>>36739674I know the whole "WE WANT ASH TO USE KALOSMONS, BUT WE ALSO WANT HIM TO SHOWCASE M-EVOLUTION EVEN THOUGH THERE'S NO KALOSMONS THAT M-EVOLVE (BESIDES DIANCIE)" is the whole reason we got Greninjash in the first place, so i can kinda accept that we got it. But holy shit, they simply managed its introduction in the single worst way possible. They had everything set up to justifiy its existence, yet they wen't for the most half-assed asspull i've ever seen, just randomly introducing him as soon as Frogadier evolved. If they had rubbed at least two neurons together, they could've played a much more convincing scenario.
For example, just a couple of weeks before, they were at Olympia's gym, but they are interrupted by an attempted robbery of the town's sundial, which they had already specified had power that linked it closely to the evolution phenomena. This was the PERFECT moment to introduce and foreshadow Team Flare's plot. Instead of having Team Rocket again, they should've had some Team Flare grunts try and steal a portion of the Sundial with a machine of sorts, prompting Ash and Co. to go and stop them. After a scuffle, the grunts are defeated, but the damage caused by the battle causes the machine attached to the sundial to explode, damaging the sundial. One of the tiny shards of the sundial strikes Frogadier and embeds into him. While Ash and co. tend to him, the Flare grunts escape, leaving them to wonder who those guys were. Olympia could even have a vision that implies they're involved into something far more dangerous than she thought. They resume the match the day after to tend Frogadier's wound and Olympia notices a sharp difference in his aura. The next day, they resume the match in a similar way to what we got. Sees a "vision of power" and the like, and we continue in similar fashion.
Now it's not much of an asspull and it also explains why Greninja got the ability and not Pikachu without resorting to "Muh Chosen One" bullshit.
