Tear Jerker / Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon

We can't lose anyone else... Not like we lost Father!

—Gladion trying to reason with Lusamine

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Story

• During the confrontation with Lusamine at Aether Paradise, as she is about to use Cosmog to open the Ultra Wormhole, there are moments where her facial expressions betray the fact that she didn't want to do this but feels that she must in order to save the world from Necrozma. She even genuinely acknowledges Gladion's concern for her, and shows empathy when Cosmog tries to resist for Lillie's sake.
  • There's also the fact that Gladion actually tries to reason with her this time unlike the original games, and this exchange between them clearly shows that both of them took the disappearance of Mohn hard.
    Gladion: Listen to us. Please! Don't open the Ultra Wormhole! We can't lose anyone else... Not like we lost Father!
    Lusamine: Do you think I've forgotten?! As if I could forget what happened that day... I hate the Ultra Wormholes from the depths of my being. But that is why I will be the one to go! I will not let anyone stop me! Not even my own daughter and son!
  • Apart from trying to reason with her, Gladion also actually considers Lusamine his mother this time as well, as he does not want to lose her the same way he lost his father.
    Gladion: Mother, if you disappear too-!
• The thought of whatever is going through poor Lillie's head when she sees Necrozma steal Nebby away from her.
• The implied fates of all the other universes where the villains went unopposed. While it's some consolation that Archie's, Maxie's, and Lysandre's plans ultimately wiped them out alongside everyone else and Giratina gave Cyrus his just desserts, there's no such luck for Ghetsis, who presumably is still ruling his world with an iron fist.
• Cyrus' melancholic and oddly affectionate reaction to seeing the Rotom Pokédex, likely because it reminds him of his childhood when he'd discovered a Rotom and it had inhabited his toy robot, prior to him growing up to become a man who'd reject emotions such as compassion and the need for friendship. After you defeat him in battle, Cyrus assures you that he won't lay a hand on your world, stating he wants to return to his new world now, and then saying "If I'd met a trainer like you earlier, would things have turned out differently for me?", suggesting that he's harboring hidden regret for what he's done and what he's become.
  • Lysandre also wonders if his life would have turned out differently if he'd met someone like the player. He dismisses the thought by declaring that it's too late to go back on his ideals. In his original games, he cried over the fact that he wouldn't be able to save the world's Pokemon from the weapon. He may have more conviction than Cyrus, but that doesn't mean he doesn't also feel remorse over the atrocity he committed.
• Hau losing to the protagonist for the title of Champion. He's shown wiping tears, but tries to smile and act as nothing happened.
• As heartwarming as it is to see Mohn and Lusamine reunite in the post-game, when you consider it in Lusamine and Gladion's perspective, it's quite heartbreaking. You finally found your long lost beloved family member again, but due to the incident that made them go missing, they don't remember you, if, at all. Gladion questions Lusamine if it's fine for her to let Mohn go after he left near the end of this event. Though the event ends with a hopeful note that Lusamine and Mohn will see each other again.
  • It's implied that before his disappearance, Mohn wasn't as happy as he is now, as Lusamine notes how lovely his smile is now.
    • This line could actually mean that Lusamine feels that if she tells Mohn who he was before, and about the family he'd had with her that he inadvertently abandoned and how it fell apart in his absence, Mohn would be plagued by feelings of guilt and sorrow. So she'd rather have him be unaware of his past and happy than to have him remember being the husband she remembers but miserable.
• One trainer, Veteran Brone, is found in a ruined area in the water area of Route 14. He said that was where he proposed to his wife, and his dialogue implies that she passed away.
• The Tide Song Hotel reunion sidequest makes the Eevium Z sidequest even more depressing. Where one group of old friends are able to reconnect and have a happy gathering, the other group has not only been reduced to dead-end jobs and the ill effects of aging, but are also unable to have a proper reunion because one of them is constantly hospitalized, another has passed away, and a third has started to lose her memory to Alzheimer's.
• Sure, Necrozma has been antagonistic to you during the game, but seeing it looking utterly drained in Mount Lanakila just asks for sympathy.
  • It gets worse when you consider that its actions and desire to consume the light of other worlds is entirely because of the actions of the people of Ultra Megalopolis in the past. Necrozma isn't evil or malicious; it just wants relief from the constant agony it feels from its injuries.
  • Necrozma is reduced to a state that the only source of hope for it is your Z-Power Ring. So much so that it is given a catch rate of 255 in this state, the same catch rate as Caterpie and Magikarp, instead of 3 as most other legendaries, as well as Sun/Moon Necrozma. It is a certain catch for the player at this moment with - not the Master Ball - but the Quick Ball at the first turn of the battle. It drives the point home that, unlike other examples in the series, Necrozma's vastly increased Catch Rate is not because it likes you, but because it's begging you to help it satiate its Horror Hunger.
• Additional dialogue from Grimsley and a nearby fisherman confirms that he's no longer part of the Unova Elite Four.
• During the Seven Mysteries side quest, you can find an old journal behind a bookshelf in one of the classrooms. It only has a couple of entries, but they show what happened to the ghost girl outside the building who tells you the mysteries. She'd normally go home with a Hypno until one day she was led away by the Drifloon you see with her. One can only imagine how upset Hypno must've been after finding that an unfamiliar pokemon had abducted (and possibly killed) its friend.
  • It's only worse when you factor in the Ghosts' Class mystery. It's likely that the Hypno that created the illusion of the ghost girl's own class is the same one mentioned in the journal. It's been sneaking to the Trainers' School to relive the days before it lost its friend. Not to mention the poor thing even tries to tell you before the illusion deteriorates.
• Ultra Ruins is tragic. Unlike the other Ultra locales which are alien landscapes, Ultra Ruins is an alternate Hau'oli City which has been destroyed following a power plant accident. With all surviving humans having left for safety except for the hazmat guy who greets you, the only other living being left in the desolate hellscape is a Guzzlord engorging itself with the ruins. The music is a reversed version of regular Hau'oli's themes, but drowned in static, as though there were a damaged radio playing the city's themes, and there's even an electronic panel showing what the city was like before the disaster, sorrowful reminders of what the place used to be. Even worse, the hazmat guy, who's presumably already an adult, mentions that he has only seen the color blue from the TV panel, meaning that the place has been in ruins for decades.

Pokémon

• Amaura's Pokédex entry makes the rather disconcerting mention of how, despite being revived successfully, it can't be expected to live very long in Alola's tropical climate, being an ice sauropod that typically lives in frozen climates. The poor thing...
  • Of course, there's nothing stopping the Alolans from moving the Amaura to Mount Lanakila of course, but since the Dream Park is located on Akala Island, it doesn't bode well for our little blue sauropod friend.
• Rockruff's Ultra Sun Dex entry.
  "As they develop, their disposition grows more violent and aggressive. Many Trainers find them too much to handle and abandon them."
  • What makes it even sadder is that this attitude change signals that the Rockruff is going to evolve. Had Trainers been persistent and patient, they'd have a strong friend with them.
• Similarly, Corphish's Dex entry in Ultra Sun, which says that the reason it can be found in Alola is because they were set free by trainers who could no longer raise them. In that context, it suggests that people had to say goodbye to them, which isn't the happiest sight.
• The Ultra Moon Pokédex entry for Kantonian Raichu is as follows: "Because so many trainers like the way Pikachu looks, you don't see this Pokémon very often." As it became more common practice for people to not evolve their Pikachu, the number of Raichu began to dwindle. That's right. Ash's Pikachu's decision to not evolve, the influence that had on so many people, and the numerous people who all preferred Pikachu to its evolved form resulted in Raichu becoming an endangered species.

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