What would Ash's team be if you wrote Journeys?

[nickdt]

Damn typo at the title

What typo?

 

[Silktree]

Pikachu, Dragonite, Sirfetch'd, Mr. Rime and Typhlosion (Legends) as the staples, with the last slot being used for various reserves (notably the Kanto starters).

 

[CyberKitten05]

What typo?

Nevermind, it's old

 

[Keith]

For starters, upon returning to Kanto from Alola, Eevee would've been Ash's first capture (most likely in episode 2)

Pikachu
Eevee > Sylveon
Egg > Riolu > Lucario
Dreepy > Drakloak > Dragapult
Rookidee > Corvisquire > Corviknight
Centiskorch (with Gigantamax ability)
Greninja returns (no longer has Battle Bond ability, so it and Ash must learn to strategize and battle exceptionally without relying on it. I love Ash-Greninja, but I think that would make for a good storyline and further development for Greninja)
Kubfu > Urshifu (Single Strike Style) - will be kept as a reserve on the Isle of Armor once Kubfu evolves. Would most likely be called on when Ash and the gang faces very dangerous and strong threats. Would most likely be used during some of his matches against the Master 8.

 

[Queen Cynthia]

Instead of Galarian Farfetch'd/Sirfetch'd (although its new form is not bad) and Dracovish I would have brought back Charizard and Gible . Also, I would let the latter evolve all the way into Garchomp. That would certainly be my personal highlight.
The remaining Pokemon in Ash's current team (Pikachu, Dragonite, Gengar and Lucario) are a perfect choice and just what a fan can wish for. (Sure, a Rayquaza or a Darkrai would always be welcome, too. But that's a different story)

 

[CyberKitten05]

Instead of Galarian Farfetch'd/Sirfetch'd (although its new form is not bad) and Dracovish I would have brought back Charizard and Gible . Also, I would let the latter evolve all the way into Garchomp. That would certainly be my personal highlight.
The remaining Pokemon in Ash's current team (Pikachu, Dragonite, Gengar and Lucario) are a perfect choice and just what a fan can wish for. (Sure, a Rayquaza or a Darkrai would always be welcome, too. But that's a different story)

I just don't understand people who think they should bring Gible back as a permanent party member and have him evolve. I see no situation where Gible becomes higher priority for Ash to bring back than his other reserves. I just don't understand the logic that out of all of his reserves, Ash chooses to bring back Gible, especially since Ash doesn't care about evolving his Pokemon.
I wouldn't be opposed to him catching a second Gible, though, if we need another Gen 4 Pokemon in his Team, and maybe make it Shiny to differenciate between the two.

But honesly, I understand what you're going for, you think Ash's Team should consist of the most iconic and timeless Pokemon in existence, right? If I'm correct then Garchomp doesn't really fit theat criteria, and even though I think Ash's Team should be generationally diverse, I think having a second Gen 4 Pokemon just because of the remakes is a bit too arbitrary if you want to go purely for iconicness.

 

[Epic Spheal]

I think I would have him mainly rotate his reserves with a few priorities
Quilava (to promote legends) and have it evolve into Typhlosion
Gible (to promote BDSP) and get it to evolve

Kingler, Torterra, Torkoal, Muk, Noivern, Melmetal- especially in the earlier ranks I would like to see some Pokemon with low battle time and/or poor win rates get a chance to win some key battles for Ash. As the ranks go up start switching into the more classic powerhouses (Charizard, Infernape, Krookodile, Snorlax, Greninja, Lycanroc)

As far as new captures Riolu/Lucario was Pokemon he should've had years ago so definitely him. And then Galarian Farfetch'd/Sirfetched for some Galar rep. Perhaps if they wanted to give him a starter give him Grookey so he could have another grass powerhouse.

 

[Queen Cynthia]

I just don't understand people who think they should bring Gible back as a permanent party member and have him evolve. I see no situation where Gible becomes higher priority for Ash to bring back than his other reserves. I just don't understand the logic that out of all of his reserves, Ash chooses to bring back Gible, especially since Ash doesn't care about evolving his Pokemon.

This is only speculation because we don't know if the writers will ever bring back his "reserves" as permanent team members. I for one would definitely prefer that idea because instead of constantly catching new Pokemon, you should first train your existing ones instead of "dumping" them at Oak's laboratory. (The same goes for Go, too, by the way).
So, granted the writers were to bring back some of Ash's old Pokemon, I could as well ask the opposite question: Why not Gible? Why, for example, Totodile or Torkoal instead? It'll alwas be a matter of personal taste. But of all his reserve Pokemon, I personally think Gible has the biggest potential and by far the coolest, most powerful final evolution. So, why waste Gible's potential, especially given the fact that, as opposed to many of Ash's other reserve Pokemon like Torkoal or Sceptile, Gible hasn't been given the chance to return yet.

But honesly, I understand what you're going for, you think Ash's Team should consist of the most iconic and timeless Pokemon in existence, right? If I'm correct then Garchomp doesn't really fit theat criteria, and even though I think Ash's Team should be generationally diverse, I think having a second Gen 4 Pokemon just because of the remakes is a bit too arbitrary if you want to go purely for iconicness.

