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Iris 2014 vs. Iris 2021. She fucking won.
I watched the Iris BW special before watching her return in Journeys, and that was a wise decision. It was a good reminder of the dragon-empath powers she developed during the Decolora stuff and a good signal of things to come. Outside of here, where there are more than a few Iris fans, I think Iris is underloved as a character. She doesn't get the same focus that May or Dawn did, nor does she have the inherent attractiveness of Serena's crush, but she had a pretty strong presence throughout BW and her character episodes were among the best. There's also no reason why she couldn't become a champion in the same time frame Ash did. She doesn't reset her team every year like an idiot, and she ended up 1-1 against Ash in official battle settings. I have no doubt she could do the Gym challenge like Ash did, and she absolutely would've defeated Cameron.
It is, however, the funniest thing in the world that Iris coached Ash's Dragonite into beating her Haxorus. Ash has to win because the plot requires it, I get that. He's also a champion in his own right, so he should be able to hold his own against Iris. And yet, aside from the surprise of Dracovish's Ice Fang, it was pretty one-sided until Iris empathed with his Dragonite and taught it how to win. Good for Iris. She's so good that she can train other people's Pokemon too.
