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Fire Training Battle! Ash VS Paul!! (1203)

SevereRacccon6

Sinnoh and Kalos Enjoyer
So basically the writers didn’t give a F about Alain and decided he should be a sacrificed because Paul was too good for that
Alain might have better feats and all but Paul was hands down a much better fleshed out character who had a lot more behind him
 

Yuugis Black Magician

Namaikina Imouto
So basically the writers didn’t give a F about Alain and decided he should be a sacrificed because Paul was too good for that

The writers don't ultimately make every decision involved in the series. They're just freelancers hired to scripts.

Alan would've have more of an involved storyline if the series wasn't low on time and low on ace animators to handle his battle with Dande. As it is Alan v. Dande had better animation than any of the other first round matches.
 

AuraChannelerChris

Easygoing Luxray.
God bless the writers for not incorporating Paul in the PWC, they would have ruined him just to make Leon look epically strong.

A clever writing choice, for once.
Which is odd, considering he and Ash tied in their little battle.

But then again, we don't know if he uses any gimmick, but even Ash using one would have easily given Ash a win.
 

Yuugis Black Magician

Namaikina Imouto
I feel like Shinji's the kind of guy to use Mega Evolution, although if he could use a Z-Move he'd definitely use one as a red herring.
 

Pokegirl Fan~

Liko>>>>>Ash
I don't see Paul using any gimmicks really.

Anyways wow the script writing for the dub has gotten way worse since I last watched Lol.
 

PokemonBattleFanatic-

Well-Known Member
Paul is more than capable of going through Ash's current team with or without gimmicks,his Garchomp defeated Dragonite in a sparring match but his Electivire and Torterra are still considered Paul's 2 best pokemon so they'd have a higher power than they did in DP due to the crazy powerscaling in JN.Mega evolving his Aggron,Gyarados,Garchomp or Metagross wouldn't hurt,it'd be an annoyance on top of how smart Paul battles.

Mega Evolution (Huge power boost)
Entry Hazard
Status Moves
Type Advantage
Switching (Paul is abusing this)
Abilities
Planning (Batman-like prep time)
 

Yuugis Black Magician

Namaikina Imouto
I can't see him doing one of the silly dances, though. That is so not him.

Shinji would do a dance with the least movement possible. Conversely, he'd do one with a lot of movement to distract his foe and make them question that they are actually seeing HIM of all people do a dance.

That or just Mega Evolution. Gimme Shinji with a Mega Hassam!
 

Starswirl Pikachu

Well-Known Member
Training time + a battle with an old rival. Well its good that Gengar's skill set is getting rounded out a little more but I'm not so certain that Will o wisp is anything to get excited about. Its not a bad move by any means but that seemed like a lot of effort for a little gain. In other news, its nice to see some familiar faces, particularly the mon's from Johto I'd say.

At first I thought it was pretty unusual for them to bump into a random Electivire just wandering around Prof. Oak's pokemon area but it makes way more sense that it belonged to someone already. The battle with Paul was decent, it felt like Garchomp v Dragonite could have gone either way. Nice job by Gengar in winning its match up. I will call this a fair episode although I still miss Team Rocket a little.
 

Lord Godwin

The Lord of Darkness
Viridan Gym Leader Paul?
It makes a lot of sense taking into consideration they were looking for a GL, Viridan is quite close to Pallet Town and Oak's Laboratory and Paul Has a lot of Ground types (Torterra, Nidoking, Gliscor, Gastrodon and Garchomp). just imagine that Ursaring of his as Ursaluna.

Still, Paul beating Brandon and becoming a Frontier Brain makes far more sense.
 

PokemonBattleFanatic-

Well-Known Member
Viridan Gym Leader Paul?
It makes a lot of sense taking into consideration they were looking for a GL, Viridan is quite close to Pallet Town and Oak's Laboratory and Paul Has a lot of Ground types (Torterra, Nidoking, Gliscor, Gastrodon and Garchomp). just imagine that Ursaring of his as Ursaluna.
Any average trainer would have a very hard time trying to win if Paul is the new gym leader,it would almost be the equivalence of when Giovanni was the former gym leader who also had Mewtwo in his possession.
Still, Paul beating Brandon and becoming a Frontier Brain makes far more sense.
Realistically he's defeating Brandon if he's only using one of the Regis along with Ninjask,Solrock and Dusclops. Being offered to become a Frontier Brain is better than being offered to become a Gym Leader, that's where I had him at prior to JN as far as levels go.

