Infinity Train Blossoming Trail / Tropes C to D

C

• Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp": A Running Gag plays on how Chloe's frame of reference naturally uses Pokémon as its base, with others being confused by this. Such as her referencing Spinarak rather than spiders.
• Call-Forward:
  • In Trip's flashback on his encounter with Grace and Simon, he tells them that they're going to get what's coming. Considering that the story takes place during Book 3 then he's absolutely correct as the former will lose everyone she cared for and the latter will lose his life.
  • In Chapter 19, Chloe suggests that her starter would be an Eevee, which she'll get in Episode 49.
• The Cameo:
  • In One-One's video for Chloe, it shows images of Randall, Greige, Nancy, and Khaki Bottoms.
  • In the Intermission, Brock, Casey, Bianca and Luke are supporting Chloe. Sonia, Raihan, and Leon also post a video as part of a #CallingChloe campaign.
  • During the World-Healing Wave sequence in Chapter 20, we see numerous people affected by it: Team Rocket, Visquez and Tony, and Jinny.
• Canon Foreigner:
  • While only mentioned, an The Electric Tale of Pikachu version of Lusamine is mentioned to exist during the Multiverse explanation despite the manga being Gen 1 only. Presumably this extends to many characters from beyond Gen 1 as well.
  • Due to attempts to reinvigorate Goh after his slump Ash obtains a Hitmonlee from the Fighting Dojo to inspire him to do a round trade with his Hitmonchan and catches at least a Rhyhorn and Shiny Chansey at the Safari Zone.
  • Goh meanwhile catches a Rhyhorn, Doduo, Tangela, Slowpoke, Psyduck, Seaking, Nidorino, Nidorina, Exeggutor, Kangaskhan, Rhydon, and Poliwhirl at the Safari Zone.
• Canon Immigrant: The Shiny Chansey Ash accidentally captures originates from Pokémon Reset Bloodlines
• Cassandra Truth:
  • Goh's attempts to tell Chloe how much she's missed back home fail because she knows that he doesn't use social media. The author also states that Goh hasn't even looked at the social media accounts anyway so he's just generalizing. Lexi later reads that yes, there is a lot of people who miss Chloe but Chloe dismisses it because this appreciation for her is coming just after she ran away from home, not when she truly needed it.
  • Downplayed when Goh tells Professor Sycamore and Leon about the Train. His excessively blunt description of it as a 'magical train' makes them instantly skeptical of the idea, and it takes considerable effort from Professor Cerise, Trip, and Ash to convince them to even remotely entertain the idea rather than writing it all off as fantastical nonsense.
• Central Theme: See here.
• Cerebus Syndrome: Part 1 was mostly focused on Chloe's struggles to accepting herself while the more traumatizing things that happened came from her bullies and the adventurous Cars were mostly shown in flashbacks. In Vermillion City, Chloe's family, Ash, and Goh start to realize how little they knew of her and how their inactions heavily affected the girl and most of them (barring Goh) vow to change themselves. Part 2 has Chloe, Lexi, and Atticus determined to topple the Apex, it brings up the question of what happens if a passenger dies on the Train, the fact that Hop is in Silent Hill, Goh is losing everyone who cares for him due to his inability to accept that he has to change, something happened to Alain since Alex has one of his medals — later revealed that he's been reduced to an Empty Shell — Paul was the cause of an Apex child's death and that Walter and Henry want to concoct a ritual as vengeance against the cult that includes Hop, Paul and Chloe.
• Character Shilling:
  • Chloe in Act 1 (and a little bit of Act 2). The narrative seems to have a dissonance over how nice she's supposed to be; characters will constantly mention how Chloe's a kind soul, someone with a heart "as big as the sea," and generally a unique person who didn't deserve everything that happened to her. While there are many moments where she is kind to Denizens, she's no more nicer than an average human being, and when it comes to the Pokémon World, she proves herself just as bitter and spiteful, if not more so, than the people who did hurt her.
  • This trope also applies to Parker: despite being only five, keeping vital information hidden, and generally knowing Chloe better than the other people only by comparison, the characters and story seem to treat this as a reason enough to act like he's better than the rest, despite not only being unhelpful all around, but this ego-boosting being the main reason why he doesn't stop his Unown rampage and acts like everybody deserves everything he does to them.
