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| Season | Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon – Ultra Legends (Season 22) · The Ultra Ruin arc (SM100–SM101) |
| Episode | Season 22, episode 8 · English episode 1034 · Japanese episode 1040 · Bulbapedia code SM100 |
| English title | Battling the Beast Within! |
| Japanese title | 風を断つ稲妻！その名はゼラオラ！！ Kaze o Tatsu Inazuma! Sono Na wa Zeraora!! — “The Lightning Bolt that Severs the Wind! Its Name is Zeraora!!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 9 December 2018 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 30 March 2019 · Disney XD |
| Screenplay | Shōji Yonemura |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Kimi no Bōken (Your Adventure) – Taiiku Okazaki · Jari Bōi Jari Gāru (Twerp, Twerpette) – Taiiku Okazaki |
| English opening | The Challenge of Life – Dani Marcus and The Sad Truth |
| Who’s That Pokémon? | Zeraora (US) |
| Previous episode | We Know Where You’re Going, Eevee! (SM099) |
| Next episode | Parallel Friendships! (SM101) |
Plot episodeUltra Ruin, part 1Dia and Zeraora
Battling the Beast Within! is the 8th episode of Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon – Ultra Legends, the twenty-second season of the Pokémon anime, and the 1034th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 1040, Bulbapedia code SM100). It first aired in Japan on 9 December 2018 and in the United States on 30 March 2019. It falls within the season’s The Ultra Ruin stretch (EP100–EP101).
Premiered on Saturday 30 March 2019, the eighth and last day of Disney XD’s daily premiere strip; the season then went weekly.
Synopsis
A battle with Tapu Koko tears open a rift that throws Ash and Pikachu into a ruined parallel Alola, where they meet a lone former Ultra Ranger named Dia and his Zeraora. Ash wakes to find Professors Kukui and Burnet practising yoga on surfboards, and later, on the way to school, he asks Tapu Koko for a training battle before his Poni Island grand trial. Tapu Koko leads him into a forest clearing, sets up Electric Terrain and dodges Pikachu’s Quick Attack. When its Discharge collides with Pikachu’s Thunderbolt, a Shiny Tapu Koko from another dimension joins the clash, and the combined power opens a rift that swallows Ash and Pikachu, leaving Rotom and Ash’s bag behind. They wake in a desert of rubble. Exploring a wrecked building, Ash kicks a rock and draws the attention of Guzzlord, which swallows Pikachu’s Thunderbolt and attacks with Belch and Gastro Acid, and Ash’s Z-Power Ring refuses to respond.
A Trainer arrives with Zeraora, which knocks Guzzlord’s claw aside with Close Combat and paralyses it with Plasma Fists. The Trainer leads Ash and Pikachu through a ventilation pipe to safety and introduces himself as Dia. He explains that Guzzlord appeared, devoured everything and turned a thriving city into the Ultra Ruin; the Ultra Rangers failed to stop it and the citizens left, but Dia and Zeraora stayed because Dia remembers the town as it was. Zeraora ignores Ash’s praise and shocks him when he grabs its tail. When Ash offers to help, Dia dismisses the Ultra Guardians as a children’s game, and Ash angrily demands a battle. Pikachu’s Quick Attack meets Zeraora’s, its Iron Tail is overpowered by Close Combat, and although Electroweb briefly traps its opponent, Zeraora slashes free and wins with Plasma Fists.
Pikachu recovers, and Dia tells Ash to go home; when Ash asks how, Dia explains that the Ultra Rangers will collect him the next day, revealing that he is a former Ultra Ranger himself. Because Guzzlord still roams nearby and camping outside would be too dangerous, Dia invites the pair to spend the night at his base, and on the way he tosses them emergency rations to keep Pikachu quiet when their stomachs growl. The defeat is the first official loss Pikachu has suffered in the whole Sun & Moon series. When they reach the base, Ash is puzzled to find that the ruined building looks exactly like the Pokémon School. The episode ends on that discovery, with Ash wondering what the familiar ruins mean and how a world so like his own could have come to such a desolate end.
Major Events
- The Ultra Ruin, part 1. Tapu Koko and a Shiny Tapu Koko open a rift into a ruined parallel Alola
- Ash meets Dia and Zeraora
- Zeraora hands Pikachu its first official loss of the Sun & Moon series, its first in 109 episodes
- Guzzlord’s debut and Zeraora’s TV-episode debut
- The first anime Gastro Acid
- A serious version of the There’s Trouble! title-card jingle
Pokémon making their anime debut
Guzzlord#0799 · SM100
Zeraora#0807 · SM100
Trivia
- The English title plays on the 1982 film <em>The Beast Within</em>, for Guzzlord and the Ultra Ruin.
- The screenplay is by Shōji Yonemura.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Alola storyline.
Changes in the English Dub
- A serious version of the “There’s Trouble!” title-card jingle
Part of our Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon – Ultra Legends guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.