Characters / Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon — Main Cast

aka: Pokemon The Series Sun And Moon Ashs Pokemon

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

Ash's Classmates

In General

• Adaptation Personality Change: Some of Ash's classmates act quite differently than they do in the games, most notably Kiawe being more serious and stoic (except when he's not), Lillie's fear of seeing Pokémon being hurt in battle is now a fear of touching Pokémon, and Sophocles being very extroverted while his game portrayal was the opposite. Mallow and Lana are pretty much portrayed the same, though.
• Adapted Out: Due to them not appearing to be Trial Captains, they all seem to only own one Pokémon at the beginning of the series (not counting Ride Pokémon). In addition, Kiawe and Lana's primary Pokémon are not the same ones they're shown to own in the games.
• The Artifact: The job of being Trial Captains doesn't seem to exist in this continuity, but that doesn't really stop Lana, Sophocles, Mallow, and Kiawe from wearing the Trial Captain symbol as accessories. Ilima, Acerola, and Mina also wear them as well.
• Ascended Extra: Lana, Mallow, Kiawe, and Sophocles go from minor characters (analogous to gym leaders) in the games to main characters and part of Ash's inner circle in the anime. On the other hand, Lillie is a major character in both.
• Character Focus: Due to the stand still premise, the series can much more easily shift limelight between this cast; the Akala trials (SM031-SM036) have Ash, Lana and Kiawe mostly involved, with the other three not gaining much development, while the entire Aether Foundation arc (SM044-SM054) is dedicated largely to Ash and Lillie, with the others only in supporting roles. Even Lillie succumbs to this during Ash's Ula'ula trials (SM073-SM077), where only Ash and Team Rocket participate, with the others only getting brief cameos back at Melemele. The Poni trials (SM104-SM109) are one case of an arc trying to give everyone a bit of limelight.
• Color-Coded Characters: Each one of them is associated with a different color.
  • Ash: Blue
  • Lillie: White, Pink (Ultra Guardian uniform)
  • Kiawe: Red
  • Mallow: Green
  • Lana: Cyan
  • Sophocles: Orange
• Debut Queue: The first episode introduces them, but later episodes put them in the limelight that fleshes out their characters and interactions with Ash. The focus characters are, in chronological order, Lana (SM005), Sophocles (SM006), Lillie (SM008), Kiawe (SM011), and Mallow (SM018).
• Depending on the Writer: A fair amount of episodes do have one or all of them partaking in a lot of the physical comedy and Super-Deformed antics. In episodes Ash's Butt-Monkey status is in exceptional effect however, the rest of the gang will be Immune to Slapstick Straight Men. The series fluctuates especially with how much comic abuse the female companions suffer.
• Dragon Rider: As Ultra Guardians, four of them get Dragon-type Pokémon to ride. Ash has a Garchomp, Lillie has an Altaria, Mallow has a Flygon, and Lana has a Dragonair. Though it's not a Dragon-type, Kiawe also has a Charizard that he rides. The only exception is Sophocles, who instead rides a Metang.
• Ensemble Cast: While most of the main protagonists got a rotation of limelight episodes in the previous series, the grounded location of this series means the students can trade individual spotlight more easily (even if Ash still gets the lion's share).
• The Friends Who Never Hang: Lillie seldom interacts with Lana or Kiawe, nor does the latter interact much with Mallow.
• Gender-Equal Ensemble: Including Ash, they are three males and three females.
• Guile Hero: Besides Ash and Kiawe, most of them aren't developed in terms of raw power, having small Pokémon teams and only sporadically battling or training them. They prove effective in their job as Ultra Guardians however, largely due to being capable of using their Pokémon's abilities resourcefully or appealing to the personalities of the far more powerful Ultra Beasts.
• Limit Break: Keeping with their region's trend, all six students have mastered one or more Z-Moves by the end of the Sun and Moon series.
• Olympus Mons: The first regional cast to obtain mythical Pokémon. Along with Ash catching Meltan, Lillie inherits her father's Magearna, while Mallow unofficially has Shaymin on her team throughout Ultra Legends. Both Meltan and Shaymin battle for their trainers in the Alola League.
• Only Sane Woman: Downplayed. Mallow, Lillie, and Lana have more reserved personalities than Ash, Kiawe and Sophocles, but still have many clownish moments, and are more novice trainers. Ash also regularly supports and mentors Lillie despite his more reckless personality.
• Signature Mon: Because most of Ash's classmates only have one Pokémon at hand, that Pokémon serves as their signature partner. Classmates who have more than one often balance out their Pokémon screentime, though tie-in merchandise and marketing tends to favor one Pokémon over the other.
• This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: All of the students (except for Lillie) are type specialists, and lack the sheer variation and power of Ash's team, meaning they often only come in handy when one of their Pokémon's signature abilities can be used. Downplayed for Kiawe's team, who are all different dual-Fire types and have more developed experience and move sets that are regularly used. Later episodes involving their Ultra Guardians duties try to subvert this by giving them Guile Hero traits.
• True Companions: All five are good friends even before the series starts, and have no reservations in including the new student amongst their circle. Most of their Pokémon have also inexplicably become close in the span of a few episodes.

Lillie

Voiced in Japanese by: Kei Shindō

Voiced in English by: Laurie Hymes

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Jennifer Medel

Lillie is the resident bookworm, highly knowledgeable about Pokémon from her studies, but terrified by the thought of touching them due to a deeply rooted trauma she suffered in the past. With the constant support of her friends and their Pokémon, however, she slowly but surely works to overcome her fear.

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• #1 Dime: She has a stuffed Clefairy doll that's always seen in her room. When going to rescue to Lusamine, she takes it along with her.
• Achilles' Heel: Initially, it was touching any Pokémon, even slightly. One tap and the poor girl would freeze up in total fear. Her story arc is slowly learning to get over this, which she eventually accomplishes.
• Adaptational Badass: Despite initially being an Adaptational Wimp in regards to her phobia towards Pokémon in general, she actually officially owns and raises a Pokémon, unlike the games where she is not a Pokémon trainer yet. She even manages to command it effectively to stop Team Rocket, despite her lack of experience. She also plays a major part in saving Ash and Litten from Palossand in SM022, commanding Snowy to use Powder Snow to freeze the giant Palossand. In SM030, she takes it even further by learning to battle with Pikachu's help. At the end of the episode, she even battles Ash himself, with Ash using Snowy and Lillie using Pikachu. This is taken further in SM080 where she commands both Snowy and a wild Alolan Sandshrew in a battle against a wild Tyranitar and wins.
• Adaptational Context Change: In the games, she leaves Alola for Kanto to start her journey (at least in the original Sun and Moon). She leaves Alola at the end of the series to find her missing father.
• Adaptation Personality Change: In the games, she disliked seeing Pokémon get hurt in battles. Here, she's quite enthusiastic about battling, and even does some battling herself, if still cautious about hurting her Pokémon.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
  • In the games, Lillie's mother is horrifically abusive to her, and Lillie is downright scared enough that she runs away from home, stealing Cosmog in the process. The anime depicts their relationship in a far family-friendlier light, showing that Lusamine is too busy with work to come home too often, and Lillie dislikes both that and her mom treating her like she's still a baby.
  • Similarly, her brother went and joined Team Skull in the games, leaving her to bear the brunt of Lusamine's abuse. He left instead to get stronger for her sake, and their relationship isn't nearly as strained when the two reunite.
  • She and Hau were friends in the games, but the anime presents the two as not knowing each other until the Alola League.
• Adaptational Wimp: At least in the early episodes, where she's outright scared and apprehensive about Pokémon, or at least touching them, due to a childhood trauma. Her game version just disliked seeing them get hurt in battles. Once she gets ownership of Snowy, she transforms into an Adaptational Badass.
• Adrenaline Makeover: When her mother is abducted by Nihilego, she undergoes her clothing change from the games while this is happening. Unlike the games, though, she regresses back to her usual outfit once that problem has been taken care of.
• Aerith and Bob: Her mother is named Lusamine, her brother is called Gladion, and her father's name is Mohn, so she has the most typical name out of her family.
• All-Loving Hero: Even though Faba tried to kidnap her and erase her memories, kidnapped Nebby, and got her mother kidnapped by a Nihilego, she doesn't hold it against him, and accepts his apology when he apologizes to her and Ash.
• Angry Cheek Puff: Much like her game counterpart, Lillie puffs her cheeks in a pouty manner, usually when dealing with her mother.
• The Baby of the Bunch: Amongst the Alola Gang, Lillie is the least experienced with Pokémon on account of her fear. Mallow, Kiawe, Sophocles, and Lana have been trying to slowly help her get used to Pokémon, and when Ash joins, he immediately offers his expertise towards her goal.
• Badass Adorable: Cute? Absolutely! Willing to throw herself in front of a threat if it means protecting Snowy while becoming a strategic battle once she undergoes her Character Development? Check!
• Badass Bookworm: Despite being new to Pokémon training, she is able to think strategically in battle and is willing to throw herself in front of a threat if it means protecting Snowy.
• Berserk Button: If there's one thing Lillie absolutely hates, it's her mom treating her like she's still a little girl. Worse, Lusamine being so busy with work means she's been away from home for too long, and isn't aware of how much her daughter has changed.
• Beware the Nice Ones: She has no qualms about calling on her Pokémon if she needs to defend herself.
• Big Brother Worship:
  • Lillie looks up to Ash and treats him like another big brother as she would go to him for advice or help.
  • She also does hold her biological brother Gladion in high regard, and he's unhesitatingly very protective of her.
• Blatant Lies: She isn't scared of Pokémon, she just needs to do a bit more research on them. Then again, she seems fine with Pokémon as long as she isn't touching them.
• Blush Stickers: She tends to have these frequently, usually in moments of embarrassment, nervousness, or cuteness. For example, she gets these (and sparkles to boot) when watching Ash eat all of the gang's food to counteract Morelull's Life Drain.
• A Boy and His X: She's very fond of Snowy, and the two became inseparable after the Ice Fox hatched (though it took Lillie a bit of time to get herself to overcome wanting to touch her new partner). Try to harm Snowy, she will unleash her full wrath on you.
• Bratty Half-Pint: Downplayed. Lillie is nothing but sweet, polite, and kindhearted to everyone, but she's very temperamental and prissy with her mother whenever Lusamine starts babying her. Understandably, she doesn't want her mom treating her like a child when she hasn't even been home that much to see how Lillie's changed.
• Break the Cutie: Her adorable demeanor would shatter every time a Pokémon so much as brushed up against her, but it was usually Played for Laughs. Then, her brief regression occurs thanks to Nebby, and it's played for anything but.
• The Bus Came Back: Outside of a brief cameo earlier in the series, she made her return in Journeys JN111.
• But I Read a Book About It: Most of her knowledge comes from books rather than actual experience.
• But Now I Must Go: Leaves Alola in the series finale along with Gladion and Lusamine to look for her father, Mohn.
• Butt-Monkey:
  • In The Stinger for SM014, she is frozen solid by an overly affectionate Snowy. Even with the one Pokémon she can touch, she can't catch a break.
  • Once her phobia is cured, she immediately starts on glomping all the students' Pokémon, setting off some expected chain reactions, such as Lycanroc's painful nuzzling and triggering Turtonator's Shell Trap.
  • She is in general more prone to getting caught in the wackier plotlines than Mallow and Lana, such as the Incredible Shrinking Man plot in SM083 (with Amusing Injuries abound).
• Calling the Old Man Out: Lillie yells at Lusamine about treating her like a baby when she's currently acting even more immature under Nihilego's control.
• Cerebus Retcon: Her tendency to freeze up in contact of Pokémon was initially Played for Laughs. As the series progresses, however, it is revealed her phobia was caused by Trauma-Induced Amnesia after being caught in the middle of a tussle between Silvally and Nihilego. The sight of Silvally lunging at her left her emotionally scarred, only finding out much later on that it was only protecting her, which gets her over her phobia.
• Character Development:
  • She initially started off as a shy girl who was afraid to touch Pokémon, but with support from her friends, especially Ash, she decided to take action as she was able to overcome that phobia little by little until it's completely gone.
  • She didn't have much of a backbone in standing up to others, unless she arguing with her mother. However, through Ash's influences, Lillie was able to change that as she developed a strong sense of justice and would stand up for what rights.
• Character Exaggeration: In the games, Lillie was demure and initially evasive due to her agenda, but otherwise quite approachable and serious. Even besides her initial trauma induced phobia, the anime's Lillie is far shyer and a comedic Cowardly Lion.
• Color Failure: This and some panicking were Lillie's typical reactions to touching Pokémon when she still had her phobia.
• Cornered Rattlesnake: Though she could command Snowy rather skillfully from the start, her preferred tactic against Team Rocket initially was to retreat. When they finally cornered her, she had Snowy freeze them in ice.
• Cowardly Lion: She freaks out if a Pokémon so much as brushes up against her, but she is not devoid of courage when Snowy is threatened. In fact, the major advances she has made in overcoming her fear have all involved her drive to protect Snowy.
• Cower Power: She hides behind the nearest person whenever she's spooked by a Pokémon, assuming that's an option.
• Curb Stomp Cushion: As she herself admits, she never stood much of a chance in her League battle against Gladion, but she still shows how much she's grown as a trainer by making good use of Snowy's Snow Cloak ability and pulling off a Z-Move.
• Cute Bookworm: She reads a lot about Pokémon, despite being afraid of them. As such she doubles as a book-smart gal and is often a Combat Commentator.
• Cute Clumsy Girl: She often fumbles during athletic activities, throwing Poké Balls wildly off-target, cowering during a baseball game when the ball flies her way, and failing to jump over a vaulting box.
• Cuteness Proximity: In spite of her initial inability to touch Pokémon, she is still endeared by them greatly. This shows once she gets over her phobia, and starts glomping all of them in sight.
• The Cutie: A demure little girl with a fairly sweet and somewhat cowardly personality. Her tragic phobia and Big Brother Worship towards the more experienced classmates also tend to make her endearingly innocent.
• A Day in the Limelight: SM008 is about Lillie receiving a Pokémon Egg and learning to be comfortable around it. SM014 is about Lillie bonding with Snowy, the Alolan Vulpix that hatches from the Egg. SM030 is about Lillie working to be comfortable around Ash's Pikachu and learning to battle. SM049 is about Lillie overcoming her fear of touching Pokémon. In SM051, she goes with Gladion to the Altar of the Sunne, battling a Totem Kommo-o along the way. In SM060, Lillie and Snowy practice for a Sled Jumping tournament and even though they didn't win, managed to give a spectacular performance. In SM080, she and Snowy battle alongside a wild Alolan Sandshrew against a wild Tyranitar and beat it. Later, the Sandshrew evolves into Sandslash and gives her an Icium Z as thanks.
• Damsel in Distress: Tends to get trapped in dangerous scrapes the most out of all the class, most often with Ash saving her:
  • Saved from a Salandit by Ash and Hobbes in her first limelight episode.
  • The root of her phobia stems from her getting abducted by Nihilego as a small child, believing Silvally was trying to attack her when it saved her. After Silvally rescues her again from Faba's cover-up attempt in the present day, she realizes her mistake.
• Damsel out of Distress: When Team Rocket attacks her upon first seeing her alone with Snowy, she holds her own against them by commanding her new Pokémon. Though she does need Ash's help to save her from a fall, she finishes the job once she recovers and has Snowy freeze Team Rocket in their tracks.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Lillie used to be able to touch Pokémon until a mysterious incident at Aether Paradise occurred, though Lillie says that she doesn't remember what happened. It's revealed from SM047 through SM049 that she was attacked by an Ultra Beast (specifically, Nihilego), but rescued by the Silvally that Gladion would later call his own. However, the sight of Silvally lunging at her left her traumatized, causing her to repress her memory.
• Decomposite Character: Some of her game counterpart's traits, such as being taken care of by Professor Kukui, go towards Ash.
• Deer in the Headlights: Lillie freezes in fear if a Pokémon touches her. After getting Snowy, she is able to fight this reaction. Once she fully remembers her past, her fear vanishes completely.
• Determinator:
  • Lillie was inspired by Ash's upbeat and determined attitude as he encouraged her to not give up on herself, and because of that she was able to feel comfortable with touching a couple of Pokémon. However, after seeing Gladion's Silvally in Night of a Thousand Poses!, Lillie regressed her progress as she could't touch Pokémon again then became depressed about it. Although, in Mission: Total Recall!, Lillie regain her determination when Ash cheered her up as she decided to find answers about her past that were related to her fear of touching Pokémon, which Nebby decided to do for her. Through her determination, Lillie remembered everything from her past and overcame her fear for good then thanked Ash for not giving up on her.
  • In Chasing Memories, Creating Dreams!, Lillie was struggling with her Z-Moves and didn't entirely get Ash's advices. However, determined to not give up, Lillie got what Ash meant as his advices and her strong desire to see her long lost father again helped her perfect her Z-Moves as she became in sync with Snowy.
• Deuteragonist: True to the source material, though downplayed as she is part of an Ensemble Cast but gets the most focus out of anyone besides Ash and seems to be the classmate Ash is closest to.
• Disappeared Dad: Her father, Mohn, apparently vanished when she was very young. It turns out he was sucked into an Ultra Wormhole thanks to an accident at the Aether Foundation, which kickstarts Lillie's desire to find him. In Journeys, she succeeds, finding him out in the middle of the Crown Tundra, albeit with his memories jumbled.
• Ditzy Genius: Though she is book-smart, she can get a little...out there at times when dealing with practical situations, such as wearing a diving suit just to go fishing, and upon being confronted with a broken bridge in Vast Poni Canyon, jumping to the conclusion that the bridge must be invisible and trying to uncover the path with sand.
• Diving Save: She ends up on the receiving end of one by Ash in SM053, to protect her from Mother Beast Lusamine's attack.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: She has one of the most traumatic backstories of any of the main characters, but by Journeys, she becomes the first of them to have achieved a 100% happy ending — she finds her father, restores his memories, and returns home with all her family issues fully resolved, even making peace with the very species that had been the source of her trauma to begin with.
• Egg Sitting: She has to raise an egg together with Ash as part of a class lesson. She ends up having to protect it from a hungry Salandit. After those events, Lillie decided to take care of the egg more then her classmates did until it hatched.
• Encyclopaediac Knowledge: Her knowledge of Pokémon rivals that of Rotom Dex, much to his chagrin, as Lillie is quick to spout out information on new Pokémon the group encounter before Rotom can.
• Everyone's Baby Sister: Her relationship is often akin to this with the other students, due to her rookie status and phobia in early episodes and her larger track record for getting into danger. On different occasions, Mallow and Ash have insisted on following Lillie home to make sure nothing happens to her.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: She has her makeover when Lusamine is kidnapped by Nihilego, signifying her resolve to save her. Unlike in the games, though, this makeover is not permanent and Lillie returns to her original appearance after Lusamine is saved. As a variation of this, she often ties her hair back this way whenever she goes back into determined mode, even if the "transformation" isn't always successful.
• Face Your Fears: This is Lillie's Series Goal at the start of Sun and Moon, as she's eager to overcome her fear of touching Pokémon and bond with them like she wants to. With Ash and friends' help, she succeeds.
• Family Eye Resemblance: She shares the same eye color as her mother, brother, and father.
• Fire-Forged Friends:
  • In a way. Protecting Snowy's egg from Salandit, in much the same way the Player Character protects Cosmog/"Nebby" in the game, allows her to bond with it.
  • This is actually a plot point in SM030, where Lillie realizes that the reason Ash can work so well with Pokémon is because they battle by each others' side. She quickly forms this bond with Pikachu, battling and defeating her butler once she started working with the electric mouse.
• Forgiveness: Lillie and her mother, Lusamine, initially have a strained relationship with each other because Lusamine is always busy with her work, which causes her to not have time for Lillie and Gladion. Lillie also didn't like that her mother does things without considering her feelings. However, in "Mission: Total Recall!", Lillie forgives her mother after Lusamine realizes how much her work got in the way of spending time with her family and how she failed to notice the trauma Lillie went through as a child that caused her fear.
• Foreshadowing: In SM008, when Ash asks her happened to make her unable to touch Pokémon, she says that she doesn't know, and Hobbes says that she was living with her mother when the incident occurred. In SM047, it's revealed that, indeed, she was at Aether Paradise when she was attacked by a Nihilego, resulting in Trauma-Induced Amnesia.
• Friend to All Living Things: Both Hobbes and Gladion say she was this before her childhood trauma that caused her fear of touching Pokémon. Lillie is like that again once she's freed of her phobia.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: The Magearna she gets after fixing it happens to be a very rare shiny variation. Lucky for her, since Magearna is shiny locked in all the games it's obtainable in, and can only be obtained in its normal form.
• Girls Love Stuffed Animals: She owns a Clefairy doll that she sleeps with.
• Grew a Spine:
  • In "Family Determination!", after listening to Ash stating that sometimes you can't do everything alone, Lillie realizes that he is right and finds the courage to stand up to Gladion. Lillie tells Gladion that they have a better chance of getting their mother back from Ultra Space if they have their friends go with them on their quest. Not only is he surprised that his little sister just stood up to him, but he also understands what she and Ash are talking about.
  • In "10,000,000 Reasons to Fight!", Lillie finally tells her mother, who is being controlled by Nihilego, how she feels about her treatment of her.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: She's blonde and is the most pure-hearted of the group.
• Heroes Love Dogs: A younger Lillie was shown holding a Lillipup in her arms, and in the present day, she has her Alolan Vulpix, Snowy, and has shown to be totally comfortable sitting right next to Rockruff in both SM012 and SM013 despite her usual fear of Pokémon.
• Heroic BSoD: After seeing Gladion's Silvally since her childhood, Lillie work in getting over her fear of touching Pokémon was setback a great deal and she became depressed about it. Despite her friends efforts in cheering her up and tried to touch Snowy, Lillie was still down but pulled herself together with Ash's help as she decided to find answers to her past and end her fear for good. After remembering her past, Lillie succeeded in ending her fear once and for all then not only happily embraced her Pokémon friends but also thanks Ash for never giving up on her.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Well, she sure tried when she leapt off a high wall to save Snowy in SM014 after it was knocked off by a Sludge Bomb from Mareanie. Rowlet saved both with Leafage.
• Hero-Worshipper: Like her games incarnation with the player character, Lillie sometimes demonstrates some admiration for Ash. In the series finale, Lillie has a flashback to some of the moments she shared with him, as her boat is leaving, runs to the back of it to thank Ash for everything he did to help her in bonding, touching and loving Pokémon all over again.
• An Ice Person: She owns the Ice Type Alolan Vulpix (which she named Snowy).
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight:
  • Brings out her Clefairy doll to remind her mom's Clefable of their bond. With the following Cooldown Hug, even risking a point-blank Dazzling Gleam, Clefable returns to its senses.
  • She tries to get through to her mother in the next episode by calling her out on her behavior and telling her she's stronger than that. It briefly works, but Nihilego's control is too strong.
• Incredible Shrinking Man: Happens to her, Ash and Sophocles in SM083 as a result of a botched experiment by Faba. Thankfully the transformation wasn't stable and they shortly grew back.
• The Ingenue: She has some Broken Bird shades due to her Dark and Troubled Past, but she is definitely one of Ash's most sweet and delicate companions which, combined with her Big Brother Worship of him, makes him and the others rather protective of her.
• Ironic Fear: Given the fact she lives in the Alola Region, which emphasizes the bond between people and Pokémon, her fear of Pokémon is kind of this.
• Jerkass to One: Despite her sweet demeanor, the one person Lillie does not speak to very well is her own mother, on account of her being too busy with the Aether Foundation to spend time at home.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: In the games, it's considered a huge plot twist that Lusamine and Gladion are related to her, being her mother and brother, but the anime reveals this fact relatively early on in SM008.
• Leitmotif: Starting from the second season, her diary recaps and some other key scenes involving her character are accompanied by arrangements of her piano theme from Pokemon Sun and Moon.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Lillie is the meekest of the students and doesn't regularly battle or partake in outside competitions, but her knowledge of Pokémon types and attacks make her resourceful when forced into combat, commanding Snowy and even some of the others' Pokémon rather fluently.
• Little Miss Badass: Lillie develop this as she grew in her battling skills and rallies on what she has seen from Ash's battles as her source of inspiration.
• The Load: Lillie only seldom battles, even if she is semi-competent when forced to, and for the first dozen or so episodes didn't even have a Pokémon herself due to her phobia of touching them and Snowy having not yet hatched.
• Lovable Coward: Even besides her phobia of Pokémon, she seems to have a rather jittery disposition. She cowered while playing catcher in a baseball game. She can become a Cowardly Lion at any point, however.
• Mama Bear: Despite being afraid of it at first, Lillie manages to save a Pokémon egg from being a Salandit's lunch. And when she finds that she still has trouble touching the Vulpix that newly hatched from the egg, she eventually gets over that by nearly performing a Heroic Sacrifice to save it from a fall. She's also protective of Nebby despite Ash being its caretaker; she's the one who named it, writes in her diary that she's concerned about it, and refuses to stay behind when Ash and Gladion go to rescue it from Faba.
• Mirror Character: Largely an introverted Smart Girl in contrast to the energetic but Book Dumb Ash, but she does share his dorky qualities and occasionally ditzy mindset. She has also shown a similarly extreme affection for Pokémon at risk to her own well-being, especially when her phobia no longer restrains her.
• Misplaced Retribution: While she doesn't personally act on the event, subconsciously, Silvally was the reason she had a phobia of touching Pokémon after a traumatic event left her with the impression that it was attacking her. In reality, Silvally was trying to attack the Nihilego which was trying to abduct her.
• The Medic: Shows medical abilities when the students' Pokémon suffer serious injuries. Also tends to take this role in Ultra Guardian missions.
• Mythology Gag:
  • She carries bags of repel with her when the group goes camping. In the games, she had plenty of the stuff to spare, though this time it's because she doesn't want to have all the Pokémon crawling on her in the middle of the night.
  • Lillie is the one who nicknames Nebby. In the games, Nebby is her travel companion, having nicknamed it herself.
• Naïve Newcomer: She was the newest member of the class before Ash came along. This is best shown in SM065, where she and Ash are the only ones who don't already know Ilima.
• Nice Girl: Lillie is incredibly sweet natured and demure, and does everything in her power to convey her love for Pokémon despite her phobia. She also tends to be one of few who treats Ash's usual Iron Butt Monkey role with concern.
• The Nicknamer: She nicknamed the Vulpix she is caring for (Snowy), even before it hatched. She is also the one to name Nebby.
• Ojou: Her servants refer to her as "Ojou-sama".
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Ash notes that she's a lot more assertive towards her mother than she normally is.
• Olympus Mons: She ends up in the possession of Magearna, a Mythical Pokémon.
• Our Fairies Are Different: She eventually takes ownership of a Shiny Magearna, a partial Fairy Type.
• Parental Neglect: Ever since Mohn disappeared, Lusamine has been busy trying to run Aether Paradise, and isn't around for Lillie as much. While Lusamine does try to make time to be with Lillie, the gap is too much to start with and Lillie doesn't want her around anyway, not helped by Lusamine being overly affectionate in those rare moments of togetherness.
• Pink Girl, Blue Boy: Her Ultra Guardians uniform is pink, while Ash's is dark blue.
• Pink Heroine: Her Ultra Guardians uniform is pink.
• Protectorate: All of the students are very nurturing towards her due to her phobia and rookie status as a trainer. Her brother Gladion, Mallow and later Ash are all especially protective of her.
• Recap by Audit: A few episodes had her recap the events of the previous one while writing in her diary.
• The Runaway: Runs off with Gladion to the Altar of the Sunne on Poni Island in an attempt to save their mother.
• Ship Tease: Lillie enjoys Ash's company and sees him as a mentor. In Bright Lights, Big Changes!, Lillie went to comfort and talk to Ash after he had a fallout with Rotom Dex as she told him that he should talk things out with it, which he agreed.
• Shrinking Violet: Downplayed compared to her game counterpart. She's still close with her classmates, but she's a bit more nervous and withdrawn compared to the rest of them on account of her fear of Pokémon.
• Significant Wardrobe Shift: Subverted; she does change into her "Z-Powered" outfit and refers to it as such, but after her mother is saved, she goes back to wearing her original outfit. She returns to wearing it during the Alola League tournament.
• The Smart Gal: Despite her fear of Pokémon, her knowledge of them is encyclopedic, through this trait is downplayed after Rotom Dex joins the group. She returns to this role in the Ultra Guardian missions where she is often The Strategist.
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Downplayed. True to the source material, she's the "designated female companion" of the anime, much like Serena, Iris, Dawn, May, and Misty. She gets more focus than the other classmates themselves, but that doesn't mean the series draws focus away from Ash any more than it did with the other female companions.
• Strong Family Resemblance: The RotomDex notes the strong similarity between Lillie and her mother Lusamine.
• Squee: Along with Mallow and Lana, this is her reaction to the news that Kukui and Burnet were getting married.
• Take Our Word for It: She makes a funny face in order to (successfully) calm Nebby down, but the audience doesn't get a chance to see it.
• Tears of Joy: When Lusamine is rescued and alive.
• There Are No Therapists: Lillie had to completely rekindle the roots of her phobia and cure it on her own (with some help from her classmates of the same age). It was actually Lampshaded during a massive calling out that Lusamine did absolutely nothing to get to the bottom of her daughter's emotional scars.
• They Know Too Much: Faba was hoping Lillie's memory loss of his experiment would stick, as it was rooted from a blunder of his when experimenting with Ultra Space transport. When she comes too close to jarring her memory, later on, he resorts to trying to forcibly wipe her mind clean.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: The girly girl to Mallow and Lana's tomboys. She's the more feminine of the three, wears more frilly outfits compared to them, and tends to be into more feminine things like stuffed animals. Mallow is a Supreme Chef who dresses in a Shorttank outfit and tends to be more outgoing, while Lana dresses in fishing gear and has a very dark sense of humor. Her voice is also audibly more feminine compared to Mallow's and Lana's.
• Took a Level in Badass: Once she finally got her own Pokémon, she very quickly took to commanding it in dangerous situations and is able to fend off Team Rocket almost entirely on her own. Later, she gets an Icium Z from an Alolan Sandslash as thanks for helping it defeat a wild Tyranitar that was threatening its home.
  • She inherits her father's Z-Ring in SM116, though doesn't quite have the training to pull off a Subzero Slammer.
  • She masters Subzero Slammer in SM127 after receiving advice from Ash.
• Took a Level in Cheerfulness: Upon overcoming her fear of Pokémon, Lillie's nervousness and shyness dissipated, allowing her to become far more outgoing.
• Town Girls: The femme to Mallow's butch and Lana's neither.
• Trauma-Induced Amnesia: The incident that triggered her fear of Pokémon as a child was so traumatic that it caused her to suppress her memory. She partly recovers it in Night of a Thousand Poses! when she remembers Silvally lunging at her, thinking it was trying to attack her, which sends her back to square one when she encounters it again as a Type: Null. After it breaks its mask and saves her from Faba in the following episode, however, she fully remembers that it actually tried saving her from a Nihilego; this realization is what lets her overcome her fear
• Tsundere: Shows this attitude when confronted about her inability to physically touch Pokémon, claiming that she can touch them theoretically.
• Wacky Parent, Serious Child: Her dynamic with her mother Lusamine has shades of this.
• When You Coming Home, Dad?: She's very displeased that Lusamine threw herself into her work at Aether Paradise after Mohn disappeared instead of being a responsible mother. To Lusamine's credit, she does try to make time for her kids when she can, but work keeps getting in the way—not that Lillie appreciates that in the slightest.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Because of her childhood trauma, she's afraid of making physical contact with any Pokémon, even adorable ones like Pikachu and Bounsweet. Despite this, she is quite fond of them, as shown by her house having a Pokémon battlefield, a playground for other Pokémon to play in, and her room having stuffed animal Pokémon. Once she gets ownership of Snowy's egg, she gradually works through her fear to the point where she can touch Snowy, Pikachu, and a Ride Pokémon. As of SM049, she overcomes her fear completely.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: When Lillie and Gladion go through Vast Poni Canyon in Family Determination!, Lille twice makes a mistake about the genre she is in by expecting puzzles where there are none:
  • At the entrance to the temple, she sees three statues and three symbols on the wall behind the statues and she incorrectly guesses that the door is unlocked by moving each statue to the correct symbol, apparently thinking by Adventure Game logic. Gladion stops her and shows her that 1.) the door isn't locked, and 2.), moving the statues sets off a spike trap.
  • They later come to a gap without a bridge, and Lille guesses based on books she read that there is an invisible bridge that she tries to reveal by throwing sand on it. Gladion tells her that there is not an invisible bridge and has Silvally jump across the gap while carrying them, then explains that there was a bridge but it fell down, which Lillie didn't recognize the remains of.
• Your Size May Vary: In the games, she was taller than the player character, and her own older brother Gladion, but here, she's noticeably shorter than her brother and roughly the same height as Ash, if not slightly shorter than him.

