• Member Since 14th Aug, 2012
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Azure Sandora


I write sins... NOT tragedies. Link to Patreon

More Blog Posts324

  • 35 weeks
    Persona 6: Reflect

    So, the story has been restarted. I'm helping Bahamut Omega a bit with it, but it's still his demon. And yes, it's still the Omega Ruby to my story's Alpha Sapphire. So READ IT GODDAMN IT!!!

    Here's a link so you don't have an excuse not to read it. Get to work, people.

    4 comments · 283 views
  • 38 weeks
    Persona 6: REM will be returning soon.

    I've begun working on the next few chapters, as I'm still not at the part where I wanted to take a break initially, so expect a new chapter sometime tomorrow.

    Progress WILL be slow due to my new job taking over a bit, but know that I am working on this one.

    Also, 13 Sentinels will be worked on as well. Again, that won't be premiering for a long while though.

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  • 52 weeks
    Demo for my new project

    For those who want to read it, you can find the prologue chapters in the following link. It's set up where you can comment there, but if you just want to comment here, that's fine too. I'm very curious what you all think of this.

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  • 52 weeks
    Anyone want a "demo" of the new project I'm working on?

    If you do, I can provide a link to it. It's an experimental story, like I said, so some things MIGHT turn people off here and there, but it's something I've been wanting to write for a long while. I have a Google Drive now with the prologue chapters (yes, plural. You read that right), so if you want to see that, let me know here, and I'll put up another blog post with the link to the Google

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  • 56 weeks
    Updating my peeps

    Alright, so here's an update on things going on in my life:

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    8 comments · 372 views
Aug
23rd
2016

SapphireLibra3 Rants: Ash Ketchum and Kalos · 6:39pm Aug 23rd, 2016

He was supposed to be the very best... like NO ONE ever was...

I actually like Pokemon. The games are fun, the anime has great animation and stories, the comics and graphic novels are some of the best out there, and the Pokemon themselves are really cool too. My favorite Legendary Pokemon are the Creation Pokemon, as they're some of the coolest looking Pokemon ever, and their powers are terrifying. Dialga able to control time, Palkia controlling space, Giratina being able to travel through dimensions, and Arceus is literally Pokemon God.

Praise Dialga and Palkia...

All hail Arceus...

But I'm not here to talk about how awesome Pokemon is. As the name implies, I'm here to rant, and this is a rant that has been a long time coming. Oh you thought I wasn't going to talk about this.

You thought wrong, because I'm pissed as hell.

I mean, we're all pissed as hell. If you're long time fan, then you've probably followed Pokemon since it's conception about what, 20 years ago? That means we've followed Ash Ketchum since his beginning stages. Six leagues, and Ash has lost in every. single. ONE.

Now I'm not like most people, as I don't feel too bad that he lost in the Indigo League. I mean, let's be honest here, he didn't earn half of his badges.

The Boulder Badge he won because Brock was sick of being a gym leader, let's be real.
The Cascade Badge was given to him after he sent Team Rocket blasting off... again.
The Thunder Badge he actually earned, and it was an awesome fight.
The Marsh Badge he got after making the gym leader laugh, and saving his friends.
The Rainbow Badge he won after sending Team Rocket blasting off... again.
The Soul Badge he earned, simply because after Team Rocket blasted off... again, Koga insisted that they finish their fight.
The Volcano Badge he earned the same way; the gym leader insisted that they finish their fight after Team Rocket blasted off... again.
Finally the Earth Badge, he didn't even fight the real gym leader. He fought Team Rocket, and the badge just fell into his hands after Team Rocket blasted off... again...

So out of eight badges, he only earned 3, compared to Gary motherf*cking Oak, who out of eight badges, managed to earn 10! Combine that with how poorly he trained his Charizard, his ONLY rank 3 pokemon at the time, and how badly he slacked off when he had an entire MONTH to train for the Pokemon League, I'm not surprised that he lost then. He needed to lose, so he could have a wake up call.

Every loss after that though was absolute bullshit.

Johto, he lost to someone using a Blaziken, which was at a disadvantage.
Hoenn, he lost to a Meowth!
Sinnoh, he lost to someone using two LEGENDARIES!
Unova, he lost to an opponent that forgot his sixth pokemon. Seriously?!

