Crucial and ironic communication breakdowns serve as part of the Central Theme for the Infinity Train: Blossomverse.
The Main Trilogy
Infinity Train: Blossoming Trail
- First and foremost: Chloe believes that practically everybody cares more about Pokémon than they do about her. Especially her father, who's constantly busy with all his research, and her Childhood Friend, who has neglected her for years while focusing on his dream of finding Mew. This belief has been strengthened by several factors:
- Following an unfortunate incident at school, Professor Cerise has her come straight to the lab in order to work as an assistant. While he started this practice in hopes of protecting her from her bullies, she sees it as a punishment, both for lashing out against her tormentors and for not being the Pokémon-loving daughter he desires. To twist the knife further, he never gives her anything to do while gushing over Ash and Goh.
- Said bullies regularly tormented her for having 'strange' and 'creepy' interests, even when they themselves shared them (as evidenced with Sara singling her out despite sharing her interest in literature and app-created 'crushes'). This taught Chloe that sharing her tastes was dangerous and would only give them more ammunition.
- Her classmates have also focused heavily on badgering her about Pokémon, fully aware that she dislikes them (and is sensitive about the suggestion that her father loves them more). This bullying has gone largely unaddressed; even Miss April, one of the few teachers motivated to try doing anything about her class's behavior, mistakes this for an improvement, seeing it as them actually acknowledging and engaging with Chloe rather than something else they're teasing her about.
- Ash's entry into the picture has garnered plenty of attention, with her father and Goh spending far more time with him. Watching Goh make an actual effort to befriend him, and the way that her father supports their adventures has left Chloe feeling even more slighted and overshadowed, believing that the boys are exactly what her father wants her to be.
- Though Ash sincerely wished to get to know her better, his approach consisted mainly of offering to take her along on their adventures. When she turned him down, he accepted this without pressing too hard to learn why she wasn't interested, and didn't consider other angles. This made his efforts come off as shallow and superficial to her, and once again folded back into the notion that he needed Pokémon involved in order to care about her. By the Cyan Desert Car, Chloe confesses that she really wanted to be friends with Ash, but the bullying and teasing she got at school had completely made her believe that Ash didn't want to befriend her and would laugh and mock her instead.
- Due to her experiences, Chloe assumes that Pokémon Trainers must be happier since their interests are so widely accepted and supported by society. This makes it difficult for her to parse that Trainers can be just as troubled, and can even potentially wind up on the Train themselves.
- She also presumes that trying to talk to her parents, teachers, or others about her problems would ultimately do more harm than good, leading to her bottling everything up inside for years upon end (to be fair, she did have some points as neither parents were seeing things clearly — and one of them refused to take her to therapy — and the teacher assumed that the bullying was actually the students trying to befriend her). As a result, her resentment festers to the point that she is convinced of her own truths, unable to see past her own biases.
- Despite immediately realizing that he helped drive Chloe away, Goh fixates upon the argument itself as the crux of the problem, rather than the moment where years of building resentment finally boiled over. This leads to him assuming that everything can be magically fixed provided Chloe returns home... and that this will mean everything will go back to normal. This fundamental disconnect — his conviction that the way things were was good — naturally strengthens the divide between them.
- Because Chloe is so used to Goh ignoring her, to the point that he only ever messages her to offer shallow apologies for being late (mistakes he keeps repeating over and over again), she naturally assumes that his attempts to contact her and apologize are just as shallow, leading her to ignore his efforts entirely or delete his messages unread.
- When finally convinced to respond and make a clean break with her past, neither Chloe nor Goh are willing to listen to the other. Chloe dismisses Goh's claims that everybody misses her as obviously false (since he never uses social media), while Goh completely ignores her express and explicit wishes in favor of begging her to forgive him and come back. Word of God even notes that Goh hasn't been aware of what's been going on in Vermillion City and is just generalizing in a way to convince Chloe to come home.
- While Goh's parents were deeply concerned about their son's obsessive tendencies and withdrawal from society, they never really pushed the matter with him. Even more than that, they enabled the very behavior they found most concerning, helping him set up his extensive computer network and letting him stay home so long as he kept up with his homework. When they finally attempt to breach the matter during their trip to Azalea Town, their clumsy attempts to encourage him to branch out and find more friends come off as heartlessly suggesting he 'get over' losing Chloe and replace her.