Lillie's Pokémon

Alolan Vulpix/"Snowy" (Alolan Rokon/"Shiron")

Voiced in Japanese by: Reina Ueda

Voiced in English by: Emily Jenness

In SM008, Lillie was given a Pokémon egg to hatch, to help her get over her fear of Pokémon. She named the egg Snowy. In SM013, the egg hatched into an Alolan Vulpix, which she kept the name Snowy for.

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• All There in the Manual: Abiding by its downloadable form for the Generation 7 games, Snowy's gender is female.
• Barrier Warrior: Learns how to use Aurora Veil in SM060.
• Canon Immigrant: Snowy was made a downloadable character via certain promotional events for Pokémon Sun and Moon (albeit labeled merely Vulpix than by nickname).
• Contrived Coincidence: While being incubated as an egg, Lillie started calling it "Snowy" despite not knowing that it would hatch into an Alolan Vulpix.
• Cute Little Fangs: One is shown on rare occasions.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: She originally couldn't even be touched by Ash, but gradually warmed up to him after living with him for a weekend and learning how to battle.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Lillie and Snowy spend all of SM014 bonding. They get to the point that Lillie jumps off a building to save Snowy when she's blown off the same roof by Mareanie's Sludge Bomb during a fight with Team Rocket. They were both saved by Rowlet.
• Harmless Freezing: It accidentally froze Lillie solid with Powder Snow during The Stinger of the Japanese edit of SM014.
• Hates Being Touched: Snowy freezes Ash when he tries to pet it and is reluctant to play with the other Pokémon until Samson's Vulpix encouraged her to do so. Snowy is fine with being held by Lillie, though. She finally grows comfortable with letting Ash touch her after spending a weekend training and living with him.
• Hyper-Competent Sidekick: Sometimes plays such to balance Lillie's jittery Cute Clumsy Girl antics.
• An Ice Person: Ice-type. In SM014, it's shown to know Powder Snow, It can also use the ice-type Z-Move Subzero Slammer.
• Jumped at the Call: When Lillie was officially given Snowy, she got a bit overly excited with a Poké Ball Kukui gave her to catch it and smacked Ash in the head with it. Snowy walked up to the Ball, hit the button with a paw, and caught herself.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: One of the official posters heavily alluded that an Alola Vulpix would become Lillie's partner. The poster was published even before the release of the trailer that revealed a Cosmog was residing in Lillie's infamous bag in the games, resulting in that some people initially speculated that the bag contained an Alola Vulpix.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Snowy spends most of her screen time babied by Lillie, though is alarmingly powerful for a newborn. She held her own against the posse of Totem Kommo-o, and despite a hectic first battle with Team Rocket, she ultimately froze the entire squad with one Powder Snow attack in a Heroic Second Wind (to punctuate, this was only two episodes after the trio had successfully fainted Pikachu and Rowlet).
• Limit Break: She can use the ice-type Z-move Subzero Slammer.
• Meaningful Name: Her Japanese name, "Shiron", comes from combining the word for "white" with the word applied to "rolling": koron-koron. Lillie said right before Snowy hatched that she had taken to rolling her egg around. The second half still applies after hatching, making the name a combination of "white" and Rokon. It roughly translates to "Snowball" in English.
• Mundane Utility: Lillie keeps cool in the hot Alolan climate by carrying Snowy in her arms.
• Noodle Incident: After over a season of using only Powered Snow, SM060 revealed Snowy had learned Hail offscreen.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: It's an adorable baby fox with white fur. What else did you expect?
• Signature Mon: Though Lillie is associated with Nebby and later gets Magearna, Snowy remains her main Pokémon partner.
• The Sixth Ranger: Literally such with the other students' signature Pokémon, having hatched and acquainted herself with the others sometime after Ash and Pikachu had arrived.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Pun aside, unlike the Fire-type Vulpix that hatched after it, Snowy was reluctant to interact with the other Pokémon and even froze Ash when he attempted to pet her. The only person she would be friendly towards is Lillie. Later on, however, it did grow more comfortable around Ash.
• Took a Level in Badass: Received proper battle training from Ash in SM030 and the results show in her more confident personality and battle prowess. By SM060 she has also learned both Hail and Aurora Veil.
• Uncatty Resemblance: Her white/light blue fur and fluffy tail bear a resemblance to Lillie's white and blue ruffled dress.
• Undying Loyalty: Even when Lillie briefly regressed in her fear of touching Pokémon, Snowy remains patiently supportive of her trainer.
• When All You Have Is a Hammer…: She doesn't battle much, so Powder Snow is the only move she knows, but when she does battle, Lillie can use it resourcefully enough to usually get the job done. Subverted SM060 onwards, where Snowy learns Aurora Veil and is noted to have learned Hail offscreen.

Magearna

Voiced in by: Wakana Minami

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• Cute Clumsy Girl: Shows shades of this in the post-credits scene of SM145, as it falls on its face trying to run.
• 11th-Hour Ranger: Awakens in the penultimate episode of Sun and Moon.
• Extra-ore-dinary: Part Steel type.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: It's a shiny Pokémon, but it's one of the ones that players can't obtain in game due to Magearna being one of the few "shiny-locked" entires. Because the anime has no such restrictions, Lillie is able to get it working and keep it.
• Our Fairies Are Different: Part Fairy type.
• Tragic Keepsake: Of Mohn.

Kiawe (Kaki)

Voiced in Japanese by: Kaito Ishikawa

Voiced in English by: Marc Swint

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Kristoffer Romo

The eldest pupil in class, and oftentimes the most mature. He is the only student who possesses a Z-Ring by the time Ash joins the class. He works on his family farm on Akala Island, using his Sky Ride Charizard to make deliveries.

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• The Ace: The wisest and most mature of the students, and the one with the most battle experience. He's also completed a Grand Trial, and thus is capable of using Z-Moves.
• Adaptational Badass: Just slightly so. While in the games he would be The Comically Serious, remove that aspect (and his Trial Captain status) and he's left with this depiction.
• Adaptation Personality Change: Kiawe in the games was at best The Comically Serious, but was otherwise a friendly and somewhat goofy guy. This version starts out as more serious and stoic, though still a friendly guy when you get to know him, before becoming increasingly hammier over the course of the series.
• Adaptation Expansion: His main Pokémon in the games was an Alolan Marowak, but here it's a Turtonator instead, capturing Marowak some time into the series.
• Ancestral Weapon:
  • His Z-Ring is inherited from his grandfather, though he still had to earn it and his Firium Z in the Grand Trial.
  • His Charizard counts as one as well. It was previously his grandfather's main Pokémon.
• Berserk Button:
  • Considering how seriously he takes the responsibility of having a Z-Crystal, shouldn't be much surprise that losing one (that is not even his) makes him absolutely livid! ESPECIALLY if said Z-Crystal was hand-given to you by one of the island deities!
  • Due to what Viren tried to do to his family's farm and to Mimo, just the mere mention of Viren is enough to make Kiawe burn up.
• Big Brother Instinct: Played for Laughs with his sister Mimo. He freaks out whenever he sees her carrying anything heavy, even though it's obvious she can handle it. Even more exaggerated when she was carrying empty milk tanks with her bare hands or pushing one on a small trolley. Played more seriously when Viren attempts to fry her with his Electivre's Thunder attack, thankfully, Turtonator blocked the blow, in order to intimidate Kiawe's family into selling their farm,]] and Kiawe gets utterly pissed off. Mimo getting lost in Aether Paradise during the Alola League also sets off an understandable reaction.
• Big Brother Mentor: Is most frequently the one explaining Alola's wildlife and traditions to Ash or helping him train his team, especially in terms of Z Moves and fire type attacks. Ash later returns the favor by helping him strategize against quicker opponents. Also, Kiawe has become a mentor to Sophocles in order to help him in his Z-Moves as he was able to help him, although he setup a test to do so.
• The Bus Came Back: He returns in That New Old Gang of Mine! where he challenges Goh to a Pokémon battle.
• Characterization Marches On: He started off as serious and stoic in the first handful of episodes, albeit with traces of The Comically Serious. However, later episodes made him increasingly more Hot-Blooded, silly, and comical. His aloofness towards Ash and the others in his first appearance is jarring compared to his later far more jovial and passionate depiction.
• The Comically Serious: His more reserved and serious-minded attitude often still makes him a good target for the series' humor, especially when he finally goes into a passionate Large Ham mode.
• Cool Big Bro: He has a soft spot for his little sister Mimo and will do anything to make her happy. He has surrogate moments around the other classmates as well, particularly Ash.
• Crippling Overspecialization:
  • By his own admission, he focuses on Fire-types, so fishing for Water-types isn't his forte.
  • His signature Pokémon being Turtonator also meant he initially had trouble adapting to faster powerhouses the latter couldn't tank. Solved after he adapted Turtonator to a new strategy and the agility increasing attack, Shell Smash, as well as capturing the far more agile Marowak.
• Culture Clash: According to SM055, he had no idea on how a traditional wedding plays out, being only familiar with the customs of Akala Island.
• Determinator: During the Pancake Race, he continues to try and haul his very heavy Turtonator across the track even long after the winners have been decided. Also, Kiawe would't back down from a Pokémon battle.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Upon finding out that Ash lost his Z-Crystal, he tries to punish him by having his Turtonator use his Z-Move on him.
• Elemental Hair Colors: Has fiery colored hair, and it runs in the family, too. His mother and sister have a very similar hairstyle.
• Friendly Rivalry: He regularly trains and battles with Ash. This is set in stone when they both plan to compete in the Alola League.
• Farm Boy: He lives on a ranch.
• Graceful Loser: He takes his defeat at the League the best out of the class, pulling the normally aloof Gladion into nearly a bro hug during their handshake.
• Hot-Blooded: When he's passionate about something, he shows it. In particular, he considers ownership of a Z-Crystal to be very Serious Business, and he refuses to give up on the Pancake Race even when he obviously can't push his Turtonator all the way, also disregarding the fact that the race had already finished.
• Hypocritical Humor: When the class goes to Mt. Lanakila with Hala, Kiawe criticizes Hala for not dressing up for the cold. Hala then immediately responds by stating he doesn’t want to hear it from Kiawe.
• In a Single Bound: In SM085, he manages to jump and reach the top of a Stakataka with only the aid of a vault spring. FYI, Stakataka is 18'01'' (5.5 m) tall.
• In the Name of the Moon: He sometimes starts Inferno Overdrive with the phrase "The zenith of my mind, (of) body and spirit, (like the great mountain of Akala) become a raging fire and burn". Though unlike Alain from the previous season, he does not always use the phrase^note like in the episode "Crystal Clear Sleuthing" & he sometimes even shortens it to the last part^note like in the episode "Mimikyu Unmasked".
• The Lancer: To Ash's Hero. As described by Kukui, they're a Flamethrower vs a Thunderbolt.
• Large Ham: He first started to exhibit this side of him during the Alola Pancake Race, but he completely lets it loose in SM017 upon finding out that Ash lost his Z-Crystal.
  • And again in SM028 when the class is playing Pokémon Base:
  "INFERNO OVERDRIVE...BAAALLL!!! HII-YAAAH!!!"
• Lethal Chef: He burns a pizza with his Turtonator that his sister was trying to cook. In fairness, this could have just been due to his tendency to freak out whenever he sees her doing anything remotely dangerous, although her banning him from the kitchen and his following reaction imply that this is a common occurrence.
• Made of Iron: In SM028, he survives being squished by a Snorlax!!
• Mr. Fanservice: He's not a bad-looking guy and is a Walking Shirtless Scene to boot. He occasionally flexes his muscles, too.
• Mundane Utility: He uses his Charizard to fly around the islands making deliveries.
• Nightmare Face: When he gets really angry, this◊ is what happens.
• Not So Stoic: SM011 shows us a few of his personality quirks, such as his tendency to freak out whenever he catches his little sister carrying heavy objects. He's also become more open and friendly in general now that he and Ash have become closer friends.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: He passed an island challenge and earned his Z-Ring and crystal from Olivia.
• Opinion Flip Flop: It took one "DugLeo" concert to shift him from begrudgingly attending it while wearing a wig to worshipping it like a deity.
• Out of Focus: Zigzagged. He gets the least amount of central limelight episodes out of the five companions, though he is the most prominently used in supporting roles, with his team going through the most development after Ash's.
• Playing with Fire: Turtonator, Marowak, and Charizard are all part Fire-type, while the former two are both capable of using the Fire-type Z-Move, Inferno Overdrive. Kiawe's appearance reflects this, having black, flame-shaped hair with red highlights.
• Post-Final Boss: He challenges Ash to one final battle in the penultimate episode of Sun & Moon, in response to Ash's Manalo Conference win and subsequent victory over Professor Kukui/Tapu Koko in their climactic exhibition match.
• Properly Paranoid: While his concern for his sister Mimo can be over the top, there is a good chance someone as young as her could get hurt doing heavy farm work.
• Scissors Cuts Rock: He earned his Firium Z in a battle against Rock-type specialist Kahuna, Olivia, using his Fire-type Turtonator.
• Serious Business: Z-Crystals are this to him. When Ash loses his, everyone immediately starts to fear for his safety should Kiawe find out.
• Something We Forgot: One part of the Pancake Race involves pulling a wagon carrying a racer's partner (in Kiawe's case it's his massive Turtonator) uphill. Naturally, even if Kiawe proves to be the athletic one the burden was too much for him, and he falls behind. It wasn't until the post-race celebrations did Ash realize that Kiawe hasn't even finished the race.
• The Stoic: He's the least outwardly friendly, but he's not all that hostile either. And to a ridiculous degree, as he was hit by a flying Togedemaru in his face and it didn't faze him.
• Strong Family Resemblance: He and his father look exactly alike, aside from the latter wearing glasses, but both he and his sister share their mother's hairstyle.
• Team Dad: The oldest and most experienced and knowledgeable member of the team, having a stern, focused attitude to match. It was implied Kiawe had to protect the others solo from threats like Team Skull prior to Ash arriving.
• Theme Naming: His whole family (including himself) are named after different kinds of persimmons in Japanese.
• Twitchy Eye: He gets this reaction after taking a single bite of Mallow's electrified Mythical Alola Stew.
• Unwanted Assistance: Is on the receiving end of this from his little sister. Despite her young age, she is more than capable of doing work at the farm, but Kiawe is constantly paranoid of her getting hurt and overreacts anytime he sees her trying to help out, spurring this reaction from her.
• The Worf Effect: Despite being The Ace, he gets laid out pretty handily by Brock during their Kanto extracurricular class. Justified in that Brock is older and way more experienced, and Steelix had also gone Mega.
• Worthy Opponent: He sees both Ash and Gladion this way, especially after losing to the latter in the League.

Kiawe's Pokémon

Turtonator (Bakugames)

Voiced in Japanese by: Kenta Miyake

Voiced in English by: Marc Thompson

One of Kiawe's Pokémon.

