u/Old-Initial9295

I've seen people argue that the scene in DP where Ash imagines himself as Flint was foreshadowing for Infernape vs Cynthia's Garchomp in Journeys. But let's actually look at what that scene was and what it wasn't.

A breakdown of this scene:

· This isn't Ash's Infernape in this scene. His and Flint's Infernape fight way too differently. Plus, it's only Ash who morphed into this image. If the animators wanted to, they could have also added Blaze Infernape too which they didn't.

· Ash is visualizing only himself within Flint. They're linked from being similar Infernape trainers not because his Infernape was destined to fight Cynthia.

· This scene doesn't foreshadow their Masters 8 battle. Neither did Cynthia's dialogue in DP188.

· The scene is about Ash seeing himself in Flint and understanding what it takes to reach that level. It's about Ash's growth as a trainer, not a prophecy for Infernape.

· If it was meant to be foreshadowing, why wasn't there a single callback to it in Journeys? It was just one visual shot that fans ran with.

Now, some might try to bring up a connection between Infernape and Cynthia which doesn't really exist if you think about it:

· Cynthia was just a narrator for Ash and Paul's rivalry. Her specific fondness for Infernape is mainly derived from her noticing how important it was to the rivalry. The bond between Ash's Infernape and Cynthia is not what people think it is.

The conclusion:

The scene was never about Infernape vs Cynthia. It was about Ash's mindset and his drive to improve. Using it as "proof" that Infernape was destined to fight Garchomp is just wishful thinking. If the writers wanted that battle, they would have set it up properly from BW to SM, or hyped up this battle throughout Jn. They didn't, Because it wasn't the plan.

What do you think? Was it foreshadowing, or are people reading too much into it?

The Goat of XYZ , This is what should have happened to Spinel

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What I really find beautiful about this encounter is that it doesn't end with anything flashy or extravagant. Both of them are too tired for that. Lucario had just used a GMAX Aura Sphere to deal with Dynamax Togekiss, while Garchomp had eaten a Meteor Assault to the face and was likely too worn out for a Draco Meteor. Their last and best method of attack is just close quarters combat and a battle of endurance on equal grounds. It's not like Infernape vs Electivire, Greninja vs Sceptile/Charizard, or Ash's Pikachu vs Leon's Charizard. Unlike those fights, they can't end it with their signature or strongest move. That's what makes this different from the rest.

On u/Chance-Beach4014's Request , I present this edit a battle between two goats in Ash's roster.

Also, side note: this is a MEME BATTLE. Don't take it too seriously, alright? Well then, enjoy the meme.

I didn't intend to make this post but an Infernape fan caused this, so here it is. As seen in the clip, Infernape was in no condition to fight Moltres after taking an Air Slash. And Gary didn't even intervene then. You know when Gary actually decided to step in? When Ash and Infernape were completely defenceless.

But leave it to Infernape fans to create headcanons like

'Infernape would have blocked the hit'

or

'Ash was distracted'

I love Infernape but some of his fans are genuinely insufferable.

Imagine after this moment, Totodile locks the fuck in and becomes a menace. He'd be Ash-Greninja before Ash-Greninja was a thing

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All of Ash's regional aces decided to aura-farm when they fully evolved. Poor Sceptile literally evolved because his heart was broken. This is worse then getting fodderised by an elite 4 level regirock

credits for this meme

Ash: "My Sceptile beat a Darkrai and caught up to Speed Form Deoxys."

Leon: "Yet he couldn't even rizz up a Meganium."

Ash: "..."

Sceptile: Turns towards Ash "Ash, please tell him not to bring that up."

Leon: "DRAGAPULT, ROAST THIS RIZZLESS BUM!!"

This one was specially requested by IvysaurFan2007, aka u/DisastrousFix5120. My bad if the editing's not as clean as the others.

Also, side note: this one's a meme. The previous two posts about Infernape and Charizard getting fodderised by Leon's Pokémon were true, but Greninja's a different case. He won't get fodderised, but he will lose to Mr. Rime after putting up a damn good fight. So take this one as a meme and try not to start a war in the replies. And finally, the next post will be the last post in this format, and it will be about the grassy lizard himself.

