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| Season | Pokémon Journeys: The Series (Season 23) · Rivals & setbacks arc (JN031–JN041) |
| Episode | Season 23, episode 36 · English episode 1116 · Japanese episode 1122 · Bulbapedia code JN036 |
| English title | Making Battles in the Sand! |
| Japanese title | サトシとゴウ、砂地獄から這い上がれ！ Satoshi to Gō, Sunajigoku kara Haiagare! — “Satoshi and Go, Crawl Up From the Sand Hell!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 6 September 2020 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 4 December 2020 · Netflix |
| Screenplay | Michihiro Tsuchiya |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Wan, Tsū, Surī (One, Two, Three) – Nishikawa-kun and Kirishō · Pokémon Shiritori (Mew → Zamazenta Ver.) – Pokémon Music Club |
| English opening | The Journey Starts Today – Walk off the Earth |
| Who’s That Pokémon? | Trapinch (US) · Trapinch (Japan) |
| Previous episode | Gotta Catch a What?! (JN035) |
| Next episode | That New Old Gang of Mine! (JN037) |
Plot episodeBack to the Normal ClassGoh catches Flygon
Making Battles in the Sand! is the 36th episode of Pokémon Journeys: The Series, the twenty-third season of the Pokémon anime, and the 1116th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 1122, Bulbapedia code JN036). It first aired in Japan on 6 September 2020 and in the United States on 4 December 2020. It falls within the season’s Rivals & setbacks stretch (EP31–EP41).
The last episode of Netflix’s third batch (4 December 2020).
Synopsis
After three World Coronation Series losses in a row drop Ash back into the Normal Class, a gloomy Ash goes with Goh to investigate a mysterious singing sandstorm over Mauville City, where Goh catches the whole Trapinch line and shows Ash how to fight his way back. Training harder after his loss to Bea, Ash accepts a challenge from a Trainer with an Octillery; he warns Riolu to keep its distance, but Psybeam confuses it, Wrap holds it, and a point-blank Octazooka knocks it out, dropping Ash from 930th to 975th. A second Trainer challenges him at once with a Tentacruel, and although Riolu dodges Bubble Beam, it moves in too close, is caught by Bind and finished by Poison Sting. Ash falls to 1,021st—back in the Normal Class—and is deeply discouraged.
News reaches the Cerise Laboratory of a huge sandstorm over Mauville City in Hoenn, from which a haunting song draws hypnotised people towards it. Suspecting an unknown Pokémon, Professor Cerise sends his research fellows, and Goh has to drag the moping Ash along. With Mauville half-buried in sand, the mystery revives Ash’s spirits, and wearing Go-Goggles the boys push through the whirling wind to the calm eye of the storm. There a Trapinch is dragging three people into its sand pit, and Goh, learning that Trapinch dig bowl-shaped traps, catches it with a curveball to save them. The song returns and a Vibrava attacks with headache-inducing wingbeats; Goh’s curveball veers off course until Raboot kicks it back on line and the ball catches the Vibrava.
Goh reasons that the line’s final form must be near, and a Flygon bursts from the sand; he concludes that the song comes from sand striking its wings and that it raised the storm to build a nest in peace. Ash forgets that Flygon is a Ground type and orders a useless Thunderbolt before switching to Riolu, while Goh’s Sobble breaks through its Sandstorm with Water Gun, wetting the sand. Flygon then dives under the wet sand with Dragon Rush and knocks out Sobble, and Ash, overwhelmed by the memory of his losses, freezes as Flygon knocks out Riolu and sends him sprawling. Goh fights on alone: Raboot calmly listens for Flygon’s sneak attacks and dodges them, and when Flygon avoids two Embers and unleashes a barrage of Draco Meteors, Goh has Raboot use the falling meteors as stepping stones and kick an Ember into one, so that the blast knocks Flygon down. Goh catches it and the sandstorm fades. He explains that he learned the trick from watching Ash’s battles, and Ash, inspired, realises that after losing to Grapploct he had only attacked from a distance, and recommits to his goal of battling Leon.
Major Events
- World Coronation Series, battles 9 and 10. Ash’s Riolu loses to an Octillery (975th) and a Tentacruel (1,021st), dropping Ash back to the Normal Class
- A singing sandstorm over Mauville City
- Goh catches a Trapinch, a Vibrava and a Flygon
Captures and evolutions
Flygon#0330 · Goh · with a Trapinch and a Vibrava in the Mauville sandstorm
Trivia
- The screenplay is by Michihiro Tsuchiya.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Kanto, Galar & beyond storyline.
Part of our Pokémon Journeys: The Series guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.