History FridgeBrilliance / PokemonTheSeries

* Why do Kukui's Pokémon suddenly vanish during the last few episodes? Easy, they were in the Pokeémon Center after all the massive damage they took (Incineroar was slashed by a sharp stone, used Darkest Lariat ''through'' Flash Cannon, had to take some damage from catching Double Iron Bash and got into a slugfest with Torracat, Braviary had his Rock Slide deflected at him by Counter, got Bitten on the leg and was hit by an Everstone and a Brave Bird, Venusaur was hit by the flames from Torracat's Fire Fang when he tried a Vine Whip and the flames traveled down the vines and burnt the guy and then he was finished off by a Blast Burn powered Fire Blast, Empoleon was hit by a Double Iron Bash while blocking and landed on and rolled with Professor Kukui before stopping and Lucario was zapped, hit via X-Scissor (Nagandel has a massive stinger) and finished off by a point-blank Dragon Pulse) akin to how Ash's team had to be healed for a long time after being beaten by Paul's team in the Lake Acuity battle.

* Why doesn't Team Rocket's [[MookMaker Rocket Prize Master]] not appear during ''Aim To Be A Pokémon Master''? They obviously realized that not even using Team Rocket-owned Pokémon didn't make them any more effective, so they got rid of it.

* Why do Kuki's Pokémon suddenly vanish during the last few episodes? Easy, they were in the Pokeémon Center after all the massive damage they took (Incineroar was slashed by a sharp stone, used Darkest Lariat ''through'' Flash Cannon, had to take some damage from catching Double Iron Bash and got into a slugfest with Torracat, Braviary had his Rock Slide deflected at him by Counter, got Bitten on the leg and was hit by an Everstone and a Brave Bird, Venusaur was hit by the flames from Torracat's Fire Fang when he tried a Vine Whip and the flames traveled down the vines and burnt the guy and then he was finished off by a Blast Burn powered Fire Blast, Empoleon was hit by a Double Iron Bash while blocking and landed on and rolled with Professor Kukui before stopping and Lucario was zapped, hit via X-Scissor (Nagandel has a massive stinger) and finished off by a point-blank Dragon Pulse) akin to how Ash's team had to be healed for a long time after being beaten by Paul's team in the Lake Acuity battle.

* In the Lily of the Valley Conference, outside of his battle with Paul, Ash uses Pokémon from his Kanto, Johoto, Hoenn and Sinnoh teams when in Hoenn and the leagues afterwards, Ash only used Pokémon he caught in the region. Why would Ash use Pokémon from other regions in Sinnoh? Simple, it's a subtle way of advertising Pal Park which allows you to transfer Pokémon from your GBA games to [=DPP=] (Given that in the anime, trainers can simply transfer their Pokémon to the regional Professor's lab and back, Pal Park doesn't exist, as shown that Dawn as the Kitchen Timer app on her Pokétch whereas in [=DPP=] you have to transfer a Snorlax via Pal Park and show it to a girl in the lobby).

* Is Team Rocket splitting up at the end of [=JN145=] permanent in the anime's universe? Highly unlikely, given how many times they've split up before reuniting in some fashion.

* At first glance, Ash releasing every Pokémon he's ever caught makes him look like a lousy trainer, but remember the saying ''"If you love someone, set them free"''. By releasing his Pokémon after catching them, he's showing how far he's come from the boy who gloated about enslaving a Pidgey way back in episode 1. Even Pikachu was almost released, but chose to stay by Ash's side.
** And since many of his released Pokémon have gone on to become pack leaders, he's basically got connections with several groups of wild Pokémon. Maybe, in his own unique way, Ash has become a true Pokémon master through friendship and coexistence.
* It seems weird that Ash only has a crush on Giselle and possibly Serena and yet has none towards the other female companions he had along the way. However, there is an answer and its related to Serena. Ash and Serena are childhood friends and whatever amount of interaction he had with her must have a huge impact on him. Ash may have liked Giselle because she was pretty but when he now sees how rude and condescending she is, he doesn't like it because that is not how Serena would act. His ObliviousToLove isn't that. It's just that he has very high standards now. He's only interested in girls if they could match Serena's level.
** When one notes the female companions he had before Serena you see two Tsunderes (which Ash may just not find appealing), and two he pretty much mentored. Given how Oak and Delia interact (assuming that Oak isn't Ash's father), Ash may associate such a role with "no romance allowed". If Oak and Delia are his parents, he may just not want to emulate that behavior.
** Notably a lot of Pokeshipping moments, Ash x Misty, occurred after Misty started to calm down and be less Tsundere post Togepi. I.E, closer to the nice girlness of Serena, sans any mentor/student tangles.

* For some, Nando's early loss in the Sinnoh League after putting on an impressive performance at the Grand Festival seems to be a case of BrokenAesop -- was Zoey right about him wasting his time by deciding to do both Gym Battles and Contests? [[DeconReconSwitch But, no, she wasn’t.]] The fact that he managed to amass 8 badges and 5 ribbons, in a span of time when most Trainers are struggling to finish a single set, is already a testament to his skill, but: watch him during and after his Grand Festival and League battles. He is clearly having the time of his life (aside from a few moments of getting flustered) and accepts defeat with grace and poise, even commenting that he feels great after his battle with Ash. Even if his battle skill isn’t quite on the same level as his Contest skill, for him, it's the joy of the battle that's more important than the win or loss.

