ENGLISH NAME	JAPANESE NAME	POKEMOPOLIS NAME	DODGINESS RATING	ANIMATION	STORY	TEAM ROCKET	MORAL LEARNT
663: A Rival Battle for Club Champ!	669: Raibaru Batoru! Kyoteki Pururiru!	A Trip On The Way To Victory			Ash gets a re-match against Trip.	They've got the touch, they've got the power.	You actually have to research all these new Pokémon/moves/abilities if you want be the best!

Today Today finds Ash in Luxuria Town, rushing to the Battle Club in his eagerness to find somebody else to fight with. He immediately rushes up to the computers and begins zipping through the available trainers, desperate to get his fix. Cilan and Iris trudge in behind him, utterly exhausted from trying to keep up with him, but Ash ignores Iris' complaints that the Battle Club wasn't going anywhere, totally enthralled in the various competitors available to him. Suddenly he stops with a squawk, alarming Iris, he's found what he didn't even know he was looking for - Trip! The smarmy starting trainer who embarrassingly kicked Ash's ass is at the Battle Club! This means a chance for Ash to avenge his loss and show Trip what he's made of - he wants....



Iris has no idea who Trip is, but Cilan does - he challenged at the Striaton Gym and won his badge. Ash is impressed, even though he himself won the badge the HARD way by taking on all three of the Gym Brothers, while Iris is just increasingly more frustrated by the "private conversation", she wants to know who Trip is! Ash explains that Trip was the first Trainer he battled in the Unova Region, and now he wants a re-match. A match against Trip? Well Don George thinks that is a great idea! He strides up to Ash and asking him what HIS name is. Ash turns confused; staring up at the hulking walrus of a man.... didn't he already meet him at the Accumula Town Battle Club?

Don George seems confused, then figures out what the problem is, he must have met his cousin! Pointing over at a group picture framed up on the wall, the twerps see a whole mess of Don George's, all with the same face and body, all with the same name! It's yet another fucked up incestuous family of clones to join Joy and Jenny, the Don George family!

Don George uses the Cross-Transceiver to contact Trip - it's a device that allows him to communicate with anybody anywhere no matter where they are. What a magical made-up invention that is, straight out of Hard Sci-Fi! If only we had such things in the real world, some magical way of using technology to contact somebody using a number that contacts directly to them in some way! Oh if only such a magical thing existed in real life!

Trip is taking photos of the buildings in town when the call comes through on his telepho.... I mean, Cross-Transceiver. Don George tells him that somebody is here who wants to challenge him, and Ash appears on the screen eagerly shouting a hello and asking for another battle. Iris and Cilan pop onto the screen to say hello as well, Trip surprised to see Cilan there and learn that he is travelling with Ash. Ash shoves them happily out of the way, asking Trip if he accepts the battle, and he... doesn't! He doesn't see the point in a re-match when his zero-experience Snivy already kicked Pikachu's ass, and a surprised Ash insists that Pikachu wasn't at its best that day, casually dropping into conversation the utterly remarkable fact that it kind of had been attacked by Zekrom! Cilan can't believe it, and Iris enjoys the chance to show off HER private information, explaining that it happened back in Nuvema Town. Ash meanwhile is getting more and more worked up, stomping from foot to foot and shaking the camera as he insists that he has more Pokémon than Pikachu anyway and he wants a fight and give him a fight and he's gonna fight and.... Don George has to restrain him to calm him down. Trip mentions he should quiet down too.... only not over the Cross-Transceiver, he's wandered over to the Battle Club while Ash has been screaming into the console. He tells Ash he could hear him all the way down the street, but Ash forgets his rage to happily leap over and ask if they're gonna battle now huh huh are they mister can they battle now gonna battle wanna battle gimme a goddamn battle!

