Joel: the Fall City Ranger Leader who hands out the ranks

He almost never goes out on missions himself. Joel runs the Fall City Ranger Base in the Fiore region, and his job comes down to three things: assigning his Rangers, handing out ranks, and loosening the caps on Capture Stylers one notch at a time. When the Go-Rock Squad steals Professor Hastings's prototype, it's from his base that the whole region is mobilized.

Contents

• The Fall City Base and Its Leader
• The Theft That Puts Fiore on Alert
• The Man Who Hands Out the Ranks
• The Missions He Entrusts to the Player
• Spenser, a Rival Turned Friend
• In the Manga, a Leader Brought Down
• Joel at a Glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

The Fall City Base and Its Leader

Joel is the Ranger Leader of the Fall City base, one of Fiore's Ranger Bases. Keith, Lind and Aria work under him, and he's the one who decides, mission by mission, who heads out and who stays at the base.

The game presents him as a level-headed man who weighs up a situation before making a call — which doesn't make him a mere administrator. He holds the record to beat in the Grassland Capture Challenge, east of Ringtown, with five thousand points.

His partner is a Dodrio, which he rides to speed across Fiore, and that image has become his trademark. At the base, he usually leaves it upstairs, where the leader receives visitors and holds his meetings.

🔥 The leader's partner has its own section: check out the Pokémon figures.

The Theft That Puts Fiore on Alert

It all starts with a routine escort: Professor Hastings arrives in Fall City, then finally admits that his Super Styler was stolen from him along the way. Joel cuts the conversation short and brings everyone back to the base, not without promoting the player to Ranger Rank 2 for completing the mission.

The Super Styler is the upgraded version of the Capture Styler, still in development at the time of the theft. Joel mobilizes every Ranger in Fall City; Hastings has the Ranger Union alert every base, and recovering the device becomes the region's number one priority.

His orders are methodical: learn everything about the Go-Rock Squad, starting the investigation where the theft took place, in the Krokka Tunnel, and report back constantly. He's the one who spells out the real danger before the professor does — an experimental device that pushes Pokémon to use their powers without restraint could hurt them.

The Man Who Hands Out the Ranks

In Pokémon Ranger, the player's progress goes through him. Rank 2 after escorting the professor, Rank 3 after the city patrol, Rank 4 after the waterworks case: each promotion comes with a technical explanation that no one else gives.

That's how he reveals that a Styler's Partner Gauge has always had five segments, but that some of them are disabled by default. The cap is deliberate: it avoids putting too much stress on the partner Pokémon, and a segment is restored at Ranks 3, 5, 7 and 9.

The same logic applies to the party that accompanies a Ranger. A Styler can hold seven friend Pokémon from the start, but several slots are locked so as not to overwhelm beginners; Ranks 4, 7 and 10 each free up one slot.

The Missions He Entrusts to the Player

With his whole base tied up in the Go-Rock case, Joel has no one left to look after the city. He judges the player's rank too low for the investigation and gives them something else: patrolling Fall City and helping its citizens, from which he'll draw one conclusion — the player has understood a Ranger's role in society.

Then comes a call from an engineer at the Waterworks Bureau: the pipes are teeming with Grimer, and the city's water is no longer safe to drink. Joel points out that a Ranger never turns down a mission, sends the only Ranger available, arranges for an experienced Ranger to collect the captured Pokémon, then adds a Muk to the list along the way.

The third case is the strangest: a steady barometer yet violent waves, abnormal tides, sea Pokémon washing ashore in large numbers and a lighthouse that suddenly goes dark. He sends Aria and the player to investigate as a pair on the Safra Sea; the sea calms down, and the cause turns out to be a Kyogre that came to heal its wounds after a clash with Groudon.

Spenser, a Rival Turned Friend

Before running a base, Joel was on a team with Cameron and Spenser. The latter was his rival, to the point that they clashed over the smallest thing; today the two men are very close.

He has drawn a philosophy from it that he's happy to share with the player. Having a rival keeps you from resting on your laurels, because there's always someone competing with you — and a rival, he adds, can just as well be the person you're chasing the same goal with.

Their partnership holds up in the field: the two leaders investigate together in Wintown, Spenser stays there while Joel heads back to analyze the intelligence that places the Go-Rock Squad's hideout somewhere in the Sekra Range. It's Joel again who suggests sending the player there and who remembers the underwater tunnel in the Safra Sea that Cameron mentioned, since the player can't use the Dragonite Bus.

In the Manga, a Leader Brought Down

The manga adaptation gives him a much rougher role. Joel sets out with Spenser and Elita to calm a Deoxys: the operation turns out to be a trap set by the Go-Rock Quads, and the Pokémon is being manipulated by Clyde.

All three Ranger Leaders are defeated. Joel's Styler is the last one to be destroyed, so he comes out of the rout with the most recent information on how the mission unfolded.

He attends the debriefing once the Manaphy Egg has been recovered and Deoxys calmed by Lunick and Solana, and points out that no one in Fiore had ever hatched an Egg. A call interrupts him: Grimer are causing trouble in Fall City's sewers, and he sends the duo there at once.

Joel at a Glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Who is Joel in Pokémon Ranger?
  The Ranger Leader of the Fall City base, in the Fiore region. He commands Keith, Lind and Aria, and he's the one who promotes the player to Ranger Ranks 2, 3 and then 4.
• What is Joel's Pokémon?
  A Dodrio, his partner. He rides it to get around Fiore quickly, and usually leaves it upstairs at the Fall City base.
• Why are Capture Stylers capped?
  Joel explains it as the promotions come: the Partner Gauge has five segments and the Styler can hold seven friend Pokémon from the start, but part of that is disabled so as not to overload the partner Pokémon or overwhelm beginner Rangers. Ranks unlock these capacities one by one.
• What is the relationship between Joel and Spenser?
  They were on the same team, along with Cameron. Spenser was his rival and the two clashed over details; they're now friends and investigate the Go-Rock Squad together, all the way to Wintown.
• What happens to Joel in the Pokémon Ranger manga?
  He falls into a Go-Rock Quads trap with Spenser and Elita, facing a Deoxys manipulated by Clyde. All three Ranger Leaders are defeated and his Styler is the last one destroyed, which leaves him with the freshest information.

In short

Joel isn't the hero of Pokémon Ranger, and that's what makes him easy to read: he embodies the institution — the hierarchy, the ranks, the deliberately capped gear, the mission you never turn down. Still, the game gives him a life of his own: a rival turned friend, a capture record he still holds, and a Dodrio he rides while singing on his good days.