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Hatching a Plan! (Japanese: タマゴ、かえる Egg, Hatch) is episode 230 of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on December 27, 2001 and in the United States on January 18, 2003.

Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.

Synopsis

The gang camps out for the night onward their next destination. All of a sudden Misty notices that there's light coming out of Ash's bag. Ash gets out the egg case, which the egg is already starting to hatch. They all start to wonder what might hatch out of the egg. Team Rocket, somewhere close by also spies on them. The catch? As soon as the egg hatches, they snatch the Pokémon before Ash can do anything about it. The next morning, everyone still awaits for the egg to hatch, when it finally does... a Phanpy is born! Ash checks it out with Dexter and wonders where a Poké Ball is to put it. Brock reminds him that the Poké Ball is on the case, so he takes it and returns Phanpy, except it jumps out of the way. Ash tries again, but the Phanpy continues to dodge the beam. Brock suggests maybe some food will get Phanpy's attention. Ash gets out some food but before the Phanpy could get to it, Team Rocket jumps in. They whip out a hand and Pikachu sends out a Thunderbolt to them, but at the same time they grab Phanpy, which ends up getting shocked. Team Rocket get "Blasted Off Again" however Phanpy is still a little shocked from the jolt. Pikachu tries to comfort it but a spark sends Phanpy running. Ash tries to run after Phanpy, but no luck.

The gang splits up in search of Phanpy. Brock leaves some food out to attract Phanpy when a bush near him wiggles about. Brock grabs whatever's in there but it's Misty's Psyduck, with a mouthful of Brock's food. Ash and Pikachu look about, but Pikachu gets worried all of a sudden, pratically blaming itself for making Phanpy run away. Ash comforts Pikachu, knowing they'll find Phanpy sooner or later.

Deeper in the woods, Phanpy runs about, the electricity wearing off. Phanpy looks around for Ash, but then realizes its hungry, but a pleasent smell is around so Phanpy decides to follow it. The amora comes from Team Rocket's little camp as Meowth is cooking some toast over a fire. They sulk in their failure to get the Phanpy but Meowth cheers them up a bit. When Meowth is about to eat his toast, Phanpy steals it before he can eat it, Meowth ending up biting his hand. Meowth goes hysterical seeing the toast dissapear but Jessie and James don't care so they start to eat. Phanpy swipes their toasts and the same thing happens. When Meowth looks around for what happened, he sees Phanpy standing there, finishing the toasts. Meowth tries to scold at Phanpy but it tackles Meowth down, powerful for a small guy. The Meowth looks the other way for a while, his tail waving which Phanpy seems to like. Team Rocket thinks up of a plan now that seems foolproof.

The gang meets up, no one having luck with finding Phanpy. Then Team Rocket appears out of the bush, dressed up in weird jumpsuits and helmets. Ash gives them a few remarks until Meowth shows up with Phanpy. Ash tries to call Phanpy to him, but Meowth goes up in front of Pikachu, waving his tail which is painted like a Phanpy. Phanpy gets excited and runs towards him, but Meowth quickly dodges, hitting Pikachu instead. WIth that, James whips out the same hand and grabs Pikachu. Pikachu tries to shock them but the suit makes Jessie and James invulnerable to electricity. Then James releases his Weezing to make a smoke shround. With the smoke, Team Rocket is long gone.

The Rockets celebrate with a toast of milk as they celebrate their catch. Phanpy looks like he wants some as well but James puts Phanpy in a cage where Pikachu is in. Phanpy becomes sad since nobody cares about him, but Pikachu cheers him up. Pikachu plans out that they should bash the cage so it rolls down the cliff their on. They bash the side of the cage twice and it rolls down, breaking when it smashes into a tree. James hears the crash and goes over to see the cage is gone, then sees the two Pokémon running. Team Rocket hops into their balloon and chase after them. The gang sees the balloon and rushes towards it. Both Pokémon and the gang are stopped by a raging river.

It looks like the two have no choice but to jump. Pikachu makes the first jump across, saying to Phanpy he should jump too. Phanpy does, though not really as well as Pikachu. Pikachu hops to another stone, Phanpy following, but he misses and goes in, Pikachu grabbing him on the last second. Both Pokémon are now hanging onto one rock, but Pikachu slips. Ash runs along the river to find something to get them. Pikachu grabs another rock that happens to be under a tree. Ash climbs up with a rope and tries to grab Pikachu and Phanpy. He manages to get Pikachu but Phanpy slips away. With no other option, Ash jumps into the river despite the waterfall nearbye. As soon as he falls down, Ash tosses the rope to the others. He manages to get out of that one.

After the short refresher from the waterfall, Team Rocket arrives on the scene. Meowth does the Phanpy trick but Phanpy's not so happy about Team Rocket this time. There's always force, so Jessie and James sends out their Pokémon. Ash lets Phanpy go up for battle and Phanpy does a Rollout attack, which knocks the two Pokémon back. Pikachu lets off a Thunderbolt, but it doesn't affect Jessie and James, but it sure affected the whole balloon. The balloon explodes and they "Blast off again."

Major events

Ash's Phanpy hatches.

Debuts

Characters

Humans

• Ash
• Misty
• Brock
• Jessie
• James

Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?: Seadra

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Togepi (Misty's)
• Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
• Phanpy (Ash's, debut, new)
• Psyduck (Misty's)
• Arbok (Jessie's)
• Weezing (James's)

Trivia

• This episode was initially going to be called "Phanpy's Phantastic Arrival."

Errors

Dub edits

In other languages

• French: Une éclosion trompeuse
• Italian: Il lieto evento

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