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Infinity Train: Blossoming Trail Main Character Page
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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The Cerise Family

In General

A family consisting of a married couple and their two children who live in Vermillion City in the Kanto Region.

Ascended Extra: In a sense; the canon show mostly focus on Goh and Ash's adventures, with the Cerise family in the background. In here, they're at the foreground... for better or for worse.
Double Standard: The parents are lambasted for neglecting their children and letting things escalate beyond anybody's control when it's their children who are the ones who not only caused so much pain but did so willingly. Act 2's fiasco throws this standard out of the window, and now everybody hates the Cerise equally.
Dysfunctional Family: Are they ever. A father who's too oblivious for his own good, a mother who stays at the sidelines and does nothing, and a pair of children who're so full of baggage that any therapist that tried to help them would spend years trying to do so and making little progress.
Hated by All: After Parker's rampage nobody wants anything to do with them, and they're the constant targets of call outs and demonization.
How the Mighty Have Fallen: Downplayed. While they weren't rich or all that influential, the family had a stable life at home. A dysfunctional one, for sure, but a stable one. Chloe running away and Parker going on a rampage throws their living situation in jeopardy, and what little goodwill they had from people is completely gone.
Never My Fault: The only member of the family that doesn't seem to have a particularly bad habit of this is Talia (though she's not entirely above it), and her parents getting on her case about what happened with Chloe while never saying anything themselves may just make up for her although it's later revealed that Talia also denied not doing more to help Chloe out during the paint can incident. While Profesor Cerise and later Chloe work on limiting this trope Parker....did so too late.
Not Quite the Right Thing: A familiar trait. Professor Cerise's attempts to protect Chloe from bullies and refusal to take her to therapy leads to her being more alone than ever, Chloe bonding with her brother over shared interest makes the Unown a lot more of a problem, and Talia's advice for Chloe to "find something that she loves" doesn't work since the mother doesn't know what Chloe likes...the family has a problem with their attempts to do good things for each other backfiring horribly.
- This even extends to their children: Chloe's mind has become so warped by her bias and insecurities she sometimes goes straight into Insane Troll Logic in how she gets things wrong, and Parker believed that since nobody doing anything was the issue, that being proactive would fix everything. You all know how that went down...
Poor Communication Kills: The family seems to have a problem with actually communicating their issues and intent with themselves. This helps fuel much of the conflict in the story alongside Not Quite the Right Thing amplifying said communication failures.
Redheads Are Uncool: They're a family full of redheads, and as the story goes along, their reputation diminishes more and more until they're on the verge of collapse.
Red Is Violent: The younger Cerise share their red hair with their parents, and both are violent if provoked. The story constantly provokes them.

Professor Cerise

Chloe and Parker's father who studies the bonds between Pokémon and humans and has hired Ash and Goh to be his "research fellows". Unfortunately, his inability to understand his lack of a bond between him and his own daughter causes strain.

Adaptational Jerkass: While he was mellow and kind in the anime, here he repeatedly snaps at others, lashing out at their failures to help Chloe while downplaying his own. Justified in that he's stressed out and guilt-ridden, taking out his frustrations on others. He later stops being an ass after realizing how much he neglected his daughter and how little he knows of his own son.
Agent Scully: Resists the notion of the Train's existence because it's so far outside his wheelhouse. He also didn't believe in Ash's aura powers when Chryssa brought them up. Turns out Chryssa was right to believe in them as those same aura powers protected Ash from most of UnChloe's brainwashing on him.
Ascended Extra: His role in the anime is to send Ash and Goh to go witness Pokémon phenomena, and while we didn't see him interact with daughter as much, he was anything but a bad parent. Here, the story focuses on how his negligence in regards to Chloe heavily impacted his daughter and how little he knows of her. Ironically Episode 31 of Journeys'; has him actually pushing'' is daughter forward.
Appeal to Familial Wisdom: Cruelly Subverted. Every time people remind him of his "Normal Type moves don't work on Ghost Types" comment, it's to further mock and demonize him for his obliviousness regarding the situation.
Berserk Button: Scoffs off any nonsense about Goh hearing a train where he found Chloe's hair scrunchie or whatever 'Tri_pod' said about experiencing what Chloe is going through. Somewhat justified as he's probably going through the 'Anger' stage of grief.
Beware the Nice Ones: Is really a calm and mellow professor but he is not a pushover when it comes to those hurting his family.
- When he learns that Miss April was fully aware of the bullying problems, he chews her out for being an apathetic teacher.
- Upon learning of Goh's slander on his daughter, he calmly calls Kurune to reveal the news.
- He punches UnChloe in the face when he learns that the witch nearly drove Miss April to kill herself.
- He doesn't mince words when he lets his son how badly he messed up in his Roaring Rampage of Revenge, and when Parker tries to pin the blame on him again, he wisely leaves rather than deal with his bullcrap.
Broken Pedestal: Not that Chloe and her father had a good relationship, but in the Intermission, Chloe notices that her dad never attempted to contact her (while Goh did the opposite) which leads to Chloe thinking that her dad didn't care about her to even ask where she is. This ends up being The Last Straw as she types a farewell email to him that calls him Professor Cerise, stating that she no longer sees him as a father. Ironically, the Professor was absolutely unaware that he could've done this because Goh never brought it up. However, when Chloe finds out about Parker's rampage, she reveals that for all her hatred of him, she doesn't want him dead. Talia eventually tells Chloe to stop this negative thinking, which Chloe takes to heart.
Bumbling Dad: Discussed. His wife Talia muses that he isn't as much of this trope as people assume, but still thinks that his ignorance about Chloe's insecurities means "he wasn't going to get a 'World's Best Dad' coffee mug from her for Father's Day." Word of God even admits that she always thought Professor Cerise was oblivious to his daughter's troubles until Episode 31 of Journeys showed him encouraging Chloe. Chapter 12 has the author admit that she wants to not drag this trope down any further than it already has.
Calling the Old Man Out: Much of the story is spent calling him out for how he neglected Chloe's growing problems until they came to a boil, starting from Chloe herself to a huge majority of Vermillion City. It takes a while for him to realize his insensitivity and ignorance in part made Chloe run away because he was firmly in denial that his daughter was into anything but Pokémon. It's later deconstructed - the longer he gets called out, the more it starts to wear on him emotionally because he is constantly reminded of his greatest mistakes by everyone - including his own children - with no positive encouragement to actually patch things up with his family. Delia believes it's rather cruel to rake someone over the coals for their mistakes forever, and bluntly tells Talia that they "don't deserve that shit". Talia later heeds Delia's words and calls out Parker and Chloe for their behavior on her husband's behalf, spurring Chloe to finally contact her father after spending some time nursing a grudge against him.
- However in Court of Cyclamen, when Chloe finally gets to talk to her father on the phone, she chews him out for making her do nothing at the Institute when he knew she had a problem and refused every single chance she asked to go out and do something to channel her frustrations. It takes The Curious to help her explain that without her explaining her frustrations, there was only so much he could have done (albeit his "reason" for not getting her counseling was kinda stupid in hindsight).
Character Development: Starts out as an oblivious father who struggled to accept the... different aspects of his daughter. He later owns up to his mistakes and decides to start trying to understand his children and begin to prepare himself for the day Chloe returns from the train.
- He was also wistfully oblivious to Parker just as much, and left his anger issues untreated. When Act 2's fiasco's done, he disciplines his son by letting him know how much he messed up, and refusing to humor him when he pins the blame on him again.
Didn't Think This Through:
- He was so certain that his plan to keep Chloe at the lab was the best solution, he failed to consider it could affect her negatively, and refused to get her counseling, like Mr. Bradbury suggested. Needless to say, this, along with him ignoring her for Ash and Goh, blows up in his face spectacularly.
- He also didn't add extra security measures when Sara and Yeardley are forced to intern with him, nor when the Unown get involved. Three guesses as to what happens when Parker arrives...
- As Chloe explains in Court of Cyclamen, he never gave Chloe anything to do nor permitted her to try out extracurricular activities, meaning she had no way to vent out her frustrations until way too late. He admits that the right thing to do was to give Chloe something to show her life wasn't about school.
Doesn't Know Their Own Child: And it brings about the fall of his reputation as a Professor.
- He's so obsessed with his research and "research fellows" that he doesn't know about Chloe's internal problems and that she's not into Pokémon. This is noted when he confesses this to Talia, she just asks when he finally realized this. In fact, he gets pissed off when he learns Renji knew of Chloe's problems and never said anything.
- It turns out that he doesn't know Parker's love of girly shows and how both children were afraid of how angry he'd be if he learned about Chloe's only catharsis. Act 2 reveals that he didn't know of his son's anger issues either.
- Eventually, this gets Justified and Deconstructed: Yes, the professor was ignorant, but Chloe and Parker ultimately did more harm than good by keeping their interests a secret from him, even if they had their reasons to do it.
Fatal Flaw: Ignorance. He ignores his daughter in favor of his research and two boys who share his interest. When Chloe disappears, he knows next to nothing about her and what he does learn about her sends him into denial, lashing out at everyone in an attempt to reject the reality that he is a major reason for Chloe disappearing completely. Later chapters reveal that he also didn't know his son's likes and how they both were afraid of confiding in him. He finally realizes how much damage has been done by the end of Arc 1, but the repercussions of this are heavily affecting Arc 2. To state how bad it is, even Yamper knows what Chloe wanted: for someone to tell her to try again. It turns out that Mr. Bradbury advised getting a counselor for Chloe and the Professor ignored this (later revealed he didn't want to try getting a counselor again after the last one failed), which would ultimately cause more trouble than he wanted.
Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: In Court of Cyclamen, it’s revealed the real reason he refused to get a counselor for Chloe is because he got scammed by one in the past. Suffice to say, he’s going to have to live with the fact he choose to prioritize his bias towards them over his daughter's mental health for the rest of his life.
Get Out!: Shouts this to Yeardley after learning how much the boy bullied his daughter thanks to Parker's rampage.
Heroic BSoD: Just after Chloe runs away, Goh reports Professor Cerise turning silent and being in his bedroom all night.
Hidden Depths: He used to be into softball in his university days; this explains how and why his daughter would eventually become so proficient in it.
Hypocrite:
- He claims he's doing what he can to protect Chloe by keeping her in the Cerise Institute but we see he never looks Chloe's way and is so obsessed with Ash and Goh that it looks like downright favoritism. Court of Cyclamen reveals that he refused to let Chloe do after-school activities that she'd love, including taking her to softball camp, while letting Ash and Goh do whatever they wanted. So yes, it was favoritism.
- Moreover, he chewed Renji out for keeping mum about noticing that Chloe had a problem...when chapters later, it's revealed he was advised to go take Chloe to a counselor and chose not to.
Innocently Insensitive: His well-meaning comments about how Chloe fared against Gengar come off as far more critical than he intended them to be, particularly when he notes that she "should've known" that Ghost-types are immune to Normal moves. Acting as though she obviously knew that already despite her disinterest in battling and the fact that the only advice he ever gives her is to use Spark on Gengar, because really, why wouldn't she? This ends up being one of the many many things that he regrets later.
Irony:
- When he goes to search through his daughter's social media, he compares it to a film where a similar father does that. He apparently didn't get the message from that film at how the father was also emotionally distant from his daughter...
- Speaking of which, he claims to love her, but he never attempted to contact her. Even Goh tried messaging her. (Though some dialogue later hints that he simply didn't know he could call or text his daughter until he was told it was possible)
- Moreover, it was his idea to keep Chloe in the Institute yet he never even looks at her to talk, asks how she's doing or even gives her something to do which Chloe reveals in Court of Cyclamen.
Jerkass Has a Point: He's initially not open-minded on Chloe's love of horror, but he makes a good point that no one has any idea of who she has been talking to or seeing, meaning that she could be in league with unsavory folk.
Jerkass Realization: After Parker tells him that Chloe is not insane for liking horror, is when he realizes that he has been absolutely oblivious to both of his children and that he's done nothing for Chloe — not even go out for ice cream — as he's been too focused on Ash and Goh. The realizations continue in Act 2 when he learns how his neglect over her and his son end up backfiring heavily.
Jock Dad, Nerd Son: He's all about Pokémon research and shows interest in Ash and Goh for going out into the wild, training and fighting Pokémon. His daughter would rather write stories than get into anything involving Pokémon. This is what contributed to his deteriorating relationship with Chloe - Chloe hid her interests because she feared he wouldn't accept her, or tear her down for not being like him if he learned of it. When he does find out, he spends much of his time in denial before he's forced to see how his own negligence drove his beloved daughter away.
My Beloved Smother: Deconstructed: He confined Chloe to the lab outside of school and forbad her from joining any clubs or outside activities in a attempt to protect her from her bullies. However, said attempt (along with his refusal to get her any counselling) only denied Chloe any chance of doing what she loved as well any way to express her feelings in a healthy way, and ensured that the ONLY people Chloe would interact would be the bullies, so that plan clearly fails. What’s worse, it also (very understandably so) made it look like that he really did prefer Ash and Goh over her, as he would more then happily let them do what they wanted simply because they were into Pokémon and she wasn’t.
My God, What Have I Done?:
- Hearing Chloe explain how much she hates being in his shadow has him learn that he's been favoring his research (and by extension Ash and Goh) over her. Gets even worse when Goh reveals that she vanished...
- Eventually has a more extensive one as it hits him that he doesn't know either of his children very well and that both have been afraid of him learning more about them, quite possibly with good reason.
- And in the Intermission, he weeps on a Livestream as he reveals the email Chloe sent him about how he did nothing for her, especially not even texting her, now fully realizing what his negligence did to his daughter.
- He later realizes how his ignorance affected Parker since his son has unleashed the Unown onto the city. Not only that, he is reminded of how he bungled discussing Chloe's battle with Ash and that things could've been avoided if he'd just comforted and reassured her instead of pointing out her mistake.
My Greatest Failure: Ignoring Chloe in favor of Ash and Goh and never interacting with her as it lead to a domino effect of epic proportions that involves him learning the extent of the bullying she's gone through, seeing his son broken beyond repair and who knows what else thanks to the Unown. Moreover, his brilliant decision to ignore someone's advice to take Chloe to counseling bites him; at least with the therapy, she could've had some healing done.
Named by the Adaptation: Professor Cerise's first name is "Aldrich" in this story.
Never Heard That One Before: After the Unown arc, people start calling him out for failing his daughter...and they don't stop. It stops being guilt-inducing and starts being annoying, especially since he can tell a lot of callouts are from people who wouldn't have cared and just want to hit an easy target.
Never My Fault: Despite his initial horror upon realizing that he helped drive his daughter away, he begins shying away from that Awful Truth, finding other things to blame it on. Such as blaming Renji for not sharing his concerns about Chloe sooner, or refusing to acknowledge Trip's observations about the part he played. He gets out of this mindset eventually when he learns how his daughter was afraid of seeing him as a monster who would never love her.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Things might've turned out not so bad if the professor had done a few things differently.
- If he had just listened to Mr. Bradbury when he advised him to get someone to help his daughter, or at least did more to pay attention to Chloe in the same place you caged her in...or give her something to do...
- The Professor just forgets that Chloe wasn't into Pokémon battles and reminds her how "you don't use Tackle against a Ghost" instead of comforting Chloe over her loss nor seeing how uncomfortable she is. This is The Last Straw that pushes Chloe over the edge and culminates her entering the Train.
- Him not calling Chloe was seen as her thinking that he hated her (albeit he had no idea that it was possible). Even Goh tried texting her!
Once Done, Never Forgotten: In Act 2, he repeatedly beats himself up for saying the wrong thing to Chloe in the first chapter and also never forgives himself for not being what she wanted: a loving and caring father. However, it eventually gets to the point where he becomes ''sick and tired'' of being reminded of this over and over again, even wondering if people have nothing better to do than point fingers at him.
Papa Wolf: He may have been ignorant but this proves that he will do anything to protect his little girl.
- During the Parent-Teacher meeting, he flips his lid when he hears from Chloe's homeroom teacher about all of the bullying she went through and that Miss April did nothing to stop it.
  Professor Cerise: Your [Miss April] job is to protect your students, and you failed in that regard! Now my daughter is gone forever because you didn't comfort her or tell her classmates to stop what they were doing! Didn't the paint can fiasco teach you anything?!
- Upon learning that Goh was starting to slander his daughter, he tells Talia and Parker to post photos in defense of Chloe before he calls Kurune to warn her of what Goh is doing.
- He tears Yeardley and Sara for how their actions ended with his daughter gone and how it heavily affected his family and shouts Get Out! to Yeardley upon learning the extent of the bullying he put on Chloe.
- In Voyage of Wisteria, he punches Carl when the bastard tries to attack his daughter.
Parental Obliviousness: Played for Drama. He fails to pick up on why his daughter isn't too keen on Pokémon and only appears to take an interest in her when it appears that is changing. This ends up being The Last Straw that causes his daughter to snap as it only shows that the only way for Chloe to get his attention is if she has to confirm to everyone's expectations. Later it's revealed he doesn't know about his son's insecurities either, and this culminates in very horrible things in Act 2, not to mention him beating himself up for being completely ignorant about his children's problems.
Parents as People: He truly doesn't mean to have hurt Chloe, and is horrified to learn just how out of touch he was with her. All the more so as it seems he learned that far too late. UnChloe dismisses him as a father for how shitty he was in trying to take care of his children and focused more on data, Goh and Ash than them. Talia eventually tells Chloe in an email that yes, he screwed up magnificently, but he really did love her and things could have been better if she also spoke up.
Shut Up, Hannibal!: Non-Verbal example, but he immediately leaves Parker's bedroom when the boy tries to pin the blame on him, right after he told him how much he messed up in the Act 2 fiasco.
Sweet Tooth: He likes mint chocolate sweets, according to the author's notes. He and Chloe would go get a double scoop of mint chocolate chip ice cream with brownies and chocolate syrup.
Therapy Is for the Weak: The rewrite for The Crayon Car Pt 2 has Chloe note that "Therapy isn't in my father's dictionary" and Mr. Bradbury notes that he refused to take advice to take Chloe to a counselor. If he only did that, Chloe would be much better off and so would he and all of Vermillion City.
- Court of Cyclamen reveals that he didn't give therapy for Chloe because he got swindled from the last one. Chloe dismisses it, stating that it didn't give him a reason to just blatantly ignore her mental health.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: The biggest one of Blossoming Trail:
- First, he ‘puts Chloe on house arrest’ after the incident at the talent show, forcing her to come straight home to the lab every day. He firmly believed that this was the best solution, even ignoring Bradbury’s suggestion to get Chloe counseling, as this would get her away from her bullies and figure out how to better herself. In reality, though, this only made Chloe feel like he was punishing her for what she did and trying to get her to be into Pokémon like he is, making her feel worse about herself when he never really noticed her or even gave her something to do around the lab (as Court of Cyclamen reveals that he refused to let her stay after school to join clubs and his reasoning for not getting a therapist — due to being swindled by a previous one — falls flat when Chloe points out that he knew this entire time that she was miserable).
- Then when Ash and Goh came along, he gave them everything they needed to fulfill their dreams just because they like Pokémon, such as hotel accommodations and chances to travel while not even turning around to talk to Chloe about her day. This makes Chloe feel even worse, as she feels like her father prefers them over her just because they like Pokémon (and they're boys) and she doesn’t. Even worse, this is partially justified, as Cerise ends up ignoring her in favor of them, and only really notices her after her loss to Ash. And even then, it’s only because he thinks she is finally getting into Pokémon and tells her to ‘remember that Normal Types don’t work against Ghosts’ instead of encouraging her to try again or cheering her after her loss, convincing her that he values Pokémon (and boys who like Pokémon) more than her.
- And finally, despite all of his development, he fails to realize that Parker’s anger issues are a serious problem and does nothing to deal with them. This is a major contributing factor to Parker unleashing the Unown, sadistically torturing everyone that has wronged Chloe. By the end of the day, both his reputation and his family are in ruins and it all could have been avoided if he had just noticed the problems his children were having and tried to help them instead of insisting he knew what was right and ignoring them over two boys who loved Pokémon like he did.
Useless Bystander Parent: The only good thing he did to protect Chloe is keep her away from the toxic school...but after that, he never gave her anything to do, and the isolation made her festering problems worse because she doesn't have anything to do to vent it out and can't socialize with others. And all he had to do was just ask what she wanted to do instead of turning away to focus on Ash and Goh or, as Court of Cyclamen reveals, get her to do something that she loved instead of refusing every single time (or just get her therapy).
What the Hell, Hero?: Gets a lot of flak for his ignorance towards his children. While initially reflective, he quickly grows not only tired of it all, but aware that most of the people who call him out only do so to pat themselves on the back.
Why Are You Not My Son?: While he never says this to his daughter, Chloe can clearly see plain as day that he sees Ash and Goh as the children he wants because they like Pokémon while she doesn't. She even tells him in her email that Professor Cerise could side with Ash and Goh robbing a store but punish her for raising her voice. It takes a long time for him to recognize that he loved his daughter but never saw past the surface and he will be suffering the consequences for a long time.
Why Couldn't You Be Different?:
- Chloe believes that he feels this way about her; during her meltdown, she demands to know why he couldn't have been different, and why he had to be a professor over a father.
- Begins to show signs of this as he learns more about his daughter's more 'unusual' interests, as he denies the notion that she could have started such a 'phase' on her own, without somebody to spur her into it. Thankfully, after learning about Parker's preferences and that his own children are afraid to let him know about what they like, he realizes just how hurtful this is and gets over it, vowing to fully support the both of them...although now it's Parker who is seeing him in that light.

