Elite Four

The Elite Four (Japanese: ' The Big Four'', lit. ') are four Pokémon Trainers who are regarded as the toughest in their regional Pokémon League, short of the Pokémon League Champion. Those who challenge the Elite Four must have won all eight Badges from that region (or, for Trainers in Alola, must have completed all of their island challenge trials). To become Champion, Trainers must face all four and the current Champion consecutively without losing to any of them.

One group resides at the Indigo Plateau in Kanto and are considered the best Trainers in both Kanto and Johto. Another group is located in Ever Grande City in Hoenn, while another is located on Mount Lanakila in Alola. Three more groups reside at the Pokémon Leagues in, 🇺🇳, and.

In the games, they use strong items in battles. In Generation II, they use Max Potions, and from Generation III onwards, they use Full Restores.

Indigo Elite Four
At the Indigo Plateau — the site of the Pokémon League in Kanto and Johto — the Elite Four must be battled in a fixed order.

Generations I, III, and VII
In the Generation I  ( in Japan), the Generation III games, and the Generation VII games Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!, the Elite Four at Indigo Plateau consists of:

Generations II and IV
In the Generation II  and the Generation IV , the Elite Four at Indigo Plateau consists of:

Hoenn Elite Four
In Hoenn, the Elite Four must be battled in a fixed order. In and, the Elite Four at Ever Grande City consists of:

Sinnoh Elite Four
In Sinnoh, the Elite Four must be battled in a fixed order. In, the Elite Four at the Sinnoh consists of:

Unova Elite Four
In Unova, the Elite Four may be challenged in any order. In, the Elite Four at the Unova 🇺🇳 consists of:

Kalos Elite Four
In Kalos, the Elite Four may be challenged in any order. In, the Elite Four at the Kalos consists of:

Sun and Moon
In Alola, the Elite Four may be challenged in any order. All Elite Four members use s to store their Pokémon. In, the Elite Four at the Alola consists of:

Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon
In, the Elite Four at the Alola consists of:

In the main series
In the Pokémon anime, and  infrequently meet the members of the Elite Four, who then impart them with battle strategies. So far, Ash has encountered the complete Kanto group: From Hoenn, Ash has met:
 * Lorelei in The Mandarin Island Miss Match (named "Prima" in the English dub)
 * Bruno in To Master the Onixpected
 * Agatha in The Scheme Team (acting as a temporary Gym Leader for the Viridian Gym)
 * Lance in Talkin' 'Bout an Evolution (mentioned to be the rather than a regular member of the Elite Four)
 * Drake appeared in Vanity Affair, in which he invited Ash and his friends to his boat, where he had a battle with Ash.

Ash has also met the entire Sinnoh Elite Four as well:
 * Lucian first appeared in An Elite Meet and Greet!, in which he had a battle with, using his against her.
 * made his debut in A Trainer and Child Reunion!, in which he was seen training to challenge Cynthia.
 * debuted in Flint Sparks the Fire!, in which he had a battle with, using his against his , , and.
 * Bertha appeared in An Elite Coverup!, in which she taught Ash and Dawn how observation skills can be useful in s and Pokémon Contests.

In Unova, Ash has met: In Kalos, Ash has only met Malva, although two other Elite Four members have appeared as well:
 * Caitlin appeared in Jostling for the Junior Cup!, in which she faced off against Cynthia during an exhibition match of the Pokémon World Tournament Junior Cup.
 * Siebold appeared in Mega Evolution Special I, where he used his to battle Alain and his Mega  X.
 * Wikstrom debuted in Diancie and the Cocoon of Destruction, in which he was seen battling Diantha, using his Mega against her Mega.
 * Malva first appeared in Cloudy Fate, Bright Future! in a video transmission. Ash didn't meet her until A League of His Own!, in which he was interviewed by her.

It has been stated by Lucian in An Elite Meet and Greet! that when a Trainer wins their respective region's, they can participate in the , fighting the members of that region's Elite Four, and then the Champion as well. It has also been shown that an Elite Four member can challenge the Champion and obtain the title from him or her in battle.

