PJ112: Helping the Hometown Hero!

is the 22nd episode of , and of .
==Synopsis==
With Lillie’s family reunited, Ash, Goh, and Chloe accompany them home to Alola. The visit gives Ash a chance to show how much his skills have grown since he became the region’s Champion: a Battle Royal has been scheduled, and Professor Kukui, Gladion, and Kiawe are his opponents! The battling is intense, and the Battle Royal Dome is packed with people cheering for Ash and wishing him success in the upcoming Masters Eight Tournament. After the event, Ash heads to the beach, where he’s soon joined by Professor Kukui and Tapu Koko. The Island Guardian gives Ash a show of support, and our hero vows to give it his all!
==Episode plot==
After helping Lillie and her family recovered Mohn, Ash, Goh and Chloe accompanied them back to Alola. Chloe becomes nervous as she has never been to the Alola region before but Ash assured her that the people are nice. Hearing this, Chloe becomes excited as she and her Eevee want to meet his friend that has the same Pokémon as her.
Once arriving, everyone gathered at Hala's house to celebrate Mohn's return to Alola as Lillie goes to see Lana, Sophocles and Mallow as she was happy to see her friends again, after being away for so long. They also congratulate Lillie on finding her father as Ash, Goh, Chloe and Gladion watch on. Hobbes, Wicke and Faba are all happy to see Mohn again and that he returned to Alola. Mohn is also happy to see his friends again and meets Rotom Pokédex for the first time.
Then, the group enjoy the food as Ash and Goh bring out their Pokémon to join the party. Chloe's Eevee and Sandy goes to the same plate but see each other. Seeing each other, the two Eevee's quickly became friends and played with each other. Chloe goes over to Lana to ask her about Eevee while the latter realized that she one's Ash and Goh's friends with her own Eevee. Then, Chloe asked Lana about her Eevee and explained to her that she meet all of the Evolution Pokémon evolves forms but still doesn't know which one she wants hers to evolve into. However, Lana tells Chloe that Eevee has the path to being the way she is and open her eyes to not evolving her partner at all as she decided to keep Sandy the way he is just like Ash did with his Pikachu. Chloe sees Lana point as Eevee has nine paths instead of eight.
Meanwhile, Goh asked where Kiawe was as Sophocles and Mallow tell him, Ash and Gladion that he decided to train instead of attending the party, after hearing that the Alola Champion was coming for a visit. Gladion sees that it was so like Kiawe to go off to train and Ash wants to battle him. Lillie then tells Ash that he was amazing at the promotion match in the World Coronation Series. Goh asked Lillie if she saw that as she tells him that she did with Gladion. Mallow also points out that everyone at the Pokémon School was also watching and cheering him on, due to being Alola's Champion, much to Ash's appreciation. Sophocles asked Ash if Leon is taking part in the Master Tournament, which he confirms.
Hearing this, Gladion decided to leave the party to train his Pokémon. At Professor Kukui and Burnet house, Ash was told of a Battle Royal was gonna happen, much to his excitement. Lei imitated Ash's arm movements as Professor Burnet sees that he's coping his big brother. Chloe comments that Lei is very cute as he looks over to her direction and takes a liking to her. Goh asked what Battle Royals were as Professor Kukui explains to him and Chloe that its accustom batting in Alola. Ash asked Professor Kukui who's he going to be battling but he tells him that its a secret but does tell him that he's gonna be one of them, much to his excitement. Ash then asked Professor Kukui if he was gonna battle as the Masked Royal as the two get into their double royal attire, much to Goh and Chloe's confusion. However, Professor Kukui tells Ash that he is planning to battle him as himself because he's the star of this battle because he's Alola Champion, which he understands. Ash then tells his Pokémon that lets getting training as they all gather around him.
At the Battle Royal dome, Kiawe arrives in time for the event as everyone in Alola has gather to see Ash battle as Mallow sees the big crowd of people and Lillie points out that its the return of Alola's Champion while Goh and Chloe get excited to see one. Wicke and Faba announce the battle as they introduce Ash, Professor Kukui, Kiawe and Gladion. Seeing the shiny Nililego, Lana, Sophocles and Mallow become surprise to see an Ultra Beast with Gladion as Lillie tells her friends that its a new addition to her family and shares her name with it.
In a flashback, Gladion was training with his Pokémon where he sees that Lille the Nililego wants to battle and accepts it request. Wicke and Faba ring the bell for the Battle Royal to start. Although everyone put on one attack to another, Gladion was the first to be eliminated from the battle as he tells Nililego Lillie that they'll train some more but his parents were pleased of how strong their son has become. Then, Kiawe was the second to be eliminated from the battle as he thanks his Marowak for a good battle.
Seeing that its just him and Ash, Professor Kukui asked him if this takes him back to their battle at the Alola League. Then, Kiawe, Gladion and everyone in the audience started chanting "Champion" to Ash as Goh and Chloe see how famous their friend is in the Alola region. Ash sees that he has everyone in Alola supporting him for the Master Tournament then goes to do his signature Z-Move alongside Pikachu while Professor Kukui does the same alongside his Incineroar. However, there was no result of the winner as Ash was sitting outside while he sees the sunset where Professor Kukui joins him and Pikachu. Then, they were joined by Tapu Koko as it wished Ash good luck in the Master Tournament.
==Trivia==
*"Who's That Pokémon?": Incineroar
*The English dub was released on the iTunes Store in Australia on October 23, 2022.
*Shinji Miyazaki's music from Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon is reused as background music in this episode.
*Scenes from From Z to Shining Z! are reused as flashbacks in this episode.
*In the original preview for this episode, the couch where Ash and Professor Kukui were posing with their masks on wasn't covered with newspapers.
*As of this episode, Ash has battled at least once in every region during Pokémon Journeys: The Series.
*As of this episode, Kalos is the only core series region introduced as of this point that Chloe has not visited yet.
*This episode marks the first time a villainous team other than Team Rocket has appeared in the main series outside of its debut series.
==Gallery==
==Notes==
Category:Episodes featuring Champions
Category:Episodes focusing on Ash
Category:Episodes featuring Elite Four members
Category:Episodes featuring Ultra Beasts