A Dancing Debut!

### Written by

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

### Directed by

Sonic876 and NegimaLover

***A Dancing Debut!*** is the 8th episode of *Josh's Adventures of Pokémon the Series: XYZ*.

## Plot

Ash and his friends have arrived in Couriway Town, where Serena is going to compete for her third Princess Key. She is planning on using Eevee, but upon seeing the Showcase theater, Eevee becomes nervous about making her stage debut. Palermo has also come to town to watch the Pokémon Showcase. She spots Serena and remembers the day she first saw her. The night before the event takes place, Team Rocket go spying on the Showcase theater in order to discover what activity Performers will have to do during the Theme Performance, believing that knowing it in advance will give Jessie an edge. Meanwhile, Eevee is stressed about competing, but Serena, Braixen, and Pancham all help to calm her nerves.
The next morning, Serena meets up with Nini, who is revealed to have earned two Princess Keys and added a Gothita to her team. The Couriway Showcase Rookie Class starts with Monsieur Pierre welcoming the audience and explaining that, for the Theme Performance, the participating Performers will have to bake a Poké Puff while simultaneously performing a dance routine together with their Pokémon. They will then be judged by the audience, and only if they reach a certain number of votes will they get to move on to the Freestyle Performance. Jessie and Meowth are shocked to hear that the theme is nothing they imagined it would be.

The first competitor to appear on stage is Nini, who manages to wow the audience together with her Smoochum, Farfetch'd, and Gothita. She gets enough votes to advance to the next round. Second comes Jessie, assisted by Meowth and Wobbuffet, and she also manages to get to round two. After a couple more contestants perform, some succeeding while some others being eliminated, Serena gets called on stage. She uses her Pancham and greatly impresses the audience, surpassing the required number of votes to advance to the next round. With the Theme Performance behind, Pierre announces that the Freestyle Performance will start later that evening, meaning Performers can take a break to relax.

Ash and his friends decide to have a picnic, but Eevee is still feeling nervous, so much so that she is not even eating her food. To help with that, Clemont chops up an Oran Berry and a Sitrus Berry to make the food look tastier. The afternoon goes by quickly and the Showcase resumes. In the Freestyle Performance, Nini displays a variety of moves to create a dramatic performance, while Jessie has her Wobbuffet counter Gourgeist's attacks, an effect that leaves the audience excited. Lily and Sara Lee are briefly shown performing and then it's Serena's turn to perform, and she is counting on Braixen and Eevee to win her third Princess Key, which will allow her to compete for the title of Kalos Queen in the Master Class.

Eevee gets nervous when she enters the stage, but Serena calms her down. The performance begins with Braixen creating a ring of fire around Serena and Eevee as the two dance. Eevee jumps numerous times before landing on Braixen's branch. The audience is impressed by this and starts cheering louder, which makes Eevee scared and causes her to lose her balance. She ends up falling on her face and becomes sad for botching the performance, but Serena encourages her to continue performing. Eevee gets up and manages to finish the performance smiling and posing, but as soon as it ends, she gets sad again. Serena cheers her up and says they will do better next time.

After all five Performers have performed, they assemble on stage as Monsieur Pierre asks the audience members to cast their votes using the Glow Caster. The voting ends to reveal that Jessie has gotten the most votes and is the big winner of the Couriway Town Pokémon Showcase Rookie Class. Meowth and Wobbuffet are delighted and crying tears of joy as Pierre's Klefki proceeds to award Jessie her first Princess Key, bringing the competition to a close. Jessie's victory boosts her confidence and she starts fantasizing about how life will be when she becomes a famous Performer. Elsewhere, Ash and his friends bid Nini farewell and Serena reassures Eevee that they are going to win the next Showcase.

## Major events

* Ash and his friends arrive in Couriway Town and meet up with Nini again.
* Nini is revealed to have obtained a Gothita and to have earned two Princess Keys.
* Serena, Jessie, and Nini enter the Couriway Showcase Rookie Class and Jessie wins, earning her first Princess Key.

## Characters

### Humans

* Ash
* Serena
* Clemont
* Bonnie
* Jessie
* James
* Nini
* Palermo
* Monsieur Pierre
* Lily
* Sara Lee
* Performers

### Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?: Gothita

* Pikachu (Ash's)
* Meowth (Team Rocket)
* Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
* Dedenne (Clemont's)
* Fennekin (Serena's; flashback)
* Braixen (Serena's)
* Pancham (Serena's)
* Eevee (Serena's)
* Chespin (Clemont's)
* Gourgeist (Jessie's; Super Size)
* Smoochum (Nini's)
* Farfetch'd (Nini's)
* Gothita (Nini's)
* Klefki (Monsieur Pierre's)
* Solrock (Lily's)
* Leafeon (Sara Lee's)
* Glaceon (Sara Lee's)
* Mightyena (Performer's)
* Pansage (Performer's)
* Pansear (Performer's)
* Panpour (Performer's)
* Teddiursa (Performer's)
* Ducklett (Performer's)
* Zygarde (Zygarde Core; Squishy)
* Ekans (fantasy)
* Mamoswine (fantasy)

## Transcript

*Main article: A Dancing Debut!/Transcript*
## Trivia

* In the Japanese version, the title card segment focuses on, and is read by, Serena.
* Poké TV: "Performer News" focusing on Nini's Smoochum and Farfetch'd and featuring a performance by a Pikachu Rock Star.
	+ In original airings, Poké TV is replaced by a presentation from Professor Oak featuring the reveal of Volcanion in the third *Pokémon the Series: XY* movie.
* Bonnie, Squishy, Xerosic, and Celosia narrate the preview for the next episode.
* Team Rocket does not perform their motto or blast off in this episode.
* Mariya Ise returns to her role as the voice of Bonnie in this episode after her maternity leave.
* DreamDream is used as an insert song near the end of Serena's Freestyle Performance.
* All of Serena's Pokémon remain outside of their Poké Balls for the entire episode.
* The sequence of Ekans swallowing Mamoswine is a reference to Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's novella *The Little Prince*, in which a snake swallows an elephant.
* A shot of this episode was remade and used for flashback material for *Reuniting for the First Time!*.