As the episode begins, the group is sailing across the ocean on a boat, bound for Mossdeep City. For some reason, Torkoal is out of its Pokeball. It and the others watch the waves from the bow of the ship. Pikachu and Torkoal are the first to notice something out on the ocean, which turns out to be a Spoink floating on a log, apparently the same Spoink they'd met before. Suddently a wave knocks Spoink from the log, and Ash calls for the boat's pilot to stop. They pull Spoink on board in a life preserver. It hops around happily due to the rescue, but trips over the life preserver, and its pearl goes flying out into the water. Naturally, it freaks out. Everyone can't believe Spoink lost its pearl AGAIN.

Spoink is briefly sad, but notices a round red flotation device (used for a net, I think) on the boat, and psychically picks it up and puts it on its head. Ash grabs it, saying that it doesn't belong to Spoink, and Torkoal cries at Spoink's situation. Torkoal then impulsively jumps into the water, intending to look for Spoink's pearl. The group gets worried that the Fire-type will be seriously hurt from being underwater so long, and Ash promptly dives in after it.

A scene change later, the group surrounds an exhausted Torkoal, who cries again at its failure. Brock points out that Torkoal did have a good idea though, so Brock and Ash send out Mudkip and Corphish to try to find Spoink's pearl. Max reminds Brock that Lombre should be able to help too, so Brock sends it out, but Lombre seems to be more interested in practicing its backstroke. Meanwhile, Corphish and Mudkip look around underwater but find no sign of the pearl, and report their failure back to the group.

Later, during a rest stop at an island, the group stares out to sea, wondering what they can do to help Spoink. A young boy and his Azurill run by, and Spoink tries putting Azurill on its head. The boy cries, and Ash and Brock snatch Azurill away, scolding Spoink. Spoink then tries many other things: a Swablu, a Castform, even a large Wailmer, but at the end is still disappointed at its pearl-less head. A scientist then approaches the group, explanations are made, and he says that the pearls grown inside a Clamperl are the same kind Spoink wear. He introduces himself as Aysaki and takes them to his lab/museum, in a building with a giant half-shell over its roof that looks like a Clamperl's. Inside, they look over a pool with large rock formations in the middle. A group of Clamperl are on the rocks. May comments on how cute they are, and scans them with her Pokedex. The scientist then explains some more about the connection between Spoink and Clamperl. Spoink then gets excited over a blue pearl in a display case. The group admire it, and Aysaki talks about it while Spoink stares at the pearl sadly.

Back on shore, the group see a young girl and her Shroomish running along the beach. Spoink puts Shroomish on its head psychically, and May snatches it away, while Ash and Brock scold Spoink again. May returns Shroomish to its trainer with apologies, but the two promptly run away. Meanwhile, Team Rocket sneak in to the museum, intending to steal the valuable blue pearl from earlier. Meowth has the same fantasy from the last Spoink episode, about Giovanni wearing the giant pearl on a ring, or maybe wearing it on a crown. James removes the display case, but before Jessie can grab the pearl, Spoink hops by and psychically puts it on its head, hopping all the way out the window.

Back at the beach, the group are calling out for Spoink when they hear a burglar alarm coming from the museum, and run over to check it out. Apparently afraid of being blamed for something they didn't (yet) do, Jessie and James disguise themselves as janitors with Meowth hiding in their bucket. They tell the group that they'd been minding their own business when a Spoink hopped by and used its Psychic to take the pearl, then hopped right out the window before they could do anything. The group decide to find Spoink and take back the pearl. Outside, Ash and May send out Swellow and Beautifly to go search from the air while the humans split up and search from the ground. Looking on, Team Rocket decide to take Spoink AND the blue pearl to give to the Boss, and Meowth has a vision of the Boss dressed as a king, wearing Spoink and the pearl as a crown.

Spoink happily hops along the beach with its new pearl, when it encounters the two kids from earlier. They hold their Pokemon away from Spoink, afraid of what happened before, but then they realize it has a pearl now. But Spoink slips again, and its blue pearl flies off. It ricochets among the rocks, lands inside a sleeping Clamperl, and knocks Clamperl's pink pearl out. The pink pearl somehow ricochets its way back to Spoink and lands right on its head. (What are the odds?) Spoink is super happy and bounds off, and the kids wonder why it had that blue pearl in the first place.

