I c this is good I never think of it like that, I mean I do find annoying Satoshi keep losing every League n think it just a way for anime to keep going but hey what u said is right 2 X3. This was an interesting gaiden XD.

Sorry, the website wouldn't allow my long review.

However, I think Ash would be much closer to being a Pokémon Master if the writers didn't keep erasing all his Character Development and prevent him from using his experiences to win leagues. Sure, he's learned how to take defeat gracefully, but I think we'd like to see him win a major league for once. Seeing Ash learn how to handle a major victory would be very interesting.

Sinnoh was probably the first time he came close to winning one if the writers hadn't pulled that Deus Ex Machina on him making him face two Legendaries.

And with Kalos, the episode titles seemed to hype up the idea that Ash would finally win a League only to have victory snatched from his hands yet again by some one-dimensional character obsessed with gaining power and not even caring about the league itself. Ash finally mastered a unique transformation and had faced down incredibly skilled and powerful trainers armed with Mega Evolution and he ended up losing. Again. For the sixth time in a row.

If Kalos was the last region that would have a traditional Pokémon League tournament, then that just dumps salt into the open wounds. I know that lessons like never give up, always work hard towards your dreams, and show good sportsmanship are important, but after everything Ash has gone through for the past six regions and two side stories, from beating Gym Leaders to facing down dangerous criminals and saving the world multiple times, would winning a League really be too much to ask for?

I can tell Pokémon battles in the anime are likely much harder than they appear and Ash seems to do a very good job even though the writers seem to make him have more than a few brain farts.

I do agree that betrayal fics are complete garbage and BS. After everything Ash's friends have experienced, they have no reason to just up and abandon him just for losing a league. They've stuck with him through thick and thin, even helping to save the world. Bonds like those would not be so easily broken, if at all. It's also completely insulting to Ash's friends, making them seem like the kinds of bullies and thugs Ash constantly trounces in filler episodes.

Plus, there's the fact that he likely wouldn't become a hardened badass like those fics described. My guess is he'd end up like Casey Snagem's wife: completely disillusioned, having lost all passion towards his dreams. Ash's character is built by the strong bonds with his friends both human and Pokémon. Whenever he's feeling down, his friends have helped him recover from his grief. If many of those bonds were shattered, I couldn't see him carrying on with his goals.

Alain's entry into the Kalos League seemed completely irrational since he was only interested in facing Ash. It makes me wonder why he didn't challenge Ash after the League or some other time? Why go through all the effort of participating in a tournament that didn't interest him? There's no logic to it. Alain seemed like another Deus Ex Machina to keep Ash from getting a League victory under his belt. Made even worse when Alain's actions indirectly and unwittingly led to Team Flare capturing and torturing Ash and nearly destroying Kalos.

I did like this one shot, but I would like to see Ash win a League just to show his efforts finally paid off. Besides, winning a League is no reason to end the series. It could always expand on what happens after.

You made a great effort expanding the thoughts on a vague subject and controversial ideas in a well thought out and mature manner, but I do believe Ash would have deserved to win in Kalos.

-BrightNova169

This was quite the one shot. Gary had his beliefs on what made a Pokémon Master brought into question. I have to admit this was thought out very well, considering all sorts of ways to become a Pokémon Master. Though I would disagree with some definitions (just earning eight Gym Badges).

Making stuff like Infernape's Blaze and Greninja's transformation as abilities classified in their own scientific categories was pretty cool too.

It's true that the definition of Pokémon Master is left vague and without a clear definition, but I believe there are a few things I would consider the criteria of a master:

1. The trainer can win eight Gym Badges within the year to compete in the regional League. They have to win these badges in battle. No pity badges, good deeds, or character tests (looking at Ash's Kanto journey). You earn those badges to prove you have the skills and deserve to compete in the League.

2. Regular participation in any tournaments, big or small. Any Pokémon Master should strive to challenge themselves and improve by constantly testing themselves against all sorts of trainers in all sorts of conditions for battles. However, I would draw the line at underground tournaments since you'd be potentially compromising the safety of yourself and your Pokémon.

