WMG / Pokémon the Series: Black & White

aka: Pokemon Best Wishes Old

These were theories formed either during or immediately before the Best Wishes Series which were either subsequently confirmed or jossed, or are just too controversial to be addressed. Please do not add to these theories.

If you have any new theories relating to characters from this arc, put them here.

Spoilers Off for stuff in the Anime up to the end of this saga; items in other adaptations or series will keep their spoilers.

Confirmed Guesses

Related to Episode N

Team Plasma will appear soon.

Team Rocket has retreated from Unova, and Plasma's appearance is long overdue. It will probably go straight to their BW2 arc. Bonus points if they decide to take advantage of the Chronicles set-up and do a mini-series of the original Pokémon Black and White (possibly in the theme of the trailer for BW2).

The Team Plasma arc will be set after the Unova league.

Given the delay due to the Japanese earthquake and that we're all the way up to the sixth gym leader, its unlikely we'll see it all fitted in into the pre-league episodes. Having it set afterwards will not only prevent the Team Plasma arc from being rushed, but also give a valid excuse for visiting the post-Elite regions. If this is right, I expect signs to be shown during the league. Maybe N could appear

• I support this idea.
• Confirmed! "Episode N" is the arc following the Unova League.
  • N technically appears after the League, though.

N and/or Plasma will make their first appearance when Best Wishes 1 ends...

...at about episode 100-104. Episode 93 will wrap up a Tournament Arc (after Ash earns his 8th badge) leaving enough time for a few fillers and even getting a Rocket Plot underweigh before the season ending reveal and Cliffhanger.

• Close! N will apparently make his first appearance in either episode 108 or episode 109... depending on if he shows up at the end of the Unova League or not.

Team Plasma's story will have its own season ala the Battle Frontier arc

So that it will make up for the missing episodes.

• Semi-confirmed. Team Plasma are getting their own story arc, though it's still technically part of Season 2 of Best Wishes.

"Best Wishes 2" will have Team Plasma appear.

And, like Pokémon Black 2 and White 2, they'll be suffering from an Enemy Civil War. Team Neo Plasma (led by N) will likely have an Enemy Mine with Ash and co (and maybe even convince them to join their side), while the original Team Plasma will either be having an Evil Versus Evil battle with Team Rocket, or they'll be using Team Rocket's actions to push their own agenda. Knowing Ghetsis, I suspect the latter.

• Well, to have an Enemy Mine, you'd have to have more than just a misunderstanding. I'd say it's more like N would make a Heel–Face Turn after fighting Ash for about 20 or so episodes and would form Neo Plasma then.
• Confirmed, By the way.

The Charizard in the Episode N cover is Ash's

He flew all the way across the ocean from Johto, sensing that his friend was in danger. In typical fashion, he will appear in a Big Damn Heroes style moment with a new move or two. For maximum bonus points, he'll team up with Iris's Dragonite and pull a Bash Brothers style moment.

• With the new ending song, it shows this might be confirmed. The two are even paired together!
  • Yep.

Other Confirmed Guesses

Trip is going to get more depth soon

We're coming up on Nimbasa City, which is where Cheren got hit by his blue screen of death in the games. Since Trip is essentially an Expy of Cheren, I'm guessing that either we're going to see what happened to get Trip from adorable little kid to what he is now, or Trip is going to get broken hard.

• Confirmed: Alder was his idol.

Trip will have a more sympathetic backstory.

Compared to Paul who didn't have any excuse for his actions, this Troper hopes that Trip will have some backstory on why he's a jerk toward Ash. Alternatively there will be more to his character than he lets on.

• To continue from this guess, this troper thinks that Trip has abusive parents. This stems from a few hints given in his appearance.
  • He gets mad at Iris when he's called a "kid" or being "childish". This can be interpreted as his parents telling him that being a trainer is a childish dream.
    • Adding on and may come off as farfetched but the way he acts during the Donamite arc comes off as sexist as he underestimates Bianca when she's chosen as his opponent and then looks down on Iris and Burgundy's match when he was taking pictures of them. It comes back to bite him when he loses to Bianca and when he leaves, you notice that Burgundy and Georgia are making fun of him for being a "poor sport" (He wasn't, he was actually depressed from losing. If Trip looks down on women (and Ash), then that might reflect on his relationship with his mother and how he sees her. If his mom turns out to be an Abusive or overbearing parent (or both), it could explain his attitude toward women as dismissive... but it also applies to guys as well who are trying to talk to him.
  • Trip tells Ash he doesn't have time to wait around in Castelia City when it would only take a day to get the Venipede situation under control. This could mean that he wasn't supposed to leave on his journey and staying in one place could result in his parents finding and dragging him back home. This again applies to BW042 when he leaves the tournament after losing instead of staying around to watch the outcome.
  • In BW034, Trip is shown as a child to adore Pokemon and the Champion Alder. You notice that his parents aren't around when he tells Alder that he's going to be a trainer. He's also shown to be a Cheerful Child as a kid. Alder tells him he'll be waiting for him to grow up and be a trainer. At the start of the series, he's no longer smiling like he was in the past. Something tells this troper that his parents didn't take him becoming a trainer well and he had to take extremes in order to become one like running away from home but the result made him come out as cynical.
    • To add to this portion, in BW054, Alder is shown to not remember who Trip is and constantly forgets his name. While he forgets Ash's name too, it's different with Trip who still remembers the promise and it implies that Alder forgot his promise to Trip. (To be fair, Trip was just another random kid in a crowd of people and Alder just happened to talk to him.) So Trip's minor breakdown midway in the episode comes off as his only person he idolized and probably encouraged him to become a Pokemon Trainer is shown to be a lazy buffoon that can't remember his promise or take him seriously. In other words, his ideal version of Alder is shattered right there when he leaves and he leaves before finding out there is more than meets the eye.
  • His camera. He takes pictures of everything whenever he appears in an episode. He tells Ash he's recording his journey, but maybe he's doing that because he's scared that if he's caught by his parents, he won't be able to continue his journey anymore and is keeping his camera to remember his journey by.
  • Finally, one of the themes in Pokemon Black and White is how the parents are involved with the children of the series and how they affect them. Bianca for example has an overprotective dad that would not let her go on her journey. She almost was dragged back home but Elisa intervened. There's also N who has his father Ghetsis. Just knowing what Ghetsis did shows how bad a parent can affect their child. Since some themes from Black and White are sliding into the anime, it wouldn't be a surprise if Trip's parents are mentally abusive of him that lead him to be reserved and keeps everything to himself instead of opening up to Ash and co when they have tried to befriend him.
    • (another troper) And maybe Trip's parents will finally find him at the Unova League, just after he loses to Ash. It would be either a heartwarming, or a tearjerker.
• Whatever the case, I definitely see him becoming a Jerk with a Heart of Gold. Maybe he could become nicer, in a way that reflects Cheren.
  • Mind you, Trip is already proven to be a Jerkass, so it would be more of a case of Defrosting Ice King then actually remaining as one.
• The part about parental issues was Jossed, but the rest of this was pretty much correct.

Meowth wasn't really fired prior to Nimbasa.

OK, this one's too obvious to not be on the page. Cue I Knew It! in one week. This WMG has been posted by Bwburke94 on August 18, 2011.

