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After the completion of the Lilypad Town Pokémon Contest, our heroes, along with Khoury and Lyra, visit the Lilypad Colosseum ruins, where they all decide to have a Double Battle. As the teams prepare to compete, suddenly Team Rocket appears on the scene and snatches both Pikachu and Piplup! Everyone sets out to find Team Rocket, but nobody's sure which way they went. Khoury cleverly comes up with a theory based on watching the behavior of the river Pokémon, which earns him the respect of everyone—as well as the title "Ace Detective." Team Rocket is soon discovered, and Pikachu and Piplup are rescued. And Team Rocket is sent blasting off again!

Finally the duos can begin their Double Battle! Both teams perform wonderfully. The battle seems evenly matched until Ash and Dawn ultimately pull off a narrow win. Plus, because Khoury expresses his belief in his Totodile, it suddenly evolves into Croconaw, much to everyone's surprise and delight!

As Khoury and Lyra prepare to go back to Johto with Khoury's dad, Lyra asks Khoury if he would like to go on a journey with her after their return home. Khoury quickly agrees. We leave everyone as our heroes prepare to resume their journey to Sunyshore City—and a chance for Ash to earn his eighth Sinnoh Gym Badge!

While they are still in Lilypad Town, Ash and his friends visit the Lilypad Colosseum where past Sinnoh Champions have battled. Ash and Dawn plan to have a Tag Battle against Lyra and Khoury before the two leave to return to Johto, however their plans are rudely interrupted by Team Rocket who successfully snag Pikachu and Piplup using a new Drapion robot. Their escape leaves only a tunnel away from the area, and Ash sends Monferno to follow them underground while the five humans follow the tunnel from above.

While Pikachu and Piplup try unsuccessfully to break out of the robot's belly, Meowth finds Monferno on their tail and deploys a second Drapion robot to trick the Flame Pokémon. Sure enough, Monferno can't decide which tunnel to follow, and digs out of the tunnel at the junction. When Ash and friends arrive, they also notice the dilemma, and split up, sending Ash and Dawn to follow the branch tunnel while Brock, Khoury, and Lyra take after the main after Khoury gives Dawn his Pokégear for communication. Ash and Dawn easily catch the second robot, and it appears before them with Jessie's, James', and Meowth's electronic voices to announce the robot's detonation in their faces. Realizing the trick, Dawn and Ash race to return to the original path.

Meanwhile, Brock and the others find the tunnel stop at the bank of a river, and face the choice of going upstream or downstream. Lyra wants to go on instinct and go downstream, but Khoury suggests a more logical approach and watches carefully as various Water Pokémon spout out of the ground. He gets an idea, and leads Brock and Lyra upstream. He explains that the Pokémon spouting from the river bank are trying to escape some danger underneath the river and that it must be Team Rocket.

At the end of the river, Team Rocket has exited their robot and shares their success by splitting their last cookie unfairly as always. Piplup and Pikachu sit nearby in a cage that's supposedly Pokémon proof on the inside and outside. Then, after Ash and Dawn get called by Lyra about which way to take, Brock and the Johto Trainers arrive at the camp where Team Rocket had stopped. Meowth uses the Drapion robot to pick the cage up, but Staraptor appears from above and cuts the tail off, sending the cage flying. Staraptor proceeds to slice the cage apart as well, freeing Piplup and Pikachu. Ash and Dawn come running forward, and catch their falling Pokémon in their arms. Angry at their failure as the Drapion robot explodes, Jessie and James call Seviper and Carnivine to the battle who have a short match with Pikachu and Piplup, who quickly send them blasting off without any more dialogue.

