Hugh: The Unova Rival with a Score to Settle

A rival who battles you several times, but who also fights by your side. Hugh joins the hero of Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 with an obsession that has nothing to do with sport: getting back the Purrloin that Team Plasma stole from his little sister five years earlier. Childhood friend, battle partner, hothead who struggles to keep his own anger in check, he plays the part in both versions at once.

Contents

• A Childhood Friend Promoted to Rival in Both Versions
• The Stolen Purrloin That Drives His Whole Story
• On Screen: A Promotional Short
• The Manga Tells the Story of the Theft
• A Second Career in the Mobile Game
• Hugh at a Glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

A Childhood Friend Promoted to Rival in Both Versions

Hugh grew up alongside the protagonist, and the game hands him the role of designated rival. He plays that role in Black 2 and White 2 alike. Players gave him a nickname that sums it up — Grey, the shade you get by mixing the two colors in the titles.

His curt manner is misleading. Behind the standoffish front is a genuinely kind boy, deeply attached to Nate as well as Rosa, the two protagonists you can play as. His real flaw lies elsewhere: he has trouble controlling his anger, and the story leans on it from start to finish.

His look plays on the same contrast: messy dark blue hair and matching pants cinched at the ankles, a red jacket with white stripes, red sneakers with black accents, and a white bag trimmed in black and decorated with a half pattern of red Poké Balls. As for his team, his profile doesn't give him a single favorite but three: Snivy, Tepig or Oshawott, the three starter Pokémon of the Unova region.

🌱 Snivy, Tepig, Oshawott: Unova's starter trio has its own section called Pokémon Starters.

The Stolen Purrloin That Drives His Whole Story

Five years before the adventure begins, Team Plasma steals the Purrloin belonging to his little sister. Hugh doesn't turn it into a childhood heartbreak but into a mission: what he announces, throughout the game, isn't some symbolic payback, it's the complete eradication of the organization.

The story gives him what he wants, just not the way he hoped. He eventually gets the Pokémon back, by then evolved into Liepard, and the reunion leaves him with a creature that has turned downright aggressive. The years in captivity have left their mark, and the attempt to make things right turns into a bitter realization.

That grudge comes out in battles rather than speeches. Hugh joins the player several times for two-on-two battles against Grunts, and one of those alliances targets Zinzolin, backed by a member of the organization. So the rival isn't just an opponent to beat: he's a recurring ally in multi battles.

On Screen: A Promotional Short

To launch Pokémon Black 2 and White 2, the publisher produced a video edited like a trailer for an animated series. Hugh is the star, alongside a Samurott that unleashes Ice Beam — an image designed far more for promotion than for the plot.

The short also gives him an opening scene. We first see him running through the streets of Aspertia City with Nate, both of them in a hurry to meet Bianca and receive their starter Pokémon. It's the founding scene of every adventure in the series, played here on fast-forward.

What follows puts him in battle. He takes on Team Plasma aboard the Plasma Frigate, with Nate and Cheren as backup. The animation keeps only half of the role the game writes for him: that of the rival who fights on the same side as the hero.

The Manga Tells the Story of the Theft

The manga adaptation goes back to well before the games: it shows Hugh as a child, looking for a birthday present for his little sister. He hesitates between Pidove, Tynamo and Purrloin, and in the end it's from a painter that he gets the third one.

The Pokémon defies him right from the start. Purrloin refuses the Poké Ball and would rather be dragged along than obey, until it changes hands. Once it's given to his sister, it follows her orders on the spot, to the astonishment of the brother who has just spent pages hauling it around.

The theft happens during a training session, while Hugh is working with his Trapinch, Purrloin at his side. Two Team Plasma members attack them and leave with his sister's Pokémon despite the boy's resistance — the same wound the games describe. The games even take care with the callback: his three childhood companions are the ones he sends out from Undella Town onward, in their final forms — Flygon, Unfezant and Eelektross.

A Second Career in the Mobile Game

The mobile sync-pair game recruited him on November 7, 2022. His canonical version battles alongside Bouffalant, and an alternate pair led by Unfezant can be obtained in exchange for Training Tickets during the Damage Challenge.

A second outfit exists: the standard Pasio Academy uniform, in which his partner becomes Pignite. The introduction text changes tone along with the costume, since there he's no longer the avenger of Unova but the big brother the younger students can count on.

His canonical profile, for its part, keeps what has defined him since day one: a fiery temperament, roots in Aspertia City, a fierce protectiveness of his sister and zero tolerance for anyone who separates a Pokémon from its Trainer. The trading card game had welcomed him earlier, with the Black & White—Boundaries Crossed expansion, released in France on February 16, 2013.

Hugh at a Glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Who is Hugh in Pokémon Black 2 and White 2?
  He's the protagonist's childhood friend and designated rival. Unusually, he plays that role in both versions of the game, and he teams up with the player in several battles against Team Plasma.
• Why do fans call Hugh "Grey"?
  Because he appears in both Black 2 and White 2. Grey is the color that sits halfway between the two shades the versions are named after.
• Why does Hugh hold such a grudge against Team Plasma?
  The organization stole his little sister's Purrloin five years before the adventure. He eventually finds it again, but the Pokémon has evolved into Liepard in the meantime and is very aggressive.
• Which Pokémon are really associated with Hugh?
  A Unova starter, whether Snivy, Tepig or Oshawott, a Samurott in the promotional video, and Bouffalant, Unfezant and then Pignite in the mobile game. As a child in the manga, he has a Trapinch, a Pidove and a Tynamo.
• Does Hugh appear in the anime?
  He appears in the promotional short made for the games' release. It shows him running through Aspertia City to pick up his starter Pokémon, then battling Team Plasma on the Plasma Frigate.

In short

Hugh holds an unusual place in the lineup of rivals: he isn't there to measure his progress against yours, but to settle a five-year-old score. The games, the short and the manga all tell the story of the same wound from three different angles, and the reunion with an out-of-control Liepard refuses any easy reconciliation. A rival whose story ends badly, even when he wins.