Lysandre

Lysandre is a character appearing in Pokémon the Series: XYZ and the Mega Evolution Acts, who is the leader of Team Flare. Lysandre is a pale man, with blue eyes and with pointed red hair and beard. Lysandre wears a black suit, lined in red and black dress shoes. He also wears a pair of black fingerless gloves, as well as having a Mega Ring on his left middle finger. Lysandre is a calm, respected man, who works together with the scientists of his own laboratory, the Lysandre Labs, in order to craft many products to create a better future.

Despite his somewhat friendly behavior, deep down lies a dark man working with Team Flare to capture Zygarde with red core, who escaped from his lab, and with the blue core, who is reported to be seen at Terminus Cave. Malva, who works with Lysandre, is somewhat intrigued he managed to get a hold of Alain, who is obeying his every command. He's also appears to developed interest in Ash Ketchum and his Greninja's ability of Bond Phenomenon.In the past, he helped many people, along with his top scientists. Since those humans were too greedy and arrogant, Lysandre changed his motive; he longs to destroy the world and change it, to have a beautiful world meant for the chosen ones. He also believes the humans have domesticated Pokémon, which made their battling instinct forgotten.

Some time ago, Lysandre and his scientists offered help to people, who were devastated. However, those people became arrogant and even demanded Lysandre to give more supplies. This made Lysandre incredibly disillusioned at the humanity and, joined by his scientists, decided to destroy the flawed world and create a new one.When Alain was searching for more Mega Stones in a ruin, Lysandre, who took the Ampharosite from the ruin, approached Alain and offered a place by his side, including a Charizardite and a Mega Stone for Alain. Alain battled Lysandre, using his Charmeleon against Lysandre's Pyroar. Since he believed Lysandre's words "to achieve greatness, one must become the strongest", Alain accepted Lysandre's proposal.

Sawyer

Sawyer is a character appearing in the XY series, who is a friend and rival of Ash throughout the Kalos region. Sawyer is a dark-tanned boy, with dark-green hair and blue eyes.

He wears a white shirt with an orange tie, a black vest with yellow buttons and a pocket on the left side of the chest, brown short pants with large pockets, a black under jeans and green shoes. He wears a brown backpack and is often seen carrying a notebook, in which he writes his experiences, mostly about the battles. Prior to the Kalos League, Sawyer obtained a Key Stone, which is attached to his notebook. Despite being a relatively new trainer, Sawyer sometimes makes mistakes, but seeing others battle makes him envious and respects such trainers.

He also wishes to learn, taking his notebook and writing the experiences of the battle he had seen or just finished fighting in. Sawyer also has an admiration towards Ash, even if Ash is defeated. Before Sawyer came to Kalos, he met Professor Birch and chose his starter Pokémon, a Treecko. He also met Steven Stone, who gave Sawyer tips on becoming a better trainer. Sawyer also learned his Treecko, upon evolving into Sceptile, can even Mega Evolve.

Alain

He is Ash's main rival in the Kalos region, and the eventual Kalos League Champion after defeating Ash in the finals. Alain is a tall, slim teenager with messy, black hair and blue eyes. He typically sports a pair of baggy, grey pants, a black, leather jacket, black boots, a blue shirt with a white undershirt and a pair of fingerless gloves. He also wears a pale, blue scarf that closely resembles the flames that appear from Mega Charizard X's mouth. Alain is a calm, silent-type figure, who shows little emotion and focuses his attention towards battling. Deep down, however, he does not wish to see the ones closest to him to suffer or get them in danger. Alain also obeys Lysandre's orders without much hesitation, since Lysandre was the one that equipped him with the Mega Ring and gave the Mega Stone, Charizardite. In addition, Alain despises losing (at the time of being defeated against Siebold), hence why he did ask Lysandre to battle 10 Mega Evolution trainers to become stronger. Also, he doesn't show much happiness to most victories, but he does anticipate battling Ash. When Team Flare began their assault on Lumiose City, Alain felt betrayed by them and became extremely upset at the fact that he had been used by them. Those feelings led Alain to turn against Team Flare and join Ash's battle for the sake of the world.

