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Fanfic / Infinity Train: Cherry Bloodlines

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Read the story here or here. A three-chapter story by Crossoverpairinglover that tells the story of an alternate universe of Infinity Train: Blossomverse, merged with the writer's own universes, most prominently his signature Pokémon Reset Bloodlines.

As of 7/18/2021 it is complete.

Cross has mentioned some interest in seeing the story elaborated on, and has given the universe of Cherry Bloodlines a Stealth Prequel in the form of Ash V in Infinity Train: Branching Paths and an additional story set in it called Cherry Prince and Princess which focuses on Ash and Acerola as a semi-sequel to their interactions in Orange Lily.

This fanfic contains examples of:

  • Accidental Innuendo: In-Universe Talia keeps stumbling into them during the Pokepal swimsuit segment, much to her embarassment.
  • Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Talia's artist block in canon was one from a growing sense of tediousness, while in Blossoming Trail her relationship with her parents only soured after Chloe ran away. Here her relationship with her parents led to stress that nearly killed her artistic passion, had her on her own at age 15, and led to her brother falling in with a bad crowd and into crime.
  • Adaptation Expansion:
    • The starters we see Professor Cerise show to Goh in canon are expanded with the process for them as defined in Reset Bloodlines applied to the story.
    • Chloe has a bit of time to expand on her interest in horror and where it originated from.
    • Because of Chloe's different interests the history of the Colossus Ruins is expanded on.
    • Chloe's initial dislike of Yamper is expanded on by Ultimate Chloe, who suspects that it ultimately is the catalyst for her negative traits she has in the present day including her Fantastic Racism and parental issues.
  • Adaptation Name Change: Minor, but Miss April is instead called Mrs. April in this story.
  • Adaptational Nice Guy:
    • Gard lacks his Loving Bully behavior for unabashed kindness and is one of the few school characters who is openly nice to Chloe, serving as something of a second friend to Chloe along with Goh.
    • The girls in Chloe's class were pretty blind Sara followers until it all blew up, but with Sara gone and Lita replacing Sara they mellowed out and at Lita's prompting not only apologize to Chloe, but also genuinely try to befriend her.
  • Adapted Out:
    • Goh never finds his canon Metapod, and instead his Caterpie evolves during the bug hunt after the Beedrill swarm was battled solo.
    • Mr. Bradbury doesn't get mentioned or appear in person, thouh as Chloe does mention a writing contest he may still exist in this universe as he did in Blossoming Trail.
  • Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Several of Chloe's relationships from Blossoming Trail are tweaked for the story.
    • While Chloe still holds something of a grudge over Goh's 'hermit' phase, the two of them are genuine friends with friendly banter and empathy between the two of them.
    • While Chloe still has a lot of issues with her parents choices, compared to canon their relationship is healthier. Her parents, while still not fully aware of Chloe's internal issues, address every issue they become aware of as best as they can and are fully aware and supportive of her writing interests. Chloe meanwhile, is willing to admit she can see where they are coming from sometimes even if she greatly dislikes their decision from it.
    • Goh and Raboot don't have their same hiccup period due to Goh using Raboot in battle more and being a bit more mature enough to catch his errors. Thus Raboot jumps mostly to his later characterization without his earlier super-aloof phase.
  • Age Lift: Chloe's schoolmates are all 14-15 years old, Parker is 10, and Ash is 21.
  • Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Chloe's parents are open to having some fun teasing her and having her groan their name out.
  • Ambiguously Gay: Lita at times comes off as flirting with Chloe in her dialogue, though as it isn't explicitly mentioned and Chloe is Oblivious to Love in her point of view it is hard to say for sure.
  • Ambiguous Situation:
    • It isn't clear if Ash won his battle with Lance, and in turn if Ash or Lance battled Leon at the final round of the World Coronation Series seen in the twelfth episode of Journeys, or who won the battle.
    • Why do the Dog Monks dislike Chloe and why was the image of hers purple?
    • Why did the original Chloe go Lady Destiny and why did Grace kill her?. Ash V offered a suggested reason for this via A divergence caused by Chloe never contacting the people who helped cause her character development and dealing with the Dog Monks and their worship of Ash.
  • Aura Vision: Lita is able to see auras tied to dimensional travel. Yellow relates to Ultra Wormholes, Munna-pink the dream world, and Green is connected to the Infinity Train.
