Someone on Serebii posted this and I totally agree with it. This is why I think that Ash-Greninja was wasted potential and was done dirty.
“The problem is that Ash and his journey were the core focus of XY. A lot of the other characters weren't able to get a lot of focus because, more than any of the other seasons, it was the story of Ash and how he inspires and changes the people around him. It was also Greninja's story, and the way their powerful bond brings out their hidden strengths. Alain, when he was introduced to the main anime, was built up as a serious rival; a challenge Ash and Greninja couldn't beat in their imperfect states, but would eventually overcome when they finally got everything right.
In the end, the culmination of Ash's efforts, as well as those of his Pokémon, is this: Alain quickly blitzes through the region in a bid to collect the badges and enter a League he doesn't really care about, just so he could battle Ash. He absolutely trounces everyone in his way, and then becomes the Champion of the tournament by defeating the opponent he was gunning for. However, he's betrayed by a man he considers a friend and mentor, realizes that his strength didn't really mean anything, and then helps defeat the man who helped him gain that strength. In the end, he gives up his Charizardite X and Keystones, and begins a new journey to find a new Key Stone and Mega Stone, this time without relying on Lysandre's charity. And that was the incredible conclusion to Alain's journey.
...wait, what? Wasn't this supposed to be Ash's story?
Yep! In the end, the trainer who took the longer path, the one who slowly built up bonds with his Pokémon and rigorously trained his team to become stronger, the one who helped many people find their paths, the one whose journey we've been following for nearly two decades, the one we were rooting for...ended up losing the fight that everything was building up to. Sure, he helped beat Lysandre and then gave up his strongest Pokémon so it could do some gardening...but how was that an interesting or monumental thing for Ash? What new lessons did he learn? Which interesting moral dilemma did he overcome? Which new heights did he achieve? In the end, what lasting impact did Kalos leave on Ash?
Nothing, that's what.
In OS, Ash matured from a weak and lazy kid who relied on handouts, and became a competent Trainer who could win on his own. In the process, he overcomes his childhood bully and gains his respect as a trainer.
In AG, Ash helps a new trainer find her path, proves that he can enter the Top 8 of a League even when most of his team has fresh recruits, and then shows his true capabilities by defeating the Battle Frontier; a strong challenge in which his older Pokémon get to show their progress against some incredibly powerful trainers. Charizard becomes the first regular Pokémon in the anime to defeat the once-untouchable Legendary Pokémon Articuno, and Pikachu caps off the season by beating Regice, another Legendary. In the end, he's offered a spot as a Frontier Brain, an offer that remains open to this day.
In DP, he encounters the complete antithesis of his training style: a cold and cruel trainer who treats his Pokémon like effective tools, and only trains the strongest Pokémon he can find. Ash loses to him constantly, but in the end, he manages to win the battle that mattered most, that too using a Pokémon abandoned by said trainer. Ash proves that training your Pokémon with love and patience is the superior method, and that you can help bring out the potential in any Pokémon if you try hard enough. Even if he loses against Tobias, it's a battle that ends with his team bringing down two more legendary Pokémon. Ash proves that he's the second-strongest person in the League by being the only person to even beat Darkrai, let alone Latios. He wasn't the runner-up due to an unfortunate bracket, but fourth place is as good as second, as long as we know he's the second-strongest in the region and he beat his main rival.
His journey culminates in Sun and Moon, where he finally demonstrates the lessons he's learned as a Trainer and becomes the first Champion of Alola. He also forms incredibly strong bonds with his Alolan friends, with Kukui sort-of becoming a father for Ash; a relationship we can see even in Journeys. Not to mention, he finally does something incredibly significant that I thought was more unlikely than him winning a League: He catches his first Mythical Pokémon. Despite SM not being my favorite series, it's hard to deny the impact it had on him as a character.
In comparison to these, what did XY amount to? For all the hype, the expectations, the buildup, everything the series was telling its fans to look forward to...
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We're left pretending that Lysandre was the 'big victory' of the season, but...we've seen Ash go back to Kalos since then. How big of an impact did he actually leave on the region? Not even the Elite Four bring up the massive disaster which one of their members was partially responsible for. The announcer doesn't mention that Ash, the one challenging Drasna at the very stadium where he fought Alain, was the one who saved Lumiose.
In contrast, Ash's Alola Championship is actually brought up when he returns to the region. He's a mentor figure to these two kids he's never met before, who feel inspired by his strength and actions. They look up to him. His league win left an impact on people he doesn't even know. Ash's time in Alola didn't happen in a small pocket dimension where only significant cast members remember anything, unlike Kalos.
Again, this wouldn't be a problem if Kalos didn't shaft basically every other character so it could center everything around Ash and (later on) his 'very special' Greninja, or if it gave him something to achieve, beyond placing second against a trainer he's lost to thrice. He was built up as this incredibly powerful trainer, one who could fight toe-to-toe against a Champion's ace Pokémon. Heck, they even included a scene where a trainer broke down in despair due to not being able to make it, which ended with Ash confidently assuring him that he'd win it all for the ones who weren't good enough.
Kalos, in the end, was empty hype. It felt 'cool' and it looked great. However, the series spent most of its time building up to a huge victory for Ash, which...never happened. It wasn't 'just a league loss', because the only thing Ash had going for him this series was 'LOOK AT HOW STRONG AND COOL HE IS'. If you don't do anything with it aside from a villain plot (and like, Ash saves the world on a weekly basis so it doesn't even feel impressive), it all falls apart. There's no point in building a season that spends literal years showing Ash as this nigh-unbeatable trainer if you don't really do anything with it.”
