Ash's strongest rival

[345ash-greninja]

I won the Biggest fan of the XY series award in the 2017-18 PAD Awards Thread (https://forums.serebii.net/threads/2017-18-pokémon-anime-discussion-awards-thread.660631/page-2#post-18521890) and even I can say that Paul edges out Alain in terms of pure skill and as a strategist. Paul is the only trainer in the Pokemon anime to date who made Pokemon battling look like a pro-sport, applying subtle strategy and tactics in pretty much every aspects of his battle. I find it hard to recall a single move Paul made in a battle where he wasn't being strategic. He always has a pre-planned strategy whenever he going out to have a battle, and subtly puts in effect those tactics/strategies he planned prior to the battle on field depending on the on-field situations of the battle to catch his opponents off-guard. Take his Lake Acucity battle for example where he utilized pretty much every one his Pokemon's abilities to put Ash's Pokemon in tough situations, remember Electabuzz's Light Sceen which gave Ash's Pokemon a headache many times throughout the battle. Or rather remember Drapion's Toxic Spikes throughout the Sinnoh League battle which troubled Ash's Pokemon all the time as hell, or like Gastrodon trapping Staraptor onto the ground with Body Slam and shooting a Water Pulse up in the air right them, or Froslass's Snow Cloak/Hail which made it really tough for Pikachu against Froslass despite Pikachu clearly having the edge in terms of power? And in terms of battling psychology he clearly stands out luring his opponents into mistakes, like he many times succeeded in luring Ash into mistakes like Grotle using Synthesis against Honchkrow, or Pikachu using Volt Tackle on Electivire.

In terms of pure skill, strategy and a planner(who plans his battles well before he's gonna battle), Paul definitely does edge Alain out. Obviously Alain is also very skilled as well, he did stuff like using the water body in the field as a shield to block Trevor's Charizard's Flamethrower, Tyranitar's Sand Stream, having Weavile use Ice Beam on Noivern's wing, Bisharp's Guillotine/Thunder Wave deadly combo, but those still doesn't quite match up to Paul's skillfull use of his Pokemon's abilities/status moves, strategy and pre-planning, so in terms of skill, yeah Paul is better. Though in terms of power its obviously a no match and Alain overwhelms Paul easily in this aspect, as his Mega Charizard X is simply at a different league/miles ahead of any of Paul's Pokemon.

 

[Deleted member 384931]

Alain did win because he had a goal and that is it. Paul has more tactics then Alain. And who is better? Well which Ash is the best to battle against? DP or XY? Then I ask you a question: who would win if Ash uses ALL his aces in a battle?

 

[345ash-greninja]

Alain did win because he had a goal and that is it. Paul has more tactics then Alain. And who is better? Well which Ash is the best to battle against? DP or XY? Then I ask you a question: who would win if Ash uses ALL his aces in a battle?

If Ash uses all of his aces in a battle then even Alain would very likely lose.

 

[Deleted member 384931]

If Ash uses all of his aces in a battle then even Alain would very likely lose.

Why do you think that?

 

[345ash-greninja]

Why do you think that?

Just imagine Ash's Pikachu(battling at peak mode), Ash's Charizard, Ash's Sceptile, Ash's Infernape, Ash's Krookodile/Snorlax and Ash's Greninja(Ash-Greninja)battling together in a battle. That says enough.

 

[Deleted member 384931]

Just imagine Ash's Pikachu(battling at peak mode), Ash's Charizard, Ash's Sceptile, Ash's Infernape, Ash's Krookodlike/Snorlax and Ash's Greninja(Ash-Greninja)battling together in a battle. That says enough.

Agreed, it would be cool if they fight together in the Alola League...

 

[345ash-greninja]

Agreed, it would be cool if they fight together in the Alola League...

Yeah, definitely it would be awesome to see them battling together in a battle, though I highly doubt that'll ever happen even if the Alola League can recreate a Tobias like opponent(who has multiple Legendary calibre mons in his arsenal).

 

[Genaller]

I seriously doubt that any trainers barring regional Champions could outright beat an end of XYZ Ash with GPICSS.

Alain did win because he had a goal and that is it. Paul has more tactics then Alain. And who is better? Well which Ash is the best to battle against? DP or XY? Then I ask you a question: who would win if Ash uses ALL his aces in a battle?

Alain won because he was flat-out stronger thanks to MC-X; plain and simple. True. Alain’s MC-X would decimate any 6 mon combination Paul could assemble as of end of DP. XY Ash is a decisively better trainer overall than DP Ash (who was still pretty awesome); metaphorically speaking if DP Ash’s in-battle feats went up against XY Ash’s in-battle feats then the latter’s would win upper mid - lower high diff. Even Alain would most likely fall to GPICSS Ash.

 

[Frozocrone]

Tierno, guy can stand on his hands, ergo, guy lifts.

All you suckers need to stop confusing strength of teams with strength of individual

 

[Genaller]

Tierno, guy can stand on his hands, ergo, guy lifts.

