[Spoilers] The Unova Pokemon League Conference is Upon Us! Who Will Emerge Victorious?

[XanderO]

There were a lot of other people in the tournament and Ash faces off against Trip, Stephan and Kotetsu pretty early in it seems. We can't even say Ash will make top 8 this time, Virgil may lose after beating Ash after all.

I'm unfortunately one of the people that believe that if Ash wins, the Anime ends so the writers will purposefully make him lose at some point near the end just to keep the story going. We won't know what place he makes until the tournament ends.

As for what's next, the League ends the Journey for that region. Really can't say they won't end it, but Gen 5 isn't something that's easy to predict. If they reset the Anime like they did the games, then there are many possibilities for Ash on how far he'll make it. Course as a double edged sword he may pull another Kanto. Ash met Ritchie just before entering the League and loses to him right before they start the real battles. Virgil can be this generation's Ritchie.

What I'm pretty much waitin for now is to see if Virgil's Eevee evolves into something new or if someone mentions another region to give Ash a reason to keep going rather than go back to Kanto like Team Rocket did.

[BinaryPeaches]

I won't be surprised if Ash only makes it to the top eight, top four, etc. However, while it's expected I will still be disappointed because that would mean that Ash didn't win a single tournament in Unova. Which is well ... disappointing. Even more so that he almost won the PWT-JC only to lost against Trip who he then wins against in the prelims of the League.

What I want to know right now is where exactly are they in the league when Ash faces Stephan and Kotetsu. Obviously out of the prelims by how many Pokemon the have, but have they gotten to the last thirty-two? sixteen? I can't see to figure that out. if anyone happens to know though, I would love know. It might give us a little more in-sight in where Ash is after his win against Kotetsu and what's going to happen with the battle against Virgil.

But other than that I'm also waiting to see if Virgil's Eevee is going to evolve and if they are going to give us hints on what's going to happen after the League is done with.

[AlexOzzyCake]

Really I'm expecting Virgil's Eevee to be something of a mimic of Ash's Pikachu in the respect that it probably won't evolve, it's just an unevolved partner that doesn't want to evolve and is just as strong without needing to evolve. I wouldn't even be surprise if the final match came down to Eevee VS Pikachu for that somewhat epic feel of the two weaker Pokémon battling for such an important match, but I think that if it was going to evolve into another eeveelution then there would've been some kind of feature about it like a silhouette or something since they would want as much hype as possible surrounding it.

As for who'll win and how far Ash will get, that's actually a really hard call to make with Unova. Since they wanted to make it so different to the previous sagas, I honestly wouldn't be surprised if he actually went on to win this one. But I'm betting on either Ash or Stephan winning; Bianca would be my third choice but I really don't think she's mature enough and fully developed enough as a character to win a league yet. I don't think it would be a problem if Ash was to win though since they can easily still have him go to another region to compete in their league too; if anything it'll just be a joke for them to play on when he's acting like a noob in the first few episodes like he always does; it'd just be refreshing to see him actually win something important in the Unova saga haha. I suppose it's also possible that someone else will win and they'll just stay in Unova till the next Pokémon league takes place to fill the time until a new region comes out, but I really doubt that. Maybe they'll also go for an Orange Islands type of adventure, who knows :o Or if he does win then there could be a conference/tournament for all recent league winners to take part in to find the best of the best and he could enter that, or maybe he'll even face Unova's E4? So many possibilities haha.

To be honest though, I've been expecting the "Team Plasma is going to step in and cancel the league, creating a new arc to keep Ash in Unova a little while longer" to happen from the start based on what happened in-game and Team Plasma's lack of appearance so far in the anime, but who knows, maybe they'll just wait till after the league to introduce them. It just seems really early for the Unova league to be happening already so I don't think it'll really go ahead straight through till the end. (I haven't read many spoilers or stuff yet so if this has already been disproved, sorry!)

[XanderO]

Watching the first episode of the tournament. There were 128 pictures shown on the prompt. Ash beats Trip in the first Round so Trip doesn't even get top 100.

Ash beats Stephan in second Round and Kotetsu beats Bianca in the Second round. Bianca and Stephan get in the top 65 as second round as 64 people.

32 people are in the battle with Kotetsu vs Ash. So Ash vs Virgil is top 16. If Ash loses he makes top 16. If he wins he goes onto Top 8. All of his rivals are battled before Ash gets to top 8. So even after Virgil's battle, there are 2 battles after that if they are shown. We know they'll get to Kotetsu's battle without interruption. I can only imagine the entire tournament continues like that.

Though we have placements pretty much.

