Characters / Pokémon Scarlet and Violet: Protagonists and Friends

Main Character Index | Scarlet and Violet | Protagonists and Friends | Paldea Characters | DLC Characters

The Protagonists and their friends from Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.

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General Tropes

• Beauty, Brains, and Brawn: If Juliana is chosen as the protagonist, then she, Penny, and Nemona fit this trope:
  • The active, battle loving Nemona serves as the brawn.
  • The reclusive hacker Penny serves as the brains.
  • The open and energetic, and fashionable Juliana serves as the beauty.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: In Mochi Mayhem Nemona, Arven, and Penny are all brought under Pecharunt's control via posion mochi, with Nemona serving as its strongest minion.
• Breaking Old Trends: Unlike previous rivals and friends in the series, rather than growing with the protagonist, Arven, Penny, and Nemona are all significantly stronger trainers than the player at the start of the game and the player has to catch up to them. Arven only seems like an exception at first because his primary companion, Mabosstiff is on the verge of death until the player helps cure it with the Herba Mystica and he had to train and catch new Pokémon because of his Mabosstiff's state. Nemona even starts training a new team from scratch for the sake of competing with the player. Justified due to all of them having started their careers as trainers a few years before the player.
• The Bus Came Back: After being nearly entirely out of focus in the Expansion Pass's story parts, Nemona, Arven, and Penny return for Epilogue: Mochi Mayhem set in Kitakami.
• Child Prodigy: Arven, Nemona, and Penny are all teenagers who are (respectively) a Supreme Chef, a Lonely at the Top master battler, and a hacker whose skills are enough that she gets hired as a programmer on the spot by Ms. Geeta. The player themselves, at the end of the story, is also a Champion-ranked battler like Nemona, has defeated five titan Pokémon, and taken down Team Star and their boss by themselves.
• Final Boss: Nemona, Arven, and Penny are all the final opponents you face at the end of each of their story routes. They all must be defeated before you can access The Way Home, where the True Final Boss awaits.
• Four-Philosophy Ensemble: The four of them form this during the game's last leg. Arven is the Cynic, being less than thrilled with revisiting a dangerous area and butts heads with the others over old grudges (the box legendary) or clashing personalities (his new friends), Nemona is the Optimist as she sees the trek as an exciting new adventure and sees the good in near every situation (real or imagined), Penny is the Apathetic who's only tagging along due to her newfound loyalty for the player character and is rather standoffish towards the others, while the protagonist is the Realist who leads and holds the group together throughout their trials, while providing clousure for both the AI professor and Arven.
• Friendless Background: Prior to meeting and befriending the protagonist, Arven, Nemona, and Penny appear to be found mostly by themselves with seemingly no one else to call a friend. The protagonist also technically starts like this due to having moved into Paldea and having just enrolled into the Academy by the beginning of the game. For the previous three, it isn't until meeting the protagonist that their lives, as well as the lives of Paldea, begin to improve and they find themselves happier than they were before:
  • Arven had his Mabosstiff as his Only Friend growing up while suffering Parental Abandonment as a result of Professor Sada/Turo being fully dedicated to their research combined with their untimely death, which made him turn out a bit standoffish upon the protagonist and Nemona meeting him the first time.
  • Nemona is a Lonely at the Top, Champion-ranked Teen Genius from a wealthy family who grew up under a hands-off parenting style, which combined with her aggressive desire for battling, has intimidated and alienated her from her peers; respected as the Student Council President, but nothing more.
  • Penny is a reclusive and talented hacker who is officially described as shy who is also a victim of bullying before befriending other victims and outcasts and having them form Team Star together years before the main events begin. But even then, she never showed her face to the Team Star Bosses, and regarding the incident that placed Team Star in deep trouble with the Academy, she wound up distancing herself from them to work on taking it down before graver consequences rained upon them.
• Gameplay Protagonist, Story Protagonist: Florian and Juliana serve as the Player Characters, yet it is their friends who are the focus of their respective storylines.
• Gender-Equal Ensemble: If Florian is chosen as the protagonist then the group will consist of two boys (Florian and Arven) and two girls (Nemona and Penny). Averted if Juliana is chosen as the protagonist, in which case the group will instead consist of three girls and one boy, making Arven The One Guy.
• Guest-Star Party Member: Arven fights alongside you for the Titan battles, and he, Nemona, and Penny join you for the mission into Area Zero.
• Heroes Love Dogs: During your trek through Area Zero, all of your companions use dog-like Pokémon when battling with you in Doubles: Nemona uses a Lycanroc (based on a wolf), Arven uses his Mabosstiff (based on the mastiff breed of dogs) and Penny uses an Umbreon (which has dog-like qualities, on top of traits of other mammals like cats or foxes). The player can also use one of the mentioned Pokémon or another line like the Fidough line or Greavard line. There's also the player's befriended Koraidon/Miraidon despite being reptilian-based, whose behavioral traits, such as affectionate licking and pulling off puppy-dog eyes, can be compared to dogs.
• Multinational Team: The protagonist is from another region (implied to be Galar but never confirmed) having moved to Paldea at the start of the game, Penny is confirmed to be from Galar, and Nemona reveals in League Club conversations after Mochi Mayhem that she isn't from Paldea either, having moved there when she was seven years old, leaving Arven as possibly being the only Paldea native in the group.
• Nice Mean And In Between: Of the player's three friends, each fills one of these:
  • Nemona fills the Nice. From the time she meets the player, Nemona is a pleasant, Spoiled Sweet girl who's nothing but encouraging to the hero. She's a bit of a Blood Knight who loves battling, but she's also empathetic and gentle, regularly caring about the player and their partner Pokémon.
  • Arven is the In-Between. In his first appearance, he comes off as frosty and is downright mean to Koraidon/Miraidon (though not without a Freudian Excuse), but he comes to care about both that Mon and the player, and his main motivation is to heal his best friend, Mabosstiff.
  • Penny is the Mean. At first, she comes off as a Shrinking Violet, but it's revealed that she started Team Star. After this reveal, she shows herself to be snarky and standoffish, although a lot of this comes less from genuine malice and more from social awkwardness, and her character falls more into a Jerk with a Heart of Gold archetype.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: While the protagonist's personality can be decided up to the player (though based on official art, Florian appears reserved while Juliana appears energetic), we have their friends and their following idiosyncrasies, to which they all are brought together, not only by the general narrative, but are united as part of "The Way Home" final storyline, to prevent catastrophe upon Paldea's ecosystem by the Paradox Pokémon contained within Area Zero:
  • Arven, who tends to be abrasive and treated with less respect than he deserves while dealing with Parental Abandonment issues.
  • Nemona, who is single-minded when it comes to battling and can be a bit Sarcasm-Blind when compared to the snarkier teammates.
  • Penny, who is not as shy as she is first introduced while her lack of tact tend to let her speak her mind, coming across as rude by others as a result.
• Snark-to-Snark Combat: Arven and Penny trade numerous snarky jabs as the party travels down Area Zero.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: At first. Arven is annoyed by Nemona's single-mindedness and Penny's rudeness, Penny thinks Nemona has a death wish and doesn't think much of Arven either, and the three (though mostly Arven and Penny) trade jabs while the group ventures down Area Zero. During the course of the descent, as they talk about how they got to meet the player, their family lives, and fight off enraged Pokémon from either the past or future, the three manage to overcome their first bad impressions and develop what seems to be budding friendships.
• True Companions: By the end of "The Way Home", all of them, plus Koraidon/Miraidon, have become this with each other. Doubles as a case of Fire-Forged Friends, as both separately in the three prior story arcs and together in this one, they were brought together by fighting a conflict.
• Vague Age: They appear to be older (Nemona and Arven) or younger (the player and Penny) teenagers but their specific ages are never addressed in-game, especially since Naranja/Uva Academy is not limited to specific ages or grades (you can find adult and even elderly students as NPC Trainers). One scene does have a teacher refer to them as adolescents, but as they are also addressing the class as a whole, they may not have intended an explicitly teenage meaning.

Florian and Juliana

Juliana in Scarlet and Florian in Violet

The protagonists of Scarlet and Violet. They are a young adolescent who recently moved to Paldea.

