Another episode I have been looking forward too. Like Mamoswine, I'm glad Excadrill didn't take as long as Charizard to start obeying.

This was a pretty good episode. And Excadrill started obeying Iris.

Not a bad episode . Glad to see him finally obey Iris o;

LIke everyone else, so far, I liked that Excadrill has finally started to listen to Iris. More importantly, though, I absolutely loved how they revealed Iris's flashback with Excadrill. I thought that anteater-like Pokemon hated his trainer, but I see I'm wrong. I can't wait to see how their relationship progresses at this point.

Awesome episode! Iris gets a new rival, her Excadrill finally starts obeying her, and we even see Drayden in a flashback!

Langley/Georgia better watch out because once Axew evolves all the way to Haxorus, it's going to be on. Haxorus has the highest attack out of all the non-Legendary Pokemon in 5th gen, and Excadrill's attack isn't too shabby either. If Iris' Excadrill's ability is Sand Force, that'll make it even higher.

I was kind of expecting a deeper voice for Drayden, but it works fine.

Is it just me, or does Beartic look strange animated?

Pretty good episode, nice to find out why Excadrill hasn't been listening to Iris and seeing it deciding to obey her again. Ash & co. suddenly encounter a trainer named Georgia who proclaims herself to be a Dragon Buster and has been looking for Iris to challenge her to a battle. Iris accepts though Axew is easily defeated by Georgia's Beartic and Georgia starts mocking her. Iris then challenges Georgia's Beartic with her Excadrill and after being attacked Excadrill starts battling though gets knocked out in a sort of symbolic way to Iris. With Georgia telling Iris to get stronger and leaving, Iris starts telling Ash and Cilan her back story with Excadrill. Why does Excadrill not listen to Iris? Can Iris make amends and be able to defeat Georgia the next time they meet (which is surprisingly soon, like within this episode)? Will Ash & co. be able to eat their breakfast? If that last one sounds random to you, then don't worry, it's explained at the very end of this review so you better get reading:

A B With A Heart Of Ice, And I'm Not Talking About Beartic:
Ash & co. are walking down a path but the story REALLY wants to get started so a girl suddenly steps out onto the path, says she's been looking for Iris, her name is Georgia, and she's a Dragon Buster. Iris asks what a Dragon Buster is and Georgia explains her goal is to defeat Dragon-type Pokemon, especially those from the Village of Dragons. Cilan asks Georgia why she's so angry at Dragon-types and she explains her Pokemon were beaten badly at the Village of Dragons (in other words she has the same motivations as Burgundy except this time it's toward Iris).

Iris: She's such a kid.
Georgia: SO WHAT IF I'M A KID.
Comment: Eek, for a trainer who hates Dragon-types she sure can morph her face into one...

Georgia taunts Iris saying if she's scared she should run away and Iris says if Georgia wants a battle then she accepts, cue opening and title card! Georgia sends out a Beartic and after Ash scans it with his Pokedex Iris starts getting a bit panicky (Georgia said she was a DRAGON BUSTER, what type of Pokemon did you think she was going to have?) however quickly gets over it and sends in Axew (you know you have an Emolga right, you don't have to battle with a Dragon-type just because that's a type of Pokemon Georgia wants to fight). Beartic gives off some mist steam which has Axew get scared though Iris reassure Axew saying though they have a type disadvantage they can still win. Beartic is less than impress and yawns getting Axew angry as Georgia says Iris could have used a Pokemon with a little bit more "umph" and how can she become a great Dragon Buster if she doesn't beat strong Dragons (being she heard about Iris you would think she would have at least got more information about Iris being a rookie and her only Dragon-type is her Axew). Iris tells her to save the attitude and Axew starts with a Scratch which Beartic counters with a Slash sending Axew hurdling through the skies as Beartic then uses Icicle Crash which Axew starts dodging though runs into one. Beartic uses an Ice Beam and though Axew tries matching it with a Dragon Rage the Ice Beam wins out and hits Axew causing a huge explosion which leaves a knocked out Axew in a crater as Cilan declares it unable to battle and Georgia the winner. Iris goes to make sure Axew is okay and Georgia starts saying the battle was quick and a "yawner" and tells Iris to send out her next Dragon-type Pokemon though Iris starts hesitating angering Georgia until Cilan explains Axew is Iris's only Dragon-type Pokemon. Georgia asks Iris she seriously wants to be a Dragon Master and Iris says to keep her noise out of her business though Georgia goes on to say for someone from the Village of Dragons she's incredibly weak.

