Ash Ketchum is anime’s man of the hour. The long-awaited battle between Ash and Leon has finally hit screens and the hype has definitely been worth it.
Pokemon Journeys episode 129 gave us the first part of Ash vs. Leon, where Ash’s G-max Gengar with Cursed Body stole the show. Ash got the first knockout as Gengar floors Leon’s Inteleon, while Leon’s next Pokemon, Mr. Rime, defeats Gengar.
By part 2 of the final battle of the Masters 8 between Leon and Ash, we have seen all 6 of Ash’s Pokemon, and 4 of Leon’s in battle. But what’s stirring the fandom right now is the promo at the end of episode 130. Eternatus is back! Is Leon going to use Eternatus against Ash in part 3 of the finals?
Leon will not use Eternatus to defeat Ash since Leon already has all 6 Pokemon on his team. Eternatus will break out and interrupt Ash vs. Leon. Its energy will push Ash’s Pikachu to Gigantamax, letting it use G-max and Z-move together, helping Pikachu win against Charizard.
Will Ash and Leon tie because of Eternatus?
Ash and Leon will not tie, Eternatus or no Eternatus. The build-up of Ash vs. Leon has been too high for us not to have a Champion by the end of it.
But Eternatus coming back at this moment in the battle means that it will have some effect on the outcome of the battle.
As of episode 130, Leon still has 3 undamaged Pokemon – Charizard, Rillaboom, and Cinderace, while Ash has 4 damaged ones – Pikachu, Sirfetch’d, Dracovish, and Dragonite.
Eternatus might be able to give Ash a chance at winning.
Earlier, Leon had proposed that the Pokemon World Coronation management change the rules so each of them can use 3 gimmicks instead of the traditional single-use rule. This meant Ash could use Mega Evolution, Dynamax, as well as Z-moves.
Leon, however, doesn’t have Mega Evolution and Z-move, which means he can only use G-max. But this is Leon we’re talking about; he definitely has a card up his sleeve.
Episode 130 is called “Toy Around” where Leon’s ‘mons totally toy around with Ash’s. Leon has the upper hand when it comes to strength, experience, and strategy, and he uses all 3 to get the better of Ash in part 2. I’ll do a full breakdown of the episode below.
As we saw in episode 129, Leon’s Cinderace has the Libero ability which gives it the power to change its type. This is why Ash called back his Pikachu when he realized that he’d be at a type disadvantage.
Ash has already used G-max with Gengar and Mega Evolution with Lucario so the only option now is for Pikachu to use Z-move. However, with Eternatus, from whom the whole Gigantamax feature originated, Pikachu might be able to G-max anyway.
G-max Pikachu and G-max Charizard is how this started, so it only makes sense that this is how it ends.
Why is Eternatus present during the match? Will it cause the battle to be unfinished?
Eternatus likely escaped from Professor Magnolia and made its way to the stadium. Eternatus has trouble controlling its power and maybe being around so many people set it off.
Eternatus won’t cause the battle to be suspended because this is the end of Pokemon Sword and Shield and with an unfinished match, we cannot move on to the next region.
Earlier, Ash and Goh, with the help of Zacian and Zamenta had weakened a rampaging Eternatus and had managed to capture it. Professor Magnolia had sealed Eternatus’s Pokeball in an underground safe to keep it away from causing more destruction.
In episode 127, it’s revealed that Magnolia unsealed Eternatus to try and have Leon train it and get it used to being around people.
Showing up mid-match only means that something has gone wrong and all hell’s about to break loose. However, it’s been confirmed that Ash vs. Leon is a 4-parter, so we can expect Eternatus next episode and the result of G-max Pikachu vs. G-max Charizard in episode 132.
Some people think that this is the start of an evil team or villain arc but with 2 episodes to go, this can hardly be the case. Eternatus already had its time under the limelight with The Darkest Day, so it gobbling up Galar doesn’t seem likely at this point.
The most Eternatus will do is cause havoc in the background while the match continues, and help Pikachu G-max – and maybe even G-max Leon’s Charizard for the second time, putting them both on equal ground again.
What happened in JN130?
In JN130, part 2 of Ash’s battle against Leon in the Pokemon World Coronation Series, Ash’s Sirfetch’d loses to Mr. Mime, Leon’s Dragapult defeats Mega Lucario, and Ash’s Dragonite, Kairyuuseigun, is called to defeat Dragapult.
After Mr. Mime defeated Gengar in part 1, Ash called his knight, Lord Sirfetch’d to tackle him.
Sirfetch’d uses some unpredictable moves and rips apart Mr. Mime’s Psychic Terrain, proving that Ash’s strategizing isn’t as bad as we thought.
Next comes Lucario, but he goes into Mega Evolution a bit too early much to everyone’s surprise. We get some cool animation effects of Goku Lucario with his Aura, and he uses it to sense and predict Mr. Mime’s moves, which was amazing to watch.
He takes out Mr. Mime, alright, but Leon’s next Pokemon is Dragapult, who’s a tank. He throws flames at Lucario and Ash switches to Dracovish.
Dracovish is a great match for Dragapult. Dracovish uses a new move, Psychic Fang, and then proceeds to literally bite Dragapult’s head. But Dragapult gets the better of it.
Suddenly, Ash’s Dragonite uses Dragon Tail to induce a force switch which sends Dracovish back and come out instead.
But Mega Lucario is the one who goes up against Dragapult in episode 130. However, much to everyone’s shock and disappointment, Mega Lucario actually loses to Leon’s Dragapult.
A lot of fans are saying that if Greninja were there he wouldn’t have gone down this easy. Well, I’m going to reserve my judgement on this one.
Next up is Ash’s Dragonite who uses Draco Meteor to deflect Dragapult’s attacks and then uses something that resembles Charizard’s Seismic Toss, where she flings Dragapult to the ground.
Dragapult is called back in, and at the end of the episode, Leon calls Rillaboom who looks like he means business.
What will happen in part 3 of the final battle?
In the next episode, i.e., JN131, Rillaboom will defeat Dragonite and might sweep most of Ash’s other Pokemon as well, as he did with Diantha’s Pokemon.
But Leon still has Cinderace left before Charizard, who will obviously be last. This means Rillaboom will be defeated by one of Ash’s Pokemon.
But either way, you can be sure that not just are we finally getting Charizard vs. Pikachu next week, but also the return of Legendary Pokemon Eternatus, who will prove to be the gamechanger in the Ash-Leon battle.
About Pokémon
Pokémon was first released in 1996 and is set up in a world where humans catch monsters and store them in pocket-sized poke-balls.
They are creatures with an affinity to certain elements and some superhuman abilities related to that element.
Revolving around a teenage boy Ash Ketchum, Pokémon takes us through his journey to becoming the most accomplished Pokémon trainer the world has ever seen.
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