DP052

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 animated series, 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==
 is kneeling down to the that Paul moments earlier. Impressed by the way Chimchar always gives it his all in battle, Ash would be thrilled to have him on his team. However, a disgusted Paul tells them that they deserve the worst and have found it in each other. Ash diverts and attention away from him, and assures Chimchar that, if he 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 and . In all the chaos, Chimchar is seized by the attackers, revealed to be . After finishing their motto, James tells and to attack Ash, Dawn and Brock so he, Jessie and can escape. However, Chimchar takes action and uses 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 into the air. Chimchar happily jumps up and smacks the button, and without any struggle, Ash catches him. Later that night, Ash contacts 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 Hearthome City 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 to battle. Paul chooses , Brock chooses , and Holly chooses . Ash makes the first move and commands Staravia to use on Croagunk, who Brock commands to counter with . Holly has Farfetch'd launch an at Torterra, who Paul commands to use . Hyper Beam decimates the Air Slash and instantly knocks Farfetch'd out on impact, grazing Staravia in the process. Ash scolds Paul for harming his Pokémon again, before Holly apologizes for letting Brock down. He tells her not to blame herself, before telling Croagunk to use on Torterra, who is immobilized due to Hyper Beam's secondary effect. Ash tells Staravia to use another 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, leading Ash to command Staravia to stop him, but Paul angrily tells him to let him handle this himself and commands Torterra, now being able to move again, to use before Croagunk can use his move, which knocks him out in one shot and gives 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 actually reciprocated his feelings for her, 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 , and Dawn sends out as Conway sends out . Ash and Paul take charge as Chimchar launches a Flamethrower at Heracross while Elekid readies a for Buizel. However, Buizel is able to neutralize Flamethrower with and hit Chimchar, and Heracross takes Elekid's Thunder to power up his attack, which hits Elekid hard. Ash tells Paul that they will lose if they do not start working as a team, though Paul doesn't seem to care now that his purpose for even entering the tournament in the first place has been thrown out the window. Ash has Chimchar use , which worries Dawn, but Conway tells her that now is the perfect time to unleash the strategy that they came up with for Paul's Elekid. Dawn has Buizel rush toward Elekid with Aqua Jet, provoking Paul to have it use Protect. However, this is just what Dawn and Conway wanted Paul to do; Buizel jumps, and Heracross comes in with a 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 fires right back with another Aqua Jet, causing Chimchar supereffective damage. However, he quickly recovers and his flame reignites, and Ash has him launch a Flamethrower toward Heracross, but Buizel jumps in front of Heracross and uses Water Gun. The attacks collide and cause a steamy explosion, which Elekid jumps through with a in tow. Conway has Heracross counter with , 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 him off and begins to evolve, shocking everyone and elating Paul. The evolution finishes, and Paul commands his newly-evolved 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, right before Electabuzz launches Thunder at Buizel. Both Pokémon are sent flying back from the supereffective attacks, 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 that Electabuzz was the only reason they won, since Heracross was still standing after Chimchar's Flamethrower, and only went down after Buizel collided into him. However, Ash doesn't care what Paul thinks; as far as he's concerned, Chimchar did a fantastic job.
At the awards ceremony, gets on stage to give Ash and Paul their Soothe Bells. Everyone applauds Ash and Paul, while Brock muses that for Paul is biggest reward was his Elekid evolving and Dawn reminds him that he only participated in the tournament simply to power up his Pokémon. Conway muses about how ironic it is that the team that cooperated the least ended up winning a tournament that was supposed to emphasize teamwork between Trainers. That evening, at the Pokémon Center, Dawn is discouraged about losing, but promises to win her next Contest. Suddenly, Paul passes by and throws his Soothe Bell at Ash, saying he has no need for it, before leaving. After Paul has left, Ash reminds Chimchar that they're a team now, which the Chimp Pokémon agrees on. Conway 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. After Brock remember that Veilstone City is where Paul is from, Ash like the idea in heading over to his rival's hometown, and, with a new Pokémon on his team, prepares to earn his third Gym Badge.
==Major events==
* joins 's party.
* and Conway win their semifinal match.
* Ash and Paul defeat and Holly in the semifinals.
* Conway is revealed to own a .
* Paul's evolves into an .
* Ash and Paul defeat Dawn and Conway in the finals, winning the Hearthome City Tag Battle Competition and receiving a Soothe Bell each.
* Paul gives his Soothe Bell to Ash.
* Ash learns of a Gym in Veilstone City and decides to head there next.
===Debuts===
====Pokémon debuts====
* Paul's Electabuzz
== Characters ==
=== Humans ===
* 
* 
* 
* Jessie
* James
* Nurse Joy
* (screen)
* Paul
* Conway
* Holly
* 
* 
=== Pokémon ===
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* (; new; formerly Paul's)
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* (; evolves)
* (; newly evolved)
* ()
* (Holly's)
* (Conway's)
* (Conway's)
==Trivia==
* Music from Celebi: The Voice of the Forest is used as background music.
* Professor Oak's Big Pokémon Encyclopedia: 
** 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 "" by . 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 .
* All of 's, 's, and 's Pokémon were shown over the past three episodes apart from .
* This is the last episode where 's voice actors dub at . Beginning with the following episode, DuArt was used as the studio to record and distribute the anime.
** This is also the last dub episode to have background music produced by 4Kids Entertainment.
* This is the last episode where Michele Knotz voices James's Mime Jr. until Rocket Revengers!.
* 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 until Regaining the Home Advantage in which the title card is dubbed in Hindi by . From the next episode onward, the English dub audio in the title card will remain intact in the Hindi dub. It will be the same again after Memories are Made of Bliss.
* This episode marks the first time that Ash has caught a first partner Pokémon since in Good ‘Quit Hunting, 377 episodes earlier.
===Errors===
* can be heard when blasts off, even though he was not out of his Poké Ball at the time.
* In the dub, Conway's 's is mistakenly referred to as .
===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 ==
052
Category:Episodes written by Atsuhiro Tomioka
Category:Episodes storyboarded and directed by Yūji Asada
Category:Episodes storyboarded by Yūji Asada
Category:Episodes directed by Yūji Asada
Category:Episodes animated by Masaaki Iwane
Category:Episodes focusing on Paul
Category:Episodes in which a main character obtains a new Pokémon
de:Mit Vollgas ins Finale!
es:EP521
fr:DP052
it:DP052
ja:DP編第52話
zh:宝可梦 钻石＆珍珠 第51集