Red Lotus Trio (Chloe Cerise) | Infinity Train (Passengers [The Apex, Grace Monroe], Cage of Flauros, The Unsub's Crew) | Pokémon World (Vermillion City [Goh Fujihachi, Parker Cerise], The Ketchum Family, Pokémon Trainers)
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Pokémon Trainers
Serena Delis
A friend of Ash from the Kalos Region who wishes to be a top Pokémon performer. Ash requested her help in regards to getting to understand Chloe and his brother...while also remembering that she had a crush on him.
- Ambiguous Situation: Whether her getting caught up in Parker's Unown-fueled rampage was just Collateral Damage or if he deliberately targeted her because she disliked horror like Renji is for debate.
- And I Must Scream: Is fully conscious under UnChloe's spell, angry and helpless to even frown.
- Being Good Sucks: She's tied with Ash for being one of the few genuinely good people present in the Crapsaccharine World of Vermillion City, but this only makes her a target for Parker's wrath.
- Casting a Shadow: She has a Pangoro, meaning she must have another Dark-type in her party. It's later revealed that she caught a Nickit.
- Cool Big Sis: Acts like one for Parker, until he brainwashed her via the Unown.
- Everyone Has Standards: She has a lot of patience for Parker, but even that runs out after his stunt with the Unown.
- Fainting: Faints when Parker tells her the tale of Ash possessed by an evil king.
- The Farmer and the Viper: She treated Parker with nothing but patience and kindness, even trying to help him work out his issues regarding Chloe being gone, but he subjects her to Mind Rape regardless. Though given that she too dislikes scary stuff much like Renji, he more than likely took this as her "hating Chloe".
- Females Are More Innocent: Unlike most other girls in the verse, Serena plays this trope completely straight, being a legitimate Nice Girl who's only real crime is not doing more to quell Parker's issues, something she couldn't have done anyway.
- Floral Theme Naming: Her last name, Delis, is a play on fleur-de-lis.
- Irony: She bitterly notes that she has a Pokémon based on a witch (Delphox) yet can't do anything against UnChloe.
- Serena was one of the few people who treated Parker decently, not only being patient with his violent tendencies, but taking the time to try help him work on his issues. She's among the first of his victims.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: She's shocked at Trip and Ash getting together but she decides to support it because she knows Ash needs help right now, but also wants to get together with Trip too.
- Little "No": Utters this when she sees Trip and Ash kissing.
- Nice Girl: Nothing but friendly and supportive to Parker as she attempts to help him through his sister's absence. But there's only so much she can do about his anger issues, and after he crosses the line she wants nothing to do with him.
- Non-Action Guy: Unlike Ash, she doesn't have any actual combat experience, leaving most of the fighting to her Pokémon. So you can imagine how bad it goes for her when the Unown are unleashed.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: When she notices Goh staring at nothing and muttering, she assumes that he's being haunted by a ghost. He is, it just isn't a 'ghost' in the sense she thinks.
- Took a Level in Badass: She now has a Delphox and a Pangoro, and she remarks how tough it was to get Pangoro under control to make him still love performing.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?:
- Hates anything horror, which Parker is oblivious to. She ends up fainting when he starts telling her how Ash got possessed by an evil king.
- She also does not like Mind Control since she suffered from it against that evil Malamar. Parker putting her through it by way of UnChloe is shown as a
Moral Event Horizon on his part.
Leon Hyacin
The World Champion in the Galar Region, in which every single trainer taking part in the World Coronation Series strives to defeat and take their place as Champion. He is also Hop's big brother and mentally notes that he hasn't heard from him for a while...
- The Ace: He's the World Champion and in a league bigger than Ash himself. He's never lost a battle also. Unfortunately, this causes a lot of problems for Hop, making him feel like he had achieved nothing and that he has to catch up to him, even going to the point of nearly boxing his Wooloo in favor of a stronger partner and subsequently entering a trauma train where he's mentally reduced to a six-year-old mindset that is just moments away from cracking like an egg.
- Always Someone Better: To both Ash and Hop and how they react to this is in opposite ways. For Ash, it motivates him to fight and train even harder. And for Hop, it makes him feel inferior and unsure about his achievements that causes him to be whisked onto the Infinity Train.
- Arbitrary Skepticism: To an extent, he's very hesitant to initially believe in the Infinity Train despite acknowledging the fact he knows an entire family of psychics in Galar, though this is also because Goh talked about the train in a manner that was a little hard to believe at first and the aforementioned psychics at least lent him the ability to give Goh and company some room to explain.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Is a really nice guy but he is quick to anger if it involves his little brother. Bede should consider himself lucky that Leon was talking to him via Trip's phone.
- Big Brother Instinct: He's very quick to pick up on the fact that Hop has gone missing, notes the similarities between him and Chloe, and when he gets a very cryptic email from Hop, he immediately panics and calls Ash demanding to know where his brother is, as he knows that Hop is not acting like himself.
- The Cameo: Appears in the Intermission with Sonia and Raihan as part of a #CallingChloe campaign, where he mused that he hasn't heard from Hop in a while...
- Cool and Unusual Punishment: When Bede is brought to his attention for being the one that inadvertently led Hop onto the Infinity Train, Leon threatens the smug Trainer with disqualification for his attitude, and also a punishment of his own design: battling him publically and squashing him. Bede is just as scared of being disqualified as it is Leon, who likes to put on a show when he battles, making a show out of destroying him.
- Death Glare: When angry, he can give off these like he wants to set someone on fire.
- Dramatic Drop: Drops his phone onto the floor when he reads Hop's email.
- Foreshadowing: During a conversation with Sonia and Raihan in the Intermission, he notes that he hadn't heard from Hop in some time. Sure enough, Prelude for the second arc reveals Hop is a passenger on the Infinity Train and he entered it prior to Chloe's disappearance.
- Hidden Depths: Seems to know about Silent Hill as he notes that the location is someplace found in the realms of fantasy and should not be an area that his brother is currently trapped in. Ash himself is willing to ask Leon about the series for Chloe's sake but she refuses. On a lesser note, he's not a Silent Hill "purist" as he likes 4 and Homecoming instead of the more praised and beloved 2 and 3.
- Innocently Insensitive: Him stating that Ash could be the #1 contender to beat him is what causes Hop to bury his frustrations and worries and get the Train to take him away. After Bede brings up his point, he realizes that Hop would never have entered the Train if he showed more concern about his little brother than the Alola League Champion.
- In-Series Nickname: "Lee" by his little brother.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Upon learning that Hop got onto the Infinity Train because of his constant gushing of Ash, he starts beating himself up for not realizing his little brother's problems sooner.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Leon is a friendly guy and while he likes battling, he's respectful to his opponents. Upon learning that it was Bede who indirectly sent his little brother onto the Infinity Train, he's in Tranquil Fury mode and notes that he will love the catharsis of beating Bede to a pulp in front of a large audience.
