Pokémon season 15: Black & White - Rival Destinies — five badges, two tournaments and the Meloetta crisis

Where season 14 laid the groundwork, season 15 picks up the pace. Titled Black & White: Rival Destinies in English ("Noir & Blanc - Destinées Rivales" in French), it strings together five Gym battles, two full tournaments, the return of a former traveling companion and a blockbuster finale in which Giovanni goes after Unova head-on. Over 49 episodes, Ash completes his badge collection and at last finds himself at the gates of the League.

Contents

• The heart of the Black & White cycle
• 49 episodes and three schedules
• Ash, Iris and Cilan, joined by Dawn
• Unova's last five badges
• Two tournaments: the Clubsplosion and the Junior Cup
• A team that bulks up
• The Forces of Nature and the Meloetta arc
• Unova on a grand scale
• Season 15 in France
• What season 15 leaves for the next one
• Season 15 at a glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

The heart of the Black & White cycle

Season 15 is the second season of cycle 4, between season 14, which opened the cycle, and season 16, which will close it. That position gives it a very specific job: the previous season set everything up without resolving anything, and this one has to cash in on that groundwork. It does so by settling the badge question and by finally handing Team Rocket the big score it has been plotting since arriving in the region.

The title, "Destinées Rivales" in French and "Rival Destinies" in English, isn't just for show. Rivalry is the season's raw material: Trip keeps coming back, Iris wrestles with her own demons as a Trainer, Cilan takes on another Connoisseur, and the season's two tournaments bring together every competitor the region has to offer. Even the duel between Ash and the Unova Champion, in BW052, follows the same logic.

As with every season, keep in mind that this split is international, not Japanese: in Japan, the broadcast is continuous, and "Rival Destinies" doesn't refer to anything there. The feature on Ash's journey places this Unova chapter within the character's full career.

49 episodes and three schedules

The season has 49 episodes, numbered BW049 to BW097. That's one more episode than season 14, but a very different density: of those 49 episodes, around fifteen are devoted directly to a Gym or a tournament.

In Japan, these episodes aired from September 22, 2011 to October 4, 2012. The schedule has a few breathers — two weeks without an episode in late November 2011, then again in February 2012 and August 2012 — and one double broadcast, since both parts of the rock 'n' roll Gym battle, BW083 and BW084, aired on the same day, June 14, 2012.

The English-language broadcast began on February 18, 2012 and ended on January 26, 2013, in the United States, as part of Cartoon Network's Saturday morning lineup. In France, the season started in between, in April 2012, and ended in February 2013.

No episode from this season was canceled, unlike season 14: the Japanese two-parter pulled from the schedule after the March 2011 earthquake belonged exclusively to the previous season. Season 15 therefore aired in full, from the first episode to the last.

🛋️ In the United States, episodes BW049 to BW097 aired in Cartoon Network's Saturday morning lineup: it's still the best time slot to rewatch them at home, with your feet toasty warm in our Pokémon slippers.

Ash, Iris and Cilan, joined by Dawn

Season 14's trio carries over unchanged: Ash travels with Iris and Cilan for all of season 15. That's continuity within the cycle, and it shouldn't be confused with the previous cycle's cast: neither Brock nor Dawn is part of the permanent group in Unova.

But the season has one memorable exception in store. Dawn joins the group for nine episodes, from BW085 to BW093, with her Sinnoh team intact — Piplup, Buneary, Pachirisu, Mamoswine, her Quilava and her Togekiss. It's her first lasting reappearance since the end of the Diamond & Pearl series, and she arrives just in time for the Junior Cup.

Iris keeps working toward her goal of becoming a Dragon Master, and the season gives her its biggest moment: in BW089, she takes charge of a Dragonite that is especially hard to handle, and it joins her team. It's the most powerful Pokémon the series has ever entrusted to her, and a clear milestone in her personal arc.

Cilan, for his part, sees his Dwebble evolve into Crustle and takes on another Connoisseur in BW080. The character steps out of his commentator role to prove he can battle too, something BW067, built entirely around him, puts front and center.

Unova's last five badges

This is the season's big project, and it's seen through to the end. Ash wins five Gym battles, bringing his total to eight badges and qualifying him for the Unova League. After a season 14 that handed out only three, the contrast is striking.

The run starts with Elesa, the Nimbasa City Gym Leader and Electric-type specialist, introduced in BW049 and battled in BW050. Next comes the Gym Leader nicknamed the King of the Mines, beaten in BW061, then an aerial battle against the Gym Leader in BW068, one of the most spectacular showdowns of the cycle in terms of staging.

The fourth badge is decided on ice, at the Icirrus City Gym, in BW079. The fifth and final one takes up two full episodes, BW083 and BW084, with a rock 'n' roll Gym battle that breaks sharply with everything the series had offered until then. Ash wins every time, without a single rematch, whereas season 14 had humiliated him in Nacrene City.

This unbroken winning streak isn't incidental to how the cycle is written. It tells the story of a Trainer who has finished relearning: the Ash of the Unova reboot has become competent in his new region, and the road to the League is now clear.

