I think Ash went easy on Misty because he knows all too well she has a passion for water type pokemon. It’s true that Misty won the battle for Clauncher. But not for the title of the World Champion. This battle happens to be the fun type of battle. If this were to be an official battle, then Ash would have emerge victorious as to defend his title. I don’t mind seeing her traveling with Ash once again. She’s kind of like a tsundere for him.
I mean if being real, wasn’t this kinds confirmed by Ash choosing not to use Pikachu? Like he openly acknowledged Pikachu would clean house but then decided not to go with him. If that isn’t a sign of Ash choosing to be casual with a friendly battle then I don’t know what is
Because winning a league is different from being the strongest trainer in the world. If Ash left after sinnoh or kalor or whatever, many people would rightfully believe there is still higher stakes.
But after beating Leon, where else do you even go from here. How do you even write rivals? Whose is even gonna be stronger than Leon? Greeta? Lol
I mean to be fair, the last option isn’t exactly impossible to happen. There have been cases in battling-related series where a protagonist became a champion at something but still continued on as the MC. For example, with Beyblade, Tyson became a champion in the OG era but then got defeated by a stronger opponent afterwards at the time, so he worked to reclaim his title. Gingka became a world champion in Metal Masters but then we got Metal Fury after that. Valt Aoi became world champion in the 2nd season of Burst and has been a reoccurring character in every single season after that, and is going to be making
yet another appearance in the upcoming Burst season, QuadStrike. Pokemons a lot more diverse with what someone can do with Pokémon related goals, so it wasn’t impossible for Ash to continue onward after beating Leon.
Paldea at least would’ve worked well with Ash as champion also. Not only does it have multiple champions, but it’s multiple different quests could’ve had Ash do a non-battling goal (which is something he started doing since the SM days) like ending team star or doing the treasure hunt, while someone else can take up the battling challenge. That’s why people argue Nemona beating him wouldn’t be so bad if they battled since she isn’t a rookie.
And honestly, I’ve always said this, but what would be the purpose of a PWC in the first place if new regions and champions that didn’t participate in the world championships earlier are going to get introduced? There’s nothing stopping Greeta from being introduced as a stronger champion than Leon later on narratively, but was just someone who decided not to participate, just as others like Paul and Wallace chose not to. And if Rikos series ends up being in the same timeline as Ashes, this point becomes even more apparent.
I won’t argue this too much since, with Ash leaving, it obviously doesn’t matter now, but just felt like I should make this point.
