Characters / Pokémon the Series: XY — Main Cast

aka: Pokemon The Series XY Ashs Pokemon

Pokémon anime characters index
Series-wide: Ash Ketchum | Pikachu | Team Rocket Trio | Team Rocket Organization
The Original Series (Misty and Brock, Main Cast) | Ruby and Sapphire (Main Cast) | Diamond and Pearl (Main Cast, Paul) | Black & White (Main Cast) | XY (Main Cast) | Sun & Moon (Main Cast) | Journeys (Main Cast)
Others: Movie characters

Ash's Companions

Serena

^{Click here to see Serena's XY outfit}

Voiced in Japanese by: Mayuki Makiguchi

Voiced in English by: Haven Paschall

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Verania Ortiz

Voiced in European Spanish by: Isacha Mengíbar

Voiced in Italian by: Deborah Morese

A girl who lives with her mother in the Kalos region. After seeing Ash's face on a news report, she's certain that he's the same boy she met when she was younger. Serena joins Ash on his quest despite not knowing to what end, though she eventually decided that her dream was to become a Pokémon Performer.

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• Adaptation Dye-Job: Her skin tone and hair color match the default version of her game counterpart (the one used for the NPC version if you choose Calem as your PC), but her eyes are blue like the lighter-skinned, blonde PC version. Eye color was, however, customizable in the games, so you could get the same combination.
• Adaptational Nationality: In the games, the player character (which this Serena is more based on than the rival) recently moved in from a different region. The anime version regularly refers to herself as being from Vaniville Town and lived there for a while, being a Kalos native.
• Adaptation Origin Connection: While the game Serena (if she is chosen as the player character) is said to have moved from a different region, nothing indicates it was Kanto or that she met any famous Kanto folks like Red or Professor Oak. The anime reveals that Serena went to Kanto for Oak's summer camp when she was very young, and this was where she first met Ash.
• Age Lift: In the games, her age is hard to pin down, but appears to be a teenager. In the anime, she's the same height as Ash and Clemont, and abiding by flashback, is of almost identical age, which would put her at the rough age of 10 like the rest of the anime's female companions.
• Ambiguously Absent Parent: Her father is nowhere to be seen and is never mentioned or described by anyone. As far as it has ever been seen the only people who live in her mother's home are her mother, herself, Fletchling, and her mom's old racing Rhyhorn.
• Anger Born of Worry:
  • While it doesn't amount to much, Serena finally gets (justifiably) angry at Ash when he dived into a volcano in order to save Talonflame, which, had it not been for Frogadier, would have been fatal for both of them.
  • She also gets worried when Ash is having a Heroic BSoD after his loss against Wulfric, and when Ash angrily rebuffs her she finally gets very angry with him as well. They make up at the end of the episode, however.
• Anguished Declaration of Love: Subverted. She nearly did this during her argument with Ash when he snapped at her for trying to cheer him up, but was too angry at him to blurt it out. Instead she stormed off in a huff...and then a fierce storm came in while Ash was deep in the woods. She quickly regrets her decision.
• Bare Midriffs Are Feminine: While she's not the only girl in the group in this series, she does do this in the main series twice—first when she cosplays as her Fennekin for making a video, and the second is her Contest Outfit in JN105 and JN132.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: The reason why Serena fell in love with Ash is due to him being the only one who helped fixed Serena's sprained ankle and led her back to the Summer Camp when they were younger. Seeing him in present day only deepens the love as he still remains the same, though she has come to accept that he's not flawless as she remembered him to be.
• Beware the Nice Ones:
  • Like most of Ash's companions, Serena is sweet-natured, but not a doormat. The one time Ash snapped at her, she very angrily dressed him down over it, while also reminding him that he is better than that.
  • Like with so many others, Team Rocket also regularly pay the price for crossing her. In "So You're Having a Bad Day" she is willing to cooperate with Meowth, but after finding out everything they suffered from the Pokémon of the Day was his fault, she is the one that exposes him, coldly telling him to deal with the three angry Pangoro himself.
• Betty and Veronica: The Betty to Miette's Veronica for Ash's Archie.
• Borrowed Catch Phrase:
  • While teaching Ash how to ride a Rhyhorn, Serena surprises herself when she habitually uses her mother's "Go for broke" motto.
  • When Bonnie tries to find a girlfriend for Clemont when the latter isn’t present at the scene, Serena is the one who steps in and has to tell Bonnie to cut it out.
• Bound and Gagged: The former only in "Mega Meowth Mega Madness" after Team Rocket catch her and Bonnie in the act of rescuing Prof. Sycamore from them. Predictably, Ash frees her.
• Breaking Old Trends: Most of the female traveling companions have had varying amounts of Ship Tease with Ash. Serena is the first (and so far only) one to explicitly have a crush on him. She's also the first (and also only) to actually kiss him.
• Break the Cutie: Subverted. She breaks down into tears in front of her Pokémon the next day, early in the morning at a boardwalk, after losing the first round in her first Pokémon Showcase earlier in the episode. Fennekin and Pancham also held tears over their distraught Trainer and attempted to comfort her. However, she was crying because she was grateful for the opportunity to start her dream as a Performer despite the loss and renewed her resolve to become Kalos Queen with a change in style and wardrobe.
• Broken Pedestal: Serena admires Ash a whole lot ever since they met as children, which only grows as she continues traveling through Kalos with him. However, she becomes shocked and angry when he lashes out at her after losing his Gym battle with Wulfric. After some self-reflection on both sides, they are soon able to make up, and her confidence in Ash is fully restored after he wins his rematch with Wulfric.
• Broken Win/Loss Streak: She loses her first showcase on account of Fennekin tripping over its ribbons. She does win her next two, but loses her fourth contest when Eevee trips in a similar way. After successfully winning her fifth contest, she advances to the finals, but loses by a fair margin to Aria.
• The Bus Came Back: Serena appears again in JN105, spending most of her time with Chloe. She only meets Ash and Goh for a very short time when the boat was leaving.
  • She earns a new one in Journeys she teaches to Chloe. "Whenever in doubt, give stuff a try."
• Catapult Nightmare: At the dawn of Ash's 4th gym battle, she dreams of tripping and falling during her Showcase debut, and wakes up the same way. That dream proves to be prophetic of what would eventually happen. Even worse, during Eevee's first Showcase, she tripped and fell, costing Serena the match.
• Cavalier Competitor: By the end of her showcase run, she had become a rather good natured performer and took any losses in stride. She doesn't expect any higher standards from her Pokémon either.
• Character Catchphrase: "Ta-dah!", every time she wants to show something off to her friends. When Jessie impersonated her, Serena was a wee bit mad that Jessie exaggerated the Catchphrase bit.
  Serena: *pouty* I don't do that EVER!!!
• Character Tics: Since wearing the ribbon Ash gave her, Serena is sometimes shown grasping onto it whenever insecure or trying to muster courage in a daunting situation.
• Characterization Marches On: Serena was distinctly more sassy and outspoken in the first few episodes of XY, most notably to her mother due to their semi-strained relationship. After she joins Ash's group, she's characterized as pretty much intrinsically sweet and polite — even in episodes where Grace shows up, she's far more soft-spoken to her mother than she was at first.
• Childhood Friends: Knew Ash years ago when they were younger and went to a Pokémon Summer Camp together. It's downplayed however, as Ash didn't really remember her until they met again and she still had to remind him of their meeting as other than the Summer Camp they didn't see each other again.
• Childhood Friend Romance: With Ash. Her crush began when they met as kids. As she matured as a character, so did her feelings, showing that she is genuinely in love with him. She shows this by wearing the ribbon he gave her on her chest, and staying by his side and supporting him through thick and thin. Her feelings for Ash are so strong than, in her first argument with Ash, she ran away from him crying after she almost blurts out her feelings for him because she couldn't take seeing him so broken and depressed that he was a completely different person from the guy she fell in love with.
• Character Development: Serena gained a great amount of assertiveness and confidence over the series, particularity thanks to Ash and her Pokémon. It eventually grew to the point that she not only found her own dream to follow, but vowed to be a more gorgeous lady for Ash when they meet again, sealing it with a kiss. She's lived up to that promise in Journeys, and acts as a Cool Big Sis for Chloe.
• Clingy Jealous Girl:
  • Invoked when Miette asks Ash if he has a bride to see if Serena would have this reaction. Serena expresses slight annoyance. At the end of the episode, Miette also "threatens" to take Ash away next time if Serena hasn't made her move by then. Serena blushes furiously in response, but nothing more. Whenever the group meets Miette again, she naturally tries to get a rise out of Serena this way.
  • Downplayed in general. She isn't overtly possessive over Ash, but she displays obvious discomfort whenever he receives any female attention. After all, she was clearly not fond of Ash accepting Miette's invitation to be her dance partner.
  • Also played for laughs due to the facial expressions and responses she makes, mostly due to Miette's meddling.
• Color Motif: Serena consistently wears outfits that feature the colors pink, red, white, and black.
• Composite Character: Serena is obviously based off the female player character, or the rival if the player is male, of the XY game, but several of her scenes, like when she and Ash watch fireworks, have her act in a similiar to what Shauna in those games did with the player character, and she and game!Shauna share a more similiar demeaner than the rival!Serena of the games (of course, this makes her rival Shauna a Decomposite Character).
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: A major one to Iris. Iris was a tomboyish Wild Child, an active and powerful battler, and regularly bickered with Ash with minimal Ship Tease. Serena, on the other hand, was an extremely feminine Nice Girl, rarely battled, and due to her crush on Ash, only had a single argument with him in the entire series. It's especially notable that Iris viewed Ash as "a kid" in nearly every conversation they had, while Serena rarely had anything bad to say about him.
• Commonality Connection: While traveling together in Kalos, Ash and Serena bond over their shared struggles with goal-setting and navigating life as Pokemon trainers.
• Cool Big Sis: To Bonnie, treating her like a younger sibling of sorts. Makes sense since as they are both children and the same sex - they would gravitate towards each other in a way that they won't to the boys (who in turn have another sibling-like bond).
  • She also hits it off with Mairin, and in their time together, Serena always thinks of the younger girl's welfare. As a result, Mairin has developed a bit of minor Hero-Worshipper toward Serena.
  • In her Journeys appearance, she serves as this to Chloe when the latter is worried about participating in her first Contest. Her seiyuu, Mayuki Makiguchi, even refers to her as this.
• Crossdressing Voices: In-Universe example. In the movie The Lightning-fast Hero! Super Pikachu!!, Serena voices a male Pikachu who appears at the beginning of said movie. (Similar like Ash, who voices a female Pikachu in the middle of the movie.)
• Crush Blush: This tends to happen whenever her feelings concerning Ash are brought up.
• Cuteness Proximity: Actually a pivot for one. Rhyhorn love her as they nuzzle and lick her mercilessly on sight.
• Damsel in Distress: Not an exaggerated case, but Serena has required protecting a fair few times. Expectedly, these are usually Rescue Romance on Ash's part. Jessie, being The Rival in showcases, is also sometimes as obsessed with capturing Serena's Pokémon as she's determined to steal Pikachu.
• Determinator: She grew towards this, showing how she is willing to take hits for her Pokémon and her continuing the performance despite Eevee having just tripped. You have Ash to thank for that!
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: For the first 46 episodes of the XY series, she was unsure of what she wants out of her Pokémon journey. She finally decides to become a Pokémon Performer in episode 47.
• Deuteragonist: Although not apparent for most of the XY series' first half, her Performance arc becomes an important part, alternating with Ash's own quest.
• Diabolus ex Machina:
  • She loses two showcases because of her Pokémon tripping unexpectedly, the first because Fennekin's ribbon was too long during the costume portion and the second because Eevee lost her balance after being intimidated by the crowd during the freestyle portion.
  • The universe itself won't allow her and Ash to have subtle romantic scenes, be it by outside interference or Ash's interests blinding him from telling that apart. It doesn't stop her from planting a kiss on him at the end of their journeys together, but even then they haven't acted on it any further due to his World Coronation Series battling and her Contest Career. Even when they do meet, it's a very brief reunion at that, and her presence in Hoenn alongside May and Lisa suggests she was too busy with a major contest to make it to Galar and watch Ash defeat Leon, though she still cheers for his victory nonetheless.
• Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: Sometimes when Serena makes comments under her breath, whether scared/annoyed/etc, it'll either get reactions she didn't intend or backfire on her, leading to embarrassment. It appears to be on its way to becoming a Running Gag.
• Disguised in Drag: In a reversal of the usual once-a-series running gag, she has to masquerade as Ash when he's incapacitated in one episode.
• Dude Magnet: She attracts Tierno, Trevor and Jimmy unintentionally. Unfortunately for her, she doesn't quite have the same effect on Ash.
• Emergency Impersonation: When a rocker named Jimmy appears looking to challenge Ash and Pikachu, the former currently too sick to battle, Serena dressed as him to keep Jimmy's Keet behavior from waking Ash, as she knew he would insist on battling if he found out about the challenge. She manages to pull it off well enough, even fooling Team Rocket for a time, and Pikachu was more than happy to help keep up the ruse.
• Everyone Can See It: Her crush on Ash is approaching this territory; so far Miette, Bonnie, Shauna, and Nini have made comments about it, resulting in a Luminescent Blush from Serena. Of course, Ash and Clemont are more Oblivious to Love.
• Every Proper Lady Should Curtsy: Serena starts curtsying during her performances as a feminine Pokemon Performer and Nice Girl.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: While her hair remains at the same short length, her Journeys appearance shows she's updated it into a stylish bob with side bangs. Combined with her new outfit, she looks much more mature than she used to.
• Expy: To Yellow from Pokémon Adventures (though her first look coincidentally bears a close resemblance to Blue/Leaf). Girl being saved in a forest by The Hero (and coincidentally enough, Ash is based on the original Red), thus falling into a devoted Rescue Romance with him? Yup. She's even wearing a straw hat in her introduction, something Yellow is very known for, and does not focus on Pokémon battles.
• The Fashionista: She is very enthusiastic about fashion and is eager to see what kind of shops the gang will come across. As a stand-in for Trainer Customization, Serena also carries around a small straw basket with which she can make dresses and costumes. She's also the only female companion to notably change her outfit during the course of her debut series, and, along with May, was the only one of Ash's former companions to permanently change their look after leaving the party.
• Feet-First Introduction: Played with. The beginning scene of the series shows Grace's Fletchling flying into Serena's room to wake her up. Granted, part of her hair was visible from underneath her blanket for a very brief moment before the camera focused on Fletchling about to peck her awake. The next scene goes outside her house with her screaming from receiving her "wake-up call" before going back inside, her legs and feet sticking out in the air (the first parts of her body we officially see as she's "introduced") as a result of her rude awakening.
• Fanservice Pack: Upon her return in Journeys, Serena is the only one of Ash's previous companions to change their main outfit without it being something they do in the games. Her hair, while still above her shoulders, is styled and she has a more mature look, wearing a gray version of her first hat with a black sleeveless turtleneck, a pleated red and white plaid skirt and black socks with dark brown boots. In addition, she wears a red bracelet on her left wrist and a pair of red bow earrings. She even has a special close-up with the ocean sparkling behind her when she appears to emphasize her new look.
• Feminine Women Can Cook: Serena is good at baking, and often prepares confections for her friends. Her specialty is Poképuffs, which is a big favorite amongst the group (especially Clemont's Chespin).
• First Kiss: She's the first of Ash's female companions to kiss him and also the first girl to kiss Ash obviously on the lips.
• Forgotten First Meeting: Ash completely forgot about meeting her during a summer camp years ago, though he justifies it has having never learned her name. After a while though, he does recall that moment.
• Generation Xerox: Her mother wants her to be a Rhyhorn racer, though Serena herself has said she hates it. She later finds that her mother has rubbed off on her more than she thought.
• Figure It Out Yourself: Serena finds out through a former Pokémon performer and Kalos Queen that she lacks something to become the next Queen and until she figured out what that was she would never defeat the current Queen. Although she took her words into consideration, Serena made the choice to not worry about it and keep moving ahead. However, during the Master Class finals, Serena not only figured out for herself what she lacks to become Kalos Queen when she witness the current Queen's performances but also realized that she should't have brushed it off and tried to figure it out before the Showcase. Having learn her lesson and understanding what she needs to do, Serena vowed to work harder and become a great Queen one day.
• Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: In the form of three snowballs, after yelling at Ash for yelling at her when she tries to cheer him up, while telling him how he wasn't being the amazing guy she once knew.
• Glass Cannon: While her Pokémon know some impressive abilities, Serena doesn't show a great amount of improvisation and composure when she starts losing the upper hand and very often requires assistance against a stronger opponent.
• Go Through Me: Compared to most Team Rocket face offs, where the heroes talk with their Pokémon, Serena has on occasion shown willingness to intervene physically on her own, usually when they risk harming her Pokémon. Naturally, in such cases, she ends up outmatched, though this gesture of sacrifice always gets the intended Pokémon a Heroic Second Wind.
• Grew a Spine: Throughout the story, Serena undergoes a significant transformation in her personality. One of the critical aspects of this transformation is her ability to effectively deal with difficult situations and not back down from challenges. As she journeys alongside Ash, she gains valuable insights and learns invaluable lessons on how to face adversity head-on with courage and determination. This newfound strength and resilience not only helps her overcome obstacles but also enable her to become a more confident and capable person.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Serena is a lovely honey blonde who stands out among Ash's female traveling companions as the sweetest and most gentle unless someone provokes her.
• Heavy Sleeper: Implied, given that her mother had to use a Fletchling to force her out of bed.
• Held Gaze: Has done this multiple times with Ash when he encourages her or gives her advice, however after their kiss they're staring at each other with both of their eyes lit up before exchanging happy warm smiles.
• Hero of Another Story: When she's shown watching Ash's battle with Leon, she's standing alongside May and Lisa, indicating she's formed a partnership with them at some point in the past.
• High-Pressure Emotion: Serena starts with the standard Luminescent Blush when Shauna tells her that she knows about Serena's crush on Ash, only to spout steam like a kettle when she thought that their friends (including Ash) had heard the two of them. In fact, this has become somewhat more frequent.
• Honor Before Reason: During the Kalos Queen finals, Serena sustains an injury to her wrist, and Palermo suggests she forfeit rather than hurt herself further. Like with Ash, she refuses to give up and pushes through. She almost trips on her wrist trying to do a handstand, but luckily her Pokémon are able to help her do a flip to make it seem like it was part of the act. Palermo chastises her for doing something so reckless.
• Image Song: "DreamDream", the third XY ending, pops up as an insert song whenever something major happens with her or her Pokémon, e.g. Fennekin's evolution or Serena winning or performing in Showcases. Also "Candy Girl", although unlike DreamDream, this song is about her feelings for Ash.
• Important Haircut: Serena cuts her hair short and changes outfits after losing her first Pokémon Showcase.
• Innocent Blue Eyes: Amongst Ash's various female companions over the years, she embodies this trope the most, with a big smile on her face in nearly all of her scenes and her blue eyes widened at the world around her. This is especially noticeable when she's blushing around Ash.
• In the Hood: She is shown to wear a hoodie on occasion.
• Invincible Incompetent: As a battler, Serena has advanced far less than previous female companions and remained a Glass Cannon with a rather novice strategy output, yet she is the only one to have a clean winning streak, her Pokémon having never fainted in battle ^note with the exception of the 3 vs. 3 battle in "Battling into the Hall of Fame!", where Serena's Fennekin was the first Pokémon to faint, even then though Serena didn't lose the overall battle. This is either because her opponent is always Team Rocket or lower, due to being accompanied by a stronger trainer such as Ash, or just random interference such as one of her Pokémon evolving.
• It's All My Fault: During a Pokémon summer camp she and her friends attended, Serena fell when a piece of rock broke but Ash tried to save her from falling. However, after falling down together and seeing that Ash got hurt for trying to save her, Serena blamed herself for his injury and took care of him while their friends went to get help.
• I "Uh" You, Too: In the final episode of XY&Z, Serena gives what is essentially a Love Confession to Ash, telling him that "You're my goal" and parting ways with him with a kiss.
• I Will Find You: Serena embarks on her journey as a Pokemon trainer in Kalos to reunite with Ash, whom she saw on TV while he was in Lumiose City. At his request, she happily joins his group on their Kalos journey after catching up with him.
• Jerkass Realization: After getting angry and hurt at Ash when he yelled at her for attempting to cheer him up, she stomps back to the Pokémon Center in a pouty huff. Then when a snowstorm hits and the group is forced to look for Ash when he fails to return, Serena realized how badly she lost her temper as she believed to be the reason why he took off further into the Winding woods was because of her. Once she met back up with Ash, Serena tried to apologizes to him but he stopped her from saying anything as he assured her that he was the one who lost it and showed her how truly sorry he was for hurting her.
• Kissing Discretion Shot: When Serena bids farewell to Ash, she runs back up the escalator to him and leans in, then the camera cuts to their feet as the escalator pulls them apart. Pikachu, Serena, Bonnie, Dedenne and Clemont are all blushing after it's done. One of the Easter Eggs point out that it not only was a kiss but it was on the lips as well.^note The flight Serena was going to board to head to Hoenn was H71 Latias. Latias is a Pokémon who is famous in the anime for kissing Ash on the cheek while "H71" can be interpreted as the #071 in the Hoenn Pokédex, which is Mawile, or Kucheet (クチート) in Japanese. This can be read as a corruption of 口と, meaning "with the mouth", together her flight can be read as "like Latias but with the mouth" suggesting that Serena made full lip contact with Ash.
• Laugh of Love: This sometimes happens when she's with Ash. For instance, in "Under the Pledging Tree", when Ash asks Serena what gifts she's planning to get while she's thinking that the two of them are on a date, she quickly replies "I'm not sure yet!", while chuckling nervously.
• Leg Focus: Lots of Serena's outfits feature a Grade A Zettai Ryouiki combo, consisting of a short skirt and thigh-high black socks. This fashionable look highlights her shapely legs and is present in all of her main outfits, pajamas, Contest outfit from Valerie, and a few other stylish ensembles she wears while in Hoenn.
• Love Interest: To Ash. While there have been hints of a romantic interest between Ash and each of his female companions, Serena is the only one (aside from arguably Misty) to explicitly be interested in Ash. Many XY episodes centers around Serena's feelings for him, sometimes going as far as describing their time together as a date, and the series ends with Serena giving her Sacred First Kiss to Ash when they part ways.
• Luminescent Blush: This happens when she's being teased about her feelings for Ash or when offered a chance for a romantic moment with him.
• Marilyn Maneuver: Unlike Dawn, who was fully guarded by the Magic Skirt and Leotard of Power, Serena frequently performs these in order to keep her modesty.
• Maybe Ever After: Serena's romantic arc with Ash ends with her giving a heartfelt goodbye and her first kiss to Ash. Ash simply smiles back and wishes Serena the best of luck, leaving it ambiguous if he understood the meaning of that kiss and reciprocated Serena's feelings. Director Yajima has stated they haven't quite become a couple yet, but the ending is supposed to nudge viewers into believing that they will become one in future.
• Meanwhile, Back at the…: The first few episodes devote some time to developing Serena as she leaves her home town to begin her Pokémon adventure. It is not until near the end of "A Blustery Santalune Gym Battle!" that during the time Ash is training for his rematch against Viola, Serena actually meets him, asking Ash if he remembers her.
• Meet Cute: When they were younger, Ash saved Serena when she was hurt and lost in the forest, teaching her to never give up.
• Memento MacGuffin: Kept the handkerchief Ash used to bandage her leg all those years ago. Upon returning it to him, Ash immediately remembers her.
• Ms. Fanservice: She receives a lot of attention for her Grade A Zettai Ryouiki combo, which includes a short skirt, thigh-high black socks in her main outfits, and some other outfits that expose more skin. She is often put in situations where she has to do the Marilyn Maneuver. Her Journeys main outfit shows off her maturation into a remarkably gorgeous young woman.
• My God, What Have I Done?: After an argument with Ash and could't find him in a blizzard, Serena felt guilty for losing her temper as she believed that he ran away further into the Winding Woods more depressed was because of her.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Just like the games, a Fletchling wakes her up in her first appearance.
  • Her heavy makeover alludes to X and Y's trainer customisation.
  • Likewise, her new outfit in Journeys is made up of the gray Felt Hat, black Sleeveless Turtleneck, red Pleated Kilt Skirt, black over-the-knee socks and brown Riding Boots, all of which could be obtain in X and Y.
• Naïve Newcomer: She knows very little about Pokémon training at first, and like May and Dawn, didn't know about the Inexplicably Identical Nurse Joys and Officer Jennys. Ash and Clemont help show her the ropes.
• The Navigator: To remedy Ash's No Sense of Direction, Serena is in possession of the gang's town map.
• Nice Girl: Among Ash's female traveling companions, all are kind-hearted, but Serena stands out as the sweetest and gentlest, unless provoked.
  • She is very thoughtful, and plays a supportive role in the group. Also, it really says something about her when she is the only one of Ash's female companions not to get immediately annoyed by his actions. Even when scolding him, she's much gentler, and doesn't lose her temper with Ash.
  • The first and ONLY time she gets into an argument with Ash is mostly because he wasn't being the amazing guy she fell for after losing to Wulfric, along with the fact he yelled at her when she tried to cheer him up. This argument helps Ash come back to his senses, and even then, Serena started feeling horrible over it after a couple of minutes of trying to play firm.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: She tries to cheer Ash up after he loses to Wulfric, despite Clemont suggesting it would be a bad idea to bug Ash when he's in a bad funk. She still goes anyway, and Ash doesn't appreciate her attempts to help in the slightest. When they get into an argument, he storms off further into the woods and doesn't come back, and subsequently gets caught in a fierce blizzard. Serena quickly realizes her mistake and rushes off to help find him.
• Non-Action Guy: Female version. Compared to previous female companions, Serena is less focused on battling. Most her battles would end up getting interrupted by outside interference or her team evolving during a match to give them enough of a power boost, though on the occasions she does battle on her own, she’s able to hold her own until they get interrupted.
  • Justified, as her goal has very little to do with battling and more on performing.
• Not So Above It All:
  • She gets really into it when her Pokemon make a lot of fire, looking like she's a pyromaniac at times.
  • She had Chloe wear May's outfit for her performance, suggesting she might have done that because she found it funny.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: In between leaving Ash's group and traveling to Hoenn, she manages to become a world-renowned Coordinator on par with May and Lisia, all offscreen.
• Opening Shout-Out:
  • Serena and her Pokémon spying on a dancing Eevee is played out the same way in "Mad-Paced Getter" and in the very episode Eevee debuts (except Serena is wearing her sleepwear in the latter).
  • Serena's routine for the Master Class Showcase incorporates some of the dance moves she performs in "DreamDream".
• Parting-Words Regret: Serena let Ash's words get to her, after he yelled at her when she attempted to help him when he lost his Gym Battle against Wulfric, as she gets frustrated and emotionally hurt with him. Out of anger and confusion for his behavior, Serena told Ash that he wasn't the friend she knows and to give the real him back. However, while looking for Ash during a blizzard and not being able to find him, Serena became filled with regret as she felt the last few words she said to him got him to run away more depressed. Although, Serena was somewhat assured by Ash, who felt guilty for hurting her, that she truly did help him and didn't make things worse at all.
• Patient Childhood Love Interest: Serena's feelings for Ash developed when they were kids and after an undetermined number of years of not seeing each other, she still has feelings for him. After immediately recognizing him as the boy that saved her in a forest in her childhood, she immediately decided to start her own journey for the sole purpose of seeing him again. Once the series ends and she has leave Ash to start her on journey she makes clear she'll keep waiting for him telling him he's her ultimate goal in life and vows to become a stronger and more attractive woman specifically for him, then kisses him for good measure.
• Pink Girl, Blue Boy: Outside her usual outfit, Serena, in contrast to Ash and Clemont's blue, is most associated with pink.
• Pink Means Feminine: Serena's second main outfit and her Showcase dress are pink-based. She also has one pink Pokémon (Sylveon) and one she dresses in pink for performances (Delphox). She's also one of Ash's most feminine companions.
• Plucky Girl: Serena's mother once said she gives up easily when things get hard. However, her journey with Ash and her Pokémon teaches her the importance of resilience and inner strength.
• Power of Love: Serena is deeply enamored with Ash, and this powerful emotion motivates her to set out on a journey to reconnect with him and inspires her to discover her own aspirations beyond her love for him. Her heart beats with anticipation as she takes each step toward her destination, guided by the hope of rekindling her relationship with Ash and finding her path in the world.
• Promoted to Love Interest: The game version of Serena doesn't have any romantic interest to anyone except maybe with Calem or Shauna depending on the character the player chose as their avatar in Pokémon X and Y. In the anime, Serena not only has a romantic interest to someone, but that someone is Ash, a character based on Red from Pokémon Red and Blue .
• Proper Tights with a Skirt: Sometimes, including in "Pathways to Performance Partnering!".
• Red Is Heroic: All of Serena's main and performer outfits prominently feature the color red to complement the feminine pink.
• Red Herring: It took so long for Serena to find what she wants out of her travels that several viable choices popped up (Rhyhorn racing, Poképuff baking, PokéVision, Sky Battles^note not unlike Y, her Adventures counterpart), all of which she had valid interest and talent in. Most of these ended up being a Chekhov's Skill during the Showcases.
• Refusal of the Call: Subverted; at the end of the Master Class Showcase, Palermo offered to mentor Serena for Showcases, but Serena turned it down so she could keep travelling with Ash. Palermo tells Serena to call her if and when she is ready, but when Serena finally contacted Palermo, she ultimately turned it down again, wanting to continue improving through traveling. However, Palermo is still the one who offered what course of action Serena should take next: to perform in Contests instead.
• Remember the New Guy?: Despite apparently being Childhood Friends with Ash from before the start of the anime itself, she has not been mentioned or encountered at all until the XY series^note read: fifteen years of material. It is eventually revealed that this is due to a Forgotten First Meeting on Ash's part.
• Rescue Romance: Serena's infatuation with Ash originated from a rather young memory where he helped her out of a forest after she injured her leg. To exacerbate it, Ash has naturally saved her a good few more times throughout the series (as well as vice versa).
• Reverse Arm-Fold: A common default pose for Serena is for her to have her hands folded behind her back.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: After Ash lost his first attempt to get his last Kalos gym badge, Serena was right that something was bothering him but had the conclusion wrong as she thought he was upset about the loss and didn't consider the performances in the battle, which led him to lash out at her for not understanding his emotions and an argument between them. Although Ash was also right and wrong during their argument, Serena was shown to be more right then he was when she called him out for his actions then reminded him of who he is and got him to get his act together.
• Running Gag:
  • Rhyhorn are easily attracted to her. Put her in front of a herd, and watch them swam towards her with hearts on their eyes. This paid off in a contest which involved herding Rhyhorn; she won with virtually no effort.
  • A minor example prominently featured in horror-themed episodes is when she gets scared out of her mind, in which her imagination runs wild and inadvertently shares her beliefs on supernatural entities that devour children, scaring the others before covering her mouth, apparently having scared herself even more.
• Sacred First Kiss: She musters enough courage at the end of the series to give her first kiss to Ash. Since it's depicted in a Kissing Discretion Shot, it's implied to be a kiss on the lips and thus a serious milestone on Serena's part. And while Ash's initial reaction is one of confusion, he does come to appreciate it in the end with a twinkle and a smile.
• Security Blanket: A downplayed case for the ribbon Ash gave her, which she sometimes clenches onto when worrisome (see Character Tics above). More primarily however, she wears it because It Was a Gift.
• Ship Tease: Serena's feelings for Ash are pretty strong. There were even a couple of Love Charts confirming the canonicity of her crush. It all started with their meeting as young children, and more hints would pop up as the series progresses. The teasing went nuclear during her last scene before she separated from the team, where she not only as good as confessed to Ash, she kissed him!
• Shout-Out: Perhaps to show how much of a star she's become, her hairstyle in Journeys looks a lot like how Taylor Swift wears her hair and hat in music videos, and she is asked to become a singer at the end of the episode to boot.
• Shrinking Violet: A mild example, but Serena often gets embarrassed whenever she's praised or someone compliments her appearance. Especially if it's coming from Ash. Her personality is also the most demure of all the female companions thus far.
• Signature Headgear: She wears three different distinct hats: a pink felt hat with a black bow, a pink fedora, and a grey hat similar to her first one.
• Significant Wardrobe Shift:
  • In "A Showcase Debut!", after losing her first Pokémon Showcase, Serena dons a new outfit to go with her new shorter haircut. The new outfit consists of a pink dress, a red sleeveless jacket, a bright pink fedora hat, short brown boots and a new bag. The blue ribbon she received as a present from Ash in the previous episode is now also worn, tied around her collar.
  • By the time she returns in Journeys, she's gone to a new ensemble with a gray hat, a black sleeveless turtleneck, a pleated red and white plaid skirt, black sock, dark brown boots, a red bracelet on her left wrist, and a pair of red bow earrings. All of this signifies she's gone on to find greater success, and matured as a performer.
• Single-Target Sexuality: Serena has no romantic interest towards any person other than Ash. She deliberately avoids Tierno's affections and when she's paired up with Clemont during a dance, it's only for the sake of her Eevee needing a comforting partner, Bunnelby. The moment they switch dancing partners, Serena tries to get Ash's hand before the dance is over.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: She has feelings for Ash, the Nice Guy and someone who encourages her to follow her dreams.
• Snowball Fight: After having a serious argument with Ash in the Winding Woods, she expresses her anger this way, bombarding him with enough to knock him onto the ground.
• Status Quo Is God: Like all the previous female leads pursuing their dreams onscreen, Serena comes short of becoming Kalos Queen against Aria, just barely getting a little more than a half of her votes. She does get an offer to go pro from Palermo, but only will consider it after her journey with Ash ends.
• Supreme Chef: Almost everyone loves her macarons, especially Chespin.
• Sweet Baker: Serena is a delightful young lady who is well-known for her kind and amiable nature. She has developed an intense attraction towards Ash, which has captured her heart. Serena has a great passion for baking and takes immense pleasure in preparing mouth-watering delicacies like Macarons and Poké Puffs. Her baking skills are commendable, and she always amazes everyone with her delicious treats.
• Sweet Tooth: She loves both baking and eating macarons and Poképuffs. She has a whole dream during her Image Song where she is surrounded by macarons, cookies, and chocolate. Came to its most extreme when she could only get one slice of a town's famous chocolate cake and threatened the team that if they couldn't split it evenly, she would eat it all herself.
• A Taste of Defeat: Along with Dawn, she is one of few "twerps" to suffer an unnegated defeat by Team Rocket in an episode. "A Dancing Debut!" has Serena lose a Showcase to Jessie and her Pokémon (along with Meowth). Like Dawn, however, she had become a Graceful Loser by this time. (Though she had lost on the technicality of her Eevee tripping, not because Jessie's performance was better).
• Through His Stomach: After joining the team, Serena bakes cookies for everyone, but specifically presents them to Ash first. Any intention she may have had clearly fails due to Ash being more impressed with the taste than the thought.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: She is the girly girl to her mother's tomboy. Grace is an athletic Rhyhorn racer, Serena is a performer and coordinator.
• Took a Level in Badass: A downplayed example. Team Rocket's Villain Decay aside, Serena's battle performance doesn’t see much improvement throughout most of the series, remaining a Glass Cannon whose best tactic was spamming her Pokémon's best attacks. Near the end of the series, she sees a slight improvement, such as when she once battled with Ash’s Pikachu while disguised as him or in her final battle with Ash, where she has a greater display of strategy, having Braixen take on a unique battle style to resist and briefly gain the upper hand against Pikachu. By the time of her reappearance in Journeys, she's managed to become an even more renowned performer in the Hoenn Region, to the point that she's become close friends with both May and Lisa.
  • Played straight in her Showcase Performances, where she makes it to the finals of the Master Class and gets to compete against the current Kalos Queen.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Macarons. They were the primary dessert she made for the gang (with Poké Puffs joining shortly after) and DreamDream features a few scenes (revealed at the end to be a literal dream) with her surrounded by giant ones.
• Uncatty Resemblance: In "DreamDream", both Fennekin's and Pancham's costumes change to match her various outfit changes. There's also the Fennekin costume she wore when making a video.
• The Unreveal: Exactly how and when she met May, what the two have been up to, and how they learned of their respective connections to Ash has yet to be revealed.
• Walking Spoiler: Good luck talking about "Reuniting For the First Time!" without mentioning that she's the Sylveon trainer Chloe meets.
• Warts and All: Serena is initially infatuated with Ash, but she falls even more deeply in love with him as time passes. However, even as she becomes increasingly aware of his flaws, she is willing to confront him mostly civilly, unlike his previous travel companions. During her argument with Ash in the Winding Woods, Serena realizes that her anger stems from expecting too much from him and begins to wonder if she has held him to too high of a standard. Nonetheless, by the end of the episode, Ash's return to his old self makes Serena happy, and she acknowledges that he is her greatest inspiration. Although she expresses some annoyance with his recklessness, she ultimately refers to him as her "life goal" in the final episode of the XY series.
• Was Too Hard on Him: After an argument with Ash, Serena felt that she might've been too harsh towards him, but he was the one who gives her an apology for losing his cool, which she accepts.
• Wet Blanket Wife:
  • As much as Serena loves Ash, she is not a fan of Ash's typical reckless behavior. Think about it: the very first time she saw him in years was just moments after his leap of faith from the top of Prism Tower. She occasionally tries to curb his recklessness at various points in the series, to little success, though he has become more apologetic about it.
  • She does successfully stop Ash from carelessly engaging into a Pokémon battle that would have made him late in registering for the Lumiose Conference and thus render all of his progress moot. That same guy winds up almost doing the same thing anyway, but there was nothing she could have done to stop it.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Played straight and subverted. After Ash loses to Wulfric, he gets mad at Serena, leading her to chew him out furiously and declare his current state to be nothing like the Ash she knew before this. However, she starts regretting this afterwards, admitting she has rather high expectations of Ash from how much she admires him. Just as she accepts this as unrealistic however, Ash later admits she was right, with Serena just content she once again has the happy Ash she admires exactly like before.
• Worthy Opponent: Aria definitely considers Serena this, especially since Serena was the finalist to challenge her for the title of Kalos Queen. She didn't win, but Aria was impressed nonetheless.
• Yank the Dog's Chain:
  • Circumstances prevent Serena from partnering up with Ash for a dance party, Miette was only the tip of the iceberg. They later learn it's a rotation dance, so Serena gets to dance with almost everyone, but just when she and Ash are finally going to pair up, the dance ends. She immediately laments the fact.
  • When she finally gets the chance to meet Ash again during Journeys, their reunion is very brief, if at that. She isn't even able to make it to Galar to watch his final match against Leon, though she does join May, Max, Lisia, and their Pokémon in watching the match on TV.

