Now this was a much better episode (I still have qualms about it, but it's leagues better then the last episode). Ash & co. are in the subway where a stamp rally to battle the Subway Bosses, Ingo and Emmet, are going on which Cilan is excited for. However Ash and Iris have already made plans to go sightseeing around the attractions of Nimbasa City. But while they're doing their own thing, Ash and Iris find a Axew who had lost its trainer while Cilan runs into a girl who is lost in the subways looking for her friend. Can our protagonists help out their lost character find who they're looking for? Will Cilan be able to get all the stamps he needs in order to battle the Subway Bosses? Could these lost characters be connected in someway? If you say "no", can I hit you with a brick? While the most foolish of those reading go get an ice pack for their sudden bump on the head, the rest of you can go ahead and read today's episode summary:

Stamping All Around City:
We start today's episode with Ash & co. rushing to Gear Station with Cilan in the lead and looking for something which he finds. Asking what's up, Cilan shows Ash and Iris what he's excited about: The Subway Bosses Stamp Rally. Cilan explains he was rushing over because in this stamp rally you're given 3 days to find 60 stamps however today is the last day. However Cilan isn't going to give up that easily and says by the end of today he'll have all 60 stamps which Iris calls him "such a kid" for. Cilan uses the first stamp (it's a Tepig) and says once he has all 60 stamps he'll be given the privilege to battle with Ingo or Emmet. Hearing this Ash says he "wants some of that" which Cilan says they'll work together to experience "Subway Time"... but Iris tells him that Ash already promised to go Nimbasa City sightseeing with her leaving a disappointed Cilan alone, cut to opener and title card.

Ash and Iris arrive to Little Court and Big Stadium and Iris says she wants to watch a football game (the Gurdurr 11 vs. Team Darmanitan) and we find out that Iris is a Gurdurr 11 fan (I'm guessing there must not be any Dragon-type team) because they train in the Village of Dragons (wait, if they train in the Village of Dragon's why aren't they named after a Dragon-type Pokemon?), so with Iris rooting for them Ash decides to root for Team Darmanitan. Back at the stamp rally, Cilan has gotten his ninth stamp which is a Pansage (coincidence or foreshadowing, you decide!) and says with his vast "Subway Connoisseur" (*SMACK*) knowledge there's no way he'll lose and that the stamp rally is over at 4 p.m. (lol, like time in Pokemon means anything). Back to the sightseeing duo (get used to going back-and-forth like this), we come back to Ash and Iris with the football game over and the Gurdurr 11 have won and they now decide to have a match at the Small Court which Ash says he won't lose. In the Small Court, Ash and Iris have decided to play their match out with Tennis as Pikachu and Axew watch from the sidelines and after Iris hits Ash in the face with the ball the game is a draw, meanwhile Cilan gets stamp 22 (should I even bother to mention which Pokemon the stamps are?).

Over to the Musical Theater, Ash and Iris watch a Pokemon Musical featuring a Gothita, Gothitelle, Cottonee, Swanna, and Dearling (Spring). They start to dance and suddenly Oshawott pops out of its Pokeball and starts gushing over on the edge of the stage (why? Is it attracted to one of the performing Pokemon?). Ash tries to pull Oshawott off saying it can't do this but the the Gothitelle uses Telekinesis to bring them up onto the stage and all the Pokemon swarm them putting a top hat and bow tie on Pikachu and Oshawott (Pikachu also gets a cane while Oshawott a moustache) while Ash is put in a vibrant pink texudo, bow tie, and top hat. Gothitelle grabs Ash and start dancing with him to his embarrassment while Pikachu rides on the back of Dearling and Oshawott dances with the Gothita.

*coming out of the subway*
Ash: Man, I never thought I'll be dancing on stage to a musical in a million years.
Comment: I wouldn't call it dancing but more like being swung around like a rag doll.

The Ride Around:
Iris starts running ahead after seeing the Rondez-View Ferris Wheel causing Ash to lose her in the crowd but they see Axew and ask where Iris went. However they see this Axew is wearing a pink bow and moments later Iris runs up to them and gives them ice cream. Noticing the Axew and saying it's female, Iris hugs it but it gets sad and seeing no one with it Iris asks if it's lost which it gives a sad grunt to. Cut to a few moments later with Ash coming back to them saying that no one had reported a missing Pokemon, Iris says as a future Dragon Master she can't leave the femalw Axew alone which Ash agrees with saying its trainer has to be nearby. Iris asks the female Axew where it got separated from its trainer and it rushes off to show them, but we then cut to Cilan who's up to stamp 35 when a girl comes up to him and asks him does he know how to get to the amusement park which Cilan tells her and she leaves (okay, that was a bit pointless... OR WAS IT!).

