| Smells Like Team Spirit!
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タッグバトル！ファイナル！！
Tag Battle! Final!!
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First broadcast
| Japan
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October 25, 2007
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| United States
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February 1, 2008
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English themes
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Japanese themes
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Credits
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Smells Like Team Spirit! (Japanese: タッグバトル！ファイナル！！ Tag Battle! Final!!) is the 52nd episode of Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl, the 518th episode of the Pokémon anime, and the last episode of the tenth season, Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl. It first aired in Japan on October 25, 2007 and in the United States on February 1, 2008.
Blurb
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 partner 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!
Plot
Ash is kneeling down to the Chimchar that Paul released moments earlier. Impressed by the way Chimchar always gives it its all in battle, Ash would be thrilled to have it on his team. However, a disgusted Paul tells them that they deserve the worst and have found it in each other. Ash diverts any and all attention away from him, and assures Chimchar that, if it accepts his offer, they will both prove Paul wrong. Paul walks away, and Chimchar takes on a glowing expression and reaches to accept Ash's offer, just when they are suddenly attacked by Bullet Seed and Pin Missile. In all the chaos, Chimchar is seized by the attackers, revealed to be Team Rocket. After finishing their motto, James tells Carnivine and Cacnea to attack Ash, Dawn and Brock so they can escape. However, Chimchar takes action and uses Flamethrower to destroy Team Rocket's balloon, causing it to plummet to the ground. Ash manages to catch Chimchar just in time, and with the day saved, he asks again if Chimchar would like to join his team. Chimchar happily agrees, so Ash throws a Poké Ball into the air. Chimchar happily jumps up and smacks the button, and without any struggle, Ash catches Chimchar. Later that night, Ash contacts Professor Oak to tell him about what has been going on. Although Oak is glad that Chimchar is with Ash now, he states that the situation has not changed; Ash and Paul still need to work as a team if they are to win the tournament.
The next morning, the battles continue in the Tag Battle Competition. Dawn and Conway have already won their semifinal match, so the next match-up is Ash and Paul versus Brock and Holly. Ash sends out Chimchar to watch, before sending out Staravia to battle. Paul chooses Torterra, Brock chooses Croagunk, and Holly chooses Farfetch'd. Ash makes the first move and commands Staravia to use Aerial Ace on Croagunk, who Brock commands to counter with Poison Jab. Holly has Farfetch'd launch an Air Slash at Torterra, who Paul commands to use Hyper Beam. Hyper Beam decimates the Air Slash and instantly knocks Farfetch'd out on impact, grazing Staravia in the process. Holly apologizes for letting Brock down, but he tells her not to worry and tells Croagunk to use Brick Break on Torterra, who is immobilized due to Hyper Beam's secondary effect. Ash tells Staravia to use Aerial Ace, trying to catch Croagunk off-guard. However, Croagunk slides under Torterra, forcing Staravia to stop his attack. Croagunk jumps out from behind Torterra and lands Brick Break on its head. Croagunk tries to follow up with Poison Jab, but before he can do so, Torterra regains movement and uses Leaf Storm, which knocks Croagunk out in one shot and giving Ash and Paul victory and entry into the final round. Ash congratulates Staravia on a good job, only for Paul to comment that Staravia contributed nothing to the battle, before casting a glare at his former Chimchar, who turns away in intimidation.
Returning to the Pokémon Center after the match, Nurse Joy tells Brock that Holly was so upset about losing that she left to go and train. Devastated by losing the one woman who liked him, Brock tells Ash that he has to win the tournament. Finally, the final battle of Dawn and Conway versus Ash and Paul begins. Ash sends out Chimchar before Paul sends out Elekid, and Dawn sends out Buizel as Conway sends out Heracross. Ash and Paul take charge as Chimchar launches a Flamethrower at Heracross while Elekid readies a Thunder for Buizel. However, Buizel is able to neutralize Flamethrower with Aqua Jet before hitting Chimchar, and Heracross takes Elekid's Thunder to power up its Revenge attack, which hits Elekid hard. Ash then tells Paul that they must start working as a team if they want to win, though Paul doesn't seem to care. Ash then has Chimchar use Dig, which causes Dawn to worry, but Conway tells her that now is the perfect time to unleash the strategy they came up with for Paul's Elekid. Dawn then has Buizel rush toward Elekid with Aqua Jet, and Elekid uses Protect. However, this is just what they wanted Elekid to do; Buizel then jumps, and Heracross comes in with a Feint attack, which shocks Paul. The Feint destroys Elekid's Protect and causes it a good amount of damage.
