Inkay first appeared in A Battle of Aerial Mobility! while Team Rocket was dining at a café in Lumiose City. As Team Rocket were busy celebrating news from Giovanni, Inkay stole their food and proceeded to eat it from under their table. While Team Rocket were on their balloon, the same Inkay from before approached them when they dropped their sandwich and sprayed ink at them. After Team Rocket cleaned themselves off, James scanned the Inkay to get some details about it and the Team Rocket trio attempted to battle it with Wobbuffet. However, James offered Inkay some food instead as bait. While Inkay was distracted, James threw a Poké Ball at it and caught it, much to the surprise of Jessie and Meowth.
In A Shockingly Cheeky Friendship!, it was sent out for the first time to help capture Pikachu and a Dedenne, but the two managed to evade them. When the two were rescued by Ash and his friends, Team Rocket arrived and James sent Inkay out again to battle Dedenne, who was under Clemont's command. The two proved to be evenly matched until Dedenne used Nuzzle on Inkay, paralyzing it and allowing Dedenne and Pikachu to defeat it by combining their respective Thunder Shock and Thunderbolt.
In Heroes - Friends and Faux Alike!, Inkay was part of Team Rocket's plan to impersonate Ash and his friends. Inkay disguised itself as Pikachu alongside its trainer, who masqueraded as Ash. James meets a boy Myron and his Pancham and asks for a battle, to which Myron declines. James has Inkay attack Pancham with its Psybeam and Tackle anyway, which causes Myron to call for Officer Jenny. Inkay is later seen helping Team Rocket eat a bunch of food and running off without paying.
In XY054, Inkay was enjoying lunch with its Trainer until they noticed a group of Malamar and Inkay in the forest. As they were watching the Pokémon, three trucks drove by, each containing a Malamar, one of which was the one that had previously hypnotized it. Inkay immediately chased after the trucks and followed them up a mountainside. Team Rocket watched the Malamar for a while until Inkay got upset and started a commotion, getting the attention of the Malamar. Team Rocket fled and ran into Ash and his friends before being stopped by Officer Jenny, who filled them in on Malamar's plans. Two of the Malamar arrive and attempt to kidnap everyone with their Psychic, but Inkay attacks with its Ink Spray, allowing a few of them to escape. Inkay plans on going straight back to confront the Malamar, but Clemont, Meowth, and James convince it to talk to the group of Inkay and Malamar they saw before to get them to help out. Inkay starts to tell them of the evil Malamar's plan, but gets stopped by that Malamar showing up and attacking them. The Malamar and Inkay chase it off with their Psycho Cut and Flamethrower, then head to the mountainside to stop its plans. Once they arrive, the evil Malamar grabs Inkay and uses its Hypnosis to brainwash Inkay into attacking the others. However, James manages to break Inkay out of it because of the strong bond they share, allowing Inkay to attack Malamar. They manage to stop the Malamar's evil plan, but they escape during the fight. Afterwards, Team Rocket is resting back in the forest and Inkay is offered to join the Malamar and Inkay they saved. James allows Inkay to stay with them, but Inkay instead decided to stick with its Trainer, much to his delight.