EP146

Tricks of the Trade (Japanese: ソーナンスとポケモンこうかんかい！！  and the Pokémon Swap Meet!!) is the 146th episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on May 4, 2000 and in the United States on March 24, 2001.

Blurb
''At the Pokémon Swap Meet, our heroes befriend a young Pokémon trainer who's having difficulties finding a trading partner willing to accept his Wobbuffet. When Jessie inadvertently deposits her Pokéball across from his in the exchanger, this young trainer gets more than he had bargained for.''

Plot
,, and walk along Palmpona's waterfront admiring the sea view. They see a young  instructing his  to stand up straight. Ash looks Wobbuffet up on his Pokédex and the boy introduces himself as. He says that he is going to the Pokémon Swap Meet to find someone to trade his Wobbuffet to. Misty wonders why he would want to trade his Pokémon and Benny says he likes Wobbuffet and has trained him hard but now he wants a different Pokémon.

Meanwhile, James waters his with a hose while Jessie uses the public taps to clean her face, only to be licked by her  immediately after. tells his teammates about the Swap Meet event, and the trio set their sights on stealing some Pokémon, but, unbeknownst to them, is following them.

The group reaches a town square when a herd of comes running by. One of the bystanders explains that it is the "Running of the Tauros" event, and to win a trophy from the mayor, a competitor must touch a Tauros horn. Ash attempts to join the event, but gets scared and moves out of the way. All of the Tauros run into a stadium and begin a huge battling competition. Still intent on participating, Ash calls, and at his request, he exchanges his for. The announcer declares that Fernando has defeated ten opponents and just before he is about to be declared the competition winner, Ash jumps from the stands and challenges him. The two Tauros exchange attacks and the pair appear to be evenly matched. Fernando's Tauros begins to push Ash's Tauros, but after another Take Down, Ash is declared the winner of the competition. Afterward, Benny, who watched the show of strength, tries to find Ash to trade his Wobbuffet for Ash's Tauros. However, several other Trainers had the same idea and soon swarm around Ash. They offer him offering him trades, but Ash says he could never trade his Tauros. Benny realizes that Ash would never trade one of his Pokémon away. Benny tries to find a trade partner, but with no luck. Ash and Brock come along and decide to help him. As Misty walks around, her makes an unannounced appearance. Immediately several Trainers offer her potential trades for it, but Misty considers that Psyduck might have some value and declines. Ash and Brock manage to negotiate a deal with a Trainer for his, promising to give him a warranty when he receives Wobbuffet. James walks around, with some money in hand from the snacks the trio sold earlier, and comes across a Magikarp salesman. Just as James agrees to buy the bargain, he remembers the salesman, but the salesman manages to run off with his money. The man with the Stantler abandons the trade with Benny at the last minute after spotting a. Meanwhile, James chases after the salesman, Jessie gets in the way and is sent flying towards the real trading machine. Jessie falls and hits her head on the machine as the Poké Ball containing flies out of her pocket and lands on the machine. The Poké Ball exchanges with Benny's but Jessie isn't looking. She grabs the Poké Ball and runs off.

's latest scheme, a fake trade machine that swaps full Poké Balls for empty ones soon falls through. People have started to suspect that the machine is a fake so Team Rocket reveals themselves and ties everyone up. Team Rocket then jumps into their balloon and begins to float away with their loot. James then clicks a button and begins to vacuum up everyone's remaining Poké Balls. At Ash's command, the Trainers call out their Tauros and Take Down Team Rocket. The force causes Team Rocket to burst their own balloon and blast off, leaving the sack behind. A Trainer uses his to free everyone. Then, the Trainers open the sack, only to find more empty Poké Balls. Ash and friends go to find Team Rocket and retrieve the stolen Pokémon.

