WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Season 1, Part 3 Episode 10 of Pokémon Journeys: The Series "Solitary and Menacing!" now streaming on Netflix.
After a long winning streak in the Pokémon anime, Ash has finally met a worthy opponent. Ash and Galar Gym Leader Bea share the same goal, to rise to the top of the Coronation Tournament and defeat Leon. Bea is strong as heck though, and won't make this an easy task for Ash to achieve — which is a good thing. Thus far in Journeys, Ash hasn't encountered a character worthy of being called his rival. Goh is far more of a partner role, while Leon is a distant goal. Bea, however, is a mighty fighter reaching for the same reward as Ash. She's tough and coldhearted, making her the perfect foil to Ash.
Ash first encounters Bea while visiting Saffron City. His original plan was to battle the Karate Master at the Fighting Dojo, however, Bea arrived beforehand to challenge him and completely wiped the guy out. This somehow does not deter Ash in any way, and instead encourages him to ask Bea for a battle.
Currently, Ash ranks 890 in the Pokémon World Coronation Series, while Bea just reached 751. But Ash is feeling a bit cocky after so many consecutive wins that he figures this difference in ranking won't matter, his rush to rise up the rankings to battle Leon likely clouding his judgement. Either way, this rash decision will backfire badly for our protagonist.
As Bea accepts the duel, the Karate Master relays some of her backstory. Being a Galar Fighting Gym Leader, she travels around the globe training at different dojos to perfect her fighting style. Bea has been studying Galar Karate, which has a hundred-year history she must uphold. It's interesting the Karate Master brings this all up because he isn't discussing her Pokémon's strength, but rather her own physical strength and how that translates to her ability to battle well. As shown in Twilight Wings, Bea trains with and even against her Pokémon, explaining why she's so in sync with them during battle. Even in this fight against Ash, she uses different fighting stances for each of her attacks, almost as if she were fighting alongside her Pokémon.
Though Bea isn't too outwardly cruel or a complete snob like previous rivals, she is still ruthless. Ash smugly mentions to her that he defeated the Kalos Fighting Gym Leader Korrina, but he doesn't realize that Bea also defeated her. For Ash, his battle against Korrina was tough and extremely close. But, from Bea's flashback, it looked like an easy win for her.
For the first matchup, Bea throws in Hawlucha while Ash sends out his Galarian Farfetch'd. Bea's strategy is to power up her Pokémon so she can nab a fast and easy win. Ash quickly realizes he can't out-speed her Pokémon, so he tries to use his typical out-of-the-box strategies, like having Farfetch'd use Brutal Swing to spin Hawlucha around. Hawlucha breaks free of this, though, and smacks down another Flying Press while Farfetch'd is dizzy, nailing the first knockout of the battle.
After this, it starts to sink in for Ash that Bea isn't a regular opponent. Watching the battle intently, Riolu insists on joining as Grapploct gets thrown into battle. Grapploct is one intimidating Pokémon, its tentacle muscles making escape difficult during wrap attacks. Because of this, Ash realizes he can't battle at a close range, lest his Pokémon get stuck in Grapploct's trap.
Ash has always been skilled at using his battlefield as a way to win when he's cornered. He makes Riolu use Force Palm on the floorboards of the Fighting Dojo to send debris out at Grapploct, but the distraction fails. Riolu is entangled in Grapploct's combination of Octolock and Liquidation, ultimately getting knocked out.
With this, Ash experiences his first loss in the World Coronation Series tournament. He drops to a 930 ranking and feels utterly defeated. However, this defeat also sparks a desire to improve. This loss will make him feel down for a little while, but he'll certainly train to improve and rematch Bea in the future. The two of them are reaching for the same goal, so it'll be exciting to see frequent rematches as each character rises up the rankings too. And though Bea's style of fighting might be harsh, it'll make Ash work harder to reach Leon's level of expertise.