What should Ash do post SM?

Right now Ash is in Alola and realistically will probably be down there for Season 20, 21 and maybe 22. No idea what the writers have in store for him down there but rest assured he's definitely returning home afterwards. So the question is if the series is still going by the time Alola finishes, what should Ash do? Visit a new region or go to one he's already been to? If a new region, what is it called and does it have unique starter Pokemon(if so what are they called?). Does he have new companions or do old ones join back up with him on his never-ending journey? Is his new rival male or female? Do old Pokemon such as Pidgeot, Primeape, Butterfree or Greninja rejoin his team?

I've been pondering this question for awhile now and even my answers to the above questions are tentative. I did a brief creative session the other day and posted it in the Creative Writing section of this Community, hence here's a link if you wish to view it: Pokemon:Legacy. Its unfinished, relatively raw(1st draft) and can be changed/edited in future drafts but the genesis of it is that I've aged the protagonist Ash to 14(not going to fly understandably but who knows, the idea may win out eventually) and I have him back in Kanto surrounded by past friends in Dawn, Kenny, Clemont, Bonnie and Serena. All of them are there in Kanto for their own personal reasons and I have Serena taking on the role of Ash's next rival to give him the motivation to take things to the next level. If your wondering why May isn't there, its due in large part to the VA changing careers, hence I kind of had to write her off. Even if the VA wasn't an issue, I always imagined her being the most likely to succeed.

I haven't written this into my overall story arc but I am leaning towards bringing back Pidgeot, Primeape, Butterfree and even Greninja for his Kanto journey(rest of his team will be Pikachu and Charizard, although he could rotate his team like he's done in the past). Clemont's role in the series is to give past characters, like Misty, a chance to reunite with Ash while Bonnie is there to continue the wife gag while also growing as a character herself.

Anyways, what do you want Ash to do post-SM? Go somewhere brand new with characters we have yet to meet or go to a region we already know with characters that we like who will get more character development?

The writers will definitely know what ash will do post SM. One thing is for sure, ash's released pokemon are not coming back. Neither is serena. I don't want ash bringing back older pokemon. The only region he might return is kanto since that is his home but that is a temporary re-visit.

Some people are indicating that SM will be ending shortly for Generation 8, and indicate that it is due to the Nintendo Switch. Me, personally? I have my doubts (if Generation 8 was in their radar, they'd have at least made a teaser about it by now, like what Nintendo did with Metroid Prime 4). The only thing I can hope for is that, IF there's a Generation 8, and IF the anime continues there, they actually bring back the leagues and have Ash actually compete in them again. No more school stuff. It was a mistake to have Ash lose Kalos, so it's better off if they just have Ash pursue the league again, and maybe actually WIN it, regardless of what happens to the show.

Barring that, I pretty much agree with CodeHelmet's idea. They really have to have a reunion with all of Ash's old friends, ESPECIALLY Misty and to a certain degree Brock. And they need to have Ash rechallenge the Indigo League and get a far better rank there, maybe even win it. And that definitely should occur after Alola, at the very least, if not after SM if there isn't a Generation 8.

That all being said, I'm wondering how they're even going to bother with Movie 21. They already used up Marshadow for Movie 20, and they haven't given ANY indication whatsoever that there's going to be a Generation VIII anyway.

S&M's anime will end up with him graduating from the school and going on a travel to the next region.

If there is a reunion, i want ash to meet up with Brock, Misty, Tracey, May, Max, Dawn, Cilan, Clemont and Bonnie. That be the best reunion ever. Certain female companions are not mentioned because they don't deserve to be in the reunion.

My guess is it'll be just be a new series in a new place to correspond with the next game set. If they do something where Ash is reunited with old partners, rivals, and Pokémon it would likely be something like Generations where it's a series of shorts or Chronicles where we get side series with 2-3 episodes set in each previous region.

weedle_mchairybug said:

Some people are indicating that SM will be ending shortly for Generation 8, and indicate that it is due to the Nintendo Switch. Me, personally? I have my doubts (if Generation 8 was in their radar, they'd have at least made a teaser about it by now, like what Nintendo did with Metroid Prime 4). The only thing I can hope for is that, IF there's a Generation 8, and IF the anime continues there, they actually bring back the leagues and have Ash actually compete in them again. No more school stuff. It was a mistake to have Ash lose Kalos, so it's better off if they just have Ash pursue the league again, and maybe actually WIN it, regardless of what happens to the show.