• This is an obvious one and the audience has to wait for a month until the Subway Boss battles to confirm if Meowth was fired or not but it's obvious from the get go that he's lying and that those who really think he pulled a Heel–Face Turn are Genre Blind.
• Original poster here. So... nothing major in today's episode, but the episode airing on September 8 seems to be the most likely of the next few to confirm this.
• OP again, posting on September 9. While yesterday's episode didn't confirm anything, Meowth's apparently not appearing in the September 22 episode featuring Elesa. Here are the possibilities:
  • Meowth reveals he wasn't fired in next week's two-parter, rejoins Jessie and James, and doesn't appear similar to how the Lenora episodes didn't have TR.
  • Meowth really was fired, and he is Put on a Bus. While he does appear in the current ending song, it's about time for the ending to change so we can't rule this out.
  • Meowth wasn't fired, and is caught by one of the main cast. Given the way Pokémon ownership works in the anime, Meowth would essentially turn into a Rocket-aligned version of Psyduck, coming out of his Poké Ball and screwing over Ash & co.
  • Meowth was fired, is caught by one of the main cast, and completes his Heel–Face Turn, simply not being used in the first Elesa episode. Unlikely due to Status Quo Is God, but it would be a fitting conclusion to fourteen and a half years of losing to Ash. If you can't beat him, join him.
    • This is the troper who replied after the suggestion. It has been confirmed that Meowth pulled a Fake Defector meaning that he wasn't fired in the first place and only joined Ash and the group to let their guard down. Again, people who didn't see this coming are Genre Blind.
  • OP here. It took a month, but I Knew It!.

The first Starter Pokemon that will evolve in Ash's party is Tepig

This troper just has this feeling that he'll evolve first with the focus he's currently getting. Oshawott isn't evolving anytime soon and Snivy will likely be the second one to evolve. This troper is hoping he'll evolve in BW053 (the team battle against the Subway bosses.)

• First? Don't you mean third? Two of Ash's other pokemon have already evolved once. They are Pidove, now Tranquill, and Sewaddle, now Swadloon.
  • Original troper and I'm referring to the main starter trio as there is constant debate on which one will evolve first.
• A Spoiler Opening confirms this.
  • Original troper who posted this. All she can say is I Knew It!.

Ash's Krokorok will evolve when he battles either Iris' Dragonite or Trip's Serperior during the Junior Cup tournament

Self explanatory and given that the tournament arc is happening sooner than later, it wouldn't be a surprise that given the situation and type disadvantage it has that it would evolve to win the tournament.

• I Knew It!. Ash Krokorok evolved when battling Iris' Dragonite.

Iris or Cilan will catch a non-Unova Pokémon, to promote Black and White 2

Similar to Dawn and her Cyndaquil, they could receive an egg or simply catch a wild Pokémon.

• Half-Confirmed: Iris does get a Dragonite and it develops a rivalry with Ash's Charizard in Best Wishes 2: Episode N.

At the end of Best Wishes, Iris's departure reasons is that she will travel to Blackthorn City in Johto before traversing that region and Kanto. As for Cilan, he will either continue with Ash to Kalos or go on his own to improve his skills.

Later in the Decolora Island saga, Clair is supposed to show up. Iris will learn of her clan and way they study Dragon types and decides to head there as her motivation. As for Cilan, he will either join with Ash to see the "flavors" of Kalos or stay behind in Kanto to improve his abilities as a connoisseur or spread the art of being one since it's a career usually seen in Unova.

• Confirmed for Iris, Unresolved for Cilan.

The Not-Mild Unprovable and outright Jossed theories of Best Wishes

Characters

Ash's Reset Button

Tobias was actually a projection/illusion created by the legendaries who are also responsible for Pikachu's power drain hence why he can defeat legendaries and get defeated by starter pokemon.

The reason why is because they don't want Ash to win a league and become champion yet. They need him to take care of things in Unova/Isshu first. Also, the movies did in fact happen, they legendaries just make sure everyone forget and they are also deliberately limiting Pikachu's powers so Ash does not rely on Pikachu 100%.

• If they want to redeem themselves for making that God-Mode Sue, that's the perfect way to do it

Tobias owns the Zekrom that lightning bolted Pikachu

After Tobias got through with whupping Ash, he knew that Ash would travel to Unova, so he had his Zekrom zero-in out Ash's most experience Pokemon (on him): Pikachu, in order to make sure he stayed that way. And to make his journey a real pain, he led Ash to a single bush containing one Iris, while manipulating Cilan's hart: making him the flambo he is now. To make sure his loss in Unova was certain, he pulled massive strings to have Ash fail at every single Unova event (save for gym battles), from having Litwick blow out Ash's candle at the Wishing Bell Festival, to Cameron's Riolu suddenly evolving into a powerhouse Lucario.

• Tobias doesn't seem that vindictive.....

Tobias was Pierce in disguise.

The whole Sinnoh League thing was a plan, so that he could gain more information about Sinnoh-ultimately, this info will help Giovanni take over Sinnoh along with the rest of the world. It could also be to study Ash and his possible connection to the Unova legendaries (he is the Chosen One, after all.) And as a Continuity Nod, Pierce would note Ash as the reason why Jessie, James and Meowth have become the abysmal failures they are today (yes, before they met Ash they were skilled.) Revealing this information has made the trio become savvy. As to why Pierce has legendaries...

• He's a high-ranking operative, and TR probably have stolen a few legends in their time
• He's voiced by DAN GREEN!

The Zekrom that zapped Pikachu was actually Ryouga from Pokémon RéBURST

He intentionally depowered Pikachu and made Ash look like a chump so that fans would give up on him and flock to Ryouga as a real Pokémon protagonist.

The Ash seen in the Best Wishes series is a different person from the Ash seen in prior series.

The real Ash went off on another journey to refine his skill after the Diamond and Pearl series and hasn't been seen since. Best Wishes Ash (let's call him Ash-2) is a kid from Pallet Town (also named Ash) who's admired the real Ash since around the time of the Lily of the Valley Conference. Ash-2 admires the real Ash so much that he catches himself a Pikachu, teaches his Pikachu all of the moves Ash's Pikachu used at the Lily of the Valley Conference, decorates his room with replicas of the trophies the real Ash has won, does up his hair to look like the real Ash's, and even insists that his surname is Ketchum (this makes more sense in the JP version where they merely share the name Satoshi). Strangest of all is that he sees his mother as Delia Ketchum. Though Ash-2 is good friends with Professor Oak and has even caught a few Pokemon before heading to Unova, he is still a novice trainer who knows very little about Pokemon battling. Before the Best Wishes series begins, Ash-2 has some minor scrapes with Jessie, James, and Meowth of Team Rocket while they are in the midst of intense training for their new positions in the organization. They mistake Ash-2 for the real Ash and, thus, believe his Pikachu to be worth stealing.

Meanwhile, the real Ash (who has steadily grown as a trainer from the incompetent buffoon he was starting out to a more tactically-minded veteran who can defeat two legendary Pokemon in the same battle and would certainly never lose to a rookie trainer or make a Pokemon storage exchange in the middle of a gym battle) is catching and training Pokemon somewhere else, blissfully unaware that he has a sycophantic fan or that Team Rocket is wreaking havoc in the Unova region.

• Question: How will he fool Dawn, one of true!Ash's most recent companions?
• I think this is one is "Jossed". Between Ash's appeal and Dawn's appeal in the Wallace Cup, they did a high five. When they meet again in Cythina's villa, they did the same thing: a high-five. If this was another Ash/Satoshi, he would be confused by Dawn's actions.

Best Wishes takes place in an Alternate Universe to the First 3 Anime Sagas.

It only makes sense. Ash's old adventures haven't been referenced, nor have any of his old Pokémon. He's STILL ten, and he's as inexperienced as a new trainer. Pikachu lost to a level five Snivy and a low level Panpour. Team Rocket is a credible threat all of a sudden, despite Giovanni knowing their track record in the past. Every shred of evidence points towards this being a world where this is Ash' FIRST journey into a new region.

