Looking Back:
May and Brendan are actually using some of the Advanced Rules in this battle (the Advanced Rules are a more intense take on traditional pokémon battles that are introduced shortly after Brendan and May defeat Roxanne) although they don't know it. Namely, Brendan shouldn't be telling torchic to dodge the attack. If you look at Brendan's previous battles against wild pokémon you'll see that he wasn't really sticking to the normal rules in those either. Being a rookie, Brendan doesn't know the rules very well at this point and isn't aware that he's breaking some. As he travels with May and gains experience however, he quickly learns what is and isn't allowed in the normal rules. May, on the other hand, knows the rules but she's caught up in her first battle against another trainer and forgets to point out Brendan's mistake. |
