BW043
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Meowth's Scrafty Tactics!
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First broadcast
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English themes
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Japanese themes
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Credits
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Meowth's Scrafty Tactics! (Japanese: ニャゴシエーター・ニャース！ズルズキン説得作戦！！ Nyagotiator Nyarth! Zuruzukin Persuasion Tactics!!) is the 43rd episode of the Best Wishes series, and the 700th episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on August 18, 2011 and in the United States on November 26, 2011.
Blurb
On their way to Nimbasa City, Ash and the gang are surprised to come across Meowth, who has been injured. They learn that Meowth has been fired from Team Rocket, so our heroes decide it would be best for Meowth to join them them...as long as he behaves!
Soon after, Axew is lured away and captured by an angry Scrafty. With Meowth translating, Scrafty warns our heroes that if they don’t help it in battle, they’ll never see Axew again! Ash hatches a plan: Meowth and Scraggy will distract Scrafty with negotiations while he frees Axew with the help of Pikachu and Snivy.
When Scrafty discovers the deceit, it immediately challenges Ash to a battle. Ash and Tepig quickly get the upper hand...and Scrafty bursts into tears! With Meowth’s help, Scrafty explains that its den was stolen by a Mandibuzz. Upon further investigation, the gang discovers that the Mandibuzz was kicked out of its own nest after having a fight with a friend.
Meowth agrees to go with the ousted Mandibuzz and ask its friend for forgiveness so it can move back in, and Meowth’s expert negotiating skills seal the deal! The two Mandibuzz are friends again, Scrafty has its den back, and our heroes continue on their way to Nimbasa City—now with Meowth as part of the gang!
Plot
On their way to Nimbasa City, the gang are seen taking a break for lunch. While Tepig and Axew are playing, they find an unconscious Meowth in the bushes. Upon telling everyone, Cilan quickly inspects Meowth's condition. Cilan and Iris give him medicine, and soon after, Meowth regains consciousness. After being startled by the gang, Iris asks Meowth what Team Rocket is doing here. However, Meowth tells them that he is no longer a part of Team Rocket.
When Ash asks him what happened, Meowth tries to run away, claiming that nothing happened, but he is not able to run in his condition, and almost collapses. He tells the story of how he was entrusted to carry out an operation, but was unsuccessful. As a result, he was taken back to headquarters to hear what the consequences were. When leaving headquarters, he imagined Jessie and James leaving him, so he kept walking.
Upon hearing the story, Cilan suggests to the others that they should let Meowth travel with them, but Ash and Iris don't think that it's a good idea. Cilan then reminds them that he is the only Meowth in Unova, and that he will be lonely. Meowth initially refuses, but Iris says that he will faint again if they leave him. Ash tells Meowth that he can travel with them on the condition that he doesn't do anything bad. Meowth agrees to these terms as he has no reason to do anything bad, seeing as he's no longer a part of Team Rocket.
As they start walking, Meowth flatters the gang on their qualities; commenting on Cilan's soup, calling Iris a princess, and even calling Ash a good Trainer. As they walk, Axew becomes interested in a shiny object placed on the road, but when Axew tries to grab it, he is kidnapped by a Scrafty. The gang follows Scrafty to its hut, but Meowth tries to stop them, explaining that they mustn't get any closer to Scrafty's hut because he could hurt Axew. Ash ignores Meowth and runs towards the hut, but Meowth stops him again, telling him that Scrafty is serious and that they shouldn't anger him. Pikachu agrees with Meowth, and Cilan suggests that they wait there until it things calm down. Inside the hut, Axew tries to use Dragon Rage, blowing a hole through the wall, but Scrafty manages to evade it.
Meowth tells the others that he will take it from there, claiming that he is a negotiator. Meowth slowly walks to Scrafty's hut, calling for it to come outside. He asks Scrafty why he is doing this, and Scrafty tells him it will release Axew if it gets a Pokémon to help it in a fight. While Meowth negotiates with Scrafty, Ash makes his way around the hut as Scrafty shows Meowth that Axew is in one piece—but is tied up. Higher up, Ash notices that there is a window on the side, later suggesting that there is a way to release Axew. He tells Meowth to talk with Scrafty, but Meowth explains that Scrafty is an evolved form of Scraggy, and that it will be good idea to take Scraggy with him to distract Scrafty. Ash complies and lets Scraggy go with Meowth, and takes Snivy with him. As Snivy is released from her Poké Ball, she attacks Meowth, only for Ash to tell her that Meowth is now their friend.
Meanwhile, Jessie and James are in the Nimbasa City underground, completing another one of their operations.
Meowth and Scraggy go to Scrafty while Ash goes around the hut again. As Scraggy and Scrafty show which moves they can use, Meowth suggests that Scrafty should teach Scraggy some good moves in an attempt to distract it. Scrafty accepts, and shows Scraggy how to use Hi Jump Kick. Scraggy tries to use the move, distracting Scrafty and allowing Meowth to signal to Ash that he can release Axew. Ash tells Snivy to use Vine Whip and carry Axew out of the window. As Meowth pretends to alert that Axew is missing, he and Scraggy leave so Pikachu can use Thunderbolt on Scrafty and return to the others.