You're totally right with your first sentence. As for the second sentence, I need to disagree because it that survey conducted a few months ago on Google Garchomp was among the Top 10 of the most popular Pokemon ever. So yes, I'd say Garchomp would be the perfect choice for a classic all-star team.

 

[Gengarzilla]

I'm actually quite pleased with his present team except for Lucario. If it were me, I'd switch for Rillaboom because the idea of Ash not getting any of the new generation's starters is a veritable crime.

For how we handle any future addons. I hope he just rotates between new captures and only pulls in some older Pokémon when it's needed. Phanpy had a pass because it got limited playtime and focus in Johto, whereas someone like Gible has plenty of attention in Sinnoh despite also being a late catch (thank the Draco Meteor gag).
And on the rotation topic, I maintain that it flopped in BW because he caught too many greenhorn Pokémon too quickly, practically stunting most of the team's growth as a whole (only Krookodile, Leavanny, and maybe Pignite got off alright). Now most Pokémon he gets are of inherently stronger species right out from the start and the captures have all been spaced out far better. This time I think they could pull it off.

 

[Enzo]

Decided to do a little updated version;

- Pikachu
- Rillaboom
- Barraskweda
- Hatterene
- Centiskorch
- Dragapult

(also, any Pokémon with a GMax form will have it)

- Pikachu doesn't gets any explanations, we all know why it's here.
- Rillaboom due to it's personality fitting Ash's perfectly, and also due to my saltiness of Goh getting it instead of Ash. I'm 100% shameless of admiting it.
- Barraskweda since it's a cool and funny Pokémon who I would love to see Ash use.
- Hatterene due to it's dual Psychic and Fairy typings, and because there's some potential development in stopping it's habit of smacking people around and mellowing herself out under Ash's guidance.
- Centiskorch since Ash needs a Fire type and he never really uses Bug types, doesn't he?
- Dragapult would be set to be Ash's first Ghost type and it's an awesome Pokémon all around, besides some development due to Dreepy's lore of being kinda of weak and growing to become strong.

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

Decided to do a little updated version;

- Pikachu
- Rillaboom
- Barraskweda
- Hatterene
- Centiskorch
- Dragapult

(also, any Pokémon with a GMax form will have it)

- Pikachu doesn't gets any explanations, we all know why it's here.
- Rillaboom due to it's personality fitting Ash's perfectly, and also due to my saltiness of Goh getting it instead of Ash. I'm 100% shameless of admiting it.
- Barraskweda since it's a cool and funny Pokémon who I would love to see Ash use.
- Hatterene due to it's dual Psychic and Fairy typings, and because there's some potential development in stopping it's habit of smacking people around and mellowing herself out under Ash's guidance.
- Centiskorch since Ash needs a Fire type and he never really uses Bug types, doesn't he?
- Dragapult would be set to be Ash's first Ghost type and it's an awesome Pokémon all around, besides some development due to Dreepy's lore of being kinda of weak and growing to become strong.

This team is really cool, but Barraskewda might be tricky to work with due to being strictly water-bound. There's a reason every MC Water-type has been stuff that can move on both water and land, after all. The only exceptions were Misty's Goldeen and Horsea, and those two examples seemed to be there precisely just to prove that point: Horsea was ditched early due to it getting dehydrated so easily while Goldeen was sparsely used and tended to be extremely ineffective on the rare occasions it was used, almost certainly because Misty got very few opportunities to train it properly. Barraskewda would face similar issues... unless you have a workaround, and if you do, cool.

 

[Enzo]

This team is really cool, but Barraskewda might be tricky to work with due to being strictly water-bound. There's a reason every MC Water-type has been stuff that can move on both water and land, after all. The only exceptions were Misty's Goldeen and Horsea, and those two examples seemed to be there precisely just to prove that point: Horsea was ditched early due to it getting dehydrated so easily while Goldeen was sparsely used and tended to be extremely ineffective on the rare occasions it was used, almost certainly because Misty got very few opportunities to train it properly. Barraskewda would face similar issues... unless you have a workaround, and if you do, cool.

ooof, you got me there lol.

I mean, maybe it can hover a bit with it's propelers? That's what it does in the games, so there's that to consider (?)

But if anything, maybe Urshifu? Because Drednaw and Cramorant, in my version at least, would go to the TRio, and while I have nothing against Dracovish, I just don't want type overlaps, if possible. So I guess the only other option would probably be Urshifu, which could work.

And yes, Inteleon is a thing, but the problem is cuz I wish for Ash to only have one starter, since usually when he has more than one, one gets the focus and the other(s) get the short end of the stick, unfortunately. And since I want Rilaboom to be his ace, yeah...

 

[Rainbow-Rain]

For me Ash would have:

Pikachu
Rillaboom
Corviknight
Dragapult
Rapid Strike Urshifu
Sirfetch'd

(Goh keeps Cinderace but I'm giving Inteleon to Chloe who'd have a much larger role on the cast if I were in charge of writing this series)

And yes, Inteleon is a thing, but the problem is cuz I wish for Ash to only have one starter, since usually when he has more than one, one gets the focus and the other(s) get the short end of the stick, unfortunately. And since I want Rilaboom to be his ace, yeah...

