Media Essays: Ash vs. Sawyer: How Good Was It?

After the atrocity that was Ash vs. Cameron last week, THIS is a battle actually worth covering and talking about. Unlike the previous battle, Ash vs. Sawyer is actually pretty beloved. It's certainly more beloved than Ash vs. Alain was, that's for sure. Hey, at least they didn't hype Ash up to win and then chicken out at the last minute. XD This one's going to be a fun analysis for me, because Ash vs. Sawyer is one of my favourite Pokémon battles in the entire anime, both including the Ash era AND Pokémon Horizons. So why is that? How good is this battle? Let's be like Sawyer and study it for ourselves, shall we?

Before we begin the battle, time for context. Ash and Sawyer have had an...interesting rivalry. And I don't mean that as a negative or in a sarcastic way, I really do mean it was an interesting rivalry. Unlike most Ash rivals, Sawyer isn't some jerk who wants to utterly destroy Ash and prove he's better than him. On the contrary, Sawyer is actually A FAN of Ash! Yeah, really! Sawyer was just a guy who was inspired by Ash and wanted to get stronger and so he would take lessons from Ash and improve his skills as a battler until eventually, he was able to get the best of Ash during a tougher moment of his tenure in the X and Y series. Now it all comes to this, the fan against his idol and the two showing each other how far they've come since their journey through Kalos. Ash has seen for himself that Sawyer has grown so much with how he dominated Tierno, another rival/friend of Ash's, during the quarter-finals, so he knows this isn't going to be easy. So without further ado, let's dive in...

Sawyer's Strategy Gives Ash A Tough Time

The battle begins with Ash's Hawlucha vs. Sawyer's Slaking. Huh...interesting choice on Swayer's part. Then again, despite Slaking's laziness, it is quite the powerhouse and given Sawyer's analytic fighting style, it soon becomes clear where he sent it out against Hawlucha despite the type-disadvantage. I do love how Serena gave Hawlucha its own luchador costume to wear, that was both funny and cute. Yet when the battle begins, the costume disappears, so what was that about?

Ash gets the first move and tells Hawlucha to use Karate Chop. Despite the super-effective hit, Slaking doesn't seem bothered by it. Given Ash has fought a Slaking in the past during his Gym Battle with Norman in the Hoenn region, he should remember that Slaking are pretty bulky. Anyone who's played the Ruby and Sapphire games will let you know how annoying the fat, lazy gorilla is to take down, even with a Fighting-type! Ash orders a flurry of attacks, but Slaking continues to laze about until Sawyer commands it to use Slack Off, which heals all the damage it took. Great, so it's an absolute tank AND knows a healing move? We players know how annoying that is to deal with...

Ash continues the offensive and Hawlucha lands more attacks, then comes in for a Flying Press attack. But unfortunately, he's fallen right into Sawyer's trap as Slaking intercepts with Counter, a move that deals back double the damage the user has taken from a move. Ash will be very familiar with that move given how many times he's dealt with Team Rocket's Wobbuffet. With that single Counter, Hawlucha is down and out! Damn, Ash is down a Pokémon already? Sawyer's not messing around! It also shows what his strategy is. His team is built to counter Ash's. In this case, Slaking is his counter against Hawlucha since Hawlucha is very agile, very physical and is always on its toes, so a brick wall that barely moves like Slaking isn't what it's used to dealing with.

Ash sends out Talonflame next. Despite not having a type-advantage, its speed and flying abilities give it an edge, as well as the fact Slaking's still feeling fatigued from Hawlucha's beating earlier. Even Slack Off doesn't heal it completely. Talonflame breaks through Sslaking's Hammer Arm with Flame Charge and finishes it off with a powerful Brave Bird attack. Now the score is even. It's a pity this match was over so quickly, but Slaking still proved its worth against Ash and showed how Sawyer isn't messing around.

