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| Season | Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series (Season 25) · Ghost trains, Gigantamax & stories from the lab arc (JN091–JN098) |
| Episode | Season 25, episode 6 · English episode 1176 · Japanese episode 1182 · Bulbapedia code JN096 |
| English title | Lighting the Way Home! |
| Japanese title | 宇宙にとどけ！デンリュウの光！！ Uchū ni Todoke! Denryū no Hikari!! — “Reach Out to Space! Denryu’s Light!!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 4 February 2022 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 21 October 2022 · Netflix |
| Screenplay | Akemi Omode |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Wan, Tsū, Surī (One, Two, Three) – Karaage Sisters · Batsugun Taipu (Supereffective Type) – Pokémon Music Club |
| English opening | With You – Echosmith |
| Who’s That Pokémon? | Ampharos (US) · Ampharos (Japan) |
| Previous episode | The Good, The Bad, and The Lucky! (JN095) |
| Next episode | An Evolution in Taste! (JN097) |
Filler / stand-alone episodeSophoclesMossdeep Space Center
Lighting the Way Home! is the 6th episode of Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series, the twenty-fifth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 1176th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 1182, Bulbapedia code JN096). It first aired in Japan on 4 February 2022 and in the United States on 21 October 2022. It falls within the season’s Ghost trains, Gigantamax & stories from the lab stretch (EP91–EP98).
Released on Netflix in the US on 21 October 2022 with the first part (JN091–JN102); Teletoon had premiered it in Canada on 2 July 2022.
Synopsis
At the Mossdeep Space Center in Hoenn, Ash and Goh help their old friend Sophocles and a slumping Ampharos guide a space probe home with a beam of light. Sophocles, Ash’s former classmate from Alola, welcomes the boys with an Ampharos that clumsily smacks Ash in the face, passes on news of their Alolan friends, including Kiawe’s wish for a rematch, and gives them a tour. In mission control the researcher Ellery explains that Talonflame 2, a probe returning with an asteroid sample, will navigate by beams of Ampharos’s light amplified by four observatories around the world. Rushing after Sophocles, Ampharos accidentally swats Ash and Goh with its tail, and when it nearly steps on Togedemaru, the startled Pokémon bumps a machine. When the Space Center takes over guidance and Ampharos lights up, the damaged machine starts smoking and shuts down, forcing another Ampharos elsewhere to take over. The probe stays on course, but Sophocles and Ampharos blame themselves, and Ellery sends them to rest while repairs are made.
Ash and Goh’s praise begins to lift Sophocles’ spirits, but Ampharos cannot even light its tail for Grookey and dashes into the woods. Sophocles admits that he is not really its Trainer: he borrowed it from his cousin Molayne at Hokulani Observatory and now feels like a burden. The boys tell him to pull himself together and keep working towards his dream of becoming an astronaut, but then they realise that Grookey has also vanished, having followed a glow it took for Ampharos that actually came from a Volbeat. Cinderace finds Ampharos sitting dejectedly by a rock as rain begins to fall. Togedemaru’s light is too faint and Pikachu’s Thunderbolt fades too fast to help, so Sophocles confesses to Ampharos that he often messes up but has never given up on his dream, and asks it to try again. Its light floods the forest and guides Grookey safely back.
With the machine repaired, Ellery gives Sophocles a second chance, but Talonflame 2 swerves automatically to avoid a meteoroid and drifts off course. Sophocles quickly calculates a plan for all four observatories to work together, and the probe gradually comes back on track. When Mossdeep’s turn arrives, clouds weaken Ampharos’s beam, so Pikachu’s Thunderbolt, Togedemaru’s Zing Zap and Goh’s Raichu’s Nuzzle channel power into it, and the stronger light punches through the clouds to reach the probe. Talonflame 2 burns up on reentry as planned, and its sample capsule floats down safely under a parachute. The mission is a success, though Ampharos and its helpers collapse from exhaustion. The next morning, Ash and Goh urge Sophocles to keep chasing his astronaut dream, and he wishes them luck with theirs.
Major Events
- The Mossdeep Space Center. Sophocles returns, fulfilling the plan he made in JN037
- Molayne’s Ampharos guides the space probe Talonflame 2, modelled on Hayabusa2, home
- Goh’s Raichu uses Nuzzle, the first user other than a Dedenne
- Volbeat’s first appearance in 750 episodes
Trivia
- The screenplay is by Akemi Omode.
- This is a stand-alone episode: it can be skipped without losing the thread of the Kanto, Galar & beyond story.
Changes in the English Dub
- The Mossdeep Space Center caption is removed
- Togedemaru’s lip sync is fixed
- Goh calls Grookey male
Part of our Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.