Viren is a recurring antagonist in the Pokémon: Sun & Moon series. He is the corrupt and greedy president of Rainbow Happy Resorts, a land development company, and also the boss of the Revengers.
He was voiced by Kiyomitsu Mizuuchi in the Japanese version and by H.D. Quinn in the English version.
History[]
The Young Flame Strikes Back![]
Viren first appeared in The Young Flame Strikes Back!, where he came to Paniola Ranch. Viren met with Kiawe and his family and declared his intention of buying the ranch from them and turning it into a resort, promising them a share of the money that the resort would bring in. However, his deal was turned down by Kiawe’s parents, who made it clear that they had no intention of selling the ranch. Viren then decided to leave, only to see his car dirtied by the ranch’s Mudbray. As he rode off in his car, Viren declared that he always wins and made a phone call to someone, telling them to move on with the plan. Some time later, the river in Paniola Ranch dried up. Kiawe’s parents made phone calls to learn what happened, and it turned out that a company had bought up the land upstream and blocked the river, which turned out to be none other than Rainbow Happy Resorts, much to Kiawe’s rage.
Later, Viren and two of his henchmen returned to Paniola Ranch and began causing trouble for Kiawe and his family. The henchmen and their Roggenrola and Boldore broke a part of the fences and scared the ranch’s Miltank away. As Kiawe confronted them, Viren came by with his Electivire, claiming that they just happened to find the fence broken and the Miltank running loose. Kiawe tried to round up the Miltank herd, but Electivire got in his way. This forced Kiawe to battle with his Marowak and Turtonator. Marowak easily defeated Roggenrola and Boldore, but Electivire proved much stronger, holding its own against Marowak. When Ash and Kiawe’s sister, Mimo, came by, Viren had Electivire aim Thunder at Mimo, but Turtonator stepped up to protect her, but it took heavy damage and was knocked out. Seeing no choice, Kiawe attempted to use Inferno Overdrive with Marowak, but a doubt in Kiawe’s heart prevented Marowak from properly being able to use the Z-Move and it was defeated by Electivire’s Thunder Punch. When Lana, Mallow, Sophocles, and Lillie arrived, Viren decided to retreat, but not before stating that Kiawe’s family better sell the ranch to him soon.
He returned the next day where he was confronted by Kiawe and his family and friends. Kiawe challenged him to a battle: if Kiawe won then Viren would have to stop trying to get the ranch, but if Viren won, then Kiawe’s family would have to hand over the ranch to him. Kiawe sent Marowak to battle Electivire. Electivire initially had the advantage and even used Rain Dance to summon a rain to weaken Marowak’s Fire-type moves, but Kiawe remained determined and a well-aimed Iron Head to Electivire’s shin managed to deal quite a damage to Electivire. Then, Kiawe and Marowak successfully used Inferno Overdrive, defeating Electivire with an intense blast of green fire.
However, Viren refused to uphold his end of the deal as his henchmen came by in digger trucks, ready to demolish the ranch. When Ash called him out for breaking his word, Viren claimed that he never made such a deal, but Rotom exposed him by showing a recording of Viren making the deal. Despite this, Viren remained undeterred and called for his henchmen to destroy the place. Kiawe’s family and friends then stepped up to defend the ranch, but before the heroes could retaliate, Officer Jenny arrived and unfortunately for Viren, she had an arrest warrant on him for forging land ownership documents, with additional charges of trespassing and destruction of property. Viren and his henchmen tried to flee, but they were blocked off by police cars before being subdued by Officer Jenny’s Granbull. Afterwards, Viren and his henchmen were taken away.
A Young Royal Flame Ignites![]
He reappeared in A Young Royal Flame Ignites!, where he had the Revengers battle against the Masked Royal in a Battle Royal. When Ash’s Torracat barged into the match to help out the Masked Royal’s Incineroar against Mad Magma’s Magmortar and the Revengers’ Pokémon, Viren made his way into the Battle Royal Dome, where he was recognized by Ash and his friends. Viren introduced himself and revealed his connection to the Revengers and their plan to claim the title of Battle Royal Dome’s strongest and buy the Dome itself to make it into a subsidiary of Rainbow Happy Resorts. Ash and Masked Royal objected to Viren’s plan, but then, he challenged them to a revenge match against the Revengers, which the two accepted.
Then, the Masked Royal and Ash as "Ash Royal", came together as the "Double Royals" to face off against Mad Magma and Mr. Electric in a tag team match. The Double Royals held their own against their opponents, but the other Revengers interfered in the match. They had their Muk and Poliwrath grab hold of Incineroar's legs to prevent it from moving, but Kiawe and Lana intervened to free Incineroar, causing Viren to get mad and hypocritically call out the two for their actions. Later, the Double Royals were able to beat Magmortar and Electivire after Torracat learned Revenge. Despite this, Viren was unwilling to give up and had all the Revengers, and their Poliwrath, Muk, and Golem, gang up on Torracat, but Torracat switched out with Incineroar, and the Masked Royal and Incineroar used Malicious Moonsault to KO the Revengers and their Pokémon. Even with this, Viren refused to quit and sent out his Pangoro, only for it to be quickly defeated by Incineroar and Torracat, sending it flying right back into its Trainer, knocking them both out.
