Pokemon: Path to the Peak Episode 2 recap

Pokemon: Path to the Peak is a new animated web series that was unveiled during the franchise's World Championships earlier this month. It focuses on Ava, a young girl who has moved to a new town and begins to make friends and take on the Pokemon Trading Card Game as a hobby. This leads to her rise to become the best TCG trainer of them all.

Episode 2 of the series, known as "Regionals," debuted on The Pokemon Company International's YouTube channel on August 16, 2023, and sees Ava taking the next step on her TCG quest. Having defeated the many members of her new club in the previous episode, our young protagonist enters the regionals to further hone her skills.

For Pokemon: Path to the Peak watchers who may have missed Episode 2, it isn't a bad time to review its events.

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What occurred in Episode 2 of Pokemon: Path to the Peak?

Ava takes her skills to the next level in Pokemon: Path to the Peak's second episode (Image via The Pokemon Company)

At the start of this Pokemon: Path to the Peak entry, Ava is hard at work building a deck to beat Celestine at regionals. She falls asleep and has a nightmare of her beloved Oddish being attacked by a Mismagius with Celestine's face. The next day, Ava wakes up to find the rest of the Pokemon Club waiting outside her house and rooting for her attendance in regionals later in the day.

Ava's mother attempts to say something to her daughter before she departs, but holds her tongue, and Ava and Joshua are given a ride to the regionals by Ava's dad. During the championship, Celestine attempts to get under Ava's skin, and she even defeats Ava's dad in a match to do so.

Fortunately, Ava is undeterred, and our Pokemon: Path to the Peak protagonist begins her first battle against Tonio and his Bidoof-centric deck. She takes Tonio down with an evolved Tsareena for the win and moves on to defeat several more competitors, shaking their hands in a friendly manner as Celestine continues to scoff at her from afar.

The regional championship is then set, seeing Ava take on Celestine for the title. The latter continues to taunt our protagonist, and she has a flashback to her nightmare as Celestine takes the first win. Joshua gives Ava some encouragement, and she begins to visualize the battle against Celestine's Ghost-type deck much like she had imagined her previous battles in Pokemon: Path to the Peak.

Ava storms back to take the next match, leading to a deadlock to decide the entire regional tournament. The battle unfolds between the likes of Duskull, Misdreavus, and Trevenant and Ava's Tropius, Oddish, Gloom, and Spoink. The match plays out in Ava's imagination as the two trainers continue to scoop up prize cards.

The battle continues in Pokemon: Path to the Peak until both players have a single prize card left. Celestine's Mismagius is ready to defeat Ava's Gloom to win the game, but Ava utilizes the card effect of Spoink to draw a Vileplume from her deck to evolve Gloom. She does so and attacks Mismagius, but must win a coin flip to win the championship.

Fortunately for our Pokemon: Path to the Peak hero, the flip lands in her favor, and she becomes the regional champion over Celestine. The latter shakes hands with Ava and thanks her for an intense match. To commemorate Ava's biggest win to date, she takes a photo including herself, Celestine, Joshua, and Tonio.