Characters / Pokémon the Series: XY

aka: Pokemon The Series XY Cast

Pokémon anime characters index
Series-wide: Ash Ketchum | Pikachu | Team Rocket Trio | Team Rocket Organization
The Original Series (Misty and Brock, Main Cast) | Ruby and Sapphire (Main Cast) | Diamond and Pearl (Main Cast, Paul) | Black & White (Main Cast) | XY (Main Cast) | Sun & Moon (Main Cast) | Journeys (Main Cast)
Others: Movie characters

Characters and their Pokémon that debuted during Pokémon the Series: XY.

---

Main Cast

See here for more information.

---

Supporting Cast

Alexa (Pansy)

Voiced in Japanese by: Aya Endo

Voiced in English by: Jessica Paquet

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Nallely Solís

A journalist from the Kalos region and older sister to one of its Gym Leaders, she makes her debut during the Decolore Archipelago story arc, joining Ash as a temporary travelling companion, later telling him about the Kalos region and inspiring him to travel there.

---

• Adaptational Badass: In the games, she has no Pokémon. Here, including her shoulder pet Helioptile, she has a Noivern, which is considered to be one of the strongest Pokémon of Gen VI.
• Adaptational Early Appearance: Everything about her in BW, given she and the Pokémon she use are part of Gen VI and the Kalos region. Somewhat averted for the US though where her debut episode premieres on the same day Gen VI kicks off and the games start getting sold.
• Art Evolution: While all the human characters ended up gaining visible fingernails in the transition from the Black and White series to the XY one, it's most notable with her because she ends up gaining painted nails between each series.
• Ascended Extra: In the games, she's simply Viola's older sister who simply helps the player find their way around Lumiose City. In the anime, she is promoted to one of Ash's companions that sticks around for quite a while and even gets some characterization too.
• Blow You Away: Noivern knows Gust, which is used to help Ash's training for his rematch against Viola and her Vivillon.
• Book Ends: In the US, the XY saga begins with her on a trip with Ash, and it ends with her on a trip with Professor Sycamore.
• The Cameo: She and Viola are seen watching Serena performance during the Master Class Showcase. Later the two sisters watch Lysandre's villainous broadcast (with Viola leaving to join her fellow Gym Leaders). In Journeys, she is seen alongside Brock and Cilan watching Ash vs Leon in the Master 8 finals.
• Camera Fiend: Uses a video camera very, very often.
• Cool Big Sis: Acts as one to Ash, and she's also one to her actual sibling, Santalune Gym Leader Viola, whom she gives counsel and advice to while still supporting her.
• Failed a Spot Check: Got hit with this trope hard in BW141. She was so hard at work, Alexa was downright oblivious to the panic and commotion caused by Team Rocket hoisting an entire cruise ship in the air and didn't even notice its descent.
• Forgetful Jones: Not too much, but she is prone to it at times, such as locating the contents of her bag. Thankfully, Gogoat is there to help her.
• Green Thumb: Gogoat is a Grass-type Pokémon and knows many Grass-type moves.
• Guest-Star Party Member: Joins Ash's group for the last leg of Best Wishes and up to the XY saga's first episode. She also occasionally rejoins the group during the XY series.
• Headphones Equal Isolation: She didn't know what was going on with Ash, Team Rocket, and the ship because she was listening to music while working.
• Healing Factor: Gogoat knows Synthesis, allowing it to heal itself.
• Mr. Exposition: She is the one who introduces Ash to the Kalos region. During the Decolora Adventure arc, she basically tells him about every island and myth she and the kids are going to land on.
• Mundane Utility: Uses Helioptile's Parabolic Charge to recharge her equipment, and Gogoat as a mount to carry it.
• Non-Elemental: Helioptile's secondary type is Normal, and it doesn't showcase any moves that are elemental.
• Our Dragons Are Different: Noivern's secondary type is Dragon, and it knows Dragon Pulse in its moveset.
• Orifice Invasion: Poor Helioptile, when Professor Oak decided to get up close and personal, literally, with its ears. Professor Oak would immediately try the same thing to Noivern; needless to say, the dragon didn't take it well.
• Parrot Pet Position: Helioptile is usually clinging to her back with its head over her shoulder.
• The Pollyanna: Always so bright and happy - not in the over-energised way, she's just got a positive outlook on things.
• Power Up Mount: Gogoat - Alexa's introduction is to appear riding on his back.
• Running Gag: She has a habit of forgetting where she puts her things in the saddle pouches around Gogoat.
• Shock and Awe: Helioptile's primary type is Electric-type but it's never showed to any electric moves.
• Shipper on Deck: In the earlier episodes of XY, she seemed to enjoy seeing Ash and Serena together, even giving a happy smile to the two of them when they reunite. She gives Serena a knowing look when she tells her that she was the "inspiration" Ash needed to be more motivated to train harder so he could defeat Viola. The next time she meets the group, she's not at all surprised to see Serena telling her she expected her and Ash to travel together.
• Shrinking Violet: Helioptile tends to hide behind her back whenever it encounters something unknown. It eventually grows out of it.
• Signature Mon: Helioptile is Alexa's companion Pokémon, often sitting on her shoulder.
• Sixth Ranger: For the Decolore Arc. Points for traveling with Ash for a longer time straight than anyone outside his main supporting cast (10 episodes), and for sticking with him even after Iris and Cilan leave (in the penultimate BW episode) and right into the XY Series.
• Wind from Beneath My Wings: Noivern's primary type is Flying, and Alex uses Noivern to emulate the gust wings generated by Viola's Vivillon to train Ash on how to resist her sister's offensive strategy.

Professor Augustine Sycamore (Dr. Platane)

Voiced in Japanese by: Hiroshi Tsuchida

Voiced in English by: Jake Paque

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Manuel Campuzano

The Pokémon professor of the Kalos region. Sycamore's main field of research is on the newly discovered theory that certain Pokémon have an evolution beyond their final stage — Mega-Evolution as it is called. He gets to see firsthand that such evolutions exist when a Mega Blaziken assists Ash in recovering an out of control Garchomp from the Professor's lab. He is also in charge of running the Summer Camp that many young trainers attend.

---

• Action Girl: His Garchomp is female, and despite her gentle and caring nature, she's quite powerful and not hesitant to fight.
• Badass Bookworm: Just as eager to join in on the action as Professor Birch (maybe even moreso), and capable of handling his own in battle; after all, he has a loyal Mega Garchomp at his command.
• The Bus Came Back: Makes a return during JN115 alongside Mairin to watch Alain's match against Leon. Mairin is left in tears after Alain loses and he has to comfort her.
• Damsel in Distress: His Garchomp has to be rescued twice, the first time being in the second episode of XY.
• Catchphrase: "Marvelous!"
• Distressed Dude: He gets kidnapped by Team Rocket at one point for his knowledge on Mega Evolution.
• Gentle Giant: Not him, but the Garchomp he takes care of in his lab to study on Mega Evolution is an absolute sweetheart.
• Handsome Lech: He tried to flirt with Diantha's manager only to be rejected by her.
• Nice Guy: Like other important professors, he loves Pokémon and is friendly to humans as well.
• Papa Wolf:
  • To Garchomp. When Garchomp is kidnapped by Team Rocket, Sycamore and the kids go to help.
  • His response to a Team Flare grunt trying to grab Mairin is to grab the grunt's arm with a slightly terrifying grin, scold the grunt, and then shove him away. Then send out Garchomp.
• Roofless Renovation: Sycamore must have great insurance because his lab has been busted in and rebuilt several times.
• Running Gag: If ever Ash and his friends show up at his lab, he's going to be replacing the walls and/or ceiling by the end of the episode.
• Secret-Keeper: Eventually learns that Meyer and Blaziken Mask are the same person, a fact that not even Meyer's kids are aware of.
• Vocal Dissonance: Like other female Garchomps, his Garchomp has a deep, male voice despite her gender.

Grace (Saki)

Voiced in Japanese by: Hitomi Nabatame

Voiced in English by: Erica Schroeder

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Alina Galindo

The mother of Serena. She used to compete in Rhyhorn races.

---

• Brick Joke: She later gives Serena her Pokémon Showcase dress, stating that she chose the opposite of what she would normally pick because Serena doesn't like her definition of cute.
• Catchphrase: "Go for broke."
• Jock Dad, Nerd Son: In this case, it's a Gender Flip of the usual trope while keeping the spirit, and is thus "Tomboy Mom & Girly Daughter". Grace actually tries to enforce Generation Xerox upon Serena, who does not want anything to do with it (she does realise that she appreciates Rhyhorn Racing more than she'd previously thought, but wanted to try and find something she loved even more). Then, when she shows up in "A Race for Home!", she is skeptical of Serena's dedication to Pokémon Showcases and challenges her to a Skiddo race to prove herself; when Serena succeeds at the assigned task, her mother becomes more open to her daughter's choice of dreams. Also, in "Giving Chase at the Rhyhorn Race!" we learn that she actually sent Serena to the Summer Camp in Pallet Town against her tender-hearted daughter's (initial) wishes, and she seems to have shown a bit of pressure in her parenting style overall.
• Mundane Utility: Uses Fletchling as a sort of "alarm clock", much to Serena's chagrin.
• Open-Minded Parent: When Serena reveals she is journeying with Ash, and not specifically pursuing Rhyhorn racing, Grace responds positively, just glad that her daughter will be having fun.
• Parents as People: Grace's relationship with her daughter was somewhat strained at the start of the series because of how little they had in common, with Grace pressuring Serena to practice Rhyhorn racing (despite the latter's vocal hatred of it) under the belief that she'd give up on anything else she tried. After Serena proves her dedication to performing, Grace's portrayal shifts to Good Parents. Grace does such thoughtful things for Serena it regularly reduces her daughter to tears.
• Retired Badass: She was quite an accomplished Rhyhorn racer in her youth, but has since settled down and started a family.
• Rhino Rampage: She has a Rhyhorn who is nice. She has her daughter practice on it to train her as a Rhyhorn racer.
• Tomboy: Lampshaded by Serena when she asks her mother to pick a hat, only to choose the opposite because she knows Grace picks the "less cuter items". Tellingly, despite having a feminine streak with keeping house and cooking, Grace is evidently quite strong in character, and it's easy to see her younger self - an accomplished Rhyhorn Racer in her own right - as being a Hotblooded Tomboy back in the day. She's certainly more confrontational and (at times) sarcastic than previous mothers who appeared in the series.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: The Tomboy to her daughter's girly girl.
• Signature Mon: Rhyhorn is her main Pokémon, as expected from an experienced Rhyhorn racer.
• Supreme Chef: Serena mentions that Grace's cooking is one of the things she misses ever since she started her adventure.

Meyer (Limone)/Blaziken Mask (Bursyamo Mask)

Voiced in Japanese by: Kensuke Sato

Voiced in English by: Tom Wayland

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Christian Strempler (season 17), Julio Bernal (season 18)

The father of Clemont and Bonnie. Also has a secret alter-ego in the form of Blaziken Mask.

---

• Action Dad: Clemont and Bonnie's father, who also happens to be a masked superhero-esque trainer in his spare time.
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Meyer is absolutely giddy when he officially meets Ash and Serena. He even assumes that Serena is Clemont's girlfriend.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • Saves Ash and Pikachu as they fell from Prism Tower.
  • Happens again when the heroes are cornered by Team Rocket's Humongous Mecha.
• Cool Mask: Styled to look like Mega Blaziken.
• Emotional Bruiser: Despite his tough appearance, he cries tears of joy to find that Clemont and Bonnie have made friends and have decided to travel with them.
• Good Parents: When Team Flare executes their scheme at Lumiose City, he (as Blaziken Mask) tells his children to stay out of it. It takes Bonnie saying she wants to help Squishy and Clemont professing his concern for his Gym to talk him into letting them come along, and even then he tells them to flee the moment things get dangerous.
• In a Single Bound: Mega Blaziken and, inexplicably, its trainer are able to jump great heights in the blink of an eye.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: His second appearance pretty much gives away Blaziken Mask's identity, however, most of the cast haven't figured it out yet (apart from Professor Sycamore).
• Manly Tears: Cried when hugging Clemont and Bonnie.
• Meaningful Name: His Japanese and English name refers to lemons. His Japanese name is Italian for lemon, and his English name refers to the Meyer lemon.
• Mysterious Protector: He has helped save the protagonists several times, but not even his own children seem to know his true identity.
• Open-Minded Parent: Meyer, rather than being disappointed like Clemont expected, is happy and proud of his son and daughter for adventuring.
• Papa Wolf: When Bonnie goes off alone to get Squishy to come back to its senses, Meyer and Mega Blaziken are in hot pursuit, personally ensuring that his daughter would not get in harm's way. They are even ready to shield Bonnie as Squishy readies an attack point-blank, but fortunately, it was at the point when Bonnie is finally getting through to Squishy.
• Product Placement: He exists to promote Mega Evolution before Ash can find/face one on his own, and the event Torchic.
• Riddle for the Ages: Despite his kids finding out about his identity, it is never elaborated on. Good luck trying to make sense why he of all people pretends to be a masked hero with a Mega Blaziken - which is also not explained at all - for Lumiose City.
• Secret Identity: God knows why he dresses as a super hero behind his children.
• Shock and Awe: Is usually seen with his Ampharos in his day job. There is an implication that it can Mega Evolve, too.
• Signature Mon: Mega Blaziken, but only as the Blaziken Mask. He never uses Mega Blaziken in public life, likely to avoid suspicious from his children of his alter-ego life. In public life, he uses an Ampharos as his main partner.
• Super Mode: Mega Blaziken is the first Mega Evolved Pokémon we and Ash are introduced to.
• Super-Speed: So fast that Ash loses sight of Mega Blaziken in the middle of an empty airstrip.
• Triple Shifter: Electrician and compassionate father by day, Mega Evolving hero by night!

Monsieur Pierre

Voiced in Japanese by: Kenta Miyake

Voiced in English by: Gilles Motais

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Arturo Castañeda (season 17), Ricardo Bautista (season 18)

The host of various Pokémon Performances.

---

• Chick Magnet: Definitely has plenty of female fans in the Kalos region.
• Classy Cane: Holds one, where his Pokémon Klefki sits as the head.
• The Dandy: His attire when hosting is a coat with neon lights and asymmetric coloring. He also sports a necklace with a large key for a medallion.
• Gratuitous French: Enjoys saying stuff like "Très bien!" and "S'il vous plaît!" among other things.
• Mundane Utility: He uses Klefki, a living keyring, as a keyring to hold the Princess Key that will be given to the victor.
• Signature Mon: His main partner is Klefki, which he uses as both his performing partner and holder of the Princess Key.
• Symbol Motif Clothing: Has a keyhole integrated in his wardrobe, and has a key for his medallion. One time when he was introduced, he wore a mask resembling that of a certain keyring Pokémon. And the fact that the Performance competition relied on getting keys. And he owns a Klefki.
• Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: In "Party Dancecapades!", Pierre's Klefki is the dance partner to Aria's Delphox. Delphox is the size of a human, while Klefki is a sentient keyring.
• Tron Lines: The coat he wears has glowing outlines. And in certain scenes they glow in the dark!

Sanpei

Voiced in Japanese by: Yuko Sanpei

Voiced in English by: Chris Patton

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Luis Leonardo Suárez (season 17), Miguel Ángel Ruiz (season 18)

A young ninja who Ash and company run into along their journey a few times. His appearances have primarily been a means to help Ash train his Froakie.

---

• Big Brother Mentor: Sanpei's Frogadier/Greninja can be seen as such for Ash's Froakie such as helping it learn Quick Attack.
• Bubble Gun: Greninja knows Bubble and uses as its projectiles.
• Doppelgänger Spin: Greninja knows Double Team, creating illusion clones of itself.
• Kamehamehadoken: Greninja knows Water Pulse and throws it from its hands.
• Making a Splash: Sanpei owns the Water-type Frogadier which later evolves into a Greninja.
• The Greatest Story Never Told: The viewer audience never quite finds out how the battle between his Greninja and Ash's newly evolved Frogadier went down.
• Ninja: Sanpei not only acts like one, but dresses as one as well. Frogadier/Greninja's actions also play on the ninja theme.
• Numerical Theme Naming: Sanpei is the third of a family of ninjas, with Ippei and Nihei as the eldest and second brothers, respectively.
• Samurai Ponytail: Sanpei's hairstyle.
• Scarf of Asskicking: Wears a yellow ninja-scarf.
• Signature Mon: His main partner Frogadier and later Greninja, often serving as superior rival to Ash's Froakie (and later Frogadier).
• Smoke Out: Greninja knows Smokescreen. Sanpei himself can do such a thing.
• Surpassed the Teacher: In their first appearance, Sanpei and his Frogadier are mentors to Froakie (and Ash, to an extent), giving them physical training (all to teach Froakie Quick Attack, although he learned Double Team instead). Ash and his mon would eventually become better at the art, while Sanpei and his Greninja become victim to The Worf Effect.
• Took a Level in Badass: His Frogadier had already evolved into a Greninja by the time Ash and company run into him a second time along their journey. However...
• The Worf Effect: Unlike how they were at the top of their game in their debut episode, the show suddenly started to give a lot of flak his way by making him and his Greninja perform poorly against all battles they participated in, to the point they need the main four to keep them safe from harm. Their latest appearance at their home land just drives it even further where they are incapable of keeping up with Sanpei's older brother and Ash's Frogadier. They even lose in the war everyone else won.
• Wutai: It's best not to ask how or why a ninja village and culture exists in a region based on France.

Palermo (Yashio)

Voiced in Japanese: Rei Sakuma

Voiced in English: Eileen Stevens

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Laura Torres

The former Kalos Queen who now works as a producer for Pokémon Showcases. She was Aria's mentor and she has taken interest in Serena since she witnessed the latter's Important Hair Cut.

---

• Cool Shades: She is always wearing black sunglasses.
• The Mentor: Known to Aria as "Maestra" (or simply "Sensei" in Japanese).
• Mythology Gag: Her outfit is based on design of female Veterans in Pokémon X and Y.
• Perpetual Frowner: She is certainly hard to impress when it comes to scouting for Performers with potential, but is likely just being very professional about her job.
• You Remind Me of X: She notes a lot of similarities between Serena and Aria, particularly when the latter first started out learning under her.

Z2

Voiced in Japanese: Yuki Kaji

Voiced in English: Billy Bob Thompson

The other Zygarde Core. Rather than having a red core color, it instead has a blue one. It was being hunted down by Team Flare, but it managed to escape them multiple times due to its sheer strength with its 50% Forme. It remained in hiding until Z1/Squishy contacted it, alerting Team Flare of its location. It tried to fend off its chasers, but even with the help of Team Rocket, it still ended up being caught because of the arrival of Alain. It ended up being a captive of Lysandre and experimented on.

