A Real Rival Rouser! (655)

[Silver_Seoul]

You know I just realized what would be terrible?

If they end up making Drapion knock Gliscor out and then Infernape takes a fourth win.

[True]

You know I just realized what would be terrible?

If they end up making Drapion knock Gliscor out and then Infernape takes a fourth win.

Judging from the preview, it's most likely gonna be a tie since we didn't see Infernape vs Drapion or Gliscor vs Electivire, but it's bad enough knowing Drapion swept over half of Ash's team. <_<

Imagine if it took out Gliscor and tied/KO'd Pikachu.. then I'd lose a lot of respect for the writers.

[randomspot555]

Well, Torterra didn't get a single win after it evolved. What a waste of an evolution.

[shac]

The best part, easily, was the Froslass part. That is how it should have been in the Froslass intro epiosde. It really showed her creepy, ghostly manners, and the effect of snow cloak was fantastic as well. I could almost forgive the writers for making a mess out of Torterra for this....almost.

[Magical Needle Smash]

For those grousing over Infernape vs. Ninjask, it was not a one-hit knockout. It was established that Ninjask took damage from the erupting battlefield, which is why it was moving much more slowly than it was earlier against Gliscor.

Considering how fragile its defenses are, two hits are more than enough to finish it.

[streetlightdsb]

For those grousing over Infernape vs. Ninjask, it was not a one-hit knockout. It was established that Ninjask took damage from the erupting battlefield, which is why it was moving much more slowly than it was earlier against Gliscor.

Considering how fragile its defenses are, two hits are more than enough to finish it.

I think what people do is only take type match ups into consideration. Sure, Mach Punch is 1/4x effective, but if you take a punch that strong it's going to hurt, regardless of typing.

[Shego]

Knowing Paul he probably wants to overpower Ash by weaken his pokemon by order Drapion uses Toxic Spikes on the ground. Staraptor,Buizel,and Torterra were knocked out by him. But things has change when Infernape steps in by digging underground and use Flare Blitz to get rid of Toxic Spikes. Next Drapion got recalled. Then he bring out Ninjask and battle Infernape. Sure Infernape gets a little bit weaken by Giga Drain but he got Ninjask right on the spot by using Mach Punch thus take him out. Some of my predictions were correct. Pikachu took out Frostlass and then he got recalled for the later battle. After those, then Paul bring out Drapion once again while Ash bring out Gliscor but he was a little shaken, but have a fighting spirit. Great that he use Giga Impact in the smoke and then launch at Drapion before he use Poison Fang. After that, he rolls in the sky while recharaging for using Giga Impact. Then Gliscor dodges his Pin Missles thus the episode ends. So far Misty,May,Max,Lyra,Kohury,Tracey,Angie,Richie,Gary ,Pro. Oak,Delia,Kenny,Zoey,and Candice haven't make their appearance yet. Ohh.

[TrainerOfLegend]

I think it comes from the fact that despite us knowing Torterra is a strong pokemon, it's never shown. He's literally the only fully evolved starter of Ash's that hasn't gotten to show itself as being a powerhouse. With Charizard, Sceptile and Infernape, they all have shown impressive battle skills when they're in battle and have some impressive wins under their belts. Torterra on the other hand hasn't gotten a single win since reaching it's full evolution. And even worse than that, the entire plot point of Torterra's being a tank able to take hits and then strike back when the opponent least expects it went completely forgotten once he evolved from Grotle while Ash's other pokemon's problems (Infernape's blaze, Gible's Draco Meteor, Gliscor's trouble with flying and fear of battle) were all solved. There's literally no excuse on the writers part considering how long they had to work with this problem, it's just bad writing in that area.

I agree. The writers aren't perfect, and they obviously forgot about Torterra mid-way through. However, even though Torterra is a beast, I'm thinking that just because it is one does not mean that it has to be one on Ash's team. I still don't get why he didn't use him Vs Volkner the second time around.

[Blaziryu]

I thought this episode was good. It was better than the previous episode. I like how Shinji was using both the battle arena & the environment to his advantage.

[dougtrio]

Watching the episodes back to back make me realize something.

Ash should've replaced Staraptor's Aerial Ace with Defog. It would give something to counter most of Paul's non offensive strategies like Light Screen, Toxic Spikes, Reflect, etc.

On another note, they should've given Torterra the Aggron win, so no one would be *****ing about it losing here.

