And we now have badge number 8. Bet you $100 there's going to be about 3-6 posts saying he finally gets the badge. Edit: You guys own me $100.

Awesome episode! Ash finally gets his 8th Sinnoh badge and qualifies for the Sinnoh League!

Two things I'm glad about:

1) Ash finally got his eighth badge after over a year.

2) Infernape finally got control of its Blaze

The battle was pretty awesome. The only problems I had with it was that Volkner didn't use his Raichu. What can I say? Seeing a Pikachu vs Raichu battle after all these years would've been worthwhile. Also, did anyone notice that Torterra seemed to be less successful than in the previous battle, you know when it was up against Volkner's strongest Pokemon and was still a Grotle? Sort of made that big evolution in that episode sort of anti-climatic, wouldn't you say?

I loved this one, even how they upgraded the Solar tower, that Team Rocket kept getting into.

Finally Ash get's the 8th badge

This is an awesome episode.

And it ends, at least Ash's struggle to enter the Sinnoh League. Defeating Volkner Ash got, well, SPDShadowRanger put it simply:

Ha! Now I don't own you any $100 as I used your own words! Anyway back to the summery, the battle was pretty good, though I'm still jarred at why it was a 3-on-3 battle, especially since Raichu who we know Volkner has wasn't used! And I like how so soon the writers remember "Oh yay, Pikachu has Static" and paralyzes Electivire with it but against Luxray, even though it made contact with Pikachu via Thunder Fang, Pikachu's Static for some decided not to activate. Well besides that it was also nice to see that we no longer have to worry about Infernape going berserk whenever it uses Blaze, something which will probably become very handy in the Sinnoh League. But while we wait, here's the episode comments:

Elemental Punch Beat Down:
00:08 - What's with the line in front of the Gym? Is Ash and Volkner going to battle in front of a crowd. Actually that would make sense, a lot of gyms have stands for no reason it seems.
00:17 - PIPLUP YOU'RE MALE... oh Flint is here! Wait, the stands are empty? So what was with that line... maybe other trainers?
00:58 - Ah, so those are other trainers, thanks Flint for filling us in. Still though with those stands you might as well let those trainers in and watch the other battles, I mean I doubt Volkner only has 3 Pokemon... wait 3? Doesn't Volkner have 4 Pokemon?
02:17 - Oh come on Team Rocket, again with the Sunyshore Tower? Also, don't you think after you tried stealing it while causing major harm to the city that Volkner wouldn't have maybe increased security?
02:34 - Electivire huh? Well I would have said Volkner would be using his Platinum Team normally if it wasn't for the fact they revealed that this was a 3-on-3 battle. My guess Volkner's other Pokemon is Raichu and Luxray.
03:01 - Of course, Electivire knows Fire Punch. Which always kind of confused me, wouldn't it make more sense for Electivire to know Ice Punch (it can learn as an Egg Move) to handle with Ground-types, its only Weakness?
03:22 - What strategy against type adventage? Electivire, like many pure Electric-types, are only weak to Ground-types. While Grass-types Resist Electric-type moves, Electric-types aren't weak to them. Thus Ice Punch would have made more sense then Fire Punch.
03:35 - What made Ash think that'll work agai... oh he was using it as a distraction.
04:02 - Oh, it does know Ice Punch... which is big trouble for Torterra who is quadruple weak to Ice-type moves...
05:11 - Back to Team Rocket, they're having problem with a new security system Volkner put up LIKE I SAID. Even Meowth points it out! Though how much do you want to bet that even though it was made to prevent people such as Team Rocket from getting in, it doesn't alert Officer Jenny of the intrusion.

