Blackthorn City

Blackthorn City is a city in the Johto region. It's the city that Giratina picked long ago to hold Midori, the Grass Plate. The Mokusetsu previously visited this city in search of the Plate.

General
Blackthorn City has a history with Dragon-type Pokémon. People from this city usually aspire to become Dragon masters. Several famous Dragon-type trainers have come from this city, and, as expected, a good variety of Dragon-type Pokémon reside here.

Plate
In ancient times when Arceus created its special move, "Omnipotent Purēto Scatter", it had Giratina pick out several cities and towns around the world to hide all 17 Plates. Blackthorn City was one of these locations. The Plate that was hidden here was Midori, the Grass Plate.

Present
...
 *  SPOILERS MAY BE PRESENT IN THIS SECTION 

...

At the end of Episode 18, while Alain, Ash, and Dawn were on their way to Blackthorn City for the second and last Johto Plate, they came across Domino, who says she's actually from Blackthorn City. She wanted to speak to Alain privately. Alain told her that Ash has been hearing strange singing, but no one else can hear it, and wonders if she knows anything about Blackthorn City that could be causing this. She only responded that they should find their answer when they get to Blackthorn.

It was revealed after this that the strange singing Ash has been hearing has been emanating from Blackthorn City.

Once Division A of the Mokusetsu arrived in Blackthorn City in Episode 19, Ash heard the singing, but this time, the others could finally hear it. The singing was in person, now, as Ash was then approached by a similarly-aged girl named Mairin, who says she's Ash's little sister. This shocked everyone, prompting Ash to say he didn't think he had a sister. Instead of answering their many questions right away, she happily asked them to follow her.

She led them in the woods to a strange purple tree stump. She says it sprouted a week ago, but that she doesn't know why. She says she goes to it every day. While everyone was wondering about it, she led Ash downtown to a fair to hang out with him. She confirms that she's not related to him, but that she's still his sister. She, Ash, and Dawn hung at the fair for a bit.

Mairin then said a spirit guided her to find Ash. She says maybe the tree stump did, informing them that she was led to it by a strange presence a week ago and that she found it while digging outside. She ends up coming with the group as they search in Blackthorn City for Midori, the Grass Plate.

Later, Mairin told them that she was really from Camphrier Town in the Kalos region. Her parents both died in a car accident when she was very young. Her babysitter told her the news, and then placed her in a foster home here in Blackthorn City, Johto. She says no one wanted to adopt her, so she's been living there her whole life. She stayed happy throughout all of that and brought them to the tree stump.

At the stump, she taught Ash a saying that her parents told her when she was young. After this, she taught Ash the words to a lullaby her parents sang to her as well. Upon Ash's curiosity, Mairin confirmed this is the singing Ash has been hearing, although she didn't know Ash could hear it. She says the stump probably let him hear it. It's a lullaby called, "Pretty Little Star".

In Episode 20, a Nurse Joy approached them in the woods, who runs Mairin's foster home. She told Mairin it's time to come home. After Mairin left, Nurse Joy informed them that Mairin was placed here in Blackthorn because there wasn't an opening in a foster home in Kalos. She thanks them for befriending her and says they should come back to get her tomorrow. The next day, Mairin continued hanging out with them, staying close to Ash.

During this day, they were approached in Blackthorn City by Barret and Kodai of the Tekiyoku. A fight started with Alain fighting Kodai and Ash fighting Barret. The fight went well until Barret weakened Ash with Pretty Flower and Kodai used Graceful Descent on both of them. Kodai approached Ash to kill him. Mairin ran out from her hiding spot to protect Ash. Kodai then slapped Mairin and threw her across the nearby river bank to the other side, as she barely moved after impact. Ash became infuriated and got up, punching Kodai. He and Alain then worked together to defeat them, causing the enemy to retreat. Ash asked Alain for a pocketknife from Alain after the fight, who gave him one.

The Mokusetsu, with Mairin, continued searching for Midori in Blackthorn. After hearing a description, Mairin says she found something like that while digging a week ago and pulled out a picture of it. It turned out to really be the Grass Plate, surprising everyone else. She thought it was just a pretty stone. She went to the foster home and got it from her room, giving the Mokusetsu possession of the Grass Plate.

In Episode 21, Ash hung out with Mairin alone the next day as their connection got closer. Dawn was helping to volunteer at the foster home, while Alain stayed on his own. Ash, Alain, and Dawn ended up leaving Blackthorn City after a while and made their way to the next region with Plates, Sinnoh.

Characters From Here

 * Domino

Trivia

 * Blackthorn City is named after the "blackthorn", a species of flowering plant in the rose family, native to Europe, western Asia, and northwestern Africa.
 * In the official Pokémon manga, it is stated that Blackthorn City is actually the Village of Dragons, which was originally perceived as a separate location in the Pokémon World. This information was not used for this series; instead, that village is renamed and used as a Unova location in this series, like it is in the official Pokémon anime.