Ash vs Paul Battles

[Paulisthebest]

Ash-Turtwig/Paul-Chimchar

After the capture of Urasring, Paul was offered another match by Ash after having his Turtwig insulted again. Paul refused but after being called afraid by Ash, he agreed only at the risk of Ash looking like a fool again. This time things were different because Ash and Turtwig were finally on the same page after spending some time together in the woods.

The match started off the same with a Tackle which was then dodged to once again be countered by Scratch. This time Turtwig dodged with amazing speed. The two then collided attacks (Razor Leaf and Ember) resulting in a tie. Paul tells Chimchar to dodge the oncoming Tackle with a Dig.

This was a big surprise to Brock and Dawn (an obvious attack that was learned for the Rock gym in Oreburg). It reappears multiple times from underground to hit Turtwig with a barrage of Scratch attacks (which looks more like Fury Swipes in rapid succession). Ash finally has enough and aims a Razor Leaf at the hole and Chimchar is jumping out in pain. Paul whispers “not so bad…”

He then calls for an Ember which Ash dodges by telling Turtwig to dive in a hole. Ash then thinks that he has the match under control, but Paul cancels his brief celebration by mentioning that he expected an attack like that. Turtwig is then blasted out of the hole with a surprise Ember attack. Ash knows that healing is the only way Turtwig can stay in the match so he calls for Synthesis. Paul calls for one final Flame Wheel, but after asking it to trust him Turtwig dives in a hole to avoid certain defeat. Dawn is concerned because she knows that Paul will just use the same strategy to blast Turtwig out of the hole.

Just as Ember is about to be launched, Turtwig latches on to Chimchar’s head with a Bite attack. Paul then tells it to dive in the hole and a Flame Wheel attack, which Brock points out that Turtwig could not dodge down there. Ash calls for it to come back up, but not the way he planned as it is literally blasted out by an extreme stream of flames. Paul tells him to give up (similar to how he did when Pikachu’s Volt Tackle failed in their first match), but Ash being Ash refuses as he calls for a Tackle. After saying, “That it is over when he has won.” Paul then wants to end this match with a Flame Wheel. The two attacks collide with Turtwig lying down in defeat. He then taunts Ash by saying, “It’s over when we win…” This shocked Ash very much because he picks up his Pokemon and apologizes for not being strong enough for the both of them (an obvious opposite of the way Paul talks to his Pokemon after a loss).

Chimchar is then celebrating with a dance of joy that is cut short by Paul who says that it is not becoming to act pathetic. Ash then calls out asking if he knew how to say anything nice. Paul then remarks that he has nothing to say to a loser and then walks off. Brock and Dawn tell him not to let Paul get to him and then he remarks saying that he win never lose to him again (which is not to be so after losing to him 2 more times after this).

The first time I watched this I was kind of surprised that Ash lost. This was because of the background music that kicked in once Ash got serious and Turtwig knocked Chimchar out of the hole with a Razor Leaf. The only time this music kicks in is when the main character gains the upper hand in a match after a slow start and eventually defeats their opponent with an impressive display of skill and power (Like when May beat Harley with Squirtle at a contest against his Ariados). Ash then realizes that Paul is not a friend and only a rival with an extremely different view of Pokemon and other trainers.

Who had the skills in this match? It was a pretty close match once Ash finally got his head on straight he may have lost but he made a good comeback despite being at a disadvantage. If he had this kind of calm mind against Paul in their other matches I doubt he would have lost in any of them.

 

[Paulisthebest]

Ash vs Paul Battle 3

Ash-Gligar/Chimchar, Paul-Gliscor/Urasring

The scene is in the forest as Paul is about to capture a Drapion with Electabuzz, but Ash’s Gligar unwillingly interferes and it flees much to Paul’s annoyance. Ash and the gang arrive and he and Paul get into an argument about training styles. Paul gets to Ash once again and they get into a battle (only because of Chimchar’s involvement when it calls out to Paul so he decides to accept the challenge).

