She turned her back on the old woman and walked away. She didn't need to fight. She needed to bear witness. And when the sun rose over the Ilex Forest the next morning, it illuminated not a battle, but a gathering. Trainers from a dozen regions stood quietly among the ancient trees, holding hands with their "foreign" Pokémon. A Zoroark stood beside a Typhlosion. A Petilil bloomed at the roots of a sacred shrine. A little girl from Unova cried and hugged her newly returned Sewaddle.
The protagonist, Lyra, had never questioned this. She had grown up with Mr. Pokémon and Professor Elm, with the gentle rhythm of the Pokédex and the familiar cries of Sentret and Hoothoot. Her own team—a loyal Typhlosion, a swift Ampharos, a steadfast Slowbro—were Johto-born and Johto-bred. When whispers began, she dismissed them. "Old people," she told her rival, Silver, "they always fear what's new." pokemon heartgold xenophobia
Not all of them, of course. But enough. Trainers from the far-off Unova region, with their oddly geometric Pokémon—the stoic, dark-furred Zorua, the strange, multi-eyed Elgyem—began to appear on Routes 33 and 34. They were polite, for the most part. They sought to challenge the Goldenrod Gym, to see the famed Bell Tower. But to the elders of Kanoko, their Pokémon were… wrong. They didn't feel like real Pokémon. They had no history in Johto. They had no place in the old stories. She turned her back on the old woman and walked away
In the Johto region, years after the defeat of Team Rocket, a quiet unease had begun to fester. It started in the small, traditionalist hamlet of Kanoko Town, nestled in the shadow of the Ilex Forest. The people there had always prided themselves on their deep, spiritual connection to the land and its native Pokémon. They raised Chikorita, Cyndaquil, and Totodile; they told stories of the legendary beasts, Entei, Raikou, and Suicune, as if they were beloved grandparents. And when the sun rose over the Ilex
It would be something far better. It would be whole.
Instead, she took out her PokéGear and pressed a single button. A message she and Silver had prepared, linked to every trainer she'd ever traded with—from Sinnoh, Hoenn, Kalos, Alola. She had beaten the Champion. She had captured Lugia. She had walked through the distortion of the Sinjoh Ruins. She had friends everywhere.