The future of the Pokémon world

[Orion☆]

The imminent release of PLA has had me thinking about revisiting older regions under a new light. Just as we will revisit Sinnoh as it was in a somewhat distant past, we might also get a game in which we go to an older region... but in the future.

Here are some questions for you to consider. You don't have to answer them necessarily; I'm just providing a guide.
- Which region(s) would you like to see a future version of? Why?
- How many (in-universe) years should the timeline advance?
- What technological innovations specific to the Pokémon world do you think will be introduced/become more commonplace?
- What do you think will happen to the region(s) of your choice as regards geography, politics, logistics of the League and Pokémon battling, etc.?
- Do you have any ideas for how certain characters will fare in the future? (e.g. Blue taking over from his grandfather as Pokémon professor, as is common in future!Kanto stories)
- If the story is set in the far future where everyone we know and love is already gone, would you like to see descendants of them like we see ancestors in PLA?

 

[Sheep]

- Which region(s) would you like to see a future version of? Why?
Rather than remakes of existing generations down the line, what I'd love to see is an eventual sequel to a specific region. So for example - rather than a remake of SwSh in 15 years, what would be awesome to have would be a proper sequel that shows us how the region and its trainers have grown/changed over time - maybe in a period of 10 years. Of course, we'd be playing as a brand new character. What if Gloria or Victor were Champions you could actually challenge in that future? What if Leon expanded the Battle Tower into multiple different facilities à la Battle Frontier in Emerald, and now has a family (sorry fangirls, it's just an idea!)? Meanwhile Hop has become more renowned over time as the Professor's assistant, and has made some breakthrough discoveries.

As far as technology, it would actually be awesome to see a region that isn't as technologically-advanced as some of the ones we've gotten recently. Yeah, cars and phones are useful, but what about somewhere further off somewhere that hasn't quite made it there yet - or never accepted technology in the same way? I guess Legends is already covering that to an extent, though.

- Do you have any ideas for how certain characters will fare in the future? (e.g. Blue taking over from his grandfather as Pokémon professor, as is common in future!Kanto stories)
Other than the thoughts I had about Galar above, it would be awesome to see Silver truly turn his life around and become a happier person (especially given his depressing backstory). Heck, as big a change as it would be, I'd love for him to become the next Professor of Johto once Elm retires. Or even his assistant to start.

 

[Palamon]

Which region(s) would you like to see a future version of? Why?

Every single one, including Kanto and Unova. We honestly need to see what modern Kanto looks like. We've only seen what Kanto looks like from gen I perspective and remakes + the three year advancement later. But, I'd like to see something much further down the timeline like what Kanto is like during the B2/W2 era which could possibly be 10+ years after R/B/Y.

Everything else and every other region should eventually get a sequel of some sort. But not two years later, 5+ years later or more would be preferable.

How many (in-universe) years should the timeline advance?

As stated above, 5-10 years later from the originals would be preferable. I'm not re-explaining.

What technological innovations specific to the Pokémon world do you think will be introduced/become more commonplace?

Likely all the modern conveniences like no HMs anymore, hyper training, and etcetera that Sword/Shield did, since I truly believe SW/SH take place in modern times.

What do you think will happen to the region(s) of your choice as regards geography, politics, logistics of the League and Pokémon battling, etc.?

Can't comment on this one, but Professor Oak might retire in Kanto, gym leaders might change further, and the Elite Four/Champion would be entirely different. All other regions would most likely be the same. Gym Leaders would change, maybe more areas would be built/more cities would be made, and etcetera. Here's all the professors I think would retire in modern day: Rowan, Juniper would pass her torch to Bianca, and I believe Elm, Birch, Sycamore and Kikui would stay professors. Elm is no older than 35, and Birch is I believe confirmed to be 35 at the time R/S/E/OR/AS's timeline was. Sycamore is still young, and I can see him being professor for 10+ years, and Kikui gives me later 20s/early 30s vibes, he's not going anymore.

I believe that the geography of Unova would change slightly in 10 years, and Kalos would have less unfinished areas. I feel like Alola would maybe stay the same.

Galar, though, he'd have completely different gym leaders since we know there's 18 gym leaders that get a chance to be in the main league each year.

Do you have any ideas for how certain characters will fare in the future? (e.g. Blue taking over from his grandfather as Pokémon professor, as is common in future!Kanto stories)

Bianca will have found and figured out what she wants to do with her life, Hop will be a professor, and Marnie will be a fully established, well known gym leader. Beyond that, I don't know.