Gligar starts off the first round, but Paul counters with its evolved form (and leader of the group that it used to be in). This was really a mistake using a Pokemon that has never been used in combat before on Ash’s side against his rival that has powerful Pokemon. The match starts off with a Steel Wing, but Paul easily counters with a Knock Off that sends Gligar to the ground and crying. His Gliscor ends the resistance with Guillotine against Gligar’s X-Scissor. The match is over in only two moves. Paul then taunts Ash telling him that a loss is the trainers fault.

Chimchar is up next against Paul’s Urasring and the match begins with a powerful Flamethrower that Urasring easily blocks. Ash then asks Paul if he thinks that the attack is more powerful than it was before, but Paul responds with a brief grin (I think that he thought that the attack was indeed more powerful than at the tag battle, but still not enough to be considered a threat.

Chimchar then starts to believe in itself when it stands its ground to block Urasring’s Focus Blast. The match really heats up as Paul gains the upper hand with Urasring’s Hammer Arm to force Chimchar out of the ground when it used Dig. Then it caught Flame Wheel with its bare hands (no pun intended), and used Secret Power to make Chimchar flinch. It then headbutted Chimchar and dropped it to the ground. It was really afraid of the Hibernation Pokemon along with Paul’s taunts. Ash’s team begins to cheer for it as Paul looks on with a cold stare.

One Hammer Arm and Chimchar is thought to be defeated. Paul then looks up as the rubble beings to shake and Chimchar leaps out surrounded by intense flames. It uses a full power Flame Wheel to knock aside Focus Blast and K.O. Urasring. The match ends here so this is where I will stop.

The end result is a tie; Paul’s Gliscor easily beat Gligar/Urasring started out beating the poor little monkey into the ground until it tapped into its true power and with no true control knocked out the large bear. If you ask me up until the point of Blaze being activated Paul was in control of the match the entire time countering every single one of Ash’s moves and making them useless. Gligar never even touched Gliscor and before it used Blaze, Chimchar’s only attack that made contact was Flamethrower but Urasring crossed its arms to easily block the attack.

 

[Paulisthebest]

Ash vs Paul Battle 4

Ash-Turtwig/Grotle, Paul-Honchcrow

This match was originally going to be between Paul and Chimchar once its Blaze was controlled. Paul told Ash that the next time that they would battle would be when Chimchar’s power was under control, but Ash being Ash wanted to battle right there. Once again Paul’s style of training and ways of treating Pokemon made Ash want to prove to him that his style of battle is wrong.

Turtwig was sent out because it didn’t want the others that were going to be used at the Hearthome gym to be injured before the match. Paul sent out Honchcrow and for the second time he had the type advantage during a match with Ash. Based on its known moves at the time the only attack Turtwig knew that would do normal damage on a Honchcrow was its Tackle because Bite, Razor Leaf and Energy Ball would do little on a Flying/Dark type.

The match starts with a charging Sky Attack, and Ash counters with Energy Ball but as expected it does little damage. Paul commands a string of attacks which Turtwig easily dodges, and Brock scolds Ash for using a careless strategy of just dodging without attacking. Each time Ash calls for an attack it is stopped cold and Turtwig suffers hit after hit. When no one expects it Turtwig evolves into Grotle!

Paul just looks with no expression on his face, and his Torterra watches with the same look on its face. Ash is excited (which gets in his way and clouds his judgment) as he thinks that this match is his, but he is unaware of the weight gained when Turtwig evolved along with its lackluster speed. Each time he tells it to dodge and attack and go after Honchcrow it trips over itself and ends up getting badly damaged. Paul taunts the poor boy by pointing out how he has no idea what he is doing because he does not know about the changes that Grotle went through when it evolved and ended the match with a powerful Dark Pulse.