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• Acrofatic: Though it was initially a Mighty Glacier, it is now surprisingly mobile, even without using Shell Smash.
• Action Bomb: Its Shell Trap ability causes its shell to explode if attacked, harming the attackers. The spikes will detonate when anything touches them. Harper and Sarah are told to be extra careful not to touch them when they both help wash his shell.
• All There in the Manual: Abiding by its downloadable form for the Generation 7 games, Turtonator's gender is male.
• Big Brother Instinct: Episodes such as SM123 firmly establish Turtonator's protectiveness towards the smaller Pokémon of the group, along with trying to keep peace between them and Marowak. He gains shades of Big Brother Mentor towards Vikavolt as the latter attempts to learn battle prowess.
• The Big Guy: Absolutely towers over the rest of the main cast's Pokémon, and is by far the strongest and most battle-experienced besides Pikachu.
• Canon Immigrant: Kiawe's Turtonator was made a downloadable character via certain promotional events for Pokémon Sun and Moon.
• Chest Blaster: Fires Focus Blast from the hole in its chest.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • A group of Team Skull grunts are on the receiving end of one from it in the very first episode, with Turtonator tanking attacks from six of their Pokémon at once and then using Inferno Overdrive to faint all nine of them.
  • Kiawe's first battle against Team Rocket, blasting them off instantly with Turtonator's Inferno Overdrive.
• Curb Stomp Cushion: Is on the receiving end of one against Brock's Steelix. Turtonator initially held its own rather decently, but in the end, the large gap in battle power became more and more obvious, to the point where a Mega-Evolved Steelix No Selled his Supereffective Z-move (though barely, as Brock notes).
• Face of a Thug: Despite its intimidating appearance, it seems a pretty friendly guy and isn't immune to playing along with the others. It welcomes the two newly hatched Vulpix to the team alongside its diminutive classmates.
• Hidden Depths: Turtonator has proven surprisingly nimble despite its bulky form. It was able to keep up with the other Pokémon and Lillie in a game of jump rope, for example, even performing an elegant pirouette.
• Kamehame Hadoken: Learns Focus Blast in SM135.
• Limit Break: It can use the Z-Move Inferno Overdrive.
• Mighty Glacier: Turtonator isn't fast, but its exploding shell punishes anyone that tries to attack it head-on and its Z-Move hits like a truck. Averted if it uses Shell Smash, as it's shown to be far faster after using it.
• Mundane Utility: Mallow and Ulu used Turtonator's Flamethrower to cook a recipe in SM072. Kiawe had previously done this in a Japanese Stinger, with less successful results.
• One of the Kids: Compared to most previous powerhouse Pokémon in the series, Turtonator frequently takes part in the playful moments with the other Pokémon, despite being at least five times the size of most of them.
• Playing with Fire: Is part Fire-type, and can use Shell Trap, Flamethrower, and the Z-Move Inferno Overdrive.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Calm but passionate Big Guy of the team, in contrast to Red Oni Marowak.
• Sneeze of Doom: Happens to it in SM030 while Harper & Sarah are playing on its back resulting in them being blackened by the resultant explosion.
• Tail Slap: Knows Dragon Tail.
• Took a Level in Badass: It was already depicted as a powerhouse early on, but after learning Shell Smash, it manages to bypass even its Mighty Glacier weakness.
• Undying Loyalty: Devoted to Kiawe and his family. When Mimo was targeted by a Thunder attack, Turtonator ran in front of it without command.
• The Worf Barrage: Manages to fire off a particularly intense Inferno Overdrive while battling Gladion's Silvally, only for Silvally to withstand it by inserting its Fire Memory Drive.

Alolan Marowak (Garagara)

Voiced in Japanese by: Fumiko Takekuma

Voiced in English by: Sam Black

Marowak first appeared when it stole the Wela Crown during a festival on Akala Island. After being defeated in battle by Turtonator, it decided to join Kiawe.

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• Adaptational Badass: Marowak in the games are fairly powerful, but have mediocre speed. Kiawe's, however, is a Lightning Bruiser and as agile and hyperactive as it is a powerhouse.
• Bad with the Bone: Knows Shadow Bone and Bonemerang.
• Battle Boomerang: His bone club works as this as if the attack name "Bonemerang" wasn't evident enough.
• Blood Knight: Loves to fight and picks fights with other Pokémon.
• Bullying a Dragon: As mentioned in Fearless Fool below, it likes picking fights with much bigger and terrifying Pokémon.
• Defeat Equals Friendship: One of the more acute cases of this. Kiawe was battling Marowak to get the Wela Crown back, not to capture him. Marowak was the one who offered to be Kiawe's Pokémon afterward, something Kiawe was surprised by, but quite welcome towards.
• Early-Bird Cameo: He takes the place of Totem Salazzle in the anime. It would later be revealed that Totem Salazzle was replaced by a Totem Marowak in Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon.
• Expy: He regularly picks fights with other Pokémon, seemingly seeing them as opponents and likes to use Headbutt a lot...sound similar to Ash's Scraggy?
• Extra-ore-dinary: It knows Iron Head.
• Fearless Fool: Likes picking fights with bigger, more terrifying Pokémon. It constantly pesters Turtonator, and once got the gang in trouble with a wild Onix during their trip to Kanto.
• Informed Attribute: His "Flare Blitz" is pretty clearly supposed to be Flame Wheel given that the move involves Marowak surrounding himself in fire and rolling into the opponent whereas Flare Blitz involves the Pokémon shooting at the opponent like a missile while cloaked in fire.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite its aggressive attitude, it loyally serves Kiawe after its capture, and has the occasional softer moment (it glomps Lillie like all the other Pokémon when her phobia is resolved and is shown playing with Ilima's Eevee for example).
• Keet: Compared to Turtonator, Marowak is quite hyperactive.
• Leeroy Jenkins: Will literally butt heads with anything that comes off as opposition. This compounded some teething problems mastering Inferno Overdrive at first since Marowak wouldn't stay still to synchronize with the already emotionally distracted Kiawe.
• Lightning Bruiser: He's pretty strong but also extremely agile and slippery. This gave Turtonator problems subduing it at first, especially since it was powered by the Wela Crown.
• Limit Break: It Can use the Fire-type Z-Move Inferno Overdrive.
• One of the Kids: Marowak is fully evolved but tends to act more like an Annoying Younger Sibling to Turtonator, and like him and Lycanroc, it frequently takes part in the class' fun and games.
• Playing with Fire: It's Fire-type and knows Flare Blitz. He also likes to spin his bone staff while it's on fire, much like a Hawaiian fire dancer. As of SM070 Marowak can also use the Z-Move Inferno Overdrive.
• Promotion to Opening Titles: In the Japanese version, it is added to the opening in the second version of "Alola!!"
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Reckless and aggressive Keet, in contrast to Blue Oni Turtonator.
• Soul Power: Its secondary type is Ghost, and it knows Shadow Bone.
• Sore Loser: It hates losing and often doesn't take it well. It even attacked Kiawe just because he lost to Brock.
• Took a Level in Badass: Masters Inferno Overdrive in SM070, making both of Kiawe's battle Pokémon Z-Move capable.
• Use Your Head: It knows Headbutt and Iron Head, two attacks that require to use its head.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Immediately after Kiawe catches it, Marowak starts trying to headbutt Turtonator. It may have submitted to Kiawe, but it still has a bone to pick with Turtonator.

Charizard (Lizardon)

Voiced by: Unshō Ishizuka (SM001-SM105), Toru Sakurai (SM106-present)

Kiawe's Ride Pokémon. It was once the partner of his late grandfather, the previous Kahuna of Akala Island before Olivia.

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• Ascended Extra: It starts off a very minor character and more a utility than one of the main group in early episodes, though from SM086 onwards it slowly gets more character moments, finalised by Kiawe using it in Tapu Fini's trial to earn Flyinium Z in SM107 and making it an official battler in his team.
• Cool Old Guy: Given it is established that this Charizard was a Pokémon that Kiawe's grandfather used for battles as a Kahuna, Charizard counts as this.
• Flying Firepower: As a Charizard, it can both fly and breathe fire.
• Limit Break: In SM107, Kiawe obtains the Flyinium Z from Tapu Fini, enabling Charizard to use the Flying type Z-Move, Supersonic Skystrike.
• Mandatory Unretirement: Though Charizard itself doesn't seem to mind going into action, Kiawe preferred utilising Turtonator and Marowak for battling purposes initially, only using Charizard as a Ride Pokémon. After they are both captured by Tapu Fini however, he is forced to utilise Charizard in its Secret Test of Character. Charizard's reliability and the reward of Flyium-Z is enough to convince Kiawe to put it in his main battle team full time.
• Mundane Utility: Kiawe uses it to make deliveries and travel to and from school.
• Non-Standard Character Design: Its wings are noticeably tattered, which may be due to its age. RotomDex notes in both Japanese and English versions that it is very elderly.
• Non-Action Guy: At first, Kiawe rarely used it in battle, only as a Ride Pokémon. However, it did help out in the battle against Palossand in episode 22 by teaming up with Turtonator, blasting Palossand with a double Flamethrower. It also sometimes helped with training or as a search party in emergencies. It sees more action later in the series, with Kiawe even using it against Sophocles in the League.
• One of the Kids: Not initially, though it starts being seen hanging out with the group's Pokémon more routinely later on to solidify its unretirement.
• Playing with Fire: Knows Flamethrower and Fire Punch.
• Retired Badass: It was once the partner Pokémon of Kiawe's late grandfather; the retired part is implied by the fact that Kiawe rarely uses it in battle until late in the series. Whenever it is forced to use its strength however, it's still a force to be reckoned with, able to defeat Sophocles' Vikavolt and nearly fight Ash's Lycanroc to a draw.
• Took a Level in Badass: Becomes able to use the Flying Z-Move Supersonic Skystrike in SM107.
• Wolverine Claws: Knows Slash.

Mallow (Mao)

Voiced in Japanese by: Reina Ueda

Voiced in English by: Rebecca Soler (credited as Jessica Paquet), Emily Cramer (Journeys)

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Araceli Romero

The daughter of the owners of a local restaurant.

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• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: This Mallow is more somber, and slightly more emotional than she was in the games. She even ends up crying hysterically, when she ran into her deceased mother's spirit.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Mallow is generally the most laid back and approachable of the students, but can be ticked off. Hard. Her first two battles with Team Rocket ended with Bewear having to save the trio from an Extreme Mêlée Revenge via her Steenee, and she has made bluntly clear even to her father that she won't do work without the proper appreciation.
• The Bus Came Back: She returns in That New Old Gang of Mine!.
• Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: Should Lana start telling far-fetched tales, it's usually Mallow's job to bring her back to earth, though lately, even Mallow herself tends to fall for them.
• Cool Big Sis: Plays this role towards Lillie and Lana.
• Childhood Friends: Tasting the Bitter with the Sweet! reveals that she and Lana met then became the best of friends when they were small, well before they enrolled in the school.
• Cordon Bleugh Chef: She likes to try some unusual experiments with her cooking, such as having Pikachu use Thunderbolt on her stew in order to capture the taste of electricity. She succeeds.
• Curtains Match the Window: Green eyes and hair.
• Cuteness Proximity: She gets giant hearts in her eyes when she sees Jigglypuff, unaware of its history with Ash.
  Mallow: IT'S SO CUTE!!!
• A Day in the Limelight: SM018 has her going on a journey with Ash to find nectar to make a legendary stew. SM039 also focuses on her business relationship with her father.
• Determinator:
  • Mallow won't give up on finding a signature dish for her families restaurant. Although in A Recipe for Success!, Mallow had self doubts but overcame them through Tsareena, Shaymin and Oranguru encouragement as they not only gave her the strength to do just that but also grew more confident in her ability to cook.
  • In Battling Besties!, Mallow was struggling in her battle with Lana at the Pokémon League as she was hesitating to fight her best friend and was concerned about Tsareena, even going to the point of forfeiting. However, seeing Tsareena's determination and hearing Lana's words of encouragement, Mallow decided to not give up on the battle as their actions not only helped her become more confident in battling but also perfected her Z-Moves as she fully became in sync with her partner.
• Drowning My Sorrows: A G-rated example. In SM039, she gets overwhelmed by work at her family's restaurant that she ends up running off and falls down a hill. She ends up in a small hut that serves as a kind of bar that's "manned" by an Oranguru who is talented in mixing drinks. She has a few of these (non-alcoholic) drinks while talking to it about her frustrations.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Storms off after getting overworked at the restaurant, later admitting to Oranguru that she wants at least a bit of appreciation for what she does. When her father Abe finally gives her a thank you, she tearfully apologizes for her behavior.
• Everyone Has Standards: Mallow has had Tsareena deliver Meowth some of his most merciless beatings for bothering them throughout the series. Being the romantic sort, however, when Pheromosa manipulates a lovestruck Meowth for Z-Crystals and then breaks his heart, they are more vocally disgusted than anyone else.
• Forgiveness: Mallow snapped at her mother before she passed away when she was younger but quickly regretted for losing her temper because those were the last words she said to her. In Memories Made in the Mist!, Mallow didn't want to face her mother because of her actions but deep down did want to see her as she truly wanted to make amends with her and ended up getting that chance as she forgives her. Mallow even forgave herself for her past actions.
• Genki Girl: Downplayed. She is fairly relaxed most of the time but is a lot more energetic and extroverted compared to Lana and Lillie's more quiet dispositions. It was a lot more prominent in her childhood memories where she practically dragged Lana around.
• Good Is Not Soft: Her beatdown on Team Rocket in SM018 was possibly one of the most brutal they'd suffered (and that's saying something), having Steenee Double Slap them to a pulp, and still going as they tried to weakly crawl away. After they try to get some payback at a very inappropriate time in SM039, Bewear has to cut an infuriated Mallow short of giving them an even worse dose.
• Green Thumb: Seems to have a preference for Grass-types. Tsareena and Shaymin are both dual Grass-types with former equipped with the Grassium-Z Move, Bloom Doom.
• Hard Work Hardly Works: She is arguably the most stagnant trainer of the six students, though she is the first to not only have fully evolved her signature Pokémon but have a mythical Pokémon in her possession. Downplayed since her lack of experience comes back to haunt her in the Alola League, where she is the first to be eliminated.
• Lethal Chef: Subverted. Mallow is a good cook but likes to try out some odd and potentially dangerous experiments when she cooks, such as having Pikachu use Thunderbolt on a stew. When she feeds it to Ash and the other classmates, it shocks them as if they had been hit by an actual Thunderbolt.
• Let's See YOU Do Better!: She chastises Ash for struggling to learn Bloom Doom when he first obtains it. Rather ironically, when Mallow herself gets a Grassium-Z, her and Tsareena have teething problems synchronising as well.
• Male Gaze: Her butt tends to get a lot of attention in a few scenes such as when she's riding down the slide in the first opening◊, when she's riding a Tauros in SM001◊, while standing on Ash's shoulder while looking into a hole in a tall tree in SM018◊, after getting scared along with Lillie by Lana's scary story in SM029◊, searching under a table looking for Nebby in SM048◊, and after the group is blasted out of Team Rocket's pitfall trap thanks to Ash accidentally triggerng Turtonator's Shell Trap SM062◊.
• The Medic: Not as often as Lillie, but sometimes plays this role. Upon having Shaymin under her care, she can also use its Aromatherapy to cure the students' Pokémon of battle conditions.
• Missing Mom: She's notably the only member of the class whose mother has not yet appeared. Ash and Lillie's mothers have appeared, and both parents of Kiawe, Lana, and Sophocles have appeared, but in Mallow's case, only her father has appeared. It is later revealed that her mother passed away from an unspecified illness when she was little.
• Ms. Exposition: She guides Ash around the Pokémon School, thinking that he's a new student. Ash tries to correct her, but by the end of the episode he does end up enrolling there.
• Ms. Fanservice: The tallest of the three S&M girls and is also notably curvier than them. Her overall outfit is not far-off from Misty's (the original Ms. Fanservice among Ash's female companions), and her derriere frequently gets focused for some reason.
• Mundane Utility: She's not as pronounced in training her Pokémon as the other students, their most prominent role under Mallow is serving as waiters in her restaurant. This is especially jarring with Shaymin, a mythical Pokémon that can revive dead terrain and cure sicknesses.
• Nice Girl: Gladly shows Ash around the school, arranges a surprise party for him and is generally pleasant to everyone.
• Not So Above It All: Mallow is the most grounded and rational of the group to go with her Team Mom status, but even she has her share of whimsical moments, most notably her Cordon Bleugh Chef tendencies. She also finds Olivia's ditzy behavior to be "awesome", while the rest of the group find it weird. It's also shown that she can get frustrated with her dad at times. In SM068, she was the one with the idea to apply makeup to Ash and make him look like a girl all while sporting a killer Playful Cat Smile.
• Out of Focus: It took until SM039 for her to get her own focus episode, and didn't have another until SM108. For comparison, all of the other classmates had received one focus episode each by SM011. To balance this out, she appears more regularly in supporting roles than the other classmates, but even then, her contributions tend to be relatively minor. Downplayed in the Ultra Legends season where she starts to gain more development.
• Parting-Words Regret: She heavily regrets that her last words to her mother before her passing were that she hated her for apologizing all the time about getting sick. When Tapu Fini lets them see each other again, Mallow's mom encourages them both to turn the regret both had at their last exchange into gratitude for being there when she was alive.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: As children, she was far more outgoing than Lana.
• The Runaway: In Mallow and the Forest Teacher! after being overworked.
• Team Chef: Like Brock, Cilan, and Clemont before her. Justified in that her family runs a restaurant.
• Team Mom: She is encouraging and hospitable to everyone else, and makes sure that the entire group is well fed. She is especially caring towards Lillie, being the one who suggests that Lillie should take care of the Pokémon egg Samson assigned to the class, as a way to help Lillie get over her fear. She also chides Sophocles when he makes snide comments and is quick to call Lana out when she is telling one of her Blatant Lies. In SM044, she is able to calm down a crying Nebby.
• Tears of Remorse: In "Memories in the Mist!", she cries as she admits to Lana her hateful last words to her late mother as a little girl. Later in the episode, when her mother's spirit appears before her, Mallow has a complete breakdown and cries into her chest, apologizing.
• Took a Level in Badass: Receives a Grassium Z and a Z-Ring in SM121.
• Town Girls: The butch to Lana's neither and Lillie's femme.
• Voice for the Voiceless: Much like how Iris voiced Zorua posing as a princess for a movie back in Unova due to Pokémon Speak, Mallow speaks as Queen Tsareena in "Lillier and the Staff".

Mallow's Pokémon

Bounsweet-Steenee-Tsareena (Amakaji-Amamaiko-Amajo)

Voiced in Japanese by: Chika Fujimura

Voiced in English by: Alyson Leigh Rosenfeld

Mallow's first Pokémon.

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• Adaptational Nice Guy: Sort of. Tsareena's are noted in bios as being derisive and short-fused towards trainers that don't battle efficiently with them. Mallow's has an aloof streak and pushes on during her league battle despite Mallow recalling her, but is still thoroughly sympathetic towards her trainer and her previous inability to sync their Z-Move.
• Badass Adorable: Team Rocket immediately comment on how cute she is once she evolves into Steenee. This is followed by them learning that she is also capable of beating them up singlehandedly.
• Canon Immigrant: Mallow's Steenee was made a downloadable character via certain promotional events for Pokémon Sun and Moon.
• Chekhov's Skill: Rowlet's affinity for her Sweet Scent comes in handy when Lusamine's possessed Lilligant distracts it with the same move. Rowlet is then willingly kicked by Steenee to perform a Fastball Special.
• Cool Big Sis: Is sometimes shown carrying or looking after Shaymin in Mallow's absence. When it is Shaymin's time to leave, Tsareena is visibly tearing up.
• Cute Bruiser: She's stronger than she looks, effortlessly fending off Rowlet repeatedly when it kept attacking her because it had mistaken her for an actual fruit. This is ramped up exponentially when she evolves into Steenee—immediately after her evolution, she single-handedly beat Team Rocket into bloody pulps!
• Disaster Dominoes:
  • Bounsweet tripping during the Pancake Race in SM013 causes a chain reaction that causes her, Jessie's Mimikyu and Lana's Popplio to be eliminated from the race (though also foils Mimikyu's attempt to attack Pikachu as a consolation).
  • Her sneezing in SM016 starts another one that ends with Rowlet and Popplio being sent flying inside one of Popplio's balloons, causing the starter Pokémon to become separated from their trainers.
• Fastball Special: During the operation to rescue Lusamine, Steenee weaponizes Rowlet's attraction to her with a move Lana calls "Sure-Kill Mokushoot", or "Rowlaunch" in the English dub. She uses Sweet Scent, then knocks Rowlet away, and he uses Peck from that.
  • When Steenee evolves into Tsareena, Lana redubs the move as "Neo Sure-Kill Mokushoot".
• Genki Girl: As a Bounsweet and Steenee, she was a very energetic Pokémon who, true to her species, was always bouncing and happily interacting with other Pokémon. As a Tsareena, she grows out of this personality.
• Glass Cannon: Despite seldom battling, Tsareena has pretty powerful attacks even as a Steenee, and could very easily pummel the likes of Team Rocket's Meowth and Persie without them even able to scratch her. In the league however, her inexperience with actually taking damage rears, and she is outclassed in a match against Lana's Primarina, who despite type disadvantage, had counters against all her best attacks.
• Green Thumb: Is Grass-type and learns Magical Leaf upon evolving into Steenee, and Trop Kick upon evolving into Tsareena. She can also use the Grass-type Z-Move Bloom Doom.
• Hard Work Hardly Works: Mallow's training of Tsareena throughout the series amounts to one single practice spar against Misty. She was the first Pokémon on the team to fully evolve^note Ride Pokémon aside and has most of her species' signature moves. Subverted in the league however, where Mallow is rather easily eliminated by Lana due to lack of training or battle experience, with even Bloom Doom, the one technique she did train for, unable to save her.
• Heli-Critter: As a Bounsweet, she could spin the leaves on her head to knock back attackers, first demonstrated on Rowlet. It doesn't grant her flight, but she can hover up short distances.
• Kick Chick: Learns Stomp in SM082, triggering her Evolution into Tsareena, learning Trop Kick afterward.
• Lady of War: After evolving into Tsareena, her personality changes to this.
• Limit Break: She can use the Grass-type Z-Move Bloom Doom.
• Mundane Utility: When staying with Sophocles in SM030, Steenee uses her sweet aroma to help him get a good night's rest since he can't sleep without a nightlight usually provided by Togedemaru.
• Parrot Pet Position: Bounsweet hangs out on Mallow's shoulder most of the time. As Steenee, she's too big for that to work anymore.^note She does, however, hang tiredly onto her trainer's shoulders in the End-of-Episode Silliness of her evolution episode.
• Pimped-Out Dress: Wears one as Queen Tsareena in "Lillier and the Staff".
• Reflexive Response: In SM016, Rowlet charges at Bounsweet after she accidentally startles it awake with Sweet Scent. Bounsweet, remembering the latter's earlier attempts to eat her, quickly whops it with her leaves, accidentally setting off the episode's plot.
• Strong as They Need to Be: In their first face-off, Steenee effortlessly beat all of the Team Rocket trio to a pulp after evolving. The second time around, they kidnap her rather easily, and she needs assistance to land even a single hit on Meowth. In the Ultra Space climax, things take the middle ground, with her pulling her own weight but relying on teamwork from Rowlet due to the power difference.
• Took a Level in Badass: Upon evolving into Steenee, and later Tsareena, she makes short work of Team Rocket both times.
• Transformation Sequence: Bounsweet's evolution, the first one to be shown in the Sun and Moon saga, looks straight out of a Magical Girl series. Also seen when Steenee evolves into Tsareena.
• Tsundere: As a Tsareena, she is far more aloof and quiet, though still shows her soft side around Mallow and Shaymin.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: The poor thing practiced so hard for the Pokémon Pancake Race, only to be eliminated rather early in.

Shaymin

Voiced in English by: Lori Phillips

A Pokémon that finds Mallow after she reconciles with the spirit of her late mother. Mallow decides to care for it until it can change into its Sky Form and look after itself.