- Playing with Fire: His strongest Pokémon is his Charizard.
- Small Role, Big Impact: On Ash's end, he's who Ash is training to fight and the current target for Ash's overall dream of being the best by participating in the World Coronation Series. On Hop's end, Leon casually mentioning Ash and Hop's sense of inferiority to his older brother is what gets him on the Train and stuck in the Fog Car, mentally broken into the mindset of a child and transforming from "Delight" into "Delirium".
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: His phone call to Hopnote is what drives him to the point where he nearly boxes his Wooloo in favor of a stronger partner and the Train coming for him as a result, as Leon spends a majority of the call gushing about Ash and how he could potentially defeat him. When Leon learns about this, he heavily regrets this.
Bede
A trainer in the Galar region participating in the World Coronation Series. He fought Hop at some point and tore down his thinking, leading to an opening for which the Train used to lure the boy in. Comes into the story for real after the Cyan Desert arc.
He becomes the focus character in Infinity Train: Court of Cyclamen, a sidestory taking place between Acts 2 and 3 of Blossoming Trail.
- Breaking Speech: After defeating Hop, he tore his opponent down on how the boy's skills would sully Leon's name which ends up causing horrible consequences for when Hop enters the Train.
- The Bus Came Back: After disappearing from his sole appearace in Blossoming Trail and his own adventures in Court of Cyclamen, he returns in Voyage of Wisteria as part of the archaeological dig.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Dismisses his battle with Hop and couldn’t care less what happened to the boy. This bites him in the ass when Trip asks him to repeat it...all while Leon was listening in on the whole conversation and telling him that, since Bede was the last person Hop battled, then this would have serious consequences on his career as a trainer if Hop wound up dead.
- Bullying a Dragon: By proxy, he pretty much makes Leon feel worse about himself when he reveals he's the reason Hop got on the Train, and brags about it.
- Cool and Unusual Punishment: Almost suffers from two different ones...Leon intends to publicaly defeat and humiliate him before costing him his license, while Parker planned to stitch him in a pink dress and have a thousand copies of Hop laugh at him. He really dodged a bullet there...
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Gave one to Hop which served as the breaking point for the boy to enter the Train. Also does this with Goh when they fight, and then promptly gets one from Ash and Infernape.
- Dark and Troubled Past: He's an orphan and the closest thing he had to family was his Hatenna.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Mentioned in Arc 2's Prelude before the author revealed via comment that he's going to appear in some capacity.
- Everyone Has Standards: For all the puppies he kicked when he broke Hop, he realized he crossed the line when Goh has a breakdown over Chloe's disappearance and the fact that she's also heading off to the same place where Hop is at.
- Freudian Excuse: The reason he's such an asshole is because he was born an orphan, and thus lacked a positive role model and needed to rely on himself.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: He tries to explain that he doesn't understand Hop's problems because he is an orphan. Leon does not buy it for a second.
- The Greatest Story Never Told: While Court of Cyclamen ends with him confronting his own mission with his allies, what happened to them is never revealed. At the very least, he made it out of the Train and tells Chloe that he wants to start again as a different person.
- Hero of Another Story: The protagonist of Court of Cyclamen.
- Jerkass: He more or less beats Paul in the jerk department, given how he puts Hop and Goh down for being weak trainers and even boasting about forgetting his battle with the former and not considering how Leon would feel over this.
- Jerkass Has a Point:
- Even Ash can't necessarily disagree that Hop was probably already in a bad place when he battled Bede and if it wasn't from Bede being a little bit mean (Bede's own words) after winning he was probably going to snap at some point to some other loss.
- It's not wrong of him to point out that it's not the fault of the winner if the loser takes the loss badly, and points out that Ash and Leon probably have caused their own fair share of people to break from losing to them. Though as Bede applies it it is more in reference to perceived Tall Poppy Syndrome than him fully admitting he was being a bit of a dick.
- Kick the Dog: Beating Hop wasn't enough for him; he had to break the boy too and amplify his already low self-esteem issues and thus get the Train coming for him. Whoops.
- Light Is Not Good: White hair, wears a magenta coat, uses cute Psychic/Fairy type Pokémon...oh and he's a jerk.
- Mind over Matter: Has at least four Psychic-types: Hatenna, Gothorita, Galarian Ponyta, and Abra.
- The Nicknamer: Dubs Hop and Goh Hoppy and No-Goh.
- No Last Name Given: He doesn't have a last name compared to practically everyone else in the story. Albeit this is justifed as he's an orphan so he probably doesn't even know his last name.
- Oh, Crap!: Has this reaction many times during his confrontation in Saffron.
- He looks terrified when Ash beats him easily with Infernape.
- Then he looks like he pissed himself when he learns that Leon overheard Bede insulting Hop and is ready to beat him to a pulp for an entire audience to see.
- Our Fairies Are Different: Galarian Ponyta is Fairy-type.
- Original Character: Has an Abra which he mentions to have recently caught that he doesn't have in the games.
- Pet the Dog: He's even worse with people than Paul is, but he does care for his Pokémon immensely, particularly Hatenna.
- Real Men Wear Pink: Wears a pink/purple coat and his Pokémon include the pastel pink/cyan Hatenna and a pretty pony.
- Small Name, Big Ego: A rookie trainer from the same year as Hop and Goh, very arrogant. Given he did manage to get into the Great rankings in that time he may have some justification for his assurance in his own abilities, though that doesn't change the fact he's an arrogant jerk.
- Small Role, Big Impact:
- Fought Hop, broke him down, walked away without a care. Now Hop is gone on an otherworldly Train and stuck in Silent Hill, mentally regressed as a child and soon to be part of a ritual that has Chloe involved which could potentially end with many kids killed off and making Hop go on full Sanity Slippage, turning from Delight to Delirium and his number is at a thousand, and thus he'll be stuck on that Train for months. If Bede learned about how bad this got, maybe he'd think twice before making another insult...
- His appearance in Voyage of Wisteria is to point Chloe into the direction of the Glimwood Tangle, where she gets a Galarian Ponyta and also proves to herself that she no longer wants to be the poisonous toxic and spiteful witch that let everything burn.
- The Social Darwinist: He looks down on Trainers that he sees as weak, which unfortunately include Hop and Goh.
- The Unapologetic: He doesn't care to apologize for all the trouble he caused Hop, not even when Leon is overhearing all of this. Averted by the time he makes a mention in the epilogue of Voyage of Wisteria, where it's said that he did apologize to Leon before leaving him to figure out what his true purpose is.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: After his quick cameo near the end of Act 2 of Blossoming Trail, Bede just... Disappears, with any other mention or appearance afterwards being as an illusion. Court of Cyclamen focuses on what he was doing in the meantime before he makes two appearances in Voyage of Wisteria.
- White Hair, Black Heart: Curly white hair, really malicious personality.