Mirror Serena

A version of Serena from the Mirror Universe, where she's a belligerent bully towards the more wimpy version of Ash.

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• Adaptational Badass: While the main Serena isn't incapable of battling, this one is more willing to throw down with the best of them, almost like the main Ash.
• Adaptational Jerkass: The main Serena is a Nice Girl with a not-so-subtle crush on Ash. Mirror Serena is a bully towards her Ash, with an equally hot temper to match.
• The Bully: Her relationship with Mirror Ash is like this, with her constantly putting him down all the time.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: She smacks Mirror Ash around in spite of having a type disadvantage with her Fennekin against his Froakie. When she meets "our" Ash, however, he flattens her proper.
• Hot-Blooded: She's not one to back down from a fight.
• Implied Love Interest: It's heavily implied that Mirror Serena has the same feelings for Mirror Ash that Serena does for her Ash, only it's in a Tsundere manner. It's most prominent when she gives Serena some advice to look out for her Ash.
• In Spite of a Nail: She still has a Fennekin as her starter.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Mirror Serena is far more belligerent towards her Ash, but she does care for him deep down. She even asks the main Serena to watch out for her Ash.
• Loving Bully: Downplayed. While it is unknown if Mirror Serena does share her main counterpart's feelings towards her respective Ash, she cares for Mirror Ash enough to willingly travel with him while bullying him over his weaknesses.
• Serious Business: She treats battling like this all the time, especially when she battles Ash.

Serena's Pokémon

In General

• Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: Delphox and Pancham are all given ones as gifts from Serena (a red ribbon and Cool Shades respectively), while Sylveon inherits a set of bow ties naturally as regular for her species.
• The Fashionista: All of them take to dressing up for Showcase and Contest performances.
• Glass Cannon: They can supply a lot of damage but aren't very resistant.
• Two Girls and a Guy: Pancham (male), Delphox and Sylveon (female).
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Both Delphox and Pancham are loyal and caring to Serena but moody and headstrong. Downplayed for Sylveon, who was good natured but shy and insociable as an Eevee.

Fennekin-Braixen-Delphox (Fokko-Tairenar-Mahoxy)

Voiced in Japanese by: Megumi Hayashibara

Voiced in English by: Eileen Stevens

Fennekin is the starter Pokémon Serena chose from Professor Sycamore. She is a tidy Pokémon that takes great pride in her well-groomed appearance. However, the one thing Fennekin loves more than looking her best is her trainer, Serena.

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• Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: From "Mending a Broken Spirit!" onward, Braixen's wand is decorated with a red ribbon. As a Delphox she still keeps the bow around her wand.
• Badass Adorable: Amps up when she evolves into Braixen and has become more powerful in addition of remaining cute.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Subverted a fair few times for Fennekin. Played mostly straight for Braixen however, who sparsely takes hits in battle or is involved in heavy slapstick like the other Pokémon. She is one of very few off-screen for the group electrocution gag in Pikachu and the Pokémon Band for example.
• Berserk Button: She hates getting dirty and it will attack anyone who gets her dirty.
• Cane Fu: Develops prowess using her stick to block and thrust attacks in the final points of the series, in particular her battle with Pikachu in Lumoise City.
• Canon Immigrant: Serena's Fennekin was made a downloadable character via a promotion code for both Pokémon X and Y and Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire.
• Charm Point: Fennekin takes great pride in her well-groomed tail, becoming uneasy if it is tarnished.
• Cute Little Fangs: Being an adorable fox, Fennekin has these.
• Damsel in Distress: Early on, Jessie was almost as obsessed with capturing her as with Pikachu. This lessened as time passed and even odd times it returns, she's more a Badass in Distress.
• A Day in the Limelight: "Mending a Broken Spirit!" focuses on Braixen and how she deals with the fallout of her stick wand being accidentally snapped in half. Along the way, she learns Fire Blast and finally receives a new wand decorated with a red ribbon.
• Drama Queen: While making a PokéVision video with Serena, she repeatedly attacks Ash and Pikachu because they accidentally dirtied her fur.
• Fantastic Foxes: It's based on the Fennec fox.
• The Fashionista: Like Serena, Fennekin loves to get dressed up and appear her best.
• Jerkass Ball: In most episodes she is a fussy but good natured Pokémon. In Episode 21, when she became jealous of another, more popular Fennekin, and became obsessed with creating a perfect PokéVision video with Serena, often rather violently taking out her frustrations on Ash.
• Neat Freak: Downplayed in that Fennekin is only worried about becoming dirty. Downplayed significantly as Braixen.
• Playing with Fire: She's a Fire-type that knows fire moves like Mystical Fire and Flamethrower.
• Psychic Powers: Is fully evolved into Delphox when it returns in Journeys, a part Psychic-type.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: As Fennekin.
• Signature Mon: She's Serena's most prominent and best Pokémon and she resembles her trainer the most in terms of personality. After their failure during their first Pokémon Showcase, they both soon change drastically in appearance, with Serena cutting her hair and switching to a new outfit, and Fennekin later evolving into Braixen. The partnership between Serena and Fennekin/Braixen is also reflected with Aria and her Fennekin/Braixen/Delphox, as Aria the Kalos Queen is leagues ahead of Serena while Aria's Signature Mon is more popular and usually one evolution stage higher than Serena's most of the time. Fittingly enough, Serena's contest outfit in Journeys is red and orange like Delphox.
• Ship Tease: Early in the season with Ash's Froakie due to him having cleaned her tail with his Frubbles, generally being around each other whenever the group is taking a break, and as a result of the relationship their Trainers have (at least where Serena's feelings for Ash are concerned).
• Took a Level in Badass: Early on she was a Damsel in Distress, getting kidnapped frequently by Team Rocket and even overpowered by Meowth in one of her first battles. As time passed her fire abilities were displayed more fully and, especially after she evolved into Braixen, she's one of the most active Pokémon after Pikachu.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Like the rest of her species, she enjoys eating twigs. Just like the games, this is dropped after her first evolution.
• Uncatty Resemblance: In the third XY ending theme, any clothes Fennekin wears will also match that of Serena.
• Undying Loyalty: Eventually develops great loyalty towards Serena, overcoming her crippling aversion to filth to protect her.