Barring that, I pretty much agree with CodeHelmet's idea. They really have to have a reunion with all of Ash's old friends, ESPECIALLY Misty and to a certain degree Brock. And they need to have Ash rechallenge the Indigo League and get a far better rank there, maybe even win it. And that definitely should occur after Alola, at the very least, if not after SM if there isn't a Generation 8.

That all being said, I'm wondering how they're even going to bother with Movie 21. They already used up Marshadow for Movie 20, and they haven't given ANY indication whatsoever that there's going to be a Generation VIII anyway.

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When it comes to Brock, I've been trying to find a long term reason to keep him around but the Pokemon Doctor goal they wrote in for him at the end of Sinnoh kind of yanks him from ever having a long term presence in the anime. Short-term of say 1-3 Episodes... sure that could be possible but for him to outright return to the series just doesn't seem plausible with what has transpired. Plus he's been around for 12 of the 20 seasons so far. You really want him back when he's been around for that long?

Misty, on the other hand, just needs a mechanism in order to return and that mechanism is something to be the Gym Leader while she was away. I first thought of her sisters but when I rewatched the Hoenn Episodes involving Misty, they just couldn't cut it on a long term basis. When I watched XY for the first time and saw Clembot, Misty was the first character that sprang to mind who would instantly benefit from something like that. She wouldn't be chained to that Gym of hers since her sisters could easily feed and care for the Water Pokemon that reside there(or simply invite Tracey over for slave labor) while Clembot could handle all the Gym matches.

While Serena is indeed an unpopular character to some, she had the fewest Episodes of any Pokegirl and arguably the slowest development as well. Throw in the infamous goodbye Episode and her popularity among the fanbase and it would be insane not to include her in the future Generation(I don't want her to return for Alola though). I do bring back Dawn and Kenny but only for Episodes involving Contests as they're traveling separate from the group. I just have to refine my story arc a bit. Thanks for the feedback and comments all.

CodeHelmet said:

When it comes to Brock, I've been trying to find a long term reason to keep him around but the Pokemon Doctor goal they wrote in for him at the end of Sinnoh kind of yanks him from ever having a long term presence in the anime. Short-term of say 1-3 Episodes... sure that could be possible but for him to outright return to the series just doesn't seem plausible with what has transpired. Plus he's been around for 12 of the 20 seasons so far. You really want him back when he's been around for that long?

Misty, on the other hand, just needs a mechanism in order to return and that mechanism is something to be the Gym Leader while she was away. I first thought of her sisters but when I rewatched the Hoenn Episodes involving Misty, they just couldn't cut it on a long term basis. When I watched XY for the first time and saw Clembot, Misty was the first character that sprang to mind who would instantly benefit from something like that. She wouldn't be chained to that Gym of hers since her sisters could easily feed and care for the Water Pokemon that reside there(or simply invite Tracey over for slave labor) while Clembot could handle all the Gym matches.

While Serena is indeed an unpopular character to some, she had the fewest Episodes of any Pokegirl and arguably the slowest development as well. Throw in the infamous goodbye Episode and her popularity among the fanbase and it would be insane not to include her in the future Generation(I don't want her to return for Alola though). I do bring back Dawn and Kenny but only for Episodes involving Contests as they're traveling separate from the group. I just have to refine my story arc a bit. Thanks for the feedback and comments all.

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Eh, to be fair, I really wasn't eager for Brock to return anyhow, mostly because I really wasn't a big fan of his "gag".

I wouldn't necessary write out her sisters all that easily, though: Daisy at least still showed some great potential in becoming a Gym Leader if the Luvdisc special though, considering she went out of her way to rescue the pokemon alongside Misty and Tracey.

weedle_mchairybug said:

Eh, to be fair, I really wasn't eager for Brock to return anyhow, mostly because I really wasn't a big fan of his "gag".

