventure, but not ready for trouble: Team Rocket appears and successfully steals Pikachu! But Team Rocket starts arguing and everyone ends up flying, including Pikachu. Now how will Ash and Pikachu be reunited...?

Plot
Early in the morning, the sun shines brightly into the bedroom of a young girl who is just waking up. She turns off her alarm and sits up in bed, only to fall back into bed again and hides in the sheets. She eventually gets up and pushes the window open to look out at her town.

Sometime later, the girl, named, is already half-way dressed when her mother appears. Dawn lets her in along with a. The two greet each other while Glameow quickly visits Dawn, then rests on the bed. Downstairs, mother and daughter discuss Dawn's plans over coffee and Dawn pulls out a postcard that she receives from Professor Rowan, inviting her to his laboratory to pick up her first Pokémon. The postcard also contains a map to his lab, and pictures of the three Pokémon that she will be able to choose from. Dawn's mother wonders what Pokémon her daughter will choose and Dawn looks over at the pictures of the three Pokémon: the, the  , and the. Dawn then comments that regardless, all three Pokémon would make a great partner in her bid to become a Top Coordinator just like her mother. In her younger years, Dawn's mother had earned many certificates and trophies, which inspire Dawn. She begins fantasizing about performing in Pokémon Contests with the three different Pokémon, acting out all her actions while her mother watches on.

Later, Dawn prepares to leave for her, lugging a suitcase behind her full of dresses and jewelry. Her mother, standing on the house porch, tells her to pack more sensibly. They go inside, where she fits everything that Dawn will need in a small backpack. Before she can leave on her journey, her mother gives her one last thing to take: her first Contest Ribbon. Dawn thanks her mom, gladly taking it and dashes over to her bike. Dawn then sets out towards Sandgem Town from her home in Twinleaf Town along. She arrives in a town, and runs into a building which she believes to be the Professor's lab, only to find that it is a restaurant. Even with a map as a guide, she gets lost in the town, following every possible direction but unable to find the lab. While reading her map, she bumps into a man who reveals himself to be Professor Rowan, who offers to guide her to his laboratory.

Meanwhile, at the lab, Professor Rowan's assistants are chatting while examining and feeding the three starter Pokémon. Two other assistants arrive in the room with a and. However, a fight quickly brews when Chimchar steals the last of Piplup's. Piplup begins attacking Chimchar with while Chimchar runs around the lab. While trying to keep Piplup under control, the chaos causes Starly and Staraptor to lose control, who begin flying around and wrecking books and papers. The gust breaks a window in the lab, allowing the two birds to fly through an open window, followed by Chimchar with Piplup in hot pursuit. The assistants plan to clean up, but as they begin, Professor Rowan arrives with Dawn.

With only the Turtwig remaining, after getting glared at by Rowan, continues to eat its food, Dawn asks and is allowed to go and search for the four missing Pokémon. After receiving some tips from Prof. Rowan, Dawn runs off towards the forest where the Pokémon were headed. Before she reaches the forest, however, she runs into Chimchar and Piplup, Chimchar still swinging away from Piplup's. Dawn attempts to calm them down, but they ignore her, Piplup changing his target to her briefly before both disappear into the forest. Dawn runs into the forest after them, only to hear Piplup's cry. She runs toward it, seeing Piplup as well as several other Pokémon trapped in a web created by an. The Ariados notices Dawn, chasing her through the forest. Dawn quickly hatches a plan, causing the Ariados to destroy its own web, making Piplup land safely in her arms. However, after sliding down a hill, Piplup seems very indignant, using on Dawn several times. Dawn begins to berate him, but then realizes that he is simply hungry. Although Dawn offers him Pokémon food, he seems disdainful and won't eat it. This scene is interrupted when several Ariados return, attacking Dawn and Piplup with several of its friends.

Trapped in a cage created by, Dawn distracts the Ariados with the Pokémon food while Piplup destroys the cage with Bubble Beam. Unfortunately, before Dawn can escape with Piplup, an Ariados trips her with String Shot. Piplup steps in and uses to absorb the attacks of the Ariados, then destroys them and the cage with a massive energy wave. Shortly after, the Piplup faints, exhausted from having taken all the attacks and the energy used.

