XY090

Tag Team Battle Inspiration! (Japanese: タッグバトルは友情バトル！イーブイ初参戦！！ A Tag Battle is a Friendship Battle! 's First Time in a Fight!!) is the 90th episode of the, and the 889th episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on October 1, 2015, in Canada on November 21, 2015, and in the United States on November 28, 2015.

Blurb
In Anistar City, where Serena is rehearsing for the next Pokémon Showcase, our heroes get a nice surprise when their friends Tierno and Shauna arrive with newly evolved Pokémon! Serena’s new friend Eevee is skittish and shy in the presence of so many others, and she suggests a Tag Battle so Eevee can gain some experience and confidence.

The matchup features Ash and Tierno versus Serena and Shauna! When Tierno and his Blastoise go into their usual battle dance, Eevee starts toe-tapping right along with them, and soon it’s leaping and whirling faster than Blastoise can follow! It gets one good hit in with Swift as Serena watches, starry-eyed...and then she asks everyone to put the battle on hold so her team can rehearse a new performance idea!

Ash and Tierno happily continue the battle on their own as Serena and Shauna go off to practice—because the next morning, it’s time to register for the Showcase!

Plot
The episode begins with, , and rehearsing for their upcoming Pokémon Showcase in Anistar City, with , , , , , and Serena's newly caught  watching from the side of the battlefield at the Anistar Pokémon Center. Although the group applaud Serena and compliment her on her performance, Serena assures them that she needs more practice. She tells Eevee to watch their performance closely so that she can participate in the next Showcase and thanks Bunnelby for its help taking care of Eevee.

After makes a sudden appearance and tries to chase an intimidated Eevee,  arrives with his  and greets everyone. As Bonnie plays with Blastoise, Ash and are surprised when  and her  turn up as well. Shauna, who has also come to participate in the Anistar Showcase, is greeted enthusiastically by Serena. Although Eevee is frightened by the presence of strangers, Serena gently reassures her new Pokémon and introduces her to Shauna. After Shauna expounds on Serena's wide range of performance opportunities for Eevee, everyone heads inside for some food and Tierno explains that although was supposed to meet up with everyone as well, he found a new Pokémon that he had yet to take a photograph of. Tierno then reveals, much to everyone's surprise, that he already challenged the Anistar Gym but failed to earn a Badge there.

Meanwhile, Bunnelby is still staying close to Eevee in order to help her feel more comfortable with her new friends. After witnessing Bunnelby give Eevee a Poké Puff, Chespin nervously approaches with a Poké Puff of its own and offers it to Eevee, but she is still afraid of Chespin and refuses to take it. While she comforts Eevee, Serena tells Shauna and Tierno about Eevee's gift for dancing, but Shauna points out that in a well-attended event like a Showcase, Eevee is liable to get extremely nervous on stage. To help Eevee adjust to traveling with Serena, several of Ash's and Clemont's Pokémon stand in a line to be introduced to Eevee one by one. Eevee successfully makes a small connection each with, , and Pikachu, but Chespin is unable to maintain composure as Eevee approaches it and accidentally frightens her away again. Later, Serena reassures Eevee and learns that Eevee very much wants to perform with her new Trainer, but has trouble building up the confidence to do so.

After, the Kalos Queen, appears on television, Serena recalls the time she met Aria and the advice she had been given. Her memory of that day inspires her to challenge Shauna, Tierno, and Ash to a tag battle in order to help build Eevee's confidence. Everyone gathers outside at the battlefield again, preparing for battle - Ash's Pikachu and Tierno's Blastoise against Shauna's Ivysaur and Serena's Eevee. Pikachu and Ivysaur use and, respectively, and the moves cancel each other out in midair. Blastoise then enters the fray with a attack, which is deflected by Eevee's quick use of. After Blastoise dodges a from Ivysaur, Pikachu uses  and aims at Eevee. Eevee, who is frightened by Pikachu's attack, trips over her feet and is unable to dodge the powerful move, but is saved by Ivysaur's timely intervention. Serena, Bonnie, and the Pokémon watching the battle all cheer Eevee on, and Eevee begins to feel more reassured as she gets ready to continue the battle. Tierno and Blastoise start their rhythmic dancing, and Eevee easily dodges Blastoise's carefully timed and begins dancing herself, effectively confusing Blastoise. At this, Pikachu and Ivysaur jump back into the battle with moves of their own as Eevee lands a powerful attack on Blastoise.

Suddenly, however, Serena asks to stop the battle. Watching Eevee battle Blastoise has given her a new idea for a performance, and she wants to start training right away. She and her Pokémon head to another area to rehearse, and Shauna decides to do the same while Ash and Tierno begin a one-on-one battle against each other instead. Meanwhile, Serena asks Eevee to teach her, Braixen, and Pancham how to dance for the upcoming Showcase, and Eevee agrees. The next morning, everyone is running late and races to the Pokémon Showcase so Serena and Shauna can sign up before registration closes.

Major events



 * and arrive in Anistar City and meet up with  and  again.
 * Tierno's and Shauna's  are revealed to have evolved into  and, respectively.
 * Tierno is revealed to have challenged the Anistar Gym and lost.
 * Ash and Tierno have a Tag Battle against and Shauna, which is called off.
 * Ash has a battle against Tierno, but the result is unknown.

Pokémon debuts

 * Tierno's Blastoise
 * Shauna's Ivysaur

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Pokémon
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Trivia

 * In the Japanese version, the title card segment focuses on, and is read by,.
 * Professor Oak's Pokémon Holo Caster:
 * narrates the preview of the next episode.
 * Serena's Braixen, and  remain outside of their s throughout the episode.
 * seems to be aware of Serena's crush on.
 * DreamDream is used as an insert song during the end of the Tag Battle.
 * This episode's English dub title is listed on most TV guides as well as on the Pokémon website as Tag Team Inspiration! without the word "Battle".
 * This is the only episode of the to feature  on the bottom half of the VS. screen.

Errors

 * When Serena is showing and  her Eevee, the insides of Ivysaur's ear is colored dark green rather than black. This error repeats again when Shauna orders it to use.
 * When Serena tells Eevee to befriend with Pikachu, Frogadier, Dedenne, and Chespin, Chespin's teeth are missing when it opens its mouth.
 * In one scene, Dedenne's tooth is missing.
 * When Blastoise is dancing with Eevee, its lower jaw is incorrectly colored blue rather than cream.
 * When Serena, Pancham, Braixen, and Eevee went upstairs, Pikachu's brown spot on his tail is missing. This occurred again when Ash is chatting with Tierno.
 * When the gang is running at the end of the episode, Serena has her bag on when she comes out of the door. However, when it shows her closeup, her bag is missing. Then, it reappears in the last shot.
 * In the dub, after Ivysaur gets hit by Pikachu's Iron Tail and Shauna asks it if it's alright, Ivysaur's mouth moves but no sound comes out.

Dub edits

 * The dub's title card is read by Ash instead of Serena.

In other languages
Inspiration beim Zweiermatch! EP893 XY090 XY089 XY編第90話 精灵宝可梦 XY 第89集