History Recap / PokemonS1E80FriendsToTheEnd

* GuiltByAssociationGag: When Pikachu has enough of Ash and Misty's argument, he uses his Thunderbolt to break it up. Unfortunately, he ends up shocking ''everybody'' in the room. Professor Oak lampshades it by yelling "Don't shock us, too!".

* JerkassRealization: After spending most of the episode being upset about his loss and seeing along with listening to Ritchie deal with his loss, Ash not only realized that his friends and mother were right about his actions (bad luck aside) but also sees that he was acting like a big baby. Through those events, Ash vowed not to make the same mistake in future Pokémon League competitions and work harder to achieve his goal.

** Sheer blind luck and scrappy pragmatism can only carry one so far; if you truly want to succeed at something, you need to buckle down and actually work hard for it. Broken by the fact that a lot of this was down to Team Rocket.

* BothSidesHaveAPoint: On one hand, Ash really had it coming from the beginning. He was completely cocky and arrogant throughout the league, and everyone was right that if Ash had trained Charizard better, he wouldn't have lost. Plus, he could've switched out his team and used Kingler in place of Squirtle (super-effective against Ritchie's Charmander) , or even Bulbasaur (resistant against Ritchie's Pikachu, plus it hadn't taken that much effort for it to stall Team Rocket in the last episode) and Pikachu (super-effective against Richie's Butterfree). On the other hand, Ash has every right to be depressed since he worked hard to make it to the Pokémon League and he was put into the situation where he had to use Charizard because of Team Rocket's interference.
* BrutalHonesty: Both Misty and Professor Oak note that Ash was arrogant and hadn't studied his Pokémon’s abilities enough (while conveniently ignoring Team Rocket's interference). While Professor Oak takes the calm route in terms of getting brutal with Ash, the same can't be said with Misty, who ends up in yet another heated argument with Ash.
* CharacterDevelopment: Ash realizes that he can learn from his defeat and do better in the next competition. Also, Ash understands that he can't keep relying on luck and has to work really hard to be the best.

* MistakesAreNotTheEndOfTheWorld: This is the way Ritchie is able to help Ash overcome his depression, along with his own, from their respective losses at the Indigo Conference. He states that, like Ash, he underestimated how competitive Pokemon Leagues can be, which is what led to their respective losses. However, he also states that those losses can make them both better pokemon trainers in the long run as long as they learn from them.

* BothSidesHaveAPoint: On one hand, Ash really had it coming from the beginning. He was completely cocky and arrogant throughout the league, and everyone was right that if Ash had trained Charizard better, he wouldn't have lost. Plus, he could've switched out his team and used Kingler in place of Squirtle (super-effective against Ritchie's Charmander) , or even Bulbasaur (resistant against Ritchie's Pikachu, plus it hadn't taken that much effort for it to stall Team Rocket in the last episode) and Pikachu (super-effective against Richie's Butterfree). On the other hand, Ash has every right to be depressed since he worked hard to make it to the Pokemon League and he was put into the situation where he had to use Charizard because of Team Rocket's interference.
* BrokenAesop: Even if Ash had trained his team, it still doesn't change the fact Team Rocket interfered and were unusually persistent thus causing Ash's team to be worn out.

* BrutalHonesty: Both Misty and Professor Oak note that Ash was arrogant and hadn't studied his Pokémon’s abilities enough. While Professor Oak takes the calm route in terms of getting brutal with Ash, the same can't be said with Misty, who ends up in yet another heated argument with Ash.

** Sheer blind luck and scrappy pragmatism can only carry one so far; if you truly want to succeed at something, you need to buckle down and actually work hard for it.

* SoreLoser: Ash wasn't upset that Ritchie beat him so much as he was that he got eliminated after coming so far (Team Rocket kidnapping him and forcing him to fight under a handicap didn't help matters). His friends and mother called him out on this attitude, noting he had mostly been scooting by on just pure luck alone, and his attempts to battle with his particularly stubborn and disobedient Charizard as a last-ditch effort showed how little time he took in trying to get the big lug back to helping him.

* MistakesAreNotTheEndOfTheWorld: After both Ash and Ritchie lose their respective matches, Ritchie helps Ash realize that losing is an invaluable part of being a Pokemon Trainer. He also states that losing doesn't have to be the end of their journey as long as they learn from it, which Ash takes to heart from that moment forward.

