Zebstika's first appearance was in "Oshawott's Lost Scalchop!" as a Blitzle battling against Ash's Oshawott twice. The first time it was called off due to Oshawott's Scalchop being lost, but the second time, it had to cope with a heavy rock scalchop made by Cilan's Dwebble. While that schalchop broke, Oshawott's training to cope with the new Scalchop made him much faster without it. In the end, Oshawott's uncontrollable Aqua Jet and Blitzle's Flame Charge are side to side, heading for a rock. However, Oshawott randomly veers to the side, which left Blitzle to crash into the rock.
It next battled against Ash's Palpitoad in "Strong Strategy Steals the Show!," and hit it with a Double Edge and crushed him with Stomp. Palpitoad then came back and did massive damage with Sludge Wave, and also poisoned Zebstrika. Zebstrika suffered, but fought back with Facade which did double the damage due to the poison. However, a second Facade is countered with Supersonic, causing Zebstrika to bash his head into a wall, and then scored a direct hit with Hydro Pump. After Zebsrika struck him hard with Giga Impact, Palpitoad fought back with Mud Shot, which knocked Zebstrika out. However, Mud Shot propelled Palpitoad backwards and crashed him into a wall, resulting in a double KO.