• Not so, as all of Ash's past accomplishments and Pokemon still exist; the first episode of Best Wishes shows off a lot of his trophies and awards in his room and around his house. Also about Team Rocket; all evidence is to show that Giovanni is using the trio specifically because Ash always beats them, and hopes they'll lure out Team Plasma who will get beat by Ash, so Giovanni can swoop in and invade later.
  • Moved it to the Anime page. You're welcome. Also, the Trio was recommended by Giovanni's secretary. While the claim was that it was due to the events in Sinnoh, this claim is not proven. (Meaning the secretary could be a Time Traveler. I mean, there's a WMG in the Johto games section that the Time Machine might have created Missingno and a sundering was necessary...)
  • And generally Jossed by Dawn.
  • This seemed to be the general direction early BW was taking until the creators themselves decided to Joss it.

Iris is Such a Kid! Right?

In Best Wishes, the reason they're using Iris...

...instead of just using Hilda is because Brock WILL be appearing in Best Wishes, despite what has been announced. Think about it: Hilda looks to be around fifteen, which is the same age as Takeshi/Brock. Obviously, he'd be all over her constantly to the point where no one could get anything done, and Satoshi/Ash would probably get irritated and ditch them somewhere. Making Iris the same age as Ash is the only option because Takeshi/Brock is not attracted to girls that young. And we don't have to worry about Satoshi/Ash falling for her, since he's ObliviousToLove and/or asexual.

• Why would they need him when they have a butler?
  • With a matching green bowtie?
    • Technically a waiter, but okay.
• While the sentiment is there, the theory itself is Jossed.

Iris will be Brock's Distaff Counterpart.

She'll always fall head over heels for any good looking guy in the show, resulting in her Axew jumping on her head to make her stop. It will lead to a running gag when Axew evolves into a larger (therefore heavier) form and Ash and Dento must restrain him lest he jump on Iris's head and kill her.

• Assuming it follows from the games, Iris' Axew is female (unless the Nintendo Event version is fully indicative). Shaga's is male. That makes her, in this Guess, the Distaff Counterpart to Brock's Croagunk.
• Iris' Axew has been confirmed a male so Jossed.
• Fully Jossed. Hilda doesn't even exist in the anime. Bianca exists, however, and could end up being shipped if both ever meet in the series due to their personalities. Just make sure Bianca doesn't accidentally push Brock into a hard rock.

Iris, in the anime, is related to the legendaries

Same in the games. She is the "key" but doesn't know it. In her game screenshot, she is shown next to a guy saying "I have no idea how to awake the dragon Pokémon..." He could be talking about a prophecy that relates to you, Iris, N, or even Bianca for a twist.

Iris had awoken Zekrom sometime before the start of the series

This would explain things like how Zekrom appeared to Ash and Pikachu and not as the dark stone, as well as why Iris seemed to be interested in Zekrom.

Iris is actually Reshiram (or at least one member of the Tao Trio)

Think about it: we don't know much about her origins (or we aren't supposed to know), she's a dragon-type gym leader (all three Tao Pokemon are dragon-type), and there has to be some reason why she is choosing to travel with Ash. She is also clearly interested in Zekrom's activities in the first B/W episode (She doesn't call out Zekrom by name, however), but since she is present in that moment, she would probably not be Zekrom (Unless we got into clones or something like that...), so she could either be Reshiram or Kyurem (Who is possibly the third Tao Pokemon).

Perhaps Iris/Reshiram/Kyurem was disguised as a human girl incognito, and discovered that she preferred being a human to a Legendary Pokemon, and is hiding from her responsibilities. She could either be the original Reshiram/Kyurem, or a descendant born when the original perished.

• We have seen most of her (and Axew's) back story.
• Jossed. Reshiram is shown as a separate entity from Iris in Episode N, and M15 shows likewise for Kyurem.

Iris was assigned to follow Ash

In Castellia, in both versions, Iris refers to herself as Bianca's "bodyguard". Now, say what you will about that job, it could very well be that someone caught wind of a "Chosen One" inbound and sent Iris to the area, knowing that they'd meet and join up.Has interesting ramifications when combined with a Black & White WMG re: the Shadow Triad's identities.

Anime Iris is a Zoroark

Anyone else ever noticed how much Iris looks like a human version of a Zoroark? her hair is the same, even tied off at the end like a Zoroark's mane. Her ponytails are actually the tufts of fur on a Zoroark's chest. (just take them, flip them upside down, and move them under her neck) her sarong-thing is the part of a zoroark's waist where the leg fur is thicker than the fur on the belly. Her top is tight along her waist just like a Zoroark is thin, but the sleeves suddenly get thicker, just like a zoroark's arms. The little ribbon things tied around her ponytail-things are actually her Zoroark ears. Her hair dips into her forehead in a triangle, just like Zoroark, and she keeps a young Pokemon in her hair like the Zoroark in the movie did with Zorua. Iris was raised in the wild by Pokemon because she really IS a Pokemon! One day she decided to see what human life was like so she transformed herself using her illusion ability and wandered into town and has been living as a human ever since. Flashbacks showing her as a human before coming to town are actually her just lying about really being a Pokemon. This is also why Iris dodges ANYTHING that tries to hit her and the twerps. If she were to take any damage, her illusion might break and she'd be exposed. This is also why Iris is so agile, Zoroark are naturally fast and agile Pokemon. She talks by using some form of psychic-type move, while making her illusion move its mouth to match, making look like she's really speaking when it's actually just in people's heads.

• I wonder what that says about Luke's Zorua imitating Iris' rival Georgia a lot during the Don George Tourney. Granted, Iris used the double often to make fun of the genuine article, but she never outright requested the doppelganger.

There will be a Kyurem focused episode in which Iris gets character development.

She has a phobia of Ice pokemon because of their effect on Dragon types, so it only seems reasonable that she would eventually come across a Pokemon that is both an ice and dragon type.

• Given Kyurem already had a role in [1], this seems unlikely. Especially since an episode with Vanilluxe seems to have done that.

Iris will leave Ash's group part way though the Unova region.

Ash and Misty traveled together though three regions (Kanto, Orange Archipelago, and Johto), Ash and May traveled though two regions (Hoenn and Kanto), and Ash and Dawn only traveled though Sinnoh together. From this we can determine that the number of regions he travels with each of his female companions decreases each time.Eventually he'll be going through girls like water!

• Jossed on the Exact Words, she only left the party when she and Ash had an argument enroute to Johto; they had already left Unova by that point. She also returned in that same episode.

Iris's Dragonite trained in the mountains/snowy regions prior to being captured

• It would explain why he was able to shrug off multiple Ice-type attacks from Georgia's Beartic and Dawn's Mamoswine despite having a double weakness (since he's also part Flying-type) to Ice.

Cilan is Leo Burnett!

Cilan and his brothers are the Shadow Triad.

Cilan has instances of craziness several times. Burgundy states about him and how in her Imagine Spot, she suffered a humiliating defeat from him and he taunts her. She is already made out to be a liar in the episode but when she challenges him later on in this episode, the audience sees Cilan enjoying toying with her needlessly when it would only need one hit to KO both of her Pokemon. Plus, his expression that Burgundy shows in a flashback where Cilan declares that he never said those things has him have a rather evil expression. However, he has a similar dark expression when he's kicking her ass. This means that he might be the one who's lying, but because Burgundy has already proven that she's a big liar, no one would believe her.