---

• Brick Joke: What happens to Z2 after Bonnie has earned its trust? Bonnie tickles its blue core, just like what she did to Squishy in their first meeting.
• Creepy Monotone: In contrast to Squishy, it speaks with a rather straightforward, unchanging tone.
• Fusion Dance: It can combine with other Zygarde cells to make larger forms up to 50%, and can reach 100% by joining with Z1.
• Green Thumb: It creates destructive vines which tear through buildings effortlessly.
• Guest-Star Party Member: Spends a very very brief time under Team Rocket's care, as the Terrible Trio resolve to protect Z2 from Team Flare (though not without ulterior motives).
• Humans Are Bastards: Sees humans as the source of the constant imbalance of Kalos that will ultimately lead to its destruction.
• The Juggernaut: It can take Mega-Charizard X's attacks and dish them out even harder, with its Extremespeed turning it into a full-on Lightning Bruiser. Had Team Flare not interfered, it might have won.
• The Power of the Sun: Recharges through sunlight.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: When it is forced to transform at the end of the Kalos League, it takes on a red coloring as opposed to green.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Aside from the obvious (the core colors), Z2 has a different opinion towards humans and has a different way of talking.
• Restored My Faith in Humanity: Seeing Ash and the other heroes continue the fight against the Megalith, which Z2 believes is unbeatable, to protect Kalos, allows Squishy's words of Humans Are Special to open Z2's eyes. The Cores reach an understanding, allowing them to finally transform into Zygarde Complete Forme.
• Royal "We": Like Squishy, it speaks like this.
• Telepathy: Like Squishy, it has limited telepathy in that it can talk to the other core fine but otherwise can only make grumbling noises.
• Worf Had the Flu: It may have been somewhat weaker when fighting Alain's Charizard, as it was exhausted from running from Team Flare. To what extent this impacted its performance is unknown, as it didn't seem any weaker than in its earlier appearances. Team Rocket's interference also gave it a chance to rest and recover using sunlight, albeit probably not as long as it would need to fully recuperate.

Florges

Voiced in Japanese: Hitomi Nabatame

Voiced in English Aurora Bea

A war leader Florges that was responsible for Goomy meeting Ash, having previously taken over its homeland to preserve her infant Floette with its healing water.

---

• Arc Villain: For Ash's Goodra, her invasion of the wetlands causing Goomy's exile and eventually meeting with Ash.
• The Comically Serious: In her second appearance, the mischief of a rampaging Carbink led Florges to have humorous snit fits at a resident Quagsire.
• Dark Action Girl: At first. Becomes a standard Action Girl after her Heel–Face Turn.
• Denser and Wackier: Was the Arc Villain for most of Goodra's character arc and even post Heel–Face Turn was a serious Dark Action Girl. She and her army return as comic relief in "A Diamond In The Rough".
• Easily Forgiven: All the pain and trauma she caused seems forgotten after discovering her real motive.
• Expy: Her war embittered persona and motive (even directly driven by a beloved Floette) make her something of a Lighter and Softer Spiritual Adaptation of AZ.
• Heel–Face Turn: Following an Enemy Mine with Ash and Goodra against Team Rocket.
• Heel Realization: Downplayed. After finding out Team Rocket duped her and the lengths the Goodra she bullied away as a Goomy was willing to help her, she shows visible humility.
• Lady of War: Elegant and dignified as her species are commonly renowned for. Also a powerful fighter Pokémon with an entire army at her bidding.
• Mama Bear: The lengths she took to cure her ill baby Floette.
• Must Make Amends: Helps Ash and Goodra recover Pikachu and the others after obliviously helping Team Rocket capture them. It makes peace with Goodra and the other wetland inhabitants afterwards.
• Unwitting Pawn: For the Team Rocket trio in one of their most Not So Harmless schemes, convincing her to help capture Pikachu and attack the heroes, blaming them for the drayage of the wetland's water they were secretly draining.
• Violence is the Only Option: After suspecting the other wetland inhabitants of draining the water needed to heal her child, rather than making any attempts at interrogation, she leads her army into attacking and exiling them.
• Walking Spoiler: Ties in to nearly all of Goodra's backstory and pivoted how he met Ash.
• The Worf Effect: During Team Rocket's second rampage on the wetlands, Florges and her army (along with Pikachu) prove useless against their new mech, leaving Goodra to team up with a flock of Carbink to stop them.

Rivals

Tierno

Voiced in Japanese by: Anri Katsu

Voiced in English by: Todd Haberkorn

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Roberto Gutiérrez

Voiced in Italian by: Gianluca Iacono

A young Pokémon trainer with a passion for dancing that Ash meets at Sycamore's summer camp. A close friend of Shauna and Trevor.

---

• Acrofatic: Believe it or not, Tierno can do a triple side flip.
• Adaptational Badass: In the games, he's not much of a battler, preferring to study moves to make a dance team. In the anime, he's a skilled trainer that incorporates dance moves into his battle style. In addition, he makes it to the Kalos League with the rest of his group, and unlike Trevor, gets past the first round and holds his own against Sawyer until Sawyer uses Mega Evolution to tip the scales.
• Ascended Extra: In the anime he stands out more than Shauna and Trevor (even being more Ash's rival than the other two are), whereas in the games Shauna fills that role. This seems to be an intentional response to his unexpected popularity in Japan, ranking third in a popularity poll.
• Big Fun: Tierno's upbeat personality allows him to make friends easily, and he is noticeably more rotund than any of his friends.
• Character Catchphrase: "All right!"
• Cavalier Competitor: If Tierno loses, he accepts it and shakes it off, and readies himself for the next round.
• Chekhov's Skill: Subverted; Tierno tries teaching Ash his "rhythmic style" for Ash to use in his upcoming match with Korrina. By the time Ash's group arrives in Shalour City and up to the gym battle itself, Ash has yet to master the style, and ultimately opts for his own instead.
• Dance Battler: He trains his Pokémon to incorporate dance moves in their fighting styles.
• Demoted to Extra: He's set up as a major rival in the earlier parts of the series, but largely shifts out of focus when Sawyer and Alain enter the story.
• Didn't Think This Through: As a desperate attack on Sawyer's Aegislash, Tierno commands Ludicolo to use Solar Beam...in the rain. Not only does Aegislash break through the weakened attack with Sacred Sword, it also manages to take out Ludicolo in the same stroke.
• Gang of Hats: Fitting with his character, Tierno's team consists of natural dancers (Politoed, Hitmontop and Ludicolo). And the members who aren't, are pretty good on their toes as well (especially Blastoise, of all Pokémon).
• Green Thumb: Ludicolo's secondary type is Grass and it knows Solar Beam.
• Hopeless Suitor: Has been pining for Serena ever since he saw her PokéVision video but Serena has eyes for Ash Ketchum only and no one else, no matter how dense he is.
• Making a Splash: His starter is Squirtle/Wartortle/Blastoise, and he has a Ludicolo and Politoed.
• Shock and Awe: One of his Pokemon is the Electric-type Raichu.
• The Rival: Towards Ash's group at summer camp, but especially towards Ash, as both are passionate individuals.
• Signature Mon: Blastoise is Tierno's starter and the most adept user of his Acrofatic Dance Battler style, a notable contrast from how most Blastoise battle.
• Use Your Head: Squirtle knows Skull Bash.
• Weak, but Skilled: The guy managed to get quite far in a tournament filled with Mega Evolution and Bond Phenomenon trainers without having it himself.
• The Worf Effect: Initially downplayed against Sawyer; their Kalos League battle seemed like it could go either way, with Tierno at one point even having the numbers advantage. However, it's played straight once Sawyer reveals Mega Sceptile, rendering Tierno's Rain Dance + Thunder strategy useless and taking him out in one hit.

Trevor (Trova)

Voiced in Japanese by: Minami Fujii

Voiced in English by: Michael Lockwood Crouch

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Ferso Velásquez

Voiced in Italian by: Annalisa Longo

A young Pokémon trainer whose ambition is to see every Pokémon in the Pokédex. Ash meets him and his friends, Tierno and Shauna, at Sycamore's summer camp.

---

• Anti-Climax: In the first episode of the Kalos League, he's revealed to have obtained a Charizardite Y, and the battle between both forms of Mega Charizard is marketed as the highlight of the episode. Trevor's Charizard ends up getting one-shot along the rest of his team.
• Blood Knight: Much like Ash's own Charizard, Charmeleon is shown to be borderline uncontrollable when it wants to battle, though it's still more obedient than Ash's was at that stage.
• Blow You Away: Subverted. Trevor does own an Aerodactyl and a Charizard that are part Flying-type and theoretically could use Flying-type moves. But Mega Charizard X crushes them so quickly they didn't even get a chance to show it.
• Camera Fiend: Trevor likes to photograph everything that interests him.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: He loses to Alain in a three-on-three in the first match of the Lumiose Conference. Alain only used Mega Charizard X, which defeated Trevor's own Mega Charizard Y, Aerodactyl, and Florges easily.
• Geek Physique: He's very scrawny, and the shortest amongst his friends.
• Invisible Subtle Difference: He likes to take photos of rare Pokémon. "Rare", in this case, meaning they look identical to others of their species but with some extremely subtle difference like thinner antennae.
• Motor Mouth: When he shows off the pictures he took to Ash and the gang, to the point that some subs had to keep up by minimizing the text to fit everything he says during that scene.
• Mythology Gag: He is revealed to own an Aerodactyl and a Florges like in the games.
• Our Fairies Are Different: Owns the Fairy-type Florges on his team, though it didn't stood any chance against the Fire/Dragon-type Mega Charizard X.
• Out of Focus: More or less gets the short end of the stick out of the trio. Tierno is collecting gym badges while Shauna is competing with Serena in Pokévision. He is collecting badges on the side, but by the time Ash meets up with him, Trevor has just one while Ash has six. While he does make it to the Kalos League, he has the unfortunate luck of facing Alain as his first opponent, which ends in a very quick Curb-Stomp Battle in which Alain didn't lose a single Pokémon.
• Playing with Fire: His starter is Charmander (which later evolved into Charmeleon and eventually Charizard).
• Signature Mon: As his starter Pokémon and main partner, Mega Charizard Y is associated with Trevor. So much so that when Mega Charizard Y loses to Mega Charizard X, Trevor had zero chance of getting even a single victory against Alain.
• Super Mode: His Charizard can Mega Evolve into Mega Charizard Y.
• The Rival: He initially starts out as a rival to Clemont at the summer camp, as both are the Smart Guys of their respective groups. However, he begins to focus on collecting gym badges to compete in the Lumiose Conference and ultimately ends up as a minor rival to Ash.
• Transformation Trinket: His Charizard owns a Charizardite Y that's kept in a tail bracelet while Trevor has a Key Stone held in his camera.
• The Worf Effect: Gets this badly against Alain, who one-shots every one of his Pokemon with Mega Charizard X despite Trevor having his own Mega Charizard Y.

Sawyer (Shota)

Voiced in Japanese by: Ikue Otani

Voiced in English by: Robby Duncan Sharpe

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Carlos Siller

A novice Pokémon trainer from Hoenn who writes down his battle experience in a note journal. Like Ash and Tierno, Sawyer is collecting badges to enter the Lumiose Conference.

---

• The Apprentice: While a rival of Ash, since Sawyer is also a rookie, he looks to Ash as his unofficial mentor. The opening in which he debuted even had Sawyer literally following in Ash's footsteps.
• Ascended Fanboy: By the end of the series, he's become Steven's assistant.
• Badass Crew: His team consists of three powerful Hoenn Pokémon and three powerful Kalos Pokémon: his ace Mega Sceptile, his pseudo-Legendary Salamence, his Stone Wall Slaking, his Lightning Bruiser Clawitzer, his Glass Cannon/Stone Wall Aegislash and his Long-Range Fighter Slurpuff.
• Beware My Stinger Tail: As Mega Sceptile, Leaf Storm has the added effect of firing its sharp, pointed tail at the foe.
• Book Smart: Like many of Ash's previous rivals, Sawyer is analytic and knows how to prepare strategies before a battle, but is unable to deal with Ash's improvised strategies.
• Character Catchphrase: "I'll be sure to make a note of this experience!"
• Chekhov's Gunman: He first appeared in XY064 losing to Clemont. His proper introduction is 9 episodes later.
• Contrasting Replacement Character: Sawyer takes over Trip's role as a primary rival to Ash. Both are Book Smart beginner trainers who use Grass-type starters, admire the Champions of their home regions, and grow quite powerful in a very short time period. But while Trip frequently insulted Ash and thought very little of him, Sawyer completely idolizes him. In addition, both of them had five battles with Ash across the series, with inversed results. While Ash was only able to win once against Trip, Sawyer was only able to win once against Ash.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: In his early appearances, he doesn't win a single battle, let alone actually knock out an opponent's Pokémon. He apparently has gotten a lot more competent thanks to Ash's advice, but still gets creamed when they face off during XY105. In said episode, his Sceptile actually manages to match Greninja and even gains the upper hand using Leaf Storm, but gets beaten in one hit once Greninja transforms. Now the problem is how his other Pokémon can't size up to Ash's.
• Curb Stomp Cushion: Mega Sceptile's battle against Ash-Greninja is this. Though it eventually loses, it manages to corner Ash-Greninja with Frenzy Plant and is capable of fighting it in close range with Leaf Blade, even landing a hit with Leaf Storm despite Ash-Greninja's speed. It gets hit with an Aerial Ace combo (super-effective) and remains standing. It takes a giant Water Shuriken from Ash-Greninja to finally bring Mega Sceptile down.
• Demoted to Extra: Despite being one of Ash's two main rivals in XY, he doesn't really get to do anything in the Team Flare arc. He mostly just stands in the background with Shauna, Tierno, and Trevor as the chaos unfolds.
• Double Knock Out: His Salamence and Slurpuff tie with Noivern and Goodra, respectively.
• Expy: He has some similarities with Wally from Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire as a green-haired beginner Trainer from Hoenn that looks up to the main character for inspiration, although Sawyer is not frail and sickly. They also eventually become strong enough to wield Mega Evolution near the end and become a Worthy Opponent to the main character.
• Foil: To Ash, as with most of his rivals.
  • While Ash is an experienced trainer who had traveled multiple regions, Sawyer is a relatively new trainer.
  • While Sawyer takes a very analytical approaching to battling, Ash is well-known for improvisation and unconventional strategies.
• Glass Cannon: His Aegislash is very strong, but also very vulnerable in its Blade Forme.
• Graceful Loser: Despite frequently losing, he treats every defeat as a learning experience. He is right out proud when Ash defeats him in the semi-finals whom Sawyer admires so much.
• Green Thumb: His starter is Treecko, a Grass-Type Pokémon which he fully evolves into Sceptile and eventually into Mega Sceptile.
• Hero-Worshipper: Sawyer idolizes Ash and makes it his biggest goal to be a Worthy Opponent to him. In most of his appearances, his main purpose is to emphasize how much stronger than him Ash is.
• Jack of All Trades: His Sceptile has close-ranged and long-ranged moves, giving trouble to Close Range Combatants with its long-ranged moves and it can defend itself with close-ranged moves from said combatants. Mega Sceptile's Lightning Rod ability makes him also great against Electric-Type moves.
• Large Ham: Mega Sceptile has a much more aggressive and an even more animal-like voice than its base form, making its battles even more intense. It also adds more to its new Dragon-Type.
• Lightning Bruiser:
  • His Clawitzer can move very fast with Aqua Jet, it is very strong and it can take several Electric-Type attacks before it faints.
  • His Aegislash combines both, Glass Cannon and Stone Wall, to be this trope and it is also very fast. However, it can be only one of them at one time.
• Long-Range Fighter: His Slurpuff's offensive attacks are all long-ranged. His Clawitzer averts this trope, due to its powerful and fast Aqua Jet, giving it a close-range/mid-range option.
• Look What I Can Do Now!: He improves remarkably offscreen. Sawyer was introduced with just one badge and almost no skill in battles. Roughly 20 episodes later, he's caught stronger Pokémon and has collected six badges (the same amount Ash had when he met him, even) in that time. The universe just keeps giving him tools of destruction out of nowhere when he eventually manages to evolve his Sceptile and collect the items to make it Mega Evolve. He even gathers eight Gym Badges before Ash does.
• Meaningful Name: Scottie clearly references the European Scotland setting to allude the European-like setting Kalos. However, his name saw a revision as Sawyer surely because he moved from Hoenn, a not-European-like setting.
• Mythology Gag: Never seen without a notebook where he keeps jotting down notes. Writing on notebooks is how saving game progress is depicted in OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire.
• Oh, Crap!: When Ash-Greninja's about to unleash his giant Water Shuriken, Sawyer realizes he is done for, and was panicking when he commands Sceptile to use Leaf Storm. His face tells everything.
• Our Dragons Are Different: Owns a Dragon-type, Bagon, which fully evolves into Salamence. Also, Sceptile gains the Dragon-Type after Mega Evolving.
• Our Fairies Are Different: Owns a Fairy-type, Slurpuff, which he uses to fight Goodra for type advantage. It ended in a draw, however.
• Playing with Fire: Two of his Pokémon know Fire-Type moves. Bagon had Fire Fang, then Incinerate once it evolved into Salamence. His Slurpuff knows Flamethrower.
• Product Placement: It becomes clear that Sawyer exists to promote Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, but at the same time, he's very late in promoting it. Half of Sawyer's team consists of Pokémon from the Hoenn generation having the Hoenn grass-starter which can Mega-evolve (a Mega-evolution that was added in the Ruby and Sapphire remakes), a Slaking, as well as said region's pseudo-legendary dragon, Salamence.
• The Rival:
  • To Ash as another Pokémon trainer collecting badges for the Lumiose Conference. He initially looks up to Ash and Sawyer dedicated himself to become stronger to eventually surpass his idol. As a result, Sawyer has grown so much that he becomes one of Ash's two main rivals in the Kalos League.
  • After evolving into Grovyle, it has become a rival to Ash's Frogadier, and they grinned at each other whenever they met. Their relationship has continued as this even after their final evolution, although with less grinning.
• Spoiler Opening: The Opening to XY&Z revealed that Sawyer's Sceptile would gain the ability to Mega Evolve.
• Signature Mon: Sceptile is his starter and the Pokémon he always saves for last, eventually gaining the ability to Mega Evolve.
• Stone Wall: His Slaking is mostly focused on stalling. It takes hits like nothing and can heal itself. However, it barely moves or attacks, and it only counterattacks the opponent at the right moment.
• Sudden Name Change: Was previously called Scottie in his small debut episode, though the writers easily made the change due to never referring to Sawyer as his previous name in the episode.
• Super Mode: His Sceptile can Mega Evolve by the Kalos League.
• Sweet Tooth: Has said that he loves sweets when presented with Serena's desserts and Lumiose Galettes.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • He finally manages to defeat Ash during their third battle. While his Doublade still lost to Ash's Noivern, his newly aqcuired Clawitzer took down both Noivern and Hawlucha before losing to Greninja, and Sceptile managed to defeat Greninja largely because Ash was forcing the transformation too much instead of letting it happen naturally.
  • Having made it all the way to the Kalos League semi-finals and giving Ash a very challenging full 6v6 battle that Sawyer narrowly lost, compared to how Ash did his first time around in the Indigo League, he sure has taken in several levels of it.
• Training from Hell: He mentioned that he worked very hard to catch up to Ash, and eventually the results show as he collects eight badges before Ash does and defeats Ash in a 3-on-3 match.
• Transformation Trinket: At the Lumiose Conference, his signature notebook's bookmark is equipped with a Key Stone while his Sceptile has a Sceptilite clipped onto a green scarf around its neck.
• Use Your Head: Bagon knows the move Headbutt early on.
• Warts and All: Downplayed and eventually subverted. After Ash loses to Wulfric, Sawyer leaves the team, silently concerned his idol has fallen behind him. However, he's confident that Ash will bounce back in time for the Kalos League, which he does, restoring Sawyer's faith in him.
• Weak, but Skilled: All throughout the rivalry, Sawyer is shown to be far below Ash in terms of raw power, even after he Takes a Level in Badass. He makes up for this through tactics, having analyzed Ash's battling style from their previous encounters and preparing counter-strategies.
• When Trees Attack: Sceptile knows the ultimate Grass-Type attack, Frenzy Plant, a mass of gigantic roots that swamp the opponent in all directions.
• The Worf Barrage: Despite Frenzy Plant being the most powerful Grass-Type attack and earlier having defeated Tierno's Blastoise and Ash's Pikachu, Sceptile's Frenzy Plant never hits Greninja.
• Worthy Opponent: What Sawyer and his Sceptile proves to be when facing Ash and his Greninja in the semi-finals. Even after losing, he was happy for Ash and vows to get stronger and one day surpass him.