Talia Cerise

Chloe and Parker's mother and wife of Professor Cerise who is a stay-at-home mother who also works as an illustrator. She is aware of Chloe's insecurities and advises her to find something she likes...before remembering that Chloe doesn't have anything that she likes.

Adults Are Useless: Zigzagged; she actually was supportive of Chloe but didn't put more effort into actually bonding with her outside saying "Find something you love and you don't have to rush it", so she had no idea what her daughter was into. She's taken aback when Parker can easily state what type of phrase Chloe would recite if Talia would ever describe her love of dark stuff as "a phase". She also realizes that she didn't know her son's anger issues all that well when she learns of the Unown.
Breaking the Cycle of Bad Parenting: Her own parents only call her to snap at her and express No Sympathy for her situation. When Talia eventually does call Chloe, it's to call her out on her toxic behavior and how she can't just keep blaming everybody else for her problems and that she needs to grow up, lest she loses everything she holds dear. And to cut her some slack, Chloe listens.
- She chews out her parents in Voyage of Wisteria, making sure that, despite everything Parker did, she still loves him and will give him the love and support he needs until he finally is cleared to come home.
Calling the Old Man Out: Much of the story is spent by everyone calling her out for how she contributed to Chloe's misery and her running away form Vermillion City. It's later deconstructed - the longer Talia gets called out, the more it starts to wear on her emotionally because she is constantly reminded of her greatest mistakes with no positive encouragement to actually patch things up with her kids. Chloe sees nothing with this because she sees her mother as equally responsible for her father's actions, and refuses to forgive her for it unless both she and her husband truly learned their lesson. Delia believes it's rather cruel for someone to rake people over the coals for their mistakes forever, and bluntly tells Talia that she and her husband "don't deserve that shit". Eventually, Talia puts her foot down and calls out Chloe - and Parker - for their behavior, spurring Chloe to finally contact her father after spending some time nursing a grudge against him.
Cry Laughing: Sobs and laughs all at once when she learns the extent of her son's actions with the Unown.
A Day in the Limelight: Gets some focus during her and Delia's lunch date during the Undead Carnival Car as she confesses to Delia how she was so pathetic in not helping Chloe sooner and gets a chance to air out her own frustrations and get some positive reinforcement from a fellow (and sympathetic) parent.
Doesn't Know Their Own Child: Subverted; while she's more aware of her daughter's troubles and tried getting her into different activities, she has no idea what type of hobbies Chloe is into because Chloe shows no signs of liking anything at all. And when she finds out what Parker is capable of...
- It turns out she didn't recognize her children were unhappy. She keeps drawing pictures based off of photographs that clearly show Chloe uncomfortable, yet she touches them up with smiles.
- Eventually, however, this trope gets a reality check: while yes, Talia didn't know her kids as well as she thought she did, said kids never bothered to tell her what they liked and were just as guilty of not opening up as she was.
Fatal Flaw:
- Hesitation; she was more aware of her daughter's likes but didn't know how to approach the subject until it was too late. And when it came to her son, she didn't realize how dangerous his temper could be until the Unown are unleashed...
- Denial. She confesses to Delia that she always drew Chloe and Parker with smiles even though the photos she's taking them clearly show them frowning as a way to mask that reality was not all sunshine and roses.
Females Are More Innocent: Downplayed. While the story blamed both her and her husband for the story's events, her husband gets both the more and most vicious calling out since it was his Institute that and his decision to refuse that therapy that could've given his daughter mental stability. Or, at the very least, she also could've told her husband to do more...
Feminine Mother, Tomboyish Daughter: Aside from her cooking skills, her job as an illustrator is about cutesy stuff. In contrast, her daughter's likes are of the darker kind and is capable of handling herself in a brawl because of a love of softball.
Feminine Women Can Cook: She made rice bowls for Chloe and her husband to eat on the night Chloe ran away from home. In fact, Chloe writes in an email that she misses her mother's rice bowls while she's on the Train.
Grew a Spine: After Delia gives her some much needed support, Talia finally gains some confidence back and manages to call out her children: Parker for thinking the Unown incident was justified, and Chloe for not only causing so much pain by running, but acting all high and mighty like she's the victim of everything when it's quite opposite.
Horrible Judge of Character: After the Unown incident is dealt with, Talia somehow comes to believe that Parker was in the right, despite all of the horrors he committed. Delia is pretty quick to point out how this is not the case.
Ignorance Is Bliss: Kept ignoring signs that Chloe was unhappy via touching up photos that had her frowning with smiles when she illustrated them. This prevented her from giving Chloe help when she needed it.
I Reject Your Reality: A reality where her daughter isn't happy is one she doesn't want to draw and blinds her to how Chloe really needs help.
Irony: Talia has a very clear distaste for horror, while her daughter has a clear love for it.
- Talia is an Open-Minded Parent who doesn't react with as much shock as her husband when they find out what Chloe's into. And yet she's the one who forces Chloe to take a sabbatical from it once she calls her out on her crap.
- Talia and Chloe share the most distant relationship out of the whole family, and yet Talia's the one who finally gets Chloe to listen to reason and learn to grow up.
- Talia has glasses, yet she's too goddamn blind to the fact her daughter needs serious help.
Insane Troll Logic: She somehow comes to believe that Parker somewhat knowing about Chloe more than her makes the Unown incident justified. Again, Delia quickly breaks her out of this idea.
The Mediator: Serves as this between Delia and Ash's argument, acting as the third party who sees both sides' points and helps them come to an understanding.
Mama Bear: Tears Mr. Pepper's lame excuse for failing Chloe's last Home Ec assignment because how he didn't clarify that Chloe needed to make her own curry (as in, make it with her own twist, not following his recipe) before stating how no one in the school actually showed concern over her daughter.
Open-Minded Parent: Upon learning of her daughter's interests, she finds herself trying to have an open mind about them and requests Parker's help for some illustrations...even if she's unsure that how he wants her to show Goh getting his life force drained out by an evil tree. However, being open minded doesn't equal being an enabler, so she bans Chloe from anything horror-related until things calm down.
Parents as People: While she's been helping Chloe out with her journey to who she wants to be, she's been hesitant to find something for Chloe to get interested in and does not seem to recognize when Chloe was unhappy at all. She later concedes that she has to also be willing to put her foot down with Chloe's attitude as well as encourage her.
Token Good Teammate: Deconstructed. Out of the core Cerise family, she doesn't have crippling ignorance and bias (Professor Cerise), untreated anger issues (Parker), nor resentment that's been left to boil for years (Chloe). However, she in turn doesn't know how to deal with these same issues, and the few times she tries she comes off as Innocently Insensitive.
Tranquil Fury: You can tell that she's doing her best not to lash out at her husband's ignorance when he confesses that he was oblivious to Chloe's problems. She's also very angry at Mr. Pepper at the teacher meeting but not to the levels of outrage like her husband on Miss April.
- And of course, her email to Chloe is seething with a calm anger that makes it clear she's done letting Chloe continue her toxic behavior before she returns home, and makes it clear that if she doesn't change her ways, she won't be accepted back.
Useless Bystander Parent: Deconstructed. Out of the entire core family, Talia's the one who did the least in trying to help Chloe out with her issues. However, not only was she Locked Out of the Loop regarding most of those issues, but as said in Token Good Teammate above, not having any of the issues her husband and children do means she doesn't know how to deal with them.
What the Hell, Hero?: Calls out her daughter after the events of the Dead Carnival Car during an email regarding everything she's done, making it crystal clear she's done nothing but act like an ungrateful brat who plays the victim, and that if she doesn't get her crap together, she will have no home to return to.
Women Are Wiser: She's been more observant of Chloe's insecurities but she doesn't know how to help her since Chloe shows a lack of interest in anything and the bullying she goes through. Unfortunately this wasn't enough to recognize that maybe she should stop drawing smiley faces and see how her daughter isn't happy in the slightest.
You Are Better Than You Think You Are: After everybody has called her and her husband horrible parents, Delia finally gives her some much needed comfort in that not only are she and her husband human, but that their children have to accept their responsibility as well, as it's outright unfair that they're demonized while their kids play the victim card.

Parker Cerise

See his page here

The Fujihachi family

In General

A family consisting of a married couple, single son, and grandmother who live in Vermillion City in the Kanto Region.

Dub Name Change: Inverted; barring Goh, everyone keeps their Japanese names to contrast the Cerise family.
Parental Obliviousness: Let's not beat around the bush; all of them did nothing to help Goh get mentally healthy.

Goh Fujihachi

See his page here

Kurene and Ikuo Fujihachi

Goh's parents, who work at a software company. They have shown concern for their son's lack of social life because of his obsession with Mew, but they also haven't done anything to reign it in.