  • For the Pokémon World, we have Mr. Bradbury. The narrative and characters, primarily Chloe and Professor Cerise, paints him as one of the only adults who did something to help Chloe and is a better father figure than Professor Cerise... Which is true, but his actions come across as either favoritism (taking notice of her writing skills over the other students), incompetence (making the bullies reflect on their problems while not doing much else to stop them) or a violation of privacy (submitting her work in a writing contest without her knowledge, and wanting to take her to a convention and write her to go to a school in Galar without her or her parents' input) that would get any other character in trouble. And the "better father figure" argument only holds water if "Professor Cerise doesn't care about Chloe" is taken as true, which the story repeatedly debunks.
• Chekhov's Gun: Two of them are fired in The Dead Carnival Car.
  • Back in the Crayon Car, Lexi gifts Chloe a paper bracelet. In the Dead Carnival Car, Chloe shows it to Lexi so he can refold the papers into sharp blades to cut Chloe's hair off from the Organ Man's grasp, saving her.
  • Chloe was granted a winged mark by a charioteer during her trip in The Cyan Desert Car. Its power allows her to manifesty whatever she wants into reality and she uses it to summon Amdusias — a demon of storms and music — to destory the Organ Man's devices.
• Chekhov's Skill:
  • Chloe is shown using Cheshire as an impromptu bat/golf club during the adventure in The Midnight Car. She uses this ability in Chapter 8 to lob an ice cream bagel sandwich into the mouth of a Sorbet Shark. Future chapters reveal that Chloe is skilled at softball.
  • Chryssa comments on Ash's ability to use Aura early on. Though her boss dismisses this as unscientific, these powers come into play during the second arc, shielding him from the worst effects of the Unown. Chryssa herself even smirks at this as if to tell the Professor, "I told you so".
• Childish Pillow Fight: Chloe, Atticus, and Lexi engage in one in the Hotel Crayola.
• The Chosen Many: Henry and Walter's Evil Plan is a ritual called "The Cage of Flauros", where they gather people to act as seven embodiments of infinite concepts: Dreams, Destiny, Death, Destruction, Desire, Despair, and Delight. Walter and Henry are Death, Simon is Destruction, Alex is Desire, Walter's prisoner (Paul) is Despair, Hop is Delight, a patient (Alain) is Dreams while Chloe is Destiny.
• Clueless Aesop: One of the lessons the story tries to give Goh is that him going to school could've avoided a lot of hardship and suffering. However, the lesson falls flat for two reasons:
  • Goh's academic performance, the main reason why this would be an issue, isn't suffering from this - in fact, the story pretty much says he's doing fine.
  • Every time the lesson comes up, the only real argument made for it isn't even about Goh himself, but that him going to school would've stopped Chloe's classmates from bullying her regardless of their intentions or malice.
  • Another lesson that doesn't quite work involves Ash: the story tries to do the aesop that if he had done more to get to know Chloe, she wouldn't have snapped at him and a lot of pain could've been avoided. This lesson is all fine and good...until later bits in the story basically prove he had his hands tied all along: not only was Chloe uninterested in becoming his friend and bonding with him (which granted, was mostly because Ash only ever invited her to expeditions and not to something she liked), but she was far too deep in her issues to actually believe he'd want to be her friend, and even if he tried to learn more about her from other people, he'd either be asking people who didn't know her that well themselves (Goh), or would more than willing to lie to make her look bad (Sara). And considering what we learn about him later on, it's heavily implied that for all his claims that Ash could've come to him about Chloe, Parker wouldn't have been much help, either. Luckily, the story itself eventually realizes this and Ash is one of the first people Chloe reaches out and apologizes to after the Cyan Desert arc.
• Coming of Age Story:
  • For Chloe, where she learns to become her own person without being pressured to do something she hates. But unlike most Pokémon stories, she's not doing it by going on a Pokémon journey but rather through the Infinity Train and its pocket dimensions.
  • For Goh who has to learn how to stop obsessing over Mew and learn to be considerate of others.
• Continuity Nod: There are numerous references to previous Infinity Train books and Pokémon episodes, as documented here.
• Contrived Coincidence: Discussed. Atticus muses that the Train dropped Tulip off in the same car One-One was at and that she also suffered from similar problems that Amelia was going through, leading up to the events of having One-One return to his rightful role and wondered if this was all because of Fate.
• Crossover:
  • While it's solely a Pokémon and Infinity Train crossover, the nature of the train picking up anyone with mental problems makes it a melting pot of characters from different media making an appearance in some way, shape or form. Chloe has crossed paths with Jaden Yuki, was mistaken for another Chloe, and fought off against an Angel of Death.
