Characters / Pokémon Gold and Silver

Main Character Index > Gold and Silver (Team Rocket)

Characters from Pokémon Gold and Silver, Crystal, and their remakes HeartGold and SoulSilver.

For a list of Pokémon that debuted in the second generation, see Pokémon: Generation II Families.

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Protagonists and Rivals

General Tropes

• Badass Adorable: Adorable children who manage to take down a resurgent Team Rocket, beat the Pokémon League, and even defeat Red.
• The Chosen One: In the original games, they were just a normal trainer getting involved with Team Rocket, defeat Gym Leaders for their badges, become Champion, and face Red. In the remakes, the Kimono sisters sees them as worthy to see Lugia or Ho-Oh, and Arceus will even create a Creation Trio Pokémon for them.
• Cutting Off the Branches: Ethan is made the protagonist in Masters, being Silver's rival and the one to defeat Team Rocket in Goldenrod City. The same is applied to his appearance in Pokémon Evolutions.
• Defeating the Undefeatable: They can optionally battle and defeat Red, the highest leveled trainer in his respective game and a legend for his deeds in the previous games.
• Dressing as the Enemy: In HeartGold and SoulSilver, there's a sequence that requires them to dress up like a Rocket Grunt to get into the Radio Tower.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Actually averted in a rather interesting way. The protagonist's talent as a trainer and love for Pokémon in general is recognized by the elder of the Dragon Clan, and they get accepted as a member of the clan and given a Dratini in the process. Blue will also refer to them as the Johto Champion just before his fight in Crystal.
• Heroic Mime: Copycat still somehow manages to mimic their speech, suggesting that they do speak but are not heard by the player. Indeed, the one time her mimicry is something they definitely didn't say (to tell them where her lost doll is), they're implied to have called her out on putting words in their mouth.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Implied, as the protagonist. They pass the Kimono Girl's Secret Test of Character, and are praised for their compassion and pure heart.
• Kid Hero: They're not even teenagers yet when they start their journey, though their exact age is never given.
• Little Miss Badass: Both female protagonists, as usual; they take out Team Rocket, beat the Pokémon League, and even defeat Red at the ripe old age of 10.
• MacGuffin Escort Mission: At the beginning of the Johto games with a Togepi egg, which kickstarts their fateful encounters with Oak and Silver as well as starting off their journey.
• Magnetic Hero: In contrast to lone wolf Red, the Gen II protagonist spends their adventure amassing a huge circle of friends, represented in-game by the various Trainer phone numbers they collect. Hardly ten minutes of play time will go by without one of them calling, usually for no other reason than to chat about whatever's on their mind. In the remakes, with the space limitations gone, they can get every available phone number in the game, making friends with everyone up to and including all sixteen Indigo League Gym Leaders. Even Silver is not immune to their charms, and becomes a friend and ally by the time of the endgame.
• Nice Guy: Their characterization as NPCs has them as nice and supportive. They're still this if they're the player character, as their influence on Silver helps him learn to treat Pokémon as friends, and they pass the Kimono Girl's Secret Test of Character about their kindness.
• Oh, Crap!: While overworld sprites don't show facial expressions, the protagonist clearly has one after Silver sees through their disguise in Goldenrod Tower, judging by the exclamation mark and way they hurriedly try to turn around.
• Rivals Team Up: The player and the rival are forced into an impromptu double battle against Clair and Lance while training in Dragon's Den.
• Schrödinger's Player Character: Just like in the Generation I remakes, played straight in Crystal, averted in HeartGold and SoulSilver where the one you don't pick shows up as a recurring NPC.
• Secret Test of Character: The Kimono Girls subject the protagonist to one, arranging for Togepi's egg to be delivered to them to see if they had the 'right bond' necessary to summon Ho-oh or Lugia.
• Signature Headgear: Ethan wears a black and yellow baseball cap that resembles an Ultra Ball, Lyra wears a large white hat with a red bow on the side, and Kris has a yellow skull cap.
• Spanner in the Works: If the Celebi event was any indication, they were most likely the direct factor that caused Giovanni to realize that his dreams at re-establishing Team Rocket were a hopeless endeavor, and immediately abandon his station in Tohjo Falls after the battle ends, leaving the rest of Team Rocket in past-day Goldenrod City during the takeover of the radio tower completely dumbfounded at his supposed inactivity... all of this happening while their present-day counterpart is still curbstomping the rest of Team Rocket at the Goldenrod Radio Tower, no less.
• She Is Not My Girlfriend: In HeartGold and SoulSilver, whoever you didn't choose says the gender equivalent of this to their grandma when you're with them in the daycare.
• The Unchosen One: The protagonist is tested by the Kimono Girls to see if they could bring back Ho-oh or Lugia, but there's no grand destiny or prophecy saying they can. They earn that right just by being themselves.

Ethan (Hibiki)

Ethan / Hibiki (ヒビキ hibiki)

Voiced by: Ted Sroka (Pokémon Masters - EN), Daisuke Hirose (Pokémon Masters - JP)

Three years after Red defeated Team Rocket and won the Pokémon League, a new Pokémon trainer from New Bark Town in the Johto region was given his first Pokémon. He was given the same task to catch them all, although now there are more species to find.

Just like Red, he was the sole protagonist in Pokemon Gold and Silver, although that changed when Pokémon Crystal came out. You could now choose him or the female protagonist of that game. When his games were given remakes, he was given another female counterpart named Lyra, along with updating from his version name (Gold) to a new canon name (Ethan) and a new design.

In Pokémon Masters, Ethan is depicted as the main playable character given how Silver takes more interest on him that either Lyra or Kris. As such, most of the tropes below may pertain to his depiction there.

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• Armor-Piercing Response: During Silver's quest to defeat Giovanni in Pokémon Masters, Silver pushes Ethan away because he doesn't understand what's in his heart, but Ethan says that it's precisely why he wishes understand Silver's heart to help him.
• Awesome Backpack:
  • Downplayed in the original games, where the backpack he used had pockets that various items could be sorted into, giving him four times the carrying capacity of Red's.
  • In HeartGold and SoulSilver, thanks to the mechanics introduced in Diamond and Pearl, it has no limit on the number of items it can carry, unlike in the original games.
• Birds of a Feather: In Pokémon Masters, he explains that his Lugia used to keep its distance from him because it wasn't completely convinced about hanging out with Ethan and others until it broke the ice. Ethan cheerfully points out that Lugia behaves just like Silver does and that he's used to it. Ironically, Silver has Ho-oh instead of Lugia.
• Canon Name: The manual for Gold Version refers to the player as "a boy named Gold", and the manual for Silver refers to the player as "a boy named Silver," implying that his name should just be the default Version name-Gold, like Red. He was named Jimmy (Kenta in Japan) in the anime. In Generation IV, he was finally given a in-game name: Ethan.
• Compressed Hair: If his Sygna Suit in Masters is to be believed, his hair is a lot spikier than what is shown sticking out of his hat in normal attire.
• Expy: His original design looked very similar to Red's. Lampshaded by Blue in HGSS.
• Dumb, but Diligent: He's pretty headstrong and oblivious to most social cues when he's in pursuit of a goal. He accosts Valerie thinking she's a Kimono Girl without even pausing to ask.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: From his natural ability to hatch eggs and bond with newborns, to helping redeem Silver, and just his general exuberance in Masters, many people take this as a given when it comes to Ethan.
• In Harmony with Nature: Pokémon Masters portrays him as a skilled survivalist who knows everything from how to navigate a forest to identifying edible mushrooms and berries.
• Keet: He is portrayed this way in Pokémon Masters. As a result, he stands out as the most extroverted of the male player characters currently in-game.
• Olympus Mons: Due to his old namesake, he is associated with Ho-oh. Pokémon Masters makes this an inversion by giving him Lugia due to Silver having Ho-oh instead.
• One-Steve Limit: In the original Gold & Silver, a Pokémaniac on the S.S. Aqua had the name Ethan. In the remakes, said trainer is renamed Morgan to adhere to this trope.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: During the Ho-Oh event, Ethan suggests going to consult Valerie, believing her to be a Kimono Girl that would have knowledge on the Legendary Pokémon he and Silver are pursuing. While Valerie is, in truth, not a Kimono Girl, she does reveal she knows a good deal about Ho-Oh from doing personal research on it.
• Signature Mon: In official art for the games he's usually depicted with either the Chikorita or Totodile lines. However, in most adaptations, merchandise, and in Pokémon Masters, he's given Cyndaquil, and as such he tends to get heavily associated with it. They also have similar color schemes. In HeartGold and SoulSilver, it's Marill if he fills the NPC role.

Kris

Kris (クリス kurisu)

Voiced by: Cherami Leigh (Pokémon Masters - EN), Kana Asumi (Pokémon Masters - JP)

Introduced in Pokémon Crystal, Kris was the very first protagonist you could choose who was female. Before this, the only option was a boy. However, unlike some later games, this was purely aesthetic and had no bearing on the plot, and her story is identical to Ethan's.

In Pokémon Masters, despite not being shown anywhere in the remakes, she appears alongside Ethan and Lyra as a close friend who adventured at the same time. As such, most of the tropes below may pertain to her depiction there.

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• All There in the Manual: The back of the box for Crystal gives her Canon Name as Kris.
• Badass Bookworm: In Pokémon Masters, Kris says she's thought about becoming a researcher, despite having a promising battling career.
• The Bus Came Back: After a years long absence since being replaced by Lyra, Kris returns in Pokémon Masters.
• Characterization Marches On: Kris was a Tomboy with a Girly Streak when she was first introduced, but her Alternate Self Marina and (following in Marina's footsteps) her Pokémon Masters appearance both have gotten a Girliness Upgrade.
• Cheated Angle: Kris's jacket has big prominent lapels at the neck, but in one piece of character art, the farther lapel is blocked by the angle of her pose. Her frontal trainer sprite, however, takes this for an intentional difference and duplicates the shortened lapel even when depicting her from the opposite angle. The anime does not make this mistake and gives Marina both big lapels.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Was not revamped for HeartGold and SoulSilver, instead being replaced by Lyra.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: In Crystal, Kris's personal color palette was blue-centered, while Ethan's was red-based. Through a glitch, the sprites of the characters could have their palette altered, resulting in a red Kris and blue Ethan.
• Depending on the Artist: Her hair color in some of her Gen II artwork, her Pokémon Stadium portrait, and her model in Pokémon Masters is teal, while in her sprite in Crystal and in other official artwork it's navy blue.
• Distaff Counterpart: A possible reason why she wasn't in the HGSS series is that she's essentially just a female version of Ethan.
• Gendered Outfit: Kris wears a red top and yellow-black shorts, just like Ethan does, and even wears a hat and jacket, also like Ethan. Kris's jacket, however, is almost entirely white, which makes white the dominant color in her ensemble, unlike Ethan.
• Girliness Upgrade:
  • Marina, her Alternate Self from Pokémon: The Original Series, received a notable Palette Swap, replacing the red and yellow of her original outfit with pink and periwinkle and changing the masculine lines on her shorts for feminine curves. Marina is also an aspiring Teen Idol, gives all her Pokémon cutesy nicknames, and puts on dance performances in battle. When she got The Cameo in Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl, she even wore a skirt.
  • Downplayed in Pokémon Masters, which has made the girly elements in her original design more obvious. Kris's backpack and Pokégear were always pink, but the desaturated colors of her official art made them hard to distinguish. In Pokemon Masters, her first digitized appearance, Kris's color palette is much clearer, and the pink in her outfit more obvious. She also talks in a more girly fashion, like saying, "I'm tearing up," when Totodile evolves. Her hair in Masters also better matches Marina, her girlier Anime counterpart.
• Girly Run: Kris does this in the official art for Crystal depicting her running; it returns in Pokémon Masters.
• Improbable Hairstyle: Her spiky pigtails completely defy the laws of gravity. Also in the center of her head there is an "M" formed in her hair, it is more visible with Marina but Kris still has it.
• Meaningful Name: Kris as in Crystal. Her names in other languages takes the same inspirations.
• Mythology Gag: Pokémon Masters she's conflicted whether she wants to continue to pursue battling, or if she wants to be a scientist. This may be a nod to both her anime counterpart who is a Teen Idol Battler and Coordinator in contrast to her manga counterpart who becomes Oak's aide and literally catches them all to complete the Pokédex for him (minus a few legendaries).
• Olympus Mons: In Pokémon Masters, she is paired with Suicune as her Master Sync Pair Pokémon.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Inverted in Crystal, where Kris's main color palette is blue, but her opponent sprite shows her with her hands uplifted and a confident smile; Ethan's main color palette is red, but his hands are lowered and his expression subdued.
• Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: In Crystal version, Ethan's enemy battle sprite wears a subdued, stern expression and has his hands lowered, while Kris's poses with hands upraised and wears a confidant grin. (In the original Pokemon Gold and Silver, Ethan's sprite was even less energetic, with his hands stuffed into his pockets).
• Signature Mon: Averted. She's had three known counterparts in adaptations, and they've each had a different Johto starter. The closest thing we had for years in accordance with the games is Suicune, as seen in the credits to Pokémon Stadium 2, but even that is most likely a reference to it being the version mascot for Crystal. Pokémon Masters finally tips the scales in favor of the Totodile line.
• Tank-Top Tomboy: Kris's top under her jacket has very short sleeves, although this can only be seen in Ken Sugimori art.
• Tomboy with a Girly Streak: Kris has a minor girly streak in the original Crystal (e.g. her gear is pink), but she tends to get a Girliness Upgrade in repeat appearances.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl:
  • In Crystal, Kris was the Tomboy to Gym Leaders Whitney, Jasmine, and, surprisingly enough, Misty, whose GSC design gives her a more graceful air and lets her hair down.
  • Kris is also the Tomboy to Lyra's Girly Girl: Kris's standard outfit is athletic wear—bike shorts and a short-sleeved shirt—while Lyra wears a chic outfit with cute flourishes like the big bow on her hat and the decoration on her pokégear.
  • Also applies to Kris and the Player Character's mother in New Bark Town—where Kris is adventurous, active, and wears more unisex clothing, her mother is a stay-at-home mom who wears dresses and enjoys shopping.
  • This can also apply to Kris and her own Anime counterpart Marina, who is visibly more girly in personality and design than Kris.
  • This trope also has become a bit more loose, as Kris's Girliness Upgrade in Masters has her acting very feminine and even has a girly way of moving and speaking.
• Water Is Womanly: Downplayed. Her Signature Mons Suicune and (as per Pokémon: The Original Series and Pokémon Masters) Feraligatr are both Water-type. Her anime-Alternate Self Marina also lightly invokes this trope through her name.

Lyra (Kotone)

Lyra / Kotone (コトネ kotone)

Voiced by: Della Saba (Original) / Madeline Dorroh (Master Sync Pair) (Pokémon Masters - EN), Sayaka Senbongi (Pokémon Masters - JP)

Rather than re-using Kris for the remakes of Pokemon Gold and Silver, the game designers created a new female protagonist for HeartGold and SoulSilver. Lyra is a young girl who resides in New Bark Town and is just starting out as a trainer... If you're choosing her as the player character. Like most of the later games in the series, the protagonist that the player didn't choose will still show up as an NPC. In this case, she'll be a friend who shows you the ropes on catching Pokémon. She appeared in the anime as a trainer who traveled with Ash and friends for a time to promote her (then newly released) games.