Back at the Colosseum, Khoury and Lyra prepare to battle Ash and Dawn with Brock as the referee. Ash and Dawn send out Monferno and Cyndaquil respectively, and Khoury remarks that his choice of Pokémon is easy. He sends out Totodile while Lyra chooses Chikorita, much to Khoury's amazement. Lyra notes that she has a plan. The battle commences, and the Fire Pokémon start off strong with Swift and Flamethrower which Chikorita blocks with Light Screen. Then, Totodile fires back with Water Gun, which hits Monferno squarely. Dawn has Cyndaquil follow up with another Swift, which Light Screen deflects again, this shocks Cyndaquil into loosing the flame on its back. Chikorita hits the baby Pokémon with Razor Leaf to send it down. Totodile follows up with Bite and takes a run at the Fire types, while Chikorita powers up Solar Beam. Monferno, at Ash's orders, picks up Cyndaquil and allows the smaller Pokémon to use Smokescreen which keeps Totodile from striking. However, Chikorita unleashes Solar Beam, and Totodile ducks underneath which leaves Monferno and Cyndaquil wide open, but Monferno uses Dig and allows both of them to escape the devastating attack. Monferno digs underneath Totodile and strikes the Water Pokémon back to Khoury's feet. Cyndaquil appears out of the hole and uses Swift on Chikorita, sending the Grass type to Lyra's feet.

Both Pokémon rise, and then, Totodile evolves into Croconaw. The Pokédex entry states that Croconaw can use Superpower and Hydro Pump among other moves. Khoury does just that with Croconaw, and hits both Fire types with the powerful Water move. However, they do not yet faint, and instead send a combo at Chikorita as it attempts a Tackle. Cyndaquil uses Flame Wheel while Monferno thrusts it forward with Flamethrower to hit Chikorita and deal out one KO. Then, Monferno knocks out Croconaw with Mach Punch to conclude the battle.

After the battle, the group has lunch together. During their break, Khoury raves about how awesome he thought Lyra's strategies were. Lyra then asks if he would like to go on a journey together. Khoury is surprised that she would ask, but when she asks if he doesn't want to, Khoury tells her he would be glad to travel with her. Khoury's dad calls him on his Pokégear to say that their flight back to Johto will be leaving any minute. The group hurries to the airport, with Khoury's dad giving Brock a Pokégear as a parting gift. Lyra, Khoury, and Khoury's dad board a blimp and return to Johto.

Khoury's father handing Brock a Pokégear

• Ash and Dawn have a Tag Battle against Lyra and Khoury, which Ash and Dawn win.
• Khoury's Totodile evolves into a Croconaw.
• Brock receives a Pokégear from Khoury's father.
• Lyra and Khoury leave the group and return to Johto.

For a list of all major events in Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl, please see the timeline page.

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

• Khoury's Croconaw

Humans

• Ash
• Dawn
• Brock
• Jessie
• James
• Whitney (flashback)
• Morty (flashback)
• Lyra
• Khoury
• Khoury's father
• Flight attendant
• Travelers

Pokémon

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Piplup (Dawn's)
• Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
• Mime Jr. (James's)
• Staraptor (Ash's)
• Monferno (Ash's)
• Cyndaquil (Dawn's)
• Seviper (Jessie's)
• Carnivine (James's)
• Miltank (Whitney's; flashback)
• Gengar (Morty's; flashback)
• Chikorita (Lyra's)
• Totodile (Khoury's; evolves)
• Croconaw (Khoury's; newly evolved)
• Corphish
• Wooper
• Quagsire
• Krabby
• Poliwag
• Poliwhirl

Whitney and Morty

• Whitney and Morty appear in this episode in their Generation II designs, rather than their Generation IV designs. This is due to them appearing in a flashback, rather than appearing on television, like Clair did in An Egg Scramble!.
• The episode's English dub title is based on the military concept of bagging and tagging.
• The Lilypad Colosseum is heavily based on the Colosseum in Rome, in both history and appearance.
• This episode is featured on Pokémon All-Stars: Totodile from Magna Pacific's Pokémon All-Stars series.

Errors

• During the scene where Ash and Dawn are reunited with their Pokémon, Ash's bangs are momentarily colored the same as the background foliage.
• In the Polish dub, at the end of the Tag Battle, Khoury mistakenly calls Aqua Tail "Water Fire".

• 

  Ash's transparent bangs

Dub edits

• In the English dub, Brock mentions that they should go pay their respects at the Dialga and Palkia shrine. In the original Japanese version, he says they should pray. This was likely removed from the dub to avoid religious connotations.