Elite Four
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The Elite Four (shitennou, lit. Four Emperors in Japanese) is a fictional team of four Pokémon trainers in the Pokémon world. The Elite Four, at any given time, is composed of four highly-skilled Pokémon trainers, forming the final challengers for any Pokémon trainer taking on the Pokémon League. They are similar to the Gym Leaders in that each specializes on a particular element or type of Pokémon, but they do not reside in a Pokémon Gym.
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The Elite Four in the video games
In the Pokémon video games, the Elite Four serves as arguably the game's final bosses. It is implied that each region in the Pokémon world has its own regional Elite Four, which reside at the regional Pokémon League Headquarters.
A Pokémon trainer must defeat eight of the region's Gym Leaders in order to be eligible to enter the Pokémon League. There, a trainer must then defeat all four members one after the other, without any breaks in between. If a challenger is defeated during this time, they are required to start over again.
It is to be noted that the Elite Four acts merely as a test of endurance - after defeating the Elite Four, the player has the right to challenge for the regional League Championship by challenging the defending League Champion. As the game does not provide a break between the Elite Four and the League Championship battle, some have considered the champion to be a "fifth member" of the Elite Four. If the player defeats the defending champion, the winning team is registered in the game's Hall of Fame.
It is not stated as to how members of the Elite Four are appointed by the League, although Gym Leaders are likely candidates. It is also implied that the Elite Four is not a lifetime appointment, and that Elite Four members can also leave voluntarily to compete against their fellow members (and their replacement) for the championship. It is not known in such a case if the departing member names their own replacement, or whether the replacement is appointed by the League.
The Elite Four in the anime
In the anime, the Elite Four is a group of trainers who are generally viewed as the best around. It is considered an honor to meet and battle members of the Elite Four. Although the anime's main character, Ash Ketchum, has battled and befriended many members of the Elite Four, he has yet to beat one in battle. The concept of the Elite Four, however, are greatly divorced from the Pokémon League championship, although they are involved in the affairs of the Pokémon League. Members of the Elite Four can also concurrently run a Pokémon Gym and be involved in other endeavors.
The anime implies that there is only one Elite Four, although the name is a misnormer as more than four trainers have been mentioned as members. Many of the Elite Four members have made appearances at the anime, although Agatha and Lance are the only characters to have made repeat appearances. Appointment to the Elite Four is briefly mentioned as being associated with the Pokémon League.
It is implied that a League Champion also earns the right to challenge the Elite Four in a manner similar to that of the video games, although this has never been seen in the series.
The Elite Four in the Manga
The original members of the Elite Four (Lance, Agatha, Bruno and Lorelei) had original intentions on completely wiping out the entire human race because of the way they treat Pokemon through polution, etc. However, Bruno was unwilling to cooperate and is under Agatha's mind control. The Elite Four planned on using the Badge Amplifier in order to summon Lugia to help completely destroy the human race. However, the plot was stopped by Yellow alongside Green, Red, and Blue.
The Elite Four of the manga are also known to have special abilities and so do their Pokemon. Lorelei, for example, has the ability to create ice voodoo dolls. Bruno's Hitmonlee is able to extend its legs to unreachable lengths that normal Hitmonlees are not able to reach, while Bruno himself uses special Pokeballs that attach to nunchuks in order to gain an advantage when releasing Pokemon. Agatha is able to control minds as well as control Pokemon minds. Lance's Pokemon are able to change the direction of their hyper beams and his Dragonairs are able to control the weather. Lance himself is a child of the Viridian Forest, which makes him, like Yellow, a special kind of psychic that ables him to heal Pokemon and read Pokemon minds.
Members of the Elite Four
The composition of the Elite Four has varied from game to game, due to the fact that the player in the games competes in different regional competitions.
R/B/Y and FR/LG
In Red, Blue, and Yellow; Green; and FireRed and LeafGreen, which take place in the region of Kanto, the Elite Four is composed of:
- Lorelei (Kanna), expert of Water/Ice Pokémon
- Bruno (Shiba), Rock/Ground/Fighting Pokémon trainer extraordinaire
- Agatha (Kikuko), the oldest Elite Four member ever, a Ghost and Poison Pokémon specialist, and ex-rival of Professor Oak (Yukinari Ōkido)
- Lance (Wataru), the Flying/Dragon Pokémon master and cousin of Gym Leader Claire of Blackthorn City.
- The Pokémon League Champion is the game's rival, Professor Oak's grandson (default name Blue/Red in the US and Green/Red in Japan).
This lineup is, in terms of the levels of the Pokémon the challenger must face, considered the strongest. The Pokémon are in the Level 50 - 60 range. In Fire Red and Leaf Green, after the machine on Island One is fixed, the levels of the Pokémon in the Elite Four have incrased to the 60 - 70 range.
G/S/C
In Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal, the action is in the region of Johto, but the Pokémon League is still situated in Indigo Plateau. The members of the Elite Four, however, have changed:
- Will (Istuki), a Psychic Pokémon trainer from distant lands
- Koga (Kyō), the Bug/Poison Pokémon Ninja master, who in the previous games used to be Fuchsia City's Gym Leader
- Bruno, same as the Bruno from Kanto
- Karen (Karin), who uses the newly-discovered Dark and Poison Pokémon.
- The Pokémon League champion is none other than former Elite Four leader, Lance.
The levels of the Pokémon are lower than in the R/B/Y series of the game, leading to some disapproval from players of the game. This time, the levels are in the low 40/50s.
Ru/Sa/E
In Pokemon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, the Pokémon League is found in Evergrande City in the region of Hoenn. The Elite Four has a brand new composition:
- Sidney, another Dark Pokémon expert
- Phoebe, a Ghost Pokémon trainer whose Grandparents are the caretakers of Mt. Pyre
- Glacia, an Ice Pokémon trainer from a foreign land
- Drake, an ex-sailor who uses Dragon Pokémon.
- The Champion is Steven Stone, master of Steel/Ground/Rock Pokémon in Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire; Wallace, Master of Water Pokemon in Emerald. In these games, the player also learns that the grandfather of Flannery, Lavaridge Town's Gym Leader, used to be one of the Elite Four.
In Emerald, Wallace, ex-leader of Sootopolis City's Gym was in turn replaced by Juan, another water trainer, as leader of the Sootopolis Gym. Juan was Wallace's old mentor.
The levels of the Pokémon used this time are similar to the R/B/Y series. The Pokémon are in the level 40 - 50 - 60 range.