  • Badass Normal: A odd example, but at least according to Debbie Professor Cerise lacks trainer genes, meaning he doesn't have a natural affinity for Pokemon. He succeeded on his own merits and hard work, not natural affinity (and a bit of fortune for being born a bit higher on the economic-social ladder than many.
  • The Beautiful Elite: Trainers at the top level all tend to be very attractive, even ones like Melony and Alder. According to Debbie, this is due to subconscious absorption of Infinity Energy.
  • Be Careful What You Wish For: Chloe wants nothing more than for the negative attention of being Sara's attacker to go away. It does...because everyone is sucking up to her to try and win brownie points with her dad before they become trainers or get hints and help on his tests.
  • Big Bad Ensemble: The final chapter introduces two candidates for the Big Bad of the story in Skye Lobelia and Debbie.
    • Greater-Scope Villain: While Giovanni doesn't appear in person, he would be Skye's boss and responsible for every Team Rocket incident in the story. Meanwhile the Bloodliner Prince and Debbie are ultimately working together towards the same goals as partners.
    • Big Bad Wannabe: Yeardley and the classmate turned grunt in chapters 1 and 2 are the closest Chloe has to an antagonist. Both are less threatening than Skye or Debbie.
  • Big Eater:
    • Lita eats a lot.
    • Akemi also has this trait after leaving the hospital as a side-effect of her treatment. the similarity with Lita is not coincidental.
  • Canon Immigrant: The Acerola in story is based more on her Blossomingverse Counterpart than her present but mostly underexplored Reset counterpart.
  • Character Development: Chloe starts very much uninterested in her research position but comes to appreciate it more as Chapter 2 goes on. She eventually has a Snap Back over jealousy of Lita getting too involved in family activities, but she gets past it. In Chapter 3, the development unfortunately doesn't stick, and her Snap Back and eventual "fall" is fully cemented during the research trip to Debbie's berry farm.
  • Comic Books Are Real: While series like Ladybug are fictional in the Pokemon world, the world itself exists in the multiverse. There are just some difference (Sara and Chloe know of 'the Ledyba Hero and Meowth Noir' for example).
  • Crapsaccharine World: While the world has more of the cheery Anime visible than the Pocket Monsters: The Animation that the story is partially spawned from, beneath the surface is a notably problematic society that is very harsh to those without remarkable talent and with little option for many outside of dead-end jobs and crime.
  • Death by Adaptation: Blossoming Trail Chloe and Hop died in their version of the Fog Car prior to reality changing into the Cherry Bloodlines reality, both being killed by Grace.
  • Decon-Recon Switch:
    • The story takes the idea of Chloe being an active part of her father's research, one of the failings he was said to have in Blossoming Trail for not doing and makes it clear Chloe wouldn't actually like it that much. However, she eventually finds her own enjoyment in the freedom and experiences from traveling around the world.
    • Lita was described as being made to be Ash but with additional tweaks to be everything about Ash Chloe disliked but up to eleven with her being even more involved in her life than Ash could have ever been. These traits make Chloe react to her even more negatively, but in turn also make it easier for Chloe to eventually open up and be friendly with Lita.
  • Deconstructed Character Archetype: The story takes a few hard looks at Chloe Cerise from Blossoming Trail.
    • In the original Blossoming Trail Chloe was shown to be in a lot more stable position than her primary antagonists at school Sara and Yeardley as her family was shown to be a lot more healthy and stable. Here the financial divide is a bit more clear: her family situation is genuinely shown to be a lot more stable than any of her antagonists, to a point Professor Cerise even confirms that Talia works because she wants to, not because she has to, and thus a lot of people who dislike Chloe in universe see her as a Spoiled Brat whose issues are so petty compared to their own. One person even says that she has everything but refuses it out of stupidity.
    • Chloe in Blossoming Trail was frequently shown to be the smartest or the bravest in the room, and while Cherry Chloe is not a coward or an idiot it is made clear that she's just a talented young girl: both Ash and Lita can get Chloe to do things she is very hesitant to do with 'trainer charisma'. She is not so above everyone else as she likes to think she is.
    • Her issues with Pokemon in canon were seen as a thing to be teased or harassed about, often compared to liking 'the wrong things', in Blossoming Trail. Here it is outright racism on Chloe's end that Sara outright compares to homophobia that anyone who realizes she has it mocks or jeers her for such a mindset and it ultimately is what gets her captured, tortured, and on the Infinity Train.
