Karl

Karl (Japanese: クルト Kuruto) is a major character who appeared in Zoroark: Master of Illusions. He is a newspaper reporter from Crown City who is interested in learning Kodai's secrets.

History
Karl first appears to, and  during the evacuation of Crown City caused by 's rampage. Overhearing their conversation with regarding Grings Kodai's motives, he introduces himself as a journalist from Crown City currently investigating Kodai. He teams up with Ash's group, helping them infiltrate Crown City in disobedience of the evacuation orders given by Officer Jenny because of Kodai's manipulation. In the underground tunnels, Karl explains Kodai's background, admitting that he does not know the businessman's reason for using Zoroark but certain that it is a sinister one.

He quickly catches onto the fact that something is wrong when seeing the actual city as compared to Kodai's broadcast. Using his video camera, Karl records documentation that landmarks depicted as being destroyed are in fact still standing, striking a gaping hole into Kodai's claims about the supposed disaster. Later, the group encounters, Karl's grandfather, and his friend. Shortly after leaving Joe's home, the group is ambushed by Kodai and Goone and hauled away in an electrified cage to Kodai's airship.

However, they are not imprisoned for very long before Rowena appears to them. Though she first introduces herself as Kodai's secretary, when Karl tells her to drop the act, she reveals she is actually his colleague and working undercover to discover information that will ruin Kodai once and for all. Armed with the knowledge that Kodai is seeking 's Time Ripple to renew his future-sight abilities, which he initially gained by absorbing the Time Ripple twenty years prior in a disaster that destroyed Crown City, the group returns to Joe's home. When Kodai uses a spy robot to overhear that the Time Ripple is located inside the Pokémon Baccer stadium, Karl rallies his friends to come up with a plan to stop Kodai and reach the Time Ripple first.

The group splits up; while Ash, Brock, Dawn, Zorua and Celebi head for the stadium with Karl's 's help, Karl, Rowena, Joe and Tammy find Raikou, Entei and Suicune attacking Zoroark. Zoroark counterattacks against them by creating an illusion of crystals to engulf them, so Rowena uses her Illusion Canceler in tandem with Joe's 's to dispel the illusion. With the help of the city's Pokémon, the misunderstanding between the Legendary Beasts and Zoroark is resolved.

Later, Zoroark attempts to attack Kodai in the stadium as he holds Ash, Pikachu and Celebi prisoner before the Time Ripple. Kodai stops her by showing that he does have Zorua captured and is more than willing to harm him; Zoroark stands down and is viciously beaten by Kodai's. With all his enemies defeated, Kodai uses his robotic claw to absorb the Time Ripple, and as the plant life of Crown City is ravaged all over again, he boasts of how he does not care about the consequences of his actions as long as his ability to see the future remains, and that nobody will ever know the truth about his deeds that day. However, the Time Ripple he actually absorbed was one of Zoroark's illusions, and as he tries to sort out what happened, Karl and Rowena emerge, with Karl having filmed all of Kodai's confession. That tape later provides the final key to Kodai's downfall when it is played throughout Crown City, revealing to all the true face of the man they trusted.

In the end, Karl travels with Rowena on a ship to escort Zorua and Zoroark back to Unova. During the film's credits, they see Raikou, Entei and Suicune on a cliff, and Karl films them. His video of Kodai's confession goes on to be used in the national news coverage of Kodai's arrest.

In the movie adaptations
Karl appeared in .

Trivia

 * According to notes accompanying Karl's concept art on the Game Freak website, he is partially based on . The notes state that both are baseball cap-wearing journalists with messy hair.
 * Karl's hat features a stylized, a Pokémon that was not fully revealed until the day after the movie was released.