Kalos, Where Dreams and Adventures Begin! (Japanese:カロス地方にやってきた！夢と冒険のはじまり！！We've Arrived in the Kalos Region! The Beginning of Dreams and Adventures!!) is the first episode ofPokémon the Series: XY, and the 800th episode of thePokémon animated series. It first aired in Japan on October 17, 2013, and in the United Kingdom and the United States as a sneak peek preview of the full series on October 19, 2013, to coincide with the worldwide release ofPokémon X and Y. It was later broadcast in sequence in the United States on January 18, 2014.
Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.
After a quick introduction to Serena, a budding young Trainer who lives with her mother in the Kalos region, we find Ash, Pikachu, and Alexa on a plane, preparing to land in Kalos. Saying that Ash is excited would be quite an understatement! The thought of meeting all the new Pokémon and having lots of exciting Gym battles has our hero beside himself with joyous anticipation.
But when Alexa discovers that her younger sister (who’s a Gym Leader) isn’t at her Gym in Santalune City, Ash wonders where he should try for his first badge. Alexa directs him to the Gym located in the Prism Tower, right there in Lumiose City! Ash and Pikachu arrive at the Gym, brimming with confidence and energy. But they are greeted by a robot who, upon discovering Ash hasn’t yet won a single badge in Kalos, promptly throws them out with a bang!
Outside, a Trainer named Clemont and his little sister, Bonnie, manage to catch Ash and Pikachu as they come flying out of the tower. After introductions all around, Ash challenges Clemont to a battle on the spot, and he agrees. With Pikachu up against Clemont’s new Pokémon Bunnelby, it proves to be a battle of power and strategy, until it is rudely interrupted by none other than Jessie, James, and Meowth of Team Rocket, who have followed Ash all the way to Kalos!
The villains proclaim that although Pikachu is their first Pokémon-catching priority, the wealth of prime Pokémon in the Kalos region is too great to ignore! As a new battle begins, Team Rocket’s Wobbuffet proves to be quite a powerful Pokémon, thanks to its Mirror Coat move, which returns special attacks to the sender with double the power! But a Froakie has been observing the events from the sidelines, and now rushes in to help. When it flings the protective Frubbles that cover its back—which isn’t technically a move, and therefore not affected by Wobbuffet’s Mirror Coat—Team Rocket is sent blasting off again, but Froakie is injured in the process. Ash knows they need to get Froakie to a Pokémon Center right away, but Bonnie suggests it would be faster to go to Professor Sycamore’s research lab.
So off they go: Ash, Pikachu, Clemont, Bonnie, and the injured Froakie, ushering in a new round of adventures and excitement!
Plot
InVaniville Town,Grace asks herFletchling to wake up her daughterSerena after she failed to do so the first time. Fletchling obediently flies up to Serena's bedroom and pecks her awake, much to Serena's annoyance. Despite the prospect of training withRhyhorn later for Rhyhorn racing, Serena feels today will be interesting.
Meanwhile,Ash arrives in theKalosregion on a plane withAlexa, anticipating a new adventure. As Ash andPikachu leave the plane, Ash sees twoSpritzee flying above and trips on the steps, landing heavily on the ground. Ash is dismayed to discover thatAlexa's sister'sGym is not inLumiose City, but is inSantalune City instead. While Alexa makes a phone call to her sister, Ash decides to look around for new Pokémon, when suddenlya mysterious Pokémon appears on the top of the airport traffic control tower and jumps over Ash's head. Ash heads to the lobby and runs to Alexa'sHelioptile, telling Alexa about the amazing Pokémon he saw, to which Alexa promises that he will soon see many more amazing Pokémon. Although Alexa's sister is still away from theSantalune Gym, Alexa cheers Ash up by suggesting that he challenge the Gym in Lumiose City instead. Taking him to a map, she explains thatLumiose Gym is housed inside Prism Tower which is in the centre of the city. Ash gets very excited, and Alexa then tells Ash they'll need to go their separate ways now. Ash thanks her for all her help recently, and Alexa in turn thanks him for the fun they've had on their recent travels together. With that, Ash departs and Alexa comments on his energy and wishes him luck on his new adventure.
After seeing many Pokémon in Lumiose City, some familiar and some new to him, Ash finds Prism Tower, which houses the Lumiose Gym. Watched bya boy andhis younger sister, Ash walks inside and requests a Gym battle, buta robotic voice asks him how manyBadges he currently has. Unbeknownst to Ash, the Lumiose Gym has a strict requirement that onlyTrainers with four or more Gym Badges may challenge theGym Leader. Since Ash has no Badges, Ash and Pikachu are hit with an electric shock and are dropped through a trapdoor to the exit. The two children from before see him falling out of the Tower and they attempt to rescue Ash and his Pikachu. The boy throws hisbackpack below Ash, which immediately produces a large airbag-like contraption to cushion Ash's fall. The little girl catches Pikachu and falls over herself. After the boy helps Ash to his feet, the girl excites herself over how adorable Pikachu is and hugs him tightly, causing Pikachu to shock her in protest. As the scene is occurring, aFroakie is watching them from a building. Recovering quickly from the shock, the girl apologizes to Pikachu after her brother chides her for not considering Pikachu's feelings. Introducing himself to the boy and the girl, Ash tells them that he traveled from theKanto region so he could participate in theKalos League. The three of them head to a Pokémon battlefield in Lumiose City, where the boy and the girl introduce themselves asClemont andBonnie. Ash challenges Clemont to aPokémon battle, to which Clemont accepts after encouragement from Bonnie.