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• Antidote Effect: Knows Aromatherapy, which it uses to cure the student's Pokémon whenever they fall victim to poison attacks.
• But Now I Must Go: After Ulu brings home a Gracidea Flower, Shaymin transforms into its Sky Forme and departs with a flock of others.
• Cowardly Lion: Is extremely demure, and intimidated towards battling, though will put its well being on the line for Mallow and Sandy.
• Determinator: Has a close enough bond with Mallow that when her hairband is swept in the wind, it doesn't let its small size keep it from trying to get it back.
• Green Thumb: A Grass type. Also knows the Grass-type healing move, Aromatherapy.
• Guest-Star Party Member: Though technically not captured by Mallow, it has no qualms representing her in her personal agendas, helping in the restaurant and even battling for her in the Manalo Conference, making it the first wild Pokémon to take part in a league.
• Non-Standard Character Design: Even in Sky Forme, Mallow's Shaymin maintains docile eyes with feminine lashes, compared to the usual furrowed expression most Sky Forme Shaymin have. They also happen to be similar to the eyes of Mallow's mom.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Shaymin managed to qualify Mallow into the second round of the Alola League, apparently defeating a fair helping of Pokémon in the first round with Sandy's help, though we see only the aftermath.
• Olympus Mons: While not officially captured by Mallow, Shaymin is succinctly loyal to her and follows her orders, making it one of three Mythical/Legendary tier Pokémon to fight for a trainer in the Alola league.
• Out of Focus: Thus far SM117 is Shaymin's only limelight episode since it first appeared, with Mallow only sporadically using it otherwise.
• Physical God: Being a mythical Pokémon that can restore land does not escape Rotom or Team Rocket's notice.
• Reincarnation: Its Non-Standard Character Design in Sky Forme implies it may have been reincarnated from Mallow's late mother.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Possibly due to Shaymin not being Alola native, almost no one besides Rotom and Team Rocket pays exceptional attention to the fact that Mallow has a mythical Pokémon in her possession.

Lana (Suiren)

Voiced in Japanese by: Hitomi Kikuchi

Voiced in English by: Rosie Reyes

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Pamela Cruz

Ash first runs into her while she is fishing a Bruxish out of the sea, meeting her formally at school later. Her primary Pokémon is a Popplio, but also has a Lapras who serves as her ride Pokémon in the sea.

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• The Ace: Lana is showed as very proficient not only about swimming and fishing, but also in sports and even ninjutsu (or the close equivalent). She is also generally treated as fluent in battling with barely any of the same training or trial and error Ash or Kiawe required.
• Beware the Nice Ones:
  • When she sees Team Skull bullying a wild Popplio during a flashback, she has her Lapras freeze them all while she escapes with it.
  • She also delivers a pretty nasty Death Glare, complete with a This Is Unforgivable!, to Team Rocket after saving a bunch of Ride Pokémon that they attempted to steal, followed by her having Popplio handily deflect their own attacks back onto them.
• Beware the Quiet Ones: Soft-spoken and somewhat withdrawn, but do not mistreat Water Pokémon in front of her if you know what's good for you.
• Big Eater: A downplayed example because it's never given any attention. Whenever eating out with her peers, Lana's portions tend to be noticeably larger than the others.
• The Big Guy: Lana's the Pint-Sized Powerhouse of the core six with strong physical skills thanks to her fishing skills, love for macho and intense training with Popplio, and the most developed in Pokémon battles behind Ash and Kiawe.
• Blatant Lies: The preview for SM005 has her claim that she once reeled in a red Gyarados. This trait is picked up from her mother, who playfully lies to Harper and Sarah.
• The Bus Came Back: In That New Old Gang of Mine!, she is the first of Ash's classmates to meet Goh by fishing him out of the ocean.
• Cassandra Truth: Her claim about hooking a Kyogre in The One That Didn't Get Away! is naturally met with skepticism (particularly when she's known for lying like this)... until she shows off her newly evolved Primarina.
• Childhood Friends: Tasting the Bitter with the Sweet! reveals that she and Mallow met and became friends when they were small before they enrolled in the school.
• Cool Big Sis: To Harper and Sarah, as much as they get on her nerves at times.
• Covert Pervert: Shows shades of this towards muscular characters such as Buzzwole, the Masked Royal, and his Incineroar; she starts blushing and gets sparkly-eyed.
• Curb Stomp Cushion: Guzma consistently has the upper hand in their League match, but she does pull off a few strategies of her own, having her Primarina freeze Golisopod's feet and countering Pin Missile with Surf.
• Curtains Match the Window: Blue eyes and hair.
• A Day in the Limelight: Gets a lot of focus in regards to her backstory and personality in SM005. SM032 and SM033 have her obtain her Z-Ring and face a Totem Wishiwashi for a Waterium Z.
• Death Glare: Gives one to Team Rocket after saving a bunch of ride Pokémon that they attempted to steal.
• Determinator:
  • In Big Sky, Small Fry!, despite Primarina, as Popplio, being too scared to battle Totem Wishiwashi, Lana refused to give up in trying to reel it as her actions inspired her partner to not give up either.
  • In The One That Didn't Get Away!, Lana didn't give up on reel in and helping the legendary Kyogre, after it was poised and chased by Pokémon hunters.
• The Gadfly: Is the closest thing the group has to a class clown. While she is usually soft-spoken, Lana is prone to saying outrageous statements and doing ridiculous things to get a rise out of her friends. SM099 later reveals it runs in the family with her mother indulging in the same behavior.
• Girlish Pigtails: Temporarily in episode 113 in her "Magical Girl form".
• Graceful Loser: After she loses to Guzma, Mallow, Lillie, and Sophocles are indignant on her behalf due to Guzma's brutal strategies, but she calmly points out that Guzma didn't break any rules, and that she will use the loss as motivation to become a stronger trainer.
• He Is Not My Boyfriend: Her reaction when her sisters tease her about bringing Ash to their home for the first time.
• Making a Splash: She loves the sea, and all of her known Pokémon so far are either Water-type — a Popplio and a Lapras that serves as her Ride Pokémon — or loves the water, like her Eevee who traveled by sea and picked up Mantine Surf. She also obtains both Hydro Vortex and Oceanic Operetta, both Water themed Z-moves.
• Mama Bear: She is very protective of Water-type Pokémon, especially her Primarina. Also, Lana has shown to protective of Sandy, Eevee, as well.
• Muscles Are Meaningless: Despite her thin frame, she has strength, much to Kiawe's shock.
• Older Than They Look: Is around the same age as Mallow, but looks a lot younger.
• The Quiet One: Generally the quietest of the class, and speaks softly when she does talk.
• Parody Sue: Oh let's see... Instantly caught a Feebas when challenged to by the Fishing Guru, casually beat Kiawe's impressive vaulting record without breaking a sweat and remarking that she felt totally capable of jumping even higher, effortlessly hitting bulls-eye in the shuriken-tossing challenge in the Gym of Kanto... Chances are, if the class is doing some sort of random filler activity, she will be the best at it out of everyone.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Her love for fishing has given her a surprising amount of upper body strength. In SM028, she hits Kiawe's Inferno Overdrive pitch and sends it far out of the school, leaving Kiawe in complete disbelief. This is further demonstrated when she manages to keep Totem Wishiwashi hooked in SM033. Later episodes show she is one the more athletic members of the cast when she outdoes Kiawe in gymnastics.
• Pre-Meeting: The first of the Alola crew to informally meet Ash; he ran into her when he was riding a Sharpedo while she was fishing a Bruxish out of the sea.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: As children, she was far less outgoing than Mallow.
• School Swimsuit: She wears one under her everyday clothes. During the Beach Episode, she has no inhibitions about ditching her clothes to reveal her swimsuit.
• Ship Tease: She mostly spend her times with Ash which lead into He Is Not My Boyfriend like in SM005, her twin sisters tease her about if Ash was her boyfriend which she quickly denied while breaking out into a Luminescent Blush. This happens again, this time by Island Kahuna Olivia in SM033 who asks her if she is going on a fishing date with Ash which she clears up is not the case, once again breaking into the same blushed face. Happens again in SM082, where Harper and Sarah once again tease her about Ash being her boyfriend before the start of the Alolan Hula.
• Shy Blue-Haired Girl: Downplayed. She generally has no problem socializing with the others, but she is less outgoing than Mallow and gets a bit flustered at first when she is asked to lead the class' fishing lesson. SM059 reveals that Lana was very shy when she was little and that Mallow was the first girl she ever warmed up to.
• "Silly Me" Gesture: She sticks her tongue out when she lies, accompanied by this gesture from time to time.
• Strong Family Resemblance: She and her little sisters get their looks from their mother, who looks like an older Lana with darker hair.
• Took a Level in Badass: The third of the Pokémon School class to earn a Z-Ring when her Ride Stoutland in SM032 found a Sparkling Stone. The next episode, she earns a Waterium Z from a Totem Wishiwashi.
• Token Mini-Moe: She's the shortest and youngest-looking of the three girls, and the second shortest member of the class overall, with only Sophocles being shorter.
• Town Girls: The neither to Mallow's butch and Lillie's femme.
• Tranquil Fury: Whenever she's angry or her Berserk Button has been pushed, she doesn't yell or get loud; she remains eerily calm while delivering a very chilling Death Glare... and proceeding to hand the offenders their backsides by whatever means available.
• The Trickster: She has a mischievous streak and will casually tell Blatant Lies just to mess with others, such as when she informs her classmates that they have a chance of fishing up a Kyogre. When she hosts the Poké Problem segment in SM005, she initially tells the audience that Popplio is a Fire-type before revealing the actual correct answer.
• Uncanny Family Resemblance: Her younger twin siblings look like mini clones of her.
• The Worf Effect: Despite being one of the more competent battlers in the class, she is brutally defeated by Guzma in the League to further demonstrate how much of a threat he is.

Lana's Pokémon

Popplio-Brionne-Primarina (Ashimari-Osyamari-Ashirene)

Voiced in Japanese by: Rikako Aikawa (Ashimari), Risa Shimizu (Osyamari and Ashirene)

Voiced in English by: Eileen Stevens (SM001-SM062), Laurie Hymes (SM063-present)

A Pokémon belonging to Lana. It later evolves into Brionne and then Primarina.

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• Beware the Nice Ones: Popplio is usually cheerful and affectionate, but its patience is quickly exhausted by Rowlet's dozy antics when the two are separated from their trainers. It even smacks Rowlet awake after the latter continuously nods off during inappropriate times, and later trolls Rowlet by trapping it in a bubble and leaving it to float on the canal.
• Beyond the Impossible: It can make bubbles way bigger than a Popplio normally can, though making them stable is another issue. Lampshaded by the RotomDex:
  RotomDex: It won't work! It's already 150% bigger than the normal size-roto!
• Bubble Gun: Popplio's battle style. Its ability to make very large durable bubbles that can hold attack projectiles or even whole Pokémon makes it a more effective example than usual though.
• Character Tics: It claps when it's happy.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: To Ash's Greninja. Prior to Goh's Inteleon, Greninja and Primarina were the only Water type starters owned by a main character to fully evolve:
  • They both had a tragic backstory before being caught by Ash and Lana, but while Froakie was attacked by other Froakie's due to it spending more time training than socializing, Popplio was bullied by Team Skull grunts before Lana intervened.
  • Both also won against a Grass type Pokémon (Sawyer's Sceptile and Mallow's Tsareena) before getting eliminated the next round of the league (Greninja due to The Worf Barrage in the Finals vs Alain's Charizard and Primarina due to The Worf Effect in the Quarterfinals vs Guzma's Golisopod).
  • They also have a move or ability that is exclusive to them: Greninja has the Bond Phenomenon, which grants the ability to turn into a form similar to Mega Evolution while Primarina utilizes the Primarium Z, which can be used to execute Oceanic Operetta.
  • Greninja is also released by Ash so that it can help protect Kalos while Primarina remains under Lana's ownership.
• Cuddle Bug: Enjoys being picked up/carried around by Lana in the manner of a lap-dog. Also unhesitatingly cuddles up on Lillie's lap.
• Cute Little Fangs: As Brionne and Primarina.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Popplio was the victim of the tormenting of several Team Skull Grunts before Lana stepped in and rescued it. Because Lana didn't want Popplio to start disliking humans, she chose it as her partner Pokémon.
• Girliness Upgrade: As it evolves, Popplio gets increasingly more feminine looking.
• Grew a Spine: Popplio stands up to Team Skull in We Know Where You're Going, Eevee!, wanting to protect her best friend, Sandy.
• Kill It with Water: Especially once Popplio learns Surf. Not only does it summon a tsunami, but she can ride the resulting waves.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: It's not shown using any actual Pokémon moves until SM016, in which it is revealed that it can actually use Bubble Beam pretty effectively, in addition to using the regular bubbles it blows out of its nose as improvised attacks. It learns Aqua Jet and finally masters the Z-Move Hydro Vortex under similar heated circumstances to protect its trainer. Taken a step further when it learns Surf in a battle to protect its Eevee friend from Team Skull.
• Limit Break: After Lana gets a Z-Ring and Waterium Z, Popplio can perform Hydro Vortex. As a Primarina, It can use Oceanic Operetta.
• Making a Splash: A Water-type Pokémon that knows Bubble Beam, Aqua Jet, and Surf, as well as having access to the water-type Z-Move Hydro Vortex. As a Primarina it can use its signature Z-Move Oceanic Operetta.
• Precious Puppy: In the anime, its vocalizations sound like the yapping of a small dog (or rather, a seal pup).
• Pet the Dog: Lana's act in saving it, taking care of it when it was recovering, and making it her Pokémon can be seen as this towards Popplio's initial reception when the Sun and Moon starters were revealed and a representation of the Popplio Defense Squad.
• Signature Mon: Lana's main Pokémon partner, serving as her walking companion. When it evolves all the way to Primarina, it loses its walking companion status to Eevee, but still remains as Lana's signature powerhouse, especially with Lana have an exclusive Waterium Z at hand.
• Snot Bubble: Popplio's bubbles are conveyed as blowing out its nose.
• Straight Man and Wise Guy:
  • Popplio is the Straight Man to Rowlet's Wise Guy. Popplio gets annoyed with Rowlet whenever it sleeps at inappropriate times and tries to get Rowlet to focus.
  • It later plays the Straight Man to its team mate Sandy's Wise Guy, who is hyperactive and air headed, with Popplio desperately trying to keep it out of trouble.
• Surfer Dude: Once it learns Surf. One particularly funny scene in SM099 has Popplio and Sandy riding on the former's Surf, with Popplio having a Badass Arm-Fold.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • While it was understandably very scared of Totem Wishiwashi, Popplio puts that aside once it sees Lana in danger and learns Aqua Jet to defeat Wishiwashi.
  • Following this and earning Waterium Z, Popplio trained for and, despite some teething problems, managed to master the Z Move, Hydro Vortex.
  • Come SM099 and it learns Surf, using it to summon a tidal wave that blocks off Team Skull's Pokémon's attacks and serves as a platform for it and Sandy to ride on.
  • In SM106, as Ida and Kanoa are about to leave, Popplio shows off the results of its training with Ida's Primarina, evolving into a Brionne and making one giant, impressive bubble.
  • Brionne evolves into a Primarina itself in SM120 and uses its voice to calm down a raging Kyogre.
• The Worf Effect: It gets a unnerving beatdown from Guzma's Golisopod in the quarter finals of the Alola league, due to Guzma anticipating most of Lana's techniques and neutralising them before they can apply damage, even countering her Z-Move Oceanic Operetta.

Eevee/"Sandy" (Eievui/"Nagisa")

Original Appearance

Haircut Appearance

Voiced in Japanese by: Wakana Kingyo

Voiced in English by: Erica Schroeder

A wild Eevee who is the focus character of the Eevee, Where are You Going? segments. It is later caught by Lana and nicknamed Sandy.

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• Badass Adorable: Unfailingly chipper and adorable, and its first shown usage of Double-Edge causes Team Skull to explode and go sailing off into the horizon. They almost collide with Kiawe as he's flying around on his Charizard.
• Bait-and-Switch: See Expy below; many fans thought that Eevee was going to be captured by Ash. Instead, it's Lana who takes it in instead.
• Big Eater: In the first segment, it helps itself to a Houndour's food (which kickstarted its journey to Alola). When it makes it to Alola, it notices a bunch of Nanab Berry trees and proceeds to headbutt it in excitement over the berries. The fifth segment opens with it waking up and finishing a bunch of berries it gathered.
• Big Fancy House: Lana catches it in a Dive Ball.
• Big Guy, Little Guy: With the Mantine that rescued and befriended it.
• Blush Stickers: In its happier moments, Sandy can show these off.
• Butt-Monkey: The poor thing just can't catch a break. Across its debut segments it gets chased by a Houndour onto a ship, knocked overboard and almost Lost at Sea, then winds up in Alola and gets slugged for being a little too curious about a Pyukumuku.
• Dangerous Forbidden Technique: Knows Double-Edge, though its first shown usage doesn't result in an injury more severe than a comically-large head bump.
• Expy: With its general bad luck and Big Eater tendencies, this Eevee may as well be Ash in Pokémon form...Which makes it unexpected when it forms a bond with Popplio and Lana catches it.
• Foreshadowing: Its quick adeptness to Mantine Surf and its interaction with Wingull, Mantine, Wimpod and Pyukumuku may have been a hint to its future Trainer's element of Water.
• Keet: It's extremely excitable and its greeting to most new people is to cheerfully tackle them head-on. Most of the gang's Pokémon get knocked around when they first meet (except Turtonator), but they've adjusted by their second encounter.
• Little Stowaway: Boards a ship to escape a Houndour it angered by eating its food. Ultimately subverted because...
• Look Both Ways: Nearly gets run over by a car in Malie City before Shaymin pushes it out of the way.
• Lost at Sea: It accidentally gets tossed overboard, courtesy of a passing Wailord. Fortunately, a passing Mantine picks it up and offers it a ride to land.
• Meaningful Rename: Its nickname Nagisa means "shore" in Japanese — which is exactly where Lana met and caught it. Its English name, "Sandy" retains more or less the same meaning.
• Non-Standard Character Design: This Eevee has bangs and a scruffy mane, giving it an unkempt appearance compared to other Eevee. Lana later trims it, though it keeps a distinct style.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Sandy managed to qualify Lana into the second round of the Alola League, apparently defeating a fair helping of Pokémon in the first round with Shaymin's help, though we see only the aftermath.
• Out of Focus: Despite the fanfare introduction with its own separate shorts, Sandy hasn't done much since being captured by Lana. SM117 is its only central role episode since then, and even that is shared with Shaymin and Meltan.
• Product Placement: Easily the most obvious example seen in the anime when it comes to promoting the Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! video games. This Eevee was special enough to have its own little 6-part mini arc detailing its arrival to the Alolan Islands around the same time as the Let's Go games were released in real life. It's also the only Eevee ever seen that happened to be in dire need of a hair-cut, which is a mechanic first introduced in the Let's Go games.
• Use Your Head: The way it usually greets people and Pokémon alike is by headbutting them, which can sometimes get it into trouble.
• Vocal Evolution: In the dub it first sounded like a typical Eevee, but after a couple of shorts its voice starts to reflect the spunkiness Sandy is known for.

Lapras (Laplace)

Lana's ride Pokémon.

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• An Ice Person: Is part Ice-type and knows Ice Beam, which it uses to freeze a group of Team Skull grunts who were harassing Popplio.
• Making a Splash: Part Water-type.
• Out of Focus: It has been seldom used since the first season, and even then only made sporadic appearances, with a Dragonair taking over as Lana's ride Pokémon during Ultra Guardian missions. It is also the only one of the main group's current Pokémon not to be used in the Alola league.

Sophocles (Mamane)

Voiced in Japanese by: Fumiko Takekuma

Voiced in English by: Alyson Leigh Rosenfeld

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Karla Vega

The smart guy of the class, he's depicted as very adept with technology. His first Pokémon is a Togedemaru.

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• Adapted Out: His ace in the games was Alolan-Golem, which is also his Z-Mover in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. Here that role is shifted more to his Togedemaru.
• Adaptation Personality Change: In the games, Sophocles was a rather introverted kid who seemed more comfortable with machines than with other people. Here he's much more sociable and talkative, though he still has some insecurities.
  • In the games, he is very close friends with his cousin Molayne. But because Sophocles lives on Melemele Island while Molayne still lives on Ula'Ula Island in the anime canon, this relationship is much more downplayed.
• Agent Scully: He really doesn't get how Komala can move so easily in its sleep, thinking that it must be awake.
• Big Eater: Both times when Mallow has everyone taste test her attempt at making mythical Alolan stew, he is still hungry after he finishes his portion. The first time is explained by him having skipped lunch, but he is unable to come up with a reasonable excuse the second time.
• Blatant Lies: He doesn't actually like ice cream, he just eats it to collect information on it. Also, when the lights go out in the shopping center in SM006, he claims he isn't scared of the dark, and only got "a little startled", even though he was running around in a panic screaming "I'm scared!" a few seconds beforehand.
• The Bus Came Back: He returns in That New Old Gang of Mine then makes a return in JN096.
• Character Development:
  • He started off as an insecure boy who had a phobia of the dark, but through the encouragement from his friends, he let go of his insecurities and got over his fear of the dark in A High-Speed Awakening!, as he wants to fulfill his dream of becoming an astronaut someday.
  • He wasn't much of a competitor for anything, until he decided to enter a race just for Charjabug's as he wanted to do so for a long time and had one of his own. In addition, after his Charjabug evolved into a Vikavolt, Sophocles enter it into another race and prepared everything with it by training and looking up the course, which shows how competitive he has become. Sophocles even shows his competitiveness in Pokémon battles.
  • He showed no interest in Pokémon battling, but changed his mind when he saw how much fun it can be and worked his way in those skills, even getting a Z-Ring.
• Child Prodigy: He does computer programming on his own time. When he and Ash are trapped inside a shopping center in SM006, he quickly uses his computer skills to figure out the problem.
• A Day in the Limelight: SM006 focuses on him and his Togedamaru. SM026 also has him undergo The Moving Experience plotline, while SM041 focuses on him entering his Charjabug in a race.
• Determinator: Sophocles doesn't give up on the races he enters as it paids off when he wins. Although, in A Fiery Training Camp Trick!, Sophocles went to a camp run by Kiawe to help his Z-Moves. However, due to not being good at psychical activity like Kiawe and Ash, Sophocles considering giving up but decided not to when he sees Vikavolt's determination, which got him to shake off his self-doubts. Through Kiawe's help and everything he been through with Vikavolt, Sophocles determinedly perfect his Z-Moves and gave his confidences a boast.
• Gadgeteer Genius: He has invented various gadgets, including a high-tech fishing rod and a Clawitzer-inspired squirt gun.
• Geek Physiques: Short and fat. When the group chases after Tapu Koko, he ends up getting stuck on a log and has to be pushed over.
• Genius Sweet Tooth: He enjoys ice cream, though he seems hesitant to admit this to others.
• Grew a Spine: Sophocles before the Charjabug race stood up for himself and his Pokémon when another competitor, who would later become his rival, insulted them alongside the other racers.
• Hidden Depths:
  • In SM026, when he finds out his parents are actually moving the family a block down the street for only one week and not out of Alola forever like he believed (and told his friends), he imagines his friends getting angry at him for his supposed lie and saying they hate him, suggesting that he might be more insecure than he presents himself.
  • The same episode revealed that Sophocles was the first person to befriend Lillie after she first arrived at the school.
  • He has an interest in becoming an astronaut in the future.
• Hypocritical Humor: In SM019, he tells Ash to eat the malasadas his mother made slowly...only to stuff his face with them a second later.
  • Exactly 100 episodes later, he lectures Vikavolt on being distracted by tree sap while training for the race...and the next scene showed him being dragged away in turn from the malasada shop.
• Incredible Shrinking Man: Happens to him, Ash and Lillie in SM083 as a result of a botched experiment by Faba. Thankfully the transformation wasn't stable and they shortly grew back.
• The Moving Experience: In SM026, he finds out that this family is moving. He gets showered with parting gifts from the others, even receiving a Charjabug from Ash as a farewell gift. It turns out they're just moving to a house down the street from his old house. For just a single week, no less.
• Only Sane Man: Out of Ash, Lillie, and himself, he's the only one to be reasonably concerned about getting shrunk in SM083. Ash and Lillie both say that they had fun, while Sophocles says that he never wants to experience that again.
• Poor Communication Kills: He freaks out after his parents mention that they're moving and tells his friends, who then go out of the way to make his last days with them as great as possible. It's not until the day after that his parents tell him that they're moving three houses down the street for one week, not out of Alola, and Sophocles is so embarrassed he can't muster up the courage to tell his friends until after the farewell party.
• Repressed Memories: In SM079, it is revealed that Sophocles had a sad one after an encounter with a Minior at a young age.
• Shipper on Deck: He is very encouraging of a possible relationship between Togedemaru and Pikachu.
• Shock and Awe: He notes his preference for studying Electric-types. Togedemaru and Vikavolt are both dual-Electric types that routinely power his inventions.
• Shorter Means Smarter: Shortest of the class and the most tech-savvy.
• Slasher Smile: He gets a little too eager to "examine" RotomDex's "programming", brandishing a screwdriver at it menacingly.
• The Smart Guy: A mix between Gadgeteer Genius type and trickster. He's introduced working on his computer and has rigged up a hamster wheel to the side of his desk for his Togedemaru to generate power. This would come in handy later on when training the capacity of Ash's team.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Unsurprisingly, his parents look like him in that they're short and fat.
• Took a Level in Badass: In SM119, he receives both a Buginium Z and a Z-Ring. He shows just how far he's come in his League battle against Kiawe: while he ultimately loses, he puts up a close fight that has Kiawe's Charizard on the ropes more than once.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: He's afraid of the dark. In SM119, he forces himself to overcome this for the sake of Vikavolt during the race as well as his own dream of becoming an astronaut.