The variety of these five Gyms also deserves a mention, since it's probably the greatest of the entire cycle. A supermodel Gym Leader on an electrified stage, a Gym Leader from a mining site, a duel high in the sky, a frozen Gym, then a concert turned into a battle: every badge comes with its own aesthetic. The series takes advantage of the fact that the region no longer has anything to prove to allow itself some highly crafted staging.

One last note on vocabulary, because it's often a source of confusion. The French names of the Unova Gym Leaders sometimes differ between the games and the dub, and French episode titles don't always mention them. The most reliable reference point remains the city or the episode number, and that's what we use here to avoid any guesswork.

Two tournaments: the Clubsplosion and the Junior Cup

The season features two large-scale competitions, and neither one ends with a win for Ash. The first is the Clubsplosion tournament, which runs from BW070 to BW073 and brings together sixteen participants. Four episodes in a row devoted entirely to a tournament: that's a treatment the series usually reserves for Leagues.

The second is the Junior Cup, from BW090 to BW093, held as part of the Pokémon World Tournament. It's the tournament Dawn enters alongside the group, which she had rejoined a few episodes earlier, and it's Trip who wins it — the rival who has been dogging Ash since he arrived in Unova. BW092, which pits Ash, Iris and Trip against one another, sums up everything the season's title promises all on its own.

These two back-to-back defeats serve a purpose. The series refuses to make Ash a guaranteed winner and would rather have him rack up high-level battles before the League. The meeting with the Unova Champion, in BW052, follows the same logic: the battle ends without a winner, and mainly serves to measure the gap he still has to close.

The Clubsplosion is also worth dwelling on, because it perfectly captures the spirit of the cycle. Four episodes for sixteen competitors means battles shown in full rather than summarized, strategies explained, and real room given to the supporting characters. The long format is the true signature of Black & White: the series fully embraces telling tournaments for their own sake, not just as stepping stones toward the League.

🏆 Sixteen participants in the Clubsplosion, four episodes to settle it: the day you head off to fly your colors at your own tournament, all your gear fits in our Pokémon sports bags.

A team that bulks up

Ash's team enters the season with Pikachu, Oshawott, Tepig, Snivy, Swadloon and Roggenrola, and comes out of it profoundly transformed. Five evolutions take place on Ash's side: Roggenrola becomes Boldore, Swadloon becomes Leavanny, his Tranquill becomes Unfezant, Tepig becomes Pignite, and his Krokorok becomes Krookodile.

That last recruit deserves a closer look. Ash catches the Pokémon as a Krokorok in BW065, an episode built around a little bully, before it evolves into Krookodile. It's the last and hardest-hitting addition to his Unova team, and it will carry a lot of weight in the rest of the cycle.

By the end of the season, his group is made up of Pikachu, Unfezant, Oshawott, Pignite, Snivy and Krookodile, with Scraggy, Leavanny, Palpitoad and Boldore used in rotation. No Pokémon from the older regions returns to his team: the rule set by season 14 holds all the way to the end.

The season is also full of one-episode Pokémon that leave a mark: a lone Deino in BW056, a troupe of Maractus putting on a show in BW053, the four seasonal forms of Sawsbuck in BW054, or the territory of the Bouffalant in BW066. That's where the Black & White cycle is at its most endearing, far from the race for badges.

The Forces of Nature and the Meloetta arc

Season 15 is where the cycle finally brings out the legendary heavy artillery. A first two-parter, BW059 and BW060, features the Forces of Nature — Tornadus, Thundurus and Landorus — which Team Rocket is already trying to get its hands on. The attempt fails, but it sets the stage for the finale.

The real common thread lies elsewhere: it's Meloetta, a Pokémon whose song holds considerable power. BW085 kicks off its arc, which wraps up in the last two episodes of the season, BW096 and BW097. Team Rocket captures Meloetta in an undersea temple, and Giovanni comes to oversee the operation in person, backed by a scientist, Dr. Zager.

The group arrives too late. Meloetta, under the sway of a magic mirror, summons the Forces of Nature, which Giovanni turns against the region: Unova is ravaged. On top of that, the mirror begins to corrupt Giovanni's own heart. It's by far the most elaborate scheme the organization has ever carried out in the series, and one of the very rare times its boss goes into the field himself.

The climax is spectacular and costly. Pikachu unleashes a giant Electro Ball attack that destroys much of the site, while the Rocket trio shatters the mirror themselves to save their boss. The organization then heads back to Kanto. Meloetta's song finally soothes the anger of the three legendaries, which repair the damage before the group says goodbye to the Pokémon and its protector, Ridley. The full story of the organization is covered in the feature devoted to Team Rocket.

Unova on a grand scale

The season makes far broader use of the Unova map than the previous one, and the feature Pokémon Black and White helps you spot the game locations behind the backdrops. The group passes through Chargestone Cave, ruins of heroes, a victory tower, an island inhabited by Onix, a mountain with a guardian and an undersea temple.

This variety of settings is the cycle's main visual asset. Where the Diamond & Pearl series strung together routes and towns, Black & White alternates between extreme environments and urban interiors, right up to a movie set in BW082. The overview of the regions of the Pokémon world lets you compare Unova with the franchise's other settings.