  • As of Part II, the series has become a crossover with Silent Hill since The Fog Car hosts Henry, Walter, and Alex Shepherd.
• Cruel Mercy:
  • After he's publicly outed as a bully, Yeardley's 'friends' online note that Ash protecting him from Parker might have been this. Given the backlash, having his skull cracked open might have been a kinder fate than having to deal with the consequences of his actions.
  • Along similar lines, in Chapter 17 Parker decides to let Sara live, but compels her to share her story of all the ways she tormented Chloe with the rest of the world, forcing her to brag about it the same way she bragged to him.
  • In a case of A Taste of Their Own Medicine, Parker gets a does of this trope when after the Unown are dealt with, Parker has no choice but to face the consequences of his actions: Not only does he get his right to a Trainer's license denied until he's 18 and proven he's no longer a danger of society, but people no longer defend him when he tries to paint everybody else in the wrong. And of course, on top of that, he has to face the fact that his actions ultimately didn't help Chloe at all, and instead hurt her and his entire family.
  • After the Red Lotus Trio trick The Cat into an Engineered Public Confession regarding her role in Simon's corruption, they leave them behind to face the collective wrath of the Denizens they once scammed.
• Curb Stomp Cushion: In Chapter 1, Yamper ultimately may have lost to Gengar, but it was able to get in at least one or two hits.

D

• Dance of Romance:
  • Chapter 6 has Lexi (in his human form) and Chloe dance to the Lobster Quadrille. The way that they waltz and how they alternate singing lyrics to said Quadrille heavily leans on the romantic. Naturally, Chloe is embarrassed when Atticus subtly points this out.
  • Chapter 13 has the two dance again — this time in costumes — to a waltz about people being beheaded by a guillotine.
• Darker and Edgier:
  • While Pokémon doesn't shy away from darker themes, the story deals with more personal issues in regards to Chloe's loneliness and self-esteem issues — not to mention the psychological horror in general — and then we also have Trip's encounter with The Apex where Grace and Simon attacked him and Tokio being tattooed against his will and then attacked by The Apex. It also drops lots of swear words — "hell" and "damn" — and there is a sense of dread from Professor Cerise as he learns just where his daughter ended up.
  • The author's notes for Chapter 11 note that the next arc is going to be Pokémon meets Silent Hill — with emphasis on the Unown — and Goh is going through what she calls "Higurashi Sanity Slippage" along with Goh slowly losing mind over how he blames himself for Chloe's disappearance and knowing about her stuck on the Infinity Train. Meanwhile, Hop has found himself in Silent Hill on the Infinity Train and it's later revealed that so are two other trainers, one of them responsible for letting a child die..
• Dark Fic: The story was already going to be considered dark because it being a crossover to Infinity Train which is already home to tackling mental health issues and very gruesome deaths. However the story manages to ramp up the darkness with Arc 2 filled with Psychological Horror, focusing on two major goals: Chloe entering The Fog Car that hosts Silent Hill where passengers have been mentally tortured for the sake of a ritual to stop the Apex and one of the children dead while Vermillion City faces someone getting their hands on Unown
• Deconstructed Character Archetype: See here.
• Deconstruction Fic: See here.
• Deconstructor Fleet: This fic takes a look at usual aspects of Pokémon canon and flips it on its head, mostly in regards to what it feels like to not be into Pokémon and pokes a lot of holes into how Ash and Goh are connected to Chloe when she herself has had little to no screen time.
• Descent into Addiction: Part 8 of the Fog Car saga reveals Chloe has this with brutal speeches. When she first called out her family and Goh for how badly they allegedly treated her, Chloe got such an adrenaline rush and catharsis from it that she began to crave more. While in Act 1 she only did it to people who deserve it, she begins to slip in Act 2, where her feelings cause her to lower her standards of who deserves to be called out in the midst of the Graying Morality of the Train, until she hits a low in Act 3, where she not only rubs salt into Grace's wounds about how she turned the Apex into a collection of monsters, but then has the callousness to not only project Goh in Despair, but claim that all the horror and misery they've been through is something they had coming.
• Decon-Recon Switch: While plenty is torn apart in the fic, several elements are put back together.