I wouldn't necessary write out her sisters all that easily, though: Daisy at least still showed some great potential in becoming a Gym Leader if the Luvdisc special though, considering she went out of her way to rescue the pokemon alongside Misty and Tracey.

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True but even then, Daisy is still like her sisters in that they prefer to do other things than run and maintain a Gym. With Clembot, Misty can at least say to them that they don't have to do the Gym matches so all they're responsible for is taking care of the Pokemon while she is away(which they can share the load in doing). I also did some analysis of potential time duration of journeys for my story and came up with the ballpark figures. Complete guess work mind you.

Kanto: 15 months(took a year to reach Viridian City)
Orange Islands: 3 to 6 months
Johto: 9 to 12 months
Hoenn: 12 to 15 months(includes Battle Frontier)
Sinnoh: 9 to 12 months
Unova: 6 to 12 months
Kalos: 6 to 12 months
*Alola: 3 to 6 months
*ongoing so this obviously will likely change but I'll stubbornly keep it short knowing me

Meaning from a ballpark standpoint, Ash should be anywhere from 15 to 17. Therefore when he was in Kalos, he was 14 to 15 and honestly he came across as being that old(at times). Granted... the writers of the show clearly have them the same age for the target audience and relating to the game counterparts but if the show was realistic, Ash should be much older. Even Serena could have been older since her mother was training her to be a Ryhorn racer rather than preparing her to be a Pokemon Trainer. Hence Serena could have been 12 or 13 when she started, thereby making the whole romance sub-plot a bit more meaningful. Don't say 2 years is a big difference because my Parents are roughly 2 years apart.

In any case, I'll be posting a revision(in the form of an edit) sometime soon along with future additions until I reach the character limit.

CodeHelmet said:

True but even then, Daisy is still like her sisters in that they prefer to do other things than run and maintain a Gym. With Clembot, Misty can at least say to them that they don't have to do the Gym matches so all they're responsible for is taking care of the Pokemon while she is away(which they can share the load in doing). I also did some analysis of potential time duration of journeys for my story and came up with the ballpark figures. Complete guess work mind you.

Kanto: 15 months(took a year to reach Viridian City)
Orange Islands: 3 to 6 months
Johto: 9 to 12 months
Hoenn: 12 to 15 months(includes Battle Frontier)
Sinnoh: 9 to 12 months
Unova: 6 to 12 months
Kalos: 6 to 12 months
*Alola: 3 to 6 months
*ongoing so this obviously will likely change but I'll stubbornly keep it short knowing me

Meaning from a ballpark standpoint, Ash should be anywhere from 15 to 17. Therefore when he was in Kalos, he was 14 to 15 and honestly he came across as being that old(at times). Granted... the writers of the show clearly have them the same age for the target audience and relating to the game counterparts but if the show was realistic, Ash should be much older. Even Serena could have been older since her mother was training her to be a Ryhorn racer rather than preparing her to be a Pokemon Trainer. Hence Serena could have been 12 or 13 when she started, thereby making the whole romance sub-plot a bit more meaningful. Don't say 2 years is a big difference because my Parents are roughly 2 years apart.

In any case, I'll be posting a revision(in the form of an edit) sometime soon along with future additions until I reach the character limit.

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Well, I guess that's a fair point. Funny, I actually came up with a similar character a while back called Mistybot (though this was WELL before Misty left the series).

Battle Tree is an option but it could just be game only. We might get anime exclusive islands or something kind like in unova.

It's looking like Ash will be heading to another region(TBD) post Sun and Moon so my idea of having a Kanto themed journey would have to wait until after that. Plus after looking at my journey duration analysis, Ash would have to be much older than 14. In fact, I'd wager him having to be 18 for this idea of mine to work.

