XY004

← XY003 : A Battle of Aerial Mobility!

XY series

XY005 : A Blustery Santalune Gym Battle! →

A Shockingly Cheeky Friendship!

XY004   EP803 ピカチュウとデデンネ！ほっぺすりすり！！ Pikachu and Dedenne! Cheek Rub!!

First broadcast Japan October 31, 2013 United States February 8, 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 大橋志吉 Yukiyoshi Ōhashi Storyboard 冨安大貴 Daiki Tomiyasu Assistant director 冨安大貴 Daiki Tomiyasu Animation director 松田真路 Shinji Matsuda Additional credits

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

A Shockingly Cheeky Friendship! (Japanese: ピカチュウとデデンネ！ほっぺすりすり！！ Pikachu and Dedenne! Cheek Rub!!) is the fourth episode of the XY series, and the 803rd episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on October 31, 2013 and in the United States on February 8, 2014.

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

Blurb

At Professor Sycamore’s research lab, Serena has to choose between Chespin, Fennekin, and Froakie for her first Pokémon. After learning about the three with her new Pokédex, she tells the professor she made her choice even before she got there. It’s Fennekin!

Meanwhile, our heroes are on their way to Santalune City for Ash’s first Gym battle, and Bonnie is demonstrating just how much she loves to take care of Pokémon. She gives Pikachu a bath, then helps Fletchling clean its wings. The two Pokémon are happily settling in for some snacks when the Dedenne our heroes encountered earlier leaps out of a nearby bush and nabs the food! Bonnie wants Clemont to catch this adorable Pokémon for her, but it goes running off, and everyone follows.

Pikachu follows Dedenne into its burrow, but they end up at the base of a tall cliff, unable to get back to the rest of the gang. To make matters worse, the villains of Team Rocket have been observing the two Pokémon, and now their plan to catch Pikachu includes catching Dedenne, too!

Our heroes catch up, a fierce battle ensues, and Team Rocket is left empty-handed—but Dedenne has been hurt. To restore it, Clemont produces another one of his inventions. This electric generator quickly gets Dedenne recharged, but then Clemont can’t turn the machine off, and it explodes. Dedenne is OK, though, and with Clemont’s gift of healing electricity, it’s decided it wants to join the group. Clemont and Bonnie have a new Pokémon friend!

Meanwhile, as she travels through an ominous forest, Serena realizes it’ll be getting dark soon. She wants to find a Pokémon Center where she and Fennekin can stay for the night. She sees someone behind a tree and asks for directions—but what looked like a woman in a striped dress turns out to be a wild Vespiquen! When it attacks, Fennekin leaps to Serena’s rescue and scares it off. Then, Nurse Joy and Wigglytuff show up to investigate the sounds of battle—and point the way to the nearby Pokémon Center. Relieved and happy, Serena races Fennekin all the way there!

Plot

The episode opens up with Serena being given a Pokédex by Professor Sycamore, as she chooses one of the three Kalos starter Pokémon. She scans each Pokémon with her new Pokédex and exclaims to Professor Sycamore that she has already decided which she would choose before she left home. Her choice is revealed to be Fennekin.

Meanwhile, Ash, Clemont, and Bonnie are resting in the woods as they make their way to Santalune City. Bonnie gushes over Pikachu's cuteness and strokes his tail, and then excitedly asks Ash if she can also pet Fletchling. Ash takes out Fletchling and Bonnie begins to clean its wings.

Ash then allows Bonnie to feed Pikachu and Fletchling some Pokémon food. However, a Dedenne runs up to Bonnie, snatches a piece of Pokémon food from her hand, and runs up a tree to eat it. The three are shocked, as they realize that this Dedenne is the same one that ran away from them in the previous episode. Bonnie still desperately wants the Dedenne, but it runs away again, and the three chase after it. Ash asks Fletchling to follow Dedenne by air but it loses sight of the Antenna Pokémon. While searching, Bonnie trips over a small hole and sees Dedenne in a similar hole.

The group attempt to catch Dedenne who trick Ash, Clemont, and Bonnie by appearing in different holes along the path, and Bunnelby's and Pikachu help to try cornering Dedenne in those holes. Pikachu eventually corners Dedenne underground before tackling Dedenne. The force causes the pair to roll down too far down the tunnel to roll out of a cliff face into a field.

Meanwhile, Team Rocket spot the two Electric-type Pokémon communicating via electricity and James correctly identifies Dedenne using his handheld computer flash cards. They notice that the "twerps" are not present and begin plotting to catch both Pokémon.

Elsewhere, Ash and his friends notice that neither Dedenne nor Pikachu are coming back out of the holes. Clemont asks Bunnelby to search for the two.

At the same time, Pikachu and Dedenne attempt to reach Ash and the group and Pikachu notices that Dedenne is hungry. Pikachu uses Thunderbolt to retrieve a Sitrus Berry which Dedenne begins to eat. However, they are interrupted by Team Rocket who try but fail to capture the two. Pikachu and Dedenne run away, and Pikachu retaliates with Thunderbolt. Jessie commands Wobbuffet to counter the move which hits Pikachu and Dedenne.

Meanwhile, Bunnelby arrives from searching but shakes its head sadly that Pikachu and Dedenne could not be found. Ash then commands Fletchling to search for the two Pokémon.

