XY130

← XY129 : Kalos League Passion with a Certain Flare!

Pokémon the Series: XY

XY131 : Down to the Fiery Finish! →

Finals Not for the Faint-Hearted!

XY130   EP929 決勝戦！サトシ対アラン！！ The Finals! Satoshi VS Alan!!

First broadcast Japan August 11, 2016 United States October 29, 2016

English themes Opening Stand Tall Ending

Japanese themes Opening XY&Z Ending ピカチュウのうた

Credits Animation Team Kato Screenplay 藤田伸三 Shinzō Fujita Storyboard 浅田裕二 Yūji Asada Assistant director 浅田裕二 Yūji Asada Animation director 岩根雅明 Masaaki Iwane Additional credits

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

Finals Not for the Faint-Hearted! (Japanese: 決勝戦！サトシ対アラン！！ The Finals! Satoshi VS Alan!!) is the 130th episode of Pokémon the Series: XY, and the 929th episode of the Pokémon animated series. It first aired in Japan on August 11, 2016 and in the United States on October 29, 2016.

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

Blurb

The long-anticipated Kalos League finals are getting under way, as Ash faces off against Alain in a full six-on-six battle! The two seem evenly matched, trading one knockout after another: Pikachu beats Tyranitar and then switches out for Noivern, who falls to Alain’s Weavile. Hawlucha defeats Weavile, then loses to Alain’s Bisharp. Next, Ash’s Talonflame and Alain’s Unfezant knock each other out after a spectacular aerial battle, and it’s tied at three and three!

Pikachu returns to face the massive Metagross—and shows amazing determination as it hangs on for the win! Then, Alain calls on his partner Charizard, and both Pokémon are confident and excited for the battle ahead!

Plot

For the final battle of the Kalos League, the announcer calls out Ash and Alain to the stadium; Mairin cheers for Alain through the sidelines. Facing off, Ash and Alain are excited to battle each other, with no finalist in a mood to hold back for their friend. The first battlefield for the final is a water and rock field. The referee announces the rules of the battle, and asks the Trainers to bring out their Pokémon. Ash chooses his Pikachu, while Alain sends out his Tyranitar, activating its Sand Stream Ability. Clemont sees this as a tactic by Alain to disrupt the vision of Pikachu and prevent it from attacking and moving around, but Serena is not worried, and Bonnie cheers for Ash and Pikachu.

Alain begins the battle by commanding a Dark Pulse from his Tyranitar; Pikachu avoids the attack. Ash sees a strategy and has Pikachu use Iron Tail on the stream of water. The splash from the water clears away the sandstorm while soaking the Armor Pokémon, causing Thunderbolt to deal more damage. Pikachu follows up with Electro Ball, which is countered by a Stone Edge from Tyranitar, and Alain has his Pokémon smash the stones with its tail, sending a barrage of stone pieces at the Mouse Pokémon, only to be reflected back with Iron Tail. Tyranitar follows up with Crunch, but Pikachu uses Iron Tail; Tyranitar, however, grabs his tail in its mouth and swings it back. Pikachu retaliates with Electro Ball, and thus, causes the Armor Pokémon to faint. Ash's friends are excited at an early lead, and Diantha commends Ash on his fighting skills since the semi-finals, something with Professor Sycamore seems to agree with. He then remembers his conversation with Alain and wonders what feelings the latter is holding inside him. Meanwhile, Team Rocket is still intent on their plan to steal the finalists' Pokémon after the battle, while Malva calls them out for the next shot.

Ash recalls Pikachu and sends out his Noivern on the battlefield, while Alain sends out his Weavile. Noivern uses Supersonic but Weavile Protects itself and follows up with Night Slash. Noivern uses Supersonic again, connecting this time around. Alain has Weavile use Ice Beam, but Noivern counters with Boomburst, and follows up with Dragon Claw. Feeling cornered, Weavile uses Double Team to evade the Sound Wave Pokémon, but the latter uses Supersonic to successfully find the real one and proceeds to attack it with Dragon Claw. Weavile avoids the attack and counters with Ice Beam. After some swift dodging, Noivern eventually gets hits by the move, and falls in the stream of water; he is then attacked by Night Slash and is knocked out.

