Pokemon XY&Z

[Flame Dragon]

If I were to put bet on a winner it would be Alain. As said before their is interesting narrative implications with the Flare arc after this and having an established character, one who we know is strong and has been a E4 member in a 1v1, is something I'd totally support them doing. The question is when will Ash and Alain fight. We have Shota and Alain as his two main rivals but for him to make the finals he'd need to battle one more trainer in either the quarter or semis. If it ends up being anyone I'd suspect one of the Mega trainers.

[Astro Dude]

If I were to put bet on a winner it would be Alain. As said before their is interesting narrative implications with the Flare arc after this and having an established character, one who we know is strong and has been a E4 member in a 1v1, is something I'd totally support them doing. The question is when will Ash and Alain fight. We have Shota and Alain as his two main rivals but for him to make the finals he'd need to battle one more trainer in either the quarter or semis. If it ends up being anyone I'd suspect one of the Mega trainers.

If possible, this is where my Alain exposed theory comes in. Malva exposes Alain as a member of Team Flare and has Officer Jenny arrest him.

[~British Soul~]

My only issue with that is Malva would risk compromising her own position by doing that. Some people could get suspicious of her and ask how she knew.

 

EDIT: So CoroCoro Ichiban has revealed two new episode titles, and it confirms that Ash will be reaching the semifinals (he's done better than he did in Unova and the bloody league hasn't started yet, lol)

Episode 930: Semifinal Full Battle! Ash vs Shota!! (July 21st)

Episode 931: Fierce Rival Battle! Ash Greninja VS Mega Sceptile (July 28th)

 

(ofc it goes without saying that there is a one week break for the movie, as expected)

Going by these titles, man they're REALLY cutting to the chase with the league, I mean we'll be at Semi-finals like 3 episodes in, bloody ridiculous. I'm fully expecting Ash to win the fight and face Alain in the finals, and I think he'll even win there too (after 2 episodes). I'm all for Ash winning now.

 

And speaking of Alain, he'll have a Metagross by the time the Kalos League begins.

Also, [snark] This'll be the second time this year that Sakaki Yuya has reached the finals of a tournament.

[Astro Dude]

Who knows. Maybe Sawyer will pull out a Tobias.

[~British Soul~]

Doubt it, it's pretty much implied that Ash will beat Shota, as the league feels super rushed otherwise.

[Astro Dude]

That just leaves Ash vs. Alain. Maybe Team Flare will pull off a Team Rocket Indigo League, meaning they could have Alain win by default, by dumping Ash outside the city far enough for him to not make it in time for his battle.

[~British Soul~]

That would be dumb and I don't see that happening tbph. Besides I do think that battle will be a 2-parter as well so that it brings the league to 6 episodes.

 

EDIT: The subs for XYZ-28 are out.

[Flame Dragon]

I am very surprised by how much they are rushing this. Them being in the semis after 2 episodes was not expected. Yea, Ash seems very likely to win the match so he makes finals. This is very good. I'm still betting against him there, but still, XYZ really has done everything right.

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

Yeah, I would've assumed they'd take a little longer to go through the league, but suppose that with Team Flare/Zygarde 100% and the upcoming Sun/Moon stuff, I guess they have to hurry it up with this generation. Guess they pitted Ash against some random Trainers and he just beats them good.

 

I do think Ash will win against Shota though; as for Alain if he gets there, maybe not (but if he does, it's a loss I'd be fine with Ash taking).

 

-----

Like I mentioned earlier, I'm expecting Trevor and Tierno to both get screwed over next week [even if the former has a Mega, Alain is certainly going to be too strong to beat]. As for the subs (I think it's just the perfection of Ash-Greninja / actual rematch / reuniting with Goodra episodes), I'll get to them later [should be first one].

[~British Soul~]

Yeah, the subs that came out was the perfection of Ash-Greninja.

 

Like I mentioned earlier, I'm expecting Trevor and Tierno to both get screwed over next week

I thought Tierno's fight with Shota is in 2 weeks, but yeah they're both funked, then again they're in-game characters that were shafted in favour of OCs, so it's not too surprising.

[Astro Dude]

I agree. They're probably trying to wrap this up quickly for Season 20, Pokemon Sun and Moon. But I feel the pacing might be too quick. We have less than 5 months before Sun and Moon come out.

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

Assuming that Japan doesn't take a break due to holidays (or events that take up Pokemon's air slot), they really only have maybe 20-25 episodes max to conclude the Team Flare arc, somehow introduce Alola and then the sendoff into Generation 7 (well, resolve Amourshipping first). Doesn't appear that the holidays they have will lock any slots up.

 

Unova was only 142 episodes (though they had the league dealt with before episode 110 if I recall, so they had the rest of that time to deal with Team Plasma and take a slight filler arc). In this case, might have the luxury of having enough episodes to tie up some loose knots, but otherwise we only know up to whatever happens between Ash/Shota. I'd probably say X/Y will have around 140-150 episodes.

[~British Soul~]

I would like to have a slightly longer Flare arc than we did for Team Plasma so we have less filler to deal with at the end, but still enough to tie up loose ends.

[Astro Dude]

I would like to have a slightly longer Flare arc than we did for Team Plasma so we have less filler to deal with at the end, but still enough to tie up loose ends.

It may have been a filler arc, but how... oh yeah, plane.

[~British Soul~]

It may have been a filler arc, but how... oh yeah, plane.

What does a plane have to do with anything?

[Flame Dragon]

Assuming that Japan doesn't take a break due to holidays (or events that take up Pokemon's air slot), they really only have maybe 20-25 episodes max to conclude the Team Flare arc, somehow introduce Alola and then the sendoff into Generation 7 (well, resolve Amourshipping first). Doesn't appear that the holidays they have will lock any slots up.