- Kurune's spirited defense of their inaction entails calling her son out on his behavior. Something needed, but very ill-timed, coming off more like a refusal to admit any fault than telling her son what he needs to hear.
- Sara, Yeardley, and the rest of Class 5-E assumed that Chloe was incredibly fortunate to be Professor Cerise's daughter, bullying her out of jealousy over her 'ideal life'. Even after discovering her Berserk Button during the paint can incident, none of them thought about any of the less-than-pleasant implications of her reacting so violently to the suggestion that her father cared more about Pokémon than he did about her. It was just another avenue of assault.
- Mr. Pepper disliked Chloe because he felt that she didn't put proper effort into his class. Specifically, he wanted to see her experiment more with the recipes he taught, and punished her for following the instructions precisely and to the letter... despite how that would be a perfectly reasonable assumption for anyone to make about what they're supposed to do in a cooking class. When she learns about this, Talia questions whether he ever actually told her or the rest of the class that was what he was looking for, or if he was singling her daughter out.
- Renji kept his concerns about Chloe to himself, assuming that the Professor already knew what was going on with his daughter's life and wouldn't appreciate the prying. When he learns of this, the Professor is absolutely furious, blaming him for not speaking up sooner. Chryssa, who also was aware of this, not saying anything only has Renji call her out on being a bystander and that her apologies were absolutely hollow.
- Chloe assumed that her father's research assistants were never actually interested in her, and that any attempts to reach out and connect with her were just another part of their job — that they'd been assigned to 'keep tabs' on her, reporting back anything she said or did around them.
- Professor Cerise assumed that his daughter still liked Pokémon to some extent, unable to fathom the idea of somebody disliking them so much that they truly wanted nothing to do with them. When he hears that she battled Ash, he assumes that she's finally starting to 'come out of her shell'... and also that she already knew that Ghost-types are immune to Normal-type moves, lightly chastising her for 'forgetting' that supposedly common knowledge when he never said anything to her about this in the slightest. Once again, this reinforces the idea that his interest in her hinges on how much she's involved with Pokémon, and helps push her over the edge.
- The Professor's first instinct, when she lashes out, is to scold Chloe for losing her temper. She interprets this as him taking the boys' side over hers in a Selective Enforcement fashion and puts up a Double Standard that the boys can get away with whatever they wish while a girl like her will be punished.
- Upon learning about his daughter's fascination with the macabre, the Professor initially leaps to the conclusion that somebody else must be influencing her interests. His refusal to accept that aspect of Chloe reinforces Parker's fear (picked up from his sister) that he'll never accept that part of her. It takes Parker pleading with him that her love of the macabre doesn't make her insane to impress upon their father just how harshly he's coming off, and that both of his children fear his judgment.
- Trip calls Ash to account for not making more effort with Chloe while trying to impress upon everyone present the importance of changing their ways and considering their actions more. This hits Ash far harder than he anticipated; the more he thinks about it, the more guilt-ridden he becomes, gradually revealing that all his adventures have left him with a bit of a Guilt Complex. Trip subsequently finds himself having to temper the impact his harsh words had, struggling to reassure Ash that things are not, in fact, solely his fault.
- All Ash really knew about Chloe came from Goh... who offered little more than "Oh, she just stopped liking Pokémon one day." As Parker points out, Goh wasn't his only option — others could have provided him with more information that might have helped him determine the best way to reach out and connect with her.
- When Tokio failed to show up for their planned meet-up, Goh assumed that he'd deliberately ditched him. In reality, he'd just gotten a fever and wasn't allowed to go out. Goh's presumption helped fuel his withdrawal from society — and neglecting Chloe — and also contributed to Tokio feeling so guilty that he was drawn onto the Train.
- During Act 1's Intermission, Chloe bitterly notes that her father never attempted to contact her at any point after she disappeared, whereas Goh was constantly messaging her. As a result, she's further convinced that he doesn't really care about her absence, what with having Ash and Goh to fill the role of being the sons he always wanted. Moreover, Goh never told Professor Cerise that he was trying to contact Chloe. If Goh brought it up, Professor Cerise might've been able to reach out to his daughter in some way.
