XY068: Good Friends, Great Training!

is the 17th episode of Pokémon the Series: XY Kalos Quest.
==Synopsis==
On the way to meet Clemont in Lumiose City, our heroes run into their friend Tierno from summer camp! A Team Rocket robot quickly interrupts the happy reunion when it grabs Ash’s Sliggoo and Tierno’s Raichu and Wartortle, and then carts them back to the villains. But Jessie is annoyed that their “Automatic Pikachu Catcher” malfunctioned and sends it flying, allowing the Pokémon to escape.
When Team Rocket comes after Pikachu again, Sliggoo bravely steps up to protect it. When their robot explodes and starts a fire, Sliggoo evolves into Goodra to put out the flames with a powerful Rain Dance before sending the villains blasting off again!
Finally, Ash and Tierno get to have the Double Battle they’ve been planning. Raichu and Wartortle are formidable opponents, but the team of Pikachu and Goodra proves too much for them, and Ash wins! Tierno wishes Ash luck in his upcoming Gym battle and heads off to continue his own journey, and our heroes finally have Lumiose City within their sights!
==Episode plot==
At the Pokémon Center, Ash, Serena and Bonnie are talking with Clemont over the video phone. Clemont's glad they're eating well and Bonnie replies that she's concerned with how he's doing. He assures her he's doing well and has even invented a new machine that shall free humanity from the clutches of housework before unveiling his Gothitelle robot maid, capable of detecting dirt on anything and immediately cleaning it. The machine backfires and tries to clean Clemont before exploding. He tells them he looks forward to their arrival.
Walking through the forest en route to Lumiose, Serena asks Ash if he's thought of a strategy yet. Ash recalls Bunnelby, Chespin and Luxray, to which Bonnie points out he also has Magnemite and Heliolisk, and that those Pokémon have probably powered up too. Ash resolves to do the same before a familiar voice calls out to him. Tierno emerges from behind a tree and greets Ash and Bonnie before catching sight of Serena. Immediately enamored with her new look, he gives her his highest compliments, to which she nervously thanks him. Tierno asks where Clemont is and reacts in surprise when the gang tells him he's a Gym Leader. He explains that when he went to get his badge he battled a robot. Bonnie explains that Clemont invented it and Ash asks Tierno if he got his Voltage Badge, to which Tierno proudly produces it for them to see. After marveling at it, Ash asks Tierno for a battle, to which the bigger lad agrees.
They face off in an open clearing and Ash calls out Sliggoo. In turn, Tierno calls out some of the Pokémon he's acquired since the Summer Camp: The Pokémon are Politoed, Hitmontop and Ludicolo; furthermore, his Squirtle has since evolved into Wartortle. He asks Ash about the rhythm strategy he tried to master and Ash explains that while it turned out differently from Tierno's, he ultimately won the Rumble Badge. Tierno then proposes a Double Battle, with his Pokémon being Wartortle, and, taking a Poké Ball out from behind his back, he calls out his fifth Pokémon - Raichu. He says since Ash is going up against an Electric-type Gym it'd be wise to practice against an Electric-type opponent. Before the two can start their battle, an odd-looking machine pops out of a nearby bush and grabs Pikachu. The gang is taken off guard at first, but recognize Team Rocket from a holographic message played back for them by the machine, which the Team Rocket hologram reveals is called the "APC" unit. Ash has Sliggoo use Dragon Breath on the machine which frees Pikachu. The APC Unit turns around and instead abducts Raichu and Wartortle. Ash orders his Pokémon to help them, to which the APC Unit ends up absconding with not only Tierno's Pokémon, but Sliggoo as well.
As the APC Unit makes its way to Team Rocket, Raichu attempts to escape with a Thunderbolt attack, which backfires and ends up shocking Wartortle. As it rebukes Raichu, Sliggoo looks at them nervously, perhaps reminded of its own experiences. Meanwhile, after Ash's Fletchinder fails to find them, the gang splits up to look. Bonnie and Tierno go one way while Ash and Serena go another. Team Rocket is relaxing when the APC Unit arrives with their capture. They rejoice until James takes a look inside and realizes they got a Raichu instead of Pikachu. Meowth wonders if Pikachu evolved, but James denies it. After getting shocked by Raichu, he further denies it by noting that its Thunderbolt isn't as intense as Pikachu's. Jessie takes a look inside and Wartortle uses Water Gun on her. Angered, she calls out Pumpkaboo and has it use Shadow Ball on the cage to teach the Pokémon a lesson. This backfires when the Shadow Ball ends up severing the cage's tie with the APC Unit, sending it rolling down the hill. James and Meowth lament what a waste it was while Jessie, still agitated, reminds them that their target is Pikachu.
