#but you can find wild Lucario and just catch them without having to use friendship

[waywardstation]

A rather random question that's been plaguing me for the past 15 minutes and I wondered about your thoughts: do you think before he left, Volo left any of his pokemon behind? Some he wouldn't get rid of, like his egg daughter Togekiss, but I can't see him taking Arcanine with him out of Hisui. For one, it likely has a Growlithe partner we never see (due to the pokemon's lore) and probably leaves them with Tuli and Ginter. A full team would attach unnecessary attention for someone on the run.

Very interest thought OP!!! I haven’t thought about it before.

I couldn’t see Volo getting rid of his egg daughter Togekiss, or Garchomp, because these are Pokémon he’s had early on in the game. Our first fight with him, he only had his sweet togepi, and on our second fight, it’s togepi and gible.

And then the third time, when he fights us at the end, suddenly it’s a full team of Togekiss, Garchomp, Arcanine, Spiritomb, Roserade, and Lucario. How did that happen??

These are my first thoughts, so it could change over time, but I feel like this could narratively be explained by Volo realizing that our MC has what he wants, and that’s when he actively decides he’s going to take them down. So he gets a full team together, some of which can speedrun evolution with stones (roserade and arcanine).

I feel like the only Pokémon he has a genuine connection to would be his Togekiss and Garchomp. The others might have been pulled together just for this fight in an effort to overwhelm the MC. So when it’s all done, and Volo decides to leave, he might feel conflicted with these Pokémon that he possibly railroaded just for his own benefit. They did not need to be roped into this.

I could see him leaving some of his Pokémon with Ginter and Tuli, to help assist with ginkgo guild work when he leaves, and the only two he would keep would be his Togekiss, and his Garchomp.

Love this concept OP!! My thoughts on this might change over time from these initial ones; I’ll keep thinking on it!