DP007

Like It or Lup It! (Japanese: ポッチャマがんばる！！  Tries Its Hardest!!) is the seventh episode of the and the 473rd episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on November 2, 2006, and in the USA on June 13, 2007.

Blurb
It's a rough day for hero and villain alike, as Dawn's Piplup struggles to perfect a move for the upcoming Pokémon Contest and Team Rocket struggles to find something to eat. Team Rocket lucks out and finds a giant pile of berries in the middle of a field, but nearby footprints suggest the berries already belong to someone—or some Pokémon. Team Rocket steals the berries anyway, but a slip-up lands some of the berries in the possession of a Ludicolo trio. Then the berries' real owners, a Golduck and its Water Pokémon friends, show up and mistake the Ludicolo for the real berry thieves!

Team Rocket steps in and defeats Golduck, all part of their plan to get the Ludicolo on their good side so they can snag them for the boss. Alas, this plan is quickly abandoned when the grateful Ludicolo turn out to be too energetic for Team Rocket to bear. As for the dejected Golduck and its friends, they have the good fortune to run into Piplup. Piplup take charges and goes right up to the Ludicolo, determined to show them the error of their ways. Team Rocket watches it all while feasting on their ill-gotten berries and, unsurprisingly, decides this is a great opportunity to steal a whole lot of Pokémon at once.

Team Rocket pounces on the gathered Pokémon with the help of their Magikarp submarine. Piplup tries to save them, but Team Rocket launches a swarm of robot Remoraid that are just too much for Piplup to handle. That is, until Piplup finally pulls off a Contest-worthy spinning Bubble Beam move that wrecks the robots and turns the tide in our heroes' favor! Once it's revealed that Team Rocket had the berries all along, Golduck apologizes for falsely accusing the Ludicolo and the Pokémon join forces to beat Team Rocket. And with an amazing new move mastered, Dawn and Piplup can look forward to their upcoming Contest with newfound confidence!

Plot
The episode begins in a darkened Pokémon Contest Hall, with an announcer introducing the next Coordinator to perform. The Coordinator in question is then bathed in spotlight, and we see that is it wearing a long green dress. Dawn smiles, and after taking out a Poké Ball, throws it to release and then tells it to use. Piplup does so, creating a large ring of bubbles around it as it spins around releasing the attack. The bubbles then fall and explode, amazing the audience. Dawn continues to smile confidently, before looking up and seeing that Piplup is getting dizzy from spinning around over and over. The bubbles are sent flying at the audience, who scream in fear. Piplup then falls to the ground, hitting the Contest Hall floor hard.

At that, we find that everything in the Hall was just Dawn's imagination, everything really taking place in the middle of a field. Dawn rubs the back of her neck and looks over to, and  who all hold up cards with red X's on the showing that her appeal failed. Dawn isn't about to let that get her down however, and tells Piplup to use the grand finish Bubble Beam appeal again. Piplup once again jumps into the air and start spinning around while using Bubble Beam, but quickly becomes dizzy. The bubbles then rain down on Ash, Brock and Pikachu who dance around trying to avoid them. Piplup hits the dirt again, and Dawn runs over to it, worried.

We then find, along with and , lying flat on the ground in sheer exhaustion. They soon get up, and all start looking around to see if they can see some food, or Pikachu, or something to steal. Out of nowhere, they come across a large pile of delicious looking berries which Jessie claims to be a gift from God himself. jumps at the pile, grabbing one of them and is about to chow down before Jessie shouts at him to stop. Meowth angrily asks why, and Jessie rubs her chin and says that this does seem a little suspicious and that maybe some Pokémon have been collecting it all here. The group look at the pile, before running off with it all.

Not long after, a small group of Pokémon appear holding even more berries to add to the pile, before realizing that their big collection has vanished save for three. One of the Pokémon,, who appears to be the leader of the group of , and , steps forward and screams in anger at their berries being stolen as the others begin to cry. Back with Team Rocket, we find them loading the large piles of berries into their submarine. While James is handling one of them however, one of the yellow berries falls out of his hands. Meowth jumps at the flying berry, but while doing so knocks the plank holding Wobbuffet and Mime Jr. into the water and causing one of the baskets of berries to go flying into the distance.