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• Affectionate Nickname:
  • Arven calls them "Little Buddy" (or similar variations, like "Clever Buddy").
  • Hassel briefly calls them "Baby dragon" when he gives them a pep talk before fighting Geeta.
  • Ryme calls them "Baby."
• All-Loving Hero: Blank slate aside (not that that's anything particularly unique for Pokémon protagonists) there's few if any of the limited dialogue options that allow for an openly malicious response, making them quite literally one of the nicest characters in the game. Additional dialogue implies they're possessed of an incredibly pure heart, which makes it easy for them to befriend Pokémon of all kinds, from generally openly hostile Paradox Pokémon to Legendary Pokémon of myth, and everything in between.
• Always Someone Better:
  • Since only the final battle against Nemona during the Victory Road storyline is required for the player to win, either of them can serve as this to each other, although Nemona purposely weakens herself in order to battle the player on equal footing since she's their senior as a Champion-ranked trainer. When the player ultimately prevails over her Champion team, she isn't sad in the least and thanks them for a great battle.
  • In the Teal Mask, they constantly upstage Carmine and Kieran in battles, to Carmine's chagrin but to Kieran's amazement. By their last battle with each of them, Carmine has grown so fond of them that she can't help but be happy for the battle, but Kieran's long losing streak - coupled with the player getting Ogerpon's adoration - causes him to become so obsessed with becoming stronger than the player that he undergoes Sanity Slippage because of it.
• Badass Adorable: They look like an average kid, but they can conquer the league (when most trainers hit a wall around badge four of eight), defeat powerful giant Pokémon and take on the five squads of Team Star and their boss with ease.
• Badass Biker: They become the strongest trainer in Paldea while riding the cover legendary around like a living motorcycle.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: Their winter uniform looks like a classy suit.
• Big Eater: Nemona will comment on the player's choice to see what they want to first, and if they choose "places to eat", she remarks how she doesn't expect them to be the trope by name.
• Braids of Action: The player character can pick a side braid as one of their outfits, and they're an active Pokémon trainer taking on three different paths in the story. Julianna's default hair style also includes a braid.
• Breaking Old Trends: The first time the female protagonist is more associated with the primary version and the male with the secondary. Juliana is more often depicted in the orange Scarlet uniform and Florian is usually in the purple Violet clothes. Even extends to the manga counterparts with Florian being named Vio.
• Character Tics: They always raise their right fist up while battling.
• Color Motif: Depending on the version you choose, the protagonist is wearing either an orange and white outfit with blue highlights or a purple and grey outfit with yellow highlights.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Unlike previous playable characters in the series, both the playable characters Juliana and Florian are Pokémon Trainers and students from Naranja^note Scarlet/Uva^note Violet Academy, which is the first time in the series for a playable character who is explicitly a student.
• Disappeared Dad: While their mother is present in their lives unlike the other main characters of this game, like pretty much every game protagonist their father is nowhere to be found and unlike the past few generations (Sun and Moon indicates he is working overseas, Sword and Shield states the male player character's backpack came from him) he never gets any mention of existing.
• Dragon Tamer: Apart from the many Dragon-types they can catch throughout the region, they also bond with the part Dragon-type Koraidon/Miraidon and use them as transportation.
• Famed In-Story: The protagonist became the talk of the students with them becoming known for their potential with Nemona hoping they will become a good rival for her, Arven wanting their help against the Titan Pokémon, and Cassiopeia wanting them to join Operation Starfall.
• Floral Theme Naming: Their canon names are Juliana (a perennial flower) for the girl and Florian (meaning blooming/flowering) for the boy.
• Foreign Exchange Student: They only recently moved to Paldea from another region, implied to be Galar due to their family having a Skwovet (First introduced in Sword and Shield), and their mother's use of the British slang "cuppa". They once again become an exchange student from the Naranja/Uva Academy in the "Indigo Disk" DLC, where they are shipped off to Blueberry Academy in Unova.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Invoked by Raifort when recounting the legend of the Treasures of Ruin, as the ominous stakes found throughout the Paldea region can be pulled by Only the Pure of Heart, thus freeing the sealed Treasures from their shrines. The protagonist appears to be the only one out of Paldea's populace capable of doing so. This quality also indicates their ability to form strong bonds with people and Pokémon, which may also contribute to their befriended Koraidon/Miraidon being able to regain its former strength to fight and triumph against its aggressive antagonistic counterpart in Zero Lab.
• Magnetic Hero:
  • They serve as The Heart among the four of them, being the mutual friend shared between Arven, Nemona, and Penny, and the reason that they learn to get along with each other despite their vastly different personalities and quirks is because of their strong respective friendships with the protagonist, which becomes very clear while descending through Area Zero via casual dialogue and cutscenes.
  • Becomes a problem in The Teal Mask where their ability to make fast friends drives a wedge between them and Kieran when Ogerpon warms up to the protagonist over the boy who was a long time fan of her. Towards the end of The Indigo Disk Kieran jealously points out how easily the protagonist can befriend anyone, even Ogerpon and Carmine. When he sees Terapagos start walking towards the player mere seconds after awakening, he immediately intervenes to stop their meeting.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Never said out loud but they're left feeling guilty over being party to keeping Kieran in the dark over encountering Ogerpon and his subsequent downward spiral.
• New Transfer Student: They are recently enrolled into Naranja/Uva academy at the start of the game.
• Non-Uniform Uniform: While the player's main outfit is limited to the four seasonal variations of the Academy's uniform, they can still choose from a variety of accessories which make them stand out from most of the other students at school.
• Pals with Jesus:
  • They earn the respective version's Raidon's friendship very early in the game, though it's somewhat averted on the "Jesus" part since both of them are just incredibly ancient/futuristic Raidon that have almost no information about them and are completely unknown to the people.
  • Likewise, they earn Ogerpon's friendship in the The Teal Mask, though the "Jesus" part is seen by the villagers as "demon" before it's rectified to "Jesus" with them all.
  • Finally, with The Indigo Disk, they ultimately wind up catching Terapagos in the Area Zero Underdepths, who pretty much created the Terastal Phenomenon.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni:
  • In their artwork, Juliana (the female protagonist) appears open and energetic (Red), whereas Florian (the male protagonist) appears unsure and reserved (Blue).
  • Their artwork for The Indigo Disk has them switching roles, with Juliana taking on the Blue serious role and Florian the Red energetic and playful role.
• Reincarnation: Implied. There's a woman in the game who says that she can see their past lives. If you have save data from any previous Nintendo Switch Pokémon games, you will unlock new phone cases. This suggests that the player character is either a reincarnation of the player characters from the past games, or the Reincarnation is Leaning on the Fourth Wall to refer to the Players behind the Player Characters who play the Pokémon games.
• School Uniforms are the New Black: While players can choose from a wide selection of accessories, the only options for the main outfit are four seasonal variations of the school uniform.
• Schrödinger's Player Character: Played With, while the player character you don't choose doesn't appear, some NPCs that look like a customized version of the Player Character do appear as Tera Raid NPC allies.
• Signature Mon:
  • Both have very often been paired with the game's Box Legendaries, with Koraidon often going to Juliana while Florian gets Miraidon.
  • Starter wise, while both have been associated with Fuecoco, Juliana and Florian have also been primarily seen with Sprigatito and Quaxly respectively in official material.
• Spanner in the Works: Who know just feeding a sandwich to a strange Pokémon washed up on the beach would lead to the player character shutting down a dangerous time machine?
• Supporting Protagonist: While Florian/Juliana are the player characters and undisputedly the protagonists of Scarlet and Violet, the story focuses more on their friends Nemona, Penny, Arven, and Koraidon/Miraidon, especially the latter two during the "The Way Home" storyline.
• Supreme Chef: Regardless of how well the player makes their sandwiches in picnics, they are seen as this in-universe by Arven, in which a conversation with the player while invited in the League Club has him wanting to taste their sandwiches after enjoying their mother's cooking from Mochi Mayhem, indicating the player's ability to cook was inherited and/or learned from. Arven's conversation with Saguaro in the League Club also has the former state that his cooking has improved with the player's help.
• Theme Naming: "Juliana" means "youthful" or "juvenile", while "Florian" means "flowering" or "blooming". Both names refer to the two trainers embarking on the adventure teased in the trailers and growing up/"blossoming" as a result.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Randomly getting the Mythical Peach Berry from Mystery Gift is what kickstarts the plot of Mochi Mayhem and releases/awakens Pecharunt from its sealed/dormant state, allowing it to cause mischief in Mossui Town.
• Unwitting Pawn: Cassiopeia requests the player to dismantle Team Star for them, especially when it's later revealed that Cassiopeia is Penny, the true leader of Team Star whom the player character fought the Team Star Grunts.
• Virtual Paper Doll: As with previous generations, the second trailer shows that you can customize your character's appearance, though compared to the more expansive options of previous post-Gen VI games clothing-wise it's mainly limited to variations on the uniform and accessories thereof. That said, there are more options to customize your character's face beyond eye color, as you can now choose the shape of your eyes and mouth, meaning that your protagonist could potentially look nothing like their default design, unlike previous protagonists who always had the same base facial features/structure.
• Wholesome Crossdresser: They both can put on makeup like lipstick, even Florian. After completing The Indigo Disk, both of them are capable of wearing either the male or female variants of the Team Star uniforms (including the high heels).
• Youthful Freckles: The player can choose from three types of freckles to give their character, emphasizing their energetic and peppy nature.

