Returning from a two-month hiatus, it's...well, I'll let the rest of my post answer what's returning. Well, I'm assuming you people have memory spans. 8D
-Recap stuff begins the ep. Rocks are broken, streets are destroyed by a Generic Beam Attack, people flee, an Aerodactyl uses an awesome attack, we see Zugaidos evolve into Rampard, and recap ends.
-Hyouta says stuff, and we get the obligatory SHINY GLASSES EFFECT.
-Obligatory crap about the battle rules and such ensues from the ref
-Brock and Hikari are watching the battle, and...hold on! Hikari's in a cheerleader's outfit, with pink pom-poms no less! And Mimilol and Pochama have said pom-poms as well! And Sudowoodo's there too for some reason. But enough about that. Did I mention that Pochama with pom-poms is adorable? ...oh hey, Greggle's there too, being its Greggly self.
-Brock question's Hikari's choice of attire, but it's DAIJOUBU...actually, Hikari didn't say daijoubu at all in her responce, which surprises me a bit.
-Cue cheerleader act! And THERE are the DAIJOUBUs! And Pochama's still cute as hell.
-Ash gives a line of thanks to Hikari, but enough of this "talking" and "character development". WE GOTS TO SEE MAGICAL BEINGS BEAT EACH OTHER UP!
-Speaking of which...HEEEEEEEEEEERE'S ONIX!
-And Ash's choice against the giant rock serpent is...Pikachu! AIM FOR THE SPRINKLERS!
-Ash orders a Quick Attack, and while Pikachu's taking care of that, Hyouta mentions that Normal attacks don't do much to Rock types, but Ash has a plan!
-Yes, as Onix's tail comes down for a Slam(I think?), Pikachu dodges and starts running up its body, and...Hyouta seems to get it! Something to do with speed, I think.
-But wait! Onix breaks out Screech, which looks surprisingly badass, but The Chu manages to grab onto its crest...thing...and...
-Onix starts whirling around to fling the yellow rat off!
-Ash has enough of that, and has Pikachu smack that ***** with an Iron Tail. Seeing a small rodent cause a giant rock snake pain with a hit of its tail is always fun!
-Hyouta orders Onix to use a Generic Glowing Tackle attack of some sort, and Ash has Pikachu go to meet it HEAD ON.
-Obligatory "combatants heading for each other in slow-ish motion" scene ensues.
-With that over with...SPINNING DODGE TIME! Yes, Ash stole Hikari's idea. And nobody cares!
-Hyouta babbles some more about Ash's strategy and why it's working. Guess the writers were sick of using Brock as the strategy explainer?
-Pikachu finishes its spin, TURNS AROUND IN MIDAIR, and uses Iron Tail. But wait! Onix counters with a Slam, and its sheer bulk overwelms the electric mouse's glowy tail slap.
-And thus Pikachu is slammed into a rock, which collapses on The Chu.
-Hyouta says more stuff, this time about his Onix's training. He seems to be hell-bent on stealing Brock's job!
-Hyouta orders a Stealth Rock, causing the obligatory "oh no!" reactions from the spectators. Including the Pokemon. Except for Greggle. And Brock explains stuff this time!
-In the nick of time, Ash orders a Thunderbolt which clears away all the rock around Pikachu AND deflects the Stealth Rock AND gives Onix a major zapping.
-Pikachu goes in for the kill with an Iron Tail, and succeeds before Onix manages to fire off a Screech.
-And it's down! Onix, that is. Although Pikachu is visibly worn out by this point. Despite, or perhaps because of, that, Mimilol's crush on Pikachu is reshown for the first time since WHEN?
-Hyouta babbles on AGAIN about how Ash won. Maybe it's just me, but Hyouta seems to be rather talkitive for a GL mid-battle. Oh, and Ash thanks Hyouta for his glowing review of Ash's winning strategy, which I find amusing for some reason.
-Stop! Geodude time!
-Ash calls Pikachu back, which confuses Hikari, who has to have the concept of "Pokemon tire out after battles like that" explained to her. Sheesh!
-And Ash's replacement Pokemon is...AIPOM!
-But enough about these "battles" and magical beings beating each other up for sport, it's time for Team Rocket!
-They whisper their motto as they sneak along towards a door, and finish loudly but hush each other anyway. Ah, those three.
-Meowth uses the little known lockpicking technique of "move a claw up and down a few times" to undo the lock, and there seems to be no one inside the building when TR enters...
-Wait, they're going into the Gym! But Greggle seems to be up to something...and it walks away with no one noticing or caring. No wonder it's creepy, nobody cares about it!
-Ash orders a Swift, but Hyouta slides up a bit and swings his arms into the classic "ready to punch someone" position before ordering a Rollout.
-More attacks happen. Aipom does the SPINNING DODGE too in order to dodge a Rollout. The spectators are impressed.
-Aipom uses a generic glowing punch attack on Geodude, and...the floating rock is DOWN!
-Ash's tagalongs are pleased, but Brock notes that two of Ash's three Pokemon are tired out from battling, and that's Hyouta's last Pokemon is you-know-what.
-Hyouta babbles on some more, Ash responds, and IT'S RAMPARD!
-Aipom stays in battle and uses Swift, but RAMPARD DOESN'T MOVE, which shocks and confuses the cheerleading section...even more so when the attack ends and Rampard is unscathed! GUESS IT'S NOT JUST THE HYPERATTACK DINO *NOW*.