    • Goh is treated less like an inconsiderate jerk but more of a well-meaning person who may have a mental disorder of some sort.
    • The Lobelia family is usually just presented as a rough one that, at worst, serves to give Yeardley a Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse trope or an Unintentionally Sympathetic treatment. Here the family dynamic creates an antagonist in Skye Lobelia who is a lot more dangerous than Yeardley for not just Chloe but the rest of Kanto, and it can be laid at the feet of Yeardley's jerkass father.
  • Demoted to Extra:
    • Parker, while present, has little role outside of a few scenes and is easily the least shown member of the family in chapters 1 and 2 (Yamper gets two scenes in each chapter while Parker has only one per chapter and never a scene of just him and Chloe). He ultimately doesn't appear in person at all in the final chapter.
    • Ash is not present at the Cerise Lab, though his presence is felt and when he does appear it leaves its mark as he sets up the entire divergence point in the first two chapters while in the third he confirms that the story is a Peggy Sue story just like Reset, but it had come from a A.U version of Blossoming Trail instead of canon where Chloe and Hop died in the Fog Car.
  • Famed In-Story: Ash is among the most talked about and hyped trainers in the world, talked about in the same breath as Leon and Lance. Other trainers spoken of like this include Red, Vermell, and Black.
  • Fanservice Pack: A side-effect of Debbie's self-experimenting to test the effects of Infinity Energy injections was to increase her height and various curves.
  • Fantastic Racism:
    • Chloe's dislike of Pokemon is much more prominent with her calling them "creatures" in her mind consistently even before she ends up on the Infinity Train.
    • Dislike of Bloodliners is present as well via the Kalosian bookstore owner.
  • Fatal Flaw:
    • Chloe's Poor Communication Kills tendencies are in full display and are what both feeds and creates her misery. She gets upset when she doesn't tell people what is bothering her and nothing happens and she is upset when someone else tells others what is going on and does something about it she doesn't want them to do. Ash V confirms this is what got the original Chloe killed due to her lack of contact with anyone back home and the developments for her that sparked.
    • Her Fantastic Racism against Pokemon and dislike of how the world seems to be built around trainers not only frequently is used as a reason for people like Sara to hate her, it is what indeed gets Chloe in trouble and sets up her 'fall' in the final chapter.
  • Fictional Age of Majority: At age 15 a person becomes an adult fully responsible for their actions. Many leave school at this age, either on their own volition or after being kicked out by their parents.
  • First-World Problems: In-Universe, this forms part of Debbie's "The Reason You Suck" Speech in the last chapter of the fic. Chloe's problems arise from resenting the role of Pokemon in society, and being unsure of what she actually wants to do in the future. She does come to enjoy the research trips her father sends her on, but she still feels affronted that those trips still need to revolve around Pokemon, or that there's such a presumption that she'll be following in her father's footsteps. While these are legitimate issues, Debbie points out that while she whines about her trips around the world not being as fulfilling as she would like, or being "stuck" in her father's lab with nothing to do, the rest of her class- the children Chloe see as bullies, leeches, or simply "different" from her- have to worry about being kicked out of the house by their fifteenth birthday. Debbie even draws a comparison with Jon Snow's situation in A Song of Ice and Fire, whose problems stemmed from being The Unfavorite in "The most kind and moral family in the top 10% of the population of his world." Chloe finds it rather hard to refute this argument... though admittedly, it's a bit hard to formulate your best arguments while trapped inside a mindscape and being prepared for a Mind Rape.
  • Freudian Excuse: The adult members of the Cerise Family all have one regarding how Chloe is handled.
    • Professor Cerise's is that he doesn't have one. His childhood was so perfect, to a point Talia calls it traumaless, with the manner that he was raised working so well for him that he literally cannot comprehend that there could be a problem with how Chloe is receiving it.
    • Talia's parents fully embraced Hands-Off Parenting with her and her brother Serot, which left both of them without structure or support. This led to Talia's near artist burnout and Serot's criminal behavior. Her negative experiences, along with how well Professor Cerise's childhood went for him, is why she and Professor Cerise parent Chloe in the midst of her troubles the way they do.
    • Talia's parents themselves have their own reasons for their parenting choices. Talia's father was a veteran of the Ranger Wars whose experiences left him with an extremely negative reaction to extensive structure and control. Talia's mother had her own experiences that led to her to the same conclusions, though Talia doesn't know the details.
