>>13176687It's probably not the battle itself, since it has just as much BS as the other so called climactic battles. OHKOs everywhere and ungodly focus on certain pokemon. It's more the buildup and the environment involved. Paul is the greatest challenge Ash had ever had to face up to this point, especially since Paul was the only one to realize Ash's true flaw: his recklessness. Ash's DP team was also his most developed by proportion. Almost all of them were fully evolved by the end. Paul even started to use Ash's tactics against him. It's pretty much the apex of Ash's development at that point. Although the true significance of Ash's growth would not become apparent until the Tobias fight and it is revealed that Ash was pretty much the second best trainer in that whole tournament. I'm not a big fan of fights that take forever to finish, and this one could've been compressed really. Nonetheless, it is better paced than even the Gary fight, and has better buildup.