In one episode about the fishing contest it was downright creepy how he kept insisting that there was no longer a need for the fishing tournament to continue if he caught the biggest Basulin in the lake. Despite Team Rocket being badass in this episode, Jessie ACTUALLY looked worried at how persistent Cilan was and eventually told him to wait until the tournament was over to give other people a chance. It was almost like Cilan was going Higurashi on her.

And then there was the time when he got pissed off at Ash and Iris FOR DROPPING A LEAF INTO HIS POT and then telling them that it was there fault for messing up lunch. Of course, his sanity goes back to normal after Iris just pulls out an apple and says "We'll just look for more food." Ash apologizes unlike Iris but the audience sees Cilan's instability at this point. And at the end of the episode, he was pissed that Ash and Iris never came back and he's all "It's waiting in vein time..."

Cilan favors the villain role to the point that Iris thinks that's creepy. Cilan clearly states that the villain makes the plot...but if you take into account that he might be the Shadow Triad, he might be foreshadowing being a member. There's also the fact when Cilan tells Luke to keep filming, he decides to stop being the villain and to play the Anti-Hero...and that might foreshadow him changing to Ash and Iris' side. He also calls Iris his princess in this episode. True they were only acting but Cilan was adamant about Iris being the princess at the end.

During the Don George Battle arc, what Burgundy said about him originally in episode 19 is starting to show. Cilan outright thinks she's annoying which given his personality, annoying doesn't seem to be in his vocabulary. And similar to what he did to Burgundy in battle, he owns Trip in battle but Trip isn't like Paul and doesn't blame his Pokemon. He just tells Cilan he's frustrated but he'll use this loss to get stronger. And then come another episode where he's constantly taunting his opponent Luke...to be fair, he's trying to give Luke some encouragement given his situation with battling. Additionally, he planned on clearly insulting Burgundy when she asked for a Connoisseur battle but he noticed Luke filming the camera when apparently no one in the room noticed but him (which shows that he's very observant and as a member of the Shadow Triad, you have to be aware of your surrounding) and decides to take her up to the challenge, which surprised her given that Burgundy thought she was certain he was going to reject her. No one else seems to notice the switch in Cilan's personality but her.

Then comes BW069-70 concerning Skyla's appearance. Skyla using "air battles" to judge her opponent so she could have time to do her own thing angers Ash but Cilan ends up exploding from this. This can easily be explained when you learn about Team Plasma's motives. The honest members of Team Plasma seriously think that humans abuse their Pokemon and that said Pokemon need to be free from trainers that hurt them. Given that Skyla is a gym leader like him but neglects her duty as a gym leader by not allowing her Pokemon to battle or giving them the time of day, Cilan might have convinced himself that Team Plasma was right about most gym leaders abusing their power and making their Pokemon suffer. He might have been angry not because of the Air Battles but because of her arrogance that shows that she doesn't care about her Pokemon and the trainers that want to battle her. It shows when she taunts him after knocking out his Crustle and Cilan almost crushing his Pokeball in his hand. When he loses to her, he ends up in a minor Heroic BSoD not only because he lost but because as a member of the Shadow Triad, he might have let an "evil" trainer like Skyla get away with it. Naturally, he was cheering for Ash to win and even though he tells Skyla that he's happy that she sees things Ash's way, it doesn't change the fact that he was furious in the last episode. The fact the anger disappeared too suddenly implies craziness.

• Supporting point: While one would think that having Skyla find a way to determine the outcome of a battle without subjecting a Pokemon to harm would be a good thing from Plasma's POV, one should recall how N gave a Humiliation Conga to White in Pokémon Adventures. And that Animal Wrongs Groups, like other extremist groups, are often contradictory as events serve their agenda.

Somehow, the idea of him being a nice guy is shattered if you put this into perspective.

Which leads to...

Following the theory that the Striaton City Gym Leaders are the Shadow Triad in Black and White...

They are also the Shadow Triad in Best Wishes. Cilan will reveal his identity as a member of Team Plasma near the end of the series, and Brock will show up to take his place back and help Ash stop Plasma.

• Alternatively, Cilan will pull a Heel–Face Turn due to traveling with Ash and Iris for so long and will convince his brothers to leave Team Plasma.
  • That's going to be hard, considering their leader is Ghetsis Harmonia.
  • Hey, he could be lucky if someone actually tries to defend him like say Iris who would say something along the line of, "I know the real Cilan and he's definitely not a member of Team Plasma!" Cue heartwarming and possibly Love Redeems without thinking of the consequences despite knowing what type of person Ghetsis is.
• Somebody from The Old Country is coming over around the time of Ash's 8th badge (Dawn). Perhaps the Anime is following in the Game's lead in "shaking things up" [by changing, among other things, the gender balance of the party.
• Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 proves this to be Jossed. If that wasn't enough, Episode N (featuring Team Plasma) lacks the Shadow Triad, and they are therefore not shown as them.

Cilan raped Burgundy.

Anyone else get the feeling?

• Fits in with the Shadow Triad WMGs Considering who that Trio directly reports to.

Cilan killed Brock.

Think about it. First gym leader decides to travel with Ash and also happens to be a good cook? Maybe Brock was going to travel Unova with Ash, but Cilan decided he needed to be "replaced".

• Jossed. Cilan and Brock actually TEAM UP in a special episode.

Cilan's parents were taken away by team plasma

All we see is just Cilan and his brothers. He got his permission from his brothers before he left.

Chili came from hurting himself to craving donuts

In BW140, Cilan and his brothers were shown as little kids. Chili was shown with a band-aid on his nose, possibly when he was younger he'd hit or punch himself in the face. But after hurting himself too much, he decided donuts are better than making himself bleed.

Jossed Pokemon Guesses

Ash will catch Ducklett

Serebii.net said an episode has been revealed where a flock of Ducklett stole Ash's hat, considering past events where Ash's hat was stolen(Primate and Aipom), Ash should catch a Ducklett to keep with the trend(If not immediately, then eventually)

• Jossed in the episode they first appeared in. They got blasted off for being jerkass ducks.

Ash will trade his Roggenola that hopefully evolves into Boldore with Trip's Gurdurr.

If the game mechanic is followed once, then this could be possible. It would also be a call back with Zoey suggesting that Ash trade his Aipom with Dawn's Buizel only with someone like Cilan suggesting that they trade. This could also be subverted too as the minute they trade, they want their Pokemon at the end of the episode and end up receiving the final evolution of said Pokemon they originally traded.

• As of BW072, the original troper can say Jossed.

One of Ash's Unova starters will evolve before he challenges the Driftveil Gym.

Look at the trend set by the last three regions. In Johto, Chikorita evolved between the fourth and fifth gyms. In Hoenn, Treecko evolved between the fourth and fifth gyms. And in Sinnoh, Turtwig evolved between the fourth and fifth gyms.

• Note that these above were all Grass-Types.
• Jossed, although his Roggenrola evolved during the gym battle.

Ash's Tepig will not evolve.

Instead, he trades it for Bianca's Pignite.

• Jossed by BW077 in which Ash's Tepig finally evolves into Pignite.

Ash's Scraggy and Iris' Axew will battle each other for Ash's 8th Unova Gym Badge.

Optionally, both will be fully evolved when this happens. If you really think about it, this is a rather good reason why both Ash and Iris have such noob-like Pokémon at the same time. Also, depending on how you interpreted Scraggy's introductory episode, they have a bit of a rivalry.

• Jossed, 8th Gym Leader in animé is Roxie

Ash's Krokorok's sunglasses will eventually gets smashed.

However, the moment it happens, it will evolve and Take a Level in Badass, rather than shying out. Bonus point if was to be exploited by the opponent.

