Fanfic / Pokémon: A Marvelous Journey

A Pokémon Fan Fic written by SaoirseParisa.

On her eleventh birthday, young Julia Parisa is excited to get her very first Pokemon, not to go on a journey, but just a friend she can love and take care of. But when her birthday doesn't go as planned, she finds herself befriending a shiny Pichu after saving it from an angry Beedrill horde. She names her Hikaru, and the two become friends. For the most part, Julia lives a fairly normal, happy life, with loving parents, a ranch full of Pokemon she can play with, plenty of books to read, and dreams to fulfill. She only wishes her older sister wasn't so angry all the time, and she doesn't have human friends due to being autistic. But other than that, her life is perfect.

...That is, until the day said older sister, Amara, steals a Pokemon from Professor Elm's lab, throwing the entire Parisa family into an upheaval. After that, Amara's behavior worsens, and she runs away from home. She is banned from becoming a trainer after she was caught abusing her first Pokemon, and now, in retaliation, she is on the run. Julia is appalled, and decides to go on a journey to reason with her.

Although impulsive, going on a journey introduces her to a pair of new friends: A rich but sweet girl named Perrine Innocenti, who is the friend she always wanted, and the impatient Jerk with a Heart of Gold Caiseal Brownstone, who has many secrets he wants to keep hidden. New friends, Pokemon, experiences, and enemies abound, Julia's journey is sure to be an exciting adventure.

It can be read here. The fic concluded on November 27th, 2021.

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This fanfiction series contains examples of:

A-B

• A Boy and His X: A girl and her adorable shiny electric mouse.
• Abusive Parents:
  • Caiseal claims his parents abandoned him, and there are short flashbacks of them saying things like "I wish you were never born!". The full extent is revealed in chapter 56: Caiseal had a twin who he inadvertently absorbed in the womb, and his mother developed an Irrational Hatred of him and deemed him a monster for it, going so far as to abandon him in the Ice Path to die. As revealed in chapter 60, his father is hardly any better. He stood back and did nothing while his wife abused their son, and then he makes a deal with Caiseal that if he beats him in a Pokemon match, he can see his beloved little sister Violet, curb-stomps him with strong Pokemon using moves they can't possibly learn normally, and as he walks away, drops the bombshell that even is Caiseal had won, he wouldn't have honored the deal. Karma finally catches up to them in chapter 61, when it's revealed that both parents were arrested for their treatment of Caiseal and Violet was removed from their custody.
  • As revealed in Hikaru's backstory, she was shunned and even abused by her birth parents simply because she was a Shiny Pokemon. When Raikou found out, he was so disgusted that he banished said parents from his dominion and took Hikaru in as his own child.
  • Milly's mother in chapter 76. She is first heard scolding and deriding Milly over the phone and telling her to come straight home. At the end of the chapter it's revealed that her mother is incredibly controlling, forcibly kept her away from Pokemon and forbids her from seeing her friends and father, and Milly is essentially isolated with her. Her mother had given her one chance to get eight badges and battle at least one person in the League, and since Milly failed, she has to return home and give up her Pokemon, while kowtowing to whatever her mother says. And in the end, she has to return home to her.
• Adaptational Badass: Keeping with tradition, Falkner continues to be one. In Pokémon Adventures, the authoress's favorite manga, he's just a part-time police officer, and she liked the idea and wanted to utilize it further. Here? He's the frickin' police chief!
• Adaptational Early Appearance: Some Pokemon from later generations have appeared here, such as Swablu, Salamence, and Oricorio.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Morty is portrayed less than favorably in the beginning, and comes off as more jerkish than other adaptations, in that he refuses to challenge Julia to battles because of believing stereotypes about autism and giving her a Fog Badge out of pity and to avoid any tantrums. He does get called on it, and gets better later on. Pryce also gets this to a degree for his Kick the Dog moment though he also gets better.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: Clair and Whitney are portrayed as much nicer and more mature, handling their defeats with far more grace than their game counterparts. The only time Whitney reacts badly to a defeat had nothing to do with the loss itself, but because of the cruel way the challenger treated their Pokemon, who saw them as mindless war machines. The latter's maturity is even lampshaded:
  Caiseal found himself speechless. He said that Whitney was a crybaby and a ditz, but she didn't cry even once. Whitney kept her stone faced look.
• Adapted Out: Koga isn't part of the Elite Four in this story. Instead, a new character (a Fairy-type specialist named Gladys) takes on his role. Kris doesn't appear in this series either, while Lyra and Ethan do.
• Aerith and Bob: Several characters have normal names, like Julia, Truman, Joey, Harriet, Violet, Margeaux, and so on, and others have really strange names, such as Perrine, Caiseal, Kassia, Yannick, Fergus, and Nollaig.
• Affectionate Nickname: Julia gives her Pokemon nicknames, namely cute ones. Tokiko the Togepi, Saoirse the Snubbull, Tsubasa the Pidgey, etc.
• All of the Other Reindeer:
  • Because of the way her autism manifests and her talking to Pokemon, most people didn't like Julia or thought she was a bad kid. As a result, she grew up without any friends.
  • Chanel only had Amara for a friend, as she was ignored by the other kids for being poor and "weird".
• Alpha Bitch: In the fourth bonus chapter, it's revealed that Julia was often picked on by a popular girl named Kirsten Seeley in fifth grade. Kirsten makes mean comments about Julia behind her back and even tells others to do the same.
• Alternate Continuity: While the fan fic does follow the Pokémon Gold and Silver storyline, it diverges every now and again, the cast sans the gym leaders and Elite Four are all original characters, and events play out differently.
• An Aesop: This fanfic has a few good ones:
  • Face your fears.
  • Stand up for yourself when you need to, and stand up for what's right.
  • While it's good to follow the rules, sometimes you'll need to break them in order to get out of bad situations or fighting for equality.
  • Also, people with autism are just that: people, and it's bad to define them by stereotypes you hear from TV or books.
  • While it's okay to let yourself grieve when you lose a loved one, lashing out in anger and letting it define your life won't help you at all. Many of Amara's problems are caused because she kept lashing out at everybody over her friend's death, and Kassia tells Julia not to go down that path after Saoirse dies.
• And Now for Someone Completely Different: Most of the bonus chapters focus on people involved with the main trio's lives in some way, mostly relatives. The fourth bonus chapter focuses on a completely new character, Lakeisha Knowles, a classmate of Julia's who frequently bullied her due to a desire to be like a popular girl named Kirsten.
• And the Adventure Continues: The story ends with Julia planning to travel to the Hoenn region to see new sights.
• Animal Talk: Since Julia can talk to Pokemon, she often translates what they're saying. Sometimes the Pokemon talk amongst themselves, and they have lots to say.
• Anti-Villain: Amara. What makes her sympathetic is that she's a fifteen-year-old girl largely lashing out in grief over the death of her best friend, but it's made clear in-universe that it does not excuse her actions, which include, but are not limited to, stealing a Totodile from Professor Elm's lab, physically and verbally abusing Pokemon regularly, forcing her Pokemon to directly attack humans, and generally being a complete Jerkass to everyone she comes in contact with.
• Apathetic Teacher: As shown in Falkner's flashback in chapter 5, the principal of Pokemon Academy is largely indifferent to Falkner's story about how Julia was abused by Mrs. Amoretto, and it's likely he only fired Amoretto in order to ward off all the bad publicity his school was receiving because of her actions. Not only that, but when Amoretto was slapping and manhandling Julia, there was another teacher present, and she simply stood there and did nothing; Falkner even called said teacher out on it.
• Armor-Piercing Question:
  • In chapter 17, Julia gives one to Amara, demanding to know why she's even on a journey and catching Pokemon when she doesn't even like them. Amara is unable to respond for several seconds.
  • Julia also gives a few to Lakeisha at the tail end of the brutal "The Reason You Suck" Speech she gave her, forcing Lakeisha to question her selfish and rude behavior for the first time since she met Kirsten:
  Julia: You want Merlin to not be autistic, right? Well, guess what?! Merlin's always going to be autistic! There's no cure for it, and as far as I'm concerned, there shouldn't be! You need to suck it up and deal with it instead of acting like a Spoiled Brat! The world doesn't revolve around you, and nobody should have to change themselves just so they can meet your stupid standards! (take a moment to calm down) She's your sister. She's a good kid and I really like her. Why can't you accept her? She's the only sister you have. You really hurt her, and you don't even care. I doubt you can even fix it at this point. If you keep this up, you're going to wind up being all alone. How many more people are you going to end up driving away? Do you really believe yelling at her and treating her like dirt all the time is going to make her "normal"? Is sucking up to Kirsten really that important to you?
  