    • Sara, while not related, implies that her issues with Chloe came from a book report where Chloe's hatred of Pokemon flared up almost like homophobia. However Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse is also applicable, as Sara's bullying of Chloe did not seem to really play that up much and her actions to Parker clearly crossed a line. It is possible this clarity was also something Sara only came up with while on the train and her 'reason' was less clear to her back in Vermillion.
    • Skye was kicked out of her home at age 15 by her father and made to 'toughen up', which for her meant joining Team Rocket and advancing the ranks. The experience left her notably unhinged and with several chips on her shoulder.
    • Debbie's mother was hinted to be an uncaring mad woman interested in taking over the world via mind control, who ultimately did influence Debbie's own world views even as Debbie's specific views were forged as a result of trying to remedy the ailments all of her children faced.
  • Fusion Fic: Between Blossoming Trail and two of Cross's own works: Pokémon Reset Bloodlines and the Shudo cross Modern Ash series.
  • Heroic Bastard: It is all but said that Lita's parents were not married, yet Lita herself is a kind, moral, and genuinely well intentioned trainer.
  • Hero of Another Story:
    • Ash may not be in the Cerise Institute storyline, but he's had quite a few adventures to his name as it seems.
    • Sara is on the Infinity Train and is on her adventures together with Waspinator.
  • Hero Worship: The Dog Monks of the Hall of Heroes Car 'literally' worship heroes throughout the multiverse to a scary degree.
  • Human Shield: What truly causes Chloe to 'fall' in the final chapter is her reflexively grabbing a Caterpie to use a human shield against Skye. Chloe herself is horrified she did this.
  • Huge Schoolgirl: Lita is at least six feet tall and a Statuesque Stunner.
  • Irony:
    • For all of Renji's fear of horror, Chloe suspects that his own collection of V.H.S tapes introduced her to the concept.
    • It is an trip that Chloe herself wants and gets arranged that ultimately screws her over and gets her onto the Infinity Train.
    • Once again Akemi is an Unwitting Instigator of Doom. Even more so this time, as they have a longer period to become friends than in the original story and she ultimately only fuels Chloe's biases than accidentally starts a conversation that leads to her battling Ash.
    • Chloe has 'trainer genes'', genes that are able to absorb Infinity Energy and are frequently found in those with natural affinity for Pokemon. This is despite Chloe's hatred of them, and in fact she naturally possesses them, while Goh gained an affinity through sheer exposure and doesn't naturally have them. Even more so, it is implied that Chloe inherited these genes from her mother, not Professor Cerise.
  • Later-Installment Weirdness: There are a few differences between this story and other Blossoming Trail styled stories.
  • I Am Not Pretty: Chloe has body image issues, though they seem to be entirely based from comparing herself to others and the actions of her more brutal classmates than anything in reality if Lita is to be believed.
  • Massive Numbered Siblings:
    • While not said directly in story, anyone familiar with Reset would know that Lita's resemblance to Ash is not coincidental, and that she is one of many paternal half-siblings he has. A number of them are mentioned or referenced in story, though Lita herself seems unaware of this relation.
    • Debbie has eight children, though we only meet one of them in Trinidad.
  • Motherly Scientist: Debbie is quite proudly a mother and her children and helping children is a motivation for her actions. It's just....she goes a little too far....
  • Mysterious Past: Lita keeps her history a bit mum. What is known is her mother, named Mari Allegro, studied alternate dimensions and their interactions and among her studies included the Infinity Train itself. Chapter 2 implies that something happened to Mari Allegro in the last year, which the third chapter confirms to her being stuck on the Infinity Train itself. Her father is noted to be completely absent in her life.
  • Mythology Gag: A number of Reset Bloodlines related elements, unrelated to the direct story, get referenced frequently.
    • Ash's battle with 'the mad Bloodliner of Saffron City' references Reset's Sabrina Arc.
    • 20 Gyarados Bill, a villain named as the source of the Pokemon team limit and the star of a Villain Episode, comes up in history class.
    • Several original characters from the stories in the Resetverse, like Red, Vermell, Black, and Casey Snagem are namedropped.
    • The Pokedex of Reset, with its 'interesting' personality and occasional skynet attitude, is referenced when discussing Pokedexes.
    • Whitney is implied to be engaged like her Reset counterpart.
    • Lorelei namedrops her Reset love interest Frey while on the phone.
    • King Kahele, first King of a united Alola, and the Dark Pestilence come up during the equiv of episode 25.
