JN130

Toying With Your Motions! (Japanese: ファイナルⅡ　「翻弄」 The Finals II: "Toy Around") is the 130th episode of Pokémon Journeys: The Series, and the 1,215th episode of the Pokémon animated series. It first aired in Japan on October 28, 2022, in Canada on March 25, 2023, in South Africa on April 4, 2023, in the United Kingdom on April 12, 2023, in Australia on May 4, 2023, and in the United States on June 23, 2023.
==Blurb==
The Pokémon World Coronation Series Masters Eight Tournament is currently in its dazzling final round, and both Ash and Leon are waging an extraordinary battle, displaying powerful and creative back-and-forth strategies. But soon, Ash realizes that every time he takes the lead, his opponent never fails to catch up! After Mega Lucario takes down Leon’s Mr. Rime, it struggles against Dragapult, so Ash switches in Dracovish instead. Dragapult’s Dragon Tail attack causes Ash’s Pokémon to switch in and out until Dragonite is on the field. With a powerful Dragonite Meteor attack, Ash scores another win, and the battle continues!
==Plot==
The finals of the Pokémon World Coronation Series Masters Eight Tournament are in full swing. Both participating s, and , are down one Pokémon each, with Leon's current Pokémon, , having set up an icy battlefield infused with to give it the advantage. For his third Pokémon, Ash calls out , confusing Leon as to why Ash would choose a Pokémon with a type disadvantage. Ash calls for , and while Mr. Rime initially succeeds in defending itself with its icy cane, Sirfetch'd eventually finds an opening and manages to land a blow on the . Sirfetch'd attempts to follow up with , only to have its leek sword grabbed by Mr. Rime, allowing the type to easily land a super effective , made even stronger thanks to the Psychic Terrain. The blow causes Sirfetch'd to lose hold of its shield, leaving it wide open for a . Mr. Rime continues the offensive with another Expanding Force, but Sirfetch'd succeeds in dodging it thanks to , before using its leek sword to over its opponent and retrieve its shield just in time to defend itself from another Triple Axel. Ash orders another Fury Cutter, but instead of Mr. Rime, he surprises everyone by ordering Sirfetch'd to attack the battlefield. Ash's intention becomes apparent seconds later, when the move succeeds in destroying the Psychic Terrain, negating one of Mr. Rime's advantages.
Having achieved what he set out to do with Sirfetch'd, Ash recalls it in favor of , with the two Pokémon sharing a figurative high five as they switch places. Ash wastes no time in Mega Evolving his partner, who expresses its determination by releasing a wind-like burst of Aura that is felt by everyone across Wyndon Stadium. Lucario charges in for a , but Mr. Rime still has the ice battlefield in its favor, dodging Lucario's attack and hitting it with two consecutive series of Triple Axel. Following Ash's instructions, Lucario closes its eyes and uses its Aura sense to sense Mr. Rime's movements while readying an . Mr. Rime goes for another Triple Axel, but Lucario senses the incoming attack and avoids it before loosing the Aura Sphere, defeating the Comedian Pokémon and restoring the battlefield to normal in the process.
Leon's next Pokémon of choice is . Ash has Lucario use , followed by Bullet Punch. While Lucario manages to score a direct hit, Dragapult's counterattack comes in the form of a , which Ash immediately recalls Lucario out of, replacing the Aura Pokémon with . Ash's type charges in with , but the attack is disrupted by a hit from Dragapult's . When the second Dragon Darts is about to hit, Ash has Dracovish stop it by biting down on it. Doing this causes Dracovish to start shivering unexpectedly, though it is cut short by another hit from Dragon Darts, allowing both Dreepy to return to Dragapult. As Dracovish stands back up, the spikes along its body start glowing red and become covered in red energy, much to general confusion. In her and Diantha's skybox, theorizes that the clash of Dragon moves may have awakened a long-dormant power within Dracovish. Ignoring this unusual occurrence, Leon tells Dragapult to use , scoring a direct hit, before having Dragapult charge in for the finishing blow. This proves to be a mistake, however, as it allows Dracovish's energy-covered spikes to clamp down on Dragapult, pinning it down and allowing Dracovish to land an easy on it. Dragapult is still far from immobilized, though, as Leon demonstrates by ordering a . Dracovish attempts to stop this by Dragapult with , but is unable to freeze it completely, allowing Dragon Tail to make contact and simultaneously free Dragapult from the ice.
Due to Dragon Tail's effect, Dracovish is sent back into its and is forcibly sent out. Dragapult attacks its opponent with Dragon Darts, while Dragonite uses , using the Dragon Darts to speed up its spinning. Instead of the intense spinning repelling the Dragon Darts, however, they resiliently stick on Dragonite's tail. The Dragon Pokémon attempts to attack the two Dreepy with , but they prove too fast for it to hit, much to its irritation. When the Dreepy return to Dragapult, Dragonite attempts to attack it instead, only to be hit by Dragon Tail and be forcibly replaced by Lucario as a result. After calming himself down with a deep breath, Ash orders a Bullet Punch, which makes contact. After blocking a Thunderbolt with , Lucario tries to use Bullet Punch again, but ends up freezing in place; it turns out Thunderbolt succeeded in it. With Lucario immobilized, Dragapult lands another Flamethrower on it, causing Lucario to revert to its usual form and collapse, being ruled unable to battle.