• Artistic License – Gun Safety: The police who are present when Amara turns herself in are all pointing their pistols at the shack she's hiding in, prepared to fire. While one officer says they're worried about her Feraligator, none of the guns are tranquilizers, they're government-issued police guns. They also keep their guns out when the group ^note Julia, Amara, Feraligator, and the lone officer that escorted Julia in emerges from the shack.
• Ascended Meme: Younger Joey and his "top percentage of Rattata" meme. Julia thinks he's self-absorbed.
• The Atoner: As of chapter 59, Amara has decided to turn herself in and attempt to make up for all the bad things she's done since the beginning of the story.
• Attention Whore: The girls Julia goes to school with think she's this because they don't believe she can actually understand Pokémon Speak. When Julia and Caiseal first met and she told him about it, he outright accused her of making the whole thing up for attention, which really set her off.
• Ax-Crazy:
  • While she's given sympathetic reasons for acting as such (lashing out in grief over the death of her best friend), Amara nonetheless has some shades of this; she has a very Hair-Trigger Temper, barely needs any provocation to beat humans and Pokemon alike to bloody pulps, and has absolutely zero qualms against ordering her Pokemon to attack humans directly, which she first demonstrates against Julia, her own sister.
  • Yannick is a much straight example, and is quite eager to give other people A Taste of the Lash. As revealed in chapter 51, he even has his own Torture Cellar.
• Bad Boss: Amara physically and verbally abuses her Pokémon on a regular basis. As it turns out, it's because she does so that's why she's been blacklisted and legally forbidden to be a Pokémon Trainer.
• Badass Adorable: Many of Julia's Pokemon count: Hikaru, a cute yellow mouse; Tokiko, a cute baby spike ball who knows Headbutt and Dazzling Gleam upon being born; Saoirse, the motherly, caring Snubbull who will headbutt you if you're being mean to her friends; etc.
  • Julia herself can count, as she's sweet, kind, and friendly albeit reserved, but mess with her and her friends, and she won't go easy on you.
• Badass Bookworm: Julia reads a lot of books, but she can hold her own when she wants to.
• Badass Family: The Parisas definitely count. All of them are Pokemon trainers who are very capable battlers. Kassia and Truman own a Pokemon ranch, complete with their own teams they've had since their younger days.
• Bait-and-Switch: Saoirse's death; she starts vomiting and seizing up after eating a chocolate cake, and initially it appears that the chocolate is what caused it, with her being a dog-like Pokemon. Nope; the truth is that she's had a hole in her heart all this time and it's finally become to much for her body to handle.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Zigzagged; Julia, Caiseal, and Perrine pick up a moderate amount of dirt from their travels and not always having access to a shower, however they're far better off and cleaner than Amara. Amara accumulates a lot more dirt and grime through her own travels, to the point where she catches her reflection and notes her hair is clumpy and covered in filth, and she "[looks like she] got tan paint poured all over [her]."
  • Amara later notes this about her reflection. Crosses over with Beauty Equals Goodness, as the main trio remain cute throughout.
  However, seeing this new face stare back at her...it was almost surreal. Frightening, even. Where had this new person come from? Her blue eyes were still the pale shade of blue they had always been, but Amara began to notice other things had changed as well. Her chin had grown out some, looking more pronounced than it was before. Her fingernails had grown longer and sharper, even though they hadn't been manicured for some time. Her face looked like a stretched out oval, and even her chest began to develop. As a result, her brand new tank top had gotten tighter around the chest. But she didn't mind. She liked tight clothes. One of her eyes was bigger than the other.
  In short, Amara was in an ugly state of her life, as most teenagers liked to describe it.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: This is pretty much the main reason most Pokemon join Julia's team. Hikaru because Julia saved her from a group of Beedrill without hesitation, Twilight after Julia reassures her after she accidentally set a tree on fire, and Geraldine after Julia saves her from Team Rocket.
• Being Evil Sucks: Harriet, a young Team Rocket grunt, hates being in TR, and wants to leave. Her attempt at escaping, while successful, nearly costs her her life.
• Believing Their Own Lies: Lakeisha believes that everybody favors her sister Merlin over her due to her being autistic. She also believes autistic people are little more than spoiled brats who throw tantrums to get their way in everything, and comes to believe Merlin is a burden. In reality, everybody likes Merlin because she's actually a nice person, while Lakeisha is not, especially once she befriends Kirsten.
• Berserk Button: Julia despises people who abuse their Pokemon, with or without reason. Things admittedly get complicated in regards to Amara. She also gets angry when people don't believe she can actually understand what her Pokemon are saying.
• Beta Bitch: In the fourth bonus chapter, Lakeisha becomes this to Kirsten out of a desire to be more like her.
• Big Bad: Pokémon Hunter J plays a much larger role in the story than in any other adaptation so far.
• Big Brother Worship: Violet absolutely adores her older brother Caiseal, and even after she learns why her parents disowned and abandoned him, she still stands by him.
• Big Fancy House: Perrine lives in one in Goldenrod City, which is no surprise since she's rich.
• Big Sister Bully: In the fourth bonus chapter, the starring character, Lakeisha Knowles, constantly harasses her little sister Merlin in an attempt to get into the Alpha Bitch's good graces, but her actions get her into trouble when she goes too far.
• Big Sister Instinct:
  • As much as Amara gripes about Julia, she does display this. In chapter 17, she immediately panics and tries to save Julia when she begins to fall through the rotten floorboards, and in chapter 48, she attacks and beats up Pryce for ordering his Cloyster to attack Julia during the Red Gyarados fiasco.
  • Tammy is not happy when she learns about how Lakeisha filmed one of their sister Merlin’s meltdowns and sent it to her friends in an attempt to degrade and humiliate Merlin. She tells Lakeisha that if she doesn't willingly apologize to Merlin for violating her privacy like that, she’ll force her to.
• Bilingual Bonus: Many of the characters' nicknames for their Pokemon are this. Julia's Butterfree is named Papillon, which is French for "butterfly," Hikaru's name means "light" in Japanese, and so on.
• Black Best Friend: Amara's friend Chanel is a posthumous example. She has very little identity outside of being "Amara's best friend who died tragically;" we finally get to see her properly in a Whole Episode Flashback and discover she lives in the poor neighborhood and has an abusive father, but this backstory still mainly revolves around how it makes Amara feel to see her friend in this situation, and how Kassia rescued Chanel, rather than Chanel and her family. Then she dies in a senseless tragedy and her memory only exists as fuel for Amara's own characterization.
• Bland-Name Product: In a flashback, a younger Julia is seen buying a birthday present for Amara from a store called Gloria's Secret. Based on the description of the decor and products on display, it's an obvious counterpart to Victoria's Secret.
• Blond, Brunette, Redhead: The main trio are this trope—Caiseal has blond hair, Julia is the brunette, and Perrine has red hair.
• Blood Knight: Two of Julia's Pokemon, Tsubasa the Pidgeotto and Twilight the Ponyta, are very aggressive, cocky Pokemon who are only too happy to go all-out in any battle they can participate it. Tsubasa in particular loves fighting and battling so much that she frequently pops out of her Pokeball in order to battle, even when Julia doesn't plan on using her.
• Blunt "Yes": When Lakeisha loudly confronts Cindy telling Mrs. Cabanos and the principal about her cyberbullying her little sister:
  Cindy: (paying attention to her Four Square game) Yeah, I did. What's it to you?
• Bratty Half-Pint:
  • Tsubasa the Pidgey starts off as a very bratty little Pidgey: battling Pokemon when her trainer doesn't want her to, causing trouble, sass-talking her trainer, and boasting about how awesome she is even when she loses in battle.
  • Amara sees Julia as this.
  • In one chapter, the kids encounter a six-year-old girl named Abby near Blackthorn City. She causes them all kinds of trouble, Julia in particular, who can't stand unruly children, and according to her parents, has a lot of behavioral issues. After they return her to her parents, they're relieved she's gone.
  • Caiseal's egg hatches into an Elekid, whom he names Electra, and she proves to be...just as naughty and mischievous as Tsubasa is. She even also has a naughty nature, to boot!
• Bratty Teenage Daughter:
  • Thirteen-year-old Amara Parisa yells at her parents, snaps at the slightest provocation, blames Julia for most of what goes wrong in her life, and would much rather sit in her room and listen to her "iPod" than do anything her parents tell her to. When she learns the truth behind Chanel's death and gets over her Heroic BSoD, she finally decides to stop being angry all the time and turn herself in for the crimes she committed.
  • In the fourth bonus chapter, one of Julia's classmates, Lakeisha Knowles, is a pre-teen version of this. She's whiny, self-absorbed, loves using her cell phone, is always talking back to her parents, and blames every bad thing that happens to her on her younger autistic sister, Merlin, even though a lot of it is actually self-inflicted, and even when she does do something bad, she never apologizes. Most of this is because she thinks the local Alpha Bitch is cool and wants to be her friend, but Kirsten, the girl in question, is a Toxic Friend Influence, convincing Lakeisha to be mean to Merlin and that having an autistic relative is awful. She even videotaped her sister having a meltdown with intent to spread it around, cares nothing about the consequences of her actions, and refuses to acknowledge that what she did was damaging and wrong, thinking that because Merlin is autistic, that she's too developmentally delayed to understand what happened. Needless to say, she gets in huge trouble in school and at home.
• Break the Cutie: Plenty of cuties are broken, or were in their backstories, the most notable being Amara with Chanel's death, and a seven-year-old Julia when a teacher was abusing her over an incident that wasn't her fault. However, Hikaru takes the cake, as she was disowned by her parents for being shiny, her adopted parent was kidnapped by J and her compatriots (although revealed later to have escaped safe and sound), and she basically had to survive all on her own for a while.
• Breather Episode: The story has quite a few of them.
  • Chapter 51 has the kids meet Caiseal's adopted parents and have some much needed fun and cheering up after the absolute tearjerker that was chapter 50, where Caiseal runs into his deadbeat father, who tries to keep him from seeing his sister, challenging him to a match with Violet as a literal prize, utterly destroys him in a battle, and goes back on the deal he made to kick him further.
  • Chapter 54 seems like it'll be this after the kids manage to defeat Clair...until the end, when Saoirse suffers a fatal heart attack and dies.
  • Chapter 60, titled "I'm Home," has the kids reaching New Bark Town and spending the day relaxing at Julia's house, unwinding after the ordeal they had at Mt. Silver.
• Broken Bird: The reason why Caiseal starts off argumentative, unpleasant, jerkish, and impatient is because his family neglected him due to having absorbed his twin in utero, something that was out of his control. Not only that, he was abandoned by his mother, publicly disowned when he returned, and was forbidden from seeing his younger sister, the only person in the family who loved him. Is it any wonder he has such pervasive trust issues?
• Bullying the Disabled:
  • This happens quite a lot. Julia was often picked on in school, by both kids and adults, because they couldn't be bothered to understand how her autism works. Later in life, Amara, her older sister, blamed all of her own problems on Julia in an attempt to cope with her friend's death. She thankfully gets over it.
  • In the fourth bonus chapter, we see Julia get picked on by several kids in school, namely Alpha Bitch Kirsten and her Beta Bitch Lakeisha, who picks on her younger sister Merlin, also autistic. Lakeisha goes even further by recording a video of Merlin's meltdown, without her permission, and showing it to her friends in an attempt to show them that having an autistic sibling is horrible. It does not go well at all.