Her version name is unclear, potentially Soul, Heart, or in the context of Adventures merged with Crystal.

In Pokémon Masters, she takes on the role as Ethan's and Kris's close friend. As such, most of the tropes below may pertain to her depiction there.

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• Awesome Backpack: Same as Ethan, having no limit on items it can carry, although for her it's more of a purse.
• Badass Adorable: Cute as a button, but able to beat all manner of powerful trainers, including Red.
• Curtains Match the Window: She has brown hair and eyes.
• The Ditz: NPC Lyra, during the portion of the tutorial where you learn how to catch Pokémon, will have to do so twice because she forgot to show you properly the first time.
• Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak: She wears short overalls befitting a rural, outdoorsy girl, but also has a giant hat with a ribbon and a pink Pokégear.
• Girlish Pigtails: Her signature hairstyle is a pair of pigtails.
• Hidden Depths: In the "Summer Superstars" event of Pokémon Masters, Lyra demonstrates a natural talent for singing rock music when she decides to roll with her Jigglypuff's new style. The "Solve the Case!" event further implies that she is an active musician.
• Olympus Mons: In Pokémon Masters, she is paired with Celebi as her Master Sync Pair Pokémon.
• Red Is Heroic: Red hoodie, red shoes, red bow on her hat, and she's a playable character
• Signature Mon: Marill if she fills the NPC role. Adaptations and her Kotobukiya ArtFx J figure give her the Chikorita line, and it serves as her partner in Masters.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Between wearing a Gendered Outfit derived from Ethan's and her Girlish Pigtail Anime Hair, Lyra bears a striking resemblance to her predecessor female protagonist Kris. This appears to be an accident, since Lyra was officially designed from scratch. Picking up on this, Pokémon Adventures has Kris simply given Lyra's outfit instead of creating a new character for her. Pokémon Masters depicts them as two separate characters.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Lyra is the Girly Girl to Kris' Tomboy: Kris's standard outfit is athletic wear—bike shorts and a short-sleeved shirt—while Lyra wears a chic outfit with cute flourishes like the big bow on her hat and the decoration on her pokégear.

Silver

Silver (シルバー shirubaa)

Voiced by: Lucien Dodge (Pokémon Generations - EN), Ryōta Ōsaka (Pokémon Generations - JP), Joe Zieja (Pokémon Masters - EN), Yuki Ono (Pokémon Masters - JP)

"I hate the weak. Pokémon, trainers. It doesn't matter who or what. I'm going to be strong and wipe out the weak. That goes for Team Rocket too. They act big and tough in a group. But get them alone, and they're weak. I hate them all. You stay out of my way. A weakling like you is only a distraction."

The Rival in Gold, Silver, and Crystal. He is a selfish thug whose first act is to steal his starting Pokémon from the Elm Research Lab. Fueled by a hatred towards Team Rocket, he is obsessed with growing stronger as quickly as possible and sees his Pokémon as mere tools to his ascent. After being defeated by Lance, Silver begins to realize the folly of this approach and slowly turns over a new leaf.

He's the only non-Kanto trainer to use his version name as his canon name as of Gen IV onward.

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• Aborted Arc: In Pokémon Gold and Silver, The Rival has a peculiar grudge against Team Rocket—he demands to know whether they've returned and takes offense multiple times to the idea that the player has been defeating them instead of him. The original games partly justify why he singles Team Rocket out for abuse—they're weak—but not why he's so territorial about it. The idea is forgotten after the fight in the Goldenrod Underground, when he starts becoming obsessed with his lack of victory. The remakes would imply the answer is because he's Giovanni's son.
• Adaptational Attractiveness: Same as with Blue, Silver was considerably prettied-up in the remakes. He was made taller and slimmer, and his new expression is slightly less thuggish/bratty-looking.
• Ambiguously Related: His hair color and hairstyle are similar to Rocket Executive Ariana's, leading some to speculate that she is his mother, but nothing is confirmed.
• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: A loner that prides himself on his power and looks down on weaklings. He can back up his talk too; the Victory Road in Gold and Silver and its remakes is the only Victory Road in the series devoid of trainers. The reason? Silver defeated them all.
  Silver: Man, they were all spineless!
• Artistic Age: His HeartGold and SoulSilver art makes him look more like a teenager, but he is stated to be Ethan and Lyra's age.
• Back-to-Back Badasses: With the player when Lance and Clair decided to challenge them to a tag battle in HeartGold and SoulSilver.
• Bad Boss: Treats his Pokémon coldly and harshly berates them whenever they lose a battle, putting all the blame on them for being weak instead of accepting any responsibility as their trainer. After Character Development he learns to treat them better, and even forms enough of a bond of friendship that in the remakes his Golbat evolves into Crobat.
• Berserk Button:
  • Team Rocket pisses him off to no end, and that's mostly because their leader is his father.
  • His philosophy of being strong by himself puts him at odds with trainers that are weak but decide to gang up on someone. He sees them as weak, admitting they're cowards.
• Blood Knight: He loves to battle, if just to prove his superiority over others.
• Broken Pedestal: Giovanni is this to him. He used to admire his father and believed him to be the strongest person in the world until he got his ass kicked by an 11-year-old despite having gathered so many followers. This event made him resentful towards his father and triggered his journey to become strong on his own to not be weak like him.
• Character Development: At first, he's by far the cruelest rival in the whole series, but by the end he's completely reformed (further highlighted by him eventually using a Crobat, a Pokémon that can only be obtained through maxing a Golbat's happiness). More is added in the remakes, featuring a new double battle against Clair and Lance after his turn. Also upon visiting the Elm Pokémon Lab afterwards, you discover that he tried to return his starting Pokémon, but Elm let him keep it since the Pokémon loved him so much. Not to mention his Freudian Excuse is fully revealed and explained.
• Color Motifs: Red and Black and Evil All Over, just like Team Rocket.
• Continuity Cameo: He appeared in the Japanese The Legend of Thunder special's intro.
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: To the previous rival Blue from Pokémon Red and Blue:
  • Both are Jerkass rivals towards the player character, though the difference is that Silver is (at first) very abusive towards the player and his Pokémon, unlike Blue who while somewhat neglectful never quite reaches that height of jerkassery.
  • Blue picks the starter through legitimate means from his grandfather Professor Oak while Silver openly steals it from Elm's lab.
  • The remakes, HeartGold and SoulSilver, also further the contrast between Silver and Blue after they're defeated for the final time. In Red and Blue, as well as FireRed and LeafGreen, Blue, who is the Champion, loses it and cannot take defeat from the player character before he subsequently mellows out in the sequels, while Silver in HGSS, who is not a Champion, eventually becomes the player's Worthy Opponent in every subsequent battle after achieving positive Character Development, and accepts his defeat.
• Crash-Into Hello: In HeartGold and SoulSilver, as a reference to Barry's usual way of meeting you. Unfortunately, he isn't anywhere near as kind as Barry is.
• Curtains Match the Windows: Only in the opening of the remakes, where for some reason he has red eyes rather than silver. Art for Gold and Silver also has him with red eyes, so the shift to silver eyes may have been last-minute.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Or king. Basically his character arc; by the end of it, he has taken multiple levels in kindness and openly shows respect to the player, a huge shift from the cruel, harsh loner he was at the beginning of it.
• Demoted to Extra: The role of The Rival itself matters less to the story of Pokémon Gold and Silver than it did to Pokémon Red and Blue—the game squeezes a rival battle in right before the Elite Four, but it's not the same Climax Boss as it was in the first generation.
• Disappeared Dad: His dad up and left him when he wasn't even nine. Add to the fact that his father is Giovanni...
• Demoted to Extra: His appearance in the anime is a mere cameo in the opening.
• The Dreaded: Silver has a distinct aesthetic when it comes to Pokémon—he collects the spooky (Gastly, Zubat, and Sneasel) and the uncanny (Magnemite, Abra). The implication is that he doesn't just want power, he wants to scare people.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: In his Pokémon Masters Story Event "Honing One's Love," he finally is able to defeat Lance using his Mega Tyranitar, and is christened as a Neo Champion by Geeta.
• Establishing Character Moment:
  • Your first clue that he's a darker rival than Blue is the revelation that he stole his Starter Pokémon.
  • Even before then, he shoves you away rudely when you talk to him outside Prof. Elm's lab.
• Evil Redhead: He's evil at first, but then he settles for being a noble rival.
• Fiery Redhead: A redhead who's quite short-tempered and haughty, though while still pretty abrasive, he does get better later on.
• Final Boss: Of Pokémon Stadium 2. Similarly to the Final Boss of the first Stadium, he serves as the ultimate challenge by using Olympus Mons. In this case, not only does he use Mewtwo, but he also uses Ho-Oh and Lugia as well.
• Foil:
  • Silver is not only more vicious than Blue (being willing to resort to straight up crime), the principles underlying their teams are different. Blue strove to build and train a balanced team of various types, and notably incorporated a trio of Fire, Water, and Grass-types based on his starter, but Silver focuses on the uncommon and spooky Poison, Psychic, Ghost, Dark, and Steel types.
  • In Pokémon Masters, he clashes hard with Ethan, who's a Cheerful Child who likes to be surrounded by friends and gained Lugia's favor, while Silver comes across as a Jerk with a Heart of Gold who likes to be a lone wolf and gained Ho-oh's favor.
• Freudian Excuse:
  • He's Giovanni's son. It was first implied in FireRed and LeafGreen, but for whatever reason, the outright confirmation in HeartGold and SoulSilver was edited out (a line literally translating to "I don't understand you, Dad!" dropped the "Dad" in the English version).
  • His issues with strength and weakness also stem from him feeling like Team Rocket and his father were weak and fearing his own weakness. Before you head off into Victory Road, the last trainer you battle mentions Silver and notices how he has the feeling he has to win at any cost, having a deep fear of failure and being weak.
• Good Is Not Nice: Silver has developed into this by the time of his appearance in Masters. He is recognized as being pure of heart, though he still detests weakness in both Pokémon and their trainers, and will threaten to leave behind any of his Pokémon should they not reach the high standards he expects of them.
• Hate Sink: Before his Character Development, he's actually more the antagonist than Team Rocket! The player is pretty much meant to hate his guts early on.
  Excerpt from Nintendo Power: What is this guy's problem? If you ask him, the problem is YOU. ... Settle your conflicts with Pokémon.
• Haughty "Hmph": Much of his dialogue consists of this, befitting his arrogant personality.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: In ''Masters', he sees himself unworthy of his friends and Pokémon's attention, and certainly not pure enough to be chosen by a legendary. Lance, and Ethan especially continue to believe in him until he's finally accepted by Ho-Oh.
• Hey, You!: He never refers to the player by name during his first few encounters with them; once he starts calling them by their name, it's a clear indication that he's started to respect them.
• Hypocrite:
  • Before starting your first battle with him in Cherrygrove City, Silver mocks the player for receiving their first Pokémon in Professor Elm's lab, despite how that's where he stole a Pokémon earlier.
  • If you are dumb enough to attempt to capture one of his Pokémon during his battles, like all the other trainer NPCs, he'll block the ball and say "hey, don't be a thief!" despite actually stealing a Pokémon himself.
  • In Pokémon Masters, he does admit that he doesn't have much room to criticize Team Rocket on stealing Pokémon when he himself did so before, though he's at least trying to repent and his Pokémon likes him.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: All his obsession with being strong really amounts to this. He didn't want to be weak like his father, causing him to strive to be a good battler.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He initially starts out as a full-fledged Jerkass and constantly insults the player whenever they cross paths. There are several trainers throughout the game pre-Kanto who mention the guy curb stomping them in a battle and taunting on how crappy they were, and he has stolen at least two Pokémon. However, he develops the "Heart of Gold" part later on. He learns to care for and appreciate his Pokémon, but he never completely stops being abrasive and haughty.
• Leitmotif: Whenever he approaches you in the game, his unique song plays.
• Loners Are Freaks: He does everything on his own, and is an exceptionally crude and ruthless boy. The player is probably the only human friend he has, but just that fact helps him become a much kinder person.
• Mafia Princess: Male example and ultimately subverted—he's the son of the infamous leader of an organized crime gang, and he initially admired his father; however, he ends up defecting from both his father and his organization due to viewing them as weak.
• Meaningful Name: His name directly comes from Pokemon Silver Version's title.
• Missing Mom: Unlike the player, who has a dad who is never mentioned, his mother is never mentioned ever.
• My Name Is ???: Trope Namer. In Gold and Silver, he tells you this verbatim after your first fight.
• No Name Given: For years he had no known Canon Name. In Gen II, fans assumed his version name "Silver," to match the version names with Red, Blue, and at the time "Gold." However as of the Gen IV remakes Gold's name became Ethan, but there was no word on if Silver's name had changed. Years later via figures and eventually Masters it was confirmed that it didn't.
• No Social Skills: He often has to be told when people care about him when he's at first completely dumbfounded some even like him.
• Odd Name Out: He's still explicitly named after one of the Johto version namesakes, while the Johto protagonists aren't.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: He believes that he's not ready to defeat his father Giovanni until he has at least defeated Ethan first in Pokémon Masters.
• Olympus Mons: Associated with Lugia due to his namesake, though in Pokémon Masters, he gets Ho-oh's approval instead. Ironically, Lugia goes to Ethan instead, who notes that Lugia behaves just like Silver does: keeps his distance away from others but can be reliable.
  • In Pokémon Stadium 2 he has both Ho-oh and Lugia as well as Mewtwo. Fittingly, he serves as the game’s final boss with this team.
• Only the Pure of Heart: Despite his lineage, and his early transgressions, Silver proves himself to be pure of heart after all. Masters cements this further by having Ho-oh deem him worthy of being his trainer over Ethan.
• Privileged Rival: He's the son of Giovanni, the Viridian Gym Leader who leads a double life as the boss of Team Rocket, however, by the time of the story, he's disowned his family and is trying to be strong and independent of his father's resources and ideology.
• Quantity vs. Quality: He abhors when trainers try to team up and win by ganging up on fewer trainers. This contrasts his father Giovanni's ideology that anyone should always use all the numbers available to achieve what they want.
• Recurring Boss: Again, Silver is the first trainer the player is forced to fight in Gen II, and is fought multiple times throughout the game, including at the end of Victory Road. The last forced encounter with him is in Mt. Moon.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Has red eyes in the originals, as well as in the opening of the remakes, despite official artwork giving him silver eyes.
• The Rival: Silver ignites a bitter rivalry with the player, hoping to prove he is better than them.
• Sequel Escalation: It wasn't until Generation III that the developers decided to make The Rival a more friendly endeavor, and they were coming off the Jerkass Blue. Thus was born one of the darkest characters in the series.
• Signature Mon: As far as starters, most adaptations give him the Totodile line.
  • He is also associated with Sneasel, who has the honor of being the only member of this Silver's party (besides the starter) carried over to his Adventures team. They even share a color scheme. Sneasel was also his sync partner in Masters before syncing with his legendary below:
  • Masters oddly opts to give him Ho-Oh, despite his namesake invoking Lugia. He had all three Ubers at the time, Lugia, Ho-Oh, and Mewtwo, in Stadium however.
• Slasher Smile: At least in Masters, his grin can be unsettling.
• The Social Darwinist: He states he only has time for strong Pokémon, the others are worthless to him.
• Sore Loser: Despite being defeated by the player a number of times he calls you out for being pathetically weak.
• Spanner in the Works: The infamous event where he strips the character of the Rocket disguise right before you could get the infiltration plan going is this. Unlike other examples of the trope, he soon realizes why you wore the outfit but calls you pathetic for resorting to disguise before walking off.
• Stock Shōnen Rival: Very much so. He starts out as an Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy before mellowing out by the endgame.
• Symbol Motif Clothing: In his original design, he has a golden badge near the hem of his shirt that features a red letter on a black background—unlike Team Rocket's R, however, he uses a Z. (This element disappeared in his remake design).
• Took a Level in Kindness: Resolves to be a kinder Trainer to his Pokémon after having his brutish behavior spelled out as the reason for his failures as a Trainer. This is even exemplified in-game by having his Golbat evolve into a Crobat, which can only evolve with extreme happiness.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: As a result of being neglected by his father Giovanni, Silver developed an Inferiority Superiority Complex, believing he has to win at all costs to overpower the weak, for fear of being seen as weak himself. The result is behavior that is quite disturbing for a pre-adolescent no older than the Player Character.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Towards Ethan in Masters, but it's somewhat one-sided as Ethan has nothing but goodwill towards him. He's either oblivious to Silver's snark, or just sees through the facade so well he doesn't feel the need to address it.
• Worthy Opponent: In HeartGold and SoulSilver, it's implied that he feels this way about the Player Character.
• Would Hit a Girl:
  • If you play as a girl, he'll still knock you away for confronting him peeking into Prof. Elm's Lab.
  • He also shoves Clair away when she offers to team with him against Lance and the player.