Rowlet and Torracat were both handled fine imo

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

Rowlet and Torracat were both handled fine imo

Torracat's entire thing was training hard and becoming stronger, but it was literally used against a grand total of ONE trainer before the league- Kukui himself, and not even a single grand trial.

 

[Rainbow-Rain]

Torracat's entire thing was training hard and becoming stronger, but it was literally used against a grand total of ONE trainer before the league- Kukui himself, and not even a single grand trial.

Yet that still didn't stop it from having the most development of Ash's Alola Team

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

Yet that still didn't stop it from having the most development of Ash's Alola Team

Excuse me? Torracat wasn’t really handled well in my opinion. It did nothing for a large fraction of the series (except of course whenever we had the occasional Masked Royal Episode). Rowlet hogged much more attention and focus.

 

[Rainbow-Rain]

Excuse me? Torracat wasn’t really handled well in my opinion. It did nothing for a large fraction of the series (except of course whenever we had the occasional Masked Royal Episode). Rowlet hogged much more attention and focus.

A lot of Rowlet's focus was being the cute comedy relief.
Not that there's anything wrong with that but Torracat got treated more seriously by comparison when it did get screen time.

(And Having more attention doesn't mean it's necessarily handled better imo. Cinderace has undeniably had more attention than any other pokemon in Journeys but you can't seriously say with a straight face that he's been handled well)

We can feel free to agree to disagree but I think Rowlet and Torracat were both handled fine for the roles they were given

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

I’m just not satisfied with the fact that the most battle focused Pokémon had almost zero variety in opponents and has no grand trials to its name. Not to mention we haven’t seen Incineroar in an official battle even once.

 

[Jewel the Quaxly]

Adding on more detail to my earlier post of how Ash's team would be if I wrote Journeys...I'll divide them up into their backstories and development, relationships, move-sets, and gym battles. I'll do backstories and development for now and do the other three in a later edit.

Spoiler: Backstories and Development

• Pikachu(Obvious reasons. I would have Pikachu rarely battle but basically be the mentor of the group. His skills come into question by both his teammates and other characters because of him rarely battling, but when it comes down to it, Pikachu shows his skills in important battles. There's another reason for why Pikachu doesn't battle as much, however, which actually becomes a recurring subplot throughout the series. In the beginning of the series, there was in incident regarding a legendary pokemon in Galar, and Ash and Pikachu naturally got wrapped up in it. One thing led to another and Pikachu took a serious hit for Ash from a large attack by said legendary. Ash takes Pikachu to the Poke-center, where Nurse Joy explains how serious Pikachu's injuries are and that the damage might be permanent: meaning that he would never be able to battle again, if Ash weren't careful. This also leads to an exploration of Ash's character, because he decides to keep this information from Pikachu and carefully keep Pikachu away from battles as he takes on the gym challenge: a decision leaving him greatly conflicted. It's at first treated subtly and as a slight gag-as Pikachu's injuries aren't revealed to the audience until later-until just before Ash's fourth gym battle against Allister-Bea is Ash's main rival for this series, alongside Hop and Gloria. Once this piece of information is revealed, there is an episode dedicated to Ash and Pikachu reconciling over the issue, with Ash's pokemon helping out-because I'm a sucker for cute team bonding, they all get together in a group hug at the end of the episode to comfort Pikachu, who's kinda sorta crying his eyes out. This leads to Pikachu getting depressed over it for a while, though he tries to hide it and when the time comes for Ash's sixth gym battle against Melony, there's an arc where Calyrex is introduced and Pikachu gets healed by the legendary during said arc. After finding out about this, Ash checks with the Nurse Joy helping him with Pikachu's case, where he finds that while Pikachu's injuries would cause him to be tired out far more easily-he was fully recovered and back to his former strength-though, at the cost of his stamina. With this, Pikachu is given the okay to battle and the group heads to Pallet Town to let the other pokemon know that Pikachu is okay-when I say everyone found out, I mean EVERYONE found out-and then there's crying, reunions, and all that team bonding goodness. He later scores his first win in the series against Raihan's Flygon, before getting called back by Ash, keeping Pikachu's health in mind. Said battle is finished by Ash's ace of this series, Inteleon.)

Pikachu's story sounds long and complicated, but I'm writing this keeping in mind that there are some little children in Japan struggling with similar hardships in regards to the pandemic. A loved one is sick and I think if they see an iconic character struggling with and overcoming the same, it might inspire them-in a similar manner to how some children's shows in Japan are geared for a certain purpose, the change I would make to this anime if I were in charge would be to put the important messages first. That, and I'm a sucker for Ash and Pikachu drama-their relationship really needs to be challenged more in the anime, and not in the fake, contrived, forced, and terribly written way that was JN030. That being said, on to Ash's Ace of the series...Inteleon!

