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| Season | Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series (Season 25) · Marnie, the Monarch & a return to Kalos arc (JN099–JN104) |
| Episode | Season 25, episode 13 · English episode 1183 · Japanese episode 1189 · Bulbapedia code JN103 |
| English title | The Future is Now, Thanks to Strategy! |
| Japanese title | サトシとシトロン！友情大特訓！！ Satoshi to Shitoron! Yūjō Daitokkun!! — “Satoshi and Citron! Great Friendship Training!!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 1 April 2022 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 24 February 2023 · Netflix |
| Screenplay | Atsuhiro Tomioka |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Wan, Tsū, Surī (One, Two, Three) – Satoshi & Go (Rica Matsumoto and Daiki Yamashita) · Batsugun Taipu (Supereffective Type) – Pokémon Music Club |
| English opening | With You – Echosmith |
| Who’s That Pokémon? | Luxray (US) · Luxray (Japan) |
| Previous episode | Battling in the Freezing Raid! (JN102) |
| Next episode | Taking Two For The Team! (JN104) |
Plot episodeClemont and BonnieMeteor Assault
The Future is Now, Thanks to Strategy! is the 13th episode of Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series, the twenty-fifth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 1183rd episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 1189, Bulbapedia code JN103). It first aired in Japan on 1 April 2022 and in the United States on 24 February 2023. It falls within the season’s Marnie, the Monarch & a return to Kalos stretch (EP99–EP104).
Released on Netflix in the US on 24 February 2023 with the second part (JN103–JN117); Teletoon had premiered it in Canada on 20 August 2022. The first episode of Netflix’s second part; in Japan it aired with JN104 as a one-hour special.
Synopsis
In Lumiose City, Ash reunites with Clemont and Bonnie, whose inventions help his Sirfetch’d master Meteor Assault before his World Coronation Series battle against the Elite Four’s Drasna, while Goh catches a Froakie. Arriving in Kalos, the boys split up so that Goh can look for new Pokémon, agreeing to meet at the Lumiose Gym. On the way, Ash sees a broadcast announcing that his next opponent, the following day, will be Drasna of the Kalos Elite Four, and he vows to beat her on his road to Leon. In a park, Goh’s Poké Ball is deflected by a Froakie that sprays bubbles in his face; Bonnie appears and explains that only Froakie can make these “Frubbles,” and Goh challenges it to a battle. At the Gym, Ash arrives just as Clemont’s Luxray beats a challenger’s Lickilicky. Old friends and Pokémon greet one another, Dragonite hugs Clemont, and Ash learns that Clemont’s Bunnelby has evolved into Diggersby.
When Sirfetch’d thrusts its leek, a yellow glow runs along it, and Dracovish bites the leek in fascination; the second time it does so the glow surges and sends both crashing into a wall. Clemont concludes that Sirfetch’d is close to using its signature move, Meteor Assault. Goh, meanwhile, wears Froakie down, dodges a last Frubble and catches it, and Bonnie leads him to the Gym, where Pikachu and Dedenne reunite. Clemont’s Pokémon Motion Capture 1 reveals the problem: Sirfetch’d, heavier than it was as a Galarian Farfetch’d, wobbles between charging and thrusting, so the energy dissipates before reaching the tip of its blade, and Dracovish’s bite briefly steadied it. Ash tells Sirfetch’d to focus only on its opponent, as he does in battle, and with Dracovish biting the leek it lands a perfect Meteor Assault, blowing up the machine as Clemont’s inventions so often do. Goh compares Dracovish to training wheels that are no longer needed.
To test the results, Clemont accepts Ash’s request for a Double Battle: Sirfetch’d and Dracovish against Luxray and Diggersby. Luxray’s Wild Charge and Diggersby’s Dig hit Dracovish before it can grab the leek, but Sirfetch’d focuses on its target and defeats Luxray with a single Meteor Assault, though the recoil leaves it unable to move. Dracovish then glows blue and charges through Diggersby’s Hammer Arm to win the battle, and Clemont identifies the move as Dragon Rush, which Bonnie thinks Dracovish learned by copying Meteor Assault. Sirfetch’d now lets Dracovish bite its leek as a sign of friendship, and Ash decides to use both of them against Drasna. Elsewhere, at his Castle of Chivalry, Wikstrom battles Drasna; when his Escavalier goes for a finishing Fell Stinger, her Altaria counters with a super-effective Heat Wave, and Wikstrom admires the bond between them as Drasna prepares to show Ash what an Elite Four member can do.
Major Events
- Clemont and Bonnie. In Kalos, Clemont and Bonnie appear for the first time since XY140
- Clemont’s Bunnelby evolves into Diggersby, learning Hammer Arm
- Goh catches Froakie
- Clemont’s inventions help Sirfetch’d learn Meteor Assault and Dracovish Dragon Rush
- Ash beats Clemont in a Double Battle
- Aired in Japan in a one-hour special with JN104 for the anime’s 25th anniversary
- Every member of the Kalos Elite Four has now appeared
- Debut of Drasna
Captures and evolutions
Froakie#0656 · Goh · in Kalos
Bunnelby → Diggersby#0660 · Clemont’s · learning Hammer Arm
Trivia
- The English title plays on Clemont’s catchphrase “The future is now, thanks to science!”.
- The screenplay is by Atsuhiro Tomioka.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Kanto, Galar & beyond storyline.
Changes in the English Dub
- The Kalos caption is removed
Part of our Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.