SM096

Don't Ignore the Small Stufful! (Japanese: ロケット団とヌイコグマ！ and !) is the 96th episode of Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon, and the 1,035th episode of the Pokémon animated series. It first aired in Japan on November 11, 2018, in Canada on March 23, 2019, and in the United States on March 26, 2019.
==Blurb==
Ash heads to Aether Paradise to deliver the lunches Professor Burnet and Munchlax forgot at home, and he and Lillie enjoy seeing the Pokémon there. But Team Rocket is there, too, plotting to steal Pokémon while in disguise as Aether Paradise employees. When one of the Pokémon from the conservation area, an adorable Stufful, goes missing, everyone suspects Team Rocket of foul play. But Stufful refuses to leave Team Rocket’s side, and when Bewear appears to whisk them away, everyone learns that Bewear and Stufful are family! This time, Team Rocket’s exit includes a new member of the group: Stufful!
==Plot==
At 's house, Kukui realizes and left their lunches behind. With Kukui needing to attend the Pokémon Battle Study Conference, offers to deliver the lunches to Aether Paradise for him. When Kukui leaves, and Hobbes arrive aboard a jet. Hobbes explains that has been busy since the end of the Manalo Festival, and asks Ash if he could visit her to report his side of the story, which he agrees to do.
Ash, Lillie, and Hobbes arrive at Aether Paradise. is also there, disguised as s with the intention of capturing the facility's Pokémon. When notices Team Rocket and interrogates them, Wicke arrives and explains that she recently hired them as Conservation Area employees. As Faba walks off, Wicke hands Jessie a clipboard to begin counting the Pokémon. Meanwhile, James is assigned cleaning duty, but soon becomes exhausted. He calls on 's assistance, and after poisoning James, she mops the floors with her tentacles. Meanwhile, is taking a break and listening to several explain the relaxing life they enjoy at Aether Paradise. Meowth has a fantasy of surrounded by the Aether Paradise Pokémon, and tells the Whimsicott that they will enjoy living with the Boss.
Elsewhere, Burnet and Munchlax are ecstatic to have their lunches now with them. Then uploads its Manalo Festival data onto the Aether Foundation's system. Wicke offers Ash a tour of Aether Paradise, and the young happily obliges. Elsewhere, with the Pokémon all accounted for, Team Rocket agree to start their large scale plan but are interrupted when Ash arrives on the scene. looks up at Team Rocket, and the trio quickly flees to avoid being detected. However in their escape, the list of Pokemon flies out of Jessie's back pocket and lands at Faba's feet. Ash and Lillie enter the play space, and one of the Ditto approaches Pikachu and soon s into him, only it still maintains its facial expression. Wicke adds that the Ditto is almost ready to graduate. The term "graduate" perplexes Rotom and Ash. Burnet explains that they care for the Pokémon at Aether Paradise before returning them to the wild. As Team Rocket walk down a corridor a starts following the group. Meanwhile, Faba runs over to Lusamine with the count list in hand, and he exclaims that Stufful is unaccounted for. Lusamine, Wicke, Brunet, Ash and Lillie agree to split up and search for Stufful. Rotom's Pokédex on Stufful entry alarms Ash, but Wicke and Burnet assure him that Stufful is harmless. In a flashback, Wicke explains that she first met Stufful during one of her solo patrols. She heard its cries and soon found Stufful was trapped under a fallen tree. In an act of desperation, Wicke dug through the dirt to make a gap big enough to rescue Stufful. Wicke tears at the thought of Stufful going missing, so the search party begins.
Team Rocket continues to walk away from Stufful and eventually stop. Jessie questions why it's following them, but James suggests that Jessie should Stufful. Jessie throws her , but Stufful sidesteps it. She tries a second Poké Ball, but Stufful ducks this time. Jessie attempts to capture Stufful for a third time, but the Pokemon headbutts the Poké Ball into Jessie's face. Jessie scolds Stufful, but the Pokémon instead jumps onto Jessie's face and begins smothering her. Wicke, in a frantic voice, makes an announcement over the loudspeakers to alert everyone that Stufful is missing from the Conservation Area. Meowth and James overhear the announcement and fear that they will be caught red-handed attempting to steal Stufful and lose their chance to catch all the other Pokémon. Meanwhile, Jessie struggles to free herself of Stufful, and the Flailing Pokémon manages to latch itself onto Jessie's hair. As Ash and Lillie appear behind them, Team Rocket run away to maintain their covert operation. The group rush passed Faba, who quickly notices Stufful attached to Jessie's hair. Team Rocket is eventually stopped on a walk bridge and surrounded by Lusamine, Wicke, Burnet, Faba, Lillie and Ash. Faba demands to know why the thieves ran, with the accusation shocking Team Rocket. The quartet contemplates their actions and they decide to launch into their .