Pancham (Yancham)

Voiced in Japanese by: Noriko Shitaya

Voiced in English by: Erica Schroeder

Pancham is a Pokémon that took a liking to PokéVision, and joins Serena's team to become an entertainer.

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• Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: Wears a pair of shades that Serena gave him after capture. During Showcases he swaps it for a more stylized one she gave him during the Coumarine Festival.
• Badass Adorable: He's more dashing than Chespin.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: A pure Fighting-Type. The only Fighting-Type attack he knows is Arm Thrust.
• Berserk Button: A mild case, but he does NOT like Chespin trying to steal his food. Mild because he and Chespin are seldom not annoying each other anyway.
• Casting a Shadow: Knows Dark Pulse, and has been seen using two at once.
• Canon Immigrant: Serena's Pancham was made a downloadable character via a promotion code for both Pokémon X and Y and Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. As a Mythology Gag, it held Black Glasses as an item.
• Cool Shades: Is very fond of sunglasses, and is rarely seen without some sort of pair on his forehead.
• Dance Battler: He uses a lot of his performing techniques in his battles.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Knows the Rock-type move Stone Edge, which would often add an element of masculinity in Serena's otherwise feminine performances.
• An Ice Person: Is revealed to have learned Ice Punch in JN105.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: His characterisation pretty much replicates Pancham's dex entries, acting tough and bratty to attempt a badass image, but being undyingly loyal to Serena deep down.
• Mythology Gag: The shades he gets from Serena are similar to the ones on the hat of her game counterpart.
• The One Guy: He is the only guy to Serena's team of females.
• Oral Fixation: The leaf he carries in his mouth.
• Post-Kiss Catatonia: Nini's Smoochum bids him farewell with one huge kiss. Pancham was completely unresponsive afterward.
• The Reliable One: Despite his mischief otherwise, Pancham is the only one of Serena's team (including even Serena herself) who did not stumble or make a mistake on stage at any point during their Showcase run.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: He and Chespin are nearly always bickering.
• Tsundere: Pancham is very prideful and has some difficulty showing affection and gratitude, but he truly cares for his trainer and friends.
• Unmanly Secret: Initially, Pancham was insecure about his love of performing, but has since gotten over it thanks to Serena's support.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Chespin. The two spend a lot of time together (most of which is them bickering), but the two still would go to hell and back to protect their friends together.
• With Friends Like These...: With Chespin. The two frequently descend to bickering when they're allowed to be near each other.

Eevee-Sylveon (Eievui-Nymphia)

Voiced in Japanese by: Mika Kanai

Voiced in English by: Mika Kanai and Kayzie Rogers (Eevee), Erica Schroeder (Sylveon)

Eevee is an extremely shy Pokémon that was first seen by the gang performing a dance routine on a nearby rock. Impressed by the dance, Serena befriends Eevee, and joins her team soon after.

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• Because You Were Nice to Me:
  • While it was a wild Pokémon, she was extremely shy and refused to be around others. Serena not only encouraged her talents, but made it so that she could be proud of performing in front of others without being nervous. It was this encouragement that caused Eevee to evolve into Sylveon.
  • Likewise, Clemont's Bunnelby snuck it some food while the rest of the group were trying to find it. Eevee appreciated the gesture so much, it was the only one of the Pokémon it was willing to be around.
• Big Sister Mentor: Simliar to her trainer, Sylveon acts as a mentor to Chloe's Eevee to help her prepare for her first contest.
• Chekhov's Skill: Her dancing, which consists of wildly prancing and jumping, has made for a good evasion tactic in battle.
• Cool Crown: A flower crown given by Serena when Eevee warned her of a nearby cliff she almost fell into. During the dance ball episode, she also wore a tiara.
• Cower Power: When frightened, Eevee will frequently hide behind either Serena or Clemont's Bunnelby.
• Dancing with Myself: A defining trait is Eevee's love for dancing, which catches Serena's attention to want Eevee as one of her performance Pokémon.
• Doppelgänger Attack: Knows Double Team, which in the anime is consistently portrayed as this to visually represent the evasiveness increase the status move provides in the game. She once used it to make a wild Quilladin that was hot for her faint from seeing several of her.
• Fauxshadowing: When Shawna makes mention to Serena about all the possible evolutions available to Eevee, the one she seems to perk up the most at is Jolteon. Turns out that wasn't the evolution that she wound up receiving.
• Holding Hands: One of Eevee's feelers reaches out to hold Serena's hand as it evolves into Sylveon. Sylveon has occasionally held to Serena this way.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler:
  • Similar to Ash's Noibat, Serena's Eevee was teased in the fourth XY ending and third XY opening, before officially debuting.
  • The 2016 preview shows Eevee evolving during the Dance Party episode, sprouting feelers during the Transformation Sequence. A magazine scan would later confirm it to be Sylveon.
• Lovable Coward: As an Eevee, she was often very timid and self doubting. This was downplayed when The Power of Love evolved her into Sylveon.
• Non-Elemental: As a Normal-type Pokémon. In addition, Eevee has not been seen with any attack moves outside its Normal-typing. Subverted with Sylveon, that near exclusively uses Fairy-type attacks.
• Our Fairies Are Different: Upon becoming a Sylveon, it becomes a Fairy-Type Pokémon.
• Out of Focus: After evolving into Sylveon, she appeared far less often than Braixen and Pancham. With her Nervous Wreck persona gone, she was no longer ripe for antics with the other Pokémon.
  • Rectified when she, along with her trainer and her fellow Pokémon reappear in an episode of Journeys. Sylveon has by far the most screentime out of the three Pokémon , and is central to the plot, as Chloe came to Lilycove City to have her Eevee meet it
• The Power of Love: She evolved thanks to Serena's words of encouragement.
• Platonic Life-Partners: Is this with Clemont's Bunnelby.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: The Eevee family has always been considered to be a group of cuteness, and this one is no different. Her shy persona giving the Pokémon an adorable personality makes this even more so.
• Signature Mon: It's revealed in Journeys that Serena became famous in Hoenn thanks to Sylveon's popularity and as a result, Serena is associated and seen more often with Sylveon than Delphox and Pancham. In JN132, Sylveon is Serena's only Pokémon seen alongside May's Glaceon as their trainers watch Ash fighting Leon on TV.
• Shrinking Violet: Very shy around strangers, to the point that Eevee will end up hiding behind Serena or Bunnelby when startled. Lessened as Sylveon, though she retains some subtle nervous moments.
• Took a Level in Badass: As Sylveon, she became a far more confident performer and battler, hindered far less by her nerves. This is later shown during the semi-finals of the Master Class Showcase when Sylveon, who once stumbled during her first Showcase as an Eevee and caused Serena to lose, saves Serena from falling during their performance and allow them to win the semi-finals.

Clemont (Citron)

Voiced in Japanese by: Yūki Kaji

Voiced in English by: Michael Liscio Jr.

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: José Ángel Torres, Humberto Vélez Jr. (flashback as a younger kid)

Voiced in Italian by: Simone Lupinacci

The new boy for the XY series, and Bonnie's older brother. Gadgeteer Genius extraordinaire, his inventions have helped Ash on more than one occasion. He is also the true Gym Leader of Lumiose City.

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• Abhorrent Admirer: In "Awakening the Sleeping Giant!", he gains one in the form of Princess Allie, a Spoiled Brat who refuses to hand over a PokéFlute the heroes need unless he agrees to stay with her (and this is only after he has to tell her off for her attitude when she refuses to hand over the flute honorably). Unfortunately for them, Ash and the gang have no choice. Luckily for him, he sneaks away, though he winds up in his boxers in the process.
• Adapted Out: His Emolga from the games is replaced with a Magnemite. This might be due to Iris having an Emolga during the Black and White saga.
• Agent Scully: Played with. When Clemont gets scared of something illogical, he tries desperately to explain it from a scientific perspective, if just to relieve himself.
• Alternate Self: He has a counterpart in the Mirror Universe that's a far more athletic man than he is, and follows the ways of ancient magics than being a practitioner of modern invention.
• Anger Born of Worry: When Bonnie wants to go look for Squishy in the dead of the night and doesn't take "no" for an answer, Clemont briefly has to raise his voice and scream that, if she were to leave, HE would be worried sick.
• Ascended Extra: He goes from one of the game's gym leaders to a series lead.
• Awesome Backpack: His backpack contains numerous scientific gadgets, including an Aipom-Arm and an enormous airbag, among other things. On the downside, it is likely heavy, which makes his lack of athletic physique more apparent.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: He basically managed to get a good fight out of Ash & Pikachu with a freshly-caught Bunnelby just by correctly anticipating how the two would battle, but didn't expect Ash to lure him in with Iron Tail to get in Electro Ball at point-blank range.
• Badass Bookworm: He's a Gadgeteer Genius, but also a Gym Leader who is exceptionally skilled at Pokémon battles.
• Bag of Holding: Equipped his backpack with a function that lets out an enormous airbag.
• Berserk Button:
  • Clemont can get very antsy if you diminish the importance and fascination of technology (even when it's sometimes more convoluted than just doing things manually). In one instance he was even willing to side with James when one of Team Rocket's inventions was debunked as pointless.
  • More of an "embarrassment" button than it is berserk (though in Journeys it grows into one), but he's not fond of Bonnie asking every pretty girl she sees to marry her brother.
• Big Brother Instinct: He cares for and protects Bonnie.
• Blind Without 'Em: When Pancham runs off with his glasses, we learn that he can't see a thing without them.
• Borrowed Catchphrase: He borrowed Ash's catchphrase about his excitement of science due to him gone after the events of the series..
• Bungling Inventor: The Japanese opening shows one of his inventions exploding right in his face. Most of his other inventions are also shown to be less than flawless.
• The Bus Came Back: He and Bonnie return in JN103 and JN104. Clemont helps Ash train for his upcoming match against Drasna in the former, and watches their battle in the latter.
• Butt-Monkey:
  • Whether its his inventions failing or being the occasional butt of one joke or another, he seems to come out the worst in many situations.
  • In "Awakening the Sleeping Giant!", the others needed to trade him to the princess for the PokéFlute, but ended up forgetting about him until the last second. He has to put his jumpsuit on a robot as a decoy and escape in his undershirt and underwear, much to everyone's horror.
• The Cameo: He and his sister appear in JN132 watching Ash's match against Leon.
• Catchphrase:
  • "The future is now, thanks to science!"
  • When busting out his latest invention: "Clemontic Gear, ON!"
  • "I thought we would encounter a situation precisely like this one."
  • When dragging Bonnie away from her attempts to find him a wife: "Bonnie, I told you to stop this a million times!" and "This is so embarrassing!"
• Celibate Hero: If his reactions to Bonnie's antics are anything to go by, romance is dead last in his list of priorities.
• Child Prodigy: He's managed to accomplish a lot: He's contributed research and developed various facilities that aid in energy production, such as Kalos' power plant and Lumiose Tower. He also comes up with a number of inventions that rivals Thomas Edison (even if most of them end up going haywire). He's also around the same age that Ash is. Additionally, he was also shown attending a prominent inventor's academy when he was much younger.
• Comedic Underwear Exposure: In "Awakening the Sleeping Giant!", he has to escape from Princess Allie in his underwear, as his jumpsuit was used to dress up a decoy.
• Crazy-Prepared: He has some kind of device built for every situation imaginable. One of his Catchphrases is "I thought we would encounter a situation precisely like this one."
• Cowardly Sidekick: Somewhat downplayed. While not as brave as either Ash or Bonnie, Clemont does stand up. This is one of the reasons why he joined Ash's journey, to become a better person.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: As clumsy and dorky as he can be, he is not one to mess with when it comes to Pokémon battles.
• Elemental Hair Colors: A blond, lightning bolt-shaped cowlick to suit an Electric specialist.
• For Science!: "FOR THE FUTURE OF SCIENCE!"
• The Friends Who Never Hang: He is rarely interacting with Serena. The closest thing is when they share a dance, but that's it (she only did it for her Eevee's sake, and she clearly would have preferred Ash, anyway).
• Gadgeteer Genius: He's an inventor and keeps a number of useful gadgets in his backpack (although they backfire some of the time). To his credit, many of his gadgets do perform the task they're supposed to, just with the downside of malfunctioning and exploding straight afterwards. He also develops a gadget that assists Ash and Greninja in mastering their unique Super Mode.
• Goal in Life: Averted; across the entire series, Clemont doesn't state any particular dream or overarching goal for himself, even a vaguely defined one like Ash and many of his companions. Seemingly the only reason he joined Ash on his travels was because he admired Ash's confidence.
• Gone Horribly Wrong: He invented Clembot as a substitute gym leader to help take over for him when he's busy with his inventions. Unfortunately, Bonnie interrupts him before he can program the passcode he wanted, and Clembot not only refuses to follow his commands, but kicks him and his sister out of the gym! It gets worse when he's finally able to get an opening towards stopping Clembot; apparently it's been brutally destroying every opponent and then tearing them down a few pegs when they lose.
• Good Counterpart: Being a bungling and somewhat weedy strategist with a penchant for wacky inventions that don't always handle well, he is this to the Team Rocket trio. Games of one-upmanship with their gadgetry has sometimes occurred, with Clemont sometimes even shown to be impressed by their work. For an added bonus, one of Clemont's bungled inventions even sent him "blasting off".
• Hammerspace: As usual, it is left up to the viewer's imagination as to how Clemont manages to carry around all those machines.
• Hero-Worshipper: In the first few points of the series, he expressed his amazement in Ash's abilities and his desire to also be able to get into the thick of things for others. Ash by amusing contrast is athletically strong and Book Dumb, and takes complete amazement in Clemont's inventions.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Arguably one of Ash's closest friends, immediately hitting it off with him and referring to himself as "Ash's Right Hand Man"
• Honor Before Reason: As a Gym Leader, Clemont knows that challengers have to overcome their flaws and mistakes on their own whenever they lost a Gym battle but can guide them or give advice to help them, especially Ash.
• Idiot Hair: He has a lightning bolt-shaped ahoge, and while Clemont himself is quite intelligent, he is prone to silly situations where his machines unexpectedly backfire.
• Image Song: "Kirakira"^*Shining sung by Tomohisa Sako. Has been used as an insert song.
• Imagine Spotting: In PokeTV, Bonnie once fantasized about Dedenne transforming into Bonnie-Dedenne and inflicting paralysis to Clemont via Nuzzle. Clemont's Blue with Shock reaction implies that he saw the whole thing.
• Incoming Ham: If he's showing off one of his inventions don't expect him to leave any scenery for the rest of us.
• Iron Butt Monkey: He's had 99% of his inventions blow up in his face, but he comes out of it no worse for wear.
• King Incognito: Or rather Gym Leader Incognito. A definite case of Late-Arrival Spoiler if you've played the associated games. Turns out he created a robot that turned on him and kicked him out of the Gym because he programmed it badly and mistimed when to enter the override passcode.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: If you've played the game, you should already know that he's the Gym Leader of Lumiose City. The opening also shows his silhouette in the lineup with the other regional Gym Leaders.
• Leitmotif: The anime's rendition of Pokémon X & Y's Route 4 theme is used as Clemont's theme, particularly whenever he brings out a new invention.
• Locked Out of the Loop: He has no idea that his dad is really Lumiose City's guardian protector, the mysterious Blaziken Mask until the Lysandre incident.
• Mass "Oh, Crap!": His malfunctioning inventions would often result in this. In "A Frolicking Find in the Flowers!", all the human protagonists and ALL their Pokémon were scrambling to get as far away as possible.
• Meaningful Background Event: He and Bonnie first appear walking behind Ash before he enters the Prism Tower. And they're depressed over something, too.
• Meaningful Name: His Japanese and English names reference lemons ^note "Citron" is French for lemon. Clemont as well as certain electrical terms.
• Meanwhile, Back at the…: He returns to the Lumiose Gym a few episodes before his and Ash's match. The in between episodes dedicate a minute or two showing what he's doing in that time.
• Missing Mom: His father, Meyer, was introduced in "Clemont's Got a Secret!", but his mother doesn't seem to be present; not even a photo, flashback, fantasy, or cameo was shown.
• Mission Control: For a brief time, he invented a Mini-Clembot to monitor Ash and Greninja's pulse during battle.
• Nice Guy: Clemont has been shown to be very kind and polite, maybe even a bit of a pushover at times.
• Noodle Incident: He apparently fought Drasna once, and lost. His sister isn't letting him down easy for it.
• No OSHA Compliance: See Clembot's entry. Note that this wasn't intentional on Clemont's part, either.
• Non-Action Guy: In terms of his physical ability, but being a Gym Leader, he is certainly no pushover in Pokémon battles.
• Out of Focus: Clemont suffered this big time after his Gym Battle was over. It's come to the point his little sister and even his own Chespin have more focus than he does. This is due to Clemont lacking a personal goal of his own other than just trying to be like Ash. He still gets a few focus episodes and does contribute to the overall group dynamic, but that's it.
• Performance Anxiety: He can become very camera-shy if he's put on the spot.
• Phrase Catcher: His inventions always get the line "Science is so amazing!" from Ash.
• Playful Hacker: His Aipom Arm is able to effortlessly hack into a secured backdoor of the Prism Tower. Given the tower doubles as his Gym, it makes sense.
• Promoted to Parent: Clemont has had to scold Bonnie, remind her of her manners, and essentially acts as her caretaker. She even directly asks for his permission in order to "keep" Dedenne as her future Pokémon. Subverted by their father being around, making Clemont more Bonnie's (mostly willing) caretaker than anything else. However, their father seems to be working all day and all night.
• Punny Name: His "Sticky Never Give Up Machine" is a very lame pun in Japanese; "neba neba" means "sticky", but also sounds like "never never."
• Robot Me: Clembot, if it wasn't obvious from the name, was made in his likeness. Clemont would later build another, smaller Clembot to monitor Ash and Greninja in battle.
• Rock Beats Laser: Almost literally. In "Giving Chase at the Rhyhorn Race!", after Team Rocket tries to capture all the Rhyhorn, the controller for the cages is dropped after Fennekin uses Ember. Clemont dives on the remote with a rock and smashes it.
  "FOR THE FUTURE OF SCIENCE!!!"
• Running Gag:
  • Any time he shows off an invention, which is followed by him boasting about it and revealing its often stupid name, which is followed by Bonnie going all Deadpan Snarker on it, which is followed by Ash commenting "Science is SO amazing!", which is followed by Serena either staring blankly at it or asking for more info.
  • His inventions working well, only to inevitably explode in his and everyone else's faces, leaving them with Funny Afros. The only time this does not happen is in "The Bonds of Evolution!" when the invention is used to evenly cut open a slice of cake.
  • He is also the victim of Bonnie's frequent attempts to find him a wife. In an inverse of how the gag worked with Brock, Clemont drags Bonnie away instead.
  • His lack of athletic skill. Usually, it's shown by always being the last to arrive after the rest of his companions, always panting and out of breath.
  • He also sometimes annoys the others by complimenting one of Team Rocket's inventions.
  • Do not put him in front of a camera. Even when he isn't the one in focus, he tends to freeze up.
• The Runt at the End: PokeTV 42 showcases the Kalos Gym Leaders, obviously tying into their Big Damn Heroes in the same episode. The order is the same sequence the player must fight them in the games, although Lumiose Gym is depicted last, after Snowbelle. And the Gym Leader is...Clembot. Clemont complains why he isn't included in the lineup at all.
• Scary Shiny Glasses: His glasses shine in this manner from time to time, instead of being Opaque Nerd Glasses 100% like his video game counterpart.
• Science Hero: Whereas Ash solves his problems through sheer tenacity, Clemont has a variety of inventions to rely on for any situation.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: The Sensitive Guy to Ash's Manly Man. Ash is the far more passionate and eager battler of the two, while he's more quiet and thoughtful, though nonetheless a forced to be reckoned with.
• Shared Family Quirks: Has the same goofy grin and awkward run as his sister. Also, in episode 78, he appears to have the same emotional Ocular Gushers like his father.
• Shock and Awe: His specialty as a Gym Leader is Electric-Types.
• The Smart Guy: Is the team's resident technology expert and a Science Hero.
• Smart People Build Robots: He built the Clembot to mind the gym while he's away. At one point it malfunctioned and locked him out of his own gym, but with his friend's help, he managed to beat it in a Pokémon battle and reprogram it to run the gym properly.
• Smart People Wear Glasses: The bespectacled Clemont is apparently quite the inventor, creating many ingenious, and occasionally unorthodox, devices.
• Squishy Wizard: What he excels in intelligence, he lacks physically. It is made apparent right in the second episode that he is out of shape. Whenever the gang are running, Clemont always tails behind being short of breath.Lugging around that heavy Awesome Backpack of his doesn't help. Bonnie calls him out on this many times.
• Status Quo Is God: Clemont's inventions will always malfunction and explode, but he will always try again. As a result, Clemont will never stop trying to improve himself.
• Supreme Chef: The gang loves his cooking.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: He's one to both Brock and Cilan, being a Gym Leader, the older voice of reason to Ash with an dorky side, the Team Chef, and is very knowledgeable.
• Team Chef: He's a very good cook, and describes cooking as a kind of science.
• A Twinkle in the Sky: This happened to him when he demonstrated the Muscle Mass Magnifying Machine.
• We Need a Distraction: During the second encounter with Sanpei, Clemont decided to build a marching machine with crude caricatures of the group so they can shake Team Rocket off their tail. Team Rocket actually fall for it, and when Jessie takes her frustration out on their "captive", the machine inevitably blows up.
• The Worf Effect: While generally competent, usually whenever it's Team Rocket's turn to obliterate the twerps for once, it's Clemont's team that get the worst of it. Poor Bunnelby has suffered some particularly nasty beatdowns.
• Worthy Opponent: Being his Evil Counterpart, he sometimes irritates the others by complimenting Team Rocket's scientific "endeavours".
  Bonnie: "What is this, the Team Rocket fan club???"