Serena would be his main rival, planning to participate in Contests and doing the regional Gym's so as to enter the Indigo League. Clemont and Bonnie join her to rekindle the memory of Kalos and this time around, Serena invites Ash. Ash accepts, opts to challenge all the Gym's again(even though he doesn't need to win in order to enter the Indigo League. Does it more so for confidence and to sharpen his skills). Brock and Misty return in their respective Gym roles and Misty joins the group post Cerulean City. Ash and Serena ultimately win their matches at the 8 Kanto Gym's and enter the Indigo League. Serena also wins 5 Contest Ribbons for the Kanto Grand Festival(where Dawn and her boyfriend Kenny both enter). Dawn and Serena face off in the Grand Festival final with Dawn coming out victorious. As for the Indigo League, Serena advances to the finals with Ash and Ash wins a galactic battle to win the Indigo League.

From there Ash challenges the Kanto Elite 4, including Lance the regional Champion. With Serena and the gang by his side, Ash comes through and becomes champion of Kanto. Fast forward 15 years(kind of like they did with Harry Potter) and show Ash and Serena(married) with them sending off their oldest daughter on her own Pokemon journey(with a Pikachu no less). In other words, Ash is retired as a protagonist and the next generation takes over(in this case a Female Lead).

None of that is happening. That sounds like fanfiction. Serena is not a rival and is not worthy of one. She will not return to the show apart from specials. Ash will not get married and have a kid especially to her. Keep amorshpping out of the show. Ash will remain ten years old. Ash will lose every league. Ash will not challenge the elite four and champion. Ash will not retire.

None of what you want to see is realistic. So glad that the show won't go that way. Of course the show is going down hill since Unova. It can't get any worse.

It's fair to say Ash will be heading to the 8th Gen region and reset his team again. Especially because it's been outright confirmed that he will not leave, ever.

The question is if Ash will successfully graduate from the school or not.

He will keep visiting regions until there are no more regions to be visited, and the final epic battle will be against his father. That's how I see it. His father took off on his pokemon journey way earlier than Ash, so he's probably a few generations further than ash, and when he finally meets him, we can only assume the anime to end, his father wouldn't wait at one region suddenly, instead he is in the final region that is yet to come revealed.

I don't think much will change. He will probably visit a new region and do the same stuff.

Ash probably will graduate since Alola feels like another Orange Islands(only that he spends far more time in the region since Orange Islands was only 36 Episodes long). After that he will likely go to the 8th region that they've yet to announce. However, to say Ash has to be around forever(and at age 10 no less) is essentially a death wish to the franchise. I mean this season's version of Ash is basically a copy and paste of the game version and an imbecile one at that(Even Best Wishes can't beat this form of mediocrity). Sooner or later people are going to abandon ship to the point its not worth even making Episodes.

That is why I foresee Season 21 in Alola(Aether arc, Team Skull might as well not exist) and Seasons 22, 23 and perhaps 24 in the 8th region. For Season 25, however, I'd like to see them do one last hurrah with Ash(who is older now) in Kanto region with many past characters(notably Misty and Brock) making reappearances. Ash would have a female rival this time around(I opted for Serena considering her desire to be more like Ash but a completely new character would work) and have Ash win the Indigo League, its corresponding Elite 4 and become Champion of the Kanto League.

Then, as a bridge to the next "series" or generation, fast forward 15-20 years with Ash's daughter as the new main protagonist with her own Pikachu. Is it fictional reality that I'm dreaming of here. Perhaps, but one has to consider that their current path of restarting Ash in a new region every 3-4 years is starting to sour and that sooner or later people will be like ok, this guy is never going to win so screw watching this never ending show. I suppose the result of Kalos and the fact Sun and Moon is a debacle is what spurred this train of thought.

CodeHelmet said:

Ash probably will graduate since Alola feels like another Orange Islands(only that he spends far more time in the region since Orange Islands was only 36 Episodes long). After that he will likely go to the 8th region that they've yet to announce. However, to say Ash has to be around forever(and at age 10 no less) is essentially a death wish to the franchise. I mean this season's version of Ash is basically a copy and paste of the game version and an imbecile one at that(Even Best Wishes can't beat this form of mediocrity). Sooner or later people are going to abandon ship to the point its not worth even making Episodes.

