Preview JN040: VS Thunder! A Legendary Raid Battle!!

[Eclipsical]

“Unexpected helpers”. Oh-ho-ho.
They’re teasing us. Who’s it gonna be?
I’ll try not to get my hopes up for anyone too important, though.

 

[Black&White]

What's wrong with Go catching Zapdos? He isn't a newbie trainer anymore since he was strong enough to defeat a Dojo master.

Plus we've seen trainers with Legendary Pokemon like a random Nurse Joy before

 

[Kurolegacy]

I’m genuinely hoping that this ends up being a case where the raid Pokémon ends up getting away. Not only has Go has no setbacks in his goal but a legendary Pokémon is a pretty huge deal especially for someone who is still a rookie who has barely begun actually battling anything. If he succeeds at capturing Zapdos here, he’s going to be edging dangerously close to Gary Stu status.

 

[Rockapheller]

Satoshi and Go have a raid battle with the assistance of unexpected helpers!

Curious to see who they are

It could be a very cool way to bring the Subway bros Ingo and Emmet back, even though I know it is not them.

 

[Pulsaro23]

Satoshi and Go have a raid battle with the assistance of unexpected helpers!

"Unexpected helpers", huh? Okay, my interest has been slightly piqued. The question is if these helpers are gonna be old, returning characters (like a Gym Leader or companion), characters from SWSH (like a Gym Leader or... or some other character) or if it's all just be another case of "And believe it or not, [...] he sends out...?!" (like in that episode). Or... maybe it's Chloe (that'd be a fun surprise)?

The most wild prediction I have right now is that one of the "unexpected helpers" is Spark. He's from Pokémon GO (the game from which this series takes a lot of inspiration), he's an Electric-type user (pretty self-explanatory) and he has a small connection to Zapdos (with it being Team Instinct's mascot). Extremely likely that it won't be him (and I'll be shocked if this prediction ends up being true, somehow), but it would be cool if it was him.

 

[Reborn Talonflame]

I mean, soon or later, Go was always going to have to catch the legendaries, otherwise there wouldn’t be significant progress to his dream (plus the opening made it pretty obvious he was catching it, with the way that Go was in the foreground of the ball). So, I don’t care that Ash isn’t catching it, and quite frankly, Ash’s only electric-type in history is Pikachu, and I want it to stay that way, as that Pokemon would never be acknowledged like Pikachu.

In terms of who‘s catching it aside, I really, really, really hope that it isn’t just going to play out like this:

Ash and Go (and special guests) travel to ____
Encounter! Wild Zapdos appears!
Ash and Go battle for a bit, then capture!

No. This time, I wan- No. WE NEED TO SEE GO STRUGGLE. For once, can we see Go fail to capture the Pokemon, then realise he needs the help of his Pokemon AND friends to achieve his goal, and they challenge it again, then capture it, or at least get two wiggles then the ball breaks.

 

[MarshiyanMisutaa]

Unexpected helpers

Team Rocket.

 

[Kurolegacy]

What's wrong with Go catching Zapdos? He isn't a newbie trainer anymore since he was strong enough to defeat a Dojo master.

Plus we've seen trainers with Legendary Pokemon like a random Nurse Joy before

Simple really. Unlike any previous companion who they gave a goal that could be developed towards, Go has yet to experience any form of setback or failure. Ash in his badge quests did lose gym battles and other major battles, May and Dawn lost their share of contests, Serena lost showcases. Go, on the other hand, has not even so much as had a Pokémon he wanted flee. He’s never experienced any kind of roadblock when it comes to his goal.

Capturing a legendary Pokémon is no small deal and even if you think he’s not a newbie trainer anymore, he is. He’s only just begun to actually make use of his Pokémon for tougher opponents and has yet to develop a style of his own, instead mimicking Ash. Just for a point of reference, it was considered a big deal when Ash’s Pokémon we’re able to go toe to toe with legendary Pokémon and Ash is an experienced trainer. Go getting an offscreen win against the dojo master does not equate to him being on the level of winning against a legendary Pokémon even in a raid battle. As I said in my previous post, if they allow him to capture Zapdos here, he’s pretty much edging dangerously close to Gary Stu as they’ll have shown that they will throw any possible quality and relatability of his character out the window simply so he can never fail. After all, what’s the point in caring about a character’s story if they never have to struggle for what they’re after and learn from their failures?

 

[Reborn Talonflame]

In terms of location, the two main ones to think of is either Galar, or the Power Plant in Kanto.
Or, since Ash’s rematch is in Chuck’s dojo, I hope that they stay in Johto, see Lugia fly nearby (since the Whirl Islands are close to Chuck’s town), they follow it, and then they see the disciples of Lugia fly nearby (Articuno, Moltres and Zapdos).
Perhaps the special guest(s) is Chuck or/and Bea?

