Nightmare Fuel / Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

For nightmarish Pokédex entries, check here.

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Main Game

• Once your Raidon gains the ability to scale cliffs, you have the option to go up the Great Crater of Paldea even before endgame, and if you do reach the crater's edge, the music suddenly fades out completely as you face a surreal sight of a huge crater enshrouded by clouds so thick you can't see anything below them. Nothing Is Scarier at its finest. Worse, the crater's edge isn't exactly devoid of life; you may end up being accosted by high-leveled, fully evolved Pokémon such as Garchomp and Magnezone.
• Some of the Titan Pokémon can be pretty spooky:
  • The Stony Cliff Titan (Klawf) is introduced resting on the side of a cliff, its carapace almost camouflaged against the rocks. Once you approach it, it twists its eyes back to look at you before leaping down to attack.
  • The Open Sky Titan (Bombirdier) is shown to be dropping gigantic boulders everywhere for kicks, and you have to ride your legendary through the on coming avalanche in order to reach it and fight it. If you try it on foot? You get knocked off course by the boulders!
  • The Lurking Steel Titan (Orthworm) is tame by comparison, but there's something unnerving about its introduction, with its head poking out of the sand and its mouth opening and closing.
  • The Quaking Earth Titan (Great Tusk/Iron Treads) is obviously the most intimidating of them all; it's the only Paradox Pokémon of the group and you're likely to first encounter it looming in the background of Asado Desert. It's also the first one the Professor gives you a warning about, showing you very clearly that it's bad news. The fact that this thing that looks like a Donphan but may or may not actually be one is just casually wandering around the desert is rather horrifying, and Arven even wonders if it was really a Pokémon when the battle's over.
    • Doubly so in that this is the only Titan that is explicitly stated to have killed someone in the past.
  • Finally, there's the False Dragon Titan (Tatsugiri and Dondozo). You first meet it when Tatsugiri calls out "Ai taitan!" and then, out of nowhere, Dondozo leaps out and eats the little guy. A bit later, after you defeat Dondozo, Tatsugiri returns and challenges you to a second fight.
• Why don't you interact with Professor Sada/Turo outside of phone calls? Because the professor is dead and the one calling you is an AI they created while still alive.
  • Even in the video calls you see, the professor is eerily still, like a mannequin.
• Annihilape not only takes Primeape's "literally gets so angry it dies" 'dex entries to their natural conclusion, its cry sounds like bones cracking. The manacles on its limbs are broken, indicating just how much pent up rage was in it by the time it evolved. It's a good thing it's focused more on Tranquil Fury, but even then it's still unnerving to look at, considering it has a perpetually narrow-eyed expression with Red Eyes, Take Warning. And to reiterate — it rages so hard until it dies and returns as a revenant still full of focused rage.
• In addition to Annihilape, several of the new cries sound quite frightening:
  • Cetitan's cry is very guttural sounding near the end.
  • The sounds that Klawf makes hardly fit how it looks.
  • With how derpy Orthworm looks, you wouldn't expect its cry to have a deep rumble to it.
  • Fitting to its design, Skeledirge sounds like it's singing a continuous, eerie single note.
  • All of the Paradox Pokémon sound similar to their original counterparts, but with added effects to make them sound just slightly off. Specifically, the Scarlet Paradox Pokémon have tribal instruments and howling behind their cries, and the Violet Paradox Pokémon have strange mechanical sounds alongside the noises they make.
    • While Great Tusk at least sounds just like Donphan, albeit with an extra effect added to its cry, Iron Treads much less audibly resembles its modern counterpart. The only way in which Iron Treads sounds like Donphan is that it retains an elephant-esque trumpeting as part of its cry.
• The Paradox Pokémon, with the exception of the Koraidon/Miraidon that you befriend, are far more monstrous than even the Ultra Beasts in how they are often described as, simply put, murderous monsters. The silver lining is that, if they are anything like Koraidon/Miraidon, they can hopefully be befriended and hopefully be calmed down to interact with other people and Pokémon in a friendly way that is not fatal to their well-being.
