XY063 : A Fork in the Road! A Parting of the Ways!
Pokémon the Series: XY
XYS03 : Mega Evolution Special III
Battling with Elegance and a Big Smile!
XY064.png
XY064   EP863
フォッコVSマフォクシー!華麗なるパフォーマーバトル!!
Fokko VS Mahoxy! A Splendid Performance Battle!!
First broadcast
Japan March 12, 2015
United States May 23, 2015
English themes
Opening Be a Hero
Ending
Japanese themes
Opening ゲッタバンバン
Ending ドリドリ
Credits
Animation Team Kato
Screenplay 面出明美 Akemi Omode
Storyboard 村野佑太 Yūta Murano
Assistant director 鈴木卓夫 Takuo Suzuki
Animation director 中村路之将 Michinosuke Nakamura
No additional credits are available at this time.

Battling with Elegance and a Big Smile! (Japanese: フォッコVSマフォクシー!華麗なるパフォーマーバトル!! Fokko VS Mahoxy! A Splendid Performance Battle!!) is the 64th episode of Pokémon the Series: XY, and the 863rd episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on March 12, 2015 and in the United States on May 23, 2015.

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

Ash, Serena, and Bonnie are continuing their journey to meet Clemont in Lumiose City. Their trip is interrupted when a Pokémon Showcase rehearsal quickly turns into a fight between Fennekin and Pancham. Serena loses her temper and yells at them, and then decides she needs to walk away for a bit.

In town, she meets a familiar-looking girl named Ariana, who tries to cheer Serena up, advising her to smile and inviting her along for some shopping and lunch. When she hears about what happened, Ariana reminds Serena of the close partnership she shares with her Pokémon and suggests that she apologize to them.

After the apology, all is forgiven, and Ariana challenges Serena to a Double Battle. Serena is off to a shaky start, but she remembers Ariana’s advice and connects with her Pokémon. Serena’s fortunes turn around quickly—and Fennekin evolves into Braixen!

Later, our heroes are watching Pokévision when Kalos Queen Aria is introduced...and Serena is amazed when she realizes her new friend Ariana was really Aria in disguise! With her confidence and optimism renewed, Serena leads the way as our heroes set off once more for Lumiose City.

Plot

While en route to Lumiose City for Ash's Gym battle with Clemont, Ash, Serena, and Bonnie are watching a television broadcast about the Pokémon Showcase that Shauna had recently won in Coumarine City. Seeing Shauna's glory as the winner of a Showcase, Serena resolves to catch up to her rival and goes to train with Fennekin and Pancham as soon as Nurse Joy finishes healing them.

At first, the training proceeds well, with Serena, Fennekin, and Pancham obviously having fun and performing their moves in perfect harmony with each other. However, while performing a trick involving Pancham jumping through a fiery ring created by Fennekin's Flamethrower, Pancham's tail is burned and he becomes angry at Fennekin, blaming her for the mistake. Fennekin retaliates and, after Pancham tries the trick again and accidentally lands on Fennekin, the two of them begin fighting. Pancham hides behind Serena and taunts Fennekin, causing the latter to use Flamethrower in anger and hit Serena instead of Pancham. At this, Serena loses her temper and screams at her two Pokémon to stop fighting. Embarrassed and upset by the way she had treated her Pokémon, Serena leaves to go have some time by herself and think while Ash and Bonnie look after Fennekin, Pancham, and their other Pokémon.

Absentmindedly staring into the window of a shop, a miserable Serena decides that she is a failure as a Pokémon Performer. While lost in thought, a girl walks up behind her and comments on the hats in the window of the shop, thinking Serena is having trouble deciding which one to get. She introduces herself, somewhat hesitantly, as Ariana and invites Serena to go shopping with her, telling Serena how smiling is the most important thing when it comes to performing with one's Pokémon. While shopping, Serena and Ariana continue talking about Pokémon Performers. Serena is still very down on herself for her mistake in the Coumarine City Pokémon Showcase, which Ariana had watched on Pokévision, but Ariana tells her that everybody makes mistakes and to keep working with her Pokémon. Serena, enjoying their conversation, begins to smile again and Ariana says that people will love her smile. While the two girls share a meal together, Ariana suggests that Serena's first step to make amends with her Pokémon be to simply apologize, because she and Fennekin are always together and even though Pancham isn't always very honest with himself, he cares about Serena, too.

