Milo

Milo
Species	Human
Affiliation	Pokémon League (Galar)
Hair color	Peach
Eye color	Green
Base	Turffield
Debut	Pokémon: Sword/Shield

Milo is the first of the eight gym leaders of the Galar region's major league who appears in Pokémon Sword and Shield. He specializes in Grass-type Pokémon.

Background

The son of farmers, Milo lived in Turffield. He worked with Pokémon since he was young, which helped him to hone his own strength, stamina and skill as a Pokémon trainer. Although he was very physically strong, he had a gentle nature which caused him to go easy on opponents. Milo was also known to focus more on having fun when it came to Pokémon battles. So, while he qualified to become one of the gym leaders of Galar's major league, he ended up ranking as the weakest of the major league in battles held between the gym leaders. This caused his gym to be appointed as the first one for challengers of the major league. Despite ranking above him, Nessa considered Milo to be her rival. Milo responded to this by saying that his only rival was himself.

His gym and its challenge reflected his rural lifestyle. It was home to thirty Wooloo, as well as a several trainers who helped to corral them with Yamper. As the gym challenge, challengers had to corral all thirty Wooloo through several areas, while Milo's trainers attempted to foil the challenger's efforts. Milo was also known to leave the gym to retrieve any lost Wooloo, which was how he encountered Victor/Gloria. Milo was first seen at the opening ceremony for the gym challenge with the other gym leaders. He then bumped into the trainer when a stray Wooloo tackled the trainer at Route 3. Milo recognized the trainer from the ceremony and looked forward to battling them. Milo was defeated by Hop followed by Victor/Gloria, and he was also defeated by Bede and Marnie at some point. He accepted his defeat gracefully and gave each victor a Grass Badge. He also pointed them towards the next gym challenge and told them about the Wild Area. After Victor/Gloria and Hop completed the first three gyms, Milo and Nessa were summoned to Motostoke by Kabu in order to see them off from the city and to cheer them on.

At the end of the game, Milo participated in the tournament that made up the finals of the Championship Cup, along with most of the other gym leaders. In the first round of the finals, Milo was pitted against the Dragon-type trainer, Raihan. Milo was nervous about his chances and ended up losing the battle. Afterwards, he returned to Turffield and held an exhibition match against Piers. This was interrupted by the sudden appearance of a forcibly Dynamaxed Tsareena. Milo had the gym evacuated while they figured out their next move. Victor/Gloria and Hop joined them, and it was decided that the four of them would work together against the Dynamaxed Pokémon. Together, they were able to defeat it and restore it to normal. Milo proceeded to tend to the Tsareena at his gym while it recovered, and he thanked Victor/Gloria by giving them a rare variant of his League Card.

As the champion, Victor/Gloria could also hold tournaments in which Milo could compete (either through invitation or at random, which could lead to rematches with Milo. Milo could also make appearances at the Isle of Armor and could appear as a partner (for the player or an opponent) at the Galarian Star Tournament.

Pokémon Roster

In the initial gym battle, he uses only a Gossifleur and an Eldegoss, the latter of which he Dynamaxes.

In tournament rematches, he uses a more full roster:

• Eldegoss
• Shiftry (Sword)
• Ludicolo (Shield)
• Bellossom
• Cherrim
• Flapple (Sword)/Appletun (Shield) (Gigantamax)

For battles at the Galarian Star Tournament, he uses only Shifty/Ludicolo, Cherrim and Flapple/Appletun. Flapple/Appletun is also the Pokémon he uses during the team battle against the Tsareena. He is also seen accompanied by Tsareena on the Isle of Armor.

His gym is also home to 30 Wooloo, who he helps to manage. He has been known to be accompanied by a Yamper when looking for stray Wooloo, although it is uncertain if he officially owns it, or if it is one of the Yamper belonging to his trainers.

Other Appearances

Other Media

• Milo made several small appearances in the Pokémon: Twilight Wings series of anime short. He was first seen in a cameo appearance during a montage seen at the end of the first episode. He was later featured in a scene in the third episode, where he found Hop's lost Wooloo and asked a Corviknight taxi to take it back to the address on its collar. In the beginning of the following episode, he was seen defeating Nessa in a battle. Then in the final episode, he was seen during a montage of different Gym Leaders who were recorded talking about Leon, and he made another appearance in the bonus episode where he was invited to the Galarian Star Tournament.
• In the Pokémon Adventures manga, he appeared during the Sword/Shield arc with a similar role as in the games.

Trivia

• His Japanese name is Yarrow, in reference to both the name of a common flower and "ya", the Japanese word for field. His Japanese name may be derived from "achillea millefolium", the taxonomic name for the yarrow.
• Milo and Nessa's rivalry may be based on the real-life rivalry between the places their respective homes are based on, Yorkshire and Lancashire.
• Milo's League Number is "831". In Japanese, the numbers can be read as "yasai", which is the Japanese word for "vegetables".
• He always wears his boots, apparently because they allow him to dig in his heels whenever he needs to.
• Milo is strong enough to easily roll around the rolls of hay present in his gym challenge, which each weigh over 770 pounds.
• He is said to both work the field and raise flowers.
• He keeps his Pokémon in Ultra Balls.
• In his concept art, he is shown to have a younger brother.