Character Overview:
Gold is the main protagonist of the GSC series, and is a happy-go-lucky kind of boy who grew up in a wealthy family that houses a wide range of Pokemon, thus earning him the nickname the Pokemon Boy at his hometown. Having spent his entire life with these Pokemon which his mother has caught and kept at home, he cherishes Pokemon in general a lot, and treats them as partners, as said by himself when asked by Prof. Oak. For the same reason, he is able to evoke the greatest potential in newly hatched Pokemon, and even pass on his own will and emotions to them. He is therefore named the Hatcher by Oak.
Often quick and mischievous, he disregards rules and can sometimes be a troublemaker. He is stubborn on matters that he has decided upon, and will strive hard until he achieves his goal. He was actually not chosen a Dex Holder of Oak's at the beginning, but forced his way through the professor by going to the extremes to prove himself worthy. He is fond of trying out famous gourmet of different places, and frequents game arcades to play poker, which he sometimes cheats by disguising a Pokeball as a billiard ball. He is a big fan of the DJ singer, Mary, but got into a fight with her Smeargle when he visited the Goldenrod Radio Tower.
Gold first met Silver when he caught the boy stealing Prof. Elm's Totodile at the science lab, and has since then set out on a journey which original intention was to chase after him. The two eventually became rivals but also worked together on several occasions to fend of Neo TR and Mask Of Ice. Towards the end of the GSC series, the two became close companions, and positively affected each other. Gold met the third Johto Dex Holder, Crys, at the Whirl Islands while facing Lugia, and is unable to stand her serious personality. On the other hand, Crys often blames him for being too wishy-washy, and has more than once forced to deal with troubles he left behind. Despite that, the two also became close companions, and have gone through a lot together.
Gold is also acquainted with several Johto gymleaders, including Falkner of Violet, whose Skarmory was caught with his assistance; Bugsy of Azalea, whom he initially mistook as a girl and solved the crisis at the Ruins of Alph with; Whitney of Goldenrod, who shared a mutual dislike with him; and Jasmine of Olivine, the owner of Togetaro's Togetic parents whom he rescued at the collapsing Tin Tower.
Gold has a habit of calling people names and making derogative remarks about his villains, something he has done to both Mask Of Ice and Guile Hideout. He is also fond of giving nicknames to his companions, calling Crys the representative of Club Serious, Ruby the fashion lad, Sapphire the wildchild girl, and Emerald the unorthodox kid. Interestingly, he got along really well with Emerald, who also appreciated his arrogant attitude, much to Crys's dismay. In fact, it was Gold who made Emerald face himself honestly, and it is believed that as Gold treated Red as his senior, he treats himself as a similar counterpart to Emerald.
Gold's design is based on the male protagonist of the second generation Pokemon Gameboy games, Pokemon Gold and Silver, with the addition of a pair of goggles to his cap. He carries around a billiard cue for striking out Pokeballs when he calls out his team members, and the retractable shaft has proven to be useful in many other situations. He also travels on a skateboard, which at one point was converted into a scooter with the handles and gears of a bicycle from the Miracle Cycle bike shop. Interestingly, a skateboard was rumoured to be an available item in the GS games before its release.
Gold's outfit has remained unchanged throughout the entire GSC series, and when he returned in the Emerald series, he has briefly disguised himself as the armoured man, Guile Hideout. Under the armour, his attire pretty much remained the same. In the HGSS series, he adopted the outfit of his HGSS game counterpart. His goggles also got a colour change to yellow, and he kept his signature billiard cue. When he challenged the Pokeathlon, he wore the blue jersey outfit that his game counterpart does. Over the years, Gold's eyes were consistently amber coloured.
Gold's journey did not begin with a quest to conquer gyms or become the greatest trainer. Instead, it started when he caught Silver stealing Prof. Elm's Totodile, and made a promise to Cyndaquil to get its companion back. However, as he continued to chase down the red-haired boy after convincing Prof. Oak to give him a Pokedex, he soon realized that Totodile has developed a loyalty towards Silver, and refused to return. His journey thus became slightly aimless for a while, until he encountered Mask Of Ice at the Ilex Forest, and suffered a bitter defeat. He was determined to become stronger afterwards, and continued to travel across Johto, training up himself while trying to discover the secrets behind Silver and the mysterious masked man at the same time.
At Ecruteak City, following a showdown with Silver, Gold finally learnt of the evil scheme of Neo TR, and set off with Silver to the Lake of Rage, where they were overpowered by Mask Of Ice, and frozen at the bottom of the lake. Fortunately, the legendary beast Entei rescued them, and took them to the Whirl Islands, where they met Crys and fought the silver flyer, Lugia. Afterwards, evidence suggested that the masked man could be a gymleader, and Oak thus sent Gold and Crys to the Indigo Plateau where the 16 gymleaders of Kanto and Johto would take part an Exhibition Match.
