Japanese Title: Hikozaru vs. Zangoose! Destined Battle!!
Original Airdate: October 18, 2007
US Airdate: February 1, 2008
As if we needed any more evidence that Paul is a dick.
The Hearthome Tag Battle Tournament continues, as does Ash's frustration with Paul's unwillingness to cooperate. But when things don't go well in the next battle, Paul decides he's had enough of Chimchar, forcing Ash to carry the tag battle all by himself. Perhaps this is exactly what the abused Fire type needs.
This episode contains examples of the following tropes:
- Awesome, but Impractical: An ironic contrast to Paul’s usual approach to strategies. Paul is dead set on getting Chimchar to use Blaze, but as Ash pointed out, there’s many other ways for Chimchar to grow strong, and focusing purely on Blaze would make Chimchar vulnerable.
- Be as Unhelpful as Possible: Paul plays this completely straight in their match against Zangoose and Metagross. First off he uses Chimchar who everyone knew was still tired from their training yesterday. Then, he once again refuses to cooperate with Ash and work as a team, as well as having Chimchar attack Turtwig with Flame Wheel for no good reason despite being on the same side. He then precedes to give up and stop giving Chimchar orders altogether, forcing Ash to give orders to both Pokémon and win, despite the bad odds. Thank you so much for being a team player Paul!
- Brains and Brawn: Ash and Paul's second pair of opponents are clearly based on a Psychic and a Black Belt, a trainer duo that will be explicitly referred to as "Brains and Brawn" in future installments of Pokémon games.
- Contrived Coincidence: Out of all the Pokémon he could be facing, Chimchar has to fight the one he's the most terrified of—Zangoose.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Paul met Chimchar as it was being relentlessly attacked by a group of Zangoose, only fending them off within an inch of its life through a Blaze-powered Flame Wheel. Not only did this event badly traumatize Chimchar, but it's the source behind all of its mistreatment in the present.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Chimchar's behavior draws some heartbreaking parallels to real life abuse victims, many of whom are genuinely convinced they're okay with their situations and abusers. As Ash and Dawn try to reason with Chimchar, the fire monkey insists it truly wants to become stronger through Paul's brutal methods, even though it's clear that couldn't be further from the truth.
- Doctor's Orders: Nurse Joy explicitly orders Paul to bench the injured and exhausted Chimchar in the next round of battles. Yeah, like Paul really gives a damn...
- Even Evil Has Standards: Even Team Rocket felt sorry for Chimchar and felt disgusted by Paul's harsh training methods.
- Facing Your Fears: Chimchar may be terrified of Zangoose, freezing up every time the big cat-mongoose gets near, but when it's Turtwig who's in trouble from Zangoose's Fire Blast, Chimmy jumps in to protect its partner.
- Freudian Excuse: Paul finally reveals the true reason he's so brutal toward Chimchar: so he can get it to activate its especially powerful Blaze ability, which he first saw activate in a Desperation Attack against a group of wild Zangoose. Unfortunately for both of them, Paul's training was never able to recreate that level of power, which only led him to intensify his brutality even more.
- Heroic BSoD: As it turns out, putting a Pokémon through Training from Hell the night before sending it into battle against the species that it fears the most won't trip its Super Mode; it'll instead trigger a panicked breakdown.
- Heroic Second Wind: What got Paul interested in Chimchar — he saw the little fire monkey release a burst of Blaze power that took out an entire pack of Zangoose. Since then, he's been trying to force Chimchar to recreate that moment, with less-than-successful results.
- Kick the Dog: After an entire season of being a massive Jerkass, Paul outdoes himself by abandoning Chimchar for good when it isn't able to reactivate its Super Mode. Even Team Rocket is horrified!
- Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Paul seemed to actually believe that everyone wanted the same thing, for Chimchar to grow strong, and that the reason he pushes Chimchar so hard is for it to awaken its full potential, the power he saw beforehand when he first met Chimchar. But Paul’s constant belittlement of Chimchar, and straight up abandoning Chimchar proves that Paul wanted it to grow strong for one reason, for his own benefit.
- Rage Quit: Deciding that he's not going to get the battle performance he wants from Chimchar, Paul simply turns away in the middle of the battle and refuses to give it anymore commands, forcing Ash to take over and carry them to victory himself.
- Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Holly is impressed with Brock's compassion for Pokémon at least as much as for his skills in battle. No wonder she has hearts in her eyes the next day.
- Slasher Smile: Zangoose has this look during an up-close moment with Chimchar. No wonder the little guy looks terrified.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Once again, Paul refuses to cooperate with Ash, instead opting to follow his own cruel agenda.
- Training from Hell: Ash catches a glimpse of what Paul puts Chimchar through.
- Villain Protagonist: Most of the episode revolves around Paul, and how he treats his Chimchar, and exactly what he put it through as part of its training.
- Wham Episode: Paul finally releases Chimchar, and Ash offers it a spot on his team. This has a profound effect on Chimchar's development over the rest of the saga and completely reshapes the rivalry between Ash and Paul.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Paul gets this from everybody regarding his treatment of Chimchar. This includes Nurse Joy, who insists that Paul bench Chimchar for the next battle. Naturally, he doesn't listen. Ash also gives him a minor one later on in the battle because he forced Chimchar to hit Turtwig with a super-effective Flame Wheel, causing him to badly injure his own teammate.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Zangoose is the Pokémon that Chimchar fears the most, so of course that's the opponent that it faces.
- You Have Failed Me: Paul finally decides he's done and releases Chimchar, an action that the whole season was building towards.Paul: You're outta here.
