XY094

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From A to Z!

XY093   EP892 Z爆誕！カロスに潜む者！！ Z's Explosive Birth! What Lurks in Kalos!!

First broadcast Japan October 29, 2015 United States February 20, 2016

English themes Opening Stand Tall Ending

Japanese themes Opening XY&Z Ending プニちゃんのうた

Credits Animation Team Kato Screenplay 冨岡淳広 Atsuhiro Tomioka Storyboard 金崎貴臣 Takaomi Kanasaki Assistant directors 西田健一 Ken'ichi Nishida 冨安大貴 Daiki Tomiyasu Animation directors 大橋藍人 Aito Ōhashi 西谷泰史 Yasushi Nishiya 新村杏子 Kyōko Niimura 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

From A to Z! (Japanese: Z爆誕！カロスに潜む者！！ Z's Explosive Birth! What Lurks in Kalos!!) is the 93rd episode of the XY series, and the 892nd episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on October 29, 2015, as the first episode of the XY&Z arc, and as part of a one-hour special alongside SS035 and in the United States on February 20, 2016 as the first episode of the nineteenth season.

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

Blurb

On the way to Snowbelle City, Bonnie discovers a small green Pokémon hiding in her bag. The Pokédex can’t identify it, so she decides to name it Squishy. Soon after, our heroes encounter their friend Sawyer and his Grovyle. The reunion is quickly disrupted by a group of people wearing red clothes and unusual eyewear, who are determined to get their hands on Bonnie’s new friend!

These new villains are Team Flare, and they’ve identified Squishy as one of the Cores they need for their mysterious Operation Z. Ash and Sawyer team up to drive them away, but they regroup to make new plans, and Team Rocket is keeping a close eye on them...

Sawyer suggests that the group make a stop at Terminus Cave on their way to Snowbelle City, and Squishy emphatically approves of this plan—so our heroes’ next destination is set!

Plot

The episode starts with Zygarde, which Team Flare are trying to capture. Unfortunately for them, they immediately lose sight of Zygarde right after. Mable tells Lysandre that they lost Zygarde, and Lysandre responds with a request to search for it. Meanwhile, Ash and his friends are in the forest, while Ash is continuing his journey to Snowbelle City. Bonnie finds a Zygarde Core, which Ash tries to look up in his Pokédex, but it responds with "no data". Serena tries to look it up in her Pokédex as well, but it ends up with the same result. Ash has found a new Pokémon species, which he's very excited about. Bonnie decides to take care of the Zygarde Core and names it Squishy. A lot of Dodrio start running around in the forest, along with a Grovyle chasing after it. Ash and friends meet up with Sawyer again, but they have lost track of Squishy.

The scene cuts back to Team Flare in the mountains looking for the Zygarde Core, with Bonnie, Ash, Clemont, Serena and Sawyer all searching the forest for Squishy too. Celosia and the Team Flare Grunts' corner Squishy as Celosia commands her Drapion to attack it with Pin Missile, causing an explosion that catches Ash and his friends attention. With the Zygarde Core in Drapion's grip, Team Flare prepare to return back to the Laboratory, but Ash and his friends arrive at the mountain and order them to let Squishy go, to which Celosia orders Drapion to use Toxic and Ash commands Pikachu to use Thunderbolt to counter it, causing the two moves to collide and causing an explosion. Sawyer commands his Grovyle to use Leaf Storm as the attack cuts through the smoke cloud, hitting Drapion and freeing Squishy, who is then caught by Bonnie before it can fall to the ground. A Team Flare Grunt then orders his Pokémon to attack as well, but Ash sends out his Noibat telling it to use Supersonic, stopping the opposing Pokémon in their tracks before Celosia orders her Drapion to use Sludge Bomb, which is countered by Ash's Pikachu's Thunderbolt. The collision causes another explosion and smoke cloud, which is enough for Ash and his friends to escape with Squishy.

Back at Lysandre Labs, Xerosic speaks to Mable and Celosia, telling them how he can't believe they both allowed Zygarde and the Zygarde Core to escape. The two say they are sorry and will search for them. Xerosic then goes to inform them that Aliana and Bryony have been given missions as well and explains that there are two Zygarde Cores, to which Bryony says she will look for the Zygarde Core Celosia failed to capture, while Aliana says she will find the 50% Forme, Bryony then brags about how it should have been them who were assigned the mission in the first place, with Aliana agreeing with her, which gets Celosia and Mable annoyed.

As the sun starts to go down, Ash and his friends are seen in the forest after they managed to escape from Team Flare with Squishy, who is shown to be unharmed, much to everyone's relief. Clemont decides that it would be a good idea to camp out in the forest for the night as it is starting to get dark, Ash, Clemont and Serena send out their Pokémon, which Sawyer is amazed to see Ash's Noibat and Serena's Eevee. Bonnie then goes over to the group's Pokémon to introduce Squishy to them, saying that they are its friends. As all the Pokémon are eating, Bonnie tries to get Squishy to eat a Poké Puff, but it refuses, Pikachu and Dedenne bring over some berries, but it refuses to eat those as well. Questioning whether Squishy eats at all, it then goes over to a nearby rock to check that it is safe by checking with the Zygarde Cells around the area, and once happy that the area is safe, Squishy began absorbing sunlight.