• Possible, and epic, but seems to be Jossed by the clips showing it as a Krookodile still have it's glasses on it. Of course, it could just get another pair after evolving.

When James' Yamask evolves...

It will either continue the "attacks James out of affection" gag (though it would mummify James rather than bite him.) Or, randomly hug anyone in sight, thus achieving Memetic Molester status to rival Ash's Muk.

• More like if it evolves...

Omnibus Future Unova Pokemon owned by main characters prediction.

• Ash Ketchum
  • Accelgor/Escavaliar, given the future episode being about a link trade between the two
  • Heatmor. Note that Ash has gotten a second Pokemon of his starter type(Oshawott-Palpitoad, Snivy-Leavanny) except for Tepig. Heatmor can fit this role
  • Onix. He says in the preview that he wants to capture one, and one of them happens to be Shiny.
  • PLEASE let him catch that Meloetta...
• Iris
  • Deino. She is a dragon type trainer, and when Axew evolves, someone will need to replace his spot.
• Cilan
  • Deerling. He is a grass type trainer.
  • Durant. If Ash gets Heatmor, it would be funny for him to get Heatmor's natural enemy.
• James
  • Maractus. It's a staple for him to get grass types which hurt him.
• Jessie
  • Tynamo. It will eventually evolve into Eeletrik, which fits Jessie's use of serpent Pokemon. Plus it combines Irony with Took a Level in Badass.
• Bianca
  • One of her Pokemon from the game. I'd go with Musharna
  • Female Frillish. We already have a male Frillish, so it'd be nice to see a female example.
• Trip
  • Larvesta. Alder is his hero.
• Burgundy
  • Pokemon that counter/rival Cilan. For example:
    • Gothitele to parallel Stunfisk. One is Rule 34 bait, the other is Rule 34 deterrent.
    • A Pansear to counter Pansage
• Georgia
  • Cryogonal, just to piss off Iris.
• Luke
  • Klink. Gear, machinery...

All of these are Jossed, by the way. Though, Georgia did have a Vanilluxe as of BW083.

Klang will have an anime debut with a Minun

This is to showcase its ability. And Plusle had made more appearances than minun.

If Ash catches another Pokemon in the Best Wishes 2 arc, it'll be a Steel/Psychic type.

As of now, Steel and Psychic are the only types that Ash has never caught. Note that getting a member of the Beldum or Bronzor line would kill two birds with one stone.

• Note the word "if"...

Other Characters

Characters that were actually in Unova

Ash is going to break Trip's camera.

It's only a matter of time. Ash has broken something from someone in every region and that includes Misty, May, Dawn and Barry's bike. Iris doesn't have a bike but gets electrocuted instead. And since Trip really seems to like that camera, having Pikachu break it would have another person bitching at Ash to buy a new one.

• Could easily be another Pokémon breaking it. It was Gible who destroyed Barry's bike.
• And... The Camera never breaks on-camera.

Eventually Iris and Cilan are going to end up fighting

There has been speculation that because the two are so different that the two will have an episode where they're fed up with one another and split the group up for that episode (like at the beginning with Ash and Misty) with Ash being in the middle, not choosing sides and just spending the entire episode training or getting in trouble that will force the two to work together to help him out. This could be a Ship Tease episode too...

• Cilan did have a Blue with Shock moment when Iris called him childish, but that's as far as it got. Instead, the writers had Iris and Ash fighting in a Filler Ep.

There will be a showdown between Marlon and Cress

Both use water types.

• Nope. At least, not on camera,,,

When Best Wishes ends, Jessie, James, and Meowth will be promoted again.

Even after returning to their white uniforms and more humorous personas, they're still serious about their mission, and we have yet to see a true blast-off. Adding to this, they seem to play a big part in the "Team Rocket vs. Team Plasma" episodes (in which they wear their black uniforms, natch). Speaking of Team Plasma, let's not forget Ghetsis, and how disgustingly evil he is. Taking someone that bad down—or even helping do it; recall that they've teamed up with Ash and company in the past—would earn anyone respect.

• And Giovanni will be very glad to see Team Plasma destroyed.
• (Later Theory): They saved Giovanni's life during the Meloetta fiasco, and the opening for Season two depicts them fighting Team Plasma. Either of these could net them a promotion at some point.
• Doesn't seem Confirmed, but they seem to be in Good Standing with Giovanni at least.

Comrades from another Continent

If Brock shows up in Best Wishes...

...His running gag about failing to seduce women will be changed into Axew jumping into Brock's hair and biting his scalp and then Brock freaking out while he tries to get it out and stop biting. This may result in a rivalry between Croagunk and Axew.

• Let's hope so, I'd pay to see that.
• But in order to prevent everyone from chasing after him, he'll have to either A) Switch out Croagunk for a Gen V Pokemon that knows the same move, or B) Hang around Lacunosa Town, Undella Town, and Black City/White Forest.
• He did show up in Best Wishes. However, only on a special episode with Cilan and not in the Unova region. Alder and Miles would get alone with him.

Misty, Norman, May, Max and Forrest (Brock's brother) will return in Best Wishes 2, with very good reason.

So, in Black and White 2, we're presented with the World Tournament. An event held every few years that gathers GYM Leaders and Champions from across the land to duke it out and see who is the true World Champion. That's in the game, at least.Now, remember in Pokemon Chronicles when Misty became the GYM Leader of Cerulean City? And another time when Brock passed on his GYM Leader duties as well as his toughest Pokémon to his younger brother Forrest? Yeah. See what I'm getting at now? If not, or for clarification, read on.Cynthia will inform Ash of the World Tournament soon after she appears, which we find out is the reason why she's in Unova in the first place. Perhaps Dawn wanted to enter too as she knew Ash would be there? Anyway, Ash will be surprised to find he is battling both Misty and Forrest in the tournament, with an entire arc dedicated to said championship. It'll also help to introduce Misty to both Dawn and Iris, seeing as she's only met May. Perhaps May and Max will also make a return, seeing as their dad, Norman, is a GYM Leader.My guesses for teams:

• Misty: Luvdisc/Dewgong, Starmie, Gyarados, Corsola, Azumarill, Politoed.
• Forrest: Steelix, Crobat, Golem, Ludicolo, Rhyperior, Swampert.
• Norman: Slaking, Blissey, Linoone, Spinda, Exploud, Zangoose. Would've given him Snorlax, but remembered May has Munchlax.

If Cassidy and Biff are in the Best Wishes anime, they'll also have gotten promoted.

They'll likely be Team Rocket's equivalent of shock troops: stealing Pokemon is to be done with the maximum amount of mayhem.

• Okay, who changed the title of this?

If Cassidy and Botch are in the Best Wishes anime, they'll have gotten demoted.

Because of their Badass Decay, Cassidy and Bitch were demoted to Jessie and James's old position: stealing Pikachu. Jessie and James basically stole their jobs.

• Thus setting them up to be the new punching bags of the anime.
• Jossed. It would be funny if Botch and Steven... errr... Butch and Stephan duked it out.

THE NAME IS BUTCH!!!!!

• No it's not, Bitch.
• Sadly, Casualty and Bob didn't make an appearance, even during the Forces of Nature arc(s).

MissingNo was a planned pokemon during Gen 1.

It was supposed to have been a merging between Mewtwo and Genesect. However, because the latter fusee didn't exist at the time, we instead got a pseudo-cosmic clusterfuck.

Now that they both exist, they'll fuse, and become the true ultimate Pokemon, with a Base Stat Total of 800: 150 in HP, and 130 in everything else, which they will do at the end of the 16th movie.

