PokéParents: 22 Of Our Favorite Pokémon Characters Reimagined As Parents
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What happens to all the Pokémon hopefuls when they grow up? A lot of them probably become parents, like in these 22 pieces of fan art!
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Pokémon has existed for as long as I can remember. The TV show was always on television, and the games were always popular among the people I knew. I remember watching the TV show, and thinking to myself how much older all the characters were to me. Ash was ten, and the rest of the main cast, not including the grown-ups, were only a few years older. Heck, Jessie and James of Team Rocket are only supposed to be teenagers.
Pokémon is about to hit one thousand episodes, so I won’t say that the show isn’t effective with what it establishes. Despite that, I do desire seeing the characters being older. It’s only natural for me to witness characters I grew up with to grow up with me. I can only see Ash act like a ten-year-old for so long. I want them to have more mature experience. I want them to deal with grown-up things, like getting married and having a family. The Pokémon anime will probably never age the characters; the established formula just works too well.
However, that is why fan artists exist. Only fans are brave enough to depict classic characters in new ways. So we are going over 22 Of Your Favorite Pokémon Characters Reimagined As Parents. If the Pokémon show is never going to showcase the characters as grown-ups with kids, then these fans will do it for us.
22 The One True Pair
When it comes to Ash and Misty, I’m of two minds. I, of course, have nostalgia for them, and I have never properly forgiven the show for abandoning Misty right after the Johto seasons. As a kid, even when Misty left the show, I always felt that Ash and Misty should end up together. That’s is until Serena joined the cast in the X and Y seasons, making me feel very conflicted inside. Now I often juggle back and forth of who I ship more; Ash and Misty, or Ash and Serena.
In my heart of hearts, I think I will always be rooting for Ash and Misty.
Call it nostalgia, or based on a subconscious crush I may have had with Misty, yet I feel like the original Pokémon duo still ranks as one of the franchise’s best dynamics. Misty will probably never be a relevant character in the show again, not including the occasional cameo episode. The show will also probably never have Ash become a grown-up with a kid. However, if they did decide to have Ash be a grown-up and settle down with Misty, I would love it if it’s just like in the fan art above. I love that their daughter is essentially a mini-Ash, with an extra dash of cuteness. It is the sort of endpoint that I wish the show would go.
Art by Maimai97.
21 A Fan Favorite
As I wrote with Misty, I am very conflicted with who I ultimately want to see Ash end up with. Deep down, I’ll probably always prefer Ash and Misty. Nonetheless, Serena has truly captured my heart and she may actually have a stronger case to be with everyone’s favorite immortal ten-year-old. There were definitely some romantic overtones between Ash and Misty in the first few seasons; however, I think the series went full out with the romance between Ash and Serena. When Serena, unfortunately, leaves the series, she even kisses Ash off-screen.
Serena has become a fan favorite, with her relationship with Ash being one of the most popular ships out there. For a long time, I would never have thought I would want to see Ash with anyone other than Misty. The show proved me wrong, making me actually care about Serena as a character and they did make me want to see their relationship progress. The writers put in a lot of time and effort to make the relationship work, and I really appreciate them for doing that. Pregnant Serena and Ash in the above fan art is an adorable what-if for the couple. The show will probably never evolve Ash beyond ten years, but at least we have cute fan art of him in his later years.
Art by Novanoah.
20 Blasting Off With A Family
I’ve actually never saw Jessie and James as a potential couple. I always thought their relationship was strictly platonic. To be fair, my memory isn’t the best when it comes to classic Pokémon, and I haven’t been keeping up with the latest seasons all that much. So who knows, maybe there are precedents of this ship actually being validated in the show.
I personally never saw anything romantic between them, and I honestly do think their relationship works best platonic.
While there isn’t much precedent suggesting that Jessie and James have romantic feelings for each other in the anime, there is another official product of Pokémon that does end with the two getting together. In one of the official Pokémon mangas, which was an adaptation of the show, Jessie and James do become a couple, with Jessie already pregnant. Maybe I was wrong with the initial view of Jessie and James. If the manga clearly showing the two being together and getting married, maybe the show did original intended the two to be romantically suggested. We never see Jessie and James’ child in the manga. Fortunately, this fan art corrects that oversight, and even gives the couple a pair of twins.
Art by Jezrocket.
