XY003

← XY002 : Lumiose City Pursuit!

Pokémon the Series: XY

XY004 : A Shockingly Cheeky Friendship! →

A Battle of Aerial Mobility!

XY003   EP802 ケロマツVSヤヤコマ！空中機動バトル！！ Keromatsu VS Yayakoma! Aerial Battle Maneuvers!!

First broadcast Japan October 24, 2013 United States February 1, 2014

English themes Opening Pokémon Theme (Version XY) Ending

Japanese themes Opening Ｖ（ボルト） Ending Ｘ海峡Ｙ景色

Credits Animation Team Kato Screenplay 冨岡淳広 Atsuhiro Tomioka Storyboard 外山草 Sou Toyama Assistant director 西田健一 Ken'ichi Nishida Animation directors 緒方厚 Atsushi Ogata 小山知洋 Tomohiro Koyama Additional credits

Screenshots on Filb.de Preview thread on BMGf Closed Original review thread on BMGf Dub review thread on BMGf

A Battle of Aerial Mobility! (Japanese: ケロマツVSヤヤコマ！空中機動バトル！！ Keromatsu VS Yayakoma! Aerial Battle Maneuvers!!) is the third episode of Pokémon the Series: XY, and the 802nd episode of the Pokémon animated series. It first aired in Japan on October 24, 2013 and in the United States on February 1, 2014.

Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.

Blurb

While Serena is on her way to Professor Sycamore to receive her first Pokémon, Ash successfully registers for the Kalos League and calls Professor Oak to show off Froakie, his first Kalos Pokémon. Then, to our hero’s happy surprise, Clemont and Bonnie ask Ash if they can accompany him on his Kalos journey, with the Santalune City Gym as their first stop!

As the trio set off, Jessie, James, and Meowth are checking in with their Boss, promising him that Team Rocket will catch as many rare and powerful Pokémon as possible in the Kalos region. With Giovanni’s approval, they set off as well.

The first new Pokémon our heroes come across is a hungry Dedenne in a tree, who struggles with a large berry before dropping it to the ground. Bonnie decides she just has to have Dedenne, and asks Clemont to catch it for her. Ash agrees to help, but an ornery Fletchling suddenly swoops down, steals the berry, and eats it. Crying, Dedenne runs away, but Ash decides Fletchling would be a great addition to his team!

Without any word from Ash, Froakie unexpectedly springs into battle mode, while Clemont produces his “Flying-type Pokémon Attractor Machine” in an attempt to lure Fletchling out of the sky. But without a plan, Froakie is unsuccessful, and Clemont’s machine turns out to have no effect on Flying-type Pokémon. It does, however, succeed in attracting a huge swarm of angry Beedrill!

Deciding on a different strategy, Ash makes use of Froakie’s amazing jumping skills, turning an environment full of cliffs and ledges into an enormous battlefield. A more even battle ensues between Fletchling and Froakie, and after a couple of attempts, Ash has his second Kalos Pokémon—Fletchling!

Meanwhile, catching Kalos Pokémon seems to be all the rage, as elsewhere James manages to catch an Inkay that’s been following Team Rocket to steal their food...

And away from all this action, Serena has arrived at the Sycamore Pokémon Lab. As a new Trainer, she must now choose her first Pokémon: Chespin, Fennekin, or Froakie. Who will it be?

Plot

Serena, having seen Ash on television and recognized him, decides to leave for Professor Sycamore's research laboratory in Lumiose City to receive her first partner Pokémon. Her mother wishes her luck and reminds Serena to keep practicing her Rhyhorn racing. Meanwhile, Bonnie and Clemont lead Ash to the nearest Pokémon Center so he can register for the Kalos Pokémon League. On the way, Clemont expresses his awe of Ash's bravery when helping out Pikachu and Garchomp the previous day. They reach the Center where Ash registers using his Pokédex and he also receives a complementary Badge Case. Afterwards, Ash calls Professor Oak to show off his newly caught Froakie. The chat comes to an abrupt end when Oak’s troublesome Rotom zaps him. Team Rocket, who is having lunch elsewhere in Lumiose City, contact Giovanni and inform him they are in Kalos with the intention of stealing rare and valuable Pokémon. Giovanni approves the mission, however while talking the three don't notice an Inkay stealing and eating James's croissant.

Later, as Ash is about to depart for Santalune City, Clemont and Bonnie ask Ash if they may accompany him on his journey, to which he happily accepts. Following on Clemont’s directions, the newly formed traveling trio decide to take the fastest road to Santalune – Route 4. As they walk through a forest, a Berry drops from the treetops, followed by a Dedenne. Ash uses his Pokédex to learn more about it. The Dedenne and Pikachu look at each other, communicating by transmitting electricity from their cheek pouches. Bonnie, overjoyed by Dedenne's charm and cuteness, begs Clemont to let her keep it, to which he agrees. Just before Bonnie gives the fallen berry back to Dedenne, a wild Fletchling swoops down from the sky, snatches the berry from Bonnie's hand, and eats it. Dedenne cries and runs away, saddening Bonnie, because Clemont speculates that Dedenne might not return because its food was stolen.

