A Birdacious Battle! Brave Bird VS Sky Attack!! (1076)

[Mag Prime]

None.

Well, jokes aside, it is a popular pokemon and Ash is missing a 6th pokemon.

So the possibilities to consider are:

1. He continues with only 5 pokemon. Possibility: Decent. Reception: Worst. (Honestly it would suck to get a league without even a single full battle.)
2. Poipole comes back. Possibility: Decent. Reception: Good. (Did Poipole even have a battle while Ash had it? Either way, many people would be ok with this.)
3. He brings back a pokemon from Oak such as Charizard. Possibility: Low. Reception: Mixed. (I guess it depends on which pokemon comes back but some people will be pissed, some people will be happy either way.)
4. He catches a new pokemon. Possibility: Low. Reception: Good. (I'm sure people wouldn't mind but I'm not sure where he is gonna find a new pokemon halfway through the league.)
5. Greninja comes back for the league. Possibility: Lowest. Reception: Best. (Greninja is a popular one right? I don't suppose there are many Greninja haters out there)
6. Ash borrows somebody's pokemon. Possibility: Low. Reception: Bad. (I don't expect people will be particularly keen on Ash accepting donations because he couldn't manage to catch a full team this region.)

So in terms of likelihood, I expect he will either stick with 5 pokemon, or Poipole will come back. There is a small chance that he will catch a new pokemon, borrow somebody else's pokemon or fill in the slot from his old pokemon but I wouldn't bet on any of these and I'm certainly not betting on Greninja.

However, in terms of fan reception, the best case scenario would probably be Greninja, with acceptable possibilities being catching a new pokemon or Poipole coming back. Bringing back an old pokemon could work but I can see half the people raging if Charizard comes back and the other half raging if something other than Charizard comes back, so I think it's a bit risky. I'm sure many people will not be happy if Ash stays with 5 pokemon or borrows a 6th pokemon from somebody else. I sure as hell won't be.

Wouldn't it be cool if they actually gave (me) us what we wanted for a change and brought Greninja back?

tl;dr Realistically though, Poipole strikes a healthy balance of likely and acceptable and so my money would be on that one.

 

[DuquÊ?]

Believe me, I'd love to see greninja back, but there's no place for him this time, specially this league. I don't actually believe we'll have a full battle, and even if that's the case for the finals...well, they had all the chances to give Ash a sixth and nothing. A reserve is improbable, and very improbable if it isn't a Kanto mon. Poipole still is a possiblity, if the Mohn arc is right after the league.

Honest to God, I prefer no full battle, a 3 x 3 looks fine enough this time.

 

[satopi]

Maybe Ash will finally catch a Dunsparce... thus breaking and continuing the tradition.

As much as I would love for Poipole to return, it barely battled and is basically a baby unless it returns in it’s evolved form. I want an older Pokémon to return as the 6th Pokémon, though a 6th Pokemon isn’t needed when they’ve been doing 1v1 battles and there being no requirement to have 6 Pokémon to enter.

 

[Twilight-Kun]

So Rowlet

- ate a Z-Move
- got completely thrashed by Decidueye
- survived two Brave Bird recoils
- won the match despite effectively knocking itself out via narcolepsy instead of falling asleep from the effects of an opponent's move

Whereas Decidueye

- got hit twice
- loses despite effectively knocking Rowlet out by triggering its narcolepsy by weakening it


Usually it's nonsensical contrivances to make Ash lose, not win

 

[Sceptile Leaf Blade]

Rowlet dodged that Z-Move... didn't you pay attention? And even though Decidueye only took two direct hits, those two direct hits were Brave Birds coming from above, making them a lot stronger. Rowlet took some direct hits, but nothing overly powerful. One uncharged Sky Attack coming from below and two resisted Leaf Blades if I recall correctly. Rowlet won because Hau didn't have a proper defence against Brave Birds from above. That was Decidueye's weakness in this battle and Ash exploited it.

