[Pokémas datamine spoilers ahead]
The more I think about it, the more I reeeally like the choices they made for the Alola VA alts - both in terms of who got them and who didn't get them.
I mean, the four characters who are getting VA alts - Hau, Lana, Acerola, and Mina - are all Alola natives and Trial Captains, or in Hau's case, grandson of the current kahuna. So, to see them teaming up with the island guardians - and their battle theme being a remix of the island kahuna theme - is a symbolic way of saying "these are the future kahunas, the guardian deities have already accepted them, Alola will be safe in their hands". We're not gonna have a repeat of what happened with Hapu, where the previous kahuna dies and the island goes without a kahuna for a bit because the island guardian doesn't think there's anyone suited for the position yet.
And it's especially satisfying to see that happen to Hau, because he's always dreamed of becoming an island kahuna like his grandpa, but his attitude at the beginning of his journey - that he only battles for fun and doesn't care if he wins or loses - is honestly not a great attitude for someone who's supposed to be the protector of his island to have. So, the fact that Tapu Koko has acknowledged him demonstrates that Hau has matured as a person and is worthy of being a guardian. (And the fact that becoming a kahuna is important to his character arc specifically is probably why he's the only one whose sygna suit resembles the outfit of one of the current kahunas.)
Meanwhile, since Selene and Elio aren't even from Alola and Gladion doesn't even take the island challenge (outside of the anime), there wouldn't be any significant meaning, symbolic or otherwise, to them teaming up with the Tapus. And it feels appropriate for all the VA units to be with Tapus instead of, say, Hau getting a Tapu while the others just get random UBs or dupe legendaries.
Plus, the fact that Elio, Selene, and Gladion aren't getting alts now makes it highly likely that they'll get Neo Champion alts in the future. And that feels especially appropriate, too. After all, Elio/Selene is the first Champion of Alola in the core series games, on top of being the first of protag to actually take the position of Champion instead of just getting the title and still having to fight the old Champion in rematches. So it feels especially unfair for them to get their status as Champion revoked by Pokémas's "we can't acknowledge that the protagonist beat the Champion" policy.
Meanwhile, Gladion is a title defense challenger in both SM and USUM, and it feels like an excellent demonstration of his character growth for him to participate in a competition where there are no stakes and it genuinely doesn't matter whether he wins or loses. Because to me, Gladion's character arc is the opposite of Hau's - where Hau learns that sometimes he really does need to take battles seriously, Gladion learns that it's okay to take it easy and just battle for fun sometimes. The old Gladion wouldn't have bothered to try in a competition where there's nothing for him to gain, so him being able to succeed in a Neo Champion tournament would really demonstrate how he's grown.
Sooo...yeah. Good choices, DeNa!
