The Winner by a Nosepass
And so, we reach Ash's first gym battle of the new Houen series. And of course, this is the episode in which we see Haruka admit she had no intention of competing for badges, but instead wishes to take part in pokémon contests. She also admits that she didn't like pokémon initially, but now realisies that they're not bad at all. Meh, makes me think she had a bad experience with a pokemon in the past...
I think putting Treecko in there was pretty pointless really. It lands a single hit, then shortly after is KO'd. Very dissapointing I must say, I always wanted the thing to at least defeat Geodude. That way we'd have got to see less of Pikachu. But, I suppose it put on with a good show using Thunder and such. But the fact it can still inflict damage on a ground type still irks me. They could have at least had Pika send a bolt flying into its mouth or something. That would have explained how it beat Geodude better IMO...oh well.
Nosepass just scares me. The way it uses its nose to lauch electricity, the way it can home in on a pokémon during a match. Everything about it is surreal. But, it did put up a good battle despite is oddness. Zap Cannon looked impressive, especially the way it launched TR out of that tunnel And Pikachu absorbing the shock and sending it back at Nosepass (right in the eyes >_<; ) was excellent. Iron Tail...that move is going to crop up a lot more, but doesn't put an end to the electricity ^_^0
8/10 for me...

Note: erm...right, they keep Typhlosion's japanese voice in the previous episode. Yet, they can't seem to keep Nosepass'? It actually says 'Nosepass' in the original for petes sake @_@