James's Inkay

James's Inkay (Japanese: コジロウのマーイーカ Kojirō's Maaiika) is the only that James caught in the Kalos region, and his twelfth overall.

History
Inkay first appeared in A Battle of Aerial Mobility! while was dining at a café in Lumiose City. As Team Rocket were busy celebrating news from, 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 him and the Team Rocket trio attempted to battle him with. However, James offered Inkay some food instead as bait. While Inkay was distracted, James threw a Poké Ball at him and him, much to the surprise of Jessie and.

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

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 his Trainer, who masqueraded as Ash. James met a boy called and his  and asked for a battle, to which Myron declined. James had Inkay attack Pancham with his and  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 his Trainer until they noticed Ash and his friends walk by, and Team Rocket started coming up with a plan to catch. Later, Team Rocket found a group of and Inkay in the forest. As they were watching the Pokémon, three trucks drove by, each containing a, 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, but Inkay attacked with his 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 him 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 and, then headed to the mountainside to stop its plans. Once they arrived, the evil Malamar grabbed Inkay and used his 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 his Trainer, much to his delight.

In Party Dancecapades!, Inkay partnered up with Jessie's Gourgeist in a dance party hosted by Monsieur Pierre. Later, Inkay was used in a Tag Battle along with Miette's, where he faced Ash's Pikachu and Serena's Eevee. Inkay tried hitting Pikachu with Psybeam, but Pikachu dodged it and Inkay ended up getting hit by an from him. Inkay then used Psybeam on Pikachu and Eevee, which they dodged. This, however, allowed Slurpuff to trap them with, giving Inkay the opportunity to hit them with another Psybeam. Inkay then headed towards Eevee using Tackle, but Pikachu stepped in and took the attack. After a collision between Eevee and Slurpuff's attacks, Inkay struck Eevee again with a Psybeam. After Eevee's evolution into Sylveon, Sylveon easily dodged Inkay's Tackles and then defeated him and Slurpuff with.

In An Explosive Operation!, Inkay was used to protect Z2 from Team Flare. Inkay used Psybeam to stop Team Flare's weapon from firing. Later, he fought Team Flare again along with Wobbuffet and Gourgeist. He managed to hit Mable's with Psybeam, but was then struck by Aliana's 's. He and Gourgeist were then defeated by the s' Pokémon's combined attacks.

When Team Rocket, Serena, Mairin, and Professor Sycamore infiltrated Lysandre Labs in The Right Hero for the Right Job!, Inkay was sent out, alongside Gourgeist, to battle Celosia's. Inkay was sent out in Forming a More Perfect Union! to fight the Megalith, fending off its roots to clear the way for Ash and Alain. One of the roots, however, blasted Inkay and his Team members out of the helicopter, but they were saved by Diantha's Gardevoir.

Following the Team Rocket trio's journey in Kalos, James left Inkay at.

Personality and characteristics
Inkay appears to be a sneaky and mischievous Pokémon as he was seen stealing food from Team Rocket and then followed them in their balloon. He seems to love food and would often go out of his 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 he went out of his Poké Ball on his own just to eat Team Rocket's food. He is also shown to be thankful for the other Inkay and Malamar in 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!. He was able to beat Officer Jenny's with ease and then prevented  from attacking him by spraying him with ink in the former and easily knocked out  with Tackle in the latter. He had no problem listening to his Trainer after he was caught.

In Facing the Grand Design!, he was shown to have a strong bond with his Trainer similar to that of and his Pikachu. In fact, it was so strong that James was able to break him free of Malamar's. He was also shown to have a great relationship with Team Rocket, to the point of wanting to protect them from the evil Malamar and avenge them for being controlled by the evil Malamar previously. Ever since his previous encounter with the evil Malamar, Inkay has formed a deep grudge against it and has sworn to get his revenge while stopping it from fulfilling its dark plans of destroying the world.

In the movie adaptations
Inkay appeared in .

Trivia

 * Inkay is the first Pokémon to be owned by a main antagonist in the anime.

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