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| Season | Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon – Ultra Adventures (Season 21) · Nebby & the Aether Foundation arc (SM044–SM049) |
| Episode | Season 21, episode 3 · English episode 981 · Japanese episode 986 · Bulbapedia code SM046 |
| English title | Deceiving Appearances! |
| Japanese title | 変身メタモン、探すんだモン！ Henshin Metamon, Sagasunda-mon! — “The Shapeshifting Metamon, Find that ‘mon!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 19 October 2017 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 26 March 2018 · Disney XD |
| Screenplay | Ayumi Sekine |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Arōra!! (Alola!!) – Satoshi (Rica Matsumoto) with Pikachu (Ikue Ōtani) · Pōzu (Pose) – Taiiku Okazaki |
| English opening | Under the Alolan Moon – Haven Paschall and Ben Dixon |
| Who’s That Pokémon? | Ditto (US) |
| Previous episode | Now You See Them, Now You Don’t! (SM045) |
| Next episode | A Masked Warning! (SM047) |
Plot episodeAether Paradise tourFaba hires Team Rocket
Deceiving Appearances! is the 3rd episode of Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon – Ultra Adventures, the twenty-first season of the Pokémon anime, and the 981st episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 986, Bulbapedia code SM046). It first aired in Japan on 19 October 2017 and in the United States on 26 March 2018. It falls within the season’s Nebby & the Aether Foundation stretch (EP44–EP49).
Premiered on Monday 26 March 2018, the third day of the launch week in which Disney XD premiered a new episode every day from 24 to 31 March 2018.
Synopsis
Ash and his classmates tour Aether Paradise, the Aether Foundation’s artificial conservation island, and help catch a runaway Ditto while Team Rocket, secretly hired by Faba, snoop around the Foundation’s restricted laboratories. The class arrives by boat and is greeted by Wicke, Faba and three suspiciously familiar new employees. Faba irritates Lillie and reaches for Nebby, which teleports out of his grasp. The new staff are Team Rocket: Faba hired them after taking an interest in their talking Meowth, and the trio now plan to steal every Pokémon in the facility, Pikachu and Nebby included. Lusamine welcomes the visitors to her home, but a phone call interrupts her, and Team Rocket must serve the guests their meal. When another call cuts short Lusamine’s chat with Lillie, Lillie decides to lead the tour herself, with Faba, Wicke and the disguised trio tagging along.
In the vast conservation area, the group marvels at the number and variety of protected Pokémon, and Professor Burnet surfaces from the water with her Munchlax after checking on the aquatic Pokémon. Wicke and Burnet explain the Foundation’s history as the tour continues, while Nebby slips out of Ash’s backpack. The group reaches a separate building where Ditto are kept apart so they cannot copy the other Pokémon, and the students help Burnet give them their vaccinations. The last Ditto, however, jumps out of Lillie’s hands and escapes outside. Meanwhile Team Rocket, still convinced that Nebby is a baby Koffing, drag a huge bag of garbage around as bait, which disgusts Faba when he arrives to report the escape. Lillie apologises for letting the Ditto go.
The group realises that the Ditto must have transformed, and soon they find a second Rotom Pokédex, which proves the point before the impostor slips away among the other Pokémon. Remembering that this Ditto keeps its distinctive dot eyes in any form, they hunt for them and corner it as a Psyduck; it turns into Snowy, and Ash catches it before it can change again. The Ditto finally gets its vaccination while Wicke and Burnet describe the Foundation’s goals. Lusamine teases Lillie about the capture before another call pulls her away, and Faba leaves worried that Lillie may recover her memories. Searching for Nebby, Team Rocket wander through an open door into a laboratory full of images of Type: Null and files on Ultra Beasts, where Nebby appears and vanishes again. Faba catches them, and everyone agrees to say nothing.
Major Events
- Aether Paradise. The class tours Aether Paradise
- Faba has hired Team Rocket as employees
- An escaped Ditto is caught
- Team Rocket find files on Type: Null and the Ultra Beasts
- The first episode with music from Volcanion and the Mechanical Marvel
- The first West Sea Shellos since DP136
Trivia
- The screenplay is by Ayumi Sekine.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Alola storyline.
Changes in the English Dub
- The first episode with music from Volcanion and the Mechanical Marvel
Part of our Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon – Ultra Adventures guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.