Reggie Drangea
A former Pokémon Trainer who retired after a loss to Pyramid King Brandon. He is Paul's older brother, but he hasn't heard from his little brother in quite some time.
- Big Brother Instinct: Emails Ash about what had happened to his brother. However, despite doing his best, it seems as if Paul doesn't appreciate Reggie trying to be there for him until Paul ends up in Silent Hill, accidentally let a child drown and got broken by Walter...
- Break the Cutie: Is horrified to learn what happened to his brother and begs for Paul to be all right...unaware that Paul is no longer the stoic and proud trainer from before, afraid of confronting his brother if he confesses that he murdered a child, and he'll be stuck on that Train for a year at minimum. It doesn't get better when he learns the truth about the child murder.
- Broken Ace: Was a brilliant trainer back in the day, but one loss to Brandon made him give up the dream and become a breeder. Paul is...less than enthusiastic about this decision.
- Bystander Syndrome: He tried to get his brother to stop being an asshole, but then decided to leave him be. He heavily regrets this when he learns what happened to his brother.
- Deconstructed Character Archetype: Of the Parental Substitute. When their parents died, he had to be the one to provide for the two of them. But in the present, Paul is annoyed with Reggie trying to act like their parents and advising him when Reggie himself just gave up on battling after one single loss. Moreover, Reggie was never able to stop Paul from being such a stubborn, apathetic person which runs into trouble when Paul accidentally drowns someone...
- Moment of Weakness: Snapping at his brother over his loss to Brandon ended up causing Paul to retaliate and walk off onto the Infinity Train.
- Nice Guy: Much nicer compared to his little brother anyhow.
- Noodle Incident: It is implied, though not stated, that he encountered enough weird stuff to make him believe talk of the Infinity Train pretty quickly without Arbitrary Skepticism, though what he experienced as a trainer isn't clear. The holiday special implies one of these weird things was meeting Santa Claus.
- Parting-Words Regret: Regrets the fight he had with his brother before Paul vanished. What's worse, this may be the last time they ever talk or see each other for a year at the least due to Paul's 5-digit number and the fears of the boy returning to the only person would ever take him home after his accidental murder of a child.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Got into an argument with his little brother that culminated with Paul entering the Infinity Train, accidentally murdering a child, and into the hands of Walter and Henry.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: His anger got the best of him after Paul made a snide remark about Reggie retiring from battling after just one loss, and the two had a massive argument that ended in Paul storming away and boarding the Train, entering Silent Hill, murdering an Apex child by letting them drown, became tortured and broken beyond repair, essentially unable to contact anyone due to said torture and because his Xtransceiver destroyed and most likely stuck on the Train for years because of his number.
Bea
A Galarian Karate Master and World Coronation Series opponent for Ash.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Compared to her anime depiction, while she is still more arrogant than her game self she doesn't show the same dismissal towards Ash and Korrina she did in the anime, though this is because she didn't crush Ash and Korrina never came up.
- Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: Downplayed compared to the anime, but she doesn't have much time for niceties when she's fighting.
- Ascended Extra: We see her Pangoro and Falinks battling in person instead of just in a photo or training due to the battles being three on three.
- Back for the Finale: Bea returns for the two-part finale of Wisteria.
- Badass Normal: It's somewhat implied she earned her Pangoro's respect with her bare hands. She has very honed senses able to detect the slightest imperfection in Riolu's Double Team. However the normal part is also in play, as she cannot detect Aura.
- Graceful Loser: While she doesn't exactly lose, she congratulates Ash on his tie and compliments his skills.
- The Stoic: All business and fighting focus...
- Not So Stoic: ...until ice-cream gets mentioned. Also squees when she learns Ash met Cynthia before.
- Sweet Tooth: Absolutely adores ice cream and sweets in general.
- Technician Versus Performer: Bea is the technician to Ash's Performer. Bea's been trained to a fine edge with maximized movement efficiency and minimize wasteful movement. Ash doesn't have the same finesse but his use of more out of the box tactics (like Z-Moves and Aura) can match her perfection.
Raihan
The second best trainer in Galar Region, Raihan is a member of the Masters Eight and Leon's rival.
- Friendly Rivalry: He wants to beat Leon, but he also respects Leon enough to cover for him while he's out on beravement for Hop's disappearance and throws a tournament to celebrate Leon's return to battling.
- Worthy Opponent: Declares Ash one even before their battle at the end of the Raihan's Rival Returns Cup.
Marnie
A trainer from Spikemuth who crosses paths with the gang while they are in Galar in Wisteria.
- Adaptational Wimp: She's just catching her Impidimp when we see her while the anime shows her with Grimsnarl.
- Dark Is Not Evil: A Dark-type specialist but overall a friendly girl from what we've seen of her.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Her battle with Ash, which was the only battle before Raihan in the Raihan's Rival Returns cup that Ash really had to push through to win.
Former Passengers
Trip Espinosa
A former rival of Ash who was pulled onto the Train shortly after the events of Best Wishes. After hearing of Chloe's disappearance, he contacts the searchers under the screen name 'Tri_pod' and comes to Vermillion City in order to offer his insight.
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade: He's a former Passenger who came across the Apex, his eye becoming faded due to said encounter.
- Advice Backfire: In his case, his advice of people needing to become more aware of the situation regarding Chloe and Infinity Train gets essentially sabotaged by his own hand, not only because he'd rather Be as Unhelpful as Possible in letting people know about the Infinity Train, but because he thinks being "honest" above everything else is more important than getting everyone up to speed.
- Adaptational Dumbass: His lack of a filter in his mouth and inability to read the room or know when to stop causes him to take some questionable actions.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: His jacket is changed from orange to green to contribute to his Color Motif.
- Adaptational Jerkass: His blunt mouth makes him come across as far harsher than in canon, not helped by the sheer brutality his honesty hits with and his inability to read the room.
- Adaptational Sexuality: Has very little signs of romance at all (to give you an example, he only has three shippings — with Ash, Cilan, and Iris — on Bulbapedia), but he reveals that he is in love with Ash.
- Adaptational Wimp: He doesn't do battling anymore, and didn't even seem to carry his Pokemon with him when he went to Vermillion City.
- Ad Hominem: In hindsight, the call-outs Trip directed towards Ash and Goh tended to fall into this trap. Whenever one of them raised objections towards Trip's methods of handling the situation, he rarely stopped to consider their points. Instead, he attempted to shut them down by pointing towards what he'd heard about Ash's failure to reach Chloe and the bratty behavior Goh displayed as reasons why they couldn’t be trusted to make good decisions in the current situation.
- Aesop Amnesia: Despite Ash's Guilt Complex showing Trip the consequences of running his mouth ragged without a filter for his honesty, he retains the exact same brutality when dealing with Goh and Parker, which only makes things worse in the long run.