C-F

• The Cameo: Lyra, the female Player Character from Heart Gold and Soul Silver (The Johto games remake) appears in Chapter 4. The finale of the story also features a cameo of Lyra dragging the rival Silver who is named Silvio to grab a starter from Professor Elm's lab together with her.
• Calling Parents by Their Name: Caiseal refers to his biological parents by name instead of Mom and Dad, because after the awful way they treated him for most of his life, he feels they lost the right to call them his parents. In contrast, he dearly loves his adopted parents, but refers to them by name because he still has some lingering trust issues caused by his original family's abuse. The Ashers don't make a huge deal out of it and are very understanding.
• Calling the Old Man Out:
  • Perrine and her father Eduardo never saw eye to eye, but when he continues to baby Perrine, even as their lives are in danger, Perrine has finally had enough and demonstrates her prowess as a Pokemon trainer.
  • Julia herself gets a moment when Kassia chastises her for giving Geraldine the Gyarados to a Pokemon rehabilitation clinic rather than simply releasing it back into the wild like she was told to do; Julia points out that doing so wouldn't have helped Geraldine with the trauma she suffered at Team Rocket's hands.
  • Caiseal and his younger sister Violet each have their moments. In one of the bonus chapters, Violet learns the truth about why Caiseal disappeared and the true nature of her mother's Parental Favoritism and calling her out on all of it. In the next chapter, when Caiseal's father tries to forcibly separate Violet from Caiseal when they reunite after so many years, both of them don't hesitate to call him out on his cruelty. When he defeats Caiseal in their battle, sending him into a Heroic BSoD, and proceeding to rub salt in the wound by saying he wouldn't have let Caiseal see Violet no matter the outcome, Julia gets PISSED, throwing a ball of dirt at him and shouting that he's a terrible father.
• Canon Foreigner: Many of the gym leaders have Pokemon that they didn't have in the game.
  • Falkner has a Togetic, a Skarmory, and a Noctowl.
  • Whitney has a Furret and a Meowth, which replace the Clefairy she had in the games, namely because Clefairy is no longer a normal type.
  • Morty has a Misdreavus.
  • Pryce has a Sneasel.
  • Lance has a Swablu.
• Canon Immigrant: In addition to the above, the gym leaders have Pokemon they do have in other adaptations.
  • Whitney's Furret from the TCG, Morty's Misdreavus from Pokémon Adventures, Jasmine's two Togetic and Falkner's Skarmory, also from Pokemon Adventures.
• Can't Take Criticism: Amara's response to Whitney's totally-justified "The Reason You Suck" Speech in chapter 10 is to blow her top, kick Whitney in the stomach, and take a Plain Badge from her by force.
• Checkpoint Charlie: In the games, players travel to Kanto from Johto with relative ease, using Surf to cross the water and simply walk in. In the fic, the children have to take a ferry across the water, then are met with a tall black wall with two armed soldiers standing on either side of a metal gate. The children have to show their Poke Dexes, IDs, and get a quick background check, then wait for the soldiers to unlock the door and allow them in. It's also mentioned by both Kassia and Perrine that non-Trainers crossing the border must show passports and paperwork, and the background check is to make sure they aren't criminals or planning to smuggle contraband into the region.
• Cheerful Child: The fourth bonus chapter introduces Merlin Knowles, Lakeisha's nine-year-old little sister, who is pretty chipper and friendly a lot of the time.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Before she gets to the lab, Julia runs into an orange-haired girl. Later, she befriends that same girl, Perrine Innocenti, in Union Cave.
• Cigarette Burns: Hunter J does this to Julia after Julia gets caught having infiltrated J's airship in order to rescue Raikou
• Commonality Connection: Julia and Merlin become friends when they both discover the other one is autistic.
• Confusion Fu: Some trainers' Pokemon know attacks that they are capable of learning in-game, but not through leveling up.
  • Whitney's Meowth knows Water Pulse, and Caiseal's father has a Slowking that knows Flamethrower.
• Cool Aunt: Perrine sees her aunt Mao as this, and is very close to her even though, initially, her father tried to keep them apart due to baggage from his past. Mao finally appears in-person in chapter 75 and proves everything Perrine said about her to be right. She comforts Perrine after she loses against Lance, gives her an Alolan Vulpix she herself caught, is openly welcoming towards Perrine's friends, and even offers to take the kids home when the League ends.
• Cooldown Hug: When Saoirse dies, Julia starts hurting herself out of guilt. She only stops when Caiseal talks her down, and with her permission, they hug her and let her cry out all of her grief.
• Cowardly Lion: Julia is easily overwhelmed by loud noise and sticky situations, and cries if she can't handle it. But when the going gets tough, she will willingly put her life on the line to help others or herself. Over the course of the series, she slowly grows out of this, but doesn't completely overcome some of her fears such as poison-type Pokemon.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • Caiseal and his Pokemon are on the receiving end of a savage one at the hands of his father Fergus in chapter 60, his opponent using stupidly overpowered Pokemon against his own, and said Pokemon knowing moves they shouldn't be able to learn under normal circumstances.
  • Perrine loses HARD to Champion Lance.
• Dark and Troubled Past: It's constantly implied that Caiseal has had terrible issues regarding his family, which is why he's sensitive about the subject whenever it's brought up. To what extent is unknown, and he's intent on zipping his lips about it. It's finally revealed in chapter 56: Caiseal had a twin who he inadvertently absorbed in the womb, and his mother developed an Irrational Hatred of him and deemed him a monster for it, going so far as to abandon him in the Ice Path to die. As revealed in chapter 60, his father is hardly any better, and stood back and did nothing while his wife abused their son.
• Darker and Edgier: Not an overt example, but things are serious in that humans can get seriously injured, blood included, rampaging Pokemon have been confirmed to have killed people, Team Rocket is far more lethal and dangerous, and eleven-year-old children have to deal with the downsides of going on a journey in the wilderness, one such thing being without access to toilets and things related to personal hygiene.
  • Pokemon can actually die in this story. In chapter 54, Julia's Snubbull, Saoirse, dies from a heart defect that nobody noticed.
  • Team Rocket were scum in the games, but their nastiness is taken to new lows here, from training children from infancy to become grunts to brutally hunting down or killing off anyone who even dares to question them in any way. The authoress mentioned that she wanted to make them more genuinely threatening than they were in the games, and here they're portrayed as some kind of cult.
• Decomposite Character: While the Player Characters from the games show up either as a cameo (Lyra from Heart Gold Soul Silver) or play a role in Julia's backstory and had their own adventures (Ethan), the same can't be said regarding Silver, the canonical Johto game's rival as he only appeared in the finale under the name Silvio as Lyra's friend who will pick a starter in Professor Elm's lab together with her. His canon role of being the rival who stole a Starter from Professor Elm's lab is given to Amara, Julia's sister instead.
• Designated Girl Fight: While trapped in a cave in chapter 68, Julia and Amara get into an argument, which soon spirals into a full-on cat fight.
• The Determinator: Amara. Nothing will stop her from her journey, and she'll always find a way to make sure she can keep going on it.
• Didn't Think This Through: Amara's entire plan is to go on a Pokemon journey and eventually make the Pokemon League. In chapter 67, when they meet again, Julia points out all the flaws in said plan: Amara is blacklisted as a trainer, regularly breaks the rules of Pokemon battles, and has outright assaulted people with her Pokemon and stolen several of the badges she needed, so it's unlikely the people running the Pokemon League will even let her in at all. Amara is left stunned, as she legitimately didn't consider any of the above.
• Disability as an Excuse for Jerkassery: Lakeisha claims that her little sister Merlin constantly uses her autism to get better treatment from their parents and other people. However, this couldn't be farther from the truth as it's clear to both the readers and the other characters that Lakeisha is just trying to use this delusion as an excuse for treating Merlin (who is actually a nice person and never uses her disability to her advantage) like crap.
• Disproportionate Retribution:
  • Amara steals one Pokemon and runs away from home, and there's a manhunt for her, with police trawling all over. It's justifiable for people to be looking for her since she's a teenage runaway, but that level of action is excessive. Kassia even lampshades it.
    • When the police find the shack Amara is hiding in, they surround it with their guns drawn, have several police dog Pokemon as reinforcements, and one officer uses a megaphone to tell her "We have you surrounded! Come out with your hands up!" This is more in line to a drug bust or a hostage situation, rather than a runaway teen, even one who does have her name blacklisted from the League.
• The Dog Bites Back: The final chapter has resident school Alpha Bitch Kirsten get called out by Lakeisha for all her bullshit and cruelty on Julia along with her one final attempt to beat Julia down in her envy of Julia getting to go on a Pokemon journey while she couldn't. Kirsten came out of it pale and horrified, not expecting Lakeisha to fight back and realize that Lakeisha is no longer sucking up to her, and that Julia is no longer the scared and shy kid that she can bully any longer.
