Now this is a Gym Battle which we have come to know and love from! After training at the Pokemon Battle Club and Tepig and Oshawott having become faster, powerful, and even learning a new move, Ash re-challenges Lenora for his 2nd badge. However Lenora reveals she isn't battling with the same Pokemon she had before but still uses her Roar + Mean Look combo. Can Ash adapt to both a new Pokemon to battle against and the old strategy that threw him off in his last battle with Lenora? What kind of training did Ash go through at the Pokemon Battle Club? Will Team Rocket... will Team Rocket... hey, where was Team Rocket in this episode? Neverminding the strange absence of Team Rocket, the rest of the answers to my questions can be read below:

Training Up For A Normal Battle:
We start where we last left off with Ash & co. entering the room filled with light that Don George had open up to see the light fade away to reveal a whole batch of training equipment and Don George telling them it's the Pokemon Battle Club's Training Room and to train to their heart's content. Ash thanks Don George who says they'll start with Tepig pointing to a treadmill and Ash chooses Tepig on it and Don George explains to beat Lenora they need to train on speed and power. Ash asks Tepig if it's ready to train hard but Don George pushes Ash toward the treadmill saying he has to train hard too as during battle Ash would have to remain calm, focused, and make quick decisions as we see flashbacks of the Lenora Gym Battle of Ash panicking. Ash agrees to train also and after the opener and title we see both Ash and Tepig taking it easy on the treadmill with Don George at the controls. Don George increases the speed but nothing that Ash and Tepig can't handle, though this excites Axew who tries to also get onto the treadmill but Iris stops it and tells it the treadmill isn't a toy. Don George says they're done with the warm up and it's onto the next step and two boxes with holes in them come out of the wall. Don George tells them the real training begins and tells them to dodge and counter what they are to think as Shadow Balls and two black balls come from the boxes which Tepig dodges but Ash gets slammed right in the face (obviously Ash had never played dodgeball). Pikachu, Iris, and Cilan run over to the knocked down Ash and Iris mocks him for not being able to dodge the ball (which she does have some right to being Ash wasn't paying attention to any balls heading for him) and calls him a kid. Ash gets up and said they were caught off guard and asks if they could try again which Don George tells them that that's the spirit and they're running on the treadmill once more. Don George reminds them Lenora's Lillipup's Shadow Ball won't be as easy to dodge and starts firing the black balls at them but this time both Ash and Tepig are evading them. Iris and Cilan cheer Ash on as Don George raises the speed and tells them to stay on their toes as now there is Shadow Balls from behind. Ash seemed to have decided enough was enough and tells Tepig to use Ember but the balls go right through the Ember and knock both of them off the treadmill as Ash says that they need more power. Don George tells them if they keep on training as they are they will get more speed and power but can only do so as a team and we go through a short montage of Ash and Tepig running on the treadmill dodging and attacking the balls. Ash and Tepig are exhausted as Iris says they look to have become fast but Cilan says they'll need more than that to defeat Lenora and Don George tells him to give Tepig a rest and train a bit with Oshawott.

They go to a rather large swimming pool area (which has waterfalls!) and Ash chooses Oshawott who sees the pool and starts jumping with excitement and dives into the water. Ash asks Oshawott what it thinks it's doing and their not here to play as Oshawott does a backstroke waving its Scalchop at them. Don George says they came here to train hard and walks off somewhere as Ash dives into the pool to tell Oshawott it's time to train. Don George typing on the controls saying he'll create a current in the pool for Ash and Oshawott to swim against to build up strength and stamina. Meanwhile in the cafeteria Iris and Cilan treat Tepig to some Pokemon food saying it deserves it when Iris says she doesn't see Axew anywhere. Back to Ash and Oshawott's training, Oshawott looks to be struggling against the current (you know it might be easier if you didn't swim via backstroke) as Ash tells it to keep going and Don George tells it to give it all it got or it won't keep up with Lenora's Pokemon. With Don George walking around the pool encouraging Oshawott, we see Axew hop up to the controls and starts pressing buttons which causes a tidal wave to hit and wash Ash and Oshawott down the current.

