The Kalos League Speculation Thread

Wow Ash you've been sweeping your early opponents. Definitely disappointing because it's rushed, and Trevor lost very easily as well which is such a huge waste of him as a character since he had no other Pokemon revealed besides that Charizard of his.

Yeah I am kinda hoping Tierno and Trevor come back in Alola. It would be nice. It looks like both will be put out early. I just wish the 2nd group had more dev time, but I guess that makes them like there game counterparts. Think Shauna got more Dev.

Ash and Alain remind me of Tobias right now.

Really sucks that Ash won't be using some of his Pokemon from the previous regions. That's what I liked about the Sinnoh League: some old favorites (such as Noctowl, Donphan, Sceptile, Heracross, etc) had the chance to shine.

Since Alain's only Pokemon is Mega Charizard X right now, I'm getting strong Tobias vibes from him as well...he's going to storm through Ash if it comes to it. Ash will probably do something stupid like save Greninja for last and it'll be a double knockout so Alain wins by default.

The writers know that Ash is too strong just like in Sinnoh, so it looks like they'll be bringing in Tobias 2.0 to take him out.

I don't see Alan as Takuto, for a number of reasons.

The reason Satoshi vs. Takuto played out the way it did was because there was only one episode to knock Satoshi out of the Sinnoh League. Every other full battle (excepting the similarly one-sided Shinji vs. Shirona/Jindai) has two or three-parts for a reason. Assuming there are six episodes for the Kalos League, we've already gotten past Tierno, Trova, Ayaka, and Shota in four. That leaves two more for a Satoshi vs. Alan final, and that would mean we're getting a proper battle.

Takuto was also far out of Satoshi's League and that was obvious from the minute Darkrai knocked out Heracross despite the type disadvantage. XY&Z023, on the other hand, shows Onvern, in its first acknowledged (meaning the writers were fully aware of this) trainer battle, putting up a good fight against Alan's more experienced Metang, to the point Alan admits that he almost lost. That whole scene shows that Satoshi is fully capable of fighting Alan on an equal level, even when he's not using Gekkouga. So even if Alan is stronger now, he's not by such a margin that Satoshi couldn't catch up to him.

Takuto was supposed to come across as unbeatable, Alan is not.

Story-wise, it doesn't make sense. Alan's main reason for even entering the League in the first place was facing Satoshi, because Alan respects and acknowledges Satoshi's strength as a trainer. If Alan ever felt that he was capable of sweeping Satoshi 6-1 or 6-2, like Takuto did, he wouldn't be so interested in fighting him. Moreover, Satoshi has already fought and lost to Alan twice before. Satoshi vs. Alan has been hyped as one of the two most important matches of the Kalos League, the writers aren't going to treat it like a throwaway the way they did Takuto's battle.

Now, Alan could still very much win. But if he does, it'll more likely be a close, 6-5 battle rather than a one-sided stomp. Alan would be Tetsuya in this scenario, not Takuto.

Hikamaru said:

Wow Ash you've been sweeping your early opponents. Definitely disappointing because it's rushed, and Trevor lost very easily as well which is such a huge waste of him as a character since he had no other Pokemon revealed besides that Charizard of his.

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The episode revealed Ptera and Florges as two other of Trova's Pokémon.

I'm probably alone in thinking this, but Trova was such a non-factor this whole series that showcasing Lizardon Y was about all he was ever good for. The battle (the whole round, actually) should have just been a 1-vs.-1 between the two Lizardons so as to allow the Y-variant to get a better showing against X before losing.

RickGrimes said:

Really sucks that Ash won't be using some of his Pokemon from the previous regions. That's what I liked about the Sinnoh League: some old favorites (such as Noctowl, Donphan, Sceptile, Heracross, etc) had the chance to shine.

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I was disappointed, too, but the more I think about it, Satoshi's old Pokémon would feel really out-of-place in the Kalos League. XY and XY&Z are probably the two most self-contained Pocket Monsters series, to the point it doesn't even look like we'll be getting the usual appearance from past characters like Iris. DP referenced past series enough that I could buy Satoshi using older Pokémon in Sinnoh, but I honestly couldn't see it here.

With the new episode title, it seems to confirm that Ash will make it to the finals.

Episode 932: Fierce Fighting at the Kalos League! Gather, All of My Passion!!

According to Serebii, it continues Ash's Kalos League Campaign and I don't see Ash vs Shota lasting 3 episodes.

One episode title. This suggests to me that Ash is going to lose in that episode, be it to Sawyer or Alain. At least, it seems unlikely that they'll continue with the Kalos League after that episode, as they seem to usually reveal episode titles in twos or threes unless they want to keep things hush-hush. 933 will probably be something Team Flare plot-related, or an aftermath episode.

