Elite Four
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The Elite Four (四天王, Shitennō, lit. "Four heavenly kings") is a fictional team of four Pokémon trainers in the Pokémon world. The Elite Four, at any given time, is composed of five 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.
In the video games
In the Pokémon video games, the Elite Four serves as the game's final bosses. It is implied that each region in the Pokémon world has its own regional Elite Four, who 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 Elite Four members one after the other. The player can save in-between, but cannot return to the overworld map. Therefore, if a challenger is defeated during this time, he or she must start over or reload a saved game.
in the Kanto and Hoenn regions, the player must travel through a long stretch known as Victory Road (チャンピオンロード, Chanpion Rōdo, Champion Road in original Japanese language versions). This stretch is strenuous, featuring many trainers with high-leveled Pokémon and many high-leveled wild Pokémon. Trainers inside of the area remark that, if the player can survive Victory Road, he or she has a shot at defeating the Elite Four.
It is to be noted that the Elite Four acts merely as a test of endurance - after defeating the Elite Four, the player challenges for the regional League Championship by battling 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 Champion, the winning team is registered in the game's Hall of Fame and the credits roll, indicating the main campaign is over.
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. However, the Elite Four 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. Of the members of the Elite Four(s), Agatha, Lance, Bruno, Lorelei, and Drake 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.
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 humans mistreat Pokémon through pollution, etc. However, Bruno was unwilling to cooperate and was 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, as well as their Pokémon, are also known to have special abilities. Lorelei, for example, has the ability to create ice voodoo dolls. Bruno's Hitmonlee is able to extend its legs 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 and 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
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.
Kanto region
In Red, Blue, Yellow, FireRed, and LeafGreen, which take place in the region of Kanto, the Elite Four is composed of:
- Lorelei (Kanna), a specialist in Ice-type Pokémon whom collects many Pokémon dolls.
- Bruno (Shiba), a specialist in Rock/Ground and Fighting-type Pokémon whom trains in mountains.
- Agatha (Kikuko), the oldest Elite Four member ever, a specialist in Ghost- and Poison-type Pokémon, and ex-rival of Professor Oak (Yukinari Ōkido)
- Lance (Wataru), a specialist in Dragon-type Pokémon and cousin of Gym Leader Claire of Blackthorn City.
- The Pokémon League Champion is the protagonist's rival, Professor Oak's grandson (default name Blue/Red in the US and Green/Red in Japan).
In terms of the levels of the Pokémon the challenger must face, the Elite Four are the strongest. Their Pokémon are in the Level 53 - 65 range (51 - 63 in FireRed, and LeafGreen versions). In FireRed and LeafGreen, after the machine on One Island is fixed, the levels of the Pokémon in the Elite Four increase to the 63 - 75 range.
Johto region
In Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal, the main story takes place 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-type Pokémon trainer from a distant land
- Koga (Kyō), the Poison-type 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-type Pokémon
- The Pokémon League champion is none other than former Elite Four leader, Lance.
The levels of the Pokémon are lower than those in the R/B/Y series of the game, leading to some disapproval from players of the game. This time, the levels range from 40-50. 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. However, there is another champion to face after the second half (the Kanto region) of the game is completed: Red, and he is the playable character from the first generation games. He is the strongest AI-controlled trainer in any of the Game Boy Pokémon games to date. Barring the new improvements in Emerald, the battle tower can be challegenged in which there pokemon will be the same as your highest level one. His Pokémon's levels range from 74-81.
Hoenn region
In Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, the Pokémon League is found in Ever Grande City in the region of Hoenn. The new Elite Four is composed of:
- Sidney, a Dark-type Pokémon expert who shows off his high status to the public.
- Phoebe, a Ghost-type Pokémon expert whose grandparents are the caretakers of Mt. Pyre
- Glacia, an Ice-type Pokémon expert who came from Johto in search for humid lands.
- Drake, an ex-sailor who uses Dragon-type Pokémon that saved him a long time ago.
- In Ruby and Sapphire, the Champion is Steven Stone, master of Steel-type Pokémon. In Emerald, the Champion is Wallace, master of Water-type Pokémon and former Sootopolis Gym Leader. Steven can be later found in Meteor Falls to be challenged in a similar situation to Red of G/S/C.
Sinnoh region
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.
- Ryō, a Bug-type expert whom is said to be the leader of all Bug Catchers and Bug Maniacs.
- Kikuno, an old lady whom specializes in Ground-type and is rumored to be Agatha's sister.
- Oba, a Fire-type enthuasist who you meet in Nagisa City, bragging about the Elite Four's power.
- Goyō, masters Psychic-type.
- Shirona, the Champion has Pokémon of no particular type.
The Pokémon used by Sinnoh Elite Four are higher than R/S/E series, from 53 to 66. This version of the Elite Four is the strongest main-storyline AI trainers up to date.