「 ドラゴーン！！」
Here is a summary of all of Hassel’s scenes in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet and additional scenes in the DLC. Please note that this page will have some spoilers for parts of the game.
In the main game
Hassel is a supporting side character and there are three ways to meet him in the main game, with two of them being optional quests. The first way is your league challenge in the Victory Road path, where you’ll meet him a few times before eventually battling him to progress in your story. The second way are the art classes, which you will unlock by winning Gym badges. The art classes unlock a third way, which is the friendship quest with him where you learn about his past.
Before you can start your treasure hunt journey, you might’ve already seen a glimpse of Hassel standing with the other teachers during the game’s introduction when Clavell gives his speech to the students. You can also go talk to him in the art class before starting your treasure hunt.
Your first proper meeting with Hassel is after you’ve obtained your second Gym badge (which happens to be his friend Brassius’s Gym if you battle through them in the canonical/recommended order). Hassel introduces himself as one of the Paldea Elite Four as well as your art teacher at the academy. He encourages you to train hard if you wish to defeat him during your Champion test, and welcomes you to attend his art classes as well. You do indeed unlock the first art class after this scene.
It’s time to attend your first art class. Like the other classes in the school, the art class will teach you practical tips for your adventure in Paldea, although Hassel’s introductory lesson is rather philosophical.
Now, something that the academy classes unlock is the "friendship quests" with the teachers. Hassel’s first scene in his friendship quest is you meeting him in the art classroom. He asks you for your input on if his art class is too difficult or not, and inquires you if you like Pokémon battles since you chose to do Gyms for your Treasure Hunt. He talks about strength and weakness with you and mentions how he “finds himself pondering about the nature of strength these days”.
The second art lesson gets a little more practical, as Hassel brings in an assistant: Professor Gible! He asks Gible to terastalize, and asks you to identify which type the Tera Jewel on its head represents, pointing out at the beautiful flowers sprouting in it. (Can you guess?)
The next time you see Hassel during your Gym journey is after your third Gym battle. He is accompanied by a fellow Elite Four member, Rika, and introduces you two to each other. Hassel and Rika remark on your exceptional strength and wish you good luck on your journey.
The third art class sees the return of Professor Gible, who gets to demonstrate terastalization again. While the first time was a demonstration on how to identify the typing of a Tera Jewel, this time Hassel teaches you a little more about battle strategy. (He points out how Dendra -the battle studies teacher- had been happy to hear about his idea of teaching about battle mechanics into the art classes.) This time Professor Gible terastalizes into another type, and you’ll identify the snow flake Tera Jewel as an Ice type terastalization. Hassel points out that normally the Dragon/Ground typed Gible would be four times weak to Ice types attacks, and now it can resist them after terastalizing into that type.
After the third art class you can progress on Hassel’s friendship quest. You will find him in the schoolyard, where he likes to spend time every now and then. However, your conversation is cut short by an interrupting stranger. Although we never see the strange woman’s face, you might recognize her to be a dragon tamer NPC if you’ve battled some of them during your journeys in Paldea. She asks for the attendance of Hassel, who is rather unhappy to see her but leaves to talk with her elsewhere after he apologises to you and remarks that something important has come up.
The fourth art class is a rather famous one. As a reward for everyone doing well in the mid-terms, Hassel brings in a Gym leader you’re most likely already familiar with - his dear friend Brassius, the Gym leader of Artazon. You quickly see that these two are so close that they even have nicknames for each other - “Hass” and “Brassie”.
Hassel asks Brassius to use his own experiences as an artist to teach something in class today.
Brassius tells everyone about how he suffered from an art slump and a serious illness in the past. His life changed after meeting Hassel, who taught Brassius how to create art without worrying about how much money he will make about it. This led Brassius to create Surrendering Sunflora, one of his most famous artworks that you can see sprinkled around in Artazon. Brassius also tells the students that it’s best that they do what they enjoy in life, as long as it causes no harm.
As Brassius leaves the room, Hassel is so touched by his story that he starts sobbing in front of his class. This is the first of many times you’ll see this rather emotional side of him!
Time to continue Hassel’s friendship quest again. This time he is in the academy library, looking rather pensive. You startle him a little when you go talk to him, and he apologizes for your previous conversation for being cut off so rudely. For you see, well… It’s time to learn about Hassel’s past!
Hassel tells you about how he comes from an old family line of dragon tamers and that he was raised to become the new family head after his father. However, as a young boy Hassel ran away from home and from the expectations of his family, as he wanted to be a musician instead… and of course, ended up becoming an art teacher at the academy - a profession that he obviously loves doing.
Now, the woman you saw earlier is a relative of Hassel, and is asking him to stop teaching and return to his family home. Apparently Hassel’s father, the current family head, is in rather poor health, implying that there will be no family head at all soon if Hassel doesn’t return home.
Hassel apologizes to you again for talking about his family issues to a student of his and belittles himself as a teacher for doing so. You tell him that he’s a great teacher, which means a lot to him and he is deeply thankful for your encouragement…
Back to the Victory Road story for a bit. Hassel appears once again during your Gym leader quest after your sixth Gym battle. This time he is by himself again, having spectated your Gym match. Hassel is thoroughly impressed by your progress and gets so emotional while praising you that he cries just a little - after which he apologizes to you for getting so worked up, and tells you to not forget attending your classes while he also waits for you to eventually battle him.
