Rapp: The Team Skull Grunt Who Covets Every Cute Pokémon

She wants to take whatever she finds pretty, and walks away empty-handed every time. Rapp is the only girl in the trio of Grunts that Team Skull trots out from one end of the Sun & Moon series to the other. She attacks as a pack, loses as a pack, and gets practically nothing out of her entire run. But her comic streak is all her own: where her two sidekicks chase power or prestige, Rapp chases the Pokémon she likes.

Contents

• The Only Girl in a Gang Named After Kitchen Wrap
• Three Zubat, Then Just One, and Some Borrowed Tauros
• A Record Made Up Entirely of Setbacks
• What Sets Her Apart: She Covets Anything Cute
• The Alola League and Her Attachment to Guzma
• Rapp at a Glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

The Only Girl in a Gang Named After Kitchen Wrap

Rapp shows up in the very first episode of the Sun & Moon series and remains a recurring face in the anime for three seasons, before one last return much later. She never works alone: with Tupp and Zipp, she forms a tight-knit trio that shows up, strikes and scrams, always as three.

The way the three Grunts were named says a lot about how seriously anyone takes them: their names all come out of the same kitchen drawer. Rapp comes from plastic wrap (her French name, Cello, from cellophane), Zipp from Ziploc resealable plastic bags and Tupp from Tupperware — a band of troublemakers named after food packaging. Her Japanese name follows the same logic and reads "Rappu."

Her personal record, on the other hand, is blank. No hometown, no known family: her profile lists only the Alola region and her rank as a mere Grunt. Her look is taken from the female Team Skull Grunts you run into in Pokémon Sun and Moon and Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, which explains why she looks so much like the other recruits seen around her.

Three Zubat, Then Just One, and Some Borrowed Tauros

Her whole team comes down to a single species: Zubat. She sends out three at once in her first outing, then only ever uses one afterward. The rest of the time, this flying Pokémon is her only offensive resource, and it takes every one of the character's defeats.

Its moveset is that of a Pokémon that wears the opponent down before striking. It battles with Leech Life, Venoshock, Bite, Toxic, Supersonic and Wing Attack; an Air Slash is also credited to it, but it was never shown on screen, only mentioned. Lots of poison and attrition, then, for a Trainer who still loses every single battle.

On top of that comes a mount that was never hers. After sneaking into the Pokémon School, the trio steals the Tauros used there as Ride Pokémon, just to stir up chaos. The counterattack comes from Delia Ketchum, Ash's mother, who sends her son's Litten against them; once beaten, the three Grunts leave the Tauros behind.

A Record Made Up Entirely of Setbacks

The opening sets the tone. The trio targets Kiawe to take his Charizard and unleashes nine Pokémon on him at once. The Trainer's Turtonator answers with the Z-Move Inferno Overdrive, and the whole gang clears out; the rematch they attempt a few episodes later ends even faster, dispatched by a Gigavolt Havoc from Ash's Pikachu.

The failures keep piling up without the tide ever turning. An Umbreon they covet slips through their fingers, protected by its Trainer's Lycanroc. An attempt to grab Ash's Poipole cuts itself short when a venomous clog jams the arm of Zipp's Garbodor and makes it give off an unbearable stench: the trio cuts the battle short and flees on their motorbikes. Later sent to Poni Island, the three steal radishes from a field to lure some Oricorio, before the owner's Mudsdale sweeps them away in moments.

Even the competition gets there first. Up against Jessie, James and Meowth, whom they meet for the first time on that occasion, the gang fights over a Darkinium Z guarded by an oversized Alolan Totem Raticate. The guardian and its allies push Team Skull aside, and it's Team Rocket that walks off with the Z-Crystal. The Poni Island fiasco also earns them a proper dressing-down from Plumeria, who came in person to see just how poor the result was.

