Japanese Title: Double Battle & Double Kemusso!?
Original Airdate: February 27, 2003
US Airdate: January 3, 2004
An interesting first encounter...
After the events of the previous episode, May sets her sights on capturing a Wurmple, in hopes of evolving it into a Beautifly. This also gets Jessie interested in Wurmple. Ash is distracted when a pair of twins show him a new battle format in Hoenn.
This episode contains examples of the following tropes:
- Big Eater: May's Wurmple is wanton glutton. At its first meal, it ate all the food set out for the twerps and their Pokémon. Then it curled up to sleep at May's feet.
- Follow the Leader: When they find out May is targeting a Wurmple, Team Rocket decides to catch a lot of Wurmple, sending one to Giovanni, and using the rest for Contests.
- Foreshadowing: It's traditional for Team Rocket to never share any Pokémon with the protagonists for more than an episode, yet May and Jessie both catch a Wurmple at the same time.
- Jump Scare: A Wurmple drops in front of May at the beginning of the episode. She's startled at first, but when she finds out it evolves into Beautifly, she runs off after it to catch it.
- Wins by Doing Absolutely Nothing: At the end, Jessie catches her own Wurmple. All she has to do is toss a Poké Ball, and that's it.