Adaptational Jerkass: They were concerned parents in the anime, but here it's shown they were not qualified to be emotional and supportive parents in any way shape or form.
Adults Are Useless: Even more useless than Professor Cerise cause at least he tried to protect his daughter. Neither of them paid attention to the fact that their son was obsessed with Pokémon because of their work, didn't care for socializing or the fact that Chloe was heavily hurt by not being with her friend. And now they have to see how the fruits of their labor has ruined their son and get kidnapped by a crazed hunter then hurled onto the Infinity Train. In Voyage of Wisteria Kurune learns that her son might have been depressed and never knew due to not coming to parent-teacher conferences while Ikuo reveals that they didn't necessarily have to work so much because they were so financially sound and thus prevented Goh from learning what it means to interact with people.
Ascended Extra: In a way since their major focus was in Episode 15 (which reveals Goh being a shut-in) but this reveals that they have done little to nothing to get their son anything resembling a social life.
Character Development: The Cyan Desert Car has them start trying to discipline Goh for his actions and acting more like parents. Emphasis on "trying".
Divergent Character Evolution: Voyage of Wisteria gives them more distinct personalities: Ikuo is angry over how his son was taken by the Train and willing to attack Chloe over it while Kurune sounds more resigned to all the shit that's happened.
Double Standard: They accepted Goh's friendship with Ash because now Goh had someone who he can share "boy stuff" with...and completely forgot about Chloe in the process and all her troubles from how Goh never looked her way.
- They knew all about their son's problems but never did anything, and thus get away from being called out. In contrast, the Cerise parents knew nothing what was going on yet everyone hates their guts. However in Voyage of Wisteria, Goh starts treating them with disgust after learning their workaholic attitudes weren't necessary and they had all the chances to get him some treatment.
Dub Name Change: Inverted; both retain their original Japanese names here, heightening the contrast between them and the Cerise family.
Hands-Off Parenting: Despite their concerns about their son's lack of a social life, they've opted not to intervene, even enabling the very behavior they're worried about by letting him stay home all the time. Arc 2 has them starting to work on being better parents...but it might be too late. When they visit him at the hospital, Goh tells them that all of this is their fault for not doing more to teach him how to be social and actually care about a life outside his computer. Voyage of Wisteria reveals that they could have actually stopped working to spend more time for him, but never considered it and thus made him more of a shut-in. Whoops.
Jerkass Has a Point: Downplayed. Kurune is going through a lot of stress right now as it is, and she also was quite pathetic as a mother overall, but she doesn't mince words that Goh let his obsession with Mew take over any time he could've spent with Chloe during the Azalea Town trip.
Like Father, Like Son:
- Just like Goh, they approach the Chloe situation with a jarring lack of tact, inelegantly suggesting that he should focus on making new friends and stop worrying so much about the past
- In Voyage of Wisteria, Ikuo notes that Goh picked up their bad habit of unnecessary work that ultimately led to them having nothing in their lives but that.
My God, What Have I Done?: The end of the Cyan Desert Arc has them realize they were absolutely shitty parents who did nothing to help Goh and Chloe in the slightest.
- In Voyage of Wisteria, Kurune is horrified to learn from Mr. Pepper that her son may have had depression and was never told about this since she never went to parent-teacher conferences. She's sobbing to Mrs. Borage that she has no idea what to do because she and Ikuo made way too many mistakes.
Not Quite the Right Thing: Masters of this. Their decision not to act upon their worries about Goh allowed his issues to become all the more deeply entrenched in his psyche, and when they finally try to gently encourage him to stop obsessing over finding Chloe, they only wind up hitting his Berserk Button. They later muse that their efforts might've genuinely been the right thing if they hadn't left them at that...
Parents as People: They're concerned for their son, and are worried about his social life, not to mention that they work long hours so they aren't there for him all the time. That's nice and all...now if they only did something about that social life problem and made Goh see Chloe more often. Or at least expanded on the small efforts they did make...
- In Voyage of Wisteria, Ikuo explains to his son that all the work was for the "future" after their grandfather wasn't that big of a long-term financial planner. Goh points out that if neither of them didn't need to work for that long, they could've used that time to do something good. Like be a family.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Ultimately, they hurt their son far more than they helped, enabling the very behavior they were most worried about rather than making any real efforts to curtail it. As a result, those issues grew out of control. And when they finally do start trying to help him, their inexperience at actually dealing with Goh only serves to make matters worse and thus they must see their son ultimately lose hope and end up in a suicide ward.
Useless Bystander Parent: They did nothing to reign in their son's obsession with Mew, his lack of a social life and his deteriorating friendship with Chloe and didn't even bother to look up the type of websites he was on until it was too late. In Voyage of Wisteria, they never realized that their son might have had childhood depression because neither of them went to parent-teacher conferences.
Workaholic: Their sole defining trait is that they're always busy with their work. This gets deconstructed in Voyage of Wisteria; with all the investments they had, they never had to work that long or that much. But by doing so for money's sake and "the future" meant that they didn't consider being a family for Goh and taught him to just focus on work, work, work and not...I don't know...actually being there for his friend?! Goh even points out that they only have work in their lives, nothing else. A few points in the wider verse, including Chloe's dream in the epilogue of Wisteria, imply they are on their way to Overwork Death (Karoshi).
Would Hit a Girl: Ikuo slaps Chloe across the face in the prologue to Voyage of Wisteria after Goh boards the train. He later regrets it when he has a clearer mind.

Tomie

Goh's grandmother.

Ascended Extra: Has little to no role in Blossoming Trail compared to her daughter and son-in-law, but in Voyage of Wisteria she becomes the caretaker to Mew.
The Caretaker: Her role in Voyage of Wisteria is to tend to an injured Mew.
Cool Old Lady: Takes control of the family arguments before they can get too bad and even advises Goh to just have fun on the Infinity Train.
Little Old Lady Investigates: Gets a slight kick out playing one while investigating Kris Foster in Celadon.
Only Sane Man: The only member of the Fujihachi family that has no emotional baggage on them so far...although she herself also didn't help Goh leave his house to hang out with Chloe.
- She's definitely this in "Voyage of Wisteria", holding Kurune and Ikuo back from doing anything they'll regret.
Useless Bystander Parent: Or grandparent; she had as many chances to tell Goh to see Chloe or get him help but didn't do anything.

Raboot and Drizzile

Goh's partner Pokémon which he caught during his trips to the Galar Region.

Adaptational Badass:
- While Raboot does lament some fault in his skills, he does learn Blaze Kick in the equivalent of episode 34 where in canon the move was first seen in episode 40.
- Sobble doesn't start becoming a badass until after meeting Inteleon in Episode 54. Here he is brave enough to snipe down Ogami's butterflies — the same ones that just murdered Satou and Shio — without crying. He also evolves around the equivalent of Journeys Episode 37 instead of 62.
Be Careful What You Wish For: Raboot is sick and tired of Goh never showing sympathy for him and is ready to leave. He then sees what happens if he got his wish after Parker puts Goh through his Nightmare Therapy.
Can't Catch Up: After Raboot loses to Bede's Abra, he feels like he'll never be powerful enought to protect Goh. Especially since he just saw Ash's Infernape defeat all of Bede's Pokémon without any effort. This is examined by how Raboot didn't care to train himself after evolving and was more interested in just being a brooding emo and hating on Goh instead of doing more to get stronger.
Cooldown Hug: Raboot attempts to do this on Goh after Goh wakes up from his horrible nightmare therapy and learning what the Dream-Raboot said. This fails as Goh is completely broken and unable to accept it. At the next visit, he tries to do it again and it takes everything in Goh to accept it.
Emo Teen: Raboot's personality is akin to one, same with Drizzile.
Fire/Water Juxtaposition: Raboot's a Fire-type, Drizzile is a Water-type.
Hope Spot: This is why Raboot just can't trust Goh. Every single time, Raboot wants to do something — like when he was Scorbunny wanting to be Goh's partner or wanting to learn a Fire-type move — Goh always crushes his hopes by being an insensitive jerk. Why should he open up to the boy if Goh won't listen or understand him? It takes Warbler to help him understand that the Goh then and the Goh now are two different people and he should tell Goh what's going on.
My God, What Have I Done?: Raboot hates himself for wanting to just abandon Goh when he sees what happens to his Trainer after the nightmare therapy.
Ocular Gushers: If Sobble starts crying, everyone around him starts crying like him. The only one who seems to be immune is Lexi, probably because he's made of paper.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
- Raboot's usual expression is being a stoic Emo Teen. That said he flips the Foongus out when he sees Goh starts on a mindless rampage and his sanity in shreds after his nightmare.
- The fact that Sobble isn't crying when he saves Goh from Ogami shows how determined he is.
Out of Focus: Among the two, Raboot gets the most focus and characterization in Blossoming Trail, albeit justified as Sobble doesn't start getting character until much later in the series.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: Initially Raboot is the calm Blue Oni, Sobble is the emotional Red Oni. Ironically they're both the opposite elements. After evolving, Raboot is Red and Drizzile is blue.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: As time goes on, Raboot is starting to consider just ditching Goh for how he cares so little about it, whether it was about not wanting Raboot to learn a Fire-move, deciding to abandon him in the Hoenn Region, or how Goh is going down the rabbit hole in utter insanity. Raboot is open to Goh redeeming himself before it reaches that point, but if Goh can recover is unclear as of yet. Raboot heavily regrets this after Goh's meltdown, fearing that it's some deity's punishment for his disloyalty.
Spanner in the Works: If Sobble didn't follow Goh back to the malasadas shop, Ogami would've successfully killed Goh there and then.
The Stoic: Raboot does not emote much. Thus it makes his reactions to Goh's breakdown even more of a surprise.
Took a Level in Badass: Sobble isn't as timid in canon once he gets on the Train, saving Goh's life and sniping Dahlia in the face before evolving.
Undying Loyalty: They join Goh on his trip to the Infinity Train.

Chloe's School and Classmates

Akemi Tsutsuji

A classmate of Chloe's school, Class 5-B, who likes curry and wants to get into running. What was supposed to be an innocent gesture to befriend Chloe ended up spiraling into a domino effect that had Chloe end up on an otherworldly train with no one the wiser.

She is the star of a spin-off story Infinity Train: Thorn Apart that follows the possibility of her following Chloe onto the Infinity Train.

Apple of Discord: Her words are an unintentional example: her talking about the Champion of Alola causes Chloe to realize she's talking about Ash, which caused a domino effect that sets the story into motion.
Ascended Extra: A background character — albeit one who causes the entire story to happen — who gains her own spin-off story detailing her quest to find Chloe.
Beware the Quiet Ones: While an anti-bullying workshop is going on at school, she goes into Class 5-E and starts photographing remarks that the students made about Chloe and uploading them online.
Composite Character: An Expy version: her looks and backstory are based on pre-Magical Girl Homura, but her kind personality is based on Madoka.
Females Are More Innocent: She's responsible for the story setting in motion, but she's actually the most innocent person in the story. Albeit this is actually justified; she had no idea of the shit Chloe went to because she spent most of the time in a hospital.
Flower Motifs: Her surname's based on the Azalea flower, which embody patience, modesty, and kindness, three notable traits Akemi shows.
Irony: Akemi is one of the nicest, if not the nicest, girls in Chloe's school, and honestly wanted to become her friend. And yet she's the one who ultimately begins the chain reaction that would send Chloe on the train. Naturally she is fully aware of this leading to...
It's All My Fault: Confesses to Goh that if she never mentioned the Alola League or Ash to Chloe at lunch, none of the problems with Chloe disappearing would have happened. Goh tells Akemi that her trying to open up to Chloe that lunch was more than Goh did for her in years and the Internet agrees with her. : Chloe eventually tells her that her responsibility for the events was minimal, and she doesn't have to blame herself anymore.
Locked Out of the Loop: She literally had no idea of what Chloe was like or the bullying she went through because she arrived to school late in the year and was was mostly hospitalized. If she decided to do more research on Chloe, like the paint-can incident or never mentioned Tapu-Koko vs Ash, things would've turned out very differently.
Nerd Glasses: She wears red-frame glasses.
Nice Girl: Compared to everyone else in the school, Akemi is sweet, patient and decides to sit down next to Chloe at lunch to keep her company. She even stands up for Chloe when the other students pressure her to fight Ash.
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Just wanted to make friends with Chloe. She instead started a chain of events that made Chloe run away from home, a bunch of students getting expelled, an Unown attack and at the end of it all nearly all of Vermillion City turned into a ghost town. Chloe later tells her that none of that was her fault and she can start forgiving herself.
Passionate Sports Girl: She likes running, even though she's not very good at it.
Shout-Out: She has black hair in braided pigtails, wears red-framed glasses and Chloe mentions that she'd been bed-ridden for a while. You think she also moonlights as a magical girl?
Small Role, Big Impact: She decides to sit next to Chloe at lunch one day and mentions the Alola League and the final battle between Tapu-Koko and a boy with a Pikachu...but doing so caused Chloe to realize that same boy was Ash and it spiraled into Chloe reaching her Rage Breaking Point and getting onto the Infinity Train.
Token Good Teammate: Given the sheer depths to which her peers sink, she comes off as the only decent one of Chloe's classmates.
Trademark Favorite Food: She likes curry, contrasting to Chloe's (initial) dislike of it.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Akemi only wanted to chat with Chloe...the problem was that she had to bring up the Alola League which made Chloe realize Ash was the boy who became champion, lead to her classmates egging her to challenge him and ultimately run away from home and the events that spurned off from this ends with an entire city in complete shambles.
White Sheep: Pretty much the only decent student in Chloe's classroom, as she only wanted to become her friend.

Yeardley Lobelia

"My life is a work in progress!"^note

A classmate of Chloe who doesn't know what his future holds, but just states that he's "a work in progress". Until then, his goal is to make Chloe's life miserable.

