Player and Rivals | Reborn League | Team Meteor | Others | Postgame Characters
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In General
The main antagonistic force/evil team of the game, who have initially unclear goals, but who appear to be determined to keep anyone else from coming to the Reborn Region, and driving anyone who already lives there out.
- Church Militant: Team Meteor was founded by Solaris to drive people out of the Reborn Region, so the shrine containing Arceus's Meteor under Reborn City could be left without fear of anyone disturbing it.
- Common Military Ranks: In keeping with the "military" part of their Church Militant theme, they're organized by rank. An approximate list is below.
- Grunt: The lowest-ranking agents of Team Meteor.
- Private: The next-highest rank.
- Knight/Dame: A slightly-specialized group, who are separated into male and female exclusive ranks (that nevertheless seem to be equal).
- Ace: The highest-level non-"boss" members of Team Meteor.
- Agent: The spies used by Team Meteor, who are not publicly associated with the team.
- Admin/Manager: The highest-ranking agents of Team Meteor besides Solaris.
- Commander: The position occupied by Solaris until Lin usurps him, and the overall leader of Team Meteor.
- Dishing Out Dirt: While they don't have any true specialty, and the Grunts and Aces are known to use all sorts of Pokemon, Rock and Ground are common types for them to use (and Solaris, the team's leader, uses a Sandstorm team).
- Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: They were initially only trying to get people to leave Reborn when Solaris was in charge, even if the methods were still horrific — after Lin took over, they escalated to more direct actions, including full-blown terrorism.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: They typically only address each other by their codenames, at least when you're talking to them. There are exceptions like Elias and Lin, who have codenames but don't use them.
- Resignations Not Accepted: Sirius, at the very least, has... strong opinions about this. Just ask Eclipse.
- Stellar Name: They all have star themed codenames.
Team Meteor
Aster and Eclipse
Aster & Eclipse
- Alas, Poor Villain: Eclipse's last moments were spent turning off the PULSE Clawitzer bombarding Calcenon to save her father, deciding she was done with Team Meteor, and starting to tell you about Lin… up until Sirius has his Chandelure kill her.
- Dark and Troubled Past: According to Eclipse, Aster grew up on the streets and never had anybody save himself to watch for, until he was taken in by Team Meteor.
- Deader than Dead: Eclipse, whose soul is destroyed by Sirius's Chandelure. She gets better.
- Elite Mooks: Eventually promoted to the ranks of Meteor Knight and Meteor Dame, respectively.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: What causes Eclipse/Caitlin to leave. And what gets her killed.
- Sarcasm-Blind: Aster. When Eclipse sarcastically remarked that she "tell them everything", Aster immediately begins giving away some vital information. Eclipse yells at him for this.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After Team Meteor attacks her hometown, Eclipse decides to just get out.Aster: But, in the end-Eclipse: This isn't WORTH the end!
- Afterwards, Aster decides that even though he wants to change the world and make it better, Team Meteor’s way isn’t the way to do it. However, due to Resignations Not Accepted, he continues to work for them. This doesn’t stop him from helping you indirectly. Such as, for example, showing up alone to challenge you with the Waterfall HM you need and specifically saying he has it despite knowing he’s outmatched.
- Surprisingly Happy Ending: In the postgame, Eclipse is brought back using Noel's awakened Reality Warper abilities. She then happily reunites with her father and Aster.
- Tragic Keepsake: After Eclipse’s soul-death, Aster takes her Milotic and Magmortar into his own team.
- Undying Loyalty: Aster is this to Team Meteor. Up until Sirius kills Eclipse.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Eclipse barely seems to tolerate Aster, calling him stupid frequently.
Simon and Tara
Simon and Tara
A pair of Meteor Grunts.- All Love Is Unrequited: Simon turns out to have fallen in love with Tara after he met her. Her death made her returning his love impossible.
- Ascended Extra: The pair start out as simply two mooks Charlotte befriends after she's captured by Team Meteor. Eventually, Tara's death at the hands of Saphira leads to a subplot you can follow involving Simon and why he joined Team Meteor.
- The Atoner: Zig-zagged with Simon after he quits Team Meteor. He doesn't want to cause any more trouble on one hand and regrets what he did while working for them, but, out of loyalty for his friends in the organization, he won't reveal any of their secrets or help you further as of Episode 13.
- Death Seeker: Simon's dialogue in Episode 18 implies that he wants Saphira to kill him too.
- The Lost Lenore: Simon suffers this twice. First was his late wife, Lyssa; second was Tara.
- One Degree of Separation: As it turns out, they both have the same last name; Copperman. While it's possible they were family and didn't realize it... it's also unlikely that they would be able to work with each other for several months in-universe (not counting how long they were Team Meteor agents before the story began with your arrival) and not eventually recognize each other/realize they were related). Simon is still rather freaked out by this, though.
- Red Shirt: Deconstructed. They're both essentially this, but Simon's backstory and depression, and even acknowledgement that Saphira has a family that would grieve if he killed her, humanizes all of Team Meteor and its grunts by proxy beyond the standard disposable mooks.
- Walking Spoiler: They're actually not that important to the overall story, but pretty much any tropes relating to them spoils the role they serve.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Tara.
Blake Whitaker
Blake Whitaker
"Cool story, bro."
Heather's guardian, Cal's brother and a member of Team Meteor.
- Abusive Parents: After adopting Heather, he certainly acts like this to her. As it turns out, his and Cal's father apparently used to make them stay outside in the snow and wouldn’t let them in until he decided they could come in.
- Adaptational Villainy: He was apparently a lot more pleasant in the online League than he is in Reborn.
- Always Someone Better: He shamelessly rubs his superiority in his brother Cal's face.
- An Ice Person: Uses a lot of Ice-type Pokemon.
- Cain and Abel: The Cain to Cal's Abel.
- Cassandra Truth: When he tells Heather in the storyline where Corey wasn’t outed as a Team Meteor Admin that Corey was one of their agents, she doesn’t believe him. As she points out though, considering he’d lied about everything else, why should she take his word for it?
- Combat Pragmatist: What does he do when his brother Cal challenges him to a Pokemon battle? He just walks up to Cal and pushes him off a cliff.