Meanwhile, Ash and Bonnie have been spending the day having fun with Pikachu, Dedenne, and the other Pokémon. Fennekin and Pancham, like Serena, have been very upset for much of the day, blaming themselves for Serena's anger and for the problems caused between them. Bonnie manages to coax them into eating their food, however, and she and Ash talk about how Clemont is doing back at the Lumiose Gym. At the Gym at that moment, Clemont defeats his newest challenger, a Trainer named Sawyer, in his Gym challenge and gives him useful advice about the timing of his Treecko's Mega Drain.

Later that evening, Serena returns to where Ash, Bonnie, and her Pokémon are playing and Fennekin and Pancham immediately express their apologies to her. She, in turn, apologizes to them, and is startled when Ariana challenges her to a Double Battle. Ariana sends out her Delphox and Aromatisse to battle against Pancham and Fennekin. During the battle, Serena realizes that Ariana is a Performer herself and is at first unable to overcome her opponent's beautiful and effective combinations. When Ariana offers her advice about making sure she and her Pokémon are in full cooperation with each other, Serena begins a new combination with Stone Edge and Flamethrower that help her begin to turn the battle around. When Ariana counters with her own Flamethrower and hurts Fennekin, Serena remembers her advice to just keep smiling and reassures Pancham and Fennekin that everything will turn out all right in the end. Responding to Serena's words, Fennekin evolves into Braixen. Before the battle can be completed, however, Ariana is called away and leaves behind a confused Serena, Ash, and Bonnie.

The next day, Serena, Bonnie, and Ash are watching an exhibition by Kalos Queen Aria on television, and Serena finally recognizes her as "Ariana", the one who had given her so much help the day before. Inwardly thanking Aria for her assistance, Serena resolves to train even harder and someday achieve her dream of becoming Kalos Queen.

Major events

 
Serena facing Aria
For a list of all major events in the anime, please see the history page.

Debuts

Humans

Pokémon debuts

Characters

Humans

 
Pokémon Quiz

Pokémon

 
Who's That Pokémon?

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

Other

Trivia

 
The title card segment focuses on Serena for this episode

Errors

 
Pancham's ear error
  • In the original version, Clemont mentions that Sawyer's Treecko used Razor Leaf during their Gym battle, a move Treecko is unable to learn. In the dub, this was changed to Mega Drain.
  • During the scene when Serena's Pancham is about to hit the ground, his left ear is colored the same way as his head.
  • Aria is seen wearing her blue bracelet at one point when she meets Serena for the first time, despite buying it later that day.
  • During the VS. screen, when Serena is having a battle with Aria, Aromatisse's eyelids are colored purple instead of being colored black.
  • In the English dub:
    • When the group's Pokémon are eating, Fletchinder's Japanese voice can be heard.
    • The background music is missing for the second half of Who's That Pokémon?.
    • In some versions, the narrator is missing in the beginning of the episode right after the opening, with the narrator's lines left in the closed captions. The line missing goes as follows: "NARRATOR: With four Kalos Gym badges in Ash's possession, our heroes continue to the Lumiose Gym for Ash's battle with Clemont."
      • Closed captions also incorrectly refer to Sawyer as Scottie.
  • In the Swedish dub, when Aromatisse fires a Charge Beam against Fennekin and Pancham gets in front of her to defend her, Serena commands Fennekin to use Dark Pulse instead of Pancham.

Dub edits

  • DreamDream was replaced in the dub with an instrumental song.

In other languages



XY063 : A Fork in the Road! A Parting of the Ways!
Pokémon the Series: XY
XYS03 : Mega Evolution Special III
  This episode article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of the Pokémon anime.