Ash And Trip's Third Battl... No, No, That's A Lazy Title:
Back to where the action is, Trip challenges Iris to a battle but Ash demands that Trip battles him though Trip ignores him saying he hasn't battled against a Dragon-type yet. Trip says Iris must have more Pokemon then just Axew being she wants to be a Dragon Master and it'll be worth battling her but Iris thinks about her other Pokemon who pretty much are opposed to the idea and tells Trip she isn't in top form today. Trip says that's disappointing as Ash one again asks Trip to battle him saying he'll win this time but Trip says battling with Ash won't make his Pokemon stronger (sure it will, just because it's free doesn't mean it isn't still experience!) which annoys Ash. Trip says this was a waste of time and goes to look for Palpitoad as Ash tells him to get back but Iris says Trip is full of excuses and doesn't think he'll beat Ash finishing with calling Trip a "kid" which stops him in his tracks. Trip accepts to battle saying he'll get it through their "thick heads" but Ash boasts that he has 3 Badges and in true rival fashion Trip reveals he has four. Ash tries to recover saying his Pokemon are a lot stronger than last time and Trip says they'll have a 3-vs.-3 with the first to win 2 battles win though Ash says he wants a full battle which Trip says he doesn't want to waste time and the battle begins! Trip sends out Servine while Ash sends out Snivy saying "Grass-type for a Grass-type" as Iris isn't too sure on Ash's choice saying he's relying on spirit (Iris, did you forget that the last time Servine and Snivy battled Snivy won?).

After a "Who's That Pokemon" hosted by Vanillite, we go back to Minor Chef and see Cilan has baked a cake with the Pecha Berry (or rather just baked a cake and put the Pecha Berry on top of it) as Pansage and Dwebble come back from an unsuccessful search for Ash and Iris which gets Cilan nervous... and decides to make a full course meal (Cilan, did you ever think to go looking for Ash and Iris?)!

Back to the Odd Couple and Trip says Ash never learns and scolds Ash for not evolving his Snivy yet and even though Snivy defeated Servine last time he's not going to let it happen again and if Ash wants to get stronger he's going have to evolve his Pokemon. Ash says he'll do it his way which Trip remarks "must be the way they do it in the boonies" (Geez, is this how the writers think an American will act toward an Asian? Then again being Trip has green hair I wonder if the writers even remember Unova is suppose to be based on New York (then again I think the game developers forgot about that too at some points)). Trip says Ash becoming a Pokemon Master is a joke and he doesn't have a chance to win the Unova League but Ash counters with the bigger the dream the better which Trip counters telling Ash to "keep on yapping" as when he wins this it'll be all the sweater, meanwhile Iris and Axew show how the audience should respond to all this: getting ready to sleep. Iris asks if they're done yet and it seems like they are as the battle begins with Servine using Leaf Tornado and Snivy counters with Leaf Storm which disperses both attacks and Iris says both are even. Servine uses Cut though Snivy jumps out of the way and uses Attract which Trip stops with a Leaf Tornado and Trip tells Ash that unlike Ash's Snivy his Servine is steadily leveling-up.

Trip: With a lot of battles under its belt Servine also has learned how to block Status moves.
Comment: ... the anime just takes the game's mechanics to the back shed and shoots it, doesn't it?

Ash says Snivy has trained a lot too and doesn't matter they can't use Attract and Servine uses Cut while Snivy tries using a Leaf Blade though is knocked back (... Leaf Blade, have Servine use Leaf Blade. Yes, Snivy is resistant to Grass-type attacks, but adding in STAB makes cut do 135 damage meaning Snivy is still getting hit with 67.5 power, 17.5 more power then Cut! Also remember LEaf Blade is more likely to land CRITICAL HITS! Seriously I can't take Servine as a serious threat because it's using CUT!). Trip boasts how they won't lose this time and are much stronger than Ash and Iris says she can't argue with that despite Ash trying so hard, oh, and Snivy is knocked out.

Both Ash and Trip return their Pokemon and get ready for round 2 as Trip tells him it's useless as they haven't gotten any better than last time (Trip, you really think the writers are going to let you win the 2nd battle with this being a 3-vs.-3?). Trip says the last thing he's going to do is let them drag him down because how else is he going to face the Champion (um, kind of forgetting the Elite Four is kind of in the middle there) which surprises Ash for some reason (what, he didn't think Unova had it's own Champion?). Trip is surprised Ash doesn't know who the Champion is...

Ash: Awesome! There is a Champion in Unova too!
Comment: ... YOU'VE BEEN THROUGH FOUR OTHER LEAGUES AND HAVE EVEN MET THEIR CHAMPIONS! Know what, know what, this isn't the character's fault, this is the writer's fault because apparently THEY DON'T REMEMBER ANYTHING THEY WROTE FOR THE PAST 13 YEARS!

Iris tells Ash of course there is a Champion and asks if he ever heard of Alder which he says no to though that's (the only thing) understandable. Iris tells Ash Alder is the Champion Master (by that title it makes it sound like there are other Champions) of the Unova region end everyone dreams on having a battle against Alder and Ash asks if Iris has ever met him and she said she hasn't but Trip said he has! Ash asks if he's nice and Trip tells him to find out himself which Ash says he was just asking and Trip says to continue the battle and "battle with everything you got, no matter who you're up against" saying that what Alder woudl say. Trip then thinks he'll never forget a promise he made to Alder and we cut to a flashback of Trip as a kid seeing Alder at a festival battling with his Bouffalant and Trip says he's seen Alder battle on TV and was excited to be seeing him in person. Trip is carefully petting Alder's Bouffalant and Alder tells him it's alright and give Trip some Pokemon food to feed to Bouffalant and asks Trip what does he want to be someday and Trip says he wants to battle against Alder and win and become Champion. Alder says Trip has spirit and he should battle a lot so he can become strong and Trip says he'll battle every day and can't wait to become a Pokemon trainer. Alder tells Trip to become big and strong and that he'll remain Champion so that he'll be ready for the day Trip challenges him and they shakes hands as we fade out of the flashback.