Upon returning Axew, Meowth says that Scraggy is worried about Scrafty, but Scrafty returns and challenges the gang. Ash accepts and chooses Tepig to battle, who easily wins the fight. Meowth and Cilan investigate why Scrafty is doing these things. After refusing to speak, Scrafty admits that its nest was taken away, and it needs help to get it back, and that everyone he has asked has refused to help—resulting in it kidnapping Pokémon. After hearing the story, Ash and his friends agree to help Scrafty.
Scrafty leads them to his nest, showing them that a Mandibuzz had taken it. Scrafty tries to attack Mandibuzz, but is easily defeated by her Shadow Ball. Scraggy decides to try to defend his "older brother". Mandibuzz uses Pluck and dives into Scraggy, but Scraggy manages to dodge the attack. Mandibuzz hits the head in the ground and gets stuck on the rocks. As Mandibuzz tries to get free, Scrafty commands Scraggy to use Hi Jump Kick, which successfully hits and defeats Mandibuzz. Upon defeating Mandibuzz, she starts crying, explaining that she was kicked out of her flock because she ate all of the food, forcing her to take Scrafty's nest. After hearing this, Meowth suggests that they pick up some food and give it to Mandibuzz's flock. After seeing it as a peace-offering, Mandibuzz is welcomed back to her flock.
As the trio continue their journey, Iris compliments Meowth's negotiation skills, to which everybody agrees. Suddenly, Iris decides to capture Meowth and throws a Poké Ball at him. The catch is unsuccessful as Meowth yells at her, claiming that he belongs to no-one. He agrees to continue traveling with the group, as long as they don't try to catch him.
Finally, Jessie and James are seen at night in Anville Town's train yard, planning to report their progress to Dr. Zager.
Major events
- Ash's Scraggy learns Hi Jump Kick.
- Meowth begins to travel with Ash and his friends, claiming to have been fired from Team Rocket.
- Iris attempts to capture Meowth, but is unsuccessful.
- Jessie and James arrive in Anville Town and begin their plans to sabotage the Nimbasa Subway system.
- For a list of all major events in the animated series, please see the history page.
Debuts
Pokémon debuts
TV episode debuts
Characters
Humans
Pokémon
- Pikachu (Ash's)
- Axew (Iris's)
- Meowth (Team Rocket)
- Tranquill (Ash's)
- Oshawott (Ash's)
- Tepig (Ash's)
- Snivy (Ash's)
- Scraggy (Ash's)
- Pansage (Cilan's)
- Scrafty (debut)
- Mandibuzz (×2)
- Beartic (flashback)
- Scolipede (flashback)
- Darmanitan (flashback)
Trivia
- Professor Oak's Pokémon Live Caster: Timburr
- All of the transitions in this episode, not including the theme song, used a Meowth head.
- This episode is the only one in the Best Wishes series to feature Giovanni in one of Meowth's fantasies.
Errors
- When Scrafty is checking its pants to see if Axew is all right, Axew's eyelid when he's mad are white, when he was about to use the Dragon Rage on Scrafty.
- When Ash tells Snivy to wait before Meowth will go to save Axew while Scrafty was teaching Scraggy a new move, the stripe on Snivy's neck turns green for a split frames.
- During several scenes throughout the episode, Scraggy's pupils were changing designs sometimes.
- When the first Mandibuzz explains her problem to Meowth, he replies "If you went an ate your buddy's food without his permission, you did a bad thing." The "buddy" turns out to be another Mandibuzz, which is a female-only species.
Dub edits
- In the Latin American dub, when Meowth was trying to distract Scrafty, instead of saying "Scrafty! Watch out, look at that!!", he points and says "¡¡Que horror, los de Digimon!!".
- A similar reference in which a Pokémon character looks down to the Digimon franchise happened in DP045.
In other languages
| Language | Title | |
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| Mandarin Chinese | 交涉喵·喵喵！頭巾混混說服作戰！！ | |
 Danish
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Meowth's luskede taktik! | |
 Dutch
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Meowth's slimme strategie met Scrafty! | |
 Finnish
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Meowth vaihtaa leiriä! | |
 German
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Mauzi als Retter in der Not! | |
 Hindi
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Meowth ke Scrafty tactics! | |
 Indonesian
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Nyasu dalam bahaya! Zuruzurukin Satodoku Sakumon!! | |
 Italian
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Il Meowth che non t'aspetti! | |
 Korean
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나고시에이터 나옹! 곤율거니 설득 작전! | |
 Norwegian
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Meowths listige taktikk! | |
 Polish
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Taktyka Meowth'a! | |
 Brazilian Portuguese
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As Taticas do Meowth! | |
 Russian
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Хитрая тактика Мяута! | |
| Spanish |  Latin America
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¡Las astutas tácticas de Meowth! |
 Spain
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¡Las tácticas de Meowth con Scrafty! | |
 Swedish
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Meowths sluga taktik! | |
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This episode article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation. |
