EP226

Espeon, Not Included (Japanese: エーフィとサクラ！エンジュシティふたたび！！  and Sakura! City Once Again!!) is the 226th episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on November 29, 2001 and in the United States on September 24, 2002.

Blurb
''Our heroes meet up with an old friend, Sakura, and her Pokemon—an Espeon that evolved from her Eevee. They lend a hand as Sakura and her sisters prepare for an upcoming dance competition, but meanwhile Team Rocket is hatching a plan to capture a Pokemon from Sakura and each of her sisters, collecting all of the evolved forms of Eevee to present to their boss. When Sakura alone is left to face Team Rocket, she hopes she can prove her mettle once and for all, and gain her sisters' permission to embark upon a journey of her own.''

Plot
and return to Ecruteak City and decide to make a pit stop before they go on to Mahogany Town. They rest a while in front of a store, and says that they should be meeting up with Sakura here. All of a sudden, an comes running towards them. Soon afterwards Sakura runs after the Espeon. She tells them that her has evolved into an Espeon, which completes her ' set of Eeveelutions. They later go to Sakura's house, and the sisters come out, all formally dressed in kimonos. They explain that they are going to a place to meet a famous dance instructor. After her sisters leave, Sakura asks Misty, who readily accepts, to battle her. The two get ready for their match with Brock as the judge of the fight. Sakura fights with Espeon, and Misty sends out. The battle starts off with Espeon going for a. Espeon quickly gets the favor of the battle, but Corsola, on the other hand, uses and, seizing a win for Misty.

Later, at the place where they were going, the sisters are introduced to two people who seem to be dancers themselves. To start the demonstration, one of them sends out an and the other sends out a, and they begin to dance with them. After the two dancer's demonstration is over, they ask the sisters to dance with their Pokémon. The sisters start off although doesn't do much,  jumps about,  just sits there, and  runs around. Afterwards, the two "teachers" say that they will shape the Pokémon in the back room. Each one of them follows the teachers, and the door shuts behind them. They tell the Pokémon to go into another room, which looks rather suspicious. As soon as they gather in the center, Jessie and James release a hatch, and down they go into a trap! Umbreon calls out, and the sisters hear it. They make their way towards the door; finding out it was empty on the other side. When they went towards the darkened back room, the wall collapses, revealing a large head, 's balloon! They start to float away with the Pokémon!

Team Rocket basks in their glory as Jessie counts the Pokémon: Jolteon, Vaporeon, Umbreon, and Flareon. All of a sudden, she gets enraged; she realizes that one is missing, Espeon!

Meanwhile, Sakura's sisters come running to the battle scene and tell everyone what has happened. They search and none of them can find the missing Pokémon. Sakura gets an idea! Since everyone but Espeon is stolen, she knows that Team Rocket will look for it. Why not use it as bait and find the balloon?

Team Rocket looks around for Espeon from their balloon, eventually seeing it. They lower down near it and snatch it with a bug net. They are successful, but the others watch where they go. They follow Team Rocket's balloon as it heads to a forest clearing. After they land at their site, Team Rocket tries to attempt to trap Espeon with the others, first off by persuading it to eat some food then with a collar and chain (or, according to Jessie, a "pretty necklace"). Espeon turns away and looks around, soon finding its friends in the cage behind the bushes. James tries to trap the distracted Espeon with a cage. Sakura calls out to it, and Espeon jumps out of the way and onto James's head. The battle starts off, Espeon and Misty's Corsola versus Arbok and Victreebel. The battle escalates until Espeon uses onto Team Rocket, confusing them. Pikachu finishes them off with. Espeon then uses on the cage in order to break its friends free from the cage and everyone is rescued.

At Sakura's house, Sakura asks if she can finally set off on her own journey. Her sisters say yes! Sakura explains how she will first set off for Violet City, while Ash heads for Mahogany Town. Misty reminisces about how she started her journey, and then, she says bye to Sakura. They shout about the next time they will meet each other, and Sakura sets off on her own journey.

Major events

 * and return to Ecruteak City on their way to Mahogany Town and meet Sakura and the other  again.
 * Sakura's is revealed to have evolved into an.

Humans

 * Ash Ketchum
 * Jessie
 * James
 * Sakura
 * Trinity (flashback)
 * Mika (flashback)
 * Andrea (flashback)
 * Mika and Andrea's father (flashback)
 * Mika (flashback)
 * Andrea (flashback)
 * Mika and Andrea's father (flashback)

Pokémon
Who's That Pokémon?: (US and international),  (Japan)


 * (flashback)
 * (Trinity's; flashback)
 * (Trinity's; flashback)
 * ('s)
 * ('s)
 * ('s)
 * (debut)
 * ('s)
 * (Trinity's; flashback)
 * (Trinity's; flashback)
 * ('s)
 * ('s)
 * ('s)
 * (debut)
 * ('s)
 * ('s)

Trivia

 * The English dub title of this episode is taken from the phrase "batteries not included".
 * This episode marks the first time that drags  away from a girl by the ear; up until this point, it had always been done by.
 * Music from The Power of One can be heard in this episode.
 * breaks the fourth wall when he is knocked into the screen by Jessie and slides down from it after the ladder realized they're missing an to complete the then-entire set of Eeveelutions.
 * This episode was banned in, likely due to the prominence of the.

Errors

 * When the battle between Misty and Sakura is about to begin, Misty's ponytail disappears.
 * Espeon is seemingly using, a move it can't learn, when Sakura tells it to use.
 * When the Kimono Sisters are focused on their dancing, the hair pin on both Satsuki and Tamao becomes completely red at one point, looking very similar to a.
 * When finishes their, James's right hand is colored skin tone instead of black.
 * When Brock says to Satsuki "I am but your humble servant, my sweet." his mouth is closed and not moving when saying "sweet".
 * When Ash grabs Brock's ear to get him away from Satsuki, he grabs him by the right ear, but when Ash drags him away, he is pulling Brock's left ear.
 * When Jessie recalls her, she suddenly has his Poké Ball in her hand despite having her arms crossed when he came out.

Dub edits

 * Ash refers to the  he's eating as "s".

In other languages
Vier sind eins zu wenig! EP228 EP226 EP226 無印編第226話 精灵宝可梦 第227集