[AlexOzzyCake]

If all of the rivals are out by the time they've reached the top 16, I'm betting Ash will probably end up losing against Virgil. They're not realistically going to leave two of the most important fights of the league down to him fighting random trainers we've never seen before so he'll probably either lose to Virgil, lose to the trainer after Virgil (maybe another legendary abuser? I'll be really annoyed if that's the case AGAIN though...), or maybe Team Plasma will interrupt then? I don't know, but I'm suddenly no longer expecting him to win based on that haha. Surprised about how quickly Stephan went out though, I was backing him as one of the potential winners!

[Iceman3317]

I didn't see N in the picture of th 128,but they are fairly small. And like Alex said,they aren't going to put him up aginst some random trainer unless the trainer is like Tobias. Only time that happened was the Orange League,but he had to face it's champion. It is slightly possible for Team Plasma to still come in. But I just don't see it happening anymore.

[XanderO]

Oh. Just saw the comment about Eevee Evolution hype. They actually don't have to post a silhouette until the episode of. Right before they reveal the info for that episode or even the episode after as it can become a two parter with Eevee evolving at the end mid battle.

Since we haven't gotten that far yet, they don't have to build up any hype on it. If they do it the episode of, then it has a lot of build up then.

[Kenshin5]

Aside from anything I am reflecting on what Ash actually brings to the table. It definitely seems Unova pokes only is what he is going for(obviously Pikachu aside). As of now his team doesn't seem to viable to be a champ.

Pikachu - Pika is fine, obviously seen by its various defeats its issued thus far in the Tournament as well as all the match cliches its had in the gyms in Unova. His record goes without saying when he is on or the writers aren't screwing our little Electric Mouse over.

Unfezant - Some people say well it doesn't get enough development. My question is when does regions every get "development" they get use. I feel that Unfezant well fair just as well as its predecessor birds.

Oshawott - I've never been overly impressed with Oshawott in the realm of battling. Too me it was just a comic side show as a replacement for TR. It too me is Piplup 2.0 as it sure acts like him, and seeing him with Dawn Piplup it convinces me even more. Yes Oshawott learned Hydro Pump, but that really doesn't change much for me since I still seem him as a coward and too egotistical for his own good. I thought all the past Water types Ash used had more battle prowess than Oshawott imo. It also doesn't help that its a stage one, but Squirtle is pretty drag strong as shown in the Battle Frontier.

Pignite - It's been inconsistent in the past having confidence issues. But after evolving and confronting Shamus I don't really see that as a concern anymore. The concern I have is, where is the Fighting type move? They need to ditch Tackle and give him Arm Thrust or something usable. Again looking back, Infernape was a much better Fire/Fighting at that point, so another reason I don't feel he is as good as opposed to previous opportunities

Snivy - Snivy has seemed pretty consistent, but it cannot rely on Attract ploy to win like early on. Leaf Storm & Leaf Blade are good moves but I feel we need something more. Again Torterra at this point was a better option as well.

Scraggy - Seems to childlike and has not had enough training imo. Still has some qualties Phanphy did as a baby. Scraggy has made progress it just doesn't seem to me that Scraggy had made enough progress honing its skills since hatching early on.

Leavanny - Obviously not enough screen time or development, but judging from what I have seen from its battles Ash can lean on it to get the job done.

Palpitoad - Even less screen time that all the others, kind of hard to say what Palpitoad will do since he has pretty much just been used in Don Tournaments and Gyms.

Boldore - I feel if they evolved him that as a Gigalith he would be a major asset. So if he evolves in the near future than I believe he can make a difference otherwise we haven't see a whole lost since his capture early on. He had that one defining match against Clay and that was his shining moment. Come on show me more please.

Krookodile - He seems to be Ash Powerhouse, but I need to see more out of him as well since his capture was late. He has had some good matches like Bearartic and Dragonite. Given the chance I think he will shine. Its just will his teammates have enough to support him.

From other standpoints I just don't feel confident that Ash will win. He came into Unova too nooby whereas Hoenn and Sinnoh he had some vetness about him. What also concerns me is if Virgil is Top 4 then he faces some random CoTD. I have the feeling Virgil wins regardless if he showcases a new Eevee or not. And please don't have Eevee beat Pikachu, been there done that with Gary at Oaks Lab.

As for Eevee and a new evo seems kind of hard to evolve it mid battle(especially since its never before seen).

[Iceman3317]

Well that just brought Team Plasma back into the picture. There is eather a new arc or episode with N in it according to Serebii

And a note saying Best Wishes 2 Episode N.

The preview,shows Oak saying something on TV or something and then it goes black. N starts to walk down steps into the outside light and then it stops.