- Even Evil Has Standards: He compliments you if you chase off a Beartic that was terrorizing a Smoochum in the cave near Shade's gym, saying it's good for you to stand up for others if you have the power to do so.
- Friend to All Children: According to
Word of God, he secretly really likes kids. In his postgame ending, it's revealed he's taken over Dr. Connal's orphanage and is giving the kids there a much better life. - Generation Xerox: Takes after his and Cal’s father, it would appear.
- Heel–Face Turn: Like the other surviving Team Meteor members, he becomes a good guy (or at least, an Aloof Ally) by postgame.
- Hidden Depths: He actually proves smart enough to go on to become a Battle CD designer in the Orre region. On a more straightforward note, he assists in helping defeat Heatran because he genuinely doesn't want to see Ametrine Mountain get destroyed.
- It Amused Me: Blake is often a jerk for the mere joy of insulting others, and not necessarily because he has anything to gain from it.
- Jerkass: Blake is an arrogant, spiteful and thoroughly dislikeable person. Even after he mellows out and becomes a force for good, he can't help himself from making nasty comments at his brother's (and pretty much everyone else's) expense.
- Not in This for Your Revolution: He states that he doesn't really care about Team Meteor's ideals and goals, and that he's just using them.
- Shut Up, Kirk!: His answer to Heather's Kirk Summation is to ask if she's done blabbering yet, and that he can't hear her over the sound of whining brat.
- Smug Snake: Blake seriously overestimates his own competence, and is reduced to a ranting, cursing wreck when Heather and Cal finally get the better of him.
- Signature Mon: Alolan Sandslash. Prior to Episode 17, it was Walrein.
Ace
Ace Featherstone
- Affably Evil: They're perfectly friendly and polite, despite being part of a terrorist organization.
- Bring It: When you challenge them to stop the third PULSE-Tangrowth."You and I can work our own magic trick, little hero. And the trick... is that I make you disappear!"
- Even Evil Has Standards: In their own words when Lin starts pummeling Amaria to get the Sapphire Bracelets:"I expect loyalty to the family, not needless cruelty. You've taken it too far already."
- This gets them fired. Or rather, demoted.
- Later on, Ace also declines to do anything to Victoria, Cain, Shelly, Charlotte, Heather, Anna, or Noel after they've been captured, both due to Pragmatic Villainy and what appears to be genuine Would Not Hurt A Child.
- Last Episode, New Character: An interesting example — they weren't added to the game until Episode 19, but due to work on the game's script, are present before the first gym.
- Long-Lost Relative: They are Ciel's cousin.
- Never Found the Body: They're 'killed' by Terra in the underground computer lab of the fake Devon Corp after you beat them in the Water Treatment Center. They are 'resurrected', or brought back from whatever digital world Terra threw them into, in the postgame.
- Playing Card Motifs: They introduce themselves as the "Ace of Clubs" in your first battle with them. Each subsequent battle has them change suit, culminating in “Ace of All Suits”.
- Stage Magician: Their motif and specialty.
- Video Game Caring Potential: The Fennekin in the Water Treatment Center is theirs. Showing them it will make them happy that it's being taken care of and in good hands.
- Wild Card: What would you expect from somebody whose name is Ace?
ZEL
ZEL
ZEL in General
- Achilles' Heel: The PULSE machine containing the Magnezone that forced them to combine. When they lose to you in episode 16 and the machine is dismantled, Zero is restored to his own self and Eve and Lumi are gone.
- Alas, Poor Villain: Eve’s last words to Lumi after your E16 fight with them is that she “Will always, always, love you.” Then, the Magnezone which allowed Lumi and Eve’s personalities to exist in Zero’s body vanishes, and so do they. Zero, the body’s original personality, descends into a Madness Mantra before he runs off to Agate City. No matter how loyal the three were to Team Meteor, it’s just sad to watch Zero break down as he realizes his companions are both gone, possibly forever.Zero: I’m alone. I’m alone. I’m alone. I’m alone. I’m alone. And I'm... empty.
- Ambiguously Brown: While Zero is clearly white-skinned, Eve and Lumi's original bodies are both almost as dark-skinned as Arclight.
- Ambiguous Gender: ZEL themselves isn't clearly a boy or a girl, but even their individual personalities don't have explicit genders (at first). This is likely because ZEL was originally 3 separate people, two of which were female and the last of which was a (male) Team Meteor agent overseeing the creation of the first PULSE.
- The Bus Came Back: Eve and Lumi's bodies were taken care of by Team Meteor, so when the PULSE Magnezone was destroyed, they wound up back in their own bodies. As of Episode 18, they're both alive, free and wholly on the player's side.
- Freudian Trio: Zero is the Id, Lumi the Superego, and Eve the Ego. Bonus points for their being three personalities in one body. Even more bonus points for originally being three people who merged into one body
- Fusion Dance: Originally three separate people who were merged when the PULSE prototype was first activated.
- Signature Mon: Their three Eeveelutions — Umbreon, Espeon, and Glaceon respectively. Also, briefly the PULSE Magnezone that led to them all sharing the same body.
- Split Personality: They have three — Zero, Eve, and Lumi. Which one is active and speaking is designated by which letter in their name is capitalized. Each of the personalities was originally a separate person.
Zero
- Casting a Shadow: Zero is the Dark-type trainer of the three.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: After they vanish in Episode 16, it's pretty clear that Zero's broken up due to Eve and Lumi, as far as he knows, dying.
- Jerkass: Zero's easily the least pleasant of the three of them.
- Sanity Slippage: After Eve and Lumi vanish in Episode 16, Zero starts losing it, to say the least. By Episode 18, he's completely lost it, and is bent on making you pay.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Becomes a lot nicer in postgame and cares about Eve and Lumi quite a bit. If Taka for whatever reason isn't available, he will also be the partner that helps you during the Tao quest.
- Villainous Breakdown: In Episode 19, after you manage to force him to fight you with the PULSE-Clawitzer, he's screaming "Go down, go down, go down, go down, go down, go down, GO DOWN!!"
Eve
Lumi's older sister, and the mind behind the PULSE machines.- Evil Genius: Eve was responsible for the creation of the PULSE machines.
- Knight Templar Big Sister: While she didn't intend for things to go the way they did, Eve originally created the PULSE systems to heal her sister from her sickness. Terra at one point refers to Eve and Lumi as "The mass murderer and her motive."
