DP035

An Elite Meet and Greet! (Japanese: 四天王ゴヨウとドータクン！  and !) is the 35th episode of the, and the 501st episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on May 24, 2007 and in the United States on November 3, 2007.

Blurb
Dawn and Ash are hoping a friendly battle with Turtwig will help Dawn's new Buizel warm up to its new companions. But Buizel wants to play rough, and it won't even listen to Dawn's commands! Our heroes head to a Pokémon Center after the battle and that's where they meet Lucian, a Trainer who specializes in Psychic Pokémon. He's also one of Sinnoh's Elite Four, a top group of Trainers—and Buizel is itching to have a battle with him!

Lucian agrees to the match and sends out his Bronzong. Buizel ignores Dawn's commands again and continues to battle its own way, but Bronzong is just too tough. Buizel is soon knocked out of the match, but it's so used to winning that it has difficulty accepting this defeat. Later Lucian tells Dawn that this loss could be very important: if Buizel doesn't learn how to overcome this setback, who knows what might happen?

What happens, however, is that Team Rocket takes this opportunity to trap Buizel in a cage so they can steal it. Lucian thinks this is actually a good thing! Indeed, Buizel is so angry at being captured that it forgets about its defeat and breaks out of the cage. Then, Lucian shows Dawn how to adapt to Buizel's style so they can work together to beat Team Rocket. After the villains are defeated, Dawn and Buizel go one more round with Lucian and Bronzong, and they're already demonstrating improved teamwork! Before he leaves, Lucian encourages Dawn to keep training and says he'll see our heroes again someday.

Plot
The episode opens with bringing out her newly   to meet the other. Buizel doesn't even smile or return the welcome, looking away. angrily extends his arm for a shake, but Buizel pushes him away, almost starting a fight. Dawn breaks them up, but the tension is still high as points out that Buizel spent most of his life alone. When offers to, Buizel immediately accepts.

Ash decides to pit against Buizel, starting off with a  attack. Dawn commands Buizel to dodge and fire, but Buizel instead launches straight into an attack, hitting Turtwig. Turtwig shakes it off and races forward for a attack. Buizel again disobeys Dawn's order to dodge, instead letting Turtwig bite his arm, leaving it vulnerable to multiple close-range attacks. Turtwig flies backwards, knocked out from the fierce attack. It appears that Dawn is unable to control her powerful Buizel as they decide to go to a nearby Pokémon Center. Dawn wants to put Buizel back in his Poké Ball, but Brock encourages her not to in order to try and bond with Buizel.

At the Center, Nurse Joy tends to Ash's Turtwig. Brock's romantic advances against Nurse Joy and proceeds to drag him away, but Buizel's glare almost starts a fight. Dawn breaks that one up and Croagunk proceeds to drag Brock away. Nearby, a person reading a book takes note of Dawn scolding Buizel.

While they wait, Ash and watch a televised battle between a  and Elite Four member Lucian. As they watch Lucian's knocks the opponent's  against a boulder, Buizel watches with extreme awe. Girafarig dodges Scizor's attacks before jumping up and letting Scizor's claw get stuck in a rock, jumping up top and firing, knocking Scizor out. Ash and his friends are amazed when Lucian walks up right next to them, discussing the battle and meeting the group. watches through the window and plot to steal a Pokémon from the Elite Four member.

Ash and his friends sit down with Lucian, realizing that Trainers that win a Pokémon League Conference earn the right to enter the, where they will battle the Elite Four and the. Lucian covers the Sinnoh Elite Four members and their preferred types, as well as the Champion Cynthia, before pointing out that Trainers must work through the Elite Four before rightfully challenging Cynthia. Excited, Buizel challenges Lucian to a battle, though Dawn tells him not to be so rude and apologizes to Lucian, telling him she just recently caught Buizel. Even though Ash is eager to battle Lucian, the Elite Four member puts Buizel first.

Outside, Buizel prepares to battle as Lucian sends out to battle. Ash checks it with his Pokédex as Team Rocket watches nearby. Buizel goes first with Water Gun, disobeying Dawn's Aqua Jet request, but Bronzong's nullifies the attack. Dawn orders Aqua Jet again, but Buizel proceeds to fire SonicBoom, which Iron Defense also stops. Bronzong charges with. Dawn orders Buizel to dodge, but he proceeds to meet the attack head on with Aqua Jet. Bronzong easily overpowers Buizel, knocking him down. Buizel gets up, amazing Lucian but decides to fire, Bronzong rotating and charging power. Buizel tries to stop it with Water Gun, but it fails and the blast knocks Buizel against a tree before letting him fall to the ground. Buizel struggles to get up, but it falls to the ground knocked out. Lucian apologizes to Dawn for getting carried away, insisting that she go to Nurse Joy. As Lucian walks away, Ash and his friends are amazed at Lucian's skills and that none of Buizel's attacks caused damage. As they observe, Team Rocket plots to steal Bronzong, Meowth having a fantasy about trying to figure out how to use Bronzong, but being totally baffled, so they decide not to catch it.