Shauna (Sana)

Voiced in Japanese by: Yurie Kobori

Voiced in English by: Jo Armeniox

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Adriana Núñez

Voiced in Italian by: Martina Felli

A young and outgoing Pokémon trainer who loves PokéVision videos. She becomes acquainted to Ash and co. at Sycamore's summer camp.

---

• Badass Adorable: Unlike her friends, who fully evolve their starters, her Bulbasaur stops evolving at Ivysaur, presumably because the massive Venusaur wouldn't be as useful in Showcases.
• Decomposite Character: Since Serena takes some elements from the game incarnation of Shuana, she is thus a case of this trope.
• Genki Girl: Every bit as excitable as her game counterpart.
• Graceful Loser: She cries a little when she's unable to go to the final round of the final showcase, but she encourages Serena to go for the gold.
• Green Thumb: Her starter is Bulbasaur/Ivysaur, a Grass-Type.
• Instant Expert: Despite being a rookie performer, she catches on to it with relative ease, even winning her first showcase.
• The Rival: To Ash's group at summer camp, but especially to Serena, who also has an interest in PokéVision.
• Signature Mon: Her Ivysaur is her main Pokémon partner in both battles and in Showcases. It also conveniently stops at its second stage, just Serena's Braxien during the XY series.
• Shipper on Deck: Like Miette, Shauna teases Serena about her crush on Ash.

Aria (Elle)

Voiced in Japanese by: Marina Inoue

Voiced in English by: Lindsay Sheppard

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Circe Luna (season 17), Nycolle González (season 18)

A famous Pokémon Performer. Aria is the current Kalos Queen.

---

• The Ace: She is the undisputed best Pokémon Performer in all of Kalos.
• Ascended Extra: Her first few appearances were minor ones, usually through videos or flashbacks. Then, Aria's role is expanded a little more when she meets Serena while in disguise.
• Clark Kenting: Add glasses, put on a hat, and you got Ariana (Elena).
• Curtains Match the Window: Red hair with red eyes.
• Famed In-Story: She is the crowned Kalos Queen that every other Pokémon Performer strives to achieve. She still gets to keep it for much longer after the Master Class Showcase is over.
• Informed Attribute: She's stated to be an extraordinarily talented Performer that Serena has little chance of dethroning, but very little proof of this is shown onscreen. What little has been shown of her performances is far less visually impressive than Serena's.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Her Master Class performance is apparently so dazzling that she defeats Serena in a landslide vote. Almost none of it was shown onscreen, however.
• Pimped-Out Dress: Her primary dress when seen as the Kalos Queen is odd to say the very least. Somehow combining a neck-tie with a matching thigh-high Zettai Ryouiki, white opera gloves, and Frills of Justice.
• Status Quo Is God: Unsurprisingly, she easily gets to keep her Kalos Queen title for even longer after getting almost double the amount of votes Serena had at the Master Class Showcase.

Miette (Millefeui)

Voiced in Japanese by: Saori Hayashi (XY026), Kei Shindō (XY080 and beyond)

Voiced in English by: Maggie McDowell

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Betsabé Jara

A Pokémon Performer knowledgeable in cooking Poké Puffs. She develops a crush on Ash, becoming a rival to Serena.

---

• Arc Welding: Introduced as a rival to Serena for a couple of things (baking, Ash). Later, Showcases are introduced and Serena focuses her attention on the competition, so when Miette returns, she has conveniently the same goal in mind, keeping their rivalry fresh.
• Ascended Extra: Was a One-Shot Character in an early XY episode, but makes a return about 50 episodes later.
• Betty and Veronica: The Veronica to Serena's Betty for Ash's Archie.
• Blue/Orange Contrast: She dresses in blue with bits of orange like her tie and hair ribbon.
• Chekhov's Gun: When Serena runs afoul of some wild Swirlix, it was Miette who realized that they were disturbed by something. She immediately points out that the reason she knows their behavior is because her signature Pokémon, Slurpuff, is Swirlix's evolved form.
• Cooking Duel: Serena and her enter a Poké Puff Contest in order to find out who makes better Poké Puffs.
• The Gadfly: Plays this role to Serena with glee. She's fond of popping up behind her out of nowhere to startle her, and using her crush on Ash against her by implying that she'll steal him away from her. It's pretty clear that her actual interest in Ash, if any, is nowhere near as genuine as Serena's, she just likes seeing her flustered.
• Graceful Loser: She nearly breaks in tears for not making it to the semifinals, but she's able to compose herself and cheer on Serena's progress.
• It Amused Me: Possibly one of the reasons why she teases Serena on her feelings on Ash, just to see her get comically flustered over them.
• Meaningful Name: Millefeui is a reference to the mille-feuille dessert, fitting with her being good at baking. Her dub name (Miette) is French for "breadcrumb".
• No Sense of Personal Space: She seems to enjoy sneaking up behind Serena and getting startling close to her when making sly remarks about Ash, particularly at the end of the Dendemille Showcase. She also clings onto Ash's arm during the dance episode after he accepts to be her partner, much to Serena's annoyance. Ash is uncomfortable a bit with the closeness, but is too kind to not tell her to get off.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: Upon seeing Serena's new look, Miette was correct that Serena changed her appearances for a reason but had the facts wrong as she thought she did so for Ash, although she was teasing her a little bit.
• The Rival: Towards Serena as a fellow Pokémon Performer. Miette did well enough to score third place in the Dendemille Showcase she competed in against Serena. She also pretends to be a romantic rival as well, to Serena's chagrin.
• Running Gag: Practically every time she makes an appearance in an episode, her first order of business is to tease Serena on her feelings while putting the moves on Ash right in front of her.
• Shipper on Deck: Immediately catches on to Serena's crush on Ash, and teases her about it just to get on her nerves. It's implied (and ultimately confirmed when the group splits up after the Master Class Showcase) that she's doing it at least partially to push Serena to act on her feelings.
• Supreme Chef: A Poké Puff cook.
• The Tease: Miette whispers to Serena that she might take Ash for herself if she doesn't make her move; causing her to blush.
• True Blue Femininity: She dresses up in blue to contrast Serena's red and pinks.
• Trying Not to Cry: Before congratulating Serena on her win of the first round of the Master Class Showcase, she cries due to having lost to her at that round. Even after wiping her tears, the poor girl still breaks down a bit in front of Serena.

Nini (Nene)

Voiced in Japanese by: Motoko Kumai

Voiced in English by: Jenny Emm

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Georgina "Gina" Sánchez

A rookie Pokémon Performer who trains her Pokémon to follow a dance routine she calls "Heartbreak."

---

• Abhorrent Admirer: Her Smoochum is attracted to Serena's Pancham, who wants nothing to do with her.
• Big Fun: She's pretty chubby, and has a cheerful disposition.
• Girlish Pigtails: Her hairstyle, which comes with two tiny red hair-ties.
• Graceful Loser: She takes her early loss in the Anistar Showcase well, and wishes Serena luck for the performance portion.
• The Rival: Towards Serena as a fellow Pokémon Performer. The two meet each other in XY050, and decide to show off their performances to one another for critique. In episode XY091, they compete against one another in the Anistar Showcase.
• Shipper on Deck: She (like the rest of Serena's rivals) is very much aware of Serena's feelings for Ash and joins in teasing her about it when she meets her in the Master Class.
• Small Name, Big Ego: In the dub, once she appears in Serena's second performance, she nearly borders on being the Jerkass rival to Serena if it hadn't been for her being a Graceful Loser and Serena (and Shauna) being too nice to her egotistical boasts.
• Trying Not to Cry: While still out on stage for the results, she holds her head down, though unable to hold back tears, after losing to Jessie at first round of the Master Class Showcase.

Gym Leaders

Viola

Voiced in Japanese by: Noriko Shitaya

Voiced in English by: Lori Gardner

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Andrea Orozco

The Bug-type Gym Leader of Santalune City. She's also a professional photographer.

---

• Adaptational Badass: Viola is ranked as a Marchioness in the Battle Chateau in the games. In the anime, she is ranked a level higher as a Duchess.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: Specializes in Bug-types, being the first female Gym Leader to specialize in this type.
• Blow You Away: Vivillon's Gust is used to blow the opponent away who has difficulty to stand on the frozen ground or to trap flying Pokémon in the Sticky Web.
• Camera Fiend: She's a photographer, and enjoys snapping pictures of trainers and their Pokémon.
• Catchphrase: "Picture perfect!" in the English dub, "Shutter chance!" in Japanese.
• Fragile Speedster: Surskit is very fast, especially when skating on ice, but falls quickly after a few successful hits.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: During Ash's rematch, her Vivillon accidentally collides with some ice left behind by her Surskit.
• Hurricane of Puns: She drops plenty of puns involving photography.
• I Am Not Left-Handed: When Ash finally has the advantage during their rematch, Viola reveals her Vivillon knows Sleep Powder.
• An Ice Person: Surskit's Ice Beam, which is often used to freeze the ground, allowing nobody but Surskit to move on the ground.
• It Only Works Once: Ash and his Pokémon come prepared during their rematch, so Viola's old strategies barely even slow them down the second time around.
• Letting Her Hair Down: Well, not fully, but when she reappears at the Battle Chateau, her hair is down in a ponytail instead of the regular style (see her image above).
• Making a Splash: Surskit's secondary type is Water, which makes it seem like easy picking for Pikachu. But being Water-type gives Surskit access to Ice Beam, throwing Pikachu off his game.
• The Power of the Sun: Vivillon's Solar Beam. The charging drawback is dropped, thanks to the opponent being trapped in Surskit's Sticky Web.
• Psychic Powers: Vivillon can use Psychic to thrash around Fletchling without even touching the bird.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: Looks really cute in a dress at the Battle Chateau, and with her hair somewhat down.
• Ship Tease: With Grant. The two are very flirtatious with each other in his debut episode at the Battle Chateau, later on during the Kalos Crisis the two are holding hands and embracing each other....after the Megalith is temporarily stopped.
• Signature Mon: Downplayed. Both Surskit and Vivillon have almost equal screen time and Viola uses them exchangeably outside of her Gym Battles, notably using Surskit in the Battle Chateau. With that said, Vivillon is a consistent powerhouse compared to Surskit, being the last Pokémon faced by Ash twice and packing a different surprise in each battle, ensuring it goes down taking at least one of Ash's Pokémon with it. Vivillon would eventually be chosen by Viola as her main partner to defend Kalos from Lysandre's rampaging Megalith.
• Sticky Situation: Surskit's Sticky Web. And even if it doesn't hit the opponent, Vivillon would later blow the opponent away and trap it in the web.
• Super-Speed: Surskit uses the ice it creates to zip around the battlefield.
• Trap Master: A major part of Viola's strategy is preemptively using attacks to manipulate the battlefield to give her an advantage, much like how real life insects do. Ash specifically trains his Pokémon to counter her set ups during their rematch.
• The Trickster: She sets up traps, freezes the field, and destroys her opponent's momentum to gain an advantage over foes.
• Underestimating Badassery: After Ash loses his first battle with her, she doubts his capability as a trainer and is rather dismissive of him during their rematch. Needless to say, Ash proves her wrong.
• Wake-Up Call Boss: Ash loses his first battle with her, showing the new region won't be a walk in the park.
• Wind from Beneath My Wings: Vivillon's secondary type is Flying and uses Gust to throw its opponents off balanced.
• The Worf Effect: She loses to Grant in the Battle Chateu to demonstrate how tough he is and what his strategy looks like. Despite her Surskit having a double advantage over Grant's Onix, it also has a weakness to Rock-Type moves.

Clembot (Citroid)

Voiced in Japanese by: Kensuke Sato

Voiced in English by: Michael Liscio Jr.

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Andrés García

A robot built by Clemont to be the current Electric-type Gym leader of Lumiose City while he is away.

---

• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Clemont initially programmed the Clembot to function as a harsh opponent that only accepted battles from trainers with four badges. At the end of the process, he somehow managed to mistime his only window to set a voice activated override code and was subsequently locked out of testing it in battle, as, being a Gym Leader himself, he lacked the requisite badges. Until he reprogrammed it, it became strict and violent to both Gym challenger losers and those trainers that lacked the appropriate number of badges alike, electrocuting and ejecting them from the Gym.
• All Your Base Are Belong to Us: While Clembot was playing housekeeper to Meyer, Team Flare has infiltrated the Prism Tower under their very noses, turning it into their new base of operations.
• Anti-Villain: Due to acting by its programming with good intent, but having misinterpreted Clemont's instructions due to its limited self-awareness.
• Arc Villain: For the first few episodes of the XY series, Clembot poses a bit of a dilemma for Clemont and Bonnie.
• Arm Cannon: Has one that shoots Poké Balls built into his right arm.
• Battle Butler: If he isn't minding the Gym, his other job is to apparently help out around the house.
• Beleaguered Assistant: To Meyer. Clembot is not amused about how Meyer claims to have been in queue for a couple of hours just to buy Lumiose Gallettes (when it was actually Clembot who stood in line).
• Canon Foreigner: Created for the show as a means of setting up Clemont's departure with Ash, so so that his Gym will stilll be managed.
• Clear My Name: Clembot gets framed for a rash of incidents when Ash and company return to Lumiose City to meet with Clemont again. The culprit is a roboticist named Belmondo who built a 2nd "Dark" Clembot, all for an Engineered Heroics ploy.
• Chekhov's Gunman: When Ash enters the Lumiose Gym, we only hear Clembot's voice through a monitor when Ash tries to have a Gym battle. It is not until XY009 that Ash learns that the voice belongs to the rogue Clembot.
• Cerebus Retcon:
  • In early episodes, he is just another one of Clemont's many malfunctioning inventions. The malfunction with Clembot, however, is treated as a serious matter, when previous failures are merely Played for Laughs.
  • After his first reboot, Clembot is treated as if he was actual family. The part where Clembot sacrifices himself to help stop Team Flare is actually pretty dramatic, and Clemont was heartbroken as a result.
• The Dreaded: The Lumiose Gym has developed a reputation as dangerous for everyone who attempted to conquer it, at least until Clemont takes back the gym and fixes his creation.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Clembot tells Clemont that a shutdown of the Prism Tower's systems would erase his flash memory, effectively killing him. But he tells Clemont he has to do it to stop Team Flare and save the world. Clemont rebuilds him, fortunately, but he cannot restore Clembot's memories.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Clembot's memories end up vanishing after defeating Team Flare, meaning he has to start from the beginning.
• No OSHA Compliance: During its time as Gym usurper, it got a bad reputation for zapping and ejecting trainers who had less than four badges (like Ash, who had precisely zero) or who lost against it (like the bloke with a Ralts rightfully complaining about how violent the Gym was). It ejected trainers by throwing them out from quite a ways up the Gym building - a large tower based off of the Eiffel Tower in Real Life - with no cushions or anything to break the fall.
• Psycho Electro: It electrocuted trainers that didn't live up to its standards.
• Ridiculously Human Robots: While A.I have appeared in the anime before, Clembot is probably the first to be treated as a re-occurring support character. He acts just like, and is generally treated like a person (aside from being re-programmed when his A.I was programmed wrongly).
• Signature Mon: When acting as Clemont's substitute Gym Leader, Clembot primarily uses Heliolisk as its main battler since it's the strongest Pokémon in Lumoise Gym when Clemont, and by extension Luxray, are not present at the Gym.
• Shock and Awe: Clemont built it to specialize in Electric-types.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: He believed he was doing the right thing for Clemont during his first reign.

Grant (Zakuro)

Voiced in Japanese by: Hirofumi Nojima

Voiced in English by: Cory Willis

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Carlo Vásquez

The Rock-type Gym Leader of Cyllage City. He is an avid rock climber and athlete.

---

• Adaptational Badass: In the games, Grant's Battle Chateau rank is Marquis. In the anime, it's Duke, and after defeating Viola, Grand Duke!
• Adaptational Attractiveness: While he wasn't bad looking in the games, he is noticeably prettier in the animé.
• Adapted Out: In the games he had an Amaura as his first battler, which was replaced in the anime by an Onix.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Although he is a respected Gym Leader, Grant also has a bizarre obsession with climbing. If he comes across any wall he deems scalable, he can't help but try climbing it.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Specializes in Rock-types.
• Drama-Preserving Handicap: In his gym, Grant is allowed to use only two Pokémon. Ash, on the other hand, is allowed to use all three of his.
• Establishing Character Moment: He's first seen climbing a door frame at the Battle Chateau.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Tyrunt is finally defeated when Pikachu lodges one of its Rock Tomb stones into its mouth, creating an opening.
• One-Hit KO: His Tyrunt is so powerful it defeats Ash's Froakie and Fletchling with a single hit each.
• Our Dragons Are Different: Tyrunt's secondary type. He even lampshades how Pikachu defeats it with an Electric-Type move, despite how it's not effective.
• The Philosopher: Grant has a philosophy that life is like climbing: always focus on what's above you, keep going, and you will reach your goals.
• Ship Tease: With Viola. The two are very flirtatious with each other in his debut episode at the Battle Chateau. During the Kalos Crisis he makes a leap of faith to save her after she's attacked by the Megalith, than is later seen holding her hand and embracing her...after the Megalith was temporarily stopped.
• Signature Headgear: He wears colorful hair clips that resemble the climbing holds of an artificial rock wall.
• Signature Mon: At first, his main Pokémon seems to be Onix, a classic staple among Rock-Type Gym leaders. But in Ash's actual Gym Battle, Tyrunt is revealed to be more powerful, able to easily take out both Froakie and Fletching with Draco Meteor. Tyrunt would later be Grant's main Pokémon partner as the two join forces with the other Kalos Gym Leaders to defend their region from Lysandre's Megalith trying to destroy the world.
• Scissors Cuts Rock: Zigzagged as his Onix beats Viola's Surskit despite it being part Water-type, but is easily beaten by the also Water-type Froakie.
• Signature Move: All of his Pokémon know Rock Tomb. Ash actually trained his Pokémon to exploit and counter it.
• The Worf Effect: His Onix falls easily to Ash's Froakie to show off Ash's strategy against Rock Tomb.
• T. Rexpy: Has a Tyrunt on his team, who is pretty much a powerful baby T. rex that can spew meteors from its mouth.

Korrina (Corni)

Voiced in Japanese by: Yuka Terasaki

Voiced in English by: Lisa Ortiz

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Laura Sánchez

The Fighting-type Gym Leader of Shalour City. She enjoys rollerblading, and her grandfather is a Mega Evolution researcher.

