Professor Zak


 * "You can't be serious! ...... I may be against Pokémon battles, but that doesn't mean I won't come prepared for one."
 * —Professor Zak, Anthian Park

Professor Zak is the Pokémon Professor from Mitis Town, from whom you receive your first Pokémon.

Unlike other Pokémon games, Professor Zak makes appearances outside the Pokémon Lab in Mitis Town, where he discusses your parent's abduction, and outside Rosecove Gym - once you have completed it - where he comments on your progress as a trainer.

Abduction
Zak appears first in the Pokémon Lab, Mitis Town after the player talks to his or her parents at the Archeology Site. Zak gives Starter Pokémon to the player and Anthony. The player's parents tell the player to set out on his adventure as they need to talk to Zak for a moment.

What no-one is aware of at this point is that Zak is actually the Leader of Team Eclipse.

It can be assumed that Zak witnesses the player's parent's giving the Bronze Brick necklace to the player after battling Anthony, and that he orders his thugs to kidnap player's parents shortly after the player sets off on Route 1.

Zak pretends to be concerned in the cut-scene which occurs when Anthony brings the player back to town just as they are about to head to Cheshma Town for the first time.He pretends to be innocent by delivering this bad news to the player personally. However, there are clues in his speech which could point to him being a member of Team Eclipse, such as saying Eclipse have some "Interesting" ideas about people and pokemon. It could also be assumed that he tells the player to set out to Cheshma Town as he knows Linda will be waiting there to trick the player out of the Bronze Brick necklace.

After the player leave Mitis Town, Zak vanishes.

Fake Apology
After a long absence, Zak approaches the player outside Rosecove Gym just after the player acquires the Float Badge. He apologizes to the player regarding what his so-called friend Linda has done back at Cheshma Town and also revealing what Team Eclipse has done in the past few years to Roria, as well as what they seem to be after currently. However, during his apology, instead of directly calling her name, he referred Linda as "a strange woman", contrary to how he stated that she is his friend back when the player's parents were abducted, sparking suspicion in player's mind.

Reveal
Eventually, Zak decides to reveal his true self when Team Eclipse raids Anthian City and captures Anthony in the process. Confronted by the player and Teresa in Anthian Park, Zak confirms that he is the boss and founder of Team Eclipse, greatly astonishing Anthony and Teresa.

Zak continues to reveal his backstory — how he had no friends and grew up alone with Pokémon, how he became a Pokémon Professor, how he finds human beings often abuse Pokémon to do whatever they want, and how he believes Hoopa to have the power for creating new worlds.

When Eclipse Admin Tyler comes to report from the Anthian Sewer Zak reveals that he ordered Tyler to plant a bomb in the power core as well, to obliterate the entire floating capital. Unable to suppress her rage any more, Teresa yells at Zak, calling him a terrorist, and forces him to battle the player!

''NOTE: From this point the story is from the original Pokémon Brick Bronze. ''

It may change as the story progresses in Myth World.

Final Showdown
Long after the Anthian Park incident, the player infiltrates Eclipse Base at Crescent Town, finding out that Team Eclipse had caught Teresa as well while continuing holding the player's parents captive. He or she storms the Eclipse Boss Office, only to find out that Zak is not there. In the meantime, Zak is hustling Teresa and the player's parents onto the Eclipse Airship. The player bursts into the hanger just before they take off. Zak then talks more about his plans to capture and use Hoopa. He then commands the other Eclipse Admins to leave on the Eclipse Airship except for Anthony, who he orders to keep the player busy while the rest of Zak's goons flee on the airship.

The player finally meets Zak again in the final chamber of Aborille Outpost, named Demon's Tomb. Zak confirms that he knew that player had the Bronze Brick necklace ever since Linda's attack at Cheshma Town. He rambles on more about his plans with Hoopa with the other 3 Eclipse Admins beside him, standing in front of the incomplete portal to summon "The Evil Djinn". Finally, Zak orders Tyler to boot up the portal, causing the player's Bronze Brick to be ripped off towards the portal, unlocking Hoopa's tomb. Zak then throws the Prison Bottle into the portal, summoning Hoopa Unbound! Knowing that the player refuses to give up from foiling his plans, he fights the player again will this all-new-and-improved team, but this time he tops it off with the power of Mega Evolution for his own!

Personality
Zak is similar to Flare Boss Lysandre in Pokémon X and Y — a man originally with good intentions, but seeing the cruelty in humanity has driven him to extreme madness, turning himself into a devil. He also has similar intentions to Galactic Boss Cyrus in Pokémon Diamond, Pearl and Platinum — plotting to use Legendary and Mythical Pokémon to create a perfect world. Despite saying early on in game that Pokémon grow by battling alongside trainers to get stronger, he is actually truly disgusted by Pokémon battles. Nevertheless, he does come fully prepared for one, bringing full and balanced teams of final form Starter Pokémon with incredible power.

Once Zak decides to reveal his true identity, he does not hesitate to show how corrupt he has become and how much he believes in terrorism, by planning to destroy the power core of Anthian City and send it falling to it's doom. On a side note, unlike the other professors in core series games, Zak does not stay in the Pokémon Lab at Mitis Town, disappearing just after he tells the player that their parents have been abducted.