Abusive Parents: Implied; his father really does not like how he has very low grades and it's not clear what role his mother plays in all this. It's later revealed that his mother does love him, and Chloe hopes that being separated from his father will get Yeardley to improve.
Adaptational Jerkass: Was a goofball in the anime, he's a misogynist bully in the story.
Adaptational Villainy: The absolute worst canon Yeardley ever did was say his Innocently Insensitive line. This Yeardley is a bully who took active part in making Chloe miserable, even going so far as to break her arm.
Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Starts begging for his life once Parker has reached maximum levels of pissed off. This falls on deaf ears because all the promises Yeardley gives — mostly involving being nicer to Chloe — are missing a huge component: Chloe herself.
A Lighter Shade of Black: Next to Sara, at least. While Sara is The Unapologetic even when it would be in her best interest to at least feign contrition, Yeardley at least attempts to apologize for his actions, and seems to recognize his role in Chloe's disappearance and how a Double Standard protected him from consequences until now. Not that the people he's hurt care in the slightest, as he still participated in the bullying and isn't all that sincere in his own apologies.
Ambiguous Situation: Did Yeardley really break Chloe’s arm in PE? While everybody acts as though he did whenever it’s brought up, this often glosses over the fact that Chloe, being a Drama Queen, is known to heavily exaggerate things.
Ascended Extra: Was a Spear Carrier in Episode 11 of Journeys to be a contrast to Chloe. Here he has more characterization and was one of the catalysts of Chloe getting on the Infinity Train by goading her into fighting Ash and his signature "work in progress" line has a harsher meaning behind it, not to mention to be the recipient of the author's ire on Double Standard.
- He has his own spin-off story ''Infinity Train: Whittering Roots'' written by the writer of Infinity Train: Boiling Point, exploring what happened if he got on the Train.
Backhanded Apology: It's difficult to tell when Yeardley's apologizing genuinely, since most of the times he does, it's with an air of condescendence that makes it seem he doesn't see himself in the wrong. Even Chloe admits that he has problems with apologizing, which is why she can't completely accept his final apology.
Became Their Own Antithesis: He was originally a beloved sports superstar that at least some of his classmates liked him and can get away with him being a "Work in progress". Cue Act 2 and the reveal of his bullying and misogyny, and not only does nobody want anything to do with him, but he's been through so much trauma and misery he's either going to take over Goh's room at the suicide ward, or just straight up take himself out of the equation.
Big Brother Instinct: To his little sister Yvainne, one of his few redeeming traits.
Book Dumb: Implied as his father calls him a "work in progress" in regards to his low grades and his favorite subject is PE. It took Chloe teaching him a memetic to help him get a B+ on a math test. It's ambiguous as to whether Yeardley just has trouble with school, he has a learning disability, he's just too lazy to really put the effort into it, or he hates being compared to his older sister's achievements.
Bring Me My Brown Pants: He soils his pants after Parker nearly bashes his brains out with Silver Night.
The Bully: The flashback he has notes that he bullies and picks on others' insecurities to escape the problems he has with his father. Then he shows off how he really likes making Chloe cry along with the rest of his classmates. It's later revealed he was always bullying her, pushing her too hard in tag and mocking her in other sports like soccer and capture the flag because he hated how a girl was so good at sports.
The Cameo: In Voyage of Wisteria, he's shown reading Chloe's book on the language of flowers in Vermillion City.
Cerebus Retcon: His mentioning that he's a "work in progress" in Journeys Episode 11? His father always calls him that due to his poor grades.
Class Clown: Considering that he gets laughed at when he told his life is "A work in progress", it's implied he's this.
Cool and Unusual Punishment: Even after his life gets soundly destroyed, Parker and UnChloe decide to use him for softball practice with a thorn-covered bat.
Did Not Think This Through: Never ever considered that attacking a girl so thoroughly would've painted him as an abusive jerk or the fact that he's abusing the daughter of a Pokémon Professor...
Does This Remind You of Anything?: He tried to stop Chloe from reaching home base by standing in front of her...yeah doesn't that sound like how a guy tries to prevent a girl from breaking the glass ceiling? It doesn't help that he begrudgingly admits that Chloe is exceptionally skilled in softball and later reveals he bullied her because he hated to admit that a girl was just as good at sports as him. This is all the makings of an an abusive misogynist, to the point his little sister is afraid that he'll start beating her next.
Double Standard: The author points out how everything he gets in the anime is because he's a boy and that the writers state "A boy is allowed to not have a goal in mind right now, but if you're a girl everyone is going to put expectations on you and will expect you to follow your father's footsteps".
- Yeardley is not forced to follow in his parent's footsteps while Chloe must by all her peers.
Even Evil Can Be Loved: While Yeardley Lobelia is a misogynist bully in the story, it would be "extreme" to call him evil. Rather he's an unpleasant bully taking out his issue on someone else. His little sister still cares about him deeply, calling Ash to ask if her brother is a bad guy after he locks himself in his room to cry after the madness of the Cyan Desert Arc fades. However, said little sister appears to be in the dark about his bad behavior. After the trial, where his little sister learns of his treatment of Chloe, she becomes scared that he'll start harming her because she's a girl and refuses to hold his hand. But when Yeardley was taken hostage with Class 5-E, his little sister shows that she still very most loves him, and he regains her trust when Yeardley almost sacrifices himself to save her from Ms. Turner. By Voyage of Wisteria, said little sister is talking to their extended family on him being a hero.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Yeardley Lobelia may be an unpleasant misogynist bully taking out his issues being overshadowed by his older sister on Chloe. But he deeply loves his little sister is pretty much the only person he likes, and the feeling is mutual... until the trial where his little sister learns he a misogynist bully. To his heartbreak, his little sister becomes scared of him and refuses to hold his hand. He and his sister show they still very much love each other despite everything that happens when Yeardley was taken hostage with Class 5-E. She later regains her trust for him after he sacrifices himself to save her from Ms. Turner, later telling their family that he's a hero.
Evil Counterpart: Yeardley acts a lot like Ash did in the Indigo seasons. He's overconfident, bratty, gets jealous of those that outperform him readily, humiliates himself easily, and has people around him in life frequently insult his intelligence. Unlike Ash, however, he has very few, if any, of the redeeming qualities Ash had at the start of his adventures that allowed him to mature into a nicer, better human being and has a large swath of additional negative qualities that Ash never possessed in any considerable amount such as cowardice and being a sexist bully.
- Ash himself Lampshades this: during Yeardley's Motive Rant, he wonders whether he was as bad as him back when he was his age, and considers calling Misty to apologize.
Flower Motif: Lobelia flowers mean "malevolence", representing what a jerk he was towards Chloe.
Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Yeardley has issues with his father, as shown by his comments regarding Yeardley's grades, and he wants more in life, such as to be able to work with Pokémon. He also is looked down upon since his sisters get more attention than he does. However, those reasons do NOT give him the right to bully others in order to escape his problems, especially with how horribly he had bullied Chloe.
Genre Savvy: [Invoked] The fact that he got away with physically abusing Chloe while also being around other girls who had fun tormenting her isn't lost on many mothers who are wondering if he physically abused their daughters too.
Green-Eyed Monster: He's jealous of Chloe having an easy life and an instant path to being a Pokémon Trainer, the same sentiment shared by the rest of her classmates. He also was jealous that she was so skilled in softball which was something only he should have been good at.
Hate Sink: Not to the same extent as Sara, but he's still a mysoginistic bully who, allegedly, broke Chloe's arm and got away with it. The author herself hates this character, mainly because the canon version was unintentional insensitivity to Chloe, so she made this version of the character a pest and served as the writer's mouthpiece on Double Standard.
Hated by All: Nobody wants anything to do with Yeardley once his misogynistic ways, and bullying, is revealed to the public. His friends abandon him, he's an outcast with his classmates, his parents are getting a divorce, his father, who was always disappointed in him, is furious at him, his mother is implied to be disappointed in him. His older sister is angry at him and hits him; finally, his younger sister, who he adores, becomes afraid that he might start hurting her because she's a girl and starts distancing herself from him to his heartbreak. It is later shown that his little sister still cares for him even if she is afraid of him. He regains her trust when Yeardley almost sacrifices himself to save her from Ms. Turner. By the end of Blossoming Trail, he has the support of his mother and younger sister, apologies, and made peace with the girl he bullied. Voyage of Wisteria, he improves himself with his mother and younger sister's support. His younger sister is telling their cousins he's a hero for his role in stopping Turner, and it's implied that he could make things turn around for himself now that his toxic father is out of the picture.
He-Man Woman Hater: He's known to constantly pick on Chloe (he sits behind her in school) when it comes to competitions of sorts. He tried to stop her from reaching home base by taking said base away from her (his team was disqualified for the act, though) and he made fun of Chloe trying to get into CarnEvil and said she shouldn't play video games or like horror either because she's a girl. When UnChloe scans his memories, she discovers the real reason he picks on Chloe is that he saw her as 'weak' and 'helpless', which most likely ties into the fact she is a girl as well due to how he's always overshadowed by his sisters.
Heroic Sacrifice: Attempts to get Ms. Turner's attention to protect his sister and to give Chloe the opening to knock the gun out of the older woman's hands. He lives thanks to Chloe's interference, but gets knocked across the head.
How the Mighty Have Fallen: Was so skilled at sports and praised by it; got away with everything because he was a boy. He can say "my life is a work in progress" and everyone laughs at him. But after everything comes to light, he's now looked down as a misogynistic bully who would beat up other females for the sake of it, and no one likes him. Oh and to rub it home, his little sister who loved him is afraid he will start abusing her, Ash didn't let him get a Pokémon of his own and his parents are divorcing. All because he didn't like a girl being good at sports. In Voyage of Wisteria, there are hints that he can turn things around as his little sister is stating that Yeardley is a hero and his mother can put more time to encouraging him to be better.
I Was Beaten by a Girl: Considers sports to be the only thing he's really good at; the fact that Chloe could rival him in softball despite being a girl really got under his skin. It's one of the reasons why he liked bullying her.
Ironic Echo: His father has also called him a "work in progress"...quite sarcastically, in response to his poor grades. Miss April even states that Chloe is also a "work in progress" to explain how Yeardley and the other students were insensitive to her. After Parker's court hearing is over, Zeno also mockingly states this.
Jerkass: Tells Goh that if he misses Chloe so much that then he and his Pokémon should go find Chloe (and Goh is willing to punch him in the face for the remark). He also remarks how much fun it was to prevent Chloe from reaching home base during a PE game of softball by pulling it out of her reach (it was later revealed that the coach disqualified his team for that).
Jerk Jock: Always acted like an asshole towards Chloe whenever it came to sports, simply because she was a girl better than him in softball.
Kids Are Cruel: When Goh showed off his video of Chloe fighting Ash, he laughs at Chloe using a Tackle on Gengar. He then starts having his classmates show how much they love Chloe...or rather, how much they love making Chloe's life miserable because of her gender and boasting how much he hurt her.
Laser-Guided Karma:
- His father rips him into pieces and forces him to work for Professor Cerise until Chloe returns home, but not to do research work, but rather to take Chloe's face to see how the girl felt.
- It's notable how what he "liked" about Chloe is how he stopped her from reaching home base in a game of softball... and nearly gets his skull crushed when her brother is about to attack him with her softball bat.
- Hated Chloe because she was a girl good at sports. He gets punished by UnChloe for what he's done.
Meaningful Name: It's a (female) name meaning "fenced meadow" as he is completely boxed in by his father's remarks being a "work in progress" and does nothing to actually grow or change. He also sees himself as being overshadowed by the women in his life, Chloe included, and tries to fence her in, along with how his actions crippled Chloe's self-esteem to the point that she was afraid of trying anything new, keeping her fenced in her comfort zone.
Middle Child Syndrome: His older sister is in college, his younger sister is cute. He's neither.
No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Given one by Parker by letting the boy whack him everywhere with a thorn wrapped softball bat.
Once Done, Never Forgotten: After his atrocities have come to light, everyone remembers him as an abusive misogynist and how he gloats on how he's a "work in progress".
Pet the Dog: Despite his insensitivity, he admits he's not the only "Work in progress" and even felt guilty that he was somewhat responsible for Chloe leaving. He also at least tells Goh that he better take care of Chloe this time. Although he probably was making up a cheery facade so Goh would stop bugging him as he's back to insulting Chloe chapters later.
Resentful Outnumbered Sibling: The only boy of three siblings. His envy of his sisters feeds into his reactive misogyny.
Skewed Priorities: Cared more about Chloe battling Ash and not how Chloe ran away from home until Goh practically screamed in his face that she'd disappeared completely.
Small Role, Big Impact: A meta example; his sole line in Journeys Episode 11 was one of the key factors of the author writing the story as the author was pissed at the Double Standard of him getting away with such an open-ended answer while everyone (innocently or not) harassed Chloe, with the writers giving the implications that boys can get away without a goal but girls must be told to follow in the footsteps of their parents (especially the father).
Would Hit a Girl: Oh yes he would! He was constantly pushing Chloe around in tag, tripping her and making her life miserable because he couldn't stand her being good at softball. And the PE teacher (a woman) always sided with him. According to Parker, this also included Yeardley breaking his sister's arm. It gets to the point that his little sister is afraid of him attacking her.

Sara Diktaylis

Another classmate of Chloe's, who wants nothing more than to make Chloe's life absolute hell.