---

• Adapted Out: In the games she has a Hawlucha as her strongest Pokémon in her Gym Battle, but here she just uses Mega Lucario. Probably because of Ash's Hawlucha.
• Adaptational Wimp: In the games, it is implied she has long mastered Mega Evolution before you beat her, but she lacks the Mega Stone in the anime and has to spend several episodes to find it. And a few more to iron out Lucario's problem. She's far from weak, however, being able to easily defeat Ash and Pikachu in their first unofficial battle.
• Arc Hero: During her temporary stint as a member of Ash's group, Korrina's development takes center stage.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: She specializes in Fighting-types and fighting moves, though her Lucario tends to use Bone Rush very often.
• Battle Trophy: She likes to collect the paw/claw/hand/etc. print of any trainer's Pokémon that she battles with. The prints are all recorded in an old booklet she carries around. Ash's Pikachu was her 99th print, and she's working towards 100.
• Birds of a Feather: Many similarities are drawn between her and Ash. Both are passionate, gutsy battlers with a Pokémon companion they share a powerful bond with. Like Ash, Korrina has gotten so engrossed in a battle that she forgot she was hungry. Similar personalities do make them competitive, but also supportive to each other. Ash comforts her when she's worried about Lucario's problems with Mega Evolution and Korrina is quick to come into his defense when Ash is trying to save Manon's Chespin during the Flare arc's climax. Aside from his long-term companions, Korrina has the closest relationship to Ash out of any Gym Leader.
• The Bus Came Back: She reappears in Episode 25 of Pokemon Journeys as a PWT contestant and Ash's last opponent before he ranks up to the Super Class. She makes another return later on in the series starting in Episode 84, where she helps Ash get a Mega Stone for his Lucario and then watches his third rematch against Bea in the following two episodes.
• Calling Your Attacks: All trainers do it, of course, but Korrina likes to shout attack names just for the fun of it.
• The Cameo: Out of all the people Ash and company met in their journey, she, Lucario, and her grandfather, Gurkinn, were seen watching Serena's Master Class performances.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: Her thought pattern is somewhat rushed, which causes her do impulsive things like use ketchup as ink for Pikachu's paw stamp.
• Compressed Adaptation: In the anime, the Shalour Gym is inside the Tower of Mastery (as opposed to being a separate building), and the two battles with Korrina (in the Gym against her other Mons, and in the Tower against her Mega Lucario) are compressed into a single Gym Battle, with Mega Lucario as the Climax Boss. Earlier, the two-way Mega Lucario match was between her and her grandfather, Gurkinn.
• Cool Helmet: Korrina wears her biker's helmet whenever she is in battle.
• Cool Shades: When not wearing her helmet, she wears a red pair on her forehead.
• Curbstomp Battle: Heavily implied that Alain wrecked her hard with no effort. It didn't bring her down any. Bea served her yet another, according to a flashback in Journeys.
• Death or Glory Attack: Her Mienfoo has Hi Jump Kick, which easily does huge damage to Hawlucha several times until Ash abandons the dance strategy in favor of his instincts. Once Hawlucha is able to perfect its dodge, Mienfoo ends up hurting itself as it spirals out of control.
• Flung Clothing: She does this to switch from casual clothing to her rollerblading outfit. Somehow, this actually adds a helmet and rollerblades while wearing the same outfit.
• Friendly Rival: Her dynamic with Ash during XY, being close friends who really enjoy going at it on the battlefield. Their relationship is the same in Pokemon Journeys.
• Genki Girl: Korrina is extremely upbeat and lively, which briefly takes Ash and friends by surprise.
• Guest-Star Party Member: She joins Ash's group on the hunt for a Lucarionite. The episodes that focus on her after joining even have her on the title card!
• Hot-Blooded: She hops and flails around even while doing something as mundane as calling out attacks during battle.
• Humble Pie: Her struggle with Mega Lucario was due to being too confident in herself, and only by mastering and truly bonding with Lucario can they overcome this.
• Modesty Shorts: Wears a pair of biking shorts under her skirt.
• Rollerblade Good: Her main mode of travel and hobby seems to be riding her rollerblades. She even keeps them on while in the middle of a battle.
• Sixth Ranger: She was that while part of Ash's group for five episodes.
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad: The episodes that featured her in XY as the Guest-Star Party Member focus entirely on Korrina and Lucario mastering their Mega Evolution. This is not the case in Journeys, however.
• Tomboyish Ponytail: A long one that flows like a cape as she zips around.
• The Worf Effect:
  • At the end of XY123, Alain defeats her off-screen in a Gym Battle, earning his final badge from Korrina, which allows him to enter the Lumiose Conference. It also sets up Alain being Ash's greatest rival of the saga.
  • She was defeated by Bea with relative ease sometime prior to JN034, setting up Bea as Ash's first true hurdle in the World Coronation Series.

Korrina's Lucario

Voiced in Japanese by: Kiyotaka Furushima

Voiced in English by: Bill Rogers

Korrina's partner and ace. Similar like Ash's Pikachu, Lucario is usually outside its Poké Ball. After finding the Lucarionite, it is able to Mega Evolve, but has difficulty to control its Mega form for several episodes, but it and Korrina eventually master the Mega Evolution.

---

• The Artifact: Even though Sun & Moon changed Mega Evolution so that Mega Stones only appear when the Pokémon Mega Evolve (a trend that Ash's Lucario also follows), it still wears its Lucarionite on an armband in Journeys. Played With in that the OTHER Kalos Mega-evolution users Alain's Charizard once it gets a new Charizadite X. and Diantha's Gardevoir keep their Mega stones in jewelry.
• Battle in the Center of the Mind: How it finally forces itself to overcome and control its Mega form.
• Big Brother Worship: In Journeys, Ash's Riolu is in awe of Lucario's strength.
• The Bus Came Back: Reappears alongside Korrina in Episode 25 of the Sword & Shield Anime.
• The Comically Serious: Lucario as a species are often depicted with serious demeanor. This Lucario, while just as serious as its predecessors, has its share of silliness in its appearances alongside its trainer. (Case in point: Its reactions to both Ash's rhythmic style, and finding out the truth about Gurkinn's "scroll of secrets", both from "Origins of Mega Evolution".)
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • It took Pikachu to town in its debut episode.
  • While it mostly happens off-screen, it's strongly implied that this was what happened during its battle with Alain's Charizard. Lucario was pummeled into a wall while Charizard looked none the worse for wear. Justified, as Alain's Charizard was an Elite Four-Level Pokémon with a horrendous Type advantage.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Knows the Ground-Type move Bone Rush which serves as its Signature Move.
• Energy Ball: Aura Sphere, which can turn into a Kamehame Hadoken while in its Mega form.
• Extra-ore-dinary: Lucario's secondary type is Steel-Type. Ash tries to use its typing to his advantage by using Hawlucha and Fletchinder.
• Finishing Move: It eventually learns Aura Sphere, which becomes its Finishing Move.
• Forgot About His Powers: A very jarring example. When it gets separated from Korrina by a flock of Noibat, instead on relying on its aura skill to locate her (or let alone stay by her side), it would rather take the hard way and use the stones to find her the next day.
  • The fact its aura waves could create force waves that could throw off its opponents is entirely dropped out after it shows in the first episode.
• Friendly Rivalry: With Pikachu. Even after the Mega Evolution went wrong and caused Lucario to lose control, become Ax-Crazy and led it to brutally attack him, Pikachu never blamed it nor he held a grudge towards it overit, knowing that it never meant to act like this and that it wasn't at fault. After their showdown in the official Gym Battle, where Pikachu wins, they exchange a fist-bump in hopes of meeting each other again.
• Nerf: Let's just say it got a lot weaker in its final battle than what it could do when in Mega form for the first time. Remember those aura waves that could push people? Although that could be due to being uncontrollable at the time.
• Not So Stoic: Lucario has its serious moments like other members of its species, yet it can also be goofy and show its true emotions quite openly, including happiness, and has a friendly personality.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Its eyes are usually red, but when it loses control of its Mega form, its pupils glow a menacing blood red.
• Signature Mon: Korrina's main Pokémon partner. The two grew up training together since they were young, and they've been seeking to master Mega Evolution as a rite of passage. While Korrina may have other Fighting-type Pokémon on her team, always expect Lucario as her trump card.
• Signature Move: Its Bone Rush is basically its favorite move. It uses it much more often than Power-Up Punch or the recently learned Aura Sphere.
• Spin to Deflect Stuff: Lucario can spin its Bone Rush staff to neutralize some attacks.
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad: The episodes that feature Korrina as the Guest-Star Party Member focus entirely on Korrina and Lucario mastering their Mega Evolution. You also barely see Korrina's other Pokémon who are not Lucario.
• Status Buff: It knows Swords Dance which it uses to increase its physical strength drastically.
• Superpowered Evil Side: Not exactly evil, but its Mega form leaves Lucario with no self-control and fights with primal instincts because of the constant battling it has done, despite the fact it won 100 battles.
• True Companions: To Korrina. The two have been together since childhood.
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Lucario has a hard time controlling the overwhelming power of Mega Evolution, leading to extremely violent, irrational behavior.
• The Worf Effect: It is frequently a victim to this trope courtesy of other Pokémon to show how strong they are even against a Mega Evolved foe, from being beaten by Pikachu in Ash's Gym Battle against its trainer, to Alain's Mega Charizard X off-screen, one of Bea's Pokémon at some point before JN034 and finally Ash's Dragonite; the last two being in Pokémon World Coronation matches where trainers all over the world compete. Downplayed in the cases of Ash's Pikachu and Dragonite who had to battle very hard in order to take down the Mega Evolved Pokémon.

Ramos (Fukuji)

Voiced in Japanese by: Minoru Inaba

Voiced in English by: Anthony Salerno

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Carlos del Campo

The Grass-type Gym Leader of Coumarine City. He's an experienced gardener.

---

• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He seems to work on a different wavelength to other people at times, specifically the much younger protagonists. When Ash and friends arrive at his gym he holds off the battle because he's just prepared tea and wants them to enjoy it with him; when Ash downs it fast, he asks for help in pulling the weeds, almost oblivious to the youth's impatient frustration. And when he's simply wrenching them out roughly, Ramos halts him to point out the need to not be hasty or he'll miss the bigger picture (in this case, another plant hidden among the leaves). The advice actually helps Ash in his battle, too.
• Cool Old Guy: Ramos is a thoughtful grandpa-like figure, and he also proves to be very wise in regards to life and battling.
• Eyes Always Shut: Complimenting his easy-going nature, he never needs to open his eyes.
• Fragile Speedster: His Jumpluff can't take many hits but is fast, especially after activating its Chlorophyll ability (which makes it go faster).
• Green Thumb: Grass, his specialty type.
• Hot-Blooded: Given his age and seemingly-limitless patience, it's quite a sight to see the final stage of the Gym Battle getting him just as hyped as Ash seems to be.
• Life Drain: His Gogoat knows both Leech Seed and Horn Leech to recover its health. Strangely enough, despite all the health it recovers from attacking Frogadier, Gogoat still goes quickly down.
• Poisonous Person: Weepinbell is part Poison-Type and knows Poison Powder, a nasty attack that poisons both Fletchinder and Hawlucha. Ash outsmarts this by having his Frogadier create a mask with Frubbles.
• The Power of the Sun: His Jumpluff knows Sunny Day and both it and his Weepinbell have the ability Chlorophyll.
• Signature Mon: Gogoat not only serves as his main battler, but also his mount to travel across his vast ranch. Gogoat later accompanies Ramos to defend Kalos from Lysandre's Megalith invasion.
• Status Buff: His Jumpluff knows Cotton Guard, and both it and Weepinbell have Chlorophyll, giving both of them a massive amount of speed that give Ash's team a lot of trouble.
• The Worf Effect: Gogoat is Ramos' ace Pokémon, yet it doesn't get the chance to defeat any of Ash's Pokémon unlike every other Gym Leader's ace Pokémon in Kalos (except Olympia who uses two Pokémon in a double battle). Weepinbell's performance actually overshadows Gogoat's.
• Worf Had the Flu: Weepinbell is able to take down Talonflame and Hawlucha but gets taken down in one shot by Frogadier's Aerial Ace because of this.

Valerie (Mâche)

Voiced in Japanese by: Satsuki Yukino

Voiced in English by: Kate Bristol

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Valentina Souza

The Fairy-Type Gym Leader of Laverre City. She is also a well-known fashion designer, having her own clothing shop in the Gym.

---

• Adaptational Wimp: Sylveon is Valerie's last and most powerful Pokémon in the games, but here it's the first Pokémon she uses in her battle with Ash and it's defeated rather easily.
• Chekhov's Gun: The dress Valerie gave to Serena is later used in Serena's 2nd performance.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Downplayed. She gives off shades of this due to being a Fairy-Type specialist, speaking to her Pokémon in their language, and having a rather calm and elegantly cheerful personality.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Her Spritzee easily takes Sawyer's Bagon to town.
• Our Fairies Are Different: Her specialty type is Fairy-Type Pokémon.
• The Fashionista: A very skilled fashion designer.
• Fragile Speedster: Spritzee isn't particularly sturdy. However, it is quite agile, and very fast even without Trick Room.
• No-Sell: Since Fairy-Types are immune to Dragon-Type attacks, her Spritzee easily takes a Dragon Breath from Sawyer's Bagon without a scratch.
• Signature Mon: Spritzee is her final Pokémon used against Ash during their Gym Battle, and proves to be a far greater challenge than Sylveon. It also accompanies Valerie to defend Kalos from Lysandre's Megalith invasion.
• Speaks Fluent Animal: She appears to be able to speak to Fairy-type Pokémon using Pokémon Speak.
• Uncatty Resemblance: Invoked, the furisode she makes are all styled after Pokémon.
• Wutai: Much like Sanpei, she is quite distinct for being very "Japanese" in a France-based town. The anime also changed Laverre City from a fairy tale-style village into an outright Japanese-themed town.

Olympia (Gojika)

Voiced in Japanese by: Masako Katsuki

Voiced in English by: Catrin Lloyd Bollard

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Anabel Méndez

The Psychic-Type Gym Leader of Anistar City. She is well-known for her ability to predict the future, which managed to save Kalos from certain troubles.

---

• Adapted Out: In the games, she had a Sigilyph and Slowking in addition to her female Meowstic. Here, she instead uses both genders of Meowstic in a double-battle.
• Adaptation Expansion: She managed to have a more distinct role in the anime, compared to the games. In the games, she just spoke in short lines while being the 7th gym leader to fight. In the anime, she instead speaks imposing lines, foresees the future Ash has along with his Frogadier, has several apprentices-in-training, and the overseer of an observatory where Psychic trainers can go to meditate and mentally connect with their Pokémon. She managed to predict a disaster occurring in the Hoenn region that allowed Kalos to take safety precautions. And she managed to thwart Team Rocket's plot without even leaving her gym.
• Anime Hair: Her purple hair are usually curled and shaped like crescent moons. When she uses her power, they spread out and wave around like tentacles.
• Badass Cape: She wears a silver cape that reflects images of outer space underneath. Concept art and the games explain that her cape's space pattern creates zero gravity, which increases her psychic power.
• Badass Teacher: In the anime, she is shown to have two apprentices, Carrie and Charlene, and several psychics are seen in her gym learning how to meditate with their Pokémon and deepen their bonds with them. As Ash learns first hand, she is a force to be reckoned with, with her psychic powers and experience as a gym leader.
• Climax Boss: Olympia served as Ash's final opponent of the X&Y half of the Kalos Saga. Her battle with Ash also foreshadowed what was still to come in XYZ and Greninja's eventual Super Mode.
• Color Motif: Purple, which stands for wisdom and power. She has purple hair, wears a purple/black bodysuit, and the inside of her cape has purple space, and she is an experienced and wise gym leader, whose psychic powers help the city of Kalos prevent catastrophic disaster from affecting them. Her students/apprentices who study under her in Anistar Gym wear purple as well.
• Combat Clairvoyance: A mild case in which her female Meowstic uses Future Sight, letting her set up an assured, incoming attack.
• Curtains Match the Window: Of a sort. Her hair is dark purple, but her eyes are light lavender purple (in the games only). It's played more straight in the anime, with her eyes and hair matching colors.
• Dual Boss: She uses her two Meowstic against Ash, who in turn selected Frogadier and Talonflame.
• The Empath: Has shades of this, particularly towards Ash's Frogadier.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Twice did Ash manage to turn Olympia's attacks against her; first with the Roboteching Psyshock/Dark Pulse, and especially with Future Sight.
• Identical Ancestor: The special "The Legend of X, Y, and Z!" introduces a past character named Olympica who bears a striking resemblance to Olympia (right down to the seer abilities and Pokémon used), implying this trope.
• It Only Works Once: Ash's team was caught off-guard by Future Sight in its first release. During the second time, Ash has Pikachu set up as a metronome to time the attack, so that by the third time Future Sight was cast, Ash was ready to turn it against Olympia's team.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Her English name, Olympia, is inspired by Greek mythology and refers to the Greek gods who reside in the heavenly Mt. Olympus. She just happens to be a famed gym leader, and powerful psychic and seer, with a space motif.
  • On the other hand, she is named after the Greek city of the same name, where the first Olympic games were held. Indeed, she is a gym leader who fights coming trainers to test their worth, just like how the Olympic games tested competing participants.
• Power Floats: She seems to float with her own psychic powers.
• Prophetic Fallacy: The prophecy she gave regarding Ash and Professor Sycamore being involved in a great crisis (Team Rocket trying to steal Anistar's sundial) causes one of her students, Carrie, to go off and attack them assuming they were the source of the threat. It leads to a misunderstanding when the people Carrie tried to attack turn out to be innocent. It's implied that similar incidents happened numerous times in the past.
• Psychic Powers: Like the other Psychic Gym Leaders who wielded this trope before her, such as Sabrina and Caitlin, she exhibits them - from seeing the future/past, to having empathy and telekinesis.
• Purple Is Powerful: She has purple hair, eyebrows, and eyes. She's also a powerful psychic and gym leader, who gives Ash quite a bit of trouble before losing to him.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Her psychic visions helped the city of Kalos prepare for the destruction caused by Primal Kyogre and Primal Groudon, thus saving it from being wiped out.
• Roboteching: Psyshock and Dark Pulse can curve and home in on the targets, courtesy of the female Meowstic's Keen Eyes ability.
• Seers:
  • Can see into the future, letting her predict things and project the vision to others. For instance, she saw the disaster that would occur in Hoenn (the ones featured in The Strongest Mega-Evolution specials), which allowed the Kalos region to prepare accordingly. Lately, she is concerned about "the green flames that will burn down Kalos" with a creature mysteriously shaped like a Z...
  • She can also see to the past. This made her explain why Ash's Frogadier was special and how they managed to form a specific form of love.
  • Concept art showed that her special bracelets, when worn by others, will allow them to see their own future as well.
• Signature Mon: She has two Meowistic by her side, a male and a female, and uses them in a double battle format, exploiting their different movesets to create a formidable offense and defense duo. Notably, whereas the other Kalos Gym Leaders only brought one Pokémon each with them in defense of Kalos against Lsyandre's Megalith, Olympia brought both her Meowistic with her.
• Signature Move: Future Sight; for Ash, it's That One Attack in-universe, as he spends most of the battle trying to think up a way to counter it. He eventually does.
• Support Party Member: Much like the games, the male Meowstic's movepool (Helping Hand and Lightscreen, with the Prankster ability) is tailored to assist the more offense-oriented female.
• What the Hell, Hero?: She and her apprentice Charlene harshly scold Carrie for both misinterpreting Olympia's vision and attacking Professor Sycamore's team and Ash and his friends regardless of their innocence based on her own interpretation.

