As the episode begins, we see the group on a boat, headed towards a crescent-moon shaped island that Max identifies from the Pokenav as Wells Island. May and Ash are both excited to do some training there; May for her upcoming Izabe Island contest, and Ash for his upcoming Gym battle in Sootopolis City. Later, on the beach, Ash has Pikachu use a Thunderbolt to flip a floating log up in the air, and then follow up with Iron Tail to split it in half. May and Bulbasaur then excitedly run up to them, and May proudly exclaims that Bulbasaur has learned Petal Dance. Ash and Brock congratulate them, and May demonstrates by having Bulbasaur use Petal Dance to make a big hole in an oncoming wave.

Some time later, Max is in the forest gathering firewood for their camp when he hears a rustling in the bushes, and out pops a Cradily! The Cradily is just as startled by Max as he is by it, and it promptly flees. Max drops his firewood in shock and screams. The others come running, asking what’s wrong, and Max says he just saw a Cradily. May checks it in the Pokedex, and Brock says that Cradily are supposed to be extinct. Max insists he saw one, and points in the direction in which it fled. Nothing can be seen, so May suggests that maybe Max mistook another Pokemon for Cradily. As if on cue, a Breloom pops out of the bushes nearby, so everyone thinks THAT’S what Max saw. Max freaks out, still insisting it was a Cradily, and runs off, anxious to prove them wrong. As he tries to find the Cradily, he suddenly comes across a huge mansion! Approaching and looking in a window, he discovers a laboratory. He can also see a bunch of Lileep in an enclosure. Suddenly, a man in a lab coat appears behind Max and angrily asks him why he’s there!

By now, Ash and the others are trying to find Max, when they meet up with that same Cradily! As they realize Max was telling the truth, a young woman in a lab coat catches up and happily hugs Cradily, relieved that it’s okay. Brock flips out over her as usual while Ash, Pikachu, and May admire the Cradily. The woman introduces herself as Annu, and the group asks if she’s seen Max. Annu responds that he’s probably found his way to her lab by now, so they head over there. At the lab, May and Max happily reunite, while Annu introduces the group to the man who confronted Max. Turns out he’s Annu’s husband, Dr. Proctor. Brock reacts with the expected dismay upon learning that Annu is “taken”. Max happily shows the others the group of Lileep, to their amazement, and Ash checks them in the Pokedex. Max explains that Lileep evolve into Cradily. May says she thought Lileep and Cradily were supposed to be extinct, and Annu responds that they came from fossils. Ash & friends eagerly ask Dr. Proctor to explain how they resurrected the fossil Pokemon. A cutscene shows that Team Rocket, of course, is watching this whole exchange from a tree next to the mansion, with a view through a window. Dr. Proctor starts his explanation by saying that many years ago, when all the fossil Pokemon were still alive, the Anorith who lived on a remote peninsula used to eat a particular type of berry as their main diet. However, the land changed over time, and the peninsula gradually broke off to form the island that’s now known as Wells Island, the one they’re standing on. He goes on to explain that they were able to extract Lileep and Anorith from the island’s Root and Claw Fossils respectively. He thinks that this work will make him famous, but Annu points out that they haven’t gone public about it yet, so they ask the group to keep things secret.

Outside, Team Rocket begins plotting to steal the ancient Pokemon. Meowth does one of his most hilarious fantasies yet…he dreams about creating a jungle paradise with the resurrected fossil Pokemon for the Boss. In the dream, we see Giovanni surrounded by ancient Pokemon as he rips off his regular suit to reveal a Tarzan-style loincloth! He swings on a vine, with Meowth even providing a Tarzan yell, then dives off a cliff towards a lake as a pair of Aerodactyl accompany him. JJ&M think the Boss will love this, so they do their usual cheer.

