From Gateon to Greatness: Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness’s Stage-Setting Scene

Official Promotional Artwork for Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness

(Spoilers for a 17-year-old Pokémon game ahead! If you’re genuinely interested in discovering this game for yourself, I’ve left details and a link in the final paragraph at the bottom of the page.)

Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness, initially released in 2005 for the Nintendo GameCube, has been getting some time to shine thanks to folks like youtuber Jaiden Animations, who made a video about the game highlighting the game’s uniquely dark aspects, and various other groups in the Pokémon community who are all too eager to point to Genius Sonority’s 3D Stadium-esque games as what the bar for Pokémon video game animation quality should be. For me, it’s simply admiration for the game that got me into conventional Pokémon games, as well as respect for all the ways its story manages to not only set itself apart from the main series games, but also engage in its own respectable craftiness.

Storytelling, by nature, is all about setting up one scene after another until you hit the payload with an impactful and satisfying climax. However, there are often times when one scene at the advent of the adventure manages to lay the foundation for meaningful moments all on its own weight. This kind of Chekov’s Gunnery is common in video games, when strong characters are introduced in a way that effectively presents their power to the player—as well as the kind of feats the player themselves might be able to accomplish eventually. The scene from Gale of Darkness highlights the essence of such story beats, yet manages to go beyond the status quo by making good on both the various happenings in the narrative and the toying with game mechanics.

Gateon Port: The Fateful Encounter

The story begins with a frightening turn of events as Professor Krane, a mentor figure for the young protagonist and the head scientist in charge of a humanitarian effort to create a machine that can purify the hearts of artificially-corrupted Shadow Pokémon, has been abducted by what can only be presumed to be a resurgent Cipher Organization bent on using such Pokémon to conquer the Orre Region and the world. Finding and rescuing the good professor is top priority, but without a lead, the Pokémon HQ Lab can only continue making progress on the Purify Chamber until an opportunity to act can present itself.

And so, you are sent to the rough-and-tumble Gateon Port to obtain a machine part vital to the project from the local parts shop, but trouble arrives just as quickly as you do. You encounter a massive and frightening thug named Zook after your accompanying sister, Jovi, accidentally bumps into him. Zook immediately becomes outraged and gets ready to pulverize you with his prized Pokémon: a Shadow Zangoose, more than a match for your level 10 Eevee and freshly-snagged Shadow Teddiursa.

Fortunately, help is on the scene: a mysterious tycoon by the name of Mr. Verich appears, along with two equally enigmatic bodyguards. The blue-haired Ardos steps forward to intervene, starting a battle between Zook’s level 28+ Zangoose and his even mightier level 44 Alakazam. With a one-shotting Psychic attack, the Zangoose doesn’t even have a moment to act, forcing the thug to make a hasty retreat.

Professor Krane, a scientist spearheading the construction of the “Purify Chamber” has just been kidnapped by a sinister group wielding the first Shadow Pokémon seen in five years, all but confirming the return of the sinister criminal organization, Cipher. Despite this setback, the HQ Lab sets out to complete the Purify Chamber in Krane’s absence while working as best they can to find and free him from his captors.

Jovi shares words of thanks to Mr. Verich and company before parting ways as you continue with your errand, and the journey continues. As your journey revolves around using your Snag Machine to take Shadow Pokémon away from their cruel trainers to facilitate the restoration of their closed hearts, you can be certain that you and Zook will meet again for his Zangoose’s sake, but you’ve got a long way to go before you can be a match for him, and an even longer way if you hope to one day be as strong as this mysterious Ardos character.

The Snagged Machine

Slowly but surely, however, you prove your worth as a rising Pokémon trainer. Your arsenal of Pokémon continues to expand as you continue to snag and purify Shadow Pokémon while your team of dedicated partners will grow and evolve with each battle. The next time you cross paths with Mr. Verich during a happenstance encounter, you’ll have proven yourself a hero of the Orre Region through both your singlehanded rescue of Professor Krane from a Cipher laboratory and your rescue of the entire Phenac City from a plot by Cipher to abduct and impersonate key figures, the latter of which having been filmed live by a news crew as you defeated the admin in charge of the operation.

But your quest is far from over, as proven by your investigation into Cipher’s schemes turning up the S.S. Libra, a ship that mysteriously vanished while out on the sea, smack-dab in the middle of the desert. It appears that Cipher was indeed responsible for the ship’s disappearance (though you’d probably have assumed that already based on the game’s first cutscene) and that they planned to take the ship’s plethora of Pokémon to manufacture the Shadow Pokémon army of their dreams. Just as you prepare to make for the next stop in thwarting Cipher’s plans, you’re stopped by another villainous league of goons: the disgraced Team Snagem, who have sought you out to get their hands on your Snag Machine and reclaim their old infamy. As skilled a trainer as you are, A dose of Sleep Powder from a Snagem grunt’s Gloom knocks you out, allowing the thieves to steal your Snag Machine while you’re unconscious.