Sophocles' Pokémon

Togedemaru

Voiced in Japanese by: Mika Kanai

Voiced in English by: Kate Bristol (SM001-SM080), Emily Cramer (SM081-present)

Sophocles' first Pokémon. A hyperactive Pokémon who is extremely fond of Pikachu.

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• Be the Ball: She's basically a ball-shaped mouse and can even curl up to roll around. Which sometimes causes accidents when she's too excited.
• Collision Damage: Gets to put her spikes to good use using Spiky Shield.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Similar to Rowlet, Togedemaru is a rather ditzy comical Pokémon, but has proved useful more than once, using her Lightning Rod ability to help Pikachu defeat Team Rocket and later protect the others from Tapu Koko's wild electric bolts. Sophocles also used her to capture Charjabug rather quickly with this method. She also manages to advance Sophocles past the first round of the Alola league.
• Cuddle Bug: She takes a liking to Pikachu. She is also seen nuzzling Charjabug several times.
• Extra-ore-dinary: Part Steel-type.
• Genki Girl: She's very excitable, but this often causes her to get carried away when she's rolling around, accidentally causing her to crash into objects, people, usually Ash, and other Pokémon in the process. Sophocles even comments on this.
• Hamster-Wheel Power: Sophocles has a hamster wheel rigged to the side of his desk for Togedemaru to generate power for his computer.
• Heroic BSoD: Akin to Sophocles, the events of SM026 leave her upset throughout most of the episode. For her, it's the prospect of losing Pikachu that sets her off.
• Mundane Utility:
  • Her spikes are used by Sophocles to win a balloon-popping contest.
  • Sophocles uses her as a night light since he's afraid of the dark.
  • In SM030, she cleans the floor of Mallow's restaurant by rolling around at Super-Speed while covered in water and wet towels.
• Non-Indicative Name: The suffix -maru is usually for male names. Togedemaru is explicitly female. Justified because it's the species name, not her individual name.
• No-Sell: Her ability, Lightning Rod draws all Electric-type attacks to her and they don't deal any damage.
• Out of Focus: Following Charjabug's evolution, Togedemaru is utilised less in favour of Vikavolt being trained and boosted for the league. She is noticeably the only of the six students' signatures not to have learned a Z-Move.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Togedemaru is hyperactive and playful, compared to Blue Oni Charjabug.
• Shock and Awe: She's part Electric-type and knows the move Zing Zap. While her own electric power is very weak, she can use the Lightning Rod ability to absorb the electric attacks of other Pokémon to power up her attacks.
• Sore Loser: Didn't take Sophocles losing in the Pancake Race very well.
• Spike Balls of Doom: She's covered in spikes that can fold in. Zing Zap weaponizes this by turning her into an electrified spike ball.
• Stalker with a Crush: Can become this at times when Pikachu tires of her attention.
• Uncatty Resemblance: She's small, short and round comparable to Sophocles' chubbiness. Her spikes and white fur also match his spiky hair and white shirt.
• Violently Protective Girlfriend: Used Lightning Rod to fry Team Rocket during their first encounter with her after they neutralized Pikachu. Also angrily tackled Marowak and its Kanto counterpart after they sent Pikachu blasting off (though she ended up finding that she was hopelessly outmatched against them).
• When All You Have Is a Hammer…: Zing Zap is the only move she's been shown using, but when she does need to battle, it's enough to get the job one. Subverted in SM129, where she is revealed to have learned Spiky Shield.

Charjabug-Vikavolt (Denjimushi-Kuwagannon)

Voiced in Japanese by: Unshō Ishizuka (Denjimushi), Yuji Ueda (Kuwagannon)

Voiced in English by: Rebecca Becker (Charjabug)

Sophocles' second Pokémon. It was given to him as a farewell gift by Ash when his classmates thought he was moving away.

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• Big Brother Instinct: Has shades of this around Togedemaru. In one instance Pikachu goes missing, Charjabug starts comforting a distraught Togedamaru, and in SM069 when she tumbles down a small hill, it makes a Diving Save to soften her fall. As a Vikavolt, he is also recurrently shown given Togedemaru rides on his back.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: Part Bug-type. Charjabug is large enough to fit snug and tight inside a pet carrier, and Vikavolt is large enough to carry a human at least a small distance. In SM123 it’s revealed to have learned Signal Beam and can also use the Bug-type Z-Move Savage Spin-Out.
• Face of a Thug: It sports a much more vicious look as Vikavolt, though keeps its friendly personality.
• Fauxshadowing: Ash has been foreshadowed to catch a Grubbin since the first episode, and he's even seen throwing a Poké Ball at one in the season's opening credits. Not only has he had an unsuccessful attempt to catch one, but the member of the line he does catch is simply put in a pet carrier and given to Sophocles for him to catch as a farewell gift.
• Funny Background Event: A lot of its cameo appearances in episodes amount this, slowly crawling around the classroom for whatever function.
• It Was a Gift: Ash captured Charjabug for Sophocles when bad communication left everyone convinced the latter was moving away.
• Limit Break: It can use the Bug-type Z-Move Savage Spin-Out.
• Living Battery: Charjabug can be used to store power. That was the whole reason it was caught for Sophocles.
• Make Me Wanna Shout: In SM069, it sends out sound waves to summon a herd of Grubbin to help the heroes.
• Magikarp Power: Downplayed. Much like in the games, Charjabug isn't as useless as other cocoon Pokémon, but isn't very agile and does more service to Sophocles in terms of utility than power. When it evolves into the stronger and airborne Vikavolt however, it quickly develops into a Lightning Bruiser that can go toe-to-toe with Lana and Kiawe's Pokémon.
• Mundane Utility: Apparently an Alola event involves racing Charjabug in novelty go-karts, their ability to store electricity allowing them to power and drive them.
• One of the Kids: Charjabug keeps a pretty affectionate and playful personality even after evolving into Vikavolt.
• Promotion to Opening Titles: In the Japanese version, Charjabug is added to the opening in the second version of "Alola!!".
• The Quiet One: From what has been seen, Charjabug is slow, quiet and calm, even in combat. It does, however, have soft mechanical sounds occasionally when moving. It is even revealed to have a Mild nature in the Japanese version. After evolving into Vikavolt, it becomes a bit more vocal.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Charjabug is a quiet and mild-natured Blue Oni, in contrast to the hyperactive and jumpy Red Oni Togedemaru. It becomes more energetic as Vikavolt, though is still more reserved than its Genki Girl team mate.
• Shock and Awe: Part Electric-type, and knows Discharge. Knowing Sophocles's affinity for Electric-types, Rotom suggested that Ash should go and try to catch a Charjabug for him, resulting in this one's capture. It also shocked Ash when he tried to pull it out of the ground after Pikachu, Rockruff, and Litten dug it up. In SM127 It’s revealed to have learned Zap Cannon.
• Shrinking Violet: According to Sophocles, Charjabug has a Mild nature, meaning it was under-confident training for the Charjabug kart race at first.
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Vikavolt tended to be used more dominantly for Sophocles' Character Development, with it trained and bulked far more than Togedemaru. This led to Vikavolt being used for the larger part of the Alola league as well.
• Stock Footage: Unsho Ishizuka continued voicing Charjabug posthumously through the use of recycled voice clips in the Japanese edit. He was recast only after evolving into Vikavolt.
• Sweet Tooth: Became a bit distracted by tree sap when training in SM119.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • In SM106, Charjabug manages to defeat a colony of Golbat by first tying them up with String Shot and then using Discharge to send electricity through the String Shot and to the Golbat. Later, it evolves into a Vikavolt and uses its newly-gained flight capabilities to save Horacio and his Shiny Charjabug.
  • After winning a Bugium Z crystal, Vikavolt learns Signal Beam and, following a battle against a wild Crawdaunt, masters the Z-Move Savage Spin Out.
  • By the time of the Alola League, Sophocles has taught Vikavolt Zap Cannon. It manages to advance him past the second round, defeating Mina's Ribbonbee without even using its Z-Move. It loses to Kiawe's Charizard the following round, though still puts up a decent fight.
• Transforming Mecha: Sophocles mods its kart so it can become a Mini-Mecha, but he didn't program it to do anything else besides that.
• Uncatty Resemblance: Much like Togedemaru, Charjabug is a short, stout Pokémon, and blatantly lacks Togedemaru's energetic personality to make him even more like its trainer.
• When He Smiles: After winning the Charjabug kart race, its eyes make a happy expression. It does the same after being congratulated on its evolution.

Ash's Pokémon

As a whole

Ash's Alola team.

• Ambiguous Gender: Besides Pikachu, none of the Alola team have confirmed genders. Nebby, Naganadel and Melmetal are biologically genderless however. The best the others get are implied hints.^note Lycanroc's dialogue is translated as using male pronouns in SM126, while all of them wear amulets for their Ultra Guardian attire compared to the ribbons usually equipped to Pokémon officially female, which implies that Incineroar, Rowlet and Lycanroc are all males.
• Badass Adorable: Everyone in the team was this to an extent, including Poipole and Meltan before their evolutions and Torracat before its second evolution. Apart from the always-present Pikachu, an electric mouse, we have Rowlet, a barn-owlet, Rockruff, a cute Rock-type puppy that evolves into Lycanroc, a wolf that is just as affectionate as his pre-evolved form, a Litten, who then evolved in a Torracat, a Fire-type cat that warms up to Ash after his capture and has a rivalry with his evolved form, which he finally manages to beat before evolving into an Incineroar himself, a playful Poipole, a Poison bee larva that befriends Pikachu, enjoys his Electric-type moves and expresses itself with drawings, who then evolved into a Poison/Dragon Naganadel off-screen, and Meltan, which is very similiar to mercury in appearence and developes a strong friendship with Rowlet before evolving in the colossus that is Melmetal.
• Badass Crew: In spite of their goofiness, this might be one of Ash's most battle-solid and strongest teams with all of its members never getting less wins than losses and having overall strong showings. Not to mention it has among its ranks a special form Pokémon, a Mythical Pokémon and (temporarily) an Ultra Beast with all three being powerhouses on their own right. Even the lowly Rowlet is shown capable of defeating things bigger than itself consistently and Incineroar was even able to defeat Kukui's seemingly unstoppable Incineroar as a Torracat even after taking a nasty beating following Kukui's Incineroar boosting itself with Bulk Up and without the need to evolve mid-fight.
• Because You Were Nice to Me:
  • The Alola team all joined Ash because of the kind things he did for them.
    • Rowlet decided to join Ash and became his other partner because he saved it from falling then brought it some food to eat when it got hungry.
    • Lycanroc joined Ash when he helped it learn a new move and used it to defeat a wild Pokémon in battle.
    • Incineroar came with Ash when he didn't leave its side when it was depressed about its mentor's passing.
    • Naganadel really wanted to be with Ash when he saved it from Team Rocket and showed it how PokéBalls work.
    • Melmetal decided to go with Ash when it saw its trusting nature and understood that it wanted to stay with Rowlet.
• Breaking Old Trends: The first team of Ash's that lacks the regional bird Pokémon, with Rowlet instead filling the role and having been raised by a flock of them. Meltan also exists as his first ever Steel-type, as well as his first ever officially caught Mythical Pokémon. He also never caught any Water-type Pokémon.
  • Additionally, instead of staying with Professor Oak following the end of his travels in the region, they actually stay with Professor Kukui.
• Broken Win/Loss Streak: It is this team that grant Ash his first league victory since the Orange League all the way back in the original series and his first ever league victory in a region based on the games.
• The Bus Came Back:
  • They returned in JN037 and JN112 when Ash and Goh visited Alola.
  • Ash uses a rotating team in Aim to be a Pokémon Master for his current roster, where he uses all of his Pokémon. Besides Pikachu, he adds Pokémon of different generations to his team. For each individual entry, see below.
• Character Focus: Compared to previous teams, all of Ash's Alola Pokémon largely get equal limelight, though spread about in lengthy durations through the series. Rowlet was used mainly through the Melemele and Akala trials. After its evolution and into the Ula Ula trials, Lycanroc got primary use. Torracat has yet to have a dominant era of focus, though gets key mini-arcs spread throughout the show, with Pikachu taking the vast amount of what's left. All four of them are signatures against different rivals as well.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character:
  • Ash's Alola team maybe the exact opposite of his Kalos team but their loyal to each other and consider one another family. Also, Ash's Alola team have three members who can't fly while three of the Kalos group does, which two of their members also the opposite of each other.
    • Rowlet is laidback while Greninja is serious but they both value the friendship they share with their teammates and would choose their safety over their own.
    • Lycanroc takes defeats to the heart while Talonflame does not but they both are serious battler that usually rely on close range attacks over long range ones and don't go down so easily.
    • Incineroar doesn't show off itself while Hawlucha does as they both rush into things sometimes but they only do so in order to help others and would protect or help younger Pokémon.
    • Naganadel wasn't timid with its type disadvantage while Goodra was during their first stages but they both greatly admire Pikachu, although they do for different reasons as one looks up to him for his Electric-type moves while the other admires him for his strength, and ran away from their homes then return to them.
    • Melmetal does things on its own while Noivern does not in battle but they both quickly admire a member of their team and considers them a role model.
• Denser and Wackier: While they aren't all the wackiest of Ash's Pokémon, they are arguably the most consistently wacky team he's had, especially compared to his more serious Kalos squad just beforehand. Even Nebby as a Solgaleo gets the odd goofy moment.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Despite the clownish nature of most of them off-time, they fight as well as most of Ash's Pokémon, and are among the most battle competent of the whole Alola class.
• Let's Split Up, Gang!: While in the Ultra Deep Sea, Ash dispatches all of them but Pikachu to assist the other companions.
• Limit Break: All but Melmetal are trained to use a Z-Move in battle.
• One of the Kids: The majority of Ash's Alola team evolve at least once. Compared to most previous examples however, they tend to retain a lot of their original personality quirks (and sometimes even gain new ones) and often continue appearing in more playful scenes with the other Pokémon.
• Olympus Mons: Not only the first team of Ash's to feature a mythical officially (Melmetal), but also an Ultra Beast (Naganadel), and a legendary as a recurrent Guest-Star Party Member (Nebby). Combined with Lycanroc being a rare Dusk forme which, like the other three, has never been caught beforehand, Nanu lampshades Ash's rather elusive team of Pokémon.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: A reccuring theme with the Alolan squad is that they tend to be compared to their direct evolution against various rivals throughout the season. The relationship dynamic between Ash's Pokémon and their evolutionary counterparts ranges between Big Brother Mentor towards straight up The Rival, but for the most part they were able to keep up well in a fight against them. The only exception to this trend is Cosmog, Poipole, and Meltan. The former two largely acts as Kid-Appeal Character, whereas Meltan, while lacking rival fits this trope naturally until its evolution into Melmetal.
• True Companions: Demonstrated especially well this series, since they rarely in their balls, so often interacting and bonding with each other, demonstrating their closeness. They are also shown to be close to the other classmates and their Pokémon, as shown when they protect them independently while in the Ultra Deep Sea. Also, they would lay down their lives for each other and protect one another from trouble.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Given the quirks divided between all of them, they are sometimes shown bickering without Ash as mediator. They do all care about each other, however. SM057 shows how quickly they interchange between tussling and playing happily with each other.

Owned Pokémon

Rowlet (Mokuroh)

Voiced in Japanese by: Megumi Hayashibara

Voiced in English by: Roger Callagy

Rowlet is the child of a Toucannon and a Trumbeak. It befriended Ash after mistaking Mallow's Bounsweet for food. Its foster parents urged him to join Ash after they were saved from Team Rocket. It's a ditzy Pokémon that loves to sleep, especially in Ash's backpack.

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• Abhorrent Admirer: It's hinted that it has a crush on Mallow's Steenee, but she just sees it as a minor everyday nuisance (after all, Rowlet's debut episode had it attempting to eat her).
• Abnormal Limb Rotation Range: Like an owl, it can rotate its head to look behind itself or tilt its face at a 90-degree angle. The former is useful in battles as Rowlet can literally watch its own back, while the latter tends to be an expression of confusion.
• All Love Is Unrequited: Implied. In SM018, Rowlet's attraction to Bounsweet doesn't seem to be out of thinking she's food but rather because it seems to have a crush on her (heart eyes and all). But just like all the other times, Bounsweet still avoids it, and after evolving into Steenee, she can now effortlessly block off Rowlet.
• Animal Chick Magnet: During the montage of the Alola starters' trip through Hau'oli City, there's an image of Rowlet (encased in Popplio's bubble) grabbing the attention of a few girls. Justified, as that is a trait of its particular line.
• Annoying Younger Sibling: Rowlet's inability to keep up with the flock and absent-mindedness earns it a scolding from Trumbeak, who only gets more miffed when Rowlet falls asleep while getting reprimanded.
• Badass Adorable: It's a cute, ditzy, round, owl-like creature, but can use Leafage pretty effectively and tears through Team Rocket's nets in a single swipe.
• Bait-and-Switch: After a collision between Brave Bird and Sky Attack in Ash's Alola League quarterfinal, it appears that both Rowlet and Hau's Decidueye have been knocked out. But Decidueye gets back up (albeit struggles to do so) and Hau is declared the winner...only for Hala to overrule the decision. Turns out Rowlet wasn't actually knocked out; it just fell asleep and gets back up none the worse for wear. The match then resumes and Rowlet is able to win using a combination of its newly mastered Feather Dance and Brave Bird.
• Beware the Silly Ones: Though blundering and lazy, it's a formidable battler. When Litten accidentally torched it with Ember, Rowlet immediately went on the offensive after shaking off the fire. Litten, who had intended to torch Lycanroc, Ash's powerhouse, just for bugging it, was terrified to have angered Rowlet.
• Big Eater: Ash comments how much Rowlet likes to eat while it scarfs down on melon slices and a banana.
• Blow You Away: Part Flying-type and knows Peck. In SM118 it learns Brave Bird.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: It's a sleepy goofball in terms of personality, but a pretty darn strong Pokémon with the unique skill to sneak up on opponents. Case in point, it impressively manages to snag a win against Hala's Crabrawler, before falling asleep in midair, forcing Ash to complete the Grand Trial with only Pikachu. It also puts up an impressive fight against Olivia, managing to dodge Continental Crush while carrying Rockruff, and KOing her Probopass with Bloom Doom, only to be knocked out by Rockruff due to Jerkass Ball.
• The Bus Came Back:
  • Its family made a brief cameo in SM018, where Rowlet tried asking them for help looking for a Pom-Pom Oricorio. The Toucannon leader helps it to learn Seed Bomb in SM097.
  • Is part of Ash's rotating roster in JN138, alongside Totodile, Corphish and Leavanny.
• Camera Abuse: Falls into the camera in SM055.
• Crisis Makes Perfect: Rowlet learns Feather Dance shortly before Ash's League battle with Hau, but isn't able to master it until the very end of the battle to dodge Decidueye's Sky Attack.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Despite its bumbling, lazy behavior, Rowlet has proved a quite effective and surprisingly stealthy opponent in most of Ash's battles.
• Cuddle Bug: Rowlet takes a liking to Ash, and will curl up against him or stuff itself in his backpack. Though, on occasion, it will get too affectionate and dig its claws into Ash's arm.
• Cute Owl: Exactly What It Says on the Tin by its appearances and other characteristics.
• David vs. Goliath: The most notable instance of which is when Rowlet faces off against Hau's Decidueye, its final evolutionary form, in the League.
• The Ditz: Mistakes a wind chime for food and apparently doesn't seem to get that Mallow's Bounsweet is a Pokémon despite being fought off several times (though Bounsweet are mistaken for food by a large number of Alolan Pokémon).
• Diving Kick: Its Tackle is depicted like this. When Ash orders it to use Tackle on a confused Salandit, Rowlet extends its claw and kicks it right in the throat and right out the 2nd-floor balcony.
• Don't Split Us Up: Defied. Ash initially spurns catching Rowlet because he realizes that its part of the family of Pikipek. Toucannon, however, sees that Rowlet likes Ash and encourages it to join him.
• Flight: Part Flying-type as it knows Peck until it learns Brave Bird in Aiming for the Top Floor! and learns Feather Dance in Imitation Is the Sincerest Form of Strategy!.
• Go Through Me: Rowlet defends Meltan from Meowth's Fury Swipes in Got Meltan.
• Green Thumb: Is part Grass-type and knows Leafage. Rowlet also marks a return to the regular pattern of Ash catching the regional Grass-type starter, after not catching any Grass-types period in XY. As of SM036, it can use the Grassium Z-Move "Bloom Doom" while in SM075 and SM097, it learns Razor Leaf and Seed Bomb respectively.
• The Heart: Rowlet maybe lazy and sleeps a lot but does have a big heart as it would risk its safety over its own whenever its friends were endanger.
• Heavy Sleeper: Getting water splashed on its face? Doesn't even notice. Caught up in Team Rocket's net when they snagged the class' Ride Pokémon? Still perched on the saddle, sound asleep. It takes the Lapras being dropped out from under it for Rowlet to finally wake up. Rowlet's sleeping habit is quite a feat under such circumstances. It even manages to fall asleep right after a battle while still flying.
  • This characteristic is so inherent that in SM055, Professor Kukui is absolutely stunned to actually see it awake in the early hours.
• Heroic RRoD: It manages to defeat Hala's Crabrawler, only to need recalling afterwards. Apparently the battle was so exhausting that Rowlet fell asleep afterward still flying.
• In the Hood: Before its battle with Hau's Decidueye in the Alola League, its foster family makes it a hood based on Decidueye's. It wears the hood in its battles with Hau and Kukui, and it assists with his use of Feather Dance.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Despite its normally lazy, goofy demeanor, Rowlet shows a much more serious and capable approach on the battlefield, obeying Ash's commands succinctly and proving quite strong despite its novice level.
• Limit Break: It can use the Normal-type Z-Move Breakneck Blitz and the Grass-type Z-Move Bloom Doom.
• Narcissist: Rowlet shows hints of this an evolution too early, gladly posing for the Camera Fiend RotomDex.
• Ninja Log: How Rowlet's Feather Dance move works. It sheds a layer of its feathers, leaving behind a decoy to take an attack in its place.
• No Sense of Personal Space: It just doesn't seem to get the hint that Bounsweet/Steenee doesn't want to be dive-bombed every time she uses Sweet Scent.
• Not Allowed to Grow Up: Swallows an Everstone in SM097. Unlike Ash's Pikachu or Bulbasaur or Dawn's Piplup, however Rowlet shows no disinterest nor disdain towards evolution; it just really likes the Everstone that it uses as ammo for Seed Bomb. That said, it's clearly content remaining a Rowlet so it can continue to sleep in Ash's backpack.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • Just how important is waking Professor Kukui up the morning of his wedding? Very, as Rowlet is awake, even though it's known as a Heavy Sleeper.
  • In SM097, after losing to Hau’s Dartrix, the normally goofy and naïve Rowlet becomes extremely serious in its attempt to defeat Dartrix in a rematch, to such an extent that it trains with its foster family and ends up learning Seed Bomb as a result, which shows that it found a reason to stay the way it is.
• Out of Focus: A primary character in early Alola episodes and used prominently in all of Ash's trials throughout Melemele and Akala, it's spent most of its time sleeping in Ash's backpack or acting as comic relief in the Ultra Adventures season. It ascends back into focus in parts of Ultra Legends.
• Pintsized Powerhouse: The smallest and one of the two unevolved members of the team, but it's no less formidable a fighter than the rest of them. Rowlet is also Ash's first starter Pokémon to have battled and defeated both of its evolved forms.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Blue to Meltan's Red; Rowlet is very laid-back compared to the Keet Meltan.
• Running Gag: Falls asleep at the most inopportune times, its love for Ash's backpack, and being attracted to Bounsweet/Steenee whenever she uses Sweet Scent.
• The Runt at the End: Not just by species, either; Rowlet is initially slow on the uptake both literally (in its group's flight formation) and figuratively (confusing a wind chime for food).
• The Slacker: It spends most of its time sleeping while ignoring its surroundings, which comes in handy against Ryuki; after Kiawe's Marowak was one-shotted due to being distracted by the music, Ash decides to use Rowlet specifically because it won't get distracted.
• Super Spit: Its Seed Bomb attack has it spit out the Everstone it swallowed before swallowing it again.
• Sleepyhead: Rowlet sleeps most of the time when it doesn't get focus. This is a trait of its species; they use photosynthesis to store up energy during the day and become active at night, similar to real owls.
  • To the point where, in SM055, actually seeing Rowlet awake stuns Professor Kukui to no end, especially knowing Rowlet's Heavy Sleeper tendencies. It's immediately lampshaded:
  Professor Kukui: Rowlet, you're never awake! What's going on here?
  • He even fell asleep in the middle of Ash's league match with Hau's Decidueye! Ash was not amused since the match was almost called in Hau's favor.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: Rowlet has a knack for sneaking up on others, which is used to its advantage in battle.
• Straight Man and Wise Guy: Rowlet is the Wise Guy to Popplio's Straight Man when they were separated from their Trainers. Rowlet drives Popplio crazy with its tendency to sleep randomly and freak out at the slightest provocation, causing more trouble for Popplio.
• Team Spirit: Of Ash's current team, it works most frequently in team battles, its flying and evasiveness making for good maneuvers to protect the others.
• Tennis Boss: Employs this tactic against Professor Kukui's Braviary in Ash's exhibition match; the two birds volley Rowlet's Everstone back and forth, with Rowlet handing a few hits.
• Those Two Guys: Rowlet and Rockruff tend to serve as something of a Plucky Comic Relief duo when neither is getting individual limelights. Expectedly Rockruff has a higher patience level for Rowlet's behavior compared to most of the others. After Rockruff's evolution, this role seems to have been taken up by Nebby.
• Took a Level in Badass: Learns Razor Leaf in SM075, Seed Bomb in SM097, Brave Bird in SM118, and Feather Dance in SM132.
• Truth in Television: Rowlet's ditzy nature is akin to real owls, as they are among the least intelligent birds and are known to make life-threateningly stupid decisions.
• Vegetarian Carnivore: It's an owl, but seems to be awfully fond of fruit.

