Calem: the Kalos hero you dress before setting out

Calem is the first Pokémon protagonist the player also picks for his style. The sixth generation takes the series into 3D and, in the process, finally lets you decide the hero's haircut, skin tone and wardrobe. So Calem doesn't come with a set first name — and when you play as Serena, he switches to the other side of the board and becomes the rival.

Contents

• Vaniville Town: Four Neighbors and a Move
• The First Protagonist You Get to Dress
• Tower of Mastery: The Ring, the Team, the Legendary
• Play as Serena and Calem Becomes the Rival
• On Screen: A Champion Who Never Says a Word
• Karumu, Xavier, X: The Story of a Name
• Calem at a Glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

Vaniville Town: Four Neighbors and a Move

The adventure begins in a village in Kalos where Calem's neighbors are Serena, Shauna, Tierno and Trevor. The starting point isn't a lone hero but a group of five, and the other four will take turns being his rivals or his teammates.

His family changes depending on the role he's given. As the protagonist, he has just moved in with his mother Grace, a Rhyhorn racing champion; the rival role, on the other hand, makes him the son of two elite Trainers whose footsteps he's about to follow.

The wake-up call on the first morning falls to the Fletchling of the house. Once the introductions to the neighbors are done, the road leads to Aquacorde Town, where Professor Sycamore provides the first Pokémon. That meeting is what truly kicks off the journey across the region.

The First Protagonist You Get to Dress

His official look comes down to a few pieces: black sunglasses perched on a red cap, a blue jacket and slim blue pants, black boots laced in blue, and a bag worn across the body. Medium-length black hair and gray eyes complete the factory settings, the ones used in the artwork and promotional visuals.

None of it is set in stone, and that's what's new. Clothes, hairstyle, skin tone, hair color and eye color are all in the player's hands — Calem is the first hero in the series you can dress and style however you like. When you meet him as a non-player character, he loses the cap and keeps his medium-length cut.

That outfit eventually spilled over beyond the Pokémon games. An alternate costume for the Pokémon Trainer in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate borrows his clothing colors and tan skin tone, and since the 3DS and Wii U installment of the same series, Pikachu has had a costume that borrows his cap and sunglasses.

Tower of Mastery: The Ring, the Team, the Legendary

The story's turning point comes at the Tower of Mastery. There, Gurkinn gives Calem a ring set with a Key Stone, the key to Mega Evolution — the item his canonical outfit places on his left wrist.

His team comes together in clearly defined stages. A Kalos starter to begin with — Chespin, Fennekin or Froakie — then a first-generation starter received in Lumiose City, a fossil Pokémon recovered in Glittering Cave and a Lucario obtained in Shalour City.

The last to join is also the heaviest hitter. It's at Team Flare's HQ that Calem catches Xerneas in the X version, or Yveltal in the Y version: Kalos's Legendary isn't an end-of-game reward, you catch it right in the thick of the plot.

Play as Serena and Calem Becomes the Rival

The first encounter sets the tone. On Route 2, Calem has two Pokémon but only sends out one, his Fletchling, to show you how to catch a Bunnelby — the lesson before the rivalry.

After that, your paths cross again at regular intervals. The first real battle takes place at the Tower of Mastery, with Gurkinn's ring at stake; next come a meeting arranged via Holo Caster outside the Coumarine City Gym, a battle on Route 14 near Laverre City, then a duel at the doors of the Anistar City Gym — after which he heals the player's team — and one last face-off on Victory Road, between the second and third caves. In Kiloude City, now equipped with his own Mega Ring, he can be challenged once a day in the park.

Between battles, he fights by your side: against Tierno and Trevor on Route 7, against Team Flare Grunts in Glittering Cave and then in their hideout, and against Celosia and Bryony at the Poké Ball Factory. His rival team is built around the starter with the type advantage over yours and the evolution of the Eevee received in Lumiose City — Vaporeon, Jolteon and Flareon are among the Pokémon recorded for him.

⚡ Vaporeon, Jolteon, Flareon: the Eevee collection brings the whole family together.

On Screen: A Champion Who Never Says a Word

It's a spin-off series that gives him his crowning moment. In "The Redemption," the eighteenth episode of Pokémon Generations, Lumiose City celebrates Calem as the new Kalos League Champion; the ceremony is cut short when AZ shows up to demand a battle.

Calem accepts and wins easily with his Chesnaught. A notable detail: he doesn't say a single line in the entire episode, which preserves to the very end the avatar-character status he holds in the games.

Pokémon Evolutions brings him back in "The Visionary," its third episode. In the control room of the Ultimate Weapon, he cuts his battle with Lysandre short by knocking out his Mega Gyarados with a single Moonblast from Xerneas — without managing to stop it from firing, though. Joined by Shauna and Serena, all he can do is flee, then watch the structure sink underground.

Karumu, Xavier, X: The Story of a Name

A protagonist with no set name still has a canonical one — the name he goes by as the rival when you play as Serena. In Japanese, he's called カルム Karumu, the Japanese pronunciation of "calme," French for calm, and the other languages seem to have derived a contraction from it.

Another lead made the rounds before the game's release. Promotional screenshots introduced him under the name Xavier, or エックス, the letter X in Japanese — a name the manga adaptation reused for its own version of him, a twelve-year-old boy nicknamed X, a junior tournament champion who had become a shut-in at home until Team Flare targeted him.

The character has carried on his career outside the main games. Pokémon Masters EX added him on October 28, 2019, with two outfits, this time casting him as the rival in the Kalos storyline, alongside Espurr and Meowstic. He also appears in Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket with the Mega Shine expansion, and another curiosity awaits him in-game: reaching 295 points at the Battle Chateau makes him the only Trainer of the Grand Duke class.

Calem at a Glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Is Calem the hero or the rival in Pokémon X and Y?
  Both, depending on the character chosen at the start of the game. If the player picks Calem, Serena becomes the rival; if the player picks Serena, the roles are reversed and Calem takes the rival's place.
• Can you change Calem's appearance?
  Yes, and that's his big innovation: clothes, hairstyle, skin tone, hair color and eye color are all up to the player. His canonical version pairs a red cap, black sunglasses and a blue outfit; when you meet him as a non-player character, he appears bareheaded.
• Which Legendary Pokémon does Calem catch?
  Xerneas in Pokémon X and Yveltal in Pokémon Y. The capture takes place at Team Flare's headquarters, right in the heart of the story rather than after the League.
• Why is Calem sometimes called Xavier?
  Promotional screenshots released before the game came out gave him that name, or エックス — the letter X — in Japanese. The manga adaptation kept Xavier for its own version of him, a twelve-year-old boy nicknamed X.
• What does Calem do in the animated series?
  Pokémon Generations shows him crowned Kalos League Champion at a ceremony in Lumiose City, where he defeats AZ with his Chesnaught. Pokémon Evolutions puts him in the control room of the Ultimate Weapon, facing Lysandre.

In short

Calem holds a unique position in the series: he is both the hero of Kalos and the rival you face when you choose Serena, two readings of the same character that the games embrace without ever choosing between them. The sixth generation made him the first fully customizable avatar, and his look has lived on well beyond Pokémon X and Y — all the way to the alternate costumes in Super Smash Bros. Silent on screen, and yet impossible to mistake.