A Blustery Santalune Gym Battle!

### Written by

Sonic876, Punkasaurus0530, Frogadier55, NegimaLover, TMNTHedgehog5, and DragonSpore18

### Directed by

Sonic876 and NegimaLover

***A Blustery Santalune Gym Battle!*** is the 5th episode of *Josh's Adventures of Pokémon the Series: XY*.

## Plot

Serena and her Fennekin are enjoying breakfast on a Pokémon Center veranda. Serena is already enjoying her Pokémon journey, free of the bothers of home like Rhyhorn race training and Fletchling waking her up. She puts on her hat and grabs her backpack as they continue towards Santalune City to try and find Ash.
Meanwhile, Ash is sprinting through the streets of Santalune City, looking for the Santalune Gym, with Clemont and Bonnie trying to catch up. When Clemont trips and asks Ash where the Santalune Gym is, Ash replies unconcernedly that he has no clue where it might be located. At that moment, a photographer named Viola takes a picture of Ash and Pikachu smiling at each other on the fountain. Viola then provides directions to the Gym and Ash runs off again, eager for his Gym battle. When the group arrives at the Gym, a familiar Helioptile happily leaps onto Ash and greets him, who is surprised to see Alexa there. Much to the group's surprise, Viola reappears and introduces herself as Alexa's sister, leading Ash to deduce that she is the Gym Leader.

Viola takes the group into the Gym and shows them a collection of her best photographs. Alexa explains that her sister is Bug-type specialist, and she enjoys capturing the living essence of them with her camera. Bonnie, seizing her opportunity, begs Viola be Clemont’s wife and to take care of her brother, when a mortified Clemont drags her away with his Aipom Arm. Meanwhile, Serena has just arrived in town, and she is excited about her reunion with Ash, eager to see the look on his face when he recognizes her. Ash's Gym battle with Viola begins and she sends out her Surskit, with Ash choosing Pikachu. Although Ash tries Quick Attack, Iron Tail, and Electro Ball, Viola has effective counters to all of his moves, be it Protect itself, dodging, or responding with an attack of her own. During the battle, Alexa tells Clemont and Bonnie that defeating her sister is no easy task. Viola then commands Surskit to use Ice Beam on the battlefield. Surrounding Pikachu with a frozen battlefield, Surskit gives itself a significant advantage by using its skating abilities to move freely on the ice while its adversary has trouble even standing up. Although Pikachu manages to score a direct hit with Iron Tail, Surskit is too much to handle and Pikachu is taken out of the match by a Signal Beam. Ash chooses Fletchling as his next Pokémon.

At that moment, Serena arrives at the Santalune Gym. Upon seeing Ash, she is so excited that she fails to notice that he is in the middle of a battle, but Alexa notices her and invites her to watch the battle with her, Clemont, and Bonnie from the sidelines. Ash's Fletchling leads off with Peck, which Surskit dodges, and then avoids another Ice Beam from Surskit. Viola's Pokémon then uses Sticky Web and, although Fletchling dodges it with a Double Team, the web covers the ceiling and walls of the Gym. Finally, Fletchling manages to defeat Surskit with a Razor Wind attack. However, Viola sends out her Vivillon next, and Ash takes a moment to check his Pokédex. Just like with Surskit, Ash begins with Peck, but Vivillon uses Psychic and then Gust to trap Fletchling in one of Surskit's Sticky Webs. Now stuck, Fletchling is unable to dodge Vivillon's Solar Beam and is defeated, making Viola the winner of the match.

Stung by his defeat, Ash requests a rematch when he is ready for it, to which Viola agrees, and he hurries his Pokémon to the Pokémon Center. Serena tries to say something to Ash as he leaves, but the latter is too concerned about his injured Pokémon to notice her. However, she notices that Ash left his backpack behind by accident and follows him with it. Back at the Gym, Viola shows Alexa the picture of Ash and Pikachu from before and remarks on their strong bond. Viola also mentions that she was unimpressed by Ash's battling style and that their bond wasn't evident in the way they battled that day. Alexa warns her not to underestimate Ash and that things might turn out very differently in their rematch.

