In which White Gestalt must conquer their inner demons in Silent Hill or else...Meanwhile Ash arrives on Ula'Ula island to begin his trial.
- Adaptation Expansion:
- The Ula Ula arc is expanded on, along with Nanu and Acerola's characterizations. Notably, it brings up Nanu's connections to Team Rocket and explains what they are.
- The story focuses more on Alex Shepherd and on the town than what happened in Blossoming Trail, and the author reveals that Alex is the main focus instead of Walter and Henry.
- When the Fog Car was visited in Blossoming Trail, it was mostly focused on the Red Lotus Quarto (but mostly Chloe) trying to dismantle the Flauros components one by one. Here, the White Gestalt members have to confront their inner nightmares and darkness and all of them work together to escape.
- Ambiguous Situation: Easter and Specter's circumstance. How much of Easter's current mental state is themselves, Specter's own personal struggles, Silent Hill's meddling or Alex corrupting them? Is it the real Easter torturing Specter or a construct made by Silent Hill? Did Specter really throw Easter out of a window or has he just lost his mind? Part 3 clears it up: the Easter that was torturing Specter was one half of them. The one that was assaulted was the dark side since Easter tried to transfer themselves into Specter's Duel Disk with the Light Side enjoying their newfound freedom whereas the Dark side got the brunt of Specter's frustrations.
- Armor-Piercing Question: When Kisaragi decides to not chase after White Gestalt in the Fog Car, Larkspur points out that he'd let Tokio go through it? This is enough for Kisaragi to allow Larkspur to go out to protect him but she has to be accompanied by Gaim and Ryugen.
- Battle in the Rain: It starts raining in Part 3, during which the heroes have to stop Pyramid Head from ending Specter's life.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Alex Shepherd, stretching the word "nice", was by and large the good member of the Silent Hill Trio. But as shown against Specter, he will not take denizen abuse lightly.
- Big Damn Heroes: Light Easter arrives in Part 3 to save London from decapitation, using their lightning abilities to strike down the Bogeyman's Great Knife like a lightning rod. Then, Lampetia — revived from a heart by Light Easter's electricity — emerges to stab her throat into Alex's throat.
- Big "SHUT UP!": Tokio shouts this to the grey children (representing the Apex who bullied him years ago).
- Big "WHAT?!": Rotomdex shouts this when Ash casually reveals he can use Aura.
- Bring It: The end of Part 2 has London taking on Easter's electrical attacks with a laugh.
- Call-Forward:
- When Walter asks if he could join in on the fun with Specter, Alex remarks that Walter should get his own prisoner. He'll be getting one all right...
- Jack mentions how his father is trying to do an analysis on another killer that's not the Apex, referencing his recording of Ogami that Alastor brings up in Voyage of Wisteria.
- Acerola gives an analogy that a Marshadow is like a Gengar and Riolu, which Ash will have in Pokémon Journeys.
- London tries to drag Specter away to the ferry in the hopes that Pyramid Head can't swim. In Blossoming Trail, Alex drowns himself in Toluca Lake in a Heroic Sacrifice.
- Aaron questions the methods Kisaragi will go to murder the Apex. That's nothing compared to the Cage of Flauros.
- The Cameo:
- Alain is in a trance in Henry and Walter's bedroom in Part 1.
- Matori and Giovanni appear discussing about Nanu and the Blinding One in Part 2.
- Chekhov's Gun: Specter's Duel Disk once more. Easter transferred themselves into said disk, splitting them into two halves — Light and Dark — with the Light one hoping to figure out why everyone left and the Dark one was attacked by Specter before teaming with Alex to get vengeance. In fact, Specter even notes that something is odd if Easter is jsut giving back his Duel Disk when previously they were torturing him.
- Children Are Innocent: Jack Hotchner is completely immune to the darkness of Silent Hill because of this as London states. However he is able to see into other's worlds as he mentions seeing his father following a copy of his mother. And this is invoked by him; Jack says that he'll help save Lampetia because Silent Hill can't prey on him. Whether or not it would've saved him from a Logic Bomb Alex Shepherd is another story.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Specter's fate at the end of Act 1 at the hands of Alex and Easter and the other Gestalt members have no idea about it until London is stuck in the same room he's in at the end of Act 2. How bad is it? Specter is a freaking wreck in what seems to be a few hours.
