XY052

A Stealthy Challenge! (Japanese: 忍法対決！ゲコガシラ対ガメノデス！！ Ninja Arts Showdown! VS !!) is the 52nd episode of Pokémon the Series: XY, and the 851st episode of the Pokémon animated series. It first aired in Japan on December 11, 2014 and in the United States on February 28, 2015.
==Blurb==
Ash and friends spot their ninja friend Sanpei and his Greninja floating down a river, unconscious! After they mount a rescue, Sanpei explains that he’s on a mission for his ninja master, Saizo, but a masked ninja and his Barbaracle partner keep trying to interfere.
The gang decides to help Sanpei on his mission, but soon Ash and Sanpei are separated from the others—just as the masked ninja strikes again! Froakie and Greninja team up to fight him off, and when the battle seems to be going against them, Froakie evolves into Frogadier!
The masked ninja then directs Ash and Sanpei to the manor where their friends are waiting. There, they discover their pursuer is none other than Saizo, who has been using their encounters as a test of Sanpei’s skills—and Sanpei has passed with flying colors! With everyone safely reunited, Ash challenges Sanpei to a battle, and soon our heroes are off once again to Coumarine City.
==Plot==
On their way to Coumarine City, practices with and while watch. During this, and notice something floating in the river. Ash realizes that it's Sanpei, and immediately dives in to save him. Back on shore, Sanpei wakes up while heals of its ing. He is startled at first, but is pleasantly surprised to see the group again after such a long time. Ash takes the opportunity to check Greninja with his Pokédex, to which Sanpei explains that Greninja had evolved from his .
When they try to find out why Greninja was poisoned, they hear a voice of an enemy ninja who, along with his , attacked Sanpei earlier. Barbaracle makes the first move with a , but is countered by Froakie's . Pikachu tries a on Barbaracle, who is not even affected. Nearby, observes the situation and plans to take advantage of it by capturing Pikachu. Clemont realizes that they will be overpowered to which Sanpei uses his ninja leaf shroud technique to escape from the ninja and his Barbaracle. Later, everyone is safe, but Clemont remembers that the ninja demanded a secret scroll from Sanpei. Sanpei tells them that his instructor, Saizo, had given him the scroll to be delivered to a Safe House before sunset; he was ambushed by the ninja soon after he left. During the ambush, Greninja got poisoned by Barbaracle's while a Razor Shell attack knocked them both into the river.
Sanpei cannot explain why the ninja wants the scroll, but he has to deliver it as requested. Ash and his friends decide to help Sanpei but Clemont realizes that they have to proceed with a plan. Clemont decides to trick the ninja by inventing a mechanical set of decoys, named the "Robo Step by Step", and sends it on its way. Meanwhile, Team Rocket is trying to find the twerps. They soon notice footprints and hear them approaching. Jessie and James start their , but are interrupted by , who points out that it is a machine. An angry Jessie kicks the decoys, causing it to explode.
Meanwhile, Sanpei shows Ash and his friends his map of the area. He points out the location of the manor, which he acknowledges that they won't be able to reach during the day following the path. Ash asks if there are any shortcuts, to which the group decide to take a dangerous route through the mountains. They start by taking the narrow wooden bridge. While crossing, the bridge breaks and Clemont falls along with Serena. Clemont is saved by Froakie's frubbles while Serena is saved by Greninja's tongue. They next arrive at a tunnel which leads directly through the mountain. However they are attacked by several , though Sanpei has his Greninja use to distract the Golbat. Ash and Sanpei are the only ones to emerge from the caves, while the others seemingly disappear, when suddenly the masked ninja arrives. Sanpei tells Ash to look for Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie, but Ash insists that he will stay and battle. Froakie and Greninja start the battle using and surround Barbaracle. Ash and Sanpei command Froakie and Greninja to use and respectively. But Barbaracle dodges, causing the attacks to instead destroy the duplicates. Pikachu then uses but is countered by Razor Shell. Suddenly, a net is thrown towards Pikachu, but he dodges. Team Rocket reveal themselves before Meowth throws another net. However, Saizo and his Barbaracle cut it, as Sanpei and Ash are his prey. Meowth and Jessie's Wobbuffet charge to attack, but are hit by Barbaracle's Razor Shell. Using Water Pulse and Water Shuriken, Froakie and Greninja blast Team Rocket off for good.
Sanpei and Ash continue to battle the masked ninja. His Barbaracle uses Poison Jab, but Greninja dodges it. Froakie uses Double Team, followed with Cut, along with Pikachu's . Barbaracle smudges them all using , negating the attacks and knocking its opponents away. Barbaracle uses Poison Jab, intending on finishing Greninja. From beneath some rocks, Froakie is determined to leap to his allies’ defense, prompting him to evolve into Frogadier, taking the hit. Barbaracle uses Razor Shell, which Frogadier counters with Cut. Barbaracle uses Poison Jab, though gets attacked by Frogadier's Aerial Ace. Saizo uses his ninja powers and escapes, telling them they can find their friends at the Safe House. Ash is cautious, but Sanpei admits that it may be a trap but they still have to continue in order to find their friends.