But this most recent loss was the worst one by far. Not just because of how he lost, but everything building up to it.

First of all, Ash had the best team by far, consisting of a semi-legendary pokemon, a Greninja that he could combine with and essentially Mega-Evolve, his level 999 Pikachu, and a team of high ranking pokemon. In the first round in the finals, he sent out Pikachu against a Tyrannatar (spelled that wrong, but whatever) and fought circles around it! Note that Pikachu was at a disadvantage here type wise, and he still won, confirming that Pikachu really is Ash's strongest pokemon.

The writers were building up to this moment from the beginning, with him meeting the champion and promising to fight her at the end, all the hard work he put in, him actually earning all eight badges, and the Greninja arc; it was all building up to what would be the most epic Pokemon arc ever. He fought against Alain a few times and lost every time, so that means that in the end he'd probably win. It got to the point where everyone on the INTERNET agreed that he would win! Do you understand how hard that is, to get everyone on the internet to agree on something? You have to be tryingto make that happen.

Then we get to the fight itself. Alain was using Charizard, and Ash was using Greninja. Ash had a type advantage, for ONCE. I won't go into all the specifics of the fight, but in the end Greninja used an OMEGA WATER SHURIKEN, which for some reason didn't kill Alain's Charizard.

Now, this Greninja took two grass type moves to the face, and those were STRONG grass type moves. Yet somehow he couldn't handle a Blast Burn, which "isn't very effective" against Greninja. This defeat is a prime example of writer meddling, and THAT'S why I'm so upset. Not just because Ash lost again, and I want him to finally win a league. No, I'm mad because there was no reason for this defeat whatsoever!

This defeat literally shouldn't have happened. No, the others (minus the first one) didn't need to happen either, but at least there was a logical reason for the defeat. Wait, no, there's no reason why Ash should have lost to a Meowth. Not with his level 999 Pikachu.

This hurts though because he was SO CLOSE! He was right there! But in the end, NOOO, the writers had Ash lose. The fight right before Greninja entered the fray, Ash had a great plan. Use Rain Dance first, so that when Greninja entered, all of his Water moves would do double damage. When Greninja and Charizard fought, you know what move he started with?

Cut. He used f*cking cut! Thus ended up wasting his Rain Dance, when all he had to do was use Water Shuriken (or any water move for that matter) POINT BLANK and win! But no, the writers decided "You know what would be great? An epic cut/slash battle in the rain!"

This is frustrating because Ash is better than this now. I'm not going to sit here and criticize Ash as a trainer, no, because he's NOT the worst Pokemon Trainer in the world! In fact, NOW I'd argue that he's one of the best Pokemon Trainers in the world. He's done this SIX times, and these days he earned every badge he gets! He has a great relationship with all of his Pokemon, he actually trains with them, like running alongside them, standing under waterfalls, and even letting his Pokemon attack him, so they know "hey, I'm fighting too. We're in this together!" That's a great trainer!

Which is why seeing him lose hurts so much. It's real easy to criticize Ash, calling him the worst trainer in the world, but that's just not true, nor is that how I think we really feel. I know I don't feel that way. He's a great trainer, but for some reason he keeps losing at the most crucial moment.

Look, imagine Rainbow Dash. She's the fastest pegasus in Equestria. Now, what if there was a special Grand Prix, where ponies all over competed, Dash made it to the finals, but lost at each one due to the following:

1: She was overconfident, and misjudged her opponent, coming up short.
2: She lost to a pony that wasn't as strong of a flier as her. Not Fluttershy weak, but definitely not Spitfire strong.
3: NOW she loses to Fluttershy, only because she tripped or bumped into a cloud or something.
4: She's racing against an alicorn.
5: She races against some rookie, who doesn't know what they're doing, and ends up losing anyway.

Does that take away her skill as a flier, or does it seem more like the writers are for some reason making her lose just so they can keep dishing out more material? Dash herself is still the fastest flier in Equestria, so it wouldn't make sense for her to lose all of the races in the Grand Prix. Therefore you're going to be pissed with every loss, because you know tat Dash is better than that.

That's what's happening here. Ash himself isn't a bad trainer. He's learned his mistakes, he trains his pokemon better, and fights tough trainers any chance he can. So there's no reason why he should lose at the end of every league! And that bullshit reason of "If he wins, the show has to end", here's an idea for you:

Ash wins the League, and becomes the Pokemon Master. Next season begins with a new trainer, who ends up getting in trouble and is attacked by Team Rocket, probably because his starter pokemon is something special. Right when all hope is lost...