Of course none of this happened and he just came back just to help train Ash for the M8 Tournament so I guess that was the alternative. I still would've preferred him competing in the PWC and at least clinching the last spot for the M8 which is what a lot of people wanted to happen but it is what it is.
 

Lord Godwin

The Lord of Darkness
Any average trainer would have a very hard time trying to win if Paul is the new gym leader,it would almost be the equivalence of when Giovanni was the former gym leader who also had Mewtwo in his possession.

Realistically he's defeating Brandon if he's only using one of the Regis along with Ninjask,Solrock and Dusclops. Being offered to become a Frontier Brain is better than being offered to become a Gym Leader, that's where I had him at prior to JN as far as levels go.

Of course none of this happened and he just came back just to help train Ash for the M8 Tournament so I guess that was the alternative. I still would've preferred him competing in the PWC and at least clinching the last spot for the M8 which is what a lot of people wanted to happen but it is what it is.
He would be very strong but not Mewtwo Giovanni level. Agatha level seems fair enough.

If Paul was in M8 who would you be satisfied him loosing to? It's obvious anime team would not make him win vs Cynthia or Leon.
 

Damerdal

[Dam]n h[er] Gan[dal]f!
He would be very strong but not Mewtwo Giovanni level. Agatha level seems fair enough.

If Paul was in M8 who would you be satisfied him loosing to? It's obvious anime team would not make him win vs Cynthia or Leon.

Eh, I think the anime more or less implied that Paul was on par with soon-to-be-Monarch Ash. He goes 1-2, but is fighting toe-to-toe with Ash.

He's using only Pokemon that happen to be same species as the aces of the other Masters 8, so not even his starter and possibly stronger Pokemon.

His Garchomp defeats Dragonite, which had beaten Iris' Haxorus earlier.

He's using borrowed strategies, not his own, that Ash may go up against, and helps Ash create strategies that he will later use. Ash even recognizes at the end that Paul intentionally battled in such a way to prepare Ash, and he was still that formidable. Paul isn't using a synergistic comp with entry hazards or statuses, which he normally employs to great effect.

The anime bends over backwards with the strangest reason ever to not include him in the PWC, because otherwise if he was said to have competed, that would mean he wasn't good enough to be in the Masters 8. He's almost like the final boss, Ash's greatest rival, who appears right before Ash's most important tournament and helps him enough to push him over that final hurdle. It also reaffirms Cynthia's foreshadowing at the end of DP in a somewhat different light. They may not have necessarily met in the Champions League, but it's still Paul who's there with Ash on the eve of the Masters 8, which Ash wins it all.

And I think it's the most respectful portrayal they could have done. Instead of making him Leon fodder like they did for Alain, the writers gave him a great ending. I think the fact that Paul is considering to be Gym Leader also leads us to infer that he did achieve his immediate goal after DP, which was to defeat Brandon. Knowing Paul, I don't he would have been satisfied for anything less than defeating Brandon with all three Regis.
 
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PokemonBattleFanatic-

Well-Known Member
He would be very strong but not Mewtwo Giovanni level. Agatha level seems fair enough.

If Paul was in M8 who would you be satisfied him loosing to? It's obvious anime team would not make him win vs Cynthia or Leon.
I'd be fine with him losing to Cynthia, at least managing to KO 2 of her pokemon and then having a drawn out battle with her Garchomp before finally losing. Instead of Paul using (Garchomp/Metagross/Gyarados) I'd have him use (Mega Aggron/Torterra/Electivire/Ursaring).

But honestly a 3 on 3 wouldn't do this battle justice, a 6 on 6 would be far more satisfying.They both faced each other in early DP in a full battle but was never finished. Both are excellent strategists and when you have them both facing each other in this type of circumstance this could've been one of the best battles ever.
 
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