Ash and Paul continue their full battle. Buizel is caught in Drapion's tail but Ash has him inflate his flotation sac in order to break free. Unfortunately, this turns out to be what Paul wanted and while Buizel is stuck in midair, he orders Drapion to use Toxic Spikes, a special move that covers the field in poison. Once Buizel lands on the ground, he is immediately poisoned, as will any Pokémon Ash sends in that touches the ground, and Drapion defeats him soon after. Wanting to avoid the Toxic Spikes, Ash sends Staraptor back in to battle from the air. Unfortunately, thanks to its quick reflexes and flexibility, Drapion still manages to get Staraptor in the grip of its tail and slams it onto the ground, causing it to be poisoned by the Toxic Spikes, and once again, it defeats Staraptor shortly afterwards. Ash then sends in Torterra, but this proves to be a mistake, as it is immediately poisoned by the Toxic Spikes. Drapion manages to withstand its attacks while causing damage with his own. Torterra tries to use Rock Climb to deal with it, but Drapion stops him dead in its tracks with its strong pincers and one final attack sends Torterra tumbling backwards, knocking him out.
With three of Ash's Pokémon down, Paul decides to switch Pokémon. He sends out his Ninjask so Ash responds by sending in his Gliscor, wanting to match Ninjask in the air. Unfortunately, Ninjask is much faster than Gliscor and keeps getting faster thanks to its Agility and its ability Speed Boost, and manages to dodge every one of Gliscor's attacks. Thanks to its speed, its next offensive attack sends Gliscor plummeting to the ground where it gets a hit from Toxic Spikes, forcing Ash to substitute. He sends Infernape back in and comes up with a plan to get rid of the Toxic Spikes once and for all. He has Infernape use Dig, then use Flare Blitz while it is still underground. The extreme heat causes a minor explosion that causes the Toxic Spikes to dissipate and damages Ninjask. It can still battle and hits Infernape with Giga Drain, but due to the damage it took, it's no longer moving quite as fast as before. Keeping a close eye on its movements, Infernape hits Ninjask with Mach Punch, knocking it out. Ash then recalls Infernape, knowing he will need his power later on. Paul then sends in his Froslass and Ash responds with Pikachu. Paul orders Froslass to use Hail, which creates a harsh, damaging fog on the battlefield and activates Froslass's Snow Cloak ability, making it much harder to hit with an attack while the Hail is in effect. It's a difficult battle as Pikachu takes a few hits from Ice-type moves without landing any hits at first. However, he has Pikachu use Iron Tail on an Ice Shard attack to get himself airborne, and he finally hits Froslass with another one. The Hail finally clears up, deactivating Snow Cloak. Froslass then hits Pikachu with Ice Beam, encasing it in ice, but Pikachu breaks out with Volt Tackle and hits Froslass dead-on, knocking her out of the match.
Paul sends his Drapion back in, so Ash calls out Gliscor for another shot. Gliscor fares much better this time around, dodging Drapion's first attack and hiding itself in a smoke cloud after its Stone Edge collides with Drapion's Cross Poison and explodes. Gliscor then manages to score a direct hit on Drapion with Giga Impact, and it catapults itself into the air and far out of range before Drapion can react. By the time Drapion can launch another attack, Pin Missile, Gliscor has finished recharging from Giga Impact. Ash orders it to use X-Scissor, and the episode ends on a cliffhanger as Gliscor charges down through the Pin Missile barrage, heading straight for Drapion with its attack.
This episode contains examples of the following tropes:
- Bring It: Paul taunts Ash about how he's successfully predicted each of Ash's moves, but Ash is undeterred and even praises Paul's skills, claiming that he's still going to win.
- Chekhov's Skill: Gliscor escaping into the sky after using Giga Impact was a trick it first picked up while battling McCann. It proves to be a critical play in getting the edge over Drapion.
- The Chessmaster: Paul completely dominates the battle after Aggron and Gastrodon go down and reads Ash like a book. In Paul's own words, he'd predicted every one of Ash's moves since bringing out Drapion. Subverted when Ninjask and Froslass are beaten by Infernape and Pikachu forcing Paul to send his wounded Drapion back out who is then injured further by Gliscor.
- Cliffhanger: The episode ends with Gliscor charging toward Drapion with X-Scissor as the latter fires Pin Missile.
- Crazy-Prepared: Paul is as prepared for Ash's on-the-fly strategies as ever. Figuring that Ash would find some way for Buizel to escape Drapion's grip, Paul has it set up Toxic Spikes the moment Buizel is free, leaving it wide open to be defeated by Pin Missile. Luckily, Infernape being sent out to deal with Ninjask leads to Paul's strategy going haywire.
- Didn't See That Coming: Fittingly, Infernape proves to be the wrench that dismantles Paul's initial plan. Using Flare Blitz underground to destroy Toxic Spikes shifts the momentum back in Ash's favor. Pikachu then furthers it by taking down Froslass who was supposed to be his second counter and forces Paul to send in his injured Drapion.
- Gameplay and Story Segregation: Staraptor and Gliscor are poisoned by Toxic Spikes despite being immune to it in the games. Justified since they touched the ground, and the entire basis on them normally being immune to it is due to them being able to fly.
- No-Sell: Torterra's Rock Climb attack is stopped cold by Drapion's bare claws.
- Outside-the-Box Tactic: As always, Ash improvising a unique move on the fly is what turns the tables in his favor. Despite lacking a Poison-type to absorb Toxic Spikes, Ash manages to destroy them by directly attacking the field with Flare Blitz, also badly injuring Paul's Ninjask in the process. Then, against Froslass, Pikachu uses Iron Tail to bounce himself into the air off the hailstones and another one to slam on Froslass's head, badly damaging the Snow Land Pokémon and dissipating her Hail. Likewise, Ash has Gliscor use Stone Edge when Drapion uses Stone Edge which produces a smoke cloud, allowing Gliscor to ambush Drapion on its back with Giga Impact and then, Gliscor can flip through the air to stop Giga Impact's recharge time.
- Overly Long Gag: After Froslass gets hit by Pikachu's Iron Tail, the shot of her falling goes on for quite some time.
- Power Up Letdown: Subverted. When Ash first sends out Gliscor, it's quickly overwhelmed by the Flash Stepping Ninjask, making it seem like all its training with McCann was for nothing. However, it proves that it really was critical when it goes up against Drapion, as it uses the gliding techniques it learned to avoid being trapped by Drapion's tail and slam Drapion with Giga Impact.
- Status Effects:
- Buizel, Staraptor, Torterra, Gliscor and Infernape are all poisoned by Toxic Spikes.
- Pikachu is frozen by Ice Beam but he busts out with Volt Tackle.
- Tempting Fate:
- Paul claims that he's predicted each of Ash's moves after Drapion takes down Buizel, Staraptor and Torterra. Ash then uses Infernape to KO Ninjask after it gives Gliscor trouble and Pikachu beats down Froslass.
- After Froslass freezes Pikachu with Ice Beam, Paul, naturally, mocks his efforts to escape. Pikachu then uses Volt Tackle to break the ice and beat Froslass.
- The Worf Effect: Buizel, Staraptor, and Torterra are each taken out in rapid succession to show off the enormous power of Paul's Drapion. Torterra in particular was battling fresh out of the gate, yet goes down just as easily. Luckily, Drapion taking damage from these is what allows Gliscor to get the better of the Ogre Scorp Pokémon.