Meloetta said:

One episode title. This suggests to me that Ash is going to lose in that episode, be it to Sawyer or Alain. At least, it seems unlikely that they'll continue with the Kalos League after that episode, as they seem to usually reveal episode titles in twos or threes unless they want to keep things hush-hush. 933 will probably be something Team Flare plot-related, or an aftermath episode.

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Either that, or they're rushing through Alain's battle and having Ash be the winner of it. Or they want to keep us on our toes.

Either way, even IF Ash does lose to Alain (which I find unlikely since, unlike Tobias, Alain and Ash actually MET before the league and have interacted, not to mention fought each other twice before.), Ash will have at least managed to redeem himself of his loss in Unova either way (not to mention actually do better than in Sinnoh).

weedle_mchairybug said:

Either that, or they're rushing through Alain's battle and having Ash be the winner of it. Or they want to keep us on our toes.

Either way, even IF Ash does lose to Alain (which I find unlikely since, unlike Tobias, Alain and Ash actually MET before the league and have interacted, not to mention fought each other twice before.), Ash will have at least managed to redeem himself of his loss in Unova either way (not to mention actually do better than in Sinnoh).

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It seems unlikely they'd rush an Ash/Alain battle if Ash was going to win it, especially considering it's the Kalos League final. The fact that they've met before DOES suggest Ash is due a win this time since that is typically how the series likes to go, but...eh. A single episode title gives me mixed messages. Have they ever tried to keep us on our toes before? For Sinnoh and Unova at least I'm pretty sure we knew in advance that Ash wasn't going to win.

If not for the fact that they've specifically stated the episode continues Ash's struggles in the competition, I'd think it was a Sawyer/Alain battle...that would make more sense if they were going to rush it.

Agh, damnit. Need more episode titles.

Meloetta said:

It seems unlikely they'd rush an Ash/Alain battle if Ash was going to win it, especially considering it's the Kalos League final. The fact that they've met before DOES suggest Ash is due a win this time since that is typically how the series likes to go, but...eh. A single episode title gives me mixed messages. Have they ever tried to keep us on our toes before? For Sinnoh and Unova at least I'm pretty sure we knew in advance that Ash wasn't going to win.

If not for the fact that they've specifically stated the episode continues Ash's struggles in the competition, I'd think it was a Sawyer/Alain battle...that would make more sense if they were going to rush it.

Agh, damnit. Need more episode titles.

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They did with Sinnoh, at least. We weren't even sure if Ash was going to go to Unova even AFTER Generation V was announced until the very last minute. In AG and in BW, they generally indicated Ash would be going to the next region and thus lose the league of the current region. For all we knew during the Sinnoh League, Ash actually WOULD win (and I doubt it was a coincidence that it was also the same series that actually EXPLAINED how to become a Pok?mon Master).

I wouldn't be so upset if Ash lost to Alain in the finals compared to some of his previous loses ( Sinnoh and Unova). I feel that the final will be interrupted by Flare, then we'll see Alain Vs. Ash restart after the mess that will ensue is done.

Now, if Ash/Alain WAS interrupted by a Flare plot, I could see him winning the rematch...potentially, if they give it the number of episodes it would need to be seen through. If they're running short on episodes it could very well be a Mega Charizard X/Ash-Greninja one-on-one that he could lose or tie in at best though; I suppose it'd depend on the number of episodes left before S&M was due to start...

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Now , As you see that Ash & Shota battling on Grass field first which mean Ash-Greninja will face Mega Sceptile on the Rock field .

Which mean , Ash-Greninja might not use his massive Water shuriken against Shota.
Since Ash-Greninja fires the massive Water shuriken on Grass field.
Or ether , Ash-Greninja use that Shuriken early Or Ash-Greninja use that Shuriken against Mega Charizard X.

This is disappointing...

Pok?mon's first and second Kalos League episodes didn't even make the Top 10 according to Anime News Network. Those would have been the episodes that would have gotten a spike in ratings, yet they haven't shown anything for it.

I'm sure I'll enjoy the action and animation but I still have a hard time being excited for Ash vs Sawyer with how jarring Sawyer's strength leap is to me. He went from rookie who could barely battle to getting all 8 of his badges before Ash in spite of a 5 badge gap, with him winning 7 of them in the span it took Ash to win 1, surpassing Ash and every not-Alain character on the XY cast, getting a Mega, Pseudo-Legendary and one of the strongest non-Legendary Pokemon in the entire Pokemon world, strongest in-game, while also making it to the Top 4 of his 1st league with ease all in the span of 60-70 episodes. As bad as Trip was at least he was a badge ahead of Ash from the start due to a head start and lost early in his 1st league in spite of his 'overpoweredness'.

For goodness sake, Sawyer's even got a lineup that'd make Paul green with envy.

