Well folks, it finally happened.
After 25 years, the protagonist of the Pokémon TV series, Ash Ketchum, has finally achieved his dream of becoming a Pokémon World Champion. Since the very beginning of the series back in 1997, our lovable trainer has tried countless times to become the very best, but ultimately failed time and time again. Now, however, after beating Leon during the Masters Eight Tournament of the Pokémon World Coronation Series in an episode entitled “The Finals IV: Partner”, Ash has finally done it.
The episode has only aired in Japan so far, but will be broadcast for western audiences in the future. It was a close call for Ash, regardless, who lost the majority of his team – including Gengar, Dragonite, Dracovish, Sirfetch’d, and Lucario – before his beloved Pikachu managed to take down Leon’s Charizard.
The episode also featured multiple familiar faces, as highlighted by Serebii webmaster Joe Merrick below:
It’s certainly been a long time coming, and it begs the question: where does Ash go from here? Well, the obvious answer would be Paldea. With Pokémon Scarlet and Violet on the horizon, no doubt the TV series will branch out into the new region, requiring Ash to compete against a whole host of new characters and Pokémon.