Sawyer's next Pokémon is Clawitzer. Unlike Slaking, Ash HAS battled this one before and he knows it's a tough one since last time when Ash and Sawyer had a three-on-three, that one Clawitzer took down two of Ash's Pokémon in the same battle with only Greninja able to stop it in the end. Here, it still proves to be tough to fight as its Aqua Jet forces Talonflame to go on the run (or flight in this case) and then it uses Ice Beam on its wing. The two mons face off in a Flame Charge/Aqua Jet head-on collision...which Clawitzer wins. Ash is now two mons lighter already. This is another example of Sawyer's strategic battle style as his Clawitzer is the specific counter he has for Talonflame. The fiery falcon makes use of its aerial moves and close contact moves, so Clawitzer being able to chase it down and fight from a distance gives Talonflame a tough battle. At least unlike Ash vs. Alain, Talonflame wasn't stuck fighting a boring mon like Unfezant. XD

Ash sends out Pikachu next, which makes sense as Pikachu has a type-advantage over Clawitzer. However, even Pikachu has a tough time against the cannon shrimp Pokémon as Clawitzer is speedy and is able to dodge attacks and keep Pikachu on the run. At the same time, Pikachu is able to use the forest environment to his advantage and hide from Clawitzer for a surprise ambush. I especially love the clever way Ash counters Sawyer's attempted counter of Iron Tail. Clawitzer grabs Pikachu's tail, thus nullifying Iron Tail, and tries to use Water Pulse, which will REALLY hurt since Clawitzer has the Mega Launcher ability, an ability that powers up pulse moves like Water Pulse and Dragon Pulse. But Pikachu uses Electro Ball, thus intercepting the Water Pulse and stunning Clawitzer long enough to break free and finish it off with Electro Ball. Sawyer's not the only one being big-brained in this battle as we can see. Now the score is even once more.

Next up is Sawyer's formidable Aegislash. As seen in Sawyer's battle with Tierno, the sword and shield Pokémon is nothing to sneeze at. It's strong and able to defend itself with King's Shield and it really threw Tierno off his rhythm, so Ash will have his hands full here. This is also one of Sawyer's most seen Pokémon throughout the show as we've seen it battle many times and even saw it in each of its evolutionary stages. Sawyer once again puts his strategy to the test by ordering Aegislash to cut down the trees so Pikachu has no means of using the trees for cover. Again, this kid is NOT messing around and I love it! After the trees are cut down, Pikachu tries to use Iron Tail on Aegislash, but it blocks with King's Shield and Pikachu's Attack goes down, which is how King's Shield actually works in the games, so kudos for accurately adapting the move and how it works writers. Pity you didn't do that for Hydro Cannon in Ash vs. Cameron! Pikachu continues to struggle thanks to the chopped down trees making it harder for him to get a secure foothold and as he tries to use Thunderbolt, Aegislash blocks the attack again. However, Ash has an idea on how to stop King's Shield. He has Pikachu slam the ground with Iron Tail and knock the chopped down trees into the air. Aegislash cuts them to pieces with Fury Cutter and Pikachu attempts to ambush it from behind. Sawyer anticipated this and orders King Shield...

...but then Pikachu throws a chunk of wood...

...the wood then gets stuck in Aegislash's shield...

...and thus Aegislash can't use King's Shield as the wood prevents it from sliding all the way through the shield, thus Pikachu is able to land a clean hit on it with Thunderbolt!

That defeats it! That was incredible! Easily one of the most insane and clever counters I've seen in any episode of Pokémon! I'll admit, it kinda sucks that Aegislash goes down the moment Pikachu finally lands a hit on it, but given Aegislash in Blade Form has pretty pants defences, I guess that's accurate? Still, that was awesome and one of the best examples of Ash's unpredictable battle style. If only Roy from Pokémon Horizons could be written this way and then I wouldn't be calling him a fraud who only wins because of bad writing...

