Eusine

Eusine as seen in Pokémon: HeartGold and SoulSilver Versions
Eusine
Species	Human
Hair color	Brown
Eye color	Blue
Voiced by	Unknown (2023)
Debut	Pokémon: Crystal Version

Eusine is a Pokémon Trainer who uniquely appeared as a character in Pokémon: Crystal Version, as well as the HeartGold and SoulSilver remakes. He is known for his obsessive hunting of Suicune.

Background

Eusine as originally seen in Crystal.

Eusine was a Pokémon trainer who hailed from Celadon City. His grandfather had been well-versed in legends and told Eusine many as a boy, although it was the legend of Suicune which intrigued him the most. When he grew up, he became particularly obsessed with tracking and capturing the legendary Pokémon Suicune. Eusine had served as gym leader of Ecruteak City at some time in the past, and he learned more about the story behind the legendary dogs and their connection to the legendary birds. He apparently left his post at some point (presumably to focus on his hunt for Suicune) but became good friends with his successor, Morty.

Eusine had been hunting Suicune for ten years at the time of Crystal Version. Eusine was first seen examining the Burned Tower with Morty, due to rumors connecting it with Suicune. Eusine arrived in the tower's basement just after Ethan/Lyra, and so witnessed Suicune awakening with the other three legendary dogs and scattering across Johto. He felt touched by this moment and thanked Ethan/Lyra before leaving to track Suicune. Outside Cianwood City, Eusine happened across Ethan/Lyra just after Suicune evaded them both by taking to the seas. He took some time to marvel over several factoids about Suicune and then challenged Ethan/Lyra to a battle in an attempt to win Suicune's respect. He lost and admitted defeat, but congratulated the trainer and noted that Pokémon seemed to gravitate to Ethan/Lyra because of how amazing that trainer was. Eusine than endeavored to continue his search for Suicune.

Crystal Version

Eusine later witnessed Ethan/Kris's battle with Suicune in the Tin Tower and congratulated him afterwards, with excessive praise for the battle. He also told Ethan/Kris about rumors that Suicune could attract a rainbow-colored Pokémon and then left to study the legends. Eusine then returned to his hometown of Cerulean City and spent most of his time in the Pokémon Center there. In the Crystal Version, he told Ethan/Kris to update him when he caught the other two legendary dog Pokémon. Once the trainer achieved that accomplishment, Eusine told them about rumors regarding Ho-Oh reappearing at the Tin Tower and headed back to Ecruteak City. There he witnessed Ethan/Kris's battle against Ho-Oh and afterwards congratulated them once more, saying that it had turned out as he expected. Realizing that his research was not that bad, he decided to continue studying Pokémon and become a famous Pokémaniac as his new goal.

HeartGold/SoulSilver

His storyline was altered somewhat in HeartGold/SoulSilver. At the Burned Tower, he could see Suicune through the hole in the floor, but did not go to see it because he knew it would just run away, as he had tried many times. Eusine still battled Ethan/Lyra after he awakened Suicune and then went on his trail, traveling across Cianwood City, Route 42 and then to Kanto, at Vermilion City and Route 42, each time seeing it around the same time that Ethan/Lyra did. He eventually picked up on the pattern of Suicune preferring water and at Route 42,he came to the realization that Suicune was seeking a hilly place near water somewhere north. He wanted to keep this to himself, but he told Ethan/Lyra this hint as well in order to be an honest trainer in front of Suicune. He then proposed a challenge as to who could find it first.

Eventually Eusine found Suicune at its final location on Route 25, but Ethan/Lyra had beaten him there. He admitted defeat to the trainer and confessed that since that time at the Burned Tower, he had felt that Suicune had chosen Ethan/Lyra instead, then stepped aside and let Ethan/Lyra take on Suicune. Amazed by the player's battled, he congratulated them both and bid them farewell. Unlike in the previous game, Eusine did not reappear at Cerulean nor were his future aspirations touched upon.

Pokémon Roster

Eusine uses the following Pokémon in battle:

• Drowzee
• Haunter
• Electrode

In Other Pokémon Games

In Pokémon Masters EX, Eusine appeared with a Shiny Suicune as a playable sync pair that could be recruited at random through the game's Sync Pair Scout feature during limited time periods starting in June 2023. He was also shown using an Electrode prior to bonding with Suicune. Eusine was featured in the Story Event "Chase the Northern Wind", in which he accidentally ended up at Pasio while pursuing Suicune. He ended up pursuing a Shiny Suicune that had appeared on the island, with help from Morty and Kris, while Silver acted as a rival pursuing the Suicune for himself. Ultimately, he was able to find and battle the Suicune, which chose to form a sync bond with him. He also have Silver a Pokémon Egg he had gotten while traveling across Johto, in hopes that it would help his dreams to come true.

Other Appearances

Other Media

• Eusine was featured in an episode of the Pokémon anime, where he attempted to hunt for Suicune in Ecruteak City. His arrogance and obsession with Suicune were played up, with Morty acting as his voice of reason. Eusine becomes angry at Ash when he claims to have seen Suicune, not believing his story and attempting to battle him. At the end of the episode he attempts to catch Suicune when it appears, and disappears soon after it does to continue his search for it. Eusine made an additional appearance in a Pokémon special (though the English dub incorrectly called him "Eugene") where he helps the extra Johto trainers Jimmy, Marina and Vincent against the Team Rocket members Atilla and Hun.
• He appears throughout the Gold/Silver/Crystal arc of the Pokémon Adventures manga. In this incarnation he is somewhat of a showy con man, who specializes in a variety of flashy magic tricks and illusions. He meets Crystal early in her quest when she seeks Suicune, which leads him to declare her as his rival in hunting Suicune. However, they later set aside their differences when Team Rocket also hunts Suicune, as Eusine stays behind to outwit and distract a gang of Team Rocket members while Crystal pursues Suicune. Although she ultimately fails in capturing Suicune, Eusine is able to steal the Clear Bell from the Team Rocket gang, and he later uses it to save Misty and Suicune from The Mask of Ice's death trap. Suicune chooses Crystal over him as its trainer for the final battles, and although he is at first dejected, Eusine seemed to have assured himself when talking to Morty, believing that Suicune would repay him in some way for saving its life. He returns in the HeartGold/SoulSilver arc, where he listened to Silver talk about his troubles and got saddled with watching over Crystal's young students. At the end of the arc, he was last seen chasing after Suicune again.
• Eusine was featured in an episode of the Pokémon Generations anime series, where he recalled the story of the legendary beasts and ended up catching a glimpse of Suicune.

Trivia

• His Japanese name is Minaki, from a pair of words that can combine to together to form the kanji spelling of the Japanese word for 'crystal'. It may also be referencing the Japanese word for "monarch", which could also be read as "kun" in reference to Suicune's name. His English name simply seems to have been chosen to look similar to Suicune's name.
• In battle, he is referred to as the unique trainer class of "Mysticalman".
• His HeartGold/SoulSilver design added several diamond shapes to his suit, which resemble the patterns on Suicune's body.
• In Pokémon Masters EX, Eusine says that it has been about ten years since he initially set off on his journey to find Suicune.