• Sobble-Drizzlie-Inteleon(As rare as it may be, I'm making Ash's Inteleon a female, something which is actually remarked on in her introduction episode as a Sobble. Inteleon is introduced as unusually cold and calculating, with an extremely cruel side, which is a complete contrast to the type of pokemon that usually hits it off with Ash. However, in her introduction episode, despite Ash getting annoyed with her on multiple occasions, she finds that no matter what she does to press his buttons, he never reacts in anger, only sighing in resignation at her attempts to cause him trouble. And by "trouble" I don't mean petty pranks, I mean she's very deliberately stolen things from people and framed it on others, trapped children in tight spaces, and caused so much trouble that a recurring Officer Jenny has gotten involved. She also kidnaps other pokemon by the way, and actually helped Team Rocket in a scheme to capture Ash's Pikachu-this is before everyone finds out about the injury blowup by the way-which was why Ash met her in the first place. She begins to feel bad for leading him on, as his behavior reminds her of a certain old woman she knew-who we only see briefly in flashbacks treating Sobble very kindly. After she chooses to side with Ash in her introduction episode, she joins the team as Ash's first capture in Galar. Over the series, she has steady development in regards to her relationship with her teammates as she chooses to be a seclude and treats her teammates coldly and unjustly in the beginning. However, she eventually begins to open up, saving them on occasion and, though embarrassed, even joins in on team celebrations. Her backstory is eventually revealed just before her final evolution into Inteleon: the old woman that was briefly shown in her introduction episode and throughout the series in flashbacks was actually the one who took care of Sobble just after she was born. Being just born, she was very scared of her at first, refusing to open up and causing trouble, but the old woman, names Grace, never raised her voice and took care of her regardless, eventually worming her way into Sobble's heart. The two actually bond over a scarf, which is an accessory that Inteleon still has with her to this day, and just when Sobble is about to apologize to Grace for causing her so much trouble-by giving Grace the scarf that the latter first gave HER-she finds that Grace was taken to the hospital. She rushes to the hospital but by the time she arrives, Grace has already passed away with a smile on her face. Inteleon is at first upset at the fact that Ash and her teammates now now about her backstory, though Ash and her teammates still show her open support. Though, she does butt heads with Centiskorch on occasion-far more than with any of her other teammates, the two eventually earn each other's respect.)

Phew! That was a bit of a long one...but Inteleon is Ash's ace in this series, so it's only natural I gave her the most backstory. Also, the most depressing one. I'm not entirely sure where that came from, but alas-it still works for my goal of inspiring kids. Yeah, it might make them feel sad and I may make it a little worse by giving a LOT of flashbacks with Grace so the audience gets attached to her before her death is revealed, but to see Sobble's growth and her recovering from how the incident had changed her is also something that I think would send a strong message to the audience. And, before anyone says that this is far too heavy, lemme just say...Disney has done worse. Anyway, on to Ash's next pokemon!

• Hatenna-Hattrem-Hatterene(Hatterene is a female found by Ash in a small town where she had lived in since she was an egg. She was raised by a Raichu in that town, who has a similar personality to Goh's Raichu-and is also a female, and the two are well known by the townspeople. Hatenna regularly goes around and visits the townspeople, often helping them out with simple tasks, getting food and sweets in return. Raichu is often seen chiding her for this, though she herself also goes and helps the townspeople out with minor things for money. It is treated as a gag in that Raichu is often treated as a human, since she and Hatenna actually live in a house that they paid for and Raichu even has a job at the local restaurant. Meowth himself makes multiple remarks about Hatterene's odd history throughout the series and Ash regularly visits said town for special events and festivals, or just for Hatterene to visit her "mother" Raichu. In her introduction episode, the town is put into danger by a recurring Pokemon Hunter gang throughout the series, known as Team Break-yes, the one from Pokemon Masters-and Ash works with Hatenna, Team Rocket, Hop, Gloria, and some other trainers to take down this dangerous group from destroying the town, simply to catch all the pokemon in the small Poke Center. After saving the town, Ash is thanked by the townspeople, and Hatenna, admiring Ash for his help, allows him to catch her. Raichu reluctantly lets her go, with Ash promising that they would visit regularly. Hatenna has a close relationship with Pikachu, getting quickly attached to him, though it is once remarked that she might associate him as being related to her "mother" as a reason for why she was so attached to him.)

Short and simple for Hatterene. Very bubbly and childish, but as always for Ash's pokemon, super determined to save her friends and family. That being said, on to Ash's next pokemon, who actually helps introduce the Gigantamax factor!

• Centiskorch(Yes, Centiskorch is also a female. It's about time Ash gets some super strong female pokemon, and I think this is the series to do it: especially considering the sever lack of female presence in Journeys currently. Centiskorch is very volatile and disagreeable, often picking fights with other pokemon in the group and unable to get along with any of her teammates with her severe anger issues-she especially is unable to get along with Inteleon. In her introduction episode, she is found rampaging in a town after accidentally gigantamaxing, and after the severe amount of destruction she caused, the people and pokemon in the area started hating her-going as far as to throw things at her any time she was spotted. Ash quickly comes to her defense and helped her apologize to the townspeople by helping with the repair work. She later gigantamaxes on accident once more, though Ash helps calm her down and prevent another disaster from happening. Centiskorch, later that night, sneaks into Ash's bedroom and captures herself in a Poke ball before anyone could see her...except Pikachu, who had walked in as soon as she put the Poke ball in front of her. Cue an awkward scene of them staring at each other for a long time before Centiskorch growls and pushes the button of the Poke ball, sucking herself in before being registered as Ash's, causing Pikachu to scream in shock, wake Ash up, and cue everyone freaking out over how weird that was. Ash later brings her out and asks if she really wants to go with them, to which she nods eagerly, and he promises to help her control her gigantamax abilities. Throughout the series, this is shown up as a major problem, as this was an incident known all over the news as well, and Centiskorch is now recognized anytime she gigantamaxes in a town-which happens multiple times as well. She struggles with this ability for a while, but with the help of Ash, she's able to have it controlled by Ash's third gym battle against Kabu for the Fire Badge, and fully utilizes her complete potential in the battle against Raihan's Gigantamax Duraludon.

