Grant

"The wild, yet cool and collected, rock climber."
Grant
Species	Human
Affiliation	Pokémon League (Kalos)
Hair color	Black
Eye color	Gray
Base	Cyllage Gym
Voiced by	Erik Scott Kimerer (2019)
Debut	Pokémon X/Y

Grant is a Gym Leader of the Kalos region who appeared as an opponent in Pokémon X and Y. He was the second Gym Leader to be battled in the game and specialized in Rock-type Pokémon.

Background

Grant was a trainer who was known for taking on a number of physical activities, such as rock-climbing and bicycle racing. He was also known for his unique fashion of wearing rocks in his hair, which apparently started a fashion trend. Grant believed in constantly improving one's self and saw challenges as walls to be surmounted. He acted as the Gym Leader of Cyllage City's gym and held the Cliff Badge. His gym was designed to be a set of giant cliffs to scale, located within a cave located in a cliff alongside Cyllage City. He also was a member of the Battle Chateau, where he held the rank of Marquis.

In X/Y, Grant first came across Calem/Serena near his gym. He assumed that they had come to participate in a bicycle race that he had just won and broke the news that the race had ended. As consolation, he gave the trainer HM 04: Strength, but he also told them that they would need his gym badge in order to use the move outside of battle. Grant then returned to the gym, where Calem/Serena challenged and defeated him. He saw that the trainer saw the value of never giving up and gave them the Cliff Badge, as well as TM39: Rock Tomb.

If Calem/Serena achieved the rank of Marquis at the Battle Chateau, it would activate the chance of Grant appearing at the chateau for a potential rematch.

Pokémon Roster

In battle, he uses Amaura and Tyrunt, which are the sixth generation's two fossil Pokémon. For the Battle Chateau, he uses their evolves forms: Aurorous and Tyrantrum.

In Other Pokémon Games

In Pokémon Masters EX, Grant appeared with his Tyrunt as a playable sync pair that could be unlocked at random through the game's Sync Pair Scout feature. His Tyrunt could evolve into Tyrantrum by completing a Sync Pair Story in which he had to defeat Siebold in a one-on-one battle. Grant made an appearance as an opponent in the Story Event "The Strongest There Ever Is", where he admired Steven Stone's skill and challenged Scottie/Bettie's team to a battle. He also made an appearance in the Solo Event "A Sweet Secret", in which he had mentored a trio of trainers along with Bea and Bruno, and those students brought them sweets as a treat. He tried to keep his sweet tooth a secret to protect his public image.

Other Appearances

Other Media

• In the Pokémon anime, Grant was initially featured in an episode about the Battle Chateau, where he earned the title of Great Duke after defeating Viola in a battle. He did not reveal that he was also a Gym Leader until the end of the episode. Several episodes after, Ash had his gym battle against Grant. Grant gave Ash a tough battle while using only two Pokémon (Tyrunt and Onix) against Ash's entire team, but Ash ultimately defeated him and earned the Cliff Badge. He made some other minor appearances throughout the X/Y series, including taking part in the effort to destroy the Giant Rock near the end of that series.
• In the Pokémon Adventures manga, Grant appeared during the X/Y arc, where he was shown working with the other Gym Leaders of Kalos as part of an effort to stop Team Flare.

Trivia

• His Japanese name is Zakuro. This comes from the Japanese word for "pomegranate", which also contains a figure meaning "stone". His English name of Grant could reference both the words "pomegranate" and "granite".
• According to the Gym Freaks feature, he is on a diet to keep his weight down and seems to lament not being able to eat sweets because of that.
• In X/Y, a woman at Restaurant Le Yeah claims that Siebold of the Elite Four sometimes prepares meals for Grant and Valerie. Grant goes into more detail about his friendship with Siebold in Pokémon Masters and says that they bond over always wanting to improve themselves.
• Grant also talks about how he found the fossils of his Pokémon in Pokémon Masters, and he affectionately describes his Tyrunt as selfish and his Amaura as sweet.