#ofc Alan is already friends with Steven thanks to the adventure in TSME

[sage-nebula]

Although I’m unsure if / when I’ll ever write any fics that take place in this time period, lately I’ve been thinking about post-canon PokéAni, years in the future when the characters are older and some of them have gone on to become Champions (and Elite Four members). Specifically, I’ve been thinking about who those Champions and their Elite would be, and so far what I’ve worked out is:

Kanto---

Champion: Ash Ketchum (Type Specialty: Varies)

Elite Four:

Misty Waterflower (Type Specialty: Water)

Ritchie (Type Specialty: Varies)

Sabrina (Type Specialty: Psychic)

Giselle (Type Specialty: Ground)

I’m not entirely sold on Sabrina yet, to be honest, and originally I had considered having Brock’s younger brother Forrest as one of the Elite. However, when I remembered Giselle I realized that I wanted her in, and having both a rock-type and ground-type specialist in the Elite Four feels a bit redundant / unwise. Therefore, I went with Giselle, as I feel she would be the stronger choice. That still left a fourth spot open, though, and out of all the trainers we see in Kanto I feel that Sabrina would be the strongest fit. I considered Aya, but considering she loses pretty much every battle she has in the anime, I feel like Sabrina would be the stronger pick. So for now, she’s in.

Also, for Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh, Elite Four order matters. They work under a hierarchical system, so in this case Misty is the leader of the Elite Four, Ritchie comes next, and so on and so forth. 

Orange Islands---

Leader: Drake (Type Specialty: Varies)

Other Crew Members:

Rudi (Type Specialty: Varies)

Cissy (Type Specialty: Water)

Danny (Type Specialty: Varies)

Luana (Type Specialty: Varies)

Okay, they’re not technically a regional “League” per se (in that the Orange Islands does’t operate under the League system), and also nothing changes here since that would require making up new characters, and while I have done that for the Orange Crew (trust me), I feel like that would be a bit unfair, so. But I just couldn’t leave the motherfuckin’ Orange Crew out of this discussion. I just couldn’t. I love the Orange Crew. I love the Orange Islands. LET ME HAVE THIS. (Also, for reference, this Drake is a different Drake from Hoenn’s Drake. Very, completely different. Also, technically Ash defeated him, so really Ash should be the new leader of the Orange Crew, but Ash didn’t stay to take up that position, so . . .)

Johto---

Champion: Casey (Type Specialty: Varies)

Elite Four:

Karen (Type Specialty: Dark)

Lyra (Type Specialty: Varies)

Jimmy (Type Specialty: Fire)

Sakura (Type Specialty: Psychic)

Technically, in the games, Johto shares their Elite Four with Kanto. However, I still wanted to create a solely Johto Elite Four, so. Let the dream live. (Also, for those who don’t remember, Jimmy is the ENG dub name of Ethan’s anime counterpart. He appeared in the The Legend of Thunder special, while Lyra appeared during DP’s run. The only one I pulled from the games here is Karen, who to my knowledge never had an anime appearance.)

Hoenn---

Champion: Steven Stone (Type Specialty: Steel)

Elite Four:

Drake (Type Specialty: Dragon)

Shouta (Type Specialty: Varies)

Phoebe (Type Specialty: Ghost)

Sydney (Type Specialty: Dark)

I feel like Hoenn did not give me a lot to choose from, haha. But I was able to add Shouta, since he originates from Hoenn, and fanboys Steven to boot. I feel like he could work his way up to an Elite Four position. (And perhaps one day even be Champion himself, when it’s time for Steven to move on.) Drake, Phoebe, and Sydney are all pulled from the games since, again, not a lot of choices in the anime, I feel . . . (Presumably, Glacia retired and Shouta took her spot.)

Sinnoh---

Champion: Cynthia (Type Specialty: Varies)

Elite Four:

Lucian (Type Specialty: Psychic)

Flint (Type Specialty: Fire)

Bertha (Type Specialty: Ground)

Aaron (Type Specialty: Bug)

All four of the Elite appeared in the anime, and while it’s possible that Bertha could retire to make way for a new person (seems to be the oldest), I don’t really see a reason to do that, so. Sinnoh’s fine as-is, even in the future. =P

Unova---

Champion: Iris (Type Specialty: Dragon)

Elite Four:

Caitlin (Type Specialty: Psychic)

Marshal (Type Specialty: Fighting)

Shauntal (Type Specialty: Ghost)

Grimsley (Type Specialty: Poison)

In Unova, there is no hierarchy, so there is no technical “leader” of the Elite Four here. Also, while there were characters that I could replace since Caitlin was the only one to actually appear in the anime, I love the Unovan Elite Four and didn’t want to boot any of them out (even if I was tempted to put Cheren and/or Roxie in), so. They’re here to stay. =P

Kalos---

Champion: Alan (Type Specialty: Varies)

Elite Four:

Manon (Type Specialty: Grass)

Clemont (Type Specialty: Electric)

Malva (Type Specialty: Fire)

Siebold (Type Specialty: Water)

Like Unova, there’s no hierarchy here, though the duties that are typically handled by the “leader” of the Elite Four are split between Manon and Clemont. This is because Manon is always quick to jump to those duties when it comes to things like battling, world crises, and international Champion meetings, but quickly calls “not it” when it comes to actual administrative / legislative meetings with the Council, extra paperwork, et cetera, and thus passes the role onto Clemont. (Alan really doesn’t care who takes on the role, tbh. He just wants the things to get done.) Meanwhile, Malva and Siebold are the only two members of the Kalos Elite Four to appear in the anime. Malva should probably be fired (heh) due to her involvement with Flare; however, not only did she not receive any punishment at all in the games (despite being much more obviously evil!), but she turned on Lysandre at the end and helped stop the crisis. I do think she’d receive some sort of ramifications (suspension perhaps?), but that she’d probably be able to keep her position. That said, I will admit that part of why I want this is because the Kalosean Elite Four is typed according to the starter types (electric counts because of Pikachu in Yellow Version), and I think that’s neat. We can assume that Drasna and Wilkstrom retired due to both getting on in years.

Alola---

Champion: Hau (Type Specialty: Varies)

Elite Four:

Gladion (Type Specialty: Varies)

Olivia (Type Specialty: Rock)

Acerola (Type Specialty: Ghost)

Kahili (Type Specialty: Flying)

To be honest, it’s way too early to be deciding anything like this, and Hau doesn’t even exist in the anime, but when I imagine international Champion meet-ups, this is what I imagine (or at least, I imagine Champion Hau showing up with Gladion, who isn’t really the leader of the Elite Four since the Alolan Elite Four doesn’t have a leader, but whatever, he goes along with it anyway). Of course, I also can’t help but imagine To Devour the Sun!Gladion at those meet-ups, which means that he would be sniping / trying to pick a fight with Alan, at which point we’d get a little conversation like:

Ash: “Gladion’s yelling at you.” Alan: “I know. So, how have you been?” Gladion: “Bastard, don’t ignore me---!”

But, you know, it’s fine. =P