Ride, Lapras, Ride! (Japanese:ラプラスにのって♪Riding onLaplace♪) is the seventh episode ofPokémon: To Be a Pokémon Master, the 143rd episode ofPokémon Journeys: The Series, and the 1,228th episode of thePokémon animated series. It first aired in Japan on February 24, 2023, in Canada on June 24, 2023, in South Africa on July 4, 2023, and in the United States on September 8, 2023.
Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.
Ash, Pikachu, Misty, and Brock are watching Wailmer when they see a Lapras speeding toward them from across the sea. It’s Ash’s friend Lapras from his journey in the Orange Islands! Lapras leads them to a cavernous island where a Wailmer is stuck in a hole. Our heroes free Wailmer, but it’s so happy that it bounces back into a hole and evolves into Wailord. Now it’s really stuck! With Team Rocket’s help, everyone gets Wailord out, but Ash becomes trapped inside a cave. The water is rising, but Lapras and Wailord make an escape tunnel. Grateful, Ash once again says farewell to Lapras as it returns to its group.
Plot
Ash reuniting with Lapras
Ash andhis friends are watching someWailmer bouncing on a beach when a distressedLapras approaches them. Almost immediately, Ash recognizes this Lapras as the same one that he met back at theOrange Islands. He and Lapras share a happy embrace before Lapras motions him and his friends to come with it. As such, the group boards Lapras, who leads them and the Wailmer from the beach to a small rocky island filled with holes and caves. The reason behind Lapras's distressed state is soon made clear as the group spots a Wailmer stuck in a hole, having apparently gotten stuck in it after bouncing too high. Ash promises Wailmer to help it, with an invisibleLatias arriving to observe the scene. Unnoticed by the group, the periscope ofTeam Rocket'sMagikarp submarine surfaces nearby and spies on all theWater-type Pokémon gathered on and around the island, the trio planning to nab them and Pikachu.
After failing to get Wailmer unstuck by hand, Ash calls outKingler andSirfetch'd to helpPikachu smash the rocks around Wailmer. However, the rock the island is made of proves too hard to break, with Wailmer's bouncy body sending everyone flying back. Ash lands in a cave, but gets out easily withHeracross's help.Misty is the next one to offer a solution, suggesting she and Ash try to pull Wailmer out with theirfishing rods. Ash approves the idea and calls outBayleef to help, getting affectionately hugged by her immediately after she appears. Once she's calmed down, Ash has her hold onto Misty withVine Whip, while Heracross holds onto him. They both throw their lures into Wailmer's mouth and start to pull. Ash receives additional help from Kingler, whileBrock calls outMarshtomp to support Misty and Bayleef. With extreme effort, they manage to pull Wailmer out of the hole, but just when the situation seems to be over, Wailmer jumps so high up out of happiness that it falls into a cave. Unexpectedly, the Wailmer then proceeds toevolve intoWailord, causing it to get stuck again.
With Wailord's new size, the fishing rods are out of the question. While the group tries to think up something, Pikachu notices Team Rocket's periscope and gets an idea, climbing onto the periscope and peeking inside to startle Rocket trio into surfacing. When they emerge, Pikachu threatens to shock the trio unless they help, which they reluctantly agree to do, deadpanning at thetwerps' ignorance of the fact that their submarine is man-powered. Ash calls out hisTorterra and explains his plan as it's put into action: Brock and Torterra ride the submarine, with Brock having Torterra useFrenzy Plant to bind Wailord, the group of Wailmer helping to give the submarine an extra boost, and Pikachu standing inside the submersible to make sure Team Rocket does their part. Misty, meanwhile, has all the Pokémon on land and in the water, including herGyarados, pull on Torterra's Frenzy Plant to add more force to the pull. Lastly, Ash enters the cave with Heracross and Bayleef, the three of them joining together in tickling Wailord to help it squirm its way to freedom. In the middle of the rescue operation, Wailord starts to glow as it usesHeavy Slam, successfully freeing itself. Team Rocket plans to steal Pikachu now, but he simply busts the submarine's hatch off and jumps off with Brock and Torterra, giving the trio a watery sendoff.
However, even though Wailord is now safe, its escape caused a cave-in that blocked off the cave entrance, leaving Ash trapped just as the tide begins to rise. To save him, Lapras usesIce Beam to freeze the water flowing into the cave, after which Wailord usesWeather Ball to create an ice tunnel all the way to Ash's location. Lapras reaches Ash by sliding through the tunnel, and they slide out together. After Ash has thanked Wailord for its part in helping him, Lapras takes the group back to the beach, where Ash and Lapras share one more hug before Lapras swims away to reunite with itsherd. No sooner has Lapras left, though, when Misty realizes they could've gotten Wailmer out of the hole by just briefly putting it in aPoké Ball. Regardless, Ash says he found the experience a fun one.
Like in theprevioustwo episodes, there was noDare Da? segment in the initial airing of the episode, instead having theseries logo on the screen before and after the commercial break.
This episode marks the only time that Ash'sjourney through theOrange Islands is directly referenced inPokémon Journeys: The Series. With this, all the regions that Ash has traveled to during his Pokémon journey have been recalled duringPokémon Journeys: The Series.
This is the first episode ofPokémon: To Be a Pokémon Master in whichAsh has a Pokémon caught inPokémon Journeys: The Series in his active party.
As such, as of this episode, at least one of Ash's Pokémon from each region he has visited has been in Ash's active party during this arc.
This is the only episode ofPokémon: To Be a Pokémon Master where Ash is shown with a fullteam of six Pokémon on hand.
This episode marks the first time Ash's Kingler has been in Ash's active party outside of being used for abattle.
As of this episode,Ash's Bayleef once again retains her Japanese voice in the English dub, after her voice have been dubbed in earlier episodes of this series.
Lapras sliding on ice to help Ash is reminiscent to Ash'sMikan Gym challenge inFit To Be Tide, in which Lapras also slid on an ice path it created.
The English dub title is a reference to a lyric "Ride, Sally, ride" from the songMustang Sally byWilson Pickett.
The narration part where Brock speaks toNurse Joy and gets attacked by hisCroagunk is synced up with a shot from the episode where the same thing happens.
Errors
When Misty and Ash start using theirfishing rods to pullWailmer, Misty's suspenders are disconnected from her shorts for a split-second.
When Pikachu says "pika-pi" as Ash and Lapras are sliding out of the cave, the English dub's closed captions incorrectly spell it as "pika-pika."
When Team Rocket surrenders to Pikachu's threat, Jessie's undershirt is missing.
