XY130

Finals Not for the Faint-Hearted! (Japanese: 決勝戦！サトシ対アラン！！ The Finals! VS !!) is the 130th episode of the, and the 929th episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on August 11, 2016 and in the United States on October 29, 2016.

Blurb
The long-anticipated Kalos League finals are getting under way, as Ash faces off against Alain in a full six-on-six battle! The two seem evenly matched, trading one knockout after another: Pikachu beats Tyranitar and then switches out for Noivern, who falls to Alain’s Weavile. Hawlucha defeats Weavile, then loses to Alain’s Bisharp. Next, Ash’s Talonflame and Alain’s Unfezant knock each other out after a spectacular aerial battle, and it’s tied at three and three!

Pikachu returns to face the massive Metagross—and shows amazing determination as it hangs on for the win! Then, Alain calls on his partner Charizard, and both Pokémon are confident and excited for the battle ahead!

Plot
For the final of the Kalos League, the announcer calls out  and Alain to the stadium; Mairin cheers for Alain through the sidelines. Facing off, Ash and Alain are excited to battle each other, with no finalist in a mood to hold back for their friend. The first battlefield for the final is a water and rock field. The referee announces the rules of the battle, and asks the Trainers to bring out their Pokémon. Ash chooses his, while Alain sends out his , activating its. sees this as a tactic by Alain to disrupt the vision of Pikachu and prevent it from attacking and moving around, but is not worried, and  cheers for Ash and.

Alain begins the battle by commanding a from his ; Pikachu avoids the attack. Ash sees a strategy and has Pikachu use on the stream of water. The splash from the water clears away the, while soaking the Armor Pokémon, causing to deal more damage. Pikachu follows up with, which is countered by a from Tyranitar, and Alain has his Pokémon smash the stones with its tail, sending a barrage of stone pieces at the Mouse Pokémon, only to be reflected back with. Tyranitar follows up with, but Pikachu uses Iron Tail; Tyranitar, however, grabs his tail in its mouth and swings it back. Pikachu retaliates with, and thus, causes the Armor Pokémon to faint. are excited at an early lead, and Diantha commends Ash on his fighting skills since the semi-finals, something with Professor Sycamore seems to agree with. He then remembers his conversation with Alain, and wonders what feelings the latter is holding inside him. Meanwhile, is still intent on their plan to steal the finalists' Pokémon after the battle, while Malva calls them out for the next shot.

Ash recalls Pikachu, and sends out his on the battlefield, while Alain sends out his. Noivern uses but Weavile uses  to protect itself, and follows up with. uses Supersonic again, connecting this time around. Alain has Weavile use, but Noivern counters with , and follows up with. Feeling cornered, Weavile uses to evade the Sound Wave Pokémon, but the latter uses  to successfully find the real one, and proceeds to attack it with. Weavile avoids the attack, and counters with. After some swift dodging, Noivern eventually gets hits by the move, and falls in the stream of water; he is then attacked by, and is knocked out.

Ash sends out his to battle next, who uses  to attack the Sharp Claw Pokémon, but Hawlucha misses every strike. Weavile successfully leads him in the water and uses Ice Beam at his feet, but the Wrestling Pokémon avoids the attack. However, the Ice Beam manages to freeze the stream of water, so that Hawlucha has difficulty walking over it. Weavile uses another Ice Beam, and Hawlucha takes the super-effective hit head on. Weavile follows up with another Night Slash, but Hawlucha blocks it; Clemont notes that Hawlucha is using the ice to reduce the damage from attacks. Weavile uses Night Slash again, knocking Hawlucha backwards, but Ash is unconcerned and claims that Hawlucha gets stronger by taking his opponent's attacks. Alain asks Weavile to use Night Slash again, but Hawlucha responds this time by flying towards the Sharp Claw Pokémon, and throwing it onto the battlefield. Hawlucha then uses to successfully knock Weavile out, while inadvertently breaking off the ice as well. Serena, Clemont and Sawyer talk about the trust between Ash and his Pokémon, and Lysandre takes a note of the strength of Ash's Pokémon. Mairin shouts a cheer for Alain, as he sends out his to battle, which uses  to  the Wrestling Pokémon. Alain has use ; Hawlucha retaliates with, and the two Pokémon collide head-on. Hawlucha tries to use but misses, and Bisharp uses  to knock out Hawlucha. and note Alain's strength as Ash and Alain recall their Pokémon; an excited Alain remarks to himself how battling with Ash involves a lot of fun for him and makes him forget about time completely.