Back with Team Rocket, Pikachu and Dedenne have fled onto a steep rocky cliff face. Jessie throws an electric net at the pair which misses, but causes Dedenne to fall. Pikachu manages to grab its tail and then both run further up the rocky cliff face. To catch up to them, James decides to use his new Inkay, and Inkay manages to injure Dedenne with Tackle. Inkay proceeds to use Psybeam which knocks both Electric Pokémon into a river. Team Rocket then chase them downstream on an inflatable boat but end up crashing into a rock. The boat deflates, which sends them blasting off.

Pikachu and Dedenne manage to land on the river bank as Ash's Fletchling flies overhead and finds Pikachu and a weakened Dedenne. Ash and friends reunite with the two Pokémon, and Clemont decides to heal Dedenne by recharging Dedenne with electricity. He charges up his "Electricity Generator" which makes Dedenne feel better, but Clemont forgets to add an essential part of the machine, causing it to explode.

Team Rocket returns and Clemont commands Dedenne to fight. Dedenne uses Tackle on James's Inkay, but Inkay retaliates with Foul Play. Inkay then uses Psybeam which Dedenne dodges, then hits Inkay with another Tackle. Dedenne uses Nuzzle, paralyzing the Revolving Pokémon. Dedenne and Pikachu then use Thunder Shock and Thunderbolt simultaneously, sending a lightning bolt at Inkay and Team Rocket, sending them blasting them off yet again. With Team Rocket taken care of, Clemont finally catches Dedenne. The three are overjoyed, especially Bonnie. Clemont lets Dedenne out of its Poké Ball, and Bonnie unwittingly tells Dedenne to use Nuzzle, resulting in another electric shock for her! Dedenne then begins to sleep to conserve his energy.

The episodes ends with Serena and her new Fennekin walking through the woods, looking for a Pokémon Center. Growing dark, she worries about having to camp, and notices a person along the path who she goes to ask for directions. The person turns out to be a Vespiquen which attacks them, but Fennekin saves the day when she repels the Vespiquen with Ember. The Vespiquen flees and Nurse Joy and Wigglytuff arrive shortly after. Nurse Joy helps lead the two to the nearby Pokémon Center.

Major events

• Serena chooses Fennekin as her starter Pokémon.
• James's Inkay is revealed to know Tackle, Psybeam, and Foul Play.
• The Dedenne which the group met in the previous episode is revealed to know Tackle and Nuzzle.
• Clemont catches the Dedenne and allows Bonnie to take care of it.

For a list of all major events in Pokémon the Series, please see the timeline page.

Characters

Humans

Pokémon Quiz

• Ash
• Serena
• Clemont
• Bonnie
• Jessie
• James
• Professor Sycamore
• Sophie
• Nurse Joy

Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?

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

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
• Dedenne (Clemont's; new)
• Fletchling (Ash's)
• Inkay (James's)
• Bunnelby (Clemont's)
• Wigglytuff (Nurse Joy's)
• Chespin (starter Pokémon)
• Fennekin (starter Pokémon; given to Serena)
• Froakie (starter Pokémon)
• Burmy (Plant Cloak)
• Vespiquen
• Venipede (×2)
• Pidgey (multiple)

Trivia

File:Title Card XY Ash.png

The title card segment focuses on Ash for this episode

• Professor Oak's Pokémon Holo Caster: Bunnelby
• The next episode preview is narrated by Ash, Pikachu, Clemont, and Bonnie.
• This episode reveals that Meowth cannot translate Electric-type Pokémon's electrical language.
  • This contradicts the events of The Power of One, where Meowth translates the electrical langauge used between Ash's Pikachu and Zapdos. It should be noted, however, that both Zapdos and Pikachu were also verbally communicating at the same time during the movie.

Errors

• In one scene, Jessie is missing her earrings.
• In the scene where Bunnelby comes out of a hole after searching for Dedenne, when the camera is behind it, its ears are shown to be behind its head, but when the camera switched forward, the ears are shown to be in front of its head.

Dub edits

• In this episode, most of the background music present in the Japanese version is replaced with dub music.
• Like in the past three episodes, the title card is lacking the characters' shadows in the dub for an unknown reason. This edit was reverted in home video and iTunes releases, as well as non-US airings.
• For unknown reasons, the title card segment was skipped in the Hindi dub.

In other languages

Language		Title
Chinese	Cantonese	皮卡丘與咚咚鼠！碰碰臉頰！！
	Mandarin	皮卡丘與咚咚鼠！碰碰臉頰！！
Danish		Et chokerende flabet venskab!
Dutch		Een vriendschap met knetterende konen!
Finnish		Yllättävän nenäkäs ystävyys!
European French		Une amitié électrisante !
German		Vorsicht! Wangenrubbler!
Greek		Μια Καινούργια Ηλεκτρική Φιλία!
Indonesian		Persahabatan Penuh Kejutan!
Italian		Un'amicizia elettrizzante!
Korean		피카츄와 데덴네! 볼부비부비!!
Norwegian		Et sjokkerende frekt vennskap!
Polish		Zadziwiająco zawadiacka przyjaźń!
Brazilian Portuguese		Uma amizade chocantemente fofa!
Russian		Новая шокирующая дружба!
Spanish	Latin America	¡Una amistad asombrosamente insolente!
	Spain	¡Una amistad de auténtico impacto!
Swedish		En chockerande fräck vänskap!
Thai		ปิกาจูกับเดเด็นเนะ! การคลอเคลียกันด้วยแก้ม!!
Vietnamese		Pikachu và Dedenne! Má hồng cọ sát!!

← XY003 : A Battle of Aerial Mobility!

XY series

XY005 : A Blustery Santalune Gym Battle! →

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