Trip thinks about Alder promising to wait for him and winning the Unova League is just a "stepping stone" to enter the Champion League and has to become strong to make his dreams a reality as Ash tells him he's ready to continue. Trip sends out Timburr and... I did not expect it to sound like that (kind of expected to have a kid voice like how Machop did) and after checking his Pokedex he can't wait to battle the Champion and sends out Oshawott. Oshawott tries to give out a battle cry though backs down when Timburr points its lumber at it and tries to push Pikachu into the battle. Ash tells Oshawott it'll be fine and he's counting on it asking if it got its Scalchop which gets Oshawott's confidence back up and it jumps back into the battle as Trip remarks "this should be fun" with a smug look on his face (I guess that must be reason two why he chose Snivy as his starter). Oshawott starts with an Aqua Jet as Timburr prepares a Strength though as you have already guessed Oshawott arcs over and crashes into the hillside and Iris facepalms saying "not again" and Trip asks if Ash is playing around. Ash says of course not and tells Oshawott to use another Aqua Jet though Trip just tells Timburr "heads up" which is the direction you should point your head to see Oshawott flying around in circles. Trip says he still thinks Ash is playing and as Oshawott passes by him he takes a few pictures before it crashed into the ground in front of Timburr.

Ash asks why Trip was taking picture in the middle of the battle though he acted if he was offended (meanwhile you're using a move you haven't mastered to a person who doesn't take you seriously) and Iris asks if he's "chronicling his journey". Trip tells them to see for themselves and trip goes through the pictures to reveal the reason Oshawott isn't doing Aqua Jet correctly: it's closing its eyes (are you seriously telling me something I pointed out several episodes ago is the actual reason Oshawott is messing up Aqua Jet...). Ash and Iris are surprised to find this out and Trip says he's amazed Oshawott could pull it off at all which makes Oshawott special in a certain way and Oshawott is acting as if that was a complement (hint: I wasn't). Iris yells at Oshawott that wasn't a complement and Trip asks Ash he never noticed that and Ash said he didn't which Trip responds with a "go figure" and comments about a Water-type being unable to open its eyes underwater (hey, why are you bringing Psyduck into this?). Ash asks Oshawott if that's true and Oshawott gives him a "yeah..." expression and Ash tells Oshawott not to worry and that it trained hard to learn Aqua Jet and it just needs to train to keep its eyes open so it won't miss.

Trip asks if they want to "go on" and Ash gives a "you bet" and we start once more with Oshawott using Razor Shell and Timburr using Low Sweep despite Trip telling it to use Low Kick (no, Timburr wasn't being disobedient, it was just a script mistake) though all turns out alright as while Timburr distracted Oshawott by throwing its lumber in the air it trips Oshawott before catching it's lumber. Timburr keeps on the offensive using Strength and then Dynamic Punch (which it does by standing on top of its lumber for some reason) though Oshawott counters with a Razor Shell and after a collision we see Oshawott landing okay and Timburr slamming into his lumber and fainting.

Both Ash and Trip (who's a little irritated) return their Pokemon and Ash sends out Tepig (because if he chose two of the other Unova starters he might as well use the last one) and Trip actually does something you'd see Ash do and sends out Vanillite (who think is in a Pokemon Contest as it created ice sparkles around it). Ash is surprised and so is a freaking out Iris and Axew who state the obvious advantage Tepig has and Trip tells them to wait and see and says battling against Ash's off-the-wall battle strategy is a good way for him to become stronger (oh, NOW battling Ash seems worth something!) and he's going to beat Ash at his own game which Ash says sounds good to him (um, Trip, yeah, this won't work for you because your aren't really stupid so "stupid luck" can't work for you, nice try though). Iris says their both little kids as Tepig uses a Flame Charge but Vanillite uses Ice Beam which hits and stops Tepig and Trip gloats how putting fire and ice together makes steam (... no, it makes water, I doubt Tepig's Flame Charge was hot enough to sublime the Ice Beam). Actually, scratch that stopping Tepig as it keeps on going and does hit Vanillite though it responds back by using Icicle Spear which hits but Tepig doesn't seem that much effected and uses Ember though Vanillite is still in as Iris tells Ash it's because of good Defense from training hard. Vanillite uses Ice Shard and Tepig takes the hits but uses Flame Charge as Vanillite uses Blizzard though that doesn't stop Tepig and a collision happens revealing both Pokemon are tired. The standoff begins as we see Ash and Trip's shocked impressions and Tepig and Vanillite staring each other down until both of them faint ending in a draw and Trip says Ash's battle style doesn't fit him at all.

Trip returns Vanillite as Ash tells Tepig it did great before returning it and Trip says to himself Alder is going to have to wait and tells Ash it's a draw as Ash says next time he'll win and Trips walks off. Pikachu jumps on Ash's shoulder and Ash says he think he gets Trip more than he did and is glad they battled with Iris adding in why they know now Oshawott's Aqua Jet always misses. Ash says they'll train hard and meet the Unova Champion Master as the narrator comes in though I can't help to think we forgot somethin... *hears Ash's stomach rumble* oh yeah, can't leave until we see what mess Cilan has made. Ash and Iris both realize they forgot about Cilan and rush back as we cut to Cilan with a table set and him moping it being "standing up the chef" time.