Pokémon's Ash Reunites With Misty for Their Final Adventure

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As Pokémon's final miniseries continues, Ash meets up with his old friend Misty once again, and the two are finally traveling together one last time, after parting ways hundreds of episodes earlier.

Pokémon: Aim to Be A Master is a miniseries intended to wrap up Ash's Pokémon journeys, before new heroes take over the anime in a few months. From the marketing materials, it was apparent that Misty and Brock would be returning as his traveling companions to see him through to the end, but when the miniseries began, neither was anywhere to be seen. In this second episode, Ash finally runs into Misty.

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Misty Serves Ash His First Loss as Pokémon World Champion

Arriving at the oceanside, Ash sends out his current party of Pokémon--today made up of Rowlet, Totodile, Leavanny, and Corphish--to give them a chance to frolic and relax. Pikachu quickly encounters a Clauncher, which clamps onto its tail, and right as Ash is about to catch it, Misty's fishing lure comes flying into the frame and wraps around Ash's hand. It turns out Misty has been trying to catch this Clauncher for a while, so the two decide to have a fishing competition to see who can wrangle it first. When Team Rocket interferes, Ash and Misty instead decide to have a battle to see who gets to catch it. Misty wins, and gets to keep Clauncher, but after the two part ways, Ash catches Misty following him. Pikachu indicates that he'd prefer they stay with Misty, and so the pair are traveling together once more.

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Misty's Full Return Has Been a Long Time Coming in Pokémon

It hasn't been that long since Misty last appeared on the series; she was recently in an episode of Journeys where she met Goh, which was set after Ash's big win in the World Coronation Series. Misty similarly had a few appearances during Sun & Moon, as well as sporadically showing up over the years. However, Ash and Misty first parted ways as traveling partners back in "Gotta Catch Ya Later," 950 episodes earlier. Misty's departure represented the end of an era for the Pokémon anime, signaling the first time Ash would change out his traveling partners as well as his whole team of Pokémon, as would become tradition. It's only fitting that she returns for one last arc, since it represents the end of Ash's era as the anime's lead. The preview for next week's Pokémon episode featured Brock (as well as another former traveling companion, Cilan), so fans won't have long to wait for his return now, either.

With Misty back at Ash's side, the Pokémon anime is feeling more and more like it did back in the early days, making these final episodes a real treat for fans who've been with the series since the beginning.