Our heroes stop for a lunch that Cilan is preparing—a gourmet meal, as usual. But Ash and Iris’s roughhousing ruins the lunch, so Cilan asks them to go and play elsewhere while he prepares lunch all over again.

Nearby, Ash’s rival Trip is catching a Palpitoad when Ash stumbles in and spoils Trip’s efforts. When Trip realizes Iris is from the Village of Dragons and that she’s working toward becoming a Dragon Master, Trip challenges her to a battle. But Ash wants to battle Trip instead—this would be their third bout! Trip is reluctant at first, but Iris pesters him into agreeing to a three-on-three battle with Ash.

Trip brings out his Servine and Ash starts with his Snivy, much to Trip and Iris’s surprise. Their reaction is vindicated when Snivy is soon defeated. Between rounds, Trip tells Ash about the Unova Champion, Alder, who Trip met as a little boy. Alder promised he would stay as Champion so that when Trip grew up, he could challenge Alder.

Anxious to do just that, Trip brings out his Timburr and Ash brings out Oshawott, who has been struggling in battle. We discover the reason Oshawott has been unsuccessful using Aqua Jet: Oshawott keeps its eyes completely closed during the move! But a final Razor Shell from Oshawott evens everything up to one win apiece.

Finally, Trip calls up Vanillite—an Ice-type Pokémon that scares and freezes Iris a bit—to take on Ash’s Tepig. After some truly fierce battling, the match ends up a draw!

Deciding that mimicking Ash’s off-the-wall battling style isn’t for him, Trip leaves to rethink his plans. Ash and Iris remember they left Cilan making lunch! They rush back and find a distraught Pokémon Connoisseur sadly musing on being stood up for lunch...