If the story is set in the far future where everyone we know and love is already gone, would you like to see descendants of them like we see ancestors in PLA?

Yes, I would. That would be great, if I'm being honest.

 

[d4rk]

I believe there would be a nice way to reroll one region just as PLA has done: the region, present or future, comes back with studies about Pokémon migrations at a certain moment of the year. The main protagonist could be a researcher about that. Now that we have had 8 main Pokédexes with each its own lot of new Pokémon, why not have them mix and match in their own specific region, where they fit best?

I'd like to see Johto open some sort of migration center and safari zone in Cianwood city, a bit the same way as it was done in a well-known romhack. Well, there is a limitation to migration because mostly occurs in birds... There are alternative like Pokémon who hibernate in winter and come back in Spring, etc. Just an idea that lets the Pokédex change, exapnd or shrink, according to what it was in its original setting.

I'd like to see more "technologies" that let the player re-battle any trainer they want, because fighting wild pokémon for training is unnecessarily tedious and boring. Also I think the Pokédex should work a bit more in the anime, if the Pokémon is seen, it is saved and gives trivia info, and then if the Pokémon actually gets caught, the info expands with battle data like base stats and abilities. That would be nice...

Still speaking about Johto, I think Ecruteak City has the potential to grow into a high-tech center bigger than Goldenrod, possibly buying Mahogany Town and make it small suburb while still trying to preserve the natural habitats that Mt. Mortar, Ice path or Lake of rage are... Lake of rage which no longer wears this name since Rocket's shenanigans are over. Maybe its habitat is a bit polluted by the city, so one may find poison Pokémons.

Regarding politics, it may have evolved into some sort of competition with Kanto, maybe opening its own Pokémon League challenge on a separate location. The game could invite the protagonist to beat the challenge and then participate in an inter-region battle tower that is known to decide which region is the best or something. Scoring points if you proudly avenge your fellow Johto pals who lost a fight against the enemy nation.

As for characters, I am not sure how they'd fare because I don't get attached too much to them. One of them I truly liked in Johto though, is good ole Silver, aka rival, aka Giovanni's son. If the story is set in a distant future, I hope they'd remember him for his doings, good or bad.

 

[Fairy]

I just wanna know if Johto ever rebuilt that damn tower.

 

[giradialkia]

- Which region(s) would you like to see a future version of? Why?

Kalos! For a number of reasons, but I'll outline the main ones.
Pokémon Legends Arceus is the first time we're getting a main-series game (technically) on its own. It's not "Pokémon Legends Dialga/Pokémon Legends Palkia", there's just the one. So we don't have to worry about version exclusive Pokémon, characters or story elements.
In this light, I'd love to see a Pokémon Legends Zygarde.

- How many (in-universe) years should the timeline advance?

I think a good 10-15 years would suffice. We could see Kalos change in similar (but perhaps more substantial) ways than we witnessed in B2W2, or GSC/HGSS' Kanto.

- What technological innovations specific to the Pokémon world do you think will be introduced/become more commonplace?

Hard to think of specific examples, but seeing as X and Y sparked the birth of the Mega timeline (and led to ORAS explaining that there are multiple timelines/universes), I think they could go nuts with their technological advancements.

- What do you think will happen to the region(s) of your choice as regards geography, politics, logistics of the League and Pokémon battling, etc.?

Well, I'm hoping for.. more. X and Y were great games, but they suffered from a severe case of 'first child syndrome', as was always the case with the first games in a generation. Game Freak would play it safe, test the waters, and then give us all the good stuff in the eventual third version (or in the case of 5th gen, the sequels). To see Kalos in full 3D, years in the future, to be able to explore Lumiose City to the fullest, and perhaps even a few more towns, cities, and battle facilities, would be awesome.

- Do you have any ideas for how certain characters will fare in the future? (e.g. Blue taking over from his grandfather as Pokémon professor, as is common in future!Kanto stories)

Well, specifically, since Blue is mentioned in X and Y (only in passing, of course), it might be cool to see a mature/middle aged version of him visiting the region. Sycamore would certainly be older (I'm not sure what age he is in XY, but lets say he's in his mid 30s. By the time Pokémon Legends Zygarde rolls around, he could be nearing his 50s) - there's plenty to explore there.
And, we could perhaps see what became of the group of friends. They were a bit lackluster throughout the story of XY, but we could see how the adults Tierno, Trevor and Shauna are faring - as well as Emma, the homeless girl taken in by Looker.

