After his defeat at the Oreburgh Gym, Ash is doing some intense training for the rematch. Meanwhile, Team Rocket is back again at stealing some precious fossil Pokemon...until they bite more than they can chew.
- Action Girl: Arguably the first example for Dawn, who manages to use a little strategy to defeat an Aerodactyl with Piplup and Buneary.
- Big Damn Heroes: Dawn comes just in time to protect Ash from Aerodactyl's Giga Impact.
- Call-Back: Dawn offers Ash to use her Piplup for the rematch since of the three Pokemon he is using, only Turtwig has a type advantage. This is similar to how Misty offered her Pokemon after Ash lost to Brock. Since Ash is more mature now (and Dawn is nowhere near as condescending when offering), he is much more civil this time.
- Fish out of Temporal Water: Thanks to Team Rocket, Aerodactyl is revived far away from the lab and, clearly confused at how the world changed in millions of years, goes on a rampage.
- Spectacular Spinning: The debut of Dawn's Spin Dodge.
- Stating the Simple Solution: Dawn also suggests calling Oak and asking for some of Ash's old Pokemon, who would be more useful against Roark. Ash explains that every Pokemon can be the right one if properly trained.
- Took a Level in Badass: Roark' Cranidos evolves in Rampardos.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Roark criticizes Ash for seeing his rematch as a way to show up Paul, telling him he shouldn't focus his battle against Roark on someone else.