Mirror Clemont

A version of Clemont from the Mirror Universe, where he's an athletic magic user.

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• Academic Athlete: He can run super fast without tiring one bit, a far cry to the main universe Clemont who sucks at any athletic competition. And he's still just as intelligent, though in the fields of magic than science.
• Alternate Universe Reed Richards Is Awesome: Mirror Clemont is not only more athletically fit than main universe Clemont, but his magic spells actually work (and gets a compliment from Mirror Bonnie) whereas Clemont's science inventions blows up in his face (and Bonnie berates him for it).
• Magic Staff: Instead of a mechanical Aipom Arm in his backpack, Mirror Clemont has a staff that he uses to conjure up magic.
• Magic Versus Science: Being the polar opposite of main universe Clemont, he specializes in magic rather than science. And if there's a strange phenomena, he relies on the local myths and legends to explain it rather than scientific reasoning.

Clemont's Pokémon

Bunnelby-Diggersby (Horubi-Horudo)

Voiced in Japanese by: Chinatsu Akasaki

Voiced in English by: Alyson Leigh Rosenfeld

Bunnelby is a Pokémon that Clemont recently caught before meeting Ash. When asked by Ash what type of Pokémon he has, Clemont only showed him Bunnelby and he's the first Pokémon that Ash battled in the Kalos region. By the time he's return in 'Journeys', he is now Diggersby

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• Badass Adorable: A competent battler, despite being a fairly recent capture in its debut. And just look at him!
• Barehanded Blade Block: During Clemont's battle with Ash in the first episode, Bunnelby catches Pikachu's Iron Tail between his ears.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: The reason why, outside of Serena and her party, Bunnelby was able to approach Eevee without frightening the latter. When the gang was trying to lure Eevee out with Poképuffs, Bunnelby lets Eevee take one before Eevee was seen by the rest of the group.
• Big Brother Mentor: Was this to Serena's Eevee being the first person of the group she was comfortable around.
• Cast from Hit Points: Clemont taught it Wild Charge during his brief time away from the group.
• A Day in the Limelight:
  • In "Adventures in Running Errands!", the episode mainly focuses on Chespin and Bunnelby's errand that Clemont gave to them. This episode shows more of Bunnelby's personality.
  • "A Trip Down Memory Train!" is a Whole Episode Flashback about how Clemont met and caught Bunnelby.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Knows the Ground-Type moves Mud Shot and Dig and he has become part-Ground-Type himself upon evolving.
• Doppelgänger Spin: Knows Double Team.
• Dude, Where's My Reward?: At the end of "Adventures in Running Errands!", Clemont gives Chespin extra food even though Bunnelby had to keep Chespin focused on their errand. Even if Chespin didn't lose focus, it doesn't explain why Bunnelby doesn't receive extra food.
• Fast Tunnelling: Knows Dig, an attack that has been proven to be very useful in various situations.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: In "Adventures in Running Errands!", he is shown to be the Responsible Sibling to Chespin's Foolish.
• Glass Cannon: His attacks can strike much harder than one would expect from a small rabbit, but a couple of good hits is often enough for him to go down.
• Nice Guy: He's generally kind and actively helpful, whether cleaning up after dinner or helping to protect the others against Team Rocket. He was also one of the few Pokémon that Serena's Eevee was initially comfortable being around.
• Non-Elemental: A pure Normal-type, being Clemont's first non-Electric-Type Pokémon he ever caught. That doesn't stop Clemont from using Bunnelby in his Gym Battle against Ash. He did teach it Wild Charge during his brief absence from the group, however. As of Journeys, the Pokémon is now a Normal/Ground-type due to being a Diggersby.
• Out-Gambitted: Ash was counting on the above-mentioned Barehanded Blade Block so Pikachu can score an Electro Ball at point-blank range.
• Out of Focus: Once Chespin joined Clemont's team, he quickly and greatly surpassed Bunnelby in terms of screentime. However, ever since the episode with Bunnelby's errand with Chespin, he's been getting a little bit more. He gets called upon frequently because Serena's Eevee feels comfortable around him, gets a flashback episode of how he and Clemont got together, and gets injured saving Bonnie falling from a ravine.
• Performance Anxiety: Although Bunnelby is a fierce battler, he is also extremely camera-shy, just like his trainer.
• Pintsized Powerhouse: His Dig and Double Slap attacks pack a punch. In his backstory episode showing how he joined Clemont, he sends a Diggersby flying into a wall.
• Shock and Awe: Revealed to have learned Wild Charge during the time Clemont was away from the group.
• Tunnel King: True to his species' nature, he's a fast, powerful digger.

Dedenne

See Bonnie's Holding Pokémon folder

Chespin (Harimaron)

Voiced in Japanese by: Hitomi Nabatame

Voiced in English by: Suzy Myers

Chespin is one of the starter Pokémon at Prof. Sycamore's lab. When Ash and the gang return back to Prof. Sycamore's lab, Chespin steals Serena's basket of macarons and eats them for itself. After he witnesses Team Rocket kidnap Prof. Sycamore and, unintentionally, Serena and Bonnie, Chespin helps Ash and Clemont track down Team Rocket. When Chespin's life becomes endangered by Team Rocket's mecha robot, Clemont saves him and they start to bond. After defeating Team Rocket, Chespin wishes to join Clemont's team which he accepts.

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• Abhorrent Admirer: More than once, his attempts to befriend Eevee would lead to her hiding behind Serena or Bunnelby. The awkwardness of the situation is more on Eevee's shyness than on Chespin's forward approach.
• Achilles in His Tent: Enforced by Clemont making him stay in the sidelines during the Lumiose Gym battle, a situation that left Chespin sulking.
• Balloon Belly: As a consequence of being a Big Eater, he at one point becomes overweight, which hinders him in battle.
• Big Eater: Chespin is quite the glutton, and especially loves macarons and Poképuffs. His problem is that he doesn't know when to stop, and tries eating the other Pokémon's food, usually to Pancham's ire.
• A Day in the Limelight: The episode "Adventures in Running Errands!" mainly focuses on Chespin and Bunnelby's errand that Clemont gave to them.
• Critical Status Buff: His ability is Overgrow which kicks in when he's low on energy, giving his Grass-type moves a huge boost.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Despite his bumbling and slacker attitude, Chespin proves quite efficient in battle when necessary. He has held his ground against Team Rocket and Xeroxic just as well, if not better than the more level headed Bunnelby and Luxray.
• Determinator: Even when his attacks have no effect, he refuses to give up against the Mega-Mega-Meowth mecha after being shown friendship.
• Fatal Attractor: To say that Chespin's unlucky in love is both an understatement and a misunderstanding. He can't be subtle around Eevee, to the point where he scared her when he lost control after he got too excited when she seemed to become confident around him. When Chespin tried to flirt with Buneary, she knocked him aside and went back to Bunnelby.
• Foil: Between the three Kalos Starters, he's an overly-energetic Keet that notably failed to evolve, compared to the serious, though occasionally Not So Above It All Froakie-Frogadier-Greninja, and the proud, passionate Fennekin-Braixen-Delphox.
• Follow Your Nose: His sense of smell is very acute when it comes to locating food.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: In "Adventures in Running Errands!", he appears to be the Foolish to Bunnelby's Responsible.
• Funny Background Event: As Professor Sycamore was expositing Bond Phenomenon to Ash and company, Chespin was seen asking Dedenne if he could possibly have the potential as well, only for Dedenne to shoot his hopes down, causing Chespin to pout in an annoyed manner.
• Green-Eyed Monster: He seems to express jealousy and envy towards Bunnelby due to Eevee's trust in Bunnelby and in one episode where a Buneary developed a crush on Bunnelby.
• Green Thumb: He's Clemont's first and only Grass-Type Pokémon.
• Heroic Second Wind: His ability is Overgrow, which increases his Grass-Type attacks when his stamina is low. Has been used only once.
• I Owe You My Life: Starts bonding with Clemont when he saves it from being crushed by Team Rocket's mecha.
• Keet: Has a very happy-go lucky attitude and a habit of popping out of his Pokéball on his own when something interests it.
• The McCoy: Chespin is very trusting and generous, and was even willing to offer help to Meowth when he needed it.
• Not Allowed to Grow Up: Unlike the other Kalos starters, he remains in his first stage throughout Ash's entire tenure.
• Obsessed with Food: His obsession with food helped him locate Team Rocket's hideout. The same obsession has also lead him into dangerous situations, such as nearly being crushed by Team Rocket's mecha as he tried to pick up some macarons, and becoming overweight in one episode.
• Out of Focus: During Clemont's return in Journeys, Chespin get the least amount of attention among the veterans. He didn't even evolve!
• Overshadowed by Awesome: Not counting Dedenne who is just there to be kept by Bonnie, Chespin is by far the weakest of Clemont's Pokémon who travel with him, and arguably being weaker than all of his Gym Pokémon. This led to Chespin being excluded from Clemont's Gym Team, and even though Chespin is a non-Electric type, that didn't stop Bunnelby from being included in Clemont's Gym Team.
• Signature Mon: As a Kalos Starter Pokémon, Chespin is one of Clemont's most prominent Pokémon who is also acting as his Trainer's Foil. Although in battles, Chespin is less prominent compared to his teammates and is not even part of Clemont's Gym Team.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Anytime he and Pancham are together, expect bickering.
• Smarter Than You Look: One might not expect a glutton and slacker like Chespin to be all that clever, but he has his moments. He once willingly entered one of Team Rocket's traps alongside Pikachu so he could pick the lock using his Vine Whip, eventually setting Pikachu free.
• Spike Shooter: Knows Pin Missile.
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Perhaps the only relevant team member from Clemont's side that gets much more screen time than his own trainer.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: He has a nearly identical personality to Ash's Oshawott. Both are unevolved Plucky Comic Relief starter Pokémon who constantly get into mischief, fall in love with female Pokémon, are extremely gluttonous, and have a Sitcom Arch-Nemesis relationship with another Pokémon on the main cast.
• Tastes Like Friendship: After Clemont saves him, Chespin offers a macaron to Clemont for saving its life. After Team Rocket has been defeated, Clemont offers some of the macarons to Chespin but instead of eating them all it shares he with the rest of the gang.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Started out as a greedy troublemaker, but soon gets better after bonding with Clemont.
• Trademark Favorite Food: He loves Macarons, going so far as to eat the group's entire supply if he gets a chance. Later on he gets more into Poképuffs.
• Use Your Head: His Tackle is a powerful headbutt.
• With Friends Like These...: With Pancham. The two frequently descend to bickering when they're allowed to be near each other.

Luxio-Luxray (Luxio-Rentorar)

Voiced in Japanese by: Yuka Terasaki (Kolink and Luxio), Kensuke Sato (Rentorar)

Voiced in English by: Emily Jenness (Shinx and Luxio), Billy Bob Thompson (Luxray)

Luxray is a Pokémon that Clemont used to play with in his younger years before evolving from a Shinx. They reunited in Kalos after he evolved into a Luxio. Upon evolving into Luxray, it serves as Clemon't new Ace Pokémon.

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• The Ace: Luxray is Clemont's strongest Pokémon.
• Cast from Hit Points: Knows Wild Charge, which is a powerful attack but the expense of causing damage to himself.
• Childhood Friends: Often played together with Clemont when Luxray was a Shinx, but he didn't captured him back then.
• A Day in the Limelight: His evolution episode, "The Future is Now, Thanks to Determination". Luxray's time as a Luxio was always the Pokémon that was just kinda there with the rest of the cast ever since his capture episode.
• Forgiveness: Luxray, as a Luxio, thought Clemont abandoned him, while he was a Shinx, when he broke his word to meet up with him during his Trainer younger days. However, after saving him during a battle with Team Rocket and remembering the good times they shared, Luxray was convinced to forgive Clemont and even decided to travel with him.
• Not So Stoic: Luxio/Luxray is serious for most of the time, but he's shown to be lighthearted and friendly at times and even gets a few Comically Serious moments.
• Older and Wiser: In the (imprecise) amount of time spent separated from Clemont, he not only evolved, but developed a more serious and calmer personality and is more mature overall.
• Oh, Crap!: Right before getting hit by Goodra's Bide◊.
• Out of Focus: Much worse than Clemont after the Gym Battle. People often forget he even owns a Luxray.
• Perpetual Frowner: Luxio/Luxray doesn't smile that often and is frowning for the majority of time.
• Shock and Awe: Electric-Type. When they first met, Shinx's lack of electricity inspired Clemont to build a system that allows Electric-Type Pokémon to take electric showers. The only offensive Eletric-Type attacks Luxio/Luxray seems to know are physical, Thunder Fang and Wild Charge.
• Signature Mon: Luxray's ace status makes him one of Clemont's most prominent Pokémon, effectively facing the game counterpart of Clemon'ts Heliolisk.
• The Worf Effect: After the Lumious Gym battle, Luxray later serves as a measuring stick for new studies and discoveries regarding Ash's Pokémon. First seen in {=XY&Z=] when Clemont is studying the Bond Phenomenon between Ash and Greninja, and later in Journeys when Ash's Sirfetch'd is learning the new move Meteor Assault.
• X-Ray Vision: Luxray is shown to have a kind of those, useful for when the gang is trying to find some things.

Lumiose Gym Pokémon

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• Adapted Out: Unlike the games Clemont does not have an Emolga.
• Just Following Orders: While Clemont's Pokémon were happy to see him back, they still have to battle Clemont and his friends due to being under Clembot's command.
• Shock and Awe: It's an Electric-Type Gym. So everyone of them is this type.

Magnemite (Coil)

Voiced in English by: Bill Rogers

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• Canon Foreigner: In the games, Clemont has a Magneton, but no Magnemite.
• Extra-ore-dinary: Its secondary type is Steel.
• Flat Character: It's mostly present to fill in Clemont's Gym team from before he starts travelling with Ash.
• Out of Focus: It hasn't appeared since its first episode, with much more focus on Clemont's travelling team and on Heliolisk. It's not used in the Gym Battle with Ash, either.

Magneton (Rarecoil)

Voiced in English by: Bill Rogers

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• Extra-ore-dinary: Steel is its secondary type.
• Out of Focus: While not as much as Magnemite, it's still not given as much focus as Heliolisk and Clemont's travelling team. It's not used in the Gym Battle with Ash, either.

Heliolisk (Elezard)

Voiced in Japanese by: Kiyotaka Furushima

Voiced in English by: Ryan William Downey

The original Ace Pokémon of Clemont, and used frequently as Clembot's ace.

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• The Ace: Heliolisk was Clemont's original ace prior to Luxray. Which makes sense, since Heliolisk is his ace in the games as well. As long as Clemont is travelling, it acts as Clembot's ace for the meantime. It is also the only one of Clemont's original three Pokémon to be used during the Gym Battle against Ash.
• Achilles' Heel: It has to stop for a second and extend the frilled collar around its neck to attack, making it more vulnerable to damage by direct attacks. Ash notices and is able to exploit this by having Hawlucha use a point-blank Hi Jump Kick during the split second when it opens its frills.
• Demoted to Extra: Given that Heliolisk is based of its original game counterpart, it is a hard fall from being Clemont's Signature Mon to a Pokémon who doesn't travel with its trainer. It suffers from Chuck Cunningham Syndrome in Journeys when Ash and Goh visit Clemont and Bonnie in the Lumiouse Gym despite being part of Clemont's Gym Team.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Knows the Ground-Type move Bulldoze. This move was actually taught by Clembot as a means of countering Dig and other Ground-type moves, and Clemont had to think outside the box like Ash would in order to defeat it in battle and reclaim the Gym from Clembot.
• Fragile Speedster: It's not able to take too much damage directly, but proves fast enough to be difficult to hit anyway. Ash counters this by using Hawlucha, who is not only fast enough to match it but who has super-effective Fighting-type moves.
• Glass Cannon: Again, despite its frailty, Heliolisk compensates by having powerful moves that do impressive damage.
• Keet: It has an extraordinarily lively personality, as shown when it was first sent out against Clemont. It was also the most visibly happy to see him again of all three Gym Mons.
• Lizard Folk: It is based on the frill-necked lizard after all, and it moves on its hind legs.
• Life Drain: Unsurprisingly given that the move is primarily associated with Helioptile line in the games, it knows Parabolic Charge, a new move introduced in Generation VI that gives the Electric type a healing move.
• Light 'em Up: It knows Flash, which blinds the opening.
• Non-Elemental: Its secondary type is Normal, which becomes its weakness when facing the part-Fighting-Type Hawlucha.
• Status Effects: It knows Thunder Wave, which it uses to paralyze Ash's Goodra, forcing him to substitute with Hawlucha.
• Tail Slap: Knows Dragon Tail.
• The Worf Effect: Given that Heliolisk was Clemont's strongest Pokémon and is still his #2, Heliolisk's job is to lose against strong opponents, since it is kept in the Lumiose Gym.

Bonnie (Eureka)

Voiced in Japanese by: Mariya Ise, Mika Kanai^*temporary VA when former was in maternity leave

Voiced in English by: Alyson Leigh Rosenfeld

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Jocelyn Robles

Voiced in Italian by: Valentina Pallavicino

Clemont's little sister and another sidekick for the XY series. She's too young to own a Pokémon of her own yet, but has a willing spirit to help out in any way she can. With a bottomless curiosity and a burning passion for Pokémon, Bonnie loves to take care of and play with Pokémon of all kinds.