 

Unova was only 142 episodes (though they had the league dealt with before episode 110 if I recall, so they had the rest of that time to deal with Team Plasma and take a slight filler arc). In this case, might have the luxury of having enough episodes to tie up some loose knots, but otherwise we only know up to whatever happens between Ash/Shota. I'd probably say X/Y will have around 140-150 episodes.

I'm pretty sure we are closer to only 20 episodes. We have a bit more than 140 days until the games come so thats about 20 weeks. Lets assume they take a couple weeks off before the new series starts and we have 18. We know the next 4 episodes so thats 14. Lets assume the league will go on for another 2 episodes since 4 is super low and we are at 12. Flare arc should be at least 6 episodes as well and I expect one more break before the series ends leaving us with about 5 episodes for flex slots. That can be anything from more Flare stuff, Amourshipping stuff, other character stuff, new region, etc.

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

I kind of forgot they need a slight buffer period to transition between the generations, but yeah there's not too much time left to really finish up XY outside of the needed stuff. Can still only hope Serena sticks around with Ash after the series ends, but chances are she'll go take up that offer that Yashio/Palermo gave her back in episode 113 (the one after she loses to Aria/Elle). 

 

As for the plane thing, I guess Astro was asking how is Ash going to return home to Kanto and/or travel to Alola; last two generations had them take a plane over.

[Astro Dude]

Well, the league will soon start, I hope Ash wins.

[~British Soul~]

\o/

 ll

/ \

If Alain does the above during the league, I will be screenshotting it making an image macro saying; "Ladies and gentlemen" Yes it is silly and will most likely not happen at all, but anything could happen.

 

Anywho, on the last page, I said I'd be down with Ash winning. Whether it happens or not remains to be seen, though one may consider this blurb from CoroCoro Ichiban (I know I did when I said I'd be down with Ash winning)

His greatest rival, "Alan" Just what is he fully capable of..!?

At this most important stage to battle at, what tactics will Ash use to seize victory...!?

The two have fought before as well, but Alan has won every time!!

A fierce onslaught of attacks with Mega Charizard X as the centrepiece!!

His other pokemon are super powerfull as well!!

[~Faytl~]

Question is, what other Pokemon could Alain have? We only know two, and he'll need at least six. I saw a theory floating around that he could use Pokemon lent to him by Lysandre, though he's perfectly capable of capturing and training powerful Pokemon himself, as Charizard clearly shows. Maybe like Metang his other Pokemon will be ones that have the ability to Mega Evolve, though Charizard will al,ost certainly remain the only one who actually does.

[~British Soul~]

Well whatever pokémon Alan has on his team, it'll make for a tough, yet interesting match. I imagine they could be pokémon that are capable of mega evolving as well, not long to wait now.

[Flame Dragon]

So, we basically have confirmation that Ash makes the finals. Sweet. I'm very happy with that. Down for either outcome tbqh. While I really would like to see Ash win Alain is the actual best character to have him lose to in ANY of the leagues and I wouldn't mind it one bit.

[~British Soul~]

Alain is the actual best character to have him lose to in ANY of the leagues and I wouldn't mind it one bit.

I agree, this is how I'd rank the characters Ash lost to in the leagues

1. Tobias; Won the Sinnoh league. Sure he had legendaries, but Ash was the only one to defeat Darkrai, thus would be considered the 2nd best despite finishing top 4.

2. ​Tyson​; Won the Hoenn league, and his battle with Ash was rather close as well.

3. Harrison; Even though he lost to the eventual winner of Johto, he also served as an intro for the Hoenn region as well.

4. Kotetsu; Sure he lost to the eventual winner of Unova, but this guy went into his battle with Ash holding only 5 pokemon, not to mention him thinking the league was in Johto.

5. Ritchie; Ash's loss to him was only because Charizard was a lazy jabroni, and he didn't even lose to the Indigo champ either. (Didn't help that Ash was late due to TR)

 

If Alain were to beat Ash, I'd defo rank him above Tobias

[Flame Dragon]

I agree, this is how I'd rank the characters Ash lost to in the leagues

1. Tobias; Won the Sinnoh league. Sure he had legendaries, but Ash was the only one to defeat Darkrai, thus would be considered the 2nd best despite finishing top 4.

2. ​Tyson​; Won the Hoenn league, and his battle with Ash was rather close as well.

3. Harrison; Even though he lost to the eventual winner of Johto, he also served as an intro for the Hoenn region as well.

4. Kotetsu; Sure he lost to the eventual winner of Unova, but this guy went into his battle with Ash holding only 5 pokemon, not to mention him thinking the league was in Johto.

5. Ritchie; Ash's loss to him was only because Charizard was a lazy jabroni, and he didn't even lose to the Indigo champ either. (Didn't help that Ash was late due to TR)

 

If Alain were to beat Ash, I'd defo rank him above Tobias

I'd put Kotetsu last simply because that was GEN FIVE. Ash had come a long way, done better and better, and now he loses to some idiot kid.

 

What makes Alain work so well is that he is an established character in the main series, we've seen part of his story, and we know just how strong he is. If Ash is going to lose to someone, that is how you do it. Not to mention unlike Tobias it DOES feel like Ash could have a shot.

[~British Soul~]

I'd put Kotetsu last simply because that was GEN FIVE. Ash had come a long way, done better and better, and now he loses to some idiot kid.

Sure he was an idiot and Ash did worse than he did in Sinnoh by losing to him, but going by battle quality, Ash's battle with him was better than the fight against Ritchie.