Once again Team Rocket searches to see if they can find the basket. Jessie hears something nearby, and they walk over to a pile of high grass and push it aside to see three dancing around a small pile of berries on the ground. Meowth smiles happily and says what a great present the Ludicolo would make for.

A fantasy begins, showing the Ludicolo dancing and singing to awaken the head of Team Rocket. We then see Giovanni relaxing eating a delicious sandwich as the three Pokémon continue to dance and sing for his amusement. They also play their music as Giovanni works out and does a funky little dance. In the fantasy, Giovanni thanks the three for the present and their great work in Team Rocket. The three continue to watch from the grass, and during Meowth's fantasy the Golduck from before had appeared in front of the Ludicolo.

The Golduck, seeing the berries on the ground, starts to get angry and begins ranting at the Ludicolo who look mystified. As Team Rocket plan their next scheme, Golduck continues to shout at the poor confused Ludicolo who have no idea where Golduck's berries went. At this, Jessie, James and Meowth appear from out of the grass wearing gray judge wigs. The Pokémon look confused at the humans, before Meowth walks up to Golduck and explains that they are here to solve the dispute between the Pokémon with the power of the law.

Jessie announces that the court is in session, and Golduck runs over to the berries and points to them. Meowth translates Golduck's plea, and Jessie walks over to them and picks up one of the berries. She then beats down Golduck's accusation, before dismissing it as a crazed rant. Team Rocket then walks away, and Golduck screams at them for not taking it seriously. Jessie laughs and both she and James rip off their judge disguises and throw out and.

As James gets his head chomped down on by Carnivine, Jessie tells Seviper to use. Seviper does so, smashing its tail into Golduck. James then orders Carnivine to use Bite attack, which is followed by Seviper using Haze to scare Golduck, Poliwag, Wooper and Quagsire away. They then turn around and greet the three Ludicolo, who smile and wave at Team Rocket in return. Team Rocket explain that they are their friends and that they are here to help them, and the Ludicolo grab hold of Jessie and James and spin them around in happiness.

Elsewhere, Ash and are sitting down to a delicious and relaxing lunch. As Pikachu eats, Piplup nods to itself and runs into the high grass. Brock turns his head to Pikachu, and wonders where Piplup is. On the opposite side of the grass, Piplup jumps into the air and starts to practice its Bubble Beam appeal. Like last time however, Piplup becomes dizzy and hits the ground. By the time Piplup gets up, Quagsire and the other Pokémon in Golduck's group run past and smash into the small penguin Pokémon. Piplup isn't impressed, but Golduck starts to rant and rave. Piplup nods and motions to them to let it deal with their problem. Golduck is incredibly surprised at this, even more so when Piplup tells them to follow it.

The other Pokémon nod and follow Piplup's march. Watching all of this is Ash, Dawn, Brock and Pikachu who start to follow them in secret after Ash checks Golduck on his Pokédex. Back with Piplup, we find them as the group comes across Ludicolo dancing happily around their own little pile of berries. Piplup marches over to the Ludicolo and tries to talk to the less than impressed trio as Ash and his friends look on. Dawn asks what the Pokémon Piplup is talking to are, and Brock, having once had one, tells her that they are Ludicolo. The Ludicolo trio then wave their hands at Piplup, uninterested at what the young Pokémon has to say. They then spit out a triple at Piplup which makes it even more angry. In response to this, Piplup jumps up and tries a attack on Ludicolo. The attack fails however, but Piplup gets back up and puts its wing to its chest proudly. From below the lake, Team Rocket watch the group.

James notices Piplup, telling Jessie and Meowth who aren't using the periscope that one of the twerp's Pokémon are there. Jessie says that that is perfect, as they can grab Piplup too. On land, Piplup tries another Peck attack which is quickly dodged by the Ludicolo. Unable to stop, Piplup is thrown out into the middle of the lake and smacks into Team Rocket's periscope. James wonders what is blocking up the lens, and spins the scope around to try to knock Piplup off. He fails, and Jessie takes over and manages to throw Piplup back into the lake. At this, Ash, Dawn and Brock run out from the high grass. Seeing this, Jessie says that this could be their perfect chance to grab Pikachu.