The first half was an incredible start, hands down. Yeah, some of the wins are admittedly rushed, but there's just so many big-brain strategies on display and a variety of battle skills from the battling Pokémon that you don't really care and just have fun watching! Sawyer really shows his strategic battle style and shows how he's studied Ash VERY closely and Ash shows us how he's grown over the course of the X and Y series and that this battle isn't like the last time Ash and Sawyer fought. So, does the second half hold up? Let's cover it...

A Mega Conclusion

The battle arena is changed from a forest to a desert now three of Sawyer's Pokémon have been defeated. The trainers bring out their respective Dragon/Flying types, Salamence and Noivern for the next battle. Like Aegislash and Clawitzer, we've seen Sawyer use Bagon and Shelgon in previous battles, and now this one confirms it's fully evolved into Salamence. As a fan of both Pokémon, I'm glad to see them in action. This portion of the battle especially gets gorgeously animated at times, showing where the budget for this episode went. It's high-flying action with both dragons landing powerful hits on one another, but confusingly, Salamence hits Noivern with Dragon Tail and...nothing happens. Writers...you do remember that Dragon Tail makes the opponent switch out with another Pokémon when it hits, right? So why didn't Noivern go back into its Pokéball and swap out with Goodra, Pikachu or Greninja? The even weirder thing is that looking it up on Bulbapedia, we LITERALLY do not get Dragon Tail's switch out effect being depicted until Ash vs. Leon in Pokémon Journeys! Seriously, what's that about? It took until then to finally get Dragon Tail right? But I digress, the battle comes to a climax when Noivern rushes in with Acrobatics and Salamence charges with Dragon Rush. The attacks hit...

...and they both knock each other out, bringing this match to a tie. That was lame. Would've been nice to see Sawyer's Salamence win a battle for once. No seriously, throughout the entire X and Y series, we NEVER see Sawyer's Salamence win a single battle! Not as a Bagon, not as a Shelgon, not even as a Salamence! Why even give him such an awesome pseudo legendary if it's going to job so badly like this? I admit some of this is because I love Salamence and hate seeing any of my favourite Pokémon being done dirty like this, so I'm going to be a bit miffed.

Next up is Sawyer's Slurpuff vs. Ash's Goodra. Now this is an interesting match-up since Sawyer does have a type-advantage, BUT he's never battled Goodra before since Ash didn't have Goodra around with him at the times they've battled, so he's got no research to work with. The battle is mostly the two exchanging long range moves with each other such as Dazzling Gleam, Fairy Wind, Flamethrower, Ice Beam and Bide respectively and despite Goodra taking the bigger beating and having a type disadvantage, the battle ends in a draw as well. OK, seriously? TWO ties in a row? This is taking the mickey! Did they really need to have another tie? One clever detail in the battle is that Ash never tells Goodra to use Dragon Pulse during the battle. Why is that clever? Because Dragon-type attacks don't work on Fairy-types, so it was smart of Ash not to do that. It goes to show how ill-equipped Goodra was to handle this though since it only has two attacks that it can use (Bide and Ice Beam) while Dragon Pulse is not an option and Rain Dance just makes it rain, which would've at least weakened Slurpuff's Flamethrower so Ash could've done that at least. Ah well, Sawyer is down to one Pokémon while Ash has Pikachu and Greninja left.

Sawyer's last Pokémon is his ace, the mighty Sceptile. This Pokémon is one Ash has had plenty of experience with since, well, he owns one himself, and now here he is fighting another guy's Sceptile. But as we know, this Sceptile has something Ash's doesn't. Sawyer's Sceptile can Mega Evolve! But we'll get to that later. Ash sends out Pikachu next and despite Pikachu's efforts, Sceptile pretty effortlessly takes him down due to Pikachu being too fatigued from the earlier battles with Clawitzer and Aegislash and Sceptile being resistant to Electric-types. It all comes down to the wire as Ash sends out Greninja to take on Sceptile. These two have fought each other many times throughout Ash and Sawyer's travels and the last encounter they had prior to this tournament, Sceptile emerged victorious. Now this match will settle the score...

