Michael

This article is about the main protagonist of Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness. For the Club Member of the Fighting Club in Pokémon Trading Card Game (Game Boy Color), see Club Member Michael. For the surfing Pikachu whose Japanese name is Michael, see Puka.

Michael (Japanese: リュウト Ryūto) is the protagonist of Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness. Like most protagonists, his name is customizable.

Michael has a Snag Machine, similar to Pokémon Colosseum's hero, Wes - and an Aura Reader, which makes the dark auras exuded by Shadow Pokémon visible as they were to Wes's companion, Rui. He was given these at the beginning of the game.

His mother Lily, who works for Professor Krane, his sister Jovi and he live at Krane's Pokémon lab in Orre. He is an upcoming Trainer ready for his own journey with his Eevee, his starter Pokémon entrusted to him by his father. Traveling across Orre, he seeks to defeat the criminal organization Cipher, which is now under Grand Master Greevil's plot to wield an army of Shadow Pokémon in order to rule the world.

Michael about to notice a Shadow Pokémon

Not only does Michael successfully defeat the entirety of Cipher Peons and Admins whom he encounters, but he also snags the Shadow Pokémon in their possession. His final feat is the capturing of Greevil's full-fledged team of Shadow Pokémon, including XD001. His achievement brings about the disbandment of Cipher, at least under Greevil and Eldes' leadership.

During the game, Michael's father is mentioned multiple times as a distinguished public figure, but he is in fact deceased. This makes Michael similar to May and Brendan, one of whose father is a Gym Leader and the other - a Pokémon Professor, but also to the other player characters whose father is not present.

Michael also encounters two Generation IV Pokémon, Munchlax and Bonsly, with Bonsly being used in Battle Bingo and Munchlax appearing outside of battle. When this game was released, it was still Generation III.

Trivia

• The name Michael's meaning is derived from the Hebrew query, "Who is like God?" ^[1]
• Michael's optional names are also Biblical references: David was the second king of Israel, Adam was the first man and Gabriel is another one of the Archangels, like Michael.
• Michael's Japanese name, Ryūto, could possibly originate from Ryū, a Japanese word with multiple meanings such as dragon, axe, and kill.

Optional names for Michael

• David
• Adam
• Gabriel

References

This game character article is part of Project CharacterDex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each character found in the Pokémon games.

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