This match just shows how Ash’s skills are not how they used to be. I remember back in the earlier seasons when one of his Pokemon evolved we could almost see an evolution in him because he could control them with such skill that you would think he was almost an elite trainer. Just think back to how his Krabby evolved into Kinger and defeated all 3 of Mandy’s Pokemon and the Indigo Plateau. Paul seemed to have a win under his belt as soon as Honchcrow appeared on the field.

 

[Paulisthebest]

Ash vs Paul Battle 5

Ash-Staravia/Staraptor, Paul-Honchcrow

This is a Pokeringer match so to me this technically wasn’t a “real” Pokemon battle. The match started off with both sides wanting to go at it with nothing less than a win (similar to how Paul acted during their full battle). Staravia was holding its own against Honchcrow.

Has anyone noticed how Honchcrow can literally take powerful attacks and just act like it didn’t feel a thing? This is a complete contrast to its game counterpart, and it must be a result of Paul’s intensive training style.

The match was intense with a Sky Attack/Brave Bird standoff with Staravia looking like it took the worst out of that powerful collision. With Paul’s skills at using the wind to his advantage one would think that he had competed in one of these competitions before.

The battle was pretty even with Ash and Paul constantly getting the best of each other. One of my favorite parts was when Quick Attack crept up on Honchcrow and Staravia took the ring, but Ash gets too confident and tries the same strategy again only to have Paul counter it. Then Honchcrow launches one final move that sends Staravia to the ground and is about to finish it off with Sky Attack. Ash then encourages his Pokemon to get up and keep fighting only to have Paul put him down by thinking that encouragement is useless.

Right as Sky Attack is about to make contact the grounded bird flies up and evolves. Unlike the match with Grotle after it evolved it seemed that Ash knew what he was doing (considering he had 3 other bird Pokemon before Staraptor).

Paul clinches before telling his Pokemon to stay calm, but really Honchcrow didn’t show any signs of fear. It seemed that Paul was actually a bit shaken considering he got full view of what he hated the most (a trainer bonding with its Pokemon resulting in a higher level of power something that he only achieves by intensive training).

Ash and his new Staraptor do great against the Big Boss, but one must take into account that it took a lot of damage before it evolved so it wasn’t truly at its maximum potential against Honchcrow. I think that the battle was awesome, when it dodges Night Slash the way its “hair” was moving was a nice touch by the artists. Honchrow smirked before it finally landed Night Slash and went after the ring, but here comes Staraptor launching its new Close Combat attack much to Paul’s shock.

The two Pokemon collide once again with Brave Bird and Sky Attack, once again it seems like Honchcrow took little damage. Staraptor was left very exhausted and didn’t look like it could take anymore and it had reached the limit as mentioned by Brock.

It seemed that the incredible about of damage it took before evolving, the recoil of using Brave Bird twice during the match and Honchcrow’s unnatural endurance made this battle a very intense one. To me it seemed that Staraptor wasn’t moving too well after colliding with Sky Attack was not just the recoil damage that it took I think that it flinched from Sky Attack as well.

Paul thought that he had the battle well in hand as he smiled while Honchcrow was just a little ways from claiming victory only to have Ash tell Staraptor to take the ring away with a hit of the wing winning the match for Ash. Really I thought he should have used Quick Attack to steal it away at least it would have been a real battle command.

That is the end of their fourth match with a “win” for Ash. Though I think that if the two fought to the end with one Pokemon eventually going down I would say that Honchrow would be the one left standing (flying). Ash congratulates Staraptor on a job well done while Paul scolds Honchcrow for having a slow reaction time and the poor bird is saddened as it is recalled.

Paul then looks at Ash and walks off. Later that day, Ash catches up to Paul and in a “nice way” tells him how he was wrong about Stary being a weakling when he first caught it, but only to have Paul say that it was about time it evolved. Paul blamed his own Pokemon for the loss when he saw Staraptor coming from behind he shouldn’t have let his confidence get the best of him that battle.

Alright, their next battle the full battle will be up sometime this week. The match was two episodes so it is going to take some time to fully analyze the match from their attacks down to who presented the better style. Keep up the votes!