After Team Flare's ambitions were finally stopped, Alain felt depressed at what had happened and thought that he still needs to atone for the mistakes he made now that everyone is safe. However, he started to feel better after a brief conversation with Ash and gladly accepted Sycamore's offer to become his assistant again. Alain is a Pokémon trainer, who, before his quest to search for Mega Stones, worked with Professor Sycamore in his lab in Lumiose City. Sycamore knew there were secrets tied to the Mega Evolution and let Alain go pursue the quest of finding the Mega Stones.[1] One day, Alain found an injured Gible, which Sycamore adopted and took care of, even managing both of them to befriend Gible. Alain and Sycamore watched as Gible evolved into a Gabite and later into a Garchomp.[2] Mega Evolution Act II 11Sometime after, Alain went to his quest. Alain came to a ruin to find his first Mega Stone, but it was taken by a man named Lysandre. Lysandre showed Alain the Mega Stone, claiming Alain can become even stronger. Alain did not trust him at first and had Charmeleon attack Lysandre's Pyroar, but Charmeleon was knocked out. Alain saw some wisdom in Lysandre's words and accepted his proposal, taking the Key Stone and Charizardite, which allowed Charmeleon, once it'd evolve into a Charizard, to Mega Evolve.Alain and his partner Pokémon, Charizard, travel Kalos in search of other trainers capable of Mega Evolution to battle with.

During a battle with Astrid and her Mega Absol, Alain is discovered by a young trainer named Mairin, who is intrigued by his ability to Mega Evolve Charizard. Despite his initial protests, Mairin follows Alain as he continues his journey in order to learn more about Mega Evolution. Alain soon grows to care for and respect Mairin, coaching her as she learns about Pokémon and watching out for her physical needs. Mairin saw Alain had a Key Stone, using it in battle against Remo and his Garchomp. Alain instructed Mairin how to catch a Flabébé. Afterwards, he came to a restaurant, where he met Siebold and had a battle with his Mega Blastoise. Despite losing, Alain was told he did well, since Siebold is a very tough opponent.After arriving in the Hoenn region and meeting Steven, Alain has a battle with the Hoenn Champion. However, the battle is interrupted by Lysandre, for he also came to Hoenn to show a part of a slab, which tells about a mysterious stone that Lysandre has been searching for. Together with Steven's part of the stone, Lysandre activated a portal, showing a path to a temple in the sky, which the group, including Alain, went to. They found a mysterious rock called the megalith, which was supposed to be connected to Mega Evolution. Before Lysandre's team could properly study it though, Mega Rayquaza appeared and attacked them. Alain is injured while protecting Mairin from Mega Rayquaza's Draco Meteor, and the megalith vanishes. Lysandre saw the megalith's energy was emitted close to Rustboro City and sent Alain to accompany Steven to find the megalith.

James

James is a member of Team Rocket, an evil team which tries to capture rare Pokémon. His trio has a keen eye set on Ash's Pikachu. James has shoulder length periwinkle hair with a small single fringe at the center of his head and green eyes and he is usually seen in a Team Rocket uniform, which consists of a white long sleeve shirt with a large red R on it and a black short sleeve undershirt, with white pants and black boots and a matching gloves.In the episode, Holy Matrinomy!, James is dressed in a dark blue formal suit jacket with a white long sleeve button shirt with a black tie at the center, dark blue formal pants and black shoes. He later wears a cowboy hat along with a brown long poncho cloak to conceal his outfit while trying to say goodbye to his beloved Growlie.As a child, he retains in his adult appearance and he wears a blue suit like his adult self and he wears black shorts instead of pants and has a light green tie with a red jewel in the center, white socks and black shoes.