The cage falls off of a nearby cliff, alerting Bonnie and Tierno. They run over to the cage's shattered remains and recover its occupants who are no worse for wear. Tierno deduces that the machine could still be looking for Pikachu, to which they both resolve to alert Ash and Serena. Bonnie calls on Dedenne to locate Pikachu using its electrical capabilities. It finds a match and they move off. Elsewhere, Pikachu receives Dedenne's electrical signal. As Serena notes it means something might've happened on their end, the APC Unit returns to ensnare Pikachu, who knocks it over with a sound Iron Tail. Meanwhile, Bonnie and co. come across an obstacle in the form of a boulder blocking their way. Sliggoo tries a Dragon Breath before deciding on the classic battering ram maneuver. Tierno marvels at Sliggoo's fortitude and has Wartortle and Raichu join in. Together the three Pokémon succeed in reducing the boulder to crumbles.
The APC Unit continues chasing after Ash, Serena and Pikachu. After a few tries. it succeeds in grabbing ahold of the little Electric-type. Team Rocket emerges, reciting their motto and are glad they caught Pikachu. As the APC Unit is about to put Pikachu into another cage, Sliggoo shows up out of nowhere and runs interception, knocking out the machine and rescuing Pikachu from its clutches as Bonnie, Tierno and their Pokémon arrive. Irritated, Jessie calls out Pumpkaboo once more to use Shadow Ball. Pikachu and Sliggoo dodge it and it ends up hitting the machine, destroying it and spreading embers everywhere. The embers turn into a ring of fire which surrounds Ash, Serena, Team Rocket and their Pokémon. A tree nearly falls on Bonnie before Tierno saves her, showing how dangerous the situation is. The fire closes in on Ash, making him recoil. Seeing its trainer in peril triggers a flashback in Sliggoo's memory where it saw a number of its friends perish in similar circumstances. Deciding once and for all to never let it happen again, Sliggoo summons its largest gathering of rain clouds yet. As the rain falls and its resolve solidifies, Sliggoo releases a strange new attack before its body starts to glow: As Team Rocket and the gang look on in awe, its feelers lengthen, its underbelly develops into feet and it triples in size, evolving into Goodra.
Ash notes it used Rain Dance to put out the fire. He looks up Goodra in the Pokédex as the rain stops and praises its awesomeness. Jessie complains about being soaked again and James suggests they capture Goodra. They have Pumpkaboo and Inkay use Dark Pulse and Psybeam. Goodra blocks the attacks and Ash orders it to respond with Dragon Breath, but Goodra does him one better and sends Team Rocket packing with the new move it showed before, Dragon Pulse. With Team Rocket sent packing, Ash and Tierno finally have their battle, with Tierno's Wartortle and Raichu facing Ash's Pikachu and Goodra. Pikachu lands a Quick Attack on Wartortle, who uses the recoil to launch into a Rapid Spin, which Pikachu subsequently dodges. Raichu launches Charge Beam on Goodra, who takes it standing up with Bide. Raichu hits Goodra again this time with Focus Blast, to which Goodra keeps charging Bide. Tierno orders Raichu to use Focus Blast again, and before Ash can have Pikachu intercept it with Electro Ball, Wartortle intercepts Pikachu with Rapid Spin, enabling Raichu's second Focus Blast to hit Goodra. With Bide now fully charged, Goodra launches it. Tierno orders Wartortle to use Hydro Pump to counter it, but Pikachu runs interception and shuts down Hydro Pump with Iron Tail, enabling Bide to hit Tierno's Pokémon.
Tierno has his Pokémon go into their rhythm and has Wartortle use Skull Bash on Goodra, who grabs the former and holds it there, effectively reducing its attack to nothing. As Raichu tries to free it with Focus Blast, Pikachu counters with Electro Ball. Ash has Goodra throw Wartortle; it hits Raichu and leaves them both confused. To clinch it, Pikachu hits Wartortle with Thunderbolt and Goodra hits Raichu with Dragon Pulse, knocking them both out and winning Ash the battle. A few hours later, the gang parts ways with Tierno who promises to give their best to Trevor and Shauna. As dusk falls, the gang finally arrives back in Lumiose City, eager to see Clemont again.
==Debuts==
===Pokémon===
*Tierno's Wartortle
*Tierno's Raichu
*Tierno's Hitmontop
*Tierno's Ludicolo
*Tierno's Politoed
*Ash's Goodra
===Item===
*Voltage Badge
==Trivia==
*"Pokémon Quiz": Sliggoo (JP)
*"Who's that Pokémon?": Sliggoo (US)
*Ash's Goodra comes in just behind Charizard for taking the shortest time to fully evolve: Charizard evolved from Charmeleon three episodes after evolving from Charmander, while Goodra's evolution into Sliggoo from Goomy happened only four episodes ago. The record for this however goes to Ash's Butterfree, whose first evolution happened in exactly the same episode it was caught in, with its second happening the episode after that.
*This episode has similarities with .
**Both take place two episodes before Ash's fifth Gym battle.
**Ash and friends meet up with one of Ash's rivals, who reveals that he has earned a Badge at the Gym Ash is planning on challenging.
**One of Ash's Pokémon evolves.
==Gallery==
==References==
pl:XY065
Category:Episodes featuring a main character's Pokémon evolving
Category:Episodes featuring a main character's Pokémon learning a new move
Category:Episodes focusing on Ash
Category:Episodes focusing on Tierno