Celio: the engineer who networked the Storage System

The Pokémon Storage System has an engineer, and he works at the far end of the archipelago. Celio lives in the Sevii Islands, where he maintains the network of the One Island Pokémon Center. A friend of Bill, a computer buff and, by his own admission, a poor battler, he never takes anyone on: his contribution to the story comes down to a machine to finish and two stones to track down.

Contents

• A Computer Buff at the Far End of the Archipelago
• The Ruby and the Sapphire: Two Errands for an Upgrade
• The Passes: The Character Who Opens Up the Islands
• What His Machine Says About the Storage System
• A Trading Card and an Engineer's Name
• Celio at a Glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

A Computer Buff at the Far End of the Archipelago

Celio only appears in Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen. There he runs the network of the One Island Pokémon Center, renamed the Pokémon Network Center for the occasion — a building the game places nowhere else, and which serves as a workshop for a single character.

He's introduced through Bill, who describes his friend to the player as a computer enthusiast. Celio follows up by admitting he has no talent for battling, a rare confession in a series where almost every character on two feet ends up pulling out a Poké Ball. In fact, the game doesn't give him a team at all.

His problem is technical and geographical from the outset: the distance keeps his PC from linking up with Bill's. Everything the player will do for him stems from that, and it's the reason Celio sends a boat to fetch Bill from Cinnabar Island, across the sea in Kanto.

The Ruby and the Sapphire: Two Errands for an Upgrade

The second half of his storyline kicks in once you obtain the National Pokédex. Celio then wants to modify his machine to make trading with very distant Trainers possible, and to do that he's missing a special stone, supposedly somewhere on One Island, which he still hasn't managed to get his hands on.

The detail that gives the character depth comes right after: he was already searching for this stone during his studies, which he left without a degree and without having found it. He knows he could count on Bill to move his research forward, but says he wants to manage it on his own this time.

The player brings him the Ruby, then the Sapphire, which he locates elsewhere in the Sevii Islands. With both stones in place, the machine finally connects: first to Lanette, then to the Trainers of Hoenn, the region of Ruby and Sapphire. Celio is moved to tears and speaks of a dream come true.

The Passes: The Character Who Opens Up the Islands

Celio is also the key to getting around the entire archipelago. From your very first meeting, he hands over the Tri-Pass, which gives access to One Island, Two Island and Three Island, along with the Town Map that goes with it: without him, the ferry between the islands stays docked.

The second pass comes much later, when he sends the player off to find the Sapphire. He then lends his personal ferry pass, the Rainbow Pass, which opens up the rest of the Sevii Islands — so the game makes the exploration of an entire archipelago hinge on a character who never fights a single battle.

Side errands revolve around him: Bill entrusts the player with a Meteorite to deliver to the owner of the Game Corner on Two Island, a lover of gemstones and rare rocks. And it's once Lostelle has been found that the network finally goes online, with Bill sorting out in no time what Celio couldn't finish on his own.

What His Machine Says About the Storage System

His job is that of an engineer for the Pokémon Storage System, in a world that rarely hands out any title other than "Trainer." Celio is neither a Gym Leader nor a field researcher: he maintains the infrastructure every other character uses without ever giving it a thought.

His quest dresses up a game feature. What his finished machine makes possible is trading with Trainers from another region: the story gives a face, a workshop and a missing stone to what is, on the console side, simply a link between two distant save files.

The character is built on a fairly clear-cut reversal: the man who runs the network is precisely the one who can't reach anybody. He only pulls through by accepting help from Bill, then from the player, after insisting time and again that he wanted to succeed without it.

🗃️ Organizing a collection is an engineering job too: check out our card storage section.

A Trading Card and an Engineer's Name

Celio has his own card too: he made his first appearance in the EX FireRed & LeafGreen expansion of the Trading Card Game, released in France on November 10, 2004, hot on the heels of the games that introduced him.

His English name, Celio, is said to hide a developer in-joke: it supposedly spells out the initials of an online catalog for engineering libraries. The theory has never been confirmed, but it would suit a character whose whole role is to put data on a network.

Celio at a Glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Who is Celio in Pokémon?
  A friend of Bill's who lives in the Sevii Islands, presented as an engineer for the Pokémon Storage System. He looks after the network of the One Island Pokémon Center and only appears in FireRed and LeafGreen.
• Where can you find Celio?
  In the Pokémon Network Center on One Island, in the Sevii Islands. That's where he works on his machine for the entire game.
• What are Celio's Ruby and Sapphire for?
  They're the two stones he needs to finish his machine. Once the player has brought back both, his network connects to Lanette and then to the Trainers of Hoenn, which makes trading with very distant Trainers possible.
• How do you get the Tri-Pass and the Rainbow Pass?
  Celio hands over both himself. The Tri-Pass is given at your first meeting and opens One Island, Two Island and Three Island; the Rainbow Pass is his personal ferry pass, lent when he sends you to find the Sapphire, and it opens the rest of the Sevii Islands.
• Does Celio have any Pokémon?
  None are attributed to him. He admits himself that he's no good at battling, and the game never gives him a team.

In short

Celio has no team, never fights a battle and never leaves his screen; yet he's the one who opens up the Sevii Islands and hooks the archipelago up to Hoenn. His handful of lines tells a small story of stubbornness: a stone sought throughout studies that went nowhere, then found much later thanks to someone else. The Storage System has an engineer, and it's him.