 

[nickdt]

Unexepected helpers

Trio
Surge
Visquez
Volkner
Wattson
Clemont
Tracey

 

[Rath]

If Go actually catches Zapdos, he will officially be a Mary Sue

 

[Reborn Talonflame]

Unexepected helpers

Trio
Surge
Visquez
Volkner
Wattson
Clemont
Tracey

Despite me saying (praying) for Chuck or Bea, I wouldn’t be surprised if the people helping weren’t the same from the episode where Go caught Golurk

 

[Kurolegacy]

Despite me saying (praying) for Chuck or Bea, I wouldn’t be surprised if the people helping weren’t the same from the episode where Go caught Golurk

Just based on the format of the series (mostly) shying away from interconnected episodes, I would bet a PS5 pre-order on that it won’t be Chuck or Bea nor will this take place in Johto.

 

[BigDocFan]

I predict they'll tease Brock and Misty coming back only for it to be someone completely random

 

[Eclipsical]

Lt. Surge and Visquez would be cool.
Team Rocket is possible (though I hope it’s not them).
Brock and Misty is technically a possibility, though more on the unlikely side.
Lance would be interesting.

 

[Daren]

Honestly I'm expecting the help to just be the TRio.
I mean, Raids have four trainers? We have two protagonists+Jessie and James? I'd be amazed if it doesn't happen.

I think there's a good chance Zapdos escapes and Gou makes him and the others a sort of interim goal, though. Just a hunch based off the opening.

I mean, soon or later, Go was always going to have to catch the legendaries, otherwise there wouldn’t be significant progress to his dream

I get your argument, but Ash got zip and nadda from the end of AG to the end of Sun and Moon in that regard, so I'm not sure the writers care that much about the characters making any noticeable progress.

 

[Black&White]

Simple really. Unlike any previous companion who they gave a goal that could be developed towards, Go has yet to experience any form of setback or failure. Ash in his badge quests did lose gym battles and other major battles, May and Dawn lost their share of contests, Serena lost showcases. Go, on the other hand, has not even so much as had a Pokémon he wanted flee. He’s never experienced any kind of roadblock when it comes to his goal.

Capturing a legendary Pokémon is no small deal and even if you think he’s not a newbie trainer anymore, he is. He’s only just begun to actually make use of his Pokémon for tougher opponents and has yet to develop a style of his own, instead mimicking Ash. Just for a point of reference, it was considered a big deal when Ash’s Pokémon we’re able to go toe to toe with legendary Pokémon and Ash is an experienced trainer. Go getting an offscreen win against the dojo master does not equate to him being on the level of winning against a legendary Pokémon even in a raid battle. As I said in my previous post, if they allow him to capture Zapdos here, he’s pretty much edging dangerously close to Gary Stu as they’ll have shown that they will throw any possible quality and relatability of his character out the window simply so he can never fail. After all, what’s the point in caring about a character’s story if they never have to struggle for what they’re after and learn from their failures?

Newbie's don't defeat Dojo masters. If Go was where he was in the Battle Frontier episode he would have lost. And it's not like Go is defeating Zapdos by himself. He will have help.

 

[Eclipsical]

Honestly I'm expecting the help to just be the TRio.
I mean, Raids have four trainers? We have two protagonists+Jessie and James? I'd be amazed if it doesn't happen.

I think there's a good chance Zapdos escapes and Gou makes him and the others a sort of interim goal, though. Just a hunch based off the opening.

If Raboot does evolve, they could let Zapdos get away because an evolution is already a big deal. Then again, evolution almost always ends up with some power boost that lets them defeat their opponent. I feel like if Zapdos does get away, Goh will get them (and the other birds) eventually.

 

[Kurolegacy]

Newbie's don't defeat Dojo masters. If Go was where he was in the Battle Frontier episode he would have lost. And it's not like Go is defeating Zapdos by himself. He will have help.

Considering that we don’t know what level that the Dojo Master is on due to everything about his battles being offscreen, yes a newbie could potentially beat him. That’s like saying that a newbie couldn’t beat a gym leader. Again, beating him and taking on a legendary Pokémon are 2 completely different monsters.

And alone or not, it’s a legendary Pokémon. The last time we saw a group of people even trying to do a raid battle against a legendary, they couldn’t even scratch it. The only Pokémon that we’ve actually seen solo a legendary was Ash’s Charizard and that was after it had been through extensive training in the Charicific Valley. I think you’re seriously downplaying the power of a legendary if you think that it is anywhere outside of bad writing feasible for Go to capture a legendary not even a year into the series having barely trained any of his Pokémon.

 

[Daren]

If Raboot does evolve, they could let Zapdos get away because an evolution is already a big deal. Then again, evolution almost always ends up with some power boost that lets them defeat their opponent. I feel like if Zapdos does get away, Goh will get them (and the other birds) eventually.

Gou getting a Legendary 100 episodes into the new series would...not be great, but I'd accept it since there's the trend I noted before that Ash's companions are often more successful when he is.

The only Pokémon that we’ve actually seen solo a legendary was Ash’s Charizard and that was after it had been through extensive training in the Charicific Valley.

Pikachu also beat Regice solo against Brandon.
Of course AG Ash and Pikachu still had 400+ episodes under their belt.