Japanese Title: ''Rival Confrontation! Kamex vs Lizardon!!
Original Airdate: October 17, 2002
US Airdate: September 27, 2003
The battle between rivals continues as Ash and Gary battle for the next round. Gary's Blastoise proves stronger than expected and defeats both Heracross and Bayleaf. Down three Pokemon an intermission is called. Pikachu wants in but Ash's team is already registered. Rallying his Pokémon Ash defeats two of Gary's but loses two more after that. This puts all his chances for victory on Charizard's shoulders. With his sheer power, Gary's Scizor and Golem are beaten but Blastoise has had a rest and a type advantage, putting Ash on the backfoot once again. Realizing that a direct attack would fail Ash orders an attack on the very ground, melting the arena with flamethrower. Gary counters by cooling it with Hydro Pump but this creates a fog cloud. The cloud dissipates to reveal Blastoise and Charizard grappling in the center, too close for Hydro Pump to aim. Ash uses Seismic Toss to finally defeat Blastoise and with it Gary. In defeat Gary silently takes his loss and leaves while Ash can't believe he's won. Catching up later Gary explains his feelings and leaves him with his half of their broken Poké Ball and some words of encouragement.
The next round begins with Harrison vs Ash. Harrison begins with another never before seen Pokémon from Hoenn, Kecleon. How will Ash face a trainer from an unknown region?
Tropes
- Cool vs. Awesome: Part 2 of one of the fan-favourite battles in the series.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: A single Flamethrower from Charizard knocks Scizor out of the battle for good.
- Curb Stomp Cushion: Scizor is able to dodge one Flamethrower from Charizard but when the latter swoops into the air, it's all over for Scizor. Then, Golem is able to briefly stun Charizard with Magnitude but a Dragon Rage is all it takes to knock out the Megaton Pokémon, mid-Rollout.
- Didn't See That Coming: Gary somehow didn't realize that Charizard could fly after Scizor and the Scissors Pokémon is promptly KO'ed.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Kecleon debuts here before the release of Ruby and Sapphire.
- Finishing Move: Charizard ends the battle by lifting Blastoise into the air, and then performing his signature Seismic Toss.
- Graceful Loser: Gary takes his loss well, admitting that Ash won fair and square and wishing him luck.
- Kill It with Fire: A Flamethrower knocks out the Bug/Steel Scizor, who takes 4x damage.
- Logical Weakness: Blatoise's hydro cannons is its main attack method. Once Charizard gets into close quarters combat, its cannons are fixed and only have so much range of motion, so it can't actually aim at Charizard when it's right in front of it.
- Miracle Rally: Charizard is the last of Ash's team facing three of Gary's, and two of them have type advantage. Ash and Charizard still pull off the comeback anyway.
- Mythology Gag: The last match-up is between Gary's Blastoise and Ash's Charizard, a nod to the fact that the rival will always have a starter with the type-advantage over the player's; in this case, players who start off with Charmander.
- Oh, Crap!: Gary and his Scizor have this reaction when Charizard swoops into the air after Scizor. Cue Flamethrower to finish off the Bug/Steel-type.
- One-Hit KO: Charizard takes out Golem with one direct Dragon Rage as the latter is using Rollout.
- Tempting Fate: Gary claims that he anticipated Ash sending out Charizard. Then, it turns out he somehow didn't realize that Charizard, can y'know, fly and the Flame Pokémon uses this to catch up to and knock out Scizor.
- Underdogs Never Lose: The battle really puts Ash through the wringer and he ends up facing 3 Pokémon to his Charizard, two of which have an advantage. Ash naturally wins through a combination of strategy and Charizard's determination:
- Charizard easily destroys the battle-worn Scizor with a powerful Flamethrower, but has trouble dealing with Golem's weight and power. Nevertheless, Charizard manages to defeat Golem with Dragon Rage. Despite taking several hits from Blastoise (including a super-effective Hydro Pump), Charizard endures the round and with Ash's strategy of fogging the battlefield, it manages to sneak up close to Blastoise, thus evading Blastoise's Hydro Cannons and allowing it to perform Seismic Toss.
- Verbal Backspace: In the dub, when Ash has Charizard use Flamethrower on the battlefield itself to the point it starts melting and immobilizes Blastoise, the announcer initially starts saying "What kind of crazy" before catching himself and saying "What a novel and unique strategy".
- The Worf Effect: Gary's Blastoise defeats Heracross and Bayleef and forces Ash to return Muk.
- Worf Had the Flu: Scizor is taken down by Charizard after having beaten Snorlax and Muk. Downplayed with Blastoise who puts up quite a fight against Charizard despite having beaten Heracross and Bayleef though the battles had Blastoise taking down both in one blow each.