Wulfric (Urup)

Voiced in Japanese by: Ryūzaburō Ōtomo

Voiced in English by: Michael Alston Baley

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Dan Osorio

The eighth Gym Leader in the Kalos region, leading over an Ice-type Gym in Snowbelle City.

---

• Adaptational Badass: Not that he wasn't badass in games, but in the anime, he's the only gym leader other than Korrina capable of using Mega Evolution - specifically, Mega Abomasnow.
• Adapted Out: For some reason, in his full gym lineup his Cryogonal is replaced by Bergmite.
• Book Ends: Wulfric is this in a number of way when compared to Viola:
  • Their battles with Ash involve and ice field.
  • They both managed to give Ash a defeat the first time they battle him that sends him into a state of depression that only Serena could help snap him out of.
  • They both lost to him the second time, even with a hidden reserved ace up their sleeves.
  • They both had Ash getting assistance for battle or training for the rematch, from Pikachu, Talonflame and Greninja.
• Blood Knight: Downplayed, but he is very eager to face off against the mastered Ash-Greninja and only gets more excited as the battle continues, even if its his Abomasnow that's getting demolished.
• Broken Win/Loss Streak: Ash's loss against him marks the first time since Kanto Ash has lost more than one Gym Battle in one region.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • He won his first battle against Ash with two of his three Pokémon left intact.
  • During their rematch, his Abomasnow gets absolutely destroyed by Ash-Greninja. Once it Mega Evolves, on the other hand...
• Cool Old Guy: Pun aside, he's a very good Pokémon battler and in spite of his confidence he's very sportsmanlike. He also explains the problem with Ash and Greninja, athough this breaks Ash's confidence big time.
• Demoted to Extra: Avalugg is Wulfric's signature Pokémon in the games and easily defeated Ash's entire team in the first match. It loses its ace position to Mega Abomasnow in the rematch and later on at the climax of the Kalos Saga.
• Elemental Armor: Sharpen coats Bergmite into an icy diamond that boosts Bergmite's attack power.
• Final Boss: The final Gym Leader Ash faces in the entire anime, and quite possibly the strongest. During the rematch against Wulfric, Ash is forced to bring everything he has to the table and show how he has bonded with his Pokémon throughout the region. The Japanese episode summary even says Ash has to use all his experience gained thus far.
• Graceful Loser: Doesn't mind losing to Ash at all, and instead congratulates him on qualifying for the Lumiose Conference, while at the same time sternly reminding him that it is his Pokémon who brought him this far.
• Healing Factor: His Avalugg has the Ice Body ability, recovering health under the same circumstances instead. Coupled with its natural durability, it can endure a beatdown from even Ash-Greninja.
• I Am Not Left-Handed: In the first match, Abomasnow's role is to setup the Hail to support Avalugg, and Abomasnow is easily defeated by Hawlucha (justified since Flying Press is a devasting attack against Ice/Grass-Types). However, Abomasnow is later revealed to be able to Mega Evolve, giving Ash another hard time in the rematch.
• An Ice Person: Specializes in Ice-type Pokémon. And he meditates in his tanktop inside his cold gym while his Pokémon blow cold wind at him. He remains unfazed while frozen in ice!
• Knee Capping: Inflicts this on Ash's Hawlucha, with Avalugg's Gyro Ball grinding against Hawlucha's High Jump Kick.
• Mighty Glacier: Pun aside, his Abombasnow and especially his Avalugg aren't very fast, but they can take hits and dish them out like there's no tomorrow.
  • Avalugg in particular uses this in its advantage. All of the Pokémon Ash used are very fast compared to Avalugg. Yet one of the major moves Avalugg uses is Gyro Ball - a move that gets stronger if the user's speed is slower than the opponent's speed. It also uses Avalanche, which increases in power when Avalugg moves after its opponent.
• Signature Mon: While Avalugg is typically Wufflic's main Pokémon, the anime gives that status to Abomasnow for the simple fact that it can Mega Evolve and thus provide a far greater challenge for Ash-Greninja. Abomasnow also accompanies Wufflic in Kalos defense against Lsyandre's Megalith invasion.
• Signature Move: Avalugg is a frequent user of both Gyro Ball and Avalanche to make up for being a Mighty Glacier, while Abomasnow has Wood Hammer.
• Spin Attack: Avalugg using Gyro Ball. Rather than rolling into a ball like how Valerie's Spritzee did when using this move, Avalugg spins around like a top. It even makes buzz saw sounds! His Bergmite also knows the more traditional Rapid Spin.
• Stout Strength: He looks rather chubby and in one scene he is shown being able to lift his Avalugg to its hind legs, with Avalugg weighing in around 1113lbs.
• Super Mode: Mega Abomasnow, which can even give the fully mastered Ash-Greninja a challenge.
• Worthy Opponent: When Ash-Greninja starts kicking Abomasnow's ass left and right, Wulfric commends Ash and Greninja for their power and admits that he rarely gets to Mega Evolve his Abomasnow.

Kalos League

Diantha (Carnet)

Voiced in Japanese by: Fumiko Orikasa

Voiced in English by: Vanessa Gardner

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Analiz Sánchez

The Kalos League Champion, and a famous movie star.

---

• The Ace: She's both the champion, and a famous actress.
• Ascended Extra: Diantha stands out as the first and only champion in the video game series that doesn't get too much involvement in the plot, let alone the Team Flare story. In the anime, she openly investigates the upcoming crisis in Kalos (first by consulting with Olympia, then trying to find Ash and friends when she finds out they have a role to play). During the crisis itself, she helps in evacuating citizens fleeing Lumiose City, protecting them from Z2's rampage, and in the finale of the storyline, rallies the Gym Leaders in order to help stop Team Flare's Megalith.
• Badass Finger Snap: Does this when she calls Gardevior to use Moonblast on Dragonite and defeats Lance.
• Back-to-Back Badasses: During the Team Flare Arc with Champion from the Hoenn Region Steven Stone when buying Ash and Alain time to rescue Mairin's Chespin from the Megalith.
• Barrier Warrior: Her Aurorus knows Reflect and Light Screen, which it uses to both protect itself and its teammates from incoming attacks.
• Bond One-Liner: She always responds with "Checkmate" when she knows she's won a battle before calling her final attack.
• The Bus Came Back: She is part of the final Masters Eight lineup, as revealed in Journeys. She appears in person in episode 115 alongside the other Masters Eight in the opening battle of the Tournament.
• The Cameo: She and (Mega) Gardevoir make a cameo appearance in Diancie and the Cocoon of Destruction where they curb-stomp Wikstrom and his Mega Scizor with a single Moonblast.
• Clark Kenting: This is lampshaded in the second XY opening, which shows Serena fawning over a poster of the actress as an incognito Diantha passes her.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • As fitting for the Champion, Diantha hands them out like candy and doesn't need to use Mega Evolution most of the time. The first time she actually has to put effort into fighting an opponent is against a completed Ash-Greninja Form, and even then Ash and Greninja pass out from the Power-Strain Blackout from fighting her.
  • She ends up on the receiving end in Journeys against Leon in the Masters Tournament semifinals. When Ash arrives at the stadium, Leon has already defeated four of Diantha's Pokémon while only using Dragapult and Rillaboom. Rillaboom makes quick work of Goodra, and Gardevoir only takes out Rillaboom (which was shown in flashbacks to have already defeated Tyrantrum, Aurorus, and Gourgeist) before falling to Charizard, ultimately losing the battle 2-6.
• Curb Stomp Cushion: Her Mega-Gardevoir loses to Leon's Charizard, but unlike Alain's Mega Charizard who was beaten quickly by its base form, Leon's Charizard is Gigantamaxed when he fights Gardevoir and the psychic Pokémon actually manages to almost return its own Max attacks back at it which threatens to KO it or at least deal massive damage, the move actually unnerves Leon for a while before he regains the momentum and control of the fight and wins.
• Determinator: She shows herself to be one against Leon in Journeys. Despite the overwhelming odds of being down 5-1, she refuses to give up and defeats Rillaboom before taking on Charizard with everything she's got. Her drive is so strong that as Gardevoir redirects G-Max Wildfire with Psychic, even Leon is briefly taken aback.
• Famed In-Story: She's a famous actress as well as the most powerful trainer in Kalos. She actually has to resort to Clark Kenting in public situations.
• Finishing Move: Gardevoir tends to end battles with Moon Blast.
• Flash Step: How Gardevoir evades attacks. She flash-steps out of reach of the opponent because she is in sync with Diantha.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: At the end of the Summer Camp sub-arc, when the camera moves through the camp's Hall of Fame, you can see a photo of a young Diantha and her Ralts with two friends and their Pokémon.
• Our Fairies Are Different: Gardevoir's secondary type. Her Moon Blast might be her most powerful move.
• Glass Cannon: Gardevoir appears to be this. Fitting for a Champion, her attacks are extraordinarily powerful, as even just the shock wave produced by her Moonblast knocked Greninja down. Once Greninja finally got a hit in, though, the battle immediately shifted in Ash's favor, with Gardevoir overwhelmed by its onslaught of speedy attacks.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Is really close friends with Cynthia. Even watching the finals match together.
• Lady of War: She and Gardevoir always battle with grace.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: While the games make a half-hearted attempt to hide the fact that Diantha is the champion, she's first introduced as such in the anime.
• Mythology Gag: Her battles in the Masters Tournament contain several allusions to her battles in the games.
  • She exclaims "Checkmate!" right before defeating Lance, the same thing she says in the games if she defeats the player.
  • Her battles with both Lance and Leon use near identical movesets to the ones she uses on her in-game team, with the only exceptions being Aurorus's Rock Slide and Tyrantrum's Hyper Beam. She also leads with Hawlucha in her Full Battle against Leon, the same Pokémon she leads with in the games.
• Nice Girl: Diantha is shown to be a consistently relaxed and open woman, always showing warmth to those around her.
• Nonchalant Dodge: Given many experienced Pokémon can already handily dodge attacks in the anime, Gardevoir spams Flash Step versions of these like crazy. It was considered a feat that Greninja was able to land a single attack on her at first.
• Oh, Crap!: Gives a few of these when she realizes that getting serious with Ash-Greninja is now too little too late. The battle was not going well for her, until they had their Power-Strain Blackout. This leaves her to ponder afterwards what this new evolution is.
• Prim and Proper Bun: Diantha's hairstyle, which alludes to her refined, mature personality.
• Psychic Powers: Gardevoir's primary type, and knows Psychic, but she doesn't use it as often as her other moves due to many of her opponents being Dark-types. It's also implied her bond with Diantha gives her some form of Telepathy between them, as Diantha often commands her with a simple nod.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Along with Lance, Steven, Cynthia, and Leon she is one of the champions we seen on-screen that take proactive measures against wide-scale threats.
• Signature Mon: Mega Gardevoir is her main Pokémon partner and the strongest member on her team.
• Signature Move: Gardevoir uses Shadow Ball a lot.
  • She also tends to use Moonblast as he finishing move.
• Supporting Leader: Leads the charge of the Kalos Leaders against the Megalith, but ultimately places the duty of saving the whole world upon Ash and Alain.
• Super Mode: Diantha's Gardevoir can Mega Evolve into Mega Gardevoir.
• Sweet Tooth: She has a loving for desserts and always tries their most popular one when she goes somewhere for work.
• The Worf Effect:
  • Like previous Champions, she easily defeats most opponents to show how powerful she is, but she's actually on the receiving end against Ash-Greninja, who seemingly had her beaten before the strain of the form caused Ash to pass out.
  • In Journeys, despite having just defeated Lance, she loses an overwhelming 6-2 battle to Leon in the semifinals. Even Alain arguably put up a better fight in the previous round, with 4 of Diantha's Pokémon knocked out by base form Rillaboom before Charizard had even been sent out. Ash is totally shocked to see her lose so badly.

Siebold (Zumi)

Voiced in Japanese by: Hiroyuki Yoshino

Voiced in English by: Eli James

One of the Elite Four members of Kalos who specializes in Water-types. He is introduced in the first Mega Evolution special.

---

• Always Someone Better: Was this to Alain, at least as of the first Mega Evolution special. Despite Alain’s track record of winning nearly every fight he gets into, he ends up being the only trainer who ever defeats him on screen- at least until the Masters 8 Arc, where Leon defeats Alain.
• Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: Dresses in white clothes, it probably relates to his profession as a chef.
• Chef of Iron: He is a Top-class chef in addition to being a member of the Elite Four.
• Curb Stomp Cushion: Alain's Charizard manages to get a few good hits in and endure several as well, but in the end Siebold wins without too much trouble.
• Establishing Character Moment: He defeats Alain and his Mega Charizard X with his powerful Mega Blastoise while using Water-Type and Dragon-Type attacks, establishing how powerful he is as an Elite Four member. And he doesn't look down on Alain, despite the type disadvantage.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: He has blonde hair and is a very sportsman-like person; after defeating Alain, he congratulates him on putting up a good fight.
• I Am Not Left-Handed: He doesn't Mega Evolve his Blastoise from the start, holding his own against Mega Charizard X with just his regular Blastoise. He then Mega Evolves it to show off how powerful it really is.
• Ki Manipulation: Mega Blastoise's Mega Launcher boosts Pulse attacks such as Dragon Pulse.
• Making a Splash: He specializes in Water-Types and is very proud of his Water-Type team.
• More Dakka: His Blastoise develops a third cannon when it Mega Evolves.
• Transformation Trinket: Owns a Key Stone which he keeps in his necktie and a Blastoisinite.
• Use Your Head: His Blastoise knows Skull Bash and hits Mega Charizard X on the stomach.

Malva (Pachira)

Voiced in Japanese by: Akeno Watanabe

Voiced in English by: Samara Naeymi

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Angélica Villa

One of the Elite Four members of Kalos who specializes in Fire-types. There's more to her than being just one of the Kalos League's top Pokémon trainers.

---

• Adaptational Heroism: In the games, she despises the Player Character for defeating Team Flare and seems to have been aware of what they were planning. In the anime, she ends up siding with Ash and Alain against Lysandre because she is disgusted by his true plans.
• The Ace: She is the final trainer Alain faces in his challenge, and she is easily stronger than the 9 trainers preceding her. Her Houndoom holds the upper hand for most of the battle against Alain's Charizard. As a member of the Elite Four, she may very well be the strongest trainer in Team Flare.
• The Atoner: Even after helping defeat Lysandre and stopping the Megalith, Malva nonchalantly tells Steven that she'll be taking care of the rest of the Team Flare dissidents, after that of which she'll turn herself over to the authorities.
• Authority Equals Asskicking: She is close acquaintance of Lysandre, which puts her pretty high in Team Flare Rankings, and she is an Elite Four member to boot. Aside from Lysandre, she is also the only member capable of Mega Evolving her Pokémon.
• Bad Boss: Played for Laughs. She is very demanding of her camera crew, who happen to be Team Rocket in disguise.
• Cool Shades: She wears a pair of transparent violet shades.
• Casting a Shadow: Her Houndoom's primary type, hinting her affiliation with Team Flare who have a preference for Dark-types.
• Early-Bird Cameo: She shows up in the penultimate episode of XY, as a news reporter.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • Downplayed, but she half-jokingly calls out Lysandre on being a bad influence towards Alain.
  • She was completely shocked when Team Flare showed up after the Kalos League and have Z2 rampage across Lumiose City. And she ultimately sides with the heroes, even saving Pikachu, Greninja and Charizard when she and Mega Houndoom show up to aid Ash and Alain against Lysandre.
• Final Boss: Is Alain's final opponent in the 10-man gauntlet during the fourth Mega Evolution special.
• Grace Ful Loser: After losing, she teasingly claims that she despises Alain for defeating her before saying that he really is remarkable.
• Heel–Face Turn: She turns against Lysandre and joins Ash and Alain in their battle against him.
• Karma Houdini: Defied. Although Malva was not fully aware of Lysandre's true plan, performed a Heel–Face Turn and ultimately helped save the world from destruction, she does not use any of them to escape punishment for being part of Team Flare. In fact, she states she'll turn herself to the authorities after disbanding Team Flare for good. Given all the above, however, it's unlikely she'll suffer any serious consequences.
• No-Sell: Base Houndoom has Flash Fire as its ability, allowing it to absorb Fire-Type attacks. Key word being BASE Houndoom, as it loses this ability upon Mega Evolving, which ironically allows Charizard to knock it out with Blast Burn.
• The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Despite her allegiance to Team Flare, Malva really didn't do anything in the organization's name; the only time we see her do anything on Lysandre's behalf was as a volunteer in the ten-man gauntlet Lysandre puts Alain through. She would probably fit for Orcus on His Throne, but she spends half her time onscreen as a reporter, and the other half going up against Team Flare.
• Playing with Fire: She specializes in Fire-types.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: In true Team Flare fashion.
• Signature Mon: Houndoom is her main Pokémon partner due to its ability to Mega Evolve. It accompanies her when Malva decides to take action against Team Flare.
• Transformation Trinket: Owns a Houndoominite and a necklace with a Key Stone.
• Token Evil Teammate: Despite being an Elite Four member, she is allied with Team Flare. Eventually inverted, as she is the only member of Team Flare not to be evil...or at the very least, less evil than the rest.

Mega Evolution Specials

Alain

Alain

Voiced in Japanese by: Kensho Ono

Voiced in English by: Jonathan Silver

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Israel Nuncio

The protagonist of the Mega Evolution specials. He seeks out Mega Stones and trainers with Mega Evolved Pokémon to defeat them under the guidance of a mysterious voice on his Holo Caster.

