Synopsis
The time has come. Ash faces off against Byron in a 3-on-3 gym battle. Hopefully he'll fair better with Byron than he did with his Gym Leader son: Roark back in the Oreburgh City Gym. For now, Ash has a score to settle with a whole team of Steel-type Pokémon including Byron's main Pokémon: Bastiodon. Will Ash be able to burn away at Byron's Steel-type defenses, or will Ash get his type strategy rusty during the battle?
Plot
Ash has now his battle with Byron. Byron makes it clear that he loves defense. Though ash tells that he will get the Badge, Byron warns him that it won't be easy as he thinks. Byron sends Bronzor and Ash Chimchar. Roark recognizes Chimchar as Paul's, as Ash caught it not so long ago. Chimchar starts with Flamethrower, hitting Bronzor, but Bronzor takes damage. Brock suspects due to Heatproof, Bronzor sustains less damage from Fire-type attacks. Chimchar uses Flamethrower once more and hits Bronzor, so it uses Rain Dance, stopping the Flamethrower.
Chimchar digs to protect itself and the Rain Dance stops. Chimchar comes out and uses Flamethrower. Using Gyro Ball, Bronzor stops Flamethrower and hits Chimchar. Bronzor uses Gyro Ball and Chimchar Flame Wheel and they collide. After the explosion, the Pokémon are lying, but Chimchar stands up, making Bronzor defeated. Ash calls Chimchar back and Byron his Bronzor. Roark warns Ash it has only begun.
Team Rocket snuck into the building and go to get food. When they do, the begin to eat and spot some angry Kabuto and two Omanyte. Meowth translates this food belongs to Byron. Jessie tells them to back down, but they get blasted off by Water Gun and Aqua Jet. Byron sends Steelix and Ash his Buizel. Ash knows that any attack will bounce back due to this defense tactics Byron uses. Buizel uses Water Gun and Steelix uses Screech, negating Water Gun and affecting Buizel. Dawn remembers it is the same tactic Roark used to negate Pikachu's attack. Next, Steelix binds Buizel , then tosses it and uses Iron Tail to defeat it.
Ash sends Chimchar back, who pushes Steelix using Flamethrower. Steelix uses Iron Tail, but Chimchar evades and digs. Now, Steelix uses Iron Tail on the ground, getting Chimchar out oft he ground. Steelix goes to bind Chimchar, but Chimchar dodges and digs. Steelix pushes Chimchar out of the ground by Iron Tail and goes to bind it. Chimchar dodges, so Steelix goes to attack it, but the holes caused by dig make it fail to attack. With a Flame Wheel, Steelix is defeated. Team Rocket got into the building again, but gets chased by a Kabutops.
Byron sends his last Pokémon, Bastiodon. Ash remembers well that it can defend itself via powerful attacks with Iron Defense, so he thinks this need to be dealt with as quickly as possible. Chimchar uses Flamethrower, only to be deflected via Iron Defense. Bastiodon uses Metal Burst, piercing through Flamethrower and hitting Chimchar. Chimchar is too exhausted and is defeated. Team Rocket see the fossil collection, but get blasted by Cradily's Energy Ball and Armaldo's Hyper Beam.
Ash sends his Gliscor. Gliscor goes behind Bastiodon and uses Steel Wing, but Bastiodon uses Iron Defense for protection and bounces Gliscor away. Gliscor comes from behind and uses Fire Fang, but gets hit by Flash Cannon. Bastiodon uses Iron Head, but Gliscor manages to get away. However, Bastiodon manages to hit it anyway. Gliscor gets hit again by Iron Head and Bastiodon uses Flash Cannon, though Gliscor evades this one. Gliscor goes behind Bastiodon and hangs on it, then uses Fire Fang. Though Bastiodon shakes itself, it does not get Gliscor away and gets hit by another Fire Fang. However, Bastiodon stomps and gets Gliscor away from its back.
Bastiodon uses Flash Cannon, but Gliscor uses its tail to knock Bastiodon out and it misses. Gliscor uses X-Scissor, but Bastiodon uses Iron Head and negates the move and hits Gliscor. Bastiodon charges for final attack, so Gliscor goes behind a rock. Bastiodon smashes the rock with Iron Head, but Gliscor is not seen. Gliscor swoops down and evades Flash Cannon, then uses Sand Attack. With a Fire Fang, Bastiodon is defeated and Ash wins. Gliscor is so happy it swoops down on Ash. At the end of the day, Byron gives Ash his Mine Badge, the sixth badge he collected.
Debuts
Items
Trivia
- Ash's win against Byron is similar to his win over Jasmine in many ways.
- Jasmine's badge (Mineral Badge) was the sixth badge Ash obtained in Johto while Byron's badge (Mine Badge) was the sixth badge Ash obtained in Sinnoh.
- Both Byron and Jasmine were defeated in the 108th episode of their region.
- Both Gym Leaders specialize in Steel-type Pokémon and also use a Steelix.
- Byron's Steelix was defeated by Ash's Chimchar (the Sinnoh Fire-type starter) while Jasmine's Steelix was defeated by Ash's Cyndaquil (the Johto Fire-type starter)
Errors
- In multiple scenes, the stripes on Byron's pants are colored gray instead of yellow.
- Bastiodon's Iron Defense protected it against Chimchar's Flamethrower. However, this could not work as Iron Defense only raises Defense, not Special Defense.
Gallery
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