Nemona (Nemo)

Nemona / Nemo (ネモ nemo)

Voiced by: Olivia Vidas (Pokémon: Paldean Winds - EN), Eriko Matsui (Pokémon: Paldean Winds - JP), Cristina Milizia (Pokémon Masters - EN), Aya Uchida (Pokémon Masters - JP)

A friend of the protagonist, who is an experienced trainer. She invites the protagonist to take the Victory Road path to nurture them into a prodigious rival by challenging the league.

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• The Ace:
  • She's a Champion-level Trainer who not only comes from a wealthy family but is also the Student Council President who gets top grades in school. Nemona is also Paldea's true top trainer. Geeta cheerfully warns you about this after you become a Champion yourself.
  • In Mochi Mayhem, she battles and soundly defeats Kieran, who had rather easily and alarmingly quickly climbed his way to being the Champion of Blueberry Academy, a battle institute even Nemona notes for its high standards. Additionally, as of the epilogue, she is the 2nd-strongest NPC Trainer in the entire franchise by average team level (behind only Cyrano), beating out even Cynthia and Red (with both of them having a Level 88 ace on at least one of their teams, but with lower team levels overall).
• Achievements in Ignorance: In Pokémon Masters, she says that she doesn't exactly know how her Pawmi even evolved to its final stage, though the requisites for that were fulfilled since it always liked to run with her (which it does by itself the moment she looks away from it).
• Admiring the Abomination: Unlike her rattled companions, she swoons over the Great Tusk/Iron Treads in Area Zero. She also runs off to explore Area Zero while the others are still talking, despite how dangerous it's said to be, and comes back gushing about how cool it is.
• Barely-Changed Dub Name: Her Japanese name is Nemo.
• Berserk Button: Humorously hinted at by Geeta and Rika when both are invited as special coaches to Blueberry Academy, in which they are open about their high opinions regarding the player character followed by Rika warning her own boss not to steal them from Nemona. Even La Primera considers the advice seriously as not wanting to cross her.
• Big Fancy House: The house across the Player Character's own at the start of the game belongs to her family. It's more than twice the size of the player character's already quite spacious home.
• Birds of a Feather:
  • In the Mochi Mayhem epilogue, she quickly gets along with Kieran, a fellow battle fanatic, though he's initially a bit reluctant to battle her due to the contrast of her extroversion and his introversion.
  • In Pokémon Masters, she gets along pretty well with Hilda, who, upon being introduced to her by Cheren, interrupts said introduction to fight Nemona ASAP.
• Blood Knight: One of the most noticeable examples in the series among human characters. While she especially enjoys battling against the player, she has a very strong passion for Pokémon battling in general and can get carried away with it. Arven is able to easily convince her to help him and the protagonist explore Area Zero by telling her about all the strong Pokémon there are to fight. The ending of Mochi Mayhem also indicates that after the crisis has passed, she battles Kieran and Carmine at least a dozen times each offscreen and is still hungry for more.
• Born Lucky: Downplayed. Despite coming from a wealthy family and being an active Champion-ranked Trainer and Student Council President, Nemona asserts that her achievements were a result of hard work and training and not just from natural talent. There's also the fact that she has the rare 3-Segment Dudunsparce in her party prior to Mochi Mayhem.
• Brains and Brawn: She serves as the active battle-loving Brawn to Penny's reclusive hacking Brains.
• Brainwash Residue: Played for laughs in the epilogue, wherein she continues saying "Mochi mochi MATCH!" even after being freed from Pecharunt's control, apparently because she just finds it fun to say.
• But Thou Must!: At times refuses to take no for an answer from the player character when it comes to battles and will repeatedly ask them to do so until they say yes.
• Cavalier Competitor: While she is very passionate when it comes to battles, she is also a very good sport about it, win or lose. Though she does win the majority of her battles because of her hard work and drive, her known losses through the player are also accepted well. This is further justified that she encourages their potential so that she could finally have a rival for herself during the Treasure Hunt. Nemona also helps instill this mindset into Kieran after their offscreen battle in Mochi Mayhem and even praises his dedication and love for Pokémon during their League Club conversation to continue to encourage him to have fun battling and not worry about winning or losing.
• Character Catchphrase: "Let's have us a fruitful battle!" which she says usually as she is preparing to battle the player.
• Clingy Jealous Girl:
  • A humorous, rivalry-oriented variant — Nemona (probably jokingly) tells the player that they shouldn't go picking fights with randos since "they have all the battles they could ever want with her", and later gets quite upset when Geeta takes an interest in them, even accusing her of "trying to steal them from [her]".
  • Mentioned again in The Indigo Disk between Geeta and Rika, in which both express their fondness and high opinions over the player before the latter warns the former not to steal [them] from Nemona. Geeta, who was previously confronted by Nemona by that scenario, takes the advice seriously.
• Cool Big Sis:
  • She acts as this to the player character, being quite sweet and encouraging of whatever they wish to do while being slightly older than them. She also has an older sister herself, but what their actual relationship is defined to be, aside from mentioning that she would be taking over their family's Rotom Phone company, remains unknown.
  • During and after Mochi Mayhem, she also plays this role to Kieran, cheering him up after defeating him in battle and advising him to just take Pokémon battles as a hobby to enjoy.
• Cordon Bleugh Chef: Implied. While there's no clear indication of Nemona's cooking skills in general, speaking with her post-game in her dorm room has her admit her belief that the measurement of a tablespoon means different amounts to different people while making food for her Pokémon, which may or may not turn out disastrous.
• Discard and Draw:
  • Her fight in Mochi Mayhem has her trade in Dundunsparce and Orthworm for Kommo-O and either Ribombee, Milotic, or Dusknoir depending on the player's starter. Her starter also now Terastallizes into its secondary type.
  • Later rematches in the League Club has her replace Goodra with a previous Gen starter the same type as the player's (Decidueye, Greninja, or Infernape).
• The Dragon: Temporarily becomes this for Pecharunt in the Mochi Mayhem epilogue, brainwashed into becoming its main minion and being the last and strongest trainer you battle before fighting Pecharunt itself.
• Dramatically Missing the Point: When she and the rest of the group encounter the second Miraidon/Koraidon in Area Zero, she interprets the interaction between it and Miraidon/Koraidon as a wholesome family reunion cut short. Everyone else naturally notices the hostile interaction taking place and Penny is quick to point that out to her.
• Dub Name Change: In Spanish and French, her name is Mencía / Menzi, which comes from her namesake plant's species name instead of the genus name.
• Fatal Flaw: Her singlemindedness. Nemona is extremely fixated on her love of battling, and while she usually has it under control, there are moments where she forgets to consider other people's mental and physical state, and thus needs to be gently reminded that other people need time to heal, and aren't as fixated as her. Her singlemindedness ends up being much more detrimental when she fixates so hard on the idea of a "family reunion" between the player's box Legendary and its twin that she fails to realize how terrified it was of its counterpart when it happens, something that Penny calls her out on. Post-game, Nemona talks about how this flaw also made her feel alienated as her peers grew intimidated by her for being a Champion rank trainer.
• Floral Theme Naming: She's named after Nemophila menziesii, a plant native to northwestern America also called "baby blue eyes", in all languages.
• Friendly Rivalry: She is a Spoiled Sweet girl who views their rivalry as this. She wants the protagonist to push themselves by participating in gym battles and hopes they gain their Champion-level rank once they pass the Pokémon League exam. The player of course responds in kind.
• Genki Girl: Rarely is there a moment where she isn't in high spirits or going off about her love for Pokémon battles. She gives Hau a run for his money.
• Genius Ditz: While downplayed during Victory Road due to it being an environment she's an expert in, this comes to the forefront during The Way Home storyline, which showcases how Nemona is rather adorably less-than-competent at things outside of Pokémon battling or her administrative duties. She has a decidedly limited grasp of social cues, comes to strange and rather obviously incorrect conclusions about various things, and is foolhardy enough that she's lucky she has trained up such a powerful team to protect her from danger.
• Girls Love Stuffed Animals: Despite not being seen having any plushies in her house or dorm, Nemona expresses her fondness over fluffy things, such as Penny's Eevee backback from the beginning of the game to the player's Skwovet plush in their room in Cabo Poco during Mochi Mayhem.
• Graceful Loser: In Victory Road, Nemona takes every defeat against the player well, it is justified in that she basically restarts her trainer journey from day one alongside the player and this is something she expects from the player. Besting her in the final duel of the storyline takes the cake, she was going all-out and she is nothing but overjoyed over her loss.
• Gratuitous Spanish: She tends to pepper a lot of Spanish phrases into her dialogue.
• Handicapped Badass: Potentially. She's noted to have issues with correctly throwing Poké Balls and wears some sort of an arm brace that's meant to help with that. In The Way Home story line she's shown to get tired easily and has notably low stamina, and it's indicated that her quirks are extreme enough that she is almost certainly highly neurodivergent. Despite all of her issues she's a Champion-ranked Trainer, making her one of the strongest trainers in Paldea, and is also the president of the student council at Naranja/Uva Academy.
• Hands-Off Parenting: Her parents are noted to have focused on her older sister because she will take over their family's business, so they left Nemona to mostly do what she wanted without supervision. Nemona even says a variation of the trope's name to describe the situation. Talking to one of her family's maids will also reveal that her parents are rarely home. Even when it comes traveling to another region in Mochi Mayhem, Nemona makes no mention of telling her parents or even needing permission, simply remarking that she supposes she should let the housekeeper know she'll be away for a while.
• Hero-Worshipper: Greatly admires Geeta and early on in the game, Nemona gushes about her and tells the players about how much she wants to be like her.
• Hidden Depths: Despite her singleminded focus on battling, Nemona has a good memory, remembering events unrelated to her position and to battling from quite a long time ago with good precision. Two examples of this:
