Michael: The Hero of Pokémon XD and His Father's Eevee

Michael inherits an Eevee before he inherits a mission. He's the character you play in Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness, a red-haired boy about 1.4 m tall who grows up in Orre's Pokémon HQ Lab with his mother and little sister. The game hands him an arm device, the Snag Machine, and an objective: make the region livable again by snagging Shadow Pokémon from the people who create them.

Contents

• An Eevee, a Mother at the Lab, a Sister Who's Too Curious
• The Snag Machine, the Tool That Defines the Game
• From Gateon Port to Citadark Isle
• What the Game's Details Say About Him
• Michael at a Glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

An Eevee, a Mother at the Lab, a Sister Who's Too Curious

For Michael, home and workplace are one and the same: he lives in the Pokémon HQ Lab run by Professor Krane, together with his mother, Lily, and his younger sister, Jovi. Lily works there and spends most of her time on the Purify Chamber, a device still missing a key part at the start of the adventure. A family acquaintance describes her as a very popular student, with Krane himself among her admirers — as was the man with whom she would later have her two children.

About that father, the game says almost nothing: a well-known figure in the region, presumably dead, and no name. All that remains of him is a legacy, and that legacy is the starter Pokémon: the met location shown on his Eevee says it was a gift from Michael's father. A starter is never insignificant in this series; this one is also a keepsake.

Jovi, for her part, drives the first hours of the game. Mischievous and quick to charge in headfirst, she talks about herself in the third person — a habit picked up from Chobin, and one that only the Japanese and English versions kept. Her escapades at Kaminko's House exasperate the man who looks after the place, a Plusle and a Minun serve as her playmates, and what happens to her on the Gateon Port pier shows where her stubbornness leads.

🔥 His starter Pokémon has its own section: explore everything Eevee.

The Snag Machine, the Tool That Defines the Game

The adventure opens with an exercise rather than a battle: a simulation in which Michael pits a Salamence against a Metagross, against a backdrop of memories of Shadow Pokémon. The real kickoff comes down to two items — the P★DA that Krane left for him in his room, then the Snag Machine the professor hands over once Jovi has been brought back home.

Assistant Aidan has fitted the arm device with an Aura Reader, which he took care to sync with the P★DA. Together, they let you spot a Shadow Pokémon, then snag it from the Trainer who holds it: the founding gesture of Pokémon Colosseum, this time with the gear to back it up and a reason shown on screen. Michael won't get the chance to practice with it, as the attack on the lab comes first.

An animation detail confirms the device's exact scope. To catch a wild Pokémon, Michael throws the Ball with his right arm, the one the Snag Machine doesn't weigh down. So the equipment is only for Shadow Pokémon, never for ordinary captures — a line the game holds right down to its gestures.

From Gateon Port to Citadark Isle

Cipher Peons storm the lab and leave with the professor. The Snag Machine lets Michael disarm one of the attackers, Naps, without stopping the kidnapping: the tool's first demonstration is also a first failure. Lily then sends him to Gateon Port with his sister to fetch the Purify Chamber's missing part, where a thug named Zook terrifies the little girl with his Shadow Zangoose before Mr. Verich's bodyguards put an end to the scene.

The crusade really begins when Michael sets out to rescue the professor from the Cipher Lab. From then on, the plot becomes a chain of investigations rather than a series of Gyms: getting the ONBS in Pyrite Town to decode a Data ROM swiped from Cipher's operatives, freeing Phenac City from Cipher's grip, tracking down the ship from the news reports, now reduced to a wreck stranded in the middle of the sand.

The final stretch even forces him to team up with Team Snagem long enough to sabotage the Shadow Pokémon factory, which reveals the enemy leader's identity to him. On Citadark Isle, he single-handedly defeats every enemy commander, until he forces the Grand Master to bring out his trump card, specimen XD001. Victory is only complete once no Shadow Pokémon remain in circulation and the group is disbanded.

What the Game's Details Say About Him

Like the heroes of the main series games, Michael is a slot for the player to fill: you can rename him, within a limited number of characters, and the French version offers Théo and Vincent as alternative names. The Strategy Memo, which compares each species' size to the character's, is clear on one point, though: he stands about 1.4 m tall.

All the Shadow Pokémon he snags along the way are his to keep, and the game strictly regulates this haul. Until they're purified, these Pokémon can't be traded or entered in tournaments, but nothing stops you from using them in free battles. His family situation, meanwhile, follows the series norm: an absent father, or one consumed by work, as in Ruby and Sapphire and their remakes.

Two development curiosities round out the picture. The developers had first chosen Vaporeon and Jolteon as his starter Pokémon, and the game's demo showed Michael with a level 40 Gardevoir and Parasect. He's also the first playable hero to encounter Generation IV species: Munchlax, at the Rock Poké Spot, and Bonsly, deep in the hold of the S.S. Libra.

Michael at a Glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Who is Michael in Pokémon XD?
  He's the character the player controls in Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness. He grows up in Orre's Pokémon HQ Lab with Lily, his mother, and Jovi, his sister, and his mission is to make the region safe again from Cipher.
• Where does Michael's Eevee come from?
  From his father, about whom the game says almost nothing: a well-known figure in the region, probably dead before the story begins. The met location shown on the Pokémon even says it was a gift from Michael's father.
• What is Michael's Snag Machine for?
  For spotting Shadow Pokémon, thanks to the Aura Reader that assistant Aidan fitted to it and linked to the P★DA, then snagging them from the Trainers who hold them. It isn't used to catch wild Pokémon: for those, Michael throws the Ball with his free arm.
• What happens to the Shadow Pokémon Michael snags?
  He keeps them all. Until they're purified, they can't be traded or entered in tournaments, but they can still be used in free battles.
• Can you rename Michael?
  Yes, like the heroes of the main series games, as long as you stay within the character limit. The French version also offers Théo and Vincent as default names.

In short

Michael is a spin-off hero built like a main series hero: a bedroom in a lab, an absent father, a starter received as a gift. What sets him apart is the device strapped to his left arm, because it changes the very nature of the game — you don't fill a Pokédex, you recover stolen Pokémon one by one. His victory isn't measured in badges, but in the number of Shadow Pokémon set right again.