Strong and Reliable Friends

	Special Kick-Start Event Strong and Reliable Friends; 特別スターターイベント即戦力の頼れる仲間たち Special Starter Event Reliable Combat-Ready Companions
	; Event notification image
Type	Special collaboration event
First run	February 26 to April 30, 2025
Featured sync pairs	Iono & Kilowattrel; Steven & Skarmory; Marnie & Liepard

Strong and Reliable Friends (Japanese: 即戦力の頼れる仲間たち Reliable Combat-Ready Companions), sometimes prefixed with Special Kick-Start Event (Japanese: 特別スターターイベント Special Starter Event), was a special collaboration event in Pokémon Masters EX with the Pokémon Trading Card Game. It was focused on the sync pairs Iono & Kilowattrel, Steven & Skarmory, and Marnie & Liepard.

During this event, players could complete a series of story areas and battles that allowed them to team up with Iono & Kilowattrel, Steven & Skarmory, and Marnie & Liepard, raise their move levels to 3, and upgrade them to 6★ EX. These three sync pairs each corresponded to a recently released TCG card: Iono's Kilowattrel, Steven's Skarmory, and Marnie's Liepard.

In addition, three variety scouts were also available at different times during this event. The "Special Collaboration Hop Variety Scout" gave players an increased chance of recruiting Hop & Zacian from the beginning of the event to March 12, 2025. The "Special Collaboration Ethan Variety Scout" gave players an increased chance of recruiting Ethan & Ho-Oh from March 14 to 28, 2025. The "Special Collaboration Cynthia Variety Scout" gave players an increased chance of recruiting Cynthia & Spiritomb from April 10 to 24, 2025. These three sync pairs also corresponded to recently released TCG cards: Hop's Zacian ex, Ethan's Ho-Oh ex, and Cynthia's Spiritomb.

Plot

In the Pokémon Center, the player meets Marnie, Steven, and Iono, who want to explain the basics of Pokémon battling on Pasio. Steven explains that a team consists of three sync pairs, and Marnie says that it's important to know who's good at what to make a balanced team. Iono informs the player that they'll be teaming up with the three of them, then explains what strike sync pairs are good at. Steven explains what support sync pairs are good at, and finally Marnie explains what tech sync pairs are good at.

Area info

Area name	Unlock condition	Completion rewards
A Team of Three	Available from start	Gems ×50 Strike Sync Pairs
Strike Sync Pairs	Complete A Team of Three	Gems ×50 Support Sync Pairs Iono & Kilowattrel
Support Sync Pairs	Complete Strike Sync Pairs	Gems ×50 Tech Sync Pairs Steven & Skarmory
Tech Sync Pairs	Complete Support Sync Pairs	Gems ×50 Raise Move Levels! Marnie & Liepard

Battles

Name	Difficulty	Team	Trainer	Pokémon			Stamina	First-Time Rewards	Completion Rewards
Name	Difficulty	Team	Trainer	Left	Middle	Right	Stamina	First-Time Rewards	Completion Rewards
Raise Move Levels!	Super Hard	Set	Collector Ed	Milotic Weakness:	Gholdengo Weakness:	Corviknight Weakness:	20	Gems ×100 Unlock Grids! 5★ Custom Move Candy ×2 (Iono & Kilowattrel) 5★ Custom Move Candy ×2 (Steven & Skarmory) 5★ Custom Move Candy ×2 (Marnie & Liepard)	1,500 coins
Unlock Grids!	Super Hard						20	Gems ×100 Prepare for 6★ EX Power-Ups! Sync Orb ×750 (Iono & Kilowattrel) Sync Orb ×750 (Steven & Skarmory) Sync Orb ×750 (Marnie & Liepard)	1,500 coins
Prepare for 6★ EX Power-Ups!	Super Hard						20	Gems ×100 Test Your Skills with Me! Custom ★ Power-Up ×20 (Iono & Kilowattrel) Custom ★ Power-Up ×20 (Steven & Skarmory) Custom ★ Power-Up ×20 (Marnie & Liepard)	1,500 coins
Test Your Skills with Me!	Super Hard		Blue	Pidgeot Weakness:	Exeggutor Weakness:	Gyarados Weakness:	20	Gems ×100 This Is It! Time for an All-Out Battle!	1,500 coins
This Is It! Time for an All-Out Battle!	Ultra Hard		Blue	Pidgeot Weakness:	Exeggutor Weakness:	Gyarados Weakness:	30	Gems ×100	2,000 coins

Set teams

The levels, potential, and theme skill levels of the sync pairs in the set team are equal to those of the player's sync pairs.

