Who was the 4th Trainer to make it to the Champion Cup?

There were 4 trainers that made it to the Galar Champion cup in Pokemon Sword and Shield. You, Hop, Marnie, and... not Bede! But then who? The true identity of this trainer may be a mystery for ever, but why not use the few clues we do have to make our best guess! What do you think?
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[@VaskoGames]

If you're in the US & want to support me while doing some Christmas Shopping from Best Buy, consider using my affiliate links, I'll earn a small cut of the sale price: shop-links.co/cga4vYw3ILV Pokémon Brilliant Diamond - shop-links.co/cga4Aqe2AnL Pre-Order Legends Arceus - shop-links.co/cga4ykf1wj9 Nintendo eShop Gift Cards - shop-links.co/cga4zqZOeP0

[@staydetermined6717]

Can pia become the champion?

[@obsidianchangeling5968]

Could _any_ of the 15 Gym Challengers actually become champion?

[@Thiccjimbobway]

4th trainer: “You took everything from me” Protagonist trying to skip cutscenes: “I don’t even know who you are”

[@5slistenup.a10isspeaking2]

Protagonist be like: “I hate to say, I hope I don’t sound ridiculous I don’t know who this man is... sorry to this man”

[@shinyfurret8054]

4th trainer: oh you will

[@danielkerzner8463]

@@shinyfurret8054 *gets sweeped by the protagonist*

[@kristal6658]

@@danielkerzner8463 yeah, but thats unfair cus most of us trade or over level, or just have rare / good Pokémon.

[@beatriceretops]

@@shinyfurret8054 protagonist: *wipes floor with him uuuhhhh good game?

[@ArtemisMyths]

I didn’t even realize that the other challengers had names, or that you could even track them through parts of the game I just like catching Pokémon xD

[@VaskoGames]

You only get to battle randomly when doing a Champion Cup rematch thing

[@ArtemisMyths]

@@VaskoGames that explains why I didn’t know about them! I haven’t done anything with the cup rematches

[@rayoconnell261]

I didn’t know either. I only ever do Galarian Star Tournament

[@themoonkey2216]

@@rayoconnell261 Galarian star tournament gang rise up

[@rayoconnell261]

@@themoonkey2216 haha lol

[@TheRealFiveName]

i didn't even know these characters existed

[@cdoggo3352]

Same. Just random NPC’s I thought.

[@CamGregory]

Yeah what, who are they?

[@stillaldric]

Ditto

[@TheRealFiveName]

@@CamGregory idk i didn't know they existed

[@bubblegumking3870]

You usually won’t find out about them if you haven’t done the league tournament multiple times

[@neru8104]

Omg I went into this video thinking "the four that made it were you, hop, marnie, and bede" But not even a minute in and I was reminded that bede indeed did not make it. He just stormed in on his own to fight us LMAO

[@nigi7773]

He got suspended his trainer permissions way before

[@thefirespecialist9007]

He wasn't suspended as a Trainer, but he got Disqualified from the Gym Challenge!

[@MagillanicaLouM]

And even then he did it as the new fairy gym leader, not a regular trainer anyway

[@staydetermined6717]

And disowned- S a d

[@ub-06austin40]

It never occurred to me that the Gym Challengers you can fight in Wyndon are also seen throughout the main story.

[@bubhoward8642]

Didn't realize this either xD some of these I still havent ever seen in wyndon, like pia.

[@thefoolishjester5125]

I didn’t even know you could fight them

[@Blueturtle1]

@@thefoolishjester5125 yeah, how do you fight them?

