Petrel

Petrel
Species	Human
Affiliation	Team Rocket
Hair color	Purple
Eye color	Black
Voiced by	Todd Haberkorn (2022)
Debut	Pokémon: HeartGold/SoulSilver Versions

Petrel is one of the four Team Rocket Executives featured as antagonists in Pokémon: HeartGold and SoulSilver Versions, who are based on nameless Executives who originally appeared in Gold, Silver and Crystal Versions. He is known as a master of disguise, but he is apparently not as good as actually acting like other people.

Background

Petrel was a high-ranking member of Team Rocket, presumably prior to Giovanni's disbanding of the team and subsequent disappearance. Petrel was among those Executives who worked together in secret during the following three years following Giovanni's disappearance to reform Team Rocket and attract Giovanni's attention so that he could lead them again. Petrel seemed to mostly use his talents at disguise, despite the flaws in his disguises coupled with his arrogance.

Ethan/Lyra first confronted Petrel within the hidden Team Rocket HQ at Mahogany Town, in a room that could only be opened with two passwords. Petrel disguised himself as Giovanni in an attempt to trick the trainer, but he was then informed that he neither looked nor sounded like Giovanni (despite Ethan/Lyra never having even met Giovanni yet in the game). He then undid his disguise and, guessing that the trainer was seeking the password to the radio control room, admitted that it was "Hail Giovanni". He believed that this admission would be inconsequential because it was a lock that only responded to his voice. The two decided to battle, and Pertel was defeated. Still, he remained sure that Giovanni was waiting for their revival and fled the base with the knowledge that Ethan/Lyra would be unable to reach the control room. What he didn't consider was that he left behind a Murkrow in the room that was able to mimic his voice. With that, Ethan/Lyra was able to enter the control room and shut down Team Rocket's local operation.

He was then sent to the Goldenrod Radio Tower after Team Rocket took it over. He impersonated the Director and supported all of the new Team Rocket programs that were being broadcast throughout Johto in order to gain Giovanni's attention as well as influence the nation into following Team Rocket. Ethan/Lyra eventually walked in on him, at which point he discarded his disguise and battled the trainer again, this time determined to hold nothing back in battle. He was still defeated and told them that the real Director was held in the Underground Warehouse, going as far as to provide Ethan/Lyra with a key. His hubris failed him yet again, as he had only given the trainer that much because he did not believe that a child like Ethan/Lyra would really get that far with it. The executives and grunts all disappeared after Archer disbanded Team Rocket, leaving it unknown who was arrested (if any) and who escaped.

Pokémon Roster

His roster is unchanged from the Gold/Silver/Crystal to HeartGold/SoulSilver. Petrel uses Zubat, Koffing and Raticate in the first battle; in the second battle he uses five Koffing and a Weezing.

In Other Pokémon Games

In Pokémon Masters EX, Petrel and Weezing appeared as a playable sync pair that could be recruited at random through the Sync Pair Scout feature starting in September 2023, after having previously made storyline appearances in the game. In the Main Story, he appeared in multiple chapters of the Villain Arc carrying out Giovanni's plans. He and the other Executives joined Giovanni on Pasio at the beginning of the Johto chapter. Later on, there was a scene referencing his initial appearance when he battled Silver in a Team Rocket hideout while disguised as Giovanni. He used a Honchkrow in battle, which was implied to be the evolved form of the same Murkrow from HeartGold/SoulSilver. After he was defeated and his disguise undone, Petrel revealed that the next door was locked with a voice-activated password. He then realized that there was a chance that the Honckrow could imitate him again and tried to dissuade it. Petrel remembered that it could no longer be swayed by shiny things now that it had evolved, but he also expressed pride in how much it had grown. Petrel proceeded to accidentally blurt out the password while taunting Silver. While he tried summoning more grunts to prevent Silver from advancing through the unlocked door, Koga and Janine arrived to hold them off. Petrel later played a role in the Hoenn chapter, where he disguised himself as a Team Magma grunt and tricked Courtney into trying to form a sync bond with Groudon and use it against Team Aqua, as part of Giovanni's plan to pit the two teams against each other. During the Hoenn chapter, Petrel seemed to be involved in disguising Team Rocket grunts as members of Team Flare to steal information on them. Looker and Emma confronted him at one of Team Rocket's bases, where he attacked them with a group of grunts. Although he was initially beaten, Archer and Ariana soon provided him with back-up, and they only retreated after Anabel, Diantha and Paulo showed up to help Looker. During the final chapter of the Villain Arc, Giovanni used Hoopa's power to give Legendary Pokémon to his followers, which resulted in Petrel and Proton attacking Brock, Misty and Erika with Reshiram and Zekrom. Later on, Petrel disguised himself and a pair of grunts as Blue, Red and Leaf, and they attempted to dissuade Paulo, Tina and Scottie/Bettie from taking action by claiming they had already beaten Team Rocket. After his disguise was seen through, he prepared to battle the group with Proton and a number of grunts, but Maxie and Archie showed up to battle them instead. Outside of the Main Story, Petrel also made an appearance in Part 2 of "Trainer Files: Kanto Elite Four", in which he tried causing trouble alongside Proton and a tardy Ariana, only for them to end up facing the Kanto Elite Four.

Other Appearances

Other Media

• In Pokémon Adventures, Petrel appeared during the HeartGold/SoulSilver arc, where he worked with the rest of the Rocket Executives from that game in a plan to gain control over Arceus and bring Giovanni back to them. First he underwent several failed attempts to take some of Arceus's Plates from Silver, and he later planned to betray his fellow executives to Giovanni with a lie so that he could become second-in-command. When Archer started to lose his mind while dealing with Arceus, Petrel made several attempts to escape, first disguised as Giovanni and then as Bugsy. He was ultimately apprehended by Lance.
• He appeared in an episode of the Pokémon Generations anime, where Lance battled him while shutting down Team Rocket's base at Mahogancy Town. Lance defeated his Weezing, and Petrel himself was knocked out by a group of recently-freed Electrode.

Trivia

• He is named Lambda in the Japanese version, after a series of Japanese carrier rockets. His English name of Petrel is named after a type of British rocket.
• Petrel's role is altered somewhat from the unnamed Rocket Executive he was based on in the original games. In Mahogany Town, the Executive claimed to be inhabiting Giovanni's office, but he did not disguise himself as Giovanni or show any of Petrel's smugness. After being defeated, he simply ran off and never revealed the password, and that time the player simply learned the password from the Murkrow as it was not voice activated. The second confrontation was similar in both versions, except that in the original version, the Executive never took off his Director disguise.