  • The prehistoric paradoxes are also terrifying in that they, with the possible exception of Slither Wing, all have been described with similar terminology regarding their dispositions: savage, vicious, ferocious, etc., to the point that they will aggressively attack virtually anything else on sight.^note Flutter Mane actually downplays this, being more docile than the rest, but it's still fairly easy to set off into trying to kick your ass. All of them are bigger Dire Beast takes on the contemporary Pokémon that range from just looking more intimidating like most or just looking straight-up alien when compared to the contemporaries like Slither Wing. Eyewitness accounts are apparently so rare because of just how vicious these creatures are. Special mention goes to Scream Tail and Roaring Moon for being the vicious distant ancestor of largely nonviolent Jigglypuff and the even more savage distant ancestor of the already-cruel Salamance, making you wonder about what the other ancient ancestors were like for even less or even more violent contemporaries.
  • Roaring Moon deserves special mention because of it being the only ancient Paradox Pokémon resembling a Mega Evolved state. What makes it scary is that, if you remember what it said about Mega Aerodactyl being what Aerodactyl apparently actually looked like in the past, Roaring Moon's appearance being an ancient Mega Salamence coupled with that all but states that the Mega Evolved forms are more or less devolved states of the ancient Paradox Pokémon over time, and some notable Mega Evolved Pokémon are similarly depicted as maddened monsters (oftentimes due to extreme pain) or outright fiends (Mega Metagross and Mega Gengar come to mind). One wonders if Mega Evolution is really just returning some Pokémon to their ancient and sometimes more vicious roots.
  • The artificial appearances of the future forms brings a disturbing implication: Are they merely based upon or descended from those original Pokémon? Or have those Pokémon gone extinct and their forms are merely man-made replicas?
    • Their hostility (towards humans and each other) and damage to the ecosystems they occupy brings forth another disturbing implication: What if both Pokémon and humans have been driven to extinction, and these Paradox Pokémon are the only creatures left?
  • Several of them are just plain unsettling. Iron Treads in particular, with an almost flat LED display and a metal flap replacing its face. And this is^note provided you played/are playing Violet the first Paradox Pokémon you encounter, as a Titan, no less. With several others, it's also easy to wander close to them before realizing that's not the Pokémon you thought it was, like with Iron Jugulis.
  • For players with a fear of robots, the future variants can easily veer into Unnecessarily Creepy Robot territory. There's no reason for these 'wild animals' to look like robotic duplicates of well-loved Pokémon — they just do, and a lot of their animations, especially for Iron Bundle, can look downright nightmarish. It doesn't help that a lot of the Pokédex entries for them make allusions to them being theorized to be alien superweapons or paranormal ghost robots, in the cases of Iron Treads and Iron Valiant respectively. All of their Shiny forms (which paint most of their bodies silver) only serve to make them look even more inorganic, ramping up the creep factor for what are normally much more desirable appearances. Not helping them is that a good chunk of them are described as randomly attacking things or being noted as having cruel or ruthless natures, destroying others just because. The fact that literally only two of them are remotely Steel-typed at all (one of those being a quasi-Legendary) or that only under half of them are part Electric-type makes their inorganic natures that much more alien, as their metal constructions powered by electricity are just secondary to whatever other typings they have.
• The true nature of Area Zero. What truly makes it eerie is the buildup to The Reveal. You are steadily descending further down into a site that previous badly injured Arven's Mabosstiff, with only vague instructions being given by an increasingly cryptic Professor. It's a kind of subtle dread as you move your way down past abandoned research stations where you begin to realize something is very off about this situation. That this place is a dangerous site filled to the brim with Pokémon brought from either the past (Scarlet) or the future (Violet) and Arven's parent is responsible somehow. The fact that your respective Box Legendary is utterly refusing to come out of its ball only further highlights that something is deeply wrong.
  • Area Zero itself, especially if you've learned about it from the books or from Ms. Raifort's history class. You and your friends are going down a massive crater, into the unknown, where it is said that in ancient times no one succeeded in reaching the crater's deepest reaches, and the area is still barred to all but a few in the present. Some of them may have been killed, but some of them also could have been trapped, where the Paradox Pokémon could have then got to them.
    • In addition, it says in the Scarlet/Violet Book that one of the researchers who encountered a rampaging Great Tusk/Iron Treads suffered a mortal blow that required the research team to pull back. There is a high chance that this person did not survive that attack. With Pokédex entries like Iron Valiant, for example, stating that it "mercilessly" cuts down anyone opposing it, this is definitely not a place you would want to be trapped in, surrounded by fauna that can cut you down without remorse.
  • The final research station before you reach the time machine is unnerving as hell. At first the Professor greets you as intended… but then they begin to talk very strangely, their words repeating themselves, breaking apart. The scene even begins to tilt sideways, with the characters being utterly creeped out by this bizarre behavior. Alongside the background of the broken down and damaged research station, it's incredibly ominous and foreshadowing of the events to come…
  • And then it gets worse when it's revealed that the professor that has been guiding you the entire time isn't even them; rather, it's an AI in a robotic body to imitate the deceased professor. How does the player learn this? Through seeing the professor completely slumped over like a puppet without strings with their eyes wide open. And then they state "deactivating sleep mode" before they stand up with very jerkish movements and that blank uncanny stare on their faces before addressing the protagonist.
  • The elevator ride down to the time machine comes across as extremely eerie in a subtle kind of way. You're alone with the AI Professor, you're the only one who knows for sure that they're an AI at this point, and they very matter-of-factly describe what their original counterpart's goals were. It not only gives the sense that something very wrong is about to happen, but it also shows just how desperate the original professor was to achieve their goals.
• The entire final battle.
  • First, when you finally reach the time machine's control room, the AI professor tells you right away that due to the security measures put in place by the professor, they are programmed to attack any intruders who would dare to disrupt the time machine's function. Sure enough, once the corresponding book is used to deactivate the machine, it initiates its defense mechanism and assumes direct control of the AI, causing their duplicate body's hair to spike up, their eyes to glow a bright cyan, and their facial expression to become an insane grin of pure malice. Not only that, but their speech becomes glitchy and they suddenly take on a personality that is more reflective of their organic counterparts. To accentuate this, their dialogue boxes do not refer to them as "AI Sada/Turo", instead referring to them as "Professor Sada/Turo", giving the impression that the robot duplicates are being possessed by the ghosts of their creators from beyond the grave. Then, when you actually defeat them, they suddenly start to short-circuit, twitching uncontrollably and shooting electricity from out of their bodies which actually leaves visible burn marks on their bodies and their outfit.
    • Before the fight even begins, AI Sada/Turo asks you to stop them in a way that very much sounds like I Cannot Self-Terminate.
  • One small detail that make things even more chilling is the wording of the text when the battle starts, which states that AI-Sada/Turo "Initiated a battle." In a series where even the biggest and baddest Big Bad can still be described as willingly challenging you to a battle, the sheer lack of emotion in its wording makes it clear that whatever happens from this point on is not going to be a typical Pokémon battle.
  • But it doesn't stop there. Their defeat is only the first phase of a two-part battle. The security system has one final trick up its sleeve: it locks all Poké Balls other than the professors' own and then utilizes Terastalization, maximizing all possible outputs until the AI's body is consumed by the crystal phenomenon and its personality is again completely overridden with that of the system's. They battle you again, but this time the interface itself glitches out and reveals the true identity of your opponent: the Paradise Protection Protocol, the professor's last line of defense against those who would disrupt their ambitions. They then send out the savage Koraidon or Miraidon that you encountered not long ago, and you are forced into a situation where you cannot battle it because your Poké Balls don't work. Your only option is to send out your own Koraidon or Miraidon, who as established before has been scared to death by its bully of a rival for much of the game, but worse still, cannot battle up to that point because of a combination of both its trauma and its low power. It gets better in the following cutscene, but the lead-up to that moment is quite terrifying and imposing.
    • In addition, imagine if you didn't bring Koraidon/Miraidon with you to Area Zero. You and your friends would have met the same fate as the real professor, with no option to escape or fight back. The Paradise Protection Protocol would have annihilated you, and your friends — children who are at least 10-15 years old — with the box legendary, making it one of the few antagonists in the franchise to actually make an attempt to kill you.
  • Look closely during the battle intro text, and for a split second, the text changes to this:
    AI Sada/Turo has no intention of fighting anymore!
    • Given lack of context, that line could be interpreted a couple of ways — none of which are particularly pleasant. Perhaps it's a futile effort by the AI to escape the control of the Protocol... or perhaps it's the Protocol itself, its intent no longer to simply defeat you, but to KILL you.
    • The cutscene just before the battle too. As the AI Professor utters their shock and horror over just how hell-bent the original professor was about keeping the time machine functional, Tera crystals start crawling up their body as they tell the children to flee.
  • After the battle's over, AI Sada/Turo still moves with very jerky movements even after returning to their more benign personality. It just looks extremely off, reminding you that, yes, you're talking to a damaged robot.
  • A terrifying thing: the computer refers to the main character and their friends as 'obstacles' keeping the time machine was functioning...then shuts down their Poké Balls, showing it identifies them as humans with Pokemon. The professor intentionally programmed it to do this, showing the original professor was entirely willing to have their creation straight up murder people to keep the time machine functioning. The AI Professor being utterly horrified at the realization of how far their creator was willing to go was entirely justified.
• The extra entries found in the Scarlet and Violet Books suggest that both the Terastal Phenomenon and the Paradox Pokémon are the product of some entity residing at the very bottom of Area Zero. Its entry in the book is faded, but it's described as being large, disc-shaped, and being protected by a large shell made of overlapping hexagonal plates. And the worst part? The player doesn't even get to see this thing.
• At one point, Arven tells you the full story of what happened to his Mabosstiff. He tried to enter the Great Crater to find the professor, only to be attacked by a creature he describes as being so alien that he questioned if it was even a Pokémon at all, which beat his Mabosstiff nearly to death when it tried to protect him. We never find out what did it; he doesn't identify any of the Paradox Pokémon as the culprit when confronted with them, he's way too familiar with Koraidon/Miraidon to not be able to identify one, and even seeing the disk-shaped entity in the book doesn't seem to ring any bells for him. In the end, the base game ends with the possibility that there's still something else dangerous on the loose down in the Crater, something the player never finds anything else about.

Post Game

• The Treasures of Ruin. While playing the game, you'll probably notice at least a couple of these mysterious glowing stakes littered all over the region. These stakes happen to be connected to four malicious legendaries who wreaked destruction and havoc across Paldea! Let's set the scene centuries ago. Paldea was ruled by a king who adored collecting treasure and was approached by a merchant from the east who offered him four treasures: a large bowl, a set of wooden tablets, a sword, and ornamental beads. Except these treasures had a secret; they were somehow corrupted by negative human emotions. The resulting curse was triggered by the king's greed bringing the objects to life at last. The treasures manifested their own bestial bodies out of different elements. These four new legendary Pokémon began to run wild, causing disasters until they were eventually sealed away.
  • Then there's how creepy the Treasures of Ruin look on first glance. Wo-Chien is a massive pile of rotting vegetation vaguely in the shape of a snail, with a constant squinting Death Glare. Chien-Pao is a long-bodied feline with the swords awkwardly sticking from its jaws as sabre teeth. Ting-Lu looks more like an ox than a deer with its crudely-formed body of rock and blank red eyes. And Chi-Yu is a fish-shaped fiery blob with the beads forming eyes much too large. There's just something innately off about the way they look, far more like monsters than real Pokémon.
  • As for what cursed them? Wo-Chien was cursed by the grudges of a man who wrote down evil deeds on the bamboo tablets. Chien-Pao carries the hatred of those who were unjustly slain by the blade. Chi-Yu bears the greed and envy of the one who wore the beads. But Ting-Lu is probably the worst of all - it's a ritual vessel that has absorbed the terror of countless people, implied to be the victims of Human Sacrifice to fill the vessel.
  • When the creatures escape their imprisonment, they don't use Pokémon Speak or even animal noises. They scream out the thing that they were built to do, as if determined and willing to resume the carnage they started centuries ago. In plain English.
    Wo-Chien: Scriiibe!
    Chien-Pao: Cut! Cuuuttt!
    Ting-Lu: Pooourrr!
    Chi-Yu: Splashyyy!

DLC

• The Teal Mask introduces us to the Loyal Three; consisting of three Pokémon venerated as guardians of Kitakami… only that's what the misconstrued story is. In reality, they're actually treasure-seeking bandits who wanted the masks owned by Ogerpon and her master, enough to attack him for them and ended up being seen as heroes for many generations after a complete misunderstanding which left them as the poor heroes slain by the horrible ogre.
  • After their resurrection, they're clearly shown to be discussing something and you later learn they managed to scam the villagers out of Ogerpon's masks and a lot of free food in the process which made them giant and powerful. Unlike the Raidon who killed Sada/Turo by accident in a feral rage, these Pokémon share a disturbing amount of sentience which is enough for them to understand the value of treasure and attack others over it. How long were they active before Kitakami and how many others did they harm?
  • While it's not outright stated, there's the implication that they killed Ogerpon's master in order to steal the masks, based on how he was nowhere to be found when Ogerpon returned.
• Kieran. A combination of how his sister treats him (both good and bad) along with a naturally shy disposition and deep sense of inadequacy has clearly done a number on the boy's mental state. He's distraught when Ogerpon wants to go with the player instead of him, has a very scary look in his eyes before his last battle and worse still, completely breaks down when he loses. The ending cutscene shows him in his room muttering repeatedly about needing to get stronger, flashing a devious grin and making one final, ominous comment before the scene fades to black:
  Kieran: Just you wait, *player name*...
  • Of note is when Kieran steals the Teal Mask and starts acting a bit unhinged when the player and Carmine go to get it back. Carmine admits that his behavior is scaring her, and the player character can agree with her.
  • Although it's been memed and joked about that Kieran's attitude towards Ogerpon parallels that of an Incel or stereotypical "Nice Guy", it is still quite disturbing how closely his behavior resembles just that. He spends the first part of the story feeling a kinship with Ogerpon from hearing about her in legends and expecting them to be instant friends when they finally meet, which doesn't end up happening. As Ogerpon grows closer to the Player Character, Kieran begins to act more and more visibly depressed and distressed over it before suddenly flipping 180 and lashing out at both the Player Character and his sister Carmine over Ogerpon preferring them to him and demanding a battle to choose who claims ownership over Ogerpon. It could be argued that he doesn't even get anything out of the ensuing battle aside from a deep seated resentment for both Ogerpon and the Player Character. One can only wonder where he's going to go from here in the Indigo Disc section of the DLC.
  • In addition to how Kieran was to Ogerpon, he also has a possessive entitled attitude towards Terapagos, feeling like he deserves this Legendary after the one he idolized was “stolen” from him. He gets genuinely mad when Terapagos starts walking towards the player character and he declares that it’s his. Like with Ogerpon, Kieran doesn’t seem to value or consider the Pokémon’s feelings and thinks of them as possessions and tools to display his strength. Furthermore, the fact that Kieran seemed that determined to catch a Legendary just to finally defeat the player shows how obsessed he’s become in the time the two were apart.
• The Bloodmoon Beast side-quest. It starts off innocently enough with the player wandering around the misty woods at night, taking pictures of Pokémon. Then, once all the pictures are taken, you and Perrin approach the Bloodmoon Ursaluna and Perrin takes a picture of it, with her camera flash angering the beast. Then the familiar track of the Alpha Pokémon encounter starts playing, setting the scene as it is: a young student and their photographer friend are alone in the woods with a raging bear.
  • The Bloodmoon Ursaluna itself is very creepy to look at, since it's a different form from regular Ursaluna with one of its eyes being almost completely black, and the dried peat on its fur looks cracked and scarred. It looks zombie-like with these factors.
• The DLC ultimately ends on a bittersweet note, but one of the more disturbing implications becomes clear if you put two and two together. To start with, when you first visit the Crystal Pool to obtain, well, crystals for repairing Ogerpon's mask, you come across Briar, who herself seems interested in the pool. Why? Because apparently, those crystals are related to the Tera crystals found in Paldea; more specifically, the massive ones found growing in the bottom of Area Zero. As if to punctuate this, take a listen to the ambient music for the Crystal Pool. Sound familiar? Couple this with the fact that Briar later has to cut her visit to Kitakami short due to "developments in the Great Crater." As in, Area Zero. Add this up to the revelation given post-game that the growth rate of Tera Crystals is accelerating and the more powerful but less-known Black Tera Raids are surfacing, it all builds up to the rather disconcerting implication that something terrible is about to happen in the Great Crater, and, with the discovery at the Crystal Pool in Kitakami in mind, it may go far beyond the borders of Paldea.
  • The second half of the DLC doesn't specifically clarify what this "development" was, making it that much weirder and creepier, but dialogue with Briar implies it may have been related to Paradox Pokémon escaping Area Zero into the surrounding Paldea, something that was implied to have already happened with the Iron Treads/Great Tusk encounter during Arven's questline in the base game (in fact, given that The Teal Mask canonically happens concurrently to your original three storylines, it's indeed possible that the Quaking Earth Titan escaped Area Zero very recently). Given what revelations were made at the end of the base game (that Paradox Pokémon are known to have extremely negative effects on the present environment) one shudders to imagine what would happen to a world where Paradox Pokémon were freely rampaging without restraint.
• Should you bring in Ogerpon in your battle against Kieran, he will be so enraged that you decided to put her in this battle and he will try to get his Pokémon to focus on her. Given how frustrated he was that Ogerpon chose you to be her trainer, it almost feels like Kieran is getting back at Ogerpon for not choosing him.
• Kieran’s changes in between the DLCs. By the time you see him in the Indigo Disk, he’s gone with a different appearance with his hair pulled back and his eyes are completely vacant. Personality-wise, he’s much colder and has fully become obsessed with being strong. Once he reunites with the player, he agrees to let them into the club for the sole purpose of defeating them with his new team.
• Kieran's meltdown after he's defeated, which comes across as uncomfortably realistic and not at all downplayed or played for humor. Might hit a bit close to home for those who went through similar mental issues...
• Kieran starts ranting about how great the player is while he's trying to pull out Terapagos's gem. Carmine and the player character are pretty clearly unnerved, and the camera angles don't help matters. It really shows just how desperate Kieran has gotten.
• Near the end of the DLC, Kieran attempts to recall Terapagos into a Master Ball. But out of nowhere, the now out-of-control Terapagos simply outright destroys it in his hand. Just before that, it even sends an energy blast at him, with the only thing saving him being the version mascot.
  • Consider that Terapagos was caught by Kieran against its will: it had clearly taken an interest in you, outraging Kieran into capturing it out of pure spite. While the only thing said is that Terapagos cannot control itself, the blast fired at Kieran gives the impression that Terapagos was trying to murder him out of retribution.
  • Another worrying point to note: Terapagos breaks Kieran's Master Ball when he tries to recall it, not when he tries to catch it. The little turtle has already been caught and registered under Kieran... and then it just decides it doesn't want to be Kieran's pet anymore and annuls the ownership of its own accord - something mentioned previously in-universe as being possible, but shown for one of the first times in-game in brutal fashion.
• Mochi Mayhem:
  • The way it starts is already pretty ominous. After you obtain the Mythical Pecha Berry, you head to Mossui and inspect the little round decoration at Peachy's shop. Suddenly, your character reacts with surprise, as it's stated to move slightly. Then, Arven gives you a call and after you chat with him, you turn around. The decoration is gone, and the player character once again looks shocked.
    • The fact that the "decoration" was there the whole time is creepy in hindsight. What exactly was stopping something similar to this from happening at any other point you were in Kitakami?
    • Even the title screen doesn't beat around the bush, with some poison dripping across the title serving as a warning that something bad is on the loose. Not to mention the fact that the music that plays in the background is a remix of the Loyal Three theme.
  • It's easy to miss, but early in the epilogue, you are able to encounter two NPCs consisting of a father and a son, where the father is trying to convince the son to eat some mochi that he clearly doesn't want. An early warning of the horror that is about to unfold...
  • The introduction to Pecharunt's possession. While you, Arven, and Penny are talking with Nemona and Kieran after their offscreen battle, Carmine appears out of nowhere with her eyes having turned purple. She stands there in silence for a moment... and then suddenly starts dancing around chanting "MOCHI! MOCHI!" over and over again. The dance itself would be somewhat goofy (since it resembles the chicken dance), but it manages to be genuinely unsettling because you know full well that this isn't normal behavior for her. And worse, it turns out this has been happening since Kieran sent you his invitation.
  • Things only get worse when Nemona retrieves some soda for your welcome party at the Community Center, claiming that the old lady at Peachy's was absent. Then she mentions that she ate some mochi that was left at the shop with a "Help Yourself" sign next to it. Sure enough, Nemona goes eerily quiet for the remainder of the scene…
  • The way Kieran and Carmine's grandparents end up possessed. You meet up with them right outside of Kitakami Hall and Grandpa speaks to you. When he tries to talk to his wife, however, she's eerily silent. Then she opens her purple eyes and offers him a plate of mochi, which he hesitantly takes. Sure enough, he ends up possessed, just like her.
  • Pecharunt being able to possess nearly everyone in Mossui Town, including Kieran's entire family, your friends from Paldea, and had it not missed when tossing its mochi, Kieran and yourself! The only other local who avoids being possessed is the Pokémon Center Nurse, and even she seems rather unnerved at what's happening around her.
  • While Grandpa's possession was quick and easy, Arven and Penny's possessions almost resemble a Painful Transformation, and both of them are visibly terrified at what's happening to them.
  • Arven's apparent embarrassment at his dancing, his and Penny's responses to you knocking out their Pokémon, and Nemona's repeated comments throughout her battle with you imply that, on some level, they were all aware of what they were doing while possessed and were powerless to stop it. Fortunately, they claim not to remember anything after the possession is lifted, so it's possible that part of Pecharunt's poison wipes their memory of the incident (ostensibly to prevent being accused of such later), or the mind control simply taps into the victim's personality without their awareness.
  • Once the player and Kieran finally corner Pecharunt, the rest of the town blocks your path and, while Kieran was able to hold them off, who knows what Pecharunt was going to force the people to do to them?
  • If you send Ogerpon out to fight against Pecharunt, you get a surprising reaction from the former: She recognizes Pecharunt as the one responsible for the "Loyal Three" who initially stole her masks and possibly murdered her trainer, and she's filled with the same wrath that she brought forth to strike down the "Loyal Three" all those years ago. It's quite the shock seeing the normally-shy and cheerful Ogerpon drop the usual Pokémon Speak to actually snarl at Pecharunt in anger.
    "GRAH! Pon PON!"

Gameplay

• One particular glitch involves your player trainer attempting to ride your version exclusive Legendary and turning big as a result. The results are rather unsettling.
• Prior to it being patched in December 2022, another spooky glitch used to happen if the player had the game running for a long time (due to a memory leak) before facing the Elite 4 and Champion. For some reason, the game would get stuck looping the 4 to 5-second suspenseful-sounding intros to their battle themes. Some players said it made them feel incredibly anxious, with others stating that it just sounded incredibly creepy.
• Player models that aren't your own character's (and sometimes it can happen to yours) have a random tendency to just break in multiplayer, and the models used in this game just make it worse when they act in ways they shouldn't. Sometimes the results are silly, but other times might make you consider calling a priest instead of a programmer.
• There is a Janitor you can battle near some ruins in the Western Province who talks about "cleaning [someone] up", and talking to him again has him tell you to go away and pretend you didn't see him. Uh-oh. Not helping matters is that his Pokémon is a Swalot.

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