XY075

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Rivals: Today and Tomorrow!

XY075   EP874 ライバルバトル３本勝負！ 明日に向かって！！ Three-Match Rival Battle! Towards the Future!!

First broadcast Japan June 4, 2015 United States August 8, 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 冨岡淳広 Atsuhiro Tomioka Storyboard 木村哲 Tetsu Kimura Assistant director 関野昌弘 Masahiro Sekino Animation directors 西谷泰史 Yasushi Nishiya 黒石崇裕 Takahiro Kuroishi 堤舞 Mai Tsutsumi 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

Rivals: Today and Tomorrow! (Japanese: ライバルバトル３本勝負！ 明日に向かって！！ Three-Match Rival Battle! Towards the Future!!) is the 75th episode of the XY series, and the 874th episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on June 4, 2015 and in the United States on August 8, 2015.

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

Blurb

After Ash's victory at the Laverre Gym, our heroes are walking with Sawyer, who’s completely focused on his battle notebook and not watching where he’s going—until he trips and falls, dropping his notebook in the process! He doesn’t realize this until later, and by that time, Team Rocket has picked it up, determined to make use of all the information within. With the help of his Slurpuff’s talented nose, Sawyer manages to track down his prized possession, and he and Ash battle together to send Team Rocket blasting off again. Then, they decide to battle against each other!

Ash seems to be firmly in command...until Sawyer’s Treecko evolves into Grovyle and presents Frogadier with quite a challenge! Frogadier pulls off the win, but it’s a close one, and afterward, it’s clear that the two Pokémon are itching for a rematch. Sawyer heads off to challenge the Coumarine Gym, while Serena has her eye on the Pokémon Showcase in Dendemille Town, on the way to Ash’s next Gym battle in Anistar City!

Plot

Following Ash's win at the Laverre City Gym, Ash and his friends, accompanied by Sawyer, head away from the Gym. However, Sawyer trips along the way and as he gets up, he drops his notebook, which is promptly found by Meowth. As soon as Jessie, James, and Meowth look inside the notebook, they see a photograph of Steven Stone, and James instantly recognizes him as the Champion in the Hoenn region. Meanwhile, Serena treats the group to lots of sweets and Poké Puffs after Ash's hard-earned victory over Valerie. Sawyer expresses his awe of Ash's battling style to him, and Ash reminds him that it was due to the Pokémon's efforts that they won the Fairy Badge.

However, at that moment, Sawyer notices that his notebook is gone. He goes into a panic, suddenly remembering that he dropped it where he had tripped earlier. Jessie, James, and Meowth, who still have the notebook, have mistakenly come to the conclusion that it belongs to Steven himself. While James and Meowth are more interested in learning the "Champion's" techniques, Jessie is immediately enamored with him and begins deluding herself with fantasies of someday marrying into his family so that she can be part of the Devon Corporation. Meanwhile, Ash and company, having returned to the bridge where Sawyer's notebook disappears, agree to split up and search for it individually. Later, at the Pokémon Center, they all report having seen no trace of it anywhere. Sawyer tells them how he kept taking notes after every battle he and Treecko had, and they kept getting stronger together, and he also mentions his meeting with Steven Stone and all of the valuable advice Steven gave him.

Bonnie asks Clemont for an invention to help find the notebook, but Clemont starts to explain that he doesn't even have something like the notebook's smell to work with. Suddenly, Sawyer jumps up in excitement and calls out his Slurpuff to help search for the notebook using its keen sense of smell. With direction from Treecko, Slurpuff races away to try and locate the notebook. James is still poring over its contents, unaware that they were written by a novice Trainer, when Slurpuff arrives. Slurpuff takes the notebook and runs off with it, chased by Team Rocket, and returns it to Sawyer. When Team Rocket arrives, everyone realizes that they were the ones who stole the notebook. Sawyer quickly corrects them when they refer to it as the Champion's notebook by pointing out Steven's autograph. Angered by this news, Jessie and James decide to fall back on their usual plan of stealing the group's Pokémon. Jessie calls out her Pumpkaboo and James his Inkay to face Sawyer's Treecko and Ash's Pikachu. The battle is short-lived—as attacks from each of the four Pokémon cancel each other out, Pikachu uses another Thunderbolt and easily sends Team Rocket blasting off.