Plots

Guesses re: the Cancelled two-parter

Ash caught a Pokemon in the "Team Rocket vs. Team Plasma" episodes.

There is reason to believe that Ash and co. were in those episodes. The writers have been willing to have Ash catch more than a full team's worth of Pokemon than they have in the past. The episodes were postponed because of the damage done to the desert and to Castelia; due to the scheduled airdate being so close to the Earthquake/Tsunami that devastated Japan, it got postponed so as to avoid claims of insensitivity. There was also an episode after those two that was delayed for unknown reasons.

I think it went down like this; Sometime during the episodes when the events that got them postponed were going on, a Pokemon's life was in danger. Ash goes to save it, but he can't... unless it's in a Pokeball. He convinces it to go along with this with the intention to release it when it's safe, but it likes him enough that by the time he can get the chance, it decides to stay with him.

The reason that other episode was postponed as well was because he sent out that Pokemon during that episode and they didn't want to ruin the surprise.

If this guess is right, than I'd further suggest it might be the Venipede he saved from the pipe. It seemed to really like Ash, as much as some of his own Pokemon.

Palpitoad wasn't intended to originally be captured - Sunglasses Krokorok was meant to be caught in the post-poned "Team Rocket vs. Team Plasma two-parted

Might be stretching things a bit, but it would make some sense - Palpitoad has only appeared in battles so far and received the least character development of all the Unova mons. His role could easily be substituted by Krokorok, particularly the part in the Elesa battle. My theory is that as we KNOW Krokorok was to appear in the two-parter, it's possible he meant was to be captured by Ash towards the end of the episode(s), after which he'd take on Palpitoad's role and more. Then the Earthquake & Tsunami happened, and since the episodes are probably going to be shifted, the writers took a look and decided that Palpitoad could have its capture squeezed in as a placeholder until they plotted the manner in which Krokorok was caught in BW067 as a substitute (despite the fact that episodes are plotted months in advance, they probably had enough time to make animation edits and the like to make this work). That is of course IF my theory is correct, but we may never know.

• Makes sense

The Yamask that would eventually be caught by James was supposed to make it's debut in the canceled Plasma arc.

Considering that they are supposed to be found in ruins and the arc was supposed to take place in those ruins, James's Yamask was originally supposed to have been found there.

The reason that they hadn't realeased the Team Rocket vs. Team Plasma two-parter yet...

Is because they're trying to decide to whether or not discuss Ghetsis's relationship with his son N.

The series will end with the Team Rocket vs. Team Plasma two-parter.

• Jossed, it was never shown and the series has moved to Kalos.

Other Team Plasma Jossings

Team Plasma won't ever appear in the anime.

Why? Because they'll base the arc plot on Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 - considering Roxie is slated to appear, this seems likely.

• Team Plasma are in the Pokemon Black 2 and White 2 games. (As shown in the promotion anime). So if they don't show up, it wont be because the show is following the game story arc.
• Jossed, thankfully.

N isn't going to appear in Best Wishes

Instead, he'll appear in the next series, and we'll finally find out where he flew off to and what he did there.

First N had an abusive father who he still voluntarily works with for most of Pokémon Black and White. Ergo N probably has some pretty strange ideas on how people are supposed to treat kids. So if Ash and friends mess with Team Plasma's plans he might not be as nice to them as he was to the player character in the games. Since they can't explain all that the first time N shows up that would make him appear somewhat unsympathetic, and all the media N has been in so far seems to be working to make him as sympathetic as possible.

Second, Ash and friends always doing everything is getting a bit annoying. The anime could use some Colonel Makepeace types, or references to other people doing important things that Ash had nothing to do with. Things like redeeming N.

Third, a lot of people really want to know what happened to N, and having the person who got him to leave Team Plasma move to another region and run into N there would just be wierd.

• Nope.

Alternatively, N won't appear in the anime series at all.

They've already skiped several of his ingame appearance locations, his story back story being much darker then most villains, and after the TP episodes getting put on hold because of the disaster over there in Japan with no signs of ever coming up again...

• These are so depressing WMG ones...this troper thinks we should be more optimistic and pray that he'll show up soon and that the writers are hiding all information away just to surprise the audience when he does appear...
  • Jossed, he had his own arc.

N will be voiced by Daisuke Ono.

It would please me.

• Or alternatively, Kappei Yamaguchi, for the sake of Death Note jokes.
• Jossed. He's voiced by Yūichi Nakamura.

N will end up having a conversation with Meowth

And it will be either hilariously awkward or creepy awkward.

• Sadly, no...

Hilda will join Ash's party in Episode N, and Ghetsis may appear as the Big Bad.

True to her Fanon depictions, Hilda would act as The Big Guy and the Tomboy to Iris' Girly Girl. For extra badass points, she could own the Zekrom that zapped Ash's Pikachu (maybe having encountered N and his Reshiram in the past, and lost to him).Ghetsis could be the Big Bad of Episode N. In anime form, we'll finally see his horrific deeds onscreen (though probably on a level that wouldn't traumatize the kiddies), enough to have him classified as a CM here again (albeit in a different medium).

• COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY JOSSED. Hilbert and Hilda are nowhere to be seen in the anime: N joins Ash's part for the arc instead. (And Hilda as Tomboy to Iris' Girly Girl makes no sense since Iris is far from a Girly Girl as you can get.) And while Ghetsis is the Big Bad, not only does he do less in comparison to his Dragon-in-Chief Colress, but he does pretty much no horrific deeds to speak of (the only thing he actually does at all is summon Reshiram), and his worst actions are only alluded to in N's backstory episode while still being, if anything, more offscreen then in the games. Ghetsis in the anime doesn't even come close to CM status. Now his Pokémon Adventures incarnation, on the other hand, depending on where the BW2 arc takes him, that one might have a chance.

In Episode N, one of Ash's mons will evolve

Either Pignite into Emboar to help Charizard as mentioned in the above theory or Oshawott into Dewott or Snivy into Servine.

The Episode N story arc will climax with N & Reshiram battling against Ash & Zekrom

I don't know if this is a "guess" so much as a "saying-it-before-anyone-else-does," but like in the original B&W game, the Episode N story arc will be setting up the Hero of Truth/Hero of Ideals story from the games, and Ash has, since episode one of BW, been quietly set up to be the Hero that is chosen by Zekrom (see the very first episode of BW); while N - via the episode previews - is clearly the hero that is/will be chosen by Reshiram. Which goes into another WMG...

• Given how N is being portrayed, I'd bank on Ash, N, and Reshiram batting against Ghetsis and the Zekryurem fusion.
• And both were a miss...

The Episode N story arc will combine story elements from both BW and B2/W2, not just one or the other

As far as N himself goes, he'll be more like N from BW, though he will be more friendly towards Ash and Co. in the beginning, than his game counterpart was to Hilbert/Hilda. He may be more conflicted about wanting to split pokemon from people (especially after hanging out with Ash and his friend) but, in the end, he'll make a choice to do it. Meanwhile, it will probably be made more clear - to the viewers - that Ghetsis truly is a crazy, Manipulative Bastard right out the gate a la B2/W2, instead of it being the plot-twist it was in BW.

• Seems to be more of a straight-up B2/W2, though N is mistrustful of our heroes at first.

There will be an instance of Even Evil Has Standards.

Specifically, Giovanni will be shocked when he learns Ghetsis abused N. Maybe even with reference to his mother from the CD Drama. Because we need to show just how bad Ghetsis is.