  • In the final storyline "The Way Home", she remembers Penny from the incident with Team Star due to her Eevee bag and she also recalls that Arven knew Koraidon's/Miraidon's name and has its Poké Ball before giving it to the player character. Both of those events are from the very beginning of the game and before an ambiguous-length time skip.
  • Nemona also remembers Lacey (even remembering her name) from a party they both attend a long time prior their conversation in the League Club, despite meeting each other only once (and Nemona drawing a lot of attention on herself by challenging Lacey's father Clay in battle while wearing a fancy dress).
• Huge Schoolgirl: She's noticeably taller than a lot of her peers at the Academy, including the player.
• Innocently Insensitive: Nemona is never intentionally rude (unlike the more Byronic Arven and Penny), but sometimes she doesn't think before she talks. When the player's Raidon meets the second one and almost gets into a fight, Nemona completely misses Raidon's obvious terror and makes a remark that it seems sad the "family reunion" ended early. Penny snaps at her for this.
• Insult Backfire: Any attempts to criticize her via sarcasm or snide remarks have a good chance of resulting in her thinking it is somehow a compliment, as Arven and Penny find out to their frustration.
• The Klutz: Stated to be a good trainer, but the official site mentions she's not good at tossing Poké Balls, which she hints at when telling the player she's "crummy" at actually catching Pokémon. She's notably the only trainer seen wearing an arm brace, presumably so she can throw her balls better.
• Lonely at the Top: Post-game, it's revealed that Nemona's love for battling actually caused a problem and alienated her from people who could become a friend in the academy as they are too intimidated by her prowess and Champion rank to actually befriend her. When she saw the Player Character having the potential to beat her, she was excited at the prospect of having an equal and wanted to see them grow stronger as a trainer, and thus spends much of the game hoping for the Player Character to be her rival to a near zealous degree.
• Lonely Rich Kid: Implied. While exploring Area Zero, the discussion turns to the topic of family. Nemona mentions her parents were very hands-off and pretty much let her do as she pleased. While she insists her childhood was normal otherwise, the sheer fervor she throws at Pokémon battling, along with the speed at which she attaches herself to the player, implies more of an effect on her than she realizes.
• More than Mind Control: Pecharunt seems to have less of a grip on her than the others under its control, as she ends up subverting the catchphrase of those enthralled, and while she occasionally does do the dance the others do, she isn't constantly doing it. She nevertheless obeys its command to battle you, implicitly just because she wants to as well.
• Mythology Gag: In Pokémon Masters, she talks about how other regions' trainers prefer to start battles when their eyes meet rather than asking like Paldea's trainers do, so of course, she prefers the first alternative much better.
• Nice Girl: From the get-go, Nemona is nothing but sweet and encouraging to the player.
• Non-Uniform Uniform: Downplayed. While she wears the standard Academy school uniform, she wears an arm brace on her right arm that the player themselves can't wear.
• Noodle Incident: She once attended a formal party that Lacey was also present in and challenged her dad to a Pokémon battle in her dress. We don't know the specifics but Clay was quite impressed.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Before the first Academy Ace Tournament, she tells the player that they can't lose to anyone else besides her.
• Pre-Final Boss: She's the penultimate boss of Mochi Mayhem, with Pecharunt's battle happening immediately afterwards.
• Privileged Rival: Downplayed; She's from a wealthy family but she doesn't go out of her way to talk about it. She has a Big Fancy House, but the first time her family's wealth is directly mentioned is during The Way Home.
• Pungeon Master: Likes to make fruit-based puns.
• Running Gag: Several times in the game she will ask a yes or no question, only to accept nothing other than a "yes" answer. Usually it devolves into her saying something along the lines of "You! Me! Battle! Yes!?"
• Sarcasm-Blind: Arven and Penny's sarcasm and snide remarks towards her go without notice.
• Secretly Wealthy: Her father's the head of a Rotom Phone company, though she states that chances are it's her sister that will be taking over the company.
• Selective Obliviousness: Is so focused on the positive things she never stops to think about the negative, like not realizing there was a very good reason the cover Legendary was scared to go into Area Zero.
• Signature Mon:
  • She's associated with the Pawmi line, which appears in most of her battles and in one case was her last Pokémon. Pawmot is also her main Sync Pair Pokémon in Pokémon Masters.
  • Her strongest Pokémon is her starter, as she almost always Terastallizes it. That being said, she has rarely been represented with her starter outside of the games. The exceptions to this include Pokémon Scale World, where she is paired with Skeledirge, the short story After the Rain With You, which sees her with a Sprigatito that later evolves into Floragato, and the music video for Biri-Biri, where she is also shown with Sprigatito as well as Meowscarada.
  • Her team post-Mochi Mayhem has Fighting as a recurring type, referencing her passion for battling, as she will have at least two dual Fighting-types regardless of starter (Kommo-o and Pawmot), with Quaquaval (if the player started with Sprigatito) or Infernape (if the player started with Fuecoco) as a third part-Fighting party member. She will also trade a pure Fighting-type Combat Breed Paldean Tauros, which she also was shown to own from the game intro, and in Pokémon: Paldean Winds, with the player in the League Club.
• Spoiled Sweet: While it is confirmed late in the game during the Area Zero expedition that Nemona comes from a wealthy family, she doesn't mention much about it due to her older sister being expected to take over the family business, as well as how she does not match the typical personality of an upper-class and refined rich girl. Even her parents were hands-off with her upbringing, allowing her to do as she pleased. Although, Arven points out how she refers to her parents as "Mother" and "Father", highlighting a bit of a formal upbringing that tends to be characteristic of upscale families.
• Stalker without a Crush: Repeatedly and rather unconvincingly argues that it's just a coincidence that she keeps showing up at Gym locations before the player character does, but it's pretty clear she is very invested in their progress as a trainer and hopes for them to become the perfect outlet for her battle fervor, and any actual crushes on her part remain ambiguous.
• Student Council President: Is the Academy's student body president, which helps to explain how she pulled some strings to get the player their Tera Orb early.
• Teen Genius: When it comes to Pokémon battling she is this, being the youngest trainer in Paldea's history to attain Champion rank (presumably a year before the events of the game's story). The isolation this caused her leads to her wanting the player character, likewise referred to as an adolescent, to also become a Champion so she can have a friend who treats her as an equal and can challenge her as a trainer. Notably she does not particularly like being called gifted at battling, a "whiz," etc. (at least when such terms are used as an excuse to not battle her) as she works hard and asserts it doesn't all come naturally to her.
• Tomboyish Ponytail: She wears her hair in a ponytail, and she's an outgoing, active girl who practically lives for Pokémon battles.
• Tomboy with a Girly Streak: She is an active battle maniac with a soft spot for fluffy things, which include Penny's Eevee backpack and the player's Skwovet plush at home. She is also willing to not only wear a fancy dress, but challenge Gym Leader Clay while wearing said fancy dress in a wealthy gettogether, according to her League Club conversation with Lacey.
• Town Girls: She serves as the butch in her friend groups, being the most tomboyish of the girls:
  • In the main story, she's the Butch to Juliana's Femme and Penny's Neither.
  • In ''Mochi Mayhem', she is the butch to Penny's Neither and Carmine's Femme.
• Triumphant Reprise: Her theme during your final battle in Victory Road is a more uplifting variation of her usual theme to signify how much she has longed to have an all-out battle against you.
• The Unfavorite: Played with in regards to how her parents prefer to focus on her older sister as the heiress expected to take over their father's Rotom Phone company while allowing Nemona to do as she pleased. There is also no strong indication of being close with her parents as Nemona simply remarks on letting the housekeeper know of her impending absence when preparing for the trip to Kitakami during Mochi Mayhem without even mentioning a family member. However, Nemona appears to be allowed to be part of wealthy parties, which would be part of her family's world, as it is indicated in her League Club conversation with Lacey that she was part of the same fancy party as her father, Clay, when the latter recalls of her audacity of openly challenging him to a battle while wearing a fancy dress and impressing him because of it.
• The Unreveal: We never get to see what her previous Pokémon Champion team is like beyond mentions of it at the start of the story^noteShe is briefly seen using a Paldean Tauros at the prologue cutscene introducing the players to the world of Pokémon, which she will trade to the player when in Blueberry Academy. Pokémon: Paldean Winds also features her using a Paldean Tauros, as well as a Kilowattrel. The team she has throughout the game is a team she built up against the Player Character. However, it could be possible that the Dudunsparce and Orthworm she has in the final battle with the player may be from her previous teams, seeing that she didn't have either Pokémon in prior battles. There are also the Pokémon that can be found in her house, but if they're actually hers, it's more likely that they're for companionship rather than battling.
• Willfully Weak:
  • Nemona is stated to be a Champion rank trainer by Principal Clavell at the start of the game, but upon meeting the Player, she chooses to start out training one of the starter mons weak against the Player's own to be mindful and be on equal levels with them. While she initially has to be reminded to not use one of her regular team members in her first match with the protagonist, in future matches she goes to great lengths to face them with a team that matches the level she thinks they are currently at as a trainer, even delaying a match at one point so she can pick out the members of her team more carefully.
  • Geeta later reveals that she believes that Nemona was holding back her true strength even when they battled during her Champion Assessment.
• Yearning for a Nemesis: She spends the entire "Victory Road" storyline trying to build up the protagonist as a proper rival for herself, as she's long wanted a friend who could be close to her in age but also her equal as a trainer (and as the youngest Champion on record in the region, she had no such peers). When the player character is finally, finally able to climb that mountain and face her at her team's full strength, she's bursting with excitement after losing their match.
• Youthful Freckles: She has some freckles on top of her nose if seen closely and appears to be around the same age as the child player character.