- Psychic Powers: Espeon, in reference to (and commanded by) Eve.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Eve. Her efforts to heal her sister brought the PULSE machines to life.
- Wrench Wench: Eve, or rather Evelynn, who built the first PULSE machines to try to cure Lumi's/Lumina's disease.
Lumi
Eve's younger sister who was born with a genetic illness that also killed their parents, and the catalyst for the creation of the PULSE systems.- Affably Evil: Lumi's kindhearted and sweet, despite being a part of Team Meteor.
- An Ice Person: They use a Glaceon, which represents (and is controlled by) Lumi.
- Delicate and Sickly: As part of her backstory, the reason why Eve built PULSE Magnezone in the first place was to try and cure her. Later, Eve uses Shaymin manages to finish the job.
- Nice Girl: Lumi is meek, friendly, and in general at odds with the machinations of Team Meteor.
- Why Can't I Hate You?: Try as she might, she can't bring herself to hate Zero despite knowing he's an awful person, in part because she's nice but also because she was stuck with him for so long. This is more or less what prompts Zero's own road to redemption.
Taka Alcantara
Taka Alcantara
- Big Damn Heroes: It's heavily implied he's the one who rescues you from the Nuzleaf cage. If alive, he also turns against Team Meteor during the battle for Agate City.
- The Dutiful Son: Apparently the main reason he's part of Team Meteor is because he's Solaris' son.
- Foil: To Luna. Both are very different from their parents, but whereas Taka loves his father Solaris and remains loyal to Team Meteor and his bloodline despite hating what they are doing, Luna ran away from her father Elias (also part of Team Meteor), and makes it clear that she doesn’t view him as her father and wants nothing to do with him. They also were friends as children.
- Friendly Enemy: He usually chats casually with the player before attacking them, and gladly hands out information on Meteor's current plan.
- Graceful Loser: He's always seen taking his defeats at your hands in stride.
- Let the Past Burn: He and Luna burn down the Subseven Sanctum in the postgame..
- Noble Demon: If he wasn’t Solaris’s son, it’s doubtful there would be much tying him to Team Meteor at all. He later states that the only reason he’s a part of Team Meteor is due to Resignations Not Accepted preventing him from leaving and his love for his father, and that he doesn't really agree with what they're doing.
- Noodle Incident: He and Luna were friends as children. In Episode 17, his dialogue says that he did something that made Luna as delusional as she is. In the postgame, where we're shown Taka and Luna (known as Lukah then)'s pasts, it's implied that it was Taka's order to Luna to live free, as he never could.
- Punch-Clock Villain: It's pretty clear that the only reason he's an antagonist is because he works for Team Meteor due to his father Solaris and because Resignations Not Accepted is a part of their operations. Beyond that, he's probably one of the most pleasant characters in the story.
- Rhetorical Question Blunder: When he asks Titania if she has any idea what his father Solaris would do and how he would feel if Taka left Team Meteor. Titania counters that Solaris would probably still feel better than the countless people Team Meteor has hurt.
- Sacrificial Lion: If you don't fight him in the Water Treatment Center, then he joins you for most of Episode 17 and gets plenty of Character Development... only for Lin to kidnap him and trick Titania into killing him.
- Scarf of Asskicking: He carries a scarf everywhere (It's even in his trainer and VS sprites), and is a Team Meteor Admin.
- Signature Mon: Chatot and Cradily. As of Episode 17, the latter has been replaced with Alolan Exeggutor. And as of the postgame, if he's resurrected, Crystal Aegislash.
- Single Line of Descent: He and his father are apparently the last direct descendants of the family that enshrined Arceus’s Meteor.
- Stellar Name: His full name, Mintaka.
- Time Travel Escape: It's actually unintentional, but in postgame the Dialga/Palkia quest will make you screw with the fabric of time, leading to Taka evading his death on the Reshiram route (you will need to fight his Umbral form first).
- Token Good Teammate: Gives off this impression for the Meteor admins. After being defeated, he regularly directs you to where Meteor's plot is going on.
- Took a Level in Badass: Not that he wasn't a strong trainer before, but if he's resurrected on the Reshiram path, Taka will gain the Crystal Aegislash, a very powerful alternate form. He'll even use it to directly attack and destroy Giratina's Anomaly energy.
Sirius
Sirius
- Asshole Victim: Given that his final words were gloating about how he killed Charlotte's parents, it's not really a surprise that no one cares once he's pushed into lava.
- Bad Boss: Sirius' treatment of his underlings is truly abysmal. Eclipse learned that the hard way.
- Eye Scream: Got his left eye taken out by Corey.
- For the Evulz: His motives and why he's so exceptionally worse than the other high ranking Team Meteor members aren't clear, other than his clear desire for power and subjugation of others.
- Hero Killer: He killed Elena Molinar (Heather's mother and Corey's wife), and Monty and Caroline Belrose (Laura, Charlotte, and Saphira's mother and father), by respectively poisoning the former's IV bag and burning down the original Belrose Manse when the latter two were still inside to get the Sapphire Bracelets.
- Karmic Death: Probably the most evil member of Team Meteor, and like Sigmund he suffers one of the most horrific deaths in the game.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: When Lin turns up at the Tanzan base with you still there, he decides to just let you go after she leaves.
- Killed Off for Real: By Saphira in Victory Road.
- Laser-Guided Karma: After gloating to Charlotte's face in Victory Road that he was the one who actually killed her parents via fire, it turns out that Saphira — Charlotte and Laura's Knight Templar Big Sister — overheard the entire thing and is not very happy with him.
- Mysterious Past: Alluded to over the course of the game — he knows Anna and Noel's father AKA Radomus, and has gone to great lengths to obtain the Keys.
- Pet the Dog: When Lin turns up at the Tanzan mountain base, Sirius gets the player to pretend they're a Meteor recruit so Lin won't kill all of them and you. Then, once Lin has left, Sirius tells the player this is their only chance to get out alive. Of course, he could have done that just to save his own skin. This was removed in the final version.
- Signature Mon: Chandelure and Seviper.
- Tom the Dark Lord: Or Paul the Meteor Admin, in this case. Word of God is that his name was created from the two most generic sounding names the devs could find.