- Composite Character: Or setting in this case. The Fog Car has the Arteur Theater (which is now a movie theater instead of just a stage) which was only found in Silent Hill: Origins.
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot:
- Gladion's home movie shows him how Lillie suffered without him, finally hammering home that all he had to do was talk to her instead of running away.
- Specter's problems will only go away if he just explains what's been eating him. And the torture by (Dark) Easter would've been less painful if he just calmed down and let them explain themselves or waited for (Light) Easter to float down and talk it over.
- Crazy Enough to Work: London asks Light Easter to shoot a bolt of lightning at Lampetia's heart to regenerate her. At first, it seems to have failed until a stone spear stabs Alex through the throat.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Some of Acerola's ancestors had people executed by being crushed under an Alolan Exeggutor. All while smiling Acerola's cat smile. Ash is more than a little disturbed by this.
- Darker and Edgier: The Fog Car here somehow manages to be darker than the one in Blossoming Trail with a focus of recreating the personal horrors of Silent Hill 2!
- Death Glare: Aaron Hotchner's default expression is this. The only time it drops is when he sees an illusion of his late wife Haley.
- Destination Defenestration: Specter kicks Easter out of a window to emphasize at how he's tired of the lightning bolt getting into his business. He learns to regret this action shortly thereafter.
- Disproportionate Retribution:
- Hotchner questions the logic of forming a 52-man militia to stop a half-dozen juvenile delinquints.
- Pyramid Head decides the best way for Specter to learn to stop being an asshole is to thoroughly torture him.
- A Dog Ate My Homework: Nanu's Meowth eat his (paid) bills as a means of Nanu getting Acerola to go in the opposite direction of Ash as to get them some new toys.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?:
- Dark Easter's anger at Specter at being abandoned for just "existing" is like a vengeful child now grown up and striking back at their abusive parent, with the questioning of wondering why they were attacked and assaulted for just being born.
- Overall, Easter's demeanor is that of a young child wanting to help their mentally ill parent go through their troubles but their intentions aren't actually helping at all, causing the parent to snap and say/do something that they instantly regret like killing their child in a fit of rage.
- Doomed by Canon: Gladion sees a name of "A. Sativus" checking into the apatments and notes that it's familiar. Unfortunately, as this is a prequel, he won't know about Alain's plight and Alain won't be saved until Chloe arrives to save him months later.
- Double Take: London's reaction upon learning that they're in Silent Hill.London: Oh, so this is Silent Hill...THIS IS SILENT HILL?!
- Dramatic Irony: Nanu is one of the few people in Alola who seem to know anything about what Ash has done, and he really doesn't want to deal with any of that himself.
- Enemy Without: The Easter who tortured Specter is all of Easter's negative qualities, the "Yang" to their light counterpart's "Yin".
- Electric Torture: Done via Easter on Specter after snapping. Per
Word of God, the author hates the use of this trope and will only use it for symbolic purposes. - Exact Words: Nanu uses this to get out of having to fight Ash: if Ash wins against all of Nanu's Pokémon (27!), he wins. But if Ash's loses, that's it. Once Ash's loses Lycanroc in the third round, it's game over. Of course, Acerola's not amused about this.
- Failed a Spot Check: Gladion knows that "A. Sativus" is familiar, but never thinks to realize that it's Alain Sativus. Then again, even if he realized it, there would have been no way to communicate this with anyone since the Infinet won't be made until after they're gone. Plus, given how dangerous Walter and Henry were, he'd end up dead by their hands.
- Famous Ancestor: Acerola, as in canon, is the last descendant of the Alolan Royal family. Ash and Delia meanwhile has Sir Aaron and Queen Rin as his ancestors.
- Foreshadowing:
- When Alex states that White Gestalt should work on themselves, he specifically replied to Specter. Guess whom Alex is going to torture for the White Gestalt's stay and who needs a wake up call about their issues?
