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| Season | Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon – Ultra Legends (Season 22) · Guzzlord & the Masked Royal arc (SM140–SM144) |
| Episode | Season 22, episode 48 · English episode 1074 · Japanese episode 1080 · Bulbapedia code SM140 |
| English title | Z-Move Showdown! |
| Japanese title | アクジキング襲来！Ｚワザ大決戦！！ Akujikingu Shūrai! Z-Waza Daikessen!! — “Akuziking Invasion! The Great Z-Move Battle!!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 22 September 2019 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 25 January 2020 · Disney XD |
| Screenplay | Shōji Yonemura |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Kimi no Bōken (Your Adventure) – Taiiku Okazaki · Taipu: Wairudo (Type: Wild, 2019 version) – Shōko Nakagawa |
| English opening | The Challenge of Life – Dani Marcus and The Sad Truth |
| Who’s That Pokémon? | Machop (US) |
| Previous episode | Enter the Champion! (SM139) |
| Next episode | Exhibition Unmasked! (SM141) |
Plot episodeGuzzlord attackMasked Royal unmasked
Z-Move Showdown! is the 48th episode of Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon – Ultra Legends, the twenty-second season of the Pokémon anime, and the 1074th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 1080, Bulbapedia code SM140). It first aired in Japan on 22 September 2019 and in the United States on 25 January 2020. It falls within the season’s Guzzlord & the Masked Royal stretch (EP140–EP144).
Synopsis
Three Guzzlord invade Manalo Stadium, and the kahunas, the guardian deities, Ash’s friends and the returning Poipole, now Naganadel, drive them back to Ultra Space, while the Masked Royal’s mask falls to reveal Professor Kukui. The Masked Royal recognises the Guzzlord, covering his slip by saying that Kukui told him about Ash’s adventure, and Lusamine orders an evacuation towards the port. Ash, Kiawe, Gladion and Hau volunteer to help. Team Rocket burst onto the field in a Bewear-shaped mecha to steal Pokémon, but the Guzzlord swats them aside and is about to eat them when Bewear, carrying Stufful, punches it over the stadium walls. Professor Burnet detects a second wormhole near the mall, where a Shiny Guzzlord appears before Kiawe, Gladion and Hau, while a third, giant Shiny Guzzlord lands in the sea and blocks the evacuation ships.
When Guzzlord batters Bewear as she shields Stufful, Team Rocket recite their motto for the last time in the series and rescue them both in their mecha. The kahunas take over: Mudsdale’s Bulldoze traps the Guzzlord in a pit, and Lycanroc, Alolan Persian and Hariyama attack, until the four guardian deities intercept its claw. The deities pin it down, and the kahunas’ combined Z-Moves, led by Tectonic Rage, drive it through the wormhole. At the mall, Lycanroc, Turtonator and Decidueye struggle against the Shiny Guzzlord until Tsareena, Primarina, Vikavolt and Snowy join in, and Gladion, Hau and all of Ash’s classmates combine their Z-Moves into a rainbow beam that blasts it back to Ultra Space. At the docks, the Masked Royal’s Lucario pushes the giant Guzzlord halfway into its wormhole with Close Combat and Dragon Pulse.
The Masked Royal has no Electric-type Pokémon to finish the job, and the wormhole seals shut. Then a giant stinger pierces the sky and an Ultra Beast emerges and catches Pikachu: it is Ash’s Poipole, now evolved into Naganadel. It stops the Guzzlord with Thunderbolt, and the Masked Royal reveals an Electrium Z for it to power. Ash and the Masked Royal pass their Z-Power to Pikachu and Naganadel for a double Gigavolt Havoc. The Guzzlord counterattacks, and the shock wave tears off the Masked Royal’s mask, but the combined attack prevails and drives the Ultra Beast back through the wormhole. As Pikachu and Naganadel celebrate, Ash turns to thank the Masked Royal and finds himself staring at Professor Kukui, and Ash, Rotom and Kukui are all speechless.
Major Events
- The Guzzlord attack. Three Guzzlord, two of them Shiny, attack Manalo Stadium
- The kahunas and the four Tapu, Gladion, Hau and the classmates drive them back with Z-Moves
- Ash’s Poipole returns as Naganadel
- Pikachu’s last Gigavolt Havoc
- The Masked Royal is unmasked as Professor Kukui, who uses Lucario and an Electrium Z
- Thirteen Z-Moves, the most in one episode
- Team Rocket’s last motto of the Sun & Moon series
Pokémon making their anime debut
Naganadel#0804 · SM140
Captures and evolutions
- Poipole → Naganadel#0804 · Ash · off screen in Ultra Space; returns to fight the Guzzlord
Trivia
- The screenplay is by Shōji Yonemura.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Alola storyline.
Changes in the English Dub
- The Japanese on-screen caption naming the Z-Move is removed
- Type: Wild insert during the classmates’ Z-Moves
- The serious “There’s Trouble!” title-card jingle
Part of our Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon – Ultra Legends guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.