- Villainous Ethics Decay: Solaris, Taka, and Ace commit evil actions but don't find pleasure in doing so and do it for what they see as a righteous cause. Sirius, on the other hand, is a power hungry monster that takes over Team Meteor with brute force and begins leading it down a much darker road. He and Lin are called the main reason for Meteor's decay into baseless and excessive villainy.
- Would Hit a Girl: To lethal extents. He killed Eclipse, was directly responsible for the death of Heather's mother when he poisoned her IV bag when Heather was born to get the Ruby Ring, and had his Chandelure burn down the former house of Charlotte, Laura, and Saphira to get the Sapphire Bracelets, which Charlotte still thinks she was responsible for.
- Written by the Winners: His void-self states this belief in Episode 18, that he's "written too much already", and that reality accepts nothing less than "full commitment and sacrifice". And that with all he's done, there was only "one choice". He even gives Solaris a "The Reason You Suck" Speech in the Reshiram route about how he's the only one in Team Meteor now who cares about the "old world" instead of the new one.
- You Have Failed Me: A firm believer in this trope.
Solaris
Solaris
"The world will resent our methods like the crying child resents his parents for their discipline."
The boss of Team Meteor, who even the Admins answer to. At least, he was the boss originally.- Abusive Parents: To Taka.
- All for Nothing: As of E18 in the Reshiram path, his struggles prove to be for naught, as he's completely usurped by Sirius after losing to the player and finding out that Taka is dead.
- Big Bad: He leads several operations directly, and in all likelihood, will utterly destroy you in your fight with him on Pyrous Mountain. As it turns out, however, he only used to have this role; Lin has long since taken control from him of Team Meteor.
- Combat Pragmatist: He has no qualms with attacking meddlesome trainers directly. Twice he tries to kill an enemy with his Garchomp. He succeeds the second time.
- Commonality Connection: When they first met, he and El only found their purposes in defying/not working with the purposes of their families (protecting Arceus’s meteor and serving the former’s family, respectively). Later, they choose to align themselves with these purposes willingly, but seem to still be friends.
- Conveniently an Orphan: His parents were killed by somebody searching for the four Keys. He did not take it well. Even years later, he apparently blames himself for their deaths.
- The Coup: Inverted in the Reshiram route. After your long awaited tie breaker battle with him, Sirius proceeds to mock Solaris for his weakness before revealing that Taka's dead to him and wrestling all control of Team Meteor that Solaris had left away from him. Solaris runs away.
- Dark and Troubled Past: As it turns out, at first, he didn’t believe in the cause of his family, which was to protect the Meteor of Arceus. He only did believe in it after an unnamed man killed his parents to obtain the four Keys to access the Meteor, literally beating him to death in his rage and shouting "Why?!" for hours on end.
- Dark Is Evil: His Tyranitar and his Mandibuzz.
- Demoted to Dragon: It's stated by Eclipse that he was the original leader of Team Meteor, before Lin usurped control from him.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Even if he's an abusive father, and has no trouble disciplining Taka, he genuinely seems to love his son, and he's visibly shaken in the Reshiram Route when he learns he's dead.
- Even Evil Has Standards: If what he says is true, and he doesn’t seem to be much of a liar, he’s not all that happy to be working with Lin, and according to Eclipse, Team Meteor only sought to make people leave Reborn when Solaris was their leader, and only turned to truly evil measures after Lin took charge.
- Face Death with Dignity: He's fully aware in the Zekrom Route on Victory Road that Lin has come to kill him, and his only Last Request is that she answer a few questions. In the Reshiram Route, he's also killed by Lin, and by all indications he went down fighting.
- Former Teen Rebel: El’s book says that he used to be this until his parents were killed by somebody trying to get to the Meteor of Arceus.
- Generation Xerox: Apparently, El’s and Luna’s family has served his and Taka’s for generations.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Its not outright stated, but heavily implied the reason why Lin fell into the citadel beneath Reborn in the first place was because of the earthquakes and destruction Team Meteor was causing. And her doing that was the eventual undoing of both him and his entire organization.
- Hopeless Boss Fight: When battling his Garchomp the first time, it's effectively a hopeless fight unless you get very lucky with misses and/or have a very good game plan to deal with it. E17's Sugiline Ruins reveal that the Garchomp and Aegislash lines were the signature Pokemon of the Alcantara family. Taka's refusal to wield either of these Pokemon shows just how much he wishes to ignore his family's legacy.
- Killed Off for Real: He dies in both routes at the hands of Lin, either just before you enter Victory Road or near the end of it.
- Knight Templar: His goal is to return Reborn to how it once was; a holy site. All the people that will suffer and die for his ideals are a secondary concern at best. Though it's claimed by Eclipse that he was less horrible before Lin took control, choosing indirect methods to convince people to leave instead of the near-war/revolution that seems to be the current focus of Team Meteor. He himself seems to be aware of this, and says that the world will hate Team Meteor for their methods like "a child resenting his parents for their discipline."
- Morality Pet: Taka is his. Despite disapproving of the methods his father has turned to, Taka speaks quite highly of the man and clearly loves him.
- No-Nonsense Nemesis: He has no issues with trying to pull a Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? when he first meets you, and he keeps trying to do it. It's subverted in Agate City, however, as he's come to see you as a Worthy Opponent and specifically asks for a one-on-one match with you.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Word of God is that Solaris is a codename, and not his actual name. It's revealed in the postgame that his real name is Phoenix.
- Pet the Dog: The first time you meet him under the Grand Gates, he lets you go free without so much as a single threat on you or Victoria. Yet.
- Strong and Skilled: Despite his huge disadvantage to Amaria type wise, as he has a Sandstorm team — and just had his ace, Garchomp, taken out by a sneak Ice Beam attack — he proceeded to engage in battle with her anyways and was seemingly holding his own.
