Smells Like Team Spirit! (Japanese: タッグバトル！ファイナル！！, Hepburn: Tag Battle! Final!!) is the 52nd episode of Pocket Monsters: Diamond and Pearl, and the final episode of Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl of Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl.
Synopsis[]
After a strange victory in the second round of Hearthome City's tag battle tournament, Paul has abandoned his Chimchar and Ash wants Chimchar to join his team instead. Team Rocket wants Chimchar's power for themselves, and they swoop in to steal it. Their hot air balloon getaway flames out when Chimchar toasts their balloon and happily returns to Ash. For the quarterfinals of the tournament, Chimchar will rest and watch Ash and Paul use Staravia and Torterra to battle Brock and his tag battle partner Holly, who are using Croagunk and Farfetch'd.
Unlike Ash and Paul, who are getting along just as badly as ever, Brock and Holly work well as a team. But against a powerhouse Pokémon like Torterra, even Brock and Holly are unable to win. Paul sneers at Ash for celebrating and thinks his Torterra was the only reason they won, but it doesn't matter now. Ash and Paul move on to face Dawn and her parter Conway in the final round. And for this battle, Ash chooses Chimchar and Paul chooses Elekid to battle against Dawn's Buizel and Conway's Heracross.
Dawn and Conway are good partners, too: they know how to work together and synchronize attack and defense. However, Conway's strategies didn't anticipate that Paul's Elekid would evolve into Electabuzz in the middle of the match! Buizel and Heracross do their best, but Electabuzz's power and Chimchar's Fire-type attacks win the day. Of course, now that he's evolved his Elekid, Paul couldn't care less about victory or the Soothe Bell prize. But Ash believes Paul's Chimchar will be a great addition to his team, and he's looking forward to the next Gym battle in Veilstone City![1]
Episode plot[]
Chimchar ponders Ash's offer: Ash thinks it has a great potential to be a great Pokémon, while Paul insults them, thinking they both are pathetic. Ash ignores him and offers Chimchar an opportunity. Chimchar goes to accept the offer, but they get attacked by Team Rocket. Chimchar has been captured as Team Rocket has already planned to use Chimchar to get the Soothe Bell. They have Cacnea uses Pin Missile and Carnivine Bullet Seed on them. Ash promises Chimchar to get it out. Chimchar is relieved, but becomes angry and burns the balloon with Flamethrower.
Ash runs and catches Chimchar before he hits the ground. Ash asks Chimchar if it wants to come with them. Through Pikachu, Piplup and Turtwig's encouragement, Chimchar agrees to join Ash's team and lets itself be captured. Later, Ash contacts Prof. Oak that he has a new partner. Oak is confident Ash will win the Tag battle tournament, even if Ash and Paul do not cooperate as they should. Dawn is happy to know Oak recited a poem, even if it was not meant to be a poem. Next day, the quarter-finals begin. Brock and Holly face Ash and Paul. Ash tells Chimchar to watch the battle. Holly advises Brock that he should not hold back, even if Ash is his friend. Brock knows he shouldn't - after all, he was a Gym Leader. Team Rocket, Conway and Dawn watch the battle.
Ash sends Staravia and Paul his Torterra, Brock his Croagunk and Holly her Farfetch'd. Staravia begins by using Aerial Ace, while Croagunk uses Poison Jab. Farfetch'd uses Air Slash, but gets countered by Torterra's Hyper Beam. This grazes Staravia, but defeats Farfetch'd. Ash is angry that Paul hit Staravia, though Paul responds Staravia was too slow. Holly apologizes to Brock, but Brock tells her it will all right and promises to turn the events, so Croagunk uses Brick Break. Staravia charges with Aerial Ace, but stops (almost hitting Torterra), as Croagunk came under Torterra, then attacks Torterra. Croagunk goes to use Poison Jab. Ash orders Staravia to attack, but Paul stops him. With a Leaf Storm, Croagunk is defeated. Ash and Paul win the battle. Holly blames herself for the defeat, but Brock reminds her there are wins and losses. Ash praises Staravia, though Paul asks them what did they do in the battle, giving Chimchar a cold look.