 

[Twilight-Kun]

Rowlet dodged that Z-Move... didn't you pay attention?

Yep

Rowlet got hit by Decidueye, then got peppered by arrows, and blew up twice, THEN moved to the side after the fact

If that's your definition of "dodge" I'd hate to see your definition of "clobbered"

 

[Sceptile Leaf Blade]

Rotom literally says Rowlet dodged it. It just looked like it was hit but it was only the Decidueye cloak that got hit.

 

[Twilight-Kun]

Rotom literally says Rowlet dodged it. It just looked like it was hit but it was only the Decidueye cloak that got hit.

Rotom being wrong about things has been a staple of the series from day one

Spoiler: "Dodging"

As I've said before, that's like getting hit by a car, then waking up in the hospital and saying "Hah! You missed!"

I'm sure the medical bill will magically disappear if you ignore it long enough

 

[Lord Starfish]

Making it look like a character got caught up in some seemingly inescapable danger and then after the fact going "PSYCHE! THEY ACTUALLY GOT OUT OF THE WAY!" is pretty standard childrens' show fare though. I remember this being brought up in an analysis of that part in Dragon Ball Z where Goku is clearly shown as still being on Namek when the planet exploded, and then later they revealed that, nope, he actually found a working space pod at the last second and escaped the planet unscathed! To quote Kanzenshuu...

Why would they do something so silly? It likely has to do with a difference in perspective between older fans and Dragon Ball‘s younger intended audience (and by extension the anime staff writing with them in mind). Older fans (and we are generalizing here, of course) tend to want consistency and continuity in their stories, whereas younger fans are not quite as concerned about that. There is a long tradition for stories aimed at children to feature the hero making miraculous escapes from certain doom. Early movie serials are a good example: the Commando Cody serials, for instance, always ended with a cliffhanger that seemed to depict Cody and his friends’ actual deaths, through such various methods as plane crashes, death traps, and lava flows. The next episode in the serial though would recap the last serial’s ending, and insert completely new footage of Cody and company bailing out of the plane just in time, fleeing the lava through a previously unseen passageway, etc. (when the Cody shorts were featured on the movie-mocking show Mystery Science Theater 3000, Tom Servo wryly noted that Cody was always saved thanks to editing). To older audiences this may seem shameless and cheap, but kids tend to eat this up. The anime staff was likely following this tradition when they decided to make Goku’s death seem even more certain than in the manga, despite knowing he would survive — the more inescapable the peril, the more exciting it is when the hero actually does escape. It is what the kids want, and continuity is not always the driving concern.

Mokuroh clearly being hit by the Z-Move only for them to then go "Nope! He actually evaded it by shedding his cloak!" afterwards is just a... less death-defying version of the same trick.

 

[Doppelgänger]

Decidueye's Grass-type attacks don't amount to much. The real damage was eating the two Brave Bird recoils and the first incomplete Sky Attack. Sinister Arrow Raid and the second Sky Attack were dodged with Substitute. Since Spirit Shackle does no damage, Grass-type attacks and Sky Attack were the only way to actually hurt Rowlet.

It's still a tad too much bulk, but Rowlet could conceivably tank all that if you squint hard enough.

 

[JC317]

Decidueye's Grass-type attacks don't amount to much. The real damage was eating the two Brave Bird recoils and the first incomplete Sky Attack. Sinister Arrow Raid and the second Sky Attack were dodged with Substitute. Since Spirit Shackle does no damage, Grass-type attacks and Sky Attack were the only way to actually hurt Rowlet.

It's still a tad too much bulk, but Rowlet could conceivably tank all that if you squint hard enough.

I've squint so much that I think I fused my eyelids close, but now I can finally see how Rowlet tanked all those moves.

On a side note, I've watched the episode, but I don't think the recoil damage from Brave Bird was actually shown onscreen? They just showed Rowlet looking slight scratched up and exhausted, but nothing like Volt Tackle, Flare Blitz, or even previous incarnations of Brave Bird where there would be sparks flying out to indicate recoil damage...