- Tragic Villain: This game's version of one. Defiant and rebellious while young, he now views that behaviour as the reason his parents died. His family was the original holders of the 4 keys, protecting them and the Citadel with their lives. Then came a thief who killed them and tried to steal the keys, only to be killed by Solaris in return. This caused him to fully devote himself to their family's purpose. Sometime in between then and the plot as it is now, Reborn City and its Predecessor were built over the Citadel and the community that surrounded it. Originally he founded Meteor to protect the Citadel but as it was built over and forgotten, Meteor's purpose turned towards getting people to leave the city to restore the Citadel. While this was mostly passive at first, over time it turned into the full blown terrorism you see today, as a result of members like Lin and Sirius. In the end, what does the man get for trying to uphold his family's duty and protect Reborn's history? He loses everything he had left. His son. His pride. His organization. His life.
- Vague Age: He’s about ten years younger than the white-haired El, according to the latter’s personal journal. Beyond that he has a son (Taka) who appears to be at most in his early 20s, and it’s hard to narrow his age down more than that.
- Villain Forgot to Level Grind:
- When you first fight him at Pyrous Mountain, his Garchomp is at level 75. When fought later at Titania and Amaria's house, it's at level 76, only one level higher.
- Averted in your third battle with him, where his Pokémon are all around level 90, and he brought along a Mega Stone for his Garchomp.
- Villainous Friendship: With Elias. They know each other from when the latter was blind, with El serving as a servant to him due to the legacies of both their families. This friendship was cemented further when it was partially thanks to Solaris giving El the Emerald Key that gave El his sight.
- Villain Respect: When he's defeated at Titania's hideout, he states that, while the player's purpose is foolish, he still has to respect his/her skill.
- Weaksauce Weakness: Inspection of his team at Amaria's house (A Garchomp, Gyarados, Excadrill, Mandibuzz, Scizor, and Tyranitar) makes it apparent that 2/3 of his Pokemon take extra damage from Water or Ice attacks. Small wonder he tried to kill Amaria. In addition, the remaining two Pokemon on his team who aren't vulnerable to Water or Ice, Gyarados and Scizor, each have their own 4X weakness to another type. As of E18, he now has a Staraptor over his Mandibuzz.
- Worthy Opponent: Views you as this after you defeat him in your second battle. Depending on whether you beat his Garchomp in your battle at Pyrous, he will either respect you as an individual or as an opponent.
- Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: He has, to his credit, tried this four times so far in-game; first when he tries to have his Garchomp kill you with Dragon Rush (which Amaria saves you from), the second shortly after when his Tyranitar uses Superpower on Amaria herself (who comes out with several broken ribs as a result and has to Opt Out of fighting Team Meteor till she recovers), the third when his Garchomp (successfully) kills Kiki, and the fourth when he orders Sirius to burn down Amaria’s house to break your battle line (Titania interrupts him by having her Excadrill connect the main area of the house to Amaria’s Water Gym, flooding the front area).
Lin (UNMARKED SPOILERS)
Lin/Lindsey Paraeah
- Back from the Dead: Titania runs her through with her Aegislash and then slashes her a few times for good measure before challenging you to a Gym match. Lin returns right after you're finished.
- Badass Boast:Her response to a super-sized Steelix and the Dragon Gym Leader of Reborn trashing her base?Lin: Size doesn't necessarily equal strength. I'll deal with this.
- Bad Boss: She cares little for her fellow Meteors, best shown when she abandons an injured Fern after he is beaten in Victory Road.
- Big Bad: Apart from being the true leader of Team Meteor after taking over from Solaris, she cements herself as this during the Devononyx Invasion by forcing a Fighting Your Friend scenario on you, Adrien, Victoria, and Arclight, as well as having her Hydreigon murder Ame, the Reborn League champion and the closest thing the game has to a Big Good.
- The Corrupter: To Team Meteor, alongside Sirius. According to Eclipse, they went from greyish to full-on evil once Lin started getting into positions of power.
- Dark Is Evil: Her signature Pokémon is an incredibly powerful Hydreigon.
- Dark Reprise: Her theme is a darker remix of Champion Cynthia’s battle theme.
- Dragon Ascendant: Apparently, she started out as a lower-level Team Meteor member, and eventually made her way to the top, usurping control from Solaris.
- The Dreaded: Pretty much everyone, including Sirius, speaks of her with absolute fear. It seems likely that the only reason that Solaris isn't still in charge is because Lin overpowered him.
- Establishing Character Moment: She takes on Heather, a member of the Elite Four by herself and wins, demonstrates that she Would Hurt a Child and then fights Amaria, the third-highest ranking Gym Leader in Reborn, right after that, and wins again before trying to force Amaria to give up the Sapphire Bracelets.
- Genre Blind: Lin leaves you, Victoria, Arclight, and Adrienn all alive when she had you trapped and directly in her power, when all four of your Pokemon teams are all likely approaching or in the 80s by that point. Though she was savvy enough at least to kill Ame, it’s still rather foolish overall. However, considering her belief that nothing matters except raw power (and how she was able to defeat Ame, the current Champion who is even tougher than the other four of you), this is somewhat in character for her.
- Hate Sink: If her murderous, sociopathic, and blatantly cruel actions and personality didn’t make her this already she definitely became this trope when she murdered Ame. Subverted by her true self.
- Have We Met?: Several characters from the orphanage seem to "know" her, they just can't put their finger on it.
- Hidden Agenda Villain: Her goals remain elusive until the very end of the main game, but are hinted throughout it to involve Arceus.
- Invincible Villain: For most of the game, the good guys have never even managed to so much as annoy her when she gets involved, and even her defeat at the end of the game in the Lin Route is only the destruction of her puppet.
- Subverted at the end of the Anna route, where you get to see and battle the real Lin.
- Invisibility: Anna wasn't able to see her on her Hydreigon's back. Considering Anna seems to be able to see the "spirits" of other people in some way...
- Kick the Dog: During the Devonyx Invasion, Lin forces you, Arclight, Adrienn and Victoria to fight each other, and whoever loses suffers a “penalty”. These “penalties” included Arclight having an eye ripped out, Adrienn being trapped in a cage with a superheated floor, and Victoria having to undergo electroshock torture. All three survived… but the same can’t be said for Ame, who Lin directly ordered her Hydreigon to kill.
- Kick The Son Of A Bitch: What she does to Connal is horrifying, and easily qualifies as a Cruel and Unusual Death... but while Connal himself might not have deserved a death that horrific, the only person who's really sad about it to any degree is Saphira, who wanted to kill him herself.
