>>57733232>Wouldn't Max still be an issue? Considering her having to deal with his trauma as well?Max's would actually be worse because he has full-blown hero-worship of his dad. May, on the other hand, respects her dad, but
as >>57724233 said in the last thread, she actually ends up basically siding with Ash against him during the gym battle, whereas Max completely turns on Ash after he wins. Both would definitely lean hard on Ash and Brock to cope; in fact, what
>>57733167 didn't mention is that, in this scenario, both Brock and May/Max would be able to relate in having good-for-nothing dads, though not exactly of the same sort (since Brock's never cheated on his mom, that we know of, and eventually came back), so that's a factor. I'd say the jury is out as to whether Advanceshippers or Contestshippers would win in this "May with severe daddy issues" scenario because both have legitimate cases and it would depend on how exactly one presents the resulting May's mental and emotional state.
>>57733223If the gym battle still goes on, both Ash and Norman are in extremely uncomfortable positions. Norman's been exposed for severe wrongdoing and his perfect public image is tarnished, and his actions have emotionally hurt his children. May definitely having more in common with her mother probably sides overtly with Ash from the start and pressures him not to lose at any cost and to kick her dad's ass. Max could either turn on Norman too, or be so deep in his hero-worship that he convinces himself to side with Norman. Meanwhile, Ash just wants his fucking badge and would rather not have all this family drama drop on his lap, and depending on how you interpret his own relationship with his mysterious dad, he might be completely confused by the concepts of adultery or divorce. That said, he probably just tries to get the battle over with ASAP so they can get out of this uncomfortable situation.
