>>50751763The context is the Indigo League when the shitty-ass corrupt league didn't care that Ash and his Pokemon's health conditions were disrupted by KNOWN MAFIA/'YAKUZA THREAT TO THE REGION, TEAM ROCKET, and thus at an innate disadvantage against Ritchie, and then the ref had the gall to claim Charizard slacking off was "unable to battle" even though it was inevitable it would get off its ass and retaliate due to being pissed off from getting attacked nonstop.
Made all the worse, Ritchie then proceeds to lose and the winners are literal silhouetted whos, so we can't even take in the notion that Ritchie was just "the better trainer", he was just as shit as Ash and Ash was robbed solely out of garbage circumstances.
If you want the REAL death knell that took care of the stragglers though, it was the """payoff""" for the GS Ball, which had been teased as something major ever since the end of Indigo.
