Sham
The Guardian of War
Honestly there should be no logical reason why Iris loses to Ash (debate with someone else about this because idc)
Ash’s Dragonite presumably evolved much later than Iris’
Iris’ Dragonite has more battle experience and was able to tank 4x weakness multiple times
Iris has been training her Dragonite longer
Haxorus is a question mark but given certain clues like Axew helping her win a tournament, hurting Cynthia’s Garchomp and some other random things... I’m sure he’s pretty powerful as well.
and just for kicks Excadrill already dominated Pikachu once.
This is Pokémon however where sometimes plot matters more than believability.
Ash’s Dragonite presumably evolved much later than Iris’
Iris’ Dragonite has more battle experience and was able to tank 4x weakness multiple times
Iris has been training her Dragonite longer
Haxorus is a question mark but given certain clues like Axew helping her win a tournament, hurting Cynthia’s Garchomp and some other random things... I’m sure he’s pretty powerful as well.
and just for kicks Excadrill already dominated Pikachu once.
This is Pokémon however where sometimes plot matters more than believability.