  • Ash's All-Loving Hero trope may create unintended issues for Chloe, and have limits, but it also means that he is the first one that Chloe forgives and can accept she made mistakes with herself. Despite everything this trope also ensures that Ash will be willing to help Chloe when she returns.
  • Where Ash's To Be a Master focus started the story as being something that did not gel with Chloe at all, once she could approach Pokémon on her own terms it became something Chloe could not only work with but appreciate for its own advantages to her own goals when she returns.
• Delayed Reaction:
  • After Chloe challenges Ash, "Champion of Alola" to a battle, it cuts to Goh handing curry ingredients to Mr. Mime and how he's excited that Chloe is fighting the Champion of Alola... before Goh realizes just what that means.
    Goh: EHHHH!!! Ash is the what?!!!!
  • Hop has the same reaction when Leon states that Ash is the Alola League Champion.
    Hop: WAIT WHAT?!!!!
• Deceptively Silly Title: The more innocent a car looks, the darker the subject matter.
• Didn't See That Coming: In the flashback battle between Chloe and Zack, most people are expecting Chloe to cry, beg for Zack to spare her, or run away in terror. What no one expects is her stating how she's envious of Zack's loyalty to Ray — he's been stuck fighting in Gadreel's Garden of Madness and needs one more victory so he can finally get himself and Ray out — and stating that she sees his loyalty to fulfill his promise to (kill) Ray as beautiful.
• Didn't Think This Through:
  • Chloe’s idea to message Parker that she will stay on the Train forever unless everybody apologizes to her ends backfiring spectacularly, Parker ends up taking her literally, leading him to summon the Unown.
  • Professor Cerise was so certain that his plan to keep Chloe at the lab was the best solution, he failed to consider it could affect Chloe negatively, and refused to get her counseling, like Mr. Bradbury suggested. Needless to say, this blows up in his face spectacularly.
  • Likewise for Mr. Bradbury, instead of verifying whether the Cerises actually followed through on getting therapy for Chloe, he just gives them the number of a therapist and leaves them.
• Digging Yourself Deeper:
  • When Chloe confronts Goh over how his obsession with Pokémon led to him neglecting their friendship, Goh retorts that he's got a Goal in Life, unlike her, implying that she's just jealous that he knows what he wants to be. Even Ash realizes how badly he just put his foot into his mouth.
    "Goh..." Ash said, realizing how big of a hole Goh dug for himself. Six feet. And Chloe was about to bury him in dirt and leave him behind like a bad memory.
  • Parker offers Yeardley and the rest of Chloe's classmates a chance to contribute to the memorial project. They respond by bragging about how much they enjoyed bullying her, ignoring Ash's mounting horror as he witnesses this... along with how everyone else is reacting, or the fact that Trip is recording the whole thing.
  • When Professor Cerise lectures her directly about all the false assumptions she made about his daughter, Sara has the gall to try and weasel her way out with Exact Words.
  • Faced with an outraged Parker and the Unown-created UnChloe, Sara decides to defend how they bullied Chloe, claiming that she brought it on herself with her creepy interests. Even Yeardley has the sense to just beg for mercy.
  • Speaking of Parker, once the Unown are dealt with and he's left powerless, he constantly shoots himself in the foot by not only throwing blame around like he never left Act 1, but then denying any responsibility he had in the chaos.
  • Throughout the nightmare therapy, Goh keeps doing this as he keeps denying that he's at fault for what happened to Chloe.
  • After apologizing to the Trainers, Chloe tries to justify herself by saying that her descent into breaking speeches is fine because it's targeted at people who deserve it. Paul only needs to ask if he deserved his call out to shut herself up.
• Disappointed in You:
  • Miss April reacts this way upon overhearing Sara cruelly declaring that she hopes Chloe is never found. This disappointment extends to her whole class for their general treatment of their now-absent classmate. She repeats this several chapters later after the Engineered Public Confession had them boast about all the horrible things they did to Chloe.
    Miss April: I hope you're happy with what you did.
  • In reply to a comment regarding Trip, the author noted that he was reacting to how Ash was the opposite of what he had seen when Ash was in Unova: instead of being a well-meaning, selfless child he literally just stood in the sidelines and did nothing to help a friend in need.
  • Kurene and Ikuo tell their son this after learning about what he posted on Facedex, as they want Goh to prove himself better than Chloe's bullies.
  • Chloe and Lexi are not happy to learn what Parker's done during the trip in the Cyan Desert Car.
