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| Season | Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series (Season 25) · Chasers, homecomings & Paul arc (JN110–JN114) |
| Episode | Season 25, episode 24 · English episode 1194 · Japanese episode 1200 · Bulbapedia code JN114 |
| English title | Friends, Rivals, Lend Me Your Spirit! |
| Japanese title | 炎の特訓バトル！サトシ対シンジ！！ Honō no Tokkun Batoru! Satoshi tai Shinji!! — “Training Battle of Flames! Satoshi VS Shinji!!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 10 June 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? | Oshawott (US) · Oshawott (Japan) |
| Previous episode | Chasing to the Finish! (JN113) |
| Next episode | Curtain Up! Fight the Fights! (JN115) |
Plot episodeAsh vs PaulProfessor Oak’s lab
Friends, Rivals, Lend Me Your Spirit! is the 24th episode of Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series, the twenty-fifth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 1194th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 1200, Bulbapedia code JN114). It first aired in Japan on 10 June 2022 and in the United States on 24 February 2023. It falls within the season’s Chasers, homecomings & Paul stretch (EP110–EP114).
Released on Netflix in the US on 24 February 2023 with the second part (JN103–JN117); Teletoon had premiered it in Canada on 19 November 2022. Australian iTunes released it on 6 November 2022, before its Canadian broadcast.
Synopsis
Before the Masters Eight Tournament, Ash gathers all his Pokémon at Professor Oak’s lab, where he meets his old rival Paul and defeats him in a three-on-three battle. When Professor Oak suggests that Ash bring his team to the lab to get fired up, Ash’s Pokémon from every region swarm him and Goh, and the Pokémon there help his team prepare. Gengar is fascinated by Ash’s Fire types; touching Infernape, it bursts into flames and flies off. Chasing it, Ash and Goh find Paul and his Electivire, and Oak explains that Paul visited the day before to learn about Pokémon research. Gengar goes off to train with the Fire types, Paul tells Infernape, once his own Chimchar, to go with them, and Ash explains to Goh how Paul released Chimchar as a failure and Ash raised it into Infernape. Paul says he skipped the World Coronation Series because he had no interest in its fuss, but he accepts Ash’s challenge on condition that Ash uses only Pokémon he plans to use in the Masters Eight, and Ash arrives just in time to see Gengar learn Will-O-Wisp.
With all of his Pokémon from every region gathered to watch, Ash opens with Lucario, and Paul sends out Gyarados. Gyarados bites the Double Team copies with Ice Fang and hits the real Lucario with Hyper Beam, then traps it with its tail for a flurry of Ice Fangs, but Lucario breaks free with Steel Beam, gathers Steel energy into its fists and strikes with a new move, Bullet Punch, just as Gyarados fires another Hyper Beam. When the smoke clears, Gyarados has fainted, and Lucario’s training partners Heracross, Buizel and Hawlucha cheer. Dragonite faces Garchomp, which lands a super-effective Stone Edge before Hurricane and follows with Draco Meteor; Ash has Dragonite charge while using its own Draco Meteor, but Garchomp’s Dragon Claw knocks it out, and Paul mocks the name Ash gives the move, “Dragonite Meteor.”
Paul’s Metagross matches Gengar’s speed with Agility, throws it back with Psychic and lands a heavy Meteor Mash, while Paul scolds Ash for struggling so much as one of the Masters Eight. Cheered on by Infernape, Gengar rises, unwilling to let down the Fire types who trained it, and burns Metagross with Will-O-Wisp; the burn weakens the next Meteor Mash, and Gengar survives to win with Shadow Ball. Ash thanks his Fire types, and Goh notes that Paul’s three Pokémon match the aces of Lance, Cynthia and Steven Stone; Paul only smiles before saying goodbye to Oak, Ash and Infernape. Oak reveals that Paul has been offered a position as a Gym Leader. Ash is eager to head straight to the tournament, but Delia, who arrived during the battle, invites him and Goh to spend the night at home first, and they accept.
Major Events
- Ash vs Paul. At Professor Oak’s lab, with all of Ash’s Pokémon present, Paul returns for the first time in 544 episodes and is offered a Gym
- Gengar learns Will-O-Wisp and Lucario Bullet Punch
- Ash beats Paul two to one against Gyarados, Garchomp and Metagross, the aces of Lance, Cynthia and Steven
Trivia
- The English title plays on Mark Antony’s “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears” from Julius Caesar.
- The screenplay is by Atsuhiro Tomioka.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Kanto, Galar & beyond storyline.
Changes in the English Dub
- The Professor Oak’s Laboratory caption is removed
- Stephen Fu and Bill Rogers replace Tom Wayland as Ash’s Gible and Boldore
Part of our Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.