Hello, hello! Gruß, saluto and finally 敬礼.
First, the warmest of greetings to all crazy Pokefans across the world. My sincere apologies to everyone, for such a lengthy delay in between this and my last article. Trust me if I had it my way, I would be conducting research on Pokemon all day, all night 365 days and 24/7 non-stop! Not that it’s possible in reality but hey, a guy can dream can’t he?
To those who’ve read thus far, no I am not devoting this article today to discuss Google’s recently released, super-duper ultra-cool virtual reality app “Pokemon Go”. And no, I am not writing this to drown my sorrows and help lift the deflated moods of those got excited (like me) thinking Ash was going to capture a Litleo the other weekend (waaah!). Looks like we are stuck with Talonflame everybody.
No, ladies and gentlemen. Today we focus our attentions to the wildly anticipated Kalos League, which is within grasping distance now of our prodigal Pokemon Master Monsieur Ash Ketchum or Satoshi, as he is lovably known in amongst some circles. I did of course briefly explore the topic in my previous article and we did discuss his chances from a rather subjective rather than objective viewpoint. Meaning he’d only acquired six badges up until then and there was still a bit to go before the new XY and Z episode began airing. I concluded I must say with rather gloomy statistics rounding off by predicting an all too familiar climax (which will most likely be the case), in the sixth instalment of an official Pokemon League. But more importantly an event, which is set to mark the 20th anniversary (20th season) of this worldwide phenomenon.
Exciting times. Exciting times for any Pokemon fan, old or young. I know we Pokefans wait with apprehension rather than with eager anticipation these days for this sort of thing, once of course the first couple of tournaments had rubbed off on us. And then of course came the scintillating Sinnoh League and we were crying tears of joy, and then of course the abominable black pit that was the Unova League, which brought us crashing back down to earth.
I know, I know, it’s frustrating. You wait almost 2 and a half seasons, and about 2 years for the franchise to air an official Pokemon league and for the umpteenth time hope that this year it will be different. Hope that this year you’ll see our hero win, rather than some cross-country jock with a bunch of Eevee evolutions. But again, I can’t help it. I can’t help but feel excited, elated in these occasions. I can’t help but start crunching numbers, mentally form Pokemon teams, plot strategies, because I love it and I can’t get enough of it. With that undying hunger as my guide, allow me to give you an oversight on how the Kalos League might be set to pan out. We begin our analysis with our hero’s Pokemon League conquests thus far spread across all five regions. We also take a deeper look at the gym battles in each of them, in order to determine, whether they had any bearings at all on Ash’s eventual performances in the big leagues, however subtle an influence they might have been.
Bearing in mind that this is a potentially lengthy project, and that Ash is yet to compete in the eighth and final gym at the Kalos region, I’ve chosen to divide my article into six parts. Each part will be dedicated to a specific region in chronological order of course. I will round of my 6 part special article with an in depth preview of the Kalos League. I will discuss the more intriguing changes endeared into this edition of the Pokemon League, explore external factors in play here such as mega evolution, analyse how much it has deviated from conventional tournaments we are used to seeing and of course a round-up of Ash’s Pokemon team for the tournament.
But today part one, is all about the Kanto region.
So let’s get rolling. Pokeball Go!
The Kanto Region
Memories of that unforgettable pledge that Ash took as a novice trainer beginning his journey, come flooding back every time anyone mentions the Kanto region. Words flowing with steel, grit and determination. Words which I took by heart from then on (hey, I was 5 years old when the first english dub rolled around),
“I declare to the Pokemon of the world, I will be the greatest Pokemon trainer, the greatest Pokemon master of all time”.
Sixteen years have passed on since then and although these iconic words are still emblazoned in flames till today, sadly little progress has been made towards actually fulfilling that promise, with the developers even cruel enough to plant a ruse on us in form of the Sinnoh League, in order to inoculate false hope in our hearts. But hey, sixteen years on and round six awaits.