Afraid of Blood: Does not like seeing the sight of her own blood.
A Nazi by Any Other Name: invoked The narration points out the implications of white girl bossing around a group of children with different skin tones, making speeches about "crushing the weak and punishing the abnormal", and using slurs specific to the dark-skinned, neurodivergent Goh. This does not earn her favors with many of the parents.
Alcoholic Parent: Sara's mother cares more about alcohol than her child and Sara frequently went to school with no food and was very neglected. Said mother decides to ditch the bottle after realizing she's unfit to be a parent and places her daughter in the foster system.
Alpha Bitch: She's an absolute jerk towards Chloe and is the first to give Chloe her insulting moniker "Monster Lover".
All for Nothing: Everything she did to ruin Chloe's reputation and break her ends up leaving her with nothing in the end: she has no friends, no future, no one who will forgive her and no mother to care for her. She is now stuck blaming herself, unable to move on and is sent to the foster system to a family who, while better than she expected, she feels is making everything worse because she doesn't deserve loving parents.
Ambiguous Situation: While she was adopted by loving foster parents, it's unknown whether their influence will be enough to stop Sara from getting on the Infinity Train, given how she's so full of self-loathing and everyone she strung around hates her guts. And even if she gets on the Train, whether she'll make any progress when she learns that the girl she bullied is now a hero is up in the air. Voyage of Wisteria has her foster mother help her encourage to try again, so she might have a chance to change.
- Would she have really bullied a special needs kid? It's proven that Franklin — who has Asperger's — was never bullied, but she makes a point in her rant that all abnormal people deserve discrimination and she's horrified to remember that little detail in the trial.
Animal Motifs: She tends to get associated with feline Pokémon a lot such as Glameow and Purrloin, considering her conceited and impudent attitude towards other people, especially Chloe (who is associated with canines like Houndour).
Bad Liar: Whenever she tries to deny wanting to make Chloe miserable.
Big Bad Wannabe: Can be considered this, as everything from Chloe entering the train and facing the Apex and Parker summoning the Unown can be traced back to her. However, she is quickly broken by Parker and UnChloe, leaving only the Apex, Henry, and Walter as the real threats.
Bitch Alert: Her not showing concern about how Chloe vanished for a week is a huge hint that she just screams "BITCH".
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Judging by her reaction when Miss April catches her badmouthing her missing classmate, she's not used to teachers seeing her being so cruel.
Break the Haughty: Her revealing everything she and the other students did to Chloe comes back to bite her when it's recorded by everyone and uploaded onto the Internet. Now her reputation is in ruins and P-chan sarcastically praises her as their "Princess of Bigotry". Parker and UnChloe's punishments, and more specifically, the latter violently beating her up, break her even more and she ends up in the foster system away from her mother and many people hating her guts and her actions remembered in Vermillion City forever.
Break Them by Talking: One of her favorite methods of tormenting others, crossing over into Evil Gloating at times. Then she gets broken by UnChloe.
Bring Me My Brown Pants: Nearly wets herself when Parker unleashes the Unown and is significantly pissed off at her.
The Bully: She wants nothing more than to deride and make fun of Chloe's life and interests.
Bullying a Dragon:
- Being on the receiving end of a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown when she pushed Chloe too far did nothing to dissuade her from continuing the torment in other forms.
- Even after seeing Parker unleash the Unown and UnChloe ready to torture them, she doesn't understand that maybe she should stop talking to save face.
Chronic Villainy: Word of God compares her to Lila Rossi, being compelled to be a spiteful liar even when it would be in her best interests not to be.
Did Not Think This Through: Sara really did not consider what would happen if someone recorded her bullying or how it would affect her or Chloe's family in the long run. Professor Cerise spells it out to her that she has just ruined her entire life, the lives of all of the classmates she dragged along in her schemes, and traumatized an entire family for Chloe's disappearance. She also didn't consider to shut up just when Parker was calming down, and it ends with her entire life thrown into shambles and put in the foster system.
- She completely overlooks one tiny, little detail in her rant that bullying those for being different would have also implied that she'd have no qualms about bullying special needs kids like Franklin.
Digging Yourself Deeper: Played for Drama. When the Unown is unleashed and UnChloe is threatening them, the smart thing to do would be to stay quiet or try to make a case that she's learned her lesson and won't be a problem anymore. Instead, she gets lippy and tries to justify herself.
Does This Remind You of Anything?: A Caucasian girl claiming that those who are abnormal deserve to be scorned. And then it's later revealed she shares a class with a special needs kid...
Driven by Envy: Ultimately, she's jealous of Chloe for being a Professor's daughter, with all the privilege and stability she assumes that entails. She exploited her classmates feeling the same way to lead them in tormenting her.
- It is later revealed that her jealousy of Chloe runs deeper than simply being the Professor's daughter; Sara hates the fact that Chloe is supposedly better than her, and relished bullying her due to it. Then it's later revealed that she hated how Chloe can have fun, loving the horror and macabre and share it with others while Sara couldn't since her father was gone.
Engineered Public Confession: After going through two of these, you'd think she'd learn the value of shutting up.
Failed a Spot Check: During her rant to Parker about punishing those for being different, it never crossed her mind until the trial that one of her classmates, Franklin, is a special needs kid, thus is basically implying that people like him are not worthy of living.
False Friend: Pretended to care about most of her classmates (aside from Chloe) in order to get them on her side. UnChloe forces her to reveal what she really thinks about them, and she has nothing but unkind words for everyone.
Fatal Flaw: Knowing just how powerful and damaging words are, she strives to twist the knife at every opportunity, especially when it comes to Chloe. Her inability to hold her tongue when Chloe is involved repeatedly bites her in the butt — first Miss April overhears her declaration that she wishes Chloe stays gone, then she causes the bullies' Engineered Public Confession, and finally she pushes Parker over the edge and triggers the Unown and will most likely cause all of Vermillion City to suffer for this boy's anger all because she couldn't stand the idea of Chloe being loved and adored. Nice one, Princess.
- Her inability to apologize. All she had to do was apologize, shut up and let bygones be bygones. If she just did that, Parker would never unleash the Unown and she wouldn't be a broken mess that's just one step away from killing herself.
Flower Motif:
- Her last name means "Foxglove" in Greek. Foxgloves usually represented pride and insincerity, which shows how she boasts about being better than Chloe and being a nasty piece of work. Moreover, foxgloves are poisonous which reflects her personality quite well.
- Foxgloves are also said to be associated with The Fair Folk, reflecting how Sara paints herself as a tragic maiden. She's anything but tragic (unless you consider how she's like this due to not having loving parents in her life).
Foster Kid: Ends up as one of these after the Cyan Desert Arc but after everything she did, Sara feels like this is a slap in the face.
Freudian Excuse:
- Her mother is a heavy drinker who is sometimes too busy nursing her latest hangover to deal with things like ensuring her daughter has a lunch to bring to school.
- A Flashback to one of her cruelest stunts reveals that her father is no longer in the picture; he died in a car crash while going to replace a Hi Skitty doll he'd bought her, as she'd rejected it declaring she wanted a 'cuter doll'.
Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: That said, it's made very clear that none of this remotely justifies how she treated Chloe, no matter how much she insists otherwise.
Girlish Pigtails: She's described as blond with pigtails but loses them in Voyage Of Wisteria.
God Save Us from the Queen!: UnChloe fashions her as a wicked queen cruelly addressing her subjects during her Mind Rape-enhanced Engineered Public Confession.
Hated by All: Chloe's class followed her to the ends of the Earth and never saw her as doing wrong. By the time everything they did to Choe is laid out, they have come to realized that Sara was the real bitch and she has lost everything she built with her lies, deceit and envy and numerous people don't like the implications that special needs people are also on her list of "people to put down by any means necessary". Her only hope that she doesn't kill herself or ends up on the train relies in her foster family.
Hate Sink: She's everything you hate in a bully: condescending, apathetic, cruel, hateful, spiteful, and unsympathetic.
Hourglass Plot: She started Blossoming Trail being fawned over and got away with her bullying while Chloe was victimized, isolated and close to killing herself. After the Unown attack and by the time Voyage of Wisteria starts, Chloe is mature, confident and is making plenty of friends while Sara is broken, humiliated and has lost everything she held dear.
How the Mighty Have Fallen: Once had nearly all of Class 5-E under her finger and used them to make Chloe's life a living hell because she was different. Then she loses her status as a pure innocent princess after her bullying is exposed to the world, she's expelled, the Internet hates her guts and then Parker and UnChloe force her to confess why she did all this and insult every single student who joined her, being beaten and attacked by a Unown abomination of the girl she hated, forced to write down everything she did to Chloe and then is sent to the foster system by her mother, a broken mess with no friends, family, social life or future whom everyone blames for the chaos of Chloe running away from home, her family's lives in ruins, a school's reputation tarnished, many students without futures of their own and Vermillion City's future in jeopeardy. All because she hated Chloe for being different.
- In Voyage of Wisteria she has to see Chloe a celebrity for saving her former classmates and ends up having a Freak Out for her stupidity and selfishness.
Hypocrite: She lambasts and insults Chloe for her love of horror, but she and her friends also used the "Create-a-crush" app to make a supernatural boyfriend, and her book report was Coraline, which is also filled with nightmarish things. Turns out she also had a small love with it and was mad at Chloe being able to happily enjoy it while she couldn't.
I Want My Mommy!: Cries this when Parker and UnChloe beat her around for everything she did to Chloe and not feeling sorry in the slightest. During the trial she's constantly staring at her mother in anguish and guilt.
Kick the Dog: If pouring paint on Chloe and hitting Parker across the face with the same paint can didn't establish it, telling Chloe that her father didn't love her established that she is a bitch.
Lack of Empathy: To an even greater degree than Yeardley; when the class sees a report about how a week and a half has passed since her disappearance, she sneers about how she doesn't see why Chloe's special enough to warrant a Missing Persons case and tells Parker that his sister is better off gone forever. This ends up being her downfall as she loses everything in the end. And it's also implied that even being disabled wouldn't save you as her rant implies that Franklin (who has Asperger's) could've been next on her list.
Laser-Guided Karma:
- After her bullying has been exposed, her mother punishes her by making Sara write a letter to Chloe for every single deed she did (as in one letter per deed) and to work for Professor Cerise until Chloe returns home...meaning that she is to be judged, observed and to be away from the action she wanted because the Professor never sent his daughter to do research.
- After Parker confronts her at the lab and UnChloe gets involved, she's punished further by having one of her wishes granted: she gets to be the center of attention as she gleefully brags about how she manipulated her classmates into hurting Chloe, and is magically compelled to pen a full confession.
- Ultimately she ends up losing everything because of her inability to move on and obsessive need to bully Chloe: no friends, no social status, no home in Vermillion City, no future, her self-esteem and confidence crushed to pieces, and now she loses her mother by being sent to the foster system with a loving family that feels like a kick in the face.
Loners Are Freaks: Her 'justification' for tormenting Chloe, as best evidenced when she gloats to Parker about how Chloe "should be gone forever if she's not going to be what she's supposed to be." The real reason is because Chloe could happily divulge in her hobbies while Sara couldn't ever since her father died.
Meaningful Name: Sara is translated into Hebrew as "Princess" and Chloe remarks how Sara always proclaims herself as one. She certainly has a spoilt demeanor of a bratty princess.
Musical Theme Naming: Sara gets her name from "The Ballad of Sara Berry" and females related to her life are also named from women in the song: her mother is Marianna and the members of her girl posse were Patricia and Julie.
Never My Fault: Just as bad as Goh at this; No matter how much trouble she gets into, Sara is always going to blame Chloe for it. This ruins her in the end.
Once Done, Never Forgotten: Her bullying and envy has become a cautionary tale in Vermillion City, so that everyone remembers her deeds. Sara himself has a Freak Out over it when she realizes that she could've had a happy life if she wasn't such an idiot.
- Her little rant on how "abnormal" people must be crushed is also reflected poorly when she remembers that one of her classmates is a special needs student.
Parental Neglect: As stated in Freudian Excuse above, her mother loves alcohol more than her own flesh and blood. By the time her mother realizes what she's done, Sara is off to the foster system.
Put on a Bus: After the Unown arc is over, she's sent into the foster system as her mother is no longer fit to raise her. Not a lot of people pity her.
"Ray of Hope" Ending: After everything is done, Sara is put into the foster system where she was taken in by a kind family, ensuring that there is some chance of her changing for the better. Voyage of Wisteria reaffirms that she can make amends if she works on it.
Reformed Bully: After having a mental breakdown over guilt over everything she did in Vermillion City and her foster mother comforting her, Sara Diktaylis asks her why took her in, knowing what she has done. Her foster mother reveals she used to be just like Sara in her youth, and it took a lot of support and just as much of her own clawing to get out of that same pit Sara is in. She asks if would like to get started on getting out of the pit, and Sara agrees.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When everything is finished, she gets the hell out of dodge, swearing that she'll do anything from digging ditches to joining a nunnery just as long as she can leave Vermillion. Nobody denies her that and her mother puts her in the foster system with the sequel revealing she's now in the Johto Region.
Shadow Archetype: Offers a glimpse of what Chloe could have become in many ways:
- Both are resentful towards others, but while Chloe spent years simmering in hers, Sara channeled that into hurting everyone around her, and is so self-absorbed that the only thing she regrets about anything she's done is how it's impacted HER directly.
- Chloe wants to be accepted and have friends despite her macabre interests; Sara shares those interests, but has largely set them aside in favor of more 'socially acceptable' ones... and justifies her cruelty to Chloe by claiming she deserves it for being a Creepy Loner Girl.
Shout-Out: The author notes said she's named after the titular Sara from the song, "The Ballad of Sara Berry", another Alpha Bitch who suffered from abusive parents and saw herself as a princess/queen. And just like how the titular Sara goes mad and declares herself queen — after she murdered seven people — she ends up destroying her own reputation and briefly goes mad as she declares herself Queen of her class.
Small Role, Big Impact: Everything that happens to Chloe and why she ends up being a Shrinking Violet is on her.
- She and her Girl Posse made Chloe use a 'Create Your Crush' app, then mocked the impromptu story she started weaving around him. That design eventually became the Specter of the Black Forest, and the basis for Lexi's human form... while their cruel reaction left Chloe feeling even more isolated, encouraging her to bury her interests even more. Downplayed as the story progresses and we see just how extensive the bullying was, with Sara as the ringleader.
- If she just kept her mouth shut, the Unown never would've been unleashed by Parker. Now she's responsible for most of her classmates being traumatized, her homeroom teacher about to kill herself, an entire school's reputation in ruins, and it ends with her losing her mother, her sense of pride and "friends" before being shipped to the foster system.
Spoiled Brat: Before her father passed away, he spoiled her rotten, to the point that he was killed while trying to replace a doll she'd rejected as not being 'cute enough' for her. While her mother hasn't continued the practice after his departure, this has done nothing to improve Sara's attitude problem or sense of entitlement.
Throw the Dog a Bone: Yes, even she deserves one. After getting traumatized and losing everything in Vermillion before being put in foster care, it's shown that she managed to get a decent family at the very least with Voyage of Wisteria revealing her foster mom also went down the very road Sara went through and ready to help her crawl out of the ditch she dug for herself.
Tough Love: Implied. In Voyage of Wisteria Sara Diktaylis's foster parents made her watch the news about Mrs. Turner attempting to kill her former classmates before Chloe, the girl she bullied, stopped her. Seeing this and her former classmates' interviews admitting how they were very stupid and embarrassed to be saved by their former victim does not help Sara's mental state and guilt, especially since the girl who became the beloved hero is the same girl she despised and bullied. She has a breakdown and starts screaming until her foster mother comforts her. When Sara asked why her foster mother took her in, she reveals that she was once just like Sara and had to claw her way out of the Hell she made. It's implied that she and her husband forced Sara to watch the news so she understands the harm she caused and hopes to help her grow into a better person.
Toxic Friend Influence: To most of the students in Class 5-E, as she encouraged them to tease and torment Chloe. When they learn about this, almost every single student realizes that they just ruined Chloe's life (and their own) for good.
The Unapologetic: Absolutely refuses to show any true remorse over how she treated Chloe. She regrets being caught; nothing more. She doesn't even mention how she attacked Parker with a paint can. She later begins to apologize for everything she's done, but no one believes her for it's far too late to change anything.

Class 5-E

The class of Goh and Chloe's where nearly everyone bullies Chloe for being weird and different.

