"What kind of idiot would injure their own Pokémon?"
"Sickening!"
—Jessie and James
Japanese Title: Rocket-dan! A Fury Swipes Goodbye!!
Original Airdate: December 26, 2002
US Airdate: November 29, 2003
Weezing and Arbok. Good soldiers to the bitter end.
Team Rocket discovers trapped Ekans and Koffing, the pre-evolutions of Arbok and Weezing, cluing them in to the works of a Pokémon Poacher. When they get entangled in his plot, they end up having to make a sacrifice.
This episode contains examples of the following tropes:
- Acquired Poison Immunity: The second time Meowth goes to pick the lock on the electrified cage and he knows it's coming, the shocks don't bother him at all since they're nowhere near as strong as Pikachu's Thunderbolts that he's used to.
- Adaptational Villainy: Dub-induced variant. The English dub gives Rico an Implied Death Threat against Team Rocket. In the original, he merely said he was going to "crush" them- not a death threat, just a threat of extreme violence.
- Bittersweet Ending: Jessie and James are sad at having to say goodbye to Arbok and Weezing, but they know that it's for the best, as the Ekans and Koffing need them. And James catches the Cacnea that helped them earlier in the episode.
- Bowdlerize: The dub edits out the sound of Rico's gun cocking.
- Brick Joke: When James first meets Cacnea, he gives the little cactus a bag of treats. At the end of the episode, Cacnea shows up again, not knowing how to open the bag.
- The Brute: Rico, who tries to bully Arbok and Weezing from the trio along with his poached Pokémon. Expectedly, they bluntly refuse.
- Curbstomp Battle: To add further tragic insult to injury concerning the trio's Heroic Sacrifice, straight after, the heroes manage to instantly neutralise Rico with just two attacks.
- Curb-Stomp Cushion: Meowth actually manages to give Tyranitar a painful Fury Swipes to the face, before being decimated by a barrage of Hyper Beam attacks.
- Discard and Draw: After Jessie and James release their main Pokémon Arbok and Weezing, the end of the episode has James catch a new Pokémon, Cacnea.
- Dramatic Irony: After Rico admits that he already lost his poached Pokémon to "a bunch of clowns," Ash expresses relief that even with bad guys, like Team Rocket, trying to steal Pokémon, there are good people brave enough to stop them. Problem with Ash's statement is that Team Rocket were the ones who saved the poached Pokémon, even releasing their own to do so.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Jessie and James take offense to the poacher's methods, and likely to his chosen targets as well.
- Face, Nod, Action: Before giving Arbok and Weezing their final orders, Jessie, James, and Meowth silently nod at each other.
- Greater Need Than Mine: The trio tells Arbok and Weezing to go in order to protect the Ekans and Koffing.
- Hate Sink: Rico is a sadistic poacher who enjoys his work and has no redeeming traits.
- Henchmen Race: Jessie's initial plan for the trapped Ekans is to turn them into an army for their benefit.
- Implied Death Threat: Rico implies that he's going to kill Team Rocket for resisting him (saying he's going to "destroy" them), but ultimately decides it would be too much trouble and distract him from recapturing the Pokémon they freed.
- Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: We get a good bit of sympathy before Arbok and Weezing are seen off. Arbok especially, who resists using Acid to try to free the Ekans, lest he hurt his own.
- Irony: Just after the trio release Arbok and Weezing to help protect their kind from the poacher, he is arrested by Officer Jenny, making the tragic parting all for nothing.
- The Juggernaut: Rico's Tyranitar proves unstoppable throughout the entire episode. Whether or not the heroes could have beaten it is unknown, since Rico is prevented from using it.
- Mood Whiplash: Shortly after Team Rocket has a humorous encounter with Beedrill where they first meet Cacnea, they go through the most heartrending moment they ever had.
- Never Trust a Trailer: The Japanese title suggests Meowth may be the one leaving Team Rocket.
- New Powers as the Plot Demands: All of a sudden, after over 280 episodes, Arbok is capable of using sound waves through the ground to track things.
- Oh, Crap!: Team Rocket is understandably terrified when Rico's Pupitar suddenly evolves into Tyranitar.
- Put on a Bus: Arbok and Weezing, who served Team Rocket since their first appearance, are released to protect a herd of their own species.
- Shoo the Dog: Arbok and Weezing refuse to leave their teammates behind, but Jessie, James and Meowth insist they must go into the wild to protect the Ekans and Koffing.
- Survival Mantra: Jessie and James wonder at the end if Arbok and Weezing will be okay. Meowth assures them that their constant battles with Pikachu have them prepared for anything.
- That's an Order!: It's clear Arbok and Weezing want to help their masters. But just as they always have, they follow their final order, leading the Ekans and Koffing to safety.
- The Unfought: Tyranitar. Just when Rico was about to bring out Tyranitar to do battle against Ash and company, Officer Jenny's Growlithe disarms him.
- Very Special Episode: This is a Pokémon release episode.
- Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: Rico is especially evil by the show's standards, and for a Villain of the Week, he's played quite dark. This was before Hunter J came along, so at the time of airing, he may have been the worst, lacking any redeemable traits that the other villains might have.
- Wham Episode: Team Rocket’s two signature Pokémon since their debut are released.
- The Worf Effect: To show just how deadly Rico's newly evolved Tyranitar is, it was able to launch a Hyper Beam so fast that Wobbuffet couldn't set up a Counter in time.
- You Shall Not Pass!: Meowth and even Jessie and James face the brunt of Tyranitar to stop it pursuing Arbok and Weezing.
