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| Season | Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series (Season 25) · To Be a Pokémon Master: old friends arc (JN137–JN141) |
| Episode | Season 25, episode 44 · English episode 1214 · Japanese episode 1224 · Bulbapedia code JN138 |
| English title | A Fated Face-Off! |
| Japanese title | サトシVSカスミ！うみべのいっきうち！！ Satoshi tai Kasumi! Umibe no Ikkiuchi!! — “Satoshi VS Kasumi! Seaside One-on-One!!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 20 January 2023 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 8 September 2023 · Netflix |
| Screenplay | Atsuhiro Tomioka |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Mezase Pokémon Masutā -with my friends- (Aim to Be a Pokémon Master) – Satoshi (Rica Matsumoto) · Hyakugojūichi (One Hundred Fifty-One) – Professor Oak (Unshō Ishizuka) and the Pokémon Kids |
| English opening | Gotta Catch Em All – Ben Dixon and The Sad Truth |
| Who’s That Pokémon? | Corphish (US) · Corphish (Japan) |
| Previous episode | The Road Most Traveled! (JN137) |
| Next episode | Must Be Our Heroes and the Witch! (JN139) |
Plot episodeMisty rejoinsAsh vs Misty
A Fated Face-Off! is the 44th episode of Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series, the twenty-fifth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 1214th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 1224, Bulbapedia code JN138). It first aired in Japan on 20 January 2023 and in the United States on 8 September 2023. It falls within the season’s To Be a Pokémon Master: old friends stretch (EP137–EP141).
Released on Netflix in the US on 8 September 2023 with the fourth part, Pokémon: To Be a Pokémon Master (JN137–JN147 and JNS05) — episode 2 of 12 in that listing; Teletoon had premiered it in Canada on 20 May 2023.
Synopsis
On a rocky seashore, Ash reunites with Misty, who has left the Cerulean Gym to her sisters to travel again, and the two battle over a wild Clauncher, with Misty’s Politoed defeating Ash’s Corphish and Misty catching the Clauncher before rejoining Ash on the road. Ash lets Totodile, Corphish, Leavanny and Rowlet out to enjoy the view, and Corphish charges into the waves, knocking his teammates into the shallows. Pikachu fishes with his tail and is pinched by a Clauncher, which Corphish immediately challenges to a contest of strength. Ash decides to catch the powerful Clauncher, but a fishing line with a familiar lure wraps around his arm: Misty has cast it and announces that she will catch the Clauncher herself, and it escapes in a cloud of sand. Misty congratulates Ash on becoming World Champion and explains that his battle with Leon fired her up to set off on a new journey; she has met this Clauncher several times and believes fate brought them together.
Misty proposes a fishing contest, and she is baffled by Ash’s lure until he explains that it came from Cilan, adding that it actually catches fish, unlike hers. Team Rocket watch from their Magikarp submarine, too hungry to act. When Misty finally hooks the Clauncher, Team Rocket’s Rotom Phone mentions that its big claw is full of delicious meat, and the Clauncher drags Misty into the sea, then does the same to Ash. Ash realises that the Clauncher wants him and Misty to battle for the right to catch it, but before they can start, Team Rocket snag it with their own line and announce that they will eat its claw. Corphish cuts the Clauncher free, and the two Water types blast the starving trio off with a double Crabhammer.
Misty chooses Politoed, and Pikachu is shocked when Ash picks Corphish instead of him. Politoed dodges Crabhammer with Bounce and fires Focus Blast, which Corphish suppresses with Metal Claw before weaving around Hydro Pump with Aqua Jet to knock Politoed down. Ash calls for a finishing Crabhammer, but when the dust clears Politoed has caught the claw, and a close-range Mega Punch knocks Corphish out, ending Ash’s long winning streak. While Ash comforts the inconsolable Corphish, Misty catches the Clauncher and celebrates with Psyduck and Azurill, only for her new Pokémon to pop out of its Poké Ball to train with Corphish, to her frustration, while an invisible Latias watches. At dusk, Ash and Pikachu notice Misty secretly following them, and she admits she wants to come along, just so the Clauncher and Corphish can keep hanging out. Ash pretends not to care, but Pikachu’s delight settles it, and the old companions are reunited.
Major Events
- Misty returns. Misty, who has left the Cerulean Gym to her sisters, beats Ash, Politoed against Corphish, in Ash’s last proper Trainer battle and his first loss to a companion since BW042
- Misty catches a Clauncher, the last capture by any of Ash’s friends, and rejoins Ash
Captures and evolutions
Clauncher#0692 · Misty · the last capture by any of Ash’s friends
Trivia
- The screenplay is by Atsuhiro Tomioka.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Kanto, Galar & beyond storyline.
Part of our Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.