"Pikachu! Volt Tackle!!!"

A Pikachu runs in with the most OVER POWERED Volt Tackle in the world! The new kid looks up and sees an older Ash Ketchum, who he claims is the Legendary Pokemon Master of (insert region) Region. Ash then becomes the kid's mentor, training him to become a great Trainer like Ash is himself. This is what other shows do. Beyblade Metal Fight stared a kid named Jinga (I spelled that wrong, I know. Shut up.) and followed him all throughout. When the second series began, Jinga didn't vanish, but we still got a new protagonist, yet somehow Jinga was still important.

Same thing with LBX: Little Battlers Experience, also known as the closest we'll ever get to a Custom Robo anime (no idea what I'm talking about? Look it up, it's awesome.). First series we had one main character. Second series has him joined with a new protagonist, and they work together any chance they get.

Also, why DO they have to end the show if he wins? Shonen anime have characters win tournaments all the time, and you know what happens after that? They go to another tournament. And another one. And another one. And another one.

They could also begin focusing on Team Rocket. Not Jessie, James, and Meowth; in fact, let's either make them badass like they were in Black and White so they're an actual threat again, or just make those three anti-heroes, because they're pretty much protagonists at this point. No, when I say focus on Team Rocket, I mean Giovanni, the head honcho, and the main organization. Or even better, make an organization that's worse than Team Rocket- oh wait! Team Aqua, Team Magma, Team Plasma, Team Galactic, and Team Flare, we already had teams that were worst than Team Rocket. It's so bad that we have people theorizing that Team Rocket isn't a bad organization! Um, have you played Generations 1 and 2 people? So let's make them a threat again. Show us what Giovanni really wants, and give Jessie, James, and Meowth arcs where they have to question if they really should stay with Team Rocket. Maybe they join Ash, becoming his travelling companions for that seasons.

Wouldn't that be awesome? Ash spends season after season fighting these three, and in one of the final seasons they're his companions, and this time they work together in dealing with Cassidy and Botch.

Is it Botch? Brett? Banner? Bu.... rt! Burt! That's right! Whoo, I was having trouble for a second there.

That wasn't hard to come up with either. I wrote that off the top of my head. If I can do that? Why can't the actual writers come up with that?

Now, there is a way to make up for all of this. If it turns out that Alain was cheating, but didn't know it, or the actual fight was rigged, then personally I'd forgive it. At that point, it would make sense, and the writers are setting up for something really awesome. But, I'm not optimistic about it. Honestly, it seems more like they just asspulled another defeat for Ash Ketchum, because they're too narrow minded and lack the imagination to come up with something after Ash wins, so instead they keep him trapped in an endless loop of defeat.

Oh, and for Arceus' sake, let Ash age. He's not 10 anymore. He's thirteen at the youngest.

I'm Victoria,
and I need a glass of water.

Comments ( 14 )

Actually he'd be 15-16 at the most depending on when his birthday is. He's been to 6 leagues you said and I believe it was stated that the Pokemon Leagues are an annual thing that more or less happen around the same time as one another. Since he's been to 6 of them one after another that means he's been at this game for at least 6 years since starting at age 10.

Huh...... Never thought of it like that.

I've never seen the end of Kalos League, but I couldn't have said that any better myself.

Well Victoria, the next Region he goes to is Alola, one without Gyms and or Champions or (anime wise) a tournament. The point of the Island Challenge is not to collect badges, but a journey of self-realization. Ash may come to the conclusion that he doesn't have to ever actually win, he's done more in his life than most trainers will ever do. He should be proud of everything he has ever accomplished.

We fans put too much expectation on Ash because we have played the games, we've won. Ash isn't us, he isn't Red or any of those characters. He is Ash, he is a Pokemon Master not because of victories or titles, but because of his experiences and connections.

4167445 .......... :rainbowderp:

That... was really deep actually. I might just check out the Sun and Moon arcs.

Thank you for saying that!

Well, ya ain't quitting which is more than I can say for other viewers, and there's someone besides who sees that Ash isn't terrible like the rest of the internet does. Though now that you've acknowledged you're a Pokemon fan that means people might ask a lot of questions over it. One being do you do any competitive battling?

