... Fine I'll make that clearer. Ash's Starly loses. Paul tells Ash that his strategy is terrible and complains that his own Starly didn't do well enough.
Aipom versus Chimchar. Aipom takes a lot of damage, but eventually lands a focus punch and OHKOs Chimchar. Paul curses Chimchar for losing.
It's now Pikachu versus Elekid. Elekid is supercharged by Pikachu's electric attacks, a strategy that some Orange Islands guy used on Pikachu way back, that you would think Ash would remember. Ultimately, an iron tail and a thunder punch land at the same time, and Elekid and Pikachu collapse together, resulting in a tie. Paul releases his Starly, deciding that he can just grab a new, stronger one because they're so common, which angers Ash.
Okay, first impressions of Paul: he’s okay. While his insults to Ash are kind of entertaining, it just comes off as weird. Gary’s crude insults to Ash were fine because Ash was a no name beginner back then. At this point, Ash has placed in the Top Sixteen and Top Eight twice in three separate leagues, defeated the Orange Islands League and the Battle Frontier, and gotten multiple new hats. Paul may not know any of this, but, well, that’s his problem. At least Max had the decency to say that Ash was just lucky when he criticized him, it just seems strange for Ash to take this kind of criticism when he has like a dozen pokemon that could ruin everything Paul owns without blinking. With all of that said, Paul’s insults at least criticize actual failings of Ash, and he does seem serious enough as a threat that I can accept him as a rival, so we’ll see how he pans out.
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Not changing this sig until I decide to change this sig.
Started: July 6, 2005