---

• Action Hero: Supremely so. His adventures in Hoenn and as an Unwitting Pawn of Team Flare pit him against some powerful opponents, and he finds himself in some dangerous spots, proving himself quite the badass in the process. Unlike the adventures of Ash and Co., the Mega-Evolution specials make no attempt to hide Alain is occasionally putting his life at risk, during his battles against Primal Groudon and Zygarde.
• Always Someone Better:
  • Played With and ultimately subverted. Alain never lost a battle against Ash despite battling him multiple times. However, he is easily driven by guilt and his attempts to remedy the situation only make things worse thanks to Lysandre's teachings and orders. Alain doesn't find happiness until he meets Ash, whose battle prowess not only gives him a Worthy Opponent that Alain hasn't faced for a long time, but snaps Alain out of his Heroic BSoD during the Team Flare climax. By the aftermath of Flare crisis, Alain begins to take notes from Ash's method of starting over again and privately sees him as the one trainer that he could not best. Ash ultimately defeats Leon the World Champion in battle, while Alain was easily thrashed by him, proving that Ash is indeed the stronger trainer, even though he never beat Alain himself.
  • However, his Charizard can be safely said to fulfill this role towards Ash-Greninja. While it put up a good effort each time, Greninja ultimately never managed to defeat Charizard in battle — even during the Kalos League, where Charizard had taken prior damage from Pikachu, Greninja couldn't quite finish the job.
  • The trope is applied to him in Journeys when he confronts Leon and finds himself in a crushing loss against the World Coronation Monarch's Charizard, only getting to defeat Leon's Rillaboom and not taking down any other member of Leon's team. To make matters worse for him, he winds up being the first member of the Eight to be defeated.
• And Now for Someone Completely Different: He was notable for being the first special-focused character since Jimmy (Ethan's counterpart) who didn't have anything to do with Ash. However, unlike Jimmy, he later became a recurring character in the main series, ultimately becoming one of Ash's major rivals.
• Audience Surrogate: For teenage Pokémon' fans. Unlike Origins version of Giovanni, Alain's characterization doesn't focus on Pokémon nostalgia, but he's older and more serious than the main episodes' child protagonists, and his partner Pokémon is Charizard, a fan-favorite of fans who grew up with Gens 1-2. His mentor-student relationship with Mairin can be seen as an analogue to teenage and young adult Pokémon fans introducing their younger siblings to the franchise and teaching them how to play the games.
• Badass and Child Duo: He's the Badass while Mairin is the child.
• Badass Crew: Alain has an impressive line-up of Pokémon, most of which are fully evolved and intimidating in appearance (aside from the Com Mon Unfezant). They were strong enough to take on and ultimately beat Ash's Kalos team despite their limited screentime. Averted when he fights Leon- he uses a Malamar and a Chesnaught instead, and both wind up doing very poorly against him.
• Big Brother Mentor: Reluctantly takes this role towards Mairin, but he ends up rejecting her out of fear she would get hurt following him. This backfires horribly.
• Big Damn Heroes: He saves Ash's Pikachu from Team Rocket, which is how he and Ash meet.
• Blood Knight: Alain challenges every Trainer who has a Mega Evolving Pokémon whenever possible. Or other tough trainers like Ash. It is shown that both Alain and his Charizard enjoy battling hard opponents.
• Brainy Brunette: Was formerly an assistant for Professor Sycamore studying Mega Evolution.
• Break His Heart to Save Him:
  • Tells Mairin to leave him be and travel on her own, in rather harsh words, because he fears that she will get hurt travelling with him. This bites him in the ass as it sends Mairin in a depression, which gets worse when Chespie falls into a coma. Alain ends up promising himself to do anything to get Mairin to smile again.
  • And he does the same thing with Prof. Sycamore. As Lysandre told him to keep things a secret in order not to sully the professor's name, Alain had been avoiding any confrontation with the professor. In the league, the two met, but Alain merely acknowledged Sycamore before leaving, not wanting to shake hands and leaving the sad professor.
• Breakout Character: It says a lot when he is the only final Masters Eight participant to neither be a champion or have a shown game counterpart, as well as receive a mention in the games.
• Broken Ace: Alain is by far one of the strongest trainers in the Kalos region, able to consecutively win a gauntlet run of 10 Mega Evolution battles with Mega Charizard X and make up to the finals of the Kalos League with relative ease. But thanks to Lysandre's influence, Alain essentially cuts off contact with his friends in a misguided attempt to protect them, rarely feels any kind of happiness until Ash came along, and his goal to become the strongest is manipulated to help Team Flare's evil agenda.
• Broken Pedestal: Alain has a Heroic BSoD when Team Flare, and Lysandre especially, finally shows its true colors.
• The Bus Came Back: He is part of the final Masters Eight lineup, as revealed in Journeys. He makes his physical reappearance in JN115, which is the episode where he fights and loses against Leon.
• Butt-Monkey: In Mairin's Illustrated Mega Evolution Journal, Mega Charizard X gets its ass handed to basically every Mega Evolved Pokémon it battles. While we don't see the result of the battles, as it could easily have made a comeback, it is heavily implied that it has actually lost to a Mega Slowbro. It was also put asleep by a Mega Audino. The canonicity of these shorts, however, is unconfirmed.
• Byronic Hero: He's always emotionally distant, has a pessimistic personality, pretty good looking for his age, is extremely passionate, is very good at what he does, and has numerous flaws that tend to drive the people he's closest to away from him while also making him very easy for villains to manipulate.
• Canon Immigrant:
  • In Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, if the player has Steven's event shiny Beldum in their party during a certain scene of the Delta Episode, Steven makes a nod to Alain and Act II, mentioning how a long time ago he fought against Rayquaza alongside a young trainer who used a black Charizard.
  • Surprisingly, this reference is brought up again in Pokémon Masters. During the second anniversary event "Hearts United", Steven recalls his and Alain's battle with Rayquaza and expresses his hopes of battling Alain in Pasio one day.
• Casting a Shadow: Half of Alain's team are part Dark-Type: Tyranitar, Weavile and Bisharp. He gets a new addition to his lineup of Dark-Types in Journeys where he's revealed to have caught a Malamar offscreen.
• Character Development: Alain was cold to anyone around him, minus Sycamore, and would distance himself from making friends as he believed they hold him him back from becoming stronger. However, befriending people like Mairin and Ash ultimately allowed him to mellow his cold attitude and stop pushing his loved ones away.
• Cleansed Character Copy: As noted, he's based off Anakin Skywalker. However, whereas Anakin tragically fell to darkness and corruption and became the villainous Darth Vader, only finding redemption in his death. By contrast, Alain realizes that Lysandre has been using him, and justifiably defects before he can fully become a villain, becoming a key player in the fight against them.
• Contrasting Replacement Character: Alain is an enormous contrast to Ash's previous final Pokémon League opponent, Cameron. While Cameron is comedic, lighthearted, and extraordinarily scatterbrained, Alain is incredibly serious, brooding, and focused to a fault. While they both own powerful Pokémon, including a Breakout Character as their Signature Mon, Cameron is one of Ash's least competent rivals in terms of skill. Alain, on the other hand, is one of his most.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • His battle with Astrid and Mega Absol was one-sided in his favor.
  • He gets handily beaten by Siebold and his Mega Blastoise, though Charizard does enough to impress Siebold making it more of a Curb Stomp Cushion.
  • Heavily implied about all his Gym battles to enter the league in the span of 7 episodes with the only onscreen one being partially depicted as Korrina's Lucario getting beaten by his Charizard easily and even then it's only the aftermath with the implication Charizard swept through her team.
  • His first battle with Ash and Greninja is another Curb Stomp Cushion, with him on the giving end.
  • His battle with Trevor in the Kalos League is also a curb-stomp in his favor. He only used Charizard to defeat all three of Trevor's Pokémon.
  • He basically pulls a Tobias in his battle against Remo in the semi-finals, defeating the his whole team with just Metagross and Charizard.
  • And in Journeys he's on the receiving end of this from Leon, his Chesnaught puts up a good fight against Rillaboom and even survives against its Gigantamaxed form long enough for it to run out but is quickly beaten once it goes back to fighting, then after his Charizard finishes off Rillaboom the rest of his team is demolished by Leon's own Charizard; special mention goes to his Ace Mega Charizard X who despite all its previous showings of power is beaten in one Dragon Pulse and a slight Ancient Power attack without dealing any meaningful damage at all.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Four of his Pokémon (Bisharp, Weavile, Tyranitar and Malamar) are partial-Dark types, and Charizard takes on a black coloring when Mega evolved but Alain himself ultimately proves to be a good guy.
• Deadpan Snarker: He snarks at Mairin's wording when she asks about Mega Evolution.
  Alain: "Pokémon Mega Evolve, not people."
• Deconstructed Character Archetype: Alain's entire storyline essentially takes apart the goal of To Be a Master piece by piece. His total focus on becoming the strongest causes him to neglect the people important in his life and be an Unwitting Pawn for Team Flare. He believes that beating every strong trainer would make him stronger yet finds himself helpless when actual danger arrives. He stops enjoying his wins and never considers what to do after he became the strongest, his reasons behind it constantly changing to justify his path. And despite always winning battles, Alain finds himself feeling inferior to Ash Ketchum, who encompasses the happiness and wisdom that he never got under Lysandre's guidance.
• Defrosting Ice King: Even with his Sugar-and-Ice Personality in the Mega Evolution Specials, Alain was cold and stoic for most of the time. After he finally met Ash in the main series, Alain's personality has become friendlier and now he smiles much more often than before. That being said, he is still ice cold to people who aren't Ash and his friends, Mairin or Sycamore.
• Deuteragonist: Alain is arguably the closest the Kalos series has to one, being the focus of the Mega Evolution Specials and the primary rival of Ash in XYZ.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: During Act IV of the Mega Evolution Specials, Alain and his Charizard ran a gauntlet of facing 10 Trainers that wielded Mega Evolution and his final opponent is Malva of the Kalos Elite Four, where after a tough battle he won, being the first and only person outside of a Regional Pokémon League to beat a member of the Elite Four, when usually members of the Elite Four are whooping ass left and right like it's their day job.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Alain has a Tyranitar, which is primary a Rock-Type Pokémon, and it has the Sand Stream ability, which summons automatically a Sandstorm (and it's the first Tyranitar to display this ability in the anime). However, the Sandstorm vanishes when Pikachu splashes a lot of water. Aside from that, Tyranitar knows Stone Edge, and Metagross knows Rock Slide; the former is used defensively (and it backfires), while the latter is used offensively.
• Double Knock Out: His Unfezant ties with Talonflame when they collide into each other with Sky Attack and Brave Bird.
• Dramatic Irony:
  • He keeps Professor Sycamore out of the loop because Lysandre tells him if the research on Mega Evolution is published then evil people will use it and ruin the professor's reputation. Knowing Lysandre's role in the games, he is one of those of people.
  • Even more ironic is how his constant pushing of people is what leads them straight intro trouble and further fueling his goal to become stronger to protect them anyway, forever locking him in an endless loop. Failure Is the Only Option in his many cases.
• Easily Forgiven: Despite helping, albeit unwittingly, Team Flare capture Z2 and collecting the Mega Evolution energy that was needed to kickstart the Flare crisis, Alain is largely forgiven by Mairin, Sycamore, and Ash's group once he turns against Lysandre and saves Chespie from the Megalith Zygarde. Alain himself, however, views his contributions to be nearly unforgivable despite not knowing the full extent.
• Expy: Tetsuo Yajima has stated Alain was modeled after prequel-era Anakin Skywalker, being someone who turns to The Dark Side to protect those he loves and is deceived by an evil figure with good publicity into doing his dirty work and ultimately turning back to full good when he sees the errors of his ways.
• Extra-ore-dinary: His Charizard knows Steel Wing, but seems to have forgotten it in favor of Thunder Punch. He is later on shown to own a Metang, a Steel-type that resembles a floating metallic robot, which later evolves into Metagross, a Spider Tank. He also has a Bisharp, and his Unfezant also knows Steel Wing.
• Find the Cure!: His motivation at the end of the Mega Evolution specials to cure Chespie from his Zygarde-induced coma, leading to his appearance in the main anime.
• Final Boss: He's Ash's final opponent in the Kalos League, with the battle ultimately ending in a win for Alain.
• Finishing Move: His Charizard ends most battles with Blast Burn.
• Flanderization: Alain's brooding, angsty attitude is amplified in Journeys despite his Character Development from XY, not even acknowledging Ash with much more than a cold stare. Averted with the "After the Story" artwork with them fistbumping and having a conversation.
• Foil: He and Ash contrast each other on many things.
  • Ash is a Keet, while Alain is The Stoic. Also, Alain isn't keen on making friends but will give good, logical advice. Ash is a people person and gives more abstract life lessons.
  • In the league, Ash uses primarily Kalos-origin Pokémon barring Pikachu, his ace. Alain uses Pokémon from all generations, one of each (except for Unova which has two)^*Charizard, Tyranitar, Metagross, Weavile, Bisharp, Unfezant. His ace, Charizard, has a Super Mode that originated from Generation VI.
  • His team focuses on raw power in comparison to Ash who prefers speedy Pokemon. Even his tactics are feats of strength compared to Ash who prefers misdirection and indirect tactics.
• Foreshadowing: Ash telling him about the strong Pokémon Trainers in the Kalos League hinted that Alain would enter it as well, due to his Blood Knight nature. And he does eventually get eight badges seven episodes later before entering the competition as part of his goals to gather energy and become stronger.
• Friendless Background: Alain didn't have any other friends that weren't Professor Sycamore as his loner attitude distanced himself from making them. However, after meeting Mairin and Ash, Alain not only found his first real friends from them but also discovers the true meaning of it.
• Friendly Rivalry: He and Ash have a friendly relationship with each other from the beginning, which makes him different from the previous main rivals (Gary, Paul, Trip) who were very antagonistic towards him. Since Alain has met Ash, he has become a Defrosting Ice King and the two never share an ounce of animosity.
• Gentle Giant: Outside of battles, his Charizard is rather friendly and a bit cheerful. And it isn't particularly aggressive.
• Green Thumb: Journeys reveals he obtained a Chesnaught sometime after XY.
• Ground Punch: His Charizard does this to perform Blast Burn showcasing how powerful the move is.
• Guilt Complex: His Fatal Flaw. Alain tends to shoulder the responsibility upon himself whenever those close to him are in danger or at the risk of being in danger. This makes it easy for Lysandre to manipulate him into helping Team Flare's agenda, such as collecting Mega Evolution energy in order to "save" Mairin's Chespie and not telling Prof. Sycamore about their operation to "protect" the professor's reputation. It also makes Alain very susceptible to suffer Heroic BSoD whenever a large crisis breaks out such as Team Flare's attack on Lumiose City. Alain has a nearly unbeatable Mega Charizard X, is the only one who could fight Lysandre (with Ash and his Pokémon incapacitated by Flare cuffs), and now sees Lysandre's true intentions. But instead of fighting his former boss, he completely breaks down in despair due to the guilt of unwittingly endangering everyone. He remains in this state until Ash breaks free of his bonds and tells him to not dwell on past mistakes.
• Heel Realization: He had absolutely no idea what Lysandre was actually planning and completely broke when he found out (though he recovered long enough to help Ash and the others fight back).
• Hero of Another Story: Of the six trainers who wound up eliminating Ash from a League, he stands out as the only one who was introduced well before the League began. The Mega Evolution specials were specifically made to flesh out his character before meeting Ash.
• Heroic BSoD: He doesn't take the revelation of Flare's true purposes very well. Also, Alain thought his actions caused his friendship with Mairin and Ash, due to pushing her away and being force to let Team Flare take him along with his Pokémon captivate. However, Alain snaps out of this when Ash not only talk some sense into him but also assure them that they're still friends despite everything he did, which got him to realize the true meaning of friendship.
• I Am Not Left-Handed: In the Kalos League, Alain suggests more than once that he's intentionally dragging out his battle with Ash, simply to feel the thrill of battling him for as long as possible. However, when push comes to shove, he reaffirms his vow to never lose again, and in the end his Charizard's Blast Burn overpowers Greninja's strongest Water Shuriken ever.
• Icy Blue Eyes: Representing his cool, collected personality. Also to match his black and blue Mega Charizard X motif.
• In the Name of the Moon: "Key Stone, respond/listen to my heart. Beyond evolution — Mega Evolve!" The word order slightly changed in the 2nd special.
• Invincible Hero: Alain's appearances progressively make him more and more overpowered until he becomes practically unbeatable. He is the only major rival whom Ash faced multiple times and never defeated.
• Irony: In search of and defeating various Mega Evolutions, Alain sees the greatest challenge that he and Charizard are looking for is in a Pokémon that doesn't have a Mega Evolution (although it is still a Super Mode all the same).
• It's All My Fault: Blames himself heavily for Chespie's comatose state. In fact, Alain's tendency to blame himself for everything that has happened is his Fatal Flaw as it prevents him from taking action against Lysandre despite becoming the "strongest" in the League. It only took Ash giving an inspirational speech and freeing himself to snap him out of his depression state then fight Team Flare.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Genuinely means well for the most part. He mainly assists Lysandre because he believes Lysandre will use the Mega Evolution energy for peaceful purposes.
• The Juggernaut: He's hands down one of the strongest trainers in the series, Champion or otherwise. And it shows in many regards. First off, he's the first non-titled trainer to ever defeat one of the Elite Four (and just prior to that, he had to defeat 9 other Mega Evolution trainers to even reach said Elite Four member). His victory over the Kalos League basically amounted to him just effortlessly steamrolling every single one of his opponents with relative ease, using only two Pokemon until his final match with Ash. Even Ash's other rivals don't measure up to this guy. While Ash himself eventually defeated every last one of them, he's never once beaten Alain in any of their matches (though he came close in the finals).
• Large Ham: Not him, his Charizard. Much like Ash's Charizard it'll let out a mighty roar when entering a battle, in fact the roar is mightier depending on the opponent. When Mega Evolution it'll let out an even louder roar that gets deeper as it mega evolves.
• Lightning Bruiser:
  • Charizard is quite fast, is pretty tough and is very strong.
  • Metagross hits hard, can take a lot before it goes down and it moves really fast with Agility. Although, it is not as tough as Charizard.
• Made of Iron: Charizard has become extremely tough, to the point that taking Pikachu's and Greninja's super effective moves and Ash-Greninja's giant, orange Water Shuriken are not enough to take it down.
• Mighty Glacier: Tyranitar usually hits hard, but is too slow to actually land a proper hit.
• Mirror Character: Alain and Ash were quite similar in the beginning about making friends as they wanted to travel alone with just their Pokémon. However, after meeting their best friends and traveling companions, Alain and Ash realized how wrong they were about making friends as they had their opinions changed.
• Motif Merger: His team is comprised of Pokémon from Generation I to Generation V, and one could argue Mega Charizard X represents Generation VI.
• Motive Decay: His original goal, as Sycamore's assistant, was to find a Mega Stone and study its properties to better understand Mega Evolution. But soon, he encounters Lysandre, who twists the goal into a standard To Be a Master scenario where becoming the strongest would somehow make his dreams come true. Alain buys it and seeks to become the strongest Mega Evolution trainer, but then has trouble figuring out why he wants to become the strongest. It notably fluxes between understanding Mega Evolution to being able to protect his loved ones to finally simply seeking the thrills of battles.
• Must Make Amends: Alain thought by helping Lysandre would make amends with Mairin for pushing and being harsh with her. After being forced to let Team Flare take Ash prisoner and realizing that they took advantage of pushing Mairin away, Alain felt that he made things worse and believed that can't fix his actions. However, through some words of encouragement, Alain realized that it isn't too late to fix his mistakes as he truly did make amends by recusing Ash and Mairin's Pokémon.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • In Pokémon: Mega Evolution Special IV: Alain became guilt-ridden when he discovered Mairin's Chespin fell into a coma as he kicked himself for pushing his best friend away.
  • In A Towering Takeover!: Alain had this reaction when he was forced to let Team Flare take Ash and his Pokémon captivate. He was also suitably horrified and ashamed when he discovers Lysandre's real intentions.
• My Greatest Failure: For unwittingly helping Team Flare devastate Lumiose City and bring the greatest crisis upon the Kalos region. Even after turning against Lysandre and saving Chespie from the Megalith Zygarde, Alain never forgives himself for his contribution to the whole mess. He gives up the Mega Ring and Mega Stone provided by Lysandre in order to start his life over with Mairin and Sycamore again.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Alain helping out Team Flare throughout the saga proves to be disastrous when Lysandre decides to launch his attack on Lumiose City after the League. And he couldn't have done it without Alain collecting the Mega Evolution energy for him as well as securing the capture of Z2.
• Not So Invincible After All:
  • Despite Alain having become all but invincible by the Kalos League, Lysandre's Gyarados proves itself to somehow be even stronger, with his Charizard requiring the assistance of Ash's entire team at once to hold its ground.
  • He definitively loses his status as The Juggernaut in Journeys courtesy of World Monarch Leon, who sweeps his 2/3rds of Alain's team with his base Charizard once Alain takes down Rillaboom. Even Alain's own Mega Charizard X isn't much of a challenge for the Monarch and is beaten with one Dragon Pulse while not dealing any significant damage in turn.
• No Man Should Have This Power: After the Team Flare climax, Alain is no longer wearing the Mega Ring and Charizard no longer has the Charizardite X. In the last episode of XYZ, he reveals that he turned them in to the police as they were properties of Team Flare and he wishes to no longer be associated with them. He plans to start from scratch and find his own Keystone and Mega Stone. Journeys later shows he managed to find his own Charizardite X and used it to climb all the way to Rank 6 in the Pokemon World Championships.
• One-Hit Kill: His Bisharp knows the OHKO move Guillotine. It knocks out both Hawlucha and Goodra with it.
• Our Dragons Are Different: Mega Charizard X's secondary type. He mocks his opponent Remo, a Dragon specialist, for not knowing that Mega Charizard X's typing is Fire/Dragon. Due to this, Charizard loses its Water-Type weakness, making him more resistant to said moves.
• Out of Focus: Alain is the only Masters Eight member not to get any serious focus during the Masters Tournament arc, as his Curb-Stomp Battle against Leon is squeezed into half an episode and he only shares a single line of dialogue with Ash before leaving.
• Paper Tiger: His two pseudo-Legendary Pokémon, Tyranitar and Metagross, don't get a single win against any of Ash's Pokémon and both of them are knocked out by Pikachu. Tyranitar even gets it worse than Metagross, since the latter at least has an on-screen victory as a Metang and it got plenty of off-screen victories in the league. Tyranitar barely gets a hit on Pikachu, while Metagross does some major damage at least and it takes a lot to go down. Tyranitar is defeated in a faster fashion.
• Playing with Fire: Alain has his Charizard since it was a Charmander. During his journey, when he met Lysandre, his Charmander had since evolved into a Charmeleon.
• Pyrrhic Victory: Alain finds both his quest to prove his Charizard is the strongest Mega Evolution and his later victory over Ash at the Kalos League to fall into this when Team Flare stages their attack on Kalos. By end of the arc, after everything has wrapped up, Alain considers Ash to be the stronger trainer despite Alain having previously beaten him.
• The Rival: He becomes one to Ash. After Ash tells him that there are a lot of other powerful trainers and Pokémon in the Kalos League, Alain quickly gathers eight badges, enters it, and wins it as well, while doing everything mostly to fight Ash in the league again. He quickly becomes Ash's strongest Kalos rival.
• Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: The savvy guy to Mairin's energetic girl.
• Scissors Cuts Rock: Charizard is not only relatively resistant to moves that are super effective against it, it has defeated several Pokémon, which are normally resistant to Fire-Type moves, with its Fire-Type moves.
• Shock and Awe: His Charizard knows Thunderpunch to counter Water-Type Pokémon, and his Bisharp knows Thunder Wave to slow down the opponent.
• Signature Mon: His Charizard, more specifically as Mega Charizard X. It's his starter, was his only known Pokémon prior to late XY&Z, and delivers the final blow for every single one of his battles. Even Alain's outfit is made to resemble it.
• Signature Move: Charizard's Dragon Claw is used more often than any of its other moves, even Flamethrower. On this note; most of his moves are physically oriented, as he tends to mega evolve his Charizard to the more offensive Charizard X; the abilities are logical.
• The Stoic: He's very serious and mature, and rarely smiles.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Discussed by Mairin who points out that he's intimidating but really cares about Pokémon and is supportive of her.
• Super Mode: His Charizard can Mega Evolve into Mega Charizard X. He also seeks out other trainers with Mega Evolutions to beat them.
• Surveillance as the Plot Demands: Seems to be unaware that Lysandre is observing the power of his Charizard when they Mega Evolve and battle. In Act II, it's revealed that Lysandre is the one who provided Alain with the Mega Ring and Mega Stone, in return for Alain's aid to gather data for his research.
• Took a Level in Cheerfulness: Alain finally smiles and becomes more open after he meets Ash and his friends. He treats Ash with strong respect without being rude to him a single time, calling him a great opponent to battle. After Ash consoles him that his involvement with Team Flare wasn't his fault, he decides to follow Ash's example and return to Professor Sycamore, resolving to find a new Key Stone and Mega Stone for himself.
• To Be a Master: Sort of, he never calls his goal such but he does seek to beat every Mega Evolved Pokémon out there.
• Training from Hell: After returning from their adventures in the Hoenn Region, Alain and Charizard spend all their time training at Lysandre Labs, and eventually the results show as they are capable of defeating 10 Mega Evolution trainers back-to-back, the final one being an Elite Four member.
• Transformation Trinket: A Mega Ring for him and an armored collar for his Charizard to hold its Charizardite X.
• Uncatty Resemblance: His outfit resembles Mega Charizard X in color scheme and his scarf resembles the wisps of flame coming from Mega Charizard X's mouth.
• Uniformity Exception: He is the only member of the final Masters Eight lineup in Journeys to not be a Champion. Prior to this, Flint, a member of Sinnoh's Elite Four, had made it into the Masters Eight, but lost his position soon afterwards.
• Unwitting Pawn: Worked with Lysandre not knowing his true intentions.
• Victory Is Boring: Despite his sudden interest in participating in the Kalos League, it becomes apparent that Ash is the only person Alain is actually interested in facing. Alain treats all his other opponents like they are a distraction.
• Was It Really Worth It?: Alain seems to have finally achieved his goal of becoming the strongest Mega Evolution trainer by defeating Ash and Ash-Greninja (his toughest opponent yet) at the Kalos League finals and making Mairin smile. Shortly after winning however, his boss Lysandre launches an attack on Lumiose City with Zygarde, putting everyone in danger, Mairin included. Later, Lysandre reveals to Alain that the whole point of becoming the strongest was to simply collect Mega Evolution energy to bring Zygarde under their control and be worthy of living in his post-genocide world. He rhetorically asks Alain if he had ever thought of what exactly he was going to protect with the strength he had gained. This breaks Alain completely.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Gets a disapproving grunt from his own Charizard in response to driving away Mairin.
• The Worf Effect: Alain loses 3-1 to Leon in the first match of the Masters Tournament, only managing to defeat his Rillaboom after it had already beaten his Chesnaught, with his Malamar doing nothing before getting knocked out and his Mega Charizard X being quickly and easily overwhelmed and beaten by Leon's base Charizard. Ash never even managed to win against Alain, and this match's result shows how strong Leon really is.
• Worthy Opponent:
  • His rematch with Ash and Greninja fills him with an excitement he hasn't felt in many matches. After Greninja gets a few good hits in, he even calls Greninja worthy to face Charizard's Mega Evolution. He ended up enjoying the battle so much that he decided to quickly gather 8 badges so that he could have an opportunity to face off with and defeat Ash again in the Kalos League.
  • He sees Leon as one, having entered the World Coronation Series and made it to the Masters Eight with the dream of battling and surpassing his Charizard. He loses, but enjoyed the battle, and says he'd like to face Leon again one day.

