Japanese Title: All Members Participate! Tag Battle!!
Original Airdate: October 4, 2007
US Airdate: February 1, 2008
It's time for the Hearthome Tag Battle Tournament, where everyone will be randomly paired with a partner. Dawn is paired with a guy named Conway, who is somewhat creepy but an excellent strategist. Brock is paired with a girl named Holly. And Ash is paired with none other than Paul!
This episode contains examples of the following tropes:
- All Love Is Unrequited: Subverted with Brock and Holly. At first, she rejects his advances like many girls have, but after he proves himself a competent tag-battle partner, her feelings about him noticeably change.
- Creepy Good: Conway may have an air of creepiness about him, but he proves very competent in double battles and perfectly willing to help Dawn. He even has his Slowking protect Piplup from enemy attacks, allowing the little penguin to focus on all-out offense. He and Dawn work together much better than Ash and Paul ever do.
- Drama-Preserving Handicap: Pikachu's powerful electric attacks are negated by Rhydon's Lightning Rod ability, forcing Pikachu to solely rely on Quick Attack and Iron Tail to win the match.
- Enemy Mine: Subverted. While Ash is perfectly willing to use teamwork, Paul is furious about the pairing and refuses to cooperate during their battle. By the next episode, it reaches such extremes that Paul attacks Ash’s Pokémon instead of the opponents’.
- "Eureka!" Moment: Ash sees Rhydon's Surf attack about to hit Pikachu and Chimchar when he suddenly remembers Zoey's Contest appeal from last episode and comes up with a way for Pikachu to use Iron Tail to dispel Surf and take out Rhydon..
- Handshake Refusal: Pikachu offers Elekid a handshake as a means of calling a truce. Elekid pretends to reciprocate — and then sucker-punches Pikachu.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: In their first round, Conway and Dawn face off against a tag team consisting of a young girl with a Scyther and a huge, burly man with a Koffing.
- Retcon: Infamously in Pokémon: The Original Series, Pikachu was known to have defeated Blaine's Rhydon by aiming his Thunderbolt towards Rhydon's horn like a lighting rod. Here, this episode overwrites that feat by showcasing Rhydon's Lightning Rod ability, which amusingly draws Pikachu's Thunderbolt away from Magmar and into its horn, suffering no ill effects.
- Scary Shiny Glasses: Conway gets these frequently, giving him his air of creepiness.
- Scissors Cuts Rock: Pikachu's electric attacks may be useless against Rhydon, but Iron Tail is still effective.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Literally, in Paul's case. He only battles with Ash as a partner because he has no choice and despite his best efforts to get them to work as a team, Ash gets frustrated and angry with Paul's loner attitude and cruelty towards Chimchar.
- This Is Gonna Suck: Even an All-Loving Hero like Ash knows that being paired up with a Jerkass like Paul won't end well.
- Token Evil Teammate: Paul of all people is Ash’s partner for the tournament.
- Villain Protagonist: Paul technically qualifies as this, as he’s Ash’s tag team partner for the next few episodes, and Paul does some rather despicable things.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: This is pretty much Paul's response when he realizes he has to team up with Ash, and the feeling's mutual. This sudden change of events has left Brock and Dawn astounded as well.