[@silverwolf2676]

@@Blueturtle1 I think you can invite certain trainers to the tournement in wyndon stadium, never done it myself but that's my best guess

[@sam21best2]

@@silverwolf2676 On your right about that, one of my favorite things on Pokemon Sword and Shield

[@silvereagle3447]

Everyone: Talking about how they didn't even know these guys were characters Me who talked to every single one of the trainers whenever I went to a gym: 👀 Yup same

[@bobertjefferson2456]

Can relate

[@blushingcamellia4090]

Very relatable to me

[@funkyzebra8405]

You can survive bugageddon my child

[@ralphthompson9033]

Talked to them but never figured out there names or even realized they were other challengers

[@gwynzynoodles2553]

Same

[@Water_lemon]

We need a spin off game with Pia as the main character

[@VaskoGames]

Pokemon Chronicles 2

[@MagillanicaLouM]

I mean I'd play it

[@docterinker]

NICE :]

[@mysticleaf5308]

Y E S

[@Anarchyyyyyyy]

agreed.

[@pandora257]

I think that it’s Pia, as she’s the most “Determined” out of the bunch?

[@ad-skyobsidion4267]

That was until she fell and met toriel

[@toolazytoothinkofausername789]

@@ad-skyobsidion4267 Yeah I was thinking the same thing but Hop definitely gave her a bad time

[@Shannessa]

@@toolazytoothinkofausername789 and Bede was her Flowey

[@Someoneidk7808]

D E T E R M I N A T I O N

[@jams4078]

*UNDERTALE INTENSIFIES*

[@starrycat1445]

I wonder what all of the challengers backstories are, like Deneb says she’s from Kanto but she traveled to Galar to train her karate, maybe she wanted to challenge Bea?

[@AznYunHou]

And then realized she was in a Shield universe so that cannot be possible

[@clemetflosanial781]

in fact she can, because Bea still be strong and gym leader even if you don't battle her. there is to gym leader, but one at the time.

[@LycanMOON]

Then how do minor gyms work? It’ll be interesting to see

[@MM80536]

Wonder if she's from the fighting gym that sabrina took down in order to have a psychic gym in saffron city, so she came to galar as a replacement

[@AznYunHou]

@@MM80536 The Fighting Gym in Kanto shows a majority of male students even in the Anime so could be a different region

[@chatfulness03]

I LITERALLY CANNOT EXPRESS WITH WORDS HOW HAPPY I AM THAT THESE CHARACTERS HAVE NAMES AND TEAMS. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS, I TALKED TO EVERY SINGLE ONE BEFORE AND AFTER AND I ADORE HOW THEY KEEP CONTINUITY, NEVER KNEW AND THIS LITTLE DETAIL OVERJOYS ME BEYOND BELIEF!

[@Blueturtle1]

My favourite was the blue haired girl, the water one, but she never made it past the first gym because I never saw her again

[@KK-ku4rd]

@@Blueturtle1 Tbh, Phoebus annoyed me quite a lot because of how often he showed up, though I often liked to hope Polaire, Yue, Kent and Pia won their matches whenever they ended up in the tournament bracket

[@sasir2013]

"hop can outsmart her" Okay, now think about what you just said

[@imconfuseddl1436]

I mean Hop does know his type advantages

[@paleknight4099]

@@imconfuseddl1436 Hop: Our fire just keeps burning brighter! *uses ember on my Sobble*

[@beatriceretops]

Me: uses inteLEON to wipe out his team Him: throws our cinderace Him again: you know your type advantages

[@YooranKujara]

@@imconfuseddl1436 Also Hop:Picks the starter with a disadvantage (Pokémon stop doing this, give me a fucking challenge damn it.)

[@lazywriter1665]

@@YooranKujara he would always have a advantage over Leon though

[@giboit.]

I have a theory: Why the gym challengers only use one type of pokemon? I think that the gym challenge is not only meant to be an oportunity to beat the champion but also some kind of scouting process for potential gym leaders. So many gym challengers decide to participate using only one pokemon type in order to be scouted as potential future gym leaders after the gym challenge for that year ends. We know that gym challengers are able to become gym leaders thanks to Marnie and Bede. But there´s more than that. Nessa, Piers and Raihan are stated to be part of the gym challenge that Leon participated in. And they are now gym leaders, so it´s possible that they were offered to become gym leaders after their great performance in the gym challenge. And the league card for Nessa states her affinity with water type pokemon exists since her childhood (which means that it´s possible that she did her gym challenge using only water type pokemon) and she talks about her friendship with Sonia during the gym challenge as well. Sonia´s only known pokemon is yamper, so it´s possible that her friendship with Nessa started as a small rivalry. With Sonia being a gym challenger specialized in electric types. But Sonia wasn´t considered to be a gym challenger because she gave up the gym challenge in Opal´s gym.