[BinaryPeaches]

Linking to the video so people know what you (and I) are talking about:



In which I will have to agree with the majority of what Kenshin said above and this video kind of shows. Especially the part with Leavanny in which it easily dodges a Close Combat (that wouldn't be very effective on the Bug/Grass Pokemon anyways). Also it looks like Pignite might have taken Hydreigon down but lost to Samurott. Or somehow took Samurott down and lost to Hydreigon? The former seems more likely but I'm bad at predicting these kinds of things. Though they didn't show any part of what could be a battle between Virgil and Ash so that is something that still needs to be found out at all.

As for N .... it looks like that the idea of Plasma stopping the league or halting it might actually become reality (which is what I personally wanted but said it was unrealistic ... it kind of became more realistic). That or Ash loses and then we jump to Plasma but then I would think they would have done the preview a bit differently.

As for Eevee the only way Eevee can possibly evolve mid-battle (unless they show us a new way to evolve with it) is if it learns a new move during the battle. Someone speculated gender-related but I'm not quite sure how that could be pulled off.

[XanderO]

Originally Posted by BinaryPeaches

Linking to the video so people know what you (and I) are talking about:



In which I will have to agree with the majority of what Kenshin said above and this video kind of shows. Especially the part with Leavanny in which it easily dodges a Close Combat (that wouldn't be very effective on the Bug/Grass Pokemon anyways). Also it looks like Pignite might have taken Hydreigon down but lost to Samurott. Or somehow took Samurott down and lost to Hydreigon? The former seems more likely but I'm bad at predicting these kinds of things. Though they didn't show any part of what could be a battle between Virgil and Ash so that is something that still needs to be found out at all.

As for N .... it looks like that the idea of Plasma stopping the league or halting it might actually become reality (which is what I personally wanted but said it was unrealistic ... it kind of became more realistic). That or Ash loses and then we jump to Plasma but then I would think they would have done the preview a bit differently.

As for Eevee the only way Eevee can possibly evolve mid-battle (unless they show us a new way to evolve with it) is if it learns a new move during the battle. Someone speculated gender-related but I'm not quite sure how that could be pulled off.

Since N's episode is written differently, I don't think it plays any part in with the Unova tournament. Its either a one-shot episode like the Brock/Misty episodes and the unaired Brock/Dawn episodes. That is if its not like the special Roar of Thunder filler feom Johto. It may be a quick animated version of N vs Hilda/Hilbert.

I don't expect anything great from it since it looks like a side filler that has nothing to do with the Tournament. Can't watch it on my phone so haven't seen trailer.

[BinaryPeaches]

Yeah. Didn't think about any of that until after I made my post. Either way, people are happy that N is going to be animated. It'll be even better if he was involved in the anime directly especially after not showing the two episodes that did have Plasma. But either way I'm pretty excited for it.

But with that said we should leave further discussion of N until later after we find out whether it's a special/after tournament thing that warrants its own thread or if it's a league thing and sticks around here.

Back to the tournament the images for Trips and Ash's second part of the battle came up on Serebii and

Spoiler:

wow what a way to win ash. that's what we call luck or whatever. also wow with serperior seriously wrapping Pikachu and causing it to turn purple. and for whoever wanted kotetsu and bianca battle it's in that episode as well.

[Iceman3317]

Ya,I posted something that we don't even know if it is part of the main anime line or not. But just seems out how they only show him walking down steps and out a door. Hard to tell right now and ya I seen the Bianca picture on Serebii. I still dislike how Ash won.

[Kenshin5]

Hopefully a Plasma arc comes to fruition, but either way it doesn't seem like their presence will be wasted like I was beginning to feel they were going to just be written out. Although the portion of the trailer really doesn't give us much insight.

Originally Posted by BinaryPeaches

Also it looks like Pignite might have taken Hydreigon down but lost to Samurott. Or somehow took Samurott down and lost to Hydreigon? The former seems more likely but I'm bad at predicting these kinds of things. Though they didn't show any part of what could be a battle between Virgil and Ash so that is something that still needs to be found out at all.

As for N .... it looks like that the idea of Plasma stopping the league or halting it might actually become reality (which is what I personally wanted but said it was unrealistic ... it kind of became more realistic). That or Ash loses and then we jump to Plasma but then I would think they would have done the preview a bit differently.

As for Eevee the only way Eevee can possibly evolve mid-battle (unless they show us a new way to evolve with it) is if it learns a new move during the battle. Someone speculated gender-related but I'm not quite sure how that could be pulled off.

Pika takes out Samurott from the looks of the scans.

I hope that theory comes to light, cause for me the League didn't really seem league like. For instance usually they have some kind of festive atmosphere, and Mr. Goodshow is present. In this cause neither was there. There was little build up to the league. I mean sure there was a little build up while they were staying at the Villa.

