It also would have fit with XY being the final Gym leader quest of the series. Since both SM and Journies moved on from the 8 Gym set up, it does feel like XY was intended to be the grand finale for that formula. But since Ash lost again, it retroactively makes XY feel less important and just another Gym leader quest. DP still has the Paul/Infernape finale but since Alan wasn't really a rival till the last part of XY most of it is just the same basic structure of Ash doing Gyms with no driving force happening.
It's pretty much why XY feels like just another saga in the middle now but people still view the end of DP as the finality of Ash's development.
It's pretty much why XY feels like just another saga in the middle now but people still view the end of DP as the finality of Ash's development.