Ash sends out his Hawlucha to battle next, who uses Karate Chop to attack the Sharp Claw Pokémon, but Hawlucha misses every strike. Weavile successfully leads him in the water and uses Ice Beam at his feet, but the Wrestling Pokémon avoids the attack. However, the Ice Beam manages to freeze the stream of water, so that Hawlucha has difficulty walking over it. Weavile uses another Ice Beam, and Hawlucha takes the super-effective hit head-on. Weavile follows up with another Night Slash, but Hawlucha blocks it; Clemont notes that Hawlucha is using the ice to reduce the damage from attacks. Weavile uses Night Slash again, knocking Hawlucha backward, but Ash is unconcerned and claims that Hawlucha gets stronger by taking his opponent's attacks. Alain asks Weavile to use Night Slash again, but Hawlucha responds this time by flying towards the Sharp Claw Pokémon, and throwing it onto the battlefield. Hawlucha then uses Flying Press to successfully knock Weavile out, while inadvertently breaking off the ice as well. Serena, Clemont, and Sawyer talk about the trust between Ash and his Pokémon, and Lysandre takes note of the strength of Ash's Pokémon. Mairin shouts a cheer for Alain, as he sends out his Bisharp to battle, which uses Thunder Wave to paralyze the Wrestling Pokémon. Alain has Bisharp use Guillotine; Hawlucha retaliates with X-Scissor, and the two Pokémon collide head-on. Hawlucha tries to use High Jump Kick but misses, resulting in crash damage, and Bisharp uses Guillotine to knock out Hawlucha. Tierno and Trevor note Alain's strength as Ash and Alain recall their Pokémon; an excited Alain remarks to himself how battling with Ash involves a lot of fun for him and makes him forget about time completely.

Alain sends out his Unfezant next, while Ash calls out his Talonflame. The Proud Pokémon and the Scorching Pokémon have a little exhibition of their flying prowess, before their Trainers command them to use Steel Wing. The two collide, then begin flying against each other again. Ash commands a Flame Charge in order to allow Talonflame to build up speed and move ahead of Unfezant, and Alain responds by having Unfezant power up with a Sky Attack. The two moves counter each other, after which Alain has Unfezant use Air Slash next. Unfezant allows Talonflame to move ahead of it in order to set it up for an easy attack, and while Talonflame swiftly dodges most of the projectiles it still takes a hit. Talonflame retaliates with another Flame Charge next, successfully hitting the Proud Pokémon. Unfezant uses Sky Attack while Ash has his Talonflame use Brave Bird, and the head-on collision of moves knocks both Pokémon out.

With only three Pokémon left per side, the battlefield goes down for changing. Clemont expresses his concern about the fate of the battle, and Trevor remarks that one little mistake can change the course of the battle. Clemont reveals to Tierno, Trevor, and Shauna that Ash has never managed to defeat Alain, leading Shauna to wonder about the latter's strength, but Serena asserts her own belief, stating that Ash's strength has increased a lot since the last time Ash and Alain battled. On the battlefield, Pikachu cheers on Ash, and the latter encourages Alain to have fun to the end. Alain smiles and remarks to himself about Ash's sportsmanship. Mairin notices Alain smiling, revealing that she had never seen him smile before. Lysandre comments that the finals are about to reach the climax and that every eye will be upon Lumiose City.