[dougtrio]

After watching the episode, now I really gotta say some of those KOs from Drapion were really just there only for the sake of making it the beast of Pauls team. Buizel was KOed by a single Pin Missile despite the only damage it had taken before coming from it touching the Toxic Spikes an attack that only affects pokemon that switch in (Nice one writers obeying the game effects with Paul vs Barry with Spikes, yet saying screw it with Ash)

Drapion's Sniper ability says hello.

[Lance The Champ]

The best battle will be between Infernape and Electivire!!!

[Almighty Zard]

Drapion's Sniper ability says hello.

plus point blank kill shot.

[Kabuto]

After rewatching the battle fully, The one thing I don't get is why Torterra doesn't use Overgrow like Infernape uses Blaze.

I'm guessing that powerful Drapion is Reggie's.

[SmartD]

The rival battle continues. Now Paul has the upper hand with his Drapion, but Ash makes a come back. I can't wait for the conclusion for this match.

[the1stpkmnfan]

The battle between Ash VS Paul has gotten really intense so far. Drapion's Toxic Spikes made a real number on Ash's team, when he took down Buizel in no time flat when the episode started. Staraptor was a good choice afterwards, but Drapion was slick once it caught it by the tail and smashed the bird to the ground to add the effect from Toxic Spikes. Surprising move! Then came out to play was Torterra, didn't think that was a completely good choice, but oh well, this is Ash. Anyway, Torterra did seem like it was on a role, but with Toxic Spikes and Poison Fang, he was out of here. Three Pokemon of Ash's, already gone in one swoop.

I knew Paul had something planned, but recalling Drapion now makes me even more surprised now that he had the idea of finding out all of Ash's Pokemon. Anyways, now for Paul's Ninjask and Ash's Gliscor are up. It has been quite awhile since we saw that flashback of Paul catching Ninjask just before meeting Chimchar. And now this is one intense Pokemon, considering how fast it is and Gliscor couldn't land any of its moves on it. Recalling Gliscor, Infernape came back out. Now what got me here was how Ash had a plan of his own to make. Using Dig and then unleashing Flare Blitz to fire up the stage and relieve it of the Toxic Spikes effect! Did not predict that, but that is truly amazing.

It's so odd of Paul to have Ninjask use Giga Drain on Infernape, but at least it started to move slower and a good Mach Punch did the trick after concentrating. Another win for Ash~

Interesting choice, 'cause now the next Pokemon is Froslass. This was all Pikachu, but this was make the intensity increase. Hail + Froslass's Ability Snow Cloak, it made it both difficult to attack and very scary! Of course, Froslass is a Ghost type after all. This kind of Froslass just kept me thinking of the Ghost spirit, Yukiona, especially since Froslass was originated from her. She represented her very well than the Froslass from DP116. It was awesome of Pikachu to use Volt Tackle to break from the frozen state after Ice Beam, and to charge at Froslass to defeat it.

Then lastly for todays episode, Drapion returns and so does Gliscor. Gliscor looked like it had the upper hand and I was glad to see that. Stone Edge + Pin Missle making a huge foggy sight made a good chance for Gliscor to strike with Giga Impact. And boy did that lay damage. He is just on a roll so far! Just a shame it had to end already, once they both attacked each other with Pin Missle and X-Scissor to end the episode for now.

I really didn't want this episode to end yet, but it makes a dramatic cliffhanger for who will emerge victorious in this battle. I tell ya, these first two episodes of Ash VS Paul have been the out most intense. I can barely wait for Part 3 next week.

[Torpoleon]

I really liked episode. Paul's Drapion is really strong, being able to knock out three of Ash's Pokémon seemingly easily, although that was another lose for Torterra. Anyways, Infernape gets his second win and Pikachu gets his first win. So far, Paul has used some interesting Pokémon! I wonder what will happen to Gliscor who has, as a matter of fact, gotten a lot stronger!!
10/10

[Dattebayo]

What's with the writers' hate on Ash's Torterra? Are they purposely trying to show how useless it is in the games? I do wonder what Paul's last pokemon will be: Electivire, Magmortar, Ursaring, Honchkrow, Weavile, or his Torterra? Only thing one thing to find out once his Drapion is down. Ash really should've taught Torterra or Gliscor a STAB ground type move to get rid of that Drapion quickly.

[_Taidow_]

Even in English, this episode is awesome.

I found it odd but cool how Paul knows when to compliment his rival. Like when Infernape did Underground Blitz and Gliscor's Stone Edge.

