Ash Ketchum’s strangest Pokemon is still confusing fans years later
The Pokemon CompanyAsh became the world’s best trainer in Pokemon Journeys: The Series, thanks in no small part to his Dracovish. However, fans are still confused over one strange element of Dracovish’s battle with Leon’s Dragapult.
The Fossil Pokemon is one of Ash’s strongest monsters in the series and is used to great effect in the Masters Eight Tournament finals.
The anime’s protagonist throws out Dracovish to fight against Dragapult during his long battle with Leon. After a powerful hit from the enemy Dragon type, Dracovish suddenly becomes overwhelmed with power, showcased via spikes on its back
Due to the apparent power-up, Ash’s partner was able to severely damage the opponent and help defeat multiple other Pokemon in Leon’s arsenal.
Years later, fans of the anime are still waiting for a proper explanation of how the power-up came to be, and why it hasn’t been brought up again. One Reddit user broached the subject on the Pokemon anime forum, which saw many others also express their confusion.
“According to what Cynthia theorized in the anime, the clash of Dragon moves (Dracovish’s Dragon Rush and Dragapult’s Dragon Darts) may have awakened a long-dormant power within Dracovish… Which then proceed to get ignored and left COMPLETELY unexplained,” one Reddit user said.
Other fans called the sudden power-up “plot armor” and said it was a convenient way for the Pokemon to suddenly be able to take on stronger opponents.
“Dracovish fighting Dragapult, who is another ancient creature, awakened his powers. Dragapult is the ghost of a dinosaur, and Dracovish is a resurrected creature with several ancient parts,” another user theorized.
The Pokemon is a combination of two different fossils, and does have some interesting interactions with other ‘mon in the show. However, those previous interactions were nothing like what viewers saw during the battle with Leon.
The Pokemon anime is full of unexplained, or non-canonical, events and pocket monster mechanics even as far back as the Indigo League. So, fans shouldn’t expect any further explanation outside of the short hypothesis they got in the episode.