Allies

Professor Elm (Dr. Utsugi)

Professor Elm / Dr. Utsugi (ウツギ博士 utsugi hakase)

The Pokémon Professor native to the Johto region who specializes in the study of Pokémon breeding. According to Professor Oak, in Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, he's also "the best when it comes to the research of Pokémon evolution."

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• Absent-Minded Professor: One of the Johto starters was stolen from him while he was working.
• Ascended Fanboy: A phone call mentions that he used to be one of Oak's assistants.
• Ditzy Genius: His official artwork for Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver seems to portray him this way.
• Forgets to Eat: What he sometimes does.
• Geek Physiques: Thin and lanky.
• Happily Married: He has a wife and son.
• Mr. Exposition: Subverted in that he is the only regional professor who doesn't get to introduce the player to the "world of Pokémon." (Prof. Oak does the intro for the Gen II games.)
• Nice Guy: Like Oak, he gives the player their starter and is very encouraging.
• Only One Name: We don't get his first name.
• Smart People Wear Glasses: You don't get to be a professor by being an idiot.

Mom

Mom

The Player Character's mother, who provides a few important services on the adventure. She'll manage time settings on your phone for you and save your money—she'll spend some of it on impulse, but she can obtain several unique items and decorations for you that you can't get on your own.

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• Anime Hair: She's pulled her hair back into unusual loops that dangle out over the sides of her head.
• Ascended Extra: In Pokémon Red and Blue, the Player Character's mom only ever healed your pokémon for you by letting you rest. In Pokémon Gold and Silver, the Player Character's mom doesn't heal you (a machine in Professor Elm's lab will do that), but she will let you bank money with her, obtain special items for you, manage the time settings in the game for you, and you can even call her and chat.
• But Thou Must!: In her Establishing Character Moment, she offers to read the instructions for the Pokégear; regardless of your answer, she'll explain how it works and how to use it.
• Color Motifs: She shares the same red, white, yellow, and black palette that Ethan does.
• Contrasting Replacement Character:
  • Where the mom of Pokémon Red and Blue would stay at home and heal your Pokémon for free just like a Pokémon center, this mom takes a more active role and offers an entirely different set of services pertaining to time and saved money.
  • Even their Establishing Character Moments are different, with the mom of Pokémon Red and Blue resigning herself to the start of your journey (if you even talk to her—you can go the whole game without interacting with her once), while the mom of Pokémon Gold and Silver bustles over and corners you the instant you step foot on the first floor.
• Foil: To the Player Character's mom of Pokémon Red and Blue—this mom of goes out of her way to participate and be involved with your journey, saving your money, buying you items, and chatting with you on the phone. The first mom, however, has no idea where her son Red has gone and can only sit at home and worry about him.
• Incoming Ham: The instant the Player Character makes it downstairs from their room, she notices you at once and bustles over to provide the pokégear with a catchy beat playing along while she carries out the tutorial.
• Now, Where Was I Going Again?: If you call her while travelling to Violet City, Azalea Town, and Goldenrod City, she'll talk about the main local landmark and ask you if you've visited it—all three of these are Dungeons you can crawl through. She won't do it for any cities past that, because she hasn't traveled to any of the other cities in Johto and doesn't know about them.
• Strong Family Resemblance: She has the same forelock that the male Player Character does poking out over her headband. Kris's twintails are both the same lock of hair turned upside down.
• Vibrant Orange: This mom is much more active and engaged with your journey than her predecessor, and a close examination of her character art from Pokémon Gold and Silver indicates she's wearing a light orange top underneath her main dress.
• Trademark Favorite Food: She makes trademark cuisine, at least—her specialty is the Cinnabar Volcano Burger.
• Wacky Parent, Serious Child: For all her encouragement that the Player Character be responsible with their money and save it with her, she can't stop herself from impulsively spending money out of your savings account.
• You Don't Look Like You: Her new sprite in Pokemon Heart Gold And Soul Silver looks quite different from her original design. About the only thing they have in common is the red headband.

Eusine/Minaki (ミナキ minaki)

Voiced by: Hiroshi Tsuchida (Pokémon Generations - JP), Kyle Hebert (Pokémon Generations - EN), Connor Ludovice (Pokémon Masters - EN), Takuya Eguchi (Pokémon Masters - JP)

A flamboyant man who is obsessed with finding Suicune.

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• Badass Cape: He wears a cape as part of his ensemble, and is determined to find Suicune no matter what.
• Color Motifs: Eusine's suit is all-purple, and in Pokémon Crystal, his sprites rely on the purple palette.
• The Determinator: Has been chasing Suicune for 10 years. This becomes discussed in Pokémon Masters when people who gave up on trying to catch the Shiny Suicune criticize his determination to get something they gave up on. Silver, frustrated, shuts them up for their troubles.
• Fanboy: Of Suicune, oh so very much. Has undertones of Stalker with a Crush at times.
• Foil: In Pokémon Crystal, Eusine is a Sharp-Dressed Man, while his close friend Morty dresses casually and has shaggy hair. (This became downplayed in Pokemon Heart Gold And Soul Silver, when Morty's Art Evolution resulted in Morty cleaning up his appearance and wearing fancier accessories like a scarf).
• Flanderization: In Pokémon Crystal, Eusine demonstrates his knowledge of Johto's history in general and helps you get Ho-Oh. Since these plot elements are given to other characters in Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, all that's really left for him is his obsession with Suicune.
• Gameplay and Story Integration: A close look at his team reveals he's relatively geared towards catching a Suicune as a roaming Pokémon, which it was before his introduction in Crystal. Not only does Eusine have two Pokémon with sleep-inducing moves to prevent Suicune from running, he also has an Electrode with Sonic Boom for exact damage calculations so he doesn't accidentally knock Suicune out and a Haunter with Mean Look to lock Suicune into combat. Even when Suicune transitions to being a Pokémon that stands and fights in Crystal, Heart Gold, and Soul Silver, the presence of Lick on his Haunter serves as a weak move to slowly whittle Suicune's HP and potentially paralyze it. If not for the low levels of his team holding back his ability to outlast Suicune to properly capture it, he'd have a more-or-less ideal setup.
• Hair Color Dissonance: The shade of his hair is light brown, shading lighter or darker depending on the art—in Ken Sugimori's original character art for Pokémon Crystal, there's no question that he's a brunet, but in Pokémon Generations, Eusine is nearly blond.
• It's the Journey That Counts: In Pokémon Masters, Silver discusses with Eusine if he feels resentful that Kris managed to get Suicune before he did or if he feels that he should give up in his quest to get Suicune. Eusine then says that he's not in the least frustrated or disappointed, because it's ultimately Suicune's decision to choose the trainer it wants to be and that he greatly enjoyed the chase rather than the ending. Cue Suicune bringing a wild Shiny Suicune into view, reigniting Eusine's quest to catch it.
• King Mook: Of the Juggler trainer-class. He's a Sharp-Dressed Man in a Badass Cape like they are, his team features specialties of the trainer class (Jugglers in Pokémon Red and Blue use loads of Drowzee or Hypno, and in Pokémon Gold and Silver love Voltorb and Electrode)^note Jugglers don't use Haunter in the core series, but his close friend Morty does, and his sprite and character art from Pokémon Crystal both depict him juggling.
• Leitmotif: Has an awesome one that plays whenever he's around.
• Mr. Exposition: In the older games, he shares more of his knowledge on Johto.
• Olympus Mons: He's finally able to get Suicune (a Shiny Suicune) as his Sync Pair Pokémon in Pokémon Masters.
• Punny Name:
  • Eusine, pronounced "you-seen", as in "Have you seen Suicune?" In addition, Eusine is nearly an anagram of Suicune.
  • His Japanese name Minaki is a pun on 水晶, Japanese kanji meaning "crystal". While the two characters together are pronounced "suishō", the two characters when separated can be read "mina" and "aki".
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Red to Morty's Blue Oni. He's more flamboyant and outgoing than his friend.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: In Pokemon Heart Gold And Soul Silver, a young couple will call the player this, comparing them to Eusine.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: His determination to catch Suicune finally pays off in Pokémon Masters, where the Suicune he gets turns out to be a Shiny Suicune.
• White Gloves: As part of his flamboyant ensemble.
• Worthy Opponent: Declares the player as this for Suicune at some point. He eventually lets them win.

The Kimono Girls/The Maiko (まいこはん maikohan)

A group of five, kimono-clad young women who live in Ecruteak City, and who give you the HM for Surf upon being defeated.

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• Adaptational Badass: In the remakes, they're fought much later in the story and their levels are over twice as high.
• Animal Motifs: In the remakes, their sprites show that their kimonos are based on Ho-oh's plumage.
• Ascended Extra: They were mostly there so you could get the HM for Surf in the original versions and not a whole lot else. In the remakes, they're pretty much relevant throughout the Johto section of the game, even being the ones who summon the mascot of the version you're playing.
• Boss Rush: In the remakes, you fight all five in a row.
• Chekhov's Gunman: In HeartGold and SoulSilver, they pop up once each throughout the game. It turns out that they are the ones who summon the box legendary.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Throughout the game, you will encounter them at certain points and likely forget not soon after. Then you find out they can kick Silver's ass and still give you a good challenge with their Eeveelutions.
• Dub Name Change: For reasons unknown, the English localization of Pokémon Gold and Silver saw fit to give them different Japanese names than the ones they already had (their original names were preserved during their appearance in Pokémon: The Original Series, however).
• Geisha: Maiko, technically, but they seem to have a similar function, and they're able to use their dance ceremony to send a call to Lugia or Ho-Oh (depending on the game).
• The Gimmick: In the original Pokémon Gold and Silver, they were merely a set of five trainers who could show off the then-five possible Eeveelutions, including the new Espeon and Umbreon—that they were maiko was mostly just a flourish to suit the historic and traditional setting of Ecruteak. The remakes gave them much bigger places in the story and a deep connection to the local legendaries.
• Help, I'm Stuck!: A variation happens in the remakes: When you encounter Sayo in the Ice Path, she'll tell you that her sandals got stuck to the ice, and request your help to get her out.
• One-Steve Limit: In the Japanese version of GSC, one of them had the same Japanese name as Maylene. It was changed in the remakes, as Maylene makes a cameo there.
• Sudden Name Change: The names of the sisters are switched around in Generation IV, meaning the same sister will use a different Pokémon depending on the generation. This is consistent in the anime as well - the sisters introduced in the anime are consistent with their Generation II parties whilst the Kimono Girls featured in the Generations episode follow their Generation IV party.
• Took a Level in Badass: Because you encounter them much later on in the remakes, their Pokémon are also obviously much stronger, not to mention you fight all five of them in a row. Even Silver got his ass handed to him battling them.
• You All Look Familiar: They all look like the picture above.

Kurt/Gantetsu (ガンテツ gantetsu)

An old man from Azalea City, and an expert in making Poké Balls from Apricorns.

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• Cool Old Guy: He's a reliable older man who makes Poké Balls for the player.
• The Ghost: Hyde in Sword and Shield implies that he got the idea for making Apricorn Balls using the Cram-O-Matic from watching "an old man" who happened to be friends with Mustard make a Poké Ball using a single Apricorn, as opposed to the several it can take with the machine, which he blames on not being able to completely replicate Kurt's technique.
• Item Crafting: The go-to guy for making Poké Balls.
• Old Friend: In Pokémon Adventures, he has a picture of himself, Professor Oak, and Agatha in their younger days. This picture is ported into the games in HGSS, though Agatha is only referred to as a woman with a determined gaze.
• Retired Badass: Kurt is apparently enough of a fighter that he's convinced that he's capable of driving Team Rocket out all by himself, and he is certainly able to knock the Team Rocket guard around enough to bust his way in.
• Storming the Castle: The instant the player first talks to him, Kurt goes charging out of his house intending to drive Team Rocket out of Slowpoke Well.
• Take Up My Sword: Kurt manages to bust into the Slowpoke Well, but fumbles and injures his back, leaving him crippled. He charges the player character to carry on his mission and drive Team Rocket out.

Gym Leaders (Johto)

Falkner (Hayato)

Falkner / Hayato (ハヤト hayato)

Violet City Gym Leader—The Elegant Master of Flying Pokémon

Voiced by: Howard Wang (Pokémon Masters - EN), Kōsuke Tanabe (Pokémon Masters - JP)

"People say you can clip flying-type Pokémon's wings with a jolt of electricity... I won't allow such insults to bird Pokémon! I'll show you the real power of the magnificent bird Pokémon!"