Hm...final gym match is always the most important. Gotta serve as the final stage for Centiskorch's development and the Pikachu sub-plot. Anyway, I guess Centiskorch will be the ace against Raihan instead of Inteleon-she's just not the ace of the entire team, if that makes sense. Anyway, on to the next pokemon! Oh, and, by the way, since Pikachu only wins in like...one gym battle, lol, this team is made up of seven pokemon. All of them are caught relatively early on, too-just before Ash's gym match against Allister. He catches his sixth pokemon AFTER said gym match, but I'll specify that in a bit. Next up, the first boy on the team-sans Pikachu, lmao.

• Nickit-Thieval(Male. *burst out laughing* Thieval is rather mature and though he doesn't seem like it, very friendly and playful. He's often the voice of reason in the group, alongside Pikachu, and the two quickly become friends. In his introduction episode, he's shown as a Nickit who is chasing trainers away from a path to a forest, which is how Ash and Pikachu come across him in the first place. Ash decides to investigate and find out that Nickit is actually taking care of his mother, a very sick looking Thieval who the other pokemon are helping Nickit protect. Ash carefully tries to help the mother Thieval before trying to convince Nickit that his mother needs to be taken to the Pokemon Center. Ash takes the two to the nearby town-which, funnily enough, happens to be the town where he captures Hatenna later on-and Nickit and Thieval to the Pokemon Center...until Team Rocket shows up. Team Rocket captures Thieval and Nickit tries to fight back, but is struggling until Ash and Pikachu show up. The group all fight Team Rocket off until they blast off and Thieval stays at the Pokemon Center to heal for a week and Nickit stays with her. Ash says his goodbye, though not before Pikachu asks if Nickit wants to join Ash's team. Nickit declines, though when he gives his goodbyes to Ash and Pikachu, he is seen looking rather wistful. A week later, when Thieval is about to be released from the Pokemon Center, the incident with Hatenna occurs and Ash remembers about Nickit being in this specific town. Ash visits him and introduces Nickit to Sobble and Hatenna, where it is revealed that Nickit wants to go with Ash now that his mother is fully healed and that Thieval had actually taken to the Nurse Joy in the town, meaning that he would know where his mother is anyway. Ash catches Nickit in an official battle with Sobble, and Nickit joins the team.)

I like this little guy. I think it's because I was thinking of him being like a cross between Litten and Lycanroc as I was writing this, but...ah, he's cute. Anyway, you can probably guess that Ash actually catches Centiskorch AFTER he catches Nickit, despite my placement here. Next up is a pokemon that Ash will raise from an egg!

• Egg-Impidimp-Morgrem(Also male. Remember Team Break? The guys who were dead straight about to destroy the Pokemon Center Nickit and Thieval were in unless Hatenna, Raichu, Ash, Pikachu, and all those other trainers tried to stop them? Yeah, them. So, there's a mini-arc where Looker and an Officer Jenny working with Interpol-both of whom have some...romantic tension...as appropriate as it can be for the target audience, that is-end up teaming up with Ash, Gloria, Hop, Team Rocket, and Marnie(along with her fans, Team Yell) to storm a Team Break base where they're keeping Hop's Kubfu captive-yes, he's getting a kubfu-along with many other pokemon. During that mini-arc, Ash finds a lone egg in the base that no one comes to claim after the incident, and Looker suggests that Ash take care of it, having seen Ash's aptitude for raising pokemon. The egg later hatches into an Impidimp, who immediately sets off and starts wreaking havoc. After accidentally angering a cave full of Galvantula and Joltik, he's quickly rescued by Pikachu, Nickit, and the other pokemon. Ash arrives and convinces Impidimp to come with them and they team up to scare off the Galvantula and Joltik. He's very mischievous and often gets into trouble like Hatenna-though, he does it purposely while the latter does it out of blissful ignorance: they both drive Pikachu up the wall, which Centiskorch takes personal pleasure in-but this irons out once he evolves into a Morgrem and becomes more mature, and even forms his own unique fighting style revolving around stealth, which helps in one of the later gym battles, where a remark is made at how vastly different Morgrem's style is compared to how his style was as an Impidimp, and how Ash had to adjust with Morgrem's new quiet and more reserved personality coupled with his stealthy fighting style compared to before.)

Time for Ash's final pokemon, caught WAY later than all of these mons, lol. Well, not really...just after his fourth gym battle...and something I'll come up with for Gloria to do that hopefully won't default to coordinator(Gloria is the co-protagonist for this series alongside Ash...I really like her design, honestly, and the fact that she's the player surrogate means I can make up whatever personality I want for her with no backlash).