The fifth and final art class starts with an apology by Hassel for losing his composure after Brassius’s story in the previous art class. (He even got a scolding from Tyme, the maths teacher.) For the last lesson, Hassel will talk about marks and ribbons and how exactly they will work. After this class is over, it’s time to take the art class final exams.
After finishing the art classes and final exam, you can see the conclusion of Hassel’s friendship quest, as you meet him again in the art class. You and Hassel meet his relative again. Hassel tells her that he has decided to stay as an art teacher. It also turns out that Hassel's father being seriously ill was a lie. The relative leaves, although she says she will be back again as Hassel's stubborness perfectly fits the role of a family leader. Hassel tells you that it's thanks to his students that he was able to stay strong against his family, and gifts you 50 Dragon Tera shards!
After collecting all the gym badges you get to challenge the Elite Four!
You finally get to battle Hassel as the final Elite Four match before meeting the Top Champion. Before him you will have to pass an interview and defeat Rika, Poppy and Larry in battle.
The Elite members will call the next opponent to come to the room, and Larry has trouble calling Hassel loudly enough so Rika has to do the shouting for him. (Later in the DLC Hassel mentions that the Elite Four is actually supposed to have a bell for the next battle opponent, but it’s broken at the moment.) Hassel scolds Larry for having to get Rika to do the calling “again”, and turns to you.
He promises to leave his teacher role behind as he is “the dragon guarding the final fortress of the Elite Test” and comes at you with the full force of his dragon team; Noivern, Flapple, Dragalge, Haxorus and his ace Baxcalibur, which he will terastalize into a pure Dragon type. After sending out his final Pokémon, Hassel turns back into teacher mode for a bit and tells you that you’ve almost passed the “test” and not to give up!
When you defeat Hassel, everyone in the room congratulates you as Hassel loses his composure and cries out of happiness for your success. After calming down, he exclaims that "even a baby dragon can breathe fire" and will hype you up for your final opponent, the Top Champion.
After you have defeated Top Champion Geeta, the Elite Four arrives to congratulate you and Hassel bursts into tears once again.
Hassel can be seen watching your final battle with Nemona and looks rather proud after your victory. (Not crying this time!)
There is one more way to meet Hassel in the main story: The Ace Academy Tournament. He is one of the possible final opponents in the tournament as he is among the strongest trainers in Paldea. His team is otherwise the same, except it is slightly stronger now and a Dragonite is added to his team. The DLC will bring some changes to his team which you’ll see below. Before the DLC was released, Hassel was the only Elite Four member who could be battled infinitely thanks to this tournament!
And of course, you can always go say hello to Hassel in his classroom.
In the DLC
Hassel doesn't get new scenes in The Teal Mask, but he can be met again in Indigo Disk. After completing the main game and both of the DLC’s stories, you can invite Hassel as one of the coaches in Blueberry Academy's League Clubroom with 200 Battle Points. Like the other teachers, he can be unlocked if you’ve already finished his classes and friendship quest back in the academy.
Now you can battle Hassel again, with an updated Pokémon team which is stronger once again and replaces Flapple with a Duraludon. This change will also be present in his Ace Academy Tournament from now on. After defeating him for the first time in the DLC, he will cry with joy after seeing how much stronger you have grown. This will let you learn the “Moved To Tears” emote, and you can now pose just like him!
Your continuing conversation with Hassel is mostly about his role as an art teacher or as an Elite Four member as a guest coach in Blueberry academy. He expresses his worry about how busy the students seem to be and how there isn’t much leisure time for them. He’s also worried for you too in a similar manner.
After inviting and talking to him a few times, Hassel will ask to trade Pokémon with you. He will trade you a level 45 Arctibax, which is the middle evolution of his own ace Pokémon. It is male, has a relaxed nature and its personality is “somewhat vain”. It knows the egg exclusive move Dragon Rush. It also has a Partner Ribbon, which will give it the title “Hassel’s Arctibax” when you send it out in battle. This trade reveals that Hassel’s trainer ID is 316242. Hassel will later mention that the Arctibax enjoys receiving a good belly rub every now and then. He also remarks that the Pokémon you traded to him is quite sweet and is happy to model for his paintings!
Hassel can have short conversations with other characters if they are present in the clubroom. They are Brassius, Rika, Poppy, Larry, Geeta, Drayton and later Nemona who is unlocked after the Pecharunt episode.
Drayton’s is an interesting conversation, as it reveals that he and Hassel know each other and Hassel also knows Drayton’s grandfather, Drayden. The nature of their relationship is unknown for now, but it most likely relates to Hassel’s dragon tamer background.
The conclusion of the Pecharunt event added one more piece of new content for Hassel. Nemona’s conversation with him shows that Hassel is happy to give advice about Dragon type Pokémon to his students, as she asks for battle tips for her new Kommo-o. While Hassel isn’t shown to own a Kommo-o, he is very knowledgeable about how to use it in battle.