SM131

The Battlefield of Truth and Love! (Japanese: ムサシVSコジロウ！愛と真実のバトルフィールド！！ VS ! Battlefield of Truth and Love!!) is the 131st episode of Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon, and the 1,070th episode of the Pokémon animated series. It first aired in Japan on July 21, 2019 and in the United States on November 23, 2019.
==Blurb==
As the Alola Pokémon League continues, it’s time to decide on four more competitors to move to the next round! First up is Sophocles and Vikavolt against Mina and Ribombee, and while Ribombee is powerful, it’s no match for Vikavolt’s Signal Beam! Then, it’s a Team Rocket showdown as James and Mareanie take on Jessie and Wobbuffet. The match is close, but James decides to give it his all—and wins! After that, Kiawe and Marowak defeat Acerola and Rapooh in a ghostly clash, and Lillie and Snowy face off against Gladion and Umbreon. Lillie’s skills are impressive, but Gladion still pulls off the win. On to the next round!
==Plot==
While his friends offer him support, nervously waits for his match against Mina to start. Following 's suggestion, Sophocles settles down after taking some deep breaths. asks her older brother to not hold back during their match, declaring that she wants to demonstrate Snowy's full power, and Gladion agrees. Meanwhile, Jessie imagines her Manalo Conference victory speech while James dozes off, much to her displeasure.
Once Sophocles's match begins, his pursues Mina's through the sky. Vikavolt uses , but Ribombee easily dodges it. After a quick dive and change of direction, Ribombee throws a series of s and strikes Vikavolt several times. After the bombardment, Ribombee tosses Vikavolt into the battlefield with . Vikavolt quickly recovers and uses another Zap Cannon, but Ribombee again dodges it. In its moment of disorientation, Vikavolt zips behind and grabs a hold of Ribombee with its mandibles. With its opponent immobilized, Vikavolt defeats it with a close-range . Nanu makes the official ruling and declares Sophocles the winner.
Jessie and James's match begins, with them going by "Jessina" and "Jamesio", respectively. Once Nanu signals for the sixth match to begin, James's Mareanie uses , but s the move. James orders Mareanie to use , but Wobbuffet simply reflects the attack back with . Wobbuffet's defenses continue to prevent any damage from being inflicted on him, and the battle goes nowhere. James realizes that the match will continue on indefinitely like this, so he whispers to Mareanie to pretend to be incapacitated. However, when Mareanie turns to him, James looks into her eyes and realizes that she wants to battle properly for him. He then decides to take the battle just as seriously and orders Mareanie to use Spike Cannon. Wobbuffet manages to use Counter in time, but Mareanie's continued onslaught of attacks eventually causes the defensive barrier to weaken. In a massive explosion, Wobbuffet is thrown into the air and knocked out, giving James the win, much to Jessie's dismay.
Next, and Acerola call out their Pokémon, and , respectively. Acerola orders Rapooh to use , though the attack is destroyed by Marowak's . Rapooh then uses , but Marowak manages to block it with . Rapooh retaliates with another Shadow Punch, which strikes Marowak, who is then immobilized by Rapooh's Ability. Acerola orders Rapooh to use , and it promptly steals Marowak's bone club, instantly limiting Marowak's move-set. Rapooh takes the opportunity to lash Marowak with a Shadow Ball-Shadow Punch combination. As Rapooh readies another Shadow Punch, Marowak is freed from Cursed Body and slams into its opponent with . The impact winds Rapooh, who then absorbs Marowak into its body. However, Marowak emerges from Rapooh's body with its bone club in hand. Acerola orders another Shadow Ball, but Marowak retaliates, batting the Shadow Ball back at Rapooh before striking it with Shadow Bone, defeating it and allowing Kiawe to advance to the next round.