Beautifly reports back to the group that it had found Spoink, and leads them to it. They notice with surprise that Spoink is wearing a pink pearl again. The two kids with the Azurill and Shroomish approach, and explain what they saw. They point the way towards the spot on the beach where it happened, and the group thanks them.

Unbeknownst to them, Team Rocket had heard the whole thing while pearched atop a palm tree, and now decide to get the Clamperl. Spoink and the others find the Clamperl, but it now has its shell closed. Spoink approaches, and Clamperl opens its shell to reveal that it does indeed have the blue pearl. May asks if they could have the pearl back, but Clamperl refuses. Spoink then takes the pink pearl off its head and offers Clamperl a trade, to which it agrees, and May thanks it. But before they could make the switch, TR makes their entrance by dropping a smoke bomb, and say their motto.

Jessie sends out Seviper, and Ash counters with Torkoal. Seviper lunges in for a Bite, too quickly for a counterattack, so Ash tells Torkoal to use Iron Defense. Seviper ends up merely hitting its head off Torkoal's hard shell. Ash then orders a Flamethrower, which Seviper dodges. Excited, since the battle is going her way for once, Jessie orders a Haze. Everyone runs around in confusion, but TR manage to meet up, with James carrying a sack containing Clamperl, and they escape in their balloon. When the smoke clears, the group realizes that Spoink (and its pink pearl) are still there, but Clamperl is missing.

Meanwhile, TR has landed some distance away, and are now trying to get Clamperl to open up to give them the pearl. Jessie sweetly asks it to open up, but it closes again before she can grab the pearl. She tries again to get it to open, but fails. James tries to physically pry the shell open, but that doesn't work either. They try to sweet-talk it again, but fail. Meowth sadly has a vision of their giving the closed Clamperl to the Boss, with him struggling to get it open, then stubbing his toe on it. Worried, Meowth paces, then gets the idea to try tickling it. The trio does so, and Clamperl partally opens up. Meowth taunts it with its tail to get it to open further, but that turns out to be a dumb idea, as Clamperl clamps down on its tail. Meowth screams in pain while James, oblivious, calmly checks his Pokemon cards for info on Clamperl. Clamperl then finally opens it shell, and Meowth's momentum sends it flying into a tree. The shell closes again before Jessie can grab the pearl. James then thinks that maybe Chimecho can get Clamperl in a better mood, so he sends it out, but Chimecho's attempt fails as well. Jessie tries again, but this time she gets splashed into a tree by Clamperl's Water Gun. As Jessie tries to physically open the shell like James did, Swellow spots them from above, and reports back to Ash and the others.

TR are now using sticks as levers to try to force the shell open. That's when Ash & co find them. Spoink uses Psychic to lift TR away from Clamperl and throw them at their balloon. The group checks on Clamperl, as Jessie and James send out Dustox and Cacnea. Ash counters with Grovyle. Jessie orders a Tackle, and Grovyle counters with Quick Attack. Cacnea attacks Clamperl with Pin Missile, but Spoink jumps in front of it and uses Psychic to stop the pins. Grovyle hits Dustox with Bullet Seed, while Spoink fires a Psybeam at Cacnea. Clamperl slowly opens up as it watches its friends defend it. Dustox aims a Poison Sting at Grovyle, who dodges with a series of backflips and then uses Leaf Blade, scoring a direct hit on Dustox. James orders a Needle Arm and Cacnea rushes forward, but Spoink sends it back with another Psybeam. Finally, a Water Gun from Clamperl blasts off the Rockets.

Spoink and Clamperl are now free to carry out their previously arranged trade, and Spoink uses Psychic to switch pearls, giving the blue one to Aysaki. He thanks Clamperl, but Spoink is saddened because it's without a pearl once again. Clamperl then offers to give Spoink the pink pearl as its thanks, and Spoink happily takes it. Now everyone is happy and Spoink has a proper pearl again.

Thanks To Geodude For Writing this for us