Why can't the Pokemon who helped bring Ash to the *insert region here* League defeat a simple Snivy?

(It's just a cartoon, it's not real. They needed to put something in the first episode.)

Sorry, ranterthecellist here.

Not enough rant.

Ash's Pikachu goes back to level 5 every time he enters a new region. That's not right... and why doesn't he use his overpowered Pokemon instead of whatever he's carrying now?

I hate how he ditched his Butterfree, his Pidgeot, his Charizard, his Snorlax, his Tauroses, his Lapras, et cetera

@ Heart's Soul: Possibly the same deal as Hoenn and Sinoh where he decided to leave all of his Pokemon, excluding Pikachu, with Prof. Oak.

Only one of his attacks hit, and technically Pikachu didn't faint anyway, but you'd still think one quick attack from a level 100 Pikachu would KO a level 5 Snivy.

That and he lost most of his power was lost after being stuck down by Zekrom.
Really you need to pay attention to the actual show you're watching before you state this stuff.

After all look at his record

He defeats a Dragonite then looses to a Bellsprout.
He then beats a Regice then looses to an Elekid.

It wouldn't be fair for Ash to start out a region with a level 100 pikachu anyways.

Pikachu's power level resets every season because watching him kill everything in one hit just wouldn't be that interesting.
"I AM THE FINAL AND STRONGEST GYM LEADER, THIS WILL BE YOUR TOUGHEST BATTLE YE-*everything ohko'd* ....... aw." END OF EPISODE. Doesn't sound that great, now does it?

If you're looking for an in-universe explanation, maybe Pikachu eats a lot of EV-lowering berries before they go to the new region. But that's just my in-universe guess.

The concept of levels exist in the anime (as proven in the first season), but it doesn't govern how strong Pokemon are.

My theory is that, because Pokemon owned by trainers most likely have been taught moves that are not of its natural elemental type (e.g - A Pikachu learning Iron Tail, a Honchkrow learning Steel Wing), it requires rigorous and continuous training to keep their skill in shape, as using that move isnt second nature to them (e.g. - STAB Moves, A Pikachu using Thunderbolt, Honchkrow using Dark Pulse).



Also, Pokemon travelling with trainers are out of their natural habitat, therefore they dont get as much skill practice as they normally would in their homes. This would mean that they lose skill exceptionally fast. This is again, compensated by constant training.



Deriving from that theory, the reason why Pikachu always seems to "reset" at the start of every saga, would proably be the fact that Ash and Pikachu most likely take an approx. 1 week ~ a month break from coming back from another region. They probably skip out on training to indulge in well deserved slacking time. Therefore, Pikachu loses its skill over this resting period.





I also have dozens of theories on various aspects of the Pokemon world, but I wont get into that :/ Unless some sort of PokePhilosophy thread gets started (hint hint enthusiasts).

That's all well and good, but Pikachu is dangerously strong to begin with. I sincerely doubt that a month of slacking would be enough justification for him to lose to a lv. 5 Pokemon. A Lv. 40, 30, maybe 20, but not a level 5.

The only explanation that makes any sense at all at this point is Zekrom's interference, and that doesn't even explain the other regions.

Starters aren't necessarily level 5 in the anime. Dawn's Piplup knew Whirlpool from the start, and it doesn't learn that until level 32. A Torchic in one episode that was supposed to be given away as a starter evolved later in the episode. Shooti's Trip's Snivy knew Leaf Tornado, which it doesn't learn until level 16.

That's true, but the Snivy in question was living in the wild at the time. The law of survival would logically have been governing it's actions (unless it was stupid) and evolution is one of the surest ways to preserve one's survival in that state. A trainer's Pokemon will be more willing to forgo evolution because it is still given a relatively strong guarentee of safety anyway, but in my opinion a wild Pokemon would seek to evolve as soon as possible. Holding that this is the case, the Snivy in question shouldn't have been stronger than about Lv. 16.

Remember that one time where Ash's Charizard totally pwn3d that Chikorita? Good times...

i lost faith in them in Hoenn

Well, one reason he always leaves his strong pokemon(charazard, infernape, sceptile, et cetra) is because your normally only allowed to take one pokemon from a certain region to another. A pokemon not native to the region would feel uncomfortable. Plus, there would be theives all over Ash for his 'rare' pokemon that aren't seen in Unova unless from an outsider. Professor Oak also wanted Ash to keep low, thus only allowing pikachu to enter the Unova region. Same with keeping low with Team Rocket(Jesse, James, and Meowth).

Sorry, if I repeated some.

I like the new Teamrocket there more sneaky now and more into there jobs than they were when the show first started. They did good upto the point of the SS anne. And they jus sucked at being bad guys. I do recall brock saying in a few episodes back in the old school ones where he said something about the pokemon getting exp. points. They dont say that anymore in the show. i remeber team rocket was reading a book about how to evolve there koffing and ekans using exp. points. and stuff.

I like how it's more funnier.

I was watching the last episode, and looking back at all the other episodes, whenever the opponent uses dig, there all like "Where is he, he could be anywhere O.o" And they dont expect the opponent to attack from below...

I remember when Ash fought the one dude with Darkrai and Latios in the Sinnoh League Finals (that guy was totally cheating too) and Pikachu held his own pretty well to the end (taking a Luster Purge to the face as he Volt Tackled into it rather epically).

I'm pretty sure abilities in the anime are more based on the trainer's style and situation. The fact that Pikachu has lost several times to gym leaders it should in-game easily cakewalk is testament to this fact.

Of course, its Zekrom's fault that Ash lost to Trip, but thats why there's such thing as a BACKUP Pokemon, Him going into the Unova region with just one Pokemon was a big mistake... He should of brought Buizel with him, despite type disadvantage, Buizel would taken down Snivy easily

Buizel master, I agree with you all of teh way. Buizels are my 2nd favorite water pokemon

Plus that ash lets his pokemon leave him multiable times. (BUTTERFREE for example)

Also, Charizard and Gliscor just left...

charizard came back, i think

This thread is going nowhere I'm closing it.