Meanwhile, Ash is still upset about his loss, remembering that he was completely overwhelmed by Viola's strategies. As he ponders how he might do things differently next time, Serena returns his backpack to him. Bonnie and Clemont run over, recognizing her from when they were watching Ash's battle. They introduce themselves, and Ash apologizes for not noticing her before since he was so into the battle. He introduces himself, as does Serena, who starts asking him something before being interrupted by the Pokémon Center bell. Pikachu and Fletchling are now fully recovered, and Ash introduces them to Serena. Serena asks Nurse Joy to look at Fennekin, whom she tells Ash and his friends that she Fennekin from Professor Sycamore not too long ago. As Nurse Joy examines Fennekin, Alexa arrives at the Center and agrees to help Ash train for his rematch against Viola. On the battlefield at the Pokémon Center, Alexa summons her Noivern, who is also capable of using Gust. Although Pikachu and Fletchling try to stand up to Noivern's Gust, they are blown away, leading Ash to run forward and catch them before they can fall. He encourages his team, and they perform better the second time, but are still ultimately overpowered by the Gust. While Ash wonders how he is going to compensate for Viola's strategies, Serena walks up to him and offers him a handkerchief before asking if he remembers her.

## Major events

* Ash, Clemont, and Bonnie reach Santalune City, with Serena arriving soon after, and meet Viola, the local Gym Leader.
* Ash meets up with Alexa again, while Clemont, Bonnie, and Serena meet her for the first time.
* Serena meets Clemont and Bonnie for the first time.
* Ash battles Viola in his first Kalos Gym match and loses.
* Serena reunites with Ash and asks him if he remembers her.

## Characters

### Humans

* Ash
* Serena
* Clemont
* Bonnie
* Nurse Joy
* Viola
* Alexa
* Referee

### Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?: Vivillon

* Pikachu (Ash's)
* Dedenne (Clemont's)
* Fletchling (Ash's)
* Fennekin (Serena's)
* Vivillon (Viola's; Meadow Pattern; debut)
* Surskit (Viola's)
* Helioptile (Alexa's)
* Noivern (Alexa's)
* Wigglytuff (Nurse Joy's)
* Sentret
* Psyduck
* Smeargle
* Mawile
* Farfetch'd
* Jumpluff
* Fraxure
* Scrafty
* Audino
* Gulpin
* Marill
* Azurill
* Ralts
* Ducklett
* Hoppip
* Spritzee
* Oddish
* Gallade
* Skitty
* Volbeat (picture)
* Illumise (picture)
* Beautifly (picture)
* Venomoth (picture)
* Combee (picture)
* Ledyba (picture)
* Butterfree (picture)
* Weedle (×2; picture)
* Spinarak (picture)

## Transcript

*Main article: A Blustery Santalune Gym Battle!/Transcript*
## Trivia

* Professor Oak's Pokémon Holo Caster: Dedenne
* This is the first episode of *Pokémon the Series: XY* in which Team Rocket does not appear.
* This episode marks the debut of Bonnie's running gag, in which she tries to find a wife for Clemont.
* This episode marks the first appearance of a number of Pokémon species in the main series after long absences:
	+ Gulpin, who last appeared in *Curbing the Crimson Tide!*, 364 episodes ago.
	+ Farfetch'd, who last appeared in *A Rivalry to Gible On!*, 193 episodes ago.
	+ Surskit, who last appeared in *Coming Full-Festival Circle!*, 162 episodes ago.
	+ Gallade, who last appeared in *A Grand Fight for Winning!*, 161 episodes ago.
	+ Jumpluff, who last appeared in *An Old Family Blend!*, 156 episodes ago.
* Music from *Kyurem VS. The Sword of Justice* is used in this episode.
* Pokemon.com originally referred to this episode as the 15th episode instead of the fifth. This was fixed shortly afterwards.