Rockruff-Dusk Lycanroc (Iwanko-Dusk Lugarugan)

Voiced in Japanese by: Megumi Hayashibara (Iwanko), Keiichi Nakagawa (Lugarugan)

Voiced in English by: Haven Paschall (Rockruff), Michael Liscio Jr. (Lycanroc)

Though it was originally cared for by Professor Kukui, he allowed Ash to capture it after seeing the bond the two had developed. It eventually evolved into a Lycanroc, a form that has never been recorded before.

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• The Ace: The first fully-evolved member of Ash's Alola team, being able to hold its own against Lusamine's Clefable without help and take down the entirety of Nanu's team in a one on three match with only the aide of a single Sitrus Berry pick-me-up two battles through. It also manages to win the Alola league for Ash. Lycancroc is so powerful that after an entire season where Kukui's Incineroar is portrayed to be all but invincible, Lycanroc becomes the first Pokémon in Alola who manages to injure Kukui's Incineroar leaving enough of a mark to force it to be switched out.
• Animal Jingoism: He's a canine Pokémon, and has a Friendly Rivalry with its teammate Litten, a feline Pokémon.
• Attack Reflector: Learned Counter during the Ula'ula Island grand trial.
• Berserk Button: As Dusk Lycanroc, he hates getting dirty and flies into a rage if his opponent messes up his fur. This is Deconstructed in that its anger issues have caused it to ignore his trainer and lose, usually with Lycanroc calming when it realizes what it's done. It overcomes this in SM075.
• Big Brother Worship: As a Rockruff, it appeared to idolize both Gladion's Midnight Lycanroc and Olivia's Midday Lycanroc. Both would return the favor in the episode when Rockruff evolves.
• Big Friendly Dog: Well, wolf now, but it retains its friendly demeanor.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Not as clearly as Rowlet, but Lycanroc is the most hyperactive of Ash's Alola squad and occasionally shares Rowlet's dopey habits even after evolving. He's proven to be a very powerful and serious battler on its own accord, however.
• Canine Companion: To Professor Kukui, and later Ash.
• Counter-Attack: Learns Counter in SM077. It is used as a Finishing Move to counter the Counter of Gladion's Lycanroc, earning Ash the title of Alola's first Champion.
• Cuddle Bug: He's very affectionate towards almost anyone. His cuddles are a bit painful due to the rock collar (which has a unique sound effect), but no one really minds.
• Dishing Out Dirt: He's a Rock-type, and it knows Rock Throw, Accelerock, and Stone Edge.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Dusk Form Lycanroc's anime debut was three months before its official debut in the UltraSun and UltraMoon games.
• Fantastic Science: Professor Kukui posits that Rockruff evolved into Dusk Lycanroc because it saw the "green flash" that occurs the moment the Sun disappears from the horizon at sunset.
• Fatal Flaw: His temper. While it's thankfully not a dominant aspect of his personality, his Power Incontinence means he has problems controlling it when even just mildly annoyed. Nanu very quickly caught onto this and exploited it during his first match with Ash, even just using Krookodile's Intimidate ability started to drive Lycanroc off the handle.
• Fight Clubbing: In SM015, Ash and Kukui discover Rockruff is taking part in a Pokémon Fight Club apparently spearheaded by two Lycanroc, one Midday and one Midnight.
• Foreshadowing: In SM015, the RotomDex mentions that Rockruff suddenly becomes aggressive and act on their own when they are close to evolving. The personality change does happen to Rockruff in SM036 and it eventually evolves an episode later.
• Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Does this to Ash during the Grand Trial with Nanu by tackling him, getting him to realize it had mastered its Berserk Mode.
• Heroic Dog: In SM053, it jumps in front of Lillie to protect her from Lusamine's Clefable's Moonblast attack without being commanded to do so. It also agrees to stay behind to assist Lillie while Ash goes after Lusamine, and is able to hold its own against Clefable without a trainer commanding it.
• Jumped at the Call: When Kukui gave Rockruff to Ash, Rockruff nosed the Poké Ball's button to capture itself.
• Keet: A very playful energetic dog, especially as Rockruff.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: It generally acts like a playful hyperactive puppy during casual times, even as Lycanroc, though proves extremely focused and serious whenever sent into battle.
• Limit Break: As a Rockruff, he used Breakneck Blitz, and as Lycanroc, he's used Continental Crush, and after he learns Stone Edge and Ash receives the Lycanium Z, he can use his species' signature Z-Move, Splintered Stormshards.
• Loyal Animal Companion: True to its species' nature, Rockruff became loyal to Kukui and Ash even as a wild Pokémon, spending several episodes befriending and obeying them before Ash officially caught it.
• Marked Change: Even after overcoming its rage issues, its red eyes remain red when it's using its full power.
• My God, What Have I Done?: It spent the whole of Olivia's Grand Trial in an aggressive, nasty temper, before accidentally KOing its own partner, Rowlet, stirring it from its mood immediately after realizing. It's not quite its hyper self afterward, reflecting on its actions even after Olivia reveals why.
• Neat Freak: After he evolves into Dusk Lycanroc, he will fly into a rage if he gets dirty.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: A Rock Throw attack on a Sandygast in SM022 knocked off its shovel, causing it to go berserk, evolve into a Palossand, and almost kill Litten and Ash's RotomDex with Giga Drain.
• Noble Wolf: It, for the most part, retains the same personality it had as a Rockruff, except when it's angered and its disposition becomes much more savage.
• The Nose Knows: Has a pronounced sense of smell akin to normal dogs, making him useful for searching for other Pokémon or people.
• One of the Kids: Compared to other Lycanroc in the anime that seem caring but fairly aloof, Ash's Lycanroc, while more serious than its Rockruff form, retains its playful, goofy side and has a Friendly Rivalry with Litten.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: It clings onto the Jerkass Ball throughout most of SM036, doing things like biting Ash just for hugging it and knocking out Rowlet when Ash attempted to continue a tactic he had devised earlier. He had originally thought that Rockruff was just filled with anticipation for Olivia's Grand Trial, but in reality it is on the verge of evolution, with the aggression being a telltale sign of that for its species. Olivia quickly picks up on this and informs the others shortly after the battle ends. While Rockruff's temper had cooled by this point, it wasn't in a much better state, now being left in a remorseful Heroic BSoD from hurting its own teammate. This continues in SM037 when it runs off that night. When Ash pursues it, it bites Ash, disturbing itself even further into getting away from him. Eventually, it comes to the shore of Akala at sunset and starts evolving right as the Sun disappears from the horizon, taking the new Dusk Lycanroc form. Once it's evolved, it again becomes its old friendly self.
• Oxymoronic Being: RotomDex notes that despite it being a Rock-type, he loves shampoo and water because he's a Neat Freak.
• Precious Puppy: As a Rockruff, he was a small and cute dog-like Pokémon.
• Power Incontinence: Its rage mode (red eyes) unlocks great power, but it can't quite control it just yet; it only triggers when it's angered enough, and the only thing that angers it enough to trigger it is its mane getting dirty. He finally becomes able to control this power in SM077, he no longer goes berserk and he can activate the power increase at will.
• Recurring Character: Though Ash didn't catch it until SM015, it had been living with Ash and Kukui since the first episode.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: When angered, his eyes change to that of a Midnight Lycanroc. Once mastered, he uses this as a temporary power boost.
• Red Herring: It was revealed in SM015 that it was actually a wild Pokémon that Kukui was studying, and hadn't actually captured for himself. Even Ash's classmates assumed that Rockruff belonged to Kukui.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Red to Litten's Blue; Lycanroc is very playful and hyperactive (especially as a Rockruff), which often annoys the calmer Litten.
• Single Specimen Species: Both Kukui and Olivia were bewildered by its evolution, and RotomDex has no data on this form, suggesting that, at least in the anime, it's the first and only documented member of its kind.
• Super Mode: His red eyes turn out to have been this all along; once he learns to control his temper, he can activate and deactivate this mode at all.
• Third-Option Adaptation: After much speculation about which form Rockruff would evolve into, both in-universe and out-of-universe, he evolves not into Midday or Midnight Lycanroc, but the new Dusk Lycanroc introduced in Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon.
• Those Two Guys: As a Rockruff, it and Rowlet tend to serve as something of a Plucky Comic Relief duo when neither is getting the individual limelight. After it evolves into Lycanroc, it sometimes becomes such with Torracat through their Friendly Rivalry.
• Took a Level in Badass: Overcomes its rage issues and learns Stone Edge in SM075 while battling against Tapu Bulu. Tapu Bulu even claps for it, showing that the deity has acknowledged Lycanroc's strength. The next episode has it learn Counter while showing Ash it can control that rage in battle.
• Turns Red: As Lycanroc, it is prone to violent fits when its temper rises, with its eyes literally turning red. It later manages to control these, with Nanu implying this Berserk Mode may be a way for Lycanroc to muster power, not too differently from Infernape's Blaze.
• Watching the Sunset: Pivotal to how Rockruff evolved into Dusk Lycanroc, evolving during sunset just as the sky gained a green glimmer.
• What Have I Become?:
  • It starts to become extremely aggressive when nearing evolution. When this escalates into it attacking Ash and its own teammates, Rockruff became horrified by its behavior and attempts to run away.
  • Its Berserk Mode as a Lycanroc started this again until Lycanroc started gaining control of it during the Ula Ula trials.
• The Worf Effect: After defeating Gladion and starting the battle with Kukui by injuring Incineroar, one would be forgiven for thinking that the rest of the fight would be a cakewalk with Lycanroc on Ash's side. Kukui's Braviary then defeated Lycanroc, if while taking notable damage, to remind you that the battle will not in fact be a cakewalk.

Litten-Torracat-Incineroar (Nyabby-Nyaheat-Gaogaen)

Voiced in Japanese by: Chinami Nishimura (Nyabby and Nyaheat), N/A (Gaogaen)

Voiced in English by: Lisa Ortiz (Litten and Torracat), H.D. Quinn (Incineroar)

A wild Litten that frequented the beachfront and market of Hau'oli City to gather food for an elderly Stoutland. After Stoutland passed away, Ash offered for it to join his team, which it accepted. It later evolves into Torracat during a battle against the Masked Royal, and into Incineroar after battling Professor Kukui's.

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• Animal Jingoism: It has a rivalry with its canine teammate, Lycanroc, and usually acts irritably towards the latter's playful behavior.
• Ash Face: Ash accidentally stepped on its tail while racing Pikachu on the beach. It blasted Ash in the face with Ember as a result.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: Learns the Fighting-Type move Revenge in SM081. It would later serve as the Finishing Move against Kukui's Incineroar, who is weak to Fighting-Type moves.
• Big Damn Heroes: He shows up in SM016 to rescue Popplio and Rowlet from Meowth and Mareanie.
• Blood Knight: It's usually aloof and just as eager to battle as any of Ash's Pokémon, but when the Masked Royal's Incineroar is involved, it becomes extremely fired up.
• Breaking Old Trends: Compared to the usual trend of Ash's Fire Starters Took A Level In Jerk Ass later on, Litten starts out a jerk and mellows out by the time Ash catches it. Also, while other Fire Starters evolve into their final form at the right moment usually just before the last legs of the journey, Torracat evolves into Incineroar after its final big battle and faints afterwards. It's also the only one of Ash's Fire Starter to never learn Flamethrower, but it's the only one to learn Fire Blast.
• Break the Cutie: The death of Stoutland in SM021 causes it to become utterly silent and refuses to eat. It takes Ash in order to get to open up.
• The Bus Came Back: Is part of Ash's rotating roster in JN140, alongside Snorlax, Oshawott and Talonflame. This is also the first episode where we get to see it in action as an Incineroar.
• Butt-Monkey: Early in the series, you could expect something bad or amusing to happen to it almost every time it appears, happens less frequently as the show progresses.
• The Comically Serious: The most reserved and aloof of Ash's Alola team, and thus often the target of jokes or wounded dignity much in the same way as Kiawe.
• Casting a Shadow: Upon evolving into Incineroar, it has gained the Dark-type, and it has learned Darkest Lariat (as seen in JN140).
• Cats Are Mean: Downplayed. While still a good guy deep down, Torracat is the most unsociable of Ash's Alolan team by a fair margin, especially as a Litten. It's also likes to hug his trainer even as an Incineroar.
• Cats Are Snarkers: As The Straight Man to Ash's other Pokémon, it casts a lot of aside glances at its teammates.
• Cats Hate Water: It refuses to take a bath in SM047 and tries to avoid water activities in SM086. Of course, this is justified since he's a Fire type.
• Crisis Makes Perfect: He trained extensively for Ember, Fire Fang and Flame Charge, though didn't quite master any of them until faced against an opponent.
• Curb-Stomp Cushion: While Torracat still couldn't defeat the Masked Royal's Incineroar after evolving, he was the first opponent onscreen to effectively counter its attacks and actually lay some small degree of damage.
• Cute Kitten: As a Litten he is an adorable kitten Pokémon.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Slowly warms to Ash throughout early episodes, and eventually accepts him as his trainer following Stoutland's death.
• Detect Evil: While Ash sees a wandering Sandygast as harmless, Litten immediately picks up on its malevolent intentions.
• Don't Split Us Up: Seeing his bond with Stoutland, Ash gave up on catching Litten. After Stoutland passes away though, Ash offers him a chance to join him, which he accepted.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Prior to joining Ash, it appeared in bit parts in several episodes before its proper introduction in SM007. In fact, it appeared in the first episode, where it singed Ash's face for accidentally stepping on its tail.
• Fell Asleep Standing Up: During Ash's battle against Kukui, it exerts the last of its energy evolving and is declared unable to battle while in the middle of its post-victory roar.
• Friendly Rivalry: Appears to have developed one with Ash's Lycanroc, as shown in SM045. Also seems to have gained one with the Masked Royal's Incineroar, even helping it in a tag-team match when Viren and his goons rig a battle royal.
• Guile Hero: It tricks Team Rocket into thinking that it will join them when they capture it along with Rowlet and Popplio, only to betray them at the last minute.
• Gleeful and Grumpy Pairing: Sometimes acts irritable or aloof, making it a good foil for the more playful Lycanroc.
• Interspecies Adoption: Litten was taken in by an aging Stoutland
• I Surrender, Suckers: It accepts an offer from Team Rocket to join them in exchange for being set free after it, Popplio and Rowlet are captured. However, it turns on them at the last moment, freeing itself, Popplio, and Rowlet while also allowing all three of them the opportunity to send Team Rocket blasting off.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: It acts cold towards humans it doesn't know, but it gets along with other Pokémon and genuinely cares about its Stoutland companion and worries over its health.
• Jumped at the Call: After fighting Pikachu for a bit, it willingly jumps at Ash's Pokéball and captures itself.
• Limit Break: It can use the Normal-type Z-Move Breakneck Blitz and later the Fire-type Z-Move Inferno Overdrive.
• The Nose Knows: He sniffs the Masked Royal and immediately recognizes him as Professor Kukui.
• No-Sell: Is able to stop a Blast Burn in its tracks and absorb it into the bell on its neck.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Ash becomes seriously worried after Litten runs up to him in a panic during SM021, begging for help with a collapsed Stoutland. For the rest of the episode, Litten does not do anything jerkish and even Team Rocket decides to lay off after Meowth realizes how grave the situation is.
• One of the Kids: Downplayed. Litten was already more of The Comically Serious than his classmates, though when he evolves into Torracat, nothing changes about that.
• Playing with Fire: Litten is Fire-type and can spit flaming hairballs. These are fairly weak to begin with, but it manages an impressively large fireball against an Alolan Persian. Stoutland also attempts to teach it Fire Fang, but Litten doesn't quite get that down until after it joins Ash. It also learns Flame Charge just before it evolves into Torracat. SM108 it learns Fire Blast. It can also use the Fire-type Z-Move Inferno Overdrive,
• Power-Strain Blackout: During the exhibition match against Kukui, Torracat had to use so much of its own energy and the energy it absorbed from Incineroar's Blast Burn that after defeating Kukui's Incineroar and evolving into one itself, it immediately faints standing up. This is significant because in all previous instances, a Pokémon is shown to get a second wind when they evolve. Torracat was so tired it used up all its current stage's remaining energy just to complete evolution process itself and let out one final roar.
• Recurring Character: He appears several times and gets a few limelight episodes before officially joining Ash's team.
• Recurring Element: Ash's third Fire-type in a row to know Flame Charge.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Blue to Lycanroc's Red; Litten is often annoyed by Lycanroc's playfulness.
• Took a Level in Badass: Evolved into Torracat in SM063 after mastering Flame Charge. Torracat demonstrates its new power boost by putting up a much better fight against Masked Royal's Incineroar.
  • While battling the Revengers in SM081, it learns Revenge to turn the tide.
  • The spirit of Stoutland helps it to learn Fire Blast in SM108. It's the first of Ash's Fire types to learn the move.
• Took a Level in Kindness: After Ash displayed sympathy during Stoutland's dying moments, Litten accepted Ash as its trainer and became far less hostile and cold-natured.
• Trailers Always Spoil: Its evolution into Torracat was spoiled by a Corocoro magazine issue.
• Undying Loyalty: To the elderly Stoutland that took him in. After Stoutland passes away, Litten offers food to Ash in the same way he offered food to Stoutland, signifying that he has accepted Ash as his new master.
• Worthy Opponent: Litten quickly becomes mesmerized by the Masked Royal's Incineroar due to its amazing power displays. Upon meeting it in person, he instantly darts in front of it and challenges it to a battle.

Poipole-Naganadel (Bevenom-Agoyon)

Voiced in Japanese by: Rikako Aikawa

Voiced in English by: Lisa Ortiz

An Ultra Beast that came from an Ultra Wormhole, Poipole took a great interest in Ash's Pikachu. It would later be caught by Ash himself at the request of Lusamine, who has allowed Ash to keep it until the Aether Foundation finds the Ultra Wormhole it came from. Ash eventually releases it back to its homeworld, it later comes back now as a Naganadel to help save the day once more.

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• Adorable Abomination: It's cute and friendly, but it should be kept in mind that it did originate from Ultra Space. Subverted after its evolution, still remainds friendly towards Ash, but far from cute.
• Back for the Finale: Returns from Ultra Space in SM140, now an evolved Naganadel.
• Beware My Stinger Tail: Uses X-Scissor with it.
• Big Fancy House: Ash caught it (or rather, it caught itself) in a Beast Ball, making it Ash's first Pokémon to be a caught in a non-standard Poké Ball since Totodile.
• Cuddle Bug: It's very affectionate towards Pikachu, to the point of making Togedemaru jealous.
• Curb Stomp Cushion: During the battle against Kukui, it ultimately can't match Tapu Koko's power, but it does land a few hits and engages in a spectacular, fast-paced duel.
• Face of a Thug: Even as the imposing Naganadel, it keeps its affectionate Keet personality.
• I Choose to Stay: It decides to stay with its hive in Ultra Space at the end of the Necrozma arc to help protect it.
• Image Song: The third Sun and Moon Japanese opening, Future Connection is written from Poipole's perspective. Appropriately, the first part of the animation is played when it has to say goodbye to the Ultra Guardians.
• Keet: Extremely playful and curious, prone to screeching happy fits.
• Kid-Appeal Character: It fills in for Nebby as the mischievous infant of the group.
• Language Barrier: Unlike most other Pokémon, Team Rocket's Meowth is unable to understand what Poipole is saying. It seems to understand what humans say as much as standard Pokémon however.
• The Load: Ash only planned to keep it until he found its home. It also doesn't get involved in any battles until SM084, and even then, that was its only battle. Subverted in SM140; as Naganadel, it helps greatly to fight off the rogue Guzzlord. It also defeats Kukui's Lucario quite easily in their exhibition match.
• Memento Macguffin: The Ultra Guardians amulet it kept since it parted with Ash is the telling sign Naganadel evolved from his Poipole.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Tears up after Pikachu scolds it for poisoning Rowlet in self-defense in SM067. It quickly tries to make amends by helping to carry Rowlet.
• Non-Action Guy: For a long duration it does not battle at all or even use an official attack. Only after it reveals it knows Fury Attack in SM084 does Ash take interest in commanding it. No longer the case after its evolution and return.
• No Biological Sex: The first genderless Pokémon to have been officially owned by Ash.
• One of the Kids: Remains the key Keet of the group, even after evolving into Naganadel. After defeating Kukui's Lucario, it spins around happily in front of the group's Pokémon like it did as a Poipole.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When it's not being joyful in doing its paintings, the others realize that it could be trying to tell them something.
• Our Dragons Are Different: Evolves into the part Dragon Naganadel during its time in Ultra Space.
• Poisonous Person: The first Poison-type Ash has owned since Muk.
• Put on a Bus: Leaves Ash's party in SM090, choosing to remain behind in its homeworld.
• Shock and Awe: It's revealed to have learned Thunderbolt during its time in Ultra Space, making the only one of one Ash's Pokémon besides Pikachu to know an Electric move.
• Took a Level in Badass: It comes back as Naganadel after the Alola League, and helps Ash fight off the rogue Guzzlord.
• Trailers Always Spoil: A preview of SM140 revealed its offscreen evolution. The Ultra Guardians emblem gave it away that the Naganadel was Ash's Poipole all grown up.
• When He Smiles: Naganadel pulls off a Poipole-esque happy look when it's first brought out in battle against Kukui.