[@ufoludDziad]

the dlc league cards even imply that the gyms change a lot after most gym challenges

[@fawkes6352]

Given how Gym Leaders also get a chance to fight for the Champion title every year, I think that might actually be a really good long-term strategy for becoming Champion. You might not be able to win your sponsored Gym Challenge, but if you make it as a Gym Leader (even a minor league one) you've got yourself a good foundation to be able to challenge the Champion again and again. You just gotta make it to the top 7 Gym Leaders for the year.

[@EnriqueLaberintico]

Corvin does look like he could be a gym leader. I'd gladly invite him to the Isle of Armour to make his Toxtricity Gigantamax.

[@nickbarlas5544]

This is why you take your time while playing these games. You miss out on neat details like this

[@terozu5440]

i... never realized the other challengers actually had recurring plots.

[@datinfodroidguy]

Well, here's the question: Can Pia or Yue become Champion?

[@michaellogozzo2073]

Or Daneb

[@Moonstriker2514]

Yue was turned into the moon

[@othergrimm6592]

I would like to see this for all the various challengers, but that might be too much work... xD

[@milesandrews6711]

@@othergrimm6592 it'd be Alot of content tho

[@u_nderscor_e3623]

@Moonstriker 2514 yep

[@BirdKeeperToby]

I LOVE This!

[@ShayDSoles]

A wild BKT appeared!

[@moonjellyfish23]

@@ShayDSoles BKT used apprecation! it was super effective!

[@umbreonmistress1539]

@@moonjellyfish23 hi

[@M_Alexander]

I never noticed those in the tourney actually showed up earlier. I really like having "tertiary rivals" from the start, in particular having the very first trainer battle in Alola show up as a Champion challenger

[@typhir5911]

Pia definitely feels more like the fourth challenger who made it all the way to Hop at the semifinals. The fact that she managed to figure out a way to beat fire-types with only grass-types is really impressive. I really wish Sword and Shield developed its cast and story more. It really doesn't take much for players to get invested in characters. I learned more about the rival gym challengers from your channel than from the game itself. Even the actual rivals: Bede, Hop, and Marnie were more roadblocks than actual characters and anytime something interesting happened, Leon jumped in and told you to keep going down the road to the next gym.

[@francibadyna5521]

i always forget Bede didn't even make it into the champion cup he just came cause he wanted to battle me but ended up getting brutally owned by me and my cinderance

[@AlessandroC22]

I talked to every single npc during my gameplay, and I never knew they even had names, it’s really interesting to know that the developers actually made the challengers progress through the game. Also, Fire Emblem music fits really well, I’m really glad for it.

[@itrashcant7947]

Pretty sure it's the pre-battle music from 3 houses lol edit: watched the rest of the video and realized the whole video was littered with fe music

[@WarmLillie]

Seeing these generic NPC appear take on a trainer also have there little story really feel expand and Pokémon world. I think Pia might be the one. She has a type weakness hop can exploit, brain and spirit to move foward, and most amount of story. Deneed has fighting type, that not that bright and possible go the semi-finals. But if she manages to to defeat Pierce it would imply she able to be smart enough to know type advantage that would mean difficulty for Hop normal types. Yue normal type might be has a disadvantage with her normal type but her screen time is low could mean she didn’t reach that far. ----------------------- Lillie: “Hmm... Maybe I can have a custom Galar look that high quality. Also maybe learn from fellow trainer strength and loses like Izar, Deneed and Pai.” “Advice on ice types from Izar, Deneed on fighting type also not being a ditz and Pai spirit and know how.”