• Domestic Abuse: Implied in the case of Caiseal's mother in chapter 60. Aside from the fact that she horribly abused Caiseal and threw him out of their house, when Julia calls Caiseal's father out on going along with it and do nothing to stop it, Fergus responds that his relationship with Nollaig is the only thing keeping him off the streets, and he just goes along with whatever she does or else she'll kick him out.
  • Chanel's father starves her, beats her, and is implied to sexually abuse her. After Kassia takes Chanel away from her home one night, it's discovered the abuse extends to the rest of the family as well, and they're all afraid of him.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!:
  • When Caiseal and Perrine defeat Morty early in the series, Julia expects to battle him next...only to be completely surprised when Morty just gives her a badge. Why? Because he's prejudiced against autistic people and only gave it to her both out of pity and under the impression that she'd throw a tantrum. Naturally, Julia gets angry, gives the badge back, and tells him she wants to earn it fair and square.
  • When Julia and Caiseal are stuck in the Ice Path, the latter has a breakdown and Julia finally learns about his past. Feeling guilty over not being able to do much to help, Julia asks him what she can do to help and make him happy...and Caiseal snaps at her, thinking she wants to just magically make his pain go away. Apollo and Mallow calm him down, and he apologizes for yelling at her.
• Drama Queen: Although everyone took her seriously at first, they begin to think of Amara as this, due to her still grieving her friend’s death after several years.
• Drugs Are Bad: Drugs are only shown or mentioned to show a dangerous neighborhood or as a sign of how far a character has fallen.
  • A younger Perrine realizes she’s accidentally run away into a bad neighborhood when she sees graffiti on a building that reads “Buy crack and meth here” with an arrow pointing towards the basement.
  • Amara is seen smoking with older teenagers while grieving Chanel, with her old friend noting the cigarettes have pictures of pot leafs on them.
• Even Evil Has Standards: In chapter 14, Margeaux is absolutely horrified and disgusted when Yannick, her partner in crime, beats Caiseal with his whip.
• Everyone Has Standards: Even when Lakeisha was at her absolute worst, she thought that posting the video she made of Merlin's meltdown on the internet would be taking it too far, so she just texts it to her friends. It winds up saving her from even worse punishment once she has to face the consequences for her actions.
• Evil Teacher: In second grade, Julia was abused by a teacher named Hester Amoretto, because the latter genuinely thought that she was being a bad kid whose parents didn't discipline her properly, believing that autism isn't a thing, and blamed her for causing the incident at school where four Pokemon went crazy with rage, attacking everything in their path. This has caused Julia to develop a lot of self-esteem issues and a hatred for Pokemon battles. When Amoretto went so far as to slap Julia across the face and physically restrain her while openly declaring her to be a bad kid right in front of Falkner, it gets her arrested on the spot.
• Excessive Mourning: Amara was once a Nice Girl until the death of her best friend Chanel during an incident with a rampaging Gyarados. Still in the ‘Anger’ phase, she expresses this grief by becoming a Bratty Teenage Daughter with a hatred of all Pokemon, which culminates in her running away from home and going on a Pokemon journey despite being blacklisted as a Trainer. Along the way, she ends up building up an impressive rap sheet, which includes stealing a Totodile from Professor Elm's lab, physically and verbally abusing Pokemon regularly, forcing her Pokemon to directly attack humans, and assaulting Gym Leaders to steal Gym Badges. She only stops when she discovers that Pokemon Hunter J was behind said Gyarados rampage the whole time, and thus all of her anger towards her family, friends, and Pokemon was completely unfounded. After J’s defeat, Amara turns herself in to the police.
• Extremely Protective Child: When Lakeisha records a video of her sister Merlin having a meltdown in the bathroom and sends it to her friends, one of her friends, Cindy, wasted no time informing the principal and Mrs. Cabanos about it. Part of the reason why she did it is because Cindy's mother (who is also on the Autism Spectrum) had something similar happen to her when she was a teen, making the whole issue personal for her.
• Eyes Always Averted: Julia rarely makes eye contact, if ever, which is a common autistic trait. She has no problem doing it with her Pokemon, though.
• Face Your Fears: At first, Julia is terrified of the thought of going to Violet City, as it's the place where her hatred for Pokemon battles started and where she was abused by a school teacher. Falkner's assistance helps her to overcome this fear, though memories of the abusive teacher still remain. This is a prominent theme and Aesop throughout the fan fic.
  • Julia is terrified of Poison-type Pokemon, namely because of incidents she mentions in an easy to miss sentence. But when she and Hikaru save two Nidoran, who befriend her, she tries to get over that problem.
• Fangirl: Perrine absolutely adores the Gym Leaders, the Kimono Girls, and a book series called The Jammin' Ninja.
• Fantasy Gun Control: Averted. Criminals use firearms just as much as they use Pokemon.
• Fired Teacher: Hester Amoretto, whose abuse of a younger Julia led to her being arrested by Falkner.
• First-Name Basis: Caiseal refers to his biological parents by their first names instead of Mom and Dad because of them having abused and neglected him, and he makes it clear that he wants nothing more to do with them. On the other hand, he does refer to his adopted parents by their first names, but only because he has lingering trust issues, and does warm up to them later.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Julia is the responsible one, who takes care of the Pokemon on the ranch, does her chores and schoolwork (Though not without the occasional complaint), and follows the rules. In contrast, her older sister Amara is the foolish one, eschewing school and chores in favor of sitting around and listening to her Ipod, treating Pokemon with disdain, hanging out with unsavory people, and constantly yelling at everyone under the slightest provocation.
• Foreshadowing: The very subtle kind. In early chapters, Julia shivers whenever a Poison-type Pokemon is near or if one is namedropped. It's not until a later chapter that she shows actual fear toward Poison types.
• Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Caiseal's biological father Fergus wears glasses and is kind of an asshat, what with the way he neglects Caiseal and actively tried to keep him from seeing his sister.
• Friendless Background: Because of her autism and ability to talk to Pokémon, Julia grew up without making any friends because kids would bully her or never liked her, or believed she was faking her ability to understand Pokémon for attention. This resulted in her low self-esteem and lack of self-confidence, as she grew up believing what everyone said about her despite her parents' reassurance.
• Friend to All Living Things: Julia has grown up around Pokemon, and thus, she absolutely loves Pokemon. She finds she can befriend Pokemon easier than people...as long as they're not Poison types, that is.
• Friendship Moment:
  • In chapter 6, Julia helps Perrine save Florian from being trapped under a pile of rocks, and the two girls head to Azalea Town together. In the next chapter, the two get to know each other, mainly through learning about each other's interests, what they use their PokeGears for, and their hometowns.
  • In chapter 12, Caiseal finally takes the time to get to know Julia, and the two start to bond through interacting with each other's Pokemon and talking about why they love them.
• Freudian Excuse:
  • The reason for Amara's Jerkass tendencies and hatred of Pokemon is because she's lashing out in grief over the death of her best friend Chanel, who was killed by a rampaging Gyarados.
  • Morty's initial treatment of Julia over her autism is because he was once bitten by an autistic child who was throwing a temper tantrum.
• Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse:
  • Amara's Jerkass behavior all began when her best friend was killed by a rampaging Gyarados, and her actions are because she's lashing out in grief at that. However, in the process, she's stolen Pokemon and Gym Badges, abused several of said Pokemon, and attacked innocent bystanders either by herself or by using her Pokemon. It's made clear in-universe that Amara's grief and pain do not excuse her behavior; Julia herself openly states as such and tells their mother she wants Amara to be arrested.
  • Julia later gets this in regards to how she handled her friendship with Ethan. Regardless of her dislike of Pokemon battling, it's no excuse for hurting Ethan and ditching their friendship because of it. It's only after Julia got over her dislike of Pokemon battling and meeting Ethan again that she realized she had driven away the one genuine friend she made over her prejudice. Caiseal and Perrine pointed out that even if Julia explained the full reason for it to Ethan, it'll sound like she's making excuses and it doesn't change the fact that she hurt Ethan.
• Full-Name Ultimatum: Lakeisha's mother uses her full name whenever she reprimands her.
• Fuzz Therapy: Many scenes show the kids hugging or cuddling their Pokemon whenever they're feeling down, with Julia being the most common, because she connects more with Pokemon than she does with people.