• Milcery-Alcremie(Fourth female. Alcremie joins the team as a Milcery, who was being used by a crooked chef to bring fame and fortune to his restaurant. Ash and Gloria find out about this and immediately try to put a stop to it, but the chef was unfortunately protected by the fact that Milcery was his pokemon and they had no solid evidence and it was their word against the chef, who was greatly revered in the town his restaurant resided in. Thus starts a wacky episode where Ash and Gloria try and trap the chef into admitting he was manipulating his own pokemon and take him to court. Yes, Ash's last capture happens this way-sue me. They eventually win the case, Officer Jenny arrests the chef, and Ash takes in Milcery, who grew attached to Ash as they bonded during the case. She's very sweet and immediately hits it off with Hatenna and Impidimp, the latter trying to influence the other two until they all evolve and become more mature.)

 

[RetroPokeFan]

Adding on more detail to my earlier post of how Ash's team would be if I wrote Journeys...I'll divide them up into their backstories and development, relationships, move-sets, and gym battles. I'll do backstories and development for now and do the other three in a later edit.

Spoiler: Backstories and Development

• Pikachu(Obvious reasons. I would have Pikachu rarely battle but basically be the mentor of the group. His skills come into question by both his teammates and other characters because of him rarely battling, but when it comes down to it, Pikachu shows his skills in important battles. There's another reason for why Pikachu doesn't battle as much, however, which actually becomes a recurring subplot throughout the series. In the beginning of the series, there was in incident regarding a legendary pokemon in Galar, and Ash and Pikachu naturally got wrapped up in it. One thing led to another and Pikachu took a serious hit for Ash from a large attack by said legendary. Ash takes Pikachu to the Poke-center, where Nurse Joy explains how serious Pikachu's injuries are and that the damage might be permanent: meaning that he would never be able to battle again, if Ash weren't careful. This also leads to an exploration of Ash's character, because he decides to keep this information from Pikachu and carefully keep Pikachu away from battles as he takes on the gym challenge: a decision leaving him greatly conflicted. It's at first treated subtly and as a slight gag-as Pikachu's injuries aren't revealed to the audience until later-until just before Ash's fourth gym battle against Allister-Bea is Ash's main rival for this series, alongside Hop and Gloria. Once this piece of information is revealed, there is an episode dedicated to Ash and Pikachu reconciling over the issue, with Ash's pokemon helping out-because I'm a sucker for cute team bonding, they all get together in a group hug at the end of the episode to comfort Pikachu, who's kinda sorta crying his eyes out. This leads to Pikachu getting depressed over it for a while, though he tries to hide it and when the time comes for Ash's sixth gym battle against Melony, there's an arc where Calyrex is introduced and Pikachu gets healed by the legendary during said arc. After finding out about this, Ash checks with the Nurse Joy helping him with Pikachu's case, where he finds that while Pikachu's injuries would cause him to be tired out far more easily-he was fully recovered and back to his former strength-though, at the cost of his stamina. With this, Pikachu is given the okay to battle and the group heads to Pallet Town to let the other pokemon know that Pikachu is okay-when I say everyone found out, I mean EVERYONE found out-and then there's crying, reunions, and all that team bonding goodness. He later scores his first win in the series against Raihan's Flygon, before getting called back by Ash, keeping Pikachu's health in mind. Said battle is finished by Ash's ace of this series, Inteleon.)

Pikachu's story sounds long and complicated, but I'm writing this keeping in mind that there are some little children in Japan struggling with similar hardships in regards to the pandemic. A loved one is sick and I think if they see an iconic character struggling with and overcoming the same, it might inspire them-in a similar manner to how some children's shows in Japan are geared for a certain purpose, the change I would make to this anime if I were in charge would be to put the important messages first. That, and I'm a sucker for Ash and Pikachu drama-their relationship really needs to be challenged more in the anime, and not in the fake, contrived, forced, and terribly written way that was JN030. That being said, on to Ash's Ace of the series...Inteleon!

• Sobble-Drizzlie-Inteleon(As rare as it may be, I'm making Ash's Inteleon a female, something which is actually remarked on in her introduction episode as a Sobble. Inteleon is introduced as unusually cold and calculating, with an extremely cruel side, which is a complete contrast to the type of pokemon that usually hits it off with Ash. However, in her introduction episode, despite Ash getting annoyed with her on multiple occasions, she finds that no matter what she does to press his buttons, he never reacts in anger, only sighing in resignation at her attempts to cause him trouble. And by "trouble" I don't mean petty pranks, I mean she's very deliberately stolen things from people and framed it on others, trapped children in tight spaces, and caused so much trouble that a recurring Officer Jenny has gotten involved. She also kidnaps other pokemon by the way, and actually helped Team Rocket in a scheme to capture Ash's Pikachu-this is before everyone finds out about the injury blowup by the way-which was why Ash met her in the first place. She begins to feel bad for leading him on, as his behavior reminds her of a certain old woman she knew-who we only see briefly in flashbacks treating Sobble very kindly. After she chooses to side with Ash in her introduction episode, she joins the team as Ash's first capture in Galar. Over the series, she has steady development in regards to her relationship with her teammates as she chooses to be a seclude and treats her teammates coldly and unjustly in the beginning. However, she eventually begins to open up, saving them on occasion and, though embarrassed, even joins in on team celebrations. Her backstory is eventually revealed just before her final evolution into Inteleon: the old woman that was briefly shown in her introduction episode and throughout the series in flashbacks was actually the one who took care of Sobble just after she was born. Being just born, she was very scared of her at first, refusing to open up and causing trouble, but the old woman, names Grace, never raised her voice and took care of her regardless, eventually worming her way into Sobble's heart. The two actually bond over a scarf, which is an accessory that Inteleon still has with her to this day, and just when Sobble is about to apologize to Grace for causing her so much trouble-by giving Grace the scarf that the latter first gave HER-she finds that Grace was taken to the hospital. She rushes to the hospital but by the time she arrives, Grace has already passed away with a smile on her face. Inteleon is at first upset at the fact that Ash and her teammates now now about her backstory, though Ash and her teammates still show her open support. Though, she does butt heads with Centiskorch on occasion-far more than with any of her other teammates, the two eventually earn each other's respect.)

