Professor Cozmo: the Meteorite Expert Hoenn Duped at First

A niche specialty, two criminal organizations, and a region to save. Professor Cozmo studies meteorites from Fallarbor Town, in the Hoenn region: a field nobody competes with him on, until the day Team Magma realizes what it can get out of it. The story first casts him as a gullible victim, then, in the Delta Episode, as the chief engineer of a planet-saving operation.

Contents

• Fallarbor Town, Meteor Falls and a crude trap
• Takao, a sailor's son and a thwarted astronomer
• The Delta Episode: from local expert to chief engineer
• In the anime, he throws the meteorite into the lava himself
• In the manga, an inconvenient hostage
• Professor Cozmo at a glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

Fallarbor Town, Meteor Falls and a crude trap

When the player arrives in Fallarbor Town, the professor isn't home. He has gone to Meteor Falls with strangers who offered him their help: Team Magma in Ruby and Emerald, Team Aqua in Sapphire. The culprit changes with the version, but the trap is the same.

Cozmo thought he was going to look for fossils. His companions only wanted the Meteorite, the fuel for the machine set up on Mt. Chimney, and he had told them himself where to find that kind of stone — an admission he berates himself for at length once he's alone.

Once the professor is out of trouble and the machine on Mt. Chimney has been stopped, the player brings the stone back to him. Cozmo immediately trades it for TM27, Return, and goes back to his research. In Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, the sequence stays the same, except that the rival lends a hand with the rescue.

Takao, a sailor's son and a thwarted astronomer

The remakes give him a depth the original versions lacked. They reveal that he is forty years old and that he has worked with Professor Birch in the past, but the real substance lies elsewhere: in messages scattered throughout Sea Mauville.

These letters are signed Takao — the professor's first name. They are addressed to Raizoh, his father, a sailor who is almost always at sea, and describe a childhood spent watching the sky because his father so rarely came home. The telescope he begged for finally arrives, sent by that absent father.

The same gift comes around again in Pokémon form: a Shelgon, chosen because its shell looked like a stone fallen from the sky. Its evolution into Salamence ruins the analogy, and the child trades it for a Solrock, which he simply finds prettier.

The last letters grow darker: the parents are arguing, a move is in the works, and the child promises to study hard as long as he's allowed to watch the stars — he wants to become an astronomer. Finally, he sends a Skitty to his father, who names the Pokémon after his son.

☄️ Pokémon from the sky have their own section: see the Pokémon figures.

The Delta Episode: from local expert to chief engineer

The additional storyline in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire takes him out of Fallarbor Town. In it, Cozmo works at the Mossdeep Space Center, a posting that the first chapter of the demo had already hinted at, and he is the one asked to divert a meteoroid headed for the planet.

His method hijacks Mega Evolution. The idea is to combine the Pokémon life energy stored in the rocket with the human power locked inside a Key Stone, so as to artificially recreate the discharge of a Mega Evolution, then expel that charge into space. The technology already exists, he points out: some everyday devices already rely on it.

That leaves the destination. Everything depends on the device meant to open the wormhole, a machine called the Link Cable, and the available power falls short: it takes a second Meteorite Shard of a purity never found anywhere but Meteor Falls. Steven Stone takes care of that.

Zinnia shows up at the Space Center to say exactly how little she thinks of the project: the same technology as three thousand years ago, the same mistake about to be repeated. Cozmo can't find a reply in the moment; on the other hand, when the space-time convector ends up destroyed, he loses his temper — there's no proof that a parallel world exists, and he demands to know how anyone plans to fix it.

The operation succeeds all the same, and the professor makes no secret of his joy. He later gives the player the Galladite, which he stumbled on while digging at Meteor Falls, marveling at the link between Mega Stones, Key Stones and meteorites: reason enough to write right away to that friend from Kalos with whom he had analyzed the rocks of Meteor Falls a few years earlier.

In the anime, he throws the meteorite into the lava himself

Episode 328 puts him at the center of the conflict. The stone he has just unearthed is immediately coveted by both organizations; while Team Magma and Team Aqua tear into each other, he slips away. Ash finds him and tries to lend a hand.

Team Magma still gets hold of the stone and plans to use it to make Mt. Chimney erupt. Cozmo creates a diversion, Ash and Pikachu go after the meteorite, and fail.

His reaction is a far cry from his naivety in the games: he hurls the meteorite into the lava himself using the machine rather than let it serve Team Magma's plans. A researcher who knowingly destroys the very object of his work is something the series rarely shows.

He shows up again at the Mossdeep Space Center in The Scoop, an episode of the short series Pokémon Generations, this time on the side of secrecy. A confidential document is copied there without his knowledge: flanked by security guards, he intercepts Gabby and Ty, two reporters from TV Mauville, and demands the USB drive. A trick by Gabby makes him lose it, and he decides the time has not yet come to reveal everything.

In the manga, an inconvenient hostage

The Ruby and Sapphire arc is his only manga appearance, and it starts out just like the games. He digs up the Meteorite for Team Aqua without suspecting a thing about their intentions, together with Shelly.

Next stop, Mt. Chimney, where they use the meteorite to silence the volcano: the professor's party shuts down its activity, then takes off. After that he drops out of the story: his name comes up several times, each time to report that he is missing.

Winona and Flannery eventually find him tied up in the Team Aqua Hideout, where he apologizes, before boarding the Pokémon Association airship. He only reappears at the very end of the arc, and his name resurfaces one arc later, in FireRed and LeafGreen, when Sird mentions the Deoxys Meteorite.

Professor Cozmo at a glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Who is Professor Cozmo?
  A researcher specializing in the study of meteorites, based in Fallarbor Town, in the Hoenn region. He appears in Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald, then in the remakes Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire.
• Why is Team Magma interested in him?
  Because he knows where to find meteorites. Its members pose as helpers, take him to Meteor Falls and leave with the Meteorite meant for their machine on Mt. Chimney.
• What do you get for helping Professor Cozmo?
  TM27, Return, when you bring the Meteorite back to him, and TM23, Smack Down, as thanks for the rescue. After the Delta Episode, he also gives you the Galladite.
• What is Professor Cozmo's real first name?
  Takao. You learn it from the letters found throughout Sea Mauville, addressed to his father Raizoh, a sailor; they also tell of his childhood passion for astronomy.
• What is his role in the Delta Episode?
  He designs the method meant to divert the meteoroid: combining the Pokémon energy stored in the rocket with the human power of a Key Stone to recreate the discharge of a Mega Evolution, then opening a wormhole with the Link Cable.

In short

Cozmo isn't a professor who hands out starters at the beginning of the game: he's a narrow specialist whom a storyline ends up placing at the center of the world. Duped by Team Magma in the original versions, he returns in the Delta Episode with the plan meant to send the meteoroid far away from the planet, and the anime even gives him the gesture the games never do: destroying his find rather than letting it be used. What remains are the Sea Mauville letters, where the expert becomes once again a child who wanted to be an astronomer.