You kind of missed the point of what I was saying. I’m saying Elite 4 members are actually allowed to be taken out by regular series protagonist/characters versus them being completely impervious to attacks pre-XY. Even Daigo and Zumi shook off Alan’s attacks completely without flinching versus Pachira’s shocking loss (first E4 ‘mon fainted in history) with no real to on from her or sign of anger.
We’ve just reached a point where these characters are going to be portrayed as defeatable and not there simply to teach lessons like their roles from OS - BW. This isn’t about power levels/scaling. There is no “in universe” reason for it other than have having 22-minutes to show that. You could make an argument for how long Kairyu survived so many super effective hits but I don’t care to do that because I know the character was written to succeed.
Just like how Gengar destroyed Raichu but failed miserably against a Fighting-type because one episode had it use Psychic directly on the Pokémon and one on an obstacle like a rock as a weapon. Satoshi failed against Saito and that would have been the case with any Pokémon he used. Why not use the Kairyu with SE Hurricane or his Ghost-type completely immune with SE Psychic in that case (not even in the rematch; he goes from completely useless Kamonegi with only Dark-type moves to Pikachu but not logical Gengar). That’s what I mean when I say the show is writing for a story and narrative enjoyment without being hung up on the surrounding things like tight in-universe rules or consistency.
I get your point but here's the thing. The show has always been respectful with regard to Elite four members/ Regional Champions strength. Ash has never had an official battle against a Regional Champion. Here he has a battle with the strongest trainer in Unova and he casually uses a fairly new Pokemon and another one which hasn't even battled and beats her? This is just poor writing. I'm not saying Ash shouldn't be able to fight Elite four/ Regional Champions. He definitely should fight them and even defeat them. But these battles should be taken more seriously. Have Ash use his reserves. Make it memorable.
I mean, defeating a regional champion is such an amazing feat but this was simply trivialized due to the way the battle was written. Taking this into consideration, I would argue this is simply poor writing and it doesn't bring any form of narrative enjoyment. If Iris was a gym leader, this would've been far more enjoyable. If they wanted to make her a champion, a two episode battle with Ash using his reserves and having a fully heated difficult 4v4 or 3v3 or even 6v6 battle would've been really amazing and made Ash's victory against a regional champion very impressive.
This is just you making up arbitrary rules for what should and should not happen. The anime is more flexible than that. Cynthia saw those strategies coming and knew those mons. How can a Pokémon you never knew about before be predictable? Ash is also a regional champion if you have forgotten who has always showed tremendous skill in unorthodox strategies, makes sense his strategy can take down Iris's. It makes total sense
1) The Alola league is no different than the Orange Island League. Using that to give Ash a regional champion status is over the top. If Ash is the regional champion, then James is the 8th strongest trainer in Alola and Gladion is the third strongest trainer.
2) No it doesn't. Strategies only work when the Pokemon in terms of strength are fairly even. Go watch every single one of Ash's battle against an Elite four member. All of his experienced Pokemon always struggle and can't do anything despite whatever strategy he uses.
3) I'm not saying Ash isn't skilled enough to fight a regional champion or an elite four member. I'm saying Dragonite and Dracovish aren't experienced enough to achieve such a feat. You don't use a newly captured Pokemon against a Regional Champion. And even if you do, that Pokemon shouldn't be winning.
I really am shocked how you don't see the absurdity behind it lol. If Iris simply won the regular regional league (Didn't beat the Elite four/ Alder) etc, then yes. I can sort of understand Ash's win. But if she's the strongest trainer in Unova, this is simply ridiculous. This is even more ridiculous that Trip's snivy beating Ash's Pikachu lol.