[@Soren27]

English must not be your native tounge.

[@GraceVT_]

@@Soren27 what do you mean by that exactly

[@imnotwritingmyrealname6451]

@@Soren27 English might not be your native tounge if you don't understand what she is trying to indicate.

[@goddesssmooth9645]

I always figured it was Pia and there was no question; she was there from the only one I remembered seeing almost every (if not then every) gym challenge. From back to when the group was large and all the way down to when everyone else has been chipped away and few still stood

[@Lupinemancer87]

I love how we actually see more trainers and gym challengers in SW/SH then only the main ones.

[@FrostedMike]

I'm surprised I'm among the few who did notice the presence of other trainers and how there are less of them as you progress through the game. What I forgot is that they also have names.

[@zesquid3708]

The way he worked it out was pretty smart

[@MegaMachiOnline]

Vega is my favorite of the NPC trainers at the stadium since her dialogue shows her becoming more confident too, and she pops up fair enough.

[@maas2563]

If you're losing to hop then this mystery trainer wasn't worth the battle

[@lonelyjesse85]

I liked this comment and then I realised that I lost to hop when I was training pokemon to complete my dex and I had low level pkm in my party... I didn't know there was gonna be a rival battle...

[@Mendoza-yi6qk]

@@lonelyjesse85 bruh Hop either tells you that he wants to battle or ask if you are ready to fight.

[@lonelyjesse85]

@@Mendoza-yi6qk yes that's true but I thought he was just talkikg to me and I mashed a without reading

[@mag1cman777]

Mashing through dialogue without playing attention is believable, I had an "accident" with some text bubbles in Undella town and got my ass kicked.

[@Mendoza-yi6qk]

@@mag1cman777 that house is the real horror house in that game

[@BaconNuke]

I never realized you ACTUALLY saw other people meant to be challenging the gyms... I only ever noticed Ball guy and the girl with the Blipbug line that cheers you on in the gym lobbies Now I wish that you fought random trainers throughout the game that were other challengers.. like as like last trainers in the gyms or something that weren't the "lol I have same type as the leader" type of people Also find it interesting the best candidates are all females.. which may not mean much I personally would find it nice for it to be the Normal type lady JUST so it isn't "lol canonically it's the type of a gym leader somehow"

[@AznYunHou]

I always noticed the old man cause he said it's never too late to start his gym challenge

[@witheredbonnie9268]

@@AznYunHou yeah

[@RWBn00b]

Despite what the video may say, Yue is a terrible candidate because we know her gym challenge went badly(she has dialogue saying as much) and she disappears after Kabu(and Cher confirms a lot of candidates dropped by then). The most likely candidates are either Pia or Phoebus(both seen in the Hammerlocke gym) or Kent(just because he never appears ever, so him being the off-screen guy who loses to Hop is perfectly in character for him) The only female candidate who is an actual candidate outside Pia is Deneb(last seen outside Piers Gym, which might imply she didn't make it past him). All other girls are seemingly gone by then(Izar loses at the 6th gym).

[@cristobalbeltran3032]

I'm thinking Pia too cuz she does have interesting text and she is in most of the gyms plus in Raihans gym she's thinking of a strategy.

[@Akechi_The_Phantom_Detective]

This is a good video. I didn't even realise until recently these guys show up repeatedly and you can see this with the trainer numbers printed on their Jersey. I'd go for Pia do mostly because she seems very much like an underdog every time you encounter her with her dialogue and to see her reach the champions tournament seems like it'd be such a reward.

[@Kyle-fp5lm]

And I here I was thinking it was Vasko with his Olaangar!!!!

[@sharkbite7922]

Hmmm a mysterious 4th challenger! I wonder if they were in the DLC!

[@pinkpearl9848]

Oh shoot I just realized- What if it was nia?

