Malva

Malva
Species	Human
Affiliation	Pokémon League (Kalos) Team Flare
Hair color	Pink
Eye color	Orange
Voiced by	Morgan Berry (2023)
Debut	Pokémon X/Y

Malva is one of the members of the Elite Four of Kalos who acts as one of the final opponents to be faced in Pokémon X and Y. She is also known for having been a member of Team Flare. She specializes in Fire-type Pokémon.

Background

Malva was a powerful Pokémon trainer who became a member of the Elite Four of Kalos, and she was also known as a Holo Caster star who covered most of the news reports within the Kalos region. She was also rich, possibly from either of those two occupations. In addition to that, Malva was secretly a member of Team Flare who believed in Lysandre's plans to make a new world. Her exact rank and role within the organization were unknown, but it was implied to be high-level, as she revealed secrets that were apparently only known to certain admins of the organization.

During X/Y, Malva was first seen giving news reports over the Holo Caster. Team Flare's plans escalated, but they were ultimately thwarted by Calem/Serena. Lysandre's fate was left unclear, but Team Flare disbanded for the most past. Sometime after that, Calem/Serena came to the Pokémon League building of Kalos to challenge the Elite Four. Malva greeted the trainer in the main hall and explained how the process of winning the championship. She also taunted the trainer by telling them it should be easy for the "hero/heroine who defeated big, bad Team Flare". She then returned to her chamber, the Blazing Chamber, where she was ultimately challenged and defeated by Calem/Serena. She then offered to report on the trainer's victory. Whenever Calem/Serena returned for rematches, Mavla would show more hostility towards the trainer, claiming that her heart was burning with hatred for them and that they were so amusing that she almost wanted to burn them up where they stand. However, she also acknowledged that Calem/Serena was strong enough to force their dreams to come true, unlike Team Flare.

Within the Looker Bureau storyline, Looker eventually pressed Malva for information about Xerosic, and they made some kind of a deal. The details of what Malva got out of the deal were unspecified, though it could have been some sort of amnesty. In exchange, Malva had to pass information on to Calem/Serena. She sent a butler named Chalmers, himself a former Team Flare Admin, to retrieve Calem/Serena. The trainer then came to meet Malva in her room at Hotel Richissime. Upon meeting, she initially felt enraged and battled the trainer before giving them her information. She explained Xerosic's plan and showed Calem/Serena how to reach the hidden floor of Lysandre Labs, where they would find Xerosic. She then left, saying that she fulfilled her end of the bargain and that Looker should do the same.

Malva could also appear as an opponent in the Battle Chateau, where she held the rank of Duchess, after the player reached the rank of Duke/Duchess. She also hosted Holo Caster announcements in the game's Player Search System, which involved announcing in-game events and other news related to the games.

Pokémon Roster

• Pyroar (female)
• Torkoal
• Chandelure
• Talonflame

At the Battle Chateau, she uses all of her Pokémon except for Torkoal. For the battle during the Looker Bureau sidequests, she only uses Pyroar.

In Other Pokémon Games

In Pokémon Masters EX, Malva has appeared with her Pyroar, Chandelure and Talonflame and was depicted as an active member of Team Flare, although only Looker was aware of her allegiance with the team. She was featured in the Kalos chapter of the Villain Arc, where she pressed Looker to help her root out traitors within Team Flare by threatening to use extreme punishments if she found them herself and that some of the young trainers on Pasio could be hurt in the process. Ultimately, the Team Flare traitors were revealed to be Team Rocket grunts in disguise, and Malva accompanied Lysandre when he and his Volcanion subjected them to some unspecified punishment.

Other Appearances

Other Media

• In the Pokémon anime, she made multiple appearances throughout the X/Y-based series. She often appeared as a reporter, but some episodes also explored her as a member of Team Flare. One of the Mega Evolution Specials featured her battling Alain, a young trainer who Lysandre had an interest in. Alain was able to defeat Malva and her Mega Houndoom. Over the course of that series, the influence of Ash and Alain made Malva had a change of heart. She ultimately turned on Team Flare and helped with the effort to destroy the Giant Rock. At the end of the story arc, Malva announced that she would help to round up the remaining Team Flare members and then turn herself in.
• In the Pokémon Adventures manga, she was featured as an antagonist during the X/Y arc. She was shown as an active high-ranking member of Team Flare and used her position as a news reporter to misrepresent the news in order to advance Team Flare's agendas. She captured Yveltal for Team Flare and battled Diantha several times. She also obtained and used a Fennekin that was stolen from Trevor, while destroying his Pokédex. At the end of the arc , she rejected Diantha's offer of help and fell into sharp rubble with Lysandre while trying in vain to save him. Malva's unconscious form was then carried away by the other Elite Four members, with her ultimate fate left unknown.
• Malva made a brief appearance in an episode of Pokémon Generations about Lysandre, where she was seen giving a news report about Lysandre Labs that was being broadcast on a billboard.
• In Pokémon Evolutions, Malva made an appearance at the end of the third episode. She was seen giving a Holo-Cast about Lysandre after his disappearance and broadcasted a speech of his from his more optimistic days.

Trivia

• Her Japanese name is Pachira, named after a plant genus. Her English name of Malva also comes from a plant genus and may have also been chosen due to sounding evocative of several word such as "mal" (the French word for evil which is also used as a prefix for words such as 'malevolent') and "lava".
• She is the only Elite Four member to have been allied with one of the villainous teams.
• Malva's Holo Caster announcements from the PSS could also be accessed in Pokémon: Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, despite the Holo Caster not appearing in those games. That also technically makes those games another appearance of Malva's.