The aftermath of Ash's loss against Paul? Well, it goes a little like this:
- At the Lake Acuity PC, the place is like the freakin' Holocaust, as Ash's team undergoes some intensive treatment for their awful injuries.
- Okay, it's not the friggin' Holocaust in Lake Acuity... If you people want more of an accurate comparison, it would be like someone going on a sick killing spree out on city streets, & all of those that did survived had to go to the ER, as they've been brutally wounded.
- Oooo, the Lake Acuity PC has a Blissey on them! That's very nifty, considering that her last appearance dates wayyyy back to the Johto times.
- Back at the Lakefront, Ash is lying back on the ground, with his spirits at an all-time low. We then re-cap on how he's lost, which is nice considering that my memory failed me during the last episode. Grrrr...
- At the PC, Dawn can't help but feel sorry for all of Ash's Pokemon, when out of the blue, Piplup gets this marvelous idea of making silly faces. Dawn then gets a brainwave: She'll use her Pokemon to make some funny faces & stuff to lift Ash's spirits.
- Outside of the PC, TR has almost finished the refurbishment of the Wargrounds, when they get word of Ash's downed spirit. They decide to take advantage of this by attempting to bring them down even further into rock bottom, which they assume will make stealing his Pokemon a cinch.
- Back in the "ER," Monferno is having the most troubles, because of paralysis. Brock decides to help Nurse Joy out by finding some Cheri Berries...
- ...But not before declaring his utmost love to Nurse Joy. Cue in Croagink's appearance, but Brock manages to convince it not to jab him, as he is a helping hand to the nurse. Talk about a Saving Throw!
- He gets out into the lake, but he comes up empty. However, he manages to get a glimpse of Uxie's barely visible spirit.
- Brock looks to his left, & hey presto, there's some Cheri Berries! He brings them to Nurse Joy, who then crushes some to give to Monferno.
- Hey! Everyone's back on their feet! They all then head out to find Ash...
- ...Who is still moping at his loss over at the lakefront... that is, until they find him. Ash is grateful that they're still alive, & his spirits go up a bit. They take him to the PC...
- ...Where Dawn's Circus awaits him! It definitely did the job of lifting morale even higher, but for me, the only part that I found funny were Mamoswine's faces. Everything else was a facepalm moment.
- Then after the first act, the "(re)construction workers" barge into her circus, in which they attempt to bring morale back down, but all they manage to do is confuse everyone.
- They pull out their shock-proof net launcher & make their move...
- ...& they recite their TR motto. Wonderful... desperate times call for desperate measures, such as this: *plugs his ears* LALALALALALA!!! I CAN'T HEAR YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!
- They run for their lives after using Haze, but Ash uses Buizel to clear it up with a Water Pulse. Then, Gliscor (it might be someone else, though; tell me it that's so) frees Pikachu.
- TR is forced into a fight, but Ash proves that he still has the fight in him.
- They then bicker amongst themselves, but Ash interrupts them with an awesome display of his team, & orders an all-out attack on their sorry mugs. It's a different way, but it still sends them off to god knows where.
- With morale back up, they plot a course for Dawn's next contest.
This time, my memory hasn't failed me. Even though Ash recovered from his loss, he still needs to utilize the rest of his Pokemon from Oak's lab to mix things up; otherwise, his chances of beating Paul at his game are less than zero.
