>>46178170I feel like everyone in the region bought into Leon's hype too much, including Leon himself and Rose. I mean right before your match with Leon he tells you right in front of a crowd that he'll stomp you and your team into the dirt. He then proceeds to lose for the first time and has to cover his devastation/anger up by hiding his face with his cap until he can compose himself and pretend to be okay with it all.
As for Rose, part of the reason he thought his plan was fine was because he was banking on Leon to handle Eternatus with ease and catch it for him. Most people compared Leon to the "hero" of old, not realizing it was actually two trainers teamed up with legendary Pokemon. The fact that Sonia found out about them as soon as Stow-on-Side really makes it feel like it should've been brought up to the rest of the cast, since knowing certain Pokemon were needed to take on the Darkest Day might've caused Rose to put a hold on his plans until they could use the rusted weapons to summon the wolves into battle for them.
That being said, I think the story would've been better if Leon did turn out to be a fraud, since him being the modern fake hero would parallel well with the "hero" of old turning out to be a fake too given that the heavy lifting back then was done by the wolves, which is the truth the twins in post-game wanted to hide to maintain their status. As it stands, Leon wasn't really a fraud, just overhyped by everyone in the region, even Opal said he was unbeatable so it was pointless to try and beat him.