[@wetown1972]

I think that Pia had the best chance. The time limit you mentioned in your marnie video I think would make sense. The Fighting type (I forgot her name) could have wasted a lot of time at the Fairy gym, and possibly not even get in to Piers gym, and run out of time. Yue also might’ve wasted a lot of time in both Bea and Allisters gym due to her disadvantage. Pia, after being a big brain, defeated raihan and got all of the gym badges.

[@william_sun]

Pia's name is probably pronounced "pee-ah" because her name derives from "Cassiopeia". All of the "generic" gym challengers' names derive from the names of celestial objects, mostly stars, though they are much more obvious in Japanese, where most of them are just flat-out the names of stars: Cher's name in Japanese is アケルナル, "Achernar", the official name of the star Alpha Eridani. Corvin's name in Japanese is ギェナー, "Gienah", the official name of the star Gamma Corvi. Deneb's name in Japanese is デネボラ, "Denebola", the official name of the star Beta Leonis (and not the more well-known Deneb, Alpha Cygni). Dunne's name in Japanese is バーダン, "Birdun", the official name of the star Epsilon Centauri. Icla's name in Japanese is ジュバ, "Dschubba", the official name of the star Delta Scorpii. "Icla" comes from one of the star's other names, "Iclarcrau". Izar's name in Japanese is イザル, "Izar", the official name of the star Epsilon Boötis. Kent's name in Japanese is メンケント, "Menkent", the official name of the star Theta Centauri. Phoebus's name in Japanese is マタハリ, "Matahari", the Indonesian and Malay word for the sun. "Phoebus" is one of the epithets of the Greek god Helios, the god of the sun. Pia's name in Japanese is カフ, "Caph", the official name of the star Beta Cassiopeiae. Polaire's name in Japanese is ポラリス, "Polaris", the official name of the North Star, Alpha Ursae Minoris. Terry's name in Japanese is ケンギュウ, "Kengyuu", a Japanese name for the star Altair, Alpha Aquilae. Theemin's name in Japanese is テーミン, "Theemin", the official name of the star Upsilon² Eridani. Vega's name in Japanese is オリヒメ, "Orihime", a Japanese name for the star Vega, Alpha Lyrae. Wei's name in Japanese is ウェイ, "Wei", an alternate Chinese-derived name of the star Larawag, Epsilon Scorpii. Yue's name in Japanese is ユエ, "Yue", the Chinese word for the moon.

[@VaskoGames]

Oh that's a really cool extra bit of detail they did for these characters! Thank you so much for sharing this!!!

[@christopherv2639]

Pia's dialogue in the tournament also mentions Milo and seems to imply she has ambitions to take Milos spot as the Grass-type Gym Leader.

[@typhus7437]

I actually just finished a mono normal type run. Yue I’d say it wouldn’t have been as they the normal type had so many advantages against hop

[@Brandon-Brawl-Stars]

Plot Twist: It's Vasko's clone, but vasko is trying to remove suspicions that he has a clone, so he suspected the other AI

[@dimetrodon2250]

Its interesting how, in universe, most trainers tend to specialize in a single type, with maybe a few others. Maybe there is some lore based reason. If different pokemon require different needs, it makes sense to specialize, since you can train more pokemon to be the best they can be, than if you had to split your attention across different pokemon with radically different care needs and training regimens. Also, a lot of trainer classes are just jobs, implying that most people, especially adults, dont train pokemon full time and instead use pokemon that help them with their jobs and daily lives. Most trainers arent out there building the best possible teams for the same reason that not everyone in the real world who owns a dog trains them to compete in dog shows.

[@mateomorales1653]

Super late sorry, but yeah it's hard to take care of the needs of a Luxray then a Coallossal and then a Steelix and then a Sandaconda especially when you're on the road and only in major cities for gym battles when you can have an easier time taking care of a Quagsire, Vaporeon, and same type which 90% of the time have similar needs

[@sleeptimezzzz6737]

Pia most def, if I think about this on an anime level she would fit very well with the smart, calm side character the normal girl too but she would struggle a lot and has less appearances then Pia. So with Pias wits and determination I think Pia is the 4 gym challenger sadly she got swept by Hop probably by the "Power of Friendship."