Trip sighs and says he might as well, a full six-on-six battle might be interesting, and a nervous Ash reluctantly admits that he only has five Pokémon at the moment. Trip can't believe it, but Ash happily shows off his Gym Badge to prove how good he is, and Trip notes that he has TWO Gym Badges at the moment. Ash can't believe Trip is ahead of him (he probably doesn't stop every 2 seconds to help out a Character of the Day!) and Trip sighs smugly that it is basic, then tells Don George he's going to have to sit this one out, there's no point to a battle with a guy with only ONE badge and only FIVE Pokémon. Ash loses it again, insisting that it doesn't matter how many Pokémon Trip has, he won't be able to beat Ash! Trip is amused, he doesn't know where Ash gets all his groundless confidence from (14 goddamn years of fighting crunched into less than a year of show-time apparently!), and wonders if all Kanto Trainers are "boonies" like him. He turns to leave a gaping Ash, but then Iris speaks up, using that wonderful ability of all women everywhere to puncture a man's ego at JUST the right point. She notes that it's "just" a battle so what's the big deal, but obviously Trip is "just a kid."

This gets to the normally cool Trip, who turns angrily to face up to this questioning of his manhood. Cilan gets involved too, saying he's like nothing more than to see Ash and Trip go at it (my God he really does Ship everything!), he wants to see the combination of passion and coolness! Trip sighs, then agrees, telling Don George he would like him to ref their five-on-five battle. Ash is delighted, though he hasn't got a fucking clue what just happened, and eagerly thanks Trip for agreeing. Trip replies coolly that he already knows the result anyway, and that this is probably going to be a complete waste of time. Ash watches him walk away, then grins.... he doesn't care what Trip is thinking, he gets his battle!



Don George explains the rules - substitutions are allowed, a winner is declared when all five of the other opponent's Pokémon are knocked out, etc - and then they're off! Trip's first Pokémon out is a Tranquil - the evolved (and far thinner!) form of Pidove - Ash checks it out with his Pokédex, learning it comes from a happy and peaceful place, and then calls out Oshawott. Surprisingly Trip recognises it as the Pokémon from Juniper's lab, and Ash has it open up with a Water Gun which Tranquil dodges, sweeping in with Aerial Ace and crashing straight into Oshawott's belly and... knocking it out immediately!

Jesus, Ash, you're making Kanto look bad!

Trip smugly informs Ash that Tranquil has "Super Luck", which is an ability that increases the chances of scoring critical hits. Ash recalls Oshawott and sends out Tepig, hoping that his sneezey fire-pig will have more luck than his insane clown otter did. Trip is bemused that Ash has gone straight from a Water Type to a Fire Type and notes that his strategy is painfully "straight-forward", but Ash happily agrees that Straight-Forward is just fine by him and orders an Ember from Tepig. Tranquil dodges so, so Ash has it try again and again, and Trip has Tranquil use Double Team and then Work-Up to build up its attack power. Ash tells Tepig not to get fooled by the Double Team, but it freaks out as it watches the multiple birds glaring at it, then returning to one powered-up bird that slams into it with Aerial Ace! Tepig is sent crashing down and.... out! Ash is already down 2-0!

Jesus, Ash, you're REALLY making Kanto look bad!

Trip informs him he should start from the top (what?) and smugly waggles a finger at Ash, telling him,"Baaaaaa-sic!" Ash scowls, then grins that they're just getting started, and asks Pikachu to help him show off some REAL power!

Meanwhile in the wreckage of some kind of scrapyard, Team Rocket are waiting for their new contact. But as they look around, wondering if they're early, they're surrounded by cops! Lead by an Officer Jenny, she informs them that Striaton City's Jenny put them onto the Most Wanted List, and now the cops have come to actually do their job and arrest some criminals! Team Rocket finally made it! They're finally being taken seriously as criminals, and all it cost them was their personalities!

Back at the Battle Club, Pikachu blasts a Thunderbolt at Tranquil which barely dodges. Trip is amused, so Pikachu really CAN use Electric Attacks? He has Tranquil use Work Up and then Aerial Ace again, displaying a remarkably basic strategy.... but hey, it works! Pikachu is smacked around by the move and sent crashing to the ground, and a bored Trip tells Ash it's time for win number 3. He sends Tranquil in with Aerial Ace again, and Pikachu.... dodges it, grabs its claw, slams it face first into the ground, pitches it through the air and then smashes it in the belly with a Volt Tackle!



Do not FUCK with Pikachu!

