XY075

Rivals: Today and Tomorrow! (Japanese: ライバルバトル３本勝負！ 明日に向かって！！ Three-Match Rival Battle! Towards the Future!!) is the 75th episode of the, and the 874th episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on June 4, 2015 and in the United States on August 8, 2015.

Blurb
After Ash's victory at the Laverre Gym, our heroes are walking with Sawyer, who’s completely focused on his battle notebook and not watching where he’s going—until he trips and falls, dropping his notebook in the process! He doesn’t realize this until later, and by that time, Team Rocket has picked it up, determined to make use of all the information within. With the help of his Slurpuff’s talented nose, Sawyer manages to track down his prized possession, and he and Ash battle together to send Team Rocket blasting off again. Then, they decide to battle against each other!

Ash seems to be firmly in command...until Sawyer’s Treecko evolves into Grovyle and presents Frogadier with quite a challenge! Frogadier pulls off the win, but it’s a close one, and afterward, it’s clear that the two Pokémon are itching for a rematch. Sawyer heads off to challenge the Coumarine Gym, while Serena has her eye on the Pokémon Showcase in Dendemille Town, on the way to Ash’s next Gym battle in Anistar City!

Plot
Following Ash's win at the Laverre City Gym, and, accompanied by Sawyer, head away from the Gym. However, Sawyer trips along the way and as he gets up, he drops his notebook, which is promptly found by. As soon as Jessie, James, and look inside the notebook, they see a photograph of Steven Stone, and James instantly recognizes him as the  in the Hoenn region. Meanwhile, treats the group to lots of sweets and Poké Puffs after Ash's hard-earned victory over Valerie. Sawyer expresses his awe of Ash's battling style to him, and Ash reminds him that it was due to the Pokémon's efforts that they won the.

However, at that moment, Sawyer notices that his notebook is gone. He goes into a panic, suddenly remembering that he dropped it where he had tripped earlier. Jessie, James, and Meowth, who still have the notebook, have mistakenly come to the conclusion that it belongs to Steven himself. While James and Meowth are more interested in learning the "Champion's" techniques, Jessie is immediately enamored with him and begins deluding herself with fantasies of someday marrying into his family so that she can be part of the Devon Corporation. Meanwhile, Ash and company, having returned to the bridge where Sawyer's notebook disappears, agree to split up and search for it individually. Later, at the Pokémon Center, they all report having seen no trace of it anywhere. Sawyer tells them how he kept taking notes after every battle he and had, and they kept getting stronger together, and he also mentions his meeting with Steven Stone and all of the valuable advice Steven gave him.

Bonnie asks Clemont for an invention to help find the notebook, but Clemont starts to explain that he doesn't even have something like the notebook's smell to work with. Suddenly, Sawyer jumps up in excitement and calls out his to help search for the notebook using its keen sense of smell. With direction from Treecko, Slurpuff races away to try and locate the notebook. James is still poring over its contents, unaware that they were written by a novice Trainer, when Slurpuff arrives. Slurpuff takes the notebook and runs off with it, chased by, and returns it to Sawyer. When Team Rocket arrives, everyone realizes that they were the ones who stole the notebook. Sawyer quickly corrects them when they refer to it as the Champion's notebook by pointing out Steven's autograph. Angered by this news, Jessie and James decide to fall back on their usual plan of stealing the group's Pokémon. Jessie calls out her and James his  to face Sawyer's Treecko and Ash's Pikachu. The battle is short-lived—as attacks from each of the four Pokémon cancel each other out, Pikachu uses another and easily sends Team Rocket blasting off.

That night, Serena learns of a Pokémon Showcase being held in the nearby Dendemille Town and decides to register for it. She then informs Ash, using her Town Map, that Dendemille Town is also on the way to a city with a Gym—Anistar City, where he agrees to go for his seventh Badge. Sawyer informs the group that he plans on heading to Coumarine City to try and earn a. The next morning, Sawyer requests a three-on-three battle with Ash to make up for the one that they never finished. The first match is Pikachu against Sawyer's. Pikachu begins with, overpowering Bagon's with superior speed. After a collision of and, Pikachu breaks through  with an  attack to defeat Bagon and win the first round. The second match is then decided to be Slurpuff against. Although Slurpuff uses, a super effective move, Hawlucha dodges and strikes back with. However, Sawyer becomes distracted checking his notebook and fails to notice Hawlucha's, resulting in Slurpuff's defeat.