Back to trainer finders, Ash and Iris followed the female Axew to inside the subway figuring it got lost here instead of the AMUSEMENT PARK (sorry, I had to write in all caps because I can't hit you threw the Internet with an "obvious" hammer). The train pulls in and the female Axew sees a girl which looks like the girl Cilan gave subway directions and follows her into the train with Ash and Iris following behind. In the train they see the female Axew running into another car but before they could follow the train shakes causing a woman to fall in front of them which Ash and Iris go over to help though Iris sends out Emolga to follow the female Axew.

Back to stamps are us, Cilan says he just needs one more stamp when he notices the girl from before trying to read the subway map. Cilan goes over and introduces himself and the girl introduces herself as Erina and explains to Cilan that she got turned around in the subways and went on the wrong train. Erina goes on to explain she was suppose to go to the amusement park with her friend but they got separated and she thinks her friend got on the train without her which Cilan tells her not to worry and he'll help her get to the amusement park and find her friend. We quickly cut to the female Axew hugging the girl dressed like Erina who we obviously find out it's another girl with a Swadloon, and then cut back to Cilan and Erina where the express train passes which just so happens to be the train Ash, Iris, and the female Axew is on and just so happens to see the female Axew who, you guessed it, is Erina's friend and Erina tells Cilan this as the train passes them by.

On the train the girl asks how long is Erina's Axew going to hang onto her though her Swadloon decides it's too long and uses String Shot to tie it up. Emolga sees this and starts sparking up as Ash and Iris runs into the train car just in time for them and everyone else in the car to get shocked by Emolga's Discharge which Iris yells at it to stop. A Who's That Pokemon of a Pokemon-we-haven't-seen-before-though-I-think-I-know-when-we-will-see-it later, Ash and Iris are apologizing to a subway worker who tells them to be more careful and then reports to subway security that they have a lost Pokemon and they announce over the loudspeakers they've found a lost Axew with a pink bow... oh wait, this is Pokemon, of course they didn't do that. No, instead he leaves leaving Ash and Iris to find Erina's Axew's trainer (hmm, that statement has a bit of redundancy in that statement) which they decide to head back to the amusement park but Iris suggests they leave a sign. Ash asks what sign and Iris sees a stamp rally display and has Erina's Axew leave a paw print on it as she writes a note saying if anyone has a lost Axew they found it and will be at the amusement park... or instead of doing something that logical Iris just leaves a drawing of a ferris wheel (okay, while I understand you don't want to write in Japanese to save the dub team some time and money, isn't that why you created that fake looking writing so that you can "write" something without doing so?).

Ash: Good thinking, that's a real smart thing to do.
Comment: Now if only you used words instead of calligraphy...
Ash: Long as her trainer sees it, it can't miss.
Comment: About that, you should probably put more then one "sign" up... in addition to writing an actual note... with words...

A train starts pulling in as Ash and Iris get on one trainer and takes a guess who comes out of the just pulled in train: Cilan and Erina (what a wacky circumstance), and they see the sign and figure that someone found Erina's Axew and were here but now are heading back to the amusement park (you know Iris only drew the ferris wheel, so while they still have to go to the amusement park their first though should have been that whoever found Erina's Axew is at the Rondez-View Ferris Wheel). Erina rushes to the train with Cilan behind just managing to get on and Erina thanks Cilan for helping her but Cilan soon realizes that they got on the wrong train and are heading the opposite direction (Cilan, maybe you shouldn't follow the girl who has admitted she gets lost on the subway).

Cilan: I'm afraid I goofed!
Comment: You goofed? She's the one who ran ahead without thinking to ask which train they need to go on.

Back to people who have a slightly better sense of direction (unless they're in a forest), Ash tells Iris that no one has heard from Erina's Axew's trainer and they comfort Erina's Axew by telling it they'll keep looking for its trainer until they find her. Back to look before they leaper, Erina apologizes for rushing ahead though Cilan says he should have told her they were getting on the wrong train but right now they should be focusing on finding Erina's Axew. Cilan says no one should have to pay for him making a mistake and promises to reunite Erina and her Axew when he notices that where they're heading is near Nimbasa City's Central Station and tells Erina he got a great idea.

