4780 — - Pokemon Heartgold -u--xenophobia-

That was when the locals arrived. A dozen of them—fishermen, berry farmers, a kimono girl with cold eyes.

Professor Elm introduced him as “Gold,” though he wore the sullen silence of someone who’d lost something. He spoke with the clipped, efficient vowels of Saffron City, and when Lyra offered him a Rage Candy Bar, he stared at it like it was a foreign insect. 4780 - Pokemon Heartgold -u--xenophobia-

He was from Kanto. That was the first strike. That was when the locals arrived

“It’s fine,” he said quietly. He returned Typhlosion to its ball. “I’ll take the Magnet Train back tonight.” He spoke with the clipped, efficient vowels of

Gold proved difficult to hate. He was a brilliant battler, his Typhlosion a furnace of controlled fury. He helped the old man in Azalea Town chase off Team Rocket. He returned the stolen machine part to the Power Plant without demanding a reward. He even bowed—actually bowed—to the Elder in the Sprout Tower.

Gold had just defeated the Red Gyarados—a monstrous, shimmering thing driven mad by forced evolution. Exhausted, he knelt at the water’s edge, washing the crimson scales from his arms. Lance, the Dragon Master, clapped him on the shoulder. “You’ve got the heart of a true Johto trainer.”

“He’s the one who stirred up the Gyarados,” the kimono girl said. “Kantonese black magic. They want to destabilize our region.”