What Sets Her Apart: She Covets Anything Cute

Rapp's own defining trait comes out when Ilima returns to the Pokémon School. At first she wants to help Tupp settle the score with him and joins the expedition, but the Trainer's Eevee fends off all the Grunts who came in force. Worse for Tupp: during the clash, Rapp and the other girls in the gang openly fall for the Trainer and his Pokémon.

The same pattern plays out again with Mina, whom they come across painting in the street. Rapp instantly falls for her Ribombee and wants to take it; the Trainer accepts the wager, provided she's beaten in a drawing contest. The three Grunts' drawings impress Mina enough that she considers calling it a draw — it's one of her critiques, which Tupp takes badly, that restarts the fight, and Ash steps in to help finish it.

The most revealing episode is the one with the wild Eevee. Tupp wants to catch it to become popular with girls, just like his rival Ilima; Rapp, on the other hand, claims it for herself alone, on the grounds that she finds it cute. The two teammates squabble over the catch long enough to lose it: the Eevee teams up with a Popplio and chases off the three Grunts.

💜 She never got one of her own: check out our section dedicated to Eevee.

The Alola League and Her Attachment to Guzma

It's the trio that brings word of the first Alola League back to the Shady House and passes it on to Guzma in person. Rapp then accompanies her boss and Plumeria to Melemele Island, where the gang briefly crosses paths with the Team Rocket trio before stopping by the Pokémon School to get noticed by Professor Kukui.

Their next initiative backfires. The three Grunts try to trash the stadium to keep the competition from taking place, thinking they're doing Guzma a favor without having breathed a word of it to him; beaten on the spot by Ash, Kiawe and a third Trainer, they get scolded by their boss and by Plumeria for how pointless the stunt was. They still sign up for the tournament, go after Ilima and his Eevee right in the Battle Royal, and are eliminated there.

Rapp spends the rest of it in the stands: cheering Guzma's wins, and trying to intimidate Lana before her match against him, to no effect whatsoever. A graffiti session on the stadium walls ends in a rout courtesy of Gladion and his Silvally, after the three threaten little Mimo with their Pokémon. When Guzma, beaten by Ash, talks about disbanding Team Skull, Rapp and her friends tell him his defeat changes nothing about how much they admire him and ask to stay and train with him — which they're later seen doing, facing their boss's Golisopod.

Rapp at a Glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Who is Rapp in Pokémon?
  She's a Team Skull Grunt, a recurring character in the anime's Sun & Moon series. She always acts within the trio she forms with Tupp and Zipp, under the orders of Guzma and Plumeria, and never rises above the rank of underling.
• What Pokémon does Rapp have?
  A single species: Zubat. She sends out three in her first appearance, then only ever uses one. The moves it's shown using are Leech Life, Venoshock, Bite, Toxic, Supersonic and Wing Attack. The trio also stole some Tauros Ride Pokémon, which they abandoned after their defeat.
• Where does Rapp's name come from?
  From plastic wrap (her French name, Cello, comes from cellophane). Her two teammates follow the same rule: Zipp comes from Ziploc bags and Tupp from Tupperware. Her Japanese name reads "Rappu."
• Why does Rapp want an Eevee?
  Simply because she finds it cute. When the trio comes across a wild Eevee, Tupp wants it to make himself popular with girls, while she claims it for herself. Their squabble costs them the catch: the Eevee joins forces with a Popplio and sends them running.
• Does Rapp take part in the Alola League?
  Yes, with Tupp and Zipp. The three are eliminated in the Battle Royal after going after Ilima and his Eevee. They watch the rest of the tournament from the stands, cheering Guzma on.

In short

Rapp fills a role the franchise often recycles — the bottom-rung grunt who only exists through her group and loses every battle — but she adds a quirk all her own. Coveting a Trainer's Eevee, a painter's Ribombee or a wild Eevee because it's cute makes her fail just as surely as Tupp's bad plans, and far more amusingly. The only time she gets what she wants is when she asks to stay by Guzma's side, a boss who had just lost.