>>40118111It was a battle built up from the very beginning of XY, with actual interesting incentive to get into and served as a peak character moment for both Ash and Clemont, as well as the group and their Pokémon as a whole. Raw emotion on both sides, both using Pokémon they’ve been training just for this occasion that we saw a lot of. Couple that with it being one of the best animated battles we’d ever gotten at that point, the OST to match, it was just all too good.
And just look at it from a narrative perspective. At the point when Ash and Clemont made their gym vow, it was only after Clemont just started to break out of his shell, reclaiming his Gym and being capable of standing on his own two feet. Clemont left the group a few episodes prior specifically so he could prepare for his battle against Ash, which had never happened before. It was also a shining moment for Goodra who started off weak and incapable of fighting its own battles to being the reason why Ash won. It will forever be one of my favorite battles of the franchise.
Also, the only similarity this battle has with Korrina’s was that there was buildup to that one too.