Alain sends out his next, while Ash calls out his. The Proud Pokémon and the Scorching Pokémon have a little exhibition of their flying prowess, before their Trainers command them to use. The two collide, then begin flying against each other again. Ash commands a in order to allow Talonflame to build up speed and move ahead of Unfezant, and Alain responds by having Unfeazant power up with a. The two moves counter eah other, after which Alain has Unfezant use next. Unfeazant allows Talonflame to move ahead of it in order to set it up for an easy attack, and while Talonflame swiftly dodges most of the projectiles still takes a hit. Talonflame retaliates with another Flame Charge next, successfully hitting the Proud Pokémon. Unfezant uses Sky Attack while Ash has his Talonflame use, and the head-on collision of moves knocks both the Pokémon out.

With only three Pokémon left per side, the battlefield goes down for changing. expresses his concern about the fate of the battle, and remarks that one little mistake can change the course of the battle. Clemont reveals to Tierno, Trevor and Shauna that Ash has never managed to defeat Alain, leading to wonder about the latter's strength, but Serena asserts her own belief, stating that Ash's strength has increased a lot since the last time Ash and Alain battled. On the battlefield, Pikachu cheers on Ash, and the latter encourages Alain to have fun to the end. Alain smiles, and remarks to himself about Ash's sportsmanship. Mairin notices Alain smiling, revealing that she had never seen him smile before. Lysandre comments that the finals are about to reach the climax, and that every eye will be upon Lumiose City.

The new battlefield is revealed to be a grass-field. Ash sends out his Pikachu to face off against Alain's. Pikachu begins the battle by using, but uses  to evade the attack and constantly cut off Pikachu when he tries to get some distance. Metagross strikes Pikachu with, and follows up another hit with. A damaged Pikachu moves the rocks away, and is hit by a. Still hanging on, the Mouse Pokémon counters another with an Electro Ball, and then jumps atop the Iron Leg Pokémon. Metagross tries to shake Pikachu off, but Pikachu's hold is tight, who uses Thunderbolt to deal serious damage. After some effort, and encouragement from its Trainer, Metagross manages to shake Pikachu off itself, but the latter uses Iron Tail on the heavily damaged Metagross, and successfully knocks it out. Mairin seems displeased at the loss, while the group in the sidelines is happy that Ash has taken the lead once again. Diantha and Professor Sycamore praise Ash for his cleverness; James is happy as well that Pikachu has won, something which does not seem to please his.

For his next Pokémon, Alain sends out his, worrying Ash's friends. Ash has his Pikachu use to hit the Flame Pokémon, followed by a super effective Thunderbolt, bringing Charizard to its knees. Serena wishes luck to Ash and Pikachu, and everyone watches with utter curiosity as the Kalos League finals reach the end.

Major events

 * and Alain begin their Full Battle in the Lumiose Conference finals.
 * Alain is revealed to own a, , , and.

Humans

 * Jessie
 * James
 * Professor Sycamore
 * Alain
 * Mairin
 * Sawyer
 * Lysandre
 * Malva
 * Diantha
 * Crowd
 * Sawyer
 * Lysandre
 * Malva
 * Diantha
 * Crowd
 * Malva
 * Diantha
 * Crowd

Pokémon
Who's That Pokémon?: (US and international) Pokémon Quiz: (male) (Japan)
 * (fantasy)
 * (fantasy)
 * (Alain's)
 * (Alain's)
 * (Alain's)
 * (Alain's)
 * (Alain's; male)
 * (Squishy)
 * (Alain's)
 * (Alain's)
 * (Alain's)
 * (Alain's)
 * (Alain's; male)
 * (Squishy)
 * (Alain's; male)
 * (Squishy)

Trivia

 * Poké TV: "Poke Love TV" focusing on, , , and Mega Metagross.

Errors

 * When Metagross uses, the position of and  on the scoreboard is reversed.
 * In the dub, when cheers for Pikachu after Metagross is getting hit by his, 's mouth moves, but no sound comes out.

In other languages
Finale – Nichts für Zartbesaitete! EP933 XY130 XY129 XY編第130話 精灵宝可梦 XY 第129集