Japanese Title: Battle Pyramid! Shinji VS Jindai!!
Original Airdate: May 21, 2009
US Airdate: October 17, 2009
After the victory at the Snowpoint Gym, Ash and friends bump into Paul. However, his older brother Reggie has stopped by, and to top this all off, Brandon and his Battle Pyramid have arrived as well - with Brendon arriving to visit the Snowpoint Temple.
After feeling outright shocked that his own rival beat the Battle Pyramid, Paul challenges Brandon to a battle which the latter accepts. However, Paul's emotions and negative attitude gets the better of him, as he gets beaten in a clean sweep to Brandon.
After the battle, Reggie suggests to Paul and Ash that they should have a full battle in ten days, But meanwhile, they have a problem to deal with at the Snowpoint Temple...
Tropes:
- Berserk Button: After Brandon's "The Reason You Suck" Speech, Paul furiously sends out Lairon.
- Book Ends: Magmar is the first and last Pokémon that Paul uses in his battle.
- Break the Haughty: Paul’s defeat against Brandon finally made Paul start to rethink his ways. Compared to before, Paul took his defeat and Brandon’s criticisms to heart.
- Continuity Nod:
- Ash and Brock remember when they met Brandon at the Battle Frontier in Kanto.
- Paul has his Electabuzz use Brick Break on Regirock which is just like when Paul had his Elekid use Brick Break on Roark's Cranidos. Ash even says he was fully expecting Paul to use that move.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: The Pyramid King Brandon gives Paul such a thorough thrashing in their full battle with Lairon in particular only shielding itself with Iron Defense before being swiftly KO'd, despite Paul's best efforts, that the young trainer is finally forced to rethink his ways both in battle and the way he treats others. In addition, in Paul's flashback, Brandon gave one to Reggie with the only shot of the battle being when Reggie's Drapion is beaten by Brandon's Regirock.
- Curb Stomp Cushion: Despite Paul not beating a single one of Brandon’s Pokémon, some of his Pokémon managed to do hold their own, however briefly. Some even managing to push Brandon’s Pokémon back such as Hariyama and Nidoking. Considering that Brandon was using Legendary Pokémon, that says something.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Ursaring is paralyzed by Regice's Zap Cannon and nothing happens, in stark contrast to Evolving Strategies! where being paralyzed activates Ursaring's Guts.
- Flat "What": Paul is left bewildered when he finds out Ash defeated the leader of the Frontier Brains, Brandon, something that his brother failed to do, and was the primary catalyst for his present-day Jerkassery.
- Human Popsicle: Lairon is frozen by Regice's Ice Beam and is beaten via Zap Cannon to the face.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Brandon gave Paul a firm but helpful speech during this curb-stomping episode, which made him reconsider his actions. Ash winning over Brandon also added to his shocking knowledge. This was important, as earlier in Sinnoh, Paul's harsh words towards Maylene after curb stomping her almost made her quit as a gym leader before Ash and Dawn helped fix the situation.
- No-Sell: Zig-Zagged. After Magmar strikes Registeel with Flamethrower, Registeel doesn't seem to have suffered any damage, but Reggie states that the Flamethrower had to have done something and Registeel's hanging in.
- Sad Battle Music: The music takes on a sad tone as Paul sends out Magmar, his last Pokémon against Regirock and the main instrument is a violin.
- Scissors Cuts Rock:
- All of Paul's Pokémon either have types that are super-effective against Brandon's Pokémon such as Nidoking who can counter Registeel or have moves that are super-effective such as Electabuzz's Brick Break which is a Fighting-type move. They still end up beaten by Brandon's Regis.
- Brandon's Regirock is able to hit Electabuzz through Protect. Bulbapedia marks it as an error as only Feint and Shadow Force can do that normally.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Brandon gives one to Paul first pointing out that Paul wanted to beat the man who beat Reggie and put an end to Reggie's Pokémon journey. After Paul points out that Brandon wants all trainers to find their inner strength and Paul's strength is his will, Brandon points out that Paul is wrapped up in the past and asks why Paul is on a journey in the first place. An angry Paul responds by sending out Lairon.
