A Festival Reunion! (Japanese:命爆発バトルフェス！VSメガルカリオ！！ABattle Festival Exploding With Life! VS Mega Lucario!!) is the 25th episode ofPokémon Journeys: The Series, and the 1,110th episode of thePokémon animated series. It first aired in Japan on June 21, 2020, in the United Kingdom on November 6, 2020, in Australia on December 3, 2020, and in the United States on December 4, 2020. It was initially intended to air in Japan on May 10, 2020, but was rescheduled to due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.
Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.
Ash and Goh arrive in the Kalos region, where Goh wants to catch new Pokémon, while Ash wants to raise his World Coronation Series ranking by competing in the Battle Festival Challenge!
Ash discovers that his friend Korrina, the Gym Leader of Shalour City, is also competing with her partner Lucario. Both Trainers are one win away from ranking up to the Great Class, so they decide to have a battle! Korrina’s Lucario defeats Ash’s Gengar, but when Ash sends out Dragonite, an unusual strategy takes shape. Even through Lucario Mega Evolves, one final attack gives Ash the win—and a spot in the Great Class!
Plot
Ash andGoh arrive inShalour City in theKalosregion, with Goh aiming tocatch manyKalos Pokémon and Ash participating in aWorld Coronation Series Battle Festival Challenge. Goh first catches aBinacle, while Ash usesPikachu against a Trainer namedLob with aClawitzer. Clawitzer prepares to useFlash Cannon, which Pikachu counters withThunderbolt, but it is suppressed by Flash Cannon'sSteel-type energy. From the stands, another Trainer with aLucario observes Ash and wonders what he'll do next. Ash decides to switch to anothermove and has Pikachu useIron Tail. He dodges Clawitzer'sCrabhammer and defeats theHowitzer Pokémon, marking Ash's third consecutive win at the Battle Festival Challenge and increasing his ranking to 1,022, thus being one victory away from entering the Great Class.
Meanwhile, Goh continues catching multiplePokémon, including differentforms ofFlabébé. As he heads to the Battle Festival Challenge stadium, when he notices a Flabébé form he doesn't have yet and runs after it. Meanwhile, Ash andhis Pokémon are preparing for their next battle, which will rise them to the Great Class if they win. Suddenly, both Ash andRiolu sense anAura emanating from somewhere nearby, and Riolu leads them to a Lucario, whom Pikachu and Ash quickly recognize asKorrina's. And sure enough,Korrina herself then also shows up, happily greeting Ash. She introduces herself to Ash's Pokémon, especially taking note of Riolu, whom she encourages to grow stronger with Ash. Riolu looks at Korrina's Lucario, its eyes filled with admiration. Korrina tells how she and Ashhad an amazing battle once, with Ash being quick to point out that he won. He asks if she's taking part in the Battle Festival Challenge too, which she confirms, although she's not doing so as aGym Leader, but as a World Coronation Series participant aiming to beatLeon. She reveals that her rank is 1,001, meaning that she's also just one battle away from Great Class. They both agree to battle each other to see which of them gets to advance to the next class, and Ash tells Riolu to watch Lucario's battle closely.
Elsewhere, Goh continues his search for Pokémon to catch. At first, Raboot doesn't sense any Pokémon nearby, but then suddenly usesEmber towards a bush, causing a Lucario to pop out. However, Goh barely has a chance to pull out aPoké Ball before Lucario's Trainer,Gurkinn, appears and compliments Goh's reflexes. Goh apologizes to Gurkinn for mistaking his Lucario for awild one and tells him how he's come to Kalos to catch some Pokémon, showing him a list of the ones he's caught so far. Gurkinn is impressed, noting that finding an Orange Flower Flabébé is especially impressive. Goh says that he's only missing a White Flower Flabébé now and asks Gurkinn if he knows the area. Gurkinn confirms this and mentions that his granddaughter is at the Battle Festival Challenge, so he had come to watch. Goh remarks that his friend is there too. As he brings up the fact that they're both fromKanto, Gurkinn remarks that his granddaughter once battled a Kanto Trainer named Ash who had a Pikachu, and Goh immediately points out that Ash is the friend he mentioned.
At the stadium's Rock Field, Ash and Korrina prepare for their two-on-two battle. The crowd cheers for their city's own Gym Leader. Both Pikachu and Riolu express willingness to battle, but Ash tells them to watch from the sidelines this time. Just as Korrina asks Riolu to root for her Lucario and Ash says that Riolu is going to be cheering for him, Goh and Gurkinn enter the stadium stands, with Goh being surprised to learn that Ash is facing Gurkinn's granddaughter.