19 Still Our Favorite Champion
I’ve discussed this before, but the fourth generation of Pokémon games are probably the games I got into the most. I love the Pokémon, the region, and I even bought all versions of the game. Cynthia, the Pokémon champion of the fourth generation games, is my favorite Pokémon champion yet. She was cool and level-headed. She was nice to the player, and she has one of the best designs out there. In my opinion, the Pokémon series has yet to introduce a Pokémon champion to surpass her.
I haven’t seen Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You! yet, so I was genuinely shocked to find out that the new female companion in the movie was Cynthia’s daughter. I Choose You! is an alternate retelling of the original Pokémon series. Verity is the new companion for Ash in the movie, and it is revealed that Cynthia is her mother. Cynthia has always been portrayed to be much older than the usual Pokémon trainers in the franchise, however, I never saw her old enough to have a girl the same age as Ash. Then again, Lusamine in Pokémon Sun and Moon looks just as young, yet she already has two preteen children. So maybe grown-ups in the Pokémon world age a lot slower than grown-ups in real life.
Art by Asherahqueenofheaven.
18 A Rival Romance
May in the Pokémon anime was the first companion to replace Misty from the series, so she had a lot to prove. While I always thought May was a watered-down version of Misty, in general, I think she was fine. In a contrast with Misty and Brock from the early seasons, May was the newbie in the group who needed to be taught by the others. For the first time in the show, Ash was a mentor to someone else rather than it being the other way around. Her character existed to primarily showcase the Pokémon contest options that were prevalent in the games at that point. Contests are kind of like talent competitions but with Pokémon, with May often going through different shows in order to rise in the ranks. Her Pokémon contests ran parallel with Ash’s badge collection.
When I saw the fan art above, I had to Google to remind myself who was Drew.
Drew was May’s main rival; he was a less mean Gary, and frankly a lot less interesting as well. He was more suave than Gary was initially, though. May initially disliked Drew, however they grew to respect one and another. Of course, there is a ship of the two. The ship is unsurprisingly called the contest shipping, since both characters were heavily involved with contests. I don’t have a personal preference for this ship. With that said, their hypothetical daughter in the fan art above is pretty adorable.
Art by MaiMai97.
17 Cutest Family Contest
If I thought May was a more vanilla version of Misty, than Dawn was an even blander version of May. In general, I don’t have much issue with Dawn. I just think she was essentially May 2.0, without the freshness that made May interesting in the first place. Her character was designed to showcase the contest feature that was prevalent in the Pokémon games at that point, a feature that is no longer in Pokémon. She was also a newbie trainer, similar to how May was. I found that there was too little to differentiate herself from previous companions at that point.
Kenny is a childhood friend of Dawn, and also her rival in contests. He was far less aggressive than Gary and Drew were, though he does tease Dawn due to their past relationship. Kenny has a crush on Dawn and wanted her to travel with him. He even challenged Ash to a Pokémon battle to have her journey with him. Surprisingly, he won, but Dawn still chooses to go with Ash. She does tell them that they will meet again as long as they continue going to contests. They both had a Piplup as their starter Pokémon, which leads into their very cute shipping name, Penguin Shipping.
Art by MaiMai97.
16 An Adorable And Interesting Ship
The trainer you play as in the Pokémon games are more like tools to play the game with, rather than their own characters. You decide what their name is, however they never speak and they do not have any defining characteristic. Since they are such a blank slate, it is up to the players to fill in the missing space. The female trainer in Pokémon Black and White is generally called Hilda by the majority of the fandom. Her relationship with N, the main antagonist of Black and White, is one of the more popular ships I have come across.
N is already one of the more celebrated and complex villains in the franchise. Deluded into believing he was the savior of Pokémon, his ultimate goal is to release every Pokémon in the world from their trainers. He is somewhat hypocritical, as he uses Pokémon to force others to release theirs. You eventually do recognize that he does genuinely love Pokémon, and is being manipulated by his foster father. His complexity is what makes him such an appealing character, and certain scenes with the playable trainer have an air of romance to them. There is a particular moment between N and the main character on a Ferris Wheel that feels like it was ripped from a romance story. That’s the reason why N and Hilda are labeled the Ferris Wheel Ship. I actually do like this ship, and the fan art above is a pretty amazing version of N and Hilda as parents.
15 Professor Kukui Has A Daughter
Professor Kukui from Pokémon Sun and Moon is not your typical Pokémon professor. For one, he looks much younger than past professors, with the exception being Professor Sycamore from Kalos. He also has abs, which is always a bonus to have. He kind of has a surfer dude attitude, making him more of a “bro,” rather a typical researcher. His wife, Burnet, is also a professor. We have never really seen a professor with their spouse before, so it is kind of cool to see a married couple in Pokémon who are both researchers.
