DP050

Tag! We're It...! (Japanese: 全員参加！タッグバトル！！ All Members Participate! Tag Battle!!) is the 50th episode of Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl, and the 516th episode of the Pokémon animated series. It first aired in Japan on October 4, 2007 as part of a two-hour special alongside DP049, and in the United States on February 1, 2008.
==Blurb==
Dawn is still feeling a little blue after her early exit from the Hearthome Pokémon Contest, so her friends convince her to compete in a tag battle tournament along with Ash and Brock. Our heroes head to the opening ceremonies to learn who their randomly chosen tag partners are. Dawn's new partner is Conway, a calculating Trainer with a Slowking. Brock's lovely partner is Holly, who will compete using her Wingull. And Ash's partner is—Paul? Even Paul's Elekid doesn't get along with Pikachu! Ash and Pauls chances of winning the Soothe Bell prize arent looking too great.
Dawn and Conway are up first, battling a team using Koffing and Scyther. Dawn isn't so sure about Conway, but the two of them turn out to be a good pair! Conway has Slowking use defensive moves to cover for Dawn's Piplup, letting Piplup concentrate on offensive moves, and they win their match. Then Brock and Holly have their Sudowoodo and Wingull work together to defeat a Yanma and Bagon whose Trainers are too busy arguing to battle effectively. That doesn't bode well for Ash and Paul, who still aren't getting along.
Ash and Paul are up against opponents using Magmar and Rhydon—not a great type match-up for Pikachu and Paul's Chimchar. When Rhydon uses Surf, Paul orders Chimchar to use Flame Wheel directly into the waves! Its incredibly risky, so Ash tells Pikachu to disrupt the Surf attack instead. That protects Chimchar and knocks out Rhydon, but Paul doesn't appreciate the interference. They manage to win this round, but at the rate they're arguing, they might not last through the next!
==Plot==
 and hand an entry card for the Hearthome City Tag Battle Competition. Zoey suggested it to give Dawn a confidence boost after not making it into the Battle Stage of the . At the stadium, the announcer, , explains the rules and shows the competitors the prize for winning, a Soothe Bell that wants to steal. The contestants are shuffled and put into pairs for the competition. The three set off to find their partners. Dawn is the first to find her partner, an odd boy named Conway and his . Next Brock finds his partner, a girl named Holly with a . Of course, she is a beautiful girl who Brock falls for, but she tells him that she is not interested in younger men. Ash realizes his partner is none other than Paul, who is standing there with his . Paul angrily tells Ash to stay out of his way, with Ash replying that, since this is a Tag Battle competition, they must work together.
Dawn and Conway are the first to battle, with their and Slowking going up against their opponents' and . Conway tells Dawn to only worry about attacking and leave defense and strategy to him, which visibly annoys her. Scyther starts things off with a and Koffing attacks with a . Piplup blocks the Razor Wind with a and Slowking blocks the Sludge Bomb with a . Koffing comes back with a , which Slowking blocks with . Scyther goes in for an , but Piplup comes in from above with a supereffective attack that defeats Scyther in one hit. Koffing uses , but it is stopped by Slowking's . Slowking slams Koffing into the ground, knocking it out. Dawn's annoyance towards Conway turns to interest, as his suggestion helped them win their battle with flying colors.
Ash notices Paul training with Chimchar, and is impressed to see that he has learned Flamethrower, although Paul thinks his power and control are both weak. Ash disagrees and offers to help Paul train, but he rudely refuses Ash's offer, leading Dawn to remind Paul what Cynthia said about both Trainers and Pokémon always having to think about each other in a Tag Battle. However, Paul replies with what Cynthia actually said: "When every life meets another life, something will be born", before walking away. Ash asks Paul why he entered this tournament, and he replies that it was to meet Pokémon. Brock explains that Paul wants to use his opponents' Fire attacks to power up Chimchar's own, exactly like he did during his and Ash's very first battle when he used 's attacks to power up Elekid's own. Ash understands this, but certainly doesn't condone it.
Brock and Holly are up next, and it's and Wingull against a and . Holly commands Wingull to use , but Yanma hits it with before it can do so. While Wingull is falling, Bagon charges toward it with a , but Sudowoodo comes in and stops it cold with . Holly and Brock's opponent trainers start arguing about getting in each others' way. Wingull uses Blizzard, causing supereffective damage to both Yanma and Bagon. The latter tries to counter with , but Sudowoodo's prevails and knocks it out. Wingull hits Yanma with a supereffective , knocking it out as well and granting them entry into the next round. Brock starts to flirt with Holly, then catches himself and stops... only for Holly to start flirting with him. Brock is surprised, while is left bemused.