While walking through the forest, Dawn stumbles upon Lake Verity. Piplup wakes up, recharged, but still hungry. Dawn looks into her Pokémon food can, noticing that she only has three pieces left. Despite being disdainful earlier, Piplup accepts the food. She then spots Staraptor carrying Chimchar back to the lab, with Starly close behind. Before they can return to the lab, however, the lake ripples, and a mysterious figure appears for a moment before vanishing. Upon returning to the lab, Dawn asks Professor Rowan about the figure. He notes that it could be the Legendary Pokémon of the lake. Shortly after, Rowan gives Dawn several Poké Balls and a Pokédex. Lastly, Rowan asks Dawn which Pokémon she wants for a starter. Much to Chimchar's obvious disdain, Dawn immediately chooses, noting that they are already a team. Dawn then sets out for her Pokémon journey in earnest, riding away from the lab, with Rowan and his assistants waving her off.

At the same time,, , and are on a ship bound for Sinnoh. Ash boasts about becoming the Sinnoh while Jessie, James, and  watch from below decks. Later, Ash calls to let him know that Aipom has accompanied him to Sinnoh, and Oak muses that he suspected as much and will send Aipom's Poké Ball to Professor Rowan. Before they continue, though, quickly snatches Pikachu from their balloon. Before they can leave, Meowth begins to argue with Jessie, attacking with. Wobbuffet then uses, destroying the balloon and sending Pikachu falling into the forest. The episode ends with Ash and Aipom running after Team Rocket, while Dawn cycles away from the lab.

Major events

 * , a beginning and aspiring, leaves Twinleaf Town to start her Pokémon journey.
 * Dawn sees the spirit of a in Lake Verity.
 * Dawn chooses as her starter Pokémon and receives a Pokédex and six Poké Balls from Professor Rowan.
 * arrives in Sinnoh, only to have taken away and lost by, who followed him to the region.

Humans

 * Johanna
 * Professor Rowan
 * Yuzo
 * Professor Rowan's assistants
 * Marian (voice only)
 * Marian (voice only)

Pokémon debuts

 * Starter Pokémon of Sinnoh:
 * (spirit)
 * (spirit)
 * (spirit)
 * (spirit)
 * (spirit)
 * (spirit)
 * (spirit)
 * (spirit)
 * (spirit)
 * (spirit)
 * (spirit)
 * (spirit)

Humans

 * Jessie
 * James
 * Professor Rowan
 * Johanna
 * Marian (fantasy)
 * Raoul Contesta (fantasy and photo)
 * Mr. Sukizo (fantasy and photo)
 * Nurse Joy (fantasy and photo)
 * Yuzo
 * Rowan's assistants
 * Ramen shop operator
 * Nurse Joy (fantasy and photo)
 * Yuzo
 * Rowan's assistants
 * Ramen shop operator

Pokémon

 * (, new; debut)
 * (debut)
 * (Professor Rowan's; debut)
 * (Professor Rowan's; debut)
 * (starter Pokémon; debut)
 * (starter Pokémon; debut)
 * (spirit; debut)
 * (multiple)
 * (debut)
 * (debut)
 * (multiple; debut)
 * (multiple; debut)
 * (debut)
 * (debut)
 * (debut)
 * (debut)
 * (debut)
 * (multiple; debut)
 * (multiple; debut)
 * (debut)
 * (debut)
 * (debut)
 * (debut)
 * (debut)
 * (multiple; debut)
 * (multiple; debut)
 * (debut)
 * (debut)
 * (debut)