Adaptational Jerkass: Insensitive classmates in the anime, apathetic bullies in the fanfic.
All for Nothing: During Sara's Engineered Public Confession, it's revealed that Sara had lied to them about Chloe, making her look like a spiteful bully and was taking advantage of their desire for recognition. As a result, it was very easy for Sara to manipulate them into becoming bullies themselves, which pretty much destroyed their lives once Trip filmed them bragging about all their bullying. At the end of it all, all of them were forced to realize that they were nothing but pawns to the real spiteful bully, and they had thrown away everything for a lie while realizing that Chloe really just wanted their friendship and they spat it back at her face, with their parents ashamed, their social and educational lives in shambles, a school's reputation tarnished, numerous teachers without jobs, all of their fellow students having to be shuffled to other schools and a city who must shoulder this burden for many years to come.
Ascended Extra: They only appear for one scene in Episode 11 to talk over Chloe and question how she must be into Pokémon. Here they're all a bunch of bullies that drove Chloe to withdraw into herself and feel so worthless.
- Gard and Julie gain more prominence in Voyage of Wisteria since they're in the Galar region during the Darkest Day arc.
Beta Bitch: Patricia is Sara's number two and best friend, and it's she who starts off the "Monster Lover" chants. Then Patricia leaves her behind after the truth comes out.
Cold-Blooded Torture: All of them are subjected to this by UnChloe, based on the stuff that they did to Chloe in the past. From getting scalped to being rendered blind, being mocked of their eyesight, living through a trauma that they nearly died from, etc. At that point, it's absolutely cruel to do so because they had essentially lost everything.
"Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: They learn the hard way that Ash was willing to help them out with their dreams of being Trainers and they didn't have to bully Chloe to do whatever they wanted. But this came after they hurt her, made her run away from home and a lot of other traumatic experiences. And if they actually went to talk to Professor Cerise instead of harassing his daughter, he could've been more willing to help.
- Had any of them used their brains and talked to Chloe, they would've learned that she wasn't the bully or jerk Sara said she was and probably would've reduced the chances of them ruining their lives.
Did Not Think This Through: Like Sara, none of them realized how their bullying would affect so many lives: it broke Chloe to the point she ran away from home, hurt her family, hurt them when their bullying is exposed, got their parents embarrassed for being looking like idiots for not raising their children right, got their homeroom teacher fired, and all future prospects for higher education destroyed. Moreover, for all their talk on wanting to be Trainers, they were bullying the daughter of Vermillion City's local Pokémon Professor, who would've prevented them from ever becoming Trainers if he knew how much they harassed Chloe.
- In Wisteria, Gard and Julie admit that their bullying was going to bite them in the ass one day and that it didn't occur to them how much trouble they put upon themselves, their families and the families affected by their bullying.
Dirty Coward: All of them love bullying Chloe to fight Ash and laugh at her when she failed. When Ash says he's willing to fight them one-to-one, they make excuses about them unable to fight since they don't have Pokémon. They also didn't mind gloating to Parker about how he was so weak and helpless, but turn into sniveling wrecks when he gets the strength to torture them.
Easily Forgiven: Averted. Barely anyone forgives them for their crimes. Even Ash states that he isn't ready to turn the other cheek so easily. Eventually, Chloe decides to forgive them after realizing how much trauma they've been saddled with. In Voyage of Wisteria, Julie even admits that they're even lucky to be even forgiven for their mistakes.
Everybody Has Standards:
- Deconstruction; they all claimed that they didn't want Chloe dead, but that didn't stop them from bullying her to the point that she could be dead for all they know. Even when their teacher Miss Jenny April called them out for being apathetic to Chloe's disappearance, some of them show remorse, they all later bragged about how much they love to bully Chloe, and they don't miss her in the slightest. Because of that, no one is willing to forgive them for their actions because they have effectively traumatized her family and shown how they were absolutely apathetic to her.
  - Played straight when they had time to process how horrible they were, get called out by their families, and their futures get destroyed. And when Parker tortures them with the Unown and gets Sara Diktaylis to confessed that she both manipulate them to bully Chloe and never considers them her friends. They realize that they become the bullies and hunted someone who never did anything to them, all for the real spiteful bully just using them.
- On a smaller note, none of them bullied Franklin for his Asperger's syndrome showing that they wouldn't aggravate someone with a mental disability. Subverted, it turns out that's more because Franklin's mother promised the last bully who tried it that they wouldn't have a future. Also they did like insulting the dark-skinned Goh who is known to have something akin to ADHD or autism...
- Julie notes that she's not entirely fond of Yeardley but she didn't want to see him dead when Parker came close to battering him to death with Chloe's softball bat.
- When Gard and Julie learn of Chloe's farewell text, they tell her straight out that it was jerkish. They're also horrified upon learning that Chloe was killed and this all stemmed from their stupid dare.
Evil Is Petty: Why bully Chloe? Because she gets an easy path to being a Pokémon Trainer and she's weird. They regret this immensly when her father finds out.
Fat Bitch: Julie is described as being chubby by Sara and she took part in bullying Chloe along with everyone else.
Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Originally, it was thought that Chloe's classmates ostracized her for being different, being into horror, and not being into Pokémon. But then it was learned that there were deeper reasons for them to dislike Chloe. Sara Diktaylis, a girl that was jealous of Chloe, manipulated them into thinking that Chloe herself was a bully, so they begin to ostracize her. It’s implied that they quickly fell for Sara’s lies because they all envied Chloe for being a daughter of a Pokémon professor and know a legendary Pokémon trainer in Ash Ketchum, and they were using Sara's lies as an excuse to lash out at her. Throughout Blossoming Trail and Voyage of Wisteria, they are called out for their cruel actions. When they brag about all the times they bully Chloe and how they don’t miss her, their bragging was recorded and posted on the internet. This makes their reputations and futures swiftly destroyed, and their parents call them out on their cruel actions. During the time when Chloe's little brother Parker tortures them with the Unkown, he gets Sara to confess her lies, forcing them to admit they hurt Chloe for nothing. Finally, in the sequel, when they made peace with Chloe and see how petty The Adults of Pallet Town were, they acknowledge they were no different and wondered how they let Sara deceive them so easily. Trip answers they all wanted their feelings of envy to be validated, regardless of who was hurt in the process. They sadly acknowledge Trip is right.
Gang of Bullies: Almost all of them joined Sara's side to bully Chloe, with the exception of Franklin due to his Asperger's syndrome.
Green-Eyed Monster: Many of them were jealous over the "cushy lifestyle" Chloe had with her father being a Pokémon Professor. Everyone points out that this gave them no excuse for everything they did to Chloe and they themselves admit that if things were different, they would've never hated Chloe. Trip even points that what they wanted was validation about their envy regardless of who they hurt along the way.
Gullible Lemmings: All of them believed Sara's lies and agreed to harass Chloe without a second thought. No wonder people were harassing them for being so stupid to follow her even after Chloe pummeled Sara with a paint can and warned them not to do something like that again and this got on the news.
Hated by All: After their bullying is exposed, it's safe to say that they have no friends or parents who are willing to tolerate them. At the very least in Voyage of Wisteria, they buried the hatchet with Chloe.
Hidden Depths: As bad as they are, they are still people with more to them than just being Sara's pawns or targets for Parker's wrath.
- Jackie loves his mom's cooking and is shocked to find that Sara hates that his breath smells like garlic from it.
- Neil is color blind and has light sensitivity and honestly didn't know he had poured the red paint on Chloe's outfit since he can't see it. He also wants to become a chef.
- Gard has a crush on Chloe and constantly blew on her neck just to let her see him. He also nearly died when a hurricane tore through his house.
- Julie is always told to be a doormat by everyone in her family and is unable to stand up for herself. She also seems to have some knowledge of first aid and the language of flowers.
- Patricia has an aunt who works in aromatherapy.
Hourglass Plot: They started Blossoming Trail as proud boastful brats who pressured Chloe to do the things they couldn't do, making her a nervous wreck and insecure of herself. By Voyage of Wisteria they are the Pokémon trainers that are nervous and absolutely humiliated about their actions, while Chloe is more mature and confident in herself.
Horrible Judge of Character: One of the main reasons that they ended up bullying Chloe is because Sara manipulated them into Chloe was a mean person writing nasty notes about them. Needless to say, they had to find out the hard way that they were helping the real spiteful bully and end up with the Internet, their parents and society at large hating them with no potential future in sight.
Irony:
- Were led around by Sara to see Chloe as a bully. They learn too late that Sara was the true bully and Chloe was really a nice, if quiet, girl who wanted to be their friend.
- Chloe Cerise, the same girl they bullied, humiliated and caused to run away from home emerges to save their lives from Ms. Turner even though they felt like they didn't deserve it and no one, except their families, would've mourned them if someone died. Moreover, she wouldn't have arrived were it not for her little brother messaging her — the same little brother whom they gloated about their bullying to.
- All of them want to get lives with Pokémon. Well, they get their wish just after they lost practically everything else.
- They all wanted to be Pokémon Trainers...and so they decide to bully Chloe, whose father is connected to their goals.
It Amused Me: Why pressure Chloe to get into a Pokémon battle with Ash? Because they all knew that she would never win against him and wanted to gloat and jeer at it to her face. It ends up ruining their lives in the process when they expose how much they loved bullying her; hope it was worth it.
Jerkass Realization: Between the Engineered Public Confession, their parents telling them that they ruined their academic futures, and Sara revealing why she was such a bitch, it sinks in that they have screwed up their academic and social lives for a few moments of pettiness, embarrassed their parents, and have scarred Chloe's family for life if Chloe never decides to come home or if she was found dead. And after the scare of Ms. Turner nearly killing them with the idea that no one would really mourn their deaths and being saved by the same girl who they mocked, it seems like they learned their lesson, especially since Chloe saved them from the madman with a gun.
Karma Houdini: Kinda; even after losing everything, they get what they want in becoming Pokémon trainers.
Kids Are Cruel: Just as cruel as the Apex, if not even more so, for mocking Chloe for being different, laughed at her face when red paint was thrown at her, constantly pressure her to "get into Pokémon", and sneering at how Parker is too weak to stop them. They later start regretting their actions when they see that they ruined their lives, the lives of her family and culminating in events that turns their hometown into a ghost town for some kicks and because they foolishly believed Sara's words instead of thinking for themselves.
Laser-Guided Karma:
- Belittled Chloe and laughed when Sara knocked Parker down with a paint can along with making her life a living hell. Now Chloe is seen as a celebrity for how she was treated by them, and their lives are ruined and their futures are effectively over when they gloated about all that they did to her. But that's not enough for Parker...
- They laughed at how Parker was weak to do anything about them. Then he gets his hands on the Unown...
- And last, they were all saved from a gun by the same girl who could've let them rot for all they did to her who was messaged by the same boy whom they loved attacking also.
Loving Bully: Gard had a crush on Chloe and wanted to get her attention, but his actions all but ensured Chloe would never reciprocate. He eventually decides to move on from this crush since Chloe deserved someone better.
My God, What Have I Done?:
- They finally get an epiphany throughout the Cyan Desert Car that they bullied Chloe just to fuel Sara's ego and now their reputations are ruined, their parents ashamed at raising such monsters, Chloe is presumably gone for good or dead because of them and Chloe's family must live with these consequences for the rest of their lives. And after Arc 3's hostage situation dies down, with Chloe saving them from being shot, they realized how close they were to dying.
- In Voyage of Wisteria, Julie also acts this way when she sees how Goh worked himself to death to search for Chloe, reminding her how she and the others mocked Chloe about how Goh never cared for her. She and Gard are horrified upon learing how one stupid dare to fight Ash nearly ended with Chloe dead for real.
Named by the Adaptation: Many of the students have names compared to only Yeardley in the anime.
Pink Is Feminine: Patricia is usually described wearing pink Hopip hair clips.
Pyrrhic Victory: They bullied Chloe until she ultimately ran away from home, which leads to them losing their chances of education, lost the trust of their parents and family, their friends, and who knows what else. Even getting to be Pokémon Trainers (their ultimate goal) feels like salt in the wound considering how much damage that was left in their wake.
Reformed Bully: Most of them have decided to turn over a new leaf in Wisteria, upon reflection of their actions.
Rejected Apology: No matter how much they apologize, no one accepts them so easily because of how they should've thought about the consequences of their actions and how much they ruined their futures. After all, they're only sorry when they got caught, not when it got too dangerous and mean. By the time Chloe returns, they are able to make peace with one another.
Tempting Fate: Patricia once mocked what Parker could do to them to ruin their fun. Oh did she and everyone else heavily regret those words...
Throw the Dog a Bone:
- Ash decides to help them find suitable Pokémon partners and they do not mess up in the slightest, giving them some a future as trainers. Chloe also gives them a fair shot during the camping trip.
- When Chloe sees Gard and Julie in Galar, she lets them have box office seats to see Ash fight Raihan.
Too Dumb to Live: After Chloe warned them to not bully her again, and the incident was on the news, they continued to bully her alongside Sara. This leads them to gloat about their bullying to Parker in public where students are filming this, and they end up ruining their entire lives in Vermillion.
Unwitting Pawn: Nearly all of them were this to Sara: She lied to them about Chloe and manipulated them into bullying her just because she was jealous of her. Her Engineered Public Confession shows just how little she really thought of them, and that she never saw them as friends, just pawns.
What Were You Thinking?: After the ugly truths about their bullying is shown to the entire world, their parents berate them and ask what gave them the right to bully and harass someone to the point of them running away and not realize that they shouldn't have done that in the first place, especially after the paint can incident when Chloe had threatened to murder them if they did something so stupid once again and this was on the news.
- In Voyage of Wisteria, Patricia asks this upon themselves on why they decided to harass Chloe for nothing after seeing how Carl Foster planned to start a forest fire that could've killed all of them just to spite Ash. Trip answers that all those students wanted was that their feelings of envy were validated, regardless of who was hurt in the process.
You Are Fat: Sara has no qualms about calling Julie fat behind her back.

Franklin Borage

A classmate of Chloe's and the sole exception to the bullying. Is quite different from the other students.

And I Must Scream: His punishment is to have him switch places with his shadow. At least compared to everyone else, his punishment was painless since he did neither good nor bad to Chloe.
Big "SHUT UP!": Shouts this at UnChloe when she brings up how his little brother died as a miscarriage.
Bystander Syndrome: Discussed and played with; he didn't do anything to stop the bullying at all, but more so because his brain couldn't register it.
Deconstructed Character Archetype: Cross mentioned the idea of the character was to explore a few of the tropes frequently used in the story with a different lens.
- Double Standard: Like Yeardley, he was allowed to get away with things Chloe wasn't by her classmates and society at large but less so because of his gender and more so of his autism. Beyond some comments about being allowed to be different, he also is not being as punished as the others as it is implied he won't have as much trouble, if any, getting into a different school. However, this is framed less as 'just because' and more because of a combination of both evidence of him not being involved (via taking notes with recorders) and the simple fact that being a special needs student gives him some level of slack.
- Bystander Syndrome: He is a character who is noted to have done nothing and theoretically could have done something in regards to Chloe's problems. However, it is framed with the simple fact that he is not able to perceive social interactions as well as others and avoided interactions enough that he doesn't know a lot of what is going on. He's even unaware of the talent show incident until it is brought up by UnChloe because it is so outside of his interests.
Digging Yourself Deeper: Franklin, whose mind isn't wired to emotions the same as others, unintentionally keeps doing this to himself when UnChloe brings up how he did nothing to help Chloe throughout her struggles and while his classmates are telling him to just stop talking to save face.
Disability as an Excuse for Jerkassery: Discussed In Voyage of Wisteria. It's mentioned that his mother had a serious talk with him about whether he had been using his Asperger's as an excuse to ignore Chloe's bullying.
Hollywood Autism: Averted. Franklin has Asperger's syndrome and was written by co-author Crossoverpairinglover's experience of having said syndrome. Even though he may not read people well and is more into his studies, he still is capable of feeling emotions (when he shouts at UnChloe for bringing up his stillborn little brother). Notes from said co-author discusses the situation on what it'd be like for someone like Franklin to be treated with the story's themes because he can't actually understand what was going on with Chloe (who really really needed someone at that point) and thus was unable to help her.
Lack of Empathy: Played with. Franklin has Asperger's syndrome so he's unable to read people very well. He states that students just "share the same air you do", instead of seeing them as human individuals. However, this trope is very much averted with family, clearly with his lost brother, and heavily implied with his other family members. This is also noted that he sees UnChloe as a Chloe with a neutral expression compared to how his classmates see her like some hellspawn or Miss April also like Chloe but with her mouth stitched shut.
Locked Out of the Loop: Had no idea of the bullying Chloe went through or the paint-can incident because it didn't align with any of his interests.
Meaningful Name: His name means "free landowner" to relate to how he has a few more privileges due to his Asperger's syndrome and to contrast Yeardley (whose name translates to "fenced meadow").
Mundane Solution: Attempts this trope to avoid UnChloe by trying to 'x out' of the communication channels and then unplug his computer. This doesn't work.
Never My Fault: Franklin believes he's absolved of punishment and blame because he didn't actively join in on the torture or bullying.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: In-universe; his classmates are shocked when he starts shouting at UnChoe and bringing up his deceased little brother.
The Stoic: Never ever raises his voice even with the chaos going down unless the subject is about his little brother in which he flips out.
Token Good Teammate: Or rather Token Neutral. He was never involved in the bullying since his Asperger's syndrome made him unable to recognize the emotions and situation going on. That said, UnChloe does not see it as an excuse and still punishes him for his inaction (although his was the most painless of them all).
Took a Level in Cynic: It's said that he got a lot less social and more withdrawn after his little brother's stillbirth.
What Happened to the Mouse?: Disappears after Blossoming Trail, Act 2. But considering how he's got a good future ahead, he's probably getting ready to be transferred to another school that doesn't have idiot bullies in it. He's referenced in Voyage of Wisteria by his mother when she converses with Kurune.