Iris says that though it isn't a Dragon-type she had a Pokemon that can beat Beartic though Georgia says if it's not a Dragon-type she's not interested before Iris copy's Georgia's whole "run away if your scared" taunt to Georgia which gets her to agree to continue battling Iris. Iris sends out Excadrill but as always it's not that cooperative though Iris figures out Beartic starts attacking it Excadrill will start battling. Georgia remains unimpressed and Beartic uses a Slash which sends Excadrill flying and into a tree which upon landing has Excadrill decide that maybe defending itself is probably a good idea and un-drills (or whatever you call it when it closes up like it usually does). Iris tells Excadrill to use Dig though Excadrill uses a Metal Claw instead reminding Iris that it follows her sarcastic remark about it ignoring everything she says as Beartic uses Icicle Crash. Excadrill however so far shows that Metal Claw was a wise choice breaking all the icicles being sent at it though Beartic uses an Ice Beam which forces Excadrill to use Dig anyway. Dig hits but before Iris could tell Excadrill what to do next it used Drill Run which Beartic counters with a Rock Smash which gets Iris worried as it sends Excadrill flying into a rock. Iris runs over to Excadrill though it becomes a drill again as Georgia asks if there is a problem and if Iris wants to give up which Iris unfortunately has to do and Georgia goes on mocking her about being weak and her Pokemon not obeying her.

Hax-Hax-Haxorus Combo Breaker:
Georgia tells Iris to be stronger the next time they meet and leaves as Ash asks if Iris is okay and Cilan says Georgia's temper is "peppered with attitude" and Iris thanks them saying she's more worried about Excadrill. Iris explains that her reaction to the Rock Smash was because Excadrill lost to that same move awhile back and says it's the first time she lost a Pokemon battle and ever since then Excadrill has been hiding. But what is hearing a back story without a flashback as we go into a flashback where Iris is playing with the Pokemon (that aren't Dragon-type) in the Village of Dragons and one day heard a Patrat she knew got kicked out of its burrow by a Drilbur. We cut out of the flashback for Cilan to confirm that the Drilbur was Excadrill before it evolved and Iris says it is as we go back to the flashback as Iris tries to get Patrat's its burrow back though Drilbur responds with a Mud-Slap to her face. Iris gets angry and starts charging at the Drilbur which Cilan asks if she fought with a Pokemon and she said she did as Ash asks what happened next and we continue the flashback seeing her being dragged away by a Deerling beaten up. The next day Iris tries fighting the Drilbur by swinging down from a tree though Drilbur uses a Metal Claw and she needs to be dragged away by a Deerling again. And so on and so forth until finally she landed on the Metal Claw just right to do a Power Ranger jump (seriously she jumped up into the air high, did a twirl, and landed back on the ground just fine), Drilbur tried to use a Dig but misses, it tries a Drill Run (which it learns at Level 43 which is 12 levels about when it evolves, why hasn't it evolve yet?) but Iris kicks it sending it flying into a tree and tangled in vines. As it turns out it was a good thing Drilbur got tangled up as it's now hanging over a cliff and Iris immidietly starts swinging over and catches Drilbur just as the vines holding it broke (wow that must have been a long vine Iris to found). Drilbur opens its eyes to see Iris had saved it and from then on they became friends and from then on they kept winning battle after battle and decided to enter the Annual Village of Dragons' Battle Competition and started training in the mountains.

On the day of the competition, while battling a Druddigon, Drilbur evolved into an Excadrill and upon defeating the Druddigon and celebrating they're met by Drayden who's applauding their efforts. After Iris realizes he's the Dragon Master Drayden he asks Iris who taught her to battle and she said she learned along with her forest Pokemon friend and then asks for a battle as their next will be their 100th win and would be awesome if it was against a Dragon Master (well you can see where this is going...). The Judge tells Iris if she realizes what she's asking but Drayden (who has no mouth and instead speaks by moving his beard up and down) agrees as we go to a "Who's That Pokemon" featuring a loser of a battle we're about to see (Hint: It's not Drayden's Pokemon).

Drayden sends out a Haxorus which Iris says will be an opponent fun to beat and Excadrill uses a Metal Claw which barely made a scratch on Haxorus as Drayden says Excadrill has good power and asks what's next. Excadrill starts using Fury Swipes (according to it's level-up moveset, before Drilbur learns Drill Run it also learns the moves Slash, Rock Slide, and Earthquake... yet it kept the move Fury Swipes and Mud-Slap?) and Drayden tells Haxorus to get Excadrill off it which it does by swinging its tell shocking Excadrill. Iris tells Excadrill to use Dig and she tells it she has no doubt they'll win this and it does so though Haxorus just shakes it off which keeps stunning Excadrill. Excadrill only has one move left and that's Drill Run which is when the history repeating happens and Haxorus uses Rock Smash sending Excadrill flying into a broken wall (which seemed to just be there for it to smash into) which knocks Excadrill out. Iris rushes over to check on Excadrill as Drayden is declared the winner and looks over to the Elder and both give a nod to each other (hmm, very interesting).

