Xerosic artwork for Pokémon X and Y

Xerosic: The Only Man Among Team Flare's Lieutenants

1188 words | Reading time: 5 minutes

He's the only man in Team Flare's group of lieutenants. Xerosic holds the rank of Scientist in the Kalos organization, complete with the regulation red suit, goggles and a microphone. The main story of Pokémon X and Y puts him in the player's path only once, but that encounter decides the fate of the ultimate weapon. And the post-Flare story gives him a role few villains ever get.

Contents

The Rigged Choice in Lysandre Labs

His look comes down to two colors: red goggles, hair and suit with tie, blue gloves, plus a microphone he always keeps on him. The rank of Scientist places him on the technical side of the organization, and Team Flare's regulation red suit serves as his uniform.

The encounter takes place three floors underground, inside the labs of Lysandre. Xerosic waits for the player there, battles them, then presents two buttons and lets them choose: one of the two activates the ultimate weapon.

The choice isn't really a choice. If the player avoids the fatal button, Xerosic presses it himself — the setup exists to put the player face to face with the decision, never to give them the means to stop it. The character then exits the story and doesn't show up again until the main story is over.

The Expansion Suit, and a Change of Heart

He comes back during the missions handed out by Looker, specifically the fifth and sixth. This is where his technical know-how really comes into its own, through an invention with a harmless-sounding gadget name: the Expansion Suit.

Yet the device does exactly what the story fears. It lets someone remotely control the body of whoever wears it, and it's Emma who ends up trapped inside it.

The cruelty he has shown so far eventually starts to crack. Xerosic shuts down the suit with his own hand before the power surge becomes too much for the girl's body to bear, then pleads her case before Looker. The farewells that follow, as the former lieutenant leaves for the International Police office, bring his story in the games to a close.

In the Anime: The Cannon Aimed at Zygarde

The Kalos series gives him a far more hands-on role. Xerosic takes an active part in Team Flare's final offensive, and he's the one who unleashes the Zygarde the organization has under its control, on Lysandre's orders, just as the Kalos League comes to an end. The order comes from the top; the execution is all his.

Then comes his cannon: the machine gives him control of Squishy, which he himself calls Z1. Facing him, Clemont sends out Chespin, Bunnelby and Luxray, while he counters with his Malamar and Crobat as Clembot sets about hacking the cannon.

Defeat comes at the hands of Chespin and Bunnelby, and his exit is even more abrupt: a trapdoor triggered by Clembot opens under his feet, in the basement of the Gym in Lumiose City. So the duel is settled as much by machines as by Pokémon.

⚡ The colossus he unleashed has its own section: check out the Legendary Pokémon.

A Failed Comeback, Then Prison

Xerosic doesn't stay out of the picture for long. He returns later in the series to take revenge on the group of heroes and restarts his project from what he knows best: he manages to recreate the destructive roots used against Lumiose City, with the aim of rebuilding Team Flare.

The attempt falls flat. Clemont takes him down a second time, Officer Jenny makes the arrest, and the Lumiose Gym Leader leaves him with one last word before he's taken to prison: his own strength comes from his friends.

The character also exists on cardboard. His first appearance in the Pokémon Trading Card Game dates to November 8, 2014 in France, with the Phantom Forces expansion. And in Pokémon Legends: Z-A, a photo of him with Mimi, Emma's Espurr, can be seen at the Looker Bureau, while Emma counts him among her mentors.

Xerosic at a Glance

Feature Detail
Role Team Flare Scientist
Distinctive trait The only man in the group of lieutenants
Region Kalos
First encounter Third basement level of Lysandre Labs
Invention The Expansion Suit, which remotely controls its wearer's body
Confirmed Pokémon Crobat and Malamar, in the games and the anime alike
Exit from the story Taken down by Clemont, then arrested by Officer Jenny

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Who is Xerosic in Pokémon?
    A Team Flare Scientist, a member of the Kalos region's criminal organization, and the only man in its group of lieutenants. You can recognize him by his red suit, his red goggles and the microphone he keeps on him.
  • Where do you battle Xerosic in Pokémon X and Y?
    Three floors underground, in Lysandre Labs. After the battle, he offers a choice between two buttons, one of which activates the ultimate weapon — and he presses it himself if the player picks the other one.
  • What is the Expansion Suit?
    Xerosic's invention, featured during Looker's missions. It lets someone remotely control the body of the person wearing it. Xerosic eventually deactivates it himself to spare Emma.
  • What Pokémon does Xerosic use?
    Both media give him the same team: a Crobat and a Malamar, which he uses against the player on floor B3 of Lysandre Labs in X and Y, then against Clemont and his Pokémon in the basement of the Lumiose Gym in the anime.
  • What happens to Xerosic in the end?
    In the games, he leaves the stage after pleading Emma's case before Looker. In the anime, he tries to rebuild Team Flare, gets taken down by Clemont, then arrested by Officer Jenny.

In short

Xerosic fills a rare slot in Team Flare's lineup: the technician whose inventions carry more weight than his Pokémon. The cannon that enslaves a Zygarde and the suit that controls a human body spring from the same idea, and yet he's the one who shuts down the second. A villain the games let walk away, and the anime sends to prison.

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