Buizel continues the assault by hitting Elekid with Water Gun, but to his surprise, Chimchar resurfaces right below him and nails Dig. Buizel then fires right back with another Aqua Jet, causing Chimchar super-effective damage. However, it quickly recovers and its flame reignites, and Ash has it launch a Flamethrower toward Heracross, but Buizel jumps in front of Heracross and uses Water Gun. The attacks collide and cause an steamy explosion, which Elekid jumps through with a Thunder Punch in tow. Conway has Heracross counter with a Megahorn, creating another explosion that sends both of them reeling back. Elekid has taken a lot of damage at this point and Chimchar looks worried for it, but Elekid shrugs it off and begins to evolve, shocking everyone and elating Paul. The evolution finishes, and Paul commands his newly-evolved Electabuzz to charge Thunder. Conway tells Heracross to get the jump on Electabuzz with Megahorn as Dawn tells Buizel to use Water Gun on Chimchar, but Ash tells Chimchar to dodge Water Gun and use Flamethrower on Heracross, while Electabuzz uses Thunder on Buizel. both Pokémon are sent flying back and the zapped Buizel crashes into the flaming Heracross, causing a huge explosion. Just when it seems like the battle is over, the smoke clears to reveal Buizel and Heracross still standing. However, they collapse and faint moments later, making Ash and Paul the winners of the Hearthome City Tag Battle Competition. Ash congratulates Chimchar and tells Paul that Electabuzz's sudden evolution made all the difference. However, Paul remarks Electabuzz was the only reason they won, since Heracross was still standing after Chimchar's Flamethrower, and only went down after Buizel collided into it. However, Ash does not care what Paul thinks; as far as he is concerned, Chimchar did a fantastic job.
At the awards ceremony, Enta gets on stage to give Ash and Paul their Soothe Bells. Everyone applauds Ash and Paul, while Conway muses that for a tournament that was supposed to emphasize teamwork between Trainers, it was the team that co-operated the least that ended up winning. That evening, at the Pokémon Center, Dawn is discouraged about losing, but promises to win her next Contest. Suddenly, Paul passes by and tosses his Soothe Bell at Ash, saying he has no need for it. Brock notes that for Paul, the tournament was simply an opportunity to power up his Pokémon, and as far as he's concerned, Elekid evolving was the only good thing to come out of it. Conway then suggests to Ash that, since the Hearthome Gym is currently closed, he could head for Veilstone City, since it is the closest city with a Gym. The gang agrees that this is a good idea, and, with a new Pokémon on his team, Ash prepares to head to Veilstone City and earn his third Gym Badge.
Major events
Ash holding the Soothe Bell
- For a list of all major events in the anime, please see the history page.
Debuts
Pokémon debuts
Characters
Humans
Pokémon
Trivia
- Music from Celebi: The Voice of the Forest is used as background music.
- Professor Oak's Big Pokémon Encyclopedia: Stunky
- Pokémon senryū: スカンプー すかんあいてに においプー Sukanpū, sukan aite ni, nioi pū
- This is the season finale of Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl.
- This episode concludes the three-part Hearthome City Tag Battle Competition arc.
- This episode's English dub title is a reference to the song "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana. The name of this song 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.
- All of Ash's, Dawn's, and Brock's Pokémon were shown over the past three episodes apart from Happiny.
- 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.
- This is the last episode where Michele Knotz voices James's Mime Jr.
- The time between the original Japanese airing and first English dub airing of this episode was the shortest of all episodes at the time when this episode aired in English, with only 99 days between them. The record was later broken when A Unova League Evolution! aired.
- This is the last episode in which the title card is dubbed in Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu by Disney India. From the next episode onward, the English dub audio in the title card will remain intact in the said dubs.
Errors
Dub edits
- In the English dub, it is implied that the tournament is only held once a year. In the original Japanese version, it is not stated how often the tournament occurs.
In other languages
Czech
Dutch
Finnish
European French
German
Hindi
Italian
Korean
Polish
Brazil
Portugal
Russian
Latin America
Spain
Swedish
Thai
