>>54156684They keep it vague as to not intrude on the main stories, but every Protag IS supposed to be after their adventure and becoming champion.
They all make allusions to their adventures, including stuff that only would have happened during the main story. I think Gloria even makes reference to meeting Zacian a couple times before catching it, just like in SWSH.
So unless you wanna pretend Masters completely diverges from Canon at the 11th hour and everything is 1:1 with the main games until the conclusion of the Champion battle, my best explanation is that becoming Champion doesn't make being Champion their official job/title.
This way they get to include all previous Champions and still title them as such.
This is why Lance is still considered a (if not, THE) Kanto Champion despite Red beating him. Red didn't stick around to be the "official" on-going Champion title holder, despite being recognized as one.
Leon is still recognized as a Champion, always will be. Gloria beat him, but like Red, didn't stick around to be Champion, she went to catch the doggo and then fucked off on other adventures.
I will say I wish they handled Alola better, because in Alola's case Hau and Kukui were really never supposed to be Champions (and IIRC neither of them is labelled as such in Masters) - so IMO this should have been the one region where they actually did double down and emphasise either Elio or Selene as Champ. Would have been a 10/10 detail for fans. But alas.
