Team Rocket gets an unexpected treat when Giovanni has Delibird send them lunch...and all their old Pokémon! With a full team, they now have a plan to finally capture Pikachu once and for all, but can it work? Or will their bad luck strike once more?
Rocket Revengers, Time to Steal Those Tropes!
- Beyond the Impossible: Latias' Psychic isn't supposed to work on Dark-Types like Morpeko and Inkay, but she still grasps them with the rest of Team Rocket, pissed beyond belief at them trying to steal Ash's Pokémon so cruelly.
- Bowdlerise: The maracas Brock uses with Ludicolo when he orders it to use Teeter Dance are airbrushed out in the English Dub for some reason.
- The Bus Came Back:
- All of Team Rocket's old Pokémon they sent to headquarters (Seviper, Yanmega, Frillish, Woobat, Gorgeist, Carnivine, Mime Jr., Inkay, Yamask, and Amoongus) are sent to the Trio to rejoin them, Morpeko is seen for the first time since the main series ended, while Ash brings Hawlucha and Infernape back onto his team. Brock is shown to have his Ludicolo again, while Misty uses her Staryu once more.
- Team Rocket's old Delibird makes a cameo dropping off the team's old Pokémon, marking its first appearance in decades.
- Call-Back:
- With their old Pokémon back on hand, Team Rocket recalls the ones no longer with them: the released Arbok, Weezing, Victreebel, and Dustox, the traded Lickitung, the Chimecho left in James' grandparents' care, the Cacnea in training, and the Mareanie and Mimikyu under Bewear's care.
- Carnivine is still fond of chomping on James' head, and Mime Jr. continues to mimic his every movement.
- Mime Jr. pulling a Fake Defector scheme on the twerps is like the one Meowth pulled in Black and White.
- Brock is Poisoned Jabbed by Croagunk and has his ear grabbed by Misty again while he's daydreaming of seeing Jenny, which leads him to plead that he's allowed to dream. He did complain the same of Croagunk doing the same thing while he was dreaming back on Diamond and Pearl.
- In the Japanese Dub, Brock uses maracas while performing Teeter Dance with Ludicolo, like he would frequently do on Advanced Generation.
- Chekhov's Gun: While running from Team Rocket, Pikachu passes a tree with a Slakoth in it, which Hawlucha and Infernape pass by as well. That tree gets taken out by the Mirror Coated combined blast of all of Team Rocket's Pokémon's attacks, which leads Ash to rescue the Slakoth inside and leads Latias to reveal herself.
- Combination Attack: Team Rocket's Pokémon mix their attacks and blast it at Pikachu, but Ash gets him out of the way, landing the attack right at their masters! Wobbuffet uses Mirror Coat, but he blasts it into a tree where a Slakoth is sleeping. Ash rescues it, resulting in Latias revealing herself.
- Continuity Nod: Misty and Brock bring up how Ash told them about the Latias he saved before reuniting with them.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: When Latias reveals herself, she sends Team Rocket blasting off again with a powerful Psychic.
- Epic Fail: Yamask throws its mask onto Psyduck, sending him into a panic and barreling Staryu over.
- Fake Defector: Mime Jr. pretends it was trying to turn Team Rocket over to Officer Jenny so it could split the group up and leave Pikachu vulnerable for an ambush.
- The Fellowship Has Ended: Team Rocket declares their partnership over after their latest scheme fails, and walk away.
- Internal Deconstruction: After spending the entire series trying to steal Ash's Pikachu, Team Rocket finally decides to stop fooling around this time and pull out all the stops with every Pokémon they have in their arsenal, doing everything they can to run Ash and his team ragged and limit every possible option he has available. And, in the end... They fail, yet again. This time however, instead of taking it on the chin, they end up EXPLODING due to the fact that their magnum opus plan failed due to something they had no clue would happen and felt like it came out of the complete blue. Turning on each other for the others perceived faults, and realizing all their efforts have been a colossal waste of time and resources, the trio goes their disgruntled separate ways. The final episode of the series would reconstruct it, however.
- Internal Reveal: Latias reveals herself to the heroes and that she's been following Ash since he rescued her.
- Involuntary Group Split: To get Mime Jr. to Officer Jenny, the heroes are forced to fend off Team Rocket's separate attack groups, leaving Pikachu at the villain's mercy.
- Near-Villain Victory: Despite their failure, Team Rocket came very close to catching Pikachu, mainly failing due to Latias's interference, both in sending a telepathic warning to Ash and sending Team Rocket blasting off.
- Never My Fault: Once their scheme is foiled, Team Rocket lays into each other by blaming their screwups for this latest failure. It doesn't click that they were all at fault for failing to realize that no matter what they tried, they were never going to succeed in stealing Pikachu after having failed to do so for so long.
- Never Trust a Trailer: The sneak preview for the episode implied Team Rocket was going go get all their Pokémon back, but they only get the ones they never released or sent away for care/training.
- Non-Action Guy: Morpeko (because The Snack Is More Interesting) and Mime Jr (the distraction) don't actually battle this episode.
- Oh, Crap!: As Jessie, James, and Meowth lay into each other for the plan's failure, Wobbuffet and the other Pokémon look on with worried expressions.
- Only Sane Man: Pikachu is the only one who thinks something is up with Mime Jr. showing up out of the blue claiming to be on the run, but even he falls for it in the end just because Ash convinces him to try and help.
- Pet the Dog: Giovanni has Delibird bring the starving Team Rocket a boxed lunch, and then surprises them by reuniting the whole group with their old Pokémon they still have access to.
- Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure: Towards the end of the series run, and their time as the lead villains, Team Rocket gets into a major fight when Latias spoils their latest scheme to catch Pikachu, blame each other for its failure, and walk away.
- The Reveal: Latias is following Ash because she thinks he can help rescue her brother, Latios, who's being targeted by a mysterious force.
- Scissors Cuts Rock: Latias uses Psychic on all of Team Rocket, but this includes two Dark Types — Morpeko and Inkay — when it shouldn't affect them at all.
- Spanner in the Works: Latias spoils Team Rocket's scheme to steal Pikachu, having been following Ash and deciding to intervene.
- Stock Sound Effects: Unshō Ishizuka's archive clips are used for James's Amoongus and Weezing.
- To Absent Friends: Jessie and James reminisce about the Pokémon they no longer have, including Weezing, Arbok, Victreebel, Lickitung, Dustox, Chimeco, Cacnea, Mareanie, and Mimikyu.
- Wham Shot: Latias telepathically communicates with Ash and the others to show why she's been following him; her brother Latios is in terrible danger!