- Also notice how something is wrong when Alex used a taser against Specter but Easter didn't switch out...
- Get a Room!: Larkspur never vocalizes this, but she is annoyed when Gaim and Ryugen cuddle in Silent Hill.
- Happier Home Movie:
- Hotchner sees this in the Artaud Theater with his wife in Part 2...and then it shifts to the more unpleasant moments when Foyet appears.
- Gladion's home movie avert this; rather then show his grand quest to get stronger, it shows what his sister was doing while he ran away from home and hammers it in that he was an apathetic brother that could've lessened the damage if he just said something.
- Happy Rain: Light Easter gets to enjoy the rain this way as they now have a body of their own that won't harm Specter in the slightest.
- Hard Light: Both halves of Easter gain a body constructed out of this due to using Specter's Duel Disk as a host body.
- Heroic BSoD: Specter falls into this at the end of Part 3 as he realizes his huge mistake of attacking Easter (or rather Dark Easter) and watches London's plan of striking Lampetia's heart with a lightning bolt ends up destroying her (or not, turns out Lampetia returns better than ever).
- Impoverished Patrician: While Acerola is the last descendant of the royal family of Alola, she is not exactly rich.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: When all is said and done, Gladion is depressed that he's too young to get drunk.
- Jump Scare: In Part 2, London is questioning if things can get worse, and turns around before screaming...because he has just seen a tortured Specter in front of him.
- Late-Arrival Spoiler:
- For Criminal Minds, it spoils the death of Hotchner's wife and how he and his son are Put on a Bus via the Witness Protection Program to hide from Mr. Scratch.
- For Blossoming Trail, it brings up how Alain's a passenger and also a victim of Walter and Henry's hypnosis.
- Lame Comeback: When "George Foyet" says his farewells to Gladion, all Gladion can say is that those "goggles" — as he keeps seeing Foyet as Faba — on him look stupid.
- Lazy Bum: It's Nanu, the most work we see him do is try to avoid having to deal with Ash.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Lampetia's words that end Part 3 has her saying "Miss me?" directed at Specter, although it can also be pointed to readers who most likely forgot she had been out since the 400 Rabbits Car.
- Lesser of Two Evils: Team Rocket has always been able to work with the International Police to take on evil teams that are far more dangerous than they are, a trend that the Team Rocket Trio stumbled into in modern times.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Light Easter is confused when Specter accuses them of torturing him in Part 3, as they were enjoying the experience of having a body in the rain and didn't realize they were split in half.
- Logic Bomb: Alex suffers one thanks to Jack. His mind is personally going to punish Specter but Jack's innocence is causing his two sides to clash. Thankfully it doesn't last long when Larkspur brings up how Alex has Lampetia's heart.
- Lost Food Grievance: After he is attacked by Lycanroc and Umbreon, Alex just notes to himself that his batch of brownies is destroyed and he'll have to make more later.
- Major Injury Underreaction:
- The construct of Haley gets shot in the chest by Foyet, but she doesn't even notice or care and is eating popcorn while watching a movie of Gladion's mistake of leaving Lillie behind.
- Alex doesn't seem to mind being attacked multiple times in Part 3 and 4 up to and including electrocution and being stabbed in the throat.
- Mood Whiplash: Gladion watches some happy home movies of Hotchner and Haley (particularly one of Hotchner being "the worst fourth pirate") before it turns horrifying when Haley's murderer appears and shoots her.
- Motive Decay: Part of why Hotchner doesn't trust the Solitaire idea. Every other self-proclaimed vigilante he's dealt with eventually lost their standards of who deserved to die and who didn't. And he simply cannot trust a 52-man militia to refrain themselves from only hurting a half-dozen children, regardless of how destructive they are.
- Must Make Amends: Specter's mindset after the thrashing London went through — and temporary bonding with Dark Easter — is to at least do something as an apology. London states that Specter should work on himself, get his number down to 0, and mend fences with Easter.
