Pokemon Cliffhanger Readies for One Champion’s Retirement

Pokemon Journeys is now working its way through the highly anticipated semifinals of the Masters Tournament, and one major tease from the newest episode airing overseas is gearing up for Sinnoh Champion Cynthia’s retirement from battling! The World Coronation Series has seen Ash Ketchum work his way up through the worldwide tournament facing all kinds of tough opponents so far, but as he enters the semifinals of the final tournament, he’s set up against his toughest opponent yet. Ash needs to defeat Cynthia in order to make it to the finals and his dream rematch with Leon, but Cynthia has some plans of her own for this tournament.

Ash and Cynthia are the second major match of the semifinals, and it recently kicked off with the latest episode that aired in Japan over the past weekend. The battle between the two is far from over as of the latest entry, but the real tease came before the match as Cynthia spoke with Kalos Champion Diantha (who had just lose her match against Leon) and revealed that her plan for after the tournament is to actually retire. But with full confidence that she’ll beat Ash and make it to the finals, she likely plans to retire when she’s on the top completely. Check it out as spotted by @AnipokeFandom on Twitter: 

Cynthia: "I have decided that when this tournament is over, I'm going to retire from Pokemon battling.." #Anipoke pic.twitter.com/ujeBUWJarO

— Anipoke Fandom (@AnipokeFandom) September 2, 2022

Episode 123 of Pokemon Journeys has kicked off Ash’s semifinals match with Cynthia, and it’s far from over between the two of them. Cynthia has full confidence that she will pull out the victory, and as of the end of the episode, Ash is down three Pokemon on his team compared to the Sinnoh Champion, who has only lost one. All the while, Cynthia’s confession to Diantha looms overhead. Fans have been waiting for the chance to see Ash actually battle this Champion since the two crossed paths all those years ago, and it seems like this will really be the only one he gets. 

There’s a question as to whether Cynthia will keep to her word if Ash somehow defeats her in this match, and that’s one of the exciting elements to see develop too. This is the last chance we’ll see a battle between the two of them, so hopefully it ends with his victory so he can move on to the Masters Tournament grand finals. But what do you think of Cynthia retiring from battle? Do you think she actually will? Let us know all of your thoughts about it in the comments! You can even reach out to me directly about all things animated and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!