Squirtle cameoed in one of the Kanto episodes for the SM anime though I think it's still with the squad.
They've not said anything of the sort.
He's holding an everstone.
I will never forget how much I enjoyed Ferdinand talking and saying the famous line, " I am Ferdinand von Aegir ! ".
I see it more of a classic "build up the new guy by have him defeat the guy who previously defeated the protagonist". Ash lost to Alain, and now Alain is going to lose to Leon, a shortcut for viewers since the Kalos League that Leon is on a whole other level that Ash previously couldn't even beat the level before it. Ash has grown since then of course, and without a battle against Alain we don't know if Ash can beat him now, but at the moment that doesn't matter to set the mood.
RIP, prayers from his family & friends, he may not have been here long, but he certainly left his mark.
Considering that they said they originally weren't even going to SHOW the battles not featuring Ash in an interview with writer Tomioka, that would be mean Ash VS Steven would be the only on-screen battle, and the rest of the battles would be off-screen shown only as still sketches. The producers got them to change their minds, but the point still stands. Plus the first round is 3v3, so half of Ash's Pokemon would go unused if he lost in the first round.I see it more of a classic "build up the new guy by have him defeat the guy who previously defeated the protagonist". Ash lost to Alain, and now Alain is going to lose to Leon, a shortcut for viewers since the Kalos League that Leon is on a whole other level that Ash previously couldn't even beat the level before it. Ash has grown since then of course, and without a battle against Alain we don't know if Ash can beat him now, but at the moment that doesn't matter to set the mood.
Also, considering Ash is facing Steven and he just trained against Paul's Gyarados, Garchomp, and Metagross, I feel it's kind of weird it's not Cynthia vs Lance next to Ash vs Steven (with Iris vs Diantha next to Leon vs Alain). And aside from Iris vs Cynthia where there's a little connection there, these battles don't really seem that exciting.
... You know what, I'm gonna say it: Ash loses to Steven. I think they're going to pull a major twist of just having Ash lose round 1. We're going to be shown that, not only is Ash not on Leon's level, he's not on ANY Champion's level (aside from Iris... and we don't know whether she became Champion because she beat Alder (who, let's be honest, isn't supposed to be a strong Champion) or because Alder already gave up the position so she just had to beat other potential candidates which isn't quite the same as beating the Champion). Iris and Alain also loses against their opponent pretty handily, with the only Round 1 match being close is the one against the experienced Champions: Leon & Diantha.
So going to say Round 2 would be Leon VS Diantha and Cynthia VS Steven and final round being Leon VS Cynthia with Leon winning.
RIP, prayers from his family & friends, he may not have been here long, but he certainly left his mark.
) against either Ash or Cynthia is possible too to keep the anime going with Ash's goal unfulfilled despite SV coming now.
He was asked to become a Gym leader, he isn't one yet. He was going to Oak's for pointers and to train Ash.
Nah, the point is to show that Paul is still incredibly strong and their battle reflect that. Also Paul always rotated his Pokemon (the team he battled Ash with in the league was different than the one he used at the lake battle), and he specifically used pokemon owned by champions to train Ash. As seen with Electrivire he still has his older pokemon. Seeing Paul push Ash's current pokemon to their limits proves they're still on even ground and he could have been in the champion league himsef if he wanted.
It's actually perfectly in character, Paul was always a loner and he only entered competitions in DP for specific reasons. As soon as he lost or they ended like the tag battle tournament or Sinnoh league he went off. There's also a scene of Paul looking disgusted at Ash entering the Wallace Cup on TV in DP. Paul has no interest in fame or festivities as he puts it. The ep gave him a lot of development from his former self, telling Electrivire to play with Pikachu and Grookey, sitting in the grass willing to train with Ash, and going to Oak for advice on how to become a Gym leader. It's perfectly fitting for him without changing his character too much but still giving him development. He would have never done this stuff back in DP.
