The second half of the Masters Eight finals.
In the half-hour-long full six-on-six battle, Ash had already experienced Hydreigon taking down three opponents in a row, as well as the ordeal of Terastallized Mawile.
Only two of his Pokémon still had the strength to fight. Pikachu had also battled Hydreigon for quite some time, so it was not at full strength...
But for Pikachu, hanging on with one HP was practically standard procedure. It could basically be considered unharmed.
The key to whether he could turn the tide perhaps lay with the next Pokémon!
"Go! Lucario!"
Bang!
Light flashed.
Lucario entered in a half-kneeling pose. The spindle-shaped fur dangling beside its ears rose slightly, and the power of Aura descended with its arrival.
Though many people were unwilling to admit it, Lucario's role in Pokémon Journeys was equivalent to Charizard in the Original Series, Sceptile in Advanced Generation, Infernape in Diamond and Pearl, and even Greninja in Pokémon X and Y.
The fact that Ash had hatched it himself and resonated with it through Aura destined it to be one of the core Pokémon of the Masters Eight tournament.
It was also one of the Pokémon Baimu was wary of.
Together with Pikachu, it could be called one of the two central pillars of Pokémon Journeys.
After all, Pokémon anime writers habitually suppressed Pikachu. Even though they had not retired Ash-Pikachu Z, Pikachu had still been crushed by Destiny Bond Spiritomb in the original story, all to give Lucario its moment to shine.
Now that Lucario had been the one to lose to Destiny Bond in the semifinals, it was surely its turn to show its strength in the finals, right?
Even setting aside the hand of fate, Lucario would never allow itself to achieve such an "embarrassing" record in