The Long Vault Home![]
Viren reappeared again in The Long Vault Home!, where he oversaw the construction of his new resort, the "Viren Tower", when Ash’s Poipole came by and doodled on his wall, causing Viren to get mad. Ash rushed by and tried to erase it until he realized who he was talking to, but didn’t properly recognize Viren, to the latter’s frustration. When Ash asked what Viren was doing, Viren bragged about the new Viren Tower that he was building but in the midst of his bragging, Ash stopped listening to check out another one of Poipole’s drawings, which turned out to be a nasty picture of Viren. Ash commented the drawing looked exactly like Viren, which the latter angrily denied. Then as Ash left, Viren shouted at him not to come back. When Viren went back into the construction site, he saw his henchmen slacking off and shouted at them to get back to work, stating that the Viren statue will be there the next day.
Two days later, a large object covered by a tarp was being loaded. As he oversaw the process, Viren warned his henchmen to be careful with it before telling them that it was nice of them to prepare a pedestal for the statue, but the henchmen didn't know where the pedestal came from. Later, as the object was raised above the pedestal, the Ultra Guardians came by to investigate. Recognizing Ash from before, Viren got annoyed and told the Ultra Guardians to leave. Kiawe warned Viren and his henchmen about an Ultra Beast, but they ignored his warning. Then, Viren had the covered object placed on the pedestal, which flipped one of its tile to reveal an eye; after that, he unveiled the object to reveal that it is a gold statue of himself, which the Ultra Guardians found to be unimpressive and repulsive, and also noted its little resemblance to Viren.
As Viren bragged about the statue, the pedestal stood up, revealing itself to be the Ultra Beast, Stakataka. Stakataka became annoyed by the statue and tried to get it off by violently thrashing around. Viren got so focused in trying to get Stakataka to stop that he failed to notice one of Stakataka’s legs about to crush him, leading to Kiawe kicking him away. Then, the Ultra Guardians learned that Stakataka was rampaging because of the Viren statue on top of it and decided to help it. Kiawe sent out Marowak to have it use Bonemerang on the statue, but Viren got in the way and was knocked out in the process, however Kiawe was still happy that Viren got hit and recalled Marowak while Lana and Mallow dragged Viren away from Stakataka. Later when Ash and Pikachu got the statue off of Stakataka and rode it out, Stakataka calmed down and retracted its legs, accidentally trapping Viren in itself, and when Viren woke up, he got scared by Stakataka's multiple eyes watching him and cried out for help. After Stakataka was caught, Viren saw his ruined statue, which his henchmen said looked just like him, which Viren denied. Viren then decided to call off Viren Tower and instead form his own baseball team and build his own Viren Stadium.
Personality[]
Viren is a greedy, egotistical man who is willing to do whatever it takes to get his way, no matter how underhanded or illegal those methods may be. In his debut, after Kiawe's family turned down his proposal to buy Paniola Ranch from them, he first bought the land upstream to the ranch to block the river that flowed into the ranch, and then, sent his henchmen to harass the family. He was even willing to hurt little kids, shown when he had his Electivire use Thunder on Mimo. And when Kiawe and his family stood up to him one last time, Viren lost his patience, and he decided to just forcibly demolish the ranch, however, all the actions he took against Kiawe's family would ultimately lead to his arrest, as not only had he forged land ownership documents, he also committed trespassing and destruction of property. However, Viren's arrest did nothing to lessen his greed or corruption, as when he was released from prison, Viren tried to take over the Battle Royal Dome by sending the Revengers to defeat the Masked Royal by cheating in the Battle Royal.
He appears to take pride in being a cheater and a deceitful man. For example, when the audience booed him when he revealed that he was the Revengers' boss, he thanked them for doing so, stating that their booing sounded more like sweet cheers to him. He is also shown to be a hypocrite, shown when he got mad at Kiawe and Lana for intruding in the tag team match to free the Masked Royal's Incineroar from the Revengers' Pokémon, even though the Revengers use those tactics shamelessly on a regular basis. In addition, he is a sore loser, which was first shown in his debut, when Kiawe defeated him in a battle, Viren refused to acknowledge his loss and went on with his plan to demolish the ranch, only to be stopped by Officer Jenny, who came to arrest him for his crimes, and shown again in his second appearance, when Mad Magma and Mr. Electric's Magmortar and Electivire were defeated, he sent Mad Magma, Mr. Electric, the other three Revengers, and their Poliwrath, Muk, and Golem to gang up on Torracat, only to be defeated by Incineroar's Malicious Moonsault, however, he still persisted, sending his Pangoro to fight, and had to be personally defeated again. Even when Viren's plans supposedly do not involve corrupt or illegal actions, he still shows rather high vanity. He intended to have a large golden statue of a fit and athletic version of himself as the centerpiece of the Viren Tower resort hotel that he was building and when the statue ended up getting glued on top of a wild Stakataka, Viren got in the Ultra Guardians' way to protect the statue from taking damage.
Gallery[]
Pokemon[]
Trivia[]
- Viren is named after his main Pokémon, Electivire.