Arven (Pepper)

Arven / Pepper (ペパー pepaa)

Voiced by: Henry Mason (Pokémon: Paldean Winds - EN), Makoto Furukawa (Pokémon: Paldean Winds - JP)

An upperclassman at the academy and a good friend of the player. While he's not much of a battler (at least according to himself), he is an accomplished cook. He invites the player to follow him in the Path of Legends to search for Herba Mystica.

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• Ambiguously Absent Parent: He's Professor Sada/Turo's son, but where his other parent is is never explicitly addressed beyond a note from the professor stating the other parent left soon after Arven was born.
• Ambiguously Bi: He frequently butts in when other characters talk about their relationships with the protagonist, and he gets very nervous about asking if he can come visit the player character at their house. He also expresses some initial jealousy towards meeting Kieran and insists that he’s the protagonist’s best friend. This happens regardless of whether the main character is a boy or girl.
• And I Must Scream: Downplayed; when Pecharunt possesses him during the Mochi Mayhem epilogue, Kieran observes that Arven actually looks a bit embarrassed at the dance he's being forced to do, implying that he (and by extension, most of Pecharunt's victims) is not doing it by choice. That said, he also claims to not remember what happened after he's snapped out of it.
• Bait-and-Switch: His response to Penny complaining about her over-affectionate father who calls her Pen-Pen and always wants to spend time with her. Justified given his Parental Abandonment.
  Arven: That must be terrible... having a daughter like you.
• Beef Gate: Don't be too quick to challenge Arven immediately after beating Path of Legends. If you do so after hearing about his "lacking battle skills" and expect him to be a cakewalk after the Titans, you're in for a nasty shock. Not only does he test you with a varied, deadly, and very high-level team, his ace counters all three of the Paldean starters with its move selection. If you can't beat Arven at the top of his game, then you're definitely not ready for Area Zero.
• Book Dumb: Aside from Director Clavell outright telling Arven that he needs to get his grades up significantly if he wants any hope of graduating, Arven has... a couple moments. Notably, when the protagonists descend into Area Zero, he misremembers "research station" as "radish ration". And the entire Path of Legends storyline exists because he read about a Panacea in a two-century-old book that's widely considered to be fiction. He's lucky he lives in a universe on the idealism side of the scale.
• Butt-Monkey: Out of the main group, he gets the least respect, with even the protagonist able to occasionally indulge in this. For example, they can claim not to remember him when meeting him the second time, Nemona and Penny tend to take cracks at him, and when Clavell is congratulating the four of them after the main story, he goes out of his way to comment that Arven is greatly lacking in the credits needed to graduate. He even gets it from Mr. Saguaro, who accidentally outs Arven (who happens to be sitting right in front of him) as a student who came to him looking for advice over being unable to get the desired effectiveness out of his sandwiches.
• Chaste Hero: Implied. When Carmine tries to get Arven to tell her about any "special feelings" he has for any of his friends, Arven obliviously describes how flying on Koraidon/Miraidon's back was a special feeling. Carmine marvels at how innocent his mind is.
• Chef of Iron: He's an enthusiastic cook who also shows no hesitation in helping the player confront the massive Titan Pokémon, and is a much better battler than he lets on. The Pokémon he uses over the course of the "Path of Legends" storyline also have a cooking theme between them.
• Cosmic Plaything: Arven was not born lucky, and is arguably the one who was dealt the worst cards in life out of the main cast. One of Arven's parents walks out on their family soon after his birth, never to be seen again. His other parent barely spent any time with him, too busy with their research, and later turns out to have been Dead All Along, so Arven is left parentless by the end of the game. He even has to watch the replacement AI bearing his parent's likeness also leave, never to be seen again. To top it off, his Mabosstiff and only Best Friend was severely injured in an incident in Area Zero, and it's implied it's been in a highly diminished state for a long time before it's healed with the Herba Mystica. Despite that, Arven often gets treated with little respect and even gets the worst grades at school. Dude just can't get a break.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: Arven shows shades of this in Mochi Mayhem, demanding to know who Kieran is and what his relation is to Florian/Juliana, as well as making it clear he plans to prove he is Florian/Juliana's true best friend and that he sees Kieran as an untrustworthy interloper. He does apologize for acting that way in the end... not that Kieran ever notices his animosity.
• Cuteness Proximity: Arven seems to have a soft spot for cute things; his Rotom Phone case features flowers and a Floette, and during the battle with Titan Orthworm he says that its face was adorable and that he didn't expect it to be "such a little cutie". There's also a chance that he views the player as adorable, given how he refers to them as "little buddy", while he calls the similarly short Penny the much more derogative "pipsqueak".
• Determinator: He'll stop at nothing to ensure that his Mabosstiff fully recovers after his experience in Area Zero, which motivates him to seek out the Herba Mystica.
• Deuteragonist: He is the other protagonist of the "Path of Legends" storyline, which focuses on him seeking mythical ingredients guarded by Titan Pokémon. He can also be considered as such for "The Way Home", as it revolves around entering Area Zero to find his parent, while Nemona and Penny are just there as backup.
• Defrosting Ice King: A significant case with the player character. On the very first encounter, Arven is fairly unpleasant and haughty, but past his second encounter with the player he becomes a lot friendlier and is always nice from then on to the player. Zigzagged Trope with Nemona and Penny, although it's mutual as Penny also occasionally says inconsiderate things, and Nemona does lack tact.
• Disappeared Dad: Professor Turo is his biological father in the Violet version and has been gone throughout his childhood, so Arven pretty much had to raise himself. Unfortunately for Arven, he finds out that his father has been gone for an entirely different reason. Even in Scarlet, his dad is stated to have simply "walked out" in one of the notebooks in Area Zero.
• Dual Boss: Battles you together with Penny after being brainwashed by Pecharunt in Mochi Mayhem.
• Edible Theme Naming: Pepper, his Japanese name, can either be pepper, a common cooking spice, or short for peppermint, either way tying nicely to his cooking skills. His English name is a reference to Mentha arvensis or a type of mint.
• Find the Cure!: His motivation during the Path of Legends is to try to cure his Mabosstiff, who had been grievously injured in the Paldean Crater to the point that nothing seems to be capable of curing it. Thankfully, the Herba Mysticas, which he had been hoping would be the cure, are able to do the trick.
• Fire-Forged Friends: His final team, save for his ace Mabosstiff, is entirely comprised of every Pokémon he uses against the Titans^noteThe Shellder used against the Stony Cliff Titan, the Nacli used against the Open Sky Titan, the Toedscool used against the Lurking Steel Titan, the Scovillain used against the Quaking Earth Titan and the Greedent used against the Dragon Titan (the latter is probably the Skwovet he first uses against the player too), now fully evolved. And it is a very balanced team too, not bad for someone "not good at battling".
• Hates Their Parent: Arven deeply resents Sada/Turo for being obsessed with their job and never being there for him.
• Heroes Love Dogs: His best friend and partner is his Mabosstiff, and said pup getting injured is his motivation to find the Herba Mystica to cure him.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: Arven, suffering from abandonment issues from his parent's absence and feeling helpless after Mabosstiff was crippled, frequently puts himself down. This is most evident in his Pokémon battling, as he constantly states he's got no battling skills, but by the end of his story path, he has helped the player take down five Titan Pokémon and has a well-balanced team that's stronger than those of Elite Four members with his ace, Mabosstiff, having a counter for each possible starter and being at an even higher level than the ace of the Top Champion prior to the postgame.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: If Florian is chosen, Arven will proclaim to be his best friend during Mochi Mayhem.