- My God, You Are Serious!: Specter does not trust Light Easter at all since he just escaped from abuse from Easter prior...but when Light Easter was trying to explain that they wanted to give Specter his Duel Disk, the Hanoi Knight realizes that Light Easter is being sincere.Specter: Oh no...you...you are the real you…
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Easter transferred themselves into Specter's Duel Disk so that Specter didn't have anymore strain from the constant switching out. But the Duel Disk couldn't contain them as they were, separating them in ja;f. So while Light Easter got to enjoy their newfound body, Dark Easter got the brunt of Specter's rage, got thrown out of a window and became filled with a personal vengeance and got Alex/The Bogeyman on their tail. Whoops.
- Nigh-Invulnerable: The Bogeyman tanks everything on him: sword slices, bullets, energy slashes Lycanroc biting its arm, Dark Pulse, Shadow Ball...the only thing that works is Light Easter striking their Great Knife like an impromptu lightning rod and it just temporarily incapacitates him. Alex, on the other hand, is somewhat more vulnerable to a spear to the throat but then he turns back into Pyramid head to keep on fighting.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: The Bogeyman does this to London in the hopes of getting Specter to confess to his crimes. Given that London is a wrestler who has gone through years of fights with tougher opponents, it's absolutely painful to watch the Bogeyman toss them aside like a ragdoll.
- Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Hotchner warns about this regarding Kisaragi and Solitaire. Considering that Kisaragi is most motivated by proving to Tokio that he isn't a coward, Hotch is pretty accurate.
- Nothing Is the Same Anymore: At the end of the car, Tokio has formally given up his status as the White Rabbit, Specter has confessed his sins, Easter is a separate individual with Light Easter in Specter's Duel Disk and Dark Easter possessing London, Gladion has realized how his actions hurt his sister and Lampetia is traveling with them. Finally, Kisaragi decides to make his first move.
- Oh, Crap!:
- London's reaction upon learning that the group is in Silent Hill and when Jack says his father just started sleepwalking. He also has this when he sees Specter's tortured state in Part 2.
- Gladion has this when he realizes that it's quiet in the lobby and Specter isn't bickering with Easter.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: London survived Dark Easter's onslaught and arrived just in time to strike The Bogeyman over the head with his staff as a statement. We don't know what happened but given the blood and how Dark Easter looks torn apart, it must've been brutal.
- Once More, with Clarity: In Part 3, we see Easter's side of the story as to what happened while Specter was in the shower.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: London lampshades this when he sees Specter has been reduced to a babbling lunatic stating how he's seeing reflections of himself hating him.London: Specter you are not making sense and it's terrifying me that you are not making sense!
- Out-of-Character Alert: Ryoken notes that Yusaku is acting off, repeating his "Three reasons" with implied threats and telling Ryoken to not search for Specter. And Ryoken is right; Yusaku was brainwashed by Ai.
- Poor Communication Kills:
- If Specter just allowed Easter to explain themselves, most of his problems in the Fog Car wouldn't have happened.
- Gladion realizes how badly his attempts to keep the Nihilego incident a secret traumatized his sister.
- Post-Victory Collapse: London collapses after Pyramid Head leaves, due to exhaustion and blood loss.
- The Power of Glass: Dark Easter tries attacking London with numerous glass shards, only for London to use his telekinesis to deflect it.
- The Power of Hate: It's implied that Easter became resurrected by Silent Hill because of the hatred they have for White Gestalt: Gladion for using them as a tool, London for the murder of Lampetia and Tokio for everything else. It's revealed in Part 3 that this is the dark side of Easter who is angry and hurt that Specter attacked them for no good reason and represents Easter's hidden resentments on how Specter just can't get the hint to confess or ask for help.
- Psychological Horror: What else did you expect in Silent Hill?
- Rage Breaking Point: Specter has pretty much had it with Easter's interference and throws them out of a window. This turns out to be a bad idea.
- Rejected Apology: Easter refuses to forgive Specter for throwing them out the window and will relish torturing him. It's later revealed that this is the dark half of Easter doing so as the light half is confused about everything that happened.
- The Reveal:
- Alain's been on the train longer than expected.