That is why I foresee Season 21 in Alola(Aether arc, Team Skull might as well not exist) and Seasons 22, 23 and perhaps 24 in the 8th region. For Season 25, however, I'd like to see them do one last hurrah with Ash(who is older now) in Kanto region with many past characters(notably Misty and Brock) making reappearances. Ash would have a female rival this time around(I opted for Serena considering her desire to be more like Ash but a completely new character would work) and have Ash win the Indigo League, its corresponding Elite 4 and become Champion of the Kanto League.

Then, as a bridge to the next "series" or generation, fast forward 15-20 years with Ash's daughter as the new main protagonist with her own Pikachu. Is it fictional reality that I'm dreaming of here. Perhaps, but one has to consider that their current path of restarting Ash in a new region every 3-4 years is starting to sour and that sooner or later people will be like ok, this guy is never going to win so screw watching this never ending show. I suppose the result of Kalos and the fact Sun and Moon is a debacle is what spurred this train of thought.

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Yeah, and while they're at it, have Misty actually return and actually pursue the goal she made for herself before her sisters forced her into a gym. If they can bring Charizard back permanently by having him actually return to Ash's direct roster rather than training under another trainer in Johto, they most certainly can allow for Misty to return and pursue her goal.

And here's hoping they'll actually ALLOW for Ash to pursue a league with Generation 8 and this time actually WIN it, IF there is a Generation 8 anyways. They shouldn't have done the school arc in the first place, that was a big mistake. They should have had Ash actually overseeing the development of a new league for Alola, like in the games. Either that, or actually win Kalos so he'd be done with his goal. All we want is for Ash to actually complete his goal. The entire point of having a goal is to make every effort to accomplish it. On a related note, when they get to Gen 8, they should ditch the SM artwork (ESPECIALLY Ash's design) and go back to the original style, or even the M20 style. Heck, forget us oldies who watched Pokémon for a while back, based on the ratings, even the target audience is not fond of what's going on.

And we know Team Skull's probably going to play a role since Team Rocket just fought against them.

None of what others dream of is gonna happen. People's wishlist/fantasy are things that the writers will never put into the show. Serena is always an annoying companion. Never a rival. Ash will not go back to the indigo league. He never be champion. Ash will never have a kid and there will be no time jump.

This is what is realistic - Ash fails in alola, moves on to gen 8 region, fails to win league and continues that pattern. Ash will be around for a long time for new generations of fans.

Alexander18 said:

None of what others dream of is gonna happen. People's wishlist/fantasy are things that the writers will never put into the show. Serena is always an annoying companion. Never a rival. Ash will not go back to the indigo league. He never be champion. Ash will never have a kid and there will be no time jump.

This is what is realistic - Ash fails in alola, moves on to gen 8 region, fails to win league and continues that pattern. Ash will be around for a long time for new generations of fans.

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Yeah, I'm pretty doubtful Ash is going to fail in Alola, since he's basically doing school. If anything, he has more chances at succeeding here than winning a league, and I don't mean just by his track record with leagues (namely, there IS no league in Alola, period, at least not in the anime. If they were going to have a Pokémon League in Alola, they would have mentioned it by now). And as far as Gen VIII and the league there, he did come close to winning by getting runner up there, which does indicate he might actually win this time around (and besides, even if he DOES win, he'd still need to fight the Elite 4 and champion of the region anyway).

So far as the bit about Ash never being a champion, having a kid, going back to the Indigo League, or time jumps, never say never. We also thought he would never get Goodra back due to releasing him into the wild, yet guess what, he actually DID get him back for the League, or how Charizard actually returned to Ash's roster instead of being sent back to Lisa's Charcific Valley in Best Wishes against all odds, which is one of the few good things about that series (not to mention that technically, Ash may have had a child if that First Movie trailer is to be believed, the little pink-haired girl Pikachu and Misty were seen interacting with). Besides, considering SM's ratings being very bad even COMPARED to XY, the show if anything is losing fans, not gaining them, meaning I'm pretty doubtful the show's going to last much longer. If they were to fix the show, the ratings would be at Kanto levels by now. Not to mention the late stages of DP did at least toy with the possibility of Ash not returning for Best Wishes.

I can agree with you on one thing: Serena wasn't all that good of a character.