Soon enough, Ash's group locates Team Rocket and a battle ensues. Ash sends out and Jessie calls on her Lickitung, but she is shocked to see her new Wobbuffet appear instead. Ash is confused by Team Rocket's latest addition, but Jessie soon remembers that it must have occurred when she bumped into the trading machine. Jessie is irritated but commands Wobbuffet to attack, but James then reads his book and reveals that Wobbuffet cannot initiate an attack. Chikorita hits Wobbuffet with a. Ash follows up with another Vine Whip and, but Wobbuffet uses its powerful and knocks Chikorita out. Jessie is immediately impressed with Wobbuffet’s performance as James and Meowth cheer it on. Ash then sends out who uses a, which Wobbuffet cannot Counter due to it being a special attack. This subsequently sends Team Rocket blasting off, leaving the Poké Balls behind.

Back at the Swap Meet, the gang returns the Poké Balls to the Trainers. Benny runs up to them with his new Lickitung, and he is happy and seemingly enjoys its affectionate habit of licking his face. He explains that he was able to trade Wobbuffet to a lady but she ran off and he can't find her to thank her. The gang, not piecing together that Benny actually traded with Jessie, thinks she must have gone home for the day. Benny calls out to her to thank her and asks her to take good care of Wobbuffet.

Meanwhile, Team Rocket hangs on a branch with Wobbuffet as they realize that, no matter how it happened, they have a new member. Meowth tells Jessie she'll have to look after Wobbuffet now, as she despairs over having gotten such an unusual Pokémon.

Major events

 * sends his to 's lab in exchange for one of his.
 * James meets the Magikarp salesman again.
 * Jessie accidentally trades her for 's.

Humans

 * Jessie
 * James
 * Magikarp salesman
 * Fernando
 * Citizens
 * Magikarp salesman
 * Fernando
 * Citizens
 * Fernando
 * Citizens

Pokémon
Who's That Pokémon?: (US and international),  (Japan)
 * (Benny's; traded to Jessie; debut)
 * (traded to )
 * (flashback)
 * (Fernando's)
 * (×2)
 * (multiple)
 * (traded to )
 * (flashback)
 * (Fernando's)
 * (×2)
 * (multiple)
 * (flashback)
 * (Fernando's)
 * (×2)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)

Trivia

 * The competition at the beginning of the episode is loosely based on the traditional Spanish  event, or the "Running of the Bulls".
 * The book Prize Pokémon is based on this episode.
 * This episode marks the second time a main anime character has traded a Pokémon. The first time was in Battle Aboard the St. Anne!, where traded his  to a  for a, but soon traded back.
 * A who wanted to trade an  for Ash's Tauros had the same voice as Brock.
 * A Trainer who offers to trade a for 's Psyduck bears a resemblance to Tracey.
 * One of the Trainers offered to trade Ash a for his Tauros. Rhyhorn was the Pokémon Ash was trying to catch when he instead caught his second Tauros.
 * In this episode, uses a  of their motto.
 * This episode is featured on Pokémon All-Stars: Wobbuffet from 's series.

Errors

 * 's ears in one scene are colored light-brown instead of the normal dark-brown.
 * At the Pokémon Swap Meet, a is seen with necks the same color as its legs. While female Doduo have necks of this color, gender differences were not introduced for another six years.
 * The Magikarp salesman tells James that if he sells each of the 1 billion for 100 dollars, he would have 10 billion dollars. He would actually have 100 billion dollars.
 * When Ash challenges Fernando with his Tauros, he does not have his backpack. Later on, when Ash orders his Tauros to use a second time,  is seen on Ash's shoulder, even though he wasn't there before. When Ash is declared the winner of the competition, he has his bag and Pikachu has disappeared.
 * The Poké Ball that contains Ash's Tauros is a regular Poké Ball rather than a Safari Ball.

Dub edits

 * Pokémon Karaokémon: Two Perfect Girls

In other languages
Die Pokémon-Tauschbörse EP148 EP146 EP146 無印編第146話 精灵宝可梦 第147集