• Hidden Depths: While he comes off like an abrasive Jerkass, it gradually becomes clear Arven suffers from deep abandonment issues caused by his parent obsessively focusing on their research, and struggles to connect with other people because of it. His attachment to his Mabosstiff is revealed to be in large because it was the only close relation he had growing up.
• Hiding Behind Your Bangs: The asocial type. Arven's bangs hide his right eye and he has a reclusive personality and initially shows no interest in the player.
• Informed Flaw: Both officially and of his own opinion, he's supposedly not a very good battler. In practice, he does a really good job tackling the Titans with you, even though he's using Pokémon he caught on the spot. By the end of his storyline, his catches have turned into a complete, very efficient team; he's treated as just as capable as the others during their trek through Area Zero; and in the Academy Ace Tournament, his team outlevels the entire teaching staff minus Elite Four member Hassel, who he's on par with... but he still calls himself mediocre at battling.
• In Touch with His Feminine Side: He loves to cook and is a talented chef, has long, flowing locks of hair, and loves cute things, which is shown by his phone case (pastel colors, flowers, and a Floette) and his reaction to Titan Orthworm or the player character (who he calls "Little Buddy"). He's also in touch with his emotions and is not afraid to cry, and he has a very caring and protective streak, mostly shown towards his Mabosstiff. If the player chooses Juliana, all three of his closest friends are girls.
• Jerkass to One: He's normally nice and polite to the player, but he coldly and snidely refers to Koraidon/Miraidon as "the brute". The reason for this is because he partially blames it for taking away his mom/dad's attention further away from him due to the circumstances in which it came from. Thankfully, The Path of Legends and The Way Home storylines have him gradually warm up to it again.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Downplayed on the jerk part. Arven initially comes off as rather abrasive and rude, especially to the game's box legendary, but he becomes more sympathetic when he reveals his motivation for seeking the Herba Mystica: he needs them to try to heal his critically wounded Mabosstiff. Plus, with all of his bad traits, he's still a noble person, as when one of the Titan Pokémon, Bombidier, is tossing huge boulders down a cliff, Arven wants to stop it to prevent innocent bystanders from getting hurt.
• Locked Out of the Loop: In The Indigo Disk, after the main story is cleared, the player meets up with Arven's dad/mom at Kitakami's Crystal Pool, but they never tell him about meeting them at all. All you get from talking to Arven after the event is over is him thinking that the original Scarlet Book in your possession must be the copy from the academy's main hall lent to you.
• Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Part of his design. While not particularly effeminate, Arven has a long, full head of soft hair which he wears loose, contrasting Penny's Boyish Short Hair and Nemona's Tomboyish Ponytail. He does also have a rather pretty face. His long eyelashes notably add to the aesthetic.
• Malaproper: He occasionally misinterprets words he hears, such as calling research stations "radish rations" and thinking that Penny wants "sauce" with her vegetable when she asks for his source about some health facts he relays.
• Meaningful Name: In the Japanese version, his name is Pepper. Pepper is one of the most common spices in the world, making it a fitting name for a chef.
• Missing Mom: Professor Sada is his biological mother in the Scarlet version and has been missing throughout his childhood, meaning Arven basically had to raise himself. Unfortunately for Arven, he finds out that his mother has been gone for an entirely different reason. Even in Violet, his mom is stated to have simply "walked out" in a notebook in Area Zero.
• Mons as Characterization: His final team at the end of the Path of Legends storyline (which he also uses in the Academy Ace tournament) are, save for his ace Mabosstiff, themed after food, which reflects his love of cooking: Cloyster is an oyster, Scovillain is pepper, Garganacl is salt, Toedscruel is mushrooms, and Greedent is known as a Big Eater that hunts and stores berries.
• Non-Action Guy: According to the official site, he's not very good at battling, and the player will need to help him out during the journey. This turns out to be entirely his Heroic Self-Deprecation speaking, however: not only does he help you take on all 5 titans, he proves entirely competent as an opponent after the fact, as well, serving as a climax boss for his story arc. His Signature Mon is even specially tailored to counter all three fully evolved starters (Fire Fang or Play Rough for Meowscarada, Crunch for Skeledirge, and Psychic Fangs or Play Rough for Quaquaval).
• The One Guy: If Juliana is chosen as the protagonist, then Arven will be the only male member of the main group.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: He's far from an incompetent Trainer, but when his best friends include a Champion-ranked battle maniac, a genius hacker, and the player character (who will also become an accomplished Champion-ranked trainer), he sometimes feels like the only things he has to bring to the table are his lineage (which if anything puts more pressure on him) and his cooking hobby. Plus, he may have the worst grades of the group. Post-game, he starts developing a bit of a second banana complex and wants to find himself.
• Parental Abandonment: Depending on the version, he either has a Disappeared Dad or a Missing Mom. In Scarlet, he is the son of Professor Sada, and his father left shortly after he was born. In Violet, he is the son of Professor Turo, and his mother is the one who left. It's unclear if his absent parent in each version is the same one acting as the main parent in the other. Either way, his professor parent is also absent due to being constantly away on research, to the point where Arven hasn't heard from them in years beyond occassional emails. Then it turns out the professor has died fairly recently. Even their robot copy, whom Arven briefly treats like his parent, has to abandon him for the sake of Paldea.
• Parental Neglect: Due to Professor Sada/Turo's obsession with their research, his parent came to heavily neglect him.
• Platonic Life-Partners: If Juliana is chosen, Arven will proclaim to be her best friend during the Mochi Mayhem.
• Signature Mon: His ace is his Mabosstiff. It's been his closest companion since childhood, as his parents were never around, and his goal in the Path of Legends is feeding it Herba Mystica to gradually heal the injuries it sustained in Area Zero.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Arven shares the colors of his pale brown hair with Professor Sada/Turo. He also inherited Sada's eye and skin color and Turo's eyebrows and facial structure.
• Supreme Chef: He's mentioned to be very good at cooking, his official artwork depicts him holding a Tamato Berry, and the official site claims he's developing healthy recipes specifically for Pokémon. This is justified because of Parental Abandonment, as Arven often found himself forced to cook his own meals while Sada/Turo were constantly absent due to research. At the very end of the game, after finding himself in a rut and unsure of what his future holds, he finally decides to go all in on his hobby and work to become a real chef.
• Trauma Conga Line: From the start to the end of the game, an incident with the friendly Raidon caused his professor parent to hole themselves up in Area Zero for several years, leaving Arven with Mabosstiff to raise himself (their other parent having abandoned the family when Arven was a newborn), then he and Mabosstiff go to Area Zero which ends with the latter getting borderline mortally wounded, causing Arven to look for any sort of treatment until he stumbles upon the Herba Mystica, which thankfully becomes a success. Then Sada/Turo tells him to go to Area Zero, only for everyone to discover that they're dead and they've been speaking to a robotic copy this whole time since the Treasure Hunt started. To top it all off, the AI professor has to leave Arven for good since that's the only way to turn off the time machine causing the main conflict, meaning he had to learn his mother/father died and then essentially watch it happen again.
• Unknown Rival: Winds up being this to Kieran during Mochi Mayhem for the title of the player's true best friend, as while Arven does apologize for any slights, Kieran fails to notice any of them in the first place.
• What the Hell, Hero?: In Area Zero, he calls out Penny for badmouthing her father. While Arven's parents abandoned him and Nemona remarks hers largely ignore her in favor of her sister, Penny's complaint is that her father always wants to spend time with her and gives her affectionate nicknames. Arven's response is to say how terrible that must be to have a daughter like her.