At the Pokémon center, Brock is shocked to hear Holly left. Holly told Joy because of the defeat, she went to work and train to be stronger. Brock is sad, so orders Ash to get there and win. Joy gives Paul his Torterra and he thanks her, then sees Ash. The moment they saw each other takes some seconds, then Paul leaves. Dawn and Conway defeated the trainers and face Paul and Ash. Team Rocket is still dazzled by the Soothe Bell. Ash sends Chimchar and Paul his Elekid. Chimchar hesitates, but Ash tells it that he is its trainer now. Dawn sends Buizel and Conway sends Heracross. Chimchar begins by using Flamethrower on Heracross and Elekid uses Thunder on Buizel. Buizel uses Aqua Jet, stopping Flamethrower and attacks Chimchar. Elekid fires the Thunder at Buizel, but Heracross comes to stop Buizel from being hit, as it uses Revenge, then retaliates on Elekid, causing major damage on Elekid.
Ash tells Paul if they do not cooperate, they will lose. Paul responds what if they do, though Ash does not want to lose and orders Chimchar to dig. Buizel uses Aqua Jet and Elekid Protect to stop the attack. However, Buizel goes up and Heracross uses Feint (much to Paul's shock), negating Elekid's Protect, then throws Elekid away. Buizel uses Water Gun, hurting Elekid, but stops as it gets hit by Chimchar's dig, though Buizel counters with Aqua Jet. Chimchar uses Flamethrower, but gets countered by Buizel's Water Gun. Elekid uses ThunderPunch, but gets countered by Heracross' Megahorn. Elekid is badly damage, but evolves into Electabuzz. Electabuzz charges up to use Thunder, so Heracross uses Megahorn on Electabuzz and Buizel used Water Gun on Chimchar. However, Chimchar dodges and attacks Heracross with Flamethrower, while Electabuzz attacks Buizel with Thunder.
Both Heracross and Buizel bumped into each other by the force and caused a large explosion. After some time, the smoke clears and Buizel and Heracross still stand, although wounded. However, they fall down and are defeated. Because of this, Paul and Ash are victorious and win the tournament. Team Rocket are pleased with the victory, while Ash celebrates with his new Chimchar. Ash thanks Paul for the evolution, but Paul still thinks they are pathetic, as Chimchar could have defeated Heracross on the spot if it was not for Electabuzz. Ash ignores Paul, as he knows Chimchar is better than that and knew its penitential. Enta gives them the Soothe Bells. The audience cheers for them, while Team Rocket go away, pleased by the result.
Later, Dawn and Brock congratulate Ash on the victory. Paul passes and throws to Ash his own Soothe Bell, saying he does not need it and walks away. Ash tells Chimchar that they are a team now and ignore Paul. Conway advises to Ash to head to Veilstone City and challenge the Gym leader. Brock reminds Ash that Paul is from Veilstone City, but Ash still wants to go to there.
Debuts[]
Pokémon[]
Move[]
Trivia[]
- Professor Oak's Pokémon lecture: Stunky
- This episode's dub title is a reference to the Nirvana song, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by the band, Nirvana. The name of this song, coincidentally, is often mistaken as "Smells Like Team Spirit".
- This episode, along with "Tag! We're It!" and "Glory Blaze", was aired as a 90-minute special on February 1, 2008, on Cartoon Network.
- This is the last episode where Pokémon USA's voice actors dub at TAJ. Beginning with the following episode, DuArt was used as the studio to record and distribute the anime.
Gallery[]
References[]
- ^ (n.d.) . "Smells Like Team Spirit! | Pokémon TV (pokemon.com)". From The Official Pokémon Website | Pokemon.com. Archived from the original on January 30, 2024.