Ash and Paul's is the last battle of the first round. Ash sends out and Paul sends out Chimchar, and the opposition sends out a and . Ash starts things off by having Pikachu launch a towards Magmar, however the attack is redirected to Rhydon thanks to its Ability. Rhydon, who is naturally unharmed, smites Pikachu with a . Magmar uses , a powerful move that affects all Pokémon in the battle. Rhydon is barely affected since s resist Fire-type moves, but the blaze of fire quickly heads toward Pikachu and Chimchar. Ash tells Pikachu to dodge, but Paul commands Chimchar to jump straight into the fire. The flame on Chimchar's tail becomes bigger, and he launches a boosted towards Rhydon. However, Rhydon blocks it and counters with . Rhydon goes in for another hit on Chimchar, but Pikachu comes down from his dodge and sends Rhydon reeling back with a supereffective . This makes Ash and Paul's opponents realize that they shouldn't take Pikachu lightly even without attacks. Magmar uses while Rhydon goes in for a , which shocks everyone. Paul commands Chimchar to use and take it head-on, and Ash, knowing how foolish this is since Chimchar is weak to attacks, tries to convince him to stop. However, he suddenly remembers how Zoey used 's Iron Tail to cut through 's during her Double Performance, and has Pikachu break through the Surf with his own Iron Tail, putting Rhydon in a vulnerable free-fall. He scores a direct hit with another Iron Tail, and Rhydon crashes into the ground and faints. Now free to use Electric attacks, Pikachu goes straight for Magmar with a , and Paul, visibly annoyed, has Chimchar use . Magmar deflects Pikachu's Volt Tackle with a , but this position leaves it vulnerable to Chimchar's supereffective Dig, which knocks it out and gives Ash and Paul the win and entry into the next round. However, Dawn and Brock are both aware that they won't get much further than this if they don't start working as a team.
==Major events==
* , , and enter the Hearthome City Tag Battle Competition and are paired with Paul, Conway, and Holly, respectively.
* Paul's Chimchar is revealed to have learned .
* The three teams advance to the second round of the competition.
===Debuts===
====Humans====
* Conway
* Holly
* 
====Pokémon debuts====
==Characters==
===Humans===
* 
* 
* 
* Jessie
* James
* Paul
* Conway
* Holly
* 
* 
* 
* 
* s
* Audience
===Pokémon===
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* (Conway's)
* (Holly's)
* (; flashback)
* (; flashback)
* ('s)
* ('s)
* ('s)
* (Trainer's)
* (Trainer's)
* (Trainer's)
* (Trainer's)
* (Trainer's)
* (fantasy)
* (fantasy)
* (fantasy)
* (fantasy)
* (fantasy)
* (fantasy)
==Trivia==
* This episode begins the three-part Hearthome City Tag Battle Competition arc.
* The ending was omitted in the original broadcast, with the credits moved to the opening instead.
* Music from Pokémon Heroes and Jirachi: Wish Maker, as well as the instrumental version of Advance Adventure, are used as background music.
* 4Kids background music is used in this episode.
* This episode, along with Glory Blaze! and Smells Like Team Spirit!, aired as a 90-minute special on February 1, 2008, on .
* The title is a pun of the phrase "Tag. You're It!"
* 's , when directed at , was refracted towards the opponent's 's horn, an example of the Ability. Interestingly, Pikachu previously fought Blaine's Rhydon and , and was able to defeat Rhydon by aiming at its horn to hurt it.
* doesn't blast off or recite their in this episode.
* This episode marks the first appearance of a in the since A Crowning Achievement, 256 episodes earlier.
===Errors===
* When the first match-ups are being shown, Paul's picture is shown instead of Conway's.
* In the English dub, the closed captions refer the and by their Japanese names, Researcher and Elite Trainer, respectively.
* In the dub, is mistakenly called .
===Dub edits===
==In other languages==
050
Category:Episodes written by Atsuhiro Tomioka
Category:Episodes storyboarded and directed by Hiroyuki Yamada
Category:Episodes storyboarded by Hiroyuki Yamada
Category:Episodes directed by Hiroyuki Yamada
Category:Episodes animated by Kunihiko Natsume
Category:Episodes animated by Makoto Shinjō
Category:Episodes by multiple animation directors
Category:Episodes focusing on Paul
de:Ein Partner zum Abgewöhnen!
es:EP519
fr:DP050
it:DP050
ja:DP編第50話
zh:宝可梦 钻石＆珍珠 第49集