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| Season | Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl (Season 10) · Floaroma Town: Kenny & Dawn’s first Ribbon arc (DP025–DP029) |
| Episode | Season 10, episode 29 · English episode 493 · Japanese episode 496 · Bulbapedia code DP029 |
| English title | The Champ Twins! |
| Japanese title | サトシとヒカリ！タッグバトルで大丈夫！？ Satoshi to Hikari! Taggu Batoru de Daijōbu!? — “Satoshi and Hikari! Any Need to Worry in a Tag Battle!?” |
| First aired (Japan) | 12 April 2007 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 22 September 2007 · Cartoon Network |
| Screenplay | Yukiyoshi Ōhashi |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Together – Fumie Akiyoshi · Kimi no Soba de ~Hikari no Tēma~ (By Your Side ~Hikari’s Theme~), Pop-Up Version – Grin |
| English opening | Diamond and Pearl – Chris “Breeze” Barczynski |
| Previous episode | Drifloon On the Wind! (DP028) |
| Next episode | Some Enchanted Sweetening! (DP030) |
Filler / stand-alone episodeFirst Tag BattleThe Champ Twins
The Champ Twins! is the 29th episode of Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl, the tenth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 493rd episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 496, Bulbapedia code DP029). It first aired in Japan on 12 April 2007 and in the United States on 22 September 2007. It falls within the season’s Floaroma Town: Kenny & Dawn’s first Ribbon stretch (EP25–EP29).
Synopsis
On the road to Eterna City, Ash and Dawn meet Rhonda, a reporter for Sinnoh Now, the most popular show in the region, along with her clumsy boom operator Jack, who keeps dropping the microphone on her head. Rhonda is covering a Pokémon training camp where two Trainers have been beating every challenger, and Jessie, in a cowgirl disguise, manages to show off in front of the camera before a staff member drags her away. At the camp the friends find a string of defeated Trainers and exhausted Pokémon, and then the culprits: twin brothers Ryan and Bryan, who call themselves the Champ Twins and only accept Tag Battles. Dawn agrees to partner Ash, and the battle is filmed for Sinnoh Now, with Turtwig and Piplup facing Ryan’s Quilava and Bryan’s Croconaw.
The tag team falls apart at once. Turtwig dodges Flame Wheel straight into Piplup, Piplup trips into Turtwig, and while Ash and Dawn argue, their Pokémon start attacking each other instead of the twins, until Croconaw and Quilava knock both out to extend the brothers’ streak to seventeen. The quarrel continues long after the battle, with all their Pokémon joining in the brawl, until Pikachu ends it with a Thunderbolt. Turtwig and Piplup make up, Brock and the Pokémon encourage their Trainers, and Ash and Dawn apologise to each other and sit down to plan a proper strategy. Meanwhile, Team Rocket decide to steal Quilava and Croconaw, luring the twins into a pit trap with a table of fruit and flying off with their Pokémon in a balloon.
The twins run into Ash’s group, Staravia punctures the balloon with Quick Attack, and with Rhonda’s cameras rolling, Turtwig and Piplup dodge Seviper and Carnivine and combine Razor Leaf and Bubble Beam to blast the trio away. In the rematch, Ash and Dawn work together: Piplup’s Bubble Beam catches Croconaw as it jumps over Turtwig’s Bite, Razor Leaf stops Water Gun, and Turtwig carries Piplup clear of Hydro Pump. Piplup soaks up Flamethrower with Bide and returns it to Quilava, Turtwig heals itself with Synthesis without interruption for the first time, and Piplup’s Whirlpool traps Quilava before Turtwig tackles Croconaw into the vortex. A final Razor Leaf knocks out both, ending the streak. The twins shake hands and dash off to start a new one, and Rhonda decides to air the far more exciting rematch.
Major Events
- Ash and Dawn’s first Tag Battle: they lose to the Champ Twins, then end their 17-win streak
- Rhonda and Jack of Sinnoh Now debut
- Turtwig’s first uninterrupted Synthesis
Trivia
- The English title plays on the cartoon The Cramp Twins.
- The screenplay is by Yukiyoshi Ōhashi.
- This is a stand-alone episode: it can be skipped without losing the thread of the Sinnoh story.
Changes in the English Dub
- Pokémon Symphonic Medley and Ready Go! as background music
Part of our Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.