 |
|
| Season | Pokémon the Series: XY (Season 17) · Stops on the road to Cyllage arc (XY011–XY019) |
| Episode | Season 17, episode 12 · English episode 807 · Japanese episode 812 · Bulbapedia code XY012 |
| English title | To Catch a Pokémon Smuggler! |
| Japanese title | ポケモンバイヤーを捕まえろ！コフーライ偽装作戦！！ Pokemon Baiyā o Tsukamaero! Kofūrai Gisō Sakusen!! — “Capture the Pokémon Buyer! The Kofuurai Impersonation Plan!!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 9 January 2014 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 5 April 2014 · Cartoon Network |
| Screenplay | Shōji Yonemura |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | V (Volt) – Yūsuke · X Kaikyō Y Geshiki (X Strait Y Scenery) – J☆Dee’Z |
| English opening | Pokémon Theme (Version XY) – Ben Dixon & The Sad Truth |
| Who’s That Pokémon? | Scatterbug (US) |
| Previous episode | The Bamboozling Forest! (XY011) |
| Next episode | Kindergarten Chaos! (XY013) |
Filler / stand-alone episodeFirst XY evolutionVivillon Patterns
To Catch a Pokémon Smuggler! is the 12th episode of Pokémon the Series: XY, the seventeenth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 807th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 812, Bulbapedia code XY012). It first aired in Japan on 9 January 2014 and in the United States on 5 April 2014. It falls within the season’s Stops on the road to Cyllage stretch (EP11–EP19).
Synopsis
The group help Officer Jenny catch Dolan, a smuggler of Scatterbug and Spewpa, after a rescued Scatterbug evolves twice into a Vivillon. A cage falls from Dolan’s truck during a police chase, and the group rush the weak Scatterbug inside to a Pokémon Center. Officer Jenny first lassos Ash as a suspect, then apologises and explains that Dolan sells the Pokémon to people who prize rare Vivillon.
The Scatterbug evolves into Spewpa, and Clemont finds a tracking chip in its fur. Serena suggests a decoy, so Chespin, disguised as Spewpa, is left in the cage for Dolan to collect; the tracker breaks, but Fletchling follows the truck to a mountain hideout full of Spewpa in glass tanks.
Dolan nets Pikachu, Dedenne, Bonnie, Serena and Clemont and demands the Spewpa, and his Diggersby battles Froakie with Dig, Double Slap and Hammer Arm. The Spewpa shields Ash with String Shot and evolves into an Elegant Pattern Vivillon, whose Safeguard blocks Mud Shot and whose Stun Spore beats Diggersby. Jenny lassos Dolan, and the freed Spewpa evolve into Vivillon of many patterns and fly away.
Major Events
- The first XY evolution. The smuggler Dolan and Officer Jenny
- A rescued Scatterbug evolves into Spewpa
- Chespin disguised as Spewpa
- Diggersby’s Dig, Double Slap and Hammer Arm
- Spewpa evolves into an Elegant Pattern Vivillon
- The freed Spewpa evolve into Vivillon of many Patterns
- Pikachu evolves into Raichu in a fantasy
- Debut of Dolan and TV debuts of Diggersby and six Vivillon Patterns
Pokémon making their anime debut
Diggersby#0660 · XY012
Captures and evolutions
Scatterbug → Spewpa#0665 · a rescued wild Scatterbug, the series’ first evolution
Spewpa → Vivillon#0666 · the same Pokémon, into an Elegant Pattern Vivillon, to stop the smuggler Dolan
Trivia
- The English title plays on “Alfred Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief, as the earlier To Catch a Rotom! did”.
- The screenplay is by Shōji Yonemura.
- This is a stand-alone episode: it can be skipped without losing the thread of the Kalos story.
Part of our Pokémon the Series: XY guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.