A rumor of a really strong Pokémon Trainer that had been visiting Melemele Island and was accompanied by a Midnight Form Lugarugan, spread to the Pokémon School. It ended up being
Lillie's brother. Both Skull Gang and Rocket Gang thought it would be worth getting as it was a powerful Pokémon. It defeated
Tupp,
Zipp and
Rapp's Pokémon in a single attack.
After witnessing that battle,
Jessie noted that since they treat evil and justice as the same thing, that Lugarugan which is creepy
and cool would be a perfect match for them. Musashi kept getting its name wrong though and kept calling it Luganga.
Meowth said that Lugarugan was filled with extreme bloodthirst.
In Alola Pokémon League semifinals first match,
Kiawe's Marowak battled against
Gladion's Lycanroc (Midnight Form) as the first matchup. Marowak really couldn't find a way to counter Lycanroc's Stone Edge and was defeated by it. As the semifinals had 2 Pokémon on-hand,
Kiawe's Turtonator came out and during the battle it learned the move Focus Blast and it was super effective against Gladion's Lycanroc, defeating it.
Alola League Finals - Last Battle Match-up
With
Ash Ketchum and
Gladion down to only one Pokémon each,
Ash's Lycanroc (Dusk Form) and
Gladion's Lycanroc (Midnight Form) battled each other in the last battle match-up to determine who would be the first Alola Pokémon League Champion. The day that
Ash's Lycanroc (Dusk Form) evolved, Gladion’s Lycanroc was right there and from that moment on, there were real rival. In their previous battles, there were many battling strategies that
Ash Ketchum used that
Gladion didn’t know were possible. Counter played a huge role in this finals battle but Ash and Lycanroc knew that from the start. Ash's Lycanroc had increased its reflex speed after all the battles it had and it was able to avoid a lot of Stone Edge attacks.
Gladion had trained with his Lycanroc to be able to break through Outrage's confusion by biting itself which surprised everyone. In the end though, it was a Counter against a Counter that allowed
Ash's Lycanroc (Dusk Form) to defeat
Gladion's Lycanroc (Midnight Form) and make
Ash Ketchum the Alola Pokémon League Champion.