- All for Nothing:
- He wanted to keep the Infinity Train a secret from Goh because he was worried it would pick him up. Not only does Goh learn about the Train later anyway, but the sheer torture he experiences in Blossoming Trail would've sent him there anyway.
- The reason he even shows up in the first place is to provide information about the Infinity Train to the then-ignorant Cerise Institute team. However, his approach to deliver the information is so counterproductive that it's safe to say that he would've been more productive had he either spilled the beans right then and there, or didn't show up at all.
- Armor-Piercing Response: When Ash asks him why he would want to keep the Infinity Train a secret despite knowing how serious the situation is and how beneficial it would be for people, especially Goh, to learn about it, Trip shoots back by asking why didn't Ash do more for Chloe when she was still around. To make a long story short, this did a lot more damage than intended...
- Armor-Piercing Question: Subverted. It at first looks like he constantly asks these to the Cerise Institute team, but the only reason they're as effective as it is comes down to everybody being too overwhelmed by the current situation. Once things calm down and get reanalyzed, his questions come across less like this trope and more like personal attacks to those who dare to question his approach.
- Ascended Extra: He was one of Ash's rivals in the Best Wishes anime, but didn't play a bigger role beyond that. In here, he acts as a voice of reason (of sorts) whose status as a former Passenger lets him help the Cerise Institute get a better idea on what happened with Chloe.
- Audience Surrogate: Acts utterly confused at all the adventures Ash has gone through, like a fan who left the anime in the past than recently came back and has to keep up with the times. He also is flabbergasted at how Ash has a Dragonite.
- Be as Unhelpful as Possible: Hindsight effectively turns him into a case of this; while he did let people figure out about the Train's existence, this didn't come before he ran his mouth dragged being too honest for his own good, took one side of the story as fact and refused to consider anything else, and held hostage this same information over a blatant Violation of Common Sense (at least, by Passenger standards).
- Because I Said So: He has other reasons to do it, but his general penchant for honesty and what he tells the Cerise Institute can be boiled down to him telling them to get better because he's saying so, and since he's a former Passenger, surely he would know best, right?
- Break Them by Talking: Unintentionally did this to Ash, his damn honesty affecting the Trainer so hard he develops a Guilt Complex.
- Brutal Honesty:
- Does not mince words about how Professor Cerise, his aides, Ash and Goh are all to blame for Chloe's disappearance. This extends to Chloe's classmates later on. Unfortunately, his comment to Ash not being anything to Chloe except "this amazing Pokémon Champion that everyone adores more than she" hits Ash hard and causes him to develop a lot of guilt on his end. His honesty on Goh is more "brutal" than honest, which isn't helping Goh's mental state in the slightest.
- He also doesn't mince words with Parker considering how badly he's wrecked things thanks to his abuse of the Unown.
- In Voyage of Wisteria, he admits that he wanted to be someone who can come in, save the day, tell people out by stating horrible truths that they didn't want to hear but damn well needed to...and he heavily regrets doing that considering the above.
- Calling the Old Man Out: He rightfully calls out Delia for her refusal to forgive Chloe, and utter hypocrisy over holding a grudge on the girl for what she did to her son, yet not himself even when what he did to Ash was allegedly far worse.
- A little bit earlier, and not as rightfully, he calls out Professor Cerise alongside everybody else over how they neglected Chloe. In this situation, however, he's going off a blatantly one-sided argument about Chloe and jumping the gun with the group, making him come across as a nuisance.
- Camera Fiend: He always carries a digital camera on him. Unfortunately, the Train doesn't want evidence of its existence so every picture Trip took of it is blurred beyond repair.
- Can't Take Criticism: Both times he gets criticized over both his approach towards the situation and how he treats people as a result, Trip responds with a harsh call out towards the person in question while leaving the actual question unaddressed. He gets better.
- Cassandra Truth: Professor Cerise dismisses his story as a waste of time even before he gets a chance to tell it, angrily accusing him of making it all up.
- Cluster F-Bomb: Delivers one after he wakes up from Parker's geas.
- Color Motif: Green. Green hair, green eyes, his starter Pokémon is green, and he wears a green hoodie. When going out for ice cream, Ash wants matcha ice cream since it reminds him so much of Trip.
- Crippling Overspecialization: His honesty is useful for getting the point across, but that's literally the only thing it's useful for: he can't make up a decent argument without enough information, and his inability to filter said mouth only leads him to come across as a far bigger jerkass than he actually is.
- Curtains Match the Windows: For the most part; both his hair and eyes are green, but one of the eyes is slightly faded because of an encounter with the Apex.
- Demoted to Satellite Love Interest: When Trip enters the story, he's a visitor with a penchant for Brutal Honesty and history not only with the Infinity Train, but the Apex, the very same cult Chloe hopes to tear down. However, once he confesses his love for Ash and they become a couple, that and his honesty becomes his only notable traits, with his Train knowledge being rarely, if ever, mentioned afterwards.
- Didn't See That Coming: He's completely caught off-guard when his honest words to Ash, rather than help him, breaks him. He gets even more shocked when the situation at the institute begins deteriorating rather than improving even after he gave his "honest adivce" to everyone.
- Didn't Think This Through: His basic plan involves entering the Cerise Institute's lives, tell them about the Train, and call them out with pure honesty. However:
- He doesn't seem to have a backup plan in case his honesty gets a little too grating for people's liking.
- His arguments are only based after hearing one side of the story, without even trying to verify the facts.
- While he does tell about the Train to most people, he has the brilliant idea to keep Goh in the dark, allegedly because it would cause him to chase after it, despite knowing how the Train works.
- And finally, he thinks that the best time to confess his love to Ash is after he has caused him to develop a Guilt Complex.
- Distracted by the Sexy: A totally platonic example, as he's too focused on Ash's battle with Bea to notice Serena and Goh walking off for some private training.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Ash didn't manage to befriend one girl, after showing how nice and friendly he was when they first met? Putting this over his head and how he's at fault for her running away to the point he develops a Guilt Complex sounds like a decent response to me! Granted, he does realize he went too far, but only after the damage is done.
- Dramatically Missing the Point: He thinks keeping Goh in the dark regarding the Train is the best course of action, given how his tunnel vision might cause him to chase after it, not realizing that this might only send Goh on the Train's path further given his fragile state of mind at the moment.
- Easily Forgiven: Despite being one of the architects for how bad things got in early Blossoming Trail and sending Ash over the Despair Event Horizon and into a Guilt Complex, Trip is forgiven by pretty much everybody once he realizes what he's done. He even gets together with Ash, despite the previously mentioned harsh treatment of him.
- Experience Entitlement: He never vocalizes it, but part of the reason he seems so trigger happy in calling out everybody over what happened with Chloe is that, as a former Passenger, he allegedly has a better understanding on what's going on than everyone else. However, not only do his actions make him come across as an asshole, but he ultimately makes the situation worse for everyone.
- Epic Fail: His first attempt to make a heart-shaped cookie somehow turned into some misshapen lump. And this is with a cookie cutter mind you.
