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| Season | Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl (Season 10) · Oreburgh City & the Coal Badge arc (DP013–DP018) |
| Episode | Season 10, episode 13 · English episode 477 · Japanese episode 480 · Bulbapedia code DP013 |
| English title | A Staravia Is Born! |
| Japanese title | ムックルがんばる！ Mukkuru Ganbaru! — “Mukkuru Perseveres!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 21 December 2006 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 25 June 2007 · Cartoon Network |
| Screenplay | Masashi Sogo |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Together – Fumie Akiyoshi · Kimi no Soba de ~Hikari no Tēma~ (By Your Side ~Hikari’s Theme~) – Grin |
| English opening | Diamond and Pearl – Chris “Breeze” Barczynski |
| Previous episode | Arrival of a Rival! (DP012) |
| Next episode | Leave It To Brocko! (DP014) |
Plot episodeStarly evolves into Staravia
A Staravia Is Born! is the 13th episode of Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl, the tenth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 477th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 480, Bulbapedia code DP013). It first aired in Japan on 21 December 2006 and in the United States on 25 June 2007. It falls within the season’s Oreburgh City & the Coal Badge stretch (EP13–EP18).
Synopsis
Ash is drilling Starly on Aerial Ace: dive low at a target on a tree, climb the trunk on his signal and loop around. On one attempt Starly crash-lands and hurts its leg, and Brock patches it up with a Potion and a bandage. A researcher named Rosebay emerges from the bushes, Brock’s flirting is cut short by Croagunk, and she explains she has been studying the forest’s Pokémon and has noticed something wrong: the local Swablu have not returned to their nest, and the number of flying Pokémon in the area has been falling. The friends offer to help, and soon discover that a whole colony of Hoothoot has vanished too. The culprits are Team Rocket, who have strung a giant net across a mountain pass and caught a migrating flock of Taillow and Swellow, which they plan to send to Giovanni.
Starly, sent to look for clues, flies straight into the net and ends up caged in Team Rocket’s hideout. Rosebay realises all the flying Pokémon pass through the Valley Path, and from the ridge the group spot the trap and a Pidgeot tangled in it, which Pikachu frees before the net closes. Ash has Pikachu ride Pidgeot to recruit every bird in the valley to tear the net apart, while the others sneak into the base. There Meowth, guarding the cages after losing a game of rock-paper-scissors to his sunbathing partners, is hypnotised by a Hoothoot at Starly’s signal. Under its spell he unlocks the cages and digs an escape tunnel for the birds with his own claws, while the heroes watch on the security monitors as Jessie and James scramble to their controls.
When Meowth snaps out of it, Seviper, Cacnea and Carnivine surround Starly, just as the group burst in. Team Rocket’s mecha rises from the ground and fires nets, Pikachu’s Thunderbolt does nothing to its wooden frame, and its stomping collapses the ground beneath it and wrecks it. Out of the rubble, the trio recite their motto. Jessie’s Dustox blows Starly away with Gust, Cacnea fires Pin Missile, and Brock’s Bonsly suddenly learns Mimic, copying Gust to block the next blast and turning Dustox’s own Psybeam back on it. Starly then soars skyward, glows and evolves into Staravia, and a masterful Aerial Ace sends Team Rocket flying. Rosebay thanks the new Staravia as the freed birds fly home, the Hoothoot wave goodbye, and the group resume their road to Oreburgh City with Staravia flying overhead.
Major Events
- Starly evolves into Staravia and masters Aerial Ace freeing caged bird Pokémon
- Brock’s Bonsly learns Mimic
- Rosebay
- Aired with DP014 as a one-hour special in Japan
Captures and evolutions
Starly → Staravia#0397 · Ash · freeing caged bird Pokémon
Trivia
- The English title plays on the film A Star Is Born.
- The screenplay is by Masashi Sogo.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Sinnoh storyline.
Changes in the English Dub
- Pikachu’s Vacation music added in the dub
- Jirachi score
Part of our Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.