PS500

With a Little Help from My Friends

VSメロエッタ I

VS Meloetta I

Info

Series

Pokémon Adventures

Other

Location

Anville Town
Café Sonata

With a Little Help from My Friends (Japanese: VSメロエッタ I VS Meloetta I or 旋律 Melody) is the 500th round of the Pokémon Adventures manga.

Plot

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

White, who has been inside the trial Battle Subway train, hears from its announcers, Ingo and Emmet, that they have arrived at their destination - Anville Town. Looking out of the window with Servine - one of the Pokémon she entered for the trial - White sees a fervent crowd on the platform. At the next moment, Servine dodges an attack. Ingo and Emmet step out of the driver's cab. Ingo, commanding his Klinklang, tells White that her battles are not over.

White responds with her new-found determination to win, and commands a Leaf Storm from Servine. Ingo thinks Servine's move is off target, and gets Klinklang to use Shift Gear. However, Klinklang's gears fail to move. Emmet points out that the leaves from Leaf Storm jammed Klinklang's gears, and in the next moment, White has Servine finish Klinklang off with its vines. Servine and Klinklang collide, and both are knocked out. Despite the result, Ingo and Emmet are satisfied with White's progress, thus allow her out of the train for a rest. White complies and gets her full team out - alongside Servine are Darlene, the Deerling that White caught before the trial, Brav, which Black loaned to her before the trial, and three new Pokémon that she caught during the trial. White introduces them as Dorothy the Stunfisk, Nancy the Alomomola and Solly the Solosis.

White then looks at Servine and tries to bond with it by nicknaming it Amanda. Servine responds by slapping White's hand, causing White to doubt their bond. White's Pokémon then hear a pleasant tune and go towards it. White, recognizing the sound as that of a flute, is also captivated by the tune and decides to follow. The source of the sound is on the bridge above Anville station, and the person playing is none other than Bianca, one of Black's friends who White met before.

Bianca, accompanied by her Litwick and Oshawott, also recognizes White as the president of the BW Agency. White compliments Bianca on the tune she played, and Bianca states that she had been practising several instruments. Just then, another fervent crowd gathers onto the bridge to take photographs of the visiting Battle Subway train, squeezing White towards one side and crushing Bianca onto the ground.

Later on, the two sit in the front carriage of the Battle Subway train. White curses the bad manners of the visitors, and Bianca, who recovered after the incident, begins to open up about herself. Seeing the crowd's determination to have a glance of their newest visitor made Bianca realize she had nothing to look forward to. At this point, White has to stop Emmet from snooping on their conversation. White then says that Bianca's mention of "determination" reminded her of Black, who calls out his dreams every day. Bianca asks White about her goal, and after hearing White's response, becomes even more convinced that she has nothing to work towards. Now breaking in tears, Bianca tells White that she ended up in Anville to hide from her father. She claims that all she has achieved so far was not being caught by her overprotective father, or being affected by Team Plasma ambushing her. She has her Litwick and Oshawott battle against each other, to show that her battling skills have not progressed, and bawls that she will never fulfill the mission bestowed to her by Professor Juniper.

White tries to comfort Bianca, then suddenly has an idea. She asks Ingo and Emmet to drive the Subway train to Castelia City, in order for her to visit Café Sonata. White then asks Bianca to play her flute piece again, in order for White to make a recording of it. As the train departs Anville, a mysterious creature attracted to Bianca's music sneaks into the train. White and Bianca are later seen walking down Narrow Street, the place where Bianca suffered at the hands of Team Plasma. White notes that Café Sonata is just down the street, and tells Bianca that the guitarist who plays regularly there has been sent a recording of Bianca's music. He gave positive feedback to White, saying that he cannot wait to hear Bianca perform for him.

White enters Café Sonata to announce her arrival, but is greeted by a scene of chaos. White also sees the guitarist sprawled across the stage with his hand stuck under a large speaker. The guitarist warns White of something behind her. Fortunately, White dodges the assailant which is revealed to be a Vullaby. As Bianca hurries on stage to free the guitarist's hand, he explains that he had been waiting for the day that a mirage Pokémon would visit to hear him play a song, but then the wild Vullaby invaded and chased after it.

Bianca hears something above her, and looks up to see the mirage Pokémon the guitarist was talking about. Bianca notes that the mirage Pokémon isn't singing, but crying for help. The guitarist refers to the mirage Pokémon as Meloetta, saying that it had inspired famous songs. At this point, Vullaby spots Meloetta and goes for it. White calls out Dorothy to get in Vullaby's way, and Meloetta uses the distraction to hide behind Bianca. The guitarist curses his luck, stating that due to his injured hand he cannot play for Meloetta anymore. Bianca, after some thought, decides to play the guitar in his place, and asks for the sheet music. With the guitarist's acoustic guitar in her grasp, she starts to sight-read the music.

Major events

White continues her training with Ingo and Emmet and has become a strong enough Trainer to tie in a battle with Ingo.
The Battle Subway train arrives in Anville Town.
White is revealed to have captured a Stunfisk named Dorothy, an Alomomola named Nancy, and a Solosis named Solly.
White attempts to nickname Servine Amanda, only to be attacked in response.
White encounters Bianca, who's depressed because all she's been able to accomplish on her journey is running away from her overprotective father.
White takes Bianca to the Café Sonata in Castelia City to help her with her musical talent.
Upon entering, White and Bianca discover the place in shambles while a wild Vullaby attacks a wild Meloetta.

For a list of all major events in the Pokémon Adventures manga, please see the history page.

	Spoilers end here.

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

Alomomola
Meloetta (Aria Forme)

Characters

Humans

Black (fantasy)
White
Cheren (fantasy)
Bianca
Ingo
Emmet
Bianca's father (flashback)
Guitarist

Pokémon

Braviary (Brav; Black's)
Servine (Amanda; White's)
Deerling (Darlene; White's)
Stunfisk (Dorothy; White's)
Alomomola (Nancy; White's)
Solosis (Solly; White's)
Oshawott (Bianca's)
Litwick (Bianca's)
Klinklang (Ingo's)
Vullaby (later White's)
Meloetta (Aria Forme)

Trivia

Due to the rounds being individually published in magazines in a different order, one of Bianca's flashbacks about her father is actually from the next round.
In the VIZ Media mini-volumes of the Black & White arc, this round was collected in Volume 12.
In the Kurokawa translation from France, this round was released in Pokémon Black and White volume 6.
In the Brazilian Portuguese translation of this chapter, Emmet refers to White and Bianca's conversation as "Clube da Luluzinha" (Little Lulu's Club, after the comic strip character created by Marge), a slang for a group of people which consists only of women.

In other languages

Language		Title
Mandarin Chinese		VS 美洛耶塔 I - 旋律
European French		Le destin de Bianca
German		VS. Meloetta I - Die Melodie
Italian		VS Meloetta I - Melodia
Korean		VS 메로엣타 I
Brazilian Portuguese		VS Meloetta I - Melodia
European Spanish		Contra Meloetta (1ª parte)
Vietnamese		VS Meloetta I - Giai điệu