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• Alternate Self: Her Mirror Universe counterpart is a polite and respectable young girl who acts more like a noblewoman than an Annoying Younger Sibling.
• Annoying Younger Sibling: She doesn't pull her punches when pointing out Clemont's lack of athleticism, but seems mature enough to know when to apologize. Also, much to Clemont's exasperation, she asks just about any girl she meets to marry him.
• Ascended Extra: In the games, her only roles are hosting the Lumiose Gym/Prism Tower Pokémon Quiz. After becoming the champion, the player can get a ribbon from her if they have a Pokémon with maximum affection. In the anime, she's a main character alongside Clemont.
• The Baby of the Bunch: Like Max in Advanced Generation, she is the youngest traveling companion of the series she appears in.
• Berserk Button: She really hates being left out of group activities, although this is Enforced on her at times because she's too young to participate in some of them.
• Beyond the Impossible: Discussed with her. When she misses Ash's Froakie evolve into Frogadier, she asks if he could devolve so he could do it again. Clemont has to tell her that Pokémon can't devolve.
• Big Brother Worship: She may snark at Clemont's lack of athletic skill, but she still looks up to him. She also admires Ash and Serena, and forms a particularly close friendship with the latter.
• Blush Sticker: In her more genki moments.
• Borrowed Catch Phrase: In “A League of His Own,” Bonnie borrows Iris’ catchphrase “you’re such a kid” (she says it to Ash).
• Bratty Half-Pint: Not a full on case, but it is made apparent that her younger age can make her incredibly tactless compared to the rest of the team. She usually lacks any form of filter in her criticizing of others for example, nonchalantly calling Goomy a coward and constantly snarking at her brother's hopelessness.
• Brutal Honesty: Has no problem telling Clemont how terrible some of the names he gives his inventions are.
• Butt-Monkey: She seems to get hit with a string of bad luck in a lot of the episodes, usually stemming from getting caught in the aftermath of her brother's inventions blowing up in her face.
• The Bus Came Back: She and Clemont return in JN103 and JN104. She watches Goh catch a Froakie and Ash training in the former, and watches Ash's battle with Drasna in the latter.
• Catchphrase:
  • Bonnie's vocabulary is not terribly extensive, so she uses "keep" as a substitute for several verbs such as "capture" and "marry".
  • In the English dub, whenever she tries to get a girl to marry Clemont, it's "You're a keeper!" and "Please take care of my brother!"
• Cheerful Child: Curious, energetic and innocent. Bonnie always sees things through a positive lens, and gives every new Pokémon a chance, regardless of their appearance or natures.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: After spending most of the series trying to hook Clemont up with any girl the group meets, Bonnie suddenly becomes apprehensive when Clemont finds a potential match, and tries to drive them apart.
• Cuteness Proximity: She squees at the sight of every new Pokémon she meets, even a Garchomp.
• The Cutie: Her antics, affection for Pokémon, and youthful energy makes her a younger sibling all the characters want to look after.
• Deadpan Snarker: Bonnie shows shades of this, especially after her brother's inventions blow up.
• Does Not Like Spam: As a typical trait of small children in anime, she doesn't like carrots.
• Dragged by the Collar:
  • Repeatedly done by Clemont's mechanical Aipom Arm whenever she asks a girl to marry her brother.
  • In the opening of XY&Z, she's dragged off by Sqiushy's 10% Forme.
• The Empath: Bonnie has shown to senses Pokémon feelings as she knew her new friend Squishy, Zygarde, was in trouble when she first met it. However, due to her friendship with Squishy and unknowingly training herself in perfecting her powers, Bonnie's sense of Pokémon feelings greatly increased as she can senses the Order Pokémon whereabouts and feel its pain when it's hurt.
• Everyone's Baby Sister: Ash and Serena are just as protective of her as Clemont.
• Fluffy Tamer: While not an official trainer, she has a tendency to like even the scariest-looking Pokémon. She even manages to befriend and evolve the Pokémon equivalent of a Terrifying Tyrannosaur. And also befriending an Eldritch Abomination. Her Journeys appearance has her run past Ash's cuddly Dragonite to give Dracovish a chin-scritch.
• Friendly Tickle Torture: She does this to Squishy and Z2.
• The Friends Who Never Hang: Bonnie is rarely shown interacting with Ash. Across the entire series, there isn't a single episode that focuses on their relationship.
• Genki Girl: Getting zapped by Pikachu doesn't dampen her spirits one bit.
• Gratuitous French: "S'il vous plait" in the Japanese version.
• Hypocritical Humor: Her attitude towards Clemont's invention names, when she's not exactly an imaginative sort herself. Squishy, anyone?
• Image Song: One for both her and Squishy, aptly named "Squishy's Song". It is sung by her voice actress Mariya Ise and is used as XY&Z's ending. She occassionally sings it in the anime, which has a calming effect on Squishy.
• Innocent Blue Eyes: Huge, expressive blue eyes perfect for a young girl like Bonnie.
• It's All My Fault: When Bunnelby gets hurt during the search for Squishy, Bonnie blames herself because she insisted they go look for it. Clemont comforts her because they all want Squishy back, not just Bonnie.
• Leitmotif: She is sometimes heard humming or singing "Squishy's Song".
• Little Miss Snarker: Her brother's lame invention names, awkwardness, and tendency for his inventions to explode gives her plenty to work with. Even Meowth finds her insufferable.
• Mama Bear: Seriously, don't try to hurt Dedenne or Squishy. Anyone who does will have to deal with her much more powerful friends.
• The Matchmaker: Tries to find a future wife/girlfriend for Clemont, much to his embarrassment.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Both her Japanese and English names refer to different varieties of lemon (the Eureka and Bonnie Brae, respectively).
  • "Eureka" is also an expression used to declare when one has achieved an enlightened thought, complimenting her tinkering brother.
• Mirror Character: She's the opposite of the previous Tagalong Kid, Max. Whereas Max was the son of a gym leader, the one who always put a stop to Brock's flirting, and never had a Pokémon to himself, Bonnie is the sister of a gym leader, always tried to get a girl to marry her brother, and had two Pokémon she cared for, including Zygarde.
• Missing Mom: Nothing is said of what happened to her mother.
• Modesty Shorts: Wears a pair under her little tutu skirt.
• Mythology Gag: When she asks a girl to marry her brother, Clemont drags her away with the Aipom-Arm similar to how Brock gets dragged away when he flirts with a girl. She also seems to be the anime stand-in for the interactive part of Pokémon Amie.
• The Nicknamer: She calls the Zygarde Core Cell that the group found with the nickname Squishy/Puni-chan^*punipuni refers to something squishy. She's also the one who dubbed the powered-up form of Greninja "Ash-Greninja".
• Nightmare Fetishist: She is the only character of the group who is not scared of ghosts or haunted houses. Instead, she gets excited about them.
• No Indoor Voice: Is very loud and squeals at inopportune moments.
• Not Allowed to Grow Up: She still remains the same age by the time Ash leaves the series as the lead, never getting a chance to be her own trainer.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: She refuses to let Clemont live down the fact he lost to Drasna.
• Pals with Jesus: She takes a liking to Z1/Squishy, a Zygarde core. The Japanese ending theme "Puni-chan's Song" is about their friendship.
• Plucky Girl: She's certainly not afraid to stand up to villains.
• Psychic Link: It's never really explained, but Bonnie seems to have developed one with Squishy during the final episodes of the Team Flare Arc, as she was able to feel Squishy was in trouble and that it was mind-controlled.
• Running Gag:
  • The moment her brother whips out one of his inventions, expect her to make fun of its name or how it explodes right after.
  • If she sees a pretty girl, she'll get on one knee and say something along the lines of:
  Bonnie: "You're a keeper! Please take care of my brother!"
• Shared Family Quirks: Has the same goofy grin and awkward run as her brother.
• Shipper on Deck: For Ash and Serena. She notices Serena gets unusually worried for Ash during his gym battle with Grant early on in the series, after the group encounters Miette for the 2nd time she's fully aware that Serena's in love with Ash with a knowing smirk calling Ash "dense". She'll even join Serena's rivals in teasing her about her feelings for Ash. At the end of the series when Serena kisses Ash before she leaves for Hoenn she's initially VERY shocked but when bidding Serena farewell she winks at her and gives a "way to go" look and fistpump.
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Even when she's not of legal age to be a trainer yet, jarringly enough, she gets more episodes than Clemont does. This only becomes much more obvious during the third season where she gets to take care of one Zygarde Core Cell and even gets her own ending theme.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute:
  • A downplayed one of Max. On one hand, she shares the role of the Annoying Younger Sibling who isn't old enough to own any Pokémon, but still accompanies Ash's team. She's also the only one who's never scared in the Ghost/Psychic Pokémon-centric episodes that terrify the older characters. On the other hand, she's much more innocent than Max and less of a know-it-all, and receives far more plot focus than Max ever did.
  • In addition, when paired with her brother, particularly her matchmaking tendencies, she takes on some aspect of Brock's flirtatious side, right down to being in the receiving end of the old Running Gag of being dragged off screen when she goes overboard.
• Sweet Tooth: Bonnie loves her sweets. She even starts drooling just from Serena talking about the restaurants and bakeries in Lumiose City.
• Tagalong Kid: She sticks by Clemont's side whether he wants it or not, though generally he doesn't seem to mind.
• Tender Tears: When she worries about Squishy and wants to go look for it in the dead of the night, Clemont tells her she can't because then HE would be worried sick. Bonnie's reaction is to cry her heart out to Clemont.
• Third-Person Person: Sprinkled in here and there in the Japanese version, as per usual Character Tics for Japanese children. This trait is absent in the English dub, where this convention isn't used.
• Took a Level in Badass: In "One for the Goomy!", she first stepped to the side when Serena was battling Team Rocket. After Pancham became confused due to Inkay's Psybeam, Dedenne used Nuzzle to make it snap out of confusion and she joined the battle, defeating Team Rocket by commanding Dedenne smoothly.
• Trauma Button: If she sees Pokémon or someone getting bullied, she'll get very scared and bury her face in Clemont or Serena to avoid looking at it.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: While Clemont was programming Clembot to recognize him as its master, Bonnie rushes in and tells her brother of a challenger. Clemont never got to program the recognition password he wanted (Clembot registered "You can start today. I'm Clemont, the Gym Leader." instead of "Sandwich"). When Clembot went out of control (due to a "head injury"), Clemont couldn't get it to shut down with his password. He and Bonnie got booted out of his own gym, and putting many trainers (including Ash!) in danger until Clemont finally takes back his gym and fixes the 'bot.

Mirror Bonnie

A version of Bonnie from the Mirror Universe, where she's a refined and polite little sister of Mirror Clemont

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• Adaptational Nice Girl: Mirror Bonnie stands out from main universe Bonnie by having polite, lady-like manners and being supportive of her brother's magic spells. In contrast, regular Bonnie has childish mannerisms and she has little faith in Clemont's inventions (and for good reason since they explode).

Bonnie's Holding Pokémon

Dedenne

Voiced in Japanese by: Megumi Sato

Voiced in English by: Megumi Sato (XY-XY & Z), Alyson Leigh Rosenfeld (Journeys)

Dedenne first met the gang when he drops his food in front of them before getting stolen by a Fletching that Ash eventually captures. Dedenne was encountered again when he stole food from Bonnie. After a struggle with Team Rocket, he bonds with Pikachu and Bonnie. Bonnie wants Clemont to capture Dedenne for her which he agrees to. While Dedenne is technically owned by Clemont, he lets Bonnie take care of Dedenne since she's too young to be a trainer.

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• Bizarre Alien Senses: Dedenne is able to track Pikachu after having exchanged electricity with him, as is typical of his species.
• A Day in the Limelight: In "A Jolting Switcheroo!", where he was part of the focus during an accidental switch-up. Later, he got his own title card in "One for the Goomy!", where Dedenne was the definite star of the episode.
• Deadly Hug: His Nuzzle attack, which would be adorable if it weren't for all the electrocution.
• Deus Exit Machina: He has a tendency to fall asleep just when he is needed the most.
• Fire-Forged Friends:
  • Dedenne starts to admire Pikachu when he protects him from Team Rocket.
  • The same goes with Goomy in "One for the Goomy!" where Dedenne protected it from Team Rocket, earning its trust and making it get over its fear of Dedenne.
  • While originally Dedenne wasn't quite fond of Squishy, the two eventually got along well that they would even occupy the main pocket of Bonnie's pochette.
• Funny Background Event: When Chespin and Pancham disappear chasing after a gallette they're fighting over, Dedenne makes the most hilarious face as if it was saying "Oh brother..." over their antics.
• Happily Adopted: Despite Clemont capturing him, he is all but owned and commanded by Bonnie due to being a reserve of sorts for when she's old enough to be a trainer. He seems to have no problem with that at all.
• Head Pet: He's usually seen on Bonnie's head or in her pochette.
• Heavy Sleeper: He needs a lot of sleep to recharge his electricity.
• I Owe You My Life: Gratefully joins Clemont's party after he helps save him after nearly drowning.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: He's small, and since Bonnie is (functionally) his trainer, he's rarely allowed to battle on the front lines. When he is the only Pokémon available, he's often asleep. Yet, unlike other Pokémon who have taken on similar roles in the past (like Togepi and Axew), he's no infant, and is an effective battler on the rare occasions when he is called upon.
• Our Fairies Are Different: A Fairy-Type. Goomy was initially scared of Dedenne because of his Fairy-Type. Valerie is also capable of speaking Dedenne's language because of his type.
• Out of Focus: When Squishy appeared, he took over as Team Pet and occupying Bonnie's pouch, with Dedenne recalled into its ball and is absent more often. Dedenne did get a bit more focus after Squishy's departure, and helped out in Cilan's guest appearance.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Bonnie's first reaction to Dedenne is exclaiming how cute he is. Dedenne effectively fills the role of the team's obligatory cute Team Pet.
• Running on All Fours: Like many real rodents, he regularly stands on two legs but runs on all fours.
• Signature Mon: Though it's technically owned by Clemont, Dedenne is considered to be Bonnie's companion Pokémon for all purpose and intent. The two are never seen apart, even when Squishy joins the party.
• Shock and Awe: Electric-Type, but his electric power is signifcantly lower than Pikachu's or Luxray's.
• Tastes Like Friendship:
  • Though initially wanting no business with Pikachu, he is quickly bought over when Pikachu kindly feeds him.
  • When Dedenne and Goomy become friends, the first thing Goomy does is nibble his ear.
• Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: While earlier on he was referred to as "like Pikachu's sibling", his gender wasn't confirmed until the Tripokalon dance episode. He was wearing a blue ribbon which was found on all other male Pokémon, as the female ones were wearing tiaras.
• Took a Level in Badass: In "One for the Goomy!", he battled Team Rocket alongside Pancham and he did all he could to protect Goomy from Team Rocket.
• Tunnel King: Dedenne apparently lived in an underground tunnel system before being captured.

Zygarde/Z1/"Squishy" ("Puni-chan")

Voiced in Japanese by: Yūki Kaji

Voiced in English by: Billy Bob Thompson

A Zygarde Core that was being experimented on in Lysandre's secret laboratory, labeled by Team Flare as Z1. Thanks to Mairin's Chespin, it was able to escape, and ends up running into Ash's group. Bonnie gave it the nickname Squishy due to its, well, squishiness. It hides from Team Flare scientists who are tailing it. There is another Zygarde Core labeled as Z2, and the opening suggests the two will have a power struggle.

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• Absurdly Dedicated Worker: It generally chooses not to show its transformation powers in public, even in instances it would have faced near certain death without them.
• Adorable Abomination: It doesn't hide the fact that it is Zygarde (though the heroes don't know it yet). But it is still quite cute.
• Animalistic Abomination: 10% and 50% are a dog and a snake respectively. With that said Bonnie seems to enjoy 10% Forme in the opening.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Suffers Z2's fate after failing to stop its rampage.
• Breath Weapon: It can use Dragon Pulse in its larger forms. In its complete form, the attack doubles as a Converging-Stream Weapon, as it uses all four wing-mouths to fire it.
• Brick Joke: Squishy hasn't forgotten who was responsible for setting it free. Once Chespie awakens from his coma, Squishy promptly thanks him. The thank you was enough.
• But Now I Must Go: Both Squishy and Z2 depart into space when Lysandre's threat is put down, with Z1 and Bonnie bidding farewell to each other. They show up again a few episodes later to do it again, as they still need to clean up all the corrupted roots from Team Flare's experiment and require Ash-Greninja's help.
• Chest Blaster: Zygarde Complete's ultimate attack, Core Enforcer, is a Wave-Motion Gun fired from its Belly Mouth.
• Deus ex Machina: In Volcanion and the Mechanical Marvel, Zygarde's Complete Form appears for a couple of seconds to help wild Pokémon from a Wave-Motion Gun.
• Escaped from the Lab: With the help of Mairin's Chespin, Squishy was able to escape Team Flare.
• Excellent Judge of Character: Squishy was unsure to trust Bonnie at first but changed its mind when it felt something special about her, especially when she told it that she knew it was asking her for help.
• Fusion Dance: It can combine with other Zygarde cells to make larger forms up to 50%, and can reach 100% by joining with Z2.
• Godzilla Threshold: Since it spent most of the time in fear of Team Flare, Squishy rarely transforms into its other formes to draw attention to itself, and when cornered it prefers the 10% Forme, most probably for a speedy and stealthy getaway. Squishy only transformed into 50% Forme to confront the other Core, who is Brainwashed and Crazy, and into 100% Forme to save Navel Plateau in the 3rd Movie, and to finally finish off Lysandre when his Megalith had the heroes on the ropes (and only because the second Zygarde Core finally starts believing Squishy's words that Humans Are Special).
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight:
  • When Lumiose City is getting attacked after the Kalos League, Squishy separated from Ash's group once more, to confront the one responsible, Z2. All this time from running through the chaos to Prism Tower, and up to confronting Z2 itself, had Squishy frantically trying to call out to its other half, only to fall upon deaf ears.
  • Squishy becomes the "receiver" itself when Bonnie tries (and succeeds, even) to get Squishy to wake up from Team Flare's control.
• Image Song: Together with Bonnie, "Squishy's Song", which is the first ending of XY&Z.
• Intrigued by Humanity: Z2 tells it to cut all its ties to humans as they are the ones causing imbalance to Kalos. However, it tells Z2 that it found something different, and will continue to travel with the gang to observe more. It appears to take a strong interest in Bonnie in particular.
• I Will Wait for You: Squishy happily obliges to the promise of meeting up with Bonnie again once the latter eventually comes of age to become a trainer.
• Leitmotif: A short xylophone tune.
• Mighty Roar: In its 10% Forme, it unleashes Land's Wrath with a loud howl, driving Team Flare off.
• Mundane Utility: With the threat of an approaching storm, Squishy uses the Zygarde Cells in the Winding Woods to help the heroes find a safe place to camp for the night. Later, Squishy would separate from Bonnie to look for Ash and Greninja on its own, making use of the Zygarde Cells again, this time to pinpoint their location. Squishy finds Greninja first, then points him in Ash's direction.
• My Significance Sense Is Tingling: It felt something wrong when Z2 was being captured, ultimately getting worried when the other Core wasn't responding.
• Not So Above It All: While it's been travelling with Ash's group for dubious reasons, Squishy has been shown to participate in some of their activities. Like Dedenne, Squishy has often mimicked Bonnie's behavior a couple of times.
• The Power of Love: It was Squishy's bond with Bonnie (the same kind that Squishy's been telepathically preaching to Z2 beforehand) that allowed the former to snap out of its brainwashed state.
• The Power of the Sun: Recharges and heals itself by sunbathing.
• Power-Strain Blackout: Transforming into its various forms can take its toll on both Squishy and Z2. After transforming into Complete Forme to save Navel Plateau, it left Squishy incapacitated for the rest of the movie.
• Punny Name: Both English and Japaneses names are references to its squishiness (punipuni is Japanese onomatopoeia for something squishy).
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: Squishy is transformed by Team Flare in the same manner as Z2 after losing a battle to Z2.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: It is the very reason why Bonnie was so taken with the creature, because "Squishy" is completely adorable.
• Royal "We": During a dream where it was given a human voice, Squishy uses the first person pronoun Yo in the Japanese version, which is a rough equivalent to this trope. In the English dub, when Meowth asks who he is, he responds "I is I." It also speaks in this when talking telepathically with the blue Zygarde Core.
• Scarf of Asskicking: In its 10% Forme, a green tendril-like appendage keeps fluttering about as Squishy runs. In Volcanion and the Mechanical Marvel, Pikachu actually uses it to catch up to Squishy and hitch a ride!
• Sleep-Mode Size: Squishy defaults to this as a Core, but when threatened it can summon other Zygarde Cells to empower itself
• Telepathy: While it can only make odd noises towards everyone, it can speak properly towards Z2 through telepathy.
• Too Many Mouths: Zygarde Complete has six: one on each wing and the tail, and a sixth on its chest (but, apparently, none on its actual face). All of them can be used for a Breath Weapon, and the ones on the wings and tail can also propel Zygarde's movements like a Nitro Boost.
• Using You All Along: It joined the group to seek protection, and tagged along upon realizing that they were heading to Terminus Cave. In "Meeting at Terminus Cave!", it immediately went off on its own to communicate with the other Core, and during the commotion with Team Flare it left the main gang, much to Bonnie's disbelief. After witnessing the bonds between the gang and their Pokémon, it decides to join them for real, seeing them, and Ash and Bonnie in particular, as examples of how people and Pokémon can coexist, putting it at odds with Z2.
• World-Healing Wave:
  • In "Dream a Little Dream from Me!", it restores a small portion of the forest that was razed by the "Fire Ghost" that was chasing Squishy.
  • Zygarde Complete uses these powers again on Lumiose City at the end of the Team Flare saga. Though it clears up the surface plants, the roots are still causing trouble and they have to individually kill those.
• You Are Number 6: Team Flare gave it the designation Z1 (the second, blue-centered Core is labelled Z2).

Ash's Pokémon

As a whole

Ash's Full Kalos Team.

• Ambiguous Gender: Hawlucha and Noivern are confirmed to be male, Greninja is also implied to be male but only in the English dub. Talonflame and Goodra are completely debatable.
• Badass Crew: Let's recap them at the end of the series: Pikachu, two Dragon-Types, including a pseudo-legendary, a Badass luchador Lightning Bruiser, a Glass Cannon bird, and the unique Super Mode of the most powerful Kalos starter. While not even a full team for most of the series, this team, plus Pikachu, has managed to show amazing growth in both in and out of battles. This includes a newly hatched Pokémon making excellent use of its natural ability who eventually evolved to battle a legendary Pokémon and even gain the upper hand. Almost all the Pokémon have been in and earned at least one win in a gym battle (if not, they at least did some damage before getting knocked out). They especially show off their badassery whenever they evolve, which tends to happen when they see Ash and Pikachu or each other in danger, or are on the ropes in an important battle.
  • They are the very first team of which all new members fully evolve.
  • This team has also so far represented Ash's unbelievable tactics in battle and how they are growing.
  • The previews to the Final Rounds of the Lumiose Conference call them Ash's Ultimate Team.
• Breaking Old Trends: The first team of Ash's that lacks the Grass starter, or any Grass type at all for that matter.
• The Bus Came Back: Ash uses a rotating party in Aim to be a Pokémon Master, where he uses all of his Pokémon in his current roster. Besides Pikachu, he uses Pokémon of different generations in his team. For each individual entry, see below.
• Dwindling Party: In the 7-on-2 match against Lysandre on top of Prism Tower, Ash's team slowly whittles down one by one from the might of Mega Gyarados, until Pikachu, Ash-Greninja, and Alain's Charizard are left.
• Lightning Bruiser: They hit hard, they hit fast, and they can tank hits (compared to their game counterparts, of course). Their weaknesses are more on them being specialized at certain things and share similar weaknesses.
  • As a bonus fact, all of Ash's Kalos-origin Pokémon (except Goodra, a Mighty Glacier) are the fastest Pokémon introduced in Generation VI (ignoring Mega Evolutions of older Pokémon)^*Talonflame being the fastest, followed by Noivern, then Greninja, and then finally Hawlucha. Although, as Ash's powerhouse, it seems that Greninja is much faster than everyone else, even more since the lead-up to the eighth gym battle, where it looks like he's actually flash-stepping, a la Dragon Ball.
• Not So Above It All: All the evolved Pokémon of the team developed more serious and focused personalities by their final evolution. They retained the occasional comical moment however. Goodra remained rather goofy and emotive, while Noivern, Talonflame and even Greninja are shown giddily dancing during Serena's public Showcase.
• Running Gag: Whenever eating a meal, this batch would immediately finish their food post-haste as soon as Ash tells them they're training afterward, disregarding the Balloon Belly they're all sporting.
• Team Shot: The opening scene of XY&Z credits sequence: Hawlucha, Ash, Pikachu and Greninja on the foreground, and Talonflame and Noibat (later Noivern) in the back.
• Tender Tears: This was the team at the time (Hawlucha, Noivern, and Talonflame) when Ash, Serena, Clemont, & Bonnie were preparing to go their separate ways and had to say goodbye to each other.
• True Companions: Ash's Kalos team has a strong bond with each other and would choose their safety over their own for one another. Also, they even devoted their time in bonding with the Pokémon that belong too Serena and Clemont as they have individually with Ash.