• I don't know, Giovanni wasn't exactly a bed of roses to Silver.
  • He's still a saint compared to Ghetsis. It's more Parental Neglect. Plus Silver was dickish even before this.
• Presuming we actually see Ghetsis.

Ghetsis will be Killed Off for Real in the anime.

He's certainly bad enough, and thanks to Hunter J, we know that villians can get offed.

• Death is too good for him. Ghetsis will suffer a Fate Worse than Death, or And I Must Scream. Courtesy of Kyurem.
  • (Original Poster of WMG) Or Arceus could deal with him. Mummification via Cofagrigus also works. Bonus points if that Cofagrigus evolved from James' Yamask.
    • That would be a Karmic Transformation: after being mummified, Ghetsis would become a Yamask. Thus allowing an extra storyline with him, just in case we need it.
    • (Again, Original Poster) Being turned into a Pokemon is a nice Ironic Hell for Ghetsis...yeah, I like this idea!
    • To make it even sweeter, that Yamask will end up in N's care. Being reduced to an impotent Yamask, completely dependent on the child he's manipulated...nothing could be a greater Hell for him...
    • (Yet again, Original Poster) If that does happen, James better get a Bond One-Liner when Ghetsis is mummified.
• Again, this presumes that Team Plasma is or was active in Unova during or prior to Ash's tenure there. Given that we haven't seen Plasma in the Anime yet, Ghetsis' Anime existance is still not guaranteed.
  • He could appear in the next series.
• Nope, he was arrested.

Movie-related Jossings

Movie 14 will have Touko/Touya (Hilda/Hilbert) fighting Wes in the intro.

If it is Touko or Touya will depend on which of the films it is.

• Jossed.

Kyurem VS The three swordsmen will have another version to the movie

Similar to how Victini features two versions of the movie alongside either reshiram or zekrom, this coming movie will feature either Keldeo or Meleotta, depending on the two versions.

• I thought that the Victini movies were like that because Reshiram and Zekrom were version exclusives. None of the legendaries on the upcoming movie are version exclusives, making this theory unlikely, unless they try to have continuity with the Victini movies, in which case the likelihood of this theory being true dramatically increases.

Kyurem VS The Three Swordsmen will feature pokemon from previous generations

I saw the promotional poster on Bulbapedia and in it, there were pokemon from previous generations (besides Pikachu of course).

• Technically true due to Fake-Out Opening and Meowth's Mandatory Line.

Volcarona will play a prominent role in one of the future movies.

Seeing as it's practically treated as a legendary Pokemon in the games. Its role will, naturally, have something to do with the sun being blocked out. Perhaps Kyurem will be the causing a never-ending blizzard?

• M15 already has Kyurem, sans Volcarona. And with Generation VI on the horizon, it's safe to say this is Jossed.

Unova Cameos

• Assuming the guy from Zoroark's movie wasn't supposed to be Hilbert's counterpart, he and Hilda will probably show up challenging the battle subway.
• Assuming the guy from Zoroark's movie was supposed to be Hilbert's counterpart, Hilda will get a scene against N.
• Cheren will have a scene battling Bianca.
• Leaf will have a scene battling Wally.
• Wes will battle Michael.

Series Non-Endings

The Unova League

The Unova League will be an even more divisive than Sinnoh was.

Episode BW 108 leads directly into the N episodes. The info on Bulbapedia shows that Ash will battle Cameron, who is, bluntly, an idiot. Status Quo Is God, so some Ass Pull reason will eliminate Ash, and the audience will consider it even more of a robbery than Mr. two-Ubers in Sinnoh. For some reason the writers seem to think the series will end if Ash wins an actual game-canon tournament.

• Sadly, true. Oh, so true...

Hilbert will be introduced as the Unova version of Ritchie

As a counterpart to Ash, he'll have Eelektrik as his main walking Pokemon, Oshawott/Tepig as his token starter and Volcarona as a his bug. With all of them having nicknames.

• Would've been better than what we got instead...

Ash will win the Unova league.

Top 16 in Kanto, top 8 in Johto, top 8 in Hoenn, 3rd in Sinnoh (and only losing against some guy with 2 ubers).

• Alternatively, he'll be in the top 2. And lose to N, setting up the Team Plasma arc.
• Jossed. But that's to be expected.

Ash will lose the Unova league.

However it will be in the top 2, and a climactic battle against N. This will trigger the release of whatever main legendary they have, and thus Ash and co. will have to stop Team Plasma.

• Jossed. Ash doesn't even get to the top 2, and N doesn't show up at the league. So no "Plasma strikes the league" plot.

Ash will have Team Plasma interrupt his league challenge.

5th badge this early? There is something fishy going on, and Plasma is the most likely bet.

• Jossed.

Ash will win the Unova league, with the next "season" using a new character

Brock leaving was a test to see how the audience would react to abandoning old characters.

• Jossed on the first part: Ash doesn't win the league (as is the norm). No word on the supposed experiment aspect, though given that Iris and Cilan were swapped out for Kalos people. That part may be considered a "success". The trend continues with Sun and Moon, as well as Journeys as a trend.

Ash wins the tournament, possibly the E4, and is ready to fight the Champion...

And then N's Castle rises in place of the stadium, destroying the whole structure! Then Ash with his friends + the Gym Leaders and members of the tournament unite to fight Team Plasma in the siege of the Castle. Eventually, N is defeated by Ash, same with Ghetsis. However, with all destruction brought by Team Plasma the League is closed without an official winner and Ash has to try a new one.

• Jossed. The ideas, however carried on to the XY series, where they heroes fight the Big Bad after the tournament.

This way it would stick to the games AND give Ash a legitimate reason to go to a new region, instead of winning the League and staying in Unova as the new champion. WITHOUT stupid defeats by some random -sons and cheating Devils ex Machina.

Something else? Yes, add Team Rocket invasion to the mix!And, if we're going to be absolutely unrealistic, let Ash EVACUATE from the region because of the invasion! MWAHAHAHA!

• Or Ash gets second place, because he lost to N. With the championship, N will be able to summon Reshiram/Zekrom/both.
• All this and more are Jossed. Ash loses. AS USUAL.

Ash will almost win the Unova tournament...

...but as champion Alder is at his last, barely-standing Pokemon, Team Plasma will attack the League and rise their castle, making everyone stop with the tournament and fight Plasma. Thus, Ash still shows good results, but is free to go to another region.

Trip will win the Unova League

He'll go on to challenge Alder and lose, proving his ideal about power was wrong.

• Or he'll have a Break the Haughty/Break the Cutie (depending on the on WMG on whether or not he was told thing and misinterpreted it or he was seriously told that and then told something else) that will make him realize much sooner that he was wrong.
  • Nope, it was the Eevee guy, Virgil. But Trip did lose to Alder as his "reward" for winning the Junior Cup.

Cameron was the one who cause the earthquake that threw Best Wishes off-course

How else would someone like him win against a 5-region legend like Ash (not the best trainer, but not a complete noob).

Crying Mightyenna! Other Jossed Endtime prophesies!

BW052 will finish the season with Team Plasma's appearance

It may also involve N. Theoretical titles include Ferris Wheel Battle! Team Plasma Appears! This entry written on Sunday, September 18, 2011.

• Different troper. So we got 49 and 50 (the two parter) 51 being Elesa vs. Bianca, 52 will be Ash vs. Elesa, 53 being Subway Bosses vs. Ash and Cilan and 54 is implied to be the Pokemon Musical. I think you got the episodes wrong if you're using Bulbapedia as the episode reference.
  • Both of us have been disproved, apparently. 52 is going to be Ash vs. Alder. I'm still holding out for the season finale involving N and/or Team Plasma, though.
  • You mean episode 54 right?
    • Unless you're counting the unaired Team Plasma two-parter, it's 52. The two-parter was 47-48, Bianca vs. Elesa was 49, Ash vs. Elesa will be 50, and Ash and Cilan vs. the Subway Bosses will be 51.
    • Yeah, this troper doesn't like how Bulbapedia moved all the episodes up making it very hard to find the episode online because people are getting it mixed up.