* MistakesAreNotTheEndOfTheWorld: After both Ash and Ritchie lose their respective matches, Ritchie helps Ash realize that losing is an invaluable part of being a Pokemon Trainer. He also states that losing doesn't have to be the end of their journey as long as they learn from it, which Ash takes to heart from that moment forward.

** Failure is not the end of the world. Yes, it ''will'' sting for a while, especially for a major event, but life goes on. All you can really do is to pick yourself back up and learn from it.

* JerkassRealization: After spending most of the episode being upset about his loss and seeing along with listening to Ritchie deal with his loss, Ash not only realized that his friends and mother were right about his actions but also sees that he was acting like a big baby. Through those events, Ash vowed to not make the same mistake in future Pokémon League competition and work harder to achieve his goal.

* BrutalHonesty: Professor Oak notes that Ash was arrogant and hadn't studied his Pokémon’s abilities enough.

* SoreLoser: Ash wasn't upset that Ritchie beat him so much as he was that he got eliminated after coming so far (Team Rocket kidnapping him and forcing him to fight under a handicap didn't help matters). His friends called him out on this attitude, noting he had mostly been scooting by on just pure luck alone, and his attempts to battle with his particularly stubborn and disobedient Charizard as a last-ditch effort showed how little time he took in trying to get the big lug back to helping him.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Throughout the Kanto arc, Ash mainly relied on pure blind luck and sheer pragmatism when it came to his battle rather than actively training his Pokemon and developing his own battling skills. The episodes before the league even highlight the fact, with it being repeatedly called out that Ash is ignoring his training to instead get up to random shenanigans he comes across. While his own high luck did allow him to get surprisingly far in the league, ultimately the luck ''would'' run out and not taking the time to properly train his Pokemon came back to bite him in the end. Ultimately though, despite being a hard pill to swallow, [[CharacterDevelopment Ash ends up learning from this, taking a much more proactive approach when it comes to training his Pokemon in the future.]]

* SoreLoser: Ddownplayed. Ash wasn't upset that Ritchie beat him so much as he was that he got eliminated after coming so far (Team Rocket kidnapping him and forcing him to fight under a handicap didn't help matters). His friends called him out on this attitude, noting he had mostly been scooting by on just pure luck alone, and his attempts to battle with his particularly stubborn and disobedient Charizard as a last-ditch effort showed how little time he took in trying to get the big lug back to helping him.

* CharacterDevelopment: Ash realizes that he can learn from his defeat and do better in the next competition.

* HeroicBSOD: Ash is in despair after his defeat.
* JerkassRealization: After spending most of the episodes upset about his loss and seeing along with listening to Ritchie deal with his loss, Ash not only realized that his friends and mother were right about his actions but also realize that he was acting like a big baby. Through those events, Ash vowed to not make the same mistake in future Pokémon League competition and work harder to achieve his goal.

** Sheer blind luck and scrappy pragmatism can only carry one so far; if you truly want to succeed at something, you need to buckle down and actually train for it.

* RealityEnsues: Throughout the Kanto arc, Ash mainly relied on pure blind luck and sheer pragmatism when it came to his battle rather than actively training his Pokemon and developing his own battling skills. The episodes before the league even highlight the fact, with it being repeatedly called out that Ash is ignoring his training to instead get up to random shenanigans he comes across. While his own high luck did allow him to get surprisingly far in the league, ultimately the luck ''would'' run out and not taking the time to properly train his Pokemon came back to bite him in the end. Ultimately though, despite being a hard pill to swallow, [[CharacterDevelopment Ash ends up learning from this, taking a much more proactive approach when it comes to training his Pokemon in the future.]]

* BothSidesHaveAPoint: While everyone was right that if Ash had trained Charizard better, he wouldn't have lost, Ash has every right to be depressed since he worked hard to make it to the Pokemon League and he was put into the situation where he had to use Charizard because of Team Rocket's interference.

** Losing is not the end of the world. Yes, it ''will'' sting for a while, especially for a major event, but life goes on. All you can really do is to pick yourself back up and learn from it.

* PitTrap: Team Rocket gushes over how much they love using it.

!!Tropes

* BrutalHonesty: Professor Oak notes that Ash was arrogant and hadn't studied his Pokémons' abilities enough.

* HeroicBSOD: Ash is in despair after his defeat.

!!Tropes