Froakie-Frogadier-Greninja (Keromatsu-Gekogashira-Gekkouga)

Bottom image is Battle Bond Ash-Greninja

Voiced in Japanese by: Yuji Ueda

Voiced in English by: Billy Bob Thompson

One of the starter Pokémon Professor Sycamore intended to give out to new trainers, this Froakie had so far actually rejected every new trainer he was given to. Froakie has a strong sense of justice and can easily see through Team Rocket's disguises. After seeing Ash's determination and willingness to help a rampaging Garchomp, he decides to bond with Ash and become his first Kalos region Pokémon.

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• The Ace: Ever since his introduction Froakie was one of Ash's stronger Kalos-native Pokémon, even if Goodra and Hawlucha overshadowed it at some points. As Frogadier he virtually never lost on-screen, and after evolving into Greninja, he becomes Ash's powerhouse. Upon completing the Ash-Greninja Forme he achieves something no other Pokémon belonging to Ash had ever achieved up to that point: fight on par with a Champion's Pokémon. Even more impressively, her Mega Evolved Ace Pokémon. As a Greninja, his only losses were to Sawyer's Sceptile and Wulfric's Avalugg due to not yet mastering Ash-Greninja and Alain's Charizard. During his return in JN108, Greninja is able to easily defeat Ash's Lucario while his foe had Ash's assistance to boot, making it clear that to this day he's one of Ash's strongest.
• Affectionate Gesture to the Head: Gives Fletchling a friendly slap on the head after training for the rematch against Viola.
• All of the Other Reindeer: He was attacked by the other Froakie at the breeding facility for refusing to socialize.
• Always Someone Better:
  • To Sawyer's Sceptile; despite the latter's type Advantage, Frogadier still defeated Treecko easily in their first two battles, even though in the second Treecko evolved into Grovyle and learned Leaf Blade mid-battle. In their third battle, Sceptile seemed to be winning before Greninja transformed into Ash-Greninja and one-hit KO'd Sceptile with Aerial Ace. While Sceptile wins their fourth battle, this was only because Ash and Greninja were distracted by trying to activate the bond transformation, and in their next and final battle at the Kalos League, Greninja yet again triumphs, in spite Sceptile having gained access to Mega-Evolution, with Ash-Greninja's Water Shuriken specifically overpowering Mega-Sceptile's Leaf Storm.
  • On the other side of the coin, Alain's Charizard is this to Greninja; despite Greninja's type-advantage (although it loses this advantage against Mega Charizard X) and the Bond Phenomenon, Charizard still defeated Greninja soundly in their first battle, with their second battle against each other ending prematurely due to Ash collapsing from the strain of Bond Phenomenon. In their final battle at the Kalos League, Charizard wins once more, with its Blast Burn knocking out Ash-Greninja while Water Shuriken falls short of defeating Mega Charizard X.
  • He becomes this to Ash's Lucario in Journeys, who up to JN108 had been on a mostly clean streak (barring a loss against a wild Articuno) and one of Ash's top Pokemon in the season, but even helped by Ash's aura Lucario can't match Greninja in a fight, getting swiftly beaten in a Curb-Stomp Battle and subsequently getting trained by Greninja to become stronger.
• Ambiguous Gender: Interesting case. Though the dub does refer to it as male, the original never does. It is affected by Attract early on from a Sylveon,^note The particular one isn't an explicit gender, and the Eeveelutions have the same 7:1 male-biased gender ratio as starters. and there's an early Ship Tease with Serena's Fennekin (who is confirmed female), but the Japanese version never explicitly says it's male. When it appears in the games, it's male.
• Apathetic Pet: It's noted that Froakie has gone through several trainers because he would either disobey them so much that they'd bring him back to Professor Sycamore, or he'd run away and go back to Professor Sycamore himself. He averts this trope in regards to Ash when he decides that Ash is the right trainer for him.
• Appropriated Appellation: Bonnie coins Greninja's Super Mode as Ash-Greninja, mainly from the way that it looked like (in-universe) Ash and Greninja actually had a Fusion Dance.
• Animal Motifs: The butterfly for Ash-Greninja. When Ash and Greninja first reached a high level synchronization, the water shroud converged on Ash-Greninja's back to be like a pair of butterfly wings used for gliding before becoming a shuriken. This butterfly form always makes an appearance whenever Ash-Greninja takes shape or whenever he needs to glide.
  • And for more emphasis, in episode XY&Z28, Ash tries to save a bunch of Spewpa hanging from a tree from a snowstorm. Ash manages to save four, but the last one fell off from the tree and into the cliff. He jumped down to save it, and he was then saved by Greninja. However it fell from his grip, and so this made both Ash and Greninja trigger their synchronization and them realizing what was missing between them to fully control the form. When Ash and Greninja reconciled, the Spewpa evolved into Vivillon which then flew into the moonlight - essentially a symbolism of Ash-Greninja being "born".
• Back-to-Back Badasses: Did this with Talonflame during their battle against Olympia and her two Meowstic...and won.
• Badass Armfold: As seen in his current picture, Greninja often starts in this position before a battle, including his transformation into Ash-Greninja.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: Executes Aerial Ace with a barrage of punches and/or kicks, to differentiate it from Cut.
• Big Damn Heroes: Has plenty of these.
  • Froakie is introduced by taking a Electro Ball reflected by Wobbuffet's Mirror Coat which was aimed on Pikachu.
  • In XY052, when Clemont and Serena fall from a broken bridge, Clemont is saved by Froakie's frubbles while Serena is saved by Sanpei's Greninja's tongue.
  • In XY086, Talonflame gets hit by Moltres' Fire Blast and falls into a pitch of lava. Ash tries to save it by running down the wall and catches it, but both are now falling into the pit. They are saved by Frogadier's frubbles.
  • In both times Greninja evolved, it happened when he tries to protect Pikachu, and in the first case, Sampei's Greninja.
• Bishōnen Line: Crosses this twice. First, Froakie already becomes more humanoid with each evolution. Then, as Ash-Greninja, his appearance is obscured by the water veil surrounding him. Once Ash and Greninja master the forme, the veil compresses into a Fuuma Shuriken attached to his back, and his Uncatty Resemblance to his trainer is finally in full view.
• Blush Sticker: He would blush like this when someone thanks him.
• Bond Creatures: Becomes this with Ash. Due to their close relationship, Greninja is able to synchronize with Ash and acquire the Ash-Greninja, where Ash and Greninja become extensions to each other and feel each other's pain.
• Breakout Character: Greninja's popularity led him to get the Ash-Greninja form and started getting central focus in the XY&Z arc, taking the usual attention away from Pikachu.
• Broad Strokes: Curiously, Journeys avoids any direct references to the Ash-Greninja form during his return. Flashbacks involving the form are altered to feature regular Greninja instead, and Ash himself is rather vague when describing his bond with Greninja to Goh, leaving out any mention of a special transformation. He does, however, compare the feeling of becoming one with Greninja to Lucario's aura, making it unclear whether or not the form has been retconned.^note Such speculations were also fueled by the fact that when Pokémon Scarlet and Violet was updated to transfer the Froakie line into the games, Greninja's Battle Bond ability that enabled the Ash-Greninja form was altered to cause a stat boost instead of the transformation. Though the form is still recognized in the Pokemon HOME Pokedex, its future for further game apperances is also in doubt.
• Bubble Gun: He knows Bubble. Apparently not anymore after learning either Cut or Aerial Ace.
• But Now I Must Go: He was released by Ash so he can help Squishy and Z-2 to clean up all the corrupted roots from Team Flare's experiment.
• Canon Immigrant: He appears in the demo for Pokémon Sun and Moon, complete with his Super Mode. From there, he can be transferred to the actual game itself.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: Froakie tends to throw himself into the problems of others.
• Colossus Climb: Froakie scales Grant's Onix to finish it off with Water Pulse.
• Combat Pragmatist: Uses some imaginative tricks to win fights. Justified, since he is a ninja.
• Combination Attack: Develops one with Hawlucha, combining Froakie's Cut with Hawlucha's Flying Press.
• Converging-Stream Weapon: Its giant Water Shuriken uses a variation on this concept in the final battle with Sawyer, absorbing the energy of the various Double Team clones it created to make the Water Shuriken even larger and more powerful.
• The Comically Serious: Froakie's more serious attitude leads to several humorous interactions. Even then though he has some Not So Stoic moments, usually from his shy blushing. This was downplayed after he evolved into Frogadier and especially Greninja.
• Confusion Fu: Bypasses Wobbuffet's Mirror Coat by throwing his Frubbles (the sticky foam around his neck) to assault it, rather than using an attack move, thus stopping Mirror Coat from working.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character:
  • To Ash's Oshawott, big time. Greninja is basically Oshawott's polar opposite. Oshawott was comic relief that struggled to keep up strength wise with the rest of Ash's team, getting his most prominent victories at the start of the series before falling off and never evolving. Greninja was more serious from the start and progressively lost even more comedic qualities after each evolution, but exchanged that for becoming Ash's powerhouse of the region.
  • Can also be seen as this to Infernape. Both had a Dark and Troubled Past before being caught by Ash and they became his ace for the region they were trained in, but while Infernape as a Chimchar was released by Paul due to not meeting his strength requirements, Froakie didn't like the trainer's due to it's high expectations for them. Infernape also has some comedic moments and kept them after evolution, while Greninja was mostly serious throughout. They both struggled to control their inner power to start and was able to master them at the end: Infernape would lose control of itself during it's Blaze state while Greninja struggled with it's unique form which also causes Ash to experience the same hits as Greninja would to the point he would also faint if overdone.
• Cool Mask: He can make a mask using his Frubbles when he's trying to be stealthy.
• Curb Stomp Cushion:
  • Against Alain's Charizard, Greninja failed to get a single hit in when both were untransformed, but he still managed to keep his foe on his toes and, once both transformed, he managed to get a good hit in. He still lost however. During the rematch, he does a lot better even before transforming, although the battle ends prematurely due to Ash collapsing from the strain of Bond Phenomenon.
  • Noticeably averted during Ash's rematch against Diantha, given Ash's track record battling Elite Four members and Champions. It starts off with Greninja being unable to hit Gardevoir, but Greninja keeps doing better and better and, after transforming, even takes the lead. When Gardevoir evens the odds by Mega Evolving, Greninja and Ash perfect the transformation, and still overpower Gardevoir until Power-Strain Blackout kicks in.
• Dark and Troubled Past:
  • He refused to listen to his previous trainers because he didn't like any of them, leading them all to give him back to Sycamore.
  • At the Froakie breeding facility, he preferred training alone instead of socializing with the others, which led to him getting into skirmishes with the rest of the Froakie. This made him realize that he needed a trainer in order to become stronger and it wasn't until Ash showed him love that made him finally connect to a trainer that understood him.
• David Versus Goliath: Against Wulfric's Mega Abomasnow. Him pummeling said opponent into submission is quite a sight to behold.
• The Day the Music Lied: During the third battle against Sawyer, XY&Z starts playing when it seems Greninja is going to transform again, and when Greninja fails to transform, it promptly stops playing.
• Determinator: He seems to have a strong sense of justice and will stop at nothing to uphold that. In his debut episode he took a Mirror Coat-reflected Electro Ball (a super effective attack against it at double power) and remained standing, even turning the tide against Team Rocket for the heroes.
• Doppelgänger Spin: Knows Double Team, like a ninja. He tried to learn Quick Attack, but it ended up being Double Team. They also fit to his ninja theme, since it is common for ninjas to duplicate themselves. Double Team is even called "Kage Bunshin" in Japan. He also absorbs his doppelgängers into his Fuuma Shuriken to make it larger, but how that works is not known.
• Dragon Rider: In Volcanion and the Ingenious Marvel, Greninja rides on Noivern's back to fight the Mega Evolution army.
• Elemental Baggage: Ash-Greninja is often seen drawing his Water Shurikens from the water cloak surrounding him. And the cloak gets completely compressed for the Fuuma Water Shuriken.
• Excellent Judge of Character: Greninja, while it was a Froakie, was suspicious with Meowth when he temporarily joined up with it and its friends until they found their Trainers, which was proven right.
• Foreshadowing: Olympia's visions tease Frogadier's evolution into Greninja and his Ash-Greninja Forme.
• Funny Background Event: Greninja's Double Team clones sometimes wind up in the most amusing poses.
• Fusion Dance: Not an actual fusion, but Ash-Greninja qualifies as one, since both trainer and Pokémon are fighting together in perfect harmony. To give Pokémon Champions grief, its power must be off the scale.
• Fuuma Shuriken: Ash-Greninja sports one once his water cloak is deactivated. It grows bigger during his fight with Mega Sceptile and then it grows three times larger when he absorbs his Double Team clones.
• Heart Is an Awesome Power: Knows Cut, which in the games is a simple slash attack and usually undesirable (due to it being an HM). However in the anime, Cut is depicted as Greninja wielding either a needle or kunai of white light, and when in Ash-Greninja form, a kunai formed from pressurized water, which was given to him as part of his moveset in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
• Heroic BSoD: When Ash leaves into the forest alone after their loss to Wulfric, he tells a seemingly unconcious Greninja that he feels guilty for its pain. Greninja was awake the whole time, and goes into the forest to look for Ash, all the while blaming himself for failing Ash. Naturally, they get over it by the end, fully mastering their unique transformation while they're at it.
• Heroic Spirit: Greninja shows to have a strong fighting spirit as it was able to resisted Team Flare's control and broke free from their restraints.
• Hour of Power: The Ash-Greninja transformation is extremely powerful, but takes a toll on both Ash and Greninja, enough to cause Ash to faint during some of his earlier uses. Ash usually compensates for this by saving Greninja for last, since being tired won't matter as long as they win.
• How Do I Shot Web?: Ash at first didn't know how to trigger Greninja's Super Mode. Clemont offers to study the two of them to help figure it out. During the battle against Sawyer, Ash actively tries to invoke the transformation, but it fails. After saving a Spewpa in Winding Woods, Ash and Greninja manage to fully complete and control the transformation.
• Humble Hero: He has an awkward time accepting compliments or gratitude, and tends to blush when put on the spot.
• I Just Want to Be Badass: He had a habit of isolating himself from the other Froakie for this reason. When he realized that he can only become stronger through a trainer, but due to his very high expectations, all the novice trainers were unable to tame him and they took him back to Sycamore. Then he met Ash, an experienced trainer who deeply cares for all Pokémon, including those who aren't his own, resulting in Froakie choosing him as his trainer.
• Iaijutsu Practitioner: Cut manifests into some sort of energy sword (like Greninja in Super Smash Bros. water blades), and he usually strikes with a single slash; possibly a direct reference to its Japanese name "Iaigiri". Though he wouldn't mind performing multiple strikes should that attack fail.
• Improv Fu: Froakie is not above hurling nearby apples at his opponent as a distraction.
• In a Single Bound: Like the rest of his species, Froakie is a quick, powerful jumper.
• Irony: A Mirror Coated Electro Ball doesn't take him out immediately and he seems to be fine taking Grass-Type attacks, but he doesn't seem to resist Fire-Type attacks that much. His Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors is flipped, it seems.
• It's All My Fault: Greninja blamed itself for letting both Ash and its teammates down after losing their Gym battle against Wulfric. However, after recalling that Ash was feeling the same way, Greninja kicked itself for not seeing it sooner and decided to find him in order to set things right with him.
• Jumped at the Call: Once Ash befriended him, Froakie literally caught himself by activating the Pokéball in Ash's hand.
• Kamehame Hadoken: How he uses Water Pulse. He charges it with the typical Hadouken pose and fires it like one. Or he smashes it onto the opponent like it's a Rasengan or he simply throws it.
• Laser Blade: Both Cut and Aerial Ace produces a glowing white sword out of hammerspace for him to use. Sometimes two.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: Greninja is featured among the team's Pokémon in the 2016 anime calendar, and is featured in CoroCoro September 2015. His Ash-Greninja Forme is also revealed this way.
• Leave Him to Me!: When the group first met Fletching, Froakie insisted on fighting it by himself.
• Leeroy Jenkins: At first, and even more so than Ash.
• Lightning Bruiser: Downplayed. The Froakie line traditionally falls under the Fragile Speedster archetype, but Greninja's sheer willpower lets him take hits that would otherwise knock it out, to say nothing of his incredible power and speed. Still, as impressive as he is, the strain of his Super Mode combined with his subpar defenses still limits the amount of damage he can tank before going down.
• Loners Are Freaks: In the past, he preferred to spend his time alone training rather then socializing with the other Froakie in the breeding facility. This loner attitudes led him to be ostracized and eventually attacked.
• Love Makes You Dumb: In XY013, a rival trainer had her Sylveon use Attract on Froakie. He started acting very strange.
• Love Redeems: Before Ash became his trainer, Froakie was an anti-social loner. The impact that Ash has on him changes it a whole lot and you can see it with the way he interacts with Ash's other Pokémon as it formed an unbreakable bond with its teammates.
• Making a Splash: A Water-type. He has Water Pulse (and then Water Shuriken) as one of his primary attacks. When in Ash-Greninja forme, he is covered in a cloak of water that becomes a Fuuma Shuriken.
• Meaningful Echo: Fresh off their joint Heroic BSoD, Greninja rolls his Pokéball towards Ash, a déjà vu of how, when he was still a Froakie, he showed that he wanted to join Ash's team. This symbolizes Ash's words about him and Greninja "starting over".
• Mundane Utility: When Fennekin's tail gets messy, Froakie uses his Frubbles to clean and shine Fennekin's tail.
• Mythology Gag: The Ash-Greninja forme has similar mechanics, mainly Trainer-Pokémon Synchronization and Super Mode from Ferrum Battles.
• Ninja: In every sense of the word. He can easily see through Team Rocket's trickery (something that ninjas are sometimes known for), can use his Frubbles for deception (among other things), and the natural agility and acrobatics of frogs are often ninja abilities as well. His moveset is also inspired by his ninja motif, as all of his attacks are inspired by ninja techniques/weaponry or samurai techniques (Water Shuriken/Mizu Shuriken, Double Team/Kage Bunshin, Cut/Iaigiri, and Aerial Ace/Tsubame Gaeshi).
• Ninja Log: He used his Frubbles to make a decoy of himself when battling Fletchling, who fell for it. After wards, he learns to use Double Team this way.
• Oh, Crap!: Had a reaction along the lines of "Whoa" upon Grant's Tyrunt using Draco Meteor.
• Opening Shout-Out: In XY&Z024, during a Power-Strain Blackout that left him unconscious for a period of time, Ash has a nightmare about Greninja leaving him. The backdrop of the dream and Greninja turning to leave as Ash tries to reach out to him are taken straight out of the XY&Z theme (although the scene itself is seen in first-person).
• Overly-Long Tongue: Greninja's tongue scarf. This was first illustrated when Frogadier began to evolve, opening his mouth and allowing his tongue to grow as part of the evolution.
  • He was able to put it to good use by saving Ash from falling off a cliff during a harsh snowstorm.
  • Around the same time after going into Ash-Greninja mode, he used his tongue to maneuver around branches that stuck out of the cliffside in order to catch a falling Spewpa. At this point, he and Ash finally perfected this form.
  • Greninja uses his tongue to catch people before they fall off dangerous heights.
• The Power of Love: As a Greninja, this is stated by Olympia to be the power behind his special Ash-Greninja evolution.
• Power-Strain Blackout: It seems that prolonged duration of his special form leaves Greninja (and Ash) completely exhausted. This causes Ash to pass out during the rematch against Alain, and causes both to pass out against Diantha. Although Ash and Greninja eventually iron out this flaw and use the form without passing out, they still share each others' pain, if on a more managable level.
• Put on a Bus: Greninja leaves Ash's party at the end XY&Z046 to stay with Squishy and Z2 and protect Kalos with his power.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Greninja's eyes are naturally pink, but his pupils glow red as he begins to transform into Ash-Greninja and remain that way for the duration of the transformation.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to Hawlucha's red. He's calm and collected while Hawlucha is proud and theatrical.
• The Rival: From their first battle, he carries a rivalry with Sawyer's Treecko/Grovyle/Sceptile. Later on, he gets a second rival in Alain's Charizard.
• Roundhouse Kick: Aerial Ace manifests as a powerful kick attack. A variation exists where he performs a Dynamic Entry-style kick rather than the traditional roundhouse.
• Scissors Cuts Rock: From his debut, Froakie is able to tank a reflected Electro Ball for a short amount of time, and getting hit by Grass-Type moves is not enough to take him down. A completely different story with Fire-Type moves, however. Ash-Greninja has also defeated Dragon-Type and Grass-Type Pokémon with its Water-Type moves.
• Ship Tease: He receives some with Serena's Braixen, likely to reflect the situation between their trainers.
• Shoryuken: During his battle against Mega Sceptile, Ash-Greninja uses Aerial Ace to uppercut his opponent and then ends the move with an axe kick (still Aerial Ace).
• Signature Mon: For Ash during the XY series. While he was simply The Lancer to Pikachu during his tenure as Froakie and Frogadier, his evolution into Greninja prompted Ash to use him as his primary Pokémon, especially with the discovery of the Bond Phenomenon that allows Greninja to become Ash-Greninja. Much of the plot in XYZ revolves around Ash and Greninja trying to master the Bond Phenomenon, and Greninja is used as the finisher in nearly all the major battles whereas in previous series, that role would often go to Pikachu.
• Skyward Scream:
  • Lets out a powerful shout as Frogadier evolves into Greninja.
  • And again when completing the Ash-Greninja Forme against Diantha.
• Sore Loser: A downplayed example, where losing to Penelope's Sylveon leaves Froakie a little sullen. This might also have something to do with how Sylveon defeated him is nothing short of embarrassing.
• The Spock: He can be quite pragmatic, advising Pikachu to not have mercy on Meowth when he needs help.
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad: After his evolution into Greninja, he became Ash's main battler and a huge focus of the plot. This is because of his mysterious Synchronization Super Mode form and its unknown potential, not only being exclusive to Ash and extraordinarily powerful, but even a part of Chosen One prophecy regarding the fate of Kalos. Furthermore, Greninja gets just about all the best battles, facing the strongest and final Pokemon against every major opponent and having two recurring rivals in Sawyer's Sceptile and Alain's Charizard.
• Starter Mon: Inverted. While at first it may seem Ash picked Froakie, the whole ordeal about Froakie's flashback and personality makes it look like he chose Ash instead. This is even backed with the revelation of the "Bond Phenomenon" where Sycamore mentioned that Ash-Greninja is only obtained when both trainer and the Pokémon capable of having latent abilities showed deep understanding and love between each other. Froakie already knew about his abilities, he chose Ash because he precisely knew he would be able to utilize this latent ability with him.
• Sticky Situation: His Frubbles. It was used to both trap Team Rocket and keep a Garchomp in place.
• Stock Ninja Weaponry: The Frubbles to a certain extent (and limited to Froakie and Frogadier anyway), Water Shuriken (small, spammable ones as Greninja and [incomplete] Ash-Greninja, and a Fuuma Shuriken as the mastered Ash-Greninja), and lastly, Cut taking the shape of a pair of kunai.
• The Stoic: Played with as a Froakie and Frogadier; he's always had a serious "tough guy" personality, but was fairly prone to Not So Stoic moments and squabbles with the other Pokemon. Played straight as a Greninja, where he rarely shows emotion outside of group shots.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Froakie is very proud and likes to maintain a cool and aloof disposition, though he has no problem being friendly with his teammates.
• Super Mode: Gains a unique form on top of his evolution into Greninja due to his strong bond with Ash. This form would be later featured in the seventh generation of the franchise, but it is exclusive only to Greninja. Ash's Greninja to be precise.
• Super-Speed: By the time of his return in Journeys, Greninja can move so quick it's borderline teleporting, and even while enhancing its senses with aura Ash's Lucario can't keep track of it.
• Swiss-Army Weapon: Froakie's Frubbles can be used for just about anything. They can be an adhesive, a cushion, a projectile weapon, molded into a decoy, and so on.
• Synchronization: As Ash-Greninja, he and Ash mimic each other's movements. What Greninja sees, Ash sees in his mind. When Ash-Greninja is hurt, Ash feels it too. This reaches its climax during Ash's battle with Alain, where Ash passes out from exhaustion due to using the Ash-Greninja Forme. While Ash and Greninja eventually manage to iron out this flaw, they still share each other's pain while in the form.
  • Finally given a name by Sycamore called "Bond Phenomenon". It is not exactly unique to Ash and Greninja, but it relies on two things: the Pokémon must possess "latent abilities", and that both the trainer and Pokémon must show deep bonds towards each other.
• Theme Music Power-Up: Every time it transforms into Ash-Greninja, an instrumental version of XY&Z (in Japanese) or "Stand Tall" (in the English dub) starts playing.
  • Starting from their bonding at Winding Woods where their synchronization has been perfected, the music Ash-Greninja Pays a Visit! plays - while it is similar to the instrumental version of XY&Z, its defining tune is the guitar scratch and solo at the start of the music, ultimately acting as the "lyrics" of the song.
• Took a Level in Badass: Upon evolving into Frogadier, he didn't lose a single on-screen match and actually gave Ash the win at the Coumarine Gym, where his type should give it a disadvantage. As a Greninja, its first act is to fight off an opponent Sanpei's Greninja couldn't even hit. Once it unlocks its Ash-Greninja Forme, he dishes out plenty a Curb-Stomp Battle, even though he is facing quite powerful opponents. He can throw down with Alain's Mega Charizard X, a Pokémon that has matched and beaten Elite Four-level Pokémon, although it was a Curb Stomp Cushion in Charizard's favour. When Greninja rematches Charizard later on, he gives Mega Charizard X a run for his money without transforming himself and actually fights on-par with him upon tranforming, arguably gaining the upper hand, until Ash faints.
  • He can actually force Diantha and Gardevoir to fight seriously after completing his Ash-Greninja Forme, but he and Ash pass out from the effort they had to put into it.
  • After mastering the Ash-Greninja Forme, not even Wulfric's Mega Abomasnow has much of a chance despite a serious type advantage.
• Transformation Sequence: The first few times he transforms into Ash-Greninja, it was instantaneous. A proper sequence (which included shots of his body where the changes take place) is introduced in XY&Z13.
• Uncatty Resemblance: In his Ash-Greninja Forme, Greninja has a red pattern adorning his head that invokes Ash's red hat, the sides of his head get decorated with spikes reminiscent of Ash's hair, and the markings on the chest area resembles Ash's jacket.
• When He Smiles: As a Froakie, he had a more serious and humourless attitude than his species' usual, but when outwardly happy, it's no less endearing than any other cute pre-evolution. This stays true when he becomes Frogadier and even as Greninja.
• The Worf Barrage: The orange-colored, giant Water Shuriken was promoted as the one move that would decide the Kalos League in Ash's favor. However, when Ash-Greninja actually uses it as the deciding move, Mega Charizard X barely shakes it off while his Blast Burn knocks out Ash-Greninja, causing Ash to lose the battle.
• Worf Had the Flu: Spends most of Ash's 7th gym battle afflicted with paralysis after Taking the Bullet for Talonflame. This nearly cost his team the match a couple of times.
• Wrong Context Magic: His unique transformation is very similar to Mega Evolution, but is different in several ways, such as not needing a Key Stone or Mega Stone. Even if it turns out to be a Early-Bird Cameo for a mechanic in future games, this marks the first time no-one In-Universe knows what it is either.
• "X" Marks the Hero: Ash-Greninja has a number of crosses on his body, most blatantly one on each leg, and one at the back where his Water Shuriken "sticks" to, most likely a visual representation of the aforementioned attack.
• You Were Trying Too Hard: Because the Super Mode is based on love and acceptance, trying to force the transformation purely for the sake of powering up or showing off would cause it to fail. Ash had to regain the state of mind and motivation he initially held for Pokémon training (simply the fact that he had a pure love for Pokémon and battles and wanted to understand them) in order to perfect the synchronized form and Greninja had to abandon its own self doubt.

