Juan

Juan
Species	Human
Hair color	Black/White
Base	Sootopolis City
Debut	Pokémon: Emerald Version

Juan is the eighth and final Hoenn gym leader who must be battled in Pokémon: Emerald Version (replacing Wallace, who was the gym leader in Pokémon: Ruby and Sapphire Versions). Like Wallace, he specializes in Water-type Pokémon.

Background

Juan was the original gym leader of the Sootopolis City Pokémon gym and the mentor of Wallace, claiming to have taught Wallace everything he knew about Pokémon. Like Wallace, he saw elegance as important and dressed fancily. He also claimed that the adulation of ladies filled him with energy. Eventually, Juan gave up his position as gym leader to Wallace, but in the Emerald Version, Juan was convinced to reprise his role as gym leader after Wallace became the champion of the Elite Four.

Juan was ultimately challenged and defeated by Brendan/May. He saw potential in the trainer but did not think they had they elegance of he and Wallace, jokingly offering to lend the trainer his clothes. Afterwards, he could be challenged to rematches in the form of double battles.

His only other appearance was in Black and White 2, where he competed in the Pokémon World Tournament held at Unova. He took part in the Hoenn Leaders, World Leaders and Type Experts divisions. During battle, he claims to have been making a comeback as a trainer.

Pokémon Roster

Emerald

Juan uses the following Pokémon for the first battle in Emerald:

• Luvdisc
• Whiscash
• Sealeo
• Crawdaunt
• Kingdra

He then uses the following Pokémon in subsequent rematches:

• Poliwag (first rematch)/Poliwhirl (second/third rematches)/Politoed (fourth rematch)
• Whiscash
• Walrein
• Crawdaunt
• Kingdra
• Lapras (from the third rematch on)

Black 2/White 2

In Black 2 and White 2, his potential roster could contain Kindra, Walrein, Crawdaunt and Whiscash, as well as Huntail and Gorebyss in the Hoenn Leaders Tournament, or Relicanth and Politoed in the World Leaders and Type Expert divisions.

Other Appearances

Other Media

• Juan appears in a two-part episode of the Pokémon anime, where he is the gym leader of Sootopolis in keeping with Emerald. He is shown to be a great celebrity around Sootopolis as well as a champion Pokémon Coordinator who won the Grand Festival. In the episode, he battles Ash in a two-part 5 Vs. 5 Pokémon battle, which starts as a double battle with the first two and then becomes a normal battle after two Pokémon faint. Juan is ultimately defeated, earning Ash his last Hoenn badge.
• Juan appears in the Pokémon Adventures manga during the Ruby/Sapphire arc, where he is the former Sootopolis gym leader, although he winds up reclaiming his post after Wallace accepts the champion's post. He saves Tate & Liza from Team Magma's trap and uses them in his training of Ruby and Sapphire in team battles to prepare them for battling two great evils he saw in a prophecy, although the enemies wind up being Archie and Maxie rather than Groudon and Kyogre as he suspected. He also appeared in the Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire arc, where he helped the other gym leaders in the effort to destroy the Delta Meteor.

Trivia

• He may be named after the fictional Spanish character Don Juan, and/or in reference to the word "water". His Japanese name is "Adan", from the Japanese word for the thatch screwpine and also possibly referencing the Japanese word for 'open sea'.
• He does not appear at all in Pokémon: Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, but he is mentioned by Wallace's niece Lisia. During the game's Delta Episode, Wallace also mentions that his duty as an ancient Sootopolitan was passed down to him by his former master. If that is referring to Juan, then that would indicate that he is also a descendant of the ancient Sootopolitans.