- If the story is set in the far future where everyone we know and love is already gone, would you like to see descendants of them like we see ancestors in PLA?

I would like to see some, for sure, but it wouldn't be far enough in the future for everyone to be gone (at least, in my version of events!). Many Gym Leaders and League members would be different, but it'd be nice to see some familiar faces/their descendants around the place.


This was fun! I wrote way too much!

 

[Orion☆]

Amazing ideas everyone! I especially agree on the idea of Silver rounding up his character development into a kinder, happier person after all he's been put through (and all he put himself through as a result of his former nastiness as well.) I also love the idea of him going into Pokémon research and becoming Elm's assistant or the Professor himself. And you know, after seeing what became of him in Pokémon Xenoverse (no spoilers), I especially NEED this to happen.

As for me? I've been wanting to see a future Kanto/Johto for a WHILE now. Because both regions share a League and a landmass, I imagine that, over time, they will essentially become one big region - Tohjo. To qualify for the League, Trainers are now required to collect 8 badges from any of the 16 or so Gyms in the whole region, as long as they log in at least two badges from each sub-region. I don't know how many years exactly I'd advance the timeline knowing this, but 5 to 10 years after G/S/C should be an ideal time frame.

As for what happens to the characters? Here are some specific ideas I've got:
-Blue starts taking on more research work while remaining a competent Trainer, and at some point in the far future, he will replace his grandfather as the regional Professor. Pretty common idea among future!Kanto theorists, but I like it.
-Because my headcanon follows up from LGPE, I'd also like to see an older Trace become the Viridian Gym Leader, succeeding Blue. Furthermore, he'd remove the badge restriction and scale according to challengers' amount of badges like every other Leader.
-Blaine either retires or passes away. Either way, Cinnabar Gym ceases to exist in both Cinnabar Island and Seafoam Islands.
-Ditto Pryce in Johto, although Mahogany Gym most likely still exists.
-Sabrina quits her position as Saffron Gym Leader and permanently moves to Unova to continue her successful career as an actress. Either the Fighting Dojo becomes an official Gym again, or a Dark-type Gym Leader replaces her.
-Misty gets to travel the world as she has always wanted and doesn't return to Kanto for a long time. She's succeded by either one of her sisters (game canon as of LGPE), or by a nephew or niece.
-Surge remains Gym Leader... but is now a dual Electric/Steel specialist. See, he went to Alola to give those Trainers at the Kantonian Gym a lesson, but then he came into contact with Ryuki's music... and experienced a drastic transformation into a foxy metalhead. Thus, he now has a special Electric/Steel-type punk Raichu, and Vermilion Gym doubles as a concert venue. (Yeah, this is kind of silly, but again, look at what I said about Silver in Xenoverse.)
-A new Gym opens in Lavender Town, most likely a new Psychic- or Dark-type Gym (or a Ghost-type Gym, if something should happen to Morty's).
-After an incident most likely of her own fault, Clair is forced to quit as Blackthorn Gym Leader. In grand Kantonian tradition, her cousin, the former Champion Lance, replaces her. Surprisingly, he's the happiest we've ever seen him, now that he's able to do some good by his hometown without having to shoulder a high rank or deal with a nasty cousin. Bonus: Lance now owns a Dragapult.
-At the Indigo Plateau, things have shaken up just a tiny bit. Elite Four members can now be challenged in any order like in Unova, Kalos and Alola, and Bugsy has made Elite Four along the likes of Karen, Bruno and Will. Which means...
-Yes - Koga is now the standing Champion! Yeah, I know this is probably me just simping, but I honestly do believe he's fit for the position. To me, there's no one that screams both Kanto and Johto more than he does. Though he still specializes mainly in Poison-types, he uses Pokémon that suit his usual trickery of inflicting status conditions and has even managed to incorporate some fast hitters into his team. He's also decked out in armor that resembles his Grimer get-up in Pokémon Adventures, with none of the evilness attached. I'm also kind of hoping he goes full silver fox at some point but I'm willing to settle for salt-and-pepper, ehuehuehue
-What of Janine, though? She's still the Fuchsia Gym Leader, and doesn't know how to feel about the attention she gets for being the Champion's daughter. She's thankful Falkner has stopped arguing with her about whose father is the best, though.

No idea about the ones I didn't mention, but I'll probably add them as I think of them. And as for the last question, if the timeline should advance even further into the future, I'd love to see descendants of the present-day characters! In particular, I think it'd be hilarious if Fuchsia Gym was run by twins or triplets (possibly Janine's children or grandchildren) at some point in the future, to reference how ninjas can make copies of themselves. Ahem... you can more or less guess how I imagine said twins or triplets to look.

