Marlon

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Poison days, poison on the stage!
Marlon
Species	Human
Affiliation	Pokémon League (Unova)
Hair color	Dark Blue
Eye color	Blue
Base	Hamilau City
Voiced by	Ray Chase (2019)
Debut	Pokémon: Black/White Versions 2

Marlon is a Pokémon trainer who acts as the eighth and final gym leader of the Unova region who could be faced as an opponent in Pokémon: Black and White Versions 2. He is one of the three new gym leaders added in the sequel games and one of the two of those gym leaders to be a completely new character. He specializes in Water-type Pokémon.

Background

Marlon was an accomplished swimmer who became a gym leader at Humilau City's gym. He enjoyed swimming with the Pokémon and seemed to have a very carefree world outlook. He claimed that the ocean was his home, and the ocean "accepts all rivers", so he tended not to think about many of the problems of the outside world, including being oblivious to the actions of Team Plasma. Marlon also believed in following one's own convictions rather than believing everything that he's told.

In Black 2 and White 2, Nate/Rosa initially had to find him while he was swimming around the city to get him to return to the gym. The trainer then challenged and defeated him. Marlon congratulated Nate/Rosa on their victory and gave them the Wave Badge as well as TM55: Scald. Afterwards, Marlon came across Nate/Rosa and Hugh while they were discussing Team Plasma and inquired about them. They told him about Team Plasma's plans, but Marlon told them that they would understand what they wanted to do better if they said that in their own words.

He then went ahead to Route 21, where he lowered the Plasma Frigate's boarding plank for Nate/Rosa and Hugh. Marlon was unsure about whether or not to consider Team Plasma to be bad, but he wanted to help the young trainers and felt that it was fine to search for stolen Pokémon and to prevent Unova from being frozen over. Marlon also appeared as a competitor at the Pokémon World Tournament, where he took part in the Unova Leaders, World Leaders and Type Expert divisions.

Pokémon Roster

For gym battles, he uses Wailord, Carracosta and Jellicent, as well as a Mantine in Challenge Mode.

For tournament fights, Marlon's potential roster could include some or all of the following Pokémon:

• Jellicent
• Carracosta
• Starmie
• Alomomola (Unova Leaders) or Quagsire (World Leaders/Type Expert)
• Mantine (Unova Leaders) or Cloyster (World Leaders/Type Expert)
• Wailord

In Other Pokémon Games

In Pokémon Masters EX, Marlon and his Carracosta appeared as a playable sync pair that could be unlocked at random through the game's Sync Pair Scout feature. He made an appearance during the "Trials on the Isle" Story Event as part of Lana's trial. He swam around in the water with two other swimmers until fished out by a challenger, at which point the three of them would battle the challenger.

Other Appearances

Other Media

• Marlon was featured in an episode of the Pokémon anime, where Cameron fought and defeated him for his final badge.
• In the Pokémon Adventures manga, Marlon was first shown during the Black/White arc as a competitor in the Pokémon League's tournament. He fought the mysterious hooded man and lost. White questioned him about the hooded man, who somehow made it into the competition without earning any badges, but Marlon found Cheren to be more suspicious than him. He reappeared as a gym leader during the Black 2/White 2 arc, where he helped Benga to rescue students of the trainers' school from Team Plasma and helped to organize an effort to fight back against Team Plasma.

Trivia

• He is most likely named after the fish 'marlin'. His Japanese name is Shizui, which refers to a plant that grows in marshes and is also similar to the Japanese words for "water", "drop" and "well".
• In the Japanese version, he speaks in a Kyushu dialect.
• The lower half of his body is depicted with a pale skin tone, implying that his upper body is intended to have been tanned from his regular swimming.
• He learned how to jump from the water by practicing with the Mantine that lived by his childhood home.