The Gym battles
To be honest there is little, if any evidence at all one can utilise to foreshadow how Ash was going to perform in the Indigo league come summer that year (in the Pokemon world). The first gym match with yours truly Brock of Pewter City, was open and certainly enthralling at that time. But nonetheless it was a cautious start for our hero, who’s Pidgeotto faltered without causing any real concern to Brock’s Geodude. But Ahs came roaring back with his Pikachu who unleashed a newly learned thundershock attack on Geodude with devastating effect, despite the type disadvantage. But once again (he battled Brock and lost prior to the rematch I am describing now) he was on the verge of succumbing to Brock’s incredibly well bred Onix and binding bind attack, before a stroke of pure luck hit him. An accidental thundershock attack, an unlikely fire, combined with a last gasp almighty thundershock attack, ended a gross mismatch between Ash’s electric type Pikachu and Brock’s rock and ground type Onix. And thus our hero earned his first badge and enjoyed his first landmark moment.
It was lady luck that smiled upon Ash in his showdown at the Pewter City gym, and she was in an ebullient mood again as Ash took on a surprise opponent in Misty at the Cerulean Gym. The match ended in dubious circumstances if you remember with Ash’s Pikachu refusing to battle Misty and team rocket bursting in as Ash’s Butterfree was just starting to make a little headway in to the battle. In the end once they’d taken care of Team Rocket the Cerulean sisters ‘handed’ Ash the Cascade badge , much to the fury and indignation of Misty. But Daisy the eldest of the sisters argued that had Ash’s Pikachu battled, it probably would’ve won given its overwhelming type advantage.. Interestingly though, it was not the first time something like that had happened in the Kanto region. He attained the Marsh badge in a similarly ambiguous fashion. After being forced to forfeit against Sabrina’s indomitable psychic duo of Abra and Kadabra at the Saffron City Gym, Ash elected to capture a ghost type Pokemon to counter her psychic types. In the end he managed to sort of “loan” (for a lack of a better word) a Haunter which eventually remained with Sabrina, but not before it had helped Ash gain the Marsh badge in a frankly confusing final gym battle which had gaping plot holes in it. But in the end Ash won by, as Misty succinctly put it “making Sabrina laugh herself into a defeat is a great strategy”.
I’ll leave it to the readers on what to make of that, my point being again that there was little to suggest he might even reach the round of 16 in the Indigo League let alone win it, if he continues to get gym badges on whims and pure dumb luck like that (he did of course make it through to the top 16 to be fair to him and in the most dramatic of fashions, but more on that later).
The best of the rest can be summarized to be fairly straightforward although rather narrow victories for Ash. But it wasn’t up until the Cinnebar Island gym, that people finally began gambling their faith on Ash’s chances in the Indigo League. A wave of euphoria instigated, if you remember, by a certain Pokemon named Charizard. A display of incredible power and silky smooth moves saw Ash claim the victory over Blaine’s spirited Magmar, the match decided of course by one of my most favourite moves of all time, seismic toss. Here at last where real indications of Ash’s potential, and a glimpse of what he can achieve with such a powerful Pokemon like Charizard at his disposal (as I have repeatedly stated in my previous article). But readers knew that the dispute between Ash and Charizard had to be resolved quickly for that to happen. But mostly we were confident that would happen before the Indigo League begins. Little did we know that that very dispute will end up costing Ash dearly in the Indigo League.
The Indigo League
It seemed he was destined for glory, when he was nominated as ‘torch bearer’ for the tournament by Charles Goodshow, President of the Pokémon League Torch Committee. Till today, I can feel the goose bumps I got when Moltres of the legendary trio itself, came down to (after Team Rocket had attempted to steal the torch flame of course) and subtle as it may be gave Ash and his team its blessings. And boy did he repay that faith with a stellar display in the beginning stages of the tournament.
Round one came and Ash was pitted against the “astounding” Mandi in his first of four 3v3 preliminary matches in the Indigo League, and on a water battlefield no less. The sheer atmosphere of it, the unceasing uproar of the crowd and the magnificent expanse of the water battlefield while breath-taking, was enough to give even the best of the best a few anxious jitters. But our pint sized hero, if he had any nerves on him, showed no signs of it as he walked out with a glint of pure focus in his eyes. In fact his response to Misty’s concerns about whether he was shaking summed it all up,
“It’s not me it’s the stadium shaking.”