Phew! That was a bit of a long one...but Inteleon is Ash's ace in this series, so it's only natural I gave her the most backstory. Also, the most depressing one. I'm not entirely sure where that came from, but alas-it still works for my goal of inspiring kids. Yeah, it might make them feel sad and I may make it a little worse by giving a LOT of flashbacks with Grace so the audience gets attached to her before her death is revealed, but to see Sobble's growth and her recovering from how the incident had changed her is also something that I think would send a strong message to the audience. And, before anyone says that this is far too heavy, lemme just say...Disney has done worse. Anyway, on to Ash's next pokemon!

• Hatenna-Hattrem-Hatterene(Hatterene is a female found by Ash in a small town where she had lived in since she was an egg. She was raised by a Raichu in that town, who has a similar personality to Goh's Raichu-and is also a female, and the two are well known by the townspeople. Hatenna regularly goes around and visits the townspeople, often helping them out with simple tasks, getting food and sweets in return. Raichu is often seen chiding her for this, though she herself also goes and helps the townspeople out with minor things for money. It is treated as a gag in that Raichu is often treated as a human, since she and Hatenna actually live in a house that they paid for and Raichu even has a job at the local restaurant. Meowth himself makes multiple remarks about Hatterene's odd history throughout the series and Ash regularly visits said town for special events and festivals, or just for Hatterene to visit her "mother" Raichu. In her introduction episode, the town is put into danger by a recurring Pokemon Hunter gang throughout the series, known as Team Break-yes, the one from Pokemon Masters-and Ash works with Hatenna, Team Rocket, Hop, Gloria, and some other trainers to take down this dangerous group from destroying the town, simply to catch all the pokemon in the small Poke Center. After saving the town, Ash is thanked by the townspeople, and Hatenna, admiring Ash for his help, allows him to catch her. Raichu reluctantly lets her go, with Ash promising that they would visit regularly. Hatenna has a close relationship with Pikachu, getting quickly attached to him, though it is once remarked that she might associate him as being related to her "mother" as a reason for why she was so attached to him.)

Short and simple for Hatterene. Very bubbly and childish, but as always for Ash's pokemon, super determined to save her friends and family. That being said, on to Ash's next pokemon, who actually helps introduce the Gigantamax factor!

• Centiskorch(Yes, Centiskorch is also a female. It's about time Ash gets some super strong female pokemon, and I think this is the series to do it: especially considering the sever lack of female presence in Journeys currently. Centiskorch is very volatile and disagreeable, often picking fights with other pokemon in the group and unable to get along with any of her teammates with her severe anger issues-she especially is unable to get along with Inteleon. In her introduction episode, she is found rampaging in a town after accidentally gigantamaxing, and after the severe amount of destruction she caused, the people and pokemon in the area started hating her-going as far as to throw things at her any time she was spotted. Ash quickly comes to her defense and helped her apologize to the townspeople by helping with the repair work. She later gigantamaxes on accident once more, though Ash helps calm her down and prevent another disaster from happening. Centiskorch, later that night, sneaks into Ash's bedroom and captures herself in a Poke ball before anyone could see her...except Pikachu, who had walked in as soon as she put the Poke ball in front of her. Cue an awkward scene of them staring at each other for a long time before Centiskorch growls and pushes the button of the Poke ball, sucking herself in before being registered as Ash's, causing Pikachu to scream in shock, wake Ash up, and cue everyone freaking out over how weird that was. Ash later brings her out and asks if she really wants to go with them, to which she nods eagerly, and he promises to help her control her gigantamax abilities. Throughout the series, this is shown up as a major problem, as this was an incident known all over the news as well, and Centiskorch is now recognized anytime she gigantamaxes in a town-which happens multiple times as well. She struggles with this ability for a while, but with the help of Ash, she's able to have it controlled by Ash's third gym battle against Kabu for the Fire Badge, and fully utilizes her complete potential in the battle against Raihan's Gigantamax Duraludon.

