>>25312576It's true that Pidgeotto being tired was something out of his control, but honestly, that happens sometimes in life. For comparison, say for example your best goalie for a soccer team got injured in a car accident, you don't get pissy when your team loses and be all "we would've won if that car accident didn't happen".
From a narrative perspective I do get what you're saying though. I guess to me I kinda liked that they highlighted the fact that Ash had gambled with Charizard many times before that, but this time he lost the gamble. If he had been a good trainer, he wouldn't need to gamble at all. Instead of actually training in the ~20 episodes after getting his earth badge, he pretty much just farts around (they even make some jokes about it in a couple of those filler episodes IIRC).
Also keep in mind that Ash would've been at a disadvantage either way- Bulbasaur was weak to Charmander, but if he still had Pidgeotto, Ritchie would just use Pikachu.
