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| Season | Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series (Season 25) · To Be a Pokémon Master: farewells arc (JN142–JN147) |
| Episode | Season 25, episode 49 · English episode 1219 · Japanese episode 1229 · Bulbapedia code JN143 |
| English title | Ride, Lapras, Ride! |
| Japanese title | ラプラスにのって♪ Rapurasu ni Notte♪ — “Riding on Laplace♪” |
| First aired (Japan) | 24 February 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) · Rapurasu ni Notte (Riding on Lapras) – Mayumi Iizuka |
| English opening | Gotta Catch Em All – Ben Dixon and The Sad Truth |
| Who’s That Pokémon? | Lapras (US) · Lapras (Japan) |
| Previous episode | The Same Moon, Now and Forever! (JN142) |
| Next episode | Getting to the Heart of it All! (JN144) |
Plot episodeLapras returns
Ride, Lapras, Ride! is the 49th episode of Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series, the twenty-fifth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 1219th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 1229, Bulbapedia code JN143). It first aired in Japan on 24 February 2023 and in the United States on 8 September 2023. It falls within the season’s To Be a Pokémon Master: farewells stretch (EP142–EP147).
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 7 of 12 in that listing; Teletoon had premiered it in Canada on 24 June 2023.
Synopsis
Ash reunites with his Lapras from the Orange Islands, which needs help freeing a Wailmer stuck in a rocky island, and the rescue takes fishing rods, Frenzy Plant, an unwilling Team Rocket and an icy escape tunnel. Ash, Pikachu, Misty and Brock are watching a group of Wailmer bounce along a beach when a worried Lapras speeds towards them, and Ash recognises his old friend at once. Lapras carries the group and the Wailmer to a small rocky island full of holes and caves, where a Wailmer has bounced too high and become wedged in a hole. Ash promises to help, unaware that an invisible Latias is watching and that Team Rocket’s Magikarp submarine is spying on the island’s Water types. Ash’s Kingler, Sirfetch’d and Pikachu cannot break the rock, the Wailmer’s bouncing sends everyone flying, and Heracross has to help Ash out of a cave.
Misty suggests fishing the Wailmer out, so Ash calls out Bayleef, who hugs him the moment she appears, before holding Misty with Vine Whip while Heracross anchors Ash. Both cast their lures into the Wailmer’s mouth and pull, helped by Kingler and Brock’s Marshtomp, and the Wailmer pops free, only to jump so high in its joy that it falls into a cave, evolves into Wailord and gets stuck all over again. Pikachu spots Team Rocket’s periscope, climbs up and threatens the startled trio with a shock unless they help. They reluctantly agree, pointing out that their submarine is pedal-powered, and Ash sends out Torterra, which rides the sub with Brock and binds Wailord with Frenzy Plant while the Wailmer push.
Misty’s Pokémon, including Gyarados, haul on the vines, and Ash, Heracross and Bayleef enter the cave to tickle Wailord until it squirms free with Heavy Slam. Team Rocket try to snatch Pikachu, but it smashes the hatch and escapes with Brock and Torterra, sending the trio off with a splash. Wailord’s escape causes a cave-in that traps Ash just as the tide starts to rise. Lapras freezes the incoming water with Ice Beam, Wailord uses Weather Ball to form an ice tunnel all the way to Ash, and Lapras slides in to reach him, recalling Ash’s Gym battle in the Orange Islands, before the two slide out together. Back on the beach, Ash and Lapras share a last hug before it swims off to its herd. Only then does Misty realise that they could have freed the Wailmer simply by putting it in a Poké Ball, though Ash says he had fun anyway.
Major Events
- Lapras returns. Ash is reunited with Lapras for the first time since Lapras of Luxury, 971 episodes earlier
- A Wailmer evolves into Wailord
- Torterra’s Frenzy Plant
- Ash’s only full team of six in the arc
- Riding on Lapras as the Japanese ending
- The last appearances of Kingler, Torterra and Sirfetch’d
Captures and evolutions
Wailmer → Wailord#0321 · A Wailmer met on Ash’s reunion with Lapras
Trivia
- The English title plays on the refrain “Ride, Sally, ride” of “Mustang Sally”, for Ash’s reunion with Lapras.
- The screenplay is by Atsuhiro Tomioka.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Kanto, Galar & beyond storyline.
Changes in the English Dub
- Riding on Lapras as the Japanese ending
Part of our Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.