At the start of Johto League Champions opening and onwards, the color of his hair changed from periwinkle to lavender.When he competes in a PokéRinger in That's Just Swellow, James wears a pale yellow air military jumpsuit with a brown sailor fuku and the black round shape with a "R" symbol in each sides of his shoulders, underneath is an off-white long sleeve button shirt, brown gloves and black military shoes. This outfit is concealed from his Team Rocket uniform before he removes it to reveal the outfit. When they briefly had a day off, James wears two swimsuits in every season. In his debut appearance and onwards, James is initially seen as a calm and serious person with an elegance when he does a motto with Jessie and Meowth in their group introduction as Team Rocket. He is also well reversed in various activities such as Pokémon Haiku, Pokemon Orienteering and a PokéRinger it is possible that he learned these skills either he was enrolled as a child or being separated with Jessie. In Holy Matrimony!, James shows his very sensitive side and intense fear if it comes to his wealthy family particularly due to his heavily enforced, sheltered upbringing and the constant harassment he had endured from Jessebelle as a child. Especially, his parents when he finally grows up as an adult and he was against their wishes to get him married as he sensitively states that they are trying to make him be manipulated and he calls his parents are lousy due to unable to stop Jessebelle's upbringing.

He actually hates the society of upper class who have rules of absolutely everything and his life will get worse if he marries his arranged fiancee, Jessebelle. But in The Treasure is All Mine!, it also shows that he cares for his parents as a child before rebelling them as an adult. He also cares for his grandparents, Nanny and Pop-Pop as seen in Sweet Baby James!. In the anime, he is a common member of Team Rocket and in many ways, is the anime representation of the Male Agent. During his adventures in trying to capture Pikachu, James is part of a unit made up of himself, Jessie, and Meowth. He is close friends with the two of them, and is known to make personal sacrifices in order to keep them safe, as seen when he sacrificed his bottle cap collection to help Meowth in the episode Meowth Rules!. Although born into a rich family with loving parents, he runs away from home to avoid Jessebelle to whom he was supposed to marry later on. With a very caring and thoughtful personality, James can sometimes have a hard time dealing with the "rotten things" he and his team mates do from various times to get what they want, but in the end he fulfill his obligations with less-admirable results. He also gives out information on Pokémon whenever Meowth cannot do it himself via Index cards.

Jessie

Jessie is a member of Team Rocket. She tends to be a drama queen and has a diabolical temperament. She works with James and Meowth. Their main goal is to steal Pokémon, preferably Ash Ketchum's Pikachu. She and James have rivalry with Butch and Cassidy. Jessie's name is sometimes misspelled as Jesse, as her name comes from the infamous outlaw Jesse James. Jessie has long red hair in a snake style with curly tips, sapphire blue eyes and is usually seen in a customised Team Rocket uniform, which consists a white sleeved midriff with a large red R on it and a black short sleeved midriff underneath, a white short skirt and black thigh-high boots. She also wears green, pearl-like earrings and a long black gloves.From Pokémon Johto League Champions opening and onwards, Jessie's hair has changed from red to fuchsia pink.When a wild Scyther and its swarm attacked them, it manages to slash Jessie's long hair which is now styled into shoulder length like James in Tracey Gets Bugged. But in A Tail with a Twist when a wild Seviper manages to bite her hair it was ripped off and her hair becomes medium length all these hairstyles made Jessie furious when each of the Pokémon had accidentally cut her long hair.As Jessilina her disguise form, she wears an orange sleeveless dress that resembles an apron with yellow frills in each sides along with two pockets in the sides of her puffy dress. Underneath, she wears a white long sleeve button shirt with a dark blue laced ribbon on the collar and brown cowboy boots.