Back in the lab, some indicators start to go off on Annu’s computer, so she alerts her husband as she uses the computer to bring up a cylinder containing an Anorith into another enclosure. The Anorith crawls out, May checks it in the Pokedex, and Dr. Proctor says it’s ready to evolve into Armaldo! Anorith promptly starts to glow, and evolves, so Ash checks out Armaldo in the Pokedex. The Proctors rejoice, but suddenly a net envelops Armaldo! As May and the others protest, TR pulls Anorith towards them, but Anorith uses Metal Claw to break free. TR’s momentum sends them flying into a wall, and Armaldo sends them right through the wall with Water Gun, blasting them off. Ash congratulates Armaldo, but it fires a Water Gun at him! Armaldo goes on a rampage, breaking things left and right, before finally running out the hole it made when it blasted TR off.

Everyone pursues Armaldo through the forest. Ahead, we see it trying to eat apples from a tree, but spitting each one out after taking a bite. The humans try to convince Armaldo to come back with them, only to end up dodging another Water Gun and taking cover behind some rocks. Pikachu suddenly runs out to Armaldo and begins to talk to it. The humans think Pikachu has the right idea, and decide that since Armaldo is a part-Bug type, it may listen to their own Bug Pokemon. So Brock and May send out Forretress and Beautifly to join Pikachu in trying to calm Armaldo down. The talks quickly fail though, when Armaldo uses another Metal Claw, forcing the three Pokemon to dodge. Armaldo spits out another apple as the humans decide what to do now. Ash decides to try battling it, so he sends out Corphish. Anorith easily dodges Corphish’s Crabhammer and sends the little crab reeling with a Scratch. Corphish bounces back up, though, and Ash calls for a Bubblebeam. Armaldo counters with Water Gun, and it easily overpowers Corphish again, sending it flipping end over end. Corphish is now knocked out, so Ash checks on it. Armaldo then suddenly uses Dig to escape. As everyone recovers, Dr. Proctor figures out why it’s so upset—it’s looking for food. He then leads the group to the island’s northern peninsula, and as they run he explains that the favorite berry of fossil Pokemon (the one he explained about earlier) still exist, but only in that area, so that must be where Armaldo is headed.

Ahead, Armaldo bursts up through the ground at the same time as the others catch up. But before anyone can do anything, a Team Rocket mecha tank shows up and grabs Armaldo, depositing it inside! The tank’s cockpit opens, and Team Rocket says their motto, then boasts about how strong their tank is. Meowth says they should go back to the lab to grab the Lileep there, so they take off in their tank, but not before charging at Ash & co, forcing them to dive out of the way. Dr. Proctor runs after the tank, managing to jump onto the back of it. Armaldo tries to scratch its way out, but TR boasts that their tank is impenetrable. Outside, Dr. Proctor bangs on the tank, trying to talk to Armaldo. It hears him, but so does James, so TR begins to swerve wildly to try and shake off the good doctor. Finally, they use one of the tank’s metal arms to pick him off and throw him away. Annu checks on him as Ash calls for Pikachu to Thunderbolt the tank, but the attack does nothing. May tries this time, sending out Bulbasaur to do a Petal Dance. The attack strikes the tank but does nothing. TR boasts again, but what they don’t see is that the Petal Dance deflects off the tank and strikes a cliff, causing a rock slide in front of them! TR slams on the brakes, but are unable to avoid rolling over the tank. Anorith rolls over too, still trapped in the back of the tank. Max notices the haphazard steel patchwork job on the bottom of the tank, and the others guess that that must be the tank’s weak spot. Apparently, TR couldn’t afford to cover the whole thing with the same invincible material. Dr. Proctor climbs on the tank and yells for Armaldo to aim straight up, since the floor isn’t as strong. Armaldo punches straight up with Metal Claw, and finally breaks free, as everyone rejoices. But TR isn’t through yet! They pop out of the machine, and surprisingly, Meowth attacks Armaldo with Fury Swipes! But Meowth only ends up bending its claws on the Rock-type, as it counters with an attack that Annu identifies as Rock Blast. May has Bulbasaur attack Meowth with Petal Dance, which sends Meowth flying back to J&J. Pikachu then sends them blasting off with Thunder.

Later, Armaldo contentedly eats its favorite berries, and the Proctors are happy it has calmed down. Max compliments May on how well Bulbasaur did in battle with its Petal Dance, and May asks if it’s ready to do some more training for the contest.

Thanks To Geodude For Writing this for us