Meltan-Melmetal

Voiced in Japanese by: Kenta Miyake

Voiced in English by: Samantha Cooper (Meltan), James Weaver Clark (Melmetal)

A newly discovered Mythical Pokémon, which was one of many that arrived on the Alolan Islands. One timid Meltan amongst this group ends up befriending Ash's Rowlet, which Ash chooses to catch shortly after. During the Alola League, watching Rowlet score a victory for Ash gives Meltan the confidence to get even stronger to further support Ash. It calls upon all the other Meltan around Alola to gather and combine into a new form, which results in them evolving into a Melmetal.

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• Annoying Younger Sibling: Rowlet is protective of Meltan, though its clinginess can get on its nerves, especially whenever the former accidentally whacks it with its spinning nut.
• The Big Guy: Out of Ash's five-mon party, Melmetal is the one bringing the lion's share of the power. In the literal sense, it's also by far◊ the biggest mon on the team and the biggest Pokémon Ash has ever owned.
• Big Eater: It loves devouring anything metal. By the final episode it chomps down on a steel girder like one devours a chocolate bar.
• Bruiser with a Soft Center: Even after evolving, it's still The Baby of the Bunch compared to the rest of Ash's team. When Melmetal is hit by a strong attack, it cries.
• Cuddle Bug: As Meltan it likes cuddling with Rowlet, which accidentally gets on Rowlet's nerves sometimes.
• Cutting the Knot: Disables Faba's Hypno's Hypnosis by eating the amulet itself.
• Extra-ore-dinary: It knows Flash Cannon. It's also the first Steel-type Ash has ever officially owned.
• Foreshadowing: After Ash's battle with Hau it sends out a signal to the other Meltan, letting you know its evolution into Melmetal is coming.
• Fusion Dance: In SM138, it merges with its fellow Meltan, evolving into Melmetal.
• Kid-Appeal Character: Following on from Poipole and Nebby.
• Leeroy Jenkins: In its first battle as a Melmetal, it immediately charges at Gladion's Silvally before taking any direction from Ash.
• Little Guy, Big Buddy: Melmetal is the Big Buddy to Rowlet's Little Guy, with Rowlet fitting snugly in the hex nut on Melmetal's stomach. Played with since personality wise, Melmetal still acts the same as when it was a tiny Meltan.
• Megaton Punch: Melmetal's Double Iron Bash.
• Metal Muncher: It eats metal.
• Mighty Glacier: As a Melmetal. It's a big and tough Steel type, but it's also rather slow.
• No Biological Sex: Like Naganadel, Melmetal is a genderless species.
• Non-Standard Character Design: Due to the nut being used by Team Rocket to fix their van, its nut is a darker hue compared to the other Meltan. It loses this trait after evolving into Melmetal.
• Odd Friendship: This Keet makes friends with sleepyhead Rowlet.
• Olympus Mons: The first Mythical Pokémon to be officially captured by a main character.
• One of the Kids: Like Lycanroc and Torracat, its more childlike facets remain even after evolving into the enormous Melmetal.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: As a Meltan, it's the smallest Pokémon Ash has owned, as well as one of the smallest Pokémon overall, but it can battle against much bigger opponents like Druddigon and Hypno.
• Recurring Element: The third Kid-Appeal Character to be looked after by Ash in Alola, and the second to have a notable bond with Rowlet.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Red to Rowlet's Blue; Meltan is very hyperactive and curious compared to Rowlet's more laid-back nature.
• Rubber Man: Meltan is capable of shapeshifting its metallic body, and Melmetal can extend its arms when using Double Iron Bash.
• Shock and Awe: Knows Thunderbolt. This marks the first time one of Ash's Pokémon besides Pikachu knows an Electric move.
• The Snack Is More Interesting: It is very easily distracted whenever there's metal nearby. During the Manalo Conference, it dives straight towards Faba's Hypno while it uses Hypnosis just so it can eat Hypno's pendulum.
• Spectacular Spinning: Double Iron Bash. Also the only thing Melmetal loves to do more than spinning is flexing.
• Trademark Favorite Food: While it has an affinity for all metal, it's become particularly infamous in Professor Kukui's house for eating frying pans. This stops when it evolves into Melmetal and it now devours steel girders instead. In JN037, it munches on a steel pipe.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Meltan doesn't have as much battle experience as Ash's other Pokémon and it sometimes acts without command, but its Flash Cannon is very powerful and oftentimes a One-Hit KO. This applies even more after it evolves — Melmetal is easily outsped and outmatched by Silvally's graceful movements, but the few hits that do manage to connect deal such heavy damage Pikachu has a rather easy time against Silvally afterwards. It is also shown to flinch from certain painful attacks and occasionally move without input from Ash, although Ash generally seems to be able to rein these traits in. The unskilled part is migitated after some training before the exhibition match against Kukui; Melmetal is able to perform its Double Iron Bash much faster, and it easily defeats Kukui's Empoleon.
• Use Your Head: Knows Headbutt. In SM130, it's shown to be strong enough to completely shatter a Reflect from Faba's Hypno.
• The Worf Effect:
  • A day after evolving into Melmetal, it loses to Gladion's Silvally in the League finals, though only after Silvally changes its type matchup to have an advantage over it, and it still manages to deal heavy damage to Silvally, allowing Pikachu to easily defeat it afterwards.
  • In the exhibition match, Kukui's Empoleon is shown powerful enough to force a switch-out from Pikachu to Melmetal. Melmetal's weight allows it to easily tank everything Empoleon throws at it and win decisively. It gets turned around when Kukui sends out Incineroar. Though Melmetal manages to keep toe-to-toe for a while, Incineroar soon knocks it out with a point-blank Blast Burn.

Companion Pokémon

Rotom Dex

Voiced in Japanese by: Daisuke Namikawa

Voiced in English by: Roger Callagy

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by:: Rolando de la Fuente

A Rotom who inhabits a Pokédex, it can use the onboard computer to communicate with Ash and other humans, and educate humans about the Pokémon that are in an area.

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• Ambiguous Situation: The games and manga imply that his body was created by Clemont, though there is no indication of this being true for the anime counterpart.
• Amusing Injuries: Gets zapped by Pikachu for pulling his tail and burns its hands on Toucannon's beak.
• Berserk Button: It gets furious at its own Pokédex entry on Ash's Rotom Phone when the latter insensitively suggests that being a Pokédex is all the former is good for in its form, quick to point out its additional voice changing and recording functions.
• Butt-Monkey: It's already been subjected to quite a lot of physical abuse—Ash even uses it as a springboard for Pikachu during a battle against Team Rocket.
• Camera Fiend: Likes to take pictures whenever it gets the chance. In SM017 it gains the ability to record video as well.
• Clueless Detective: Tries to solve the case of Ash's missing Z-Crystal by modeling itself after a famous detective it admires on TV, but not only does its lead on who the culprit is turn out to be completely wrong, it also turns out that Rotom itself was the culprit all along, albeit unintentionally. In SM029, it accuses Lillie of draining the energy of the others, on the sole basis that she's the only one that's not hungry when they wake up.
• A Day in the Limelight: SM017 focuses on it trying to solve the mystery of Ash's missing Electrium Z-Crystal, while SM057 involves it getting stuck out of its Dex form and trying to return to Ash.
• Department of Redundancy Department: A visual example where Rotom, while in the Pokédex, can express its emotions uninhibited, yet the 'dex's LCD screen will sometimes show the corresponding emoticon nonetheless.
• Do-Anything Robot: Subverted. When Sophocles asks it to scan the unhatched egg (that would later hatch into Snowy), Rotom points out that it has no such function. However, it can easily gain new abilities by linking up with electronic devices.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Even if it's inhabiting what is currently the most advanced piece of tech around, Rotom's "friends" think very little of it. Ash at one point nonchalantly leaves RotomDex behind, Rotom receives severe backlash from some of the critiques it's made, and the one guy who is interested in Rotom is not exactly the kind of attention Rotom wanted. Zigzagged since Ash has actually thanked Rotom for input at times.
• Encyclopaedic Knowledge: It's basically a sentient Pokémon encyclopedia, after all.
• Fan Boy: It's a huge fan of Alolan Detective Laki, a TV show that's popular in Alola. It even dresses up as Laki when solving a case.
• Good Counterpart: To Meowth, being the talking, non-battling Pokémon of Ash's group.
• Haunted Technology: It is a Rotom, after all — SM057 has it accidentally switch places with another Rotom that specializes in its appliances and it tries to get back to the Pokédex.
• Leitmotif: Looker's theme plays when it's in detective mode. Only in Japanese though.
• Literal-Minded: Ash tries to help Lillie get over her fear of Pokémon by telling her to view Rotom as a regular Pokédex, but Rotom insists on contradicting him and is unable to keep up the facade.
• Motor Mouth: When delivering lengthy exposition, Rotom just won't stop. This comes to bite it (and Ash) in the rear when Ash was supposed to be delivering a report on regional variants. Since Ash was merely lip-syncing while Rotom imitates his voice, Ash's lips couldn't keep up and the charade was discovered. Kukui further exposing Rotom was just the clincher.
• Mr. Exposition: As a sentient Pokédex, its purpose is to provide information on Pokémon and their world. It's so eager to do it, in fact, that it'll interrupt Ash's classmates when they try to explain things about Pokémon they know.
• Mythology Gag: SM057 has its misadventures start when a Wash Rotom is delivered to Kukui's house — the place where you'd find the appliances to possess it in the 7th generation games.
• Naïve Newcomer: In a sense. Rotom knows a lot of technical info thanks to the Pokédex archives, but is surprised by the various oddities that are part of the anime. It is surprised to see a talking Meowth and the fact that Ash can convince a Pokémon to let itself be caught flies in the face of what it knows of battling and capturing.
• Non-Action Guy: Presented only as a companion and Mr. Exposition for Ash, and is technically not even a part of his Alola team so far. It is never shown using any Pokémon moves, even in situations where it would be useful for it to do so.
• No Biological Sex: Rotom are a genderless species, but while inhabiting the Pokédex it speaks in a male voice and speech pattern.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: During a trip to Kanto, it manages to photograph and catalog the entire Kanto Pokédex within the space of a few hours.
• Power Copying: By connecting himself to other machines, he can gain their functions. He uses this in SM017 to gain the ability to record video, and again in SM023 to gain the ability to record voices.
• Red Herring: The fact that Sword and Shield will still be using a Rotom Pokédex (albeit a different model) might mislead fans into thinking that Rotom would stick with Ash for the next series. That would not be the case, since Rotom chooses to stay in Alola instead.
• Sacrificed Basic Skill for Awesome Training: Though inhabiting the RotomDex gives Rotom a wealth of knowledge and the ability to speak human language, Rotom's dex form is seemingly not battle functional. Rotom is still able to talk with other Pokémon, but it does so very sparingly.
• Schmuck Bait:
  • Rotom notes that Pikachu does not like being pulled on the tail and will bite those that try, and does just that to demonstrate. Pikachu electrocutes it (along with Ash and Kukui) instead. Later, after Pikachu's been healed up by Nurse Joy, Rotom decides to test Pikachu's health by pulling his tail, with predictable results.
  • It also pats a Toucannon's beak after noting it can be heated up and used as a weapon and said Toucannon heats up its beak to burn Rotom.
• Shock and Awe: Ash's Rotom Phone's Pokédex entry for it states that is a pure Electric type.
• Talking Animal: Thanks to the language software and voice synthesizer built into the Pokédex, Rotom is able to speak as long as it's inhabiting the device. Outside of the Pokédex, it indulges in typical Pokémon Speak.
• Verbal Tic: In the Japanese version, it ends sentences with "roto", to represent that it is electric in nature. In the English dub, they forego these tics in favor of simply auto-tuning Roger Callagy's voice.
• What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: After Ash befriends Rowlet and it allows Ash to capture it, Rotom was shocked and confused that Rowlet would purposely allow itself to be captured instead of traditionally battling.
• Wiki Walk: It is the Alola Pokédex, after all. Aside from looking up information on Pokémon, Rotom also researches other terms that it's not familiar with. Upon visiting Kanto, it very quickly searches and takes information of the entire region's Pokémon, except Mew, which it could not find, though it was Hiding in Plain Sight.
• Wrong Genre Savvy:
  • As noted in Naïve Newcomer, much of the RotomDex's knowledge would be more applicable to the technical environment of the games than the oddities of the anime.
  • Rotom thinks that watching a detective show would make you a great detective.

Cosmog-Cosmoem-Solgaleo/"Nebby" ("Hoshigumo")

A baby Pokémon spawned by Solgaleo and Lunala, left in Ash's care for reasons unknown.

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• Adorable Abomination: Sure, it's a Ridiculously Cute Critter, but it also posseses the ability to open wormholes and is a an Ultra Beast mon whom is the offspring of the legendary Solgaleo and Lunala.
• Back for the Finale: Literally; returns for one last appearance in the final Sun & Moon episode.
• But Now I Must Go: Leaves the group in SM055.
• Cute, but Cacophonic: In its first episode, it cries so loud that all the other Pokémon have to hide behind the desks and cover their ears until Mallow is able to calm it down.
• Expy: It's a baby that accompanies Ash during his journey and it is important to the plot, its cries hurt your ears, and it is part of a very powerful evolution line. It's basically an Expy of Larvitar from the Johto arc. Just like Squishy from XY&Z, it is a nicknamed Legendary Pokémon accompanying the main cast, is important to the series' plot, and it shares a bag with another Pokémon.
• Dimensional Traveler: It can travel to other worlds through Ultra Wormholes.
• Gentle Giant: The first things it does upon evolving into Solgaleo are accepting a hug from Lillie and licking Ash in the face, and it's large enough for Ash, Lillie, Gladion, Mallow, Lana, Sophocles, and Kiawe to all ride on its back.
• Goo-Goo-Godlike: As a Cosmog, it's an Ultra Beast-like baby Pokémon and the offspring of the Legendary Pokémon Solgaleo and Lunala.
• Grand Theft Me: Gets possessed by Necrozma at the end of SM088.
• G-Rated Sex: Basically how the parent Solgaleo and Lunala conceived Nebby.
• Guest-Star Party Member: Like Haunter and Larvitar before, he accompanies Ash as a wild Pokémon.
• In-Series Nickname: Its nickname is "Nebby". Like with Squishy, Nebby's species is unknown to everyone, thus it is nicknamed for the sake of having a name. Once it evolves into Solgaleo, the cast stop using this nickname and simply refer to it by its species name.
• Like Father, Like Son: The final form that Nebby evolved into is Solgaleo, just like its "father".
• Line-of-Sight Name: It got its nickname based on his appearance as a Cosmog.
• Meaningful Name: "Hoshigumo" is a pun to the Japanese word for "nebula", "seiun". The kanji of "seiun" (星雲) are comprised by the kanji for "hoshi" (星, "star") and "kumo" (雲, "cloud"). In other words, an Alternate Character Reading of "seiun".
• Mega Neko: Upon evolving into Solgaleo, it becomes a giant lion large enough for Ash, all of his classmates, and Gladion to ride on its back.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Nebby got its nickname from Lillie, like in the games.
  • Nebby is known for not staying in Lillie's bag in the games and thus in anime, Nebby has a tendency has to leave Ash's backpack and explore much to Pikachu's dismay, though not as frequently since it apparently does like to stay in the backpack.
  • The scene of Lillie hugging it as a Solgaleo is taken straight from the end credits of Sun.
• Ocular Gushers: When it cries as a Cosmog, it cries waterfalls.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: It took Ash to a world that was neither Ultra Deep Sea nor Poipole's world, where they saved an (unknown) Ultra Beast.
• Panthera Awesome: Evolves into Solgaleo, a giant white lion, in SM052.
• Picky Eater: When the class is trying to find out what Nebby (as Cosmog) eats, it refuses Pokémon food, some Poké Beans, a sandwich, a cake, a bowl of salad, and a bottle of Moomoo Milk. The only thing it likes is konpeito candies.
• Pokémon Speak: Unlike Squishy, Nebby makes intelligible noises. However, the way how Pokémon Speak works in Japanese, people have a much harder time to guess a species' name, which is why they can't just call Nebby "Cosmog" because it uses syllable combinations that wouldn't allude to its name unless you already knew it.
• Psychic Teleportation: It has the ability to teleport itself and others, which is problematic since it's too young to realize that arbitrarily zapping people to random places is unhelpful at best or dangerous at worst. As time goes on, it begins to use this ability more productively, such as in SM049 when it warps Ash, Pikachu, and Snowy to Lillie, and then once again shortly afterward to dodge a Hypnosis attack.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: It's an adorable baby Pokémon small enough to fit in Ash's backpack alongside Rowlet.
• Silly Walk: When not floating, it crawls along the ground using its wisp-like "arms".
• Spanner in the Works: Nebby's Teleport-happy antics led to Lillie recovering from her Trauma-Induced Amnesia and exposing Faba's cover-up scheme.
• Sweet Tooth: Its favorite food (and also the only thing it likes to eat) is konpeito candy.
• Telepathy: Can read minds to some degree, as it teleports people to places that they're thinking about.
• Those Two Guys: Nebby and Rowlet sleep together in Ash's backpack, and Nebby has been shown to be amused by Rowlet's antics.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Konpeito.

Team Rocket Trio's Pokémon

Jessie

Mimikyu (Mimikkyu)

Voiced in Japanese by: Daisuke Namikawa

Voiced in English by: Billy Bob Thompson

A Ghost/Fairy Pokémon wearing a ragged Pikachu costume. It develops an intense dislike of Ash's Pikachu, so Team Rocket targets it. Jessie, after losing her usual luck with throwing regular Poké Balls, uses James' Luxury Ball to catch it.