- Hop puts on a cheerful front with his brother, afraid that Leon would be disappointed to learn he got beaten by Bede... or worse, that he'd agree with Bede's claim that he's dragging the Champion's name through the mud by association.
- Leon, blissfully unaware of his little bro's insecurities, unintentionally amplifies them by gushing about how he recently met Ash, speculating that the Alola Champion may just be the one who manages to beat him. This strengthens Hop's fears that he Can't Catch Up and the only thing that keeps him from boxing Wooloo in favor of a potentially stronger teammate is the Train's arrival.
- When Professor Cerise attempts to bring Professor Sycamore and Champion Leon into the loop about the Infinity Train, Goh's blunt description of the Train leaves them incredibly skeptical of the concept.
- Nobody thought to warn Parker that Sara and Yeardley would be working at his father's lab as part of their punishment. Suffice to say, he isn't happy to discover them there. Although, given how much he hated them already, it probably wouldn't have mattered if he knew about this.
- The tragedy with the Unown unfolds largely because Parker feels that those responsible for his sister running away haven't been punished enough. He fears the whole situation repeating upon her return if things haven't changed enough in her absence, and struggles to see how repentant the others really are.
- Goh's backsliding doesn't help. If Goh, who did regret the part he played in driving Chloe away that night, can change his mind and insist that she was completely to blame for their friendship unraveling, then what's to stop anyone else from doing the same? Especially when Trip and Serena are trying to work Ash out of his Guilt Complex and get him to stop blaming himself for everything; in Parker's eyes, he IS responsible.
- Chloe's assertion that what Vermillion City did was unforgivable and that she won't return until everyone is truly sorry is also part of the problem. The notion that Chloe might not have meant it so literally, or that she might reconsider as part of her Character Development, never factors into Parker's thoughts. At any rate, he never considers that Chloe didn't want everyone to suffer like this.
- What pushes him over the edge? Sara snarking that Chloe wasn't a princess. The fact that Sara shows absolutely no remorse and continues the very behavior she's being disciplined for in the middle of her punishment convinces him that it's not good enough, making him wish that he could make her truly regret all that she's done...
- Chapter 18 reveals where most of the PCK came from: Chloe was afraid to try again and only wanted, wished that someone asked her to just try and realize how much pain she was in. She couldn't talk because of the bullying taking away her voice and the more Ash and Goh didn't notice her and the more her father ignored her, the more and more suffocating it was. It takes Yamper being honest about what he knows about Chloe to make everyone realizes that they screwed up by not treating Chloe like a living breathing person.
- This and other actions of Chloe's are ultimately examined: Delia is very blunt in her opinion that Chloe and Parker not saying anything about what was going on with the bullies and their hobbies and interests led to the entire events of the story. In not communicating, they created the very scenarios the siblings hated and used to lash out at the others.
- If Parker had all the time and knowledge about his sister, why didn't he say anything? Because he heard his parents argue over whose fault it was for the paint can incident and it convinced him that "If I say anything about Chloe, they'll hate her because she's weird and different and the last thing is needed is for them to hate Chloe because no one likes weird people". Talia has to reassure him that the arguing was frustration and not hatred and that they would always accept Chloe as she was.
- In order to demonstrate how much Goh needs to work on his social skills, Zeno makes him replay the day that Chloe ran away over and over again. After he repeatedly fails to reach her, Zeno steps in and aces the scenario by simply showing a little empathy, humility, kindness and even apologizing for being an idiot. But rather than the intended lesson, Goh's takeaway is that he's too incompetent and horrible to do anything right — for if it was that easy all along, what kind of monstrous moron would keep screwing it up?
- Mallow assumed that her friends wouldn't believe her if she talked about the Infinity Train, which was why she was so roundabout with her concerns about Gladion's disappearance. This ends up leading everyone to think she was worried because she had a crush on Gladion. After she blows up at them over this, though, Lana points out that their experiences as Ultra Rangers would've ensured that they would have believed her if she'd been straight with them. Mallow then admits that talking about her experiences on the train was too hard to do, and she was all but inventing excuses not to bring it up. Plus even if she did bring it up, they couldn't willingly summon the Train to their side.