Tranquil is sent crashing into the ground and knocked out cold, and Ash finally has a win against Trip! He laughingly asks if Trip has noticed that Pikachu is a LOT different to how it was in Nuvema Town, and with a sigh Trip admits that this is so.... but he's still confident that Pikachu won't be able to beat his Servine!

He calls out his evolved Snivy, which humiliated Pikachu in the past with a gigantic upset victory. Pikachu seems to recognise it too, but in case you don't....



WHO'S THAT POKEMON!?! IT'S.... SERVINE! THE POKEMON YOU LITERALLY JUST SAW AND WERE INTRODUCED TOO MOMENTS AGO!



Trip smugly informs Ash that he trained it and it evolved... that's basic. Ash is determined to get Pikachu revenge though, while up in the stands Cilan notes that Trip used this Servine to defeat Chili's Pansear.

In the scrapyard, Jenny is still informing Team Rocket that they're under arrest when suddenly.... OPTIMUS PRIME TO THE RESCUE!?! Without even a "YOU'VE GOT THE TOUCH!" musical score to back it, an Optimus Prime looking truck comes bursting through the gates of the scrapyard and pulls up alongside Team Rocket. A long-haired man in similar clothing to Team Rocket tells them to get in, and they hauls out of the scrapyard followed by the police. They zoom down the road towards the bridge, but the bridge is out! Whether due to construction of a natural disaster or who knows what, they're heading for certain suicide as they zoom out over the edge... and then burst out of the roof of the truck on jet-packs and fly away to safety, leaving Jenny looking like a moron and with a TON of paperwork to fill out.... just what IS the code for,"Arrest impeded by Optimus Prime" anyway?

Team Rocket fly through the air, the man giving James a briefcase as per the Boss' instructions. He tells them his name is Pierce, and they're not to forget it, then blasts off through the sky and disappears into the clouds.

In the Battle Club, Ash has Pikachu use Iron Tail while Servine comes in with Cut. The moves seem to negate each other, but Trip tells Servine to stay on Pikachu with Leaf Tornado, which crashes into the little rat and sends it spinning around in a panic. It crashes to the ground but manages to stagger back up, and Ash sends it back in with Volt Tackle, while Trip continues to prove that his "basic" strategy works well enough, having Servine hold its ground and use Cut to slash through Pikachu as it zooms by. Pikachu is out, and now the Snivy/Servine has two victories over a far, far more powerful Pikachu!

Trip asks him if he REALLY wants to see this through, he's only got two Pokémon left against Trip's four, it's basically over. Ash insists a battle is never over until it’s over, and sends in.... Snivy!?! Iris can't understand why, he's got Pidove which has the Type Advantage, but Cilan is sure that Ash MUST have a plan up his sleeve.

He... he doesn't know Ash all that well yet, Gentle Dodgers.

Snivy zips in with Vine Whip, but Servine smugly dodges the moves, then a Leaf Blade attempt, before hitting back with Leaf Tornado, sending Snivy spinning about and crashing it to the ground. It gets back up though, determined to keep fighting, while Trip smugly reminds Ash that as he noted earlier, he TRAINED his Snivy and it EVOLVED! Ash insists there is more to strength than just evolving though, and has Snivy try Vine Whip again and then.... Attract! Oh snap! Servine done fell in love!

Before Trip's horrified eyes, his now lust-struck Servine stands in place taking great delight in getting smacked about and bitch-slapped by Vine Whip. Snivy finishes things off with a Leaf Blade, knocking the love and the consciousness out of Servine, and Trip is forced (and seemingly happy!) to admit that Ash caught him by surprise there. Ash happily points out that he's catching up, but Trip is ready with another horrible surprise for him as he sends out... Frillish!

Ash looks at it with his Pokédex, learning the weird jellyfish/pillow-case Pokémon is said to live five miles below sea level. It's a bizarre Pokémon, but Ash figures he can make use of his incredibly useful MVP Pidove and sends it in to get.... knocked immediately out!?!

Pidove comes in with Air Cutter, but Frillish easily uses Protect to block it, then captures Pidove inside a globe of water with Water Pulse, applying enormous pressure to the fat little bird before slamming it against a wall and... knocking it out! Pidove, usually so useful in battle, just got DESTROYED! And now Ash only has one Pokémon left, the no-longer fresh Snivy!