- Eye Scream: His right eye looks more faded than the other, as though it lost some of its colors. This happened due to him encountering The Apex since Simon struck him down with a sledgehammer.
- Fatal Flaw:
- His honesty; while he does make numerous points on how everyone failed to support Chloe, what he says to Ash accidentally causes the Pallet Town trainer to start getting guilty for everything and really think about how horrible he was. And his bluntness towards Goh does not help the trainer's state of mind (something that Ash is quick to point out).
- His pride is also another flaw. As he reveals in Voyage of Wisteria, part of the reason he did his brutally honest outside spiel was because he wanted to be seen as the Only Sane Man in that situation. Indeed, his focus on doing this rather than actually helping the situation brings a lot of problems to the story.
- Greenand Mean: He's associated with the color green, and his Brutal Honesty coupled with his abrasive attitude makes him come across as a bigger asshole than he really is.
- Hair-Contrast Duo:
- With the black-haired Ash and Goh. Trip is stoic and cynical to a fault compared to the keet Ash and Goh. However, for Ash, Trip is seen to be gentle and kinder to him because of his crush while with Goh, he looks down on him with disdain.
- With Chloe, as she's a Shrinking Violet turning into a Fiery Redhead who actively seeks out adventures on the Infinity Train while Trip is a green-haired boy who is only reminded of the trauma and assault he got while on it.
- Hero of Another Story: Had his own life-changing experience on the Train, mentioning that he was on it for close to a year before escaping which involved fighting the Apex and being injured by them. He also partnered up with Nico's friend, Cara.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Trip's better at judging people when he actually takes his time in doing so, but when he first arrived in Vermilion, he was so eager to be the Only Sane Man that he accepted a lot of what he was told about the situation at face value. Despite Goh and Chloe being Mirror Characters of each other, Trip concluded that Goh's home life "Sounds like a recipe for a Spoiled Brat," while Chloe's time at the Cerise Laboratory was a clear-cut example of Parental Neglect that everyone needs to atone for. Perhaps the worst example of Trip's judgment of people was his belief that Goh should be Locked Out of the Loop because "Ignorance Is Bliss in this case. Have him do what he loved even when Chloe was still in this city and he'll never ever have to know. I mean, it's not like it's going to make a difference, right? He wasn't thinking of Chloe then and he shouldn't be thinking of her now if he knows what's good for him." Not only was it bold of him to believe that the ten-year-old Goh would display such a Lack of Empathy that he could continue his life like nothing had happened after his friend disappeared, but this conversation occurred not long after Goh made himself sick by searching for Chloe nonstop for days. Truth be told, Chloe's disappearance and the cascading consequences hugely disrupted Goh's life, and by the end of Voyage of Wisteria, he still hasn't been able to fully return to "doing what he loves."
- His judgement of Ash at the beginning of the story deserves special mention, though; here we have a guy that's saved the world countless times, and even when they had their rivalry, Ash was nothing but cordial with Trip, nary showing a hint of malice in his bones. And yet, rather than remember that Ash, he immediately buys Parker and the Cerise team's remark that he didn't manage to befriend Chloe, and took this as a reason to consistently beat him over the head with Brutal Honesty so intense it leads him to develop a Guilt Complex.
- Hypocrite:
- Trip calls out Goh over how he can't read the room and doesn't do anything to help Chloe. This, despite the fact that Trip's Brutal Honesty is so unfiltered he comes across as even more insensitive than Goh, and unlike him, who at least tries to look for Chloe, Trip holds knowledge of the Train hostage over Insane Troll Logic.
- He also calls out everybody over not taking the time to get to know Chloe better, but he himself takes the stories about her at face value and doesn't even try to verify the facts before opening his damn mouth.
- Finally, one of the things he calls everyone out on is that they were more concerned with what they wanted, rather than what Chloe wanted. As Voyage of Wisteria would eventually reveal, Trip is every bit as guilty of this as he called everyone out less to tell them the truth and more so that he would be seen as the most reasonable person in the room.
- Irony: Trip as a character is primarily defined by his Brutal Honesty, and yet, when discussing what to do with Goh and his lack of knowledge on the Train, Trip decides it's better to lie to him and keep him in the dark as long as possible.
- Ignored Expert: Despite having more knowledge on the Infinity Train than basically anybody, he's rarely consulted when the Train enters the picture. This is Justified because not only did he keep said information locked away for arbiratrary reasons, but his actual knowledge of the Train only goes so far and all the info he can provide is minuscule by the time Voyage of Wisteria happens.
- Iconic Item: His teal digital camera. Ash immediately recognizes Trip the minute he sees it.
- If It's You, It's Okay: One author's note suggests, outside of her shipping Trip with Bianca, that he feels this way about Ash, due to how deeply he's come to value him as a person.
- In the Hood: He wears a green hoodie in contrast to the orange one he wore in the anime.
- Insane Troll Logic: He argues keeping the Train's existence a secret from Goh is a good idea because otherwise he would go looking for it and get himself snatched by it. He thinks this is right despite being a former Passenger himself, meaning he knows damn well that the Train takes people when they're at their lowest point, which Goh is rapidly approaching anyway.
- Insecure Love Interest: Trip really feels like he doesn't deserve to be Ash's boyfriend due to how the situation on how he confessed his love for Ash played out, and how his blutness caused a lot of trauma on Goh's part means that he's not sure if he can "prove" he's a good boyfriend. Serena tells him that Trip has done a lot of good and there were just a lot of things out of his control.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Subverted with his Armor-Piercing Response above. Initially, he's seen as having a point over how Ash seemingly didn't do more to get to know Chloe better. But as the story goes on and things get grayer in morality, his point starts to lose a lot of weight: not only did Ash actually do more to try get closer to Chloe than everybody else, but even if he hadn't, Chloe herself didn't help matters by closing herself off from him and not giving him any idea on what he could do to get closer to her.
- Jerkass Realization: When he presses himself for exactly what he's done for Ash, either as an apology for hurting him or just as a boyfriend, he finds himself coming up short with answers. Then he also has to come to terms with the fact that his decision to try use Brutal Honesty as a way to be seen as the Only Sane Man in the situation has brought nothing but trouble, and resolves to become better.
- Karma Houdini: While he is apologetic over everything that happened, he doesn't really face any consequences for focusing on yelling at everyone the "honest truth" without considering how he might hurt people. Heck, he serves as the straw that broke the camel's back and sent Ash into a pretty severe Guilt Complex, and he stays in a relationship with him by the end of the story.
- Know-Nothing Know-It-All: What he's eventually revealed to be; he enters the story seemingly being more knowledgeable about what's going on than everyone else, but once things are further analyzed, it turns out he's every bit as clueless as everyone else.