Ash: "We've got this! As long as Infernape toughs it out long enough, we'll turn things around with Bla—"

Leon: "RILABOOM, ONE-SHOT THIS MONKEY!"

Jokes aside, what CAN Infernape even do, lol? Rillaboom has both High Horsepower and Acrobatics. Infernape will get fodderised, and it will be worse than the time he faced Moltres.

Although Charizard is my favourite Ash ace, blud isn't built for this.

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A lot of people force plot points on Ash for the sake of stakes, like 'it's the most important match so he needs to use his best reserves.' But we need to look at this from the character's perspective.

The problem I have with that argument is simple. Why would the Journeys team, who are the ones that actually earned the right to fight Leon, be benched for Pokémon that never competed in the PWC at all?

In canon, the Journeys team earned the right to face Leon by fighting their way up from Normal Class all the way to the Masters Tournament Finals. They conquered the Unova Champion, the Hoenn Champion, and the Sinnoh Champion, the last of whom is the strongest trainer after Leon himself. They proved at every single step that they were ready for what came next.

So the question is, has any reserve, other than Pikachu, really earned the right to stand in front of Leon in the Masters Tournament Finals? Benching the JN team for them would be completely against Ash's character.

And the flashback itself works narratively because of this exact reason. Ash loves all his Pokémon equally, so the reserves aren't lesser, they're more like old companions, there in spirit rather than physically. What made it hit so hard is that it transitions from old friends to new ones, showing Pikachu's growth and his family throughout different Journeys he and Ash took. And if the flashback had ended on the aces specifically, it would imply that both Ash and Pikachu value the aces more than his other Pokémon, which is completely against who Ash and Pikachu are as characters. Every single one of his Pokémon matters equally to him, and the way this scene is structured respects that perfectly.

My boy Falinks deserved better

We've spent a lot of time glazing Sirfetch'd for his Masters 8 performance and rightfully so. But I think it's time we talk about Dracovish with the same energy, if not more.

Even before the Masters 8, Mr. Fish was the first Pokémon on Ash's Journeys team (not counting Pikachu) to reach champion level by defeating Iris's Dragonite and Drasna's Noivern.

Let's look at what Mr. Fish actually did in the Masters 8:

1. Against Steven – Forced Steven to switch out his Metagross by landing Fishious Rend first against an Agility-boosted Metagross. That move already did massive damage thanks to Strong Jaw, STAB, and the move doubling in power. Steven himself complimented Ash for predicting his strategy. Dracovish also clashed with Aggron, contributing enough for Gengar to secure the win

2. Against Cynthia – Nukes her Roserade while poisoned and significantly weakened her Milotic, allowing Chad duck to finish her off with ease.

3. Against Leon — Significantly weakened Leon's Dragapult and, while weakened himself, finished off Leon's Rillaboom with Dragon Rush. Mind you, before this Rillaboom blocked Dragonite's Hurricane and only ate Chad Duck's Meteor Assault. Mr. Fish comes in, uses Ice Fang to destroy the drum beating, and then proceeds to one shot it with Dragon Rush.

Mr. Fish was an absolute beast in the Masters 8. He's easily Ash's strongest Water type and his 4th strongest Pokemon, without a shadow of a doubt.

1. Ash's Pikachu – Blud got 2 KOs in every M8 match he participated in. Son of Arceus for a reason.

2. Leon's Charizard – Defeated Lance's Gyarados, Raihan's Duraludon, one-shot Alain's Charizard, and one-shot Diantha's Gardevoir.

3. Steven's Mega Metagross – Can predict opponents' moves, has Agility to boost its speed, and hits hard with Meteor Mash and Psychic.

4. Diantha's Gardevoir – Swept two of Lance's Pokémon and had a stellar performance against Leon's Charizard. Need I say more?

5. Cynthia's Garchomp – A menace since DP. In the Masters 8, one-tapped Iris's Haxorus and, even without her Mega against Ash, still put up a fight and almost won.

6. Alain's Charizard – One-shot Leon's Rillaboom in the Masters 8. Granted, it was a super-effective Flare Blitz, and Rillaboom was chipped from Hammer Arm and a boosted Gyro Ball but don't forget this same Rillaboom swept Diantha.

