Petrel

Petrel
Species	Human
Affiliation	Team Rocket
Hair color	Purple
Eye color	Black
Debut	Pokémon: HeartGold Version/Pokemon: SoulSilver Version

Petrel is one of the four Team Rocket Executives featured in Pokémon: HeartGold and SoulSilver Versions, who are based on nameless Executives originally appearing in Gold, Silver and Crystal. 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". However, he believed this to 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.

Other Appearances

Other Media

• 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.
• Petrel appears in the HeartGold/SoulSilver arc, where he works with the rest of the Rocket Executives from that game in a plan to gain control over Arceus and bring Giovanni back to them. He first had several failed attempts to battle Silver, and he later planned to betray his fellow executives to Giovanni with a lie so that he could become second-in-command. However, 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.

Trivia

• He 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.