As Ash and company head towards the Battle Factory and May's contest in Saffron City, the party is ambushed by a Caterpie, who's trainer thinks the quartet are thieves that tried to break into his mentor's laboratory the previous night. Fortunately, they all prove their innocence, only for Team Rocket to show up and steal all of the professor's inventions inside. Caterpie intervenes once more, but one taste of a particularly powerful candy, and it ends up growing into a much larger version of itself in the process. As the heroes try their best to reign it in, Team Rocket gets the idea that the Professor may be of greater use to them.
- All Webbed Up: Zander mistake the twerps for thieves and has his Caterpie mummify all five of them neck to shins with String Shot. And then does it a second time until they're just a blob of string with heads sticking out.
- Amusing Injuries: Cacnea's habits of hugging its master get a bit more extreme when it grows into a giant, causing him to flatten James the moment he tries to embrace him.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Thanks to Professor Gordon's candy, Caterpie ends up growing into a giant. Since the candies are so effective at enhancing a Pokemon's power, it ends up evolving all the way into Butterfree in the same episode. Both Dustox and Cacnea also end up ingesting the candies, causing them to grow.
- Bungling Inventor: Professor Gordon. Some of his inventions do work, but they are far from perfect.
- Call-Back: Ash reacts with excitement when he sees Caterpie, no doubt reminding him of the one he first caught before it evolved.
- Out of Character: Brock is surprisingly more restrained in the presence of Officer Jenny, despite his Casanova Wannabe tendencies having become more prevalent in these years. Likewise, Cacnea doesn't try hugging James when he first pops out of his Pokeball.
- Shout-Out: Caterpie's temporary giant state and it evolving twice are no doubt an homage to Mothra
- Took a Level in Badass: Zander's Caterpie evolves twice in the same episode to become a Butterfree.
