>>47738438Eh, there were plenty of league goers without fully evolved Pokemon
Evolution in the anime, at least in those days, was not a full indicator of a Pokemon's strength
Besides, while Ash was very talented, he was still very inexperienced
The kid had gradual growth all troughout the series until the DP anime, where he eventually peaked and the writers had to literally bring in a hacker just to get him outta the league, it was BW that started the trend of turning him into a retard at the beginning of each new journey