Trivia

 * This is the season premiere of Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl.
 * The Japanese TV airing of this episode and the following two did not include an opening theme. On DVD releases, Together replaced Spurt! as the Japanese opening theme.
 * This and the following two episodes are the first episodes to air in Japan after the earliest releases of in Japan and.
 * By Your Side ~Hikari's Theme~ replaced I Won't Lose! ~Haruka's Theme~ as the Japanese ending theme.
 * reads the title card.
 * This originally aired as a two-hour special on September 28, 2006, together with Two Degrees of Separation! and When Pokémon Worlds Collide!
 * Starting with this episode and until Till We Compete Again!, the animation is now playing in 30 frames per second instead of 24 frames per second.
 * This episode marks the only appearance of during the.
 * This is also the only episode between There's no Place Like Hoenn and In the Shadow of Zekrom! in which does not appear.
 * The part where Dawn thinks about having each of the Sinnoh s echoes Ash's dream in the first episode. Incidentally, 's first choice for a starter was also the of his region,.
 * An instrumental version of By Your Side ~Hikari's Theme~ is played as background music.
 * 's behavior when Dawn offered him food is exactly as described in the Pokédex: Piplup have high pride and hate to receive food from people.
 * Dawn seeing is mentioned in Dawn of a New Era!, where Ash links it to his seeing  as a starting, though the scene is more similar to his seeing  on the way to New Bark Town.
 * later encounters at Lake Valor in Pruning a Passel of Pals! and Brock encounters  at Lake Acuity in Uncrushing Defeat!.
 * The eyecatches used in this episode feature only Dawn.
 * Professor Oak's Pokémon Lecture returns to the series after an absence of almost two years.
 * Professor Oak's Big Pokémon Encyclopedia: Sinnoh starter Pokémon.
 * Pokémon senryū: シンオウで　たびがはじまる　ポケモンと Shin'ō de tabi ga hajimaru Pokémon to. "In Sinnoh, a journey begins with Pokémon."
 * This episode is the last in the English dub to feature Kayzie Rogers as a voice actress until her return in The Rise of Darkrai and for the main series in Tears For Fears!. For the next 51 episodes, Michele Knotz would provide the voice of, while 's voice would be provided through recycled clips of Rogers'.
 * Dawn's clock appears to be.
 * Similarly, there was a green cuckoo clock in Pokémon Emergency! of the original series. However, Pidgey does not have that exact Shiny coloration.
 * After stealing Piplup's food, performed an , which involves pulling its eyelid down and sticking out its tongue at the same time. This is present in the dub, despite similar shots being removed from A Ruin with a View and The Bicker the Better.
 * The name for this episode is based on the phrase "Maiden voyage", which means the first voyage or trip.

Errors

 * After Dawn finishes the imaginary contest with, she twirls around with her boots on, but in the next scene, she is wearing slippers.
 * The that appears in this episode is far smaller than normal, being around the size of a  instead.
 * When Piplup is first shown eating in Professor Rowan's lab, he takes a piece of Pokémon food, but his mouth doesn't open when he goes to eat it.
 * Before Chimchar jumps in between the Starly and Staraptor that were brought in the lab, the Staraptor was positioned to the left of Starly. However, it was later shown close-up to the right of Starly.
 * In the Finnish version, Dawn used the Finnish translated name of in the Turtwig fantasy, although the Finnish dub has used the English names of the moves since Fear Factor Phony.
 * Piplup is misspelled as Pilplup on the Pokémon.com blurb.

Dub edits

 * When the first three episodes aired together on April 20, 2007, they were made into a TV movie, cutting several parts out. All of these were restored when the episodes aired separately in reruns.
 * After the narrator finishes the introduction in the beginning of the episode, the is aired instead, skipping the eight-second part that shows the English logo for the 10th season. In future airings, the English theme isn't shown for the first episode for reasons unknown.
 * However, in the airing of this episode, the opening theme began right after the eight-second English logo showcasing, but skipped over the first three seconds of that sequence.
 * After the narrator finishes introducing Dawn, the episode title was cut out.
 * After is seen blasting off near the ending, the remaining part is cut out. After the commercial break, it moves on to the next episode.
 * In the signpost of Route 201, the Japanese names of Sandgem Town and Twinleaf Town (Masago Town and Futaba Town, respectively) were replaced with their English names.

In other languages
Lucia startet durch! EP470 DP001 DP001 DP編第1話 精灵宝可梦 钻石＆珍珠 第1集