If it wasn’t actually doing that before he said it, it most certainly was after he came out and together with an inexperienced Krabby by his side (which evolved into a Kingler later into the battle) he produced an inspired display in front of the Indigo League faithful. Indeed it was one of his most complete performances in a major league up to date, where his Kingler quite simply dismantled the “astounding” Mandi 3 nothing, rounding off by unleashing a powerful hyperbeam to knock out his Golbat much to the delight of Team Rocket.
A cagy affair with a trainer’s Nidorino followed in the rock field, but Ash’s gained the edge over his adversary as his Squirtle came through with a composed performance. The ice battlefield followed and this time it was a Pewter city trainer Pete Pebbleman and his Arcanine who nearly extinguished Ash’s Indigo League dreams prematurely. In a battle, where even Ash’s ever improving Kingler failed to cease the initiative, a little help from his friends and nerves of steel from the always dependable Pikachu saved the day as Ash pulled through. The following round of course till today remains etched in my memory. The morning of the day of Ash’s 4th round battle in the grass field, was dominated by Gary Oak’s exit from the tournament at the hands of Melissa and her Golem. But Ash didn’t have too much time to dwell on that. Up against Jeanette Fisher of Crimson City it looked as if Ash was heading for another comfortable victory after taking a commanding 2-0 lead, but little did he know that a certain Bellsprout was about to turn the tables on him. After dragging and launching Bulbasaur all over the park like a rag doll, Bellsprout made hard work of a spirited Pikachu, at which point I started biting my fingernails. Because Ash, had ran out any viable options. I wildly explored Ash’s last remaining option in my head,
“Kingler! No! it would be at a disadvantage here, Pidgetto may be! Yeah…no wait Charizard, ooh yes! Charizard, if it liste…wait, what! Muk!
And out of the blue Ash produced his poison type Muk, and readers I was as surprised as you might have been and especially so because I did not see the episode where he actually caught it. Muk took the match by the scruff of its neck rendering most of Bellsprout’s moves largely ineffective (if you remember Bellsprout’s razor leaves simply bounced of Muk’s body!). It eventually ended Bellsprout’s misery by overpowering it with a very slimy and goopy but nonetheless effective body slam, sending Ash Ketchum into the Indigo League round of 16, sparking wild celebrations. But they were not to last for long, for Ash ended up drawing his friend Ritchie in the quarters.
Ritchie was another budding trainer with similar aspirations to Ash. The duo met on site at the Indigo League during the short break after the conclusion of the preliminaries. Both hit it off instantly. He even had a Pikachu like Ash’s although he’d nicknamed it Sparky for some reason. As such you can understand that but both were unwilling and awkward at first having being pitted against each other. But nevertheless, they agreed to give it their best and promised each other that it will be a match that none of them will ever forget. They were right, on so many levels. But mostly for the wrong reasons than for the right ones.
Well for starters, Ash began the match immediately on the back foot. His Pidgeotto, crippled with exhaustion having had to carry Ash back to the stadium in time for his match (thanks to the meddlesome Teams Rocket). As such it was deemed unfit for battle, leaving him with limited choices. The match itself was again, open ended and could’ve have swung in anyone’s favour. To be honest it is a bit of a waste to go into details of the match because there wasn’t a lot that could be fitted in within the usual twenty minutes anyway. And really the battle overall was dominated by one momentous incident anyway. Ritchie though finally gained the upper hand by knocking out Pikachu with his Charmander at the dying stages of the match and Ash was left with a difficult dilemma. His last viable option was Charizard.