All you suckers need to stop confusing strength of teams with strength of individual

I mean... look at Alain’s moves when he saved Chespie... how is he not the strongest after that!?

 

[345ash-greninja]

Tierno, guy can stand on his hands, ergo, guy lifts.

All you suckers need to stop confusing strength of teams with strength of individual

Eh, I won't be too sure about Tierno being physically stronger than Stephan.

 

[LilligantLewis]

Eh, I won't be too sure about Tierno being physically stronger than Stephan.

Tierno and Stephan kind of look like each other tbh.

 

[345ash-greninja]

No, he definitely deserved being beaten since the writers intentionally had him never lose anything that mattered.

Paul did all those harsh things to Chimchar because he saw great potential in Chimchar and wanted it to become a powerhouse/powerful battler who'd win a lot of battles for him. Ash and Paul have exactly different methods of bringing out a Pokemon's potential, Paul does it through brute force and rough training, while Ash does it via the power of friendship, bond and love.

Paul failed to bring out Chimchar's true potential and released it. When Chimchar came under Ash's ownership, Ash brought out its true potential via his power of friendship and unlocked its power of Blaze, helped Infernape reach its ultimate strength. When that same Infernape took out 3 of Paul's Pokemon in Ash and Paul's rivalry climax battle in the Sinnoh League, which resulted in Paul's defeat a point was proved to Paul. That the same Pokemon whom Paul failed to bring out the potential and released it, reached its full potential under Ash's methods, and became so much powerful that it became the main reason of Paul's defeat against Ash in the Sinnoh League. Thus it was proved hands down that Ash's methods of bringing out a Pokemon's potential is better than Paul's methods.

So yeah, I think that Infernape using Close Combat(or whatever other move) on Paul's Pokemon in a battle to defeat Paul's Pokemon is far more ruthlessly effective than directly using Close Combat on Paul, because that proves a point to Paul that his way of treating Chimchar to bring out its full potential was wrong.

 

[LilligantLewis]

directly using Close Combat on Pau

???

 

[345ash-greninja]

???

As expected, it surprises you and leaves you wondering what's the case.

Here, reading this post might clear your confusion:

https://forums.serebii.net/threads/rate-the-above-users-status.662523/page-7#post-18587755

At the time I rated the status of @TheWanderingMist , he has the status: ''I wish Infernape used Close Combat on........Paul''. Obviously I gave a reply to TheWandering Mist's response in this thread rather than that one, because this thread seem to me more on topic to give a reply on that subject.

 

[keepitsimple]

So yeah, I think that Infernape using Close Combat(or whatever other move) on Paul's Pokemon in a battle to defeat Paul's Pokemon is far more ruthlessly effective than directly using Close Combat on Paul, because that proves a point to Paul that his way of treating Chimchar to bring out its full potential was wrong.

Well....wasn't the whole point that Paul's methods weren't just wrong, but also unethical? Just winning a battle doesn't exactly prove the latter.

Not that beating the tar out of Paul would either, but at least it would be satisfying

 

[345ash-greninja]

Well....wasn't the whole point that Paul's methods weren't just wrong, but also unethical? Just winning a battle doesn't exactly prove the latter.

Not that beating the tar out of Paul would either, but at least it would be satisfying

Well, the same Pokemon out of whom Paul failed to bring out the full potential by his own methods, upon whom Paul gave up and released it, unlocked its true potential under Ash's methods, and became so much powerful that it played a pivotal role in Paul's defeat against Ash in the Sinnoh League. Doesn't this blatantly and ruthlessly prove a point to Paul that his way of treating Chimchar, a.k.a., his methods were wrong?

 

[AuraChannelerChris]

Paul. Duh. He had strategy and power behind his style. Despite his brutality.

Special mention goes to his monster of an Ursaring.

 

[345ash-greninja]

Paul. Duh. He had strategy and power behind his style. Despite his brutality.

Of course, and no one denied that. I literally even said in one of my earlier posts that in terms of pure skill and strategy, Paul definitely edges out any one of Ash's other rivals. To the date, he is the only trainer in the Pokemon anime who made battling look like a pro-sport, someone who always had a pre-planned strategy prior to a battle and executed those strategies/tactics subtly on-field based on the on-field situations in the battle to catch his opponents off-guard. It's hard to even recall a single move he made in a battle where he wasn't being strategic.

Doesn't change the fact that the way he treated Chimchar and some of his other Pokemon were not only brutal but unethical too, that's what some users are pointing out.

Special mention goes to his monster of an Ursaring.

I mean, it was strong, but the way you're mentioning it makes it sound like you're overestimating its strength. Didn't it lose (with and without Blaze) twice to Chimchar and was smacked without doing **** in the Brandon battle?

 

[AuraChannelerChris]

I mean, it was strong, but the way you're mentioning it makes it sound like you're overestimating its strength. Didn't it lose (with and without Blaze) twice to Chimchar and was smacked without doing **** in the Brandon battle?

Still a monster. Also, Brandon was supposed to be Paul's family's blockade anyway.