Don George is shocked and Pikachu points to the controls where they see Axew playing and Pikachu rushes over and says something to it as Iris and Cilan come and also spot Axew at the controls. As everyone rushes to get Axew away from the controls, Ash managed to get himself steady and grabs onto Oshawott telling it they have training to do and swim up to a waterfall which Oshawott swims up and does a flip upon reaching the top. Don George tells it to slide down the waterfall which it does and gets covered in water surprising everyone as Don George tells it to aim for the target which does... and misses. Iris asks if Oshawott just learned Aqua Jet and Cilan said it did but was a bit unsteady however Ash is happy it learned it and starts jumping around, though being he was wait he slips on the stairs and breaks his head on... no, of course they wouldn't do that, Ash just fell back into the pool. Everyone goes to check on Ash but he's alright and he congratulates Oshawott for learning Aqua Jet and everyone starts laughing (hey, it ain't the end of the episode, you can only have a group laugh when the episode ends). We go back to Tepig's training and Ash and Tepig are both running and dodging faster and Tepig's Ember has become more powerful. Ash and Tepig get pumped up and start to outrun the treadmill and suddenly Tepig gets covered in flames surprising everyone and we end with Ash yelling "alright!".

Beat You Once, Shame On You:
We're back in the Nacrene Gym with Lenora saying she's been waiting and... WOAH! What's with the zooming around? Anyway Lenora says they look confident and must have been training a lot and Ash says he's been training with Don George and he'll win the badge for sure. Lenora says she sees Ash's spirit hasn't been dampened so Ash could see "double" from her and Ash asks what does she mean and Lenora tells him he'll be facing off against Watchog and Herdier.

Iris: Lillipip evolved? So Lenora is using a different Pokemon this battle.
Comment: Well that's a sort of yes and no answer. As you just said Lillipup evolved so no, she's still using the same Pokemon and yes, it's just the evolved form of that Pokemon.
Cilan: Lenora must be trying to bring out Ash's strength and the best way was to evolve Lillipup to Herdier.
Comment: HOLD IT! So are you telling me Lenora evolved Lillipup JUST to test Ash? What, it couldn't have evolved because it finally gained enough experience (probably from defeating Tepig), it only evolved to test Ash?

Ash gets excited for versing a stronger Pokemon and Lenora says she's glad he's excited as Herdier would be his first opponent as she returns Watchog. Ash says he'll show them how hard they trained and chooses Tepig and it snorts out some flames as Hawes declares the start of the battle. Tepig uses Ember on "Who's That Pokemon?"... I mean on Herdier (who just so happened to be the "Who's That Pokemon?" Pokemon) but it uses Protect to disperse the Ember and follows with multiple Shadow Balls. Tepig dodges the Shadow Balls and jumps in the air to use another Ember to destroy the others and Lenora compliments Tepig saying the training made it faster and more powerful. Tepig does a Tackle but Lenora says they're just wasting their time and Herdier does Roar which switches Tepig out for Oshawott. Lenora switches Herdier for Watchog and it does Mean Look trapping Oshawott into battle just like last time.

Ash: Of course! First off you use Roar and then you use Mean Look, so you're using that strategy again.
Comment: Gee Ash, what gave it away? Was it the Roar or the Mean Look? And why are you explaining it to Lenora, I think she knows what she's doing, it's her combo afterall.

Lenora says that since Ash saw this coming she hopes he came up with a counter strategy (attacking Watchog until it faints sounds like a good one) and Ash says he has and tells Oshawott to use Razor Shell. Watchog tries to dodge it but Oshawoot still hits it and Lenora says she sees Oshawott has also become faster. Oshawott then uses Aqua Jet and... completely misses (you know Oshawott, maybe if you kept your EYES OPEN you might hit your target). It gets up and Ash asks if it's okay which it says it is and tries another Aqua Jet... and fails once more (at this point Lenora doesn't even need to have Watchog do anything, Oshawott will just knock itself out). Cilan says Oshawott's Aqua Jet is still a bit shaky and Lenora says that Ash sure is something as while Oshawott is faster and has learned Aqua Jet it still has some ways to go with it and says Ash doesn't have enough to defeat her. Ash says they'll see and Oshawott uses Water Gun but Watchog jumps up and uses Confuse Ray and Lenora says it doesn't matter how much they train as if Ash's Pokemon are confused it doesn't mean a thing and Watchog uses Thunderbolt. Ash tells Oshawott to deflect it with Razor Shell and while it was doing that the Thunderbolt somehow got around and hit Oshawott. Ash tells Oshawott to use Water Gun but it sprays the wall above Ash's head instead.