Possibly because the characters are much younger than most previous professors, Professor Kukui and Burnet don’t appear to have any children. Kukui is a pretty cool dude, so I would imagine him to be a pretty cool parent as well. The artist for the piece above imagines what Kukui’s daughter would look like. Unsurprisingly, the artist chose to depict his daughter as being fascinated with Pokémon battles. She also seems to have found her dad’s Masked Royal mask. The Masked Royal is his secret identity when he is in the Battle Royal Dome. He keeps it a secret from everyone, including his wife. Having a daughter would definitely complicate matters; how can he keep secret from such a cute kid?
Art by Poi-Rozen.
14 One Gem Of A Family
In the Pokémon Adventures manga, the playable trainers are generally given new names and personalities to help drive the narrative. The male and female trainers are separated as two different characters. Usually, the manga would switch protagonists every time a new generation of games come out. While the manga original starred Red, it is currently focusing on the adventures of Sun and Moon, the male and female trainers from the games of the same name. Ruby and Sapphire are the names of the trainers from the Pokémon games of the same name.
Though May from the anime is based on Sapphire, the latter has more of an aggressive edge.
Sapphire does not take part in contests like May does, and actually is the one going around collecting the Gym Badges. She and Ruby are often shipped together due to the fact that they spent a good majority of the manga together. There’s definitely some romantic implication between the two, yet rarely goes beyond teasing. The artist above imagines the two having a substantially large family when they get older. Not only do they have four children already, one of them seems to be in his teens, but they are expecting another one.
Art by Jellyfishkingd.
13 Rough Around The Edges
The rival from Pokémon Gold and Silver, often labeled as Silver, is the last truly mean rival. The original Red and Blue games did a really good job in making you hate your rival. Gold and Silver’s rival was almost as spiteful. Yet, since then, the rivals have been more buddy-buddy with you. I personally don’t like that about the games, especially since the first two generations did such a great job making you really hate your rivals.
Silver is a bad person, however, he is a bad person with a fascinating character development. It is revealed that Silver is actually the son of Giovanni, leader of Team Rocket. Giovanni abandons Silver after his defeat by Red, which makes Silver resentful towards Team Rocket. Since then he has wanted to prove that his Pokémon are strong. He initially comes off as the most spiteful rival there is. He constantly makes rude comments at the main character, and even steals his starter Pokémon. He mellows out as the game progresses, and he weirdly starts respecting the main character. He still kind of a jerk, though now he is a jerk with depth. Hopefully, once he reaches adulthood, he would stop being as hateful and hopefully be a good role model to his children.
Art by Jellyfishkingd.
12 A Psychic-dellic Pregnancy
As a kid, some of my favorite Pokémon episodes were the ones that focused on Sabrina. Sabrina was the Psychic Gym leader, and this was during a point when Psychic Pokémon were next to impossible to beat. Unless you had a Ghost-type Pokémon, you were screwed. Not only that, but Sabrina herself was also Psychic. She was trained vigorously by her parents to perfect her Psychic abilities, which traumatized her so much that she developed two distinct personalities. While physically she looked and acted like a cold-hearted woman, her second personality took the form of a small child.
The child version of Sabrina spoke and acted very juvenile, representing the lost childhood that Sabrina repressed.
The second personality did most of the talking, and often turned other trainers into small dolls to play with. Thankfully, Sabrina frees all the people she captured after learning how to laugh in real life. It’s one of the darker storylines in the original season of the show, and one of the most well remembered. We never see her again, so we don’t know what she’s up to. Maybe she’s pregnant and eating donuts with her psychic powers, or maybe not. We’ll never know because the show needs to have dozens of episodes of Team Rocket failing to get Pikachu again.
Art by PinkForsythia.
11 From Companions To Parents
Pokémon Black and White did something interesting with its cast of characters. Rather simply focus on the main playable trainer and their rival, Black and White instead focuses on a group of trainers traveling together similar to the anime. N was the designated rival, while Cheren and Bianca were your best friends who traveled with you. Cheren is kind of like a second rival and is oftentimes overanalyzing things in his pursuit of getting stronger. Bianca is more laid back and humorous. She actually goes through an interesting character arc where she recognizes that she isn’t strong like other trainers, and decides she would rather be a researcher than a Pokémon Trainer.