And yeah... Staraptor not getting a win here makes sense. It beat Honchkrow in the Pokeringer match, it beat Paul's Weavile (after taking a stone edge from torterra and a SD'd attack from weavile), and it got a win in the SL against Nando's Roserade.

Torterra has lost every battle since evolving. Another thing.... why didn't Ash use the whole Energy Ball Upgrade again?

If the writers wanted to give Ash's Torterra more speed, they should have given it Rock Polish instead of Rock Climb.

[Torpoleon]

Earth Quake for Torterra would have helped against Paul's Drapion, but wasn't there a banned episode because of Earth Quake?

Anyways, I forgot to mention that it was annoying when Dawn/Brock/Barry/Reggie/Team Rocket/Cynthia were talking about almost everything that was going on in the episode, but I still liked the episode.

Torterra probably could have broken free of Drapion's grip with Energy Ball and/or Leaf Storm.

[A_Merry_Snowrunt]

Simply glorious after waiting for two weeks and the final climax will be finished next week. I've enjoyed our Shinji and Satoshi rivalry over the past 4 years. And weren't there any edits taken out of the BGM?

[TheNewGuy]

Cool, just watched this.

Finally we can settle the whole "Ninjask/Infernape" debate. Infernape DIDN'T OHKO Ninjask with Mach Punch - it was directly stated that Ninjask took damage from underground Flare Blitz. I thought Ninjask losing to Mach Punch was a bit ridiculous, and so it proved.

Bit miffed with some of the musical changes, but it was to be expected. Hold My Breath during Torterra/Drapion was awesome, but absent here. Search for Latios when Gliscor escaped Drapion after Giga Impact was awesome, but absent here - in fact, there wasn't even a musical change at all, which was a bit of a shame. Music (the title of which escapes me) during Infernape/Ninjask was awesome, but absent here. It's disappointing, but there we go. They kept the Flygon music for Gliscor/Ninjask though and IIRC that gets used again, which is promising.

It's still not ruined the fight, fortunately - music in the other dubbed fights has been poor as well, so provided they don't mess with the third part too much, it'll still be the best battle of all time, as it was in Japanese.

Next week will be the true test. There's a certain superbly-placed bit of music towards the end of the battle that makes the episode. Even if it isn't used, I hope they come up with a viable alternative - and not the generic song that played during Infernape's activation of Blaze vs. Volkner. You know, the one that opens with the drum beat.

[KibaLG8]

Cool, just watched this.

Finally we can settle the whole "Ninjask/Infernape" debate. Infernape DIDN'T OHKO Ninjask with Mach Punch - it was directly stated that Ninjask took damage from underground Flare Blitz. I thought Ninjask losing to Mach Punch was a bit ridiculous, and so it proved.

Bit miffed with some of the musical changes, but it was to be expected. Hold My Breath during Torterra/Drapion was awesome, but absent here. Search for Latios when Gliscor escaped Drapion after Giga Impact was awesome, but absent here - in fact, there wasn't even a musical change at all, which was a bit of a shame. Music (the title of which escapes me) during Infernape/Ninjask was awesome, but absent here. It's disappointing, but there we go. They kept the Flygon music for Gliscor/Ninjask though and IIRC that gets used again, which is promising.

It's still not ruined the fight, fortunately - music in the other dubbed fights has been poor as well, so provided they don't mess with the third part too much, it'll still be the best battle of all time, as it was in Japanese.

Next week will be the true test. There's a certain superbly-placed bit of music towards the end of the battle that makes the episode. Even if it isn't used, I hope they come up with a viable alternative - and not the generic song that played during Infernape's activation of Blaze vs. Volkner. You know, the one that opens with the drum beat.

The English Version of Type Wild would be best..... Any other Dub Music would be stupid..... I have been wondering this for a while.... can't they just insert Background music like Heroes of Hoenn in an episode that didn't even have the BGM in the orignal version?

[Vern]

This battle really isn't that exciting to me and I've been disappointed by it so far. I watched the Japanese version of it and it really didn't impress me that much either. Torterra didn't do much in this battle but that wasn't very surprising I guess. Froslass was really cool here though but I was a little bothered by Pikachu breaking out of the ice with Volt Tackle and going in the direction of Froslass. That was really weird.

[Rentaline99]

The English Version of Type Wild would be best..... Any other Dub Music would be stupid..... I have been wondering this for a while.... can't they just insert Background music like Heroes of Hoenn in an episode that didn't even have the BGM in the orignal version?

I have a feeling they will use the boring old violin theme they've been using and have used in this episode.