Cilan: In addition to being confused Oshawott was hit with an Electric-type move with a type advantage, so I'm afraid Oshawott taken a large amount of damage at this point.
Comment: "hit with an Electric-type move with a type advantage"? I'm sorry, I didn't know an Electric-type move could be any other type other then Electric. Seriously, that's a very off way to say it got hit with a Super Effective Electric-type move.

Iris asks Cilan if that means Ash is going to lose again after all his training but Ash says he's going to win and Oshawott does another Aqua Jet as Lenora says they'll finish this off and Watchog does a Thunderbolt. However Oshawott dodges the Thunderbolt and slams Watchog with Aqua Jet creating a cloud of dust and when it clears it shows that both Oshawott and Watchog have fainted. Hawes declares it a double knockout and Cilan says that Oshawott was able to hit with Aqua Jet after getting hit with Thunderbolt (if the Thunderbolt hit then why did it look like it was dispersed by Aqua Jet? Shouldn't it have been shocking Oshawott as it came slamming down?) and Iris says that now they both only have one Pokemon left meaning Ash just needs to defeat Herdier to win the badge.

This Is As Close To A Blase Off We'll Get In This Episode:
Ash returns Oshawott telling it to take a rest and Lenora says that Oshawott was able to defeat Watchog but says Ash's luck isn't going to last and chooses Herdier. Ash chooses Tepig and it does an Ember but Herdier uses Protect however Tepig follows with a Tackle which sends Herdier sliding back. Cilan says that Tepig's training has really paid off and Tepig uses Tackle once more but Herdier uses Shadow Ball which Tepig slams into knocking it back. Iris says it was too close to do anything about the Shadow Balls and Cilan says that it was Tepig's speed that let it in that close however it backfired. Ash asks Tepig if it was okay giving an agreeing response and Lenora says Ash and Tepig have a strong bond saying Tepig wants to live up to Ash's expectation but she has expectations to give it all she got and Herdier does a Giga Impact sending Tepig flying back. Iris asks how powerful that was and Cilan says that Lenora is an amazing Normal-type trainer with a wide variety of moves and styles and Iris asks what side Cilan is on reminding him about Ash and Tepig. Ash tells Tepig he believes in it and it gets up as Herdier does a Shadow Ball but Tepig jumps up to dodge it though when it lands it starts breathing heavily. Iris says Tepig is running out of steam and if Lenora lands one more attack that'll be it as Cilan says it'll be a sad end to a long race with no second badge. Lenora says that Tepig is almost finished and Herdier sends out more Shadow Balls and once again Tepig dodges them all and Ash says to show them some of its fire power. Herdier prepares a Giga Impact as we find out that Tepig had also learned a new move: Flame Charge! Both Herdier's Giga Impact and Tepig's Flame Charge collide causing another dust cloud with both Pokemon seemingly knocked out. Lenora and Ash tell their Pokemon to get up as they both do... but Herdier soon collapses and Hawes declares Tepig the winner and Ash the victor of the Gym Battle!

Ash runs out to Tepig telling it they did it as Iris and Cilan run up to congratulate both of them with Cilan saying "Train hard, win hard" with Lenora saying Connoisseur Boy is right. Lenora says Ash sure is something else and Hawes says who would expect Ash to use Flame Charge when he did (yeah, a smarter trainer would have used it earlier) and caught them by surprise. Lenora says that all kidding aside she admires Ash's battling style and awards him with the Basic Badge telling him good luck in future battles and keep believing in his Pokemon. Ash celebrates his winning of his 2nd badge and everyone does a group laugh (though proper this time as it's the end of the episode) and we meet Ash & co. in the Pokemon Center where Ash receives his Pokemon Egg from Nurse Joy and hear that it's going to hatch soon. With Ash having a 2nd badge in Badge Case and a soon-to-hatch Egg, Connoisseur Boy (yes, I'm calling him that again, don't worry the review is almost over ) uses his Town Map to find the next city with a Gym is Castelia City and Iris asks if he's going to battle it and Ash says he won't only battle it but win his 3rd Gym Badge there too, ending the episode.