JN054

Sobble Spies a Stealthy Strategy!

JN054   EP1139 メッソン・イン・ポッシブル！ Messon in Possible!

First broadcast Japan February 5, 2021 United States September 10, 2021

English themes Opening Journey to Your Heart Ending

Japanese themes Opening １・２・３ Ending ふしぎなふしぎな生きもの* ポケモンしりとり（ピカチュウ→ミュウVer.）

Credits Animation Team Kato Screenplay 宮田由佳 Yuka Miyata Storyboard 尼野浩正 Hiromasa Amano Assistant director 興満録助 Rokusuke Okimitsu Animation directors 荒井怜子 Reiko Arai 山縣クリカ Kurika Yamagata 松本勝次 Katsuji Matsumoto Additional credits

Screenshots on Filb.de Preview thread on BMGf Closed Original review thread on BMGf Dub review thread on BMGf

Sobble Spies a Stealthy Strategy! (Japanese: メッソン・イン・ポッシブル！ Messon in Possible!) is the 54th episode of Pokémon Journeys: The Series, and the 1,139th episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on February 5, 2021, in Canada on July 17, 2021, in South Africa on September 7, 2021, in the United Kingdom on September 8, 2021, and in the United States on September 10, 2021.

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

Blurb

Ash and Goh have learned that a sequel to a popular movie is being filmed nearby, so they’re off! The movie features Jacqueline and her partner Inteleon, who fills Sobble with awe…because Inteleon is Sobble’s final evolved form! When our heroes ask to meet the movie stars, Jacqueline and Inteleon agree. The meeting inspires Goh and Sobble to work on using Sobble’s fear to its advantage in battle. And when Team Rocket embarks on a plan to steal Inteleon, Sobble gets to put its special training into action—to great effect! Sobble uses its newfound battling skills magnificently, and it starts feeling more secure about its own capabilities.

Plot

A playtime in Cerise Park is brought to an abrupt conclusion for Goh's Sobble as it gets scared away by Darmanitan. Back inside the laboratory, Goh tries to encourage Sobble to hit back at Darmanitan every now and then, when Ren suddenly comes in and excitedly tells the boys that he just saw a movie being filmed at Vermilion City's warehouse district. Hearing that it's a sequel to a movie called Spy and Sidekick, Goh gets excited as well, but Ash has never heard of it. Goh explains that the movie is about a female spy and her partner Inteleon. Seeing its evolved form being involved also catches Sobble's attention, and it decides to accompany Ash and Goh as they rush off to see the filming.

At the warehouse district, Ash and Goh find out that the movie is being directed by Kublock, a movie director whom they have met once before. The spy actress, Jacqueline, and her Inteleon start acting out a scene, until a car unexpectedly pulls in, driven by a disguised Team Rocket, who try to tell Inteleon to get into the car. When this plan fails, they reveal themselves and say they want Inteleon to join them. Despite this unexpected interruption, Kublock loves the twist and tells the cameras to keep on filming, even as Ash and Goh rush in to confront the villainous trio.

Team Rocket calls down the Rocket Prize Master, which lends them a Poochyena and a Houndour. Poochyena uses Yawn, which both Pikachu and Cinderace dodge, causing it to hit Kublock instead and put him to sleep. Jessie then recognizes Sobble and has Poochyena use Scary Face on it, causing Sobble to start crying and immobilize Ash, Goh, and their Pokémon with its tears. However, before Team Rocket's Pokémon can attack, Jacqueline's Inteleon reveals itself and uses Snipe Shot on both of them, having protected its eyes from Sobble's tears with nictitating membranes. Inteleon turns invisible again and defeats both of Team Rocket's Pokémon with another pair of Snipe Shots, before sending the trio blasting off with a third one. This performance leaves Sobble filled with amazement towards its evolved form.

With Kublock fast asleep, the filming is cut short for the day. Goh catches Sobble sneaking into the staff-only area, and asks if he could talk with Jacqueline and Inteleon. Given the new empty slot in her schedule, Jacqueline accepts. She says that seeing Sobble reminds her of Inteleon in the past, as it wasn't always as strong and brave as it is now.

Back at the Cerise Laboratory, Sobble expresses its admiration towards Inteleon by mimicking its Snipe Shot, but is still scared away when Darmanitan spooks it again. Goh tells Sobble that getting stronger will take time, and asks it to come train with him. Meanwhile, Team Rocket is developing a new plan to capture Inteleon at their base, with Jessie writing down the details of the plan she has devised, which involves a lot of preparations being made.

Ash and Goh head to nearby woods to train, although Goh isn't sure what kind of training they should do. Ash suggests battle training, but their attempts to have a practice battle fall flat as Sobble is too focused on running away to counterattack. Goh believes that Sobble's timidness could be used as a strength, but wonders how it could be done. Ash suggests a hiding-and-running tactic, and Goh realizes it could actually work, deciding to work on Sobble's hiding skills. As such, he tells Sobble to hide in the woods around them while they try to find it. This training continues until sunset, with Sobble improving all the time. However, as Ash and Goh head back to the Cerise Laboratory, they find a member of Kublock's film crew, who says that Team Rocket stole his Gothita and is demanding for Inteleon to come to the location shown on a map they left behind. Ash and Goh head off to save Gothita, while the film crew member goes to inform the rest of the crew.

The map leads Ash and Goh to an abandoned mine, where they see multiple small Meowth-themed robots and drones roaming around. However, since they're not attacking them, they move past them, until they spot Gothita in a cage at the back of the cave. They rush in to rescue it, but suddenly, another cage forms around them, leaving Sobble as the only one outside it. Team Rocket appears, angered by the fact that the twerps had shown up instead of Inteleon and revealing that the robots and drones they saw were actually cameras. Nevertheless, they now decide to capture Pikachu, Cinderace, and Sobble along with Inteleon.

