XY079

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Pokémon the Series: XY

XY080 : Performing with Fiery Charm! →

A Frenzied Factory Fiasco!

XY079   EP878 激闘モンスターボール工場！ピカチュウVSニャース！！ Fierce Battle in the Monster Ball Factory! Pikachu VS Nyarth!!

First broadcast Japan June 25, 2015 United States August 30, 2015* September 5, 2015*

English themes Opening Be a Hero Ending

Japanese themes Opening ゲッタバンバン Ending ガオガオ・オールスター

Credits Animation Team Kato Screenplay 米村正二 Shōji Yonemura Storyboard 三浦陽 Yo Miura Assistant director 浅田裕二 Yūji Asada Animation director 岩根雅明 Masaaki Iwane No additional credits are available at this time.

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

A Frenzied Factory Fiasco! (Japanese: 激闘モンスターボール工場！ピカチュウVSニャース！！ Fierce Battle in the Monster Ball Factory! Pikachu VS Nyarth!!) is the 79th episode of Pokémon the Series: XY, and the 878th episode of the Pokémon animated series. It first aired in Japan on June 25, 2015, in Canada on August 29, 2015, and in the United States on September 5, 2015.

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

Blurb

Our heroes have taken an exciting detour from their Anistar City journey: a visit to the one-and-only Poké Ball Factory! The three factory managers who offer them a tour look strangely familiar...

It’s Team Rocket, of course, but by the time the villains reveal themselves, our heroes have handed over every one of their Poké Balls (plus Pikachu) and gotten themselves locked in a storeroom! When Pikachu escapes, a frantic chase ensues as Pikachu tries to rescue the case full of Poké Balls and Meowth tries to use Pikachu’s own Poké Ball to trap it!

Finally, Meowth offers a challenge: if Pikachu can beat him in battle, he’ll give back all the Poké Balls. Meowth tries to pull a double-cross, but Pikachu’s Iron Tail takes him down, and Team Rocket goes blasting off again. And after freeing the real factory managers, our heroes get an official tour by way of thanks!

Plot

Ash and his friends arrive at the Poké Ball Factory, as Clemont cries out in joy in having one of his dreams fulfilled. A disguised Team Rocket welcomes them, and takes them on a "premium brand" tour of the Factory. They eventually trick the twerps into handing over all of their Pokémon by offering them a unique service which detects easy-to-miss damage to Poké Balls and status conditions of their Pokémon. Ash comments that Pikachu does not like entering his Poké Ball, leading James to reveal a special glass case to put Pikachu in, and Meowth asks for Pikachu's Poké Ball to go along with him. While Clemont comments he would like to explore more of the Factory, Team Rocket invites the group to experience a "special booth" which will emulate how Pokémon feel inside a Poké Ball. Ash and his friends get taken to a dark storage room, but are left feeling disappointed by the so-called experience. The doors shut behind them, before the Factory workers reveal that they are actually Team Rocket. The crooks inform the group that their real plan was to take the Factory's Poké Balls and steal all their Pokémon.

Pikachu tries to break free, but the case is invulnerable to electricity. So instead, he smashes through the case. Pikachu uses Thunderbolt on his foes, but Wobbuffet reflects it back using Mirror Coat, which Pikachu avoids. Meowth then tries to recall Pikachu back into his Poké Ball, but Pikachu continues to dodge. Jessie and James then send out Pumpkaboo and Inkay to help. Pumpkaboo uses Shadow Ball, which Pikachu manages to evade, but gets hit with Inkay's Psybeam. Smoke from the attack surrounds Pikachu and Meowth attempts to recall Pikachu into his Poké Ball again. As the smoke clears, Pikachu has disappeared, and Team Rocket jump for joy thinking that they have caught their prime target. Team Rocket then run away and begin to steal all kinds of Poké Balls in the Poké Ball Factory.

Ash angrily bangs on the locked doors, which refuse to budge. Then Pikachu speaks out, and explains to Ash that he escaped in the nick of time using a side ventilation tunnel. Pikachu uses Iron Tail on the locked doors, which fails to break open the door. Inside the production section of the Factory, Team Rocket hear Pikachu's voice, and decide to follow the sound. They arrive and see Pikachu attempting to use Iron Tail once more, and they cry out in shock. Meowth attempts to call Pikachu into his Poké Ball again, but Pikachu escapes into the same ventilation tunnel. James sends out Inkay to follow Pikachu down the tunnel while Jessie and James go to store their stolen Poké Balls in their getaway truck. Inside the tunnel, Inkay attacks Pikachu multiple times, sending him flying, but Pikachu retaliates with Quick Attack and runs away.