They return in Black 2 and White 2, with Cheren now a Gym leader and Bianca now an assistant to Professor Juniper. Their personalities somewhat clash with one and another; Cheren takes things too seriously, while Bianca doesn’t take them seriously enough. It is this clash in personalities that makes them so appealing as a potential couple though. They seem really compatible with one and another, and they’ve been friends for a really long time. Their relationship makes a lot of sense, and if there is Black 3 and White 3, I wouldn’t be surprised that they got married and had children. It really would feel like a natural progression in their relationship.
Art by Hapuriainen.
10 Exercise Is Good
I consider myself a pretty big Pokémon fan. The anime has been on television longer than I can remember, and I recall always watching it. I play at least one game every generation, and I keep up with all the latest Pokémon news. With that said, I couldn’t get into Pokémon Go. I hyped the game up to my friends and family, even though I knew it wasn’t going to be my cup of tea. I’m happy the game got as big as it did, and I always get a smile on my face when I hear random people on the street bringing up random Pokémon names.
My brother and his future wife got really into Pokémon Go.
They still play it every day, and he would occasionally ask me a question about Pokémon moves and typing. They continued playing it even after my sister-in-law got pregnant. When their daughter arrived, that following Halloween they had her dress up as a Togepi. It was cute. The fan art right above reminds me a lot of my sis-in-law, especially as she got closer and closer to giving birth. Even though I couldn’t get into it, I’m glad my brother was able to bond over with his family through Pokémon Go.
9 The Best Female Trainer!
The female trainer in Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 had probably one of the more interesting hair styles in the franchise. Following the footsteps of Princess Leia from Star Wars, Rosa (the default name of the female trainer) had her hair twirled up into a pair of donuts. It’s a weird look that you don’t often see in real life, but I honestly really like it. In terms of aesthetics, Rosa is probably my favorite female trainer that the player can choose from.
Hugh was another nice rival introduced in the same game. Hugh comes from a long line of polite rivals, though I do remember him being a little bit more aggressive than previous kind rivals. Unlike the main playable protagonist, he would actually question his actions. Rosa already has a cute design, so of course, her daughter with Hugh would be just as cute. What’s odd in the fan art above is how Rosa and Hugh look the exact same age as they did in Black 2 and White 2. It must be that magic anti-aging water that everyone drinks in the Pokémon world. That would explain how Rosa and Hugh would have a daughter looking so young, and why Lusamine also looks really young despite having two children.
8 He’s Finally Happy
Gladion from Pokémon Sun and Moon has a lot of family drama. The son of Lusamine and the older brother of Lillie, Gladion is the ultimate edge lord. Growing up in his mother’s Aether Foundation, he ran away from his mother when she started becoming obsessed with Ultra Beasts and Wormholes. He becomes a trainer-for-hire for Team Skull; he isn’t officially part of the group, but they hire him often to help do their dirty work. He wears all black, and he is constantly holding his hand in front of his face as if he is losing control.
He’s like how a preteen would act to make them seem cool and edgy.
With that said, Gladion actually helps the main characters more often than not. He is a nice person deep down, and he never reaches the same level of jerk as Blue or Silver. He is more likable than the past mean rivals, though he is also isn’t as nice as the usual super nice rivals. He is in-between, which in my opinion makes him a more interesting character. The fan rendition above flash-forwards into the future and imagines what Gladion would look like as a grown-up, married to the female trainer. The artist made him look really cool, and I love how awkward he feels around his own family. The awkwardness probably comes from how he isn’t used to feeling happy.
7 Professor Kukui Has A Son
Professor Kukui from Sun and Moon is often seen with a Rockruff. Rockruff is an unusual rock-type Pokémon. Rather than being typical rocks or gravel, Rockruff is a cute little puppy. It also has a very interesting evolution. Lycanroc, the evolved form of Rockruff, has three distinct forms. What form Lycanroc takes is determined how Rockruff is evolved. If Rockruff levels up to level 25 during the day, he would evolve into Midday Lycanroc. If he levels up during the night, though, he would evolve into Midnight Lycanroc. The two versions of Lycanroc apparently have two distinct characteristics. Whereas Midday Lycanroc is loyal to its trainer, Midnight Lycanroc is more devious and is a wild card.
So imagine if Kukui’s Rockruff evolved into Midnight Lycanroc, and was his son rather than his Pokémon. That is what the fan artist above did, reimagining Kukui’s son as some short human Lycanroc. Kukui’s son even has the evil red eyes of Midnight Lycanroc. However, he is also very adorable, just like any normal Rockruff. So he has the best of both worlds. He is just as cute as a little puppy Pokémon, yet also has the intimidation of an evil wolf Pokémon. Kukui would be so proud.