Mr. Richard Bradbury

Chloe's English teacher and one of the few competent adults in the story.

Ambiguous Situation: He tells Professor Cerise that he never got to "be a parent". But whether that means he was married but they decided not to have kids, he was divorced, his wife died in childbirth, she had a child who died a stillborn, etc. is never brought up.
Apathetic Teacher: Zig-Zagged. While he's very active and empathetic about the situation in Vermillion City when Chloe's concerned, the rest of the time he's either folding his arms and staying in the background or saying how he warned everybody and not doing much else beyond that. He was particularly hands off in regards to the bullies, whom he warned would get in trouble for their actions and nothing more after that.
Character Shilling: Definitely benefits a lot from this in the first two parts of Blossoming Trail. Throughout the entirety of Chloe’s backstory, and the rapidly spiraling situation back in Vermillion City, the story likes to bring attention to the many things he had done for his star student. Much is made of the fact that he was one of the few bright spots in Chloe’s life back home, and that he was, bar none, the only adult who did anything to help her at the time. Both Chloe and Professor Cerise acknowledge that Mr. Bradbury was a better father figure to her than the Professor ever was, the latter even admitting it to his face. However, all of this seems to somewhat gloss over the fact that that really wasn’t Mr. Bradbury’s job. By taking it upon himself to do things like submit Chloe’s writing to a contest or invite her to a horror convention without going through her parents first, Mr. Bradbury merely proved that he bought into Chloe’s belief that she couldn’t trust her parents to care about her, and reinforced that she was right not to confide in them. Not only that, but while no one can deny that Mr. Bradbury did a lot to stick his neck out for Chloe, his treatment of the rest of his class left something to be desired. Goh never really seemed to register on the teacher’s radar, which is understandable, considering how he did most of his schoolwork at home. But as for the students who bullied Chloe- well, he did more to curb their bullying than any other teacher at the school… but that simply took the form of making them write reflections on their behavior and warning them that actions have consequences. He never took steps to approach the students as individuals and try to reform them… the bullies’ parents only learned what their children had been doing when they were exposed for the world to see, and there was really nothing they could do to help. The impression the reader gets is that Mr. Bradbury simply didn’t see the bullies as worth the effort of instructing them... not the best attitude for a teacher to have. For all Mr. Bradbury talked about how everyone neglected Chloe and failed to see her true talents, he seemed to get so caught up in Chloe’s talents that he neglected the rest of the children under his care. It takes the narrative until the end of Blossoming Trail and the start of Voyage of Wisteria to acknowledge that while Mr. Bradbury had good intentions, he may have made mistakes in his execution - much like every other character in the story.
Cool Teacher:
- Praised Chloe's book report and was the one who punished Chloe's classmates who bullied her by making them stay behind and write a reflection. Unfortunately, he's not able to do anything outside of class, but considering he makes an honest effort even before Chloe ran for the Train, it makes him miles better than everyone else. He even helped Chloe suggest submitting one of her stories into a horror writing contest and smiles when he learns she got 3rd place.
- When Professor Cerise chews Miss April out for not helping Chloe, he immediately consoles the younger teacher while telling Professor Cerise to calm down. Not only that, he visits her out of concern and saves her from her suicide attempt.
- Of course, he loses some cool points when he proves himself just as petty as everybody in Vermillion City, pointing out the Professor's mistakes over and over again until Cerise calls him out on it.
Double Standard: As he points out after the Ms. Turner debacle is over, when Miss April's class is revealed to have been bullies to Chloe and she did nothing about it, even though the other teachers did no better, she lost a job. When Mr. Bradbury got fooled by a sociopath who held that same class hostage, he gets a disciplinary citation.
- He gives Chloe not only plenty of support, but even writes a letter to send her to a school in Galar where she can have her artistic qualities bloom, and even tried to get the Professor to get her counseling. However, not only does he not show the same support for other students, but he didn't even lift a finger to get Goh out of his hermit lifestyle, or convince his parents to get him to socialize.
Hidden Depths: When Professor Cerise claims that the English teacher was "A better parent than he was", Mr. Bradbury just chuckles sadly before stating that he never got to be a parent.
Hypocrite: He's one of many people who call out the professor for not being there for Chloe, but Bradbury's just as guilty of the same crime: while he had some words with the bullies, he never verified if they actually stopped bothering Chloe, and instead of verifying if the professor got the counseling for Chloe, or prodding him into giving it to her, he simply gave the number to the professor and buggered off.
Intergenerational Friendship: Is in his fifties and is close friends with the younger Miss April. He's also rather close with the ten year old Chloe, though this friendship is more played for drama.
I Warned You:
- He once told Chloe's classmates about how their actions and words can't be undone. After the Engineered Public Confession, he hopes that they finally understand what he meant.
- He tells Ash that he told Professor Cerise to get a counselor for Chloe's problems, but did the dear old Professor listen or take his advice? Nope...Professor Cerise even imagines the teacher smiling to himself and drinking tea with an "I told you so" look on his face. To rub it home, he even texts the counselor's phone number for Parker's future therapy sessions.
- Eventually, this gets Deconstructed: Just because he warned everybody that things would go wrong doesn't make him any less guilty of what happened with Chloe, and when he gets the brilliant idea to keep bringing this up, he proves himself a Smug Snake that compromises his own points just for the sake of feeling better about himself.
Like a Daughter to Me: Implied and Deconstructed. It's insinuated, but not outright stated, that the reason Mr. Bradbury is so close to Chloe is because he sees as similar to the daughter/child he never got, as he never got to become a parent. However, this gets deconstructed when, in seeing Chloe as a Replacement Goldfish for his hypothetical child, he not only neglects his other students to focus on Chloe, but gets on petty conflict with Chloe's father over his supposed failure at being father, even up to his son's trial.
The Medic: His Clefable know Heal Pulse.
Mind over Matter: His strongest Pokémon is an Elgyem.
Our Fairies Are Different: Has a Clefable, a Fairy-type.
The Only One I Trust: Has the dubious honor of being one of the only adults that Chloe legitimately liked and felt secure with, which did not help his favoritism towards her in the slightest, nor his belief that he knew better than anybody else about the situation.
Parental Substitute: The closest adult who actually was like a parent to Chloe at school. He was also the one who convinced her to send her story into a horror writing contest and saw so much potential in her. Chloe muses that she's sad that she won't be able to go to the convention and even calls him the best father figure she ever had. However, this trope, alongside the fact he never got to be a parent himself, causes him to get into petty conflict with Chloe's actual father, not to mention put a lot of attention on Chloe while neglecting everybody else.
Psychologist Teacher: Subverted. He's first painted as one of the only people, if not the only person in the school who knew about Chloe's problems and did his absolute best to try and help her, unlike everybody else. However, it's later made clear that he was all but showing favoritism towards Chloe, proving himself an Apathetic Teacher when it came to dealing with his other students.
A Rare Sentence: Him admitting that what Parker did to all of Class 5-E is actually worse than what they did to Chloe.
Real Men Wear Pink: His Pokémon partner was a Cleffa, which is an adorable pink fairy in the shape of a star. He uses this to relate to Parker being a fan of Kirby (an adorable pink alien). In the Intermission, his Clefable serves him green tea.
Reasonable Authority Figure:
- Is the only real adult Chloe trusts in school and, asides from her mother, in life in general. And it's really understandable why she would feel like that: He was the only one who saw what Chloe was truly capable of (even encouraging her to enter her story into the writing contest.) and he was the only teacher to actively deal with her bullies, even warning them that they would eventually face the consequences of their actions...which eventually comes to pass thanks to Trip's Engineered Public Confession.
- He also notes how unfair it is that Miss April got fired yet Coach Zee gets away with letting Yeardley physically attack Chloe all the time.
- Throughout the drama going on with the Unown, he was writing a recommendation letter to have Chloe transfer to an art academy in the Galar region to hone her talents and get her far away from the drama in Vermillion City.
- He was the one who advised Professor Cerise to get Chloe into therapy after the paint can incident. If only the Professor listened and not went with his plan to cage his daughter in the Cerise Institute and left her alone...
- Of course, being reasonable doesn't mean he's perfect: he never bothered to verify if the professor had given Chloe the therapy she needed, he barely lifted a finger to deal with the bullying, and instead of seeing the professor's pain and exhaustion and trying to provide a shoulder for comfort, he smugly revels in telling him how he was wrong. Thankfully, Cerise shuts him up before it goes too far.
Retired Badass: He's a former Pokémon Trainer turned teacher according to the author notes.
Shout-Out: Named after the famous sci-fi author Ray Bradbury. The fact that he has an Elgyem is mostly related to Ray Bradbury's science fiction works being placed on Mars (particularly The Martian Chronicles).
Skewed Priorities: Thinking it's a good idea to repeatedly bring up the fact Professor Cerise wasn't as good a father as he thought he was is already pretty bad. But when he decides to do this right after the professor has fought tooth and nail to give Parker a chance at not ending in jail during his trial, that proves to be The Last Straw for the good old professor, who promptly calls him out on his bs.
Smug Snake: After Professor Cerise starts getting more annoyed than guilty at the frequent callouts, he singles out Bradbury as being particularly insufferable in his smugness. Yes, he was right, but does he have to keep saying it? He finally agrees to stop after Cerise spells it out that he's heard the same things no less than 30 times and it isn't making him any more guilty or reflective anymore. He also apologizes on the night the Cerise family leaves Vermillion for good.
Spanner in the Works: UnChloe's reign of terror starts unraveling because of how he went to check on Miss April and saves her from her suicide attempt. He texts Professor Cerise just as Parker is talking to his sister which has Chloe tell Parker what Miss April was going through and have him realize just how big of a monster he was becoming.

Miss Jenny April

Chloe's Homeroom Teacher who, try as she might, is unable to prevent the bullying from happening in her own classroom.

Adults Are Useless: Zigzagged; she did ask many of Chloe's teachers to make tabs on all of the bullying that was going on and even asked said classmates if they wanted to have the life of the girl they relentlessly bullied, but she also let the classmates get away with constantly asking Chloe about getting into a job with Pokémon.
- Then there's the fact then other writing down what the students do to Chloe in the other classes, she does nothing to stop it. UnChloe herself mocks how Miss April had all the chances to nip the bullying in the bud if she just did something.
Apathetic Teacher: Played With. She's initially painted as someone who didn't care about Chloe's situation. However, further inspection reveals that she simply had such a bad way to determine when a problem was fixed or not that she was honestly unable to help.
Ascended Extra: Only has a few seconds of screen time in the anime by the time the story was written yet she plays a significant role as to why Chloe didn't trust adults.
The Atoner: She's going back to college to get a degree in Child Psychology as a way to fix her mistakes with Chloe.
Cruel Mercy: She's picked last out of the torture UnChloe unleashes upon Class 5-E, having no choice but to watch this all go down while being unable to stop it to symbolically represent how she never helped Chloe when she needed it the most.
Dark and Troubled Past: It's revealed that she was trying to get out of a horrible relationship with a bastard boyfriend which probably impaired her judgment skills.
Double Standard: She lost her job because of how she had all the clues and hints to alert the bullying yet all the other teaches involved keep their jobs. Mr. Bradbury himself got a disciplinary citation over the Miss Turner case, but it won't matter much since it's assumed that every other teacher just lost their jobs and will have to live with their mistakes for a while whereas she is heading off to college to get into Child Psychology.
Driven to Suicide: After UnChloe makes her watch her class get tortured, she takes a shard of glass to her wrists in the bathroom and admits that she's a foolish woman who doesn't deserve any kindness. Thankfully, Mr. Bradbury gets to her in time.
Females Are More Innocent: subverted; she get the entire brunt of the blame but that's more because she's Chloe's homeroom teacher and it's her class that got exposed. Then again, her fellow teachers (one also being a woman) also could've stepped in and stopped the bullying. By Voyage of Wisteria, she's moved on to change careers while everyone else is too ashamed to admit their mistakes.
Fired Teacher: The Mrs. Turnet incident ends up being so damaging to her class that she winds up being fired for it. She doesn't mind that much, however, and just focuses on getting a new job.
Horrible Judge of Character:
Humiliation Conga: Is put through a massive one due to her status as Chloe's homeroom teacher. First, one of her students runs away from home. Then she has to realize that the comments that she thought were signs of an improvement from the student's bullies were in fact meant to bully the student, and it was a big reason why the student left in the first place. And when that assumption and knowledge that she had known about the other students' behavior in other classes gets out to the bullied student's parents, she is called out massively by the father for not trying to stop it. And finally, her students are then filmed gleefully and shamelessly bragging about all the bullying that they did, and it's posted on the web, very quickly becoming viral. At the end of it all, Miss April is left being viewed as an irresponsible teacher by a lot of people, having been fired and blacklisted from said school, while her class is now being severely punished by being expelled and their futures and social lives in ruins, and are hated by the rest of the school. And any attempt to give them lessons is ruined by UnChloe and she decides to end it all to ease her suffering had Mr. Bradbury not come in to check on her.
Irony: She did nothing to help out Chloe yet it's her suicide attempt that actually gets Chloe to help reach out to Parker before he did something he'd regret.
It's All My Fault: She never vocalizes this, but you can tell that she really hates not helping out Chloe sooner. After her suicide attempt, her therapist has to assure her that she can stop punishing herself.
My Greatest Failure: Not helping Chloe when she was bullied was this and she nearly killed herself for it.
Named by the Adaptation: She doesn't have a name in the anime — even after being revealed in Episode 49 — so she's given the Miss April.
Once Done, Never Forgotten: She thought her students learned their lesson and them asking about Chloe getting into Pokémon were social interactions. She learns the hard way that innocent thinking was wrong and now her reputation as a teacher is in ruins.
One-Steve Limit: Averted as she shares her first name with Officer Jenny, hence she goes by her last name.
Put on a Bus: She may never return to teaching, so she's going back to college for a degree in Child Psychology in an attempt to redeem herself for not helping Chloe out when she needed it.
Rage Against the Reflection: Screams and starts bashing her bathroom mirror after seeing UnChloe torture her students and dragged them to the newly warped Cerise Lab, as she did nothing to save Chloe, the true victim.
Reasonable Authority Figure: Started off like this, punishing her students for their bullying of Chloe and trying to prevent more of it from happening. When the students started to pressure Chloe to get into Pokémon because it was the norm and because of her father, however, she saw it as an improvement because she had assumed that they were trying to include Chloe. This is implied because of her trying to leave her abusive boyfriend behind.
The Scapegoat: Believes she's going to become this since she did nothing to stop the bullying in her own class. And she's right; a lot of people online were wondering where she was when this was happening and why she didn't stop this sooner. The school has since fired her, though Mr. Bradbury and Mr. Pepper protest this decision. Parker even questions if the other teachers would also get punishments or if it was just Miss April getting everything.
Shower of Angst: Does this after UnChloe takes her students, screaming into the filled bathtub as she lays out her frustration and self-loathing on herself.
Trauma Conga Line: After the public confession goes viral, she is fired from the school and even blacklisted and she sees all of her former classmates tormented by UnChloe and unable to tell anyone about it to reflect how she never helped Chloe. She ends up going to her bathroom screaming in agony and pounding her fists against the mirror in rage before giving in to suicide by cutting her wrists. Thankfully Mr. Bradbury saves her just in time.
What the Hell, Hero?: Professor Cerise is not happy to learn just how hands-off she was in regards to his daughter. Neither is the online world.