Mask Of Ice eventually caused havoc at the Indigo Plateau with Ho-oh and Lugia which he has captured, and forced the ball-maker Kurt to surrender his designs for the special GS-ball that could capture Celebi. Gold became enraged by how the masked man treated Pokemon as tools, and chased after him for another showdown. This time, Gold gained the upperhand, and finally unveiled the masked man as the Mahogany Gymleader Pryce. However, Pryce used Pika and Chuchu as hostage to force Gold to surrender, and the boy had no choice but to watch his foe break into the voids of time.
Later, Gold entered the voids of time together with his newly hatched Pichu, but Pryce trapped him within an ice mirror. He was eventually freed by the Rainbow and Silver Wings hidden on Yellow's straw, and together with Silver, Crys, and the three legendary beasts, they gave chase to Pryce once again. Gold sent his companions away to deal with Pryce alone, and managed to free Celebi from its capture, who fulfilled Pryce's dreams and finally melted his ice-cold heart with an old song. Gold safely returned to the other Dex Holders with the help of Celebi, and went off to train with Red at Mt. Silver at the very end.
Emerald Series
2 years after the Mask Of Ice incident, on the fifth day of the Battle Frontier opening week, Gold arrived at the Battle Frontier with Crystal to assist in the combat against the armoured man, Guile Hideout. Their true intention, however, is to revive the five petrified Dex Holders, Red, Green, Blue, Yellow and Silver, by wishing upon the phantom Pokemon, Jirachi.
Gold disguised himself as Guile Hideout when he appeared at the Battle Tower, initially hoping to trick his way through the armoured man's Pokemon and reach Jirachi. However, this plan quickly fell apart, and he resorted back to direct power struggle, where Explotaro overwhelmed the armoured man with the powerful Blast Burn inherited on Two Island from Brinca. Attempting to snatch Jirachi back from Guile Hideout, Gold, Crystal, Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald prepare to face off their foe.
As the third stage of Prof. Oak's plan to reverse the petrifaction of Red, Green, Blue, Yellow and Silver, Gold and Crys together brought along the metal rings of Brinca to pass on the ultimate attacks to the starters of Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald and Silver. It was Gold's words that made Emerald rethink his relationship with Pokemon, eventually allowing the boy to be honest with himself, and successfully channel his wish to Jirachi, restoring the five senior Dex Holders to life. Afterwards, the 10 Dex Holders worked together to disperse the giant sea monster with the combined ultimate attacks, putting an end to the evil schemes of the armoured man.
3 years after the events on the Sevii Islands, Team Rocket was once again resurrected in Johto, and incidents reminiscent of Neo Team Rocket's past deeds were surfacing everywhere. Prof. Oak received a holographic message from Lance warning them of the evil organization's current aim, the Alpha Pokemon Arceus, and requested a Pokedex Holder to meet him at the Pokeathlon Dome. This task was bestowed upon Gold, and the boy managed to conquer all 5 categories of events. He also met the Johto Elite 4 there, and they were attacked by Lance's Dragonite, who apparently went rampaging after it got separated from its trainer due to an ambush from the Four Generals. Gold later headed towards Ecruteak City, where he met Morty through the Kimono Girls, and was soon joined by Silver who wanted the Ecruteak Gymleader to help him locate the Plates scattered across Johto.
However, Arceus landed in Ecruteak at that moment and destroyed the Gym. Gold gave chase to it all the way to the Ruins of Alph, where he found an injured Lance. When Silver and Crys later arrived at the scene, a synchrony between the Alpha Pokemon and Silver's 16 Plates sent them to the Sinjoh Ruins. The Four Generals quickly seized Arceus, and after forcing the Plates out of the trio, overwhelmed them with its Multitype ability and also got it to create Dialga, Palkia and Giratina. Silver distracted the Generals by throwing himself out onto the Mystri Stage, and Gold and Crys grabbed the chance to vaporize the dragon trio with the three starters' ultimate attacks. Unfortunately, the dragons materialized once more, and Lance appeared along with Giovanni and Pryce, bringing the revelation that Arceus acted on its will in an attempt to annihilate humans with the dragon trio. While the three men kept he dragons distracted, Gold strove to calm down Arceus. When he finally recognized his unwillingness to open up to Togetaro all along and finally managed to do so, he convinced Arceus of the trust between humans and Pokemon, and pacified the alpha Pokemon, stopping a crisis which would have destroyed both Johto and Sinnoh.
Pokémon on his Active Team
Pokémon he has deposited in the box
Pokémon he has had or been partnered with