- Light Is Not Good: Later on, she adds a Gardevoir — likely a PULSE-2 brainwashed Gossip Gardevoir — and Ame's Alolan Ninetails to her team. Depending on the player's choices, she also takes Ciel's Togekiss.
- Made of Iron: Survived multiple slashes from an Aegislash as well as having it plunged directly through her body. She woke up unscathed immediately after. It turns out this could be literal, as Samson punched her head-on when he encountered her in Agate, and says he's dented steel softer than Lin. As it turns out, this is because the "Lin" you see is actually an avatar/puppet the real Lin created to free herself.
- Meaningful Name: Her name backwards is Nil.
- Her surname, Paraeah, is meant to evoke the word Pariah.
- Mysterious Past: Few things are revealed about Lin's past in the main story, such as the existence of a cruel child younger than Anna in the Orphanage also named Lin, who one day disappeared after being punished by Connal. (If Saphira was kidnapped in the Tanzan Raid, adult Lin alludes to one of child Lin's actions.) It is also hinted that falling into the Citae Astrae, where Arceus's meteor is enshrined, is what aged her and gave her her powers. The postgame, especially on her route, greatly elucidates her past.
- Nothing Is Scarier: Her powers and their origin remain unexplained for most of the story, and she's not talking herself.
- Sadist: She forces the player, Victoria, Arclight and Adrienn to fight each other, the losers being physically punished by being burned (Adrienn, who refused to play along), shocked (Victoria) and having an eye torn out (Arclight). And if she was the girl from the Orphanage, she would apparently find out the fears of other children there and use that knowledge to torment them (such as breaking one of Laura's things whenever she had 8 so that she only had 7; Laura has what appears to be a form of OCD, with her favorite number being 8, and a hatred of odd numbers).
- The Sociopath: If she really is the same girl that tormented Laura at the Orphanage, she’s likely this. Even if it isn't her, her actions aren’t exactly supporting her not being this.Lin: (to you and DJ Arclight) "You are pigs to be herded. You are pigs to be hurt. Sputter, scamper, and squeal."
- Sleepyhead: According to Taka, she has narcolepsy and is often found randomly asleep. It's never been seen in-game, though. He later speculates that her random bouts of sleep are some limitation in the real Lin’s control of her puppet.
- Straw Nihilist: A lot of her monologues resemble this trope. Especially the one given by her void-self.How funny. You thought you were strong together. And here you are now. Let this be a lesson. Numbers do not help. Friends do not help. Nothing ever helps. No one ever helps. No one ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever helps.
- Super Not-Drowning Skills: She walks underwater by herself, without a Pokemon using Dive (and possibly without a rebreather), drags out a statue that's probably several hundred pounds, and never appears to surface for several minutes.
- Why Won't You Die?: Titania is convinced that she's killed Lin after running her through with her Aegislash. Lin shows up right after you beat Titania's gym match to dispel that particular delusion.
- The Woman Behind the Man: While she starts out as a mere private, her power eventually leads to her taking over Team Meteor from Solaris, the former leader.
- World's Best Warrior: She defeated Ame, the Champion of Reborn, (in a fight that was entirely offscreen), before killing her. Earlier in the story, her Hydreigon was able to deliver an apparent Curbstomp Battle to a supersized Lv 75 Steelix and Saphira. In addition to her powerful Pokémon, she herself can deflect an direct Aegislash blade from Titania with her bare hands, and walked off a hit from Samson without any issues.
- Would Hurt a Child: Her Establishing Character Moment as of Episode 19 is for her to singlehandedly defeat Heather — who's later revealed to be part of the Elite 4 — and then knock her into a tree after she'd won.
- You Have Failed Me: She's never done it onscreen, but this seems to be part of her style.
PULSE Pokemon
PULSE Pokemon In General
PULSE Pokémon
Pokémon bound by PULSE machines, which simultaneously enslave the Pokémon and amplify its powers to exorbitant levels. Team Meteor uses them as effective weapons of mass destruction and for other amplified utility purposes.- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Some PULSE Pokémon are enormous, examples including Swalot and Avalugg.
- Body Horror: In addition to a significant power boost, Pokémon hooked up to the PULSE machines undergo grotesque transformations.
- Boss Rush: In the Darkrai quest, you must face entire teams consisting of all of them, except for Camerupt and Hypno who are fought with other Pokemon, Arceus who's only fought with Lin/Anna, and Garbodor who's...well, kind of a joke.
- The Bus Came Back: In the postgame Darkrai quest, you must fight them all again as nightmares.
- Convenient Weakness Placement: Not a 'weakness' placement per se, but almost all of them tend to have a file on their typing, ability, and stats nearby.
- Fantastic Nuke: The more offensively-oriented PULSE Pokémon become this. One of such Pokémon revealed is a PULSE Clawitzer, which is to serve as a living artillery device.
- Mind-Control Device: The PULSE-2 machines were created to override the free will of their occupant.
- Small Role, Big Impact: The Pokémon themselves have little screentime outside of their battles and cutscenes, but almost all of Team Meteor's major exploits and missions hinge on the use of one or more PULSE Pokémon. The virulant plant growth in Reborn City and hefty pollution of its waters, for example, are entirely caused by the 3 PULSE Tangrowths and the PULSE Muk and Swalot.
- Upgraded Boss: They are all much more powerful in the Darkrai quest.
PULSE-00: PULSE Garbodor
PULSE Garbodor
- In-Series Nickname: Calls itself Mr. Bigglesworth.
- Not-So-Harmless Villain: It's a borderline joke of a boss that doesn't have the usual PULSE powerups, has a funny pre-battle speech, and in the future epilogue, it becomes a successful politician. That said, it still is a very high levelled Garbodor compared to what you probably have at the time and it is possibly singlehandedly responsible for turning the Wasteland what it is. Though that's probably more Giratina's fault.
- Optional Boss: The only one of the PULSE boss fights that is. Prior to Episode 19, it required going well out of your way to just find it, and a lot of players didn't know it existed — in Episode 19, Ace will tell you it's a thing, but it's not necessary to fight.
- Stone Wall: The only truly outstanding stat this PULSE has is its HP.
- Talking Animal: Weirdly, it can. Even uses this skill to get elected as mayor during the postgame.