 Her long hair is tied in low pigtails and wears yellow thick glasses. This disguise is usually her coordinator form with her beloved Dustox.In the events of Pokemon: Black & White after she was promoted to Advanced Agent, Jessie's Team Rocket uniform is now charcoal gray before it changes back to the original white after Battling with the Love of Bug-Types!. In an attempt to hide the fact that she was from Team Rocket, She wears a dark purple trenchcoat, a matching sunglasses and a fedora hat to conceal herself. However, the trenchcoat is too long, so usually she ends up wearing it with James being the one walking and she sitting on James's shoulders.In the XY series, her initial disguise has her wearing a long pale blue sleeved v-neck jacket with a purple belt tucked on her jacket, a white long sleeved button shirt underneath and a white ribbon on the collar, white pants and a matching sandals, she wears a long white hat to make her hair shorter and wears sunglasses. Her sunglasses is also used as her headband while wearing her hat.As Jessilie her disguise form, she wears a different shades of purple long sleeved gown with dark purple linings as the baggy skirt is long up to her feet and has a light pink large ribbon at the back as its sash are hanging loose in each sides and a white fluffy extended collar on her dress. She also wears purple high heels while wearing a necklace with a pink diamond pendant on her neck and a emerald shaped earrings with gold outlines. Her hair is tied in a large bun with a sapphire shaped jewel with gold outlines at the center of her head.When she briefly works with Dr. White before she rejoins with James and Meowth as Jessilia, she wears an off-white long sleeve loose button shirt with a pink shoal to covered on both of her shoulders, blue denim shorts and brown sandals. Her hair is now tied in tangles while she is not seen wore a lipstick and her green pearl-like earrings on her ear. Jessie is the complete opposite of the Team Rocket trio, having a very tough streak personality of being vain and very prone to anger. She also values her beauty and became conscious of her long hair; she will become furious if her face or her hair is damaged. A prime example is in Tracey Gets Bugged when a younger Scyther manages to slash her hair into a shoulder length causing her to be devastated and tries to scare the captured swarm of Scyther in a wicked manner and physically beating Pokémon such as Meowth and her Seviper before she caught it in her Poké Ball.

Jessie also shows her violent outrage when someone insults about her beauty by calling her old or "old hag". Her anger also scares James and Meowth especially when their missions ends up in a failure.Jessie have a special preferences to snake-like Pokemon such as her Ekans who later evolved into Arbok and her Seviper. She also makes preference her love of Poison-type Pokemon as seen in The Ninja Poke-Showdown!. In addition, she adored her Dustox, which she then released in Crossing Paths!.Jessie also has a long-standing rivalry with Cassidy, another member of Team Rocket. Their rivalry is mostly pronounced in some episodes involving Cassidy and Butch, much like Ash's rivalry with Gary Oak. In Grating Spaces!, it reveals that Jessie and James managed to ruin their vacation privileges such as plane tickets for their vacation which they give to Brock's parents, Flint and Lola while posing as gym re-modelers and the two Pokémon, a Charizard and a Aggron, sent by Team Rocket's Delibird that are used to fight Ash's Donphan and Brock's Steelix. Jessie can be seen devastated for their actions after realizing these privileges belong to both Butch and her rival, Cassidy.During the events in Pokémon: Black & White, Jessie's tough personality had been subsided due to her promotion as an Advanced Agent. Her personality soon switched to being calm and collected, much more relaxed(and more like a true villain) but maintains her mean streak when facing Ash and his friends.

Nurse Joy

Nurse Joy (original name Pokémon Center Lady in the card game) is the name of multiple nurses that work in Pokémon Centers throughout the various locations in the regions in the games and anime. A Nurse Joy can completely heal any Pokémon to perfect health. She has appeared in Pokémon games since the beginning of the Generation I. Much like in the games, most of the Nurse Joys have brink pink hair and fair skin. Others could have a lighter shade of hair color, or brighter or darker skin. The Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh Nurse Joys wear a Mexican-pink colored dress with a white nurse apron, and low-heel Mary Jane shoes. In Unova, Nurse Joys have different hairstyle with the hair being tied in rounder rings, a plain pink dress with a shorter apron, white pantyhose, and pink shoes instead of white. Kalos Nurse Joys wear a pink and white dress with a white collar, and the same pantyhose and shoes as the ones in Unova. Nurse Joys in the Orange Archipelago wore more summer-themed clothing, including a pink, short-sleeved shirt and a teal apron with a tropical flower design on it, though one Nurse Joy travels around the islands in her kayak, wearing a blue-and-yellow wet suit and having darker skin due to suntan.