We all know what happened later on readers. Charizard refused to co-operate and even though it sort of incapacitated Charmander (with huffing a flamethrower if you remember), it simply refused to engage Ritchie’s Pikachu. Ultimately Ash’s inability to resolve his issues with Charizard in time came back to haunt him. The match referee blew the whistle and disqualified Charizard from the match, thus heartbreakingly halting Ash’s incredible progress in the Indigo League, reducing him to tears, and ending his hopes of winning a maiden Pokemon League trophy. To be fair to Charizard, it did redeem itself later on with one impressive performance after the other, once it had patched up its relationship with Ash of course. From being the villain who may have cost him Indigo League glory, it has transformed itself into one of Ash’s most prized assets. How ironic it is that now today, if it is given the opportunity to compete in the Kalos League, it may very well prove to be the difference between quarter final mediocrity and a Kalos League victor’s trophy for our hero. One hopes that that will indeed be the case, with the possibilities of mega evolution in the horizon as well.
Ash’s MVP For The Kanto Region
It was a no brainer really, but Pikachu came through with no surprises. Racking up a string of solid performances, where at least half the gym badges Ash earned at the Kanto region can be accredited to it, Pikachu started gaining momentum after its impressive victory at the Vermillion Gym over Lt. Surge’s Raichu. Its valiant attempts at derailing Ritchie came to a futile end, as Charmander proved to be one too many for it. It may also be down to the fact that it still was not the finished product it is today. Although it did not know iron tail at that moment in time, one particular attack that goes amiss from its armoury these days was thunder. Don’t get me wrong, the thunderbolt Pikachu sports today, is probably about 20 times more powerful than its original thunder attack at that time. But one wonders at the level Pikachu is at today, how much further it could have gone if it could boast the strongest electric type attack at its disposal. A special mention goes out to good old Kingler who produced a dazzling performance in the preliminaries particularly its mauling of "astonishing" Mandi, enjoying an overall solid campaign in the Indigo league League. Squirtle and Bulbasaur also put in good performances although rather sporadically throughout the region and in the Indigo Plateau.
Conclusion
Hey guys, thank you for reading, part one of my build up to the Kalos League. Be sure to check in regularly, as I try and decode the Johto region next for part 2 of my project, which features my “re-review” of the titanic clash between Ash and Gary Oak, in the Silver Conference.
Until next time. Take care.
First, the warmest of greetings to all crazy Pokefans across the world. My sincere apologies to everyone, for such a lengthy delay in between this and my last article. Trust me if I had it my way, I would be conducting research on Pokemon all day, all night 365 days and 24/7 non-stop! Not that it’s possible in reality but hey, a guy can dream can’t he?
To those who’ve read thus far, no I am not devoting this article today to discuss Google’s recently released, super-duper ultra-cool virtual reality app “Pokemon Go”. And no, I am not writing this to drown my sorrows and help lift the deflated moods of those got excited (like me) thinking Ash was going to capture a Litleo the other weekend (waaah!). Looks like we are stuck with Talonflame everybody.
No, ladies and gentlemen. Today we focus our attentions to the wildly anticipated Kalos League, which is within grasping distance now of our prodigal Pokemon Master Monsieur Ash Ketchum or Satoshi, as he is lovably known in amongst some circles. I did of course briefly explore the topic in my previous article and we did discuss his chances from a rather subjective rather than objective viewpoint. Meaning he’d only acquired six badges up until then and there was still a bit to go before the new XY and Z episode began airing. I concluded I must say with rather gloomy statistics rounding off by predicting an all too familiar climax (which will most likely be the case), in the sixth instalment of an official Pokemon League. But more importantly an event, which is set to mark the 20th anniversary (20th season) of this worldwide phenomenon.
Exciting times. Exciting times for any Pokemon fan, old or young. I know we Pokefans wait with apprehension rather than with eager anticipation these days for this sort of thing, once of course the first couple of tournaments had rubbed off on us. And then of course came the scintillating Sinnoh League and we were crying tears of joy, and then of course the abominable black pit that was the Unova League, which brought us crashing back down to earth.