In Pokémon Origins
The members of the Kanto Elite Four made brief appearances in File 4: Charizard. was shown defeating all four members, allowing him to move on to face the,.

In Pokémon Generations
The members of the Kanto Elite Four made appearances in The Challenger. was shown defeating all four members, allowing him to become the. Later in the episode, defeated them as well.

In the Pokémon Adventures manga
The Kanto Elite Four, consisting of Lorelei, Bruno, Lance and Agatha, made their debut in A Charizard...and a Champion watching the final battle between and  before serving as the primary antagonists for the  of the manga. They are each said to be so powerful that triad leaders of Team Rocket, Koga, Lt. Surge, and Sabrina all had to (begrudgingly) team up with the protagonists and Blaine to take just a single one of them.

The Johto Elite Four is formed at the end of the. It consists of accomplished Pokémon Trainers that were formerly part of criminal organizations, who would eventually rise as the official Elite Four of Indigo Plateau. Will, Bruno, Karen, and Koga united to train together after they were no longer being controlled. They reappeared in the participating on the Pokéathlon and later fighting against Lance's Dragonite. The Hoenn Elite Four, consisting of Sidney, Phoebe, Glacia and Drake, made an appearance in the, helping to find and catch the legendary titans in order to contain the massive surge of energy created by the clash of and  alongside  and Wallace, their two regional s. It is also during the Hoenn Elite Four's appearance that the challenge of the Elite Four and Champion was mentioned as having replaced a knockout tournament to determine the best Trainer in the region.

The first Sinnoh Elite Four member to debut in the series was, who made a cameo appearance in the last round of the. Aaron, Bertha and Lucian appeared in the, where they were enlisted by the Pokémon Association Chairman to decode the ancient writings in Charon's memobook.

The Unova Elite Four first appeared in the as  cites them during his daily pledge. However, they haven't appeared to the main characters as a group yet. Besides Caitlin, who already appeared in the Platinum chapter, Grimsley meets Black, Shauntal meets, and Marshal meets both on different occasions. All four converge for the duration of the Unova League tournament that would have determined the Trainer that would challenge them.

The first Kalos Elite Four member to appear is Malva, who appeared in person in. Drasna, Wikstrom, and Siebold were mentioned by Diantha during her conversation with Gurkinn and Korrina. Siebold later appeared in the Lost Hotel, cooking a meal for and 's friends, as a way of apologizing for his lack of participation against Team Flare. Wikstrom and Drasna later appeared in person, assissting X and Y's group in their quest to stop Team Flare. Drasna gave them information about and Wikstrom used his  to guide them to Team Flare's hideout.

In the Pokémon Zensho manga
The Kanto Elite Four members appeared in Indigo Plateau, where all of them were defeated by, allowing him to face the Champion,.

Trivia

 * In the Generation I, the battles against Lorelei, Bruno, and Agatha use the standard Trainer battle theme, while the Gym Leader battle theme is played only against Lance. In , the Gym Leader battle theme plays during the battles against all four members of the Elite Four.
 * In the Kanto-based games, the Elite Four's specialty types are the types that were the least common types in Generation I.
 * In the Kanto-based games, every Elite Four member has at least one Pokémon not of their specialty type during the first battle.
 * The Kalos Elite Four members are the only ones that don't have higher level Pokémon in future rematches with them in any game.
 * Additionally, they are the only ones who use just four Pokémon in rematches with them. All other Elite Four members use either five or six Pokémon during rematches.
 * Prior to Generation V, the Elite Four typically progressed in level with their Pokémon in the games. Starting in Generation V, all members of the Elite Four (except in remakes) use Pokémon of the same levels, as they can be challenged in any order.
 * The Sinnoh Elite Four and Generation I Elite Four are the only Elite Four of which all members have appeared in the anime.
 * Pokémon Puzzle League features its own Elite Four: Ritchie, Lorelei, Bruno, and . Gary serves as the leader of the Elite Four and the Puzzle League Champion.
 * The Alola Elite Four is the only Elite Four with more female members than male ones.