>>52906896Being Champion means you are the strongest person in the region at the time you attain it, and for as long as you can keep the title. Ash was stronger than everyone in Alola, which was a shit region, but he was also stronger than Kukui, who was the only trainer with some actual backbone, and that’s only because he met Ash as a mentor when he was a kid. Ash defeated one of the guardian deity legendary Pokémon of Alola, and had tamed some of the strongest Pokémon in the region in his circle. When Ash returned to Alola, he and Pikachu dominated the top 3 trainers in Alola with near absolute ease. It is obvious to anyone that Ash fits the bill on what a Champion is supposed to be and has the skills to match how powerful someone would think a Champion should be.
Champions aren’t relative, obviously, but a non-Champion trainer like Alain who apparently hasn’t progressed much from how he was at the end of the Kalos League shows he doesn’t compare to the people in the same group he was in.
