Raid Battle in The Ruins! – Pokémon Journeys Episode 14


Season	Pokémon Journeys: The Series (Season 23) · Monarch Leon & the World Coronation Series arc (JN012–JN018)
Episode	Season 23, episode 14 · English episode 1094 · Japanese episode 1100 · Bulbapedia code JN014
English title	Raid Battle in The Ruins!
Japanese title	初イッシュ地方！遺跡でレイドバトル！！ Hatsu Isshu Chihō! Iseki de Reido Batoru!! — “First in the Isshu Region! The Raid Battle at the Ruins!!”
First aired (Japan)	23 February 2020 · TV Tokyo
First aired (US)	11 September 2020 · Netflix
Screenplay	Atsuhiro Tomioka
Opening / ending (Japan)	Wan, Tsū, Surī (One, Two, Three) – After the Rain · Pokémon Shiritori (Pikachu → Mew Ver.) – Pokémon Music Club
English opening	The Journey Starts Today – Walk off the Earth
Who’s That Pokémon?	Golurk (US) · Golurk (Japan)
Previous episode	The Climb to Be the Very Best! (JN013)
Next episode	A Snow Day for Searching! (JN015)

Plot episodeRaid BattleGoh catches Golurk

Raid Battle in The Ruins! is the 14th episode of Pokémon Journeys: The Series, the twenty-third season of the Pokémon anime, and the 1094th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 1100, Bulbapedia code JN014). It first aired in Japan on 23 February 2020 and in the United States on 11 September 2020. It falls within the season’s Monarch Leon & the World Coronation Series stretch (EP12–EP18).

Synopsis

In Unova’s Desert Resort, Ash and Goh explore the newly discovered Colossus Ruins with an adventurer named Kira, solve their traps and puzzles, and join a Raid Battle against a giant Golurk that Goh then catches. A billboard announcing the ruins draws the boys there, but the blazing sand is too hot to cross on foot. Kira, a traveller who seeks out mysteries, asks whether they have Flying types; Ash sends out Dragonite and Goh’s Beedrill volunteers, while Kira’s Braviary tows her and her Meditite on a board. Wearing Go-Goggles, the group races across the dunes, Beedrill cutting in front until Dragonite lifts Ash high into the sky. At the ruins a statue turns out to be a Darmanitan about to use Overheat, and Goh catches it. The leader of an excavation team, speaking through his Litwick, shows them a tablet describing how an ancient city built a colossus to defend its people, marked by a familiar swirl symbol. Exploring a new chamber, Scorbunny steps on a Sandile’s tail, and after Double Kick knocks it down Goh catches it too.

A Woobat lures Ash onto a hidden panel that dumps sand on everyone, Scorbunny sets off a rolling boulder, Goh raises a row of stone pillars, and chasing a Yamask opens a trapdoor beneath Ash until Kira’s Meditite saves him with Psychic. Kira explains that she avoided every trap because each was marked with a symbol, leaving the boys embarrassed. Two Cofagrigus then appear, walking stooped because, as Kira deduces, someone is trapped inside; Pikachu’s Thunderbolt frees Shane Seeker and his Shiny Psyduck. Shane wants to fill his Pokédex with only Shiny Pokémon, though his progress so far is meagre. When Psyduck trips onto a panel, the floor rotates like a puzzle, and Kira has everyone press the five emblem switches around the room. The floor rearranges into the swirl emblem, and a huge egg-shaped structure cracks open to reveal a giant Golurk nearly twice normal size, which the leader identifies as the defensive colossus, built only to attack.

Golurk unleashes a blinding blast, and Goh proposes a Raid Battle. Kira promises to introduce Shane to a friend with a Shiny Pokémon if he joins in. Pikachu’s Thunderbolt cannot touch the Ground type and Scorbunny’s Double Kick is useless against a Ghost; combined Fire Spin, Psyshock and Hydro Pump barely register, and Golurk’s punches knock out Pikachu, Beedrill (despite a flurry of Twineedle), Braviary and the leader’s Lampent. Dragonite blocks a fist with Dragon Claw, and Goh sends in Darmanitan. As Golurk pulls in its limbs for its ultimate attack, Dragonite’s Hurricane and Darmanitan’s Overheat combine into a blast that leaves the giant collapsed, and Goh catches it. The walls fall away to reveal a golden corridor, delighting the excavators. Back at the Cerise Laboratory, Zen Mode Darmanitan and the giant Golurk settle on a hill as Cerise Park’s guardians, while the familiar Gengar watches from a distance.

Major Events

The Colossus Ruins. First trip to Unova, at the Desert Resort
Goh catches a Darmanitan, a Sandile and, after his first Raid Battle, a giant Golurk
Dragonite shows Dragon Claw and Hurricane
Kira and Shane Seeker
The first Shiny Pokémon of Journeys, and five in one episode, a record
From here an intro clip about Ash and Goh’s goals opens each episode