Thrash of the Titans! – Pokémon Season 24 Episode 17 (JN065)


Season	Pokémon Master Journeys: The Series (Season 24) · Spring at the lab & into the Ultra Class arc (JN061–JN067)
Episode	Season 24, episode 17 · English episode 1145 · Japanese episode 1151 · Bulbapedia code JN065
English title	Thrash of the Titans!
Japanese title	ドラゴンバトル！サトシVSアイリス！！ Doragon Batoru! Satoshi VS Airisu!! — “Dragon Battle! Satoshi VS Iris!!”
First aired (Japan)	7 May 2021 · TV Tokyo
First aired (US)	21 January 2022 · Netflix
Screenplay	Atsuhiro Tomioka
Opening / ending (Japan)	Wan, Tsū, Surī (One, Two, Three) – Karaage Sisters · Pokémon Shiritori (Mew → Zamazenta Ver.) – Pokémon Music Club
English opening	Journey to Your Heart – Haven Paschall
Who’s That Pokémon?	Emolga (US) · Emolga (Japan)
Previous episode	Absol Absolved! (JN064)
Next episode	Under Color of Darkness! (JN066)

Plot episodeAsh vs IrisUltra Class, rank 99

Thrash of the Titans! is the 17th episode of Pokémon Master Journeys: The Series, the twenty-fourth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 1145th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 1151, Bulbapedia code JN065). It first aired in Japan on 7 May 2021 and in the United States on 21 January 2022. It falls within the season’s Spring at the lab & into the Ultra Class stretch (EP61–EP67).

Released on Netflix in the US on Friday 21 January 2022 with the rest of Part 2; Teletoon had premiered it in Canada on 2 October 2021, followed by POP in the UK on 3 January 2022.

Synopsis

Ash travels to Unova for a World Coronation Series battle with his old friend Iris, now the Unova Champion, and his Dragonite’s new Draco Meteor wins it, lifting him into the Ultra Class. A letter from Iris, Ash’s friend from his Unova travels and an aspiring Dragon Master, challenges him to a Great Class battle, and Ash and Goh fly to Opelucid City. While Goh catches a Pansear and a Panpour in a nearby forest, his Grookey spots something in a tree; Goh throws a Poké Ball at it and knocks down Iris, who has overslept and hurries off. At the Opelucid Gym, Ash meets an Axew that belongs to the Gym Leader Drayden. Inside the darkened Gym, Iris’s Emolga switches on the lights to reveal Iris in a new outfit, and Drayden announces that she is the reigning Unova Champion, having succeeded Alder. Still not considering herself a Dragon Master, she has entered the World Coronation Series to grow stronger, and she proposes a battle of Dragon types.

Iris senses that Ash’s Dragonite is kind and strong, and with a Drone Rotom refereeing, the two Dragonite clash: Iris’s Dragon Rush hits before Hyper Beam can fire, Dragon Claw meets Thunder Punch, and Ash’s Dragonite deflects Ice Beam upward with Hurricane, blasting a hole in the Gym’s roof. When Dragonite is overwhelmed by another Dragon Rush, Ash switches to Dracovish, which first bites his head affectionately, then clamps onto Iris’s charging Dragonite with Fishious Rend so that it cannot hear Iris’s orders, freezes it with Ice Fang and spits it out unable to battle. Iris sends out her trump card, Haxorus, the evolved form of her old Axew, which keeps its distance as her Dragonite had warned and defeats Dracovish with Dragon Pulse and Psycho Cut. Ash’s weary Dragonite returns, but Haxorus’s Outrage blocks Dragon Claw and deals heavy damage, and Haxorus snaps out of its confusion by slamming its head into the floor.

Iris calms Ash’s Dragonite and, reading its gentle heart, tells it that her Haxorus learned to love battling as it grew, and that if Dragonite enjoys the fight, Ash will too; she keeps the rest of their talk a secret. Reinvigorated, Dragonite blocks Breaking Swipe with Dragon Claw and then spins a Hurricane around itself that bounces Psycho Cut back at Haxorus. When Haxorus fires Dragon Pulse, the barrier swallows its energy and carries it up through the hole in the roof into the sky, where Dragonite’s weather control gathers thick clouds; Drayden realises it is forging a new move. Ash calls for Draco Meteor, and Haxorus is buried under a rain of meteors before its Outrage can land. Ash wins, his rank rises to 99 and he enters the Ultra Class, and he and Iris shake hands, promising a rematch once she also reaches it. It is the first time Ash has beaten a regional Champion in an official battle.

Major Events

Ash vs Iris. Opelucid City, Unova
Iris, now the Unova Champion, returns with Drayden
Ash’s Dracovish and Dragonite beat her Dragonite and Haxorus, Dracovish showing Ice Fang and Dragonite learning Draco Meteor
Ash enters the Ultra Class at 99th — his first official win over a regional Champion
Goh catches a Pansear and a Panpour
Bea and Volkner are shown in silhouette
Eileen Stevens voices Iris for the last time in English