    • The events of the Cerulean Arc that led to Ash using secret bases are offhandily mentioned by Debbie, as well as the post Black use of Munna's after his league victory.
    • Team Zenith and Zevie, the Resetverse team that Archie and Maxie originally split from, are heavily involved in the backstory of Debbie.
  • Named by the Adaptation:
    • Yeardley's older sister is given the name Skye.
    • Inverted with Professor Cerise: his Blossoming Trail first name is not mentioned in story.
  • New Transfer Student: Lita Allegro transfers into Chloe's school the day Chloe gets back from her suspension.
  • Not Quite the Right Thing: Still a bad habit of the Cerises...despite technically doing better for Chloe than in "Blossoming Trail", the parents half-measures actually cause her to be more frustrated than ever since while they're technically doing right by her, it's not in a way that addresses her real concerns. Meanwhile Chloe herself is not telling them what she really wants them to do by her, thus feeding into the parents doing the 'wrong' thing.
  • "Not Wearing Pants" Dream: Chloe gets a variation of this. After seeing her mom in a very bold sling bikini, she dreams of herself wearing it at school while Yeardley leers at her. The next morning she's still heavily traumatized by this.
  • Parental Sexuality Squick: Chloe (and Lita) are mortified at seeing Talia in a sling bikini and her purring at the thought of showing it off to Professor Cerise. Chloe gets an extra dose of this when she sees her father a few days later being too happy in the morning.
  • Peggy Sue: Like in Reset, the third chapter confirms that Ash and his team are time travels from a previous reality. However they came from a version of Blossoming Trail, not strictly canon like in the original Reset.
  • Pet the Dog: Chloe, Pokemon hater that she is, is quite nice to Yamper and the Charmander that Gard turns down as a starter.
  • Professor Guinea Pig: Debbie experimented on herself to test her attempted cure for her children before trying it on them.
  • Related in the Adaptation: Like in (Non)Reset Bloodlines before it, Dawn is implied to be one of Ash's paternal half-siblings instead of a love interest.
  • Right Makes Might: The best trainers operate on this, according to Gard. As kindness and morality are needed to become a top tier trainer, and even when they get to a point they are basically untouchable they are not in a position or mindset to abuse this status. Chloe's a tad less optimistic than Gard on the subject.
  • Senior Year Struggles: At the age of 15 public schooling ends in this universe and a person is an adult. Chloe's class is going nuts over it, with paranoia and terror about the future, and Chloe is often a victim of this stress as she, via her father, is the source of not just a potential career as a Pokemon Trainer, but a leg up as one via a Pokedex and starter 'mon.
  • Ship Tease: "Cherry Prince and Princess" is practically one big tease to Ash X Acerola, although the ending leaves things quite ambiguous.
  • Shout-Out: Both Reset and Blossoming Trail are fill of them, so it is to be expected a ton of them exist.
  • Sleep Cute: By the time their talk ends, Acerola ends up falling asleep on Ash's shoulder, a scene that unleashes the shipper in Pikachu.
  • Small Role, Big Impact:
    • In chapter 1 Sara is expelled after the paint can incident and is never seen in person. Her effect on everything from Chloe's mood to the school dynamics is present long after she's vanished.
    • Ash only appears in one scene in person in chapter 1, but this scene sets up the climax of the first chapter and the plots of the following two chapters. In the third chapter he ultimately confirms not only that the story is a Peggy Sue like Reset, but that he came from a version of Blossoming Trail where Chloe died.
  • Tall Poppy Syndrome: Those who do not have talent get notably spiteful and jealous of those who have talents, like Chloe's writing talent. Pokemon Training is an exception to this rule.
  • Tom the Dark Lord: The ultimate villain who is at large at the end of the three parter's name is Debbie.
  • There Are No Therapists: Invoked by the author, who confirmed that therapists are not an applicable solution due to the setting sharing Japan's real life Values Dissonance about therapy.
  • Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Very subtle example, but a few jokes are made, by Professor Cerise himself, that he's aged far less gracefully than his wife, while Talia gets to lounge around in swimsuits that make Chloe cringe without issue.
  • Urban Legend Love Life: In-Universe this is what Ash's Reset-verse Harem pairing is treated as by those unfamiliar with them.
  • We Have Reserves: Team Rocket grunts work this way as they are seen as extremely disposable and weak. Authorities have arrested nearly five million grunts but Team Rocket will always be able to get more of them.

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