Mairin

Mairin (Manon)

Voiced in Japanese by: Mikako Komatsu

Voiced in English by: Zoe Martin

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: María García

A beginner trainer who recently started her journey. She becomes intrigued by Mega Evolution and travels with Alain.

---

• Audience Surrogate: For the younger players who have just started out.
• Badass and Child Duo: She's the child while Alain is the Badass.
• Big Brother Worship: Comes to think this way of Alain, which makes it all the more painful when he rejects her (to keep her safe).
• Big Sister Worship: Develop this towards Serena after watching her attempt to fight Team Flare at Lysandre's labs on her own and watching her help Ash, Alain, Professor Sycamore, and Steven during their initial assault on Team Flare's Megalith. In the XY(Z) Finale she personally thanks Serena for her help in rescuing Chespie and tells her she'll be cheering on from afar with a double high five.
• Butt-Monkey: She falls on her face a lot, even when there's nothing to trip on.
• Break the Cutie: When she finds out her Chespin is suddenly ill with no sign of recovery, she falls in to despair, crying her heart out.
• The Bus Came Back: Makes a return during JN115 alongside Sycamore to watch Alain's match against Leon. She is left in tears after Alain loses and Sycamore has to comfort her.
• Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: Her Chespin's relationship with her, picking her up when she falls.
• Cute Clumsy Girl: She tends to trip and fall a lot, even when there isn't anything visible she could trip on.
• Damsel in Distress: Rescuing Chespie from Team Flare is on the list of the heroes' priorities, with Professor Sycamore, Serena and Mairin taking on the mission (with assistance from Team Rocket and Steven).
• Despair Event Horizon: Having Alain blow up at her and her Chespin fall ill in such a short time certainly isn't sitting well with her.
• Fangirl: Shows signs of it towards Siebold, gushing all over him by just only hearing his name.
• Fiery Red Head: She has red hair fitting to her energetic and cheerful personality, and in contrast to Alain's black hair.
• Genki Girl: She is very energetic, making her conversations with The Stoic Alain a bit odd.
• Green Thumb: Her Chespin is a Grass type.
• He Is Not My Boyfriend: Has one of these moments in the second special when Lysandre accuses her and Alain of being a couple.
• The Nicknamer: Her Pokémon are nicknamed "Chespie" for Chespin and "Bébé" for Flabébé (Hari-san and Fla-chan in Japan respectively).
• Our Fairies Are Different: Her Flabébé is a Fairy-type.
• Plucky Girl: A brave and optimistic girl who accompanies the brooding Alain on his journey, even through the most dangerous situations. It's her optimism and determination that reminds Alain that there is more worth fighting for than simply being the strongest.
• Poisonous Person: Her Chespin knows Toxic, which Mairin uses to catch a Flabébé. Alain has to remind her to treat the poisoning.
• Powered by a Forsaken Child: Chespie, still comatose, becomes the power source that keeps the Megalith alive. When the heroes finally free Chespie from the Megalith's clutches, it actually shuts down, until Lysandre returns and powers it back up.
• Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: The energetic girl to Alain's savvy guy.
• Signature Mon: Her Chespin, named Chespie, is her main Pokémon partner to the point that her outfit is modeled after Chespin.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Mairin's Chespin. For two reasons.
  • It's the one who discovers the Zygarde Core being experimented on and frees it. The freed Core would eventually come across Ash and co., which draws them right into a conflict with Team Flare.
  • Chespie would later fall ill after the rescue, causing Mairin to fall into despair. Following this Alain would be driven to gather more data to complete the Mega Evolution energy system, as Lysandre claimed it could cure Chespie.
• Spanner in the Works: As noted above, Lysandre was not amused that Chespie freed the Zygarde Core.
• Tagalong Kid: Much to Alain's chagrin as the specials progress.
• Trying Not to Cry:
  • When she finally meets the gang at the Kalos League, she is fighting back tears when Clemont's Chespin reminds her of Chespie.
  • Witnessing Alain's crushing defeat at the hands of Leon also drives her to almost crying.
• Uncatty Resemblance: The shape of her hat combined with her spiky hair make her resemble Chespin.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Her Flabébé has never been seen since her capture.
• Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: Everyone thought rescuing Chespie is all that was needed to be done at Lysandre Labs. But then the Megalith awakens, and absorbs Chespie...

Astrid

Astrid (Ayaka)

Voiced in Japanese by: Miyuu Sawai

Voiced in English by: Kate Bristol

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Susana Moreno

A trainer introduced in Mega Evolution Special I. She was the first of the many opponents who Alain battles thoughout the four specials, which led to Mairin meeting Alain and learning from Mega Evolution. Astrid uses a Mega Absol.

---

• Ascended Extra: Subverted. After a minor role in the first Mega Evolution special, and a cameo battling Ash in the first movie, Astrid finally rematches Ash in the Kalos League... and the entire battle is skipped save for the last attack.
• The Cameo: At the beginning of Pokémon: Diancie and the Cocoon of Destruction, she battles Ash in a 3-on-3 battle and Astrid wins with Meowstic and Mega Absol.
• Casting a Shadow: Her ace is the pure Dark-Type Absol.
• Establishing Character Moment: Her battle with Alain establishes the concept of the epic clash between Mega Evolved Pokémon.
• Expy: Astrid is designed after the female Ace Trainers from Pokémon X and Y.
• Panthera Awesome: She seems to have a preference over feline-like Pokémon, like Absol, a male Pyroar or a female Meowstic.
• Signature Mon: Her main Pokémon is Absol, which can become Mega Absol with her Absolite.
• Super Mode: Her Absol is capable of Mega Evolving. Its Mega Evolution is the very first to be shown in the first special.
• Transformation Trinket: She wears her Key Stone as an earring while her Absol wears a necklace containing an Absolite.

Remo

Remo (Louie)

Voiced in Japanese by: Kōichi Yamadera

Voiced in English by: Marc Thompson

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Gabriel Ramos

A Dragon-Type specialist introduced in Mega Evolution Special I. He was ordered by somebody to look for the Mega Stone that was found by Alain and they battled over it, with Remo on the receiving end. He uses a Mega Garchomp.

---

• Boisterous Bruiser: A loud trainer boasting about his powerful Dragon-Type Pokémon and he likes doing poses.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Come the Kalos League Semi-Finals, Alain defeats his whole team using just his Metagross and Charizard, and Charizard didn't even have to Mega Evolve until its battle with Garchoo.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: Between his appearance in Mega Evolution Special I and the main series, his hair has grown quite a bit.
• Facial Markings: He has red markings resembling those of Kabuki dancers, with a matching gardrobe. Between his appearance in Mega Evolution Special I and the main series, he has got more markings on his face and body.
• In-Series Nickname: His Garchomp is known as "Garchoo" ("Gabunoji" in Japanese). And his Rhyperior is known as "Dodosuke" in Japanese.
• The Nicknamer: He seems to nickname all of his Pokémon.
• Our Dragons Are Different: He specializes in Dragon-Type Pokémon. At least, that's what he claims.
• Smug Snake: He is very confident about his Dragon-Type Pokémon and claims to know everything about Dragon-Types, yet he is unaware of Mega Charizard X's type change.
• Signature Mon: His main partner is a Mega Garchomp whom he nickenamed "Garchoo". Remo specifically trains with Garchoo is the hopes that they would be able to one day defeat Alain and his Mega Charizard X.
• Super Mode: Garchoo Mega Evolves into Mega Garchomp.
• Time-Passage Beard: Between his appearance in Mega Evolution Special I and the main series, his beard has grown quite a bit.
• Transformation Trinket: He carries a parasol with a Key Stone on its tip while Garchoo wears prayer beads with a Garchompnite.
• Unknown Rival: Reveals that he and Garchoo trained like hell in the hopes of one day defeating Alain after their first battle. Alain naturally couldn't care less.
• Wutai: Like Laverre City and the hidden ninja village, Remo's gardrobe is distinctively "Japanese", despite Kalos being based on France. His Japanese name isn't Japanese at all.

Villains

Team Flare

In General

The regional evil organization of Kalos who are the Arc Villain of the XY&Z saga. Unlike the games where their plan revolves around Xerneas or Yveltal, the anime variation has their plan centered on Zygarde.

---

• Adaptational Heroism: To an extent - the grunts and scientists here all believe that their extreme actions are for a good cause, whereas in the games only Lysandre seemed to have this mindset and his subordinates were just selfish and greedy Jerkasses.
• Adaptational Villainy: Again to an extent, this time in that they are far more dangerous, competent and less silly than in the games.
• Cool Shades: All of the grunts and scientists wear a pair of shades. The female scientists' ones in particular can more accurately be described as an advanced visor. Lysandre usually goes without them, but he dons one for the final battle.
• Crazy-Prepared: They actually bother to send a pursuit squad after Ash and Co. when they notice their connection to the Zygarde Core, and when it seems the Core has left them they recall the unit in order to look for it in the zone where it was last traced. This ends up being a mistake, but it's an efficient train of thought.
• Dark Is Evil: They seem to have a preference for Dark-Types.
• Elite Mooks: The Team Flare scientists use powerful, evolved Pokémon like Manectric and Liepard and are more likely to engage the protagonists on-on-one.
• Eviler than Thou: Downplayed. While Team Rocket are slowly proving worthier competition than they had assumed, Team Flare are still the more serious, powerful and cold blooded group.
• Knight of Cerebus: Their introduction marks a whole new level of darkness that the anime rarely sees. They also go further than any villains before them (except Team Galactic) , wanting the destruction of the world itself.
• Mind-Control Device: They use Mega Evolution energy to corrupt and control Pokémon. This works on Zygarde, but Ash and Greninja's bond is too strong to overcome.
• Mooks: The standard Team Flare Grunts only use unevolved Pokémon like Skorupi and Houndour.
• Nebulous Evil Organisation: They are led by a manipulative mastermind and and their long-term intentions are kept secret. They also have a Legal front in the form of Lysandre Labs.
• Powered by a Forsaken Child: Their superweapon harnesses the power of Zygarde. The effects of the weapon on the island Team Flare is performing experiments from is staggering, in spite of using only 10 Zygarde cells. When they unleash the complete version, it can destroy a city as a warmup.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: Their red wardrobe and dark-coloured Pokémon are a good indicator of their alignment.
• Smug Snake: With the exception of their Leader and Malva, all of its members are in way over their head when facing the likes of Zygarde or, later on, Ash-Greninja. Even against Team Rocket, they totally underestimate their Villainous Valor.
• Villain Takes an Interest: When they take notice of the groups' connection with the Zygarde core, and their desire to protect it, they start actively monitoring them.
• Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: All of them, Lysandre in particular, are a darker and more formidable threat than anything else in the XY series.

Lysandre (Fleur-de-lis)

Voiced in Japanese by: Hideaki Tezuka

Voiced in English by: H.D. Quinn

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: José Gilberto Vilchis

The leader of Team Flare.