[@richardlain-smith4471]

Wow! I would never think so deep into this, but it makes quite a lot of sense! Must have taken a ton of work and thought to create this theory! Also, I think it would probably be Pia, as she has the most interesting dialogue.

[@ElectricalFlare7201]

2:03 My mind is blown. I did not notice most of the gym challengers are reskins... I thought all of them had unique designs up until now.

[@JoeisChili]

Man, I was rooting for all these guys. I wanted all my fellow gym challengers to do well!

[@AbsolXGuardian]

I never noticed that the random challengers in the league rematches appear during the main story. That's some really cool detail. Or that there's even background story between the gyms.

[@Alphafonz]

I think it could be the Steel type gym challenger! While Rillabloom and Inteleon do not super effective in typing, they do have ground coverage moves.

[@SvanEsch123]

I’ve played this game A LOT, and I never noticed the trainers you encounter around the gyms are the trainers that challenge you during the final tournament. I also never knew all gym challengers had a specific type, aside from Hop and you yourself. Also, love the Fire Emblem Three Houses music lmao

[@danielledopie]

Yeah, there's even a trainer who cheers you on throughout the entire challenge! That was pretty cool!

[@RancorSnp]

I'll be honest man, I was fully expecting to be disappointed with this video. Since I've not not seen any of your content before, I had no way of knowing what quality to expect, but came in here assuming the video won't even mention the type based gym challengers and be trying to come up with a mystery character out of nowhere. Instead I was super pleasantly surprised that not only you instantly jumped to actual gym challengers in the game, you respect your audience enough that you didn't even bother introducing them. Very impressed by the video! Now as for the challenger itself, I think I'm leaning the most towards Pia. Based on the game dialogue you brought up, she sounds the most like a "winner" type of all the challengers so it would make sense for her to go all the way. Though on the other hand you could argue that this does not sound like she would lose to Hop easily if it was her up there... Anyhow, this was an excellent theory, cheers!

[@tbknick6703]

This would actually make me love the world of swsh even more- i already adore the way the gym challenge was portrayed in these games and hope to see more of it

[@matthewthefunnyman2788]

I had absolutely no idea any of these characters existed, so this sure was an interesting video to watch

[@RWBn00b]

The most likely candidates are Pia(seen planning to take on Raihan) and Kent(purely because him being a no show in the rest of the game makes for the perfect guy to lose off-screen to Hop as well). Phoebus is something of a candidate as well, but his Raihan dialogue suggests he might not have made it past(though not as definitely as Theemin). You can actually narrow it down fairly well by checking on the dialogue of trainers(both during the playthrough and in the Wyndon tournament), taking note of who disappears over time. Cher confirms that a huge chunk of trainers failed to make it past Kabu, so any trainer only seen in the gym before his and never again after can proably safely be taken as out of the running(Vega, Icla, Wei, Polaire and Yue). Cher disappears after Gym 4, Corvin after Gym 5, both Terry and Izar are implied to be unable to get past Gym 6. Deneb and Dunne both make their last appearance outside Piers gym. Yue straight up says the Gym leader Challenge went poorly in her Wyndon Cup dialogue, so she is absolutely not Hop's opponent. We know less than ten trainers made it to Raihan, and we know most of those: 1. You 2. Hop 3. Marnie 4. Pia 5. Phoebus 6. Theemin The last three possible could be Dunne and Deneb(who were never confirmed defeated by Raihan, though their disappearance suggests it) and Kent(mister not appearing in the story), but it might well be that these six are the last remaining trainers.

[@8-bit_astronaut580]

I haven't watched you in a few months. But I now see this video and I'm already in love again.

[@grinbrothers]

Interesting analysis; always liked the Galar Challengers (wish more had been done with them; I'd much rather have a tournament against them instead of rematches against the Gym Leaders). I like the narrative idea of Pia but it then sucks that she is so swiftly beaten by Hop. In regards to your analysis, I'm leaning towards Yue being the 4th trainer. Fantastic video!