Froakie is enraged at Fletchling for stealing the berry and attempts to attack it. However, Fletchling's speed and flying prowess prevent Froakie from even landing a hit. Although Ash tries to stop Froakie so that they can form a strategy, his Pokémon's stubbornness is preventing him from listening to reason. Eventually, Ash manages to calm Froakie down and they begin to plan out a strategy for catching Fletchling. Meanwhile, Team Rocket is flying nearby in their balloon. Because his croissant had been stolen earlier, James is hungry, so Meowth brings out some sandwiches, which are also snatched by the Inkay from earlier. While James distracts Inkay with more sandwiches, he throws a Poké Ball and manages to catch it.

In order to find Fletchling, who fled while Ash and Froakie were coming up with their strategy, Clemont produces an invention of his that resembles a phonograph, designed to attract Flying-type Pokémon. However, the machine fails to work properly and instead attracts a swarm of Beedrill. They start running while Clemont continues to crank his device, hoping a different frequency may help, though it only aggravates the Beedrill more. The machine then explodes, sending the three friends flying into a large ravine. Clemont is discouraged at the failure of his device, but Ash encourages him by expressing his amazement that it attracted, albeit unintentionally, all of the Beedrill that it did. Then, the Fletchling from earlier flies overhead, laughing at the three of them. Ash comes up with a new strategy to catch Fletchling, using the cliffs of the ravine. With his strategy prepared, Ash calls on Froakie to battle the Fletchling. Ash's Froakie scales the cliffs of the ravine to bring himself to the same height as Fletchling. He then attacks with a Water Pulse, though Fletchling evades it. Froakie follows on with a frubble barrage, but Fletchling soars higher to escape them. Froakie creates a fake version of himself using his frubbles, which Fletchling falls for. Froakie then knocks Fletchling out of the air with a Bubble attack. Ash throws another Poké Ball, but Fletchling emerges and immediately goes on the attack. Froakie leaps to escape before delivering a direct Water Pulse at his target. As Fletchling falls towards the ground, Ash throw another Ball, and this time he is successful in capturing Fletchling. Froakie is exhausted from the effort, but he receives praise all round for his spectacular battle performance. Ash calls out his new Fletchling to welcome it to the team. Bonnie takes the opportunity to lecture Fletchling on not stealing from others, and quickly forgives the Tiny Robin Pokémon. Unbeknownst to the group, the Dedenne from earlier continues to observe them.

Serena arrives at Professor Sycamore's lab, which is still partially damaged from Garchomp's earlier rampage. Sycamore greets the new Trainer and asks if Serena is ready to receive her first Pokémon. Serena quickly replies yes, but is more interested in the familiar boy who saved Garchomp. She is pleasantly surprised to learn that it was indeed Ash, like she had thought. Sycamore informs her that Ash is headed to the Santalune City Gym. Keen to hit the road and catch up with Ash, one of Sycamore's assistants, Sophie, brings out the three Kalos first partner Pokémon, Chespin, Fennekin, and Froakie, for Serena to choose.

Major events

Ash after catching Fletchling

• Serena leaves on her Pokémon journey.
• Ash, Clemont, and Bonnie agree to travel together.
• Ash registers for the Kalos League and receives a new Badge case.
• The group decides to head to Santalune City for Ash's first Gym battle.
• Bonnie befriends a Dedenne, which begins to follow the group.
• James catches an Inkay.
• Ash's Froakie is revealed to know Bubble.
• Ash catches a Fletchling.
• Serena reaches Lumiose City and meets Professor Sycamore as she prepares to choose her first partner Pokémon.

For a list of all major events in the animated series, please see the history page.

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

• Nurse Joy's Wigglytuff
• Clemont's Dedenne
• Ash's Fletchling
• Inkay (James's)
• Chespin
• Fennekin (Sycamore's)

Characters

Humans

Pokémon Quiz

• Ash
• Serena
• Clemont
• Bonnie
• Jessie
• James
• Professor Oak
• Nurse Joy
• Giovanni
• Professor Sycamore
• Matori
• Grace
• Sophie
• Citizens

Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?