3. Have a very high number of wins. It's impossible to go on a journey and expect to win every battle, but after a couple years of serious training, it should be possible to earn a large number of wins that greatly outnumber losses.

4. Be able to win at least one major league. Winning a regional League would be a massive accomplishment since the Anime League makes someone face tons of trainers with varying teams and strategies while dealing with various battlefields. Getting far on hard is much better than winning on easy, but winning on hard is even better than just getting far. Winning a League really proves that you've come a long way and that your efforts have bared fruit.

5. Defeating the Elite Four and Champion of a region. Just because you've won a league doesn't mean you're automatically the best. Beating these people, who've spent years training extensively and focusing on type specialties (mostly), would further prove you are more likely to be recognized as a Pokémon Master.

6. Earning the trust and loyalty of your Pokémon. The best trainers are the ones who can forge strong bonds with their Pokémon. In fact, a trainer needs to earn their Pokemon's respect to accomplish anything in their careers. No respect means no chance for glory. By earning their respect, you have a chance to earn their loyalty and trust. Anyone who mistreats or neglects their Pokémon are doomed to failure and possibly a horrible, painful death.

These are just a few things I could think of to become a Pokémon Master. It's just my opinion and there are probably a few things I didn't mention that could make it more viable and some will argue against my definition entirely, but it's just an opinion.

Personally, I do consider Ash to be a good trainer. Consistently placing high in the leagues each time really is difficult and worth congratulating especially when he had to face Pokémon like Darkrai and Latios. It's even more significant since the anime keeps acknowledging him as a 10-year old. Most 10-year olds I know/knew likely wouldn't have made it nearly as far as Ash in competitions like those, myself included.

Reposting because I accidentally his Submit Review. Okay, I had to reread this several times and whilst it's brave for you to say what you've said at the end of it and I will agree that a number of fans have severely overreacted in regards to the outcome. HOWEVER...

The negative reaction is completely justified however and boy does that YuGiOh comparison fall flat for one big reason - Alain qualifies as a YuGiOh protagonist, more specifically Yusei Fudo. Alain is a character made for a more adult audience, their signature monster is a dragon that can evolve even further and one of his companions is a redhead who has plant based monsters at her side. Granted Mairin is several years younger than Alain compared to Akiza who is around Yusei's age but still. Secondly the only loss that Alain has had was in a flashback, his fight against the Hoenn legendaries the battle was interrupted before it reached a definite conclusion (Alain returned Charizard and the battle was then interrupted by Rayquaza). Alain's Plot Armor is so strong it isn't even funny.

Another issue with Ash's loss is that Alain had no intention of winning the League - all he wanted to do was battle Ash. Why couldn't he wait until after the League or when Ash perfected the Bond Phenomenon is beyond me because of the chance that Alain could actually lose. Given how he had been pushing everyone away having Ash win would open up a new story possibility as he realised that he isn't as strong as he thought he was.

Yes, the definition of Pokemon Master isn't set but wouldn't you argue that winning a League could be one step towards that undefined goal? If Ash is going to be the main character for this long he should have some League victories under his belt at the very least with the amount of pokemon he has but instead they choose to throw that sort of interesting plot out the window in favour of pure distilled boring. Making this even more confusing is that this is the same franchise that gave us the Mystery Dungeon Explorer game which have the best story in the entire franchise.

Aren't you a fan of One Piece? That has been going on for decades and the end is a still very long way away. That would be like Luffy locating the One Piece and then some Warlord or Yonko taking it away from him after doing all the hard work but I'm sure that you'd accept it.

Yet another problem revolves around the fact that we don't see Ash get another battle against Alain's Charizard with his Greninja so if you thought he would get some sort of redemption NOPE. Combined with his indirect helping of Team Flare and this guy gets off lighter than PAUL which is really saying something - at least we got the satisfaction of seeing Infernape defeat half of his Sinnoh League team. If Sawyer had won then I'd be fine because he wanted to win it.