7. Lance's Gyarados – Performed decently against Leon, but in the Masters 8, it became a Gourgeist victim.

8. Iris's Haxorus Oh boy. His strongest move, Outrage, got countered by Cynthia's Garchomp, who didn't even use a move. In both champions' battles he participated in, he got one-tapped by Draco Meteor first from Ash's injured Dragonite, then in the Masters 8 by Cynthia's Garchomp.

Thoughts?

Round-1 = Naganadel vs Latios

Round-2 = Naganadel vs Darkrai

Round-3 = Naganadel vs Darkrai and latios

In Round 1 and Round 2, Naganadel won't heal between matches they will be back-to-back. In Round 3, however, all three Pokémon will start at 100% health.

The image is My honest reaction when people complain/hate on Ash's strategies because they are not game accurate

I know the most divisive pick here is Rowlet over Sceptile for the grass slot, but I have my reasons.

Sceptile's two biggest feats both come with massive asterisks. The Deoxys speed feat is completely invalidated by the fact that the Deoxys in question was stated to be heavily injured and nerfed Sceptile didn't match its actual speed, he merely caught up to a half-functioning Pokémon suffering from pain. And the Darkrai feat, as much as people hype Tobias, his Darkrai has no real low E4 level scaling. It only swept nameless league-level trainers offscreen, and it's not a surprise to anyone that Tobias will lose to the likes of Flint, Brandon, the Sinnoh Elite 4, and Cynthia.

Key thing to note Darkrai got chipped and weakened by Heracross AND Gible before Sceptile even touched it. Tobias literally praised Gible. Now many people debate whether Dream Eater healed Darkrai or not, but instead of going into that rabbit hole I prepared two cases.

Case 1 — Dream Eater deals damage but doesn't heal.

Darkrai is a bum because Gible of all Pokémon was able to damage it. The least experienced Sinnoh team member was landing hits on a supposed "God level" Pokémon. That alone proves Darkrai isn't untouchable and has trash durability.

Case 2 — Dream Eater does heal.

If Dream Eater restores health then Darkrai recovers HP from Heracross and Gible before facing Sceptile, meaning it was close to full health when Sceptile landed the final Leaf Blade. Yet one hit from Sceptile a decently strong Pokémon but nowhere near champion/elite 4 level was enough to KO it. So either way Darkrai's durability simply isn't impressive.

Rowlet on the other hand beat Kukui's Braviary his second strongest Pokémon on a Champion level team. On top of that Rowlet has Bloom Doom, a literal nuke of a Z Move. A Darkrai that got chipped by Gible has absolutely zero chance of surviving that.This is why I put God Rowlet over Sceptile.

There are two moments in Journeys where Ash's Lucario actively refused to Mega Evolve.

First time vs Bea's Machamp:

Lucario was completely shut down by Bea's Machamp. Ash tried to use Mega Evolution, but Lucario refused and instead broke out of Machamp's grip on its own.

Second time sparring match with Greninja:

Lucario started radiating aura, Ash tapped the Key Stone, and Lucario refused again. Instead of following a plan, it went straight to attacking Greninja without a move or strategy.

Now, during Ash vs Bea, Leon said that Ash and Lucario's bond is so deep that Lucario can actively choose to refuse Mega Evolution. That sounds nice on paper, but I lean more toward what Korrina said "that it's likely Lucario's intense feelings that dimmed the light from the Key Stone."

Why? Look at the Greninja spar. Lucario was clearly jealous of Greninja. He wasn't fighting properly he was jealous, impatient, and desperate to prove himself. That led him to disobey Ash and refuse Mega Evolution because he was in a hurry to attack.

So was it about "deep bond," or was it about Lucario's emotions getting in the way? I think it's the latter.

What do you guys think?

I have seen a lot of people throw out this take: 'Cynthia threw the match against Ash by not using Mega Garchomp against him.' Even though Sirfetch'd decimated her stamina, and after Lucario defeated Dynamax Togekiss, both Mega Lucario and Garchomp were on equal ground.

(The clip is mine btw)

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Also sorry for the bad video quality 😭🙏