Not only has your only means of thwarting Cipher been ironically snagged from you, but it now poses a potential threat in the hands of Team Snagem. Though you still have your Aura Reader, which is linked with the Snag Machine to prevent it from being used on anything other than Shadow Pokémon, there’s no telling if or when they’d be able to find a workaround. You hurry after them to take what is rightfully yours, but the chase brings you to yet another Cipher facility (that you will come to know as the Cipher Key Lair), whose guard is a terrifyingly familiar face: Zook.

In a reversal from the encounter at Gateon Port, he demolishes a Team Snagem Goon with his Shadow Zangoose. As the rest of Team Snagem scatters to their hideout, Zook quickly recognizes you as the boy from Gateon. The time has finally come for you to take on Zook as a trainer in your own right and finally snag that Zangoose.

Except… you don’t have the means to snag that Zangoose.

Maybe you’ll realize it the moment you see the Aura Reader react to the Zangoose, or maybe you’ll have gotten so used the gameplay loop of weakening Shadow Pokémon to snag them that it won’t hit you until your attempt to use a Poké ball reminds you, but all the same, what should be a triumphant milestone as you engage in and win a long-awaited confrontation is undermined by being stuck at your lowest point as you’re forced to defeat the Zangoose and hope you’ll soon get another chance.

You will spend some time without your Snag Machine and have at least one more encounter with a Shadow Pokémon that you cannot snag (via the wandering Miror B.), resulting in the same feelings as before by being forced to knock it out, but your reversal comes eventually as you discover and march on Team Snagem’s base, beating one Snagem grunt after another before getting to avenge yourself on the one that incapacitated you with his gloom. Your raid culminates with a face-off against Snagem’s leader, Gonzap, who decides after his defeat to return your Snag Machine in recognition of your skill—and the fact that his massive muscles are utterly incompatible with your protagonist-sized device.

Catching Up with Destiny

Despite numerous setbacks, you have finally retrieved your Snag Machine and are ready to pick up right where you left off. At the Cipher Key Lair, you have your final battle with Zook and your chance to finally snag that confounding Zangoose. With his second and final defeat, Zook decides to leave Orre for good out of fear of the consequences for his repeated losses. What was once a fearsome threat to you has been bested once and for all, leaving nothing between you and the Key Lair, where the mass-production of Shadow Pokémon has been taking place.

In typical protagonist faction (and with the help of Team Snagem, who hold a grudge against Cipher as their ex-partners), you raid the Key Lair and shut it down in dramatically cataclysmic fashion. The evil group’s plans seem to finally be laid to rest, but there lies one more challenge. Your old helpful acquaintance, Mr. Verich, is revealed to be Greevil, Cipher’s ultimate leader. You must now journey to Citadark Isle, where he, his bodyguards, and the massive remainder of Cipher’s manpower await you.

The island is full of fateful reunions against Cipher’s top brass, but one of most noteworthy among them is Ardos, the bodyguard you witnessed besting Zook at Gateon Port who has since been revealed to be one of Greevil’s henchmen. He reveals that his act of kindness was simply done to put an insubordinate tool in their place as it was not part of their design to so brazenly flaunt Shadow Pokémon in public. Then, he challenges you to a battle, his level 44 Alakazam making its grand return as one of his lead Pokémon. At long last, after numerous hours of trials and tribulations, you can finally feel your journey arrive at its most climactic moment. Ardos’s defeat doesn’t mark the end of the story, but it serves as a reminder of just how far you have come. There was once a moment where you were but an ant to him and the man he would beat, but here you are, your victory over Zook some 20 levels behind you and your win against the once herculean-seeming Ardos a necessary step in securing peace for Orre.

Conclusion

All these emotional moments, all the feelings of triumph and despair, all trace themselves back to that one moment where you were a young, hapless trainer that ended up a witness to two mighty trainers’ battle.

For the storyteller, this is an obvious reminder of what was mentioned at the start of this blog: the most potent parts of a story are built on the moments that precede it by chapters or perhaps even entire books. While you needn’t save all the “boom!” for one particular moment, it’s worth thinking about how even the most seemingly inconsequential scene might tie to the ultimate fate of the characters.

Let this also be a reminder of what your love of a certain game, book, movie, etc. can do for you from a developmental standpoint. Even something that is popularly considered mediocre at best has something to offer if you can find it, and it’s worth considering the things that make you adore it so much so that you might recognize the ways that impacts your own writing technique or views.

And as for all my Pokémon fans, well… this would be the part where I would suggest you consider giving Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness a try, but between it being staggeringly expensive and only available on obsolete technology, I’d instead point you to watching a Let’s Play or walkthrough of the game instead (if you want my recommendation, Chuggaaconroy’s Let’s Play of Gale of Darkness is a classic). Whether you choose to break the bank or play it safe, I strongly urge you to give it the attention it deserves!