I really have no problem with a pokemon game being hard, heck i really like it. In pokemon games I always ditch the starter and catch some "weak" pokemons to make it more interesting. I also don't use items during a fight as you could consider it p2w.
The ONLY problem I have with your game ( loving it so far except for that first fight ) is that I have no real input in fight with Asha. The only thing to win I can do is use items or go the rng route. I can't train, I can't swap a pokemon. When you have no input in a fight losing it is just frustrating.
I love that you can catch many pokemons right of the bat, but I can't do that before that one fight. I've lost 10 times before finally using an item to win as I was getting bored with the double team rng ( which makes that fight kind of p2w ).
Heck make the game as hard as you like and I bet many players will love that, but do that after we can actually play the game ( catch some pokemons, train etc).