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• Adaptational Badass: Despite his status as arguably the weakest Gym Leader to ever grace the series, he's routinely portrayed as a very powerful trainer in other media (most egregiously in one of the manga series where he uses Articuno). The remakes themselves made his team just a bit stronger by leveling them up.
• Artificial Brilliance: In Gen II. The best way to wall his Pidgeotto would normally be a Rock-type that can resist its Flying and Normal-type moves. Unfortunately for you, Mud-Slap is a Ground-type attack, not only dealing super-effective damage but nailing your Rock-type with an accuracy loss. Now factor in that Rock-type moves generally have accuracy issues by default...
• The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: Averted. While his Pidgeotto is well below the level that Pidgey evolves at (level 9 in the original games and 13 in the remakes), in Pokémon Gold and Silver and its remakes, you can catch wild Pidgeotto as low as level 7 in Route 2 and the Viridian Forest.
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: To Brock, the first gym leader in Gen I. Falkner's type specialty and Signature Move are on opposite sides of Brock's signature type Rock in the game's Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors and enjoys an attacking type-advantage against one of the player's possible starters, while Brock was weak to two.
• Convenient Weakness Placement: Falkner's Flying-types are weak to the Rock-type, and if you didn't catch a Geodude on Route 46, a boy in Violet City will trade you Rocky the Onix; all he wants is a Bellsprout, which can be caught on Route 31 just to the east. As a trade, Rocky gains experience extra-fast and so is less in need of Level Grinding to become a viable option against Falkner, and Violet City has its own local dungeon in Sprout Tower—the trainers all use dangerous Bellsprout, but the tower itself is filled with wild Rattata that Rocky can cut its teeth on.
• Curtains Match the Window: Due to palette limitation of sprites in the Generation II games, his eyes and hair are the same shade of blue.
• Disappeared Dad: His father was the previous Gym Leader, and the one who gave Falkner his Pokémon. His whereabouts are unknown, though a brief line from Falkner at the Pokémon World Tournament suggests he may have passed.
• Early-Bird Boss: Like Brock before him, Falkner's challenge depends on the type of the protagonist's starter pokémon—unlike Brock, who was weak to two starters and resisted the other, Falkner has a complete type advantage against the Grass-type Chikorita and neutrality towards the other options.
• Friendly Rivalry: Implied with Janine. While the only screen time they have together is revolved around arguing about whose father is considered as the better trainer, a few lines suggest that they hang out together sometimes.
• Graceful Loser: After you defeat him, he says he'll bow out gracefully.
• Hypocrite: In the anime, he expresses distaste for the use of Electric Pokémon against Flying types, only to criticize Ash's use of a Grass type despite their weakness against Flying types.
• Hypocritical Humor: He'll sometimes call you just to complain that Janine doesn't talk about anything other than her father, though he's guilty of that as well.
• King Mook: Of the Birdkeeper Trainer-class, two of whom serve as his lieutenant trainers.
• Meaningful Name:
  • "Hayato" is a common Japanese boy's name, with the haya usually written with the character for "falcon". "Ha" by itself can also be written with the character for "wing/feather". It also helps that "Hayato" means "pigeon".
  • "Falkner" means "falconer" in old English, literally one who trains falcons for falconry.
  • In French, he's called Albert, from "albatross", a bird.
  • In German, he's called Falk, from "falke" which means "falcon".
  • In Italian, he's called Valerio, from "volare" meaning "to fly".
  • In Spanish, he's called Pegaso, from Pegasus the flying horse.
  • In Korean, he's called Bisang, which means "flight" or "to fly".
• My Dad Can Beat Up Your Dad: His arguments with Janine center around this.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Falkner is a Contrasting Sequel Antagonist to Brock, but his relationship with his father may extend that to an oblique reference Brock's dad Flint from Pokémon: The Original Series—like Brock, Flint took over the gym after his father, but unlike Brock, Falkner has a respectable father who did good with the gym, while Brock's dad in the anime abandoned his own gym.
  • In Pokémon Adventures, Janine and Falkner had a mutual respect and a shared respect for their own fathers. In the remakes of Pokemon Gold and Silver, Falkner and Janine are locked in a perpetual boasting contest of My Dad Can Beat Up Your Dad.
• Olympus Mons:
  • In the Round 2 Gym Leader Castle of Pokemon Stadium 2, Falkner has a Zapdos.
  • In one (presumably non-canon) Japan-only downloadable World Tournament, he uses Lugia.
• Signature Mon:
  • The Pidgey line. Pidgeotto in his first battle, but it's evolved into Pidgeot in rematches and the like.
  • For some reason though, he uses Swellow in Masters.
• Signature Move: Mud Slap in Gen II, Roost in Gen IV. Both of these moves serve to circumvent the Flying-type's weaknesses (the former offensively, the latter defensively).
• Warm-Up Boss: His team in Gold, Silver and Crystal is the lowest-leveled of any Gym Leader. While he's a bit tougher in the remakes, he's the only Gym Leader there whose ace Pokémon doesn't hold a Sitrus Berry.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: We don't know what his dad thinks of him, but just about everything Falkner says and does seems to relate to him somehow. Whether he's trying to impress him or just really looks up to him is unknown.
• Wind from Beneath My Wings: His type specialty is Flying, but he prefers specifically "bird" Pokémon, resulting in this trope when they attack.

Bugsy (Tsukushi)

Bugsy / Tsukushi (ツクシ tsukushi)

Voiced by: Cristina Valenzuela (Pokémon Masters - EN), Yumiko Kobayashi (Pokémon Masters - JP)

"I never lose when it comes to Bug-type Pokémon. My research is going to make me an authority on Bug-type Pokémon! Let me demonstrate what I've learned from my studies."

Azalea Town Gym Leader—The Walking Bug Pokémon Encyclopedia

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• Adaptational Badass: In HeartGold and SoulSilver, his Scyther now knows U-Turn, which can hit hard at this point in the game, especially with STAB, and takes Scyther off the field if Bugsy still has any other Pokémon left. And since he always starts with Scyther now, this essentially gives him two free shots at you before you can do any real damage to it. Plus, Scyther now has Technician, which boosts its Quick Attack by 50%.
• Admiring the Abomination:
  • In Masters, his Kakuna used to be popular with kids until it evolved into Beedrill and instilled fear for its terrifying appearance, though he is doing his best so kids don't fear the giant bee with steel drills so they see how great it is.
    • He gushes over Guzma's Golisopod and takes him a little while to even tell Guzma is next to it. Guzma then brands him a weird kid.
    • Later on, he and Viola aren't put off by Lusamine's Pheromosa but instead get very endeared by it, convincing Nanu and Olivia that Lusamine won't do anything rash bringing an Ultra Beast into Pasio.
• Amazon Brigade: In the remakes, all of his Pokémon are female.
• Badass Adorable: He's cute, but his Scyther will mess you up.
• Birds of a Feather:
  • In Pokémon Masters, he is good friends with Kalos's resident Bug-type Gym Leader Viola, who shares a similar role as a collector like him. The two of them are rarely seen apart from each other.
  • In the same game, in the Type Team-Up event, he and Sinnoh Elite Four Aaron - and by extension Burgh - geek out over the fact Beedrill and Vespiquen are both very similar.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: Bug-type specialist, and they get big.
• Boyish Shorts: One of the youngest gym leaders—between about ten and fourteen—and one of the few wearing shorts. He's basically a higher-level Bug Catcher—but he's not weak.
• Cheerful Child: How old he is is up for debate, though he's probably somewhere between 10 and 14.
• Convenient Weakness Placement: If you picked up Rocky the Onix in Violet City, he'll be a big help not just in Falkner's gym but Bugsy's as well—its Rock-type gives it a big advantage against Bug-types as well as Flying-types, and Bugsy's Signature Mon Scyther has both. If Rocky needs some last-minute training, Slowpoke Well is filled with Rocket Grunts that use Normal- and Poison-type pokémon that are resisted by the Rock-type, and even some flying type Zubat that are weak to Rock-type attacks.
• Curtains Match the Window: Grey-lavender hair and eyes.
• Cute Bruiser: He may look unassuming. Then he sends out his Scyther.
• Early-Bird Boss: His difficulty hinges in good part on the starter chosen by the player; like Falkner, he has an advantage against the Grass-type Chikorita line, but he's weak against the Fire-type Cyndaquil line.
• Fanboy: Of Professor Oak. Bugsy wishes to become a professor like him one day.
• Friend to Bugs: He's a Bug-type specialist and loves to study them.
• Joke Character: His Kakuna and Metapod will not threaten anyone in Gen II. In Gen IV, they at least serve a purpose as emergency switch-ins for Scyther.
• King Mook: Of the Bug Catcher trainer-class, complete with butterfly net. There are a handful of Bug Catchers in his gym.
• Magikarp Power: His Signature Move in Gen II is the Bug-type Fury Cutter, a Situational Damage Attack that starts with a measly base power of 10, which doubles with each consecutive strike up to 160 base power on the fifth. As a Bug-type move, it's even more threatening on Scyther, who benefits from the Same-Type Attack Boost, effectively giving it a range of 15 to 240 power.
• Meaningful Name:
  • His English and Japanese name can be seen in Punny Name.
  • In German, his name is Kai, from "Käfer", which means "beetle".
  • In Spanish, his name is Antón, from antena (antenna).
  • In French, his name is Hector, from insecte (insect).
  • In Italian, his name is Raffaello, from farfalla (butterfly).
  • In Korean, his name is Ho-il, from ho (butterfly) and possibly a contraction of horsetail.
• Punny Name:
  • Bugsy.
  • Tsukushi rhymes with Mushi^note Japanese for "insect".
• Signature Mon:
  • The Scyther line. Scyther the first time, then Scizor in all subsequent battles. And yes, his Scizor abuses Technician-boosted Bullet Punches just like in the metagame.
  • Pokémon Masters puts Beedrill in this position instead, complete with the ability to Mega Evolve. Later on, he was given Scyther as another option, however.
• Signature Move: Fury Cutter in Gen II, U-Turn in Gen IV. In his rematches and his Gen V appearance, he's more partial to X-Scissor.
• Suddenly Blonde: Official art gives him purple hair, but it is green in the Gen II games due to palette limitations in the Game Boy Color.
• The Smart Guy: Possibly, at least when it comes to Bug Pokémon anyway; the sign outside his gym and the advice-giving NPC inside the gym both comment on his knowledge.
• Those Two Guys: In Pokémon Masters, he's rarely seen apart from Viola.
• Wake-Up Call Boss: In Gen II, unless you chose Cyndaquil (in which case you can just spam Ember until all of his Pokémon faint), the fight could be hard but still manageable. However, in Gen IV, he sends his Scyther at first and uses U-Turn, severely damaging your Pokémon before sending it back to its Poké Ball, giving you a frightening surprise whether you're a newcomer or a veteran.

Whitney (Akane)

Whitney / Akane (アカネ akane)

Voiced by: Sarah Anne Williams (Pokémon Masters - EN), Yuko Natsuyoshi (Pokémon Masters - JP)

"Hi! I'm Whitney! Everyone was into Pokémon, so I got into it too! Pokémon are super-cute! You want to battle? I'm warning you — I'm good!"

Goldenrod City Gym Leader—The Incredibly Pretty Girl

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• Achilles' Heel:
  • In the original Pokemon Gold and Silver, you can catch a Gastly in Sprout Tower to give Whitney's Signature Mon a hard time. Gastly's Ghost-type renders it immune to Miltank's main attack move, Stomp, and it learns Curse at level 16, which deals heavy Damage Over Time and will put Miltank under serious pressure—if your Gastly is a girl, you can further circumvent Whitney's Signature Move Attract.
  • Subverted in the Gen IV remakes, where if you try this strategy, you'll discover that Miltank has the ability Scrappy, which lets it hit Ghost-types, and Gastly are such Fragile Speedsters that Miltank will likely crush it in one blow.
• Amazon Brigade: Her Gym Battle team is composed of all girls, as is her HeartGold and SoulSilver rematch team.
• Artificial Brilliance: The remakes go out of their way to counteract anything the player might try to sweep her Miltank aside. Decide to Burn or Paralyze Miltank? Whitney has it holding a Lum Berry. Decided to bring a Ghost Type with you? Miltank's ability is Scrappy.
• Badass Adorable: She's cute and sweet. She's also the Wake-Up Call Boss of Gold and Silver and their remakes.
• Big Eater: She may call you on the phone and make small talk before mentioning this... and then defending herself by claiming it's normal for her age.
• The Cameo: In Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, Whitney appears in the Pokémon Contest audience.
• Confusion Fu: Her Clefairy loves to spam Metronome, which throws out a random move every time it is used.
• Convenient Weakness Placement:
  • If you caught a Geodude or traded for Rocky early on, they'll be useful once again, as the Rock-type resists Normal-type attacks.
  • The Normal-type is weak only to the Fighting-type, and Goldenrod City's Department Store just so happens to have a Fighting-type Machop available, Muscle by name, which can be obtained by trading in certain Psychic-type Pokémon that can be caught on Route 34, just south of Goldenrod. Even better, Muscle is a girl, which renders it immune to Whitney's Signature Move Attract, and the road north of Goldenrod City is freely accessible, giving you an opportunity to engage in Level Grinding.
  • Route 35 (immediately north of Goldenrod City) has a TM with a move that will be useful in the fight against Whitney. In Pokemon Gold And Silver, it's the TM for Rollout, a Magikarp Power move that can dish out heavy damage if enough consecutive blows have been dealt, which not only gives you a real chance at dishing out enough damage to get past Miltank's stamina and defenses, it gives you a chance to use Miltank's attacks against it. Gen IV instead gives you the TM for Payback, which doubles in damage if the user goes second—given Miltank has a base Speed stat of 100 (which is especially high for early game), this will be plenty useful.
  • In HeartGold and SoulSilver, the Rock Smash HM can be obtained after defeating Falkner. It's a Fighting-type attack that isn't too strong on its own but has a semi-consistent effect of lowering Defense, making it easier to damage Whitney's Miltank and the Gym's other Normal-type Pokémon through repeated hits.
• Crash-Into Hello: In Masters Whitney says this is how she met Miltank, with it using Rollout on her at first sight. Whitney thinks this was a Secret Test of Character for Miltank to see if Whitney would be a good trainer.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Acts like a somewhat ditzy young girl who doesn't take Pokémon training very seriously, saying she got into it just because it was popular. That doesn't change how strong her team is for the point of the game that she's fought.
• Curtains Match the Window: Bright pink hair and eyes.
• Cute Bruiser: She's adorable, but do not underestimate her.
• Genius Ditz: She's more than a little on the dim side—she claims she got "into" Pokémon to be popular, since everyone else liked them, but somehow wound up being a Gym Leader, the toughest trainer in town.
• Genki Girl: She's very excitable and energetic; her pre-battle animation in Gen IV shows her jumping up and down and thrusting her finger into the air.
• Girlish Pigtails: She has two short spiked pigtails.
• King Mook: Of the Lass trainer-class, some of whom can be found in her gym.
• The Idiot from Osaka: She sports a (very thick) Osaka accent in the Japanese version and has a Genki Girl personality. It helps that her hometown of Goldenrod City is actually based on Osaka. Strangely, it wasn't translated in an English incarnation of the series in any continuity until Pokémon Masters.
• Irony:
  • The walls of her gym are shaped like a Clefairy. As of Generation VI, Clefairy was changed from a Normal type to a Fairy type.
  • Despite playing The Idiot from Osaka to the hilt, her AI is coded to have a viciously effective battle style, with subroutines like "Aggressive" and "Risky" (i.e. prioritizing moves that deal the most damage, no matter the cost), as well as "Smart" and "Cautious" (i.e. doesn't fall into various obvious traps that less skilled trainers would). This, combined with her Miltank, makes her mathematically stronger than about half the trainers in the game — including some the player won't even see until Kanto!
• Lightning Bruiser: Whitney's Miltank is deceptively quick and has two very powerful attacks, Rollout and Stomp. ^note Rollout gets stronger every turn it's used and Stomp gets a STAB boost in addition to potentially causing the player's Pokémon to flinch and lose their turn.
• Magikarp Power: Whitney's Miltank knows Rollout, a Rock-type move that attacks repeatedly over the course of five turns, doubling in power each time.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Whitney includes the word "white", which is generally plain and absence of coloration, or normal. White is also the color of milk.
    • Her name also sounds like "whiny", which describes her attitude after losing to you.
  • The pun in her Japanese name is a little difficult to pin down, but more than likely stems from the Aka syllables. It either comes from Akarui^note (cheerful) or from "Akan de!"^note a common exclamation in Osaka-ben that translates roughly to "Oh no!" in reference to her being The Idiot from Osaka.
  • Her names in German is Bianka, from "Blanca" meaning "white" in some language.
  • Her Spanish name is Blanca.
  • Her French name is Blanche, meaning "white".
  • Her Italian name is chiara, from "chiaro" meaning "bright".
• Ms. Fanservice: A well-endowed and broad hipped girl whose very title is "The Incredibly Pretty Girl". This is even more prevalent outside of the games.
• Signature Mon: Infamously, her ace is Miltank. In Pokémon Masters, it's her Sync Pair Pokémon, while her Christmas Sync Pair Pokémon is Winter Sawsbuck.
• Signature Move: Attract, her TM move in both Gen II and Gen IV. If the target is the opposite gender of the user, they won't attack 50% of the time because they become temporarily smitten with the user.
• Sore Loser: She doesn't give you her badge right away after you beat her, as she's too busy crying. According to a trainer, she does this every time she loses. She tends to get over this fairly quickly, however.
• Tsundere: In Pokémon Masters, she gets a bit huffy and defensive for no particular reason when she thinks you're insinuating something when she's doing all the talking.
• Wake-Up Call Boss: She is the franchise's poster child for this trope. Falkner and Bugsy are Early Bird Bosses with pokémon at very low levels, and Bugsy in particular is weak to the Cyndaquil line, so both can be handled with ease, even considering the new moves offered by the remake. Whitney, on the other hand, is another story: even if you take advantage of her Convenient Weakness Placement, her Signature Mon Miltank has the bulk to absorb supereffective moves and the speed to either dish out damage with Knockback or heal whatever damage you can give it. If you don't take advantage of it, you get to deal with all that and Whitney's Signature Move Attract, which induces a Status Effect that will prevent your monsters from attacking every other turn.

