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| Season | Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon (Season 20) · A guardian rematch & Litten arc (SM019–SM022) |
| Episode | Season 20, episode 19 · English episode 954 · Japanese episode 959 · Bulbapedia code SM019 |
| English title | A Guardian Rematch! |
| Japanese title | 電撃猛特訓！カプ・コケコとの再戦！！ Dengeki Mō-tokkun! Kapu-Kokeko to no Saisen!! — “Intense Electrifying Training! Rematch with Kapu-Kokeko!!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 23 March 2017 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 1 July 2017 · Disney XD |
| Screenplay | Akemi Omode |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Alola!! – Satoshi (Rica Matsumoto) with Pikachu (Ikue Ōtani) · Pōzu (Pose) – Taiiku Okazaki |
| English opening | Under the Alolan Sun – Jannel Candrice and The Sad Truth (featuring Ben Dixon and the Vestigial Horns) |
| Who’s That Pokémon? | Mudbray (US) |
| Previous episode | A Seasoned Search! (SM018) |
| Next episode | Partner Promises! (SM020) |
Plot episodeTapu Koko rematch
A Guardian Rematch! is the 19th episode of Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon, the twentieth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 954th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 959, Bulbapedia code SM019). It first aired in Japan on 23 March 2017 and in the United States on 1 July 2017. It falls within the season’s A guardian rematch & Litten stretch (EP19–EP22).
Premiered on Saturday 1 July 2017, the fourth of six new episodes in a three-hour Disney XD special.
Synopsis
Ash trains with Sophocles to cope with Tapu Koko’s Electric Terrain, then battles the guardian again, a fierce rematch that ends with no winner. At the Pokémon School Ash’s Rockruff battles a classmate, Hiroki, and his Mudbray. Mudbray blocks Rock Throw with Double Kick, but Ash powers Rockruff up with the Normalium Z, and its first Breakneck Blitz knocks Mudbray out. Hiroki promises a rematch. Ash vows to battle Tapu Koko again, Lillie points out that it is an Electric and Fairy type, and Sophocles offers to help with his data. At Sophocles’s house his mother serves malasadas and his father greets the guests, before Ash triggers a gadget in Sophocles’s lab that shocks him and knocks a Togedemaru-shaped helmet off a shelf. Sophocles explains that Tapu Koko’s Electric Surge creates Electric Terrain, which powers up Electric moves; it benefits Pikachu, but Rowlet and Rockruff will need a different plan.
When Togedemaru pushes Pikachu onto its running wheel, Sophocles has an idea and builds a speed-training wheel for everyone, fitting the Pokémon with data-collecting devices. Rowlet, Rockruff and Pikachu run as the speed rises; Rockruff, Rowlet and Togedemaru fall off, but Ash joins Pikachu and the two run so fast that they overload the computer and destroy the wheel in an explosion. Sophocles records an extraordinary reading, and somewhere on the island Tapu Koko takes notice. The next day the guardian lands in the schoolyard, brushes Rockruff and Rowlet aside, and makes it clear that it wants to battle Pikachu alone. Professor Kukui and the students gather to watch while Rotom records. Tapu Koko uses Electric Surge, dodges Pikachu’s attacks and strikes first, and when Pikachu gets back up, it unleashes Discharge.
Ash’s Electrium Z begins to glow. Apologising for keeping the guardian waiting, Ash performs the pose with Pikachu, and Gigavolt Havoc drives Tapu Koko back, though it soon recovers. Then a blast sends Pikachu through a fence and over a cliff. Ash leaps after his partner and catches him in mid-air, and as they fall, Tapu Koko swoops down and carries them both to safety. The guardian then flies away without a word, leaving the result undecided. Ash vows to keep getting stronger so that he can face Tapu Koko again. The episode introduces Sophocles’s parents, and in the extra scene of the Japanese Poké Problem segment, Sophocles is seen playing a New Nintendo 3DS. Music from Pokémon Black 2 and White 2’s Victory Road plays before the battle.
Major Events
- Tapu Koko rematch. Rockruff’s first Breakneck Blitz beats Hiroki’s Mudbray
- Speed training at Sophocles’s house, with his parents
- Ash’s rematch with Tapu Koko ends without a winner after the guardian saves Ash and Pikachu from a fall
Trivia
- The screenplay is by Akemi Omode.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Alola storyline.
Changes in the English Dub
- The Breakneck Blitz and Gigavolt Havoc captions are removed
- The Victory Road music of Black 2 and White 2 plays before the rematch
Part of our Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.