Type Effectiveness, What's That?:
05:25 - Thunderbolt... on an Electric-type... even without counting Electivire's Motor Drive Ability that was still a stupid move to make.
05:40 - WHY DO YOU KEEP ON TELLING PIKACHU TO DO THUNDERBOLT! You saw it didn't work, you should already know even if it did it'll cause little damage, meanwhile Pikachu has moves like Iron Tail!
06:02 - Okay, Brock, if you already knew about Electivire's Ability (Flint never said what it was, Brock had to know about it already), why didn't he tell Ash about it before the match? Did he hope it came from he Dream World and has Vital Spirit as its Ability?
06:50 - Pikachu causing some electricity to spark, looks like the writers just remember that Pikachu too has an Ability, Static. There goes Electivire's speed boost.
07:50 - Just one Iron Tail brought Electivire down? I guess Energy Ball must have done more damage then Electivire made it look like it did.
08:32 - *Insert "You-stole-tower-so-Volkner-obviously-upgraded-security-system rant here*
08:45 - Jolteon? Okay, so he's either not using Raichu or Luxray, and my guess it's probably Raichu. I'm both saddened because it would be nice to see another Pikachu vs. Raichu battle but sort of glad because it would have just been another Pikachu vs. Raichu battle.
08:57 - Honestly I would have thought Ash would have used Torterra, Gible, and Infernape for this battle, but being Gible is new I guess I can understand why Ash didn't want to battle with it just yet.
09:35 - This is a second time someone commanded an Eeveelution to do a "Shadow Ball rapid-fire", first being Ursula with her Flareon. Actually wait, did May's Glaceon ever do a Shadow Ball rapid-fire?
09:43 - Um, Infernape, that isn't shooting them right back, that's just destroying them. Can Jolteon do any other move besides Jolteon? Well one Mach Punch doesn't make it matter anymore.

Before You Ask, I'm Saving The Over 9,000 Joke:
00:57 - Well Shock Wave does ignore Accuracy and Evasion stats and always hits, but I don't think it ignores type, unless Flint meant "it's so powerful it overrides resistance".
02:17 - Of course Volkner removed the rocket ship parts to the Sunyshore Tower, I don't even know why he installed those parts into Sunyshore Tower in the first place (if you remember, in DP166 "The Fleeing Tower of Sunyshore!" the dialouge made it sound like Volkner put in the rocket ship parts).
02:30 - Why of all places have the doors lock any intruder in be in the Generator Room? Unless the security system alerted Officer Jenny of the intruders, you're only asking for another power outage or overload.
02:59 - Flint, don't lie, we know the only reason you're saying Ash will win because Ash is using a Fire-type.
03:09 - Well there goes Shock Wave is "always suppose to hit", then again they never said that, that's just how the move works in the games.
04:08 - Infernape digs a really small hole. OH! Well, I guess that's one way to get a Digging Pokemon out of the ground.
04:46 - And not only do you lock them in a generator room, you also have a control panel with lots of blinking buttons to press. Volkner, you might be an engineer but maybe you should leave building layouts to a general contractor.
05:15 - And there goes Team Rocket, and as predicted the gym just lost power stopping Luxray from finishing off Infern... OH MY ARCEUS! DEMON EYES!
05:33 - Yes, let's continue on battling despite the last time this happened Volkner cancelled the battle immidietly since he knew something was wrong Sunyshore Tower.
05:56 - Thank you Flint, but we already know about Blaze, infact a lot of Infernape's background involves it having a powerful Blaze Ability, as Brock and Dawn tells Flint with flashbacks.
06:48 - What will you do? My guess is that Ash will just do another cooldown hug like he did with Chimchar and Monferno.
07:46 - Oh, looks like Infernape is still somewhat conscious, guess it just needed to burn the gym in half and get a pep talk from Ash.
08:30 - Iron Tail... on a Fire-type... also being Infernape is currently powered-up wouldn't it be wiser to do a Double Team and Shock Wave combo so it doesn't know who to hit or you have to get close to it?
08:58 - Shouldn't the robot judge have shut down? Oh the lights are back on, I guess the damage at the Sunyshore Tower was either fixed or just causes a small power surge, you know, from EXPLODING!
09:27 - Yes Ash, we know what number it is, kind of why this whole battle was such a big deal. And we're finally told the Sinnoh Leage is taking place at the "Lily of the Valley" Island... I'm guessing it's an island with valleys filled with lilies?

It should be obvious

oh well great Infernape get's control of blaze

and I owe you nothing spd..