Isaac: The Almia Genius Whose Invention Served Team Dim Sun

Isaac never meant any harm, and that's exactly the problem. A gifted student at Almia's Ranger School, he develops the device that will become the Gigaremo, believing he's working to bring humans and Pokémon closer together. The invention changes hands, the scale grows by orders of magnitude, and it takes the boy months to understand that he himself armed Team Dim Sun.

Contents

• A Ranger School student excused from class
• The prototype, designed for friendship and hijacked
• Researcher at Altru Inc., smelly lab included
• The night he realizes he's being used
• Altru Tower: nobody knows the machine better
• Melody, a forgotten birthday and the aftermath
• Isaac at a glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

A Ranger School student excused from class

The player doesn't meet Isaac on a training field but between two rows of shelves, in the school library. He introduces himself by complaining that you made him lose his place in an eight-digit mental multiplication, then announces an IQ of 163, a number that exactly matches his height in centimeters.

His status already makes him an exception at the school. Mr. Kincaid has allowed him to study on his own instead of attending classes, so he skips the outdoor lessons and spends his days among books, which he sharply urges the player to read, too.

His curiosity costs equipment: he takes apart five School Stylers to figure out how they work and can't put them back together. Mr. Kincaid doesn't punish him and instead encourages him to keep going, laying the foundation of a relationship that will carry enormous weight. A special arrangement also opens the Altru Inc. labs to him for an internship.

The prototype, designed for friendship and hijacked

What he builds at school is nothing like a class assignment. Together with Mr. Kincaid, he designs the very first device capable of taking control of a Pokémon — a prototype he's convinced will strengthen the bonds between people and the species around them.

The object doesn't stay a mock-up. Perfected out of his sight, it gives rise to the Gigaremos, then their scaled-down version, the Miniremos: all the equipment on which Team Dim Sun will build its campaign in Almia.

The hijacking owes as much to a personality as to an invention. Mr. Kincaid exploits the isolation of the boy, completely absorbed in his calculations, to keep him producing for Team Dim Sun without ever telling him what he's contributing to.

Researcher at Altru Inc., smelly lab included

After leaving school, Isaac is hired as a researcher by Altru Inc. and ends up in charge of a technology development project that he talks about as a privilege. He puts in endless days, knowing full well that his little sister pays the price, and has fond memories of Barlow, who once pulled him out of a generator while declaring the target eliminated.

When he gives a tour of the ground floor, which is open to the public, he comments on the gallery of the company's successive leaders. Doyle Hall is its founder and first president, Brighton Hall succeeded him, and Blake Hall runs the company at the time of the story — in fact, the tour is cut short when the latter drops by in person to greet his "Professor Isaac."

His own lab, at the Oil Field Hideout, is like no other. There he tries to extract perfumes from repulsive odors, work carried out behind Mr. Kincaid's back, and he warns his visitors to hold their breath: his Skuntank doesn't hold back when it's not in the mood.

🔬 Almia's researchers have nothing against a display case: check out our Pokémon figures.

The night he realizes he's being used

The turning point takes the form of a kidnapping that isn't really one. Sven gets hold of the plans for the Incredible Machine and whisks the researcher off to the Ranger Union, but Isaac begs to be taken along as soon as he learns he'll get to meet Professor Hastings.

Before leaving, he insists on saying goodbye to Mr. Kincaid out of politeness. Cornered, the man abandons the base, dropping his subordinates and Isaac in the same breath: so much for the encouragement of the man who had taken him under his wing for years.

It takes him a night to pick up the pieces. Treated as a friend by the people he thought were his adversaries, he finally hands over the password that protected his work — his sister's name. He admits he saw everything without understanding any of it, having known the world only through a microscope and a screen.

Altru Tower: nobody knows the machine better

In front of the Union, Isaac rattles off the tower's specs without hesitation: 334 meters, a view over the entire region, and above all a function that has nothing to do with sightseeing. The Shadow Crystal brought back from the Chroma Ruins sits at the top, fed with electricity to unleash its power over a radius of about 800 kilometers.

The figures he gives tell the rest of the story. The Incredible Machine is equivalent to some eight million Gigaremos, and its control room, halfway up, has about three hundred times as many controls as a Miniremo; it powers up in stages, from the first setting to the third. His final contribution, however, was wrung out of him: Lavana has Melody kidnapped and threatens to harm her until the programming is finished.

When Keith and the player come to get him, he refuses to stay on the sidelines. He knows the three floors that control the layers of the protective field, and above all, he taught programming to the Sinis Trio himself: Heath's trap falls in 1.38 seconds, Lavana's in 1.07. Ice, on the other hand, has improved and slips a time variable into his code that Isaac doesn't see coming; the researcher gives up before the roof and urges the player to go up without him.

Melody, a forgotten birthday and the aftermath

The character's entire vulnerability comes down to his little sister. Melody lives in Pueltown and triggers one of the game's side quests, "Gift of Music for Isaac", which asks you to find Chatot, Kricketune, Chingling and Jigglypuff to put together a birthday song.

The big brother, for his part, swings between affection and worry. He scolds her for leaving Pueltown on her own before proudly introducing her to his friends, and her name is the one he had chosen as his password — the only personal detail from a boy who mostly speaks in numbers.

The recital finally takes place at the Altru Building, the researcher's workplace. Isaac had completely forgotten the date of his own birthday, and gives the whole team a break to listen to the song his sister had kept secret.

After the breakup of Team Dim Sun and the defeat of Blake Hall, he puts his lab coat back on. He continues his research for the new Altru company, this time on energy sources. The manga adaptation, far more condensed, reduces him to a mere mention by Chairperson Erma: no Gigaremos, no Miniremos, no unwitting involvement.

Isaac at a glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Who is Isaac in Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia?
  A young scientist, a student at the Ranger School at the same time as the protagonist, who develops the Gigaremo prototype before being hired as a researcher by Altru Inc.
• Is Isaac the player's enemy?
  Not intentionally. Mr. Kincaid takes advantage of his isolation to have him work for Team Dim Sun without explaining what his work is really used for; Isaac only understands after spending a night at the Ranger Union.
• What is the connection between Isaac and the Gigaremo?
  Together with Mr. Kincaid, he designed the first device capable of controlling a Pokémon. Later improved without him, this prototype gave rise to the Gigaremos, then their scaled-down version, the Miniremos.
• Who is Melody?
  His little sister, who lives in Pueltown. Her name is the password to Isaac's work, she triggers the side quest "Gift of Music for Isaac," and Lavana uses her as leverage to force her brother to finish the programming.
• What happens to Isaac at the end of the game?
  Once Team Dim Sun is dismantled and Blake Hall defeated, he stays on as a researcher for the new Altru company and devotes himself to studying energy sources.

In short

Isaac is one of the few characters in the game who doesn't end up on one side or the other: he is the unwitting tool of the catastrophe, then the decisive asset of those who stop it. His computing power opens the doors of Altru Tower exactly as it once opened the door to controlling Pokémon, and the only password he ever chose is his sister's name.