So is Ash Ever Going to Challenge the Galar Gym Leaders (sans Bea) or will they just be Glorified cameos?

[Schemer99]

Because it's getting ridiculous with how long we're waiting. At this rate I expect all of them to probably be in Hyper Class or higher.

 

[GrookeyFan77]

He probably will. I'm pretty sure he will battle Raihan. He might battle the rest

 

[KenzeyEevee]

Who knows?

 

[nickdt]

Because it's getting ridiculous with how long we're waiting. At this rate I expect all of them to probably be in Hyper Class or higher.

Considering they didn't properly introduce Opal, its safe to say Ash is facing her someday (And maybe they didn't properly introduced her because she is a part of the Masters Eight).

 

[Emmy]

Maybe not *all* of them (i.e no Allister since we've already had Bea) but I could definitely see the anime running through the gauntlet towards the end as Ash gets right close to the Master Eight. The fear I have is not them appearing but if they're going to have meaningful and memorable roles in the story beyond just being obstacles for Ash to increase his Rank.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I would hope that Ash is going to eventually battle all of the Galar Gym Leaders, or at least all of the ones from Sword if they want to follow its order given that they already introduced Bea. It would feel like such a waste to not have him battle against the newest Gym Leaders. That's one reason why having him battle against all of these one shot trainers is so boring for me. They can have him battle against Gym Leaders, both old and new ones, but most of his PWC matches thus far have been just brief battles against one shot characters that are basically footnotes rather than being the main plot and they only exist to boost Ash's rank.

Having the Galar Gym Leaders being in the Hyper or Master classes would kind of fit with how they're basically serve as the Elite 4 in their region, especially when Raihan is strong enough to become a Champion of a different region according to the games, but waiting until then for Ash to potentially face really strong opponents is a terrible way to handle the PWC. It certainly doesn't look or sound impressive when he has some of the weakest one-on-one battles I've ever seen in the anime.

 

[KenzeyEevee]

The problem is that there are trainers from all the regions. They have to make choices who they will let appear who not.

 

[Sobble Bubble-O-Seven]

At this point, I think it's pretty obvious that Ash isn't going to do the Galar gym challenge. He'll most likely battle some of Galar's gym leaders, but they wouldn't be for badges. They would be for the PWC. I'd expect leaders like Milo and Piers to be cameos that appear for an episode or two before they're forgotten.

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

Raihan certainly will be faced and maybe Bea again, though given how nothing came from Opal and knowing this series, I don't have high hopes.

 

[Hidden Mew]

Since the battle with Bea ended in a draw, wouldn't that guarantee that Ash will face off against her down the road?

 

[RileyXY1]

Since the battle with Bea ended in a draw, wouldn't that guarantee that Ash will face off against her down the road?

Yeah, and he could face off against the other Galar Gym Leaders.

 

[Lightning Flame Blast]

The draw against Bea leaves room for a third battle and Raihan has been foreshadowed, so these are nearly certain.

Nessa, Gordie and Kabu could be nice showings due to how competitive they can be, but since their G-max aces have all appeared as one-off pokemon, I don’t have high hopes.

 

[DynamicFusion]

Director Tomiyasu already said they would all appear...

 

[RileyXY1]

Director Tomiyasu already said they would all appear...

Except I don't know. I think that Allister would be nothing more than a rival for Goh.

 

[Nicolas721]

I have my doubts, as we just had a full year of zero Dynamax battles for Ash. It doesn't even seem like the writers even want Ash to visit gyms and having battles with their leaders anymore, both times it could have happened the battle was with someone else.

I guess he could battle Raihan the first or second round of the PWC, and Opal or Melony if they want to throw their fans a bone. With Piers it's hard to say, if Marnie appears he'll definitely be in, but otherwise it would feel like a disservice.