The End Of Generation Five

There will be an arc involving a Munna, and Team Plasma, culminating in Iris tutoring Bianca about battling, who will gain a lot more confidence...until it's beaten out of her by Ash. Team Plasma will return around Brycen's gym and will dismiss Bianca as a non threat...after which she finally gets a passion for battling and later defeats Ash before he find's out Iris is the final gym leader.

Iris left a Fraxure that refuses to evolve in Drayden's care. Her Axew wants to evolve but for some reason is unable to. After An Aesop about the two Dragon's differing opinions Axew will warp into a Haxorus when Ash has Iris in a pinch...but still lose so Ash can go on to the league. N won't show up, so the final gym will be a shout out to him. Ash will become a champion. Then become a hobo in Generation Six.

• Jossed: In the XY season he's in the Kalos region, still catching Pokemon. Also, N did appear after the tournament.

Ash will FINALLY, 15 years latter, win a major league

Then Black and White 2 will have a new protagonist.

• Jossed as far as B2W2 is concerned, there was no second tournament. As for 15 years, well, according to Kaoz, that makes 9 and a quarter years to go...

There will be a Best Wishes Season 3 to match a possible Pokemon Black 3 and White 3 game

No one saw the announcement of Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 coming, along with an officially titled Best Wishes Season 2 of the anime to go along with it. My guess? Gen V is going to end up actually being a Trilogy of games/story, and the anime will follow suit in that trilogy format with a "Season 3," to go along with a possible "part three" of the games.

• Generation Six has already been announced... But there was be a Filler Arc between Episode N and then.

In the series after B&W, Ash will visit the Orre region.

So far it's the only region from the main series that Ash hasn't been to yet. Wes and Rui could make guest appearances in every episode, or every other episode (with no spoken lines, but will react to the situation accordingly) with Ash lampshading their appearances by asking them if they are stalking him and his friends. One of the friends will cover his mouth and tell them to ignore him.

• Except Orre is not part of the main series.
• And those games are how old?
  • There's a unconfirmed rumor that there's going to be an RPG for the Wii, and many speculate that it's going to be based on Orre. If that's true, there's probably going to be some reference to it in the anime, as the Ranger series did, and the Mystery Dungeon games did get their own mini-series.
• Jossed, though it would've been better to go there than to a non-specific Ocean of Filler.

Wes or Michael will show up.

If Orre and Unova are analogous to US states, then it's possible that Team Plasma could get hold of a Snag Machine and use it. Further, if they start making Shadow Pokémon (an Alternate Continuity from the games), Ash would definitely team up with Wes / Michael for An Arc. That sort of thing would be a Berserk Button for him. Given how mad he's gotten at people like Paul for their Training from Hell methods, Shadow Pokémon would be beyond the pale.

• Why the hell would Team Plasma be making Shadow Pokémon?!?!? If Shadow Pokémon are going to show up, it has to be Cipher that's responsible for them. No exceptions.
  • Gethsis' next project after Plasma falls apart, maybe? OK, unlikely, but it's definitely in his character.
  • Note: This Guess was written before full plot details were known.

Predictions for the Best Wishes finale.

Alright, this is going to be long. As Ash enters the Unova Championships, Jessie, James and Meowth are intrigued. Since N is a part of the league, Giovanni sends the three to spy on the battles, and keep an eye on N. There will be many fangirls of N in the crowd, for the obvious reasons. Even Jessie will admit he's cute. It will end with Ash vs Trip, and N vs Bianca. Ultimately, it will end with Ash and N as the finalists. During this, Jessie and James will bet on who will win. It will be a Moment of Awesome. Ash's last Pokemon is Pikachu, while N's last Pokemon is...sunglasses Krookodile. Hey, N befriends Pokemon, so why not Krookodile? And N will win.

Gaining the Championship title, N will be able to summon Zekrom. His castle will rise, and it'll be up to Ash and co to convince N of what he's doing is wrong. In order to counteract the N'd of the world as they know it, Ash will end up allying with Reshiram. All the meanwhile, Giovanni is heading to the castle, having enough of this "saving the Pokemon" bulls***. He has come to the conclusion that Reshiram and Zekrom are inherently tied to the object of his desire. He will arrive just to see Reshiram defeat Zekrom.

Then Ghetsis appears. Being enraged that his plans are foiled, he'll insult and maybe even hurt N. And, infuriated, will eliminate Ash with his Hydreigon's Focus Blast. All of a sudden Jame's Cofagrigus appears, and takes the blast in stride! This is because James and Jessie ordered this, since outright MURDERING the twerp is just plain awful. Irritated by this, Ghetsis orders Hydreigon to give their Pokemon a Curb-Stomp Battle. However, Giovanni prevents this.

And so begins evil vs eviller. Giovanni will tell the weird-looking man that he knows what he's doing is nothing but a lie. Laughing maniacally, Ghetsis fully admits he's been using N all this time, so he can conquer Unova itself. Cue Giovanni being shocked at this, and a subtle reference to Madame Boss. Ghetsis will use his Hydreigon, and Giovanni his Rhyperior. In the end, Giovanni will win.

What happens to Ghetsis after this is unknown. He won't simply be jailed, since he deserves worse. It'll either be a (perhaps his own Pokemon turn on him?), or he'll wish he was killed then and there. Or maybe a Karmic Transformation courtesy of Cofagrigus. Or all of the above. Cue Tear Jerker between Ash and N, and some farewell scene.

At the end is a Sequel Hook: that Giovanni has found the source of the power he needs, and without Team Plasma there's nothing in the way over his Take Over the World scheme. He will tell the trio to keep close eye on Ash, due to his experience with Reshiram. Setting us up for what we've wanted since the very beginning: the fight against Team Rocket!

• A different troper and as awesome as this plot is, you're giving the writers of Pokemon too much credit to think of something this cool.
  • They're bringing out Giovanni and his crew for the first time in years. My idea may be better than what they plan, but I bet there's some truth in it.

The Best Wishes anime will end with Ash finally getting some respect.

Given the sheer lengths the writers are willing to go to ensure Ash never wins a Pokemon League Championship, it's safe to say it won't happen here. However, the anime will adapt the game's ending to the anime's ending. Just as Ash has his mandatory big loss, N crashes the party, beats down the trainer who just beat Ash and anyone who could conceivably be a threat, then proclaims himself ruler of Unova. Ash proceeds to save the day with his weakened team, fight off Team Plasma and redeems N. After that, the the tournament will be cancelled in light of the damage done by Team Plasma, but Ash will be given high honors for saving the day, which will be addressed in later seasons. (Ash will decide to move on to the next region rather than stick around and wait for next year's tournament.)

• Who says he'll have to lose before Plasma crashes the party? I'd say they make their move either during or just before Ash's Semi-Final match against an unnamed opponent. (He'll have beaten Trip in the Quarters.)
  • It's more dramatic if Ash takes a huge hit just as Plasma makes their move. But fair enough.
• Perhaps Ash makes it to the finals, however N is part of it for his plan and beats Ash in a close battle. Thus gearing up for the climatic battle to stop Team Plasma.
• Jossed. However, the "respect" part wasn't far off... He got some at the start of the next series.