James's Inkay

James's Inkay コジロウのマーイーカ Kojirō's Maaiika

James's Inkay

Debuts in A Battle of Aerial Mobility! Caught at Route 4 Gender Unknown Ability Unknown Current location With James

This Pokémon has not evolved.

Voice actor Japanese English As Inkay Kenta Miyake Michael Liscio Jr.

James's Inkay (Japanese: コジロウのマーイーカ Kojirō's Maaiika) is the first Pokémon that James captured in the Kalos region.

History

James and his Inkay

Inkay first appeared in A Battle of Aerial Mobility! while Team Rocket was dining at a café in Lumiose City. As Team Rocket were busy celebrating news from Giovanni, Inkay stole their food and proceeded to eat it from under their table. While Team Rocket were on their balloon, the same Inkay from before approached them when they dropped their sandwich and sprayed ink at them. After Team Rocket cleaned themselves off, James scanned the Inkay to get some details about it and the Team Rocket trio attempted to battle it with Wobbuffet. However, James offered Inkay some food instead as bait. While Inkay was distracted, James threw a Poké Ball at it and caught it, much to the surprise of Jessie and Meowth.

In A Shockingly Cheeky Friendship!, it was sent out for the first time to help capture Pikachu and a Dedenne, but the two managed to evade them. When the two were rescued by Ash and his friends, Team Rocket arrived and James sent Inkay out again to battle Dedenne, who was under Clemont's command. The two proved to be evenly matched until Dedenne used Nuzzle on Inkay, paralyzing it and allowing Dedenne and Pikachu to defeat it by combining their respective Thunder Shock and Thunderbolt.

In Heroes - Friends and Faux Alike!, Inkay was part of Team Rocket's plan to impersonate Ash and his friends. Inkay disguised itself as Pikachu alongside its trainer, who masqueraded as Ash. James met a boy called Myron and his Pancham and asked for a battle, to which Myron declined. James had Inkay attack Pancham with its Psybeam and Tackle anyway, which caused Myron to call for Officer Jenny. Inkay was later seen helping Team Rocket eat a bunch of food and running off without paying.

In Facing the Grand Design!, Inkay was enjoying lunch with its Trainer until they noticed Ash and his friends walk by, and Team Rocket started coming up with a plan to catch Pikachu. Later, Team Rocket found a group of Malamar and Inkay in the forest. As they were watching the Pokémon, three trucks drove by, each containing a Malamar, one of which was the one that had previously hypnotized it. Inkay immediately chased after the trucks and followed them up a mountainside. Team Rocket watched the Malamar for a while until Inkay got upset and started a commotion, getting the attention of the Malamar. Team Rocket fled and ran into Ash and his friends before being stopped by Officer Jenny, who filled them in on Malamar's plans. Two of the Malamar arrived and attempted to kidnap everyone with their Psychic, but Inkay attacked with its Ink Spray, allowing a few of them to escape. Inkay planned on going straight back to confront the Malamar, but Clemont, Meowth, and James convinced it to talk to the group of Inkay and Malamar they saw before to get them to help out.

Inkay started to tell them of the evil Malamar's plan, but was stopped by that Malamar showing up and attacking them. The Malamar and Inkay chased it off with their Psycho Cut and Flamethrower, then headed to the mountainside to stop its plans. Once they arrived, the evil Malamar grabbed Inkay and used its Hypnosis to brainwash Inkay into attacking the others. However, James managed to break Inkay out of it because of the strong bond they share, allowing Inkay to attack Malamar. They managed to stop the Malamar's evil plan, but it escaped during the fight. Afterwards, Team Rocket was back to resting in the forest and Inkay was offered to join the Malamar and Inkay they saved. James allowed Inkay to stay with them, but Inkay instead decided to stick with its Trainer, much to his delight.

Personality and characteristics

Inkay appears to be a sneaky and mischievous Pokémon as it was seen stealing food from Team Rocket and then followed them in their balloon. It seems to love food and would often go out of its way to steal it, to the point of allowing James to use this to his advantage and capture it. This was shown again in Bonnie for the Defense! where it went out of its Poké Ball on its own just to eat Team Rocket's food. It is also shown to be thankful for the other Inkay and Malamar by helping them to stop the evil Malamar by being like a hero to them.

Inkay is also a powerful and resourceful battler, shown in Grooming Furfrou! and Calling from Beyond the Aura!. It was able to beat Officer Jenny's Manectric with ease and then prevented Pikachu from attacking it by spraying him with ink in the former and easily knocked out Bunnelby with Tackle in the latter. It had no problem listening to its Trainer after it was caught.

In Facing the Grand Design!, it was shown to have a strong bond with its Trainer, to the point where James was able to break it free of Malamar's Hypnosis. It was also shown to have a great relationship with Team Rocket, wanting to protect them from the evil Malamar and avenge them for being controlled by them previously.

Moves used

Using Psybeam	Move First Used In Tackle A Shockingly Cheeky Friendship! Psybeam A Shockingly Cheeky Friendship! Foul Play A Shockingly Cheeky Friendship!
A † shows that the move was used recently, unless all moves fit this case or there are fewer than five known moves.

Ink Spray

Moves improvised

• Ink Spray: Inkay shoots ink from its mouth to blind and distract the opponent.

Trivia

• Inkay is the first Dark-type Pokémon to be owned by a main antagonist in the anime.

Related articles

For more information on this Pokémon's species, see Inkay.

Team Rocket's Pokémon
Travel with:	Meowth	Rotom Phone
	Jessie			James
On hand:	Wobbuffet	Seviper	Yanmega	Mime Jr.	Carnivine	Yamask
	Woobat	Frillish	Gourgeist	Amoonguss	Inkay	Morpeko
In training:				Cacnea
At home:				Growlie	Chimecho
Released:	Arbok	Dustox	Mimikyu	Weezing	Gyarados	Mareanie
Traded away:	Lickitung			Victreebel
Lived with (all three):	Bewear	Stufful
Worked with (all three):	Delibird	Pelipper
Temporarily owned:	Porygon Zero	Shellder	Magikarp	Second Victreebel	Hoppip
	Mawile
Befriended:	Blissey
Status unknown:	Starmie			Pidgey	Numel
For a list of other Pokémon Team Rocket has commanded, see here and here

This article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation.