Pokemon Journeys‘ newest episode saw Ash Ketchum and Pikachu unleash their Z-Move in the anime once again! The newest iteration has made major changes to how the anime progresses as Ash has eschewed the traditional Gym Challenge and instead decided to jump into an worldwide tournament to determine the best trainer in the world in the hopes of facing off against Galar’s Champion Leon in a rematch. Now that Ash has risen up the ranks of the World Coronation Series, he has come across some notable fan favorites over the course of his battles thus far.
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The newest episode of the series brings back yet another returning Gym Leader that Ash has faced off in the past with Sunyshore City’s Volkner making his return in Episode 77. Recently airing in Japan, Ash faced off against Sinnoh’s strongest Gym Leader as his first real challenge in the Ultra Class of the World Coronation Series. With this challenger posing his toughest battle yet, Ash and Pikachu decide to dip into their Alola repertoire with the return of Pikachu’s 10,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt Z-Move. Check it out below as spotted by @ThePokeRaf on Twitter:
The โSato-Pika-Zโ is reborn once again. As always, 10,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt never fails to show its dominance as the strongest Z-Move Ash and Pikachu have been gifted with. Seeing this back in the JN style felt wholesome. Good times brought back once again ๐ #Anipoke pic.twitter.com/epqLKYT9Ig
โ Raf ๐ฅ๐ (@ThePokeRaf) August 21, 2021
As teased by the preview for the episode, Volkner proved to be such a challenge for Ash that he needed one final powerful move in order to get the final edge. The latest string of episodes initially seemed like disconnected adventures as Ash and Goh have had small journeys in both the Sinnoh and Alola regions, but with the return of this Z-Move, it’s clear those episodes were meant to plant the seeds for this major battle bringing in both of these regions.
This is only one of the major challenges Ash has ahead in his future, however. Because if he can make his way through the rest of the Ultra Class, there are still some major opponents left to face off against in the Master Class that includes some fan favorite returning Champions in the mix as well. But what do you think?
How do you feel about Ash and Pikachu bringing back the Z-Move for this major rematch? Are you curious to see if Ash will use any of his older power ups in future battles? 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!