That night, Serena learns of a Pokémon Showcase being held in the nearby Dendemille Town and decides to register for it. She then informs Ash, using her Town Map, that Dendemille Town is also on the way to a city with a Gym—Anistar City, where he agrees to go for his seventh Badge. Sawyer informs the group that he plans on heading to Coumarine City to try and earn a Plant Badge. The next morning, Sawyer requests a three-on-three battle with Ash to make up for the one that they never finished. The first match is Pikachu against Sawyer's Bagon. Pikachu begins with Quick Attack, overpowering Bagon's Headbutt with superior speed. After a collision of Dragon Breath and Thunderbolt, Pikachu breaks through Dragon Claw with an Iron Tail attack to defeat Bagon and win the first round. The second match is then decided to be Slurpuff against Hawlucha. Although Slurpuff uses Electro Ball, a super effective move, Hawlucha dodges and strikes back with Karate Chop. However, Sawyer becomes distracted checking his notebook and fails to notice Hawlucha's Flying Press, resulting in Slurpuff's defeat.

Ash calls to Sawyer, reminding him to stay calm during a battle, because the Pokémon will feel the same way as the Trainer during a match. Sawyer remembers Ash's Gym battle and sees the truth in Ash's advice, bringing out his Treecko to battle against Frogadier. Sawyer is momentarily caught off-guard by Frogadier's use of Aerial Ace, but he recovers and Treecko strikes back with repeated Bullet Seed attacks. As Frogadier manages to evade most of them, Sawyer remembers to stay calm and Treecko uses Agility. Despite the boost in speed, however, Treecko is still struck by Frogadier's Water Pulse. In response, Treecko evolves into Grovyle, and Ash tells Sawyer that Treecko evolved because of his feelings. Sawyer uses Grovyle's new move, Leaf Blade, to counter Double Team, but Frogadier still manages to get the better of Grovyle with another Aerial Ace. The two Pokémon continue trading and dodging attacks at high speeds, but thanks to a surprise attack by Frogadier at the very end, Grovyle is knocked out and the final round goes to Ash as well. Everyone notices Grovyle's newfound rivalry with Frogadier, and Sawyer and Grovyle are more determined than ever to get stronger and challenge Ash to a rematch someday.

Major events

Ash facing Sawyer

• Sawyer is revealed to own a Slurpuff.
• Serena learns that a Pokémon Showcase will be held in Dendemille Town.
• Ash learns that the next Gym is located in Anistar City.
• Sawyer's Treecko evolves into Grovyle.
• Ash has a three-on-three battle against Sawyer and wins.
• Sawyer leaves the group and heads to Coumarine City to face the Coumarine City Gym Leader, Ramos.

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

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

• Sawyer's Grovyle

Characters

Humans

Pokémon Quiz

• Ash
• Serena
• Clemont
• Bonnie
• Jessie
• James
• Professor Birch (flashback)
• Valerie (flashback)
• Steven Stone (fantasy/flashback)
• Sawyer
• Monsieur Pierre (video)
• Kali (flashback)
• Katherine (flashback)
• Blossom (flashback)
• Linnea (flashback)

Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?