* This series, while not saying it aloud, does give Ash a reason he sometimes forgets to bring out any other Pokemon but Pikachu against Team Rocket (or resorts to tackling them instead of using Dragonite or Lucario): he doesn't automatically bring all his Pokemon with him on his adventures. If he doesn't think to bring them they'd stay at the Cerise Institute instead. A lot of the one on one battles Ash and Pikachu had were probably when he ''only'' had Pikachu on him. For all the inconvenience this can cause there are some benefits: Pokemon can self-train at the institute without him for example.
* A few people have wondered why Iris, a ''Champion'', is only in the Great Class. Given that by the time Ash entered the World Coronation series there were over 10,000 entrants, and Rinto's own skill despite his Normal ranking at first appearance, it is likely that Iris (and Rinto) entered the series later than Ash did, which is mentioned to be the case for Iris.

* Ash's team in this series has been noted as very different from his previous teams. He would always have Pokemon native to the region, the regional bird, starters, and the Fire-Water-Grass trio which is similar to most playthrough teams. Come ''Journeys'', his team is actually more in line with a competitive lineup. They won't always possess the Fire-Water-Grass trio as only one or two of them may be needed to cover threats of that generation's meta, overlapping types is fairly common as there are one or two members designated to cover them, starters won't always be present as it is rare for them to be viable, and they have powerhouses from the previous generation. Fitting since he's no longer traveling but competing in a world-class event.

* A bit of fridge awesome for Ash in his fight with Cynthia, Spiritomb is is implied to be a secret weapon of Cynthia's. No one knows she had one before she sent it out and its unusual movements and behavior makes it a rather unusual opponent to battle. Yet against Ash, she didn't just bring Spiritomb when she has at least two other Pokemon to choose from that she didn't use instead of Spiritomb (Glaceon and Kommo-o), she brought it out first. If she could have kept Spiritomb a secret, it would have likely been a good surprise to use against Leon, just like it was very good at throwing Ash off. Yet she used it against Ash. The thing about Cynthia is, perhaps more than even Iris, she knows more about Ash than anyone else at the Masters Eight. She felt like she needed to use a secret weapon against him instead of risking it and saving Spiritomb for Leon. Cynthia respects Ash enough as an opponent she cannot afford any risks against him.

* A bit of fridge awesome for Ash in his fight with Cynthia, Spiritomb is is implied to be a secret weapon of Cynthia's. No one knows she has one and its unusual movements and behavior makes it a rather unusual opponent to battle. Yet against Ash, she didn't just bring Spiritomb when she has at least two other Pokemon to choose from (Glaceon and Kommo-o), she brought it out first. If she could have kept Spiritomb a secret, it would have likely been a good surprise to use against Leon, just like it was very good at throwing Ash off. Yet she used it against Ash. The thing about Cynthia is, perhaps more than even Iris, she knows more about Ash than anyone else at the Masters Eight. She felt like she needed to use a secret weapon against him instead of risking it and saving Spiritomb for Leon. Cynthia respects Ash enough as an opponent she cannot afford any risks against him.

* Ash succeeding in the Alola League can at first seem to be a [[VindicatedByHistory vindication of one of the earliest episodes in the series]], Recap/PokemonS1E9TheSchoolOfHardKnocks. After all, on the surface level he failed to succeed in any of the prior 6 leagues despite having spent ages on the road collecting badges in the expected way, and only succeeded after taking part in a school on Alola before being allowed into the League. ''However'' it's not that straightforward. The reality was that early Ash started off as a JerkWithAHeartOfGold entitled brat who certainly had a lot of potential, but was held back by his own inexperience and arrogance. Even not factoring in that he likely wouldn't do well in a school environment at the time due to his BookDumb tendencies and generally stubborn behavior, a large part of why the Alolan League worked the way it did was in part ''because'' of his past successes and failures. He might not have won the leagues, but he DID gain valuable experience and matured and grew beyond the idiot he started off as, something that was incredibly invaluable to him becoming better as a trainer overall. Where Alola helped was shoring up his deficiencies as a trainer in a structured and more academic level, and it's the combination of this and [[ExperiencedProtagonist his past experiences]] that finally allowed him to win.

** Plus, one of the things that was shown in that episode was that no amount of high levels and technical knowledge could compensate for a lack of real world experience and adaptability, since once Ash started using a mixture of smarts and unorthodox combat moves, he was able to get one over the higher leveled opponents.

* In the Lily of the Valley Conference, outside of his battle with Paul, Ash uses Pokémon from his Kanto, Johoto, Hoenn and Sinnoh teams when in Hoenn and the leagues afterwards, Ash only used Pokémon he caught in the region. Why would Ash use Pokémon from other regions in Sinnoh? Simple, it's a subtle way of advertising Pal Park which allows you to transfer Pokémon from your GBA games to [=DPP=] (Given that in the anime, traineres can simply transfer their Pokémon to the regional Professor's lab and back, Pal Park doesn't exist, as shown that Dawn as the Kitchen Timer app on her Pokétch whereas in [=DPP=] you have to transfer a Snorlax via Pal Park and show it to a girl in the lobby).

* In the Lily of the Valley Conference, outside of his battle with Paul, Ash uses Pokémon from his Kanto, Johoto, Hoenn and Sinnoh teams when in Hoenn and the leagues afterwards, Ash only used Pokémon he caught in the region. Why would Ash use Pokémon from other regions in Sinnoh? Simple, it's a subtle way of advertising Pal Park which allows you to transfer Pokémon from your GBA games to [=DPP=] (Given that in the anime, traineres can simply transfer their Pokémon to the regional Professor's lab and back, Pal Park doesn't exist, as shown that Dawn as the Kitchen Timer app on her Pok&aeacute;tch whereas in [=DPP=] you have to transfer a Snorlax via Pal Park and show it to a girl in the lobby).