[@starrycat1445]

I forgot about the other challengers to be honest, most of what I’ve been doing is the DLC content and shiny hunting. When I finally get that Regieleki I’m probably going to do the stadium thing and the star tournament.

[@starrycat1445]

Also completely random but Yue looks a little bit like Marley from Diamond and Pearl, and she also looks kind of like Cube from Jet Set Radio. (To be fair that also could be because I think Marley looks a little like Cube)

[@azrel2620]

I was thinking of the mysteries of Peon. How he left Rose and who was his wife?

[@bigrat6536]

Peonia is probably adopted

[@staydetermined6717]

@@bigrat6536 makes a lot of sense honestly

[@bigrat6536]

@@staydetermined6717 ikr

[@AznYunHou]

@@bigrat6536 then Rose and Peony both adopted a bushy haired angsty teen. Except I feel Bede would've been better raised by Peony

[@bigrat6536]

@@AznYunHou I mean makes sense maybe bede wouldn’t be as much of a dick if peony raised him

[@neouma5382]

I rarely noticed these characters, I didn't even know they had names and teams!

[@TheLucidlemur]

you can get dialogue from kent before you become champion, you can talk to him in the motostoke lobby right after the opening ceremony

[@mysticmimikyu6347]

I loved this video cause this guy knows so much about my favorite series, stuff I want too research

[@Frostblitz96]

They all made it, the fighting, grass, and normal types fought each other and the result fought Hop

[@AlexDayz]

I never even realized their where other challengers in the gym lobbies. Nice attention to detail!

[@dracos0024]

I never noticed the challengers actually appear during the story. That's kind of a neat touch.

[@Zvoosh25]

I was thinking, maybe just because he blew through the battle doesn't mean he necessarily had a type advantage, yeah sure it would make it easier, but it could be more of a comment on how much hop has grown.

[@RyanReta97]

I will say, swsh having other trainers also collecting gym badges is a great little story detail, compared to every last Gen where it's just you and your friends/rivals going up against the league

[@jamesvenegas4729]

Amazing video I didn't even know these trainers existed

[@mag1cman777]

DUDE THANK YOU this question has been plaquing my mind for weeks now and I stumbled across this video

[@megamind23_]

I LOVE THE THOUGHT YOU PUT INTO THIS VIDEO

[@RadimuxCisco]

Wait... there we more people than I was supposed to know??? I never even paid attention to them...

[@scook449]

I kinda theorized it was the gal with the blipbug that has been in almost every gym. Her blipbug was with her in the waiting areas of the gyms and you could see it didn't evolve into a Orebettle until between the fairy gym and the Tournament. Since she seemed to be able to get along to all the gyms waiting areas before you she must have had a decent team but since her pokemon that she had the whole time didn't evlove until later with a lvl 20 evolution it is likely she had super effective typing but probably not any powerful moves, since her pokemon were likely very under leveled. So she could have beat hop if she actually trained up her team more.

[@aidanc4155]

I always figured that it was Gym Challenger Wei who made it to the semifinals. Most of his Ghost-Type Pokemon have secondary typings that provide good offensive coverage and sometimes cover for each other's weaknesses. Most of them are also quite slow. These slow Pokemon are Trevenant, Golurk and Jellicent. Since both these Pokemon don't have good bulk on the physical side, (TBH none of Wei's Pokemon are physically bulky) I think it is quite possible for Hop to beat Wei in a 5 on 5 Pokemon battle.

[@baguettederp5195]

I wanna say daneb because of how you didn't say she was a recolour of a different model, but I do like how pia was more interactive and has more lines and such

[@ZhadTheRad]

Oh man, I'm learning things about this game I didn't know over a year after release

[@fusionoftheaces9097]

What have you done to me? I never thought much of the Gym Challengers being characters other than simple dialouge and decorations at each gym. suddenly I am more interested in these characters than Hop, I need to go back through each gym and see this for myself. congrats, you have just triggered a 4th playthrough of this game.