As Wobbuffet and Meowth move closer to Sobble to capture it, Goh tells it to put its training into practice and use Water Gun on itself, causing it to turn invisible. With Meowth and Wobbuffet unable to see Sobble, it starts using Water Gun on them while jumping around to prevent them from finding out its location. Frustrated, James activates a machine meant to be used against Inteleon, which spreads out a cloud of chalk dust, revealing Sobble's location. Goh tells Sobble to run, but Sobble, remembering Inteleon's bravery, decides to fight back instead, and uses U-turn on Meowth and Wobbuffet, before returning to its Poké Ball. Letting Sobble back out and checking the move on his Rotom Phone, Goh congratulates Sobble on learning the ultimate hit-and-run tactic. Sobble then joins Pikachu and Cinderace in breaking out of the cage, after which the latter two proceed to send Team Rocket blasting off again.

When the film crew arrives, Kublock is excited by the footage filmed by Team Rocket's cameras, and Jacqueline is impressed to see the problem having been dealt with before she could even arrive. Later at Cerise Park, Sobble uses some of its newfound courage to finally get a hit on Darmanitan, without the Blazing Pokémon noticing where the attack that hit it came from.

Major events

• Goh's Sobble learns U-turn.

For a list of all major events in the anime, please see the history page.

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

TV episode debuts

• Inteleon

Characters

Humans

Dare da?

• Ash
• Goh
• Jessie
• James
• Officer Jenny
• Ren
• Kublock
• Kricketina Kylie (flashback)
• Jacqueline
• Film crew
• Actors
• Trainers

Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?

Who's That Pokémon?: Inteleon

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
• Raboot (Goh's; flashback)
• Cinderace (Goh's)
• Metapod (Goh's)
• Butterfree (Goh's)
• Weedle (Goh's)
• Beedrill (Goh's)
• Venonat (Goh's)
• Taillow (Goh's)
• Dustox (Goh's; ×3)
• Tentacool (Goh's)
• Sentret (Goh's)
• Dewgong (Goh's)
• Darmanitan (Goh's; Standard Mode)
• Golurk (Goh's; giant)
• Cubone (Goh's)
• Spearow (Goh's)
• Rattata (Goh's)
• Poliwag (Goh's)
• Grimer (Goh's)
• Exeggutor (Goh's)
• Magikarp (Goh's)
• Magikarp (Goh's; giant)
• Sobble (Goh's)
• Trapinch (Goh's)
• Vibrava (Goh's)
• Flygon (Goh's)
• Exeggutor (Goh's; Alolan form)
• Aerodactyl (Goh's)
• Chinchou (Goh's)
• Bunnelby (Goh's)
• Mankey (Goh's)
• Krabby (Goh's)
• Boldore (Goh's)
• Geodude (Goh's)
• Rotom (Professor Cerise's; Rotom Phone)
• Inteleon (Jacqueline's)
• Pelipper (Team Rocket)
• Poochyena (Team Rocket's)
• Houndour (Team Rocket's)
• Gothita (film crew member's)
• Murkrow (actors'; ×4)
• Poliwag (Trainer's)
• Pidgey (Trainer's)
• Charmander (Trainer's)
• Sobble (picture)
• Drizzile (picture)
• Inteleon (picture)

Trivia

The "After the story" artwork for this episode

• Get Inspired! Let's Solve a Poké Riddle!!: Gothita
• The episode's Japanese title is a reference to the Mission: Impossible multimedia franchise.
• Despite learning it in this episode, Goh's Sobble has not been seen using U-turn again since.
• The English dub was released on the iTunes Store in Australia the day before the episode aired in Canada.
• Chloe, Chloe's Eevee, Ash, Goh, Professor Cerise, and Pikachu narrate the preview for the next episode.

Errors

• When Team Rocket summons the Rocket Prize Master, the Poké Balls inside the mecha are transparent instead of purple.
• When Ash commands Pikachu to blast Team Rocket off with Thunderbolt, his backpack is missing.

Dub edits

• The Japanese texts depicting Poochyena and Houndour's categories and names are edited out.

In other languages

Language		Title
Arabic		أضواء، كاميرا، ردة فعل!‏
Bengali		সবলের এক গোপন কৌশলের তদন্ত!
Chinese	Cantonese	不可能的淚眼蜥
	Mandarin	不可能的淚眼蜥！
Czech		Světla, kamera, re-akce!
Danish		Lys, kamera, reaktion!
Dutch		Licht, camera, reactie!
Finnish		Elokuvan pauloissa!
European French		Larméléon, en mode stratégie furtive !
German		Memmeon spioniert eine stille Strategie aus!
Hindi		मिशन इम्पॉसॉबल! Mission ImpoSobble!* लोंदु बना सुपरहेरो! Londu bana Superhero!*
Italian		Sobble e la strategia furtiva!
Norwegian		Lys, kamera, reaksjon!
Polish		Światła, kamera, reakcja!
Brazilian Portuguese		Luzes, câmera, reação!
Russian		Соббл обнаруживает секретную стратегию!
Spanish	Latin America	¡Luces, cámara, reacción!
	Spain	¡Sobble espía una estrategia sigilosa!
Swedish		Ljus, kamera, tagning!
Tamil		சாப்ப்ல் உளவு பார்த்த இரகசிய தந்திரம்!
Telugu		మిషన్ ఇంపాజిబుల్ *
Turkish		Sobble Gizli Bir Strateji Öğreniyor
Ukrainian		Шпигунські ігри Соббла!

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