I’m a little surprised that Roy had two battles in one episode. The first was a match between him and Nemona, which he loses, obviously. This battle showed his impatient aspects, with Roy immediately wanting a rematch with Nemona as he blamed his loss on the rain, only to get stopped by Brassius telling him to focus on art. Roy's second battle was the long awaited rematch between him and Brassius. This time, Roy was a bit more strategic and got his first victory.
I love the parallelism of this match. When Brassius first appeared all the way back in Episode 10, he was having an art block, and Roy was the one who helped him out of his funk. In this episode, it's now Roy who's struggling, and Brassius is the one to give him advice by comparing battles with art. Like art, battles can use many different strategies and styles for expression. Pokémon Trainers meanwhile express themselves with their Pokémon choices and battle style, so Pokémon training is itself an art form in a sense. Speaking of which, Roy's Fuecoco learned Stomping Tantrum during his first match with Brassius, but it’s ultimately his newly learned Flame Charge that scored his win in this episode. You know what this means? Fuecoco got rid of Ember! I think what makes Roy’s battle exciting is the fact that Fuecoco has the most variety in his move pool. It's been seen using the most moves of the main Pokémon by far! Liko's Floragato mainly uses Magical Leaf and Quick Attack and sometimes Scratch, while Dot's Quaxly only knows three moves.
Now that Roy has passed his Basics test, it’s Dot’s turn! Will she pass? Will she fail? I have this inkling of a feeling that she’s going to fail the first time and then pass the second time. Why? For drama. Anyways, what are your thoughts on this episode and what are your predictions for the upcoming Dot vs Iono match?