I always knew I'd use Froakie and for my partner, I was deciding between Charmander, Chimchar & Riolu. Would be nice to have a Fire type, but I also want someone who can go Mega, so I guess that rules out Chimchar. Will use him in Sky if we ever get Sky on Wii U VC (we might be getting Blue Rescue Team in the future!!!!!). I already used Charmander in Y and I always liked Mega Lucario, so that's why I was thinking of Riolu. I suppose I could also pick Torchic. Now that I think about it, I might pick Torchic instead. I do kind of regret not picking Torchic in Omega Ruby.
Yeah, easily! Not like there was stiff competition since the Sinnoh League though. Ash VS Clay, Skyla and a majority of the Kalos gym leaders were great though. As are the Mega Evo Act fights. One thing that's really made these fights in XY amazing is that they got rid of those speed lines that used to appear most times a trainer called out a move or when a Pokémon attacked. Another key to having a great fight is having Masaaki Iwane animate them (he animated the fight against Olympia, for example). By the way, the new opening looks amazing! I still hope Ash's Charizard returns and mega evolves though.