Nurse Joys could be distinguished from other Nurse Joys by the color of their cross, or badge.One exception is in Pokemon The First Movie, where the Nurse Joy of Old Shore Wharf had been kidnapped and brainwashed by Mewtwo to serve him as his maid with false memories that made her believe she lived on New Island her whole life and served him the whole time while he used her knowledge of Pokemon physiology to his advantage. She's only seen wearing the trademark uniform of Nurse Joys of Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh in a missing person poster. While on New Island, she wore a red dress and hat with a white cloth that hid most of her head from view except for her face until Mewtwo released her from his mind control. When Brock caught her as she fainted, the hat fell off, revealing the rest of her head. She remained wearing the dress until the end of the movie, when Mewtwo erased her memories of the events on New Island and sent her back to Old Shore Wharf, where she appeared to take Trainers to the Pokémon Center for shelter from the storm, wearing a hoodie with her Red Cross on it instead of the usual uniform. A Nurse Joy is placed inside every Pokémon center in every town, in every game.

 She is always behind the Pokémon center, waiting for a new customer. When you approach her and talk to her, she will say, "Welcome to the Pokémon Center, where we will heal your Pokémon back to full health. Would you like me to take your Pokémon?" If you click no, she will say, "We hope to see you again," but if you click yes, she will say, "Okay, I'll take your Pokémon for a few seconds." She will then take each of your Poké Balls and place them on a tray, where they will light up numerous times before Nurse Joy takes them and hands them back to you. She will then say, "Your Pokémon are now healed. We hope to see you again." On your birthday, she will ask you if it is your birthday and she will wish you a happy birthday. She will also say a little bit of Pokérus if your Pokémon has it or was cured from it.This phrase has gained a lot of jokes to it, due to the fact that Nurse Joy says, "We hope to see you again," making it sound like she wants your Pokémon to get injured again so that the player would have to go back to the Pokémon Center.Nurse Joy will always heal the player character's Pokémon, except in the Battle Mansion.

Bonnie

Bonnie is the little sister of Clemont in the anime and one of Ash's major traveling companions in Kalos during the XY series. She is a small and slender young girl with shiny golden-blonde hair tied in a side ponytail with an orange band, and sky blue eyes. She wears a brown short-sleeved top with a soft black bow on the neckline, knee length black leggings covered by a puffy white skirt resembling a cloud, some pink colored Mary-Jane shoes on her feet and a yellow shoulder bag. After meeting Squishy, Bonnie's bag has been sewn with an extra slot to hold Squishy in. Bonnie has a great love for Pokémon.

 Despite her not being old enough to train Pokémon, she has strong ambitions and goals of being a trainer. She tends to forget she is the younger sibling and becomes very protective of her older brother Clemont. As a result, she'll often look for a beautiful girl to be her brother's wife, much to his chagrin. She is sometimes annoyed with his over-protectiveness and nagging, but she understands that he loves her very much, and she returns these affections.

When frightened or stressed, Bonnie will reach for her brother's hand, or hide behind him, thus displaying a keen element of trust in their relationship.Besides Clemont, Bonnie also has a sisterly relationship with Serena, likely because of the fact that they are the only girls in the group and thus share similar interests. This is corroborated in Day Three Blockbusters! where she assisted Serena in the kitchen making Poké Puffs. In turn, Serena often does little fashion-related favors for Bonnie, acting in the role of the cooler older sister.Bonnie enjoys caring for Pokémon, and is very protective of those under her care. She is curious and enthusiastic when encountering new Pokémon as well. Bonnie is Clemont's little sister. She travels with him and supports him and Ash in his battles. She is younger than the age of 10.