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• Adaptational Villainy: In the games and promotional material, Mimikyu is stated to be a lonely creature that simply emulates Pikachu because everyone loves it and it wants to be loved just as much, too. This one, however, is depicted as outright hating Pikachu out of sheer jealousy and joins Team Rocket just for the chance to defeat him.
• Adorable Abomination: Appears to be a cute Bedsheet Ghost upon first glance, but is capable of causing death via shock as demonstrated with Meowth. It is one of the few truly malicious Rocket mons.
• Attack Reflector: Uses its "tail" stick to bat away Pikachu's Electro Ball and two of Jessie's Poké Balls.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: It starts to like and even obey Jessie more often after she goes to great lengths to get its costume back from a flock of thieving Murkrow.
• Badass Adorable: It isn't to be messed with despite its cute appearance. Just ask Meowth or Pikachu. Its shadow claw and ball attacks are a forced to be reckoned with.
• Bedsheet Ghost: It's a ghost wearing a ragged Pikachu costume, creating this effect.
• Berserk Button: As soon as it sees Pikachu, Mimikyu immediately attacks him without waiting for a command.
• Big Ball of Violence: It knows Play Rough, which is depicted as this with the target getting smacked around from every angle by Mimikyu's fake wooden tail.
• Black Comedy: Mimikyu is a more sinister Pokémon, though its murderous tendencies and overall creepiness still lend to a lot of Team Rocket humor.
• Boss Battle: As part of Ash's trial on Ula'Ula island, it served as Ash's opponent, per Nanu's orders.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Is a powerful fighter, but if the opponent's not Pikachu, it won't even lift a finger to fight, except in SM023 when it fought an Alolan Dugtrio alongside James' Mareanie, SM025 where it fought and defeated the Totem Alolan Raticate, and SM038, when it protected Jessie from a flock of angry Murkrow.
• Brown Bag Mask: It wears one during SM038, after its costume is stolen by a Murkrow.
• Brown Note: The nature of this is unknown, but sight of, or contact with, the creature within Mimikyu's Pikachu costume is explicitly stated in the Pokémon Sun PokéDex as deadly. Ash's RotomDex repeated the Sun entry verbatim, making this canon in the anime. Mere eye contact with the creature has rendered Meowth unresponsive twice.
• The Cameo: In JN145, it appears in Jessie's and James's memory of Pokémon that parted their ways with them. Regarding Jessie's Pokémon, it's Arbok, Lickitung, Dustox and Mimikyu.
• Carry a Big Stick: Mimikyu's fake tail, which it uses for Play Rough, Wood Hammer, and to bat away attacks.
• The Comically Serious: Despite its sinister attitude, sometimes even Mimikyu finds itself out of its depth with Jessie, and even deflates into a rather flustered or sulky demeanour when disagreeing with her.
• Cute Is Evil: Despite its cuteness, it's one of the few truly malicious Pokémon to work with Team Rocket.
• Dragon-in-Chief: It's far more powerful and competent than any of Team Rocket's previous Pokémon, let alone the Team itself, however it only joined them out of its vendetta against Pikachu, and for the large part it acts on its own without Jessie's command. After Jessie bonds with it however, it submits to obeying her when Pikachu isn't around.
• The Dreaded: Meowth is utterly terrified of Mimikyu, even though Jessie insists they should just be friends. Considering Meowth can understand Mimikyu's (apparently creepy) speech, his terror is somewhat justified. Mimikyu's feelings on the matter aren't stated, but it clearly has no problem being around Meowth.
• Don't Look At Me: It refuses to be seen without its disguise—with good reason, because looking at it uncovered is deadly. When its costume is damaged and then stolen in SM038, it spends most of the episode under a brown paper bag with eyeholes.
• Eldritch Abomination: Whatever Meowth saw under that costume was not good for his mind. It's also stated verbatim by the Rotom Dex that the mere sight of it without its disguise is deadly. H. P. Lovecraft would be proud.
• Enemy Mine: It didn't necessarily like Team Rocket at first, though it didn't put up much of a fight against them, but it hates Pikachu more and decided to protect them from Pikachu so it could fight him.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: After Jessie saves its costume from being torn apart, it remains disobedient, though at least begrudgingly cares about its master now.
• Evil Counterpart: Set up as one. It is a fierce rival of Pikachu that mimics his appearance. While Pikachu knows Electro Ball, Mimikyu knows Shadow Ball. Where Pikachu knows Iron Tail, Mimikyu replicates though Wood Hammer using its wooden fake tail. While Pikachu is altruistic and loyal to Ash, Mimikyu is malicious and prone to disobey Jessie.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: The eye holes on its torso notably glow when it's about to attack, just like in the games.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Like all Mimikyu, it's jealous of Pikachu's popularity and also wants to be loved like Pikachu. But while most Mimikyu simply want to be loved and nothing more, this one takes it a step further and has a deep grudge against all Pikachu. This might stem from the fact that some Mimikyu get down when Trainers say they'd rather have Pikachu, which could be why Jessie's Mimikyu hates Pikachu so much.
• Hell Is That Noise: Mimikyu's speech is a disturbing choking noise, rather than imitation Pikachu cry it uses in the games.
• I Just Want to Be Loved:
  • It's subtle, but it willingly allows itself to be caught by a Luxury Ball, which causes the Pokémon caught by it to become friendly with the trainer at an increased rate. Two regular Poké Balls were swatted away.
  • When it's seeing kids playing happily with an inflatable Pikachu balloon in SM038, it breaks from its Unstoppable Rage and glances wistfully at its costume.
• Instant Expert: Jessie assumes that Mimikyu inherently knows the Fairy-Type Z-Pose so it can unleash its signature Z-Move Let's Snuggle Forever. To the surprise of the others, she is correct.
• Killer Rabbit: Despite its size and cute appearance, it isn't to be messed with. Especially if your name is Pikachu.
• Literal-Minded: After Jessie told it to "go", as in attack, it decides to walk away. Granted, since it had no interest in fighting anyone but Pikachu.
• Leeroy Jenkins: If Pikachu shows up, Mimikyu will drop everything to go after it, regardless of what Team Rocket actually has in mind.
• Mistaken Identity: The group originally thought it was Pikachu. Then the head of its shroud fell askew, and they freak out.
• Near-Death Experience: Subjected Meowth to one when he tried to take off its costume, complete with a vision of Pokémon Hell. Fortunately, a good splash of water to the face from Jessie and James wakes him up before he's too far gone. The RotomDex relates the Pokédex entry of a researcher having died from seeing a Mimikyu's true form.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Knows Play Rough, and its first reaction to Pikachu is to beat the ever-loving snot out of it.
• No-Sell: Just like in the games, Mimikyu's Disguise ability allows it to avoid damage from the first hit it takes in battle. Pikachu's super effective Iron Tail fails twice thanks to this, as does a Totem Raticate's assault. Its part Ghost typing also means Meowth's Fury Swipes do no damage.
• Not in This for Your Revolution: It joins forces with Team Rocket willingly, but unlike their previous Undyingly Loyal Pokémon, only does so out of hatred for Pikachu, resisting capture at first and regularly disobeying Jessie. Only when Jessie started to effectively bond with Mimikyu did it begin willingly obeying her, though is still uncontrollable when Pikachu is involved.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: Despite its bizarre and diminutive appearance, it immediately establishes its viciousness by delivering a Curbstomp Battle to Pikachu. After being caught by Jessie, it manages to weather Pikachu's Thunderbolt and is still ready to fight.
• Oh, Crap!: The first time Pikachu uses an Electro Web on it marks perhaps the first truly panicked reaction from Mimikyu.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • When a pissed off Bewear is about to fight Pheromosa in SM114, Mimikyu actually looks frightened.
  • In SM146, when Team Rocket is recalled back to Kanto, Mimikyu decides to have one last shot at defeating Pikachu, only to see its reflection in the water, which causes it to lose its fighting spirit. It dejectedly sulks back to Bewear's den, where it talks to Meowth along the way, revealing to him that it had grown tired of hating Pikachu. Meowth consoles it by stating that nothing good comes from hatred and that it should start looking foward to better things, prompting Mimikyu to cheer up and possibly overcome its hatred towards Pikachu.
• Our Fairies Are Different: It's part Fairy-type and knows Play Rough.
• Out-of-Character Moment: In SM023 it essentially acted like a standard Team Rocket Pokémon, obeying Jessie's commands against a non-Pikachu opponent and getting defeated rather easily. Mimikyu did not otherwise listen to Jessie until its Character Development in SM038.
• Pet the Dog: It starts to show semblance of an actual bond with Jessie after she saves and fixes its disguise in SM038, even starting to obey her commands in battles where Pikachu isn't around to incense it.
• Pintsized Powerhouse: Mimikyu may be a tiny little thing, but it's easily the strongest Pokémon Team Rocket has ever owned thus far. It can overwhelm Pikachu in a fight and defeated a Totem Pokémon.
• Pokémon Speak: A variant. Unlike Mimikyu's imitation of "Pikachu" and minimal ability to speak human language in the games, this one just makes a sound like it's choking on something. It's still speech, as Meowth understands it perfectly well. Weirdly enough, Acerola's Mimikyu, Mimikins' cries don't sound like this, implying this is more exclusive to this particular Mimikyu.
• The Power of Hate: Mimikyu's resentment of Pikachu has lent it deceptive amounts of power, allowing its Shadow Balls to deflect Pikachu's Electro Balls and making it powerful enough to overwhelm Pikachu with its Play Rough attack.
• Put on a Bus: Mimikyu is released along with James' Mareanie in SM146 to be left under Bewear's care when Team Rocket is called back to Kanto.
• "Psycho" Strings: Practically a Leitmotif. Anytime it does anything, a harsh screech plays in the background.
• The Resenter: According to Meowth, this Mimikyu isn't dressed as Pikachu for fun. Given Mimikyu's Pokédex entry of wanting to be loved, it could be one reason why it's particularly malicious towards Pikachu.
• The Rival: Being set up as one for Pikachu.
• Security Blanket: It's very protective of its costume. Jessie gets on its better side by preserving it from some Murkrow.
• Soul Power: It is part Ghost-type and knows Shadow Claw and Shadow Ball.
• Spanner in the Works:
  • Mimikyu's murderous hatred of Pikachu overtakes all other ambitions it has, meaning it sometimes ends up ruining Team Rocket's plans indirectly when they don't involve attacking Pikachu. It gets itself disqualified in the Alola Pancake Race for example, as using attacks is forbidden.
  • It also nearly ruined Team Rocket's chances in the Alola League during the Battle Royale that served as the tournament's first round when it scurried around the battlefield targeting any Pikachu. Team Rocket's plan to avoid elimination was to not get involved in any battles at all.
• Staring Down Cthulhu: Does this to Bewear when it starts to interrupt its battle with Pikachu in Ula'Ula. Bewear, who so far has been near unstoppable, actually backs down and sits until the fight is over.
• Token Competent Minion: Mimikyu was far more vicious than the other Pokémon Jessie had and could consistently keep up with Pikachu. Unfortunately for Jessie, Mimikyu wasn't really interested in doing much else besides fighting Pikachu, and would often sulk or half-ass battles against other opponents or even ruin schemes because of its bloodlust for Pikachu.
• Token Evil Teammate: Unlike Jessie's previous Pokémon, who're more of Punch-Clock Villains simply following her orders, this one's out for blood.
• Took a Level in Badass: Gains access to Mimikium Z in SM073 and masters its Signature Z-Move "Let's Snuggle Forever" in SM076, making it even more of an underlying threat.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Keeps accidentally sending Meowth into a near death experience after its true form is flashed in front of him as a Running Gag.
• Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: The Sun and Moon series is Lighter and Softer than previous ones, but Mimikyu is usually played straight as a terrifying and formidable character.
• Villain Forgot to Level Grind: Oddly averted for once. Mimikyu not only manages to stay toe-to-toe with Pikachu for most of their later fights in the series, but it even gets access to its signature Z-Move.
• Villains Out Shopping: In some episodes it seems to have no qualms joining in on Team Rocket's legitimate agendas so long as Pikachu isn't around to anger it. It even serves as a cook in their malasada truck.
• Weakened by the Light: As its Pokedex entry says, Mimikyu's body is weakened by sunlight.
• What Have I Become?: In its final fight with Pikachu, Mimikyu saw its reflection in Melemele Sea and got depressed, abandoning the fight. It took a talk with Meowth, revealing that it had grown tired of hating Pikachu, who told it that nothing good comes of hatred and it should simply look forward to better things.
• You Do Not Want To Know: Meowth refuses to translate most of what it's saying because it's too creepy.

James

Mareanie (Hidoide)

Voiced in Japanese by: Fumiko Takekuma

Voiced in English by: Melissa Hope

Mareanie is a Poison/Water-type starfish-like Pokémon that became fond of James in much the same way as his past Grass types. She left her herd to continue bothering James after realizing that he resembled a Mareanie after dousing him in her poison.

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• Be Careful What You Wish For: When Kiawe urges Ash to retreat from a group of Mareanie, he wishes he could've battled them. When he does battle Mareanie, he gets completely thrashed.
• Blasting It Out of Their Hands: Learns Knock Off in SM073. While not a projectile move, it can slam items out of targets' possession.
• The Cameo: In JN145, it appears in James's and Jessie's memory of Pokémon that parted their ways with them. Regarding James's Pokémon, it's Weezing, Victreebel, Cacnea, Chimecho and Mareanie.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: She gets jealous when James tries to catch a female Frillish (Ironic, since Jessie formerly had one in the Unova arc, before her return in JN145) and chases it off.
• Cuddle Bug: Quickly becomes very affectionate with James. Which is bad, considering she's acutely venomous.
• Cute Little Fangs: The tiny little fangs really add the cuteness to her unkempt look.
• Damsel in Distress: James has to rescue her from an attacking Tentacruel in SM058.
• Face of a Thug: Is capable of some seriously grumpy looks and very much looks the part of a poisonous Pokémon. She follows James' pattern of loyal and affectionate Pokémon however.
• Interspecies Romance: When Team Rocket first stumbles upon this Mareanie, she grabs James' head and poisons him. With his purple face matching his blue hair, he vaguely looks like a Mareanie she was once in love with, and she falls in love with him. Even when James reverts to normal health, she remains smitten. SM055 shows that Mareanie wants to marry James.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: Despite her comedic first meeting with James, she was eager to battle for him, teaming up with Mimikyu to faint both Rowlet and Pikachu. She nearly killed Snowy and Lillie through an indirect attack in her second battle. She also became the first Team Rocket Pokémon to use a Z-Move, mastering Black Hole Eclipse competently on her first attempt.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: She recurrently joins in on the trio's incognito schemes in the form of a Totem Pole Trench on top of Wobbuffet. Though it's very obviously two Pokémon stood on top of one another, the twerps still fall for it.
• Parrot Pet Position: If she's not battling, it's almost always on James's shoulder or forearm.
• Poisonous Person: Is acutely venomous. Kiawe is aware enough of this that he urges Ash to get away from a herd of Mareanie quickly.
• Put on a Bus: Mareanie is released along with Jessie's Mimikyu in SM146 to be left under Bewear's care when Team Rocket is called back to Kanto.
• The Reliable One: While Mimikyu only conditionally listens to Jessie and is mostly only in it to fight Pikachu, Mareanie, besides her Running Gag, is obedient to James no matter who they're fighting. Perhaps more unusual, she will even continue fighting when James is incapacitated, and has no problems following battle commands from Meowth.
• Spike Shooter: Knows Spike Cannon.
• Took a Level in Badass: In SM073 Mareanie learns Knock Off. Being a Dark-type attack, it also leaves her able to use Black Hole Eclipse when James gets hold of a Z-Ring, quickly defeating a rampaging Gengar.
• Uncatty Resemblance: Apart from the fact James resembles a Mareanie when poisoned, Mareanie's backstory shares an uncanny parallel with James: they both suffered poor treatment from a former love interest, and wound up finding companionship in an individual who bears a strong resemblance to those love interests (James for Mareanie, Jessie for James).
• Undying Loyalty: She tops James' usual range of passionately loyal Pokémon by being unambiguously in love with him.
• Wingding Eyes: Often sports hearts in her eyes when latched to James.
• Woman Scorned: We eventually meet Mareanie's former love: "Senpai", a uniquely-colored (not Shiny) Mareanie (later evolved to a Toxapex). She was smitten when he saved her from a Tentacruel, then gave her a Corsola horn. She left him when he turned out to be a player, having caught him giving another Mareanie a Corsola horn. She also gets angry when he offers James a Corsola horn for saving both of them from a Tentacruel.

Companion Pokémon

Bewear (Kiteruguma)

Voiced in Japanese by: Mika Kanai

Voiced in English by: Michele Knotz

A wild Bewear that has decided to adopt Team Rocket, whether they like it or not. She carries them off to her den and takes care of them, and will inevitably track them down to do so again if they decide to leave. They eventually give in and officially make Bewear's den their hideout, with hope that maybe they will be able to catch her eventually. They ultimately failed, leaving the Pokémon they caught in Alola (Mimikyu and Mareanie) with her instead.

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• Acrofatic: Bewear is just as big and bulky as the rest of her species, but when pursuing Team Rocket, she can pull off feats of agility that would be impressive for a Pokémon half her size.
• And Call Him "George": She kidnaps Team Rocket and takes them to her home. She's very nurturing of Team Rocket, if a bit insistent about it. Her smothering delayed Jessie getting the Luxury Ball back after catching Mimikyu with it, and may have prematurely ended their first Alola battle with Ash. The PokéDex entry for Pokémon Moon expressly says that Bewear are known for inadvertently killing their trainers, so they may be in more trouble than they realize.
• Badass Adorable: Don't let her cute, huggable appearance fool you. She will go into full Mama Bear mode whenever The Trio, Wobbuffet, and her cub are threatened. Matori learned the hard way.
• Bear Hug:
  • Gives a crushing one to Jessie when she gives her some Malasada donuts in SM014.
  • It's first reaction to seeing Team Rocket again in Journeys is to give them the whole group a crushing glomp in excitement.
• Bears Are Bad News: Certainly acts that way on occasion, though her actual demeanor is more Mama Bear than anything.
• Beary Friendly: She's genuinely friendly towards Team Rocket. Maybe a bit too much so.
• Berserk Button: Bewear routinely protects Team Rocket from the twerps but, seemingly knowing who's antagonising who in that case, rarely hassles the twerps besides cutting off their fight. When Pheromosa smacks around Team Rocket unprovoked however, Bewear makes very clear that she is pissed.
• Beware the Nice Ones:
  • She usually neutralises Team Rocket indirectly, her harm to them being unintentional. When they attempt to interrupt the Tapus' ritual so they can capture Nebby however, Bewear is savvy enough to keep out of it, and intimidates and strangulates the trio until they agree to do the same.
  • After finding out about the decoys used to distract her, Bewear catches up with Team Rocket in Ula Ula. They can blatantly tell she is not happy about being tricked.
  • As Pheromosa found out the hard way, while Bewear is usually the mediator between Team Rocket and the twerps, she does not take kindly to someone picking on Team Rocket unprovoked.
• Big Damn Heroes: Reversed. Regularly and abruptly appears to save the villainous Team Rocket from beatings by the twerps. Played straight in SM114, neither Ash and his friends nor Team Rocket stand any chance against and Pheromosa, and they are only able to recover the stolen Z-Crystals and capture Pheromosa due to Bewear's intervention.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: On the giving end to Pheromosa in SM114.
• Determinator: Her desire to bring them back is so strong that she is capable of RUNNING ACROSS THE OCEAN to find and catch them.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: When a Pheromosa breaks Meowth's heart, Bewear flies into a berserk rage and knocks it out cold.
• Does Not Know His Own Strength: As her species is infamous for, Bewear loves to give hugs but can't control the potentially deadly force she puts into them. This has put the trio through a lot of pain many times.
• The Dreaded: Following from her Pokédex entry, Bewear is a feared Pokémon without even trying to be. Naturally this offers the trio some protection for a change as no one, not even the twerps, want to intervene when she steps in to help them. Even a Totem Pokemon won't mess with her.
• Enigmatic Minion: While she houses and cares for the Team Rocket trio, she doesn't take orders from them, and has frequently interrupted their spars with the twerps when either side has had the advantage (or sometimes even when Team Rocket weren't doing anything villainous at all). Her motivations and interests are not looked into at all since she seldom says anything for Meowth to translate or even emotes through facial expressions.
• Gender Reveal: Revealed to be female in SM096 when her Stufful cub calls her Mama.
• Gullible Lemmings: The only times so far Team Rocket have managed to get their way around Bewear was by leaving a mechanical dupes to distract her. When they head to Ula Ula they leave robot duplicates of themselves in the lair with a looping recording of them talking. Repeated when they use an Oranguru robot to distract her and Stufful while they take part in the league. In both cases she only sees through the charade when the decoys start malfunctioning.
• I'm Taking Her Home with Me!: Bewear's fondness for humans (and thus Team Rocket) results in several episodes ending with her carrying Jessie, James, and their Pokémon back to her cave.
• The Kindnapper: Keeps Team Rocket dormant in her cave against their will, but never uses violent tactics, and offers them food and comfort. Shortly in, the trio decide to roll with this and convert Bewear's cave into their secret lair, something she seems to have no qualms with.
• Know When to Fold Them: Butts in when things get too tough for Team Rocket, and carries them away. Beats blasting off. This only lasts for the Alola saga, though.
  • She got locked in a clash with Buzzwole in SM061. But when Team Rocket happens upon them, She breaks off, grabs them, and hightails it. It was likely to protect them: if she was stalemated with Buzzwole, Jessie and James probably didn't stand a chance.
• Leitmotif: Has one that plays whenever she shows up to drag Team Rocket away in the original Japanese edit.
• Lightning Bruiser: If the various stunts she pulls off to evacuate her charges didn't clue you into this detail, then the fearsome display of her abilities in SM114 certainly will; she No Sells Pheromosa's attacks and downs it with only a handful of solid hits, delivered faster than her opponent could react. When she makes a beeline to chase down Pheromosa, she crosses from one side of the battlefield to the other in the blink of an eye. And she probably doesn't really need to chase after her opponent in a fight; durability aside, her reaction time is so formidable that when Pheromosa tries to run circles around her to confuse her, she just stays put and patiently waits for the Ultra Beast to come within striking distance, behind her at that, before lashing out with all her might.
• Mama Bear: As literal as you can get. Protective of Team Rocket to a fault. It was eventually revealed this was due to her losing track of her Stufful cub, which was eventually found at Aether Paradise and reunited with her.
• Morality Pet: As often as she intervenes with their agenda, the Team Rocket trio do genuinely care about her and Stufful. They are even willing to risk their beloved occupations in Team Rocket to protect them from Matori.
• No-Sell: It's reaction to a pokeball trying to catch her? Catch it and crush it to dust.
• Not in This for Your Revolution: Bewear seems to like Team Rocket, though has no interest in their agenda, so doesn't seem to care if she is inadvertently foiling Jessie and James' plans when she reclaims them.
• Not So Invincible After All: Her fight against Guzzlord is the only time she gets decisively overpowered, and likely would have been pummelled to death if Team Rocket hadn't rescued her for once. It comes with a bit of Worf Had the Flu however, since she only lost the upper hand when she stopped to attend to Stufful.
• Only Sane Man: Bewear's intrusions could be seen as a moderating force for Team Rocket in Alola. This is particularly noted in SM052, when she prevents Team Rocket from interfering with the Tapus and Nebby.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • After Meowth falls into a funk after helping Ash and Litten with Stoutland, and more than likely being as aware as they are about Stoutland's imminent death, Bewear sits down next to him and gives him a gentle hug to comfort him.
  • When Team Rocket suicidally target the Tapus and Solgaleo, Bewear interrupts and, rather than dragging them home, very firmly keeps them at bay until the crisis with the Ultra Space wormhole is resolved.
  • When Team Rocket happens upon her in conflict with Buzzwole, she disengages, grabs them, and runs off.
  • Normally when coming to spirit Team Rocket away, Bewear is more than happy to simply grab them and leave without much of a fight; even against Buzzwole, with whom she did choose to exchange blows, she chose to leave the instant Team Rocket showed up, prioritizing their safety first and foremost. But upon seeing Meowth in tears in SM114, Bewear takes the time to deliver a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown to the offending Pheromosa before retrieving Team Rocket and returning home, marking the very first time she chooses to go on the offensive over simply retreating. Lampshaded by Team Rocket, who look terrified when an aura flares around her and she screams with rage. Even Mimikyu looked freaked out.
  • Her fight against Guzzlord is one of the few times Bewear demonstrates an assortment of visible facial emotions, first a determined grimace when fighting the Ultra Beasts, a pained look when overpowered and beaten down, and finally a touched joyous look when Team Rocket rescues her.
• Pre-Meeting: May or may not be the same Bewear that scared the living crap out of Ash in SM001.
• Put on a Bus: It's put in charge of taking care of Mimikyu and Mareanie when Team Rocket's called back to Kanto, giving them one last hug before chucking them in their balloon and sending it into the sky, having them blast off again, complete with Team Rocket's infamous A Twinkle in the Sky Running Gag. It makes a couple of return cameos in Journeys when the cast travel to Alola.
• Running Gag: Replaces Team Rocket's infamous A Twinkle in the Sky with bringing them back to her den when the going starts to get tough. Even when they do manage their former bit, Bewear is waiting to catch them on the other end. This only lasts for the Alola saga, though.
• Scarily Competent Tracker: Played for laughs. It doesn't matter where Team Rocket goes or how improbable it may be that Bewear could find them, but she will. She is even capable of tracking them all the way to Kanto Region.
• Spanner in the Works: When not saving them from a beating, she interrupts Team Rocket's plans whenever they are actually on the verge of defeating the twerps.
• Stock Animal Diet: Is fond of Combee honey, though she also eats fruit.
• Swapped Roles: During the Guzzlord invasion, Bewear fights and is ultimately overpowered by one of them. Having none of this, Team Rocket use their mech to stop Guzzlord and carry away Bewear for once.
• A Taste of Defeat: Only a very small number of circumstances have hindered Bewear from hauling back Team Rocket:
  • Thus far, being put to sleep by Jigglypuff's Sing attack is the only shown proof that anything can stop this Pokémon.
  • When she interrupts Pikachu and Mimikyu's battle in Ula Ula, Mimikyu, still incensed, glares her down. Bewear actually relents and sits until the battle is over.
  • While it puts up a good fight against one of the rampaging Guzzlord in SM140, it is ultimately overpowered when trying to protect Stufful, and takes a nasty pummelling. Team Rocket block the finishing blow however and use their mech to jet Bewear and Stufful back home for once.
• A Truce While We Gawk: No matter how viciously they were at each other's throats before, everyone from both the twerps and Team Rocket's side will cease fighting in dumbfoundment whenever Bewear interrupts to take back the trio (often in an increasingly bizarre fashion).
• A Twinkle in the Sky: Bewear is not above this trope.
  • In SM027, she catapults from some trees to catch Team Rocket and blast off with them.
  • In the cold open of SM033, Jessie hooks her while fishing, and she swims across Brooklet Hill with them so fast that she blasts off.
  • In SM042, she builds a makeshift rocket from the parts of their wrecked mecha du jour, and literally blasts off.
• The Unfought: The closest she has ever come to battling is against the Ultra Beast Buzzwole in SM061, and she breaks off the fight as soon as Team Rocket shows up to get them away from Buzzwole. She finally averts this in SM114, where she near effortlessly knocks out Pheromosa.
• Vocal Dissonance: In the games, her cry is a deep grunt. In the anime, she makes a high-pitched and rather disconcerting scream.
• Walk on Water: She can run across the ocean to catch Team Rocket. Rotom even takes note of her as bizarre.
  • She does it again, this time with Stufful riding on her head, in the End-of-Episode Silliness of SM139, undoubtedly to join the battle against Guzzlord.
• When She Smiles: Her expression is usually comically blank. She makes a joyous look when Team Rocket blast off with her in SM140 though.
• Wild Card: She neither serves Team Rocket's schemes nor directly helps the twerps. As such she can benefit or hinder either side, either by stopping Team Rocket when they risk succeeding in a crime, or evacuating them when the twerps risk inflicting some post-victory Disproportionate Retribution.

Stufful (Nuikoguma)

Voiced in Japanese by: Nicole Fujita

Voiced in English by: Michele Knotz

The baby cub of Bewear. Having been lost by Bewear before the series started, Stufful would later be revealed to have been cared for by the Aether Foundation.

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• Cousin Oliver: Though its presence is shrewdly alluded to, Stufful doesn't appear until the final year of the Sun and Moon series, playing the role of Bewear's child and another Morality Pet for Team Rocket.
• Damsel in Distress: In one episode, after failing to persue Bewear, Matori decides to make do with Stufful, who can evolve into a Bewear instead. Team Rocket shrewdly perform a Satchel Switcheroo to rescue it.
• Keet: Often depicted as loudly playful and enjoying Bewear's usual bizarre antics.
• Incoming Ham: A case an individual rather than a quote representing the trope. Bewear's entrance is always foreshadowed by Stufful appearing just beforehand.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: An adorable bear mon cub.

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