Kris

Species	Human
Hair color	Blue
Eye color	Blue
Base	New Bark Town
Relatives	Mother (as protagonist)
Voiced by	Cherami Leigh (2019)
Debut	Pokémon: Crystal Version

Kris is the new given to the female protagonist featured in Pokémon: Crystal Version, which marked the first time that the player could choose the player character's gender. She is the female counterpart to Ethan and would later be replaced by Lyra in HeartGold and SoulSilver.

Background

As the protagonist, Kris originally lived with her mother in New Bark Town. At the beginning of Crystal Version, Kris received a starter Pokémon from Professor Elm and set off on a journey to become the champion of the Johto region. She took on the eight gyms of the Pokémon League while also dealing with a rival named Silver and foiling the plans of Team Rocket with help from both Silver and Lance. She also met a man named Eusine while experiencing Suicune sightings. After completing all eight gyms of the Johto region, Kris defeated the Elite Four and the league's champion, Lance. Afterwards, she could travel to Kanto and take on the Gym Leaders there, which could ultimately lead to her going to Mt. Silver to battle the past champion, Red.

In Other Pokémon Games

She made a cameo appearance in Pokémon Stadium 2, where she was shown during the game's credits battling Silver and his Ho-oh with Suicune.

In Pokémon Masters EX, Kris appeared with Totodile as a playable sync pair that could be recruited at random through the game's Sync Pair Scout feature. Her Totodile could evolve into Croconaw and Feraligatr through Sync Pair Stories in which she battled Whitney and Karen, respectively, in one-on-one battles. A Sygna Suit variant of Kris that was paired with Suicune was made available during limited time periods starting in June 2022. There was also a variant of Kris in her default outfit paired with Jolteon instead that was available during limited time periods starting in November 2022. As Ethan was depicted as the protagonist of the second generation games in this appearance, Kris was simply shown as another trainer from New Bark Town who went on a similar journey. Kris played a role in the Legendary Event "Howling Shield of Eternity", in which she and Bianca helped to deal with an outbreak of Dynamax Pokémon. She also helped Silver to investigate alleged Ho-Oh feathers in the Story Event "A Golden Future" by consulting with Professor Oak and helped Eusine in his search for a Shiny Suicune in "Chase the Northern Wind". She was also featured in the Solo Event "Kris's Worries", in which she enlisted the help of various trainers to search for her missing Suicune, only to find that it had been drawn to Evelyn's Entei. Within the Main Story, Kris was featured in the Johto chapter of the Villain Arc, where she helped in the efforts to repel Team Rocket and donned a Sygna Suit while pairing with a Legendary Pokémon to do so, as did Ethan and Lyra. Once they took on Team Rocket, Kris and Lyra stayed behind to battle Ariana while Ethan and Silver went on ahead. In the Story Event "Threads of Strength", she was shown to regularly study under Professor Oak alongside Hop and Lucas.

Other Appearances

Other Media

• In the Pokémon anime, she appeared as a character named Marina. She was part of a trio of trainers from New Bark Town including Jimmy (who was based on Ethan) and Vincent. Her starter Pokémon was a Totodile that eventually became a Feraligatr. She was depicted as a lively fan of singing and dancing who had a tendency to develop crushes on men with capes, such as Lance and Eusine. The trio was first featured in a special episode in which they battled Team Rocket members named Atila and Hun to protect Raikou. She later made a cameo appearance in the opening of the ninth movie and made several small appearances in the Diamond/Pearl-based series in which she was shown to have become a popular Top Coordinator with her own line of merchandise. Near the end of the Pokémon Journeys series, Marina made a cameo appearance with Jimmy and Vincent watching Lance and Diantha's match in the Masters 8 Tournament on television.
• She appeared as a main character during the Gold/Silver/Crystal arc of the Pokémon Adventures manga, where she was known simply as Crystal, or Crys for short. Crystal was depicted as a trainer with a talent for catching Pokémon, and she tended to use her legs to operate Poké Balls due to a period of time when her arms were broken after she had fallen off a cliff while startled by an Arcanine as a child. Within the arc, Crystal set out to catch Pokémon for Professor Oak's Pokédex in exchange for Professor Oak fixing up the run-down academy that she worked at. She initially left before Professor Elm could give her a starter Pokémon, a Chikorita. The Chikorita itself was angry and tracked Crystal down, and she was convinced to accept the Pokémon despite initially thinking that it was too weak for her team. Crystal went on a journey in which she met with several characters such as Bill and Lt. Surge, and she also became rivals with Eusine while pursuing Suicune. She became enamored with Suicune and had a breakdown when she realized that she was disrupting Suicune's goal of finding Ho-Oh. This caused Crystal to have a breakdown which impaired her catching ability, and she ended up starting from the beginning as a trainer. She ultimately helped Gold and Silver in the conflict against Team Rocket, and she finally teamed up with Suicune in the process. Crystal later appeared in the Emerald arc, in which she advised Emerald while he took on the Battle Frontier while helping with the effort to save the Pokédex holders who had been turned to stone at the end of the FireRed/LeafGreen arc. She later took part in a new conflict against Team Rocket in the HeartGold/SoulSilver arc, and she was depicted wearing Lyra's clothing from the games during the arc. She was also seen helping with the effort to stop the meteor in the Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire arc.

Canceled Appearances

• An unused Pokégear icon of Kris was found in HeartGold and SoulSilver, indicating that she was intended to be used in the game at some point in its development before ultimately being discarded in favor of Lyra.

Trivia

• As with all mainline Pokémon protagonists, her name is chosen by the player. Kris was first used as the official name for this character in text and screenshots on the back of the box for the original Crystal Version. It was further solidified as her official name with its use in Pokémon Masters EX. The name 'Kris' is a clear play on 'Crystal', in reference to the version she was introduced and featured in.
• She has been associated with Suicune on multiple occasions - in Pokémon Stadium 2, Pokémon Masters EX and the Pokémon Adventures manga. This is likely because both are associated with the Crystal Version, with Kris being introduced/featured in it and named after it, while Suicune was the game's box Legendary which had an extended role in the game.