I know, I know, it’s frustrating. You wait almost 2 and a half seasons, and about 2 years for the franchise to air an official Pokemon league and for the umpteenth time hope that this year it will be different. Hope that this year you’ll see our hero win, rather than some cross-country jock with a bunch of Eevee evolutions. But again, I can’t help it. I can’t help but feel excited, elated in these occasions. I can’t help but start crunching numbers, mentally form Pokemon teams, plot strategies, because I love it and I can’t get enough of it. With that undying hunger as my guide, allow me to give you an oversight on how the Kalos League might be set to pan out. We begin our analysis with our hero’s Pokemon League conquests thus far spread across all five regions. We also take a deeper look at the gym battles in each of them, in order to determine, whether they had any bearings at all on Ash’s eventual performances in the big leagues, however subtle an influence they might have been.
Bearing in mind that this is a potentially lengthy project, and that Ash is yet to compete in the eighth and final gym at the Kalos region, I’ve chosen to divide my article into six parts. Each part will be dedicated to a specific region in chronological order of course. I will round of my 6 part special article with an in depth preview of the Kalos League. I will discuss the more intriguing changes endeared into this edition of the Pokemon League, explore external factors in play here such as mega evolution, analyse how much it has deviated from conventional tournaments we are used to seeing and of course a round-up of Ash’s Pokemon team for the tournament.
But today part one, is all about the Kanto region.
So let’s get rolling. Pokeball Go!
The Kanto Region
Memories of that unforgettable pledge that Ash took as a novice trainer beginning his journey, come flooding back every time anyone mentions the Kanto region. Words flowing with steel, grit and determination. Words which I took by heart from then on (hey, I was 5 years old when the first english dub rolled around),
“I declare to the Pokemon of the world, I will be the greatest Pokemon trainer, the greatest Pokemon master of all time”.
Sixteen years have passed on since then and although these iconic words are still emblazoned in flames till today, sadly little progress has been made towards actually fulfilling that promise, with the developers even cruel enough to plant a ruse on us in form of the Sinnoh League, in order to inoculate false hope in our hearts. But hey, sixteen years on and round six awaits.
The Gym battles
To be honest there is little, if any evidence at all one can utilise to foreshadow how Ash was going to perform in the Indigo league come summer that year (in the Pokemon world). The first gym match with yours truly Brock of Pewter City, was open and certainly enthralling at that time. But nonetheless it was a cautious start for our hero, who’s Pidgeotto faltered without causing any real concern to Brock’s Geodude. But Ahs came roaring back with his Pikachu who unleashed a newly learned thundershock attack on Geodude with devastating effect, despite the type disadvantage. But once again (he battled Brock and lost prior to the rematch I am describing now) he was on the verge of succumbing to Brock’s incredibly well bred Onix and binding bind attack, before a stroke of pure luck hit him. An accidental thundershock attack, an unlikely fire, combined with a last gasp almighty thundershock attack, ended a gross mismatch between Ash’s electric type Pikachu and Brock’s rock and ground type Onix. And thus our hero earned his first badge and enjoyed his first landmark moment.
It was lady luck that smiled upon Ash in his showdown at the Pewter City gym, and she was in an ebullient mood again as Ash took on a surprise opponent in Misty at the Cerulean Gym. The match ended in dubious circumstances if you remember with Ash’s Pikachu refusing to battle Misty and team rocket bursting in as Ash’s Butterfree was just starting to make a little headway in to the battle. In the end once they’d taken care of Team Rocket the Cerulean sisters ‘handed’ Ash the Cascade badge , much to the fury and indignation of Misty. But Daisy the eldest of the sisters argued that had Ash’s Pikachu battled, it probably would’ve won given its overwhelming type advantage.. Interestingly though, it was not the first time something like that had happened in the Kanto region. He attained the Marsh badge in a similarly ambiguous fashion. After being forced to forfeit against Sabrina’s indomitable psychic duo of Abra and Kadabra at the Saffron City Gym, Ash elected to capture a ghost type Pokemon to counter her psychic types. In the end he managed to sort of “loan” (for a lack of a better word) a Haunter which eventually remained with Sabrina, but not before it had helped Ash gain the Marsh badge in a frankly confusing final gym battle which had gaping plot holes in it. But in the end Ash won by, as Misty succinctly put it “making Sabrina laugh herself into a defeat is a great strategy”.