Again, commend you on your bravery but I have to disagree strongly with this.

Okay, I had to reread this several times and whilst it's brave for you to say what you've said at the end of it and I will agree that a number of fans have severely overreacted in regards to the outcome. HOWEVER...

The negative reaction is completely justified however and boy does that YuGiOh comparison fall flat for one big reason - Alain qualifies as a YuGiOh protagonist, more specifically Yusei Fudo. Alain is a character made for a more adult audience, their signature monster is a dragon that can evolve even further and one of his companions is a redhead who has plant based monsters at her side. Granted Mairin is a little bit younger

Wow... This is just a wonderful side story. Ever single Pokemon fan needs to read this.

about damn time someone got this message across people are deriding ash's BEST LEAGUE SHOWING YET (outside of the non game canon orange island one) as a betrayal and a fuck up.

fuck no to that shit none reaches runner up status without having some serious skill to back it up.

betrayal shit is stupid.

I think youre off on why the fans were so pissed. I t was mainly the clickbait cockteases with that trailer and the episode title, the battle itslef wasn't that great either, plus the entire league was horribly rushed.

Nicely done and I rather liked your take that to everyone freaking out and going over the top that Ash lost.

Good work.

-As he through out the-
Threw.

-The rob bobbed,-
Rod.

-Gary shouted as the Pokemon even as his Pokedex sprang to work.-
The first "as" should be "at".

-Virbrank-
Virbank.

-Chesnaught's bearded looked bushier-
Beard.

-Starraptor-
Staraptor.

-Yes, but what makes a trainer great.-
I'm pretty sure there should be a question mark instead of a full stop.

-one declared a year in a variety of region: Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos.-
Given the context, I think "region" should be plural.

-how lost-
You're missing the word "I".

-Mawhile-
Mawile.

-they had I every-
"In", not "I".

Also, it was good to reread this again.

I feel part of the reason fans are so salty over this loss is because the anime has been ongoing for just shy of two decades (over 937 episodes and 21 movies worth of adventures), and long-time fans feel that time keenly (for Ash it's apparently only been one year... because the time-line in the anime is complete BS, but for fans, Ash has been struggling for 18 to 19 years... I accidentally typed "years" as "tears" at first... how oddly coincidental).

At this point it's getting a little silly that someone who regularly helps save the world and/or entire countries/cities from destruction can't win a freaking tournament filled with people who probably have not, nor will likely ever, accomplish a fraction of what Ash has.

It's made worse by the fact that a lot of American fans don't like Alain (quite a few accurately predicted he'd be this season's 'Tobias'). He was boring in the Mega-Evolution specials (where he only ever used his Charizard, so we've got no reason to give a damn about the rest of his team), which revolved around him, and he's no more engaging a character in the regular anime episodes. I personally, feel like he's almost a caricature of those 'edgy' DeviantArt/fanfiction OCs that just come off as try-hards. He's got painfully shallow motivation at first (until Manon's Chespin is hurt), and even after that he's a unwitting tool of the main bad guy. He didn't even have interest in competing in the League initially, and winning the League doesn't actually mean anything to him.

At least with Tobias it was so painfully obvious that the character had been created solely to stop Ash from winning that fans could just rationalize it as the writers having to pull out multiple Legendaries just to defeat Ash. Here we have Ash finally making it to the finals (despite not having a team made up of his A-listers, nor any Mega-Evolutions), only to lose to a boring protagonist of side-stories who's basically the big bad's strongest minion without even realizing it.

The fact that Greninja will now be put on a bus to Oak's lab despite XY&Z practically revolving around his connection to Ash/special transformation, and XY in general revolving around Mega Evolution despite Ash not receiving even a single Mega Evolved Pokemon, and that Ash even pulled off a win against the Champion's ace Pokemon in an unofficial match, are just examples of salt rubbed on the wounds.

