The Pokemon Journeys anime has reached its climax with the Masters 8 tournament. The current goal of the series' protagonist, Ash, has been to reach the top of the Pokemon World Championships in order to battle the world's strongest trainer, Leon. Over the course of Pokemon Journeys, fans have seen the Pokemon trainer battle his way into the top eight, standing among the best in the world.
What may be the most impressive fact about this feat is that Ash reached this point with a team comprised almost entirely of Pokemon he's only recently caught. While some fans have claimed they would have enjoyed seeing Ash's older Pokemon participate in the Pokemon World Championships, the anime has thrown these fans a bone with a scene during Ash's first round battle.
During episode 118 of Pokemon Journeys in the middle of Ash's match with Steven Stone, all of Ash's Pokemon currently at Professor Oak's lab are shown to be watching. The scene shows all of Ash's Pokemon, alongside Professor Oak, Tracy, and Ash's mother watching Ash's face-off with the Hoenn champion as they cheer for their trainer to make his way to the semi-finals.
While not every Pokemon Ash has ever owned appears in this scene as he has yet to reunite with some such as his Butterfree, fans are treated to an additional scene where Ash's fire-type Pokemon cheer for his Gengar after it defeats Steven's Aggron. This is notably heartwarming as in a previous episode, his fire-type Pokemon helped the ghost-type learn the move Will-O-Wisp.
One strength of the Pokemon Journeys anime that fans seem to appreciate is the series' ability to seamlessly reference past seasons. As a series celebrating twenty-five years of the Pokemon anime, Pokemon Journeys has brought back some of the most iconic Pokemon and characters from the anime's past to show how far they've grown. Such as Ash's Kalos companion Serena, or Kalos ace Pokemon Greninja.
While Pokemon Journeys has questions left to answer such as what's in store for Chloe and her Eevee since their contest debut, the current tournament arc in the anime is likely to be one of the most exciting arcs for fans to experience. As audiences observe more clashes between these champions, only time will tell if Ash has what it takes to reach the top of the Pokemon world and defeat Leon to become the best like no one ever was.
Source: Reddit