4167554 Victoria, we may have only chatted through a website after you did a spin-off of my work (hint hint!), but I am a very complex man. It took years od meditation, coming to grips with Aspergers, prayer, and plain old life experiences to come to where I am today. I apply these same conplexities to my fandoms, because as Mark Twain said: "The difference between Reality and Fiction is that fiction has to make sense."

While I agree 100% with this, an interesting thought occurred to me... what if the reason Ash lost was because they wanted to build up the showdown with Tram Flare even more?

Think about it, Alain is technically affiliated with them, and Chespin is still in a coma...

What if at the height of the final arc, Lysandre maneges to manipulate Alain into facing Ash again while the rest of the gang is fighting the remaining Admins, and Ash maneges to actually win this time?

Them maybe upon ending the crisis Ash and his friends are seen as heroes throughout the entire region and Alain, acknowledging his loss, hands over his title as champion to Ash out of respect for him as a trainer and his unique bond with his Greninja. And finally, Ash makes good on his promise and goes up against Diantha for one final Kalos battle!

Anyway, those are my thoughts.

*holds up a glass of water* It's like Ash is anti-Cena/Reigns....probably more the former. Instead of conquering everyone he loses right when he's about to be a champion. I could get maybe losing the first.....two to three leagues....but eventually he needs to score the big win. Hell, apparently he'll go to the Alola Region which doesn't work like a normal Pokemon League so....have him win this one.

Um, one technicality of the fights between Ash's Greninja and Alain's Charizard that you seem to be overlooking.

Mega Charizard X does not have a Water weakness, due to it being a Fire/Dragon type. Dragon resists Water. Ergo, Water moves only deal neutral damage.

Still, I gotta agree with you. While Blast Burn might be one of the strongest Fire moves that exists...Greninja is very frail. So if it could take two Grass-type moves without being knocked out, it should have had a Fire resistance that would have allowed it to withstand that Blast Burn.

4167609 I do not, actually. I'm more of a casual player.

4167982 I don't think they had Mega Evolved yet, so Charizard was still weak to water during the Rain Dance.

He was supposed to be the very best... like NO ONE ever was...

To catch them was his real test, to train them was his cause.

My favorite Legendary Pokemon are the Creation Pokemon, as they're some of the coolest looking Pokemon ever, and their powers are terrifying. Dialga able to control time, Palkia controlling space, Giratina being able to travel through dimensions, and Arceus is literally Pokemon God.

More of a fan of the Weather Trio. Mostly because Pokemon Ruby is the first video game I ever played.

Six leagues, and Ash has lost in every. single. ONE.

And the worst part is, we're supposed to expect him to win, despite losing now 6 times in a row. It's sad.

Now I'm not like most people, as I don't feel too bad that he lost in the Indigo League. I mean, let's be honest here, he didn't earn half of his badges.

Fair enough. Had he won them through some sort of Secret Test of Character, that'd be fine, but he didn't.

He needed to lose, so he could have a wake up call.

Agreed. After a loss like that where you own damn Charizard won't listen, despite that Ash saved his damn life, you need to wake up and smell the roses.

Johto, he lost to someone using a Blaziken, which was at a disadvantage.

If this were ORAS Blaziken, I'd be somewhat more OK with that, but regular Blaziken, no. Blaziken is good, but he's not that good as much as it hurts to say that.

Hoenn, he lost to a Meowth!

Didn't know that.

Sinnoh, he lost to someone using two LEGENDARIES!

At least, Tobias is basically Plot Armor and the writers' determination to make Ash lose given physical form.

First of all, Ash had the best team by far, consisting of a semi-legendary pokemon, a Greninja that he could combine with and essentially Mega-Evolve, his level 999 Pikachu, and a team of high ranking pokemon. In the first round in the finals, he sent out Pikachu against a Tyrannatar (spelled that wrong, but whatever) and fought circles around it! Note that Pikachu was at a disadvantage here type wise, and he still won, confirming that Pikachu really is Ash's strongest pokemon.

Tyranitar. And yeah, Pikachu beating Tyranitar shows how damn good he is.