Set team (all battles)
Left		Center		Right
Marnie & Liepard		Iono & Kilowattrel		Steven & Skarmory
5★	Lv. 140	5★	Lv. 140	5★	Lv. 140
Tactics
2		3		1
Moves
Snarl Thunder Wave Fake Tears Goin' All Out!		Discharge Dire Hit + Thunder Gimme Some Cheers!		Metal Claw Potion X Defense All Let's Do This!
Sync move
Hard-Trained Favorite Dark Beam		Flyin' High Electric Beam		Tempered Armor Steel Impact
Skills
Team Fast-Track 9 Dirty Sync 5 Piercing Gaze		Hit the Gas 5 Rejuvenate 6 Piercing Gaze		Endurance Natural Remedy Quick Cure
Theme Skills
Dark Lv. 1 Galar Lv. 1 Rival Lv. 1 Pigtails Lv. 1 Fancy Lady Lv. 1		Electric Lv. 1 Paldea Lv. 1 Gym Leader Lv. 1 Artistic Lv. 1 Free Spirit Lv. 1		Steel Lv. 1 Hoenn Lv. 1 Champion Lv. 1 Rock Lover Lv. 1 Space Cadet Lv. 1

Gallery

Event banner

Music

Situation	Song key	Song name	Arrangement
In menu	No. 00004	Adventure Awaits	Unknown
During battle (Raise Move Levels!, Unlock Grids!, Prepare for 6★ EX Power-Ups!)	No. 00017	Battle! (Sync Pair)	Shota Kageyama
During battle (Test Your Skills with Me!, This Is It! Time for an All-Out Battle!)	No. 01002	Battle! (Blue) (Pokémon Masters EX Version)	Haruki Yamada (ATTIC INC.)
A Team of Three From start Strike Sync Pairs From start Support Sync Pairs From start Tech Sync Pairs From start	—	Pokémon Center (Pokémon Masters EX Version)	Unknown
Song names without a song key listed are unofficial, as they have not been added to the Jukebox.

Script

A Team of Three

Name	Text
(Pokémon Center; Marnie, Iono, and Steven are with their Pokémon and wave at the player)
Marnie	Pasio Pokémon battle basics! The first thing you should know is they're three-on-three team battles!
Steven	So if you want to battle, you need three sync pairs to form a team!
Marnie	The trick is to understand who's good at what—and to put together a balanced team!
Iono	And! So! This is how it's gonna go down! First things firstly! For your big Pasio Pokémon battle debut, we're gonna have you team up with US!
If you're new to battling, focus on putting together teams that have a strike, tech, and support sync pair! In this event, you can team up with one sync pair per role and test them out in battle!

Strike Sync Pairs

Name

Text

(Pokémon Center; Iono faces the player with Kilowattrel behind her)

Iono

I'm first, so lemme explain my role! I'm a strike sync pair!
Strike sync pairs are gonna be the hard-hitting core of your offensive game!
We fly high like a Wattrel and hit 'em hard with our attacks!
Buuuut...we're also fragile when it comes to defense... Oh noes...
That's why you gotta get ANOTHER sync pair to take those attacks for ya! Ya feel me?
Tactics—the order in which your opponents target you—is gonna be your sweet key to victory! File that piece of wisdom into your brainspace!

Support Sync Pairs

Name	Text
(Pokémon Center; Steven faces the player with Skarmory behind him)
Steven	Next is me. I'll be talking about support sync pairs. We're good at strengthening allies and restoring HP, among other things. We know how to take a hit, so we're well-suited to being your opponents' first target! Let me take the damage from their attacks! We're super solid—and shine bright as the center of attention. So in a way, I suppose our role is similar to a gemstone's!

Tech Sync Pairs

Name	Text
(Pokémon Center; Marnie faces the player with Liepard behind her)
Marnie	Last but not least, let me tell you about tech sync pairs. We can do all sorts of things, like give opponents status conditions or lower their stats! So I guess we've a little somethin' to cover whatever the strike and support sync pairs can't. The tougher your opponents, the more you'll probably rely on pairs like us. No matter how tough they are, though, don't give up! I'm cheerin' for ya!

In other languages

Language		Title
Japanese		特別スターターイベント即戦力の頼れる仲間たち
Mandarin Chinese		特別起跑活動即戰力的可靠夥伴們
French		Évènement lancement spécial : Une amitié solide
German		Spez. Kickstarter-Event: Starke Freunde
Italian		Evento introduttivo speciale "Amici forti e affidabili"
Korean		특별 스타터 이벤트 바로 도움 되는 든든한 동료들
Spanish		Ev. especial de iniciación: Compis de confianza