-Rampard Headbutts Aipom...faster than the purple monkey can BEGIN to react to it. ZOMGWTFBBQ.
-Aipom is down for the count, and the cheerleading section makes the obligatory comments about how POWERFUL and FAST Rampard is. Then Hyouta says some stuff, and Hikari comments about something and Brock goes off on a tangent about the challenger's power and whatnot. And he mentions pressure, like he did before with Onix when it was using STealth Rock. Hrm.
-But enough about these "words." Pikachu is back in the fray!
-But enough about the impending battle. We have a Team Rocket to watch!
-They're wandering around, when...ZOMGREGGLE!
-Creepy pause ensues.
-TR freaks out and tries to convince Greggle not to kick their asses...
-Another creepy pause ensues.
-Greggle takes a few creepy steps(random note:there's no background music at this point, which makes everything THAT MUCH BETTER) and TR backs away from it.
-But enough about creepy frogs and crummy fiends(I mean that in the how well their plans work way), we gots a battle to watch!
-Pikachu launches a Generic Powerful Electric Attack, but Rampard dodges and its forehead starts to glow. HM.
-Pika tries the spinning dodge, but...IT GETS HURT ANYWAY. Hah!
-Pika lands, back smoking(apparently the energy field around Rampard's forehead singed Pika's fur?), and Rampard's still unhurt. The cheerleading section worries again.
-Another head to head collision is set up, but Pikachu dodges with a normal jump this time, which catches Rampard and Hyouta off guard and impresses the cheerleading section. A good move all around!
-Hyouta makes another comment before ordering Rampard to use its tail to throw off Pikachu. Which it doesn't and instead goes on a rampage that destroys half of Shinou. ...er, I meant, which it does, and Pikacu starts into an Iron Tail despite that.
-Rampard does the glowy forehead thing again, Iron Tail makes contact, bt Rampard shakes it off, does the glowy forehead thing AGAIN, which thusts Pikachu into a rock. There's ALWAYS a rock, people. Always.
-And The Chu is down!
-The cheerleading section worries again. It's mandantory!
-Brock says stuff about Naetle.
-But enough about the cheerleading section. TR's still stepping away from Greggle, you know!
-At this point, they've ended up back outside the gym, but Greggle keeps going towards them. You KNOW what it's planning. It's going stab their shoulders with a pointy stick, ram a pebble in their toes, bite their eyeballs, and bury them in a lake of ranch dressing. Nothing less will do.
-Jessie stops backing away to suggest that Greggle actually wants to be with them, which was a Very Bad Idea since Greggle STABS HER IN THE STOMACH shortly thereafter.
-James and Meowth pick up Jessie and run like hell...Jessie getting in a rather weak "yana kanji". It's mandantory!
-But enough about Greggle, which was so close to enacting its devious plot. We gots to watch a dinosaur fight with a small turtle!
-The animators blatently reuse animation in the scene afte Naetle's released and as Hyouta's commenting on it. You can tell by the ANIMATION MISTAKE.
-We get another rolling dodge. I'M GETTING SICK OF THEM DAR BARREL ROLLS.
-Rampard prepares to launch Naetle into the air with a tail flick, but...the turtle BITES Rampard's tail!
-Naetle, which ISN'T TOUCHING THE GROUND OR A WALL, spins Rampard around and THROWS IT AGAINST A rock. ...**** physics! But there's ALWAYS a rock, so at least they're consistant with that.
-The front row seats are duly impressed with this BLATENT DEFIAL OF PHYSICS.
-The writers then **** chemistry AND physics by having several small flat leaves fly through the air in a straight line and make contact with a steam of fire, with the result of the projectiles AND fire both stopping in their tracks. ...although you see something falling down shortly afterwards, so one could assume those are ashes.
-Rampard rams into Naetle with a Slightly Different Glowing Tackle attack, and Naetle crashes through a rock. THERE'S ALWAYS A ROCK, although it's not always as sturdy as the other rocks.
-Both combatants are pretty worn out at this point, so THERE'S AN END IN SIGHT.
-The sun's out. They're showing that. While Ash is using a Grass Pokemon. YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS.
-...oh, Naetle was just using Synthesis. Nice to see he still has his own cop out recovery move, at least!
-Ash ponders what he should do, and in a Rainbow Moment(I'm serious here!), he realizes what he has to do.
-...wtf Together. THIS IS NOT BATTLING MUSIC. D: TOO SLOW AND NON-DRAMATIC FOR IT.
-Naetle keeps using Razor Leaf. Rampard keeps using Flamethrower. Animation keeps using Recycle.
-Hyouta seem to realize what Ash is up to and has Rampard use the glowy forehead attack.
-Hyouta seems to see something coming and has Rampard jump, but Naetle rolls under!
-Rampard then gets RAZOR LEAFED IN THE STOMACH AT CLOSE RANGE. Well, it starts out close range but since the animators don't care about physics, it ends up going several feet in the air before crashing back down.
-AND RAMPARD IS DOWN!
-Ash finally wins, and the cheerleading section cheers. Greggle finally gets back before someone can notice it was gone to take care of "business."
-Ep ends with the group outside at sunset, since sunset provides the most dramatic lighting for a badge awarding.
