4780 - Pokemon Heartgold -u--xenophobia- File

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.

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.”

The xenophobia wasn’t a scream. It was a low, constant hum. 4780 - Pokemon Heartgold -u--xenophobia-

Lyra grabbed his wrist. “No.”

“The war was twenty years ago. We were babies. Gold wasn’t even born. You want to blame Kanto? Blame their government. Blame the old syndicates. But this kid? He beat Team Rocket. He saved the Slowpokes. He—” Her voice broke. “He’s my friend.” Professor Elm introduced him as “Gold,” though he

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

The kimono girl turned first. Then the fisherman. One by one, the crowd dissolved back into the fog. Exhausted, he knelt at the water’s edge, washing

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.