I’ll leave it to the readers on what to make of that, my point being again that there was little to suggest he might even reach the round of 16 in the Indigo League let alone win it, if he continues to get gym badges on whims and pure dumb luck like that (he did of course make it through to the top 16 to be fair to him and in the most dramatic of fashions, but more on that later).
The best of the rest can be summarized to be fairly straightforward although rather narrow victories for Ash. But it wasn’t up until the Cinnebar Island gym, that people finally began gambling their faith on Ash’s chances in the Indigo League. A wave of euphoria instigated, if you remember, by a certain Pokemon named Charizard. A display of incredible power and silky smooth moves saw Ash claim the victory over Blaine’s spirited Magmar, the match decided of course by one of my most favourite moves of all time, seismic toss. Here at last where real indications of Ash’s potential, and a glimpse of what he can achieve with such a powerful Pokemon like Charizard at his disposal (as I have repeatedly stated in my previous article). But readers knew that the dispute between Ash and Charizard had to be resolved quickly for that to happen. But mostly we were confident that would happen before the Indigo League begins. Little did we know that that very dispute will end up costing Ash dearly in the Indigo League.
The Indigo League
It seemed he was destined for glory, when he was nominated as ‘torch bearer’ for the tournament by Charles Goodshow, President of the Pokémon League Torch Committee. Till today, I can feel the goose bumps I got when Moltres of the legendary trio itself, came down to (after Team Rocket had attempted to steal the torch flame of course) and subtle as it may be gave Ash and his team its blessings. And boy did he repay that faith with a stellar display in the beginning stages of the tournament.
Round one came and Ash was pitted against the “astounding” Mandi in his first of four 3v3 preliminary matches in the Indigo League, and on a water battlefield no less. The sheer atmosphere of it, the unceasing uproar of the crowd and the magnificent expanse of the water battlefield while breath-taking, was enough to give even the best of the best a few anxious jitters. But our pint sized hero, if he had any nerves on him, showed no signs of it as he walked out with a glint of pure focus in his eyes. In fact his response to Misty’s concerns about whether he was shaking summed it all up,
“It’s not me it’s the stadium shaking.”
If it wasn’t actually doing that before he said it, it most certainly was after he came out and together with an inexperienced Krabby by his side (which evolved into a Kingler later into the battle) he produced an inspired display in front of the Indigo League faithful. Indeed it was one of his most complete performances in a major league up to date, where his Kingler quite simply dismantled the “astounding” Mandi 3 nothing, rounding off by unleashing a powerful hyperbeam to knock out his Golbat much to the delight of Team Rocket.
A cagy affair with a trainer’s Nidorino followed in the rock field, but Ash’s gained the edge over his adversary as his Squirtle came through with a composed performance. The ice battlefield followed and this time it was a Pewter city trainer Pete Pebbleman and his Arcanine who nearly extinguished Ash’s Indigo League dreams prematurely. In a battle, where even Ash’s ever improving Kingler failed to cease the initiative, a little help from his friends and nerves of steel from the always dependable Pikachu saved the day as Ash pulled through. The following round of course till today remains etched in my memory. The morning of the day of Ash’s 4th round battle in the grass field, was dominated by Gary Oak’s exit from the tournament at the hands of Melissa and her Golem. But Ash didn’t have too much time to dwell on that. Up against Jeanette Fisher of Crimson City it looked as if Ash was heading for another comfortable victory after taking a commanding 2-0 lead, but little did he know that a certain Bellsprout was about to turn the tables on him. After dragging and launching Bulbasaur all over the park like a rag doll, Bellsprout made hard work of a spirited Pikachu, at which point I started biting my fingernails. Because Ash, had ran out any viable options. I wildly explored Ash’s last remaining option in my head,
“Kingler! No! it would be at a disadvantage here, Pidgetto may be! Yeah…no wait Charizard, ooh yes! Charizard, if it liste…wait, what! Muk!
