Summary
Nurse Joy uses Mega Evolution in a non-combat manner to enhance Audino’s healing abilities. With the help of Professor Sycamore, Nurse Joy Mega Evolves Audino to defeat Team Rocket. This rare use of Mega Evolution showcases Nurse Joy’s surprising fighting skills and innovation in the world of Pokémon.
Mega Evolution in Pokémon is a beloved mechanic, however, it took Ash Ketchum a very long time before he acquired the ability to Mega Evolve a Pokémon, not learning how to do so until Pokémon Journeys. However, as a result, a familiar face actually used Mega Evolution before Ash, despite not usually being depicted as the fighting type.
In the Pokémon XYZ episode “Giga Battle with Big Results!”, Ash and his teammates came across a woman who fell into a crack and got stuck. After using Clemont’s machine to rescue her, she leads them back to the ambulance, where she reveals that she is actually the local Nurse Joy, who is searching for the Mega Stone she actually the found.
It’s interesting that Nurse Joy is trying to harness the power of Mega Evolution, usually just for combat, but her unusual partner, Audino, is actually a candidate for Mega Evolution.
Nurse Joy was able to use Mega Evolution before Ash
The Pokemon anime is produced by Studio OLM & based on the game series by Game Freak
Professor Sycamore, Kalos’ Mega Evolution expert, happened to be nearby with an emergency and was able to help analyze the Mega Stone that Nurse Joy found, confirming it to be Audinite, the item needed to Mega Evolve an Audino. Nurse Joy explains that she hopes the Mega Stone can enhance Audino’s healing abilities, giving Mega Evolution an interesting and rare use outside of combat. Of course, Team Rocket decided to attack at that point, breaking through the Pokémon Center’s wall and stealing many of the Pokémon stored there.
Faced with Team Rocket’s robot, which they call the “Giga Giga Meowth Machine”, Ash’s group has no Pokémon to fight other than Pikachu, who is also soon captured by the machine, along with Ash. That left only Nurse Joy and her Audino to fight them, and so Professor Sycamore gave Nurse Joy a Key stone and told her to Mega Evolve Audino.. Audino became Mega Audino and was led in battle by the incredibly capable Nurse Joy, who finished them off with a Heal Pulse so powerful that Team Rocket briefly got the better of them.
It’s unusual to see Nurse Joy commanding Pokémon in battle, and this is certainly the only occasion she uses Mega Evolution.
The mecha is soon destroyed and Team Rocket is blown up, leaving the victory to Nurse Joy and Audino. While it may just be Team Rocket, it’s rare to see Nurse Joy commanding Pokémon in battle, and this is certainly the only occasion she uses Mega Evolution. Interestingly, Mega Evolution could make Audino an even better assistant in the Pokémon Center, and the power of its Heal Pulse seems to suggest that it’s well-suited for that purpose.
Mega-Audino will become standard in Pokémon centers
Mega-Audino can help protect hubs from danger
If it weren’t for the rarity of Mega Stones, every Pokémon Center would benefit from keeping Audinite on hand for use in extreme situations–though strangely most Kalos Pokémon Centers use Wigglytuff instead because of Audino. The episode is certainly an unusual situation, with Nurse Joy saving the world rather than Ash and proving herself to be a more skilled trainer than anyone could have guessed. Few people expected Nurse Joy to be able to use Mega Evolution before Ash in Pokémon anime, but that’s exactly what happened.