Sawyer starts to draw Squishy in his notebook, saying he will do some research on Squishy. Ash then asks Sawyer how many gyms he has been to, to which he says he has been to many more gyms and pulls out his badge case to reveal he has received four more since last time and asks Ash how many he has now. Ash shows Sawyer his badge case and tells him he has seven badges so far and Sawyer points out that Ash only needs one more as Bonnie pokes Squishy while it is sleeping on the rock. Sawyer asks about the Psychic Badge from the Anistar, and Ash tells him that Olympia was strong, to which Pikachu starts to wag his tail similar to how he did in the gym battle as Serena mentions how Pikachu deserves a lot of credit for the victory at the gym, which makes Pikachu happy. Sawyer tells Ash that the Anistar Gym is the gym he intends on challenging for his next badge and asks where Ash will be challenging for his final gym badge, which Ash tells him he will be challenging the Snowbelle Gym.

Ash, Clemont and Serena all look over Sawyer's map as he shows them the location of Snowbelle City, but when Ash asked if he has challenged the gym there yet, he tells him that the gym is too strong for him and he isn't ready for it yet, but recommends that the group visits Terminus Cave as it is on the way to Snowbelle City, which Serena looks up in her guide book and shows it to Sawyer, who confirm that it is the location he means and states that there are Pokémon in there that can't be found anywhere else. Serena informs Bonnie of the cave and shows her the cave on the screen, which causes Squishy to attack the guide book and bounce on it angrily. Ash tries to get it to stop jumping on the guide book, Serena thinks the act means Squishy is angry at something, but Bonnie has the idea that it wants to go to Terminus Cave. Ash asks if they should go to Terminus Cave, and everyone agrees, Clemont says that they might learn more about Squishy if they go there.

As it gets darker and the moon comes out, everyone is fast asleep, Pikachu can be heard saying his name as he sleeps. Inside the tent that Serena and Bonnie are sleeping in, Squishy is wide awake, remaining still, staring upwards, until it senses something and uses the Cells scattered around the area to see what's going on, seeing that Team Flare are in the forest near to them. Angry at them being in the area, Squishy bounces off Bonnie's forehead, waking her up and exits the tent as it heads to Ash doing the same to him, with Bonnie chasing after it. With everyone chasing after Squishy, they witness a Pin Missile hit Squishy, causing it to fly back, as another Pin Missile heads towards them as Bonnie protects Squishy, but Ash has Pikachu use Thunderbolt on the attack before it can hit them, causing an explosion, as Sawyer has his Grovyle use Leaf Blade on the Pin Missile that emerges from the explosion's smoke cloud, cutting them in half as it lands on the ground as another explosion clouds it with smoke. When the smoke clears, they see Team Flare again. Ash sends out Frogadier to assist in the battle, as it emerges, it exchanges a smile with Grovyle, before Serena sends out her Braixen and Clemont sends out his Luxray, with Bonnie making sure Squishy isn't injured. Celosia tells them to leave them alone and let them take the Zygarde Core back, which makes Ash tell them that he won't leave them alone as Squishy doesn't belong to them, leading Celosia to command Drapion to attack them using Cross Poison, with the Team Flare Grunts ordering two Houndour and a Skorupi to use Dark Pulse. Ash prepares to counter the moves by commanding Frogadier to use Water Pulse and Pikachu to use Thunderbolt, backing Ash up, Serena has Braixen use Flamethrower and Clemont orders Luxray to use Swift. With all four moves heading towards the Dark Pulse attacks, the collision creates an explosion. Ash tells Clemont and Serena to take Bonnie and Squishy to safety, Sawyer tells them that he and Ash will handle everything. As they fly in their balloon, Team Rocket notice multiple explosions coming from the forest and immediately think it is caused by Pikachu and decide to head in that direction. Clemont, Bonnie and Serena cross a small stream in order to get away from Team Flare, but Bonnie loses her balance when crossing and falls into the water, causing Serena to fall too in an attempt to save her.

As three continuous explosions spread throughout the forest, Ash and Sawyer emerge from the smoke, but can't find Team Flare anywhere, leading Ash to state that they need to get to Bonnie, Clemont and Serena. Back with the others, Clemont asks if the two are all right, to which they say they are, but Squishy is missing again.