At Ash's call, Dragonite returns to the battlefield to resume the clash between Dragon types. Dragonite whips up a powerful , which tosses Dragapult around and even affects the audience. Unconcerned, Leon has Dragapult unleash a Thunderbolt in every direction, not only dissipating the Hurricane but also striking Dragonite. Ash's Dragon type flies high into the air and uses , successfully shooting down another attempt at Dragon Darts while the two Dragon types charge at each other. Following Ash's orders, Dragonite grabs Dragapult and plummets to the ground along with its own Draco Meteor, enduring a Thunderbolt while repeating the "Dragonite Meteor" strategy from Ash's visit to Professor Oak's Laboratory. When the cloud of dust clears, Dragonite is still standing, while Dragapult has finally been defeated, resulting in loud cheers from those watching the battle. Leon recalls Dragapult and compliments Ash's skills, but also points out that all of Ash's remaining Pokémon are worn out as he sends out as his fifth Pokémon.
==Major events==
* and continue their Full Battle in the finals.
* Ash's Dracovish awakens an unknown power.
===Debuts===
====Pokémon debuts====
==Characters==
===Humans===
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* Jessie
* James
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* 
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* Diantha
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* Gurkinn
* Wikstrom
* Chloe
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* Dan
* Sonia
* Bea
* Hop
* Announcer
* Crowd
===Pokémon===
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* (; Mega Lucario)
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* (; )
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* (Bea's)
* ('s)
* ('s)
* ('s)
* (Dan's)
* (; ×2)
* (Trainer's; male)
* (Trainer's)
* (Trainer's)
* (Trainer's)
* (Trainer's)
* (Trainer's)
* (Trainer's)
==Trivia==
* Get Inspired! Let's Solve a Poké Riddle!!: 
* and read the title card for this episode.
* The Dare da? segment is replaced with eyecatches of Ash, Goh, and for this episode.
* This is the first episode of Pokémon Journeys: The Series in which Goh does not appear in any capacity.
* Shinji Miyazaki's music from Pokémon the Series: Black & White and Pokémon the Series: XY is reused as background music in this episode.
* According to a CoroCoro article about Masters Eight Tournament participants, this is the first time Leon has lost more than two Pokémon in a single battle.https://twitter.com/catillo596/status/1559357491795955713 
* Despite having first appeared in Search for the Clubultimate!, 487 episodes earlier, this is the first time ’s secondary effect of switching out the opposing Pokémon is seen in the .
* Ash's strategy of having attack the with a flurry of s to make it disappear is similar to the one displayed in Fairy-Type Trickery!, in which his broke by striking its walls with a spinning .
* The scene of sensing Mr. Rime is similar to the one shown in The Green, Green Grass Types of Home!, in which his stood still to hear 's movements in order to hit it.
* This episode marks the only time where Lucario is defeated after Mega Evolving.
* developing spikes of energy on its body after biting down on is similar to the strategy used by Ash's Grotle and Dawn's Mamoswine during Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl, where they were shown swallowing a move of their own type to power up their moves.
* 's use of in this episode is similar to Ash's Charizard's use of .
* As of this episode, is the only pseudo-legendary Pokémon introduced as of this point that Ash hasn’t battled yet.
* As of this episode, all non-volatile status conditions have appeared at some point during the Masters Eight Tournament.
* This episode marks the final appearance of , Gurkinn, and Wikstrom.
* James, , Jessie, and narrate the preview for the next episode.
* The English dub title is a reference to the phrase "toying with your emotions".
===Errors===
* After Sirfetch'd undoes the Psychic Terrain, Diantha's voice is heard, but is the one seen talking. This is corrected on the Japanese Prime Video release.
* The skybox where Cynthia and Diantha reside in has changed somewhat compared to the previous episode, including having different posters.
===Dub edits===
==In other languages==
==References==
130
Category:Episodes written by Atsuhiro Tomioka
Category:Episodes storyboarded by Hiromasa Amano
Category:Episodes directed by Fumihiro Ueno
Category:Episodes animated by Takashi Shinohara
Category:Episodes focusing on Ash
Category:Episodes in which a Champion appears
Category:Episodes featuring Elite Four members
Category:Episodes with World Coronation Series matches
Category:Episodes which aired in Canada before the United States
Category:Episodes which aired in South Africa before the United States
Category:Episodes which aired in the United Kingdom before the United States
Category:Episodes which aired in Australia before the United States
de:Taktikspiele!
es:EP1219
fr:LV130
it:EP130
ja:新無印編第130話
zh:宝可梦 旅途 第126集