Morty (Matsuba)

Morty / Matsuba (マツバ matsuba)

Voiced by: Brian Hanford (Pokémon Masters - EN), Hiroshi Kamiya (Pokémon Masters - JP)

Ecruteak City Gym Leader—The Mystic Seer of the Future

"Here in Ecruteak, Pokémon have long been revered. It's said that a rainbow-hued Pokémon will come down to appear before a truly powerful Trainer. I believed that tale, so I have secretly trained here all my life. As a result, I can now see what others cannot. I see a shadow of the person who will make the Pokémon appear. I believe that person is me! You're going to help me reach that level!"

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• A Day in the Limelight: The Masters Story Event A Golden Future revolves around him and his desire to be worthy enough to meet Ho-oh (that is to say, not Silver's, but a different one).
• Adaptational Badass: In HGSS, Morty's Gengar now has the ability Levitate, turning its former common weakness to Ground into an immunity, and its Shadow Ball now runs off its monstrous Special Attack rather than its Attack.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: HGSS gives him a completely new outfit and a tall, skinny, lanky build rather than his slightly buff body shape of the original game.
• Artificial Brilliance: His Gengar can trap your Pokémon with Mean Look and then put them to sleep with Hypnosis, leaving them helpless to do anything while it hits them with its extremely powerful Dream Eater.
• Barely-Changed Dub Name: His Spanish name is Morti.
• Beware the Nice Ones: In "A Golden Future" story event in Masters, he becomes calmly angered by Team Rocket selling fake Ho-oh feathers for millions and tricking people into thinking their wishes to see Ho-oh will come true that he is heavily implied to wanting to murder (or at least horribly maim) the Team Rocket Grunts with his entourage of Ghost-type Pokémon. Thankfully, Silver stops him from going through with it.
• Blackout Basement: His gym in the remakes limits your vision and forces you to walk over narrow bridges to get to him.
• Convenient Weakness Placement: In Pokémon Gold and Silver, the National Park, a short detour between Goldenrod and Ecruteak, has the TM for Dig hidden away, which in Gen II will be useful to attack Morty's ghosts through their Poison-type (even better, if you have a Geodude or Rocky the Onix, their Ground-type will allow them to hit even harder with the move). This can't be done in Gen IV, since his Pokémon all have Levitate, which makes any Ground-type attack a No-Sell, but Route 35 just before the National Park now has the TM for Payback, a Dark-type move that will do double damage against Ghost-type moves, and, because it doubles in power against faster opponents, will do even more damage against Morty's Fragile Speedster Ghost-types.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Despite specializing in Ghost-type Pokémon, and being the fourth Johto Gym Leader, he's far from a bad person.
• "Darkness von Gothick" Name: Morty (the short form for Mortimer) for a Ghost-type user.
• Four Is Death: He is the fourth Johto Gym Leader, and specializes in Ghost Pokémon, and has four of them. He isn't a bad guy, though.
• Hidden Depths: In A Golden Future, deep down, he is frustrated with himself not being worthy enough to see Ho-oh despite doing constant harsh training for it, coming to a head when he nearly injures Team Rocket Grunts for their fake Ho-oh feathers money scheme to trick people into seeing Ho-oh. Silver then asks him an Armor-Piercing Question:
  Silver: Was it because of Ho-oh? Or because you couldn't stand what Team Rocket was doing?
• I See Dead People: He's able to see spirits.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Morty. Heavy association with death, such as in mortician, mortality, ect.
  • Matsuba, as in hakaba (grave).
  • His German name is Jens, From "Jenseits" (afterlife).
  • His Spanish name is Morti, similar to his English name.
  • His French name is Mortimer, from mort (death).
  • His Italian name is Angelo, meaning "Angel".
• Mr. Exposition: Gives the most details of any Johto Gym Leader on Johto's myths regarding its legendary Pokémon. Makes sense since his city is the center of these tales and a critical place for the player to visit in the original games and especially their remakes, where the player is required to visit the Dance Studio after beating Clair (Even moreso in Gold and Heart Gold, since Ecruteak contains the tower where the player finds Ho-Oh).
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: In Masters, the normally quiet and friendly Morty nearly maims three Team Rocket Grunts using his many Ghost-types. Silver points this out right away.
• Olympus Mons: In Masters, his Sygna Suit variant forms a sync pair with Shiny Ho-oh.
• Perky Goth: Very friendly despite his outward appearance.
• Psychic Powers: Unlike many Ghost-Type trainers who are mediums who can communicate with spirits, Morty is a prophet who sees into the future. Most notably, this is a trait of the Psychic-type, the natural enemy to the Ghost-type.
• Refused by the Call: He trained to become a Gym Leader, hoping it would make him worthy of being The Chosen One to bring back Ho-Oh. Then you came along.
• Scarf of Asskicking: His outfit in both games has a scarf wrapped around his neck.
• Signature Mon:
  • Gengar, which appears on all of his teams as well as in animated adaptations.
  • In Masters, he has Drifblim as his partner instead of his Gengar. Unlike most of the odd replacements for many other Sync Pairs, though, Morty justifies his choice because he personally wanted to grow closer to Drifblim and even mentions he could have brought Gengar instead but chose not to. Within the mainline games, Morty uses Drifblim in only his Saffron Dojo rematch.
  • His Fall 2021 variant is paired with Banette, who he can Mega Evolve.
  • Ho-Oh is the Pokémon that has motivated all of Morty's training. In Masters, he finally gets to encounter a Shiny one and partner with it as part of his Sygna Suit variant.
• Signature Move: Shadow Ball in both Gen II and Gen IV. Thanks to the Physical/Special split, it hurts far more in the latter than the former. Although one might think that it would be Dream Eater in the original games, as he usually has his Gengar put opponents to sleep with Hypnosis, then it uses said move to not only deal a fair amount of damage, but to also regain lost hit points. In the remake, Gengar doesn't know that combo, but his Haunter does and likely will use it.
• Status Effects: As a Ghost-type user, Morty is naturally fond of these. Two of his Pokémon know Hypnosis, and the other two can use Curse.
• Suddenly Blonde: He is always blonde in official art, but GSC depicted him as having white hair due to palette limitations of the Game Boy Color. Also inverted; Generation II art shows him wearing a blue headband and shirt, but the remakes keep the purple headband and black shirt of his original sprite.
• Tranquil Fury: See Beware the Nice Ones.
• The Unchosen One: He very dearly believes that Ho-oh shows up to worthy trainers and so has done everything in his power to be worthy of it by putting himself in harsh training every day, but it hasn't yielded him any results. Despite how he brushes the training off as something he likes to look back with fondness, he secretly is frustrated with how long it's taken him to get anything meaningful out of it and nearly snaps at Team Rocket for toying with people's honest wishes to see Ho-oh, though he doesn't hold any ill-will against Ethan or Silver for being chosen. Thankfully, a Shiny Ho-oh takes a liking to him.
• Uncatty Resemblance: In the HGSS remake, Morty's scarf and shoes are purple and red, which is reminiscent of his Signature Mon Gengar's color scheme.

Chuck (Shijima)

Chuck / Shijima (シジマ shijima)

Cianwood City Gym Leader—His Roaring Fists Do the Talking

Voiced by: Bob Carter (Pokémon Masters - EN), Hironori Kondo (Pokémon Masters - JP)

"Ooomph! The pounding waterfall right onto my head... Arrgh! Why did you stop the waterfall from pouring on me! You just spoiled my training! I have to warn you that I am a strong Trainer training every day under this waterfall! What? This has nothing to do with Pokémon? ... That's true! ... ... Come on. We shall do battle!"

---

• Adaptational Badass:
  • In HGSS, Chuck's Pokémon make use of some good Focus Punch strategies. His Primeape will use the combination of Double Team and Focus Punch, and his Poliwrath will use Hypnosis and Focus Punch. In addition, his Primeape now knows Rock Slide to deal with Flying-types and potentially make you flinch.
  • His Primeape knows Rock Slide in the remakes of Pokemon Gold and Silver, which gives it a tactic to use against Ghost-types that it didn't have in the originals.
• Achilles' Heel: His Gen IV Signature Move Focus Punch is a No-Sell on a Ghost-type like Haunter, and even better Haunter learns the Always Accurate Attack Shadow Punch, which will neutralize his use of Double Team.
• Affectionate Parody: Of Bruno, especially of the fact that he's an Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy who suffers Testosterone Poisoning—like the Elite Four member, Chuck has Big Ol' Eyebrows and wears the tattered pants and a belt from a martial arts uniform, but unlike Bruno—a paragon of physical perfection—Chuck has put on the pounds. Even better, Chuck likewise boasts about his own toughness... only to have it pointed out that his personal power is completely irrelevant to a Pokémon battle.
• Artificial Stupidity: In Pokémon Stadium 2, he's compelled to keep throwing out the Powerful, but Inaccurate Dynamic Punch until it hits or runs out of PP, which means he'll waste five straight turns futilely whiffing at any Ghost-type you throw at him.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: He specializes in Fighting-types and wears the pants half of a karate gi as his only article of clothing.
• Block Puzzle: Only in Gold, Silver, and Crystal.
• Boisterous Bruiser: He's loud, dramatic, and loves showing off his strength.
• Call-Back: In Gen IV, you find him Meditating Under a Waterfall. In the HGSS rematch and his appearances in Pokémon Black 2 and White 2, his Poliwrath knows Waterfall.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: To his credit, he is capable of serious feats of strength.
• Combos:
  • In Pokémon Gold and Silver, his Primeape knows Leer to set up its physical attacks, but Poliwrath takes the cake by using Mind Reader to make the Powerful, but Inaccurate Dynamic Punch an Always Accurate Attack.
  • In the remake, Chuck's Primeape uses Double Team to give itself the evasion it needs to let a Focus Punch off, while Poliwrath uses Hypnosis to put the foe to sleep and prevent retaliation against its own Focus Punch.
  • In the remake rematch, Chuck's Breloom and Poliwrath both use Substitute to shield themselves so they can use Focus Punch.
  • In Pokémon Stadium 2, the Poliwrath on Chuck's Round 2 team knows Belly Drum, Rest (to restore the health lost to Belly Drum), and Sleep Talk (to attack while asleep due to Rest).
  • In the World Tournament, Chuck's Poliwrath uses Hypnosis to buy itself time to use Belly Drum and attack.
• Crippling Overspecialization:
  • Rarely, he will field a Pokémon that only has Normal- or Fighting-type attacks and so is completely helpless against Ghost-types. His Primeape in Pokémon Gold and Silver is the primary example, but his Hitmonchan is also a repeat offender—in the HGSS rematch and Round 1 of Pokémon Stadium 2 it has nothing that can actually hit Ghost-types.
  • Chuck himself undoubtedly boasts the Charles Atlas Superpower of a strongman... but judging from the width of his midsection, he probably isn't keeping up with the cardio.
• King Mook: Of the Blackbelt trainer-class, which his gym is exclusively staffed by.
• Happily Married: He has a loving wife who cares for him.
• Intimidation Demonstration: Attempts to impress you by tossing a large rock. Subverted in that, as covered in his quote above, the player character points out the problem here — namely, how strong he is has no bearing as to how strong his Pokémon are.
• Large Ham: If he had sleeves, he would wear his emotions on them. But then his needless demonstrations of strength might seem less manly.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Chuck is a synonym for "throw", something quite common in fighting. It's also a possible reference to Chuck Norris.
  • "Shijima" is hard to pin down (besides being a reference to a plant^note the Haworthia genus and the Whirl Islands neighboring Cianwood^note His name could mean "Four Islands"), but his name could be a homonym for "Silence", something a fighter needs to be when meditating or focusing their might.
  • His German name is Hartwig, from "hart", (hard).
  • His Italian name is Furio, from "furioso" (furious).
• Meditating Under a Waterfall: In HGSS, you find him doing this when you get to him, likely as a nod to his Signature Mon being a Water-Fighting type mix. You need to stop the flow to get his attention for a battle. Oddly, he can still be found under the waterfall when he's been called to the Fighting Dojo for a rematch, even though the other Gym Leaders will actually leave their gym until they've been defeated again.
• My Kung-Fu Is Stronger Than Yours: Parodied in Pokémon Gold and Silver, where Chuck, once you have gained access to the inner sanctum of the gym by having your Pokémon use Strength to solve a boulder Block Puzzle, takes one such boulder and, by himself, hurls it onto a nearby statue... only to be told that his personal strength doesn't matter in a pokémon battle.
• Only the Worthy May Pass: In Pokémon Gold and Silver, you cannot enter the innermost part of the Cianwood Gym where Chuck is without solving a Block Puzzle of boulders, which requires the use of Strength.
• Signature Mon: Poliwrath. It can even abuse the Hypnosis and Focus Punch combo, and in his Gen IV rematch, it replaces Hypnosis with Substitute to the same effect.
• Signature Move:
  • Dynamic Punch in Gen II packs a real wallop, a Powerful, but Inaccurate move that confuses on contact—a good pick for a guy prone to showy, overdramatic displays of power. Pokémon Stadium 2 upgrades this to Spam Attack— literally every Pokémon he has knows it.
  • Focus Punch in Gen IV largely hits the same niche as a tremendously powerful but risky move
• Stout Strength: He's heavily built and as powerful as his Pokémon.
• Super-Strength: In Gen II, he's able to chuck and break a boulder that you needed a Pokémon with Strength just to move.
• Sweet Tooth: Though he's supposed to be on a diet. Don't tell his wife.
• Testosterone Poisoning: Parodied. Chuck's attempts to look hardcore are immediately undone by the fact that he's too wide around the middle to really sell it, and his demonstrations of strength have nothing to do with actual Pokémon battles.
• Training from Hell: Self-inflicted. He apparently trains 24/7, and spars with his own Pokémon.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: He's never shown wearing anything on his torso.

