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| Season | Pokémon the Series: XY (Season 17) · Rivals & the Champion arc (XY026–XY029) |
| Episode | Season 17, episode 28 · English episode 823 · Japanese episode 829 · Bulbapedia code XY029 |
| English title | Heroes – Friends and Faux Alike! |
| Japanese title | ジャジャーン！ニセサトシ現る！！ Jajān! Nise Satoshi Arawaru!! — “Ta-da! Fake Satoshi Appears!!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 29 May 2014 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 2 August 2014 · Cartoon Network |
| Screenplay | Yukiyoshi Ōhashi |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Mega V (Mega Volt) – Yūsuke · Pīsumairu! (Peace Smile!) – J☆Dee’Z |
| English opening | Pokémon Theme (Version XY) – Ben Dixon & The Sad Truth |
| Who’s That Pokémon? | Inkay (US) |
| Previous episode | The Bonds of Evolution! (XY028) |
| Next episode | Mega Revelations! (XY030) |
Filler / stand-alone episodeTeam Rocket’s impostorsNew Japanese opening and ending
Heroes – Friends and Faux Alike! is the 28th episode of Pokémon the Series: XY, the seventeenth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 823rd episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 829, Bulbapedia code XY029). It first aired in Japan on 29 May 2014 and in the United States on 2 August 2014. It falls within the season’s Rivals & the Champion stretch (EP26–EP29).
CITV had shown it in the UK on 6 July 2014, 41 days after Japan.
Synopsis
Team Rocket impersonate Ash, Serena and Bonnie to ruin their reputation, and trick Clemont into building them anti-Electric gear to capture Pikachu. After Clemont’s prototype absorbs Team Rocket’s attacks and explodes, they decide it could be useful. Disguised as the heroes, with Inkay dressed as Pikachu, they knock out a boy named Myron’s Pancham and eat without paying, so the real group are blamed when they reach town and let off by Officer Jenny with a warning.
Jessie and James, posing as scientists from the Kalos Institute of Technology, recruit Clemont to build defences against Electric types and repair a Pokémon transport device, and Giovanni praises the plan. The next day the impostors reveal themselves and unleash a Heliolisk mecha that shrugs off Thunderbolt and Electro Ball, capture Pikachu and send it underground through the transporter before the mecha explodes.
Clemont works out where the transporter leads from Serena’s guidebook, and Bunnelby tunnels to Team Rocket. His new absorption machine blocks their attacks, Bunnelby’s Double Slap and Mud Shot knock Pikachu free, and Electro Ball blasts the trio off. Clemont blames himself, but his friends reassure him, just before the absorption machine explodes.
Major Events
- Team Rocket’s impostors. Team Rocket pose as Ash, Serena and Bonnie, with Inkay as Pikachu
- Clemont builds anti-Electric gear for fake scientists
- Giovanni praises the plan
- A Heliolisk mecha
- Bunnelby digs to the rescue
- Pumpkaboo shown to know Dark Pulse
- New Japanese opening Mega V and ending Peace Smile!
- Aired in Japan as a one-hour special with XY030
- Debut of Myron
Trivia
- The English title plays on “friend and foe alike”, after the original series’ Friend and Foe Alike (EP079), with “faux” for Team Rocket’s fake heroes.
- The screenplay is by Yukiyoshi Ōhashi.
- This is a stand-alone episode: it can be skipped without losing the thread of the Kalos story.
Changes in the English Dub
- New Japanese opening Mega V (Yūsuke) and ending Peace Smile! (J☆Dee’Z)
- Music from Arceus and the Jewel of Life and Black—Victini and Reshiram
Part of our Pokémon the Series: XY guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.