[@pigeonleader]

"Who are you people?!" ~ Patrick

[@staraptorflock3661]

Bruh I never knew these characters had a story

[@sweetswisschease3755]

can U maby do a run of Oleana, I would be soooo happy if u did, that would be awsum, and I wish we could battle her more in the game cause her theme is amazing.

[@catalyst539]

How’d you get a Trubbish though? Also, i believe he will have trouble getting a female Salandit for Salazzle

[@errolmonaque3936]

Until this video i never actually thought about who the 4th gym challenger might be. But with all the facts that you have given i have to agree with you that pia could be the 4th gym challenger.

[@xSeulgi]

Yesss ive needed this video for so long its always KILLED me who Hop beat to face you... I was like?????

[@gengy4666]

What about gordie, it did say that he’s the most likely to become the champion so it would make sense for him to get that close.

[@staydetermined6717]

I say pia Cause she worked so hard to get where she is and gets defeated but is still determined to win someday

[@logosofgame4273]

My head cannon is the old man trainer. The idea of an old retired person deciding to go on an adventure is a unique idea that stands in contrast to all the young people doing the challenge.

[@eliscore]

I always thought before the trainer was the friends we made along the way.

[@hachnslay]

still waiting for the "Can Klara/Avery become champion" video.

[@Lazu__li]

I knew we could meet them in the story but I did not know we could fight them And I love it

[@Firemasterlucky5]

Vasko lowkey predicted Pyra being chosen as one of the next fighters in SSB.

[@nihiloss1]

What is SSB?

[@Firemasterlucky5]

@@nihiloss1 Super Smash Brothers

[@missagronaut705]

I had the idea a while ago that the 4th Semifinalist was Victor or Gloria, depending on if the player was a boy or a girl. Like, that the player fills the role of Victor/Gloria, and the other one still exists and was a Gym Challenger, the player just never ran into them. Obviously there are 0 things in the game to actually suggest that, but considering the game doesn’t tell us anything about the 4th Semifinalist besides that Hop beat them, I think it’s at least fun as a baseless theory to think about lol

[@YuBeace]

You had me thinking for a moment I left my Switch open with Fire Emblem.

[@JT-xn9ei]

I guess I was too distracted by the lady in yellow with the Orbeetle. It took much longer than it should for me to realize that some of the other trainers you see on the gym challenge were also reoccuring characters.

[@cds7012]

Neat to have someone cover this. I wish Gamefreak gave more background info within the story to make it more interesting.

[@milesandrews6711]

I wish game freak finished the game

[@MagillanicaLouM]

This is already way more than one would've expected these kinds of characters to get lol. But it's a cool little touch

[@idongesitusen5764]

Yue's normal team seems like a good match for Hop plotwise.

[@bjorn_ligan]

5:11 Kent actually showed up when you first enter the budew inn and have to fight team yell

[@earthboundfan9446]

I never knew that these were characters i really want someone covering these characters

[@jonathanmartin2085]

Do a Sonia theroy as she was Leon's rival and if she went to the master dojo

[@domehammerman]

I never realized, you see some character several times 😳 plus I never realized that they all have specific typings which are even printed on their uniform 😶

[@emerl2002]

Wow, I never paid attention to the other challengers. I didn’t know that they appeared multiple times, or that those you fight are the same as the ones you meet. Nice attention to detail from both you and Gamefreak

[@unwithering5313]

That is one of the things SwSh has over the other games (I think), I wonder if newer games will do this as well

[@Vamosveureka]

Nice video and keep going

[@seanp5524]

Wait I took a break from Splatoon/Pokemon Content and you have 50k now? Congrats!

[@catkingmiow4279]

Man I hope side characters like this get more spotlight but not like a main or even half main character

[@yunamoonlight1015]

Now I feel bad for having never noticed all those characters xD

[@jeannofs]

Vasko uploads: Me is early:*this puts a smile on my face*

[@notwhoyouthink593]

Great video, ive never considered this.