Ash calls to Sawyer, reminding him to stay calm during a battle, because the Pokémon will feel the same way as the Trainer during a match. Sawyer remembers Ash's Gym battle and sees the truth in Ash's advice, bringing out his Treecko to battle against. Sawyer is momentarily caught off-guard by Frogadier's use of, but he recovers and Treecko strikes back with repeated attacks. As Frogadier manages to evade most of them, Sawyer remembers to stay calm and Treecko uses. Despite the boost in speed, however, Treecko is still struck by Frogadier's. In response, Treecko evolves into, and Ash tells Sawyer that Treecko evolved because of his feelings. Sawyer uses Grovyle's new move,, to counter , but Frogadier still manages to get the better of Grovyle with another Aerial Ace. The two Pokémon continue trading and dodging attacks at high speeds, but thanks to a surprise attack by Frogadier at the very end, Grovyle is knocked out and the final round goes to Ash as well. Everyone notices Grovyle's newfound rivalry with Frogadier, and Sawyer and Grovyle are more determined than ever to get stronger and challenge Ash to a rematch someday.

Major events



 * Sawyer is revealed to own a.
 * learns that a Pokémon Showcase will be held in Dendemille Town.
 * learns that the next Gym is located in Anistar City.
 * Sawyer's evolves into.
 * Ash has a three-on-three battle against Sawyer and wins.
 * Sawyer leaves the group and heads to Coumarine City to face the Coumarine City Gym Leader, Ramos.

Pokémon debuts

 * Sawyer's Grovyle

Humans

 * Jessie
 * James
 * Professor Birch (flashback)
 * Valerie (flashback)
 * Steven Stone (fantasy/flashback)
 * Sawyer
 * Monsieur Pierre (video)
 * Kali (flashback)
 * (flashback)
 * Blossom (flashback)
 * Linnea (flashback)
 * Kali (flashback)
 * (flashback)
 * Blossom (flashback)
 * Linnea (flashback)

Pokémon
Who's That Pokémon?: (US and international) Pokémon Quiz:  (Japan)
 * (Valerie's; flashback)
 * (fantasy/flashback)
 * (evolves)
 * (newly evolved)
 * (Sawyer's)
 * (Sawyer's)
 * (Monsieur Pierre's; video)
 * (Trainer's)
 * (flashback)
 * (flashback)
 * (flashback)
 * (video)
 * (Valerie's; flashback)
 * (fantasy/flashback)
 * (evolves)
 * (newly evolved)
 * (Sawyer's)
 * (Sawyer's)
 * (Monsieur Pierre's; video)
 * (Trainer's)
 * (flashback)
 * (flashback)
 * (flashback)
 * (video)
 * (video)

Trivia

 * Professor Oak's Pokémon Holo Caster:
 * Instead of Pokémon Holo Caster, pops out to announce the Legendary Pokémon giveaways and to urge viewers to get tickets for the second XY series movie.
 * ,, and narrate the preview for the next episode.
 * James and break the fourth wall when Jessie fantasizes about marrying, by tearing out Steven and the background respectively.
 * doesn't recite their in this episode.
 * Mad-Paced Getter is used during the end of Ash and Sawyer's three-on-three battle.
 * This episode marks the only time during the where a rival's Pokémon evolves on-screen.

Errors

 * The red spot underneath Sawyer's 's collar disappears for a brief second.
 * When James is looking at Sawyer's notebook before Slurpuff finds it, his glove disappears, and his thumb is colored exactly like Sawyer's dark skin color instead of James' light skin color.
 * When Ash tells to use  the second time, his backpack disappears. It reappeared after Team Rocket got blasted off.
 * After being hit by Pikachu's Thunderbolt, Team Rocket flew off in the following order: Meowth, Jessie, James, and, and . When they were blasting off, they were in this order: Jessie, Pumpkaboo, James, Meowth, Wobbuffet, and Inkay.
 * Sawyer's Slurpuff used, a move that it cannot legally learn.
 * When Ash holds up 's, the white center and black band around the white button is much larger than normal.
 * For a brief second after Sawyer's comes out of its Poké Ball, its right arm is colored the same as its tail.
 * When Sawyer's Grovyle uses on Frogadier, Frogadier's entire face is dark blue.
 * In the English dub, Serena's Pokédex incorrectly states Grovyle as an evolved form of Treecko when it should be stated as the evolved form of Treecko.

Dub edits

 * Mad-Paced Getter was replaced by an instrumental version of Be a Hero.

In other languages
Ein neuer Rivale! EP879 XY075 XY075 XY編第75話 精灵宝可梦 XY 第75集