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Why Kahuna Battles Are Such Curbstomps

Zipper4242

Bewear is the most powerful being in the universe.
Why Ash is on such a winning streak

First of all, mods, I'm very sorry if this is in the wrong spot, please move it if it is. I appreciate all the work all of you put into managing these excellent forums.

You know, I think I may have realized why Ash is so invincible this series. I think he's been beating all of the kahunas now to set up overconfidence and a huge loss/tough battle against the kahunas when they get boosted to Elite 4 levels.

This would mean that Nanu and Hapu may turn out to be decent, fair battles, since (unless USUM changes something) they won't get a rematch as an Elite 4 member.

I would, as always, love to hear everyone's input to my theory (which may be wrong but would be awesome if it was right).
 
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TheWanderingMist

Paladin of the Snow Queen
I wouldn't call the battles curbstomps, as to me that implies that every one of the Kahunas' Pokemon got OHKO'd. But yeah, I can easily see another overconfidence lesson coming.
 

Zoruagible

Lover of underrated characters
Assuming it is those two.
I'm hoping it is Ryuki as the last Kahuna actually, it's been a very very very long time since Ash faced off against a Dragon specialist... and I mean a real one, not one who only owns one dragon out of three Pokemon. I mean an actual proper Dragon specialist, last one was Drake. He didn't get to face Drayden(Stupidly) and Drasna never got an appearance.
Ryuki would provide Ash with more of a challenge than Hapu would. As it stands right now, only Pikachu's Iron Tail is effective. He owns nothing else that provides an advantage. So he shouldn't have that much of an easy time.

But yeah, I'd expect and hope that Nanu gives Ash a run for his money. Persian could provide great development for Litten, something the cat desperately needs. And Nanu's house full of Meowth I'm just dying to see Team Rocket's Meowth interact with.
Plus we NEVER saw Ash fight a Dark specialist. This may be the only chance.... I hope they don't make him go down so easily.
 

345ash-greninja

Auto-Memories Doll
The Kahuna battles weren't curbstomps, the results were in Ash's favour, but the individual battles were tough, Ash's Pokemon definitely had a lot of tough time in the battles. And no, Ash isn't invincible, this is a logical progression from his XY self where he was at his best in battling and discovered out-of-the-box strategies to win from tough situations and had his highest regional winning percentage.
 

Rock Captain 99

Following the dreams!!
The Kahuna battles weren't curbstomps, the results were in Ash's favour, but the individual battles were tough, Ash's Pokemon definitely had a lot of tough time in the battles. And no, Ash isn't invincible, this is a logical progression from his XY self where he was at his best in battling and discovered out-of-the-box strategies to win from tough situations and had his highest regional winning percentage.

I agree. Just because ash has won two kahuna battles, it doesn't mean ash had curbstomped both. If you see battle with olivia, rockruff fainted just after defeating lycanroc. It means it was already tired and pushed himself beyond his limits just to defeat lycanroc.
 

satopi

Life doesn’t end, …it changes.
They aren't curbstomps. In both Hala and Olivia battles, Ash and his Pokemon was struggling. Ash remembered Continental Crush when he saw Gladion use it and found a way to avoid it... barely. And in Hala' s battle, Ash targeted Hariyama' s weak spots, Pikachu got hit by it's Z Move, and Ash landed his in return. Rockruff fainted right after Olivia's Lycanroc and it conquered the battle thanks to Ash's unorthodox techniques. Ash didn't fly through both battles, that would've been a serious complaint by now. I think the Kahunas have been handled quite well, especially Olivia.
 

DatsRight

Well-Known Member
I wouldn't call them curb stomps either. I do agree Ash needs at least one token loss but he isn't waltzing through this. His Pokemon have taken a lot of hits and had to pull a lot of impressive manoeuvres to win both battles. Sure they weren't epic stalemates (Rowlet fainted through spurious means in both rather than the Kahuna overpowering him) but it's not like some basic totally one-sided 'Dodge' and 'basic attack' spam we see with the likes of Team Rocket/Skull or unimportant opponents.
 

pokefandt

Well-Known Member
I like the Olivia Battle for what it was, but I kinda feel like Ash should have lost or at least tied.

That way we get the Dusk Lycanroc evolution and it begins a short little arc for a rematch between Olivia's Midday Form Lycanroc vs Dusk Lycanroc.
 

345ash-greninja

Auto-Memories Doll
I like the Olivia Battle for what it was, but I kinda feel like Ash should have lost or at least tied.

That way we get the Dusk Lycanroc evolution and it begins a short little arc for a rematch between Olivia's Midday Form Lycanroc vs Dusk Lycanroc.

It can have a great fight with Gladion's Midnight Lycanroc in the future anyway, so that's honestly isn't an issue(an Lycanroc fight).
 

Sulfurian

Well-Known Member
The final battle with Olivia would have gone a lot differently had Olivia known about Ash and his climbing ontop of moves ability, and went for a straight accelrock to finish rockruff off. But I feel like the current way it ended I don't mind at all. Though I would like to see dusk lycanroc still being bothered by attacking Rowlett, and maybe one day the two work it out between each other properly.
 

Zipper4242

Bewear is the most powerful being in the universe.
Okay, maybe I was a bit extreme for using the word curbstomp, but still, my point was that maybe Ash is being set up to win against Hala and Olivia now so that they can return as the Elite 4 and battle/beat Ash.

Does anyone think that that's the reason for the winning streak?
 

Akkipeddi

All set to be a nice guy
I won't exactly call the Kahuna battles curbstomps, but my main issue with both the battles (or for that matter almost all battles this series) is that they have just been poor (with the Olivia battle being a bit better). They have been slow, and I have found the overall choreography of battles so far in this series to be underwhelming.
 

Navin

MALDREAD
I won't exactly call the Kahuna battles curbstomps, but my main issue with both the battles (or for that matter almost all battles this series) is that they have just been poor (with the Olivia battle being a bit better). They have been slow, and I have found the overall choreography of battles so far in this series to be underwhelming.

Did you think Grant's gym battle in XY was good? Because I certainly didn't find the Olivia double battle any worse than that, and don't understand how it could be called "poor"...
 

Akkipeddi

All set to be a nice guy
Did you think Grant's gym battle in XY was good? Because I certainly didn't find the Olivia double battle any worse than that, and don't understand how it could be called "poor"...

Grant's was probably the worst of the early XY battles, but even then, I think the Olivia battle, which I say is one of the better ones of SM so far, is similar /barely better than that (best SM battle is still Totem Gumshoos for me).

These two battles are ones I'll not classify as poor, but still, having just these two reasonably good battles doesn't change the fact (my opinion) that majority of the others like the Hala battle, Tapu Koko rematch, Gladion interruption, and the two mediocre Totem Battles in Akala have been poor.

So yeah, my mistake for including the Olivia battle under the poor category, though I'll still say it was only above average.
 
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