 

[Twilight-Kun]

Since Spirit Shackle does no damage, Grass-type attacks and Sky Attack were the only way to actually hurt Rowlet.

Don't forget the kicks

 

[Spider-Phoenix]

Well, jokes aside, it is a popular pokemon and Ash is missing a 6th pokemon.

So the possibilities to consider are:

1. He continues with only 5 pokemon. Possibility: Decent. Reception: Worst. (Honestly it would suck to get a league without even a single full battle.)
2. Poipole comes back. Possibility: Decent. Reception: Good. (Did Poipole even have a battle while Ash had it? Either way, many people would be ok with this.)
3. He brings back a pokemon from Oak such as Charizard. Possibility: Low. Reception: Mixed. (I guess it depends on which pokemon comes back but some people will be pissed, some people will be happy either way.)
4. He catches a new pokemon. Possibility: Low. Reception: Good. (I'm sure people wouldn't mind but I'm not sure where he is gonna find a new pokemon halfway through the league.)
5. Greninja comes back for the league. Possibility: Lowest. Reception: Best. (Greninja is a popular one right? I don't suppose there are many Greninja haters out there)
6. Ash borrows somebody's pokemon. Possibility: Low. Reception: Bad. (I don't expect people will be particularly keen on Ash accepting donations because he couldn't manage to catch a full team this region.)

So in terms of likelihood, I expect he will either stick with 5 pokemon, or Poipole will come back. There is a small chance that he will catch a new pokemon, borrow somebody else's pokemon or fill in the slot from his old pokemon but I wouldn't bet on any of these and I'm certainly not betting on Greninja.

However, in terms of fan reception, the best case scenario would probably be Greninja, with acceptable possibilities being catching a new pokemon or Poipole coming back. Bringing back an old pokemon could work but I can see half the people raging if Charizard comes back and the other half raging if something other than Charizard comes back, so I think it's a bit risky. I'm sure many people will not be happy if Ash stays with 5 pokemon or borrows a 6th pokemon from somebody else. I sure as hell won't be.

Wouldn't it be cool if they actually gave (me) us what we wanted for a change and brought Greninja back?

tl;dr Realistically though, Poipole strikes a healthy balance of likely and acceptable and so my money would be on that one.

In a way it's fit on scenario 6 but there's the possibility Ash just uses Ride Garchomp.

 

[raichu27]

It's nice to see that Ash had won. I hope he gets to win the Alola league. Shame he didn't get to win the Kalos league like many people wanted.

 

[hottom3rd]

The final is going to be a meme battle for sure.

LMAO YUPP

 

[Sham]

LMAO YUPP

I love the internet.

 

[Poke Master 7]

The Ultra Space battles. aka the battles against Lusamine's possessed team and Utsuroid. Mao, Mamane and Suiren's fight was a gag battle, but the rest of them were not.

Are we seriously counting battles that we barely even saw? Most of that consisted of cutting away from them, showing a small exchange and then her Pokémon getting back up again. The general situation was serious, but that qualifies more under the writers cutting corners in a position where they could have given the others a moment to shine and instead putting the spotlight on Ash, Lillie and Gladion.

 

[Lightning Bolt]

Honestly, this battle wasn't good but it wasn't the atrocious sh*tty fest ppl are claiming.

 

[Twilight-Kun]

Can't believe Hau lost to an idiot who can't even train his pokemon correctly and has super powerful pokemon given to him without fanfare who then rushes the dreams of hopeful league-goers

Boy, why am I getting a sense of deja-vu?

 

[OshyHikari]

It's nice to see that Ash had won. I hope he gets to win the Alola league. Shame he didn't get to win the Kalos league like many people wanted.

Sadly the fandom will mostly riot if he wins, as Alola became Ash's first region without getting a full team. The final is sadly looking to most likely be a 3x3, because there's been so much corner-cutting.