- The Load: Trip has retired from battling since he last met Ash, and his actions in the early parts of Blossoming Trail involve telling everybody what he thinks is the harsh truth and telling people about the Train. Once these things are dealt with, however, Trip finds himself being unable to bring much to the table.
- Love Confession: Confesses his love for Ash and kisses him in short order at the beginning of the Crayon Car.
- Made Out to Be a Jerkass: A self-inflicted version; his penchant for honesty without a filter, keeping important information to himself for arbitrary reasons, and generally not contributing to the problem beyond saying stuff people already know and mentioning the Train make him come across as an outright Jerkass than the Jerk with a Heart of Gold he actually is.
- Meaningful Name: His last name is translated into "prickly" in Spanish which describes his personality nicely. It's also based on the Spanish term "Espino" which translates into "hawthorn". Hawthorn trees are symbols of love, and he's in love with Ash and his feelings are reciprocated.
- On a more negative sense, "thorn" could also be taken to mean "a thorn in one's side," meaning a person who doesn't help the situation so much as worsens it. Given what his honesty caused...
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Despite initially coming off as a level-headed outsider, he causes just as much harm as he helps. Especially with Goh: It seems like every decision he makes regarding him is the worst one.
- Getting Ash to keep the train a secret from Goh seriously wounds Goh's trust and makes him more hostile to the two of them than needed, especially when his harshness makes Goh even more defensive and bitter.
- His idea of leaving Goh alone to chew over his mistakes is, to put it plainly, his worst idea. Goh's worst impulses get amplified in isolation...as well as his vulnerability to a certain vengeful Reality Warper. Trip later realizes that a lot of pain could've been averted if Goh had been allowed to just talk to Ash.
- On a non-Goh related issue, him deciding to focus on Brutal Honesty on his callouts, and taking the stories about Chloe at face value, causes things to get worse before they get better.
- Noodle Incident: One of the trials he had to go through was teaching fractions to baby dragons in a Math Car.
- No Sympathy: Telling Ash that the Pallet Town trainer was absolutely insensitive for not doing more to help Chloe really struck a nerve. Now Ash is stuck with a huge guilt complex and blames everything about Chloe disappearing on him because he never took the chance to really know her. While he regrets doing this to Ash later, he eventually starts doing the same to Goh and then Parker, the former while he's in a very fragile state of mind, the latter after the Unown fiasco.
- Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: His methods might've been extreme, but one could at least take it as him doing what's necessary for the greater good. Trip looking at himself reveals this isn't the case: he wanted to act like the Only Sane Man regarding the Chloe situation, but he was so misinformed and focused on his pride he made things worse.
- Retired Badass: He used to be a Pokemon Trainer, but has since quit that lifestyle to focus more on photography. This, unfortunately, leaves him particularly vulnerable when Parker gets hold of the Unown.
- Relationship Upgrade: Becomes boyfriends with Ash.
- Scars Are Forever: Has a red wavelength tattoo on his right wrist thanks to Simon and some permanent ink.
- Satellite Love Interest: While he's a character in his own right, his crush on Ash is his most notable trait after his lack of a filter once they get together. Trip himself is fully aware of this and feels like he's really inadequate as a boyfriend.
- Secretly Selfish: As he reveals to Serena in Voyage of Wisteria, his infamous Brutal Honesty was used less to make people see the error of their ways, though that was the intention, and more to make himself seem across as the only reasonable person in the place.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Like Ash, the actions of Parker and UnChloe in mind-controlling and manipulating him are enough as to leave Vermillion once it's all over.
- Silly Rabbit, Cynicism Is for Losers!: Trip is one of the more cynical characters in the story, at least compared to Goh and especially Ash, and while his cynical view is initially shown to be a good thing, the things he does and the consequences of them show that if he had been a little bit more optimistic about certain things, a lot of trouble could've been avoided.
- Tarot Motifs: The last car he entered, The Magic Wand Car, had him paraded on a horse and four bird people following him. This invokes the Five of Wands, with one of the readings means "success", symbolizing that Trip was successfully able to figure out his problems and head home.
- They Just Dont Get It: For most of Blossoming Trail, Trip can't get it over his head that being honest isn't the same as being helpful: he drives the situation at the institute to deteriorate, accelerates Goh's dwindling mental state, and sends Ash into a severe case of Guilt Complex, and while he learns from these events, it takes until Voyage of Wisteria before he actually starts learning and going away from his "honesty is the best policy" mindset.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: He starts the story as a Jerk with a Heart of Gold, but as he keeps focusing on his Brutal Honesty and not being as helpful as he could be, he starts becoming outright unbearable, especially as the situation becomes more complex and he realizes he really didn't know as much as he did.
- Took a Level in Kindness: He's gain a bit of a rougher edge in regards to how no one really cared for Chloe's problems, but barring his disappointment in how Ash never really interact with Chloe, he puts the Pallet Town trainer in high regard to the point of confessing his love for him. He then decides to further work on himself once he realizes he hasn't been as much help as he could be.
- Uniqueness Decay: Downplayed, as it's not like there's an entire city filled with them, but when Trip first entered the story, the idea of a native of the Pokemon World having been through the Train before and lived to tell the tale was but an idea, which gave the Cerise Institute that much more incentive to try listen to him to figure out what happened to Chloe. As the story goes on, however, we learn he's not alone: Mallow, Gladion, Tokio, all of these were once on the Train before and lived to tell the tale, but kept quiet for different reasons. And if we add former Passengers post-original trilogy, we can add Bede, Alain, Paul, and Hop in that list. So while still relatively uncommon, Trip's status as a former Passenger isn't quite as unique as it once was.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: In Voyage of Wisteria, he feels horrible in believing that Goh's sanity being shattered was his fault for not letting Ash talk to him and for being to brutal in his honesty. Serena points out that he would have had no idea that Goh was suffering through a lot and that Trip did good by coming to Vermillion to tell them about the train or else Chloe would've been on their indefinitely without thinking anyone loved her.
- The Worf Effect: His backstory has him (and maybe his Pokémon) encounter Simon and Grace, and getting his eye slammed by a sledgehammer to build up their threat.
Tokio Chisou
A boy from Cianwood City Goh befriended during a camping trip in Azalea Town who is searching for Celebi. The two boys promised to meet up again to find it, but him ghosting Goh convinced him that friends were not worth it...and unwittingly being the root of all Goh and Chloe's friendship problems.
For more information about him as part of White Gestalt, see here.
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Him "abandoning" Goh really affected him. And that's not even counting what he had to go through on the Infinity Train...or the incident with some rabbits...or the White Gestalt...
- Adaptational Jerkass: It's brief, but he becomes more irritable in this version when Grace or Kisaragi are mentioned. He also goes as far as to emotionally manipulate Goh in order to deliver a message for him.
- Animated Tattoo: Outside of the glowing number he got from the Train, he reveals that he got one as part of his trial in the Calligraphy Car, a piece of a map with a zinnia compass that somehow senses what's going with Goh. He theorizes that it was because he thought about wanting to get off the Train to see Goh again while the tattoo was being formed.