Back to on a wild Swanna chasers, Ash and Iris are waiting near the subway entrance when Ash looks at the clock saying it's getting late (it's 3:45, unless that a.m. I don't think it's that late... wait, didn't Cilan mention the stamp rally is ending at 4 p.m. and he still has a stamp to get?) while Iris wonders where Erina's Axew's trainer could be. Just then a subway worker comes running out and asks if they're Ash and Iris and moments later we cut to them on a train heading toward Nimbasa City's Central Station where they get out and Erina's Axew sees Erina and they both rush over and give each other a hug. Erina apologizes to her Axew as Cilan, Ingo, and Emmet walk up and Cilan tells Ash and Iris that he met Erina and has been helping her find her Axew. Ash and Iris ask how did they know where they were and how Erina's Axew was with them and Cilan explains that they found their note and went to Ingo and Emmet who used the subway's computer to find Erina's Axew (I'm goingto assume they looked through security camera footage and knew they had Erina's Axew that way). Erina thanks them all for helping and Iris asks if Cilan got all his stamps which Cilan forgot about and says he's missing the Axew stamp (SYMBOLISM!) but before he could rush to where it is the loudspeaker announces it's 4 p.m. and the stamp rally is over.

Cilan: It was my childhood dream, my fantasy battle, and it all vanished right in front of my eyes!
Comment: 1. I'm sure they do this every year, 2. You're friends with Ingo and Emmet, I'm sure if you just ask them they'll battle you anytime when they're on a break or the when the subway isn't busy, and 3. being you were helping someone WITH help from Ingo and Emmet I'm sure they understand and will let you battle them anyway, you'll just probably have to wait after the battles of those who did get all 60 stamps.

However as it turns out, Erina has the Axew stamp... as her only stamp (oh come on, at least have her fill out one line). Ash asks how Erina got it and she explains while looking for her Axew she got to a station and asked a subway worker is he seen an Axew which he pointed to the Axew stamping station (wait, if she wasn't participating in the stamp rally then why did she get a sheet and stamped it? Did she think she could use it to show what an Axew looked like?). Erina said Cilan can have it though Cilan isn't sure but Ingo and Emmet said that for helping someone they'll let it slide this once and suggest that since their both here they should have a tag battle with Ash being Cilan's partner (well that got to be a kick in pant, Cilan spent the entire morning looking for stamps while Ash was above sightseeing with Iris).

Didn't They Get Yelled At For Fighting On A Train?
Ingo and Emmet lead Ash & co. (+ Erina) to a subway car which expands into a battling field and Cilan says this is Gear Station, Nimbasa's City Central Station underground battlefield (I thought Gear Station was the name of the building, not the battling area (in the games that's the "Battle Subway")). Iris and Erina sits down to watch the battle as Ingo and Emmet send out Chandelure and Eelektross which is just as Ash thought and so he sends out... Tepig (if he thought they were going to use those Pokemon then why didn't he send one out that'll have type advantage like Palpitoad?) and Cilan sends out Pansage (and you have Stunfisk, though Pansage is your signature Pokemon). The battle starts with Tepig using Flamethrower on Eelektross and Pansage using Bullet Seed on Chandelure (Oh come on, Pansage knows Dig) and both attacks hit. Ash says he'll go after Eelektross first and Tepig uses Flame Charge which hits while Pansage prepares a SolarBeam but Chandelure uses Smog causing Pansage to start choking and to miss hitting Eelektross with SolarBeam. Chandelure uses Will-O-Wisp on Pansage however Tepig counters with a Flamethrower dismissing both attacks but Eelektross picks up the slack and uses Acid which sort of hits (the acid itself missed but Tepig and Pansage start choking on the smoke from it).

Cilan says this is how he expected Ingo and Emmet to battle and starts an "Evaluation Time" which Iris's face describes how we all feel:

Cilan also says it's "Special Subway Time" (remember back when we all thought Japanese Cilan saying "It's tasting time" was funny?) and tells Ash they Pansage and Tepig have to be in sync if they want to "arrive at their victory stop on time".

Pansage starts jumping around on the seat and swinging on the holding bars before using Bullet Seed hitting both Chandelure and Eelektross while Tepig uses Flame Charge. Ingo says that it's like Pansage is in charge of the connecting lines and Tepig is charging into the city but Emmet says they won't be tricked and has Eelektross shock the holding bars zapping Pansage and causing it to fall in front of Tepig who runs into it and cancelling out its Flame Charge (guess friendly fire must be on). Chandelure uses Psychic holding Pansage and Tepig into place letting Eelektross finish the job by using Thunderbolt and knocking them out and ending the battle (come on, this battle was occurring in the last 5 minutes of the show and the Battle Subway is the Pokemon Tower/Battle Frontier of Unova, of course Ash and Cilan weren't winning ).

Outside the subway, Ash and Cilan thank Ingo and Emmet for the battle and Ingo says he heard they were heading to the Driftveil City Gym next and told them the good news that the Driftveil Drawbridge has been repaired and they can cross it whenever they like. Cilan suggests they leave tomorrow morning while Erina asks her Axe if it would like to ride the ferris wheel which Iris remembers is what they wanted to do so Ash & co. (+ Erina) ride on the Rondez-View Ferris Wheel looking out on Nimbasa City in the sunset and we end the episode here.