Trip smugly asks (he does everything smugly!) Ash if he hasn't had enough yet? Why not quit while he's behind? Ash reminds him that he said the battle wasn't over till it was over, and sends in Snivy with Vine Whip immediately.... much to Iris and Cilan's horror. Ash is delighted at the success of the direct attack, but when Frillish glows black and Snivy does too, seemingly caught up in a strange trance. Trip is bemused, Ash really DOESN'T know the basics, does he? Why the hell would be directly attack a Pokémon with "Cursed Body"? Ash has no idea what this means, and Iris roars at him that Cursed Body can disable a Pokémon’s moves if they attack directly, and HE IS SUCH A LITTLE KID FOR NOT KNOWING THAT! Cilan tries to make peace, telling her not to get riled up, while Ash takes in this new information like water off of a duck's back and figures that if direct attacks don't work, indirect ones will have to do!

Snivy uses Leaf Storm, but it just crashes against Frillish's Protect before it unleashes Night Shade on Snivy, bringing it to its knees. Ash tells Snivy he knows it can fight back though, and it blasts out a Leaf Storm and catches a laughing Frillish off-guard, smacking it right in the face before trying Attract. The hearts surround Frillish, but on guard now it sees it coming and demonstrates its remarkable speed by somehow dodging the move. Ash is frustrated, but since these indirect attacks aren't working... maybe a direct attack will!

Oh.... oh Ash.....

Iris and Cilan can't believe it, he's going for ANOTHER direct attack on Frillish's Cursed Body? But Ash's reasoning is sound, none of the other moves are working and there is a chance, however small, that a direct blast of Leaf Blade MIGHT be enough to knock Frillish out. Unfortunately for him, the move hits but isn't strong enough to put Frillish down, and it comes back with Water Pulse to blast Snivy into utter confusion. All of this is down to Trip's planning, and he decides to finish Snivy off in dramatic fashion, by having Frillish.... OPEN THE GRIM EYE OF AN ELDER GOD TO STARE INTO THE VERY SOUL OF SNIVY!?!



Using "Hex", Frillish crackles black energy between its tentacle/flippers which coalesces into a black ball from which a horrifyingly AWARE eye opens. Trip grins, telling Ash that since Snivy is confused, it will do double the damage. It unleashes waves of dark energy and Snivy collapses, knocked out cold, and Trip wins.... and dominates in doing so!

Ash recalls Snivy to its Pokéball, telling it that it was a good battle. Trip steps up and tells Ash that Pikachu and Snivy were okay, but his other Pokémon were a joke.... and so was their trainer. Ash leaps up in a rage, demanding Trip repeat himself, but Trip just turns and thanks Don George for reffing the match, then heads out the door. Ash shouts after him that they have to battle again someday, and Trip stops, smirks and tells him maybe one day, after all, battling IS basic.... for a trainer.

And with that subtle insult, he walks out a winner, leaving Ash behind... a loser.



Iris and Cilan approach telling Ash not to get too down, he'll just have to train harder. Ash though is already over it, because the beating he just (justifiably!) took has given him what he desire the most, an excuse to battle more and train harder, which is all he ever wanted to do with his life anyway! He happily tells Iris and Cilan that he's not going to let Trip stay ahead of him, he's going to train hard and beat him!

So there you have it, Gentle Dodgers, their first meeting saw Ash unfairly trounced by Trip and the insults he received seemed unjustified. This time though we saw that Trip really was the better (prepared) Trainer - Ash is amazing at battling, but he's in a new region and he hasn't bothered to learn anything about it or its new Pokémon, and so it’s no wonder that he got his ass kicked by somehow who actually HAS taken the effort. There's no doubt once he gets to know the region/Pokémon better, he'll be amongst the very best like he was in Sinnoh - but for now, he deserved that ass-kicking, and Trip was right, if insufferably smug about it - Ash is a loser.

BEST QUOTES

"Your Water-Type was a bust, so now a Fire-Type? Talk about straight-forward!" "Hey, straight-forward's just fine with me!"

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