Ash and Sanpei arrive at the manor, where they are greeted by Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie, who are all surprisingly safe. Saizo again reappears although masked. He removes his mask, and Sanpei recognizes him as his master. Saizo reveals that he was the one who took Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie because he did not want to involve Sanpei's friends in this, however he failed to grab Ash. Sanpei is still shocked that everything was orchestrated before handing over the secret scroll to officially complete the mission in time. Saizo was impressed by Sanpei’s performance during the quest, and remarks that he will be reporting all of the day's events directly to the elder of Ninja Village. Serena then sees that Ash's Froakie has evolved into a Frogadier. Bonnie asks Frogadier if it can return back to a Froakie and then evolve in front of her as she wanted to witness its evolution, but Clemont admits that things don’t work like that. Seeing the opportunity, Ash and Frogadier challenge Sanpei and Greninja to a battle, which they accept.
==Major events==
* and meet up with Sanpei again.
* Sanpei's is revealed to have evolved into a .
* Ash's evolves into and learns .
===Debuts===
====Humans====
* Saizo
====Pokémon debuts====
* ()
* Ash's Frogadier
=====TV episode debuts=====
* 
==Characters==
===Humans===
* 
* 
* 
* 
* Jessie
* James
* Sanpei
* Saizo
===Pokémon===
Who's That Pokémon?: (US and international)Pokémon Quiz: (Japan)
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* (; evolves)
* (; newly evolved)
* (; flashback)
* ()
* (Saizo's)
* (multiple)
==Trivia== 
* Professor Oak's Pokémon Holo Caster: 
** Instead of Professor Oak's Pokémon Holo Caster, Professor Oak announces a new trailer for the eighteenth movie about Primal , Primal and .
* and narrate the preview for the next episode.
* This episode marks the first time a first partner Pokémon in 's team evolves.
** This is also the first time since Round One - Begin!, 776 episodes earlier, when a Water-type Pokémon has evolved under Ash's ownership.
* This episode marks the first time that a Water-type first partner Pokémon owned by a main character has evolved since Brock's Marshtomp in A Chip Off the Old Brock, 429 episodes earlier.
* This episode marks the first time that is used by a Pokémon outside of the family in the .
* V (Volt) is used as an insert song during 's evolution.
* remains outside of its for the entire episode.
* use a variation of their twice in the episode, first of which is cut short.
===Errors===
* When heals Sanpei's with a Pecha Berry, he says it was badly poisoned in the original. inflicts regular poison to the target, not bad poison. This is fixed in the English dub.
* In one scene, Greninja's mouth is colored blue instead of cream.
* In one scene, the pupil in Greninja's eyes are colored black instead of white.
* When Clemont and Serena are falling, Clemont is to the left while Serena is to the right. When Greninja saves Serena and Froakie saves Clemont, Clemont and Serena swap places despite Greninja's tongue and Froakie's frubbles not crossing each other's paths.
* When Saizo confronts Ash and Sanpei after they leave the cave, he incorrectly refers to the secret scroll as a sacred scroll.
* When Saizo orders his to use on Team Rocket, the middle finger on Barbaracle's face is colored the same way as its face.
* When Froakie and Greninja attack Team Rocket with and , Pikachu is seen landing with Greninja instead of Froakie.
* When Barbaracle uses , it shoots up two streams of mud off the ground, yet , Greninja, and Froakie each are hit in the face by a different stream of mud, meaning a third stream appeared out of nowhere to hit Froakie.
XY052 error.png|Greninja's face error
XY052 error 2.png|Greninja's pupils error
XY052 error 3.png|Barbaracle's finger error
XY052 error 4.png|Pikachu in place of Froakie
===Dub edits===
* In the dub, Ash's Pokédex states that Greninja is the evolved form of Frogadier. In the original version, it states that Greninja is the final evolution of Froakie.
* For unknown reasons, this episode was aired between A Race for Home! and Facing the Grand Design! in . Due to the evolved Frogadier appearing in the former episode, this created a continuity error for Brazilian viewers.
==In other languages==
052
Category:Episodes written by Shinzō Fujita
Category:Episodes storyboarded by Takaomi Kanasaki
Category:Episodes directed by Masahiko Watanabe
Category:Episodes animated by Kunihiko Natsume
Category:Episodes focusing on Ash
Category:Episodes in which a main character's Pokémon evolves
Category:Episodes in which a main character's Pokémon learns a new move
de:Eine verborgene Herausforderung!
es:EP856
fr:XY052
it:XY052
ja:XY編第52話
zh:宝可梦 XY 第52集