Who's That Pokémon?: Fletchling (US and international)
Pokémon Quiz: Inkay (Japan)

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
• Froakie (Ash's)
• Fletchling (Ash's; new)
• Inkay (James's; new; debut)
• Rotom (Professor Oak's)
• Persian (Giovanni's)
• Wigglytuff (Nurse Joy's)
• Garchomp (Professor Sycamore's; flashback)
• Fletchling (Grace's)
• Rhyhorn (Grace's)
• Chespin (first partner Pokémon; debut)
• Fennekin (first partner Pokémon; debut)
• Froakie (first partner Pokémon)
• Dedenne (anime)
• Eevee
• Skitty
• Delcatty
• Panpour
• Poliwhirl
• Zigzagoon
• Beedrill (multiple)

Trivia

The title card segment focuses on Ash for this episode

• Professor Oak's Pokémon Holo Caster: Meowth
• Ash flips his hat backwards for the first time in Pokémon the Series: XY.
• This episode marks the first appearance of the Kalos Nurse Joy design.
  • This episode also reveals that the Nurse Joys working in the Kalos region use Wigglytuff as assistants.
• This episode marks the most recent appearance of Professor Oak's Rotom in the anime, not counting the Professor Oak's Pokémon Holo Caster segments.
• This is the last episode in which Ash catches a Normal-type Pokémon, not counting a released Pokémon rejoining his team.
  • This also marks the last time Ash catches a Pokémon that did not willingly join his team, excluding temporary captures.
• Team Rocket doesn't recite the motto or blast off in this episode.
• Ash, Clemont, and Bonnie narrate the preview for the next episode.

Errors

• When Team Rocket begins celebrating at the café, Jessie's mouth does not move even when she is heard speaking.
• There is a Zigzagoon in the background, but its hind legs are colored beige like its paws.
• When Ash and his friends are running away from the swarm of Beedrill, Froakie's hands are completely colored blue instead of white.
• After Ash flips his hat backwards, he throws a second Poké Ball to catch Fletchling. However, in the next scene, his hat is unflipped.
  • Also, the button part of the second Poké Ball thrown by Ash is large in appearance after successfully catching Fletchling. However, in the next scene where Ash's hat is flipped, the button part is now small.
• When Ash successfully catches Fletchling, the Poké Ball doesn't open as it typically does when a Pokémon is initially caught.
• The Team Rocket logo on the front of Giovanni's desk is missing.
• In the English dub:
  • In a recurring error, after Team Rocket is sprayed by Inkay's ink, the sound of Wobbuffet's Poké Ball opening is heard despite him already being out of it.
  • In the ending credits, Kayzie Rogers' first name is misspelled as "Kazie".

• 

  Zigzagoon's hind legs error

• 

  Froakie's hands error

• 

  The missing logo

Dub edits

• For unknown reasons, the To Be Continued text does not appear in the end of the episode in the American version. The UK version, and presumably all international versions, has the To Be Continued added in.
• In this episode, the background music present in the Japanese version is replaced with dub music, with the exception of the title card music.
• The gray logo on Ash's Badge case is colored (red and green is added for the Pokémon Gym logo and the pattern around it, respectively).
• For unknown reasons, the title card segment is skipped in the Hindi dub.

In other languages

Language		Title
Chinese	Cantonese	呱呱泡蛙對小箭雀！空中機動對戰！！* 呱呱泡蛙VS小箭雀！空中機動對戰！！*
	Mandarin	呱呱泡蛙VS小箭雀！空中機動對戰！！
Czech		Zápas vzdušné hbitosti!
Danish		En heftig kamp i luften!
Dutch		Een levendig luchtgevecht!
Finnish		Kamppailu ilmaherruudesta!
European French		Un combat de mobilité aérienne !
German		Ein Kampf der Lüfte!
Greek		Μια Μάχη Κινητικότητας στον Αέρα!
Hebrew		!קרב של תנועה אווירית
Hindi		फ़्रोकी की स्पीड का जवाब नहीं! Froakie ki Speed ka Jawab Nahi!
Indonesian		Pertarungan Gerakan Udara!
Italian		Una lotta aerea!
Korean		개구마르VS화살꼬빈! 공중 기동 배틀!!
Norwegian		En luftmobil kamp!
Polish		Bitwa na powietrzne umiejętności!
Portuguese	Brazil	Uma batalha de mobilidade aérea!
	Portugal	Uma batalha de mobilidade aérea
Russian		Битва за присутствие в воздухе!
Spanish	Latin America	¡Una batalla de movilidad aérea!
	Spain	¡Un combate de movilidad aérea!
Swedish		En rörlig luftstrid!
Thai		เคโระมัตสึ ปะทะ ยายาโคมะ! การต่อสู้กลางเวหา!!
Turkish		Hava hareketliliği maçı!
Vietnamese		Keromatsu đấu với Yayakoma! Trận chiến trên không

← XY002 : Lumiose City Pursuit!

Pokémon the Series: XY

XY004 : A Shockingly Cheeky Friendship! →

This episode article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation.