As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.
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Fridge Brilliance
- Why does Chloe put off responding to Goh's texts throughout Act 1? Because Goh had a bad habit of ignoring her text messages and blew off the impact it was having on her with trite apologies, never actually changing the behavior. Refusing to respond was giving him a taste of his own medicine.
- Ash has a very good reason to not have pushed Chloe to hang out beyond asking her if she wanted to: the girls that Ash has met have come in two broad flavors. One were girls like Misty and May who, if pushed too hard to do things they were not interested in, would bite his head off from their quite known tempers. The others were girls like Lillie to whom being pushy to do things would make them really upset and Ash wouldn't want to do that to them. Lillie's actually a fairly solid comparison as she had genuine traumas that affected her Pokémon interests and if Ash had pushed her, that would have gone badly. So Ash had a reason to not go beyond just asking Chloe to hang out with him and Goh on adventures...although why he didn't just ask her parents or brother what was wrong with her can be chalked up to Ash being an idiot.
- Not necessarily: Lillie is again a useful comparison. He did ask a few times about why Lillie had an issue with touching Pokémon and while some talk came out about it it was hardly a full story and was more about encouraging Lillie and helping her overcome it herself than anything. If Ash did go up to the Cerise family to ask that...well Professor Cerise would probably not talk about it, and Parker might not be forthcoming with the information a la Gladion. Talia is a possibility but Ash, while no genius, does have his reasons for doing what he does.
- One of the reasons that Ash is able to bond with so many people with a wide variety of backgrounds is the common connecting thread of Pokémon. Regardless if they are scientists, performers, farmers, rivals, from another dimension, artists, ninjas, or whatever else Ash can find common ground there. Chloe is a rare exception to this near-universal thread, though she is far from the only one. Tory Lund for example was outright afraid of Pokémon and clashed with Ash, but the pressures of life-threatening chaos helped the two bond and Tory to come to be able to bond with Pokémon and thus Ash. Obviously, Ash and everyone else would rather not go to that extreme, but there is another Pokémon based tie Ash could have forged with Chloe: her macabre hobby. With just how often Ash has nearly or actually died (crushed by chandeliers, frozen to death, dragged into sprit realms, eaten by crystal trees, possessed by evil beings, etc) the two of them could probably have bonded over Ash recounting these stories and Chloe getting inspiration from them. However, Ash, who doesn't brag about his accomplishments, also doesn't talk about these incidents and Chloe never offered any show to him that she'd be interested in them. Poor Communication Kills after all.
- Another comparison in Ash's relationship abilities would be Paul: Paul was aloof to Ash for far longer than Chloe was and when Ash did get through to him what formed was not a friendship but some form of respect. Chloe's lack of a display of any interests to Ash meant he couldn't even move in that direction, and as Chloe was far less antagonistic than Paul was it wouldn't have likely taken as long if Chloe had ever been open around him to something.
- While the plot point wasn't evident at the earliest time of writing the Darkest Day arc of the anime creates an interesting parallel between Chloe, Goh, and Ash and Sonia, Leon, and Rose. Both reddish haired girls with (in most continuities) pet Yamper were friends with a tan-skinned boy with a Fire-type starter until the friendship grew distant in part due to the influence of the third guy with a lot more experience and a name related to plants who introduced them into the wider trainer world. In further reflection, both Sonia and Chloe have a bit of a listless, goal-lagging tendency while one of Ash's main Pokemon in Journeys is the part Steel Lucario and just as Ash's father is eternally non-present in his life Rose's own father died in a mining accident. The reason Sonia doesn't have hang-ups, bar a possible unknown Infinity Train incident, is presumably a larger additional support network without the baggage alongside Ash having no grand goals to his actions, unlike Rose.
- Both in-story and in the prequel, Ash is notably caught off guard by simmering family problems despite being around the family in question fairly often. Ash, being no bastion of intelligence, might just seem to be a case of being dumb here but there is more to it. Ash does not come from a large family, in fact, virtually no source has ever implied he has anyone but his mom Delia around note . Because of this Ash's only exposure to family interactions are through his friends and thus it is a blind spot for him.
- Tied up with above is the question one can ask of 'if Chloe's class is so jealous of Chloe for having an easy path to being a trainer if she wants to, or so want to be like Ash one day, why don't they go off to be trainers'. Plenty of them have enough home problems that leaving on their own adventures would be appealing. The same source that talks about the exact of the Ketchum family also comments that Pallet is a poorer area that Vermillion and children are encouraged to become trainers to attempt to get a livelihood that the town lacks. note . Canon it may not be, but it offers an explanation beyond continuity drift making the world more real-world-like and making Ash stand out as bizarre and 'they are too lazy and want to live through others'.
- Chloe in her intermission outright calls Goh and Ash 'the sons Professor Cerise always wanted'. Unbeknownst to her, Ash already has a Professor that he has a parental substitute/honorary dad and kid relationship explored in far more detail in both canon and fanfics than Ash and Professor Cerise: Professor Kukui. In canon, Ash is far more formal with Professor Cerise than he was with Kukui and has a far more complementary set of interests and personality traits with him than Chloe's father. While making her harsh tear down of her father, Chloe makes it clear just how little she knew the 'Champion of Alola'. While it is often noted that Ash didn't push too hard to know Chloe, perhaps she pushed even less to know anything about Ash.
- While it has yet to be said directly in the story (At least until chapter 19, when Ash is confirmed to be 3-4 years older than Goh and Chloe) it is all but said outright that Ash is older than 10. As Goh and Chloe are more clearly suggested to be 10 that does make a bit of sense. Being older means that Ash can probably process what is going on differently than they can, which is among the many reasons his reactions are different. He also has the experience and maturity to realize when Goh crossed a line in the first chapter's argument with Chloe. It also why Goh is not, at least without a particular outside stimulus, normally jealous of Ash. Ash's (often obscured by his lack of talking of it) history of accomplishments were done over the course of at least a year if not more so Goh doesn't look at it as a case of 'this guy did all of this and he's the same age as me?!' Also if Ash had been kept at age 10 and managed everything he did in canon somehow that would have made Chloe's issues worse. The older age acts as just enough of a buffer that she's not being actively compared to him in the case of achievements in a 'he's your age and he's done A-Z, what have you done Chloe?' sort of way.
- Ash and Goh display notable flexibility, and inflexibility, after Chloe runs away which, in turn, has its own advantages and disadvantages. Ash, whose training experiences have taught him how to adjust to various obstacles and problems, 'adapts' to the realization that he has culpability with harsh self-reflection. While this and harsh observations from others relating to it led him to develop a guilt complex over it, it also allowed him to reflect on what happened and work to not only prevent it in the future but to help spring him back up afterward. Goh meanwhile, while feeling horrible, did not twist himself into the same knots and avoided developing the same problems. This inflexibility, however, is also preventing him from even beginning to heal and is in fact only leading him down a worse and worse path.
- In Chapter 16, Goh is planning to reveal Ash and Trip's relationship to Delia to get Ash into trouble as 'payback' for betraying him. While the readers are quite aware that if Goh was to go through with that it wouldn't get the desired effect there is an interesting observation. While Goh clearly understands that people react negatively to such things he doesn't demonstrate the opinion himself. Goh is 10, and comes from a society that lacks the specific religions in the realm world that stigmatize homosexuality. It is quite possible that whatever does lead to stigma in the setting is something that comes later in life (perhaps it is perceived as being unmanly, and the socially isolated Goh wouldn't really be thinking that way). Goh understands that people get upset about it, but he doesn't understand the reasons themselves. He wants the effect without understanding what causes the reaction.
- One to the crossover element of the series: while we know of a lot of Pokemon and YuGiOh characters on the train so far there is only one Miraculous Ladybug character known on the train at the moment this is written (Chloe Bourgeois). This feels a bit odd given the entire point of the show is 'people feel miserable, get turned into supervillains', and the train would be all over that. However, that very fact may be why there are very few Miraculous characters on the train. Hawk Moth is able to akumatize anyone with negative emotions in Paris so quickly that the train can't lock on them and by the time they are de-evilized the emotion is usually gone. Chloe is an exception sure, but as there is no indication of when she was pulled it could very well be after Season 3 where she'd be in a place to be in a bad place and be mostly left alone by Hawk Moth. So strangely, Hawk Moth is protecting Parisians from the Infinity Train.
- This also makes Hawk Moth a very strange foil to Ash. Hawk Moth's intentional actions of akumatization are unintentionally protecting those around him from the train while Ash's journey has unintentionally led to multiple train goers (Paul, Trip, Alain, Chloe, quite possibly Gladion depending on how much he affected Lillie to develop to the point she was at the start of Knight of the Orange Lily, and who knows who else). Ash and Hawk Moth are both known for making others stronger but Ash inspires the growth in trainers like Dawn and May in mutually beneficial ways while Hawk Moth gives people superpowers to attack others for his own gain. Ash is a lot more friendly than Hawk Moth and is a middling personality between Hawk Moth's two extremes of 'emotionally distant father' and 'hammy supervillain'.
- When one thinks 'ten-year old' and 'helping at a lab with research,' at least, in reality, one thinks more of menial tasks like using a lawnmower on the grounds, sweeping, and other such things. Chloe did not get assigned these things and thus did nothing at the lab. Why did Professor Cerise not do that? Simple, that can also be a means of punishment. He had Chloe at the lab to try and prevent her from being bullied like at the talent show, not punish her. He just didn't anticipate the side effects, and probably couldn't have prevented them (if he had picked up she wasn't happy either trying to make it clear he was trying to protect her would go poorly). If it isn't Poor Communication Kills, it is Not Quite the Right Thing with him.
- Meanwhile being stuck in a lab that Professor Cerise knew was haunted: given Chloe's style of performance at the talent show, it is entirely possible that Professor Cerise thought she'd like it more as a result. In such a scenario Gengar not actively tormenting her as much as the others prior to being captured by Ash actively scuttled any such benefits.
- Renji's noticed a fair bit of stuff going on with Chloe, but never did mention it. Well..in what context could he really bring it up? Renji doesn't like horror but he did mention it to the Professor who wasn't a fan of it at first with the accidental bias from dislike...well that would certainly go poorly. Meanwhile, if he had mentioned noticing Chloe's dislike of Ash it wouldn't really have helped. If he told Ash that Chloe wasn't interested he'd have actually started to ignore Chloe in the idea that she'd have wanted that, which would have gone very wrong very fast. If he told Professor Cerise the professor would have had to deal with a situation that was not Ash's fault yet also is not Chloe's fault and there is a very narrow window of solving that well. Renji knew the problems but the solutions to those problems were limited, especially if Renji was aware of why Chloe was at the lab, to begin with, and thus 'have Chloe not stay here after school' being a non-starter.
- Paul was mentioned to have lost to Jasmine in a World Coronation Series battle by Reggie prior to his train encounter. Paul is notably based on the rival of the Gen 2 games whose many jerk moments include insulting Jasmine to tending to a sick Pokémon instead of battling at the moment. In addition, she forms an interesting contrast to the gym leader that Ash lost to in the same sort of battle in canon: Bea. Jasmine's main Pokémon is a Steelix that is known for a hard and solid body along with defensive tactics in offensive strategies like Dig and Sandstorm while Bea's main Pokémon is a Grapploct that uses its flexible tentacles and offensive tactics in restrictive strategies like Octolock and Close Combat. Jasmine is a lot more friendly than Bea is off the bat, but while Jasmine can get very fired up and competitive in tough battles the same battles can bring out Bea's more respectful and friendly side. Notably the final Gym Badge Paul obtained in Sinnoh, and thus in known canon, is the Steel-type Badge of Sinnoh (Byron's Mine Badge) while the last battle Paul is known having in fic before ending up on the train (and at the current rate possibly his last Pokémon battle period) was with Jasmine.
- Parker's downward spiral in the second arc makes perfect sense given his past experiences. Despite his youth, he served as Chloe's primary emotional support for a significant period of time: the Professor was busy with his work, Talia wasn't sure how to connect with her daughter, and Goh was too wrapped up in chasing any traces of Mew. Her teachers weren't doing enough to deal with the bullying, even after the incident at the talent show — he has already seen how one major incident was not enough to change anything. Surely his parents reassured him back then that things would be better now, and that they'd take care of Chloe... and look how that turned out. Why would he trust that all those promises will be kept this time? Especially after Sara, Yeardley and the rest of her bullies gloated and bragged about all the ways they'd tormented her to his face?
- No wonder Parker initially thought Chloe ran away because he 'hadn't loved her enough'. He was the only one who knew her — including the fact that she feared that if their parents knew more about her, they'd reject her just as her peers had.
- Parker was also directly victimized during the backstage confrontation — Sara knocked him aside with the paint can. Something else she shows absolutely no remorse for, and adding another layer of personal vengeance to his beef with her.
- Parker's taste for Disproportionate Retribution makes a lot of sense considering the horror shows he would watch, such as The Haunting Hour, would often have characters be punished for run-of-the-mill jerkassery with Fates Worse Than Death, and have it presented as karmic and satisfying.
- Goh's descent into jerkassery as he finds himself in Chloe's position — and how each of them dealt with it differently — reflects his privileged position. Chloe spent years suppressing her frustration out of the belief that nobody valued her opinions enough to listen. Goh, by contrast, got practically everything he wanted; his parents fully supported his dreams despite their concerns about his lack of social skills, providing him with plenty of tech and letting him take classes online or at least let him go to school only to take tests. He got to work with the Professor, travel with Ash, do whatever he pleased... but that changed with Chloe's disappearance. He's no longer getting what he wants handed to him, and is effectively throwing temper tantrums over it. Chloe bottled up her bitterness until she couldn't stop it from leaking out anymore; Goh is openly bitter and spiteful, blaming her for changing the status quo.
- While trying to appeal to their son's better nature, Goh's parents tell him that he's better than her bullies. But Goh shares Sara's desire to punish Chloe for existing: Chloe being happy and fulfilled runs directly contrary to what they want, which makes her an enemy. Goh openly fantasizes about tearing Chloe's newfound confidence down and forcing her to 'know her place' — that she's inferior to Pokémon — as he connects her freedom with him losing his privileged lifestyle.
- Adding to this, when does Goh finally get the lesson? When everything gets taken away from him: his Goal in Life? Tainted by the nightmares. His job as a research fellow? The Cerise Institute won't last long thanks to Parker's blunder. His self-esteem? At an all-time low thanks to, again, the nightmares. With nothing left by his side to ignore reality, Goh is forced to re-examine himself, even if it comes at the expense of his sanity.
- The fact that some of the cars are clearly based on other universes, such as the Cabbage Car can be tied into the multiversal element of the story. Both the conductor and the fake conductor could witness different universes and create things based on them.
- UnChloe's tendency towards being more of a bully than Chloe ever seemed a bit odd to have come from Parker, who hates bullies and respects his sister. You might think it is because Parker has a warped perspective, and that certainly doesn't help, but think about how she debuts. She reads the minds of Sara and Yeardley and learned. This was about their crimes, but perhaps she learned some more unsavory things too. Sara is considered the Big Bad Wannabe of the non-train segments, but we may not have given her influence enough credit. To some horrifying extent UnChloe may be the Androids to Sara's Doctor Gero, a Villainous Legacy to continue Sara's antagonism even if she ends up dead/coma/on the train.
- The Symbolically Broken Object that is Silver Night has a few additional bits to it. Given that the entire Unown incident spawned from Parker's uncontrollable wrath destroying his weapon is a very strong statement on how that will never be tolerated. The second is that the bat was one of Chloe's prized possessions: Parker's actions have ruined so much of her life back home that is being destroyed is more or less going to be exactly what is going to happen to Chloe's reputation, if not the entire family's.
- Parker spent a large chunk of his scenes being furious about Chloe's classmates were so stupid as to fall for Sara's lies and how others failed to consider a different course of action that could have avoided hitting his sister. UnChloe was a very clear reality check for him that he is just as dupable and capable of mistakes as everyone else.
- Goh's nightmare version of Ash calling him out goes on about him driving where they go all the time and always needing to do something during trips even when they are something Ash needs or wants to do. This argument, true or not, is a very strange thing for Ash to argue as he's never had issues with companions steering the direction they go for their own goals (in fact it was he who brought up the suggestion of them to go to the Battle Frontier in Journeys Episode 7) and in later dreams is fully onboard with going places Chloe would want to go. The arguments he's giving are meta, the sort that fans in real life have against Goh.note However, these arguments are coming not from Ash, but from Zeno/Parker, who like the real-life audiences are outside observers. They see that as a problem where Ash personally doesn't and are just throwing it at Goh to make him miserable.
- For that matter, a lot of what Parker ascribes to Ash could be half what UnChloe finds in Ash's head and half how Parker tries to interpret it, making a point of making Ash be far more innocent in his shortcomings to contrast with Goh and make him look like the worse person.
- Later chapters also establish that Parker can see future scenarios now, so the reason a lot of the examples the dream throws at Goh to call him out in a meta esc way are canon things is because Parker, or at least some reflection of his mind or Zeno's, got to see the canon future and make observations from there.
- Bede's Pokémon can be seen as reflections of Chloe's past, present, and future.
- Hatenna and Abra are her past: Hatenna are known for reacting badly to people with strong emotions and Abra spends most of its time sleeping. Meanwhile, at the start of the story, Chloe is withdrawn and quiet (and doesn't like the really emotive and cheerful Ash) and could be seen as 'sleeping' on her full potential due to her fear and withdrawn nature.
- Gothorita is the present, or perhaps more accurately what she's seen as in the Pokémon world right now. It's spelled out in the story that Gothorita is like UnChloe and at the moment said UnChloe affects pretty much every view and reaction to Chloe and her relationships even after her defeat.
- Galarian Ponyta is her future: it represents a Pokémon she'll want to encounter, adventures she has in the Pokémon world with friends, and healing. By the time Chloe is back, she'll have been healed by the Infinity Train and will have to continue the process with all those around her.
- Goh is very angry when he finds out Ash and Trip were planning to keep the Infinity Train out of his knowledge. While you could assume he's just upset that the boys didn't trust him with the information, you have to remember that he spent three days running around looking for Chloe to no avail, and during those three days, he had no idea what to do. All he knew was that Chloe disappeared, and that was it. Even if his search would've been for naught, actually knowing what he was looking for would've helped Goh immensely, so Ash and Trip planning to keep it a secret seems like a cruel joke to him.
- In fact, he doesn't realize it, but Goh's problems partially come from being Locked Out of the Loop: he never goes to school, so he never knew of the bullying Chloe went through. She never reminded him of the curry promise they made, so he eventually forgot about it, which drove a wedge between them. He had no idea what Chloe was going through at home, so he thought things were just fine with the Cerises. And of course, Chloe never opened up to her troubles to Goh, which while understandable, eventually left him flabbergasted and unsure of what to do once they did come to light. Goh is ultimately at fault here, but if people actually told him about this stuff, he'd at least not be completely lost as to what's going on.
- The narration and Chloe paint Goh forgetting about the curry promise as a sign that he was forgetting about her, but when you consider Goh's character, he'd probably forget regardless: not only were they children when they made the promise, but Goh has such a bad case of tunnel vision that when he gets focused on something, everything else ceases to exist for him. Him forgetting about the promise was inevitable. Chloe even admits that it's not really the curry but just opportunities of spending time together that she wants... Which, again, given Goh's bad case of tunnel vision, is only possible if Chloe actively tried to make them possible.
- At first, you could say Goh lost his fight with Bede because he was a novice since he was more interested in being a collector than a Trainer. However, consider his current mental state: not only has his mental health been thrown in the wringer thanks to Chloe's disappearance, but then the Unown happened and made everything even worse, culminating in him getting an Epiphany Therapy as part of Parker's spite. With his mind at such a low point in his life, Goh probably wouldn't have won even if he gave it his all: his mind's too troubled to think properly.
- Delia being more willing to cut Trip some slack compared to Chloe is painted as another unfair Double Standard, but when you look beyond the surface, there's at least a reason for it:
- First of all, Delia's just as Locked Out of the Loop as everybody, and knows about as much about Chloe as she's been told: That she rejected Ash's offers, blamed him for taking Goh away from her, ran away when he didn't read her mind, and then scared her brother with an ultimatum that she was willing to run off again if things didn't get better, which caused the fiasco of Act 2. A couple of those things would've made Delia wary of Chloe, but all of them?
- Also, remember that the last time she heard or talked about Chloe was with her mother, who was at an all-time low thanks to the professional Blame Game everybody's playing. Given that she had to tell Talia You Are Better Than You Think You Are in order to break her out of her funk and call her daughter out on her bullcrap, that meeting's probably still fresh in her mind which, coupled with Ash's Comically Small Demand, just further enrages her.
- As for Trip, that's pretty simple: What was Trip blaming Ash for, which caused his Guilt Complex? Chloe running away and never knowing her like he gets to know everyone else. Even when Trip hurt Ash, it could still be linked back to Chloe.
- Also, what's the one thing Trip did to Ash that Chloe didn't before she ran away? He apologized and comforted him. Chloe only does the same thing long after she boarded the Train, and after shit has hit the fan.
- When Goh first ponders whether to tell his parents about Zeno, he tells him they wouldn't believe him, but when the Infinity Train pops up, he suggests he should tell them about it. This seems like a sudden, hypocritical exchange until you realize what Zeno meant was that the time wasn't right: when Goh initially pondered about the question, he was covered in bandages and had recently been sent to the ward. The next time Zeno pops up to suggest spilling the beans is when Goh has had time to rest and heal to the best of his ability. He couldn't do it before, because if he did, it would've been taken as an indication that he couldn't be safe, that he was too far gone.
- After the Red Lotus Quatro tricks her into doing an Engineered Public Confession regarding her history with Simon, The Cat gets on everybody's hit list. While this at first seems to be because of her role in Simon, and thus the Apex's, Null-hating ways, there's actually another, much more damning reason. The Cat is a Denizen, who, though possessing free will, mostly exist to help the passengers lower their numbers so they can get off the train. And most of them are quite happy to help. Enter The Cat, who abandoned a young Simon to a Ghom to save her own skin. It's safe to say that beyond indirectly creating the Apex's Null-hating ideology, The Cat's in trouble for failing her sole reason to exist.
- As we eventually find out, there's another why Delia cut Trip some slack despite not doing much to prove he's a good boyfriend: what did all of Ash's other crushes have in common? They were female, and yet Delia didn't raise any eyebrows, even when some of them were Pokémon. Raising eyebrows with Trip, a guy, would raise all sorts of
Unfortunate Implications. - We discover that thanks to Ash's exploits, Pallet has grown to resent the boy for outshining them, and now, Delia's reason for not forgiving Chloe become crystal clear: it's not just that she doesn't like Chloe, it's that she reminds her too much of all the bullcrap she's had to deal with back at home!
- Parker being Put on a Bus and made a Persona Non Grata at Vermillion City at the end of Act 2 is more symbolic than it seems: what's the one thing Parker's been doing since the story started? Hurting. Whether hurting himself by placing the blame on himself; or hurting others, whether psychologically like what he does to Goh, or physically like trying to bludgeon Yeardley. By sending him away and not allowing him to return there, those at Vermillion City can actually focus on healing and fixing the damage rather than worry about another rampage.
- Parker's declaration that Ash could've talked to anybody else about Chloe falls completely flat when you consider who he could've talked to: Chloe's classmates? She was Made Out to Be a Jerkass to them by Sara, who would gladly twist some words to hurt her. Even Akemi, the one good student in the damn school, didn't know Chloe that well personally (because she arrived late into the school year), and she'd probably turn into a stuttering mess in front of the champion. Chloe's teachers? Most of them were oblivious to the bullying. Even if he had a stroke of luck and met Mr. Bradbury, he'd probably just suggest giving her some space, which would only make things worse. Goh's parents? They barely even know their son, who'd be their only source of info, making them just as useless as he was. Chloe's family? The Professor and Talia have issues that made them blind to Chloe's discomfort and Parker, given what we learn about him later, would rather Be as Unhelpful as Possible to Ash out of spite rather than help him. Ultimately, Goh was the only person he could ask about Chloe since he's the only one who'd talk about her without strings attached.
- It's mentioned that after Parker's contact with the Unown left him with the ability to see multiple possible futures where he didn't unleash the Unown's power, Goh calms down from his downward spiral and actively improves himself before doing anything unforgivable in all but one of them. It might seem a bit odd that Goh's downward spiral would end in an Anticlimax, but it makes a lot of sense things considered. Keep in mind beforehand he'd been put on an emotional and psychological rollercoaster: his friend disappeared, he ran around three days straight looking for them and got sick only to be told they want to break off their friendship, he's getting one "The Reason You Suck" Speech after another, his conflict with Ash, etc.. In all of those good futures, Goh had time to calm down which makes sense! Sometimes the only thing it takes to push us off our worst impulses and change for the better is just some time to cool off.
- It makes sense on why BROKEN Matt's premonition described Chloe/Lady Destiny in a white dress and flowing hair and it ultimately falling apart when she changed her appearance. Before Parker’s rampage, Talia’s email and her second makeover, Chloe had been showing her more spiteful side, threatening not to return unless everyone worked to earn her forgiveness and cutting ties with her father and Goh. And the other components (Hop, Alain, Paul and Simon) had flaws Henry and Walter exploited to get them under their control. The prophecy didn’t just need Chloe in her old outfit to succeed: it needed her to be in her old, selfish mindset as well, and the old outfit perfectly symbolizes that. The only reason she was able to avoid becoming Lady Destiny is because Parker and Taila made her realize how much of a brat she has been, and that she needed to change for the better. And she symbolized this change by getting a new outfit and haircut.
- Also, when confronted with Saint Ash, Chloe nearly slips back into the belief Ash is stealing everything away from her, which almost triggers the transformation.
- Parker's ultimate fate has a shade of Ironic Hell: Why? Because the reason people are giving him the benefit of the doubt despite his monstrous actions is because they still see him as Just a Kid, the same thing that caused him to snap in the first place is also the only reason he's not getting a worse punishment.
- It's not a coincidence that Chloe's first car was the Corgi Car. After all, what did she want to do before run away? Go back to the Institute to take Yamper — a corgi-like Pokémon and pretty much the only one outside of Parker who gives a damn about her — with her. The Train essentially took her into the Car equivalent to help her get adjusted to her new adventure.
Fridge Horror
- One might wonder if Ash, having had something else happen (either never meeting Goh or managing to connect with Chloe) the story events may have been averted. The truth is that with the sort of issues in the homes of Chloe and Goh that were boiling under the surface it was bound to boil over at some point. Ash either made it happen sooner than it would have happened without him, or may not have been able to actually meaningfully prevent it. Ash is wondering 'what if I had...' multiple times (particularly over his "attempts" to befriend Chloe) when in truth even without him it was always going to explode at one point. Goh and Chloe were having problems and even just having less of them from Goh would not remove the family and school stresses on Chloe's side. In fact, the entire thing could have possibly been worse. The Cerise family and Goh end would not only have no context for weird stuff (i.e Aura) to even point them in the right direction, and even less means of getting Trip's attention, while Goh could possibly have had no support (Ash or his Pokémon) to either get help or vent on in the former's case and the lack of the latter would mean that when he does find the Train he'd be going after it with just his limited physical ability and decently sharp mind. That would not end well for Goh.
- Let's actually examine the idea of 'Ash never getting involved with Goh' again, specifically the extension with the Cerise family shall we? If Ash never met Professor Cerise the means of encountering Dragonite, Gengar, Riolu, and Farfetch'd would never have happened. This is a bad thing. Now about Chloe and Parker, what does Ash lose from never having met them? As the narrative was clear about she never wanted to have anything to do with him and they never connected, so all Ash would lose without Chloe is a guilt complex. Trip would have probably found Ash without Chloe and confessed to him and, without said guilt complex, the relationship would be healthier. Parker only added to that guilt complex and is now responsible for unspeakable crimes against Ash and his friends. While Goh's faults are his own faults Goh was, if nothing else, a friend to Ash but with Chloe's departure his worst traits have been magnified to a point he is quickly becoming toxic. Or to put it very bluntly not only would Ash have not changed anything if he never met them, but meeting the Cerise children has made his life actively worse. Ash's life would be outright better if Professor Cerise never had kids, and given that one of them is about to do horrible things to an entire city, that might even extend to the entirety of Vermillion City.
- We learn from Olmec that passengers who died on the train get 'repurposed' into Denizens. Just how many of the wacky characters we know and love were children or other types of people who died to the train's tests?
- If Walter and Henry are Denizens, it means that there could be other Denizens who straight-up exploit passengers for their own reasons, rather than the passengers' personal growth. And if they aren't denizens, how did they take control of their car? Especially one that's Silent Hill?!
- The crossovers are fun, and so far the most questionable things that are also on the train are a vampire and a fallen bee heroine. However, with the sheer range of potential universes the odds that someone with a dangerous power or piece of equipment rises exponentially. Even if the person in question isn't dangerous on their own (say for example Eleven-year-old Ben after Feedback is removed from the Omnitrix by Malware and before he takes it off and is left in a state of issues or Nico Di Angelo after Bianca dies and he runs off in a complicated mixture of abandonment, sexuality self-hatred, and confusion about his powers) that doesn't mean they can't be robbed. Imagine for a moment an Apex follower stealing the Omnitrix from Ben and gaining the ability to transform into millions of super-powered aliens, or Nico's Stygian Iron Sword that can absorb souls into it (and unlike say, Riptide, is just as effective on regular people as it is those that are 'important' like demigods and magical beings). It would be a disaster, and those are just two examples of what the crossover could enable.
- The Chloe campaign online has many people admit they aren't as into Pokémon as others and get mistreated for it. This is harmless on the surface but there is a potential for a very distinct complication. The sentience of Pokémon is often debated out of universe, if not in it, and can vary between mediums. If Pokémon are sentient some of these people may not have been the (likely intended) comparisons of people mistreated for liking the same gender, being a different race, or liking Ice Hockey in Football country. Some of those people might anti-Pokémon racists/speciests. The fact that there are characters with that viewpoint in canon, Chloe outright called them 'Creatures' in a disparaging way for a while like a type of Fantastic Slurs, and referencing the often racist 'chan' websites in the same chapter makes this a distinct possibility.
- Wisteria somewhat references this, suggesting it may in fact be true.
- Even after the Unown situation is dealt with, there's no way that there won't be a massive backlash against Parker and, by association, Chloe. Even if it isn't really her, it's still someone with her face causing a lot of people a lot of pain. Both he and Chloe will have to deal with the consequences, and if people take them at their word about how no-one can take back the hurt they caused and apologies do not change anything, they might have to eat their words. Whatever happens, there's a very serious risk that the situation Chloe returns home to will not be helpful to her mental health, and the one person she trusted was responsible.
- Speaking of the above, let us begin with the absolute horrors Parker is now responsible for. First of all and right off the bat: Mind Rape. He is outright giddy at the idea of altering things about Ash, Pikachu, Trip, and Serena's minds for their whims. While the starting intent is just making them 'Chloe's friends', let us not forget the part about Serena and her not liking horror. It's a very small step from 'I'm sure she'll get used to it after we make her our friend' to 'let's make her like horror with just a bit of your power'. Add into the fact that Serena very much has a phobia after the Malamar mind control episodes and you have very much created an argument for one of the evilest characters in the story being a five-year-old. And that's not even broaching the subject of more extreme mind alterations like 'Ash you should be miserable, Trip is Serena's boyfriend now' or 'Ash and Pikachu you are no longer friends'. To make it worse, Parker doesn't understand how these can be bad ideas since he has such a black and white view of the world. May Arceus help Vermillion City.
- While it was only an idea that Parker had and didn't get a chance to implement it we do get the lovely mental image of a Tunnel of Love room meant to 'make it up to' Serena and Ash. Parker had no idea that what he thought was a One True Threesome would more or less be mind-controlling three teenagers into a relationship with the other. Given that Parker was also shown more or less wrecking a completely consensual platonic relationship he had with Serena such a thing could probably have in-universe Ship Sinking at best and extremely traumatic at worse, basically being a non-consensual relationship all three would be forced into by mind control.
- And when he ''does'' understand, what will happen? Parker is convinced that Goh and the bullies are Beyond Redemption, and he cannot accept Ash's sincere apologies since they do nothing to fix the mess he's caused. But knowing that his actions are orders of magnitude worse? The kid will think he's completely irredeemable, with no amount of atonement or apologies being remotely enough to fix the damage he's caused. All that anger will get turned inwards, resulting in utter self-loathing. What's a worse prospect - the notion that Parker might get taken by the Train, or that it might be the best-case scenario?
- UnChloe is also clearly starting to do things behind Parker's back like creating her own rooms and blocking the real Chloe from talking to him. Not only is the idea of her acting on her own accord terrifying, but it also opens up an additional source of not just horror for Parker when this is all over, but could even give him his own manner of Never My Fault. This would not only make the fallout worse, but create an even more tricky complex for the train to sort out. Parker might start the train off with a higher number than a mere 151.
- Megatron (called D-16, his original name, by Sad-One) being on the Train raises a few scary questions.
- First off it extends the range that the Train can grab you: Megatron is implied to have been gotten after the events of the movie so that means being in outer space is not beyond the train. Are you feeling bad in Star Fleet? During the Clone Wars? In your Gundam? Yeah, you go to watch for trains.
- Second him, along with Former Admiral Kuzan drastically raise the power level of snagged beings related to the earlier fear of a superpowered Apex. Now try to imagine the question of what on the train could stop Megatron if he wanted to hurt you on the train. Retired Monster is all the train has in its defense and if he was provoked...
- Third is the question of his number. Megatron has millions of years of war crimes, atrocities, and the use of Dark Energon to atone for, so his number is certainly massive and makes Amelia's number look so tiny in the process. Megatron could be on the train for a very long time, and as long as the train can create Energon he won't necessarily have to worry about dying of old age.
- Fourth is his own spark (the Transformers soul). If it was to be recycled by the train would the denizen suffer any of the effects of his Dark Energon use? It damned Megatron in canon with only the hope of Unicron's trapping to alleviate it, and will some innocent denizen have to suffer the same fate? Heck, does that mean Unicron has some awareness of the Infinity Train's dimension now?
- Fifth, is Megatron the only Transformer on the train? Could many of the vehicles in the train be actually passengers in disguise? If so, what side are they from?!
- Sixth, along with the Trains range as mentioned above, this also means that humans and/or human-like entities aren't the only ones the Train will grab. What non-human entities did it grab? And how many were mistaken as "Nulls" by the Apex?
- During Parker's trial, upon learning the full extent of what he did to Chloe, Yeardley's little sister begins to fear that he'll start abusing her for being a girl as well. Similarly, the mothers of the girls who joined him in tormenting Chloe wonder if he had done similar things to their daughters as well...
- Vermillion City is bound to be renamed "Ghost City" by the end of the story: not only will the Cerise family have to move elsewhere with the shame of what happened, but the families of Chloe's classmates will have to do the same, and there's no chance in hell that anybody would want to set foot in that place after what happened. Just like Chloe wanted, the Vermillion City of old will be gone, but it'll be replaced by a barren wasteland. And all because one girl bullied another into running away for being different.
- While Chloe's classmates deserved punishment, their futures being destroyed might mean more trouble than people expect. With no social future and potential pariah status thanks to their actions, it won't be long before they get desperate to try to survive the cruel world they live in. Now, what other group of people fit the "try to survive with what little they have left" description? Team Skull...Let's just hope that they stay in their world and a certain Train doesn't pick them up...and/or make them become the next Apex...
- Even if Chloe frees the Train of the original Apex, Class 5-E are going to have a hard time moving on when they hear the tales of the great "Chloe of the Vermillion" or if the denizens learn that these little brats harassed their hero and chew them out for their cruelty/stupidity.
- It's more Fridge Sadness than anything, but ultimately, Mr. Bradbury wasn't as good as the story made him out to be: while he was better at seeing Chloe's issues, not only did he only he take them to one of her parents (Professor Cerise) and not the other one, but he never pressed nor insisted on the matter, which would've made things a bit better. Also, while did something about Chloe, he never bothered with doing something about her classmates, the perpetrators, as their parents are caught off guard and horrified at the things their children did. And after Chloe runs away and Parker goes on a rampage? He smugly tells everybody I Warned You, like he's somehow morally superior to them despite his attempts to help to be half-baked at best. And there's the fact that he never did more make sure that the Professor followed up on his recommendation to get counseling for Chloe. His close relationship with Chloe also adds another potential layer for the bullying she experienced. The fact that Bradbury devoted all of his attention to her, yet seemingly never even lifted a finger for his other students comes off as him showing favoritism towards Chloe.
- Sara might not be long for this world. Beyond her tirade against Chloe being rendered All for Nothing, she, like her classmates, has neither an academic nor a social future, and the one person she had left in her life, her mother, walked out on her with disgust and shame. And even though she got new foster parents, she feels like she doesn't deserve them and simply acts as a bandaid trying to cover a first-degree burn: it's way too little, way too late. Coupled with the shock and stress of seeing the trial and all the horrible actions being replayed in a new light plus dozens of parents blaming her and her former friends looking at her with utmost disgust, if the shock overload doesn't kill her, Sara might do the deed herself.
- Forget going back to the world; just trying to navigate the Train would be a living hell for Sara: Chloe has become nothing short of a celebrity in the Train and has successfully ended the Apex which is just the Train's version of her class, so discovering the same person who put her through so much pain has entered the Train wouldn't go over well for them...
- It's worth mentioning that Akemi, the one character who unknowingly started the chain of events that led to Chloe running away, is never seen again after the Unown fiasco. Since she was the only student at Chloe's school who genuinely wanted to be her friend, who's to say she didn't spend most of, if not all, her days blaming herself for what happened? And knowing Parker, there's a good chance he might've done something to her offscreen as well...Fortunately, she reappears in chapter 33 and is perfectly fine.
- During the dinner at the Fog Car, Simon and Chloe quickly get on each other's nerves and make it clear they don't like each other, but this could actually get worse: what's the one Denizen the two have met before? The Cat. And what did Chloe and her friends do with her? Reveal her connection to Simon, putting her in danger. The Cat also happens to be the only Denizen that Simon gives a damn about. What would he do if he found out about this?
- When Chloe looks into Grace's memories and promptly calls her out on what she did, the narration fails to point out one thing: Grace and Chloe have similar backgrounds. Both are ignored by their parents, both wanting to be acknowledged so much they resort to extreme methods, and both hate the thought of being left alone. And yet, rather than notice the similarity, Chloe just refuses to sympathize and promptly calls her out for the apparent Monster she is. The horror comes here: could Chloe have become anything like Grace if she didn't have proper guidance in the Train, something Grace definitely lacked?
- Sean's demise gets an extra layer of horror with one simple fact: as far as the story's concerned, it's difficult to tell an artificial Denizen from one that's a reincarnation of a Passenger. The Apex has been killing and wheeling Denizens for a while now. Sean's Denizen form was probably part of the casualties.
- After Book 4 of Infinity Train, this troper realized something. Before Amelia took control of the Train from One, passengers weren't allowed to keep their belongings, even being forced to wear identical jumpsuits. If a Pokémon trainer got on the train before Amelia took over, then what happened to their Pokémon?
