We truly
didn't see much of Rockruff vs. Mudbray. Oh, well. I was hoping to see Mudbray's Stamina ability in action, since PokéFan specifically mentioned it, so I'm a little disappointed about that, but at least Rockruff got a win under its ruff. Rockruff panting with exhaustion after using Breakneck Blitz really shows how taxing Z-moves can be on a Pokémon.
The scenes at Sophocles's house were more entertaining than I thought they would be.
Sorry, Sophocles, but I just don't care much for you. I got a chuckle out of Sophocles and Rotomdex chatting, while Ash wandered around looking totally lost and confused, and Togedemaru showed Pikachu the joys of hanging from ceiling beams and rolling on carts.
Pikachu vs. Tapu Koko was just as intense and exciting as I'd hoped it would be! I expected Pikachu to lose, but he put up a really good fight. After this, I'm even more curious about Tapu Koko's motives for testing Ash and Pikachu. It specifically wanted to battle Pikachu (although that could have been related to whatever power Ash and Pikachu generated that cause Sophocles's exercise wheel to explode), and it waited patiently for Ash and Pikachu to use Gigavolt Havoc. (BTW, I loved how both Rockruff and Rowlet stepped forward to battle Tapu Koko, but troll bird be all like, "Outta my way, fools! I'm here to battle the mouse!")
Ash leaping off the cliff to save Pikachu definitely gave me XY02 vibes, but mostly because of the animation and camera angles (after all, Ash leaping to certain death to save his best friend is nothing new; he has been doing that for the past 20 years). Tapu Koko rushing in to save them had to be a reference to the beginning of the Sun & Moon games. I like how Tapu Koko was just carrying Ash and Pikachu
on its arm.
Oh, that reminds me, they kept focusing on the Electrium-Z. It'll probably somehow get upgraded to Pikashunium-Z, like Bond Phenomenon but for Z-Crystals instead of Pokemon.
Not only that, but the Electrium-Z glowed a few times. I'm starting to wonder if Ash's Electrium-Z will magically upgrade itself to Pikashunium-Z, like you suggested. Speaking of which, what was with Ash's Electrium-Z glowing?
On another note, we
finally got to see Lillie interact with someone other than Mallow! Even better, she interacted with Lana! Nice that Lana wasn't just standing there acting like wallpaper. It was also cute how worried Shiron seemed about the battle. It's a nice reminder that it's a newborn, so seeing a battle against a legendary Pokémon is understandably worrisome (especially with all the tension in the air from the humans).
Also, I fully expect Ash to have his own set of groupies after this battle. Or, at the very least, he ought to be mobbed by students wondering about this foreign exchange student who managed to attract the attention of Melemele's guardian deity.
Yeah, but showing off only the finishing move probably implies that it's a curbstomp. Like in Hawlucha vs Mega Absol(in the league). Hawlucha was shown delivering the finishing blow, but it was evident that Hawlucha won the battle with authority.
No, showing only the end of the battle (or the finishing move, which is not the only thing we saw) does
not imply that it was a curbstomp. We only saw the tail end of the battle; we have no idea how the rest of the battle went. Just because Rockruff finished off Mudbray with Breakneck Blitz doesn't mean Rockruff had the upper hand throughout the entire battle.