G-L

• Genki Girl: When she's not being shy, Julia can get very bubbly when it comes to her Pokemon. Hikaru, Tokiko, and Whitney also count.
• Girls Love Chocolate: At some points, Julia mentions her favorite food is chocolate, especially chocolate cake. She's shown eating it quite a few times, even in recent chapters.
• Good All Along: Caiseal is a genuinely nice kid. But years of being treated like dirt by his parents and having to deal with The Reveal that he has Vanishing Twin Syndrome have made him become guarded and distrusting of others. He does warm up to Perrine and Julia later on, becoming an important ally and friend.
• Green-Eyed Monster: When Kirsten finally appears again in the finale when Julia and Ethan returned to school after her journey, on top of bullying and being mean to Julia for her autism, some of Kirsten's words and insults to Julia at her final appearance point that Kirsten is now jealous that Julia gets to go on her Pokemon journey early while Kirsten couldn't and fear that now that Julia has gone on a Pokemon journey and had made herself a name in the Pokemon League, the "weird" kid she once bullied is now going to be the popular one. For this and her final attempt of a "The Reason You Suck" Speech to put Julia's confidence down a peg, Kirsten gets a tongue lashing from Lakeisha for all the grief she gave to Julia.
• Handicapped Badass: Twilight. She lost her leg in an Ursaring attack and wears a prosthesis, but, next to Tsubasa, Twilight is one of Julia's most battle-happy Pokemon, never hesitating to jump into a match and go all out, even if it means pushing herself too hard.
• Happily Adopted:
  • After Hikaru is abandoned by her parents, Raikou adopts her and she's all the better for it.
  • After being abandoned by his birth parents, Caiseal was taken in by his teacher Yvette Asher. He ends up all the better for it, and loves her as though she were his real mother.
• Happily Married: Falkner is revealed to have married an Officer Jenny and is expecting his first child.
• Hate at First Sight: In the fourth bonus chapter, Lakeisha hated Julia from the beginning, all based on everything Kirsten told her about her, and because Julia cheated off her test one year prior when they were in the fifth grade. When Lakeisha caught her cheating, Julia pleaded with the teacher that she didn’t know what she was doing was cheating or that it was wrong, which only amplified Lakeisha’s feelings of ire. She continues to hate her after Julia apologizes, even months after the fact, feeling she only apologized to get out of trouble. Thankfully, she grows out of it.
• Hate Sink:
  • One character who has been universally hated is a minor character, a teacher named Hester Amoretto, both in-universe and out. She's basically a bigoted teacher who mistreated Julia back in second grade and unknowingly cultivated the girl's hatred for Pokemon battles, plus she isn't very developed as a character overall. Nobody likes her.
  • The same goes for Caiseal's biological parents, Fergus and Nollaig Brownstone. Ever since they found out he unknowingly absorbed his twin while in the womb, they treated him like he was subhuman, with Fergus mostly ignoring him and Nollaig verbally abusing him and neglecting him every chance she got. Not only that, they blatantly favored his little sister Violet and treated her better than him because she didn't have any problems. Nollaig in particular hated him so much that she intentionally drove him to the Ice Path, left him there to die, and tried to keep Violet in the dark about his abandonment. After spending two months on the streets and coming back, Nollaig curses Caiseal out and declares him a monster sent by Darkrai, leaving him completely broken and causing many of his pervasive trust issues. Furthermore, when Caiseal and Violet reunite years later, Fergus tries to keep them apart. Even worse, Fergus deliberately challenged Caiseal, his own son, to a Pokemon battle, using Violet as a literal prize, knowing he'd lose because of the experience gap. When he did lose, Fergus rubbed salt in the wound by telling him that even if Caiseal had won, he wouldn't have let Violet see him. It's pretty safe to say that they are easily the most despicable characters in the fic. It's incredibly satisfying to hear they were arrested and Violet removed from their custody.
• Hates Wearing Dresses: Julia has mentioned on a few occasions that she hates wearing dresses and skirts, half of it due to sensory issues, and half out of fear of someone seeing her underwear and using it as a means to bully her.
• Heel–Face Turn: At first, Caiseal didn't think very highly of Julia, only wanting to follow them so he can be with Perrine. He even suggested once that they ditch her. Thankfully, he grows out of this, befriends them both, stops crushing on Perrine, and becomes genuine friends with them.
• Heel Realization: Lakeisha gets a big one in Chapter 61 due to a mix of Julia, Caiseal, and Perrine brutally calling her out on her attitude and her mistreatment of everybody and Merlin almost getting killed by a pack of Spinarak and Ariados.
• Heroic BSoD: Caiseal gets several: When he's almost maimed by a falling icicle in the Ice Path, which triggers a mental breakdown, another when he suffers an absolutely humiliating loss at the hands of his father.
  • Amara has a HUGE one when she learns that Pokemon Hunter J was responsible for the Gyarados attack that killed Chanel, and it makes her realize what an awful person she herself has been for several months.
• Hold Your Hippogriffs: Many real-life sayings are tweaked so that they refer to Pokemon instead of regular animals, such as "Throwing them to the wolves" being turned into "Throwing them to the Lycanrocs."
• Hollywood Autism: Averted with Julia. She's genuinely kind, cares for everyone she loves, can hold her own in battle, has plenty of strengths and weaknesses, and the only times her autism is a problem is when people make it out to be one, especially if they don't know her. But she is overwhelmed by loud noise such as people yelling, and doesn't always act on what she thinks due to being compliant with the rules, though she eventually learns she needs to stick up for herself.
• Hypocrite:
  • Amara once lambasted Julia for crying for and mourning Chanel, ordering her to get over it. This is despite the fact that literally everything Amara does is because she hasn't gotten over Chanel's death. Julia calls her out on this in-story.
  • Lakeisha complains how her autistic little sister Merlin always embarrasses her and is a Spoiled Brat, yet Lakeisha is the one who constantly disrespects her parents and little sister and is very bratty to all of them.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: This has been a problem for Julia her whole life. The way her autism manifests makes kids think she's weird and has been bullied for her ability to talk to Pokemon and being thought of as a liar. This is also why she claims she gets along better with Pokemon than people. She is elated to make two new friends on her journey, even if she and Caiseal started off on the wrong foot.
• Ironic Name: Caiseal's mother's name, Nollaig, is Irish for Christmas, a holiday commonly associated with joy, kindness, and generosity. Nollaig has none of these qualities.
• It's All About Me:
  • While losing her best friend is undeniably painful, Amara has largely done nothing but lash out in grief and has convinced herself that she was the only one who cared that Chanel died; in chapter 41, one of her former friends, Debbie, flat-out tells her to her face that all she's doing is wallowing in her self-pity and making it all about her. It reaches a head in chapter 58, when Julia snaps and calls her out on her attitude.
  • In the fourth bonus chapter, Lakeisha routinely causes problems for her sister and friends, and instead of apologizing, she complains about how her school life is ruined because everybody dared to punish her for her actions.
• It's Personal: You do not abuse Pokemon if you enjoy not being electrocuted by a cute yellow mouse.
• Jerkass Realization:
  • Morty has one in chapter 20 after Julia and Kassia call him out on his stereotypical views on autism, especially since he was going to just give Julia a badge to avoid her throwing a tantrum. After discussing his actions with Whitney and being defeated in a battle with Julia fair and square, he willingly reports himself to the Pokemon League board.
  • Late in the series, after being a jerk to nearly everyone, when Amara learns the truth behind Chanel's death and who was responsible for it, she realizes her anger was completely misguided and breaks down. She later apologizes to Julia for the way she treated her over the past year.
  • In Chapter 61, after Lakeisha gets called out for her harsh treatment of her little sister and her petty motive behind it, along with seeing Merlin nearly become Ariados food, she begins to realize that sucking up to Kirsten and being part of the in crowd made her become someone she wasn't, and decides to rectify her behavior.
  • Julia had this in regards to how she treated her friendship with Ethan and caused a huge rift due to being too clouded by her initial hatred and prejudice of Pokemon battling that she ditched Ethan and derided him as a horrible person for enjoying it. It's only after meeting him again later that Julia, who had grown out of most of her dislike of Pokemon battling realized that she had been cruel to Ethan who had genuinely wanted to be her friend.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
  • Caiseal starts off nice to his Pokemon and Perrine, but didn't think too highly of Julia. He grows out of it later on and sheds the jerk part.
  • Amara. It's in there.
• Kick the Dog: During the Red Gyarados arc, Pryce orders his Cloyster to attack Julia, who's trying to tame the Red Gyarados, under the pretense of teaching her a lesson. Lance calls him out on it big-time, and as a result, Pryce ultimately loses his position as a Gym Leader.
• The Killjoy: A bonus chapter focuses on Lakeisha Knowles, one of Julia's old classmates. All throughout the chapter, she is consistently crabby and grouchy towards everyone because she finds her autistic sister Merlin to be annoying and bothersome in spite of evidence to the contrary, and wonders why nobody else thinks the same way. She constantly scolds her and yells at her if she does anything, such as talk about names or flaps her hands. In the chapter immediately after that, the main trio run into them, and they see firsthand how snappish Lakeisha is towards Merlin, and are quick to call her on it, especially when Lakeisha makes Merlin cry after rejecting the Smeargle the latter caught for her solely out of pettiness.
• Knight of Cerebus: Just like in the anime, Pokemon Hunter J wastes no time showing just how formidable she is. Things get far more serious when she appears.
• Lack of Empathy: Averted with Julia, despite common autism stereotypes saying otherwise. Julia cares deeply for her family, friends, and Pokemon alike. However, it is played very straight with Yannick, a Team Rocket grunt who mercilessly uses a whip on anyone who dares to get in his way and doesn't bat an eye.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Caiseal's Abusive Parents mistreated him, abandoned him to die, and refused to let him see his younger sister. Then his father challenges him to a Pokemon battle for the right to see his younger sister, curb-stomps him, and drops the bombshell that even if Caiseal had won, he wouldn't have honored the deal. In the chapter immediately proceeding this, a social worker visits Caiseal's adoptive parents' home and reveals that both Nollaig and Fergus were arrested for their abuse of Caiseal, and Violet has been removed from their custody.
• Last Episode, New Character: In the penultimate chapter, Mao (Perrine's aunt) appears in-person for the first time.

