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| Season | Pokémon the Series: XY Kalos Quest (Season 18) · Noibat & Pikachu’s movie arc (XY076–XY078) |
| Episode | Season 18, episode 28 · English episode 871 · Japanese episode 876 · Bulbapedia code XY076 |
| English title | A Not-So-Flying Start! |
| Japanese title | 風とタマゴとオンバット！ Kaze to Tamago to Onbatto! — “The Wind, the Egg and Onbat!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 11 June 2015 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 22 August 2015 · Cartoon Network |
| Screenplay | Yukiyoshi Ōhashi |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Getta Banban (Mad-Paced Getter) – Tomohisa Sako · Gaogao Ōrusutā (Roaring All-Stars) – Little Glee Monster |
| English opening | Be a Hero – Ben Dixon and The Sad Truth |
| Who’s That Pokémon? | Altaria (US) |
| Previous episode | Rivals: Today and Tomorrow! (XY075) |
| Next episode | A Relay in the Sky! (XY077) |
Plot episodeAsh catches NoibatHawlucha’s Egg
A Not-So-Flying Start! is the 28th episode of Pokémon the Series: XY Kalos Quest, the eighteenth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 871st episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 876, Bulbapedia code XY076). It first aired in Japan on 11 June 2015 and in the United States on 22 August 2015. It falls within the season’s Noibat & Pikachu’s movie stretch (EP76–EP78).
Premiered on 22 August 2015, a week after Mega Evolution Special III took the slot. Canada’s Teletoon had shown it on 15 August in that slot — the first XY episode seen in Canada before the US — and it went on sale on iTunes and Amazon Prime Video on 16 August, six days before the US premiere.
Synopsis
Hawlucha finds a Pokémon Egg that hatches into a timid Noibat, and after Hawlucha protects the newborn from Team Rocket and Noibat uses echolocation to help defeat them in a dark cave, Ash catches it. On the way to Dendemille Town, Hawlucha is practising against an old tree when a rotten branch falls and reveals a glowing Egg at its base; Hawlucha carries it back, and Ash and Clemont recognise it as a Pokémon Egg. As the Egg begins to glow, Ash wraps himself around it to keep it warm at Serena’s suggestion, his Pokémon join in, and Fletchinder’s Flame Body Ability speeds up the hatching. A newborn Noibat emerges, overwhelmed by the attention, and accidentally lets out a Supersonic that only Ash can calm.
Noibat uses its sensitive ears to reject every fruit the group brings until Bonnie tastes one and finds it awful; then it spots two good ones in her hands and eats them. When it tries to fly and falls, Ash catches it, and Serena suggests that Noibat sees Ash as a parent. Fletchinder and Hawlucha coach it, and Clemont suggests learning to glide first. Watching from a tree, Team Rocket decide that a future Noivern would strengthen their ranks. Hawlucha remembers a hill with a strong breeze, but as Hawlucha and Noibat take off there, Team Rocket drop a huge net on them and escape while Inkay holds back Fletchinder, hoping that Noibat will grow into a valuable Noivern. Tied to a tree, Noibat’s Supersonic is blocked by Team Rocket’s earplugs, but Hawlucha slices through its rope with a sharp claw and frees Noibat.
Spotted by Jessie, Hawlucha carries Noibat on its back into a cave, and Team Rocket follow, leaving Inkay and Pumpkaboo waiting outside. In the pitch-dark cave, Noibat uses echolocation to tell Hawlucha exactly where each villain is standing, and Hawlucha knocks them down one by one and knocks off their earplugs. Noibat’s Supersonic drives them out into their own ambush just as Ash’s group arrives; Frogadier defeats Inkay and Pumpkaboo, and Pikachu blasts the trio off. That evening Ash asks Noibat what it wants to do now and invites it to travel with him. Noibat leaps happily into his arms and enters an empty Poké Ball, and the group journeys on with Noibat continuing its flight training alongside Hawlucha and Fletchinder.
Major Events
- Ash catches Noibat. Hawlucha finds an Egg, Fletchinder’s Flame Body helps it hatch, and the newborn Noibat joins Ash after helping Hawlucha beat Team Rocket in a dark cave
- Ash’s first time with three Flying types
Captures and evolutions
Noibat#0714 · Ash · hatched from the Egg Hawlucha found, it enters an empty Poké Ball
Trivia
- The English title plays on “off to a flying start”, for a newborn Noibat that cannot fly yet.
- The screenplay is by Yukiyoshi Ōhashi.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Kalos storyline.
Changes in the English Dub
- The fruit is called “Berries”
Part of our Pokémon the Series: XY Kalos Quest guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.