Duking: The Pyrite Colosseum Boss Who Trades His Rarities

He keeps order in Pyrite Town without a uniform or a mandate. Duking runs the Colosseum in the roughest town in Orre, and his towering, mustachioed frame is usually enough to cool tempers. Yet Cipher found the one lever that could make him bend: his Plusle. Marcia's father, accidental host to a gang of kids and, once the crisis is over, the best trading partner in all of Pokémon XD.

Contents

• Pyrite Town: Authority Without a Uniform
• The Blackmail: A Plusle for a Colosseum
• Fighting Back: A Gear, a Tournament, a Warehouse
• After Pyrite Town: An Informant on the Other End of the P★DA
• In Pokémon XD, He Scours the Poké Spots
• The Trader: Three Trades You Won't Find Anywhere Else
• Duking at a Glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

Pyrite Town: Authority Without a Uniform

Duking holds no official position: he simply runs the Colosseum, Pyrite Town's tournament arena. Yet in a town the police can't keep under control, he's the one who makes the rules stick, through nothing but the moral authority the townspeople grant him.

His reputation isn't built on intimidation. He only resorts to force when there's no other way out, and the rest of the time he lets things slide — especially with the local kids, whom he treats with rare indulgence. That's how the Kids Grid came to set up its secret base in his house, which he puts up with without batting an eye.

His daughter Marcia is part of that gang of kids. His other attachment is Plusle, his favorite Pokémon of all: if anything happened to it, Duking would be devastated, and that's exactly what his enemies are about to figure out.

The Blackmail: A Plusle for a Colosseum

The kidnapping of Plusle by Miror B., the dance-crazed maniac, changes everything. The patriarch of Pyrite Town becomes a shell of himself and stops stepping into the affairs of his own Colosseum, afraid of what might be done to his Pokémon.

Cipher rushes into the gap. The arena becomes the distribution point for Shadow Pokémon, handed out to tournament winners, and Cipher Peons come and go there unchallenged. The most disreputable town in Orre also becomes the most useful one to the organization.

No one understands the manager's silence except Silva and the members of the Kids Grid, the only ones who know about the blackmail. Silva lashes out at him in public before mounting a one-man raid on the Colosseum: he cuts the building's power and achieves nothing more than a blackout and a rattled technician.

Fighting Back: A Gear, a Tournament, a Warehouse

It's Wes and Rui who bring back the missing part — a gear — and get the Colosseum's power running again. Duking apologizes for his cold welcome and puts his trust in them, feeling that he finally has people he can count on.

He then asks them for a specific favor: win the next tournament, then watch what happens once the victory is in hand. The answer comes quickly — a Cipher Peon leads the two investigators to the warehouse where the Shadow Pokémon are stored.

Duking rushes over with Marcia and her friends, finds the two heroes unharmed on the ground floor, and gets the kids to safety first. Plusle is freed and Miror B. is run out of town; seeing that his Pokémon is determined to keep fighting alongside the heroes, he lets it go with them.

⚡ Plusle has joined the team: check out the Pokémon plushies.

After Pyrite Town: An Informant on the Other End of the P★DA

The affair doesn't stop at his door. Duking stays in touch by P★DA and starts digging into what Miror B. is up to behind the scenes: he's the one who reports the attack on Mt. Battle by the men under Dakim, and who urges the heroes to go lend a hand.

After that, he acts as a go-between with the police. He reports the arrest of the two Miror B. Peons Reath and Ferma, held at the station, and warns that the interrogation is going nowhere — the two women turning out to be much tougher than they looked.

His last contribution is the most direct one: he backs up Chief Sherles and Officer Johnson to arrest Evice and Nascour, nabbed right after their defeat at Realgam Tower. The arena manager ends the adventure as an auxiliary to the police.

In Pokémon XD, He Scours the Poké Spots

The character comes back reinvented as a hunter in the field. Duking spends most of his time at the Poké Spots, the platforms that lure in Orre's wild Pokémon, and claims it took him fifteen years of relentless searching to find one of them.

An ONBS report on the Rock Poké Spot gives him a platform. There he explains the whole mechanic to Michael: you leave Poké Snacks on the platform, walk away, and come back later — the more food there is, the longer the Pokémon sticks around and the easier it is to catch.

He also supplies the tool. The Spot Monitor is his own invention: installed on the P★DA, it flags appearances and shows how many Poké Snacks are left. Once the demonstration is over, he points his student to the other two sites, out of the three he has found in all.

The Trader: Three Trades You Won't Find Anywhere Else

You'll find him back home in Pyrite Town, busy making Poké Snacks in the back room. That's where he does business, with stock no one else offers: three species that no catch, no battle and no other trade can get you in the game.

The price is paid in kind. He asks for the species that show up most rarely at the Poké Spots — Trapinch, Surskit and Wooper — in exchange for his Meditite, his Shuckle and his Larvitar. He only checks your party, never the PC, and politely turns down a duplicate, asking for a different species next time.

Two details are worth knowing before we wrap up. The name and Original Trainer of these Pokémon vary depending on the game's language, and Duking himself warns you when the Pokémon you hand over is holding an item. Plusle, for its part, isn't part of the deal: it joins the hero's team of its own free will, once rescued from Cipher's clutches.

Duking at a Glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Why does Duking let Cipher take over his Colosseum?
  Because Miror B. is holding his Plusle. As long as the Pokémon is in the organization's hands, the manager no longer dares to step in, and the arena serves as the distribution point for the Shadow Pokémon handed out to tournament winners.
• What happens to Plusle after it's rescued?
  It joins the heroes' team. Duking sees that his Pokémon wants to take part in the rest of the investigation and agrees to let it go with them rather than keep it by his side.
• Which Pokémon does Duking trade in Pokémon XD?
  He offers a Meditite, a Shuckle and a Larvitar, otherwise unobtainable in the game, in exchange for a Trapinch, a Surskit and a Wooper, the species that show up most rarely at the Poké Spots.
• What is the Spot Monitor for?
  It's Duking's invention, installed on the P★DA. It signals when a wild Pokémon appears at a Poké Spot and lets you check how many Poké Snacks are left on each platform.
• Who is Marcia?
  Duking's daughter and one of the members of the Kids Grid, the gang of Pyrite Town kids who set up their secret base in the family home. She comes with her father during the rescue at the warehouse.

In short

Duking is one of the few characters in Orre whose story unfolds in two stages: a local notable silenced by blackmail, then an informant who follows the organization all the way up to its leaders. What comes next suits him just as well — fifteen years in the field, an invention to his name and three Pokémon nobody else has. For him, trading is just the peaceful form of the same stubbornness.