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| Season | Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series (Season 25) · The final: Ash vs Leon arc (JN129–JN132) |
| Episode | Season 25, episode 36 · English episode 1206 · Japanese episode 1216 · Bulbapedia code JN130 |
| English title | Toying With Your Motions! |
| Japanese title | ファイナルⅡ 「翻弄」 Fainaru II "Honrō" — “The Finals II: "Toy Around"” |
| First aired (Japan) | 28 October 2022 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 23 June 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 |
| Previous episode | A Flood of Torrential Gains! (JN129) |
| Next episode | Paring Pokémon While Parrying! (JN131) |
Plot episodeAsh vs Leon, part 2Dragonite Meteor
Toying With Your Motions! is the 36th episode of Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series, the twenty-fifth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 1206th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 1216, Bulbapedia code JN130). It first aired in Japan on 28 October 2022 and in the United States on 23 June 2023. It falls within the season’s The final: Ash vs Leon stretch (EP129–EP132).
Released on Netflix in the US on 23 June 2023 with the third part (JN118–JN136, without the clip shows); Teletoon had premiered it in Canada on 25 March 2023.
Synopsis
The Masters Eight final continues as Ash’s Sirfetch’d breaks Mr. Rime’s Psychic Terrain, Mega Lucario defeats Mr. Rime, and Dragonite brings down Leon’s Dragapult after a chaotic exchange in which Dracovish awakens a mysterious new power. With each Trainer a Pokémon down, Leon’s Mr. Rime holds the advantage on an icy field covered by Psychic Terrain, and Leon is puzzled when Ash sends out Sirfetch’d despite its type disadvantage. Mr. Rime parries Fury Cutter with its icy cane until Sirfetch’d finds an opening for a super-effective hit, but when Sirfetch’d tries Brutal Swing, Mr. Rime seizes its leek, knocks its shield away with a boosted Expanding Force and follows with Triple Axel. Sirfetch’d evades another Expanding Force with Detect, pole-vaults over its opponent on its leek to recover its shield, and blocks a second Triple Axel just in time. Then, at Ash’s command, it drives Fury Cutter into the battlefield itself, and the Bug-type move destroys the Psychic Terrain, stripping Mr. Rime of its advantage.
His goal achieved, Ash recalls Sirfetch’d and sends out Lucario, the two sharing a high five as they switch, and Lucario’s Mega Evolution releases a burst of Aura felt throughout Wyndon Stadium. Mr. Rime skates around a Bullet Punch barrage on the ice and lands two series of Triple Axel kicks, so Ash tells Lucario to close its eyes and track its opponent with its Aura; sensing the next Triple Axel, Lucario dodges and fires an Aura Sphere that defeats Mr. Rime and returns the field to normal. Leon sends out Dragapult, which takes a Bullet Punch through Double Team and answers with Flamethrower, so Ash switches to Dracovish. Dragon Darts disrupts its Dragon Rush, and when Dracovish bites down on one of the Dreepy, it begins to shiver; moments later its spikes glow red, and in their skybox Cynthia, with Diantha, suggests that the clash of Dragon moves has awakened a long-dormant power.
Ignoring this, Leon hits Dracovish with Thunderbolt and sends Dragapult in to finish it, but Dracovish’s energised spikes clamp down and pin Dragapult for a Fishious Rend. Leon answers with Dragon Tail, which shatters Dracovish’s half-finished Ice Fang freeze and forces it back into its Poké Ball, dragging out Dragonite. Dragapult’s Dreepy dodge Dragonite’s frustrated Dragon Claws, and another Dragon Tail forces Lucario back in; Lucario lands a Bullet Punch barrage and blocks Thunderbolt with Reversal, but is paralysed, and a Flamethrower makes it revert and faint. Dragonite returns with a Hurricane so strong that it buffets the audience, which Dragapult disperses by firing Thunderbolt in every direction. Flying high, Dragonite shoots down Dragon Darts with Draco Meteor, then grabs Dragapult and plummets with it in the “Dragonite Meteor” tactic first tried at Professor Oak’s lab, enduring a Thunderbolt on the way down. When the dust clears, Dragapult is defeated. Leon praises Ash but notes that all his remaining Pokémon are worn out, and sends out his fifth Pokémon, Rillaboom.
Major Events
- The final, part 2. Mega Lucario beats Mr. Rime
- Dracovish’s spikes glow with an awakened power
- Dragapult beats Lucario, its only defeat after Mega Evolving
- Dragonite beats Dragapult with the Dragonite Meteor
- The first Journeys episode without Goh at all
Trivia
- The English title plays on the phrase “toying with your emotions”.
- The screenplay is by Atsuhiro Tomioka.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Kanto, Galar & beyond storyline.
Changes in the English Dub
- Hidekazu Tanaka’s arranger credit for 1·2·3 is dropped from this episode
Part of our Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.