As for the Eeveelution yeah it seems like a move related evo that would have to occur. Of course who knows what evo methods they would have by sixth gen.

[XanderO]

Originally Posted by Kenshin5

Hopefully a Plasma arc comes to fruition, but either way it doesn't seem like their presence will be wasted like I was beginning to feel they were going to just be written out. Although the portion of the trailer really doesn't give us much insight.


Pika takes out Samurott from the looks of the scans.

I hope that theory comes to light, cause for me the League didn't really seem league like. For instance usually they have some kind of festive atmosphere, and Mr. Goodshow is present. In this cause neither was there. There was little build up to the league. I mean sure there was a little build up while they were staying at the Villa.

As for the Eeveelution yeah it seems like a move related evo that would have to occur. Of course who knows what evo methods they would have by sixth gen.

For Kotetsu, the scan with full team rosters had 2 Samurott on Kotetsu's team. He could have 2.

For Eevee, keep in mind the Anime isn't good at keeping Evolutions to Canon versions. They may evolve one way in the games but the anime doesn't always follow that. Same said for Form Changes for some Pokemon.

[Iceman3317]

Another good point. And yeah,I was wondering why he had 2 Samurotts. Just did not say anything.

[Kenshin5]

Could be a Zoroark or Ditto. Or very well a typo since it shows Ash Unfezant as a Male, he shows 7 pokemon when we know Ash is using Pikachu so obviously one shown won't battle.

And the evolution part is very true considering instances such as Politoed evolving from just contact with Kings Rock. Either way I'd love to see our first sixth gen here. But I don't get the feeling we will for some reason.

[Iceman3317]

With N being the next arc according to Serebii. I assume eather Ash will win and follow Black/White 1 storyline. Or Team Plasma will stop the League right after Virgil and Ash's battle.

[XanderO]

Originally Posted by Iceman3317

With N being the next arc according to Serebii. I assume eather Ash will win and follow Black/White 1 storyline. Or Team Plasma will stop the League right after Virgil and Ash's battle.

According to Serebii the N Arc (which honestly, with the name like Episode N still sounds like it'll be one of the special Episodes like the Johto series that had G/S/C's Main Protagonists fighting Team Rocket to save a Raikou.) starts after the Unova League finishes. So I don't see any interruption yet.

[BinaryPeaches]

There could possibly be some build-up though. For example whatever 'strange place' Axew finds himself in (which honest to goodness better be build-up if Axew is getting lost again), and with the three or so episodes between Kotetsu and the N Episode they could possibly bring in some more build-up. Who knows, but it would be neat.

[Iceman3317]

Spoiler:

Binary posted this on another thread. I'll let him tell you what he said. So maybe Ash will win still. It is still hard to say. However,it does look like they are in some sort of stadium with the wall and the white line in the back ground.

[BinaryPeaches]

Well, we know for certain now that the Unova League is competed before the Plasma Saga starts. So the question is 'who wins' still up in the air.

Spoiler:

Axew's episode seems to be practically pointless other than to see more Virgil it seems. Weh. But Stephan has a Liepard and ... what's with the guy with his back turned in the ending image? I don't think it's really someone to mention since he hasn't been introduced officially yet but it's a thought that came across my mind while looking at the screenshots.

[Iceman3317]

Yeah, it seemed pointless to me as well. I guess they put it in to break up the fighting. There might be another after Kortesu match.

I looked at the pictures again. The guy with his back turned looks like a badass. He is also almost the very opposite side of Ash, on the match maker. He is also under Virgil. I just set up a quick bracket to see how many matched there would be. There is 4 from Stephan's match with Ash. So there is 4 more rounds. Stephan, Kortesu, Virgil, and the guy with his back turned will probably be Ash's matches. If he beats Virgil

[Kenshin5]

The guy with his backed turned is Dino, which Ash has in fact already faced and defeated in Don Battle Semis. He could win who knows, if they went by badass looks he will win lol. Yeah I still have a feeling Virgil will beat him, but only time will tell.

[BinaryPeaches]

... So apparently the conclusion of the Unova League will be the conclusion of the Ash vs Kotetsu battle?? I'm a little confused since we've already seen a preview for that battle and it certainly looked like that Ash wins it. However, the title it called 'Episode 769: Unova League Conclusion! Lucario VS Pikachu!!'

I'm dumb and can't think of a reason for this (unless Plasma does jump in at the end but that doesn't seem to be the case). Anyone willing to fill this in for me. I mean, I can see Kotetsu's Riolu evolving into Lucario (and thus pulling the same move Ash always does and winning after an evolution) but yeah... For all I'm concerned the last panel of the scans shown on the last page in this thread could be Kotetsu being excited that he had won? It's possible I guess.