The scene cuts to Squishy on a rock near a river, and as it wakes up and scales the small cliff, it meets Bryony and two more Team Flare Grunts as the latter send out a Houndour and a Sneasel, with Bryony telling Squishy that they won't let it get away as they still have experiments they need to do on it, before she sends out her Bisharp. Terrified by its situation, Squishy is forced to gather the Cells in the area and turning it into 10% Forme and using Land's Wrath, causing Bryony and the Grunts to run away and alerting Ash and his friends of what was going on. Squishy then releases the Cells and reverting back into the Zygarde Core as it collapses from exhaustion as Bonnie finds it and checks on it to make sure it is fine and Clemont tells Ash that Team Flare has gone. Ash tells Sawyer that it was great having him fighting alongside them in their battle, and says it made a big difference in the outcome because they were there too, causing Sawyer to blush from appreciation.

After the incident with Squishy as 10% Forme Zygarde, Bryony leans against the van holding her arm as she informs Celosia of Zygarde's new form, but once she has said this, she hears a noise from the bushes, but ignores it. The noise was caused by Team Rocket as they remained quiet while they were listening about what was said about Zygarde, until Wobbuffet shouts his name, almost giving away their position.

As the sun starts to rise more, the Zygarde in 50% Forme can be seen in the forest as Ash and his friends wave goodbye to Sawyer and Grovyle to continue their journey, but walk past Alain. As they continue on their way, they remain unaware of who they just walked past.

Major events

• Ash and his friends find a Zygarde Core which Bonnie nicknames Squishy.
• Ash and his friends meet up with Sawyer again.
• Ash and his friends encounter Team Flare for the first time.
• Sawyer is revealed to have earned four more Badges.
• Sawyer tells Ash and his friends about Terminus Cave, which the group decides to visit on their way to Snowbelle City.

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

Debuts

Humans

• Team Flare
  • Celosia
  • Mable
  • Aliana
  • Bryony
  • Xerosic
  • Team Flare Grunts

Main series debuts

• Lysandre

Pokémon debuts

• Zygarde (10% and 50%)

Main series debuts

• Pyroar (Lysandre's)
• Zygarde (Zygarde Cell and Zygarde Core)

Characters

Humans

Pokémon Quiz

• Ash
• Serena
• Clemont
• Bonnie
• Jessie
• James
• Sawyer
• Alain
• Lysandre
• Xerosic
• Celosia
• Mable
• Aliana
• Bryony
• Team Flare Grunts

Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?

Who's That Pokémon?: Zygarde (Squishy) (US and international)
Pokémon Quiz: Zygarde (Squishy) (Japan)

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
• Dedenne (Clemont's)
• Frogadier (Ash's)
• Talonflame (Ash's)
• Hawlucha (Ash's)
• Noibat (Ash's)
• Bunnelby (Clemont's)
• Chespin (Clemont's)
• Luxray (Clemont's)
• Braixen (Serena's)
• Pancham (Serena's)
• Eevee (Serena's)
• Grovyle (Sawyer's)
• Pyroar (Lysandre's; male)
• Houndoom (Mable's)
• Drapion (Celosia's)
• Bisharp (Bryony's)
• Houndour (Team Flare Grunts'; ×2)
• Skorupi (Team Flare Grunt's)
• Sneasel (Team Flare Grunt's)
• Zygarde (Zygarde 10% and Core; Squishy)
• Zygarde (Zygarde 50%; Z2)
• Zygarde (Zygarde Cell; multiple)
• Dodrio (×6)

Trivia

File:Title Card XY Ash V2.png

The title card segment focuses on Ash for this episode

• Poké TV: I Love Pikachu! featuring a Pikachu imitating a Wobbuffet in "Pikachu's Funny Faces"
• Music from Genesect and the Legend Awakened and Diancie and the Cocoon of Destruction is used in this episode.
• When Bonnie nicknames Squishy, Clemont makes a comment about her naming skills, paralleling how Bonnie often makes comments about the unimaginative names Clemont gives to his inventions.
• This is the first episode where Serena is shown without her waistcoat.
• XY&Z replaced Mad-Paced Getter as the Japanese opening theme.
• Puni-chan's Song replaced Roaring All-Stars as the Japanese ending theme.
• A segment called Poké TV replaces Professor Oak's Pokémon Holo Caster in this episode.
• Serena narrates the preview of the next episode.
• This is the first time in the Pokémon anime where the dub refers to a Pokémon by its nickname in the Who's That Pokémon? segment.
  • The most likely reason for this is because at that point in time, the Pokédex couldn't identify the new Pokémon species.

Errors

• When Bunnelby was holding the food bowls with Serena, the inner part of his ear was brown, not pink.
• During Ash and friends' second encounter with Team Flare, when the Grunts tell their Pokémon to use Dark Pulse, the male grunt on the right has his hair drawn in reverse.
• After Ash and his friends have their second encounter with Team Flare and Team Flare escapes, Frogadier disappears.
• In the dub, when Drapion is sent flying back from Leaf Storm, a Team Flare Grunt says, "Houndoom move out!" There wasn't a Houndoom present in that scene, only two Houndour.

Dub edits

File:Title Card XY Ash.png

The dub's title card with Serena's old design

• The title card segment in the dub features Serena's old design.

In other languages

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← XY092 : All Eyes on the Future!

XY series

XY094 Love Strikes! Eevee, Yikes! →

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