Caster announces the next battle between Gladion and Lillie. Lillie has Snowy summon , instantly changing the battle conditions to suit Snowy's type. Gladion quickly orders to attack with , though Snowy is uninjured as it hides amongst the growing frost. Gladion is mildly impressed by Snowy's Ability, admitting that Lillie is growing as a . He orders Umbreon to use Shadow Ball, which smashes through Snowy's and strikes its target. As the finally clears up, Lillie decides to use her Z-Move, and Snowy successfully lashes Umbreon with . Umbreon, however, is mostly unscathed and knocks Snowy out with a supereffective . As Lillie comforts Snowy in her arms, Hapu declares Gladion is the winner. Despite the outcome, expresses pride in her children, admitting that she wished her husband Mohn could be there to watch.
That night, the next match-ups are revealed on the Pokémon Center screen: Gladion and Jamesio, Ash and Hau, Kiawe and Sophocles, and Guzma and . Hau is particularly excited by his match-up, with his and Ash's Rowlet exchanging a series of fighting words. Soon after, Rowlet flies out of the Pokémon Center to call for its family. It notices a passing by and promptly orders it to deliver the message.
==Major events==
* defeats Mina, advancing to the second round.
* James defeats Jessie, advancing to the second round.
* Acerola is revealed to have the .
* defeats Acerola, advancing to the second round.
* Snowy is revealed to have as its Ability.
* defeats , advancing to the second round.
* The match-ups of the second round are revealed to be:
** Gladion versus James
** versus Hau
** Kiawe versus Sophocles
** Guzma versus 
* asks a to bring its foster family to the Manalo Stadium.
===Debuts===
====Pokémon debuts====
==Characters==
===Humans===
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* Jessie
* James
* Nurse Joy
* 
* 
* 
* Hala
* Olivia
* Nanu
* Hapu
* 
* Wicke
* 
* Acerola
* Mina
* Hau
* Guzma (TV screen)
* Caster (voice only)
* Crowd
===Pokémon===
Who's That Pokémon?: (US and international), (Japan)
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* (; )
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ('s; Sandy)
* ()
* (; Alolan form)
* ('s; Alolan form; Snowy)
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* (Acerola's; ; Mimikins)
* (Acerola's; Greedy Rapooh)
* (Mina's)
* (Hau's)
* (Trainer's)
* (Trainer's)
* ()
* ()
* (anime)
* ()
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
==Trivia==
* Poké Problem: The Pokémon that sends out in today's episode is...?
** Host: 
** Choices: , , , 
** Answer: Umbreon
* The episode title, in both Japanese and English, is a reference to 's .
* This episode marks the first time Jessie and James have faced each other in an official .
* Despite it having existed in the since Generation II, this is the first time any Pokémon has used in the .
* 's musical piece is used during the ending of Jessie and James's battle.
* , , , , Mallow, , , and narrate the preview for the next episode.
===Errors===
* 's immobilizes after Rapooh hits it with . This is not how said Ability works in the games; it can only activate after its user has been hit by an opponent with a move that makes contact, at which point said move becomes temporarily disabled.
* In the English dub:
** Nanu incorrectly says the match between Jessie and James is in the semifinal round instead of the first round.
** 's is incorrectly referred to as . This is corrected in the Netflix release of the English dub.
===Dub edits===
* In the dub, an arranged version of Wedding March is used, but only the first 20 seconds of it are played.
* The Japanese text depicting 's name is edited out in the English dub.
==In other languages==
131
Category:Pokémon League episodes
Category:Episodes focusing on Team Rocket
Category:Episodes written by Aya Matsui
Category:Episodes storyboarded and directed by Yūji Asada
Category:Episodes storyboarded by Yūji Asada
Category:Episodes directed by Yūji Asada
Category:Episodes animated by Masaaki Iwane
Category:Episodes animated by Izumi Shimura
Category:Episodes by multiple animation directors
Category:Episodes in which a Mythical Pokémon appears
Category:Episodes in which an alternately colored Pokémon appears
de:Das Kampffeld der Wahrheit und Liebe!
es:EP1074
fr:SL131
it:SL131
ja:SM編第131話
zh:宝可梦 太阳＆月亮 第131集