Penny (Botan) (Unmarked Spoilers)

Penny / Botan (ボタン botan)

Voiced by: Courtney Lin (Pokémon Masters - EN), Misato Fukuen (Pokémon Masters - JP)

A shy girl in the same grade as the player. She doesn't come to class very often and is quite attached to her Eevee backpack. She is involved in ★ Starfall Street ★'s Operation Starfall to forcefully disband Team Star, though there is more to her than meets the eye...

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• Affectionate Nickname:
  • According to her, her father calls her "Pen-Pen".
  • She also calls her Pokémon (who are all Eeveelutions) "Veevee".
  • She gives the various leaders of Team Star nicknames, calling Giacomo "Momo", Mela "Mellie" and Ortega "Ortie".
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Complains about her father smothering her and calling her "Pen-pen". Arven (a blatant victim of Parental Abandonment) expresses pity for her loving father for having a daughter that describes him so badly, to Penny's annoyance.
• Ambiguously Bi: She states that Florian/Juliana's mother is "so pretty [her] brain glitched". She also calls Carmine pretty when she interacts with her in the League Club, though she makes it clear this was not meant to be a compliment. On the other hand she is also driven to distraction by Atticus's good looks when he's not dressed up in funky ninja gear.
• Ambiguously Related: Between their similar names in both English and Japanese, her dad using the term "Adven-tour", Penny describing him as "ultra-mega annoying", and both being from Galar, it is implied that Penny's dad is Peony, and by extension that Peonia is her sister and Chairman Rose is her uncle.
• Birds of a Feather:
  • During Mochi Mayhem, she's quick to connect with Kieran, since both of them are introverts and they both decided to take a break from school for stressful reasons. Ironically, they want to get through their introvertness in their League Club conversations.
  • Surprisingly, with Hugh in Pokémon Masters. Both of them have pasts that involved taking their Revenge too far.
  • She has something in common with N himself, as both of them are trying to atone for their misdeeds with the help of friends.
• Boyish Short Hair: She's a snarky computer expert and has the shortest hair of the rivals.
• Brains and Brawn:
  • As a smart STEM-enrolled student, she's the Brains to Nemona's active battle-loving Brawn.
  • Later, in Pokémon Masters, when dealing with Team Break kidnapping an Eevee, she serves as the Brains (tries to formulate a plan) to Hugh's Brawn (rushes in without thinking of a plan).
• British Stuffiness: Originally from Galar, and the reserved, snarky, at times openly impatient and critical Straight Man in the face of Nemona's naïve upbeatness and Arven's awkwardness. She's also bothered by the box Legendary's attempts to be friendly with her (although one can't blame a person her size for being wary of a huge powerful dragon face-licking them like a big affectionate dog).
• Broken Pedestal: While she's initially happy to meet the professor, she quickly loses that admiration after learning about their Parental Neglect and how they let Paradox Pokémon like Great Tusk/Iron Treads roam around Paldea.
• Brutal Honesty: After the events of the Starfall Street plot reveal her real personality, it's shown that Penny's a lot more blunt than she lets on.
• Call-Back: In Pokémon Masters, she mentions being from Galar but she doesn't know much about tourist spots because of her Hikikomori attitude. However, she does mention that she heard about "some ruins getting destroyed" (likely referring to the Stow-on-Side mural that was destroyed by Bede).
• Character Development: She tries to go through this herself in Pokémon Masters, where she attempts to become more sociable with other Eevee trainers but can't do much (initially) due to being a Shrinking Violet.
  Penny: I'm a Veevee...with infinite potential...
• Character Tics: She tends to gently tap her forehead with her fist when she's thinking.
• Color Motif: Grey, based on her hoodie, shorts, and leggings, reflecting her gloomy personality. It also reflects that her intentions on creating a group rebels to fight against the bullies were on the grey side. She also illegally procures rewards for the player's fight against Team Star by hacking into the Pokémon League, making her a grey hat hacker.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: With Silver, the rival character of Gold and Silver. Both characters have a connection to the evil team and are redheaded. But their character is entirely different.
  • Silver (at first) is known to be very selfish and cruel, especially with his treatment towards both the player character Gold (or Ethan and Lyra in HeartGold and SoulSilver), with an absolute obsession of getting stronger, as shown when he was able to curb-stomp all trainers in the Victory Road. Cassiopeia/Penny, on the other hand, is neither of these traits, who is a shy, gentle introvert; but after the reveal that she is Team Star's leader Cassiopeia she's much ruder than her initial appearance, but by no means she is within the lines of Silver's overt jerkassery and cruelty.
  • Unlike Silver who is openly a Blood Knight when it comes to battling, Penny is the exact opposite to him. Silver predominantly uses Dark, Poison, Steel, Ghost and Psychic types alongside his starter Pokémon while Penny uses all of the Eeveelutions.
  • Silver develops a significant Inferiority Superiority Complex after witnessing Giovanni, his father, losing at the hands of Red and desires to be stronger, at the cost of doing questionable acts. On the other hand, Penny's antagonism towards her father all boils down to her being embarrassed by his smothering.
  • They also develop some criminal traits on the line before their redemption. Silver committed a regular thuggish act by stealing a starter inside Elm's Research Lab, while Penny is a more intricate hacker who is able to illegally hack the Pokémon League's systems.
  • While Silver hates Team Rocket a lot after being defeated by Red and sees them as weak, Penny is the leader of Team Star as Cassiopeia who instead protects her fellow members from being expelled.
  • Silver is a solo rival working actively on his own, while Penny (as Cassiopeia) has the entire Team Star on her side.
• The Cracker: She's skilled enough to hack into the Pokémon League.
• Cultural Rebel: She's from Galar, which is pretty much a region of extroverted jock types (the Galar Pokémon League is basically a sports league for Pokemon battles). One might wonder if that was one of the reasons why she enrolled as a transfer student at Naranja/Uva Academy.
• Cuteness Proximity:
  • When exploring Area Zero with the others, depending on the version she either comes across a Scream Tail (Scarlet) or Iron Bundle (Violet), believing it's either a Jigglypuff or Delibird respectively, and talks about how cute it is, wanting to get closer to it. She also packs a full team of Eeveelutions, and all of them know Baby-Doll Eyes, suggesting a fondness for cute things in general. Finally, even her backpack is more adorable than the other characters' bags, since it's a ridiculously fluffy Eevee bag.
  • In the "Veevee on Pasio!" event in Pokémon Masters, she's infatuated over seeing all the Eevee from other trainers while trying to socialize (that is, standing far away and looking like a stalker). In her Sync Pair story, she practically gushes thinking about all her Eevee and finds it especially adorable whenever one of them nudges into her.
• The Cynic: She is quick to point out the many wrong things that happen around her, especially when she tags along with the rest of the student companions in Area Zero where it's almost endless snarking to their quirky antics.
• Deadpan Snarker: In the late game, she quite often gives witty remarks and comments to other characters, particularly Arven.
  Arven: Wait a second—where's the student council girl?!
  Penny: Wha—? She's gone! You don't think she...?
  Nemona: E-everyone! You have to see this! Area Zero is AMAZING! Come on already!
  Penny: I guess your Ability would be Own Tempo, huh...
• Distinctive Appearances: Her short blue hair has red bangs, she has a large Eevee backpack, and she doesn't wear a standard school uniform, making her stand out from the rest of the cast. Not wearing the school uniform also gives a big hint on her actual role as Cassiopeia, as who else would rebel against school uniform, if not the rebel group leader herself?
• Doting Parent: She makes a comment about having one. It puts her at a bit of friction with Arven, who's jealous that her father cares way more than his parent has.
• Dual Boss: Battles you together with Arven after being brainwashed by Pecharunt in Mochi Mayhem.
• Duality Motif: She has red and blue hair and her leggings have alternating red plus signs and blue minus signs. This hints that there are two sides to her: her shy, reclusive exterior, and a snippy, sarcastic interior.
• Eating the Eye Candy: Regarding Atticus, her train of thought is interrupted when he removes his mask and Penny is astounded at how good he looks.
  Wait, no, focus!
• Embarrassing Nickname: She mentions that her father likes to call her "Pen-pen", which she finds embarrassing. Funnily enough, she refers to some of her Pokémon (all of which are Eeveelutions) as "Veevee".
• Fangirl: She mentions in Pokémon Masters that's she's a big fan of Eevees and when she was little, she wanted to become a Poke Kid like Eve is (and is implied to still want to don an Eevee costume).
• Frustrated Overhead Scribble: Sports some scribbles in one scene as Geeta leads her out to do some "volunteer" work.