And out of the blue Ash produced his poison type Muk, and readers I was as surprised as you might have been and especially so because I did not see the episode where he actually caught it. Muk took the match by the scruff of its neck rendering most of Bellsprout’s moves largely ineffective (if you remember Bellsprout’s razor leaves simply bounced of Muk’s body!). It eventually ended Bellsprout’s misery by overpowering it with a very slimy and goopy but nonetheless effective body slam, sending Ash Ketchum into the Indigo League round of 16, sparking wild celebrations. But they were not to last for long, for Ash ended up drawing his friend Ritchie in the quarters.
Ritchie was another budding trainer with similar aspirations to Ash. The duo met on site at the Indigo League during the short break after the conclusion of the preliminaries. Both hit it off instantly. He even had a Pikachu like Ash’s although he’d nicknamed it Sparky for some reason. As such you can understand that but both were unwilling and awkward at first having being pitted against each other. But nevertheless, they agreed to give it their best and promised each other that it will be a match that none of them will ever forget. They were right, on so many levels. But mostly for the wrong reasons than for the right ones.
Well for starters, Ash began the match immediately on the back foot. His Pidgeotto, crippled with exhaustion having had to carry Ash back to the stadium in time for his match (thanks to the meddlesome Teams Rocket). As such it was deemed unfit for battle, leaving him with limited choices. The match itself was again, open ended and could’ve have swung in anyone’s favour. To be honest it is a bit of a waste to go into details of the match because there wasn’t a lot that could be fitted in within the usual twenty minutes anyway. And really the battle overall was dominated by one momentous incident anyway. Ritchie though finally gained the upper hand by knocking out Pikachu with his Charmander at the dying stages of the match and Ash was left with a difficult dilemma. His last viable option was Charizard.
We all know what happened later on readers. Charizard refused to co-operate and even though it sort of incapacitated Charmander (with huffing a flamethrower if you remember), it simply refused to engage Ritchie’s Pikachu. Ultimately Ash’s inability to resolve his issues with Charizard in time came back to haunt him. The match referee blew the whistle and disqualified Charizard from the match, thus heartbreakingly halting Ash’s incredible progress in the Indigo League, reducing him to tears, and ending his hopes of winning a maiden Pokemon League trophy. To be fair to Charizard, it did redeem itself later on with one impressive performance after the other, once it had patched up its relationship with Ash of course. From being the villain who may have cost him Indigo League glory, it has transformed itself into one of Ash’s most prized assets. How ironic it is that now today, if it is given the opportunity to compete in the Kalos League, it may very well prove to be the difference between quarter final mediocrity and a Kalos League victor’s trophy for our hero. One hopes that that will indeed be the case, with the possibilities of mega evolution in the horizon as well.
Ash’s MVP For The Kanto Region
It was a no brainer really, but Pikachu came through with no surprises. Racking up a string of solid performances, where at least half the gym badges Ash earned at the Kanto region can be accredited to it, Pikachu started gaining momentum after its impressive victory at the Vermillion Gym over Lt. Surge’s Raichu. Its valiant attempts at derailing Ritchie came to a futile end, as Charmander proved to be one too many for it. It may also be down to the fact that it still was not the finished product it is today. Although it did not know iron tail at that moment in time, one particular attack that goes amiss from its armoury these days was thunder. Don’t get me wrong, the thunderbolt Pikachu sports today, is probably about 20 times more powerful than its original thunder attack at that time. But one wonders at the level Pikachu is at today, how much further it could have gone if it could boast the strongest electric type attack at its disposal. A special mention goes out to good old Kingler who produced a dazzling performance in the preliminaries particularly its mauling of "astonishing" Mandi, enjoying an overall solid campaign in the Indigo league League. Squirtle and Bulbasaur also put in good performances although rather sporadically throughout the region and in the Indigo Plateau.
Conclusion
Hey guys, thank you for reading, part one of my build up to the Kalos League. Be sure to check in regularly, as I try and decode the Johto region next for part 2 of my project, which features my “re-review” of the titanic clash between Ash and Gary Oak, in the Silver Conference.
Until next time. Take care.
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