Who's That Pokémon?: Grovyle (US and international)
Pokémon Quiz: Treecko (Japan)

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
• Dedenne (Clemont's)
• Frogadier (Ash's)
• Hawlucha (Ash's)
• Braixen (Serena's)
• Pancham (Serena's)
• Bunnelby (Clemont's)
• Chespin (Clemont's)
• Luxray (Clemont's)
• Pumpkaboo (Jessie's)
• Inkay (James's)
• Spritzee (Valerie's; flashback)
• Metagross (Steven's; Shiny; fantasy/flashback)
• Treecko (Sawyer's; evolves)
• Grovyle (Sawyer's; newly evolved)
• Bagon (Sawyer's)
• Slurpuff (Sawyer's)
• Klefki (Monsieur Pierre's; video)
• Marill (Trainer's)
• Torchic (flashback)
• Mudkip (flashback)
• Taillow (flashback)
• Panpour (video)

Trivia

File:Title Card XY Ash V2.png

The title card segment focuses on Ash for this episode

• Professor Oak's Pokémon Holo Caster: Smoochum
  • Instead of Pokémon Holo Caster, Hoopa pops out to announce the Legendary Pokémon giveaways and to urge viewers to get tickets for the second XY series movie.
• Ash, Bonnie, and Clemont narrate the preview for the next episode.
• James and Meowth break the fourth wall when Jessie fantasizes about marrying Steven by tearing out Steven and the background respectively.
• Team Rocket doesn't recite their motto in this episode.
• Mad-Paced Getter is used during the end of Ash and Sawyer's three-on-three battle.
• This episode marks the only time during the XY series where a rival's Pokémon evolves on-screen.

Errors

• The red spot underneath Sawyer's Slurpuff's collar disappears for a brief second.
• When James is looking as Sawyer's notebook before Slurpuff finds it, his glove disappears, and his thumb is colored exactly like Sawyer's dark skin color instead of James' light skin color.
• When Ash tells Pikachu to use Thunderbolt the second time, his backpack disappears. It reappeared after Team Rocket got blasted off.
• After being hit by Pikachu's Thunderbolt, Team Rocket flew off in the following order: Meowth, Jessie, James, Inkay and Pumpkaboo, and Wobbuffet. When they were blasting off, they were in this order: Jessie, Pumpkaboo, James, Meowth, Wobbuffet, and Inkay.
• Sawyer's Slurpuff used Electro Ball, a move that it cannot legally learn.
• When Ash holds up Frogadier's Poké Ball, the white center and black band around the white button is much larger than normal.
• For a brief second after Sawyer's Treecko comes out of its Poké Ball, its right arm is colored the same as its tail.
• When Sawyer's Grovyle uses Leaf Blade on Frogadier, Frogadier's entire face is dark blue.
• In the English dub, Serena's Pokédex incorrectly states Grovyle as an evolved form of Treecko when it should be stated as the evolved form of Treecko.

• 

  Slurpuff's missing red spot on its body

• 

  James's glove on his left hand is not covering the thumb on the same hand

• 

  Ash missing his backpack

• 

  Ash's Frogadier's Poké Ball has a bigger ring around its button than it should have

• 

  Treecko's right arm error

Dub edits

• Mad-Paced Getter was replaced by an instrumental version of Be a Hero.

In other languages

Language		Title
Chinese	Cantonese	邁向明日的三回合勁敵對戰！
	Mandarin	邁向明日的三回合勁敵對戰！
Danish		Rivaler: I dag og i morgen!
Dutch		Rivalen: vandaag en morgen!
Finnish		Kilpailijoita: Nyt ja tulevaisuudessa!
European French		Adversaires un jour, adversaires toujours !
German		Ein neuer Rivale!
Italian		Rivali per sempre!
Korean		라이벌 배틀 삼세판!! 내일을 향해서!!
Norwegian		Rivaler: I dag og i morgen!
Polish		Rywale dziś i jutro!
Portuguese	Brazil	Rivais: Hoje e Amanhã!
	Portugal	Rivais Uma Vez, Rivais Para Sempre!
Russian		Противники: сегодня и завтра!
Spanish	Latin America	¡Rivales: Hoy y Mañana!
	Spain	¡Rivales: Hoy y Mañana!
Swedish		Rivaler: Idag och imorgon!
Thai		การแบทเทิลของคู่แข่ง 3 นัด! มุ่งไปสู่วันพรุ่งนี้!!
Turkish		Rakipler: Bugün ve yarın!

← XY074 : Fairy-Type Trickery!

XY series

XY076 : A Not-So-Flying Start! →

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