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Team Rocket crash lands in front of a mansion, and start to argue. But a beam fired by a Shuppet hidden in the bushes calms them down. They enter the mansion in search of food, but the door locks behind them. They start to argue again, but are again calmed by Shuppet.

Ash and friends are lost outside when it starts to rain. They eventually make their way to the mansion and get locked inside as well. May and Max start to argue, and Max runs off.

Max runs into Shuppet, and the two of them explore the mansion and play. They overhear May still saying some nasty things about Max, so Shuppet plays a joke on the kids by using Psychic to move things around in mid-air.

May meets Emily, the owner of the mansion. Emily wants to turn the mansion into a hotel, but can't because it appears to be haunted. Everyone splits up to look for Max.

Max and Shuppet are hiding when Team Rocket comes in, followed by May's Torchic. When they threaten the little Fire-type, Max jumps out to protect it. May comes in, and battles with Team Rocket. An armoire almost falls on May and Max, but Shuppet stops it.

Emily recognizes the Shuppet from her childhood, but Team Rocket grabs it, flying off in a balloon. Ash's Swellow breaks Shuppet free, and Pikachu sends the team blasting off.

Max and May apologize to each other, and Emily bids them all farewell.

Team Rocket is sent blasting off into space after another one of their attempts to capture Pikachu is thwarted. The trio crash land in front of a mansion and get into a punch on as they try to blame each other. As blows are exchanged, a strange dark gray ghostly-looking Pokémon with glowing red eyes gazes at them and uses its powers to settle the situation. The trio start behaving oddly friendly towards each other, and together they enter the mansion in search of food. The front door eerily closes behind them, and Meowth's Fury Swipes fails to open it. The Rocket trio erupt into another argument, though the mysterious Pokémon again calms the situation.

Sometime later, Ash and his friends, all left with afro-like hair from their latest encounter with Team Rocket, walk down a path toward their next destination. After taking a fork in the road, they are forced to rush through the pouring rain, which returns their hair to normal, and come across the mansion. They reach the front door, but get no response. Max suggests the seemingly abandoned property might be haunted, though the possibility scares his older sister May. The doors suddenly screech open, and the group reluctantly rush inside as the stormy conditions get worse. The doors again shut behind them, and on closer inspection they notice the scratch marks on the door that Meowth made earlier. The ghostly Pokémon watches as tensions flare between the siblings. After May calls him a know-it-all, Max rushes off through an open door. The doors quickly close behind Max, separating him from the others. May refuses to help Ash and Brock open the door, and similarly Max stubbornly decides to find his own way out of the mansion. As he wanders the mansion corridors, the mysterious Pokémon absorbs all of his negativity towards May. Max feels oddly relieved, and as he turns to a window he sees a reflection of a Shuppet. He turns to see Shuppet floating behind him, and the pair quickly strike up a friendship. Realizing Shuppet wants to play, Max agrees to a game of chase. While running down the stairs, Max slips though Shuppet uses Psychic so that he doesn't fall. Shuppet shows Max its impressive playroom, hidden behind a book shelf, and the pair begin playing on the slide and merry-go round.

Meanwhile, Emily the owner of the mansion returns to find that the front door is open and scratched up. As he plays, Max hears May calling out his name and has Shuppet stop the carousel to listen in. The pair peer through a window as Ash and the others walk through a corridor, though Max is upset to hear May admit that she doesn't care about him. Max says that if she doesn't care about him, than neither should he. As Ash, May, and Brock walk into a dining room another door closes behind them. Max takes the opportunity to scare his sister, with Shuppet using its powers to make objects move on their own. The three rush out of the room in fear and May accidentally runs into Emily, the owner. Emily demands to know why they broke into her house and scratched up the door. Brock explains to her that they were trying to get out of the rain, and they got separated from Max. He begins flirting with Emily, though May pulls away by the ear. Emily explains that she has been trying to remodel the property into a hotel, but all of the construction crews have complained of it being haunted. She adds that she was a child when her family moved into the mansion which used to be lively and was the best place to live. Ash and his friends decide that based on the haunted occurrences they need to find Max right away, so they call out Torchic, Swellow, and Mudkip to help their search.