With their true identities now exposed, Rotom demands that Stufful be returned. Jessie yells out that she would return Stufful, but it is attached to her. The answer only infuriates Ash, and he has Pikachu launch a attack. As the electricity begins to reach into the air, crashes through the glass ceiling to rescue Team Rocket. As it is about to scoop up the group, Stufful captivates Bewear's attention. Suddenly Bewear lets out a shrill of joy, and Stufful jumps into its arms. The scene shocks everyone, and Meowth reveals that Bewear is Stufful's mother. Everyone is overjoyed for the pair, and Stufful waves to Wicke and the others. Bewear does the same before bundling Team Rocket in her arms and jumping onto an Aether Foundation helicopter. Bewear breaks off the helicopter's rotor blades and hands it over to Stufful. Stufful promptly begins twirling the blades in its hands, and this allows Bewear to return to her Melemele Island den. Wicke, in particular, is relieved to see Stufful returned to its mother's arms and takes a moment to reflect.
Sometime later, there is another hole in the Conservation Area's roof, and helicopter blades sit atop a tree canopy. Wicke walks through the Conservation Area and stops after spotting a leaf full of honey lying on the ground. The mysterious gesture startles her, but the culprit is not revealed.
==Major events==
* Jessie tries and fails to a that starts to follow her around.
* is revealed to be Stufful's mother.
===Debuts===
====Pokémon debuts====
==Characters==
===Humans===
* 
* 
* Jessie
* James
* (fantasy)
* 
* (photos)
* 
* 
* 
* Wicke
* Hobbes
* s
* Pilot
===Pokémon===
Who's That Pokémon?: (US and international), (Japan)
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* (; )
* ()
* ('s; ; unofficial; photos)
* (; photo)
* (; photo)
* ('s; Alolan form; Snowy)
* ()
* (; photos)
* ('s)
* ()
* ()
* (Grandpa Forest)
* (; photos)
* (; ; photos)
* (; photos)
* ()
* (×5)
* (×5)
* (multiple)
* 
* 
* 
* 
* (×3)
* 
* (multiple)
* 
* (multiple)
* (Alolan form)
* (×6)
* 
* (×3)
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* (×6)
* (multiple; flashback)
* (×4; flashback)
* (flashback)
* (; ×4; flashback)
* (×2; flashback)
* (multiple; flashback)
* (fantasy)
* (fantasy)
==Trivia==
* Poké Problem: The Pokémon that grabs on to me in today's episode is...?
** Host: Jessie
** Choices: , , , 
** Answer: Stufful
* This is the last episode to air before the release of Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!.
* is confirmed to be female in this episode.
* Jessie uses an -shaped pen, which is a reference to the she once had.
* , , , and narrate the preview for the next episode.
* The English dub title could be based on the idiom "don't sweat the small stuff".
* reads the Who's That Pokémon? segment in the English dub.
===Errors===
===Dub edits===
* Bewear and Stufful are said to be "family" rather than explicitly mother and child, leaving the relation between the two ambiguous in the dub.
==In other languages==
096
Category:Episodes written by Aya Matsui
Category:Episodes storyboarded by Hiromasa Amano
Category:Episodes directed by Yoshitaka Makino
Category:Episodes animated by Maiko Katsuki
Category:Episodes animated by Rei Yamazaki
Category:Episodes by multiple animation directors
Category:Episodes focusing on Team Rocket
Category:Episodes in which a Legendary Pokémon appears
Category:Episodes in which an Ultra Beast appears
Category:Episodes which aired in Canada before the United States
de:An den Haaren herbeigezogen!
es:EP1039
fr:SL096
it:SL096
ja:SM編第96話
zh:宝可梦 太阳＆月亮 第96集