Art by Enfxrced-skxll.
6 Turning A Rival Into A Soulmate
I’ve said that Rosa from Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 has the best design for any female lead trainer. Lyra from HeartGold and SoulSilver probably has my second favorite design for any of the main trainers. Her cute face and her fluffy hat look really nice to me. I think she looks way more adorable than Kris from Pokémon Crystal. As mentioned before, Silver the rival is one of the biggest jerks out there. He increasingly becomes less mean as the games progress; however, he still remains kind of a jerk. Despite that, Silver has a bad boy look going for him, which makes him very popular among a certain section of the fandom.
Lyra’s overall adorableness is a stark contrast to Silver’s usual sour attitude.
Bad boy and sweet girl pairing is a common trope, especially among shippers. There is just something about that cliché that many people find appealing. Heck, even I think Lyra and Silver look like a cute couple. It’s probably a mixture of wish fulfillment and how opposites attract, but there is a reason why these kinds of pairings are popular among fiction. Lyra and Silver would make a very cute couple, and I think their kid would look just as cute.
5 Poor Jessie!
As I said before, I think Jessie and James’ relationship works best purely platonic. Maybe there are romantic suggestions in the anime that I simply missed, or maybe there isn’t. I think adding any kind of romance between the two ruins the dynamic, and I think they work best as lovable fools who fail at everything. They don’t need to have romantic tension, or even teasing.
Of course, there are a lot of fans out there that feel differently. Plenty of people love Jessie and James, and they create a variety of different fan art. I already went over what Jessie and James’ children may look like. In this entry, I want to show you what a pregnant Jessie may look like. Even though I don’t have any children myself, I am an uncle and godparent, so I’ve been around pregnant women before. Trust me when I say this, but being around a pregnant woman can be very stressful, especially as they get closer to their due date. The future mother will be in constant pain, and her mood swings will be no fun. I like the artwork above because it doesn’t try to sugarcoat pregnancy. Being pregnant is taxing on women, and can be stressful to those around them as well. The fan art is also very humorous; the silly things Jessie says are pretty much things many women say when giving birth.
4 Another Nurse Joins The Family
All the nurses and all the police officers in the world of Pokémon look the exact same. Every Pokémon Center has a Nurse Joy, and nearly every Nurse Joy looks exactly the same. Unless you’re Brock, you wouldn’t be able to differentiate between all the Joys. Occasionally, there will be a Nurse Joy who does look a little different, like having a really dark tan. But those Joys are rare. The anime explains this by saying that every Nurse Joy is related. It’s the same excuse they give for all the Officer Jennys in the world. Unless every Joy is an identical twin, triplet, quadruplet, or octuplet, I find that hard to imagine. Also, how come almost every Joy decided to take up the exact same profession?
Also, since every Pokémon Nurse is a Joy, does that mean only Joys can become Nurses?
Another question I find myself asking if all the Nurse Joys are just one, big extended family, then there are certainly some Nurse Joys who are taking care of little Joy children. Where are the Mother Joys in the Pokémon world raising the next generation of Nurses? A pregnant Nurse Joy wouldn’t look too different than a Chansey, the common Pokémon companion among Joys. Maybe Chanseys give pregnant Joys pointers of how to carry a baby.
3 Did They Name Their Kids Purple?
I’m not really a big Pokémon shipper. I really do like a lot of ships on this list, with Ash and Misty, and Hilda and N being some of my personal favorites. I just don’t actively look for this kind of fan art constantly in my free time. I also don’t read fan fiction, or anything else ship-related. Based on this list, however, you can tell that I generally lean towards straight couples. It makes sense for me to prefer ships that match with my own orientation, but it doesn’t excuse the fact that I shouldn’t incorporate gay couples. This is an oversight that I almost fail to catch, and is something I want to correct.
When it was revealed that Red and Blue, the lead character and rival from the original Pokémon games, were going to be in Sun and Moon, fans lost their mind. Not just because it was the return of the original trainer and rival, but because fans saw the two as a couple on vacation. While Blue was a big jerk in the original games, he has completely mellowed out since becoming older. His relationship to the quiet Red in Sun and Moon adds a new dynamic to the duo, giving fans a new perspective on how to view them. This has led to new fan art depicting two together, including the one above which shows two being cozy with one another while their sons play on their DS.
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