Jasmine (Mikan)

Jasmine / Mikan (ミカン mikan)

Voiced by: Kimberly Woods (Pokémon Masters - EN), Yuka Iguchi (Pokémon Masters - JP)

"...Please allow me to introduce myself. I'm Jasmine, a Gym Leader. I use the...clang! Steel type! ...Do you know about the Steel type? They are very hard, cold, sharp, and really strong! Um... I'm not lying."

Olivine City Gym Leader—The Steel-Clad Defense Girl

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• Adaptational Intelligence: Gen IV replaces her Steelix's Sunny Day with the much more logical Sandstorm, which likewise protects it from Water attacks without the liability of strengthening Fire attacks like Sunny Day did.
• Admiring the Abomination: She's very smitten for Steel-types (Clang!) and will get engrossed in gushing over them. Mind you that most of these are terrifying creatures of steel (Clang!).
• Ambiguously Bi: Maybe. In Masters, she tells the player she thinks very highly of Erika, but just like when she's unable to voice her thoughts to the player in her native game, she can't bring herself to talk to her.
• The Artifact: Averted. Her description about the Steel type being "recently discovered" in Generation II is changed by "very hard, cold, sharp, and really strong" in Generation IV, as the Steel-type was retconned in Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen to no longer be a recent discovery.
• Badass Adorable: Her Pokémon are pretty tough, especially during rematches against her in the remakes. But Jasmine herself is meek and sweet.
• Bait-and-Switch: Her Christman Sync Pair Pokémon is Ampharos. This leads the player to believe it's Amphy because it's presented as being sick, but it's not. It turns out it's a different Ampharos altogether that's being trained by Jasmine to take on Amphy's role whenever needed, but the Ampharos is feeling depressed because it's not at the lighthouse.
• Barely-Changed Dub Name: Her German name is Jasmin.
• Big Eater: The remakes of Pokémon Gold and Silver add Jasmine to the list of cute girls who can eat immense piles of food, right next to Maylene. There are also a lot of empty plates in front of her whenever you run into her at the Olivine Cafe...
  Jasmine: These empty dishes in front of me are not all mine... Er... Actually, the person who sat here ahead of me ate a lot...
  • In Pokémon Masters, she happens to be the last person Gloria fights to try out Mallow's dish, except it's stated Mallow ended up making too much of it that even Gloria felt discouraged to try eating it all. It goes completely over her head that Jasmine is fine with eating it all herself.
    • In the same game, what's her favorite item to give while talking to her at the Trainer Lodge? Dining Vouchers. Her story there even involves participating in a running race just to win free food.
• Call-Back: In the Sinnoh games, her dialogue after she gives the player HM07 is the same dialogue after the player defeats her in the Olivine Gym in the original games.
  Jasmine: "...Um... I... I don't know how I should say this, but good luck."
• The Cameo:
  • In Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, Jasmine appears in the Pokémon Contest audience.
  • In Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum after you beat Volkner. She gives you the Waterfall HM and wishes you luck for your journey.
• Cannot Spit It Out: There's a few hints that she grows a bit attached to your player character after helping her cure Amphy; she's happy by the thought of exchanging phone numbers and getting called by you to set up a rematch, is disappointed if you reject her, and her farewell to you after the Gym battle is "Um... I don't know how to say this, but good luck..."
  • The "Shine a Gentle Light" story event in Pokémon Masters ends with Jasmine fainting from exhaustion in making sure her Ampharos enjoys being in Pasio. She manages to come to because of a shining light guiding her within her mind, which she says was Whitney, who kept doing her best to help Jasmine. Sooo, yeah.
• Character Catchphrase: A very excited "Clang!" word whenever she talks about Steel-types.
• Convenient Weakness Placement:
  • If you picked Muscle the Machop up in Goldenrod City earlier in the game, its Fighting attacks will prove useful once again in battle against Jasmine's Steel types.
  • Olivine City is right on the ocean, making a surplus of Water pokémon available to visiting trainers that can Surf or have fishing rods. Jasmine, apparently anticipating this, has taught her Ground-type Steelix a Weather of War move that protects it from the Water type.
• Curtains Match the Window: Played straight in HG/SS, as both her eyes and hair are light brown. Averted in G/S/C, where she had sapphire blue eyes but brown hair.
• Didn't Think This Through: Her Steelix in Gen II has Sunny Day, which summons sunny Weather of War that does, to Jasmine's credit, protect the mixed Ground-type Steelix from Water-type attacks... at the price of strengthening Fire-type attacks that the mixed Steel-type Steelix is also weak to. Whoops.^note This may double as an example of Gameplay and Story Integration—the Steel-type was only just newly discovered in the original Pokémon Gold and Silver, so Jasmine teaching her Steelix Sunny Day may indicate that she still thinks of it in terms of Onix's type matchups, or it might even be just a leftover move from before it evolved—the boost to Fire attacks wouldn't be a problem for a Rock type like Onix.
• Fluffy Tamer: She positively adores Celesteela. All the more unusual given it's an Ultra Beast, weird even by Pokémon standards, but this doesn't mean a thing to her. She wants everyone to know how great it is.
• Good Wears White: In the original Pokemon Gold and Silver: Jasmine wears a simple white dress and sandals and is so overflowing with compassion that she won't leave Amphy's side until it's cured of its illness. Downplayed in the remakes, where Jasmine's outfit has much more color.
• Graceful Loser: While most major NPCs are like this, she deserves mention because she is the only female Johto Gym Leader to immediately accept her loss and give you the badge immediately.
• Growling Gut: Her stomach growls during Gloria's scenario in Masters, driving home just how determined she is to eat Mallow's massive dish as well as startling Gloria with its volume in the process.
• Impractically Fancy Outfit: Her Poké War Games costume in Masters is a Celesteela-themed kimono. However, she finds it quite ungainly to move around in.
• Ineffectual Loner: Jasmine has few human connections and Olivine Gym has no trainers to speak of; when she appears as a Gym Leader, she fights alone. While the games never bring this up directly, it does justify why Jasmine must beg the trainer to get medicine for Amphy, since she has no one else to turn to. This is partially averted in the remakes where two of the Trainers in the Lighthouse will return to the Gym with her after Amphy is healed, but they will let the player pass without a fight if they were already defeated.
• Innocent Blue Eyes: In her original design, befitting her timid personality.
• MacGuffin Escort Mission: In order for her to accept your challenge, you must get the Secret Potion from Cianwood to treat the Pokémon in the lighthouse.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Jasmine.
    • Her German and Spanish names are Jasmin and Yasmina respectively, which have the same origins
  • Mikan, kane^note (metal).
• Nice Girl: She is very caring towards Amphy.
• Pet Contest Episode: Jasmine cameos in the audience of Pokémon Contests in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire and actually competes in some Master-class contests in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl.
• The Quiet One: Read her quote in Call-Back above. However, she adores Steel-types so much that the topic of talking about them gets her talking much more.
• Shrinking Violet: She's soft-spoken, meek, shy, and hesitant.
• Shock and Awe: In her base Gym Battle, alongside her Steelix she has two Magnemite. In the Pokéathlon, she has the same three for her team, just swapping out a Magnemite for a Magneton. In her HG/SS rematches and for the PWT, she only keeps one of the Magnemite on her team, which by that point has fully evolved into Magnezone. She also has a special bond with the Ampharos that lives in the Olivine City lighthouse (to the point where said Ampharos only accepts food or medicine offered by a human if Jasmine is the one offering it), implying that she has a natural affinity for Electric types despite being a Steel-type specialist as a trainer. In addition, the TCG gives her Raichu, Electabuzz and Jolteon, all of which are pure Electric types.
• Signature Mon:
  • In the main games Steelix, which even has an implied backstory behind it. It's stated by an NPC that Jasmine was originally a Rock-type specialist who only recently switched her type specialty to Steel (this is more apparent in her G/S/C gym which is filled by rocks, which seems odd for a Steel-type specialist). This implies that like Brock, she used an Onix as her main Pokémon and subsequently switched type specialties out of loyalty to her Onix when it evolved into Steelix.
  • The Poké War Games event in Masters pairs her up with Celesteela.
• Signature Move: Iron Tail. Notably, though, compared to other Gym Leaders, she doesn't use it often among her Pokémon, since there's only a small handful of Steel-types aside from Steelix that can learn it.
• Silk Hiding Steel: A literal example. She's quite shy and delicate in appearance, but she specializes in steel types. The gym guide, however, describes the opposite — Jasmine uses Steel-types because she's "trying to hide her tenderness behind her steely coldness."
• Walking the Earth: In Masters, she admits she'd like to just travel the world one day.
• Weather of War: In both Pokémon Gold and Silver and their remakes, Jasmine's Steelix knows a Weather Manipulation move that protects it from Water attacks, either Sunny Day or Sandstorm..

Pryce (Yanagi)

Pryce / Yanagi (ヤナギ yanagi)

Voiced by: Kyle Hebert (Pokémon Masters - EN), Chō (Pokémon Masters - JP)

"Pokémon have many experiences in their lives, just like we do. I, too, have seen and suffered much in my life. Since I am your elder, let me show you what I mean. I have been training Pokémon since before you were born. I do not lose easily. I, Pryce - the Winter Trainer - shall demonstrate my power!"

Mahogany Town Gym Leader—The Teacher of Winter's Harshness

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• Adaptational Attractiveness: He looks geriatric and frail in the original, but in the remakes, he gets a revamp. His back straightens, his old man sweater is replaced with a classy blue overcoat and white scarf combo, and in his pre-battle sprite◊, he's simply holding out his hand invitingly.
• Adaptational Villainy: In the anime, he's a Jerk with a Heart of Gold, and in Adventures his alter-ego Mask of Ice is the Big Bad of a story arc. In the games, Pryce is a perfectly decent and pleasant guy.
• Badass Longcoat: He wears a blue one in HGSS.
• Badass Teacher: The dynamic of his combat chatter with you in Stadium 2; he praises, encourages, and even occasionally chastises you depending on how well you do in battle.
• The Cameo: In Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, Pryce appears in the Pokémon Contest audience.
• The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: A small case, but in the original games, Pryce's Piloswine knows Fury Attack at level 31, while in reality, Piloswine doesn't learn Fury Attack until level 33. Swinub cannot learn Fury Attack at all either.
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: To Blaine, the seventh gym leader of Kanto region, from Red and Blue. Blaine is a hot-blooded quiz master and a scientist who uses Fire-type Pokémon, while Pryce is an elderly, calm man who has trained himself for years, who uses Ice-type Pokémon.
• Cool Old Guy: Puns aside, Pryce is nothing if not polite and approachable.
• Embarrassing Middle Name: Inverted, Pryce is quite proud of his middle name (Willow), which he states is because it's a tree that bends under great forces but never breaks. Giving him a middle name at all is an attempt to preserve a similar metaphor he makes with his first name in the Japanese version; see Meaningful Name below.
• Frictionless Ice: His Gym requires you to navigate a field of it to make your way to him.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Pryce come from "ice".
  • In Japanese, "Yanagi" means "Willow", causing him to make the metaphor explained under Embarrassing Middle Name. As for the usual pun, it's not entirely clear, with the two most likely candidates being that the ya can be written with the kanji for "melting", as in melting ice; or that the gi is a context-sensitive pronunciation of ki, as in reiki, meaning "chill".
  • His German name is Norbert, from "northern brightness".
  • His Spanish, French and Italian all have the same origin, Fredo Frédo and Alfredo sounds like the word "cold" of these languages.
  • His Korean name is Ryuong, From "ryu" (willow) and "ong" (old man).
• Olympus Mons: His rematch in Stadium 2 shows him wielding an Articuno against you.
• Rambling Old Man Monologue: Per his own admission in Pokémon Masters, Pryce is prone to going on long, rambling lectures about life lessons that may or may not have anything to do with the topic at hand. During his Sync Pair Story, he goes on for so long that most of it's replaced with "and so on and so forth" in the text box and the player has to interrupt him. He then apologizes for wasting your time, and comments on how hypocritical it is of him to be disappointed in his Seel for being too undisciplined when he can't keep a rein on his own tongue.
• Scarf of Asskicking: Wears one in his Gen IV redesign.
• Signature Mon: Piloswine. In Gen IV and beyond, he evolves it into Mamoswine. In Masters he has Seel/Dewgong.
• Signature Move: Icy Wind in Gen II, Hail in Gen IV.
• Stern Teacher: He overall has the air of a strict and serious but fair mentor figure, with relatively little patience for unruliness.
  • In Pokémon Masters, he's unhappy with his Seel for spending too much time goofing off for his liking. He also refuses to give you your PML badge the first time you beat him, as he recognises that your teammates aren't quite in sync with each other, forcing Flannery and Barry to undergo some Character Development before you beat him a second time and win the badge for real.
  • Later, during the Johto Episode, he commends Silver for being strong, but he points out that Silver's unwillingness to let others understand his heart is a major weakness that he uses as an excuse to distance himself, much to Silver's frustration.

Clair (Ibuki)

Clair / Ibuki (イブキ ibuki)

Voiced by: Sarah Anne Williams (Pokémon Masters - EN), Kei Kawamura (Pokémon Masters - JP)

"I am Clair. The world's best Dragon-type master. I can hold my own against even the Pokémon League's Elite Four. Do you still want to take me on? ...Fine. Let's do this! As a Gym Leader, I will use my full power against any opponent!"