M-O

• Making a Splash: Aqua the Azumarill, Luminita the Lanturn, and Flippy the Quagsire are both Water types and use water-based attacks.
• Meaningful Name: Both the humans and the Pokemon get them. Hikaru's name means "light", symbolizing her Electric typing, Aqua means "water", and Aqua is a Marill, Blossom for Julia's Oddish since she's a Grass type and will eventually have a flower (or flowers) on her head, Perrine's last name means innocent in tune with her father wanting to keep her hidden from any kind of hardship that comes from Pokemon training, etc.
  • Julia's last name (Parisa) means 'like a fairy', and she uses several Fairy-type Pokemon (Togetic, Snubbull and Azumarill) along with Pokemon that know Fairy-type moves (such as Pikachu)
• My God, What Have I Done?: In chapter 58, Amara has this reaction upon discovering that J was behind the Gyarados rampage that killed Chanel. Realizing all of her anger towards her family, friends, and Pokemon was completely unfounded, she breaks down in Tears of Remorse, releases all of her Pokemon, and crawls into an old collapsed house to curl up in a Troubled Fetal Position.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Lance's middle name, Siegfried, is actually his German name.
  • Yannick's overall design, whip included, is deliberately based on the very early artwork for the Team Rocket grunt class.◊
• Never My Fault:
  • Amara's main character flaw. The entire story starts because she ran away from home, deciding to become a Pokemon trainer against her parents' wishes and the government, blaming them for every bad thing that ever happened in her life and convinced they don't care about her. But the thing is, Amara is banned by the government from having any Pokemon due to repeatedly abusing them, including her own starter Pokemon, for trivial reasons, and whenever her family does try to help her in any way, she continually pushes them away out of a sense of misguided hatred. She also frequently accuses her old friends of never caring about another one of their friends, the late Chanel, while conveniently ignoring every attempt they ever made at reaching out to her in her grief, and is angry at them for being angry at her for revealing their private secrets to people who had no right to know said secrets as a means to get back at them for their supposed lack of concern for Chanel.
  • In the fourth bonus chapter, Lakeisha not only takes part in bullying Julia because of Kirsten's influence, but mistreats her younger sister Merlin, which culminates takes a video of her during a meltdown without her consent, and sends it to her friends in an attempt to humiliate her. When she's caught because one of those friends told one of the teachers and the principal and has to face the consequences, Lakeisha refuses to admit her wrongdoing, claiming everything is all Merlin's fault for cramping her style and ruining her reputation in school, even though her friends stopped hanging out with her and everybody at the school is disgusted with her because of the cyberbullying she did to Merlin.
    • She subsequently blames Mrs. Cabanos, the teacher who was initially notified about the cyberbullying, about exposing what Lakeisha did. In reality, when Mrs. Cabanos was talking to the class about privacy, she left out the people who were involved in the incident; Lakeisha outed herself as the one responsible to the student body when she loudly confronted Cindy about telling Mrs. Cabanos and the principal about what happened.
• Nice Guy: Caiseal, once he Took a Level in Kindness. Julia and Perrine are both nice girls who try to help each other and their friends or family no matter what.
• The Nicknamer: Applies to all three of the main kids, as they give all of their Pokemon nicknames.
• Non-Idle Rich: Perrine's family is very wealthy, but she is very active as a trainer and can hold her own in battle.
• Noodle Incident: When Julia was in second grade, a classmate made some Pokemon go berserk and the ensuing battle left Julia with an intense hatred for Pokemon battles, not helped by an inept teacher accusing her of causing said incident out of frustration. Thankfully, Julia learns that Pokemon battles aren't mindless fights that do nothing but injure or kill others.
• Oh, My Gods!: Arceus is namedropped a lot of the time.
• Olympus Mons: The legendary beasts, Ho-Oh, and Lugia are namedropped a few times, though as of recently, Raikou has had the most screen-time.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: Part of the reason why Lakeisha hates Julia and bullies her is that Julia cheated off her during a science test and didn't think she was truly remorseful once she had to apologize... despite the fact that it only happened once a year ago. This is done to demonstrate just how petty Lakeisha can be.
• Only Friend: Amara was this to Chanel. Learning that her other friends actually didn't care about Chanel at all prompts Amara to realize Chanel was her only true friend, too.
• Only Sane Man: Depends on the situation, but all of the kids can be this when the time comes. Margeaux is this when it comes to being partnered with Yannick.
• Original Character: Any character who isn't a gym leader, Elite Four member, Champion, or professor is this.
• Orwellian Retcon: In response to critique from readers, the author rewrote some early chapters, added new scenes, and added new chapters portraying the Parisa parents in a more favorable light^note  such as having given both their daughters secret bank accounts where in the original release, it was only Julia and showing more positive interactions with Amara.

