"I've gotta work out more often."
—Meowth
Japanese Title: The Worst Luck? Eureka VS Nyarth!!
Original Airdate: May 7, 2015
US Airdate: July 11, 2015
The twerps and Team Rocket scatter when they are attacked by several Pangoro, and they end up in six atypical groups trying to get back together, and find out why the Pangoro are on the rampage in the first place.
This episode contains examples of the following tropes:
- Alone with the Psycho: Bonnie stuck with Meowth, albeit with a bit of comical pity on Meowth's side.
- Aside Glance: While Clemont is going over his latest invention with Bunnelby and Pikachu, Braixen is looking toward the camera skeptically. It's like she knows we know exactly how this is going to end.
- Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: Played with. After everything his actions put them through concerning the Pangoro, the heroes make clear they're perfectly fine throwing Meowth to the lions, but as they start, Jessie and James appear and accidentally expose themselves via their motto (along with Meowth).
- Badly Battered Babysitter: Once more, as if we aren't clear already: Meowth and Bonnie have to look out for each other since they're stuck together, and Meowth gets the brunt of all the suffering. At one point, Meowth was struggling to carry her around when Bonnie got knocked out. One of the most iconic scenes of the episode is Meowth shouting at Bonnie in frustration while she looks away with a face that's painfully obvious she was trolling him.
- Chained Heat: Meowth, for a second time in the series, ends up strapped to the one of the heroes by a vine.
- Didn't Think This Through: At one point Bonnie commands Dedenne to electrocute Meowth when they argue...while they are still closely tied to each other. A charred and exacerbated Bonnie and Meowth decide to just sit quiet for a while.
- Dirty Coward: A soliloquy makes clear Meowth is willing to use Bonnie as a distraction if they are attacked again. He doesn’t though.
- Do with Him as You Will: After finding out Meowth is responsible for the rampaging Pangoro and won't make amends, Serena tells the Pangoro exactly who is responsible and makes perfectly clear Meowth will be dealing with them on his own.
- Empathy Pet: Clemont whips up an invention to try to find Ash, Serena and Bonnie. With only Pikachu and Braixen with him (along with his own Bunnelby), the Pokémon act like their respective masters would: Bunnelby watches intently, Pikachu geeks out, while Braixen looks skeptical.
- Face Fault: When Clembot says that his invention can’t detect whether the target is a human or a Pokémon, this is Braixen, Bunnelby, & Pikachu’s reactions.
- Growling Gut: Bonnie, Meowth, and Dedenne's stomachs all growl from hunger as they wander around the forest looking for food.
- Here We Go Again!: This is the third time (in just this series, way more otherwise) the team has scattered and Meowth has gotten stuck with one of the twerps.
- It's All About Me: Meowth is able to find the two a berry, and annoys Bonnie by instantly having it all to himself.
- Party Scattering: Here's how the twerps and Team Rocket are split up:
- The (Japanese) title group: Bonnie, Dedenne, and Meowth
- Ash only has Pancham with him
- Serena has Frogadier and Chespin with her
- Clemont has Pikachu, Bunnelby, and Braixen
- Jessie and James are stuck without Meowth
- Luxray, Hawlucha, and Fletchinder are alone with no trainers
- Pet the Dog: Despite this, Meowth does try to play nice with Bonnie for most of their time stuck together, even helping Dedenne revive her after she gets affected by Spore. He even lets Dedenne take full credit afterwards. He never betrays this and actually admit he’s happy to see her back with her friends.
- Properly Paranoid: Bonnie lampshades Meowth's tendencies to try and dupe the heroes into getting captured by Team Rocket.
- Reflexive Response: When Jessie and James start the motto just as the Pangoro have figured out they are the culprits, Meowth gets "caught in the moment" and joins in, revealing his own involvement and earning him a blasting off as well.
- Running Gag: As usual, Clemont's invention goes awry, but not in the usual Made of Explodium fashion. In this case, it leads the Pangoro antagonists right to his faction of the scattered party.
- Running Gagged: This thus far exists as the final case in the show where Meowth plays Fake Defector when stuck with the twerps. The latter repeatedly exchange dry skepticism and Lampshading over past ordeals, and the episode actually ends with them preemptively double crossing him to the Pangoro when it becomes blindingly obvious he's up to no good again, making it clear Meowth has dug this scheme into the ground by now even for their standard.
- Spoiler Opening: Noibat debuts in the Japanese opening, five episodes before its first apperance.
- The Stool Pigeon: After realising what made the Pangoro angry, the heroes quickly blab on Team Rocket with Meowth in full view. In their defence while Serena did give him up with no remorse Ash at least pointed out he could have likely just apologised for taking the fruit and got out of it.