PULSE-01: PULSE Magnezone
PULSE Magnezone
- Gone Horribly Right: Lumina's journal reveals that the first PULSE machine was designed by Evelyn to amplify the healing powers of a Pokémon in hope of healing her sister's genetic illness. Then Team Meteor caught wind of the invention and figured it could be used to enhance the power of all kinds of Pokémon. Magneton fell into the PULSE as it started evolving, and it led to the creation of ZEL.
- Removed Achilles' Heel: The reason it has Levitate.
PULSE-02: PULSE Avalugg
PULSE Avalugg
- Healing Factor: It doesn't just have ridiculous defenses, but it can also use Recover as well.
- Mighty Glacier: It has maxed-out Defense and Special Defense, the ability Solid Rock to reduce the damage it takes from Super Effective attacks, and respectable Attack, but it's explicitly stated that it can't even move — part of Avalugg's body is fused with the PULSE itself.
- Spanner in the Works: Word of God is that Team Meteor just discarded the PULSE in Ametrine Mountain and that it was found by a random Bergmite, who evolved and merged with the PULSE. This is what led to Team Meteor deciding to use it to roadblock your way to Ametrine City, and also led to Aya getting captured by Team Meteor and the PULSE-Clawitzer getting shut off.
PULSE-03: PULSE Swalot
PULSE Swalot
- Good Thing You Can Heal: Thanks to the Murkwater Field, Water Absorb and Black Sludge, Swalot regains health every turn.
- Making a Splash: Swalot gains a secondary Water type and Water Absorb as abilities.
- Marathon Boss: It isn't that strong offensively without the Murkwater Field and Water Absorb supporting it, but it's got titanic defenses and HP, and heals itself if you don't change the field.
- Mighty Glacier: Like Avalugg before it. Instead of being a directly offensive threat, Swalot's main strategy is to be very annoying with chip damage through Infestation and poison.
PULSE-04: PULSE Muk
PULSE Muk
- Mighty Glacier: Has special bulk on par with Blissey at 105 base HP and 250 Special Defense, and much better physical bulk too. It also hits hard via Protean ensuring it has STAB on all of its field-boosted attacks.
- Voluntary Shapeshifter: Muk gains the Protean ability due to the power of the PULSE machine.
- Walking Wasteland: Not that it really can...walk, but it's responsible singlehandedly for the pollution of the Lake.
PULSE- 05 A-C: PULSE Tangrowth
PULSE Tangrowth
A series of Pokémon of the same species, with Grass/Poison and Filter, Grass/Ground and Arena Trap, and Grass/Rock and Stamina as their respective typings and abilities.
- Dishing Out Dirt: The second and third Tangrowth have a secondary Ground and Rock typing, respectively — it's explained that this is the result of the poisons they're taking in ''petrifying in their bodies''.
- Eyes Do Not Belong There: The three you run into have one, two, and then three eyes, with all of said eyes — well, on their faces... but not in the way that eyes should go on a Tangrowth.
- Paper Tiger: They're the first PULSE Pokémon you encounter, and aren't generally as threatening as the later ones.
- Poisonous Person: The first Tangrowth gained a secondary Poison typing thanks to the PULSE.
PULSE-06: PULSE Camerupt
PULSE Camerupt
- Flunky Boss: In its fight in postgame, this is how it gets around the usual things you would try to use to beat a 1 HP Sturdy mon. Its allies will set up things like Safeguard to prevent Status or draw attacks away with Rage Powder. Plus, the New World field prevents you from using things like sand or Hail to knock it out. So, unless you have a Pokémon with Mold Breaker, you're going to need to blast through its ally Pokémon before you have a chance to beat it.
- Last Chance Hit Point: Its gimmick. It has 1 HP and Sturdy, meaning that it will survive any direct attack that hits it (as Sturdy will prevent you from getting knocked out at full HP but only leave you with 1 HP, it procs multiple times).
- The Unfought: In the main story, since Cal has his Magmortar nail it with Blast Burn before you even get to fight it. During the Darkrai quest, you finally fight it in Shiv’s dream realm.
PULSE-07: PULSE Abra
PULSE Abra
- Bait-and-Switch Boss: This is the PULSE Pokémon Lin will use in her first fight, not Arceus. She even Lampshades this, asking if you were expecting something else.
- Dungeon Bypass: Team Meteor was planning to do this with Abra. As it turns out, though, they probably should have ensured the Abra would cooperate before they gave it a massive power-up.
- Extra-ore-dinary: Abra got a secondary Steel typing thanks to the PULSE machine.
- Gone Horribly Wrong: Team Meteor intended to use Abra to Dungeon Bypass the lock on the outside of the Citae Astrae, the tower where Arceus's Meteor is stored. As it turns out, though, Abra wasn't willing to cooperate. Even when Lumi asked nicely. The specimen Lin uses later lacks this problem.
- Pre-Final Boss: The last enemy you have to face before the final battle of the main game. Lin is even hardcoded to send it out last on her champion team.
- Psychic Teleportation: An extremely powerful version thereof, who doesn't have to be anywhere close to the stuff it's teleporting, or go to the target destination itself. If only Team Meteor had remembered to add the "loyal to us" feature...
- Puzzle Boss: It's going to oneshot pretty much every single Pokémon it sees that isn't Ghost type with Hyper Beam, and it's fast enough that exploiting the cooldown phase that results or using Pokémon with Sturdy is probably the only way you're going to defeat it.
- Upgraded Boss: The first time you fight it, it's challenging enough but comes with the rather glaring flaw that the Hyper Beam it likes to spam makes it vulnerable for a turn. When Lin uses it, it has a much more diverse moveset that takes good advantage of its ridiculous stats.
PULSE-08: PULSE Hypno
PULSE Hypno
- Always Accurate Attack: As stated above, it has No Guard to do this. While not too bad in its Void fight, taken to annoying extremes on its Darkrai quest fight where it will utilize this with the usually low accuracy Dark Void to hit both of your Pokémon out.
- Mind Control: Can do this to up to two people at a time, while also channeling the sleeping spell on Agate. And they can do it to anyone they want — you included. What's more, all Pokémon under controlled Trainers will still follow them without question.
- The Unfought: Prior to the game's final release, it was this, despite being a major problem during the events of Episode 18.
- Weaksauce Weakness: It is very vulnerable to Bug types.