For me, the issue is that even though Shota won the last battle with Satoshi it still doesn?t feel like he?s a real threat to him. Satoshi not only defeated Shota twice before, he swept him 3-0 both times. In return, Shota only has a 3-2 win against Satoshi when the latter character was supposed to be at a narrative low point. If Satoshi had actually been focused on that battle and not distracting and doubting himself trying to draw out Satoshi-Gekkouga (highly out-of-character for Satoshi, by the way), or if he?d been able to draw out Satoshi-Gekkouga at all, then the battle might have had a much different outcome.

Moreover, nothing changed when Shota defeated Satoshi, or even when Shota watched Satoshi?s disastrous Gym Battle against Urup. He still sees Satoshi the exact same way as he did before. Shota?s final statement in XY&Z027 had him talking about how he still admires Satoshi, that he believes Satoshi will bounce back and enter the League, etc. Their dynamic continues on as it always was, Shota is still essentially chasing after Satoshi and probably always will be now that Satoshi will likely defeat him in the League. And, for his part, Satoshi doesn?t seem all that worried about facing Shota now that he?s gotten past his issues.

Now this would all work if the conclusion to the story is meant to be that, no matter how much stronger he?s gotten, Shota is still not on Satoshi?s level. Because that?s what makes more sense. Shota is not a Shigeru or a Shinji, or even an Alan. Beating him will not signal that Satoshi has gotten any stronger, just that Satoshi has re-gained ground he should never have lost in the first place. Unfortunately, from the advertising, it seems like the story wants to say that the two are now equals. Except, they?re not. Shota will graduate from this series never once having beaten Satoshi at 100%, but is supposed to be just as strong as him now.

http://illustrious-rocket.tumblr.com/post/147171449821/if-there-are-no-more-breaks-august-4-chespin

So if this is an indication, Ash will likely not win and that means Alain is the Kalos League Champion. Ash not winning seems to be a tradition that won't get broken I'm afraid, but if there's no more breaks after next week then I guess the Team Flare climax happens and then after the September 22nd episode the anime focuses on wrap-up episodes for Serena, Bonnie and Clemont before Ash says farewell to them and heading off for the Alola region.

This is assuming that the Alola saga will begin around the time of Sun & Moon's release. CoroCoro is also getting released later this week and July tends to be the month of choice to announce a new generation's anime series so news on the eventual Alola saga has to be announced soon.

Hikamaru said:

http://illustrious-rocket.tumblr.com/post/147171449821/if-there-are-no-more-breaks-august-4-chespin

So if this is an indication, Ash will likely not win and that means Alain is the Kalos League Champion. Ash not winning seems to be a tradition that won't get broken I'm afraid, but if there's no more breaks after next week then I guess the Team Flare climax happens and then after the September 22nd episode the anime focuses on wrap-up episodes for Serena, Bonnie and Clemont before Ash says farewell to them and heading off for the Alola region.

This is assuming that the Alola saga will begin around the time of Sun & Moon's release. CoroCoro is also getting released later this week and July tends to be the month of choice to announce a new generation's anime series so news on the eventual Alola saga has to be announced soon.

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We'll see. I still have my doubts, though:

1. Alain has yet to be beaten by Ash, and if they wanted him to beat Ash at the league, they should have just introduced him there, or at least not have them fight at all until then.

2. The league would end in August, and considering we've got August, September, October, and part of November until Sun and Moon are released, that's definitely far too long of a wait (and besides, considering just how poorly received the Decolore Islands arc was, I'm pretty sure the writers would not want to do a rehash on that), even WITH the Team Flare conclusion (which reminds me, that generally is two to three parts, like with Team Magma/Aqua's conclusion and the Team Galactic Conclusion).

3. If they wanted to have Ash lose the league, why would they air it in July? Wouldn't it make more sense to air the league in October or even in November?

Besides, we don't even know if they're even going to do gyms in Sun and Moon. In fact, it's rumored that those games would focus on the formulation of the actual league and may forego gym challenging altogether.

And if challenging the Elite 4 is anything like the games, most likely Ash will be facing them back to back until he faces the champion. That means he'll probably have five episodes to beat them (assuming they get one episode per Elite 4 plus champion), ten episodes tops (assuming all members plus the champion get two parters each). And who says that he has to lose the league. Just having him lose against an Elite 4 member would suffice if they REALLY need an excuse for him to continue his journey to Alola.

Eh, oh well, even if he does lose, not only would it more than make up for what happened with Unova, but he even managed to beat his best in Sinnoh, which makes the wait worth it.

I never really though Ash would win the League until he finished 2nd to be honest. However, maybe they will bring back Alain or something. I am still kinda expecting the League to be canceled early or something.

However, September seems too early to end the Flare Arc, that is still 5 episodes and there usually isn't that big of an ending to a pokemon season, unless you count Unova. Flare Arc is likely to last at least 6 or 7 episodes.

The League will last until at least 2nd week of August, that only give Flare 4 episodes before the 22nd and I just think that is too small considering they will probably go to different towns.