For their battle, Clemont sends out hisBunnelby and Ash uses Pikachu. Pikachu starts off with aThunderbolt, but Bunnelby uses his ears to throw up the sand to block the attack. Bunnelby responds withDig, while Ash tells Pikachu to take off and use his speed to confuse Bunnelby. However, Pikachu is unsuccessful and Bunnelby lands his attack. Pikachu and Bunnelby continue trading attacks, while Ash notes that Bunnelby's ears are a great asset in battle and that Clemont is a skilled Trainer. Bunnelby stops Pikachu’sIron Tail with his ears, but gets pushed back by a close rangeElectro Ball attack. Pikachu charges into aQuick Attack while Clemont orders Bunnelby to bide his time.
Just then, the battle is interrupted when a device is thrown onto the battlefield, which Pikachu narrowly dodges. Looking around, Ash and the others seeTeam Rocket there, having followed him all the way to Kalos. Although the talkingMeowth catches Clemont's attention, Ash explains to him and Bonnie that Team Rocket have been following him around, trying to steal Pikachu. Although Pikachu and Bunnelby both put up excellent fights against Team Rocket,Jessie's Wobbuffet usesMirror Coat to block their efforts. Just before Pikachu is struck by a rebounding Electro Ball, the Froakie that had been watching them before jumps in and takes the attack for Pikachu. Using its frubbles as an attack, Froakie incapacitates Wobbuffet and Team Rocket with the sticky frubbles. Clemont orders his Bunnelby to use Dig, which sends Team Rocket flying into the air before Pikachu sends them blasting off with a Thunderbolt.
Afterwards Froakie collapses from its injuries. Following on Bonnie's recommendations, they rush Froakie toProfessor Sycamore's laboratory, fearing for the little Pokémon's safety.
In addition to the United States, this episode aired as a sneak peek on October 19, 2013 inthe United Kingdom,Spain,Germany,Italy, andFrance. The sneak peek versions of these episodes also aired inCanada on December 7, 2013.
For these airings, as theopening theme sequence hadn't been completed, a placeholder opening was used, in which the show's title simply flew into view on a black background as thetitle card background music played. In the ending credits, a shorter version of Lumiose City'sanimated series music was used.
This episode marks the first appearance of a number of Pokémon species in the main series after long absences:
A new eyecatch debuts in the Japanese version, calledPokémon Quiz. The silhouette of the Pokémon is revealed, then four other silhouettes appear alongside it: one being identical to the first silhouette, two being that of similar Pokémon species and one of them being that ofTeam Rocket. The viewers have to remember where the correct silhouette was, which is revealed alongside the actual Pokémon species after the commercial break.
This is the first time that an episode introducing a newcore series region does not feature the regionalProfessor.
This is the first time thatAsh's male traveling companion appears in the first episode of a new series.
Jessiebreaks the fourth wall when Ash says that he andPikachu will always stand up to Team Rocket. She replies that all he will end up with is reruns, implying that the show will end due to them succeeding in capturing Pikachu.
This is the first episode of a series wherePikachu does not suffered from any incident during the course of the episode.
Instead,Froakie, who had not yet been caught by Ash, suffers injuries during a battle withTeam Rocket. This also marks the first instance of arecurring Pokémon other than Pikachu suffering from an incident in a first episode of a series.
Errors
Serena'sBulbasaur doll moves farther away from her bed between shots.
In the intro segment of the episode, aDedenne's belly is colored the same as the rest of its body.
At two different times, the sound ofWobbuffet's Poké Ball opening can be heard despite already being outside of it.
AfterAlexa finishes her call withher sister, Ash,Pikachu, andHelioptile go tell her that Ash saw an awesome Pokémon, and Alexa's earring is missing.
In one scene, the pocket on Alexa's jeans is missing.
Jessie's midriff is colored the same as her undershirt in the first shot of the motto. This error would be repeated inConfronting the Darkness!
Jessie's undershirt is incorrectly colored white instead of black for a few frames, and a few frames later, the space inside the "R" is colored red instead of white. This error is present in every subsequent episode featuring the same motto animation.
WhenJames crosses his arms, the fingers on his left glove are colored like his skin instead of black. This is corrected inKindergarten Chaos!
In the English dub:
In the opening scene, whenGrace says "usual", microphone static can be heard.
When Ash asksClemont where thePokémon Center is, his mouth doesn't keep up with the words.
Alexa's missing earring
Alexa's missing jeans pocket
Jessie's miscolored midriff
Dub edits
For unknown reasons, theTo Be Continued text does not appear in the end of the episode in theAmerican version. TheUK version, and presumably all international versions, has theTo Be Continued added in.
In the official debut of this episode's dub, a large portion of the original music is replaced with dub music. However, this was not the case in the preview airing, in which the episode used all of the original music.
In addition, several lines of dialogue were rerecorded and theClembot's voice was changed between the preview and official debut to be consistent with later episodes.
For unknown reasons, the title card segment was skipped during the debut airings on Hungama TV inIndia. It was later restored during re-runs on Marvel HQ.
Alexa's missing earring
Alexa's missing jeans pocket
Jessie's miscolored midriff