Back inside, Nurse Joy finishes treating Buizel. The Pokémon wakes up, physically okay but very depressed after losing for the first time, especially considering that when they first encountered him, Buizel was virtually unbeatable. tries to comfort Buizel, but without success. Joy offers Buizel a bowl of soup, which gets Brock going again until Croagunk knocks him out cold. When Croagunk drags Brock away, Croagunk briefly stares at Buizel, but the lack of fighting spirit sends Croagunk away. Ash decides to try and cheer Buizel up as he and Pikachu offer Buizel a chance to swim, but Buizel is unresponsive. Lucian shows up and finds out about Buizel's mood swing, mentioning that Buizel is trying to emotionally deal with the first strike of defeat.

Suddenly, a steel cage envelops Buizel and takes him away as Team Rocket shows up in their balloon, reciting their. Ash and Dawn step up to save Buizel, but Lucian waves them off, mentioning that the situation will allow Buizel to redevelop his fighting spirit. Buizel snaps out of his depression and proceeds to thrash inside the cage, his anger overriding the pain of loss. Buizel jumps up and proceeds to fire SonicBoom at the cage. It appears to fail at first, but Buizel keeps firing. With Dawn's encouragement, the attacks intensify until the cage shatters. Buizel jumps down as Team Rocket touches down, preparing to battle with and. Buizel prepares to battle as Lucian decides to command Buizel. Dustox launches into a while Carnivine rushes to Bite. Dawn would have Buizel dodge, but Lucian instead has Buizel knock both Pokémon back with Water Gun. Ash and his friends are amazed that Buizel is obeying Lucian. Dustox's Psybeam and Carnivine's move in, but Buizel dodges and launches SonicBoom, knocking out Carnivine. Buizel then uses Aqua Jet to knock out Dustox. Lucian informs Dawn that Buizel has a unique battle style that Dawn needs to adapt to. Buizel fires Water Gun at Team Rocket to send them blasting off.

Dawn compliments Buizel as he marches up to Lucian, wanting to battle again. With Dawn's consent, Buizel once again duels against Bronzong. Bronzong launches Gyro Ball, but Buizel obeys Dawn's request to dodge before going into Aqua Jet. Iron Defense stops it, but the attack causes Bronzong to spin. Buizel fires Water Gun, but another Iron Defense stops it. Lucian then recalls Bronzong, ending the duel. Lucian points out that Dawn and Buizel worked together that time, knowing that it will continue to improve. As Lucian sets off, Ash looks forward to hopefully battling Lucian in the future, but shifts his focus closer, towards his upcoming second Badge.

Major events

 * and meet Lucian, a member of the.
 * Ash learns about the.
 * and battle Lucian and his, but are defeated.
 * begins to obey.
 * Dawn has a rematch with Lucian, but he calls it off after seeing how well Dawn and Buizel now work together.

Humans

 * Sinnoh Elite Four
 * (memory)
 * Bertha (memory)
 * (memory)
 * Lucian
 * Cynthia (memory)

Humans

 * Jessie
 * James
 * Nurse Joy
 * (fantasy)
 * Sinnoh Elite Four
 * (memory)
 * Bertha (memory)
 * (memory)
 * Lucian
 * Cynthia (memory)
 * TV announcer
 * Lucian
 * Cynthia (memory)
 * TV announcer

Pokémon

 * (Lucian's; debut)
 * (Lucian's)
 * (Trainer's)
 * (Lucian's; debut)
 * (Lucian's)
 * (Trainer's)
 * (Lucian's; debut)
 * (Lucian's)
 * (Trainer's)
 * (Lucian's; debut)
 * (Lucian's)
 * (Trainer's)
 * (Lucian's; debut)
 * (Lucian's)
 * (Trainer's)
 * (Lucian's; debut)
 * (Lucian's)
 * (Trainer's)

Trivia

 * The opening and ending animations are updated to include Dawn's Buizel.
 * The concept of needing to defeat all the members of the Elite Four before battling the Pokémon Champion is explained. This is similar to what happens in the games.
 * Due to a possible error, the first English dub title was revealed as "The Bells are Bronzing!" and later on "The Bells Are Bronzong!"
 * Music from Jirachi: Wish Maker and Pokémon Heroes: Latios & Latias, and the ballad version of By Your Side ~Hikari's Theme~ and Pokémon Symphonic Medley, are used as background music.
 * Professor Oak's Big Pokémon Encyclopedia:
 * Pokémon senryū: ズガイドス かせきではっけん ずがいこつ Zugaidosu, kaseki de hakken, zugaikosu
 * The Brazilian name of this episode is based on the Brazilian film .
 * With the exception of the first couple of seconds, Dawn's Buizel remains outside his Poké Ball throughout this episode.

Errors

 * When Lucian is talking to the group, 's gloves are missing.
 * comments that Buizel never even hit, even though he did.

Dub edits

 * In the Japanese version, a cold opening intro is shown, then the opening theme, a scene where introduces her  to others, and the title card. For reasons unknown, this episode shows the cold opening intro, and then the Buizel introduction before the opening theme and the title card in the streaming versions and home video releases of the English dub. In TV airings of this episode, the title card come directly after the opening theme.

In other languages
WER hat hier WEN im Griff?! EP504 DP035 DP035 DP編第35話 精灵宝可梦 钻石＆珍珠 第35集