>>37079929It was terrible. Bulbasaur was Ash's only healthy, reliable Pokemon. Squirtle, Pikachu, and Pidgeotto were all involved in the escape, Charizard was unreliable, and Ash got kidnapped while still deciding his team so he probably didn't have Kingler or Muk on him.
Furthermore, it ruined the whole "woah, Ritchie hasn't lost a single Pokemon yet" story. Exhausted Ash had Ritchie down to his last Pokemon. If Ash wasn't exhausted he might have utterly kicked Ritchie's butt. It ruins the moral and makes Ritchie look like some lucky dweeb with diminished importance. Even worse, it might make it seem like Ash could have won the entire league if not for that, which ruins any moral about preparation and training even harder. Add in no actual consequence for Team Rocket and it turns the Indigo League's hype into dust.