Several episodes also work like small standalone movies. BW064 explores ruins of heroes, BW075 and BW076 form a two-parter built around a restoration job, and BW078 revolves around a mountain guardian who needs saving. These breathers are the essential counterpoint to the tournaments: without them, a season that lines up five Gyms and two competitions would quickly become mechanical. The Black & White cycle has often been criticized for its pacing, and it's precisely in these episodes that it makes its best case.

The season also revives a device the series holds dear: reunions. Besides Dawn, Cynthia makes a comeback this season, and BW086 stages a meeting between the Pokémon of the two groups. These bridge episodes are what tie the Black & White cycle to the rest of the series, after a season 14 that had cut every tie.

🧩 Chargestone Cave, ruins of heroes, an undersea temple: this variety of settings is the cycle's main visual asset. And a Pokémon landscape looks different when you rebuild it piece by piece on your table, which is exactly what you get to do with our Pokémon puzzles.

Season 15 in France

In France, season 15 aired on Gulli starting April 18, 2012, and the broadcast stretched until February 13, 2013. That was a notable change of channel from the previous season, which had mostly aired on Disney XD, and a broadcast much closer to the Japanese schedule: a gap of about seven months for the first episode.

The season's French theme song is "Destinées Rivales" ("Rival Destinies"), used as the opening and reprised in an instrumental version over the end credits. The series is full of musical nods: an instrumental version of the theme song comes back in five of the season's episodes, and BW053 goes as far as reusing the season 14 theme song as an insert song.

One rare detail is worth pointing out: in BW082, the episode about moviemaking, you can hear an instrumental version of the French song "Ta bonne étoile", a theme from another era of the series. These reuses are part of the cycle's sonic signature.

Like seasons 13 and 14, this season has never had a DVD release in France. In France, it exists only through its TV broadcasts and online releases.

What season 15 leaves for the next one

Season 15 delivers on its promise: it makes Ash League-ready. Eight badges, a complete and beefed-up team, two high-level tournaments as training, and a Team Rocket whose ambition was pushed to the max before being shattered. Everything is ready for the Unova League, which will take up season 16.

It also closes, almost quietly, Team Rocket's big arc in the cycle. After the failure at the undersea temple, the trio goes back to Kanto and the unusual seriousness that had defined them since season 14 fades away. It marks the end of a writing experiment the series has never attempted again on the same scale.

Finally, the movie tied to this period is the franchise's fifteenth feature film, centered on Kyurem and Keldeo, and the guide to the Pokémon movies puts it in its place in the timeline. Movies thus keep drawing on the Unova legendaries that the TV series only touches on sparingly.

Season 15 at a glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Where does season 15 fit in the Pokémon series?
  Season 15, titled Pokémon: Black & White: Rival Destinies in English (Pokémon: Noir & Blanc - Destinées Rivales in French), is the second season of cycle 4, the Black & White cycle. It follows season 14, Black & White, and precedes season 16, Black & White: Adventures in Unova and Beyond. It has 49 episodes, numbered BW049 to BW097, and covers the end of the Unova badge quest.
• Who travels with Ash in season 15?
  Ash travels with Iris and Cilan, as in season 14. Dawn, his traveling companion from the Diamond & Pearl series, exceptionally rejoins the group from BW085 to BW093, with her full Sinnoh team. So she isn't a permanent companion this season, but a guest for a nine-episode arc built around the Junior Cup.
• How many badges does Ash earn in season 15?
  Five, which brings his Unova total to eight and qualifies him for the League. He beats Elesa at the Nimbasa City Gym in BW050, the Gym Leader nicknamed the King of the Mines in BW061, the Gym Leader of the aerial battle in BW068 and the Icirrus City Gym in BW079, and finally wins the rock 'n' roll Gym battle spread over BW083 and BW084. He wins all five on the first try.
• Does Ash win a tournament in season 15?
  No. The season features two major tournaments and Ash wins neither. The Clubsplosion tournament, from BW070 to BW073, brings together sixteen participants. The Pokémon World Tournament Junior Cup, from BW090 to BW093, is won by Trip, Ash's rival in Unova. His battle against the Unova Champion, in BW052, also ends without a winner.
• How does season 15 end?
  With a two-part episode, BW096 and BW097. Team Rocket captures Meloetta in an undersea temple, and Giovanni oversees the operation on site with the help of Dr. Zager. Meloetta, under the sway of a magic mirror, summons the Forces of Nature, which Giovanni turns against Unova. Pikachu unleashes a gigantic Electro Ball, the Rocket trio shatters the mirror to save their boss, and then Meloetta's song calms the legendaries, which repair the damage.
• Were any season 15 episodes canceled in Japan?
  No. The two episodes pulled from the schedule after the March 2011 Tōhoku earthquake belonged to season 14 and never aired. Season 15, whose Japanese broadcast began in September 2011, aired in full, from BW049 to BW097.
• When did season 15 air in France?
  Season 15 aired on Gulli starting April 18, 2012, and the broadcast continued until February 13, 2013. Like seasons 13 and 14, it has never had a DVD release in France.

In short