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| Season | Pokémon Journeys: The Series (Season 23) · Climbing the ranks arc (JN019–JN024) |
| Episode | Season 23, episode 24 · English episode 1104 · Japanese episode 1110 · Bulbapedia code JN024 |
| English title | A Little Rocket R & R! |
| Japanese title | 休め！ロケット団！ Yasume! Roketto-dan! — “Take a Break! Rocket-dan!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 14 June 2020 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 11 September 2020 · Netflix |
| Screenplay | Akemi Omode |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Wan, Tsū, Surī (One, Two, Three) – After the Rain · Pokémon Shiritori (Mew → Zamazenta Ver.) – Pokémon Music Club |
| English opening | The Journey Starts Today – Walk off the Earth |
| Who’s That Pokémon? | Meowth (US) · Meowth (Japan) |
| Previous episode | Panic in the Park! (JN023) |
| Next episode | A Festival Reunion! (JN025) |
Plot episodeTeam Rocket’s holidayMatori Matrix
A Little Rocket R & R! is the 24th episode of Pokémon Journeys: The Series, the twenty-third season of the Pokémon anime, and the 1104th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 1110, Bulbapedia code JN024). It first aired in Japan on 14 June 2020 and in the United States on 11 September 2020. It falls within the season’s Climbing the ranks stretch (EP19–EP24).
The last episode of Netflix’s second batch (11 September 2020).
Synopsis
Ordered by Giovanni to take a vacation, Team Rocket end up at Sinnoh’s Resort Area alongside Ash and Goh, and when Matori’s elite unit steals Pikachu and the tourists’ Pokémon, the trio team up with the boys to stop her scheme while Goh catches a giant Magikarp. The trio are stunned when Matori, not Giovanni, tells them by video call to go on holiday. At the Cerise Laboratory, Ren tells the boys about a mysterious “Lord Pokémon” said to live in a lake at the Resort Area, and Goh is eager to catch it. In the resort, Ash and Goh walk past the vacationing Team Rocket without recognising them, and Goh even asks them for directions. James helps the boys choose fishing rods, and Jessie rescues Pikachu from a passing skateboarder, but the trio walk away, shaken by how close they came to grabbing Pikachu while under orders to rest. Meanwhile Matori briefs her elite unit, the Matori Matrix, on Giovanni’s plans for world domination and orders them to steal tourists’ Pokémon.
At the lake Goh catches a Goldeen and the Magikarp that Ash hooks, and then something heavy bites on his Octillery lure; Ash and the disguised trio help him haul up a giant Magikarp. It swats away his first ball, so Goh sends out Oddish, puts it to sleep with Sleep Powder and catches it, thanking his helpers, who hurry away before he recognises them. Explosions then erupt in town as the Matori Matrix make off with stolen Pokémon, and Team Rocket are furious to have been left out. Raboot, Pikachu and Riolu face four Grunt Pokémon—Rhyperior, Purugly, Toxicroak and Skuntank—but Sludge Bomb poisons Pikachu, Fury Swipes and Stone Edge knock back Riolu and Raboot, and a Flamethrower cuts Pikachu off from Ash so that a Grunt can snatch him. The Matrix escape behind smoke bombs just before Officer Jenny arrives.
At the Pokémon Center, the trio, bent on revenge, offer to help—secretly planning to keep the Pokémon for themselves—and James reveals that he planted a tracker on a Grunt’s Skuntank. While Goh creates a distraction, Ash and James sneak to the cages, James picks the lock, and Ash cures Pikachu’s poison with a Pecha Berry; the giant Magikarp’s Splash sends the guards flying. Matori arrives with two agents, James slipping out of sight, but Pikachu’s Iron Tail exhausts Purugly and the freed Pokémon overwhelm the Grunts. A Stone Edge barrier covers the Matrix’s escape by helicopter before Jenny can arrest them. When Goh asks his helpers’ names, Jessie starts the motto until James and Meowth drag her away. Back at their base, an exhausted Matori tells the trio that normal missions will resume, and Jessie suggests that she take a break herself. At the Cerise Laboratory the giant Magikarp leaps through the park’s glass dome and drenches everyone.
Major Events
- Team Rocket on holiday. Team Rocket are ordered on vacation and visit Sinnoh’s Resort Area
- Goh catches a Goldeen, a Magikarp and a giant Magikarp
- Ash and Goh meet Matori and the Matori Matrix, who steal Pikachu and tourists’ Pokémon
- Team Rocket team up with the boys and do not blast off
- The only boss fantasy of Journeys
Captures and evolutions
Magikarp#0129 · Goh · a giant Magikarp, with a Goldeen and a normal Magikarp
Trivia
- The English title plays on the phrase “a little R&R”, rest and relaxation, for Team Rocket’s holiday.
- The screenplay is by Akemi Omode.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Kanto, Galar & beyond storyline.
Changes in the English Dub
- The giant Magikarp is no longer called the “Lord Pokémon”
Part of our Pokémon Journeys: The Series guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.