>>52865473They could've montaged the E4 Battles before cutting straight to Diantha, the only fight people care about, then have Ash lose in about 2 episodes. Have Diantha say something to the effect that her last battle against Greninja and the subsequent business with Team Flare inspired her to train harder and take her position as Champion more seriously (which is why Greninja doesn't just outright beat her Mega Gardevoir in the rematch). From there, have Ash say now that he's finally won a league, he's going to take a break before he takes a crack at another one. There's your justification for him going to Alola and being more passive in it + the irony of his "vacation" being the place he eventually becomes champ in. That'd need 2 episodes to finish, which if you scrap that weird "The Legend of XYZ" episode means you only need 1 more episode to fit it all in. SM and Journeys play out exactly the same from there.
