JN070

Take My Thief! Please! (Japanese: おねがい！モルペコゲットして！！ Please! Catch Morpeko!!) is the 70th episode of Pokémon Journeys: The Series, and the 1,155th episode of the Pokémon animated series. It first aired in Japan on June 11, 2021, in Canada on November 6, 2021, in South Africa on December 28, 2021, in the United Kingdom on January 7, 2022, and in the United States on January 21, 2022.
==Blurb==
Team Rocket is increasingly weary of Morpeko constantly eating all of their food, and when the hunger becomes too much for them to endure, James agrees to lead Morpeko up into the mountains and leave it there alone. But, as usual, Morpeko will have none of it! After numerous failed attempts to try and get Goh to catch the ever-hungry Pokémon—including an impromptu eating contest rematch between Greedent and Morpeko—Team Rocket successfully ditches Morpeko. But when James hears Morpeko calling, his bighearted, empathetic nature compels him to catch Morpeko himself, making it the newest member of Team Rocket…and the hungriest, too!
==Plot==
In their secret base, is dismayed to find having eaten all of their food yet again, even breaking into a safe to get the snacks James had hidden in it. suggests they should it to make it obey them, but Jessie rejects the idea and instead declares that they'll release it back into the wild.
James is chosen to carry out this task, but as he and Morpeko are walking away from the city together, he starts feeling uncomfortable with the idea, especially when Morpeko actually shares some of its delicious seeds with him. He tries to lose it, but Morpeko keeps following him. Eventually, they wind up back in Vermilion City, where Morpeko finally runs out of seeds and as a result. James quickly rushes to a nearby food stall and buys everything they have. While Morpeko is eating, James runs away, and by the time Morpeko finishes the food and changes back into its Full Belly Mode, James is long gone. However, Morpeko had unintentionally left behind a trail of seeds, which it finds and follows back to Team Rocket's secret base. When the trio returns there with bagfuls of food, they're shocked to see Morpeko in its Hangry Mode, who swipes the bags from them before using to send them blasting off.
The next day, while Team Rocket is out on a shopping trip for more food, with Morpeko right behind them, they notice and Goh nearby. Seeing Goh catching himself a , the trio gets the idea of having Goh catch Morpeko to stop it from troubling them anymore. They try various tactics to make this happen, like placing Morpeko right in the twerps' path or having Jessie disguise herself as a fortune teller to point them towards it, but each plan fails for one reason or another. While the trio laments their failures at a park, Morpeko notices a Pokémon food delivery van nearby and sneaks into it. James tries to tell the car to stop, but Jessie says that this method works too and simply waves after the car. Inside the van, Morpeko has eaten its fill and falls asleep, falling into one of the delivery boxes as the car drives along.
The box containing Morpeko winds up at the Cerise Laboratory, with Ash and Goh discovering it when they prepare to feed their Pokémon. Almost as soon as Morpeko wakes up, it turns into its Hangry Mode and starts devouring food from the boxes. Goh's Greedent also starts doing the same, and the two gluttonous Pokémon begin a fierce competition for food, with Morpeko even trying to rob food from Greedent's stash. The situation is resolved when Goh's Raichu starts bringing copious amounts of for both of them to eat. Goh tries to catch Morpeko while it's distracted, but it immediately pops out of the and resumes eating without missing a beat. Goh is dismayed at having lost to Morpeko's appetite, but Ash tells him he could try catching it again later once it's calmed down. Meanwhile, Team Rocket is planning their next heist, intending to steal lots of Pokémon at the local shopping mall, but James keeps getting distracted by his worry about Morpeko's condition.
The next day, Ash and Goh head out again, not noticing Full Belly Mode Morpeko following them. When they come close to the shopping mall, they hear commotion and head inside to find Team Rocket using a big vacuum to steal loads of Pokémon. The trio boasts that they've eaten their fill for the first time in ages and are feeling great. While Ash and Goh prepare to confront the trio, Morpeko notices the cart of food the trio has bought. Jessie and James call down the Rocket Prize Master, but the Pokémon they get, a and a , seem underwhelming to them. During the ensuing , Natu gets hit by 's and is sent flying into Morpeko, who had just been about to dig into the contents of the food cart. As Team Rocket notices Morpeko, it turns into its Hangry Mode, and, enraged by its meal being interrupted, uses , which deals damage on both and Cinderace. Jessie is delighted to see such power on their side, but unfortunately, Morpeko next uses Aura Wheel on the trio and sends them blasting off again. The stolen Pokémon are freed, and Morpeko empties the food cart before walking away. Ash and Goh are left confused by what just happened, but their attention is quickly redirected elsewhere when they spot a . Goh quickly throws a Poké Ball at it, finally catching the that's been eluding him for a while now.
Team Rocket has landed on a tree, hanging upside down from it, until they spot Morpeko nearby, calling out to them. Jessie and Meowth quickly hide and decide to let it pass by, but James, seeing how Morpeko came looking for them, climbs down and calls out to it. He then pulls out a Poké Ball and tosses it at the , catching it. He immediately lets back out and officially welcomes it to the team. As the trio prepares to head back, however, Morpeko's Hangry Mode is suddenly activated and it attacks the trio with Aura Wheel again, blasting them off once more.
==Major events==
* Goh a and a .
** Goh also tries to catch the recurring , but fails.
* Morpeko is revealed to know .
* James catches .
===Debuts===
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==Characters==
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* Goh
* Jessie
* James
* Professor Cerise
* Chrysa
* Ren
* Trainers
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==Trivia==
* Get Inspired! Let's Solve a Poké Riddle!!: 
* Jessie, James, and read the title card for this episode.
* This episode ends James's 70-episode streak of having no Pokémon on hand.
** This episode also marks James's first since his in The Sun, the Scare, the Secret Lair!, 204 episodes earlier.
** This also marks the only time a member of catches a Pokémon in Pokémon Journeys: The Series.
** This also marks the final time James catches a new Pokémon during Team Rocket's time as the main antagonists of the .
* The café that , , , and Alexa visited in Best Wishes Until We Meet Again! reappears in this episode.
* This episode marks the only appearance of Goh's Drizzile in-between its evolution episodes.
* All the Pokémon stolen by Team Rocket at the shopping mall are owned by Goh.
* Team Rocket blasts off three times in this episode.
* The English dub title of this episode is a reference to "Take my wife, please!", a quote by the late comedian .
* In the ian dub, is referred to as a male and his as a female by his Rotom Phone.
* Professor Amaranth, Ash, Goh, Danika, Quillon, and narrate the preview for the next episode.
===Errors===
* When Jessie talks to Meowth and in the tree, her lips are colored white instead of red.
* In the dub, Goh's Raichu is referred to as male.
===Dub edits===
* The Japanese texts depicting and 's categories and names are edited out.
==In other languages==
070
Category:Episodes written by Akemi Omode
Category:Episodes storyboarded and directed by Yūji Asada
Category:Episodes storyboarded by Yūji Asada
Category:Episodes directed by Yūji Asada
Category:Episodes animated by Masaaki Iwane
Category:Episodes animated by Izumi Shimura
Category:Episodes by multiple animation directors
Category:Episodes focusing on James
Category:Episodes in which a main character obtains a new Pokémon
Category:Episodes which aired in Canada before the United States
Category:Episodes which aired in South Africa before the United States
Category:Episodes which aired in the United Kingdom before the United States
de:Nehmt doch unseren Dieb! Bitte!
es:EP1159
fr:LV070
it:EP070
ja:新無印編第70話
zh:宝可梦 旅途 第70集