The writers were building up to this moment from the beginning, with him meeting the champion and promising to fight her at the end, all the hard work he put in, him actually earning all eight badges, and the Greninja arc; it was all building up to what would be the most epic Pokemon arc ever. He fought against Alain a few times and lost every time, so that means that in the end he'd probably win. It got to the point where everyone on the INTERNET agreed that he would win!

And that is one hella feat, for the entire Internet to agree on a single thing, something has to pretty damn important.

Then we get to the fight itself. Alain was using Charizard, and Ash was using Greninja. Ash had a type advantage, for ONCE. I won't go into all the specifics of the fight, but in the end Greninja used an OMEGA WATER SHURIKEN, which for some reason didn't kill Alain's Charizard.

Pretty Sure Greninja's a physical water type, that is a physical Water type move, and I don't care if M-Charizard-X is Dragon, that should have ton a shitton of damage.

No, I'm mad because there was no reason for this defeat whatsoever!

There's a flimsy one. Alola. As long as the games keep going, more places for Ash to go to, more leagues for him to fail at until no more games and he can maybe finally win. He'd lost 5 times in a row, he'd built up his best team so far, he had everything going for him, there's no real reason for him to have LOST. Plus, if he'd won, it'd be interesting to see him challenge and possibly beat the Elite 4 and move on to Alola as a Champion where he might be recognized, something which has never happened.

Cut. He used f*cking cut! Thus ended up wasting his Rain Dance, when all he had to do was use Water Shuriken (or any water move for that matter) POINT BLANK and win! But no, the writers decided "You know what would be great? An epic cut/slash battle in the rain!"

While that CAN look cool, there is absolutely no reason for it strategy wise or plot wise, if you have an advantage, you fucking use it. And why CUT? Of all the Normal types moves, why CUT? It's one of the weaker one, pretty sure Greninja could have been taught Facade or something, that'd hit so much harder.

In fact, NOW I'd argue that he's one of the best Pokemon Trainers in the world.

Considering everything he's been through, yeah, he's not Number 1, but he's damn good, Top 3, he trains with his Pokemon as you said, he takes risks, he's beaten Team Rocket time and time again. AND, if we count the movies, SAVED THE LIFE OF ALMOST EVERY GODDAMN MAJOR LEGENDARY THERE IS! INCLUDING Arceus who as you said is literally God.

He's a great trainer, but for some reason he keeps losing at the most crucial moment.

It's annoying, normally in an anime, it's the main character who has Plot Armor, NOT the last guy he goes up against in the League!

Dash herself is still the fastest flier in Equestria, so it wouldn't make sense for her to lose all of the races in the Grand Prix. Therefore you're going to be pissed with every loss, because you know tat Dash is better than that.

Agreed.

A Pikachu runs in with the most OVER POWERED Volt Tackle in the world! The new kid looks up and sees an older Ash Ketchum, who he claims is the Legendary Pokemon Master of (insert region) Region. Ash then becomes the kid's mentor, training him to become a great Trainer like Ash is himself. This is what other shows do. Beyblade Metal Fight stared a kid named Jinga (I spelled that wrong, I know. Shut up.) and followed him all throughout. When the second series began, Jinga didn't vanish, but we still got a new protagonist, yet somehow Jinga was still important.

Gingka. And that would work, or let him continue as a champion to Alola, let him have to deal with the fame and praise.

Maybe they join Ash, becoming his travelling companions for that seasons.

Could be fun, seeing them have to actually train hard due to Ash being a surprisingly unrelenting taskmaster, training them to their limits because he knows they can be really good if they try. But they're stuck as comedic relief.

Wouldn't that be awesome? Ash spends season after season fighting these three, and in one of the final seasons they're his companions, and this time they work together in dealing with Cassidy and Botch.
Is it Botch? Brett? Banner? Bu.... rt! Burt! That's right! Whoo, I was having trouble for a second there.

Butch.

If it turns out that Alain was cheating,

Well, his Pokemon did land 2 consecutive Guillotines without Gen 1's X Accuracy, No Guard, a Lock On variant, Ash's mons standing still or bullshit luck...

Oh, and for Arceus' sake, let Ash age. He's not 10 anymore. He's thirteen at the youngest.

At least 16, because I have trouble believing that each region took less than a year. Also, at one point, he says Pikachu and him have been friends for years. Yet he hasn't aged a single day. Care to explain your own damn paradox writers?

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