PULSE-09: PULSE Mr. Mime
PULSE Mr. Mime
Before you fight it, it somehow disconnects itself from the PULSE it was attached to, and "manipulates" the now-deceased Sigmund Connal's Pokémon to fight you for it.
- Attack! Attack! Attack!: In sharp contrast to its main story fight, the nightmare version of it only knows and will spam Psycho Boost. Thanks to the Glitch Field mechanics, it will use its 190 Special Defense instead of its Special Attack stat of 1.
- Hopeless Boss Fight: Not technically, but the game does expect you to lose your first encounter with it as you probably won't know going in what its gimmick is, and it's done mostly for shock value. When you come back, Eve will hand you its file.
- Nigh-Invulnerable: It's a Ghost/Dark type with Wonder Guard, plus it has Leftovers as a held item and Moonlight to heal, meaning that even hurting it at all requires either disabling Wonder Guard, status effects or Fairy moves, and that a One-Hit KO is completely impossible without setup or X items, since it's at level 100 when you fight it, and its defenses and HP are all through the roof. And it has Entrainment — which lets it give other Pokémon Wonder Guard... not just any Pokémon, either, but Sigmund's pure Electric type Pokémon, whose held Seeds will instantly give them Magnet Rise when they come out, meaning they flat out have no weaknesses and Entrainment makes them even more invulnerable than Mr. Mime itself.
- Recurring Boss: Has a rematch in the postgame … much to the dismay to everyone that was scared by it.
- Stone Wall: It's got no offensive moves of its own besides Night Shade, but it has access to Sigmund Connal's Pokémon to fight for it.
- Support Party Member: It can't fight by itself, mostly, but it's absurdly hard to take down, and it's heavily focused on supporting its teammates/giving them Wonder Guard, or having them repeat their last attack with Instruct.
PULSE-10: PULSE Clawitzer
PULSE Clawitzer
A Dragon/Water type with Contrary when you fight it, after Zero was separated from Eve and Lumi, he took over controlling the PULSE, and has it as the last Pokémon on his team when you fight him.
- Almighty Janitor: In an amusing meta-example. While PULSE-Clawitzer doesn't have that much bullshit going on in the fight other than Clawitzer itself, this boss was ranked at no. 3 on an AI tournament of every enemy in Reborn on the singles fieldless format, beating out dozens of fights jam packed with insane bullshit, PULSE2, fights with blatantly illegal sets, etc. This mostly is because singles fieldless is the format for the fight itself, and thus it's built around not requiring a field like other fights with theoretically more 'bullshit', though.
- Hero Killer: It 'kills' Shade, posing as Nomos. He gets better.
- Lightning Bruiser: It's obscenely fast, and while it starts out not able to hit very hard, a few uses of Overheat, Draco Meteor, or Fleur Cannon will allow it to rip through your team like there's no tomorrow.
- Recurring Boss: Unlike the other nightmare PULSE fights, its moveset and gimmick is nearly the exact same as when you fight it in Labradorra. The only 'upgrade' it gets is that the Glitch Field means its Contrary boosts both Special Attack and Defense, and it has Hydro Cannon.
- Strong and Skilled: Most Pokémon with Contrary have the drawback of having weaker end offensive stats, forcing you to try and snowball into a sweep with moves like Draco Meteor or Overheat. PULSE Clawitzer does not have that limitation, and grows stronger as it uses those moves.
- Weapon of Mass Destruction: It's basically one of these. It's even remarked that combined with PULSE Mime's defensive capabilities, PULSE Clawitzer effectively allows Meteor to control the whole region from Labradorra.
PULSE-11: Arc-PULSE (SPOILERS)
PULSE Arceus
- Ambiguous Situation: It is never quite clarified what Arceus wants or why it lets itself get corrupted by Lin (though it will try to kill her on the routes where she's alive and it's freed from the PULSE). The only things it does prior to its role in the plot is decide to come via meteor to the world it created, and heals Lin out of pity when she falls to the area where the meteor is held.
- Barrier Change Boss: Multitype on both the Glitch and New World fields will cause it to change its type every turn.
- Boss Bonanza: It is fought as the endboss of the Elite 4 challenge and the gauntlet in the New World Asylum.
- Defeat Means Playable: Like the other Anomalies, though unlike other PULSE Pokémon, once you defeat PULSE-Arceus in postgame you can catch Arceus. Unfortunately, there's no way to use the PULSE form legally.
- Hijacking Cthulhu: According to Evelyn, Team Meteor aims to eventually create a PULSE machine capable of holding Arceus, which would essentially allow them to enslave a Physical God and wield its even further amplified power. Ends up that all that was needed was a strange Relic Stone from beneath Agate City's rivers.
- Master of All: Arceus was already this, but PULSE-Arceus takes it to an extreme. Its base stat total is 975, with 255 HP, 125 in both offensive stats, 155 in defenses and 160 in speed. It's actually not quite as big as Eternamax Eternatus from the main series, but it still is far past the next 2 candidates (Mega Rayquaza and the Mega Mewtwos) and unlike Eternamax, is fought in a singles battle as opposed to a 4-on-1 format.
- My Death Is Just the Beginning: On Lin's route's ending, the AI will set Cresselia, who only has Lunar Dance, to the lowest priority for switching a new mon in, and will also guarantee Arceus is sent out last. This means that unless you use something like Roar to mess up the AI, Cresselia will come out fifth, survive a hit with its Focus Sash, then use Lunar Dance to faint but give PULSE-Arceus an omniboost when it comes in. Combine that with the omniboost Arceus gets from its Seed and...you'll be in for a fun time.
- Reality Warper: Given it's an even more powerful form of the God of the Pokémon universe, this should probably be expected. Lin even uses it to deprive you of oxygen on the Anna route main game ending.
- True Final Boss: Of Pokémon Reborn. It's the final enemy of both the main and postgame, and it will always be either the last Pokémon sent out or fought on its own (Anna route main game ending) before you can see the credits.
- Upgraded Boss: It is much more powerful in the New World Asylum than when you fight it at the end of the main storyline.
- Walking Spoiler: Team Meteor's end-goal — or at least, Lin's end-goal — is to use the Arc-PULSE to pull off a case of Hijacking Cthulhu.