---

• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: In the games he is professor Sycamore's former Pupil, but in the anime their meeting in the fourth Mega Evolution special is explicitly the first time they meet.
• Adaptational Badass: In the games, he is a powerful trainer but still falls behind Malva and the rest of the Elite Four, level-wise. Here? He faces down Malva, Ash and Alain at the same time.
  • Even more impressive, his Gyarados singlehandedly brings down Ash's Talonflame, Hawlucha, Goodra, and Noivern with hardly any difficulty and had to be brought down by the combined efforts of Alain's Charizard who brought down an Elite Four member after taking down 9 mega evolution trainers, Ash's Pikachu who singlehandedly beat one-third of Alain's entire team, and Ash's Greninja who can overwhelm the Kalos Champion's Ace Pokémon.
• Adaptational Villainy: Compared to the games. His Fallen Hero status is underplayed, his friendship with Sycamore is non-existent, and he is more openly malicious, prone to psychotic smirks and diabolical laughter whereas the games had him as more of a Perpetual Frowner.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: His Gyarados is Shiny in the anime.
• Affably Evil: He genuinely likes his own Pokémon and is capable of Mega Evolution, which only trainers with a close bond to their Pokémon can achieve. He is also a close acquantaince of Malva, doesn't seem to be a bad boss, and appears to legitimately appreciate Alain.
• Arc Villain: Of the XY&Z saga, as the leader of Team Flare.
• Authority Equals Asskicking: Aside from Malva, he is the only one in the organisation capable of Mega Evolving his Pokémon. His Pyroar is strong enough to force Alain's Charizard and Steven's Metagross to dodge his attacks, and Mega Gyarados takes on seven Pokémon and faints four before Pikachu finally knocks him down.
• Ax-Crazy: This guy was definitely unhinged when it came to ensuring his plan worked.
• Believing Their Own Lies: Has shades of this, as he himself believes he hasn't lied to Alain at all. Turns out he doesn't believe he is lying.
• Big Bad: Of the XY series as a whole, showing up as early as the end of the first Mega Evolution special, then appearing in all the rest of them before moving on to be the Arc Villain of XY&Z.
• Brutal Honesty: In spite of presenting himself as a warm, fatherly figure, he does make it perfectly clear to Alain that he has no time for weaklings.
• The Chessmaster: He successfully manipulates the Hoenn Champion Steven and Alain into delivering him a Megalith, leaving them to battle the Legendary Pokémon. When Chespie frees a Zygarde Core, he does suffer a major unforeseen setback, but turns it to his advantage by using Chespie's resulting illness to motivate Alain even further.
• The Corrupter: Malva teasingly accuses him of being a bad influence on Alain, but he denies this.
• Determinator: To his credit, Lysandre will stop at nothing to realize his vision for a better world. In the end, it takes the two Lumiose Cup Finalists, eight Gym Leaders, two Champions, an Elite Four Member, and a regional professor to momentarily stop his plans, about half of them using Mega Evolutions. And this only slows him down, with Zygarde Complete itself having to step up the plate to stop him once and for all. Even then, Ash and Alain have to directly attack him and destroy his control device to secure victory. And even as he is seemingly killed, Lysandre still refuses to acknowledge defeat.
• Defiant to the End: His final scene has him being engulfed by Zygarde's Core Enforcer, desperately screaming at his now non-funtional Megalith Zygarde to keep moving.
• Didn't See That Coming: After all the research Lysandre and his scientists have made, when Zygarde Complete Forme finally stands before him Lysandre calls it out on hiding such a powerful Forme from him.
• Dishing Out Dirt: His Gyarados knows Stone Edge.
• Do Not Adjust Your Set: After having Z-2 go on a rampage in Lumiose City, Lysandre announces his plans through television to the whole Kalos region. The Kalos gym leaders are among those who saw the broadcast.
• Dragon Their Feet: After Team Flare is defeated and Lysandre seemingly kills himself on Prism Tower, the Megalith (which takes the form of a Golem-like 50% Zygarde powered by Mega Evolution energy) awakens and sets off to finish what they started. However, it's revealed that Lysandre is still alive, and takes command of the Megalith when the heroes thought they finally took it down.
• Expy: If Alain is one of Anakin Skywalker, then Lysandre fits the role of Palpatine pretty well, being The Corrupter and a Villain with Good Publicity to boot.
• Face–Heel Turn: According to Lysandre himself, he and his scientists were genuine philanthropists in the past (giving ground to him as a Villain with Good Publicity presently), but the over-reliance of people to Lysandre's charity efforts is what caused Lysandre to believe people to be undeserving of them.
• Fake Arm Disarm: He takes direct control of the Megalith using a large device attached to his wrist. After Zygarde steps in to fight the Megalith, Ash, Clemont and Alain use their Pokémon to blast the device with a combined attack, knocking it off his arm. It might have hurt his arm, too, given how it's limp after the attack, but for obvious tone reasons there's no other evidence that he was actually injured.
• Faking the Dead: When his Gyarados is beaten, he leaps off Prism Tower to his apparent death. Though the characters are convinced, the viewer might recall that his backpack grants flight.
• Fantastic Nuke: His back-up scheme is to have the Megalith collide with the Anistar Sundial to release an explosion that will envelop the entire world.
• Final Boss: He serves as the final major opponent of XY, with the clash against his Megalith Zygarde being the most climactic, most high-stakes battle of the series.
• Godzilla Threshold: Unleashing the Rock Zygarde to collide with Sun Dial, only done so because the original plan of using Zygarde to the destroy the world was foiled.
• Hero Killer: His Mega-Gyarados: Despite being outnumbered 7-1, he manages to take down two-thirds of Ash's team (Noivern, Hawlucha, Goodra, and Talonflame) before a combined assault by Pikachu, Greninja, and Alain's Charizard finally knocks him out.
• Knight of Cerebus: He's by far one of the darkest and most competent villains in the series.
• Last Villain Stand: By the time he has to personally ensure that the Megalith Zygarde collides with the Sundial, he explicitly acknowledges that there is no way he would survive even if he did succeed, but he claims to be more than willing to die for his vision of a better world.
• Lightning Bruiser: Mega Gyarados is pretty fast despite its size, as shown by its use of Dragon Tail, and is powerful enough to faint Goodra in one shot.
• Manipulative Bastard: He has Alain wrapped around his finger and running errands for him under the pretense that he is conducting research for peaceful purposes. Malva actually calls him out on it, but he claims he hasn't lied to Alain at all.
• Metaphorically True: He tells Alain to keep quiet about Lysandre Lab's research to Professor Sycamore, as evil people would probably cross Sycamore. He also claims he will harness Mega Evolution energy for peaceful purposes. Both are technically true from his perspective.
• Never Found the Body: His body is nowhere to be seen after his defeat, and both Steven and Malva seem to doubt that he really died. Considering he was last seen being engulfed by Zygarde's Core Enforcer, it's possible there was no body to find.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Lysandre's broadcast alerted the Kalos Leaders to his plans, and they head to the badlands to help stop the Megalith before it could reach Anistar City's sundial.
• One-Man Army: Being outnumbered 1-to-7 is but a minor inconvenience for his Mega Gyarados. And then there is his Megalith Zygarde, which requires what amounts to an Elite Pokémon army and Perfect Zygarde to stop.
• Orcus on His Throne: For most of XY he never took an active role in Team Flare's activities, letting his grunts, Scientists, Admins and Alain do his dirty work. Even during the invasion of Lumiose City, it was the scientists and Z-2 (in 50% Forme) who are wreaking havoc, and Lysandre only stepped up to the plate when Ash and Alain and their Pokémon decided to team up and face him.
• Playing with Fire: His Pyroar's primary type. His Gyarados also knows Incinerate.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: Takes it even further than the rest of his organisation. It's probably the reason for his Mega Gyarados being Shiny as well.
• Right-Hand Cat: His Pyroar serves as this when it isn't battling.
• The Social Darwinist: He believes struggle breeds strength, as sees Mega Evolution as Pokémon regaining the strength they lost after being domesticated by humans.
• Start of Darkness: As he explains to Ash and Alain, he used to be a genuinely benevolent businessman who brought aid to those who needed it. He created Team Flare after those he gave aid to were ungrateful and kept demanding more.
• Super Mode: His Shiny Gyarados can Mega Evolve.
• Secondary Sexual Characteristics: His Gyarados is male, as evidenced by his red whiskers.
• Traitor Shot: There's a stark difference on how he is drawn when he is in front of characters like Alain or Ash and when he is shown to be doing his own goals. Compare these two shots in the same episode where he is talking to Ash◊ and when he is looking at the Tower◊ just right after meeting with Ash.
• Transformation Trinket: His ring contains a Key Stone.
• Transformation Sequence: Gets a mundane one when getting ready to face Ash and Alain, by merely having his drones and backpack attach to him.
• Uncatty Resemblance: His hairstyle seems to be modeled after his Pyroar.
• Uncertain Doom: Like his game counterpart, Lysandre is last seen in circumstances that make any prospect of survival seem utterly nil (in this case, he's hit point blank with one of Zygarde's Core Breaker beams) but they stop short of saying he's actually dead, and Malva implies she thinks he's alive. We haven't heard from him since, in any case.
• Utopia Justifies the Means: He wants to create a utopia, and to that end he plans to use Zygarde to destroy the old world so he'll have room to do it.
• Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: He wants to outright destroy the world, and tortures Ash and Greninja onscreen, so yeah, he qualifies.
• Villain Takes an Interest: He is intrigued by the power Ash and Greninja share, asking Ash to explain it to him after the tournament, then attempt to brainwash the pair into serving him.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Pretty much everyone thinks of him as a benevolent guy, not knowing that he's running Team Flare.
• Villainous Breakdown: While he gradually loses his patience with the setbacks he suffers, he nonetheless managed to prepare for these in time. Once Zygarde reveals its complete forme and defies Lysandre's world vision, however, he starts angrily screaming that Zygarde is an uncaring protector who has grown senile. He REALLY hits his breaking point, however, when Ash and Alain destroy his arm gauntlet, preventing him from controlling the Megalith Zygarde and ruining his schemes, as well as turning him into a sitting duck for Zygarde's final attack. He seemingly dies screaming for his Megalith to keep moving.
• Visionary Villain: He has plans for letting the world die, so that it can start over anew without its flaws.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: He does seem to genuinely want to make a better world. He just has zero faith in humanity to do that on their own.
• Wine Is Classy: Whenever he isn't doing day-to-day business, he is shown to relax by a fireplace, drinking a glass of wine.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: While the trope is subverted in that he was more than willing to let Alain live and "enjoy" his new world, he nonetheless claims to have no further need for Alain the moment the boy opposes him. Ditto with Malva.

Xerosic

Voiced in Japanese by: Tsuguo Mogami

Voiced in English by: Abe Goldfarb

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: César Beltrán

One of Team Flare's five main scientists. He is the only male of the group.

---

• Adaptational Villainy: Does not have a Heel–Face Turn like he did in the games. Even his Pet the Dog towards Clemont is subverted by trying to mind control him.
• Big Bad Wannabe: Sets himself up as Team Flare's new leader. His ambitions are dashed in the span of a single episode.
• Brick Joke: The end result of his battle with Clemont has the latter sending sending him falling through a trap door. In the PokeTV segment at the end of the episode, Xerosic delivers his report with a bandage wrapped around his head.
• The Dragon: He seems to have authority over the other scientists, and he answers only to Lysandre.
• Dragon Their Feet: True to his nature in the games, he shows up after Team Flare's defeat, trying to recollect all the Zygarde cells and finish Lysandre's work.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: He doesn't get how Ash and co. can be so strong, until Clemont explains that their friendship makes them strong.
• Gonk: He is not very charming, to say the least. Especially glaring considering the other Team Flare members are rather attractive.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: In his last appearance, he wisely runs whenever he's confronted. When he finally is cornered, he's beaten fairly quickly.
• In Love with Your Carnage: He normally has a very serious expression, but tends to get enthusiastic whenever he sees Zygarde release its power. The fact his fellow scientists and their underlings are on the receiving end of that power doesn't seem to bother him in the slightest.
• Non-Action Guy: The only scientist not involved in field work. When he does battle Clemont, he loses pretty quickly.
• The One Guy: He is the only male scientist, and appears to have authority over the four female scientists.
• Pet the Dog: His treatment of Clemont as a Worthy Opponent, showing him respect as a scientist and even wishing they were on the same side.
• Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Defied. After his plan to collect the Zygarde cells is foiled, he attempts to leap from the plane to avoid capture (seemingly without a parachute, but his dialogue indicates he intends to survive the jump). Clemont grabs him with his Aipom arm before he can get away, and he's handed over to Officer Jenny.
• Worthy Opponent: He considers Clemont to be this to him.

Aliana (Akebi)

Voiced in Japanese by: Rinko Natsuhi

Voiced in English by: Theresa Bucheister

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Alicia Barragán

One of Team Flare's five main scientists. Of the four females of the group, she is the one with the orange hair.

---

• Anime Hair: The only Team Flare scientist to fully avert this, as her hairstyle and hair color are both pretty unremarkable by real-life standards.
• Combat Pragmatist: She takes no issue with striking down Zygarde with specialized machines while it is having a heated battle against Alain's Charizard.
• The Rival: She and Mable have a rather competitive rivalry, as both aspire to be the most prestigious Team Flare operatives.
• You Are in Command Now: A non-lethal variant, but after Mable fails her objective to capture Z-2, Aliana gets put in charge of the operation.
• You Shall Not Pass!: Tries and fails to prevent Clembot and Clemont from entering the Lumiose Gym during Team Flare's invasion.

Mable (Momiji)

Voiced in Japanese by: Sayuri Hara

Voiced in English by: Laurie Hymes

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Marisol Romero

One of Team Flare's five main scientists. Of the four females of the group, she is the one with the blue hair.

---

• The Rival: With Aliana, as both aspire to be Team Flare's top scientists.
• Combat Pragmatist: She takes no issue with striking down Zygarde with specialized machines while it is having a heated battle against Alain's Charizard.
• Oh, Crap!: When Zygarde (50%) uses land's Wrath. Both times.
• The Worf Effect: Her first appearance shows her, her Houndoom, and the grunts serving her getting beaten by a 50%-Zygarde.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Was last shown being defeated and captured by Team Rocket...one scene before the Megalith Zygarde causes Lysandre Labs to be reduced to rubble. Her survival is dependent on whether Team Rocket or anyone from Team Flare took her outside before that, which is likely given that she was in the front lobby.

Bryony (Bara)

Voiced in Japanese by: Akane Fujita

Voiced in English by: Emily Zoo Zeller

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Marisol Romero

One of Team Flare's five main scientists. Of the four females of the group, she is the one with the green hair.

---

• Bound and Gagged: Well, not gagged, but she and Aliana get tied up and left hanging for the police once Clembot defeats them.
• Determinator: Gets badly hurt in both of her encounters with Squishy, but that doesn't keep her from trying again.
• Combat Pragmatism: Both her Liepard and her Bisharp are Dark-Types.
• Oh, Crap!: When facing Ash-Greninja.
• The Worf Effect: Her Bisharp gets beaten to show how powerful Squishy's 10%-form is, and her Liepard is easily beaten by Ash-Greninja despite teaming up with Celosia's Manectric.

Celosia (Correa)

Voiced in Japanese by: Karin Nanami

Voiced in English by: Jessica Paquet

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Fernanda Robles

One of Team Flare's five main scientists. Of the four females of the group, she is the one with the purple hair.

---

• Curb Stomp Cushion: Her Manetric is easily beaten by Ash-Greninja, but gets a small hit in to show Ash and Greninja share each other's pain while in the form.
• Funny Background Event: When Team Flare is monitoring Ash and Co, she is shown eating a bag of chips.
• Oh, Crap!: When facing Ash-Greninja.
• Shock and Awe: Her Manetric is an Electric-Type.
• Smug Snake: She is the most outwardly confident of Team Flare's scientists, but she hasn't achieved anything that backs up said confidence. In the end, she doesn't even get the dignity of being beaten by the protagonists or fighting against a Champion, but gets beaten and taken captive by the Team Rocket Trio.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Was last shown being defeated and captured by Team Rocket... one scene before the Megalith Zygarde causes Lysandre labs to be reduced to rubble. Her survival is dependent on whether Team Rocket or anyone from Team Flare took her outside before that, which is likely given that she was in the front lobby.
• The Worf Effect: During the battle at Terminus Cave: her Drapion is beaten back by Ash's Noibat to show its increased power. Also, despite teaming up with Bryony's Liepard and a type advantage, her Manectric is easily beaten by Ash-Greninja.
• Would Hurt a Child: She orders her Drapion to use Pin Missile on Bonnie.

Others

The Evil Malamar (Aku no Calamanero)

Voiced in Japanese: Kensuke Sato

Voiced in English: Marc Thompson

A group of Malamar residing from the future, who plan to take over the past and turn the planet into a wasteland that they can inhabit. In their first appearance, only one Malamar was presented, though several assisted in its return appearance.

---

• Arch-Enemy: For James' Inkay and a certain Officer Jenny, specifically, the one who used to be "Madame X", as well as a group of benevolent Malamar later on.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Their favored method of conquest, enslaving the minds of people and Pokémon to do their bidding.
• Dastardly Whiplash: Due to Madame X and Meowth's translations, and just the indirectly sinister design and voice of the species, the evil Malamar come off as rather over the top evil.
• The Dog Was the Mastermind: Initially the cast were antagonised by Madame X brainwashing them with her Malamar. As it turned out, Madame X was merely a brainwashed Officer Jenny the Malamar used to translate its rants.
• Evil Counterpart: They can be seen as this to James' Inkay and the benevolent Malamar.
• Evil Versus Evil: Both of their conquests enforced an Enemy Mine between Ash's gang and Team Rocket. Especially prominent in their second conquest, where Team Rocket are left herding a Villainous Rescue for most of the twerps.
• Hypnotic Creature: Take cues from their Pokedex entries, prominently using Hypnosis powers to make others do their bidding.
• Outside-Context Problem: In most conflicts that occur within the Pokémon franchise as a whole, the antagonistic forces are usually humans who use Pokémon as a means to an end (unless all the characters are Pokémon themselves like the Mystery Dungeon games). Malamar defies this convention by acting evil on its own. This leads to some deeply disturbing implications.
• Sadist: They are fond of brainwashing their foes and making them attack each other. In their second appearance they also paralyse Ash's team with their psychic powers and force them to watch the Earth's destruction.
• Starter Villain: Not counting Team Rocket, they're the first new villains for the series prior to Team Flare.
• Time Travel: They originate from the distant future.
• Utopia Justifies the Means: Albeit of the more self serving kind. Their plot is based around their intent to remodel the Earth into a world their species can better inhabit. Their demonstration shows the planet would essentially become radioactive wasteland likely uninhabitable for anything else. Their treatment of other species should make it apparent they don't give a damn.
• Villain Ball: Their plans tend to fall apart due to their fondness of Kick the Dog:
  • Both of their attacks may not have fallen apart if they had not wasted time brainwashing a Pokémon to attack its trainer for cruel sport.
  • In their second appearance, they come across a forest of good natured Malamar. Their first instinct is to attack the forest and the innocent Pokémon the latter were caring for, leaving a very angry powerhouse on the heroes' side.
• Villain by Default: Subverted at their expense. After they find a gang of Malamar in the forest neighbouring Grace Tower, they attack the inhabitants and suggest their brethren join their plot. The wild Malamar however, are quite unhappy about them hurting their friends...
• What Happened to the Mouse?: They return to the future after having their plans foiled and are never seen or acknowledged since, despite vows to return and continue their plans.

Belmondo

A former Lumiose University professor who built his own version of Clemont's Clembot in an Engineered Heroics scam to prove he had a superior robot.

---

• Engineered Heroics: Had his Dark Clembot commit crimes to frame the original Clembot, and then have Dark Clembot solve said crimes.
• Green-Eyed Monster: His motivation largely stems from the fact that Clemont built an advanced robot while he could only build Dark Clembot by stealing the original's blueprints.
• Lack of Empathy: His treatment of his Pokemon is borderline abusive as he's only focused on having them win, not caring about their wellbeing.

Mantle

The owner of the Lost Hotel that bullies guests out of their Pokemon. He actually had unfairly won the hotel from its rightful owner ten years earlier.

• Hate Sink: This guy forcefully takes others' Pokemon when they lose to him at the hotel, so there is nothing to like about him initially.
• Heel–Face Turn: After Ash and friends help the rightful owner beat Mantle in a fair and square match (and getting shocked by both Rotom and Pikachu at the same time), Mantle is a lot more friendly in the present day as a hotel bellhop.
• Smug Snake: This man just radiates an all-around Slimeball attitude towards everyone.
• Sore Loser: Even though he lost fair and square, he refused to admit defeat leading to a dual electric shock from Rotom and Pikachu.

---