Shuppet and Max hide under the table cloth as the Rocket trio enters the room. Max notices May's Torchic come in as well, but he is still angry with May and decides to continue hiding. He quickly becomes conflicted as Team Rocket try to steal Torchic, though eventually steps in to defend it. The trio spots Shuppet, and James refers to his index cards which reveals that Shuppet has the ability to absorb human emotions. Realizing this, Team Rocket set their sights on nabbing Shuppet to ease their Boss’ aggression. May overhears the confrontation and is touched to see Max is defending Torchic on her behalf. She steps into the room, declaring that Max is the only brother she has and that she loves him. Max tells May that he loves her too. Jessie orders out her Seviper to attack, but Torchic batters it first with a Quick Attack. James's Cacnea turns its attention onto the battle and unleashes a Pin Missile, which Torchic counters with Ember. Seviper attempts a Poison Tail, though Torchic dodges the attack. Instead, Seviper’s tail causes a display cabinet to begin falling, luckily Shuppet uses Psychic to save Max from being crushed.

Ash and others arrive on the scene, and Emily is shocked to see the rather familiar Shuppet. After Team Rocket breaks up the conversation, Shuppet uses Psychic to scare them with plates and silverware. Everyone realizes that Shuppet was responsible for the haunting rumors, and Emily recalls that she and Shuppet used to play together. Shuppet stares into Emily's eyes and realizes it is the same young girl it used to play with. Emily apologizes, admitting that sometimes adults become too busy and forget things. Team Rocket takes a net, grabs Shuppet, and makes a run for it. Meowth presses a button to open a window and they jump out and into their waiting Meowth balloon. Ash commands Swellow to rescue Shuppet, while Cacnea attacks with Pin Missile. Swellow dodges Pin Missile and uses Wing Attack to free Shuppet from the net. Pikachu uses Thunder to send Team Rocket blasting off. Afterwards Max and May apologize to each other and settle their differences. As everyone says their goodbyes, Emily tells them that both her and Shuppet will work together to open up the mansion as a hotel, even inviting the group to stay some time. Max is thrilled to see Shuppet has reunited with an old friend, so he and the others head off on the road towards Fortree City.

For a list of all major events in Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire, please see the timeline page.

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

• Shuppet

Humans

• Ash
• May
• Brock
• Max
• Jessie
• James
• Emily

Pokémon

Pokémon Trainer's Choice

Pokémon Trainer's Choice: Exploud

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
• Swellow (Ash's)
• Torchic (May's)
• Mudkip (Brock's)
• Seviper (Jessie's)
• Cacnea (James's)
• Shuppet (debut)

• Advance Adventure, Challenger!!, and Pocket-ering Monster-ing are used as background music.
• The English dub title of this episode is based on the phrase "Take this job and shove it".
• Despite showing interest and eagerly wanting to check out a "haunted" house in Taming of the Shroomish, May at first appeared to be troubled by the haunted house in this episode.
• Shuppet's playroom is visually similar to the one Gastly, Haunter, and Gengar had in The Tower of Terror.
• This episode marks the first time May drags Brock away from a woman by the ear.
• This episode is featured on the Volume 9: Ghost edition of Pokémon Elements.

Errors

May's green eyes

• In a close-up shot of May during the scene when Max remembers how she took care of him when he was sick, her eyes are green instead of blue.
• During the Pokémon Trainer's Choice segment, Sealeo is pictured where Nuzleaf's name appears.
  • Additionally, it claims that Exploud would be a good match against Tyrogue, despite Exploud being weak against Fighting-type Pokémon. The closest to a correct answer would be Dustox, since it has a double resistance to Fighting-type moves.

Dub edits

• In the English dub, the scene of Jessie punching James and Meowth is removed.

Pokémon Trainer's Choice

• Question: Trainers, which one of these Pokémon is the best choice to battle Tyrogue?
• Choices: Sealeo (Nuzleaf), Exploud, Dustox
• Answer: OK, Trainers! If you chose Exploud, you were right!