...but first, Ash and Sawyer have their little heart-to-heart where they compliment how far either one's come with Sawyer mentioning how Ash has inspired and taught him so much and Ash commenting how Sawyer inspired him to get back up again after the latter's quick progress scared him a little. It's pretty sweet honestly, I love it. ^^

After that, the two unleash their Pokémon's ultimate forms with Ash Greninja vs. Mega Sceptile. You know, ever since Pokémon: Legends Z-A came out, I can just never look at Ash Greninja the same way again. It would've been so much better if the Kalos starters had had Mega Evolutions in the first place so Ash could've had Mega Greninja instead. Ah well, this portion of the battle lives up to the hype as it's gorgeously animated, very intense and full of slick moves and powerful hits as either side trades blows with each other. Mega Sceptile has a type-advantage due to being a Grass/Dragon type, but Ash Greninja has type-coverage with Aerial Ace (a Flying-type move, which Grass-types are weak to) and more combat experience, so it's pretty even. Mega Sceptile's Frenzy Plants keep Ash Greninja at a distance, but Ash Greninja is able to cut its way through and take the hits from Leaf Storm and Leaf Blade. The battle comes to a close when Ash Greninja launches a giant Water Shuriken and Mega Sceptile launches Leaf Storm...

...but Ash Greninja lands the hit. Sceptile is defeated and Ash stands triumphant. It was a tough battle and by far the toughest battle Ash has had against Sawyer throughout the series, but ultimately Ash wins and moves on to the Kalos League Final. This was a big moment at the time since throughout the anime's history, Ash would always fall at this stage or even lower, but for the first time ever, he made it to the finals. THE FINALS! And I'm pretty sure that Ash would go on to win the finals and become the Kalos League Champion...

...oh right, that happened. For the full details, see my Ash vs. Alain essay.

And that was Ash vs. Sawyer. The second half wasn't quite as good as the first half, I'm sorry to say. Not that it was bad or anything, it just felt super rushed with there being two ties in a row and Sawyer didn't feel as strategic as he did in Part 1. It was mostly just him and Ash going at it and seeing who's got the strongest mon on the field. Still, the fights were pretty exciting at times with Salamence vs. Noivern and Ash Greninja vs. Mega Sceptile being the absolute highlights and it really felt like the perfect conclusion of Ash and Sawyer's rivalry with Ash still the stronger of the two, but Sawyer content that he got to show his true capabilities as a trainer. The first half was stronger, but the second half still has its highlights for me...

Overall

And that was Ash vs. Sawyer. What else needs saying? It's a great battle! While not perfect due to being rushed in places, it's still one of the best battles in the entire anime. Nobody gets nerfed by the plot so the other can win, both sides are shown as skilled and competent, there's no real moments of stupidity that ruin the battle, it's wonderfully animated and it's exciting to watch from beginning to end, as well as being a touching conclusion to one of the anime's most fascinating rivalries. This is a hot take, and I know, but I'd probably rank this battle above even Ash vs. Paul from the Sinnoh League if I were to rank these battles. Yeah, I said it! At least this battle didn't need Sawyer to use a weaker team just so Ash could win, whereas Ash vs. Paul needed Paul to not use his best team just so Ash could win. Not trying to diss that battle or anything...I think we can at least agree it's miles above Ash vs. Alain, that's for sure! At least this battle's ending didn't piss people off! XD

As is, this is one of my favourite battles in the Pokémon anime for a reason and I'm always happy to revisit it. Such a classic and an example of Pokémon battles at their best...

And that's it for this essay. I hope you enjoyed it and feel free to share your thoughts down below. Do you like this battle too? Do you agree with my thoughts, or do you have something else to say? Do let me know.

Next week, I'm going on quite the epic journey to master the four elements as I review one of the most highly acclaimed cartoons of all time...Avatar: The Last Airbender. See you then media fans!

Support the blog here on my Patreon page.