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| Season | Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon (Season 20) · School life, Gladion & Team Skull arc (SM023–SM030) |
| Episode | Season 20, episode 25 · English episode 960 · Japanese episode 965 · Bulbapedia code SM025 |
| English title | A Team-on-Team Tussle! |
| Japanese title | クリスタル争奪戦！ロケット団対スカル団！！ Kurisutaru Sōdatsusen! Roketto-dan Tai Sukaru-dan!! — “Fighting for a Crystal! Rocket-dan VS Skull-dan!!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 4 May 2017 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 29 July 2017 · Disney XD |
| Screenplay | Atsuhiro Tomioka |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Alola!! – Satoshi (Rica Matsumoto) with Pikachu (Ikue Ōtani) · Pōzu (Pose) – Taiiku Okazaki |
| English opening | Under the Alolan Sun – Jannel Candrice and The Sad Truth (featuring Ben Dixon and the Vestigial Horns) |
| Who’s That Pokémon? | Raticate (Alola Form) (US) |
| Previous episode | Alolan Open House! (SM024) |
| Next episode | So Long, Sophocles! (SM026) |
Plot episodeTeam Rocket meet Team SkullDarkinium Z
A Team-on-Team Tussle! is the 25th episode of Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon, the twentieth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 960th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 965, Bulbapedia code SM025). It first aired in Japan on 4 May 2017 and in the United States on 29 July 2017. It falls within the season’s School life, Gladion & Team Skull stretch (EP23–EP30).
Synopsis
Team Rocket learn about Z-Moves and clash with Team Skull over a Darkinium Z guarded by a Totem Raticate, and Meowth ends up with the crystal. In class Professor Kukui teaches about Z-Moves with demonstrations by Ash and Kiawe, as Pikachu unleashes Gigavolt Havoc and Turtonator Inferno Overdrive. Watching from the balcony, Team Rocket are deeply impressed. At their hideout James reports that a Z-Move needs a Z-Crystal and a Z-Ring, and Meowth imagines blasting the twerps away, so James modifies a Dowsing Machine, which detects a Z-Crystal, and the trio set out. Meanwhile, in class, Kukui shows replica Z-Crystals while Rotom sings out their types, and explains that a Z-Move depends on the type of the move, not the user, so Pikachu could, for instance, use a Steelium Z with Iron Tail.
Team Rocket find a Darkinium Z on a rock formation, but a horde of Alolan Rattata and Raticate led by a Totem Raticate blocks the way; the Totem smashes James’s device, and the trio retreat. Tupp, Zipp and Rapp are foraging nearby when Team Rocket run past with the Totem behind them, and its Hyper Beam sends the grunts diving into the bushes, where they decide to capture it. Both teams reach the rock from opposite sides and meet face to face for the first time. Team Rocket recite their motto to an unimpressed Team Skull, Rapp fawns over Meowth to Jessie’s irritation, and Team Skull have never even heard of the Kanto region. Then the Totem’s tail sends both teams flying, and they agree to compete for the crystal, with the losers working for the winners.
Team Rocket’s Berry trap catches every Rattata and Raticate except the Totem. Mareanie’s Spike Cannon barely scratches it, Garbodor’s Venoshock and Zubat’s Supersonic fail, and its tail and Tackle send attackers flying. Tupp climbs the rock with his Salandit while Jessie sends out Mimikyu, which is knocked into the bushes as Mareanie and Meowth are thrown towards Rapp, and Jessie and James break off the chase to help Meowth. Tupp grabs the Darkinium Z just as Mimikyu defeats the Totem, but the freed Rattata and Raticate bite him, and the crystal flies from his hands and lands on Meowth’s head. Meowth claims it, Bewear scoops up Team Rocket, and Zipp and Rapp retreat. After school Ash and Lana practise Z-Move poses, while Meowth poses with a homemade Z-Ring and the Darkinium Z, only for nothing to happen.
Major Events
- Team Rocket meet Team Skull. Team Rocket learn about Z-Moves
- The first meeting of Team Rocket and Team Skull
- A Totem Alolan Raticate guards a Darkinium Z, which Meowth keeps
Trivia
- The screenplay is by Atsuhiro Tomioka.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Alola storyline.
Changes in the English Dub
- The Inferno Overdrive and Gigavolt Havoc captions are removed
- Rotom only recites the Z-Crystal names that it sings to Pose in Japanese
- Rotom sings part of Pose in Japanese
Part of our Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.