I agree with the people that have mentioned Noctowl. It got robbed in Johto. It should've been used vs. Chuck and then got robbed by Snorlax/Charizard replacing it in the Claire rematch. Ash also shouldn't have used it against Harrison's Steelix.
But these are writer-decisions and this is OS, so there's a lot more where that came from. Johto was marred from the start since Ash took Bulbasaur, Charizard and Squirtle with him. But that's not the worst part, I mean Ash got rid of both Charizard and Squirtle by the time they reached Azalea Town, but what good reason was there to keep Bulbasaur until he had beaten Jasmine?!? I mean they developed Chikorita into a Bayleef and somehow they didn't take the bold step to demote Bulbsaur before that?
As for his Noctowl. It should've been used more often but the same can be said about Heracross. I mean what if Ash had left his Kanto-starters with Oak?
- Ash goes to Johto with just Pikachu
- Ash catches Heracross
- Ash catches Chikorita
--- Ash fights Falkner: Chikorita gets slain, Pikachu does well and Heracross wins the battle -> Setting up its tenacity and its streak of overcoming type-disadvantages.
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New episode: The group gets creeped on by multiple Gastly as they visit Sprout Tower and while running away from them, they end up at the top of the tower. Turns out the Gastly were being pestered by a fiendish shiny
Hoothoot that lived at the top of the Bell Tower - and wanted help from Ash. Turns out Hoothoot was lonely and just wanted to play (yes, it's too mischievous even for Gastly, how's that for a personality). It knows Tackle, Peck and Feint Attack (an Egg Move). Ash catches it. Everybody happy.
- Meets Liza, recalls Charizard and they part ways.
- Ash catches Cyndaquil/Houndour (the one team-change I'd make, since I'm partial to Hour of the Houndour being a missed opportunity,
Cyndour from now on).
--- Ash fights Bugsy: Chikorita gets a win vs. Spinarak, Hoothoot gets a win vs.
Yanma, Cyndour beats Scyther. Ash's Heracross has just beaten a Scizor at this point, so there's no extra value sticking it in this gym battle really.
- Ash catches Totodile.
--- Ash fights Whitney with Totodile gets win against Clefairy, Cyndour against Nidorina, but they and Pikachu lose to Miltank.
--- The rematch is a bit different as I want to keep it a 1vs1. In this case, Heracross digs the trenches and beats Miltank with a combination of Fury Cutter (exchanging hits with Rollout, while using it to cut up the field), Endure when a Fury Cutter misses and goes for a Reversal on the next incoming Rollout.
- Ash and co help at the Daycare, and he's offered an Egg. However, he has six pokémon and sends Heracross to Oak. It's obviously the strongest at this point and it has three very credible wins already (Pidgeot, Scizor and Miltank).
- The egg hatches: It's a Phanpy. It knows Tackle, Mud-Slap, Defensive Curl and Rollout.
- Ash participates in the Bug-Catching Competition and his Hoothoot evolves into Noctowl as they are attacked by a swarm of Beedrill. It learns Confusion here.
--- Ash faces Morty with Phanpy, Cyndour and Noctowl. Phanpy gets a win against Gastly, Cyndour gets a win against Haunter, Noctowl gets a win against Gengar, but the fight is substantially harder due to Gengar knowing
Thunderpunch.
- Ash's Chikorita evolves.
--- Ash faces Chuck, but he has a 3vs3 team. Noctowl gets a win vs. a Hitmontop, Pikachu loses to Poliwrath and as per norm: Bayleef wins against Poliwrath and Machoke.
- WhirlCup happens: Totodile evolves into Croconaw and it learns Whirlpool. It still holds its quirky personality, but the dancing is more b-boy'ish as it's now too cool for silly jumping waggles, but still dopey.
--- Ash faces Jasmine, but she has a 3vs3 team. Croconaw defeats a Forretress (counters its Rapid Spin-blocking strategy with a reverse direction Whirlpool and then hits it with Water Gun), but loses to Magnemite. Phanpy defeats Magnemite, but loses to Steelix. Cyndour wins the match.
- Ash faces Pryce with Phanpy, but Pryce refuses to battle any further after having defeated Phanpy with ease with Dewgong. The TR-plot happens and Phanpy evolves into Donphan.
--- Ash faces Pryce, but he has a 3vs3 with Ash. Pikachu beats Dewgong, Cyndour beats a Sneasel and Donphan beats Piloswine with a point blank Water Gun while locking tusks (it's movepool would be Take-Down, Mud-slap, Rollout, Water Gun
--- Ash faces Claire without utilizing reserves. She a 4vs4.
1. Noctowl vs. Kingdra: Feint Attack hits through a Smokescreen.
2. Noctowl vs. Gyarados: Noctowl loses.
3. Croconaw vs. Gyarados: Croconaw wins.
4. Heracross vs. Dragonair: Heracross gets confused by Supersonic and Ash switches it out.
5. Croconaw vs. Dragonair: Croconaw wins.
6. Croconaw vs. Dragonite: Croconaw loses.
7. Heracross vs. Dragonite: Heracross does exceptionally well, but loses.
8. Pikachu vs. Dragonite: Pikachu wins.
The current team is: Pikachu, Bayleef, Noctowl, Cyndour, Croconaw, Donphan and Heracross.
- Pikachu: Thundershock, Quick Attack, Thunderbolt and whatever else it had.
- Heracross: Fury Cutter, Endure, Reversal, Megahorn.
- Bayleef: Vine Whip, Razor Leaf, Body Slam, Sweet Scent.
- Noctowl: Fly, Feint Attack, Confusion, Steel Wing.
- Cyndour: Flamethrower, Bite, Smog, Fire Spin/Rock Smash.
- Croconaw: Water Gun, Whirlpool, Ice Punch, Bite.
- Donphan: Take-Down, Mud-slap, Rollout, Water Gun.
And there you have it. I'd also like to the league, but this post would go on for far too long. I believe this to have been a fair rundown of the Johto Region and would've given this team some much needed improvements/battles.
I actually thought that Dodaitose would come in handy in that battle, only to be proven completely wrong. This was before he was known as one of the worst jobbers Satoshi has owned [in terms of fully evolved Pokemon with notable losing streaks, at least], so I still had some aspirations for Dodaitose in that Gym before my hopes got dashed.
I really dislike all the hate Torterra gets. It was pretty much the main victim of the Ash/Shinji-storyline which forced Gokuzaru to the forefront way too much in the last few battles of the Sinnoh Region. We know that it isn't weak, but that the writers really wanted to push Infernape's importance/story forward (but three wins in a full battle was way too much, Torterra could've beaten Aggron and the story would still be fine).
They were essentially the same character, so it would've either been very interesting or very repetitive having them on-screen together. Speaking of which, I wish that Jun's anime team had been an exact copy of one of his D/P/Pt teams.
Honestly, Jun and Bianca were not the same character. Bianca had storybeats associated with professor Juniper and her father disapproving her being a trainer and Barry simply was a hyperactive kid with no such links or storybeats.