Fletchling-Fletchinder-Talonflame (Yayakoma-Hinoyakoma-Fiarrow)

Voiced in Japanese by: Yuka Terasaki (Yayakoma and Hinoyakoma), Kiyotaka Furushima (Fiarrow)

Voiced in English by: Lisa Ortiz (Fletchling and Fletchinder), Alex Haynes (Talonflame)

Ash and the gang encounters Fletchling when it stole food from a wild Dedenne. This act angers Froakie who challenged it to a battle, leading to Ash's eventual capture of it. Currently holds the title in the Kalos team as the Pokémon who participated in most of the Kalos gym fights (seven out of eight, missing only Clemont's gym battle).

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• Ambiguous Gender: Besides Goodra it was one of the two Pokemon to not have its gender confirmed or implied in any way despite having a very masculine voice as a Talonflame.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: Fletchinder proves itself to be very sharp when it observes Hawlucha's battle with Sky Trainer Moria's Talonflame - the knowledge it gains of Talonflame's techniques is vital in defeating it later on in battle.
• Back-to-Back Badasses: Did this with Frogadier during their battle against Olympia and her two Meowstic...and won.
• Balloon Belly: Gets one after it gorges out in between training sessions alongside Pikachu.
• Big Brother Mentor: Towards Ash's Noibat, although it is Downplayed compared to Ash's Hawlucha, who can relate to Noibat better.
• Blow You Away: Knows Razor Wind.
• Breaking Old Trends: Is the first Fire-type of Ash's that didn't learn Flamethrower. Although in Journeys, it seems to have learned it.
• The Bus Came Back: Is part of Ash's rotating roster in JN140, alongside Snorlax, Oshawott and Incineroar.
• Curb Stomp Cushion: Against Viola's Vivillon, Grant's Tyrunt, Korrina's Mega Lucario, Moltres, and Wulfric's Avalugg, Fletchling/Fletchinder/Talonflame is quickly overpowered, but always manages to squeeze a small hit in.
• Do a Barrel Roll: Fletchling is an agile flier, and Spectacular Spinning is in full effect when it's in the air.
• Doppelgänger Spin: Knows Double Team.
• Extra-ore-dinary: Knows Steel Wing, probably the reason why Ash even bothered to use Fletchling on Grant's Tyrunt. Of course, Steel Wing comes in handy when facing Valerie's two Fairy-Type Pokémon.
• Finishing Move: It has learned Brave Bird since its final evolution, but it wouldn't become its Finishing Move until the Lumiouse Conference.
• Flight: Naturally, as a Flying-type. It is also the best flying member of the team.
• Fragile Speedster: Has the speed and stamina of a bird a foot tall.
• Height Angst: Its tiny size as a Fletchling caused it to be snubbed by a Talonflame, and had to prove itself to earn a battle. Ironically it ended up being larger than the sky trainer's Pokémon upon evolving into a Talonflame itself.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: Fletchling's evolution into Fletchinder was spoiled by its appearance in the Diance trailer. Its Talonflame evolution was spoiled in the summer 2015 preview.
• Lightning Bruiser: It performs rather well in Gym battles and beat a Talonflame when it as just a freshly-evolved Fletchinder. Its first act after evolving into Talonflame is to put up a fight against a Moltres, and later a Zapdos.
• Mundane Utility: Uses its Flame Body ability to help hatch Noibat's egg faster, just like in the games.
• Out of Focus: Like previous bird Pokémon, Talonflame doesn't get much focus in comparison to the others. The only episodes that focus on it are its capture and evolution episodes. And despite it has participated in every Kalos Gym Battle except the Lumiose Gym Battle, it doesn't get the spotlight and it has never defeated the final Pokémon of the Gym Leader. The one notable exception is the Anistar Gym Battle, which is a double battle. However, this battle has a greater focus on Frogadier rather than Talonflame, and while it does defeat the female Meowstic, the last Meowstic is defeated by Frogadier, which is the climax of the battle since it teases the future appearance of Ash-Greninja.
• Playing with Fire: After evolving into Fletchinder, it changes to Fire-type, as well as learning Flame Charge. In Journeys, Talonflame is consistently grouped with Ash's other Fire-type Pokémon rather than with his other Flying-type Pokémon (Noivern is grouped with the other Flying-types instead).
• The Reliable One: Not that the rest of the team isn't reliable, but Talonflame stands out in particular as it got even more action in Gym Battles than Pikachu and Greninja, being used in all of Ash's Gym Battles save for Clemont and took down at least one Pokémon in almost all of them, in Ash's final Gym Battle, it singlehandily brought down Wulfric's Avalugg when in the previous battle said Pokémon beat Talonflame and Hawlucha and Greninja by itself!
• Signature Move: After its first evolution, it always uses Flame Charge in every battle, usually a lot.
• Taking the Bullet: Flies straight into Moltres' line of fire to shield Ash and friends just as it evolves into Talonflame.
• Tastes Like Friendship: After being caught, it shares berries with Froakie and Pikachu.
• Took a Level in Badass: In XY036, its determination to beat a Talonflame that looked down on it allowed it to evolve into Fletchinder and win. After this point, Fletchinder became a much stronger battler in general, winning at least one round in many of its appearances.
• Took a Level in Kindness: As a wild Pokémon, Fletchling caught the ire of Froakie by acting like a Troll, stealing food off the team and upsetting Bonnie. After being caught (and promised plenty of food if it behaved), it became undyingly loyal to Ash.
• Undying Loyalty: Takes on a Moltres head on and even evolves into Talonflame all to protect Ash.
• The Worf Barrage: The initial two usages of Brave Bird don't do much to its opponents. Averted later during the Lumiose Conference.
• Wreathed in Flames: Knows Flame Charge upon becoming a Fletchinder, as a Fire/Flying-type. Brave Bird also shows up like this.

Hawlucha (Luchabull)

Voiced in Japanese by: Shin-ichiro Miki

Voiced in English by: H.D. Quinn

Ash and friends encountered this Pokémon defending a bunch of smaller Pokémon from an Ursaring. Inspired by it being the "guardian of the forest", Ash decides to help him out perfect his Flying Press move and eventually catches him as part of his team.

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• Awesome, but Impractical: His posing before using Flying Press makes him look cool, but always gives his opponents the chance to dodge, leaving Hawlucha to smash itself into the ground. Ash eventually makes it work when he teaches him to pose at the height of a jump and then corkscrew into a dive, picking up enough speed to make up for the posing.
• Big Brother Mentor: To baby Noibat. He makes a good one as opposed to Fletchinder because he can't really fly but glide, so he is able to relate to the young Pokémon faster.
• Big Brother Instinct: When he hears Noibat's cries coming from the forest, his first instinct is to rush there as fast as possible. This trope remains in play even after Noibat evolves, with Hawlucha always coming to his side whenever Noivern is defeated in battle.
• Boisterous Bruiser: Hawlucha likes to strike dramatic poses and show off its muscles whenever possible.
• Bully Hunter: He was one of the guardians of the forest, protecting weak Pokémon from those that threaten them. He shares this with Machamp, the champion of the forest.
• The Bus Came Back: Is part of Ash's rotating roster in JN145, alongside Infernape.
• Bring It: Endures several of Alain's Weavile's attacks, while taunting the latter into attacking even more.
• Combination Attack: Develops one with Froakie, combining his Flying Press with Froakie's Cut.
• The Comically Serious: He is serious most of the time, but his theatricality and attempts to look cool (which is half and half whether it succeeds or not) can make him as humorous a character as other comical Pokémon.
• Cool Mask: Introduces himself while wearing a grass-stitched mask.
• Critical Status Buff: In his League fight with Weavile, he allowed himself to get hit to get "motivated", turning all red and steamy while gaining "muscles".
• Dashing Hispanic: Hawlucha's English voice has a very notable Latino accent to it, fitting this trope perfectly when combined with his other characteristics.
• David Versus Goliath: Can take down Ursaring despite being smaller, and can evenly fight with Machamp. It took both Ursaring and Conkeldurr teaming up to take it down.
• Death or Glory Attack: His High Jump Kick deals a lot of damage if it hits, though if it misses Hawlucha hurts itself.
• Double Knockout: When it came down to battling Hawlucha to capture it, Ash never actually won, and Hawlucha and Froakie knocked each other out. Hawlucha accepts becoming a new member of Ash's team anyway.
• Epic Fail: The PokéTV segment focusing on Hawlucha ends with him practicing his blows on a punching bag as Noibat watches on. Hawlucha punches the bag so hard that it flies up, but just as he tries to stand proud, the bag comes flying back down, knocking him over.
• Fantastic Rank System: Ash denotes Hawlucha as "The Captain of the Raiders" in his debut fight against Sawyer in the league.
• Flung Clothing: Personally asks Serena to fashion a luchador-like cowl for him, all for the purpose of showing off and tossing it aside dramatically at the start of the Ash vs. Sawyer battle.
• Handshake Substitute: Hawlucha gives fist bumps as a show of respect.
• Hit Me, Dammit!: Part of his fighting style, at least earlier on, is letting others, i.e. his opponents, hit him first to gauge their strength and to be motivated to fight. This is how he handled the fights back in his debut episode, as well as when training back with Bunnelby. It wasn't referenced again until his matches with Slaking, whom Hawlucha has difficulty to deal with since Slaking just doesn't move, and Weavile, which goes back to this moment and explains why he suddenly goes red and steamy.
• Honor Before Reason: He always strikes a pose before doing his finishing move, resulting in his opponents having time to move out of the way and Hawlucha injuring itself by smashing into the ground. He continues to pose anyway, and is described as another kind of honor in battle. Ash eventually helps it learn to speed up while still being able to pose.
• In a Single Bound: Much like Froakie, a lot of Hawlucha's agility is a result of his powerful jumping prowess.
• Incoming Ham: He pulls this without any shouting, strangely. To start the semifinal match between Ash and Sawyer, when called out Hawlucha instead of standing tall on the battlefield, he shows up in front of the scoreboard and makes dramatic poses before gliding down to the ground and tossing away the cowl he had Serena make for him. It certainly stole the attention of everyone in the stadium...
• Irony: Flashy and a show-off just as you'd expect from a Pokémon based on a wrestler, but couldn't really do scripted wrestling well, and susceptible to stage fright.
• It's Personal: After seeing Noivern lose and faint, he immediately jumps out from his Pokéball to console him and then fight Weavile.
• Knight in Shining Armor: Hawlucha took it upon himself to maintain order and justice within his home forest. He also frequently shields and protects others from danger.
• Large Ham: In true wrestling form. This briefly puts Hawlucha at odds with the more laidback Froakie.
• Leitmotif: This theme song plays whenever he is called into battle or does an action scene.
• Lightning Bruiser: As a "Forest Champion", facing and beating Pokémon larger than himself and tying with Froakie before being caught, you would have to be. Then its performance in gym battles, winning at least one battle in three of the four gyms he has been in, with the one exception due to being caught off guard and slowed down by a surprise poison attack; the Laverre City gym in particular only adds to his record.
  • And to amp up his record, he manages to successfully perform a powerful High Jump Kick on Zapdos which sends it plummeting down. Zapdos only managed to land a clean hit on him because Noibat was distracting him.
  • Getting even with the Mega Absol that he lost to in Diancie and the Cocoon of Evolution.
• Masked Luchador: In his first appearance, he wore a mask constructed from grass before entering battle.
• Mythology Gag: Hawlucha becomes a Stunt Double when the gang help make the Cosplay Pikachu film. While Hawlucha "plays" Super Pikachu, this might be a nod to how one of the Cosplay Pikachu, Pikachu Libre (cast as the film's villain), can use Hawlucha's Secret Art, Flying Press.
• Noble Bird of Prey: He's a hawk-like Pokémon that fights with honor.
• Not Quite Flight: He glides rather than flying under his own power. This is the reason why he is never used as a flying scout unlike the other two Flying-Type members of The Team.
• Not So Stoic: In XY138, when saying goodbye to Greninja, who Ash released in order to protect the Kalos region, Hawlucha has tears in his eyes. And in the following episode, when everyone have to say goodbye, he's shown crying, although he denies that when Braixen tries to comfort him.
• Obvious Stunt Double: In XY077, when Hawlucha works as Pikachu's stunt double, he gets a very convincing mask, but Hawlucha is significantly more buffed than Pikachu.
• Parental Substitute: Both him and Ash act like a father figure for Noibat.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: He was able to match a Machamp in raw strength despite being half the size of his opponent.
• Poor, Predictable Rock: Knowing only Fighting-type moves makes him helpless against Ghost-types. He finally gets over this when he is shown to know X-Scissor.
• Pro Wrestling Is Real: He believes that wrestling, or at least lucha libre, is real. So much so that he couldn't perform scripted, theatrical wrestling matches. A later episode implies that it may be a trait within his species because when he and Dark Hawlucha did a staged match, they were so enthralled by it that they pretty much imagined that it was a real lucha libre and they gave their all as though they were fighting for real.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The proud, theatrical red to Froakie's calm, collected blue.
• Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: He can use Karate Chop at such high speeds that it resembles this.
• The Rival: To the Machamp who was the former guardian of the forest they lived in. He joins Ash's team when he realizes Machamp regained his sense of honor to protect the forest.
• Signature Move: Flying Press, to the point he won't end a fight without using it in spite of how it wasn't perfected.
• Spectacular Spinning:
  • In order to execute Flying Press faster, Ash teaches Hawlucha to make a quick spin as he flies to the opponent.
  • Pulls this off with X-Scissor, which became strong enough to destroy Valerie's Spritzee's Trick Room.
• The Worf Effect: Though a skilled battler, he is defeated at times to demonstrate the power of his opponents, including by Naomi's Talonflame, Ramos' Weepinbell, Sawyer's Clawitzer, Wulfric's Avalugg, and Sawyer's Slaking.
• Trying Not to Cry: In the final episode of XYZ he's the first of Ash's Pokémon to start crying when he has to say goodbye to his friends. However, Proud Warrior Race Guy that he is, he tries to play firm as soon as Braixen tries to comfort him (although Braixen knew the big softie wasn't fooling anyone).
  • His eyes were noticeably shimmering when he and the rest of Ash's team were saying good-bye to Greninja.
• Wrestler in All of Us: His fighting style has wrestling accents in them, like the Flying Press. His version of the High Jump Kick is a powerful knee strike, reminiscent of the Shining Wizard wrestling move.

Goomy-Sliggoo-Goodra (Numera-Numeil-Numelgon)

Voiced in Japanese by: Chinatsu Akasaki (Numera and Numeil), Yuji Ueda (Numelgon)

Voiced in English by: Tom Wayland

A Pokémon that was literally dropped onto the group on their way to Coumarine City. Goomy is seen as weak and cowardly, but was invited by Ash to join his team after helping in a fight against Team Rocket in order to become strong.

