Team Rocket's Meowth

Meowth is James and Jessie's main Pokémon that travels with them. He is one of the few non-Legendary Pokémon that is capable of speaking human language, and along with Slowking, they are the only Pokémon known to learn actual human talk and not telepathy.

Early Life
Before joining Team Rocket, he was just a normal Meowth living on the streets of Hollywood (AKA "Tinseltown") after he came there searching for fame and fortune.

He joined a gang of street Meowth lead by a Persian. They annoyed humans in Tinseltown (in typical alley cat fashion), such as stealing food and rummaging through trash cans. Eventually he met a female Meowth named Meowzie, who he fell in love with. However she rejected him, in favor of the attention of her rich human mistress. Wanting to impress her, Meowth began learning to become more human-like. With a great amount of time and effort, Meowth learned to speak human language (with a New York accent) and walk upright. However all his efforts backfired, as he was again rejected by Meowzie, who now saw him as a freak. With his heart now broken, he decides to join Team Rocket (mainly due to the fact that the word "Rocket" was the first word he learned to speak).

According to Meowth (himself), he claims to have been Boss Giovanni's personal pet (or "Top Cat"), but he was later replaced by a Persian (possibly due to Meowth's having not learned the move Pay Day and due to Giovanni's favoring of rare and powerful Pokémon over all others) the evolved form of Meowth.

Partnership with Jessie and James
Eventually Meowth was assigned by Giovanni to work along side Jessie and James. Though he often bickers with the duo (possibly due to his belief that he is their superior/boss), he bonds with them. After their first run in with Ash Ketchum and his Pikachu, they become obsessed with stealing Ash's Pikachu and presenting it to Giovanni. Meowth also believes that by catching Pikachu, he can regain Giovanni's favor (and his position as his "Top Cat" and replace the current Persian).

Moves and Abilities
Meowth himself rarely fights other Pokémon, and mainly leaves the fighting to Jessie's and James' Pokémon. Due to the effort he spent learning to talk and walk upright he never learned his species signature move "Pay Day" (a fact that is not left unnoticed on the often penniless Jessie and James).

Fury Swipes
This appears to Meowth's favorite move (it could even be considered "his signature move") as he uses it the most. He once used this move to defeat Onix after weakening it with a bucket of water. In the episode, "Jumping Rocket Ship" defeated Barry's Empoleon using it (which is strange because Fury Swipes is a normal-type move and should not have done too much damage, due it being a dual Water/Steel-type).

Scratch
Meowth's weakest move. This was likely one of Meowth's first moves he learned.

Bite
A Dark-type move first used by Meowth in "The Path to the Pokémon League". It is currently the only dark-type move shown being used on-screen by Meowth.

Night Slash
A powerful dark-type Meowth claims to be learning in the episode "Jumping Rocket Ship" (this has as of yet to be confirmed by its used on screen). If true this would put Meowth's level around 49 (in the video games, Level 49 is the level at which a Meowth learns Night Slash).

Possible Moves Learned

 * Taunt - Given his personality it is possible that he may have learned it (however given the fact that a Meowth learns it before Pay Day, it is possible Meowth never learned it due to his efforts to become more human-like.


 * Nasty Plot - Given Meowth's tenancy to come up with various plans to capture Pikachu (A Meowth can learn it a level 38).


 * Chatter - Given his ability to speak, it maybe possible (however unlikely) that he could learn it.

Gallery
See the main Article: Team Rocket's Meowth/Gallery

Voice Actors

 * Nathan Price(IL002-IL017,IL019-IL031)
 * Maddie Blaustein(IL018, IL032-AG145)
 * Jimmy Zoppi(AG146-Present)
 * Charis Grigoropoulos(Greek)

Trivia

 * Meowth has been used to talk to people by pokemon 3 times. First was by the giant Tentacruel. Second was a Haunter with a Gastly which were both past 100 years old and third, it was Deoxys in battle frontier.
 * He learned to speak because he found a languge class and stayed in the roof hiding.
 * The first human word he learned was rocket which kind of explains why he joined Team Rocket.
 * In IL018: Beauty and the Beach, Meowth was voiced by Maddie Blaustein, since the episode aired in America when she took over for Nathan Price.