• Gamer Chick: Not surprisingly, she's this. In Mochi Mayhem, she quickly is excited when visiting the player's room and asks them what games they have on their Nintendo Switch, and she even tries to get them to play games at Kitakami's community center.
• Genre Savvy: She frequently mentions "horror movie tropes" during the Mochi Mayhem epilogue.
• Girls Love Stuffed Animals: She always has her fluffy Gigantamax Eevee backpack.
• Hates Their Parent: During the trek through Area Zero, she mentions that she doesn't get along with her father, finding him annoying, embarrassing, and overprotective.
• Held Back in School: After the events of the main story, she tells the player in Pokémon Masters that she'll have to repeat a year for all the trouble she caused as Team Star's leader and because she didn't take classes seriously.
• Hidden Depths: In the "Veevee on Pasio!" event Pokémon Masters, she comments how she used to want to be a Poke Kid when she was a child.
• Hikikomori: She used to actively avoid social interaction by holing herself up in her room with all her Eevee, though she's slowly trying to be more sociable after the events of the main story.
• Hypocritical Humor: She complains about her dad calling her "Pen-Pen," but she refers to her Pokémon as "Veevees."
• In the Hood: In Mochi Mayhem, she gets possessed by Pecharunt, and when battling the player and Kieran with Arven, her animation has her dramatically lifting off the hood doing the cliche she saw from horror movies.
• Kids Hate Vegetables: While Penny's exact age is unknown, a conversation between her and Arven in the League Club has her mention that she avoids eating vegetables altogether. Arven calls her out on this and insists that she eats them for her health.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: Her inclusion in Masters barely tries to hide her position as the founder and true leader of Team Star.
• Limited Wardrobe: Every other student at the academy will wear outfits that represent either version of the game. In her case, though, she only has one outfit across both versions that isn't affected by the version's predominant color.
• Meaningful Name: Her Japanese name, Botan, can be translated in Russian as a "nerd" who struggles in sports and has bad social skills — which perfectly fits her. Botan is also the name of a programming library, which fits with Penny's computer skills. Lastly, in Japanese, it's another name for the peony flower, which ties into her Ambiguously Related relationship with Peony.
• Mistaken for Thief: In her Pokémon Masters story event, Hugh mistakes her for a Team Break thief when he and Bianca find her awkwardly staring at all the other Eevee trainers from a distance (that was her way to "socialize").
• Mons as Characterization: She has a great love for Eevee, which shows her warmer side beneath her shy exterior; not only does she wear an Eevee-shaped backpack, but her entire team is made up of said Pokémon's numerous different evolutions.
• Nonconformist Dyed Hair: Her hair is dyed blue and red, and she's often truant from school. And it doesn't get more "nonconformist" in a school setting than Cassiopeia, leader of the delinquents in Team Star.
• No Social Skills: Her shyness in addition to her more blunt side means she struggles to talk to people properly.
• Odd Friendship: Develops one with the Hot-Blooded Hugh and the friendly, outgoing Bianca in Masters.
• Only Sane Woman: From the four children, she's the sanest one of the bunch. The player character is a fearless kid who doesn't mind much the big question mark of a Pokémon they have with them, Nemona is a very excitable Genki Girl and too much of a Blood Knight, and Arven is too passionate and brash. Penny herself points out her sanity when she travels to Area Zero with the group.
• Otaku: She mentions a desire to binge watch all the anime she missed at the end of the game. Her room is also full of figurines and manga.
• Pillars of Moral Character: Believes heavily in repaying debts of honor, stating that owing the protagonist is the main reason she agrees to go to Area Zero. Arven notes she's surprisingly old-fashioned about this.
• Proper Tights with a Skirt: She has a transparent skirt and wears both shorts and grey leggings under it.
• Puppy-Dog Eyes: Every single one of her Eeveelutions knows the move "Baby-Doll Eyes". A large part of her strategy involves using up to two uses with each of her Eeveelutions as her opening moves to debuff your physical attack stat before going on the offensive. Alternatively, however, Pokémon Masters implies that they all know that move because of her Cuteness Proximity towards all of them.
• Rank Scales with Asskicking: She's the Big Boss of Team Star and not only the strongest member, but one of the strongest trainers in Paldea period.
• Recruiting the Criminal: This is essentially what happens after Penny confesses to having hacked the League Points system to steal and distribute LP. Instead of facing serious punishment like she expects, she's praised for her outstanding talents and asked to do some volunteer engineering to waive her debts. It's implied in the post-game that there's nothing voluntary about this, however, as when Geeta shows up asking her to patch the system vulnerabilities and Penny tries to refuse, Geeta just smiles and thanks her in advance for her "willing and eager cooperation", pressuring her into the job.
• Recurring Element: Penny fills the role of a main cast member with some form of connection to the villainous team prior to the events of the game, in this case being their true leader.^note N was officially the leader of Team Plasma, but he was really just an unwitting Puppet King for its actual mastermind, Ghetsis.
• Sarcastic Devotee: Penny snarks and complains a fair bit during the trip through Area Zero in "The Way Home", but she still sticks around, helps you fight, and cheers you on regardless.
• Security Blanket: The official website states that she's very fond of her Eevee backpack and takes it everywhere with her. She also has a whole team's worth of Eeveelutions under her command should the need to battle arise.
• Shorter Means Smarter: She's roughly the same height as the player, making them the shortest characters in the group, but she's also a skilled hacker capable of easily bypassing the League's security systems in order to get LP to reward the player for taking down Star bases.
• Shrinking Violet: Her shyness is both a cause and a consequence of the bullying she received in the past, namely as far as is indicated she was not attacked or made fun of, but rather she was actively ignored to the point that she didn't want to even show up to class anymore. Her truancy allows her to manage Team Star from behind the scenes. This also turns out against her as she was unable to tell anyone about her being Cassiopeia or to get Team Star to stop what they were doing before they ended up risking getting expelled for truancy.
• Shy Blue-Haired Girl: Well, most of her hair is blue anyway, and she's a rather shy person.
• Signature Mon: Eevee and its evolutions in general. Fluffy backpack aside, her entire team is composed of them, with the Fairy-type Sylveon being her ace which she Terastallizes. Sylveon is also her partner in Masters.
• Smart People Speak the Queen's English: In the English version of Pokémon Masters, to match her British roots as a Galarian native, she speaks in a British accent and she's a smart hacker.
• Smart People Wear Glasses: She's very skilled with tech and wears glasses.
• Stoic Spectacles: She wears glasses with large frames and is very shy.
• Stronger Than They Look: The timid little introvert wearing an Eevee backpack? She's one of the strongest trainers in Paldea with Pokemon whose levels are in the same ballpark as Top Champion Greeta's.
• Sweet Tooth: She mentions loving sugar in Mochi Mayhem.
• Teacher's Pet: Played for laughs, but an interaction between her and Tyme in the League Club reveals she's her favorite student, being the top student in her classes when she attends.
• Town Girls: She serves as the neither in all of her main friend groups, not leaning strongly towards masculine or feminine:
  • For Team Star, she's the Neither to Mela's Butch and Eri's Femme.
  • If Juliana is chosen, she's the Neither to Nemona's Butch and Juliana's Femme.
  • In Pokémon Masters, she's the neither to Nemona's Butch and Bianca's Femme.
  • In ''Mochi Mayhem', she is the neither to Nemona's Butch and Carmine's Femme.
• Trash of the Titans: While her computer workspace is clean, her room is cluttered with boxes that contain anime and figures that she ordered online. In addition, her kitchen is littered with boxes of instant food. Add that to her full team of Eeveelutions allowed to lie around, and there's not much free space in there. Her bed is also noted to have a lot of shed fur from her Veevees on it.
• Walking Spoiler: The Reveal that she's the true leader of Team Star, Cassiopeia, recontextualizes everything concerning Penny as a character.
• What the Hell, Hero?: In the final dungeon, when the player's box legendary has a bad encounter with its counterpart in the Zero Lab, Nemona very insensitively wonders if it was sad for the family reunion being cut short. Penny harshly points out that Koraidon/Miraidon was terrified of its counterpart, and that things likely would have escalated into a brawl if it hadn't gotten distracted by the Zero Lab opening up.
  "Are you joking?! There was nothing heartwarming about it! We were THIS close to getting caught up in a nasty brawl!"

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