 

[agravedigger]

I love reading all these ideas (ﾉ*0*)ﾉ you guys, are you making fangames sometime!?

 

[LouisTheFox1997]

(I apologize for bumping this thread that had no been updated since January, but I really wish to reply to it)

Which region(s) would you like to see a future version of? Why?

Probably Kalos, seeing we only gotten little in Gen 6. Seeing a Kalos set in the future would be nice to see honestly. My reason is because Kalos felt like it had way more potential in Gen 6, but Game Freak didn't went to the fullest potential.

I would also like to see other regions like Unova, Galar, and even Orre as well.

How many (in-universe) years should the timeline advance?

Like others have said probably 5 or 10 years into the future. Hell, I wouldn't mind if it was 20 years to be fairly honest.

What technological innovations specific to the Pokémon world do you think will be introduced/become more commonplace?

I would say that in the near future of the Pokemon world, Pokedex becomes sort of obsolete and only used for retro purposes. Seeing that everyone owns a smartphone, most trainer would pretty much have a downloaded app on their phone that is essentially a Pokedex. Now way it could work is that to complete it, you have to capture the region's Pokemon to complete the dex in your app, as it updates itself automatically each time you catch a new Pokemon not seen before.

I don't really see HMs going anywhere anytime soon, but I wouldn't really know honestly.

What do you think will happen to the region(s) of your choice as regards geography, politics, logistics of the League and Pokémon battling, etc.?

Hard to say really. Geographically I don't think much would change. But politics I don't know since Pokemon doesn't really go into political stuff. But I do think there will be a change in social issues when it comes to Pokemon and technology.

Reason being as humanity becomes more and more advance, it going to make a ton of people realize that once humans become more "machine" or with robotic Pokemon that are essentially AI (although Porygon does exist as it is technically AI), essentially Pokemon will become no longer used much for battling. Furthermore if artificial intelligence becomes more and more advanced to a point it can practically defeat a Pokemon, that is certainly going to make people debate whether it is even fair or not.

I mean think of how an AI can beat you in chess. But now imagine an AI defeating a highly ranked Pokemon trainer. Surely people are going to be worried about it, especially those who was Gym Leaders and Elite Four members, heck even the Champion will be very worried about getting crushed easily by an AI.

Who knows about who going to be the next regional professors. But yeah as one poster said prior, Professor Oak is going to retire and his grandson Blue surely going to replace him. As for other professors it hard to say. Sycamore certainly will still be Professor of Kalos, but he be in his 60s or early 70s.

As for gym leaders, Elite Four members, and Champions. That is a good question. Personally I think we'll see new fresh faces as gym leaders and Elite Four members. As for Champions, I think Red is either going to still be active or he might decide to retire. Who knows.

I think like 20 years from now, a lot of regions will be a bit more urbanized. But at the same time nature would still be protected and so on.

Do you have any ideas for how certain characters will fare in the future? (e.g. Blue taking over from his grandfather as Pokémon professor, as is common in future!Kanto stories)

Blue is obviously going to replace his grandfather. I said this previously. As for Cynthia (or Shirona if your Japanese) she might have a kid of her own, which could give the possibility of her kid following in her footsteps to become the next champion for Sinnoh.

If the story is set in the far future where everyone we know and love is already gone, would you like to see descendants of them like we see ancestors in PLA?

That would be neat. But if your talking about "far future" you probably mean like 10 centuries from now. That really is going to be hard to say, seeing we cannot predict how humanity will fare in the future, let alone where humanity is going to be say 10 centuries from now. I mean personally in the far future, humans pretty much have become very advanced in technology and probably have colonized a ton of planets in the galaxy. But as such Pokemon battling still exists and there might be a Pokemon League per world, but there would also probably be another event held every so often similar to the Olympics like in our world, but it be trainers from other worlds competing against each other.

As for the how Red's, Blue's, Cynthia's, Dawn's, and essentially everyone's descendants would see their ancestors?

Honestly it either most characters got forgotten, unless of course they were widely known for a particular thing like inventing something, doing something not done before, saving the world, and what not. So people might remember Cynthia for being one of the toughest female Pokemon trainers. And certainly people will remember Red as well as Bill for creating the PC to store Pokemon. As for other characters, hard to say if they will be remembered at all honestly. Take the current owner of the Pokemon Daycare in Johto, nobody is going to remember that person 10 centuries from now.