Eagun: The Agate Village Veteran Who Loses So You Can Learn

His most important battle is one he loses. Eagun is a retired Trainer living in Agate Village, once one of the greatest of his generation. Pokémon Colosseum has him fail in front of the village shrine, then hand the hero the item that makes it possible to purify Shadow Pokémon. Pokémon XD later brings him back as a mentor, a training opponent and a clumsy correspondent.

Contents

• A Great Trainer Retired from Battle, Now the Village Elder
• Pikachu, His First Catch and the Only One He Sends Out
• The Defining Defeat at the Relic Stone
• The Small Tablet and How Purification Works
• In Pokémon XD, a Long-Distance Mentor and Training Opponent
• The P★DA, the Cut-Off Emails and the Game's Only Master Ball
• Eagun at a Glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

A Great Trainer Retired from Battle, Now the Village Elder

Eagun retired and settled down in Agate Village shortly before the story of Pokémon Colosseum begins. His generation counted him among its very best Trainers, and he reminds a condescending Cipher member of it himself: the region knew him as its greatest Trainer.

He shares his home with Beluh, his wife, and it's a family visit that sets his whole role in motion: their granddaughter Rui arrives in the village with the protagonist, after being kidnapped along the way by a gang of strangers.

Being the elder isn't just for show. He considers himself responsible for the safety of the villagers and their Pokémon alike, and his profile stresses one point: neither his physical fitness nor his battle skills have really suffered over the years.

Pikachu, His First Catch and the Only One He Sends Out Against Cipher

His Pokémon of choice is a Pikachu he never parts with. It's the very first Pokémon he ever caught, and it hasn't left his side since: that bond stands in for an entire team.

When it counts, it's the only one he sends out. Eagun faces the Cipher Peon with this lone Pokémon, which says as much about his confidence as about how little a retiree can throw at an organization armed with artificially altered Pokémon.

Still, the whole evolutionary line is on record under his name: Pichu, Pikachu and Raichu. Yet it's the middle stage he puts forward, the one he sends out against Skrub in Colosseum and in the first battle of Pokémon XD — only his second battle, at the Pokémon HQ Lab, opens with a Pichu.

⚡ His lifelong companion has its own section: see our Pikachu products.

The Defining Defeat at the Relic Stone

Cipher attacks the sacred site where the Relic Stone rests. The forest's caretaker rushes to Eagun's house to raise the alarm, and the veteran dashes off without even waiting for the end of the explanation.

Once there, he runs into Skrub and his Shadow Hitmontop. Eagun loses — but the protagonist steps right in, defeats the attacker in his place and saves the shrine. The scene establishes the hero as the fallback, not the heir.

The old man draws the lesson from the battle himself, speaking to his Pikachu: against an ordinary Pokémon, he would surely have won. It's through this failure, not through an explanation, that the game makes you understand what's abnormal about a Shadow Pokémon.

The Small Tablet and How Purification Works

Back home, Eagun remembers a tablet stored somewhere in the house. The object is a family heirloom handed down from one generation to the next, and Beluh goes upstairs to fetch it while the heroes wait.

He hands this Small Tablet to the protagonist: it's what makes purifying Shadow Pokémon possible. In the same breath, he points the heroes toward Senilor, who lives near the Poké Mart and knows everything about Celebi — the very Pokémon the attackers had been talking about capturing.

The rule he lays down will hold for the rest of the game. A closed heart first has to open up a little, and nothing helps with that as much as having the Pokémon battle; after that, all that's left is to bring it to the Relic Stone, deep in the village's forest.

In Pokémon XD, a Long-Distance Mentor and Training Opponent

The sequel gives him a full-fledged tutor role: he introduces the new protagonist to purification at the Relic Stone, tells him where to find the Orre Colosseum, then offers two battles — the first in Agate Village, the second at the Pokémon HQ Lab. He even warns that he and his partner haven't battled in five years.

He also serves as a go-between for information. It's through him that the player learns about Vander, a friend who runs one section of Mt. Battle and has noticed suspicious comings and goings in the desert, and then what Team Snagem was: Pokémon thieves who supplied Cipher.

The kidnapping of Professor Krane worries him in particular, because the researcher often came to Agate Village to study the Relic Stone to develop a new purification system. When the final assault on Citadark Isle comes, he pictures himself returning to action, then gives up on it: the sea there is too rough for him.

The P★DA, the Cut-Off Emails and the Game's Only Master Ball

The veteran and modern gadgets don't mix. The P★DA is the only communication device he's managed to tame; he asks the hero for its number so he can get in touch, but his fumbling regularly sends messages off before they're finished.

The gag serves the game's progression. One of these cut-off messages hides a Master Ball — the only one the game gives out — handed over in person to the player who comes back to Agate Village once the four Cipher Admins have been defeated in Realgam Tower. Nothing spells it out in black and white: you have to figure it out.

The rest of his correspondence is in the same vein, from apologies for typos to an invitation to the Orre Colosseum cut off mid-word. One of his emails boils down to an encouraging poem, another to a message from his Pikachu, transcribed word for word.

Eagun at a Glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Who is Eagun in Pokémon Colosseum?
  A veteran Trainer retired to Agate Village, the village elder and Rui's grandfather. He was one of the greatest Trainers of his generation before retiring with his wife, Beluh.
• Why does Eagun lose his battle against Cipher?
  Because he's up against a Shadow Hitmontop, sent out by Skrub. He admits it himself afterward: against an ordinary Pokémon, his Pikachu would probably have won.
• How do you get Eagun's Master Ball?
  By visiting him in Agate Village right after defeating the four Cipher Admins at Realgam Tower. He sends a cut-off email at that moment, and it's up to the player to work out the invitation. It's the only Master Ball in the game.
• What does Eagun do in Pokémon XD?
  He introduces the protagonist to purification at the Relic Stone, tells him where the Orre Colosseum is, offers two battles and passes along information about Vander, Team Snagem and Professor Krane's kidnapping.
• Which Pokémon does Eagun use?
  Pikachu above all, the first Pokémon he ever caught and the one he sends out alone against Cipher. Pichu and Raichu are also among the Pokémon on record under his name.

In short

Eagun isn't there to win. He opens the story by failing, passes on the family heirloom that unlocks purification, then witnesses the ending alongside Duking and Silva, when the victory over Evice ends with a Ho-Oh flying over Realgam Tower. A veteran who matters because he's outmatched: the game uses his defeat to set up what's at stake, and his memory to give the player the means to respond.