- Why did Goh end up on the Infinity Train? Because everyone in Vermillion except for Chloe believed that Pokémon were fully akin to humans in preventing the train from showing up and Chloe, who knew this wasn't the case, didn't realize this error until she was told that they thought that way and Chloe herself had just left the Train a few days ago and hadn't had time to fully explain this.
- Moreover, Goh not telling anyone that the Shiny Espurr was really Mew the whole time led to Chloe and Delia's Moment of Weakness as they had no idea how to react to the fact that Goh's dream was literally in his hands.
Infinity Train: Knight of the Orange Lily
- Gladion was aware of exactly what caused his sister's Trauma-Induced Amnesia. Unfortunately, he decided that only he could fix everything, and rather than sharing what he knew with anyone, kept Lillie and everyone else Locked Out of the Loop while he embarked on a quest to become a powerful trainer. Upon learning that Lusamine hadn't known about the incident like he'd assumed, he accused her of being a negligent mother, refusing to acknowledge the role he'd played in that. His adventure on the Infinity Train is sparked off by an argument with Lillie over this, where she points out how she might have gotten help years ago if he'd spoken up sooner.
- Lillie's entire life could've potentially been better if Gladion actually told someone like Professor Kukui or Wicke what he knew much, much sooner.
- Mallow's attempt to warn Lillie that her gift could send her or Gladion into 'a bad place' fails since her friend doesn't realize she's speaking literally. She even tries to ask others if anyone is worried about where he is. But since she never brings up the Infinity Train (For fear of people thinking she's crazy), no one will believe her (except Captain Phyco because he's somewhat aware of the mythos connected to the Train itself).
- When Lillie talks about Gladion abandoned her to Dulse and left her with her trauma, Dulse questions why Lillie kept it bottled up and never told Lusamine. After all, what was preventing her from talking to her mother?
- The film Gladion is Forced to Watch in the Fog Car reveals one of the answers to that question: shame. Lillie truly had no idea why she was so afraid of Pokémon, and just wanted to be normal and not burden others with her problems. And all of this could've been avoided if Gladion stayed and explained things to him.
- It's assumed that most of Specter's problems will only be solved if he manages to explain what's going on him. Ryoken is shocked to learn that Specter went behind his back to discuss the idea of having a bond with the Ignis (particularly his, Earth) and Easter is trying to get him to confess what's going on in his mind. It's gotten to the point that Alex Shepherd brutally attacks Paul London and impales him on a spear, nearly killing the wrestler because Specter didn't fess up sooner.
- Moreover, the situation with Dark Easter would never had happened if Specter took a few seconds to calm down and let them talk things through. Specter himself is ashamed at his actions.
Infinity Train: Voyage of Wisteria
- In the immediate aftermath, Ikuo demands to know why Chloe didn't tell Delia the details about Hop's train picking him up alongside Wooloo. Kurune counters that Delia has not been keen on listening to Chloe in the few days she's returned.
- Ikuo also shoots himself in the foot when he tells Goh that not only did he and Kurune just learned that something was wrong with Goh, but also that they never had to work that much since they had investments to keep them apart for years. This means that Goh could have had many times to learn how to actually live in society and not act like the insensitive fool that caused Chloe to run away from home.
Spin-Offs
Infinity Train: Melancholy Afterlife
- The events that lead to the Spearow Incident is on everyone: Goh for not listening to Chloe's request to join on an expedition or not telling her about the Alola trip until the last minute, Ash never attempting to know her better or telling Goh to listen, Professor Sakuragi being startled and unable to come up with a "proper" excuse as to why Chloe isn't doing research (or even letting Chloe even go do research) and not even bringing up said Alola Trip/not buying a ticket for his daughter to enjoy, and Chloe going ahead to capture a Pidgey and being defenseless against the Spearows and being too impatient for Goh and Ash to return from Alola. All in all, if the four just took the time to sit down and talk, Chloe would've never entered the Train in the first place.
- If Yeardley told Chloe about the Safari Zone trip without hitting her with paper balls first — or realized you don't throw paper balls on someone to get their attention — she would've been more inclined to listen to him.