Clemont

Clemont is character appearing in the XY series, who is the Gym Leader of Lumiose City in the Kalos region and a friend of Ash Ketchum. Clemont and his younger sister Bonnie joined Ash on his journeys throughout Kalos, eventually leaving when Ash decides to head to Alola. Clemont is a very young boy with pale skin, and medium length bright yellow messy hair that appears somewhat electrified; he has a lightning-bolt shaped tuft of hair sprouting from the very top of his head. He is small in stature and appears to be a child prodigy. He wears large round glasses which obscure his eyes, and a blue jumpsuit with a yellow collar, and yellow stripes on the knees and bottom cuffs. He sports a backpack-like cybernetic contraption (which he invented himself) on his back, with two robotic extensions which he uses to absorb solar and lunar energy (one appears to resemble like the sun, while the other resembles the moon).

The white moon-like contraption also appears to be a cybernetic arm which he uses to grip and hold objects like a hand. On his feet he wears black shoes with white soles. He is a very keen inventor, but there is a running joke involving his devices exploding instantly, or working briefly before short-circuiting and then exploding, as seen in the anime. He is also dedicated to science and only fears something if it defies logic. Clemont is also shown to have fear of standing in front of a camera, which would mean he has photophobia.One of Clemont's most noticeable traits is his care and responsibility over Bonnie. He gets upset and even angry when she wanders off or gets into trouble, and often is far behind from the others.

Still, he is very affectionate towards her, hugging her when she is afraid or holding her hand, and aware of her physical needs, as shown when he makes her eat her vegetables, even though she doesn't like them. He is very protective of her, and puts her safety above all else, even risking his own life to do so on occasion.Clemont was shown to be a science student and always made inventions like the Electric Showers in Lumiose City. His best friend was a Shinx but since then, the mayor had taken him away after his graduation.

Serena

Serena is a Pokémon Trainer from the Kalos region and was one of Ash's traveling companions. Her goal was to be named Kalos Queen the highest prestige achievable for Pokémon Perfomers. She and Ash met before the start of the series when Ash aided her in her time of need. She developed a strong crush on him from that day on and it is one of her most notable characteristics, evident through her blushing whenever she looks at, talks to or amazed by him. Serena's first outfit consisted of a dark gray tank top with a white collar, dark gray stockings, long honey blond hair that reaches just above her waist, medium skin tone, red skirt, black hi-tops with pink semi-Poké Ball printing on the sides similar in design to Hilda's, and a dark pink hat paired with a black hatband and ribbon bow. Serena marks a return to basing Ash's female companion off of that generation's female player character in the video games. However, Serena is also the first to have undergone minor cosmetic changes for the transition to the anime, whereas May and Dawn remained the same.

 Among the cosmetic changes are; She appears a little younger or shorter than her game counterpart. Her fingernails are short and trimmed like most other characters on the show, rather than long like her game counterpart's. Her fingernails are kept natural without any nail polish on, while her game counterpart wears a faint pink nail polish. Her shirt collar is white instead of black. The sunglasses on the hat are replaced by her tiny bow. She doesn't have a Mega Ring. Her eyes are blue despite the fact that her game counterpart's is a gray color (even her game counterpart's contacts can be changed to blue). Her hat appears larger, more curved, looking similar to a straw hat. She wears high top shoes unlike her game counterpart, who wears sneakers; however they are in the same design. The line going down from the top of her shoes, down to the soles, is one straight line, while on her game counterpart's sneakers, they are two separate lines. She also does not have the purse that her game counterpart does, instead having a backpack. Starting from A Showcase Debut! onward, she wears a new outfit with her hair styled in a short wavy bob and wears a new reddish-pink fedora, a bright pink dress with a white collar, her gray top underneath, and a red waistcoat with a blue ribbon on her chest, the same stockings, and brown boots. When she was young, she wore a pink dress, with Mary Jane shoes, and a straw hat tied by a light pink hatband, and ribbon. For pajamas, she wears a lavender hoodie with pink heart insignias on the hips with dark-pink shorts, along with a red or pink bow. As of A Frolicking Find in the Flowers!, she wears pink sandals whenever she's in her pajamas while outside. Serena is a very kind and polite girl. But she can be sassy and mad when she gets dirt on her. She is always concerned about what her friends are doing. She also has a passion for fashion and clothes. She tries to find the prettiest clothes, and finds that whatever her mother picks out tends to be the less fashionable.

