History Recap / PokemonS15E2DazzlingTheNimbasaGym

* BrokenAesop: Ash "learns" that he should stop trying so hard to strategize and simply have faith in his Pokémon... only for his winning move against Elesa to be one of his usual outside-the-box strategies. It's also at odds with the countless episodes that make it clear faith alone ''isn't'' enough to win battles.

* IdiotHoudini: In spite of Ash's Cameron level blunders throughout the episode, he still won the gym battle

** Ash underestimed Emolga's other non-electric-type: Flying.

** Instead of Ash using a different move after Elesa used attract (likely to test trainers on gender identity), he "countered" with Attract, much to a stalemate. Not only did he forgot about his own Pokemon's gender, but also emolga's.
** Ash forgot that Emolga is also flying type. Plus his stupidity on using grass-type moves while Emolga uses flying moves. Needless to say, Snivy fainted. What makes this even worse is that Iris has an Emolga so he should have known better. Ash could have picked Roggenrola during his audible, but...

** Ash forgot that Emolga is also flying type. Taken UpToEleven on stupidity on using grass-type moves while Emolga uses flying moves. Needless to say, Snivy fainted. What makes this even worse is that Iris has an Emolga so he should have known better. Ash could have picked Roggenrola during his audible, but...

* EvenTheGirlsWantHer: All of the girls in the audience watching the battle, fawning over Elesa.

** After Palpitoad fainted by Emolga, Ash relied so much on Palpitoad that he didn't even consider bringing two more Pokémon. He was very lucky to call an audible to collect another Pokémon. Elesa decides to... ''ignore that''.
** Ash forgot Snivy's gender. Luckily, Emolga used Attract. Instead of Ash using a different move, he "countered" with Attract, much to a stalemate.

* AchievementsInIgnorance: See TookALevelInDumbass below. How Ash managed to not get disqualified twice for not bring extra Pokemon to the battle is baffling.

** After Palpitoad fainted by Emolga, Ash relied so much on Palpitoad that he didn't even consider bringing two more Pokémon. He was very lucky to call an audible to collect another Pokémon, which would normally have been a disqualification. Elesa decides to... ''ignore that''.

Ash spends all night preparing for his gym battle with Elesa. Ash has taken a lot of time figuring out how to deal with her Zebstrika, who defeated all of Bianca's 3 pokemon by herself in the previous episode. Will Ash's deep strategy work against her?

* TheCameo: Professor Juniper, only to give Ash his pokemon.
* DumbassNoMore: Ash. After losing 2 Pokemon, it took Pikachu to Thunderbolt him out of whatever he was in and yelled at Ash to use him.

* FaceFault: Ash after walking away to the draw bridge, only to find out that the bridge is closed informed by Elesa.

** After Palpitoad fainted by Emolga, Ash relied so much on Palpitoad that he didn't even consider bringing 2 more Pokemon. He was very lucky to call an audible to collect another Pokemon, which would normally have been a disqualification. Elesa decides to... ''ignore that''.

** ... Even after Snivy fainted, Ash STILL had no 3rd Pokemon (not even Roggenrola), until Pikachu steps in.
* WipeTheFloorWithYou: All of Elesa's 3 Pokemon, slamming themselves into a wall.
* YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe: The reactions of Elesa, Cilan, Iris, Axew, and Pikachu after Ash's blunders in this battle.

** Ash forgot that Emolga is also flying type. Taken UpToEleven on stupidity on using grass-type moves while Emolga uses flying moves. Needless to say, Snivy fainted. What makes this even worse is that Iris has an Emolga so he should have known better. Ash could have picked Roggenrola during his audible.
** Even after Snivy fainted, Ash STILL had no 3rd Pokemon (not even Roggenrola), until Pikachu steps in.

* TookALevelInDumbass: Ash. This is considered to be one of the worst, if not the worst, performance Ash has done in a gym battle, especially at this point of his journey and his 5th region. We get that he was concerned of Zebstrika sweeping Ash's team, but even that doesn't excuse Ash's blunders here. Let's see:

** Ash forgot that Emolga is also flying type. Taken UpToEleven on stupidity on using grass-type moves while Emolga uses flying moves. Needless to say, Snivy fainted. What makes this even worse is that Iris has an Emolga so he should have known better.
** Even after Snivy fainted, Ash STILL had no 3rd Pokemon, until Pikachu steps in.

* TookALevelInDumbass: Ash. This is considered to be one of the worst, if not the worst, performance Ash has done in a gym battle, especially at this point of his journey and his 5th region. Let's see:
** After Palpitoad fainted by Emolga, Ash relied so much on Palpitoad that he forgot to bring 2 more Pokemon. He was very lucky to call an audible to collect another Pokemon; this would have been a disqualification. Elesa decides to... ''ignore that''.
** Ash's Snivy using attract on Emolga to ''counter'' Emolga's Attract. This should have been Ash's time to just use a different move, knowing that Attract will fail between same genders. However, Ash forgot Snivy being female.
** Ash forgot that Emolga is also flying type. Taken UpToEleven on stupidity on using grass-type moves while Emolga uses flying moves. Needless to say, Snivy would faint.

* YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe: The reactions of Elesa, Cilan, and Iris after Ash's blunders in this battle.

* DumbassNoMore: Ash. After losing 2 Pokemon, it took Pikachu to Thunderbolt him out of whatever he was in to rethink.
* LesYay: All of the girls watching the battle, fawning over Elesa.
Ash using Snivy.