Ash Ketchum Just Got His Strongest Pokemon Yet

Pokemon‘s newest anime series has been much different than every other anime in the franchise released thus far. Ash’s newly crowned Champion status seems to have made him far more laid back as the newest series has seen him casually adventure around the various regions alongside new protagonist Go. But that doesn’t mean that he’s been slacking in his own journey to be a Pokemon Master, either. While already adding one of the most surprising additions to his party yet with Mr. Mime in a previous episode, the latest episode added one more big surprise.

Episode 10 of the series recently went live in Japan, and teased Ash and Go would be heading to a mysterious island full of Dragonite. This initially seemed like it would just be another fun adventure with Pokemon that wouldn’t change the status quo of the anime like the last few episodes, but towards the end of Episode 10 Ash surprisingly caught a newly evolved Dragonite.

After befriending a Dragonair that couldn’t quite keep itself in the air, Ash and Pikachu bonded with it further to help it soar the skies. But when they were in trouble, Dragonair forced itself to evolve and swoop them up as Dragonite. Rather than part ways, Dragonite asked to come along on Ash’s journey — adding his strongest Pokemon catch yet.

New episodes of the Pokemon anime aren’t being simulcast like many other modern anime releases, so major developments like this are pretty sore for huge fans of the anime in the West. The latest episode ended up being a classic adventure in which Ash became fast friends with a wild Pokemon, and now he’s got a Dragonite in his party to use whenever he feels like!

Go has been ahead of Ash when it comes to catching new Pokemon for each episode, but moments like this prove that Ash is still very much in the game. With a Dragonite as part of his team, it joins alongside legacy catches like Goodra as some of the very few Dragon types Ash has ever managed to nab.

What do you think of Ash’s surprising catch? How will Dragonite shake up his team? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or talk to me directly about all things anime and other cool things @Valdezology on Twitter! Pokemon: The Series, is now airing new episodes weekly in Japan, but unfortunately is still not officially licensed for an English language release as of this writing. There’s also a brand new film on the way to Japan this Summer, Pokemon the Movie: Coco.