  • Talia doesn't mince words when she makes it clear how disappointed she is at how Chloe keeps behaving like an entitled, petty brat, and how her refusal to open up about her problems put so many people through the wringer just to satisfy her.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?:
  • Chloe's bitterness and resentment towards Goh for choosing a Pokémon over her, coupled with her lashing out at him when her rage boils over is rather akin to a Woman Scorned.
  • Hop's cryptic email to Leon makes him sound like something else happened. Not helping his case is that he's under the care of three adults (one of them being a Serial Killer).
  • Parker's rant in the Dead Carnival Car chapter about how he hated Ash for allegedly stealing Chloe away from him is presented as him fearing being replaced as Chloe's brother, but the context and wording make it seem like he was actually jealous towards Ash.
• Double-Meaning Title: The "Trail" comes from the term "Rail Trail" — a term for a no longer used railway track used for a walking path — and the trail that is also a path representing how everyone in Vermillion City is trying to find Chloe's whereabouts. "Blossoming" comes from how Chloe's name can be read as "Blossom" but also how she's blooming into a new and different her.
• Double Standard: See here.
• Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: In the first chapter, Chloe throws Goh's phone inside a plate of curry and then slams spicy hot curry on his face. Professor Cerise recalls this incident later while chuckling thinking of how tough Chloe is, while not considering if Goh was hurt.
• Drama-Preserving Handicap:
  • If Chloe had been able to bring Yamper with her when she boarded the Train, the Puppy Pokémon's electrical attacks would be able to help her across the more dangerous cars. The lack of Yamper means that she must rely on her own strengths and that of Atticus and Lexi if she wants to survive.
  • Lexi is a book that has recorded all sorts of cars on his pages. You'd think that this would make going through the Train a breeze, right? Well, the thing is that because he's been Buried Alive for eight years and that there are just so many Cars in the first place, there's no possible way that he could've been able to update his records.
  • The Unown attack on Vermillion City would be easier if Ash was there to stop it; except Parker and UnChloe have brainwashed him. However, he was able to use his Aura powers to tell Mr. Mime to send help and he ends up trapped in his own body compared to Trip unconscious and Serena feeling sick from it all
• Dramatically Missing the Point:
  • Goh's lack of social skills means he doesn't understand why Chloe is so upset with his searching for Mew, accusing her of not having any goals of her own.
  • Professor Cerise finally gives Chloe some attention... for getting interested in Pokémon battles, not realizing that she just wants him to focus on her in general and not on "her + Pokémon".
  • Despite Chloe spelling out her issues with both of them directly during her big blow-up, both Goh and the Professor still struggle with understanding her anger. Goh naively believes that they just need to find her to fix everything, while her father gradually backslides as he finds other things to blame her running away on.
  • While reluctantly discussing Ash with Atticus, Chloe dodges around addressing her actual problems with him. This causes her number to rise back to its original state. Upon noticing this, Chloe automatically blames Ash for that as well.
  • When Parker suggests that Chloe's interest in horror runs along the same lines as his father's interest in researching Pokémon, Professor Cerise completely blows him off.
  • When Chloe contacts Goh for the sake of making a clean break, he completely fails to process her insistence that this is goodbye. Her request that he pass on a series of messages for her (as she has no intention of returning anytime soon) is met with an eager query of "And then you'll come back, right?" that causes her to snap.
  • Sara's utter refusal to accept any responsibility for her acts even while she's being punished ultimately triggers far worse consequences when it leads to Parker awakening the Unown.
  • Goh's parents attempt to appeal to their son's better nature after the Facedex incident, rounding off his punishments with a reminder that they love him and believe that he's better than Chloe's bullies. The point is completely lost on their son, as he's too busy grousing about being lectured and blaming Chloe for everything.
  • When Zeno asks Goh when the last time he talked to Chloe about something other than his 'stupid childlike dreams of chasing after rainbows', Goh immediately retorts that he wants to catch Mew, not Ho-oh.
• Dramatic Drop:
  • Titus drops the pepper mill in his hand when Chloe shows him Lexi's book. We later learn that this is because Lexi is his son that he has not seen in years.
  • Nico drops a bagel half when Atticus gives a simple solution to his problems of getting penguins to like bagels.
  • Pikachu drops a bottle of ketchup after he and everyone else hears Parker's version of "The Little Match Girl".
  • Leon drops his phone when he reads Hop's email to him.
• Dramatic Irony: Has its own page.

---