Hm...final gym match is always the most important. Gotta serve as the final stage for Centiskorch's development and the Pikachu sub-plot. Anyway, I guess Centiskorch will be the ace against Raihan instead of Inteleon-she's just not the ace of the entire team, if that makes sense. Anyway, on to the next pokemon! Oh, and, by the way, since Pikachu only wins in like...one gym battle, lol, this team is made up of seven pokemon. All of them are caught relatively early on, too-just before Ash's gym match against Allister. He catches his sixth pokemon AFTER said gym match, but I'll specify that in a bit. Next up, the first boy on the team-sans Pikachu, lmao.

• Nickit-Thieval(Male. *burst out laughing* Thieval is rather mature and though he doesn't seem like it, very friendly and playful. He's often the voice of reason in the group, alongside Pikachu, and the two quickly become friends. In his introduction episode, he's shown as a Nickit who is chasing trainers away from a path to a forest, which is how Ash and Pikachu come across him in the first place. Ash decides to investigate and find out that Nickit is actually taking care of his mother, a very sick looking Thieval who the other pokemon are helping Nickit protect. Ash carefully tries to help the mother Thieval before trying to convince Nickit that his mother needs to be taken to the Pokemon Center. Ash takes the two to the nearby town-which, funnily enough, happens to be the town where he captures Hatenna later on-and Nickit and Thieval to the Pokemon Center...until Team Rocket shows up. Team Rocket captures Thieval and Nickit tries to fight back, but is struggling until Ash and Pikachu show up. The group all fight Team Rocket off until they blast off and Thieval stays at the Pokemon Center to heal for a week and Nickit stays with her. Ash says his goodbye, though not before Pikachu asks if Nickit wants to join Ash's team. Nickit declines, though when he gives his goodbyes to Ash and Pikachu, he is seen looking rather wistful. A week later, when Thieval is about to be released from the Pokemon Center, the incident with Hatenna occurs and Ash remembers about Nickit being in this specific town. Ash visits him and introduces Nickit to Sobble and Hatenna, where it is revealed that Nickit wants to go with Ash now that his mother is fully healed and that Thieval had actually taken to the Nurse Joy in the town, meaning that he would know where his mother is anyway. Ash catches Nickit in an official battle with Sobble, and Nickit joins the team.)

I like this little guy. I think it's because I was thinking of him being like a cross between Litten and Lycanroc as I was writing this, but...ah, he's cute. Anyway, you can probably guess that Ash actually catches Centiskorch AFTER he catches Nickit, despite my placement here. Next up is a pokemon that Ash will raise from an egg!

• Egg-Impidimp-Morgrem(Also male. Remember Team Break? The guys who were dead straight about to destroy the Pokemon Center Nickit and Thieval were in unless Hatenna, Raichu, Ash, Pikachu, and all those other trainers tried to stop them? Yeah, them. So, there's a mini-arc where Looker and an Officer Jenny working with Interpol-both of whom have some...romantic tension...as appropriate as it can be for the target audience, that is-end up teaming up with Ash, Gloria, Hop, Team Rocket, and Marnie(along with her fans, Team Yell) to storm a Team Break base where they're keeping Hop's Kubfu captive-yes, he's getting a kubfu-along with many other pokemon. During that mini-arc, Ash finds a lone egg in the base that no one comes to claim after the incident, and Looker suggests that Ash take care of it, having seen Ash's aptitude for raising pokemon. The egg later hatches into an Impidimp, who immediately sets off and starts wreaking havoc. After accidentally angering a cave full of Galvantula and Joltik, he's quickly rescued by Pikachu, Nickit, and the other pokemon. Ash arrives and convinces Impidimp to come with them and they team up to scare off the Galvantula and Joltik. He's very mischievous and often gets into trouble like Hatenna-though, he does it purposely while the latter does it out of blissful ignorance: they both drive Pikachu up the wall, which Centiskorch takes personal pleasure in-but this irons out once he evolves into a Morgrem and becomes more mature, and even forms his own unique fighting style revolving around stealth, which helps in one of the later gym battles, where a remark is made at how vastly different Morgrem's style is compared to how his style was as an Impidimp, and how Ash had to adjust with Morgrem's new quiet and more reserved personality coupled with his stealthy fighting style compared to before.)

Time for Ash's final pokemon, caught WAY later than all of these mons, lol. Well, not really...just after his fourth gym battle...and something I'll come up with for Gloria to do that hopefully won't default to coordinator(Gloria is the co-protagonist for this series alongside Ash...I really like her design, honestly, and the fact that she's the player surrogate means I can make up whatever personality I want for her with no backlash).

• Milcery-Alcremie(Fourth female. Alcremie joins the team as a Milcery, who was being used by a crooked chef to bring fame and fortune to his restaurant. Ash and Gloria find out about this and immediately try to put a stop to it, but the chef was unfortunately protected by the fact that Milcery was his pokemon and they had no solid evidence and it was their word against the chef, who was greatly revered in the town his restaurant resided in. Thus starts a wacky episode where Ash and Gloria try and trap the chef into admitting he was manipulating his own pokemon and take him to court. Yes, Ash's last capture happens this way-sue me. They eventually win the case, Officer Jenny arrests the chef, and Ash takes in Milcery, who grew attached to Ash as they bonded during the case. She's very sweet and immediately hits it off with Hatenna and Impidimp, the latter trying to influence the other two until they all evolve and become more mature.)

That is quite an interesting idea for Pikachu and giving it a story like that.