Elite Four

The Elite Four (四天王 shitennō, literally Four heavenly kings in Japanese) is a fictional team of four Pokémon trainers in the Pokémon world. The Elite Four, at any given time, is composed of five (The fith being the rival of the protagonist) highly-skilled Pokémon trainers, forming the final challengers for any Pokémon trainer taking on the Pokémon League. They are similar to the Gym Leaders in that each specializes on a particular element or type of Pokémon, but they do not reside in a Pokémon Gym.

The Elite Four in the video games

File:Elite Four Video Games.png

Sidney of the Elite Four in the 3rd generation video games

In the Pokémon video games, the Elite Four serves as arguably the game's final bosses. It is implied that each region in the Pokémon world has its own regional Elite Four, which reside at the regional Pokémon League Headquarters.

A Pokémon trainer must defeat eight of the region's Gym Leaders in order to be eligible to enter the Pokémon League. There, a trainer must then defeat all four members one after the other, without any breaks in between. If a challenger is defeated during this time, he or she is required to start over.

It is to be noted that the Elite Four acts merely as a test of endurance - after defeating the Elite Four, the player has the right to challenge for the regional League Championship by challenging the defending League Champion. As the game does not provide a break between the Elite Four and the League Championship battle, some have considered the champion to be a "fifth member" of the Elite Four. If the player defeats the defending champion, the winning team is registered in the game's Hall of Fame.

The Elite Four in the anime

In the anime, the Elite Four is a group of trainers who are generally viewed as the best around. It is considered an honor to meet and battle members of the Elite Four. Although the anime's main character, Ash Ketchum, has battled and befriended many members of the Elite Four, he has yet to beat one in battle. The concept of the Elite Four, however, are greatly divorced from the Pokémon League championship, although they are involved in the affairs of the Pokémon League.

The anime implies that there is only one Elite Four, although the name is a misnomer as more than four trainers have been mentioned as members. Many of the Elite Four members have made appearances at the anime, although Lance is the only character to have made more than one appearance. Appointment to the Elite Four is briefly mentioned as being associated with the Pokémon League. It is also implied that being a member of the Elite Four has great responsibility, such as running a gym if the gym leader is no longer able until a replacement can be found. It is also implied that they must take on all challengers and if there is a problem too big for the police or a vigilante trainer to solve in which pokémon are being abused, they will be the ones to step in.

It is implied that a League Champion also earns the right to challenge the Elite Four in a manner similar to that of the video games, although this has never been seen in the series.

The various members of the Elite Four that have appeared in the Anime are Agatha, Lance, Bruno, Prima (Lorelei in the games), and Drake.

The Elite Four in the Manga

The original members of the Elite Four (Lance, Agatha, Bruno and Lorelei) had original intentions on completely wiping out the entire human race because of the way they treat Pokémon through pollution, etc. However, Bruno was unwilling to cooperate and is under Agatha's mind control. The Elite Four planned on using the Badge Amplifier in order to summon Lugia to help completely destroy the human race. However, the plot was stopped by Yellow alongside Green, Red, and Blue.

The Elite Four of the manga are also known to have special abilities and so do their Pokémon. Lorelei, for example, has the ability to create ice voodoo dolls. Bruno's Hitmonlee is able to extend its arms to lengths that normal Hitmonlees are not able to reach, while Bruno himself uses special Pokéballs that attach to nunchaku in order to gain an advantage when releasing Pokémon. Agatha is able to control human minds as well as control Pokémon minds. Lance's Pokémon are able to change the direction of their Hyper Beams and his Dragonairs are able to control the weather. Lance himself is a child of the Viridian Forest, which makes him, like Yellow, a special kind of psychic that ables him to heal Pokémon and read Pokémon minds.

Members of the Elite Four

Main article: List of Elite Four members

The composition of the Elite Four has varied from game to game, due to the fact that the player in the games competes in different regional competitions.

Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, FireRed, and LeafGreen

In Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, FireRed, and LeafGreen, which take place in the region of Kanto, the Elite Four is composed of:

• Lorelei (Kanna), expert of Water/Ice Pokémon
• Bruno (Shiba), Rock/Ground/Fighting Pokémon trainer extraordinaire
• Agatha (Kikuko), the oldest Elite Four member ever, a Ghost and Poison Pokémon specialist, and ex-rival of Professor Oak (Yukinari Ōkido)
• Lance (Wataru), the Flying/Dragon Pokémon master and cousin of Gym Leader Claire of Blackthorn City.
• The Pokémon League Champion is the game's rival, Professor Oak's grandson (default name Blue/Red in the US and Green/Red in Japan).

This lineup is, in terms of the levels of the Pokémon the challenger must face, considered the strongest. The Pokémon are in the Level 53 - 65 range (51 - 63 in Firered, and Leafgreen versions). In Fire Red and Leaf Green, after the machine on One Island is fixed, the levels of the Pokémon in the Elite Four have increased to the 63 - 75 range.

Gold, Silver, and Crystal

In Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal, the action is in the region of Johto, but the Pokémon League is still situated in Indigo Plateau. The members of the Elite Four, however, have changed:

• Will (Itsuki), a Psychic Pokémon trainer from a distant land
• Koga (Kyō), the Bug/Poison Pokémon Ninja master, who in the previous games used to be Fuchsia City's Gym Leader
• Bruno, same as the Bruno from Kanto
• Karen (Karin), who uses the newly-discovered Dark and Ghost Pokémon.
• The Pokémon League champion is none other than former Elite Four leader, Lance.

The levels of the Pokémon are lower than in the R/B/Y series of the game, leading to some disapproval from players of the game. This time, the levels range fron 40-50. However, there is another champion to face after the second half (the Kanto region) of the game is completed. His name is Red and he is the playable character from the RBGY series. He does not have his own Elite Four because he is the strongest computer player in any of the Game Boy Pokémon games to date. His Pokémon levels range from 74-81. However, the level change may be due to the fact that they have much more advanced attacks than the Elite Four in Red/Blue/Yellow/Green, and that they're programmed to think more efficiently than regular trainers.

Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald

In Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, the Pokémon League is found in Ever Grande City in the region of Hoenn. The Elite Four has a brand new composition:

• Sidney, another Dark Pokémon expert
• Phoebe, a Ghost Pokémon trainer whose Grandparents are the caretakers of Mt. Pyre
• Glacia, an Ice Pokémon trainer from a foreign land
• Drake, an ex-sailor who uses Dragon Pokémon.

The levels here range from 46 to 58.

• In Ruby and Sapphire, the Champion is Steven Stone, master of Steel/Ground/Rock Pokémon in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire; in these games, the player also learns that the grandfather of Flannery, Lavaridge Town's Gym Leader, used to be one of the Elite Four. Steven's Pokemon levels are all about 73 to 78.

• In Emerald, the Champion is Wallace, master of Water types and former Sootopolis Gym Leader. Steven of the previous games can be later found in Meteor Falls to be challenged in a similar situation to Red of G/S/C.

Diamond and Pearl

In Diamond and Pearl, the Pokémon League is found in Foento City in the region of Sinnoh. The Elite Four are brand-new in Sinnoh.
Shinnoh elite four

• Ryou, a Bug-type expert.
• Kikuno, the second member of Elite Four specializes in Ground-type.
• Ooba, a Fire-type enthuasist.
• Goyou, masters Psychic-type.
• Shirona, the Champion has mixed-type Pokémon.
  

The levels of the Pokémon used by Sinnoh Elite Four are slightly higher than R/S/E series, ranging from Level 53 to Level 66.