Back to the amazing losing duo, Excadrill wakes up to see a teary eyed Iris who says she's glad to see it's alright though after looking at a silhouette of Drayden and his Haxorus with glaring white eyes it becomes the drill as Iris shakes it asking what's wrong. Later Iris is trying to train with Excadrill and tries telling it it's just one loss, to "get over it", and if they don't want lose again they have to train harder however present Iris voice comes in ending the flashback and saying ever since they left the Village of Dragons she kept trying to cheer Excadrill up but nothing works and losing was too much to take.

Cilan says it can't be just about losing as if Excadrill gets angry it'll battle and says maybe the problem is with Iris who gets offended and asks what he means and Cilan says that maybe Excadrill didn't like its strategy (you mean challenging a renown Dragon Master and saying you'll win easily by calling out different attacks one after the other was a bad idea?). Cilan says that Excadrill might have been feeling something which Iris missed and is worth giving a little thought which she takes out Excadrill's Pokeball saying "Excadrill's feelings" (you mean telling it to "get over it" might have been a little hurtful to it losing for the first time?).

We Didn't Lost, But We Also Didn't Win:
That night Iris has Excadrill out saying they'll sleep under the stars and thinks back to when they were training under the stars and said that maybe they should had learned a Special Attack (like Earthquake or Rock Slide, and before anyone says anything, yes, I know the game counts them as Physical attacks, though how throwing rocks and causing the earth to shake means the Pokemon have to make contact with each other is beyond me) and realized that while battling Haxorus Excadrill realized they were outmatched and she didn't notice. Iris starts crying and apologizing to Excadrill and says it doesn't have to battle and she wants to run though the fields and eat berries with it (jeez it sounds like she's trying to convince a guy not to break up with her... which is kind of creepy...) and we see flashbacks of Iris trying to cheer Excadrill up and it trying practicing to battle it when it was a wild Drilbur. Excadrill un-drills only to see that Iris has fallen asleep and so it gets up and starts walking away though this wakes Iris up and we cut to Excadrill trying to use Focus Blast but failing as Iris asks if she can practice with it (Iris, last time I check humans can't use Pokemon attacks, though you can probably help Excadrill learn to use Focus Blast). Excadrill seems to accept which excites Iris however it turns away from her reminding Iris to get serious and they train throughout the night and into the morning until Excadrill finally masters Focus Blast and now it accepts a hug from Iris.

Ash and Cilan appear and say they made breakfast but they soon discover that their entire breakfast has been eaten by, you guessed it, Georgia (she wouldn't be a complete jerk without annoying Ash and Cilan too). Georgia sees Excadrill and makes fun of it and Iris says she wants to challenge Georgia and Beartic to a rematch but Georgia says no but agrees a second later saying she wanted to see the goofy face Iris would make.

So the rematch starts (with "Decisive Battle (Last Pokemon)" playing in the background) with Beartic using Slash and Excadrill using Metal Claw though Beartic proves stronger throwing Excadrill back as it starts using an Icicle Crash. Excadrill dodges using Dig which hits and uses a Focus Blast right after getting a (super effective) hit and continuing the assault with Drill Run. While being hit with Drill Run, Beartic uses Ice Beam which freezes Excadrill however it breaks out using Metal Claw as Beartic uses an Icicle Crash which Excadrill tries countering with a Focus Blast but still gets hit and starts going down however Iris cries out for it giving Excadrill a second wind. Beartic uses a Rock Smash and Excadrill uses a Drill Run (so your using the same attack combo which keeps knocking Excadrill out after learning Focus Blast so you wouldn't have to do that?) and Excadrill faints, but before Georgia can celebrate Beartic also faints and Cilan declares a double knock out and a draw. Georgia tries to save face saying as long as it wasn't a Dragon-type she couldn't care less and tells Cilan that she expects another meal the next time they meet (hey, we already have Burgundy bothering Cilan, you stick with your rival). Iris checks on Excadrill saying though it was a draw it was an awesome battle which Cilan, Ash, and Pikachu (by the way where's Axew?) agree with and Iris asks if Excadrill will "hang in with her" as she gets "better and better" which Excadrill of course agrees to giving her a hug and Iris thanks it as the narrator starts talking to end the episode.