>>56748982He was equal to Alain who beat Malva in XY, defeated the Battle Frontier who are near or at E4-level in AG and while it's not mentioned in the anime Kukui does state he cleared the Kanto E4 and only lost to Lance in the games, meaning he's easily stronger than most E4 members. And Ash beat him.
So while Ash didn't beat any E4 members he did beat or rival people that were at or above the E4-level before JN. And prior to the Masters 8 he beat Volkner, who is explicitly E4-level, and also beat Wallace (offscreen...like he was fodder.)
>>56749010>KantoTop 16 on first attempt. Made it further than Gary.
>JohtoMade it to Top 8 and crippled the guy who could have won the whole thing.
>HoennBarely lost to the guy that won in the Top 8 and then beat the Battle Frontier.
>SinnohOnly person in all of the Sinnoh League to defeat Darkrai and went a step further by beating Latios.
>KalosOnly just barely lost to Alain who defeated an E4 member.
>AlolaRegularly fights legendaries and Ultra Beasts. Defeated Kukui who is meant to be just under Lance in level.
Plus in JN he used 10,000,000 Volts Pikachu, Mega Lucario (further amped with his aura shit), G-Max Gengar, Dragonite and a Dracovish. All insanely powerful pokemon.