Mr. Pepper

Chloe's Home Ec Teacher who is disappointed with how by-the-book she is.

Adults Are Useless: The most incompetent (male) teacher in Chloe's school, as he had no idea about the bullying that was going on, and he never bothered trying to communicate with Chloe on what he wanted, instead giving her a bad grade without any real explanation.
Everyone Has Standards: Is annoyed that the school didn't approach him in the aftermath of Chloe and instead used Miss April as the scapegoat. He doesn't want to lose his job, but he recognizes that blaming Miss April alone is stupid.
Innocently Insensitive: His comment about Chloe 'having plenty of time to practice after school' only serves as a reminder to her about how her dad doesn't allow her to do anything else after school ever since the Paint Can Incident, and sounded like he was making a jab at her for it.
Jerkass Realization: Upon going through previous notes on Chloe's behavior in his class, he comes to realize that he hasn't been helping her in the slightest and kept putting her down all the time.
Karma Houdini: Zigzagged; he wasn't attacked for how he directly picked on Chloe. But considering how the school was shut down, he lost his job. In Voyage of Wisteria, he tells Kurune that he's been harassed by three online forums on being the worst Home Ec teacher ever.
Parental Favoritism: More like ‘Teacher Favoritism’, but it’s hinted at by Parker, as he mentions he always puts Chloe’s cooking down, while he praises Sara’s
Pet the Dog: He disliked the decision of Miss April getting fired when other teachers did far worse than her and feels sorry for her. A later chapter revealed he cooked a meal for her.
Sadist Teacher: What he comes off as, as he didn't try to explain to Chloe what he is really looking for and why he had failed her, making it look like he was just giving her a bad grade for no good reason at all. He even told Chloe that she 'would have plenty of time to practice', since she just goes to the lab after school, which serves as a real Kick the Dog moment for her because of what led to that rule being put into place.
- Talia ends up seeing him as this after she heard about what happened, even asking him if he was just signaling Chloe out just because he didn't like her.
Stealth Mentor: Deconstructed. He tries to encourage Chloe to be more creative by failing her curry because she had made it exactly how he did (he wanted her to differentiate from his recipe and make her own curry). However, this backfires horribly, for multiple reasons:
- He tells Chloe that she would 'have plenty of time to practice' since she doesn't have any clubs after school and just goes to the lab...which is because of her father's insistence that she go there after school, thus denying her the chance to join a club.
- Chloe had been horribly bullied for being different and had suppressed her true self because of it and everyone else's expectations of her: She only does things by-the-book because that's what everyone else wants her to do and if she tries to be different, she gets lashed out at. ^note
- He never actually tried to explain to Chloe what he really wanted, so the whole thing ended up coming off as him giving her a bad grade for petty reasons to her.
Stern Teacher: He tried to be this, as he genuinely wants Chloe to be more creative. However, his giving Chloe a bad grade, not explaining why and only made him look like a Sadist Teacher to her.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Passing off Chloe's curry as a failure (since he wanted her to be creative and not follow his recipe), was one of the catalysts of making Chloe snap and run onto the train.
What Happened to the Mouse?: Disappears halfway into Blossoming Trail Arc 2. But considering the shit that happens in Arc 3, the most that can be said is that he's out of a job. He appears in Voyage of Wisteria, having a talk with Kurune in Celadon City, planning to move somewhere quiet.
What the Hell, Hero?: Taila gives him this for failing Chloe, explaining that Chloe only does things by-the-book because of how others treated her, that he should have done more to encourage her instead of just sitting on his chair, taking one spoonful of curry, and then marking down as a pass or a fail', and asks him if he did the same for the rest of the students or if was just Chloe.

Chloe’s Other Teachers

The rest of the teachers in Vermillion International School, such as Coach Zee, Mr.Milton and Miss Maddox. All of them also did nothing to help Chloe, allowing her bullies to get away with everything.

Adults Are Useless: All of them are this; Coach Zee even let Yeardley get away with all the psychical abuse he did to Chloe, even when he once broke her arm.
Karma Houdini Warranty: Sure, they weren’t fired from their jobs, like Miss April was, but their reputations have been completely tarnished after the truth of their negligence comes out at Parker’s trial. And then they all lost their jobs when their school shut down from the shooting hostage, not to mention having blocked their Facedex accounts to deal with the harassment of the Internet. By Voyage of Wisteria, they're all blacklisted and are in shame of their actions.
Parental Favoritism: More like ‘Teacher Favoritism’, but it’s still clear that Chloe’s teachers vastly preferred the other students over her, with Coach Zee letting Yeardley get away with breaking Chloe’s arm on a flimsy excuse.
Sucky School: Any single one of them could have stopped the bullying on Chloe. They didn't.

Ms. Turner (Unmarked Spoilers)

Miss April's replacement...who is also Goh's online stalker and desires his Mew Tracker.

Ambition Is Evil: She wants to catch a Shiny Mew, which she believes is possible with the Mew Tracker.
Ax-Crazy: She aims a gun at Goh's head when he pisses her off, and makes it clear if she doesn't get what she wants, he's as good as dead. And when things go wrong, she's more than ready to start shooting.
Bad People Abuse Animals: Downplayed. While she wasn't the one who hurt the Mew she has, she hasn't even tried to tend to its injuries, instead using it as a bargaining chip for Goh.
Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: A mundane villain to UnChloe's supernatural threat. Furthermore, while UnChloe was able to get under everyone's skin by getting into their heads, Turner is almost comically disconnected from everyone's situation.
Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Cannot comprehend that Ash has no need or interest in "playing the hero" to get what she assumes he wants.
Hannibal Lecture: Attempts to do this on Ash of all people, but due her not knowing the kid's adventures well nor not knowing the kid personally, he tells her to shove it.
Knight of Cerebus: Let's just say things get dark fast when her true colors are revealed.
Lack of Empathy: She doesn't care that Goh's over Mew and the one she got is badly injured, she just wants the Mew Tracker right here, right now.
Laser-Guided Karma: After Chloe arrives, she is pinned down by the students she tried to keep hostage and knocked over the head by Goh's childhood friend.
Meaningful Name: Turner and Roycewood (her fake name) are the names of murderous female stalkers in Criminal Minds.
Mundanger: She's just a normal woman with a gun, in a world with superpowered beasts and magic trains. Fortunately for her, this is all she needs to keep Goh in his place and terrify everyone else.
Only One Name: Only mentioned in the narrative as Ms. Turner, not by her full name. In fact, neither Turner nor Roycewood might not even be her real name.
Shadow Archetype:
- She's pretty much what would happen if Goh kept obsessing over Mew after his mind was badly damaged by Zeno. Interestingly, part of what convinces Goh that she's for real is that she's not a perfect comparison to him - she can feign social skills better than he can, has no relationship dramas as Goh would, and her priority is money and fame which Goh doesn't care about.
- She essentially shows what happens if someone becomes so obsessed with Pokémon, a dark mirror to how Class 5-E pushed Chloe to do what they couldn't.
The Sociopath
Stalker without a Crush: Mentioned above, she stalks Goh for his Mew tracker, and definitely NOT his heart.
Walking Spoiler: Let's just say it's best you don't know a lot about her.
Who Will Bell the Cat?: How she manages to stay in control with one handgun. But once Chloe arrives to knock it out of her hands and Kurune kicks it away, she's powerless.
Would Hurt a Child: She not only slaps Goh around but makes it rather clear she won't hesitate to kill him if she doesn't get the tracker. She then threatens to start killing Class 5-E, knocks Yeardley over the head with said gun and even shot Chloe in the shoulder.

Other

Chryssa Verbena and Renji Tagetes

Professor Cerise's lab assistants.

Bystander Syndrome: Both of them are accused of this in Blossoming Trail since they see Chloe every day and had as many opportunities to tell her father what was wrong with her: Renji for not telling Professor Cerise about Chloe's problems sooner under his lame excuse of being "afraid" of Chloe's macabre hobbies and Chryssa for not defending Renji when the Professor chewed him out.
Character Development: In Voyage of Wisteria both of them start to understand Chloe in their own ways: Chryssa states that Chloe's journal about the train shouldn't be packed away even though there is plenty of horror in it because it also showcased her growth. Meanwhile, Renji is taking baby steps to try to get into horror.
Crazy-Prepared: Chryssa apparently Christmas shops early when she reveals that she has gift-cards for everyone in the Institute.
Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Both against Unown-powered Parker but Renji really takes the cake. For all his mistakes, it really does take some balls to tell someone that terrifying that their sister was the one at fault in a relationship failure, that they're being a hypocrite over mocking his dislike of horror, and that said sister was a horrible influence on them.
Dub Name Change: Chryssa keeps her dub name, Renji does not.
Females Are More Innocent: Subverted; while Renji was the one who got a verbal lashing by Professor Cerise, Chryssa herself was also a bystander for procrastinating. Renji even points this out to her chapters later.
Flower Motifs: Verbena flowers are based off romance, healing and happiness. Tagetes is the scientific name for marigolds, associated with passion and creativity. Moreover, Verbenas can usually come in shades of purple and Marigolds are yellow-orange, coinciding with the colors of Chryss and Renji's hair.
Grew a Spine: Both of them when they chew Parker out for lashing out at others and being more of a monster than the bullies who hurt his sister.
Heroic BSoD: Played for Laughs with Renji who is shocked to learn that Delia is actually married and how Chryssa apparently knows about relaxing in a nudist beach.
Hidden Depths:
- Chryssa is a bit of a gadfly as she suggests to Delia that the two can get away from lawyers chasing them by relaxing at a beach...that is neither a bathing suit nor a bikini place.
- Renji is a fan of Ace Attorney as he figures out the fake Chloe is actually Dahlia Hawthorne.
Ironic Name: Tagetes is the scientific name for the marigold. Why is this ironic? Because the flower is usually associated with the Mexican underworld and Renji hates horror.
The Mole: Played With; Chloe assumed that the two of them were assigned to keep an eye on her and report back anything they observed to her father so she could be punished accordingly. In reality, no such assignment existed, and while they did notice things about her, they didn't inform the professor, meaning that they also played a big part of her increasing self-loathing problems.
Rage Breaking Point: Renji, like a lot of people in Vermillion City, put up with a lot in the aftermath of Chloe running away. His workplace was all but shut down while the search was on, he was called out by Professor Cerise for not sharing his concerns over Chloe’s feelings, and he and Chryssa began arguing over her not supporting him in the earlier confrontation. When Parker gets ahold of the Unown, takes over Cerise Laboratory, mind-controls Ash, Trip, and Serena into being "perfect friends for Chloe," and tries to claim it’s justified because they care more about Pokemon than his sister, Renji snaps. He outright tells Parker that Chloe was a hypocrite; for all the flack Ash got for failing to help Chloe, he never had a bad word to say about her, while Chloe despised Ash from the day she met him.
The Scapegoat: Renji finds himself in this position after admitting too late that he had some idea about what Chloe was going through and never telling this to his boss (aka her father). He weaponizes this to draw Parker's wrath towards him in an effort to protect Chryssa.
Shock and Awe: Renji's Magnemite, Francois, is part Electric-type.
Those Two Guys: Commonly appear together, being coworkers and all. In Voyage of Wisteria, they start gaining more character.
Undying Loyalty:
- Even when one of them screws up they are, in the end, loyal to each other and to the Professor and his family. The Unown situation does show them being completely done with Parker like everyone else, however.
- When Cerise offers to serve as a reference for them, the two vow to stay with the Professor even after moving to Pallet Town despite the lower salary.
What the Hell, Hero?:
- Professor Cerise is not happy with Renji never saying anything about Chloe's problems.
- Renji calmly tells Chryssa that she didn't defend him from the chewing out he got from the Professor.
Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Renji hates horror. Played for Drama as he knew what Chloe was into, yet his fear kept him from telling this to anyone, thus no one could reach out to her before she blew up and left for the Train. He finds it very hypocritical when Parker tells him off for not liking horror and compares it to people mistreating Chloe over not liking Pokémon. Voyage of Wisteria reveals that he can't take the Goosebumps cover art or the illustrations (both the original and newer versions) of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. He's learning to get over it with baby steps.

Judge Powell

Judith Powell, the judge presiding over the lawsuits happening in Vermillion. Has had quite a few run-ins with Ash Ketchum in the past, so she's good to cover the rather...unique situations Vermillion finds itself in.

Continuity Nod: It's noted that she was in charge of Grings Kodai's trial. Among others in the 'Ash Ketchum Files'.
I Need a Freaking Drink: After Parker's massively emotional trial, she could really use one.
Reasonable Authority Figure: Doesn't question Ash's convenient absence from Parker's trial, and gives a fair ruling for her defendants.
Seen It All: Between supervillains in her hometown and time-traveling onion fairies in her court documents, she's quite well-versed in the weirdness of the Pokémon world. It's also suggested that she frequently covers the fallout from Ash's more...explosive adventures.
Shout-Out: Somewhat unique in that she's from a different game, namely Criminal Case, but isn't on the Train.
Side Bet: Has quite a few going with her coworkers regarding 'The Ash Ketchum Files'.

Rhett Myrtus

The new mayor of Vermillion City, wishing the citizens to be brave to speak the truth and reach out to others so another incident with Sara, Chloe and Parker never happens again.

Flower Motif: Myrtus is the scientific name for "Myrtle" which represents hope. Rhett sends a message of hope for a sorely needed Vermillion City.
Meaningful Name: Rhett means "advice" and he advises everyone to be more compassionate and forward.
Rousing Speech: Gives one of these out to the city to help them move on from the dark times.
Shout-Out: Taking the first initials gives you "RM", like RM of BTS. Author notes reveal that she was inspired by his speech at the UNICEF council in 2018, as the last lines of the speech end with "Love yourself. Speak yourself".

Characters / Infinity Train: Blossoming Trail: Vermillion City

The Cerise Family

The Fujihachi family

Chloe's School and Classmates

Other

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Characters / Infinity Train: Blossoming Trail: Vermillion City

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The Cerise Family

The Fujihachi family

Chloe's School and Classmates

Other

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