Ash's Unova League battle with Stephan begins, with Stephan using Liepard against Ash's Krookodile. The two Pokémon trade several hits and eventually Liepard is defeated, though Krookodile has taken some damage. Next, Stephan sends in Zebstrika and Ash counters with Palpitoad. However, the round proves more difficult than Ash anticipated, as Zebstrika doesn't use any of the moves it usually does. Both sides put in maximum effort, however, and the round ends in a draw. Stephan's final Pokémon is Sawk, so Ash sends in his third Pokémon, Leavanny. It puts up a very good fight, makes good use of his speed, String Shot, and new move X-Scissor, but Sawk still proves to be too strong and overpowers and defeats it. Ash's only remaining Pokémon is Krookodile, who is not only still damaged from its battle with Liepard, but is also at a disadvantage, being part Dark-type. The two Pokémon trade attacks and Stephan thinks he's won, but Ash reveals his game-clinching surprise strategy and orders Krookodile to use its new move: Aerial Ace! A super-effective Flying-type move coming from such a powerful Pokémon finally knocks Sawk out, winning Ash the match and eliminating Stephan from the tournament. Now it's on to the full battles, and Ash learns that his opponent will be Cameron. That night they reflect on their progress in Unova and wish each other good luck. The next day the battle begins, and the episode ends with Cameron finally revealing his secret weapon: Hydreigon!
Tropes
- Critical Status Buff: Leavanny winds up activating Swarm after getting nailed by Close Combat. Though he still loses, his powered up X-Scissors cause a lot of damage to Sawk and the Fighting-type is finished off by Krookodile.
- Deliberate Injury Gambit: Stephan purposely allows his Sawk to be hit by repeated attacks after he's been tied up by String Shot, allowing him to cut himself free. Unfortunately for Stephan, this leaves Sawk really weak, so while Sawk is able to knock out Leavanny, when Krookodile's sent out, after a rapid-fire clash between Dragon Claw and Karate Chop, an Aerial Ace is all it takes to knock Sawk out of the match.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Palpitoad's Sludge Wave ends up poisoning Zebstrika, but this ends up doubling the power of its Façade attack.
- Look What I Can Do Now!: Ash's Palpitoad and Leavanny are revealed to have learned Sludge Wave (marking this the first time Palpitoad uses a move that's not Hydro Pump, Mud Shot or Supersonic) and X-Scissor, respectively, and he is revealed to have taught Krookodile to use Aerial Ace specifically to counter Sawk.
- Oh, Crap!: Stephan, when Krookodile unleashes Aerial Ace.
- Recycled Animation: The shot of Stephan's Liepard using Hyper Beam is taken from the unaired "Team Rocket vs. Team Plasma!" episodes where it was a Plasma Grunt's Liepard using Hyper Beam.
- The Reveal: At the end of the episode, Cameron reveals that his secret weapon is Hydreigon.
- Status Effects: Palpitoad's Sludge Wave and Supersonic poison and confuse Zebstrika.
- Worf Had the Flu: Though Sawk is able to beat Leavanny, Leavanny's rapid, Swarm-powered X-Scissors along with his first X-Scissor and Energy Ball weaken Sawk heavily to the point where after trading attacks, Sawk is knocked out by a single Aerial Ace from Krookodile.