- Ascended Extra: Was a one-episode character who was the reason why Goh decided to reject friendship. This story reveals that he was stuck on the Infinity Train just when he decided to go see Goh in Vermillion City. And then we learn that he was part of Gladdion's team.
- The Atoner: Becomes this at the end of Voyage of Wisteria, where Goh makes it clear he's not going to forgive him so easily for emotionally manipulating him into delivering a message to Kisaragi, and that he will have to work hard in order to prove their friendship can be salvaged.
- Birds of a Feather: Like Goh, he's also searching for a Mystical Pokémon and they both share lots of knowledge about the subject. And like Goh, he also got on the Train due to a bad fall-out with a friend.
- Break the Cutie: His experience on the Train was worse than Trip's. Trip got a wavelength tattoo on the wrist given to him by Simon while he tried to protect the denizens of the Calligraph Car. Tokio was imprisoned in the now xenophobic car and got a huge compass tattoo on his shoulder. Trip got a sledgehammer to the face and was able to escape to the Charcoal Car and met Cara. Meanwhile, Tokio had no Pokémon on him, got hit in the face with a guitar by the Apex, and end up floating down a river in a casket and met with rabbit-masked strangers. And that is not getting into what happened to him in Knight of the Orange Lily....
- The Cameo: He and Goh have a phone-call just as Chloe is about to enter Silent Hill.
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Doesn't want to look at Goh when he reveals his zinnia compass tattoo since he already went through that with his parents, classmates, and therapist.
- Dub Name Change: Inverted. He doesn't keep his dub name, Horace. Justified meta-wise, since the chapter he appeared in, was uploaded before the dub revealed his name. The author's notes even state that it's to make him a contrast to Trip.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Is mentioned in the author's notes for the first part of the Crayon Car before making his debut in the following chapter.
- Easily Forgiven: Either Downplayed or Averted. depending on how you look at it. When Tokio talks with Goh at the end of Voyage of Wisteria, the latter, while willing to give the former a chance despite everything that's happened between them, he makes it clear he's not forgetting what was done to him anytime soon, and that Tokio will have to work hard to prove he's worth it.
- Foil: To Chloe. Both of them are supposed childhood "friends" of Goh who turn to nasty means in order to get something from the boy; Chloe callously ends her friendship with him after he got himself sick looking for her just so he'd leave her alone, while Tokio manipulates him into accepting to deliver a message to Kisaragi for him. However, Tokio is quicker to see reason, as it only takes Gladion calling him out for him to realize what a horrible thing he did, while Chloe stubbornly holds on to the belief she's innocent until The Unown Incident and "interview" incident show to her face what a horrible person she really was.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: He never got to get back at Kisaragi for brainwashing him into becoming the White Rabbit, so he emotionally manipulates Goh to get said catharsis. Gladion doesn't cut him any slack when telling him how messed up that was, and Goh makes it clear he's gonna have to work real hard to prove he's still worth the trouble after this event.
- Flower Motif: Zinnias. According to the author's notes, his last name is derived from the Japanese word for the flower (Hyakuchisou) and he has a zinnia flower tattoo on his shoulder. Zinnias symbolize thinking of absent friends, reflecting how he felt horrible for leaving Goh behind due to his fever and his desire to see him again.
- Green Thumb: He has a Chikorita for a starter.
- Hero of Another Story: He was taken into the Infinity Train when he was eight years old and had his own adventure that involved being tattooed in the Calligraphy Car and fighting off against the Apex. Voyage of Wisteria reveals that he was also there for Gladion's train journey as part of the "White Gestalt" group.
- Kick the Dog: Him emotionally manipulating Goh to deliver a message to Kisaragi, knowing not only how dangerous he is, but how fragile Goh's mental state is at this point. Gladion calls him out on it later, and when he talks with Goh after he returns at the end of Voyage of Wisteria, it's clear he hasn't forgotten this moment and will have Tokio work hard to prove he can be his friend again.
- Manipulative Bastard: He takes advantage of Goh's fragile state and need to make amends regarding not being a good friend in order to convince him to send a message to Kisaragi for him.
- Meaningful Name: His last name is based off "Hyakuchisou" which is the Japanese word for "Zinnia". He's been branded with a zinnia compass tattoo on his shoulder due to an encounter in the Calligraphy Car.
- My Greatest Failure: Heavily blames himself for abandoning Goh. It got so bad that the Infinity Train picked him up. He later gets another one in the form of him emotionally manipulating him into delivering a message to Kisaragi, once he realizes the potential damage that event could've caused.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Has this reaction once he realizes what his message for Kisaragi could've done to Goh, his supposed friend, if he didn't have the Red Lotus Quarto with him.
- Poor Communication Kills: He was unable to tell Goh about him getting sick on the day they were supposed to meet up and by the time he got better, Goh was gone. Goh even questions why Tokio didn't just go to Vermillion City instead of thinking that a letter in Celebi's shrine was sufficient because there was little to no chance of Goh even coming back to the Ilex forest.
- Revenge by Proxy: Again, part of what fuels his request to Goh: he left the Train before he could personally make Kisaragi pay for everything he did to him, and he can't return there lest he gets stuck in another trip for character development. So, since Goh is on the Train, he asks him to deliver a message to him in the hopes of getting some sort of catharsis for it.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Not being there for Goh on the day they were to search for Celebi, due to getting a fever, ended up making Goh decide that friendship was not worth it, make him obsessed with finding Mew and thus make his friendship with Chloe dissolve into nothing.
- Took a Level in Cynic: When his memories of what he did as part of White Gestalt returns, his phone call to Goh is cold, particularly when he asks Goh if he can at least keep a promise to a friend.
- Vengeance Denied: Part of the reason why he does his rather... controversial request to Goh: As shown in Knight of the Orange Lily, he left the Train before he could actually get his revenge on Kisaragi for everything he did for him, so, seeing a chance to get that by proxy, he requests Goh to deliver a message to him.
- Was It Really Worth It?: After Gladion calls him out over his request to Goh, Tokio's left to ponder after the fact if it was really necessary to do so, and eventually comes to the conclusion that it wasn't.
- Walking Spoiler: There's more to him than just Goh's friend who is in search of Celebi.
- With Friends Like These...: When Goh and Tokio meet again, the latter refuses to talk about the Train because the prequel reveals that most of his memories on the Train were erased so he couldn't remember most if it and it was pretty traumatic over all, and when the former looks concerned about his tattoo, Tokio goes Don't You Dare Pity Me! on him, and in the sequel, Tokio emotionally manipulates Goh into delivering a message to Kisaragi, the same person who not only tortured him, but would be more than willing to use Tokio's friend to try again. Thankfully, Tokio eventually realizes what a bad friend he was when Goh brings up the latter moment, and decides to start working on bettering himself so he doesn't lose Goh's friendship. It honestly makes you wonder why Goh liked him as a friend in the first place.