AtDrone Rotom's signal, Ash and Korrina call out their respective Pokémon,Gengar andMienshao. Mienshao begins the battle withAcrobatics, making a direct hit, before switching toU-turn. Gengar usesPsychic to lift up a boulder in an attempt to block the move, but Mienshao simply leaps over it and scores another hit, before switching out to Lucario. Goh is surprised that Korrina used a move to switch her Pokémon. Lucario usesBone Rush, which Gengar tries to dodge and counter withShadow Ball, but Lucario either avoids or blocks all the Shadow Balls before attacking Gengar, easily taking it out of the fight, much to Ash's shock. In the sidelines, Riolu's admiration towards Lucario only grows. Gurkinn tells Goh that Korrina's advantage lies in her and her Pokémon fighting as one, but Goh is confident Ash can win.
As Ashrecalls Gengar, Korrina recalls Lucario and sends Mienshao back out, while Ash goes withDragonite, which Korrina sees as a worthy opponent. The matchup begins with a clash ofHigh Jump Kick andDragon Claw, which seem evenly matched. Mienshao follows up withDouble Slap, which Ash counters by having Dragonite useDragon Dance. This strategy not only does its intended job of increasing Dragonite'sAttack power andSpeed, but also uses Mienshao's Double Slap to make Dragonite spin faster and thus repel Mienshao. Korrina tells Mienshao to use High Jump Kick, which connects, but Dragonite makes a swift counterattack with a powered-up Dragon Claw, taking Mienshao out of the fight and making the battle one-on-one.
Korrina recalls Mienshao and sends out Lucario again. Ash asks Korrina to show off Lucario's true power, and she happily complies, touching herKey Stone andMega Evolving her partner. Goh, who has previously only read about Mega Evolution, is in awe at witnessing it in person for the first time. Gurkinn tells him that Mega Evolution is a phenomenon first discovered in Kalos, which brings out a Pokémon's hidden strength through the Pokémon's bond with a Trainer. Ash reassures Dragonite and has it use Dragon Dance again. Korrina remarks that playing careful isn't really Ash's style and tells Lucario to useAura Sphere. Dragonite flies up with its increased speed in an attempt to avoid the incoming attack, but the Aura Sphere still heads straight towards it upon being fired. Dragonite's counterattack attempt withHyper Beam comes in too late, and the Aura Sphere hits its mark. Lucario follows the assault by jumping up and pummeling Dragonite with a series ofPower-Up Punches mid-air, eventually sending it crashing down to the rocky battlefield.
Despite all thedamage it has taken, Dragonite is still able to stand up. After a moment of thinking, Ash comes up with a plan and tells Dragonite to useHurricane, surrounding Mega Lucario in powerful winds that send small pieces of rock at it. Korrina fights back by having Lucario launch two simultaneous Aura Spheres in opposite directions, dispersing the Hurricane. Both sides then launch their final attacks, Lucario with Power-Up Punch and Dragonite with Dragon Claw. Both attacks connect, and both Pokémon fall, only to shakily stand back up. After a few tense moments, Lucario falls down and reverts to normal, and Drone Rotom rules Ash as the winner of the match. Ash happily congratulates Dragonite, receiving one of its trademark hugs in return. As a result of this victory, Ash's ranking rises to 921, meaning that he's now in the Great Class. Riolu goes up to Korrina and Lucario, and despite her apologizing for looking uncool with their loss, Riolu is still full of admiration towards Lucario.
Later, Gurkinn congratulates Ash for making it to a higher class, Korrina assures that she's not out of the competition yet, and Goh is still amazed at how moving the battle was. Just when Ash asks Goh how things went with him, aWhite Flower Flabébé floats by, and Goh rushes after it to catch it.
Major events
Ash andGoh visitKalos, with Goh visiting theregion for the first time.
This episode marks the first time that a main character other thanAsh has obtained aRock-type Pokémon sinceCilan caught hisDwebble inA Home for Dwebble!, 442 episodes earlier.
During the episode, Gohcatches hisPhantump before hisFletchling. However, when he shows hisPokédex toGurkinn, the capture order of these Pokémon is reversed.
Dub edits
The kanji命爆発 (Life Explosion) that appear during Korrina's poses before she Mega Evolves her Lucario are removed in the dub.