The Magikarp submarine then emerges from the lake, and Team Rocket pop out of their sub and begin to recite their motto. Ash isn't happy to see them, and demands to know what they're up to this time. Jessie laughs and tells Ash that all they want is what they usually want: their Pokémon. Piplup swims back to shore, and then jumps back at the submarine and starts to Peck quickly at it. Piplup is thrown back at the lake however by the sub's fin, which prompts Ash to tell Pikachu to use. Team Rocket quickly duck back into the submarine and laugh inside it as the electric attacks faze out on the Magikarp's electric-proof armor. Jessie tells Meowth to fire off the Magikarp's secret weapon. Meowth presses a button on the wall, which fires off two wires, one of which grabs Golduck's group and the other which gets the Ludicolo trio and Pikachu. Piplup comes out from the lake again and seeing its captured friends, tries to free them to no avail. Seeing that the wires are too tough to snap with its beak, Piplup jumps back at the submarine and starts to Peck it in anger. Jessie doesn't seem impressed by these attacks, and Meowth grins and tells her that he can deal with Piplup easily.

He presses another button, and several robotic are fired out of Magikarp's mouth which sends Piplup flying back to shore. The Remoraid continue to fly back and forth, smashing into Piplup over and over again. Dawn, worried at her hurt Pokémon, runs towards Piplup through all the Remoraid. Piplup, seeing that Dawn cares for it and is willing to risk being hurt to save it, dries its tears and jumps up, dodging the robotic Pokémon and starting its Bubble Beam appeal. Spinning around and firing Bubble Beam, the attack manages to hit all of the Remoraid and destroys them. Piplup then spins back down to the ground and despite nearly falling over, lands perfectly. Dawn, happy at her Pokémon finally perfecting the move, tells it to use it on Team Rocket's submarine. Piplup does so, and the spinning bubbles somehow create a whirlpool which sucks Team Rocket into the bottom of the lake.

Having dealt with their threat, the group release the captured Pokémon as Dawn hugs Piplup. The Magikarp bursts out of the lake again and Team Rocket gasp for air. Tired and hurt, Jessie, James and Meowth can't move quickly enough to dodge Pikachu's Thunderbolt which enters the insides and causes the submarine to explode and send them blasting off again. The explosion sends all of the berries that Team Rocket stole raining down on Ash and his friends and all of the Pokémon. Ash grabs one of the berries and wonders if these were the berries that caused all of the trouble. Golduck apologizes to the Ludicolo and both groups shake hands.

Team Rocket then crawl out of the water, greeting the angry gazes of the Ludicolo trio and Golduck's group. The three try to explain themselves and beg for forgiveness, but are quickly sent flying away by another group Water Gun attack.

The episode ends with Ash, Dawn and Brock waving to the Pokémon who have all decided to share their berry collection as the sunsets. Ash is happy at Piplup finally perfecting its appeal, and Dawn is sure that it'll be a big hit in the Contest Halls.

Major events

 * Dawn's Piplup learns how to use Moves.

Humans

 * Jessie
 * James
 * (fantasy)
 * Marian (voiceover)
 * James
 * (fantasy)
 * Marian (voiceover)

Pokémon

 * (×3)
 * (×3)
 * (×3)
 * (×3)
 * (×3)
 * (×3)
 * (×3)
 * (×3)
 * (×3)
 * (×3)
 * (×3)
 * (×3)
 * (×3)
 * (×3)
 * (×3)

Trivia

 * reads the title card.
 * An instrumental version of By Your Side ~Hikari's Theme~ and music from Gotta Dance!! are used as background music.
 * This is the first episode in the to feature the boss fantasy.
 * This is also the second episode with a boss fantasy featuring, the previous one being in Go Go Ludicolo!.
 * narrates the preview for the next episode.
 * Professor Oak's Big Pokémon Encyclopedia:
 * Pokémon senryū: ポケモンに　つくしてそだてる　ブリーダー Pokémon ni tsukushite sodateru Burīdā "Devotedly raising Pokémon; that is a Breeder."
 * The dub title could be a pun on the phrase "like it or lump it". It may also be derived from "like it or love it".
 * 's Spinning wouldn't be used again until Piplup, Pansage, and a Meeting of the Times!, 270 episodes later.

In other languages
Die Beeren in Nachbars Garten EP476 DP007 DP007 DP編第7話 精灵宝可梦 钻石＆珍珠 第7集