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• All-Loving Hero: As a Goodra, after finding out the Florges that was the cause of its banishment and all its past trauma, was merely a scared mother protecting her child, it made no hesitance to protect her from Team Rocket and quickly became friends with her when the crisis was resolved.
• Alternate Animal Affection: A platonic version. Once it has found a liking to someone, it will nibble this person's ear. Goomy also does this to Pokémon it has taken a liking.
• Ambiguous Gender: Besides Talonflame, Goodra's gender is not implied or stated in any shape or form.
• Badass Adorable: After overcoming its PTSD-esque moments, it managed to become a strong fighter capable of dishing out damage and hits. As Sliggoo, it managed to summon a massive storm just to evolve. And even as a mighty Goodra, it still looks and acts as innocent and lovable as ever!
• Berserk Button: Goomy is easily offended. Bonnie called it a scaredy-cat for being afraid of Dedenne and it proceeded to comically smack her leg with its antennas. Serena said that its slimy body felt weird and it used Rain Dance to drench her until she apologised.
• The Big Guy: Goodra is arguably the strongest powerhouse besides Ash-Greninja among the Kalos team. It is the tallest of Ash's Kalos Pokémon and is a tank with massive power.
• Blob Monster: It's some sort of goo creature.
• Breath Weapon:
  • Uses Bide as a Breath Weapon, firing a silver blast from its mouth.
  • Also Ice Beam, Dragon Breath and Dragon Pulse.
• Bully Hunter: When Goodra finally returned to its homeland, now far more powerful, it instantly sets upon defending its friends from Florges' army. It then stands up for her after finding out she was an Unwitting Pawn for Team Rocket.
• The Bus Came Back: En route to Lumiose City, the heroes take a detour to the wetlands to visit Goodra. It was retroactively revealed that, later that night, Ash offered Goodra a chance to fight together with its teammates again, to finally complete Ash's Kalos roster. Goodra would officially return to Ash's team during the Kalos League itself (just in time for the full-battle semifinals).
• The Cameo: Quite surprisingly, Goodra makes an unexpected appearance with its friends watching the Master Class Showcase on TV.
• Cowardly Lion: It lives in fear of battle due to its traumatizing past, but it will defend its friends when the chips are down.
• Crash-Into Hello: Literally flies off of a Swanna and crashes onto Ash's face, which it immediately samples.
• Cuddle Bug: Loves hugging people and nibbling on their ears when happy.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Goomy avoids battles because it is reminded of its harsh life back in its home. It eventually overcomes this, even finally going back to face its past foes.
• Deus Exit Machina: Goodra's species is very powerful (in the X and Y games it's the Infinity -1 Sword) and would have potentially overshadowed Ash's other Pokémon, so it was left behind at its swamp in XY070, until XY123.
• Fire-Forged Friends: It gets over its fear of Dedenne as the rodent protects it from Team Rocket.
• Gentle Giant: Upon becoming Goodra. It's a powerhouse but sweet natured and ultimately, very forgiving.
• Heart Is an Awesome Power: Secreting slime and summoning rain are not very flashy abilities for Pokémon, but it still finds ways to make them useful.
• An Ice Person: Learns Ice Beam during its battle with Florges as an 11th-Hour Superpower.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler:
  • A "Goomy" appeared in the toy catalog specifically for the anime.
  • The "future episodes" teaser showed Goomy. While at first that wasn't spoiling much, it connected with the toy catalog. And then in the Year End Special, a teaser of the episode that featured Goomy (which was the same episode from the future episodes teaser) came out right after the clip show of Ash's new Pokémon in 2014 as a sneak peek.
  • And in that episode, the new opening for the anime made its debut. Not only did it feature Goomy, it also showed Goomy evolving into Sliggoo and into Goodra.
• Magikarp Power: Goomy was very well subjected to this: Goodra, the final evolved form of Goomy, is a Pseudo-Legendary on the line of Hydreigon, Dragonite, Salamence, Metagross, Tyranitar or Garchomp.
• Mighty Glacier: Goomy has trouble moving quickly, appropriate for its slug-like appearance, and doesn't get much faster once it evolves all the way to Goodra. However, it can easily tank a lot of hits and dish out an even bigger one in return, particularly when it uses Bide.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Nearly all of Goodra's Character Development, from its meeting with Ash to its evolution from a meek Goomy into a powerful guardian of the wetlands, was the by product of Team Rocket's scheming.
• One of the Kids: Compared to the rest of Ash's Kalos mon, Goodra remained as adorable and playful as it was as a Goomy, which lends to several characters recognising it as such just from behaviour. When it reunites with it's childhood friend, Wooper, it goes into an excitable fit, despite now being over ten times it's size.
• Our Dragons Are Different: A gooey slug-like dragon to be exact. Goomy is reputed as the weakest of all Dragon-types.
• Prehensile Hair: Goodra uses its annteni to this effect.
• Personal Rain Cloud: Gives this to people who offend it by using Rain Dance.
• Pintsized Powerhouse: Even though Goomy is reputed as the weakest Dragon-type, you don't want to be on the receiving end of its released Bide attack.
• Put on a Bus:
  • Stays behind in its wetsland at the end of XY070.
  • In XY&Z046, it returns back to its wetland again after rejoining Ash's party for the Kalos League. However, Goodra is not, strictly speaking, released and it can be called back anytime Ash needs it, putting it in the same boat as Primeape and Squirtle.
• Signature Move: Ever since it was a Goomy, Bide has been its decisive move in almost every battle.
• Spanner in the Works: Team Rocket's long term scheme to drain the wetlands both pivoted and was destroyed by Goomy's escape and training under Ash. Even a cunning Chessmaster plot by the trio couldn't stop it ultimately.
• A Taste of Defeat: Suffered its only official clean defeat against Alain's Bisharp in the Kalos League.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • In the episode where a group of Spoink are bullied and controlled by a Grumpig, Goomy gets over its past memories of being attacked and forced out of its home to fight back when Ash and his friends are trapped in a cage by Team Rocket. It then evolves into Sliggoo to protect Ash when he protects it from Grumpig's Iron Tail, immediately learning Dragon Breath and blasting Grumpig away.
  • It got this again when Sliggoo evolved into Goodra. It saw that Ash and Serena were surrounded by a fire and though this triggered another flashback to the invasion of its home, it saved them by using Rain Dance to put out the fire, then evolved into Goodra on the spot and learned Dragon Pulse. After all was said and done, it then participated in a double battle with Pikachu against Tierno's Wartortle and Raichu and tanked all their hits like they were nothing. Then it and Pikachu finished them off with Dragon Pulse and Thunderbolt.
  • Finally went full circle when it came face to face with the Florges and her army that attacked it as a Goomy. Despite its past traumas almost taking over, it battles and very nearly defeats her to protect its friends, until Team Rocket intervene, following which it ultimately ends up fearlessly defending Florges after finding out she was an Unwitting Pawn.
• True Companions: Like Hawlucha, Goodra has become the unofficial guardian of its domain, treating the wetlands Pokémon which included its former tormentor Florges as family.
• Walking Spoiler: Goodra's status as a released Pokémon, that later rejoins the team. Especially with all the hype that the Lumiouse Conference gets, it is hard to hide its current status.
• Weather Manipulation: Knows Rain Dance and thus can summon rain clouds (small ones as Goomy, huge ones as its evolved forms).
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: It's afraid of Fairy-types, including Team Pet Dedenne, mainly because Fairy-type Pokémon are strong against Dragon-type Pokémon. It's also afraid of Bug-types as Bug-types destroyed its home, as shown through one of Clemont's inventions. It later overcomes its fear of Dedenne in XY056. Its fear of Fairy-types later turns out to be connected to its Bug-type fear — said Bug-types were led by a Florges, who ruthlessly attacked it. It finally overcame this fear after facing down Florges as Goodra and later befriending her after discovering her sympathetic motivation.
• The Worf Effect: It doesn't get a single win in the Kalos League; its battle against Sawyer's Slurpuff ended in a double-knockout, and it lost to Alain's Bisharp.

Noibat-Noivern (Onbat-Onvern)

Voiced in Japanese by: Yuka Terasaki (Onbat), Kenta Miyake (Onvern)

Voiced in English by: Marc Thompson (Noibat), Kenta Miyake (Noivern)

Hawlucha stumbles upon an egg. When the group hatches it, out comes this Pokémon who sees Ash as his father. Because of him being just a newborn, he has some trouble flying, and he has a rather ear-piercing cry. Noibat/Noivern, which takes part of its inspiration from certain fruit-eating bats, is the only mammalian Pokémon that Ash obtains in Kalos, although it takes some inspiration from certain non-mammalian creatures as well.

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• The Baby of the Bunch: It's explicitly the youngest member of Ash's Kalos team, and was literally a baby as it had just hatched from an egg. It also acts the most babyish, until it evolves.
• Baby Talk: While one could say he uses Pokémon Speak, Noibat uses a distinct "Ook ook" cry that makes him sound more like a baby than a young Pokémon.
• Big Brother Worship: Towards Hawlucha, to the point where he mimics his poses.
• Big Little Brother: After evolving, it's larger than its older brothers Hawlucha and Talonflame combined.
• The Bus Came Back: Is part of Ash's rotating roster in JN137, alongside Donphan, Sceptile and Buizel.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: After evolving, he managed to gain the upper hand against a Zapdos through his newfound speed, power and Ash's admittedly clever tactic of using the many plateaus to confuse Zapdos. Although Team Rocket interfered before the battle could be finished, Zapdos was weakened so badly Team Rocket actually managed to capture it, until Noivern and Pikachu freed it.
• Does Not Like Spam: He doesn't like sour apples.
• Early Personality Signs: Due to being found as an Egg and being the youngest of the group, Noivern easily picked up personally traits from Ash and his teammates, as he picked up his Trainer's selflessness for helping others, Pikachu's friendly nature, Greninja's big heart, Talonflame's focus for Pokémon battles and Hawlucha's strong sense of justice. Although he didn't meet it until much later, Noivern quickly picked Goodra's tendencies to prove himself and his friends that he isn't week.
• A Friend in Need: Upon seeing Hawlucha fall from Zapdos' attack, he immediately rushes to his without concern for his own safety. His attempt at trying to gain speed and pushing his limit makes him evolve into Noivern, just enough time to catch Hawlucha.
• Friend to All Living Things: Noivern is very friendly to everyone around him and even hit it off with Goodra right away when he mets it for the first time.
• Head Pet: As Noibat, he enjoys sitting on Hawlucha's head a lot. Not so much after evolving, of course.
• Imaginary Love Triangle: After a run-in with a Breloom, Noibat gets healed by the arrival of a Floette. Noibat immediately makes friends with the Floette, but then the same Breloom from before (who has feelings for Floette) sees them together, and goes Crazy Jealous Guy...
• Imprinting: Sees Ash as a parent. With that said he also picks up a lot from Hawlucha.
• Informed Attribute: Pokefan's only description of him during the league, unlike how the others got more descriptive info, was "he's big and reliable!" Contrary to this description, it tied and later got defeated easily.
• I Want to Be a Real Man: Wants to prove that he's not a kid anymore by standing up for Floette and going up against Breloom, as influenced by Hawlucha.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler:
  • Appeared in teasers for the Pikachu and the Pokémon Band short, the fourth XY ending and the third XY opening all before actually making its official debut.
  • CoroCoro September 2015 news reveals the poster for the new season Pokémon XY&Z, and there it shows a Noivern rather than a Noibat among Ash's team.
• Make Some Noise: His cries are capable of being loud and destructive (like when he cries, he uses Supersonic). He can also use high-frequency cries that can't be heard by people that allows him to detect objects in the dark or are far. He can even tell if a fruit is sour by using sound waves!
• Magikarp Power: Team Rocket went after Noibat thinking this is in full effect, with James looking up that Noibat will evolve into a formidable Noivern.
• Mix-and-Match Critter: He's a bat-dragon, though the draconic aspects aren't very apparent until he evolves.
• Natural Weapon: Boomburst is fired from Noivern's ears. Sure, it's because they look like loudspeakers, but still.
• Ocular Gushers: Frequently cries using this method.
• Our Dragons Are Different: A Bat-Dragon that primarily uses sound waves as attacks.
• Out of Focus: After its two-part introduction it doesn't play a major role in over 20 episodes, while Ash's other Pokémon participate in Gym battles or got focus episodes. This ends after it takes a level in badass during the battle against Team Flare. The writers presumably thought that a newborn that had only just mastered the power of flight would not believably make for a competent battler so soon, and indeed the next focus episode it gets shows that it wants to be treated like a grown-up.
• Picky Eater: If it's sour, Noibat won't eat it. Period. Even if it's starving.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Just look at it! Even in his debut episode he has so many precious moments!
• Strong as They Need to Be: Noivern's power boost via evolution stands as one of the most exaggerated in the anime, going from a fairly competent Noibat to overpowering Zapdos and Team Rocket's mech without so much as breaking a sweat. In later battles, Noivern is still strong, but to a far more reasonable level. It ultimately didn't get a straight win in either of its League battles (tying with Sawyer's Salamence and losing to Alain's Weavile) due to type disadvantage and battle fatigue.
• Super-Scream: Boomburst turns his sound-based abilities into an attack.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Serves as Goodra's replacement on Ash's team. Only in this case, instead of being a Cowardly Lion like Goomy upon introduction, Noibat instead has trouble flying, like Ash's Gligar.
• Taking the Bullet: He's the first to fall to Lysandre's Mega Gyarados, if only because he shielded Pikachu from an incoming Dragon Tail.
• Took a Level in Badass: When the group battles Team Flare at Terminus Cave, Noibat gains the upper hand against a Drapion, confusing it with Supersonic and knocking it back with Tackle. Later on he puts up a prolonged fight against a Breloom, and then learns Acrobatics, allowing him to destroy a metal cage as well as defeat Team Rocket (using the newly learned move against Inkay and taking it down in a single hit) to save a Floette.
  • One legendary feat that managed to surpass even Talonflame's performance against Moltres, is that after evolving to help Hawlucha, through his increased speed, power and Ash's admittedly clever tactic of using the many plateaus to confuse it, he managed to gain the upper hand against a wild Zapdos, a Legendary Electric-Type Bird Pokémon.
• The Unreveal: Par for the course that Noivern's nature is unknown, but it is known that he dislikes the sour flavor, which limits his possible nature to either Gentle, Hasty, Lonely, or Mild.
• Unskilled, but Strong: In terms of raw power, Noivern is arguably one of Ash's strongest Kalos Pokémon, but he lacks the experience they have by comparison.
• The Worf Effect: Gets beaten by Alain's Metang to show Alain isn't purely dependent on Charizard. He is also later defeated by Alain's Weavile to set up Hawlucha's revenge for him.
• Worf Had the Flu: As Clemont pointed out, none of Noivern's attacks were very effective against Metang. Against Weavile, Noivern has a double weakness to ice attacks and gets hit once by Weavile's Ice Beam, which significantly damages Noivern, causing him to fall and becomes open to Weavile's Night Slash.

Team Rocket Trio's Pokémon

Jessie

Pumpkaboo-Gourgeist (Bakeccha-Pumpjin)

Voiced in Japanese by: Megumi Sato (Pumpkaboo), Miyako Ito (Gourgeist)

Voiced in English by: Haven Paschall

Pumpkaboo was another victim of Jessie's irritation after she tripped over it in a forest, and she shined its light everwhere. Regardless, she happily serves as Jessie's primary fighting Pokémon for XY, especially after evolving into a Gourgeist.

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• Adaptational Heroism: Gourgeist are stated to be malicious Pokémon that gleefully curse and torment victims with their hair like arms. Jessie's Gourgeist is an antagonist, but her only crime is being loyal to Jessie. And of course whenever Jessie fights on the good side, so does she.
• Bookends: Jessie used Gourgeist for both her first and last showcase performance.
• Bullet Seed: Knows Seed Bomb, which is essentially her machine-gunning explosive seeds out of her mouth.
• The Bus Came Back: She rejoins Jessie's party in JN145, alongside Seviper, Yanmega, Woobat and Frillish. With Wobbuffet, they form a full party of six Pokémon for the very first time since Jessie's debut.
• Casting a Shadow: Knows Dark Pulse and Shadow Ball.
• Cool Shades: Wears some as part of her showcase costume. Keeping with the trope, nearly all her performances are pretty impressive.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Proved an efficient showcase performer after evolving into Gourgeist, and despite having the expected losing streak against the heroes in battles, its Leech Seed can be devastating.
• Cute Little Fangs: As Pumpkaboo. Gourgeist has less pronounced ones.
• Empathy Pet: Sometimes channels Jessie's diva qualities.
• Fantastic Fireworks: Uses her Shadow Ball to create this effect in showcase performances, as well as Seed Bomb to alert her fellow Pokemon and trainer that Ash was on his way to save Pikachu.
• Genki Girl: Has a very excitable demeanor.
• Green Thumb: Part Grass-type and knows Leech Seed and Seed Bomb.
• Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Its Seed Bomb almost always gets dodged easily by the heroes, at points even the trainers can run handily through it.
• Kamehame Hadoken: As Gourgeist, she throws her Shadow Ball attacks with her Prehensile Hair in such a manner.
• Life Drain: Knows Leech Seed, which plants an entangling weed into the ground to trap and drain her opponents. She established herself to the twerps by entangling four of their Pokémon at once.
• Mundane Utility: She uses her flashlight ability to help Jessie navigate the cave where Salamence lived during XY046
• Power Floats: It is always seen floating.
• The Power of Hate: Is shown to know Frustration in XY020, an attack that becomes stronger the more the Pokémon hates its trainer. Although she has forgotten that move later on, and she has developed a strong bond with her trainer, so the move wouldn't be as strong anyway.
• Prehensile Hair: As Gourgeist, her arms are formed like long hair.
• Put on a Bus: She was left at headquarters before the team left for Alola.
• Rebuilt Pedestal: After Jessie decided to trade her for a Mawile (which can Mega Evolve), Pumpkaboo was left feeling very betrayed. However when her new owner expressed disappointment in her evolution into a Gourgeist, Jessie chastised him for rejecting her loyal Pokémon and demanded a trade back, which Gourgeist overheard and joyously accepted.
• Samus Is a Girl: Wasn't revealed to be female until 70 episodes after her debut.
• The Smurfette Principle: Is the team's token female Pokémon during the Kalos era.
• Socialization Bonus: Like in the games, Pumpkaboo immediately evolved when she was traded.
• Soul Power: knows the ghost-type attack Shadow Ball.
• Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: The Huge Girl to Inkay's Tiny Guy. As Gourgeist, she's this to the rest of the team's Pokémon too.
• Uncatty Resemblance: Since evolving into Gourgeist, she tends to mimic Jessie's moods and melodrama.
• Undying Loyalty: After her Rebuilt Pedestal, Gourgeist seems to borderline idolise Jessie.

James

Inkay (Maaiika)

Voiced in Japanese by: Kenta Miyake

Voiced in English by: Michael Liscio Jr.

Inkay was also caught because of food used by James. He is James's only Pokémon so far in Kalos.

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• Badass Adorable: One of the cutest and most formidable of James' Pokémon. Inkay could very easily make it as a good guy if he wasn't so loyal to James.
• Berserk Button: The evil Malamar became this pretty quickly for brainwashing James.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Like James, Inkay is often jarringly docile and playful for a villain grunt. He is also probably the most formidable of the team's Kalos Pokémon and when its buttons are pressed it turns ferocious.
• The Bus Came Back: It rejoins James's party in JN145, alongside Mime Jr., Carnivine, Yamask, and Amoonguss. With Morpeko, they form a full party of six Pokémon for the very first time since James's debut.
• Casting a Shadow: Primary type. Despite it is a Dark-Type, it is not immune to the evil Malamar's brainwashing.
• Character Tics: Often shown hovering upside down. Used as a Chekhov's Skill for his Pikachu costume (see below).
• Combat Pragmatist: Knows Foul Play, which is depicted as a kind of aikido throw, turning the opponent's charge against them. It overpowered Pikachu with it once.
• Flying Seafood Special: A levitating squid.
• Mythology Gag: Inkay has a habit of turning upside down, sometimes for random reasons. This lampshades the slightly obscure method for Inkay to evolve in the games.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: In one episode, he is disguised as Pikachu, painted in yellow and covered in yellow paper while being upside down. Due to his levitation, his incorrect Pokémon Speak^note although in the Japanese version, he does say "ika" while in disguise, which sounds similar to "pika" and his use of Psybeam and Tackle, he makes for a very bizarre Pikachu. Justified, since the disguise was intended to be seen through.
• Phrase Catcher: "Okay, Inkay!"
• Power Floats: It floats perpetually.
• Psychic Powers: Secondary type. And it uses Psybeam so often, you would forget that it knows other moves.
• Put on a Bus: It was left at headquarters before the team left for Alola.
• The Snack Is More Interesting: It is easily captured when it becomes occupied with eating Team Rocket's food.
• Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: The Tiny Guy to Pumpkaboo's Huge Girl. Further punctuated when she evolves into Gourgeist.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Croissants.^note Keeping with the French theme of his Kalos origin Turned into a Chekhov's Gun in "Facing The Grand Design", where tasting one deprogramed him from the Evil Malamar's brainwashing.
• Undying Loyalty: Both ways. James refused to believe Inkay could join the evil Malamar. This turned out to be true, the only reason he tried to interact with them was to get revenge for antagonizing his master. He also chose to remain with James instead of staying with the good Malamar, who saw him as a hero.
• Villainous Rescue: Played a very large part in saving the heroes and Jessie from the evil Malamar in their second conquest.
• Villainous Valor: Out of all of the team's Pokémon of its respective era, Inkay tends to put up the best effort against the heroes. This along with its sympathetic bond with James, makes it pretty easy to root for at times. Fortunately, the XY era has plenty of Enemy Mine situations for Team Rocket and the twerps (including one where Inkay is actually leading the front).
• Who's on First?: Inkay's name in both English and Japanese is a pun on affirmative phrases ("Okay" or "Oh, all right" respectively), meaning he fits in well as a Yes-Man like Wobbuffet.

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