Blackthorn City Gym Leader—The Blessed User of Dragon Pokémon

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• The Artifact: When she loses her gym-battle, Clair mutters, "... I don't believe it. There must be some mistake...", which suited her low-key dialogue in the original Pokémon Gold and Silver but became dissonant with her Spoiled Brat personality from Crystal onward. In Pokemon Heart Gold And Soul Silver, it cause some mild Mood Whiplash next to the high-handed and bratty line she gives when her last pokémon is reduced to critical health: "You're kidding, right? I'm supposed to win! I already decided!"
• Adaptational Badass:
  • In Pokemon Heart Gold And Soul Silver, her Kingdra's Dragon Breath and Surf have been upgraded to the harder-hitting Dragon Pulse and Hydro Pump, respectively, and it now has the ability Sniper, which powers up its critical hits.
  • Additionally, one of her Dragonair is replaced by a Gyarados.
• Adaptational Jerkass: In the original Gold and Silver, while she makes you pass through Dragon's Den, she rather succinctly accepts your win afterwards and gives you the badge without any resentment. In Crystal and the remakes, however, it is far more blatant she devised the extra test in hopes you would fail, and throws a tantrum until the elder scolds her into handing over the badge, unambiguously establishing her as a Sore Loser.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: In the anime series her Sore Loser traits and arrogance are completely absent, she instead being a lot like a female version of Lance (cool, confident and noble).
• Always Someone Better: How she thinks of her cousin, Lance.
• Arrogant Kung-Fu Girl: When you meet her, she proudly proclaims herself the world's greatest Dragon Master, boasts she can hold her own even against the Elite Four, and when she loses, she initially refuses to accept defeat. Despite her arrogance, Clair is a very tough trainer. She makes for a challenging fight just about any time you fight her — her ace has one weakness in the games you can battle her, and her gym battle is very difficult because of that. When you face her in the Pokémon World Tournament, she has three pseudo-legendaries — Dragonite, Salamence, and Garchomp.
• Badass Cape: She has a black cape that billows impressively in the wind, adding to her cool image. However, her outfit in general is the source of mockery from some characters in-game.
• Boobs-and-Butt Pose: Her sprite in the Nintendo DS titles has her facing away from the camera, emphasizing her cape, before she turns her head and torso to look behind her.
• Character Development: In Black & White 2, while she still acts a bit upset about her losses in the Pokémon World Tournament, she seems more willing to acknowledge her the abilities of her opponent, telling the player that beating her is something they can brag about, and giving a very Tsundere compliment to the player if talked to afterwards. Even if she wins her match, she tells the player that the battle was a learning experience for her, and that it made her realize something she was lacking.
• Characterization Marches On:
  • Clair was always a Sore Loser over her Gym Battle, but in Pokémon Gold and Silver she's low-key about it and accepts the player passing her extra test with grace. Starting with Crystal, however, she's depicted as being a Sore Loser even when the player passes the test, making her a Spoiled Brat in the process.
  • Clair was always proud, but Pokemon Heart Gold And Soul Silver further makes her an exemplar of how Vanity Is Feminine by making both of her pokégear conversations about how good she thinks she looks.
• The Chosen One: Sees herself as such, which makes her defeat at your hands that much more devastating.
• Color-Coded Characters: Clair is very blue. Her outfit (including gloves, boots, and cape) is blue, her hair is blue, her eyes are blue, and most of her Pokémon are blue.
• Convection, Schmonvection: Blackthorn Gym is filled with what appears to be lava. Nope, nobody ever feels any effects.
• Convenient Weakness Placement:
  • The Blackthorn Gym specializes in the Dragon-type, which in Pokémon Gold and Silver is weak only to itself and the Ice-type. Luckily, the player can only get to Blackthorn City by walking through Ice Path, where the player can collect powerful Ice-types like Jynx. Route 45 to the south of Blackthorn has many hikers, whose Ground-types will all eat dirt if you hit them with Ice-type attacks and make for good Level Grinding fodder. Even better, Blackthorn Gym comes after the Mahogany Gym, whose Leader Pryce will give you a TM for Icy Wind, which will do big damage to Dragon-types and slow them down, giving the user a priority advantage in combat.
  • In a couple early cities in the game, the player can trade for a pokémon that has a solid type-advantage against the local Gym Leader's. Blackthorn City also has a trade, but if you try it it will blow up in your face—you can trade a female Dragonair for either a Rhydon or Dodrio, which will be wiped out by the Water, Ice, or Lightning attacks of Clair's pokémon. (Perhaps to discourage the innocent, Pokémon Crystal adjusts pokémon availability so that Dragonair can only be obtained after fighting Clair).
• Curtains Match the Window: Blue hair and blue eyes.
• David Versus Goliath: In Masters, she recounts how she once fought a Dragonite with her Kingdra, back when it was unevolved. Naturally, she didn't win.
• Depending on the Artist: The length of Clair's cape varies depending on the image; her in-game trainer sprites depict the cape reaching down to her ankles, but in her character art by Sugimori its length is much shorter, possibly only as long as her biketard.
• Depending on the Writer: In Pokémon Stadium 2, Clair is still a proud trainer but not the Sore Loser she is in the core games, instead taking an interest in the player's skill and expressing curiosity over how far they can go.
• Dragon Tamer: Specializes in using Dragon-type Pokémon.
• Drama Queen: The explanation Masters gives for why she goes around all day in a cape - she's one of these.
• Fire, Ice, Lightning: Inverted. Clair has three Dragonair, invoking the same motif of Lance's three Dragon-types, but while Lance uses the trope straight, Clair uses an arrangement of Water, Ice, and Lightning.
• Foil:
  • To Lance, her cousin and fellow Dragon trainer. She introduces herself to the player by bragging about her skills and claiming to be on the Elite Four's level (despite being a "mere" Gym Leader and having a team on a lower level), is a Sore Loser upon being defeated, and couldn't pass the Dragon Den master's quiz. By contrast, Lance introduces himself to the player in GSC as just another Pokémon Trainer (despite being the very Champion), is a Graceful Loser, and was stated to have passed the quiz.
  • Crystal and the remakes reveal she is also one to Silver, as when he starts training at the Dragon's Den, her grandfather states she used to be convinced that power was all that matters in her youth, just like he was. However, Clair has a fairly close relation with her family, who help keep her more abrasive side in check, and apparently grew out of this mindset on her own, even if she retained her inability to accept loss gracefully for a long time, while Silver's relationship with his father Giovanni is incredibly strained, he's been a loner for most of his life, which leads him to fully embrace his darker tendencies, and he refuses to realize the error of his ways until his encounter at Victory Road, but is quicker to learn to accept his losses once he does.
• Form-Fitting Wardrobe: She wears a form-fitting leotard that gives a lot of definition to her curves in Sugimori's character art. In the remake, it even has a dragon-scale pattern, almost like dragonskin.
• Heir to the Dojo: Will be the next heir of the Blackthorn Dragon Clan, though she resents that she only got the position because Lance is busy being Champion.
• Humiliation Conga: In Crystal and the remakes, Clair's exaggerated brattiness results in her being humiliated all the more when she sends the player to be assessed by the clan's master and discovers that they passed the test. Not only is this something even she hasn't done, her grandfather proceeds to chastise her in front of everyone and even threatens to have her behavior reported to Lance. Clair ends the scene by running off wordlessly.
• Incoming Ham:
  • In versions of the game where the player is assessed by the clan leader, when Clair comes waltzing in to relish in your failure, her Leitmotif is playing.
  • It also plays when she approaches the player after they leave the shrine.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: It's heavily implied that her boastful, jerkish personality is a result of her resentment towards being Always Second Best to Lance.
• Infinity -1 Sword: Heavily associated with the Dratini line much like her cousin. In the remakes' rematches she has a Dragonite that actually overtakes her Kingdra as her highest-leveled Pokémon.
• Insufferable Genius: For all her bragging, she can mostly back it up— her team is the strongest of the Johto Gym Leaders.
• Jacob Marley Warning: Downplayed, as the game doesn't emphasize the connection, but Claire is basically what Whitney would be had she grown up but never lost her Sore Loser tendencies. Whereas Whitney eventually concedes and gives the player her badge after losing, Claire continues Moving the Goalposts after her defeat, and in Crystal only stops after being threatened with having her gym leader position revoked.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: After you beat her, Clair won't give you your badge until you go take a test in the Dragon's Den. In Crystal and the remakes, even after you beat the test, she refuses until the elder makes her give the badge up. She does apologize, though, and is a bit kinder to you afterwards. It's more of a Hidden Heart of Gold.
• Leotard of Power: She wears a leotard, and she's the final (and thus the strongest) gym leader in Johto.
• Lost in Translation: Her Japanese name is a pun on her TM move, Dragonbreath, which is why, when she gives it to you, she says "no, it has nothing to do with my breath". Since her English name is entirely different, the joke is much weaker ("dragonbreath" is still a slang term for bad breath). The Gen IV remakes nod to it; her new TM is Dragon Pulse, and she begins to make a comment about it, but cuts herself off.
• Making a Splash: Her Kingdra is part-Water, nullifying Dragon's common weakness to Ice (and it is unlikely for players to have another Dragon-type by that point). She also replaces one of her three Dragonair with a Gyarados in the remakes.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Clair is a play on a dragon's lair. It may also be a pun on "clear", reflecting the Dragon-type being an Infinity +1 Element prior to the advent of the Fairy-type.
  • "Ibuki" in Japanese means "breath", as in the flaming breath attributed to some kinds of dragons in folklore.
  • She's called Sandra in German, French and Italian, which comes from "dragon".
  • Her Spanish name is Débora, from dragón (dragon) or víbora (viper).
• Only the Worthy May Pass
  • After her Gym battle, Clair demands that the player venture into the Dragon's Den as a test of their worth, either retrieving a rare Dragon's Fang item in the original Pokémon Gold and Silver or submitting themselves to be tested by the master of her clan in Crystal and the remakes.
  • When the player passes the test in Crystal and the remakes, Clair is shocked and admits that she herself has not passed.
• Playing with Fire:
  • Clair uses a Charizard in both her Gym rematch and tag battle with Lance in HeartGold and SoulSilver.
  • In Stadium 2, she also uses an Arcanine in addition to her Charizard.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Clair is the haughty Blue Oni to Lance's friendly and compassionate Red.
• Related in the Adaptation: In Pokémon Gold and Silver, it was never stated whether or not Clair and Lance were related. Pokémon Crystal, however, obliquely implies that they are—the guard stationed at the entrance of the Dragon's Den explicitly declares that the master is Clair's grandfather, while one of the master's attendants implies that Lance has a Strong Family Resemblance to the master. Pokémon Adventures and Pokemon Heart Gold And Soul Silver would make their relationship as cousins explicit.
• Running Gag: Characters in-game make fun of her choice of clothing.
• Signature Mon: Kingdra. She also uses a prominent Dragonite in rematches in HGSS, presumably to emulate Lance's team.
• Signature Move: Dragon Breath in Gen II, Dragon Pulse in Gen IV. Also note that while other Gym Leaders tend to save their Signature Move for their ace Pokémon, Clair has no problems teaching those moves to her entire team, so you'll be seeing them a lot when you face her.
• Small Name, Big Ego: She may be the final gym leader of Johto, but she constantly boasts about how she can take on the Elite Four, and when you defeat her, she won't give you the badge (see Jerk with a Heart of Gold above).
• Sore Loser:
  • Clair is convinced she only lost her Gym Battle by accident and refuses to acknowledge the result—she sends the player off to do a bit of Dungeon Crawling before she'll acknowledge their victory and turn over the Rising Badge.
  • In Crystal and the remakes, she throws a fit when she learns the player has also passed her grandfather's test and storms out of the room.
• Spoiled Brat: In Crystal and the remakes, Clair is much louder and more immature about losing than she was in the original Pokémon Gold and Silver and further established to be a relatively junior member of the clan subject to its leadership (and possibly Lance) who can't pass tests that ask softball questions about the test subject's values and love for pokémon.
• This Cannot Be!:
  • After her gym battle, Clair is convinced that the player's win is a fluke and sends them on an extra quest to prove their quality.
  • In Updated Rereleases of Pokémon Gold and Silver, when she learns you pass the extra test—something even she hasn't done—she still can't believe it, either.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: After she gives you her badge and TM, she gives you directions to the Pokémon League, encouraging them not to give up and give their best effort against the league so that losing to you won't hurt as much.
• Tsundere: In HGSS. Just listen to her phone calls.
  Clair: "Nice to hear from you. How is everything with you? I'm good. What's your point? If you want to battle me again, fine. Friday nights, take it or leave it. Call me then... maybe I'll answer..."
  • Shows up again in ''Black & White 2", where talking to her in the PWT Lobby has her begrudgingly compliment the player on their victory.
  Clair: "What?! Come to brag about your victory? Fine. I'll say it to you. Congratulations! You were really tough! There! Are you happy now?"
• Uncatty Resemblance: Clair's revamped character design from Pokemon Heart Gold And Soul Silver tweaks her hair do so that it fans out to resemble the trailing fins on Kingdra's face and gives her biketard a turquoise Palette Swap and new segmentation lines to imitate Kingdra's color and scales.
• Vanity Is Feminine: Pokemon Heart Gold And Soul Silver depict Clair as a Proud but Brainless Beauty, convinced that all the chatter about her outlandish outfit is really about how she's the latest name in fashion or bragging that the Radio Station wants to do a show on her before realizing nobody will be able to see her "glorious" face.
• When She Smiles: Clair's mugshot art circa Gold & Silver features her with an unusually low-key and pleasant smile.
• "World's Best" Character: Clair arrogantly declares herself to be the "World's best Dragon-Type master". This adds more emphasis to her general ego and refusal to treat the player respectfully, as once you beat her she refuses to accept that it was possible and still doesn't think you're worthy of the badge. At the same time, it's made clear that her cousin Lance, another Dragon user, generally outclasses her and is supposedly the only other trainer who defeated her at that point, making her claim dubious at best.

Gym Leaders (Kanto)

Uniquely in these games, the player is able to visit another region after beating the Elite Four. While most of Kanto's gym leaders have only minor differences from their appearances between Gold and Silver and Red and Blue, there has been two major changes to the lineup- Fuchsia City's Gym Leader is now Janine, and Viridian City's Gym Leader is Blue.

Janine (Anzu)

Janine / Anzu (アンズ anzu)

Voiced by: Janice Kawaye (Pokémon Masters - EN), Riho Sugiyama (Pokémon Masters - JP)

"Fufufufu... I'm sorry to disappoint you... I'm only joking! I'm the real deal! Janine of Fuchsia Gym, that's me!"

