As Ash, Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie continue their journey to Cyllage City, they meet a young woman named Penelope who challenges Ash to a battle on the spot, right there in the forest! Penelope wants Ash to come with her if she beats him, which makes Serena a little nervous. Plus, Penelope’s partner for the battle is Sylveon, a Pokémon Ash hasn’t seen before. Ash is extra excited when Clemont tells him Sylveon is a Fairy-type Pokémon—a type Ash has never encountered!
Froakie does its best, but Sylveon easily defeats it with a devastating combo of Attract and Draining Kiss, leaving Froakie a little embarrassed and sulky for a while. Ash keeps his word, and all our heroes come along as Penelope leads them away...straight to her kindergarten class! Penelope explains that she and Sylveon explore the forest every day, looking for wild Pokémon to befriend so the children can meet them. This time, she’s brought our heroes and all their Pokémon instead! The kids are delighted, except for one boy named Randall, who’s afraid of Pokémon and determined to keep his distance.
Naturally, Team Rocket is lurking nearby, making plans to steal Pikachu—and Penelope’s Sylveon, too! They show up disguised as a traveling entertainment troupe and invite all the kids up on stage to play with them. When the kids are on the stage, Team Rocket sets off a series of smoke bombs. In the chaos, they swipe Pikachu and Sylveon and take off in their truck...but they don’t know Randall and Froakie are trapped there as well! Ash manages to hop onto the back of the truck as it drives away, and eventually gets inside. At first, he and Froakie work to break the cages holding Sylveon and Pikachu, but they’re too tough. When Randall sees how sad Sylveon is, he finally agrees to help, and with all three of them working together, the Pokémon are freed!
After they send the villains blasting off again, Ash and Randall return to the class, and Randall excitedly tells his classmates and teacher about his part in the rescue. The others are happy to see he’s gotten over his fear of Pokémon, and he even announces his plans to become a Pokémon Trainer when he gets older!
