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Battling with a Clean Slate! (Japanese: はじまりはゼロ!シトロンの決断!!Starting from Zero! Citron's Decision!!) is the 137th episode of the XY series, and the 936th episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on October 6, 2016 and in the United States on December 24, 2016.
Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.
The Lumiose Gym has been through a lot, but everyone is working together to get it up and running again. Clembot is back, too, although Clemont hasn’t been able to restore its memories. When someone arrives to challenge the Gym, Clembot experiences its first Pokémon battle all over again—and it loves every minute! It asks Clemont to teach it all about Pokémon, and he’s pleased to start rebuilding their friendship.
The rest of our heroes are making plans, too. Ash wants to go home for a fresh start. Alain returns to work for Professor Sycamore. And Serena remembers Palermo’s offer to take her on as a student...
Plot
This plot summary is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this plot summary to add missing sections and complete it.
Following the Team Flare incident, Lumiose City is getting back to normal whilst Ash, Serena and Bonnie work to rebuild the Lumiose Gym alongside Meyer. Meanwhile Clemont is busy working on Clembot and gets him working again.
In a cafe, Team Rocket are speaking to Giovanni who has heard of Team Flare's downfall and Team Rocket take a lot of credit for bringing it and they promise to return to Headquarters once the airport reopens but decide to bring back a surprise and decide to capture Pikachu for the boss.
Clemont joins the others but is unable to get back all of the data for Clembot back when a challenger called Alvin arrives to challenge the gym.
This episode marks the first time that Alain's Charizard is shown not wearing its Charizardite X, and also the first time outside of flashbacks that Alain is shown not wearing his Mega Ring.
Mad-Paced Getter is used as an insert song at the end of Alvin's Gym battle.
Brilliantly is used as the ending for this episode, with this version being sung by Clemont's Japanese voice actor, Yūki Kaji.
When Serena's Braixen uses Flamethrower on Gourgeist, Ash, Ash's Pikachu and Greninja, Alain and Alain's Charizard disappear from standing in front of the rest of the group only to reappear when Pikachu is commanded to use Thunderbolt.
When Cubone's Bonemerang is about to hit Heliolisk, the upper part of Heliolisk's mouth is colored yellow instead of black.
In the dub, Alvin commanded Vivillon to use Stun Spore when it was actually Sleep Powder.