Fuchsia City Gym Leader (Gold, Silver, Crystal, HeartGold, and SoulSilver)—The Poisonous Ninja Master

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• Adaptational Badass: In Pokemon Gold and Silver, most Kanto Gym Leaders have Pokémon leveled to the mid-forties, while Janine, a newcomer, only has Pokémon in the thirties. In the Gen IV remakes, all the Kanto Gym Leaders got a buff, and Janine in particular jumped right into the forties (and her Signature Mon Venomoth hit level 50), so not ony is the gap between her and the other Gym Leaders much, much smaller, she's stronger than her Elite Four father.
• Adapted Out: So far, she is the only Gym Leader who has not appeared in the anime. Even other sequel- or remake-original gym leaders like Juan, Roxie, Marlon, and B2W2's version of Cheren have already appeared.
• Amazon Brigade: Inverted in Pokemon Gold and Silver, where unlike most female Gym Leaders she uses an all-male team of Pokémon. Even Jasmine and Sabrina's teams mixed male Pokémon with neutral and female, respectively. Played straight in the Gen IV remakes, however.
• Avenging the Villain: In Pokémon Stadium 2, one of Janine's opening quotes is to confirm whether you've defeated her father, and her win quote is to declare the Family Honor avenged.
• Badass Adorable: She's cute and while she's not as strong as her other colleagues, she's still capable of holding herself up.
• Barely-Changed Dub Name:
  • Her French name is Jeannine.
  • Her German name is Janina.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: Her Signature Mon Venomoth and Ariados are on nearly all of her teams. In the Gen IV remakes of Pokemon Gold and Silver, she has two Ariados, making over half her team Bug-type.
• Break the Haughty: She shows this when you defeat her in Pokémon Stadium 2.
  Janine: Why? How could this happen?
• The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: In Gen V, she has a Crobat that knows Hypnosis and Brave Bird. Both moves are gained by breeding, although they cannot be gained simultaneously considering that there's no other Pokémon that resides in the same egg group as Crobat that can learn both of these moves.
• Daddy's Girl: She idolizes her father and wants to aspire to his example, achieving this in Generation II.
• Depending on the Writer: In Pokemon Gold and Silver, Janine is perky, teasing, and admires the player after her defeat. In Pokémon Stadium 2, she's aloof, plain-spoken, and reacts to her defeat with difficulty if not outright disbelief.
• Distracted by the Sexy: In Pokémon Stadium 2, five of her twelve pokémon know Attract. Even Weezing.
• Divergent Character Evolution:
  • The Gen IV remakes of Pokemon Gold and Silver replaced her duplicate Weezing with a duplicate Ariados and gave her a Drapion in her rematch, reinforcing her Big Creepy-Crawlies motif—her father also has Bug-Poison types in his arsenal, but they're nowhere near as prominent as they are in Janine's.
  • Gen IV also changes her Signature Move from Toxic (which was originally her father's) to Poison Jab, which only causes normal poisoning but has a respectable 80 base power.
• Doppelgänger Spin: Invoked. All the trainers in her Gym are dressed to look like her, so the challengers must find the real one.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Janine did not exist until Pokemon Gold and Silver, but she snuck into the Gen III remakes of Pokémon Red and Blue, where she provides an entry for Koga's section of the Fame Checker—though you'd be forgiven for not noticing her, given she only has a generic sprite and was given a different English name, Charine.
• Elemental Motifs: She's a ninja, which fits her Poison-type specialization: poison is associated with subterfuge and sneakiness.
• Expy: "Koga's personally-trained younger ponytailed female relative," could just as easily describe Aya, Koga's little sister from Pokémon: The Original Series, even before you get to the fact that they have the same Signature Mon. Notably, Janine was Adapted Out of the anime, perhaps to prevent Expy Coexistence.
• Feminine Women Can Cook: The Gen IV remakes of Pokemon Gold and Silver and Pokémon Masters establish that Janine makes and takes lunch to the Indigo League for her father Koga.
• Friendly Rivalry: Implied with Falkner. While the only screen time they have together is revolved around arguing about whose father is considered the better trainer, a few lines suggest that they hang out together sometimes.
• Gone Horribly Right: Played for Laughs. In Masters, she tells the player she is amused that many people are fooled trying to find her in her gym, as every Gym Trainer there is disguised as her. Unfortunately for her, this has led to the unintended side effect of people not believing the real deal is talking to them and write her off as someone else disguising as her.
• Hypocritical Humor: Similar to what Falkner thinks of her, she thinks Falkner is a "daddy's boy who needs to grow up and become his own person". Apparently your character points out this hypocrisy, which prompts her to tell you to mind your own business.
• Inconsistent Dub: Apparently not realizing who she was, the translators of FireRed/LeafGreen named her Charine.
• Kick Them While They Are Down:
  • Downplayed in Pokémon Gold and Silver, where most of her pokémon can only induce one disability—her two Weezing can only poison you, her Ariados can only slow you down—but her Crobat can induce confusion and use screech to lower your defenses in case your pokémon hits itself, and her Venomoth can induce poison, confusion, lowered special defense, and increase its own evasion.
  • Exaggerated in Pokémon Stadium 2, where her pokémon are bristling with moves that dish out Damage Over Time, Status Effects, Knockback, and other nasty things besides. Every pokémon on her Round 1 team and two-thirds of her Round 2 team can combine Damage Over Time with a Status Effect that prevents your pokémon from moving half the time.
• The Kids Are American: An acute example. Her father Koga affects Japanese accent, but she does not. On the surface it seems like it's just because Koga is an archetypical Ninja, but then so is she... Breaks down even more when you realize Kanto and the regions of Gens I-IV are all based on Japan, and no one else, young or old, has the accent.
• Large Ham: In Pokémon Black 2 and White 2, she's adopted her father's theatrics, threatening you with the horror of Poison-type pokémon.
• Like Parent, Like Child: She's the daughter of Koga, and both are Poison-type ninjas who utilize stealth.
• My Dad Can Beat Up Your Dad: Her arguments with Falkner center around this.
• Mythology Gag: In Pokémon Adventures, Janine and Falkner had a mutual respect and a shared respect for their own fathers. In the remakes of Pokémon Gold and Silver, Falkner and Janine are locked in a perpetual boasting contest of My Dad Can Beat Up Your Dad.
• Ninja: A classic example, just like Koga, representing the kunoichi (female ninja).
• Out of Character Is Serious Business: Janine first appears in Pokemon Gold and Silver as a lighthearted Troll, but once you defeat her she shows an earnest streak and promises to improve so she can become better than both you and her father.
• Passing the Torch: Janine has been trained since she was a child to take over the Fuchsia City gym after her father, and by the time of Pokemon Gold and Silver, she has.
• Plucky Girl: In the remake of Pokemon Gold and Silver, she barely acknowledges setbacks and merely claims she'll overcome them, if not now, then next time.
• Punny Name: Ja-nine. Remove the "e" and switch the syllables to get "ninja".
• Shell Game: In her Gym, all of her trainers impersonate her, even the one guy, and the only way to find her is to approach the impersonators and examine them closely.
• Signature Mon:
  • Venomoth is her strongest on all of her teams outside of the Pokémon World Tournament, where it acts as her lead instead.
  • In Masters, she uses Ariados, another mainstay of her teams. The game also reveals that she knew Ariados since childhood.
  • She leads with Crobat for all of her major appearances and the Stadium games. It also forms a BP pair with her in Masters
• Signature Move:
  • Toxic, inherited from her father. As a status move, she doesn't teach it to her entire team (except in Stadium 2), but she's not shy about using it either.
  • As of Gen IV, she teaches Poison Jab to half of her team.
• Theme Naming: Her Japanese name, Anzu, comes from one reading of the character "杏", (meaning "Apricot"). This links her with her father, whose Japanese name is an alternate reading of the same character.
• Troll:
  • When you approach her, she initially pretends that she, too, is a doppelganger, only to admit she was only joking. She'll do it even if you approach her last of all her trainers, so the only "Janine" left is her.
  • In Pokémon Stadium 2, some of the pokémon she's taught Attract to are Weezing and Tentacruel.
• When You Coming Home, Dad?: Subverted in the remakes of Pokemon Gold and Silver. Janine doesn't resent her father's exhaustive work schedule as an Elite Four member and even brings him lunch at work.

Elite Four and Champion

Will (Itsuki)

Will / Itsuki (イツキ itsuki)

Voiced by: Phillip Reich (Pokémon Masters - EN), Hirofumi Nojima (Pokémon Masters - JP)

"I have trained all around the world, making my psychic Pokémon powerful."

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• Agent Peacock: He look and acts a bit foppish, but he's still a powerful trainer.
• Amazon Brigade: All of his Pokémon in the remakes are female.
• Badass Bookworm: He may be the warm-up boss, but he's still capable of giving you a thrashing if you make a mistake.
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: As the first encounter in the Elite Four and with a team that has both a Slowbro and a Jynx on it, Will is a fairly blatant riff on Lorelei, focusing instead on the Psychic-type they share rather than the mixed Water-Ice milieu of Lorelei's team. Unlike the analytical and serious Lorelei, Will is more theatrical and grandiose in his introduction.
• Cool Mask: Wears a Domino Mask over his eyes.
• Divergent Character Evolution: Evidence strongly suggests Will began life as a quickly revamped Lorelei—as of Gen IV, however, he's come solidly into his own.
  • As per Contrasting Sequel Antagonist, Will's team uses Lorelei's Slowbro and Jynx as a springboard from Water and Ice to a Psychic type specialty.
  • A comparison of Will's Gen II battle sprite with the sprites of Lorelei from prototypes of Gold and Silver indicates Will's head was originally an edit of Lorelei's, replacing her Scary Shiny Glasses with an Irisless Eye Mask Of Mystery but keeping the same big forelock; the rest of Will's body is a sidestep from Lorelei's Lady in a Power Suit to Sharp-Dressed Man.
  • Will's remake design changes him from a Sharp-Dressed Man to The Dandy and gives him a few elements of a Stage Magician, and even removes Lorelei's leftover sheets of ice from his room.
• Hidden Eyes: His mask conceals his eyes in various sprites and artwork.
• Meaningful Name: Will is short for William, which is derived ultimately from Wilhelm, a name intuitively composed of two roots that really do mean "will" and "helm"—this name is a surprisingly good fit for a psychic specialist who wears a heavy facial covering.
• Mistaken for Terrorist: In Pokemon Masters, since members of Team Break’s only form of a unifying costume is their domino masks, Will comments that he has been mistaken for a member of the group on multiple occasions, much to his annoyance.
• Punny Name: Many of Will's Western names are obvious riffs on words related to will and the mind.
  • Willpower.
  • His German name is Willi, from "wille" (will).
  • His Spanish name is Mento, from "mente" (mind).
  • His French name is Clément, from "mental".
  • His Italian name is Pino, from the prefix "ipno-" (hypno-).
• Purple Is Powerful: He has purple-hued hair and clothing, ranking among the Elite Four as well.
• Slippy-Slidey Ice World:
  • His room is filled with a sheet of ice in Pokemon Gold and Silver, possibly indicating that he just took over Lorelei's spot.
  • Averted in the Gen IV Video Game Remake, where the motif of his room is completely revamped.
• Signature Mon: Xatu, symbolizing his love of Psychic-types for their mystical powers.
• Squishy Wizard: As you'd expect from someone specializing in Psychics, most of his team has great Special stats and varying Speed, but poor physical stats.
• Stage Magician: Seems to be his visual theme. His battle animation in the Gen II remakes (where he makes two Poké Balls appear from nowhere just by clapping his hands) bolsters this theory. His appearance in Pokémon Masters definitely runs with this theme as he enjoys engaging in showmanship to excite the crowds.
• The Stoic: His characterization in Stadium 2, where he puts up a serious face and frequently speaks in ellipses.
• Suddenly Blonde: He has always had purple hair in artwork, but his Gen II sprite has red hair due to the palette limitations of the Game Boy Color.
• To Be a Master: He's not merely content with joining the Elite Four, but wants to push himself further until he is the best trainer in the world.
• Walking the Earth: Claims to have done this to train all over the world.

Koga (Kyō)

See his folder on the Pokémon Red and Blue characters page.

Bruno (Siba)

See his folder on the Pokémon Red and Blue characters page.

Karen (Karin)

Karen / Karin (カリン karin)

Voiced by: Mela Lee (Pokémon Masters - EN), Ryōka Yuzuki (Pokémon Masters - JP)

"I love dark-type Pokémon. I find their wild, tough image to be so appealing. And they're so strong."

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• Adaptation Dye-Job: Her hair is white in her original game sprite, but is silver in artwork for the TCG and blue-ish white in Pokémon Stadium 2. The remakes settled for grayish blue.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Invoked with her love of Dark-types, as shown in her profile quote. The quote gets removed in the remakes for some reason, but the association remains.
• Casting a Shadow: Uses Dark-type Pokémon.
• Combat Pragmatist:
  • Comes with the territory of using Dark-types. Expect to see plenty of tricky status moves from her.
  • Ironically, despite extolling how powerful Dark-types can be, she also encourages the player not to be one of these, stating that liking the Pokémon in question should be the primary factor in using them. Her team also matches this ideology, as your first match against her has her using a team including a few non-Dark-types, despite there being enough available Dark-types to fill out a team of five.
    Karen: "Strong Pokémon. Weak Pokémon. That is only the selfish perception of people. Truly skilled trainers should try to win with their favorites."
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: To Agatha.
  • Karen taps into the same milieu of spooky monsters that Agatha did, but she's younger and sexier than Agatha and preaches the value of fighting with your favorite Pokémon, where Agatha pretty much just preached fighting.
  • While Karen borrows the Poison specialization milieu from Agatha and even her Signature Mon Gengar, Agatha used spooky animals like Golbat and Arbok, while Karen uses the spooky plant Vileplume.
• Dark Is Not Evil: She may use Dark-types, but she's a nice person. In Masters, she discusses the fact people don't often pick Dark-types out of a combination of how tough-looking they are and because their moves don't exactly evoke security.
• Divergent Character Evolution: A comparison of Karen's original battle sprite with the sprites of Lorelei and Agatha from prototypes of Gold and Silver strongly suggests Karen started life as an edit of Lorelei's body with Agatha's hair. In the Gen IV remakes, however, Karen's outfit is completely redesigned and Karen's fanservice focuses on her top half.
• Glass Cannon: With the exception of Umbreon and, in her rematch in the remakes, Spiritomb, all of her Pokémon are heavy hitters but are also extremely fragile.
• Little Black Dress: In the originals, she wears a black dress that bares her legs.
• Long Hair Is Feminine: Karen has always had some of the longest hair in the franchise, and art of her redesigned self oftens shows her running her hand through her hair to show it off.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Rearrange Karen and add a "D", and you spell "Darken".
  • Her German name is Melanie, from "melas" (Ancient Greek for black, dark).
  • Her French name is Marion, the 4 last letters spells "noir" backward which means "black".
• Ms. Fanservice: In Gen II, she wears a Little Black Dress and heels, with a pose that prominently displays her legs. In the remake, she's given tight pants and a crop top. Through her body language in her official art (i.e. in her trading card) and her lines and animations in Pokémon Masters, she comes across as a flirty Proud Beauty.
• Nice Girl: Karen takes her loss gracefully upon losing to the player and heavily values the bonds between trainers and Pokémon, stating that truly skilled Trainers should fight with the Pokémon they love.
• Nocturnal Mooks: Her original team consists of not just Dark-types, but also Pokémon that can only be found at night in Johto.
• Proud Beauty: She is very proud of the beauty she sees in Dark-type Pokémon, whether from being elegant or wild. She seems to be proud of her own beauty, too.
• Purple Is the New Black: She has a purple-and-black dress in the original, matching her preferences — all her Pokémon are predominantly either black or purple, and they're Dark or Poison-types.
• Signature Mon:
  • Her Houndoom and Umbreon—the respective finisher and point man of her Elite Four team—are the most prominent among her Pokémon.
  • In Pokemon Gold and Silver, Houndoom is her finisher, which fits perfectly with her preference for Dark-types for their wild, cool appearances.
  • In Pokémon Stadium 2, however, Umbreon and Murkrow take center stage—both appear on both of Karen's teams, while Houndoom is nowhere to be seen. In the Gen IV remakes of her debut games, Umbreon and Honchkrow tie for the highest-levelled pokémon on her rematch team.
  • In Masters, Karen can choose between Houndoom and Umbreon, though the former is her default and can Mega Evolve. Both Hondoom and Umbreon are also the only monsters from her core series team to appear in the TCG.
• The Smurfette Principle: She’s the only female member of this version of the Elite Four.
• "Stop Having Fun" Guys: Defied In-Universe. Karen's introductory speech famously criticizes judging Pokémon for being strong or weak.
• Took a Level in Badass: In Masters, she can now Mega Evolve her Houndoom. This is consistent with many other returning trainers of her level in games after Mega Evolution was revealed, including the Generation 3 Elite Four.
• Trrrilling Rrrs: Downplayed. She describes herself as "verrry good" in Pokémon Puzzle Challenge, but it's unknown if she's actually trilling them or just dragging the word out.
• You Don't Look Like You: She received one of the more drastic redesigns in the remakes. In the original games, Karen wore a Little Black Dress and had shoulder-length white hair — though her official artwork has longer, cyan hair. In the remakes, she has a yellow top with white pants, and waist-length blue hair.

Lance (Wataru)

See his folder on the Pokémon Red and Blue characters page.

Team Rocket

See their page.

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