P-R

• Parental Favoritism:
  • Invoked: at least part of Amara's problems stem from her belief that Kassia and Truman care more about Julia than her, which isn't true.
  • Played straight with Caiseal, whose biological parents openly favored his little sister Violet over him, to the point of abandoning him and leaving him in the Ice Path to die because he had Vanishing Twin Syndrome.
  • Lakeisha believes that her parents favor Merlin over her or Tammy. In reality, the Knowles parents love all their daughters equally; Lakeisha's just using this delusion as an excuse to bully Merlin, as Amara did with Julia.
• Parents as People:
  • The Parisas try to be good to both Julia and Amara, but they never consider taking more appropriate steps when Amara goes through deep depression for months over the death of her friend, resulting in Amara shutting them out and eventually running away from home. But when Amara finally realizes the error of her ways, she finally lets them console her before the police arrest her, and afterward, they do what they can to support Amara.
  • Perrine's father Eduardo doesn't want her going on a journey, and was very strict with her because he wanted her to have a good future that didn't involve Pokemon training. He does eventually come around and give her his blessing to pursue Pokemon training, though.
• Past Experience Nightmare: Caiseal dreams about his mother's abuse on a regular basis. Some times he'll be screaming in his sleep, and his Pokemon or the girls have to forcefully wake him up.
• Playing with Fire: Kitsune the Ninetales and Apollo the Typhlosion are Fire types and use lots of fire attacks.
• Police Are Useless:
  • While not for lack of effort, the police make little progress in actually putting a dent in Team Rocket and Hunter J's operations, typically only managing to do so thanks to Julia's intervention; indeed, Yannick and Margeaux have broken out of prison multiple times with little trouble. They haven't even been able to track down Amara, a simple teenage runaway, despite fact that an entire manhunt has been issued throughout Johto for her. Eventually averted in the end when they do finally manage to capture Amara with Julia's help.
  • Averted with Falkner; in the backstory, he arrested the Sadist Teacher who abused Julia for her actions and saw to it personally that she lost her job. He was also very active in the Goldenrod Radio Tower crisis and helped stop Team Rocket, alongside other Gym Leaders.
• Poison Is Evil:
  • Amara has a Weepinbell and a Beedrill on her team.
  • Julia is terrified of Poison-type Pokemon because some tried to kill her a few times, and as a result, thinks this. But she manages to befriend an Oddish and two Nidoran, so she may be gradually overcoming her fear just a bit.
• Poor Communication Kills: In the fifth bonus chapter, Julia and a boy named Ethan become friends, but during that time, she never told him about her hatred for Pokemon battles, as nothing in the chapter implies whether she did or not. When she sees him participate in a battle, her prejudice against them and anyone who likes them clouds her judgment, and she decides she doesn't want to be Ethan's friend anymore.
• Potty Emergency: Julia has one in Chapter 6, but she luckily makes it to a Pokémon Center on time.
• Punch-Clock Villain: Harriet, a member of Team Rocket. She only joined them in order to have a paying job so she could support her family, and hates it. By the time of chapter 29, she's completely disillusioned with the organization and desperately wants out.
• Put on a Bus: Julia's red Gyarados, Geraldine, is sent to a Pokemon rehabilitation facility so she can receive professional help for the trauma she endured while in Team Rocket's captivity.
• Rage Breaking Point:
  • Julia tries to keep herself together when Caiseal and his father have a battle, but when she watches him lose and nearly break down, she can't take it anymore and tries to convince Fergus to call off the battle. All she gets for it is a slap in the face. Afterward, when Fergus callously tells Caiseal—who at this point is in a Heroic BSoD—he wasn't going to let him see Violet whether he won or not, she is understandably PISSED, to the point of throwing dirt at him while his back is turned and screaming at him.
  • She hits it again when she and Amara are trapped in a cave, leading to Amara giving her a "The Reason You Suck" Speech, revealing that she sees Julia as an emotionless robot who only cares about herself and Pokemon. Julia finally snaps, gives Amara a Bitch Slap, and gives her a "The Reason You Suck" Speech of her own, chewing her out on using Chanel's death as an excuse to lash out at people and constantly spinning things around to make it sound like everyone's out to get her when all they want to do is help.
• Rank Scales with Asskicking: The entire Goldenrod Radio Tower arc serves as this for the majority of the gym leaders, though they're still this even outside that particular arc.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
  • In chapter 10, Whitney gives an epic one to Amara after refusing to give her a Plain Badge:
    Whitney: We Gym Leaders have a right to refuse to give badges to trainers who act and behave in a reprehensible manner, which you just did. You basically just confirmed to me that you are an incompetent Pokémon Trainer!
    Amara: I-I-Incompetent?!
    Whitney: Yeah, I said it! You waltz into my gym, assault me and my Miltank without even so much as asking for a battle, pummel me and my Pokémon even after you won, and not only that, verbally abused your poor Bellsprout for losing to Mil-Mil! A good Pokémon Trainer never calls their Pokémon worthless, nor do they treat them like war machines! You do whatever the heck you want and won't hear any argument no matter what. You don't consider the feelings of the people or Pokémon around you, and you throw a tantrum when nothing goes your way. You have no right to be a Pokémon Trainer if you choose to behave that way, and I won't waste a Plain Badge on someone like you.
  • Amara gets another one from her former friend Debbie in chapter 41, who points out that, contrary to her beliefs, she and the others did care that Chanel died, held a vigil for her, and even made sympathy cards, but Amara didn't know that because she refused to leave her room for those days or talk to them. Amara initially refuses to listen, but when Debbie tells her point-blank that she's just wallowing in her own self-pity and making Chanel's death all about her, Amara is stunned and can barely muster a response.
  • In a later chapter, Caiseal's father Fergus is given several of these from the entire trio, from caring more about his Pokemon and his wife than his oldest son, forcing Caiseal to battle him for the right to see his sister—the one person in the family who genuinely loves him—using said sister as a bargaining tool in said battle, and, after defeating him, telling him that whether he won or not, he was never going to let Caiseal see Violet.
  • In the fourth bonus chapter, a girl in Julia's school named Lakeisha records a video of her sister Merlin having a meltdown and sharing it with her friends. One of said friends, a girl named Cindy, bombards Lakeisha with several of these, calling her out for being so cruel to her sister and invading her privacy like that. One of the most prominent ones is when Lakeisha confronts Cindy in front of the student body at recess about telling one of the teachers and the principal about the cyberbullying, getting her into serious trouble:
    Cindy: Yeah, I told Mrs. Cabanos the second you told me what you did. I even showed her the video and had her tell the principal. Families aren’t supposed to hurt each other the way you hurt Merlin. Call me a snitch if you want. I don’t care.
    Bystander: Woo! Go Cindy!
    Cindy: Honestly, I’d rather hang out with Julia than with you now. She’s actually nice!
    Lakeisha: You’d rather hang out with a stupid freak girl who cheated off my science test? You’ll be committing social suicide by doing that!
    Cindy: Shut up. You don’t tell me who I can and can’t hang out with. I’m down with you, Lakeisha. Merlin deserves a way better sister than you. (Turns to the kids playing Four Square with her) Come on, guys. I’m not gonna waste my time hanging out with heartless idiots who get off on hurting people for kicks. (They all walk away)
  • Later, Tammy follows this up when she tells off Lakeisha for what she did to their sister, and calls her out on continuing trying to justify her actions:
    Tammy: Stop with the excuses! I can't believe you'd do this to Merlin! You better apologize to her for this, or I'll make you!
    Lakeisha: Not you too! You're supposed to be on my side! You're my sister for Pete's sake!
    Tammy: Just because you're my sister don't mean I'm not gonna tell you when you do somethin' stupid. Why'd you even do it anyway? Merlin didn't even do anything to you.
    Lakeisha: I hate Merlin! I hate her! She's stupid and is always embarrassing me in front of my friends and I can't do anything without Mom making me drag her with me all the time! I want a normal sister who don't babble about names all the time and scream about everything! She's a spoiled brat and you know it! Somebody oughta put her in her place and tell her the whole world don't revolve around her!
    Tammy: (facepalms at her sister's delusions) You don't mean that.
    Lakeisha: Yes I do! I'm sick of Mom and Dad treatin' her like a queen when she don't deserve it! She thinks she's so much better than everybody else in here 'cause she's autistic and can use it to get away with all sorts of crap!
    Tammy: No, she doesn't. Stop right there. I don't know where you're getting all these ideas from, but none of what you're sayin' about Merlin is true. You know it and I know it.
    Lakeisha: Everybody's gettin' all mad over a dumb video and treatin' me like a criminal! I'm the only one gettin' punished and Merlin don't even get yelled at for nothin'!
    Tammy: Listen, Keish. If you're thinking Mom and Dad love Merlin more than you and me, don't. If you were havin' a meltdown and I took a video of you and showed it to my friends for kicks, or even put it on the internet, I'd be in just as much trouble as you are now! Mom and Dad would roast me alive if I had pulled that stunt! It's not about them liking Merlin more than us. She ain't the center of the family, and neither are you and I. They're trying to teach you right from wrong, and you can't deny what you did was pretty stupid. You brought this on yourself, so it's on you to make it right with Merlin. Just apologize, do all your chores, bring your grades up, and listen to Mom and Dad for the next month, and this'll all blow over before you know it.
    Lakeisha: You don't get it. My friends don't like me anymore because of Merlin. Mikayla, Amy, and Cindy want nothin' to do with me no more. My favorite teacher has it out for me. My reputation in school is ruined!
    Tammy: Reputation isn't everything. That's the problem with you, Keish; you put too much stake on trivial things and make stupid decisions because of it. Besides, why is Merlin being autistic suddenly a problem to you now? You never cared about it before. You know Merlin's always going to be autistic. It's a part of her, and there's no changing it.
  • In the chapter right after that, Lakeisha receives many more of them from Perrine, Caiseal, and Julia, who waste no time telling her how cruel she's been to Merlin and other people for the most asinine reasons. Julia, in particular, finally rips into her for all the bullying Lakeisha put her through in school.
  • In the final chapter, Kirsten attempts this on Julia to put her down in her envy of Julia getting to go on a journey around Johto and getting to participate in the league by telling that her journey means nothing and that Julia is nothing more but a "freak". It didn't take as Julia's journey made her Grew a Spine and Kirsten is called out by a now changed Lakeisha who refuse to suck up and cater herself to Kirsten anymore.
• Reasonable Authority Figure:
  • Falkner saves Julia from a Team Rocket grunt early in her journey and helps her overcome her fear of battles. He also helped her back when she was younger, saving her from a Pokemon battle that ensued in a storage shed and arresting the teacher who was abusing her.
  • Caiseal's adopted mother, Yvette Asher, was instrumental in helping him get back on his feet, from saving him from a life on the streets to defending him when she witnessed Nollaig abusing him. She even personally adopts him. When he tells her about what happened with Fergus, after giving him some much needed emotional support and a Cooldown Hug, she calls the police with her husband's encouragement.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Julia is the red oni to Amara's blue oni, Perrine is a red oni to Caiseal's blue oni, and Julia is the blue oni to Perrine's red oni.
• Rejected Apology: In the fourth bonus chapter, its revealed that when Julia was in fifth grade, she knowingly cheated off of a classmate's science test. When she's punished for it, she's made to apologize to Lakeisha, and she does. Lakeisha doesn't reject her apology outright, but afterward, she tells her friends that she doesn't believe Julia is actually sorry for cheating.
• The Reveal:
  • The very end of chapter 56 finally shows us what Hunter J is actually after: Arceus.
  • Chapter 58 drops a pretty big bombshell: As it turns out, the Gyarados attack in Cherrygrove City, the one that killed Chanel, her little brother, and many others wasn't an accident. Pokemon Hunter J was responsible, as it was the first test run for a prototype radio signal that mind controlled Pokemon. When Amara learns about this, she goes into a pretty big Heroic BSoD.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Many of the Pokemon the kids catch happen to be cute ones, such as Pichu, Togepi, Marill, Eevee, Chikorita, Pidgey, Vulpix, Jigglypuff and Hoppip.
• Rummage Fail: Like Ritchie in the anime series, Julia puts stickers on her PokeBalls, particularly ones big enough to write their names on, for the sole purpose of averting this.
• Running Gag:
  • Tsubasa the Pidgey (later Pidgeotto) will leave her Poké Ball whenever she wants, and usually the first thing she does is peck someone or cause some kind of trouble in any way she pleases, much to Julia's frustration.
  • The dumb remarks about what the Pokédex calls certain Pokémon.

