So it's finally here. The final Sinnoh Gym battle in the DP saga. I think it's been worth the wait. Dawn seemed to be acting as a cheerleader again along with Buneary and Piplup. I thought all three actually looked cute and content despite what happened at the Grand Festival. Anyway, I still cannot believe that the Sunyshore Gym has a robot as a referee and not Volkner's friend Flint or that old man instead. Machines can make mistakes lol. It was at that point that I noticed that there were kids outside, standing near the Gym's door for some reason. Probably to catch a glimpse of the action going on inside. Looks like Flint was giving the inside scoop on Volkner or something. Probably saying something along the lines of how Volkner rarely looses or something.
Anyway, after all the talk going on, we move on to see what Team Rocket is up to. They always do something stupid while Ash battles the Gym Leader and it looked like they set their eyes on the Sunyshore Tower again. Typical, they never learn. Anyway, the battle between Volkner and Ash finally started and then Volkner sent out Electivire which totally ruined my theory of him using his DP team. Grr. Ash chose Torterra since it had the obvious advantage; not being affected by Electric moves. I had a feeling things wouldn't be that easy though. Leaf Storm was sent towards Electivire but then it used Fire Punch to negate the attack! Awesome and I loved that the Johto soundtrack used for battles was played lol. Brock and Dawn seemed worried though, and for good reason considering how effective Fire is to Torterra despite the type combination.
Ash then had Torterra use Leaf Storm again followed up with Energy Ball. I was confused but then I understood that Ash was testing Electivire's endurance and defense. Just when Torterra seemed to have shaken Electivire up with it's Rock Climb, it goes on and loses to Ice Punch. I know it's super effective but it still seems chessy. Ash returned Torterra and sent out Pikachu next. I could tell that was a bad move. When was the last time Pikachu won against a member of the Electabuzz line? I don't recall. Anyway, Team Rocket failed to get in the Sunyshore Tower, that's what they get! I was amazed by how Electivire was able to dodge Pikachu's Quick Attack and strike back with Fire Punch at the same time. Pikachu's Electric attacks didn't affect Electivire because of it's Motor Drive ability and then it sped up! How could Ash not have known about that?
Volkner explained Motor Drive just as Pikachu got hit with elemental punches. I was shocked by it's endurance though! Pikachu's Static kicked in though, and it slowed Electivire down giving Ash and Pikachu the speed advantage and ending the battle with an Iron Tail to the head. I loved it, Ash used strategy by letting Pikachu's Static paralyze Electivire! Volkner seemed impressed but sent out his Jolteon out next and Ash resorted to Infernape. I can't believe Jolteon got a Electric move in though. Jolteon kepting on sending Shadow Ball but Infernape's Mach Punch seemed to be enough to stop most of them from doing damage. Infernape then used the smoke from the Shadow Balls to it's advantage and punched Jolteon out with a single move, winning the battle! I was so impressed, Infernape was "on fire".
Team Rocket continued on their way to the tower's control room and apparently they got Afro's lol. Well Volkner's next Pokemon was a surprise; he sent Luxray but I had expected Raichu or something. Well Pikachu was chosen by Ash to counter Luxray in battle anyway. Pikachu's first attack was hindered by Charge Beam I believe, but it managed to hit Luxray with Iron Tail at least 3 times in a row! I thought it was nasty that Luxray bit Pikachu's tail with Thunder Fang though and then finished it with Charge Beam. Pikachu seemed slightly weaker than usual. Team Rocket made it to the power room of the tower, but got stuck. I had no idea what they were up to at that point. Ash had only Infernape left so it was the obvious choice for the battle against Luxray. Though Luxray seemed to have Double Team which made striking it even more hard than usual. Luxray managed to get two Thunder Fangs in and Infernape looked like it was about to lose.
Just as Ash was starting to use his head and ordered Infernape to use Dig to avoid Luxray, Luxray does the impossible and destroyed the battle field with Iron Tail. That's not even funny, that just shows how much stronger it is than Infernape. Team Rocket messed with the tower's power core and the resulting explosion sent them flying, again lol. Though it also caused a blackout just as Luxray was going in for the kill. Infernape took the oppurtunity to activate it's Blaze ability and things got scary. It looked creepy being surrounded by that red aura and with the lights off, it threw an eerie red glow around the Gym. In it's rage, it's Flamethrower gained enough power and heat to melt parts of the Gym which was shocking to me. Right as it looked like it would attack Ash, it learned to have control over Blaze and it was able to fight Luxray and beat it with Flame Wheel. Kind of chessy but that's how it went down. Ash finally got the Beacon Badge and made it into the Pokemon Leauge in the Sinnoh region at long last. It was too much Ex Deus Machina for me, so it wasn't a perfect episode. Plus the lack of Raichu made me sick so this one gets a 8/10.