- London murdered the White Rabbit and El Bunny and the reason why Saltador, Mascarita and Mala Suerte appear to him is because the staff keeps the souls of those who were sacrificed (the White Rabbit and El Bunny were murdered for the sake of vengeance). He also brings up the suicide of his friend and how his obsession with the White Rabbit caused a rift between him and Brian Kendrick.
- The situation with Easter is revealed: they transferred themselves into Specter's Duel Disk to let him rest up, but the Duel Disk couldn't contain them as they were, thus splitting them into two parts. The Easter Specter fought was the "Yang" side while the "Yin" side was traveling about figuring out where everyone went.
- Alex was originally a human before One-One (One) took him on the train and repurposed him.
- Rule of Symbolism: Light Easter rises to the sky, Dark Easter falls to the ground. One relishes in the beauty above the other is buried with negative thoughts.
- Running Gag: People shouting "AGH! GHOST!!!"
- Sanity Slippage: Specter's mind starts fracturing starting when he pushed (Dark) Easter out of a window.
- Say My Name: Specter is reduced to screaming "London!" throughout Part 4 as he sees the wrestler getting massacred by Pyramid Head.
- Screw Yourself: One of Acerola's ancestors managed to do this via riding either Solgaleo or Lunala to another reality and encountering their opposite gender self.
- Seen It All: Hotch reacting to Specter talking to Easter is to note that there's another person with DID.
- Self-Deprecation: London notes in Part 3 that Specter should start confessing soon because claiming up will "get old really fast", most likely referring to how Chloe in Blossoming Trail still had her problems up until the near end of the Fog Car arc in her story.
- Shout-Out: London throws in wrestling references throughout the arc. He gives a Bring It with Easter by stating the introduction to Triple H's intro, shouts "IT'S A NEW DAY, YES IT IS!" when Alex Shepherd leaves and cries "GLORIOUS!" when revived by Dark Easter.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Many of Acerola's female ancestors look a lot like her, with even her male ancestors sharing traits with her like their cat smile.
- Take Me Instead: London insists that "Easter" torture him so Specter has a chance to leave.
- Tempting Fate:
- Before heading off, Tokio notes that Specter should be glad that he's not joining them to hunt Aaron Hotchner. He probably would prefer that over the torture Alex is giving him...
- After London is dragged away into a room by The Bogeyman, he questions if things can't get any worse. Cue him finding what happened to Specter...
- Jack mutters that he should be seeing something dark and scary because of everything he went through. Cue him encountering Alex...
- This Is Gonna Suck: London's reaction on how Aaron Hotchner walked off chasing an illusion of his wife and how they're all going to have to face their inner darkness sooner or later.
- Waxing Lyrical:
- Easter closes Part 1 by stating the last lyrics of The Mariner's Revenge Song to Specter.
- London closes Part 2 by quoting the opening lines to a certain wrestler's intro.
London: It's time to play the game...TIME TO PLAY THE GAME!!! (laughs) - Wham Episode: As a whole, the arc changes things for the White Gestalt: Tokio decides he's no longer the White Rabbit, Gladion is hit with a dose of reality on what his "quest" entailed, Easter is split into two halves (one of them now fused with London) and Specter has finally confessed to what was eating him.
- Wham Line:
- Henry Townsend comforting Alain in bed, meaning that Alain's been on the train even prior to Gladion's arrival.
- When Gladion sees "Foyet" about to shoot "Haley", he starts mumbling something that sounds like Faba.
- London asks why Alex Shepherd is even after Specter. Alex goes:
Alex: The Conductor [One-One] gave me my purpose. To eradicate the threat that harms denizens and passengers alike.- After London is revived, Specter notes something is off with his hand.
Specter: It's covered in static! - Why Won't You Die?: Pyramid Head is near impossible to keep down. Nothing stops him with electricity incapacitating him for a few minutes and a spear to Alex's throat is just waved off as an annoyance. The only thing that will make Pyramid Head stop is if Specter confesses the truth of what he wants.
- You Killed My Father: Gender inverted and averted. Nanu had been among the officers to arrest Giovanni's mother, Madame Boss, but Giovanni doesn't hold it against Nanu as it helped him achieve power and his mother was a bit terrible.
