How I would like Roy's team to be as of now

Update 6/5-25: Updated this for the Mega Voltage arc, by including Lucario and Capt. Pikachu.

As you probably already know, I have made it clear that it is pretty sad that Liko, Roy and Dot have not been allowed to expand their teams more than they already have. I mean we are reaching the end of the fourth arc (and possibly the end of the whole series) and Liko only have three Pokémon while Roy and Dot have two each.

After thinking about it for a while, I decided to make these pictures where I showcased what I would wanted their teams to look like as of episode 86. This will obviously mean that some previous episodes would have to be rewritten or even added into the line-up in order to fit in these new additions that I’m giving the trio.

One thing I think should have happened in the third arc is that as part of the Terastal Training-course, the students would be sent out to capture a Pokémon that would help counter the weaknesses of the primary Pokémon of the trainer. In Roy’s case, he would have to capture a grass, fighting or steel type to counter Fuecoco’s water, ground and rock weaknesses. Yes, this would mean that already dragged-out arc would get even longer but at least these additional episodes would have added more value to the arc as a whole. As the best episodes of that arc where the ones that had nothing to do with the course itself, or at most where it was mentioned on the side.

Unlike with Liko who has an entire episode dedicated to her bonding with a Gible that belonged to a trainer who gave up on it because it was too weak, I imagine Roy and Dot getting their third Pokémon in the same episode. Just like how Roy’s and Dot’s battle against Hassel and Poppy shared an episode while Liko’s battle with Rika was its own episode. As you can see, I have added a Dipplin on his team and here is the story to this.

·        “Headcanon episode – Terastal Training: Catching more Pokémon”

Upon hearing the news about them getting to catch more Pokémon, Roy was the most excited to add another member to his team. Dot told him to calm down and focus on what kind of Pokémon he could catch, to fit the requirements of the course. Roy smiled as he knew what he had to look for a grass type Pokémon that would catch his eye. As the trio start looking for a grass type Pokémon for Roy, Fuecoco sees an apple tree and gets very hungry. He tried to climb up the tree to get one of the apples, but when he bites one of them it turns out to be an Applin. After reading its Pokédex entry, Roy gets excited to get a Grass/Dragon type Pokémon on his team. After a really quick battle, the Applin gets caught by Roy and he is very excited over getting it done so swiftly. Now he can focus on getting to know his newly caught Pokémon and help his friends catching their third Pokémon. Though after going through Applin’s Pokédex entry in more details, he learned that Applin only learns Astonish and Withdraw, no grass or dragon attacks whatsoever. Roy sighs and admits that he should have listened to Dot and think what kind of Pokémon he should capture to fit the requirements. The Applin itself even seems to lack confidence as it really wants to be a good Pokémon for Roy, but may not be up to snuff. But he quickly gains his confidence back by saying that after some heavy training, Applin could become stronger and Fuecoco agreed to help Applin train. This does make Appling gradually more confident and tries his hardest to make the best of its powers, no matter how limited they might be.

During his and Brassius’ battle against Hassel, Roy sees Flapple and realizes that one day Applin could reach that same level. After the battle, Roy asks Hassel how you evolve Applin into Flapple and Hassel replies that Applin has three different evolutions that it can become depending on what kind of apple you give it. Roy gets even more excited and swears to do some research to discover which Pokémon he wants Applin to evolve into. Though Liko realizes that Hassel didn’t actually didn’t answer Roy’s initial question and that Roy got too excited to realize it. Fast forwards to after the course and the Rising Volt Tacklers arrive in Kitakami. After the shenanigans with the Synchro Machine, Roy is given a Syrupy Apple by one of the citizens after she had promised to give one to Crocalor while he was inside Roy’s body. Roy remembers what he read about regarding Applin’s evolution-methods and gives the Syrupy Apple to his Applin, evolving it into Dipplin. After evolving, Dipplin became way more confident and could now finally battle alongside Crocalor and Kilowattrel on their level. Dipplin would later be used in several more battles, including the battle against Rayquaza in Area Zero where his Syrup Bombs would provide great utility for the Rising Volt Tacklers. If the show would still continue after the fourth arc have concluded, I imagine Roy would meet with someone who would help him teach Dipplin Dragon Cheer and thus allowing him to evolve into Hydrapple. Thus increasing the apple-Pokémon’s strength and hunger even more.

I will make similar picture describing the Pokémon that Dot would end up catching as part of this course and how some events could change with the additions of these Pokémon later. Liko’s picture with her added Gible have already been uploaded. If you have ideas on how the events of the third and fourth arc would change with Roy’s Applin and later Dipplin on board then feel free to tell me about it, down below.