Pikachu arrives in the main production room of the Poké Ball Factory, and spots the briefcase containing the stolen Poké Balls. Pikachu uses conveyor belts to try to retrieve the case. Unfortunately, Meowth pulls a switch which reverses the directions of the conveyor belts, and manages to grab the case instead. Meowth then proceeds again to try and recall Pikachu into his Poké Ball. Pikachu flees from Meowth, until Meowth accidentally gets grabbed by a hook which causes him to lose the case. The fight for the Poké Ball case continues, with Pikachu and Meowth being picked up by the Factory's machinery. Jessie and James then arrive, having stored their stolen Poké Balls away, and use the Factory's computers to help them control the machinery to catch Pikachu and help Meowth.

Meanwhile, Clemont reveals his "Extra Strength Pry-It-Open" invention he has been working on, which will pry open the door. As it begins to work on the door, the machine explodes and blows open the locked door. The group runs out to try and save Pikachu and their other Pokémon.

The fight between Pikachu and Meowth continues, but Jessie and James flee when they spot the twerps escaping on the surveillance system. Meowth, however, decides to stay and catch Pikachu. Pikachu leaps onto another conveyor belt and throws a Luxury Ball at Meowth, which hits and calls him inside nearly capturing him. Meowth manages to escape, although he did enjoy the feeling of the Luxury Ball, then continues after Pikachu. As Pikachu notices the briefcase, Meowth tries to recall him again, until James shouts out to him to forget Pikachu. Meowth then grabs the Poké Ball case and flees. Elsewhere, while Ash reunites with Pikachu to go after Team Rocket, Serena and Clemont help the Factory workers who have been tied up by Team Rocket.

As Team Rocket gets away in their truck, Ash runs outside and commands Pikachu to use Thunderbolt, effectively halting their escape. Meowth steps out of the cabin and offers a challenge: if Pikachu can beat him in battle, he'll give back all the Poké Balls. Pikachu accepts. Meowth starts off with Fury Swipes while Pikachu is ready with an Iron Tail. Meowth pulls a double-cross, and tries to use Pikachu's Poké Ball to recall him inside. Pikachu dodges and uses Iron Tail to take Meowth down and send his Poké Ball flying back to Ash. Ash confronts the rest of Team Rocket and demands they follow through on their deal to return the stolen Pokémon. Though Jessie and James take out their Poké Balls to battle Ash, a Poké Ball statue rolls off its plinth and sends Team Rocket blasting off.

Afterwards, the Poké Ball Factory foreman thanks the group for stopping Team Rocket. Ash corrects him, informing him that most of the thanks belongs to Pikachu. As a reward, the foreman offers the group a genuine tour of the factory, and the four happily accept.

Major events

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

Characters

Humans

Pokémon Quiz

• Ash
• Serena
• Clemont
• Bonnie
• Jessie
• James
• Poké Ball Factory workers

Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?

Who's That Pokémon?: Staraptor (US and international)
Pokémon Quiz: Meowth (Team Rocket) (Japan)

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
• Dedenne (Clemont's)
• Frogadier (Ash's)
• Fletchinder (Ash's)
• Hawlucha (Ash's)
• Noibat (Ash's)
• Braixen (Serena's)
• Pancham (Serena's)
• Bunnelby (Clemont's)
• Chespin (Clemont's)
• Luxray (Clemont's)
• Pumpkaboo (Jessie's; Super Size)
• Inkay (James's)

