Rowlet, Litten, Popplio and Iwanko all hide a secret! But what is it?

[danica]

maybe it has to do with the "tapu koko" and four island guardians mentioned in the trailer (as there are four pokenon and four islands)
this is a bit of a far stretch but maybe the starter that you choose is tapu koko??

 

[Z25]

I read the post myself in japanese and I'm like 95% sure it doesn't mention this "secret". There is a bit that roughly translates to "what kind of evolutions will they have?". I'm pretty sure that's what serebii reported as hinting towards a secret but it sounds to me more like a general question at most hinting that they'll reveal the evolutions soon. Everyone is going to be so disappointed when it turns out there was no big secret after all.

In general that leak wasn't covered very well. For example, it detailed exactly what magearna's soul heart ability does but there was no mention of this until the E3 reveal a few days later.

This is true. Although other sources say he says secret. I do think it being mistranslated could make a lot of sense though. Only time will tell though.

 

[StarsMmd]

This is true. Although other sources say he says secret. I do think it being mistranslated could make a lot of sense though. Only time will tell though.

Yeah we'll see. Would be amazing if they give us a big secret reveal in the next one. Anything is possible at this point!

 

[shadowmoon522]

it would be insane if there was a fourth starter. like, everything we've known about pokemon for the past 20 years would change.

first gen starters:

also

counts as a starter due to the rival in yellow getting one as his starter and

was the starter in XD gale of darkness while Colosseum got two of its evolutions as starters:

&

Why do people think the trainer can fuse with Pokémon?

reburst manga

people have turned into pokemon in canon

and fusion already exists

and finally...

anyway i think it might have something to do with the 4 around a center type myths
the sets are
1) the 4 symbols azure dragon, vermilion bird, white tiger & black turtle/black warrior and the yellow dragon of the center
2)the benevolent animals who resided in the yellow emperors garden: qilin, dragon, turtle & phoinex(also known as the 4 holy beats)
3) theres the sun(east), moon(west) bird(north) & snake(south) with a bear as the center from the Rong Cheng Shi

whenever these are used as the base in media is mot uncommon for their elements and such to get tossed around(digimon sovereign & the 5 dragons in yona of the dawn for example)
now lets look at the 4 that hide a secret
Rowlet grass/flying type and a bird
Litten fire type and a tiger striped cat.
Popplio water type & sea lion
Iwanko rock type and a puppy
the first two are kinda obvious in what animal they represent tiger & the bird.
popplio is most likely a qilin. why? sea lion. no, not the cousin of seals that its clearly based on but the other type of sea lion which bears quite the resemblance to a qilin
sea-lion

qilin

then finally there's Iwanko. odds are it evolves into either a
ceberus was the 3 headed dog that guarded the gates to hell whose mane was made up of serpents so it could be the snake
it could be werewolf based representing the moon.
or a dacian draco which is essentially a wolf with a dragon or serpents body
obviously i'm just spit balling this out there an this may very well be more of something represent the mascots then those 4 anyway, but it may very well be that those are needed to unlock a legendary.
whenever their evolution get confirmed i may just toss the theory out then & there depending on what they evolve into

 

[Drake22ice]

Maybe their secret is that their final evolutions get five attack spots or they are the first pokemon to have a fourth evolution

 

[Hikamaru]

Maybe their secret is that their final evolutions get five attack spots or they are the first pokemon to have a fourth evolution

Except the problem is their Pokedex entries already showed two Poke Ball icons next to them, and since it indicates evolution line it means they'll only evolve twice. That's true for the starters though, since Iwanko wasn't shown yet so its evolution line could be anything.

 

[Z25]

Maybe their secret is that their final evolutions get five attack spots or they are the first pokemon to have a fourth evolution

5 moves could happen. There are slots for it. But 4th evolution seems unlikely as there are only 2 slots after the starters, not 3.

 

[Hikamaru]

5 moves could happen. There are slots for it. But 4th evolution seems unlikely as there are only 2 slots after the starters, not 3.

This screenshot will likely prove your "5 moves theory":

 

[Z25]

This screenshot will likely prove your "5 moves theory":

Yes I saw that the other day which is why I thought about it. There was a rumor before E3 that said they'd reveal synchro and syncro mons get 5 moves. IT didn't happen, but 5 moves being possible was interesting.

 

[Hikamaru]

Yes I saw that the other day which is why I thought about it. There was a rumor before E3 that said they'd reveal synchro and syncro mons get 5 moves. IT didn't happen, but 5 moves being possible was interesting.

I remember when it was said that moveslots would be expanded as early as 3rd Gen, yet we ended up having to wait four generations later than when it was initially planned. I can't easily conclude if the fifth moveslot means a Synchro since we still haven't gotten anything about it, or whatever new mechanic is coming.

 

[shadowmoon522]

if theres one syncro move i'd like in the main series game if we get them, it would be triple finish.

 

[Xander Olivieri]

When Popplio was used against the rival, it only had space for 4 moves when it did learn it's 4th move. I doubt we'll get 5 moves. Synchro/Mega Evolution is more probable.

 

[Hikamaru]

Xander's point is more spot-on. 4 slots for movesets is something that just won't change, ever.

So maybe this means Synchro Evolution is more likely but I feel it won't get revealed this weekend and we'll have to wait closer to release to find out about it.

 

[shadowmoon522]

doesn't mean we won't get syncro moves.
i mean more syncro moves anyway, we already got the 3 pledges

 

[OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire]

Maybe the starters' final evolutions will get the stronger versions of the pledges, and they'll have a rock type one for Iwanko. Maybe with we get Quad Battles we'll see them all combine into a frightening move...

 

[Hikamaru]

Maybe the starters' final evolutions will get the stronger versions of the pledges, and they'll have a rock type one for Iwanko. Maybe with we get Quad Battles we'll see them all combine into a frightening move...

I can't see this happening, since the Pledge moves were increased in base power in 6th Gen (going from 50 to 80) but maybe they'll all get a signature move that has a connection between them. I also watched a theory video claiming that they link up to the "air, earth, fire, water" elements and how those elements could each represent an island in Alola.

If one looks at the Alola region art, the island on the far left could represent earth, the one next to it could be fire, then the one that we seem to start on is water, and the far right island is air (due to its high mountain).

 

[shadowmoon522]

Maybe the starters' final evolutions will get the stronger versions of the pledges, and they'll have a rock type one for Iwanko. Maybe with we get Quad Battles we'll see them all combine into a frightening move...

it would be some if theres more then a few sets of 4 moves that when used at the same time in battle royal result in anything from healing everyone involved, to cutting everyones hp in half or afflicting some status aliment on all who can be affected by it.
then again they might have hatched from eggs of pre-existing pokemon for all we know

we got pokemon who evolve into multiple things though different ways like eevee
we got pokemon like pikachu & raichu that will breed either a slew of pichu if holding a light ball and are female or will just breed pikachus otherwise
the nidoran family
diito + manaphy = phiones.
so it wouldn't all that surprising if a species & new evolutionary line would hatch under certain conditions.
something like this for a very loose example

 

[Famon]

Okay , We still do not know Rockruff secret.
At first , I believe it to have something with Z-move but all pokemon can use them.
Which mean , There is another Secret that Alola Starter and Rockruff are hiding.

 

[Jason Wolf]

I want branching evolutions so we don't have to have those now scarily possible final evolutions.

 

[Z25]

Well according to rumors, they have split evolutions. Which would be revolutionary.

If true I am sure we will find out soon.

I think it could happen, but I don't fully believe in it yet.