 Knowing this, she hates getting dirty and being soaked in mud. She loves to bake for her friends, who always delight in getting to eat what she makes for them. Serena has developed strong feelings for Ash, constantly blushing when interacting with him. She has also begun to take on his determination, greatly inspired by his motto: "Never give up till the end", and as such begins to takes hits for her Pokémon like he does. She also tends to get flustered whenever someone brings up her crush on him and blush quite heavily, namely whenever Miette appears or when Shauna accused her of liking him all together, she also seemed rather flustered when Penelope requested Ash to be with her before discovering what she really meant. Serena possesses a unique charm when it comes to Rhyhorn, possibly due to her upbringing, as nearly all of those that she encounters gravitate towards her without the girl in question doing anything. Despite being Ash's newest female companion who just started her journey, she had previously met him when they were younger back in Pallet Town years ago at Professor Oak's Pokémon summer camp. Serena was lost in the woods while trying to look for the rest of her group, resulting in herself getting wounded after getting startled by a Poliwag. But at that very same moment, Ash came to her aid and escorted her out. Since that day, she kept the handkerchief he used as a bandage as a way to remember the kind act and inspiring words he told her.

Ash Ketchum/XY

A trainer from Pallet Town who aspires to become a Pokémon Master, Ash Ketchum is a main character of the anime. In the XY series, Ash wears yet another new outfit, consisting of a blue collared shirt with short sleeves, darker blue jeans, red and white hat and red high top sneakers. Ash still has some of his childish excitement, but he also demonstrated much greater maturity and level-headiness since entering the Kalos region, both in battles and out. He's even more open to advice from others. Ash traveled to the Kalos region to compete in the Kalos League and to continue his dream of becoming a Pokémon Master. He gained new traveling companions in the siblings Clemont and Bonnie and later reunited with his childhood friend Serena, who still remembered Ash rescuing her a long time ago and would travel with him as well. Despite being childhood friends with Serena, he had no memory of their relationship until Serena showed him the handkerchief he used to mend her knee when they were little kids in the episode, Giving Chase at the Rhyhorn Race!. Ash also caught five new Pokémon: his first Kalos capture was a Froakie followed by a Fletchling, Hawlucha, Goomy and Noibat. XY006 24

Within the first five episodes of the season, Ash faced Alexa's sister Viola, the Gym Leader of Santalune City who specialized in Bug-type Pokémon. During their battle, Ash faced difficulty against Viola's Surskit, who gained an advantage over Pikachu By freezing the arena, turning it into an ice field. Ash decided that what needed improving was his Pokémon's balance, and with Alexa's help, engaged in special training designed to combat this flaw. Clemont also tried to help using one of his latest devices, but the machine backfired and exploded. In a rematch, Ash ultimately defeated Viola and claimed the Bug Badge, his first badge from a Kalos Gym. Much later, Ash battled against the Cyllage City Gym Leader Grant and his Rock-Type Pokémon.

Having seen Grant defeat Viola at the Battle Chateau, Ash sought a way to defeat Grant's Rock Tomb. When he faced Grant, this ended up becoming Rock Tomb Climb, the use of which earned Ash his second Kalos Badge, the Cliff Badge. Some time later, Ash battle Moria, a Sky Trainer who specializes Sky Battles, and her Talonflame. During the battle his Fletchling evolved into a Fletchinder and won. XY039 At the Pokémon Summer Camp, Ash and his friends met Shauna, Trevor, and Tierno. He later had a first-touch-battle against Tierno's Squirtle with Froakie and lost. After spending a good time at the Pokémon Summer Camp, Ash went to Shalour City and battled Korrina, a Gym Leader who previously traveled with Ash and his friends in order to help her understand Mega Evolution with her Lucario. Despite a failed attempt of using Tierno's dancing strategy, Ash managed to win his third Kalos Badge, the Rumble Badge.