Trivia

The title card segment focuses on Team Rocket for this episode

• In the Japanese version, the title card segment focuses on Team Rocket.
• Professor Oak's Pokémon Holo Caster: Delphox
  • During the initial airing, Hoopa instead pops out to announce the Legendary Pokémon giveaways and to urge viewers to get tickets for the second Pokémon the Series: XY movie.
• The English dub was released on iTunes and Prime Video on August 30, 2015, six days before the episode aired in the United States. The same occurred for all episodes in Volume 3 of Pokémon the Series: XY Kalos Quest that aired after Mega Evolution Special III (A Not-So-Flying Start! through A Festival Trade! A Festival Farewell?).
• Despite being introduced in Generation I, Great Balls and Ultra Balls appear for the first time in the anime in this episode.
  • This episode also marks the anime debut of the Net, Nest, Dusk, Dive, Premier, and Heal Balls outside of credit songs, as well as the main series debut of the Luxury and Repeat Balls.
  • In one scene, Meowth gets the Safari Ball pattern painted on his face, marking the debut of Safari Ball's in-game design in the anime outside of credit songs.
  • This episode also shows an unpainted Poké Ball for the first time.
• This episode marks the first and only time since his capture that Dedenne has been returned to his Poké Ball.
• This is the first time the Pokémon Quiz segment features a talking Pokémon, in this case, Meowth.
  • Also, along with XY051, this episode's Pokémon Quiz segment is the only one not to have the Team Rocket decoy card.
• This episode marks one of the very few confirmed appearances of Pikachu's Poké Ball.
  • This also marks the first time since Snow Way Out! that Pikachu has refused to be returned to his Poké Ball.
  • Aside from flashbacks, this marks the final time Pikachu's Poké Ball is seen.
• The Pokémon Quiz segment features two Pokémon that have been a part of Team Rocket, with Woobat being used by Jessie in Pokémon the Series: Black & White.
• This is the only time a Pokémon is shown to attempt to catch another Pokémon, although Meowth manages to escape the Luxury Ball.
• This is the first and only instance so far where Meowth has fought Pikachu and successfully landed an attack (in this instance, Fury Swipes).
• Serena, Braixen, and Pancham narrate the preview for the next episode.

Errors

• In the Japanese version of the scene where Team Rocket is seen stealing various sorts of Poké Balls, James lists Quick, Premier, and Net Balls, even though no Quick Balls are seen in the entire episode. The dub corrects this by having James mention a Dusk Ball instead of a Quick Ball.
• When Clemont tells the factory workers to hold on, his mouth does not move.
• When Ash and his friends put all of their Poké Balls in the case, Bonnie's hands are briefly drawn like Clemont's.
• While Meowth is holding the Poké Ball case on his head, the handle switches between being on the front and back between shots.
• When Pikachu is fighting Team Rocket, the door to Ash and his friends disappears between shots.
• When Pikachu escapes Team Rocket's glass cage, he runs to the left of the door where Ash and his friends are and escapes into a vent to the left, which is also zoomed in on when Team Rocket runs past it. However, when Pikachu turns up in front of the door, he points at a vent right in front of the door, which is open as if he escaped through there. This vent is also closed in later shots.
• When Team Rocket is running away with the Poké Ball case, the bar to the vent Pikachu escaped through is lying in front of the vent. In a later shot, it is positioned far more to the left and is closed in a later shot.
• After Pikachu points to Ash's friends, Ash's left hand overlaps on him.
• As the other Pokémon came out of their Poké Balls, Bunnelby's pupils are larger than its appearances in other episodes.

• 

  Bonnie's hands error

• 

  Bunnelby with larger pupils

In other languages

Language		Title
Chinese	Cantonese	精靈球工廠的激烈對戰！比卡超對喵喵怪！！* 精靈球工廠的激烈對戰！比卡超VS喵喵怪！！*
	Mandarin	神奇寶貝球工廠的激烈對戰！皮卡丘VS喵喵！！
Danish		En frådende fabriksfiasko!
Dutch		Een furieus fabrieksfiasco!
Finnish		Täyden tohinan tehdasvierailu!
European French		Du rififi à l'usine de Pokéball !
German		Wilde Jagd in der Fabrik!
Italian		Un folle fiasco in fabbrica!
Korean		몬스터볼 공장의 결투! 피카츄 VS 나옹!!
Norwegian		En frenetisk fabrikk-fiasko!
Polish		Fiasko w fabryce!
Portuguese	Brazil	Um Fiasco na Fábrica!
	Portugal	Um Fiasco Frenético na Fábrica!
Russian		Фиаско на фабрике Покешаров!
Spanish	Latin America	¡Fiasco en la frenética fábrica!
	Spain	¡Persecucón Frenética en la Fábrica!
Swedish		Ett fullständigt fabriks-fiasko!
Thai		การต่อสู้อันดุเดือดในโรงงานผลิตมอนสเตอร์บอล! ปิกาจู ปะทะ เนียส!!
Turkish		Çılgın Bir Fabrika Fiyaskosu!

← XY078 : Lights! Camera! Pika!

Pokémon the Series: XY

XY080 : Performing with Fiery Charm! →

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