As a Fletchling, it made its first appearance stealing a Berry that Bonnie was trying to feed to a wild Dedenne. Having made Bonnie cry, Ash's Froakie attempted to battle Fletchling, only to be repeatedly knocked out of the air. After Fletchling left, Clemont tried to attract it with one of his Clemontic Gears, only for Fletchling to set them up into being attacked by a swarm of Beedrill.
The chase led Ash and his friends to a canyon, where Froakie challenged Fletchling to another battle. Using the terrain to its advantage, Froakie managed to defeat Fletchling and this resulted in its capture by Ash. Fletchling was soon sent out again to be introduced to everyone else where it shared an Oran Berry with Froakie and Pikachu.
In A Blustery Santalune Gym Battle!, Fletchling was used in Ash's battle against Viola. It was able to easily defeat her Surskit due to it being weakened from its previous battle with Pikachu. It then faced Viola's Vivillon, but was defeated after being knocked into Surskit's previously-laid Sticky Web, which prevented it from moving and left it defenseless to Vivillon's Solar Beam. Later, it trained with Alexa alongside Pikachu to prepare for a rematch against Viola.
In Battling on Thin Ice!, Fletchling was used against Viola in a rematch. It used the training with Alexa's Noivern to its advantage by riding Vivillon's Gust to create a spinning Razor Wind. Despite this, Fletchling was defeated after being hit by Sleep Powder, leaving it once again defenseless to Vivillon's Solar Beam.
In Climbing the Walls!, Fletchling was Ash's second choice in his gym battle against Grant and his Tyrunt. Fletchling started off with Razor Wind, but it appeared to be ineffective against Tyrunt's Crunch attack. Ash then decided to go on the defensive side and has Fletchling use Double Team and attack with Steel Wing. Tyrunt dodges the attack and starts destroying the copies with its Dragon Tail. The real Fletchling slips by the attack and hits with its super effective Steel Wing. However, Tyrunt immediately countered with Dragon Tail, knocking Fletchling out.
In XY036, Ash and his friends met a Trainer named Nami, a Sky Trainer, and her Talonflame. She offered to have a Sky Battle with Ash and took them to a place where they could test out the Sky Battle gear. Ash send out Fletchling and Hawlucha to join them while they practiced. When Fletchling met Talonflame it wished to battle it but Talonflame was not impressed and Nami choose to battle Hawlucha instead, which upset Fletchling. Fletchling stayed with Bonnie while Ash and Hawlucha battled Talonflame, studying how Talonflame moved and attacked. After Hawlucha was defeated it helped rescue Talonflame from Team Rocket, earning Talonflame's respect. Afterwards Talonflame decided it wanted to battle against Fletchling. Fletchling was able to dodge many of Talonflame's attacks due to its small size and using what it learned from watching Hawlucha's battle. Fletchling was eventually hit by a powerful Fire Blast and evolved into Fletchinder in the process. It successfully defeated it with its newly learned Flame Charge, using the speed increase to easily follow Talonflame and defeat it after three Flame Charges.
Prior to being caught by Ash, Fletchling would steal food from other Pokémon as shown when it took a berry from Dedenne. Also, it was mischievous as it led the group to a Beedrill swarm. It was also seen laughing at the group after they escaped the swarm; this shows that it has a sense of humor. After Ash caught Fletchling, it warmed up to the group and became friendly towards them. Compared to the more subdued Froakie and Hawlucha, Fletchling tends to be more animated and emotional, puffing its chest out when confident and showing visible shock and tears when upset. In XY036, Fletchling became dejected after Nami's Talonflame dismissed it as weak. It was also shown in the same episode to be intelligent and resourceful; while Talonflame battled Hawlucha, it studied how Talonflame battled, and used what it learned to evade and defeat the evolved Pokémon later.