S-Y

• Sadist Teacher: Hester Amoretto, a Jerkass teacher who physically and verbally abused Julia regularly, having little understanding of autism, thinking Julia was just a Spoiled Brat who's parents didn't discipline her properly, and being fully prepared to believe the worst in her no matter what. Her actions led to her being arrested by Falkner, who was absolutely disgusted:
  Falkner: If you think hitting her and screaming at her is going to solve anything, then you're not fit to be a teacher!
• Sassy Black Woman: Lakeisha Knowles, one of Julia's classmates from the fourth bonus chapter, is an elementary school version of this. It's deconstructed in that her sass gets her into a lot of trouble with her friends, parents, and teachers.
• Scary Stinging Swarm: In the first chapter, Julia and Hikaru are chased by a Beedrill horde before Kassia and her Vaporeon come to their rescue. The next chapter reveals that Hikaru accidentally ate their stash of Oran berries.
• Self-Harm: When Julia learns that Saoirse died from a heart attack, she is so overcome with guilt and anger that she slaps herself across the face multiple times as a way of punishing herself for not having known about it. She stops when Caiseal and Perrine talk her out of it.
• Self-Insert Fic: Julia is an openly admitted self-insert of the author, bearing the same first name, same appearance (as a child), being autistic and bullied in school, and both having an older sister with whom they have trouble relating to.
• Sensible Heroes, Skimpy Villains: Julia and her friends dress in long shorts, pants, or long skirts; Amara by contrast wears "a black tank top, very small, pale blue shorts that did a great job in showing off her legs, and tall brown boots." Later chapters have Amara ditch the shorts in favor of jeans, but they are still described as being tighter and more form-fitting than those the other characters wear.
• Shock and Awe: Hikaru is an Electric-type Pokemon. So is Chirin the Mareep.
• Shout-Out: This fan fic often references a lot of Pokémon-related media, such as the anime, Pokémon Adventures, and other obscure manga such as Pokemon: Golden Boys. It also references non-Pokémon media as well.
  • Perrine's favorite book series is called The Jammin' Ninja.
  • After Julia learns about Caiseal's past, she asks him if there is anything she can do to help him, and he responds with an angry rant that is inspired by a very similarly worded rant from Emi in Katawa Shoujo.
• Shrinking Violet:
  • For the most part, Julia is shy around new people and prefers to stay away from strangers, especially if they try to invade her personal space.
  • True to her game characterization, Jasmine is still her shy, soft-spoken self.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: The Parisa sisters couldn't be more different. Julia is shy, sweet, respectful of authority, and loves Pokemon, whereas Amara is volatile, confrontational, disrespectful towards everyone, even people who haven't done anything to her, and hates Pokemon with a passion.
• Single-Issue Psychology: Defied in the Geraldine arc. When Julia catches the red Gyarados after freeing her from Team Rocket, she thinks caring for her and showering her with love and affection will make everything okay and fix all of her issues. Unfortunately, Geraldine's trauma from being forcefully evolved, confined, and experimented on causes her to have frequent nightmares and have unpredictable bouts of Berserker Rage that Julia is unable to contain or stop. Julia eventually accepts that Geraldine needs professional help and therapy, neither of which she can provide, and gives her to Lance so her Gyarados can be sent to a facility better equipped to address her trauma
• Sore Loser: In the first round of the Pokemon League, Caiseal faces off against and defeats a girl named Sarah Shaw. Sarah responds to the loss (and Caiseal trying to give her some words of encouragement) by slapping him, throwing a tantrum, and threatening to sue him. Security is called in to take her out of the stadium kicking and screaming.
• Sour Supporter: Caiseal starts off not thinking highly of Julia and her idealism. Gradually thaws out later.
• Speaks Fluent Animal: Julia is able to understand any Pokemon language. It's implied in chapter 26 that this is a result of her interacting with Psychic Pokemon owned by her parents.
• The Stool Pigeon: A mix between a Concerned Claire and a Whistleblower Wilma in the fourth bonus chapter. When Lakeisha violates Merlin's privacy by filming a video of her meltdown without her knowledge or consent then sends it to her friends, one of those friends, Cindy, immediately reports it to one of the teachers and the principal so Lakeisha could face the consequences for her actions. She did it because she was disgusted at Lakeisha for violating her sister's privacy like that and because she wanted to nip the situation in the bud long before the issue got out of hand or the video was put on the internet.
• Stopping the Blame Game: Amara blames everyone around her for not caring enough about her feelings in regards to the death of a friend, often lashing out at them over the slightest provocation and doing cruel things, such as abusing Pokemon, out of spite, frequently using her younger sister Julia as The Scapegoat. Chapters 57 and 58 finally have them air out their grievances with one another, with Julia in particular reminding Amara that people around her did want to help her and reach out to her, but she chose to push them away and be violent with them, simply using her anger as an excuse to throw a months long temper tantrum rather than doing what the courts told her to do and find healthier ways to heal and cope with her situation.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: At first, Caiseal is kind toward Perrine, if a little impatient and pushy, but doesn't think highly of Julia. He becomes more sugar and less ice later on as he undergoes much needed Character Development.
• Surprisingly Sudden Death: In chapter 54, Saoirse gets a random heart attack while relaxing with Julia and the other Pokemon. It was caused by a defect she had that nobody noticed. Despite everyone's efforts to save her, Saoirse dies.
• Sweet Tooth: Julia's favorite food is chocolate cake.
• Take That!: Chapter 54 is a whole take that to Karen Brewer from The Baby-Sitters Club. The character Abby has based on Karen as there both annoying, self-absorbed, obnoxious little brats; the only difference is that Abby is punished for her actions, and the main characters dislike her. Despite being nice people and would normally help someone in need, Julia, Perrine, and Caiseal all dislike Abby for her bratty behavior. After they return Abby to her parents, they're relieved she's gone.
• Team Mom: When the going gets tough, Perrine is usually the one to make sure nobody cries or gets mad.
• Tears of Remorse: When Amara finds out J was responsible for Chanel's death, she completely breaks down upon realizing all of her anger towards her family, friends, and Pokemon was completely unfounded.
• Theme Naming:
  • Letter Motif: All of Jasmine's Pokemon have names that begin with the letter A. Her Ampharos is named Ampere, her two Magnemite are Albert and Alphonse, her Magneton is Argentine, her two Togetic are Angela and Angelo, and her Steelix is named Amandine.
  • Named After Somebody Famous: Some characters are named after famous people.
    • Caiseal is named after Caiseal Mor, an autistic Irish writer, artist, and musician.
    • Eusine is given the surname Eisenhower, after President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
    • Several of the characters from the fourth bonus chapter are named after various anime voice actors: The social studies teacher, Mrs. Cabanos, after Christine Marie Cabanos, the principal Mr. Lindbeck after Erica Lindbeck, Lakeisha's friend Cindy Stuart after Eric Stuart, and Mikayla Haigney after Michael J. Haigney, one of the script adapters for the original Pokemon anime in the 4Kids era, who also voiced various Pokemon such as Charmander, Psyduck, Geodude, Snorlax, etc.
  • Stellar Name: Lance's Pokemon are all named after planets or celestial bodies. His Dragonite is named Mercury, his Gyarados is called Neptune, and his Swablu is named Venus.
  • Shout-Out Theme Naming: Perrine is named after Perrine Paindavoine.
• There Are No Therapists: Played with. There are, but Amara refuses to seek any kind of professional help despite her parents' suggestions. Plus, later chapters mention that Amara has refused to participate in her court-mandated therapy.
• Those Two Guys: Two Team Rocket grunts, Margeaux and Yannick, appear a lot throughout the story, though they prove to be very threatening and competent, though not nearly as much as their boss, Pokémon Hunter J.
• Title Drop: After his second battle with Julia, Morty says "I hope you have a marvelous journey, children."
• Took a Level in Badass: All three of the main children go through this at some point. Doubly so for Julia, as she's forced to do so in order for the story to advance!
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Morty is portrayed less favorably in this fan fic, but he does gradually get better.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Falkner in the games was portrayed to be rather condescending. He is given a much more positive portrayal here, as he tries to help Julia come to terms with her past and her bad memories of a certain teacher she had to deal with.
• Toxic Friend Influence: Kirsten, the Alpha Bitch of Julia's school, befriends Lakeisha and manages to convince her to not only partake in bullying Julia, but to treat her sister Merlin like trash because they're different...and Lakeisha goes along with it.
• Trauma Button:
  • In early chapters, just being near Violet City was enough to upset Julia and remind her of the incident from second grade. She does manage to get over it with Falkner's help.
  • Caiseal is utterly terrified of ice, and when the kids get closer to the Ice Path, he gets more and more uncomfortable, to the point that he starts snapping at everyone at the mere mention of it. When inside, it causes him to have psychosomatic reactions, such as vomiting and panic attacks. When he's nearly killed by a large icicle in there, he finally breaks down. It's revealed that his biological mother abandoned him there, and shortly after he arrived, he almost got maimed by a giant icicle.
• Tsundere: Tsubasa comes off as very naughty and causes trouble a lot, but she does genuinely care for her friends. Caiseal puts up a jerkish façade, but gradually comes out of his shell.
• Two Girls and a Guy: The story focuses on three kids, Julia, Perrine, and Caiseal, and their adventures together. With Julia and Perrine being the two girls, and Caiseal being the one guy.
• Twofer Token Minority: Merlin, Lakeisha's little sister, is both black and autistic.
• The Unapologetic: Lakeisha refuses to apologize to Merlin for the video she recorded of one of her meltdowns and sent to her friends without her knowledge or consent. All because she blames Merlin for making her a pariah at school despite the fact everybody there is rightfully disgusted with her actions.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid:
  • Amara is repeatedly noted to have once been a nice kid who got along fine with her family and loved them deeply. That all changed upon her friend Chanel's death; her grief led her to become a Bratty Teenage Daughter.
  • In the fourth bonus chapter, Lakeisha, one of Julia's classmates, used to be a nice kid who loved her baby sister. As she got older though, she started acting like a brat and began wishing her sister wasn't autistic.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Over the course of the series, Julia and Caiseal become friends despite their rough start, though they still argue and roast each other on occasion.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: At first, Perrine wanted to please her father, but she couldn't do it. She grew out of this attitude early on.
• Western Zodiac: Several characters have confirmed birthdays that fit their sign. Julia (born April 18) is an Aries and she's passionate, playful, and dynamic. Merlin (born in September) is either a Virgo or Libra, and she's detail oriented when it comes to names, along with being caring.
• Wham Episode:
  • Chapter 54. One of Julia's Pokemon has a heart attack and unexpectedly dies.
  • Chapter 58 is another one, where J reveals that she's the one responsible for the Gyarados attack that killed Chanel, proving that it wasn't an accident.
• Wham Line: In that above episode, a Nurse Joy says to Julia, "I'm sorry. She didn't make it off the table."
• Why Couldn't You Be Different?:
  • At first, Perrine thought her father hated her for not being the sweet, kind Proper Lady that he wanted her to be and not meeting his strict expectations, not that she cared anymore. As it turns out, her father's friends were killed by an Onix when he was a kid, and he became frightened by the concept of Pokemon trainers, and wanted Perrine to avoid that same fate. They eventually manage to work things out.
  • In the fourth bonus chapter, because of her desire to be like Kirsten and the other cool kids, Lakeisha decides to bemoan having Merlin for a sister and constantly berates her for being autistic and not being like other kids, which gets her in a lot of trouble.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?:
  • Julia is afraid of Poison-type Pokemon due to traumas from when she was younger.
  • Caiseal is revealed to be afraid of ice.
• Worldbuilding: Some subtle indications are this are the authoress's addressing of gym upkeep, additional buildings added in places that didn't have them before (such as Cherrygrove City having a school), the National Blacklist, a list of known Pokemon abusers enforced by law enforcement, and history on how Pokemon trainers and Pokemon battles came about, among many other things.
• Would Hurt a Child: Yannick, no question. When he tries to whip a Pokemon, Caiseal gets in the way. Yannick continues to whip him without any remorse or guilt. Even Margeaux, his partner in crime, is horrified by this act.
• You Are Not Alone: The characters gain friends and allies throughout the story, and even when they feel like they're still alone in the end, someone will always come and remind them that they're not.
• You No Take Candle: Chanel slips into this speech a lot when she lives with her abusive father in the poor neighborhood, saying things like "My dad don't give me no food no more," and "I don't wanna be beaten no more!" Interestingly, she loses this entirely when she's removed from his care and goes to live in the middle-class part of town.

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