Mallow Omao
One of Ash's fellow students and friends while he was in Alola. After learning about Chloe, she sent an email to Ash, telling him not to blame himself, to be patient for Chloe, and to support her when she gets back... while also revealing a shocking truth about herself.
- Action Survivor: She somehow survived going through the Infinity Train when she was five, and unlike Chloe, she had no items to help her.
- Adaptational Dumbass: Despite having seen the Ultra Beasts in action alongside her friends, this Mallow somehow thinks her friends wouldn't believe her about the Train.
- Arbitrary Skepticism: She and her friends have faced interdimensional creatures who are only identified as Pokémon out of convenience, and look utterly alien, but she somehow thinks the Train is too farfetched an idea to tell them. To put it simply, it'd be easier to list the ways this didn't come back to bite her.
- Break the Cutie: Does not take learning of Tuba's death well.Mallow: TUBA!!!!!!
- Cassandra Truth: She tried telling everyone about the possible dangers Gladion could've been in while on the Train, but no one believed her or mistook as her worried because she crushed on him. Needless to say, she is not happy about this. Although Lana points out that Mallow was never clear about the situation despite the craziness they went through with the Ultra Beasts. Mallow then brings up that it's not possible to summon the Train unless one is mentally traumatized, but concedes that Lana has a point.
- Didn't Think This Through: She tried to warn everyone about Gladion's situation, but thought that they would just see her as crazy if she was too blunt. It never seemed to occur to her that after the Ultra Beasts debacle, her classmates would be a little bit more willing to hear her out regarding the Train.
- Green Thumb: Specializes in Grass-type Pokémon like her Tsareena.
- Hero of Another Story: She wound up on the Infinity Train accompanied by Bounsweet while she was a child after her last conversation with her mother, and was taken care of by Tuba. She visited The Canals of Fondue Car and helped Varon open a malasada shop (Mallow's Magical Malasadas) and also had her own run-in The Hidden Temple Car according to Olmec. Knight of the Orange Lily expands more on this.
- Hypocrite: She's more than ready to join Lillie and Lusamine in tearing Gladion a new one for never telling them about his Train trip... despite the fact that she is just as guilty of the same problem.
- I Warned You: Did her best to warn everyone about Gladion's situation but no one believed her, assuming it was because she was in love with him or blamed her for not being more blunt about it. Mallow loses it. However, it's eventually pointed that out that even if she warned everyone, she did it in such a vague way that her classmates would have no choice but to try reach their own conclusions.
- Missing Mom: Two of them.
- Her mother had died of a terminal illness when she was a child.
- She also had a mother/daughter relationship with Tuba while she was on the train, and Tuba ends up dead...
- No Sympathy: She doesn't care that she drives Lillie to tears with her scathing "The Reason You Suck" Speech; after all, Lillie didn't care that her brother Gladion was taken by the train with the possible risk of dying or even consider that she should talk to Gliadon instead of shove orange lilies in his face, so why should she care about hurting someone's feelings with her words? She eventually does come to regret it, though, especially given this could've sent Lillie onto the Train...
- Parting-Words Regret: She heavily regretted telling her mom she hated her as it was the last thing she ever said to her, as well as the last time they would see each other before Mallow ran off and entered the Train, where she would stay for months.
- Rage Breaking Point: Lana's insensitive joke + Lillie pointing how Mallow tried explaining the train in a roundabout way = Very pissed off girl who chews out everyone for not taking Gladion vanishing seriously. Of course, Mallow herself isn't completely blameless, since she made a pretty mediocre attempt at letting everyone know and decided to yell at them after inevitably making an assumption.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: She delivers two of them in one go after learning how much everyone around her mistook her concerns for Gladion: After Lillie accuses her of explaining the Train in a vague, roundabout way, she rips into her, calling Lillie out for the extremely callous way she treated Gladion's disappearance and spitefully convincing herself that she wouldn't care if her older brother suffered or died somewhere just because he constantly left her behind. What drives Lillie to tears is hearing how her action of presenting Gladion a bouquet of orange liliesnote later led to him being taken by the Train, thus making her responsible for everything that happened to him there. Then quickly after that, she would call out the rest of her friends for making insensitive jokes about her possible disappearance just because she had a crush on Gladion and not care at the fact that she was a traumatized little girl, trying to sort out the fact that her mother was dying and never got to see her again after stating that she hated her.
- Sweet Baker: As a child, she helped inspire Varon by telling him to open a malasada shop. Malasadas reminded her of her deceased mother, who made them for her.
Gladion Montblanc
One of Ash's rivals while he was in Alola, the older brother of Lillie. He was also a passenger on the Train, having passed through The Canals of Fondue Car and hailed as a hero.
For more information on him during his Train journey, go here.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Usually wears black and has two Dark-type Pokémon on him at the time (Umbreon, and his father's Zoroark) yet he's considered a hero.
- Famed In-Story: There's a statue of him in The Canals of Fondue Car where denizens place orange lilies as a tribute.
- Flower Motif: Orange lilies. He himself is named after the gladiolus lily. Ironically, orange lilies represent hatred, as that represented Lillie's resentment of him for abandoning her all these years in Knight of the Orange Lily.
- Hero of Another Story: Is the protagonist to the prequel of Blossoming Trail, Knight of the Orange Lily who joined along Larkspur from stopping an Apex threat. All that is known about it so far was that it was a very dangerous mission and the Apex underestimated this "guy with the weird hand poses". Voyage of Wisteria confirms that he saved the Tape Car from destruction and that for some odd reason, he had to erase even more stuff that happened with a group called "White Gestalt" before revealing that he caused every passenger to fall into a coma by making them see their memory tapes which severely messed up their numbers..
- Oh, Crap!: After Ash exposes his secret while in a very lousy mood, Gladion has to stare at three women (his mom, sister and Mallow) who will give him the third degree about all his secrets.
- Poor Communication Kills: A lot of his problems with Lillie and his mother, as noted in the prequel, could've been avoided if he just explained it to them instead of running away like a knight off to slay the dragon. He also could've confirmed to Mallow about his trip on the Train much sooner but chose not to (and the prequel revealed that most of his memories got sealed off).
- Red Baron: "White Wolf Trainer" although the prequel also gives him "Knight of the Orange Lily".
- Terrible Artist: In Voyage of Wisteria, his power-point presentation about the White Gestalt has a crude drawing of the Spiral Car with sharpie and he uses comic sans font for bullet points.
- This Is Gonna Suck: When he gets his memories back of what happened on his train trip in Voyage of Wisteria, he decides to prepare note cards of questions he's going to be asked.
- You Do Not Want To Know: When he sees a picture of Chloe and Lexi dancing in Voyage of Wisteria, he briefly thinks he's seeing Specter again. When asked what happened, Gladion replies with this.