The new battlefield is revealed to be a grass-field. Ash sends out his Pikachu to face off against Alain's Metagross. Pikachu begins the battle by using Thunderbolt, but Metagross uses Agility to evade the attack and constantly cut off Pikachu when he tries to get some distance. Metagross strikes Pikachu with Metal Claw, and follows up another hit with Rock Slide. A damaged Pikachu moves the rocks away and is hit by a Meteor Mash. Still hanging on, the Mouse Pokémon counters another Meteor Mash with an Electro Ball and then jumps atop the Iron Leg Pokémon. Metagross tries to shake Pikachu off, but Pikachu's hold is tight, who uses Thunderbolt to deal serious damage. After some effort, and encouragement from its Trainer, Metagross manages to shake Pikachu off itself, but the latter uses Iron Tail on the heavily damaged Metagross, and successfully knocks it out. Mairin seems displeased at the loss, while the group on the sidelines is happy that Ash has taken the lead once again. Diantha and Professor Sycamore praise Ash for his cleverness; James is happy as well that Pikachu has won, something which does not seem to please his teammates.

For his next Pokémon, Alain sends out his Charizard, worrying Ash's friends. Ash has his Pikachu use Quick Attack to hit the Flame Pokémon, followed by a super effective Thunderbolt, bringing Charizard to its knees. Serena wishes luck to Ash and Pikachu, and everyone watches with utter curiosity as the Kalos League finals are reaching their absolute climax.

Major events

Ash facing Alain

• Ash and Alain begin their Full Battle in the finals.
• Alain is revealed to own a Tyranitar, a Weavile, a Bisharp, and an Unfezant.

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
• Professor Sycamore
• Alain
• Mairin
• Tierno
• Trevor
• Shauna
• Sawyer
• Lysandre
• Team Flare Admin
• Malva
• Diantha
• Crowd

Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?

Who's That Pokémon?: Metagross (US and international)
Pokémon Quiz: Unfezant (male) (Japan)

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
• Dedenne (Clemont's)
• Greninja (Ash's; fantasy)
• Talonflame (Ash's)
• Hawlucha (Ash's)
• Goodra (Ash's; fantasy)
• Noivern (Ash's)
• Charizard (Alain's)
• Metagross (Alain's)
• Tyranitar (Alain's)
• Weavile (Alain's)
• Bisharp (Alain's)
• Unfezant (Alain's; male)
• Zygarde (Zygarde Core; Squishy)

Trivia

The title card segment focuses on Ash for this episode

• Poké TV: "Poke Love TV" focusing on Beldum, Metang, Metagross, and Mega Metagross.
• This episode marks the last time Ash has used Talonflame, Hawlucha, and Noivern in an official battle.

Errors

• When Metagross uses Meteor Mash, the position of Ash and Pikachu on the scoreboard is reversed.
• In the English dub, when Bonnie cheers for Pikachu after Metagross is getting hit by his Thunderbolt, Dedenne's mouth moves, but no sound comes out.

Dub edits

• In the Japanese version, the announcer mentions that Guillotine is a one-hit knockout move, while in the dub, he simply describes it as a "powerful move".

In other languages

Language		Title
Czech		Finále jen pro silné povahy!
Danish		Finaler er ikke for svage sjæle!
Dutch		Finale voor wie niet huiverig is!
Finnish		Hermoja raastava finaali!
European French		La finale des cœurs vaillants !
German		Finale – Nichts für Zartbesaitete!
Italian		Finale sconsigliata ai fifoni!
Korean		결승전! 지우 대 알랭!!
Norwegian		Finaler er ikke for pyser!
Polish		Finały nie są dla strachliwych!
Portuguese	Brazil	A final é para os fortes!
	Portugal	Uma final imprópria para cardíacos!
Russian		Финал не для слабонервных!
Spanish	Latin America	¡La final no es para los débiles!
	Spain	¡Una final no apta para cobardicas!
Swedish		Finalen lämpar sig inte för lättskrämda!
Thai		รอบชิงชนะเลิศ! ซาโตชิ ปะทะ อลัน!!
Turkish		Finaller kalbi zayıf olanlara uygun değildir!

← XY129 : Kalos League Passion with a Certain Flare!

Pokémon the Series: XY

XY131 : Down to the Fiery Finish! →

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