That said, "betrayal fics" in general, and Pokemon betrayal fics in particular, are pure garbage; I agree with you 100% on that. You do not back-stab a friend who has saved the world from destruction just because he didn't win a freaking tournament, and it's insulting to the characters to imply they are that shallow.

I also agree that Ash has done better than ever, which is nice... but him never winning? I think that would bug me, if only because he's more than earned a win at this point.

Also, it's worth noting that, even in team sports, you rarely get into the Hall of Fame by being a great runner-up. History tends to not bother remembering the great also-ran. Maybe that's unkind, but Pokemon battling is a sporting competition.

Ash has accomplished so much more than that... but the kid never gets any recognition for those greater accomplishments. You'd think Cynthia would never stop telling that story about the 10-year old kid who helped her save Unova from destruction and only failed to challenge her because he ran into two Legendary roadblocks, or that Lance would be keeping tabs on him. Heck, you'd think Diantha would be rooting for him so she could have a rematch.

Well, wow. Casey is older Ash.

Honestly I'm just a little upset that Alain (a character that entered to only fight ash) won. It was made even worse by the fact the writers teased that Ash might have won Kalos.

looks like Ash's previous life got imprinted on some guy in the past

I have to say you have presented a very well rounded and extremely through piece here, one that raises a lot of good points and a lot of opportunities for discussion and debate (note I said debate, not argument) going into the core of what truly is a Pokemon Master, something the series itself has never quite explained in detail what actually is, or has even SHOWN when you think about it.
Seriously, think about it, at what point did the series ever actually introduce or identify a character as a Pokemon Master?

Personally, I’ve always thought it to be something between a skill level and a status of recognition. Compare it with ‘Masters’ of other things, such as a skill or trade, like a master blacksmith, or conversely someone who has won the Masters in professional golf. See? One is a level of skill and ability, the other is an actual rank/prestige title.

So, I suppose my philosophy would mean that I see a Pokemon Master as someone that has extensive knowledge and experience in Pokemon in a general sense as well as battles, and as a result is recognized for it. It doesn’t mean winning EVERY BATTLE, but it would entail having a very high win percentage in their win to loss ratio (after all, everyone starts out as a rookie lol).

Cynthia and Lance are the two most obvious who fit the title that come to mind, both are VERY well known, extremely skilled and well respected for their records, and both are quite intelligent in a variety of fields when it comes to Pokemon.

Now, philosophy aside, getting to the heart of this, I can see things from both sides of the fence here over the results of this latest League. I’m a long time fan of Pokemon, I started watching it was I was the same age as Ash with the very first season, and I’ve enjoyed the ups and downs more often than not. The series is fun and has a lot of good morals and lessons that it tries to get across to its viewers, the chief of which is to be a good sport and to never give up no matter what.

However, even I was a bit salty over this I must admit. With the rumors circulating that this would be the last League of the series coming up, and after so many years of seeing Ash try and fail, pick himself back up and keep going, it would have been nice to see him get just one win, especially considering just how good his chances were this time. He had a great lineup, some powerful Pokemon, and all around this season really did seem to have the vibe that maybe this would be his chance after all the big name conference losses he’s suffered.

I get the point, I understand how it’s important to never give up on your dreams in the face of defeat or loss, that it’s important for people to have and show good sportsmanship, and most importantly, to remember that in the end it’s not important if you win or lose, all that matters is that you love playing the game. But, there lay the problem, when this is the only lesson that’s given, over and over, it does start to get old. Every other series out there has the protagonist win at least one time, and if this is the last League conference of the anime, it would have been a hell of a way to go out, with Ash finally getting that big damn win. Plus, there are a great number of lessons the series COULD teach from that which are missed out on, such as how winning doesn’t mean you are the best, it doesn’t mean you’ll always win.

How a person handles victory, I feel is just as important as how they handle loss. A sore looser is bad, but a gloating victor is even worse. I personally feel that after all the times Ash has lost, and after all the things he’s been through, he would have been a gracious winner, and could have set an example for kids on how they should treat their victories in life, not JUST how to handle losses.