History Fanfic / InfinityTrainSeekerOfCrocus

** The ExtraordinaryWorldOrdinaryProblems trope gets this treatment. The Pokémon world basically goes "if you have a problem, get a Pokémon and problem is solved!"...which doesn't work if your problems involve bullying, self-worth issues, and you "just don't like Pokémon anymore". However, because the problems ''are'' ordinary, then the solutions to them are ''also'' ordinary...just a bit of kindness, empathy, compassion, and ''therapy'' can be used to help people start healing from their wounds. Pokémon ''can'' help in some areas, but they should not be considered as the cure-all for mental problems.

* ThereAreNoTherapists: PlayedWith. Many of the problems people have could be solved if therapy was in someone's dictionary, but this time there are ''actual'' therapists and discussions on this trope. Tres is a licensed therapist who helps Augustine and Chloe talk about their issues before handing Chloe a medical care app to help her talk with other trauma victims. Tokio mentions that he went to a therapist after his initial Train Trip, and Yuri even suggests that One-One creates a therapy program with the denizens since the Train's views on mental health are ''heavily'' outdated. It also brings up a note that Pokémon are ''not'' considered 100% cures for therapy -- they can be supportive partners, but those who suffer from mental problems need to seek help on their own.

* ThereAreNoTherapists: PlayedWith. Many of the problems people have could be solved if therapy was in someone's dictionary, but this time there are ''actual'' therapists and discussions on this trope. Tres is a licensed therapist who helps Augustine and Chloe talk about their issues before handing Chloe a medical care app to help her talk with other trauma victims. Tokio mentions that he went to a therapist after his initial Train Trip, and Yuri even suggests that One-One creates a therapy program with the denizens since the Train's views on mental health are ''heavily'' outdated.

** The ExtraordinaryWorldOrdinaryProblems trope gets this treatment. The Pokémon world basically goes "if you have a problem, get a Pokémon and problem is solved!"...which doesn't work if your problems involve bullying, self-worth issues, and you "just don't like Pokémon anymore". However, because the problems ''are'' ordinary, then the solutions to them are ''also'' ordinary...just a bit of kindness, empathy, compassion, and ''therapy'' can be used to help people start healing from their wounds. Pokémon ''can'' help in some areas, but don't disregard human bonds either.

** The ExtraordinaryWorldOrdinaryProblems trope gets this treatment. The Pokémon world basically goes "if you have a problem, get a Pokémon and problem is solved!"...which doesn't work if your problems involve bullying, self-worth issues, and you "just don't like Pokémon anymore". However, because the problems ''are'' ordinary, then the solutions to them are ''also'' ordinary...just a bit of kindness, empathy, compassion, and ''therapy'' can be used to help people start healing from their wounds.

* {{Motifs}}: Isolation, especially if people are left in empty buildings or with little contact with others. Specter was left in his room without anyone to help him go through his geass-amnesia, Goh was always stuck in his room searching for Mew before he became a research fellow, and while Chloe had people and a loving family, along with a safe haven in the Cerise Institute, she was still alone and had no one willing to open up to her. [[spoiler:Paul]] is stuck in the Fog Car in an empty room to be tortured. Grace gets herself captured in the Harvest Moon Car, [[spoiler: Hazel and Tuba]] are in a playroom isolated from everything else. This highlights how isolation doesn't necessarily help problems and it's only when there are people who reach out to make connections that they can be better. And those that enforce the isolation are shown to either be flawed or apathetic.

** As the story eventually reveals, both Chloe and Goh's parents caused a lot of damage to many people as a result of letting their anger and grief get the best of them. However, while Chloe is given unconditional support from most people, with even her detractors seeing the reason why she did what she did, Kurune and Ikuo are lambasted by just about everyone in the story: ranging from Tomie, to the people on the Train, to ''even their own son''.

** Just because people have "privileges" or living their best lives, it doesn't mean that they ''aren't'' full of psychological traumas and it is cruel to see them as one-dimensional beings who can't feel. Chloe and Parker may hate Goh for how he's oblivious to everything that's not Mew or his job, but neither of them knew that Goh had abandonment issues thanks because of Tokio. Chloe's classmates didn't see anything ''wrong'' with how they were treating Chloe so long as this monster lover could shut her flying feather mouth and she caters to her needs with Sara admitting that she constantly bullying because she never fought back.

** Just because people have "privileges" or living their best lives, it doesn't mean that they ''aren't'' full of psychological traumas and it is cruel to see them as one-dimensional beings who can't feel. Chloe and Parker may hate Goh for how he's oblivious to everything that's not Mew or his job, but neither of them knew that Goh had abandonment issues thanks because of Tokio. Chloe's classmates didn't see anything ''wrong'' with how they were treating Chloe so long as this monster lover could shut her flying feather mouth and she caters to her needs.

** If someone is going through a mental health crisis, ''don't shove them off to the side'' and call it "healing". Specter, Chloe, and Goh at some point were just left by well-meaning caretakers who assumed that this is better for their health. It turns out that it only aggravated their problems. It's only when someone actually talks to them , or in Chloe's case she gets a therapy app to talk to others, that they can start working on themselves. Yuri himself notes that the Train needs to do more to address how many people have probably ended up ''killing themselves'' out of sheer despair over having so little to work with. When someone is going through a mental health crisis, constant attention and care is needed.

* AnachronismStew: A minor case. Chloe is said to have played all four games of ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'', with the most focus being on ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroesIII''...except ''Crocus'' takes place in late 2020, and NMH 3 wouldn't be released until the following year.

** Goh ultimately concludes that both he and Chloe were at fault for their camping trip that was explained in Harvest Moon Car. Chloe was being insensitive when he got a fever, only asking if he can come have more ghost adventures with her. Goh then admits to his parents that ''he'' also messed up -- the only reason he got sick in the first place was because Chloe ''warned him multiple times'' not to chase after a Vivillon floating in the river, which would've gotten him sick with the fever in the first place.
* BroodingBoyGentleGirl: This becomes the dynamic between Goh and Gloria when they meet, since Goh's currently in a HeroicBSOD after Chloe's message and Gloria, being a former Passenger, gives him InUniverseCatharsis to at least help his mental problems somewhat. This later becomes reversed during the second half of Act 1, with Goh and Victor hoping to console Gloria after her honesty caused Professor Cerise to snap.
* CallForward: [[spoiler:The attire [=UnChloe=] wears -- a white coat, purple leggings and a white top hat -- will be what the real Chloe will wear in ''Journeys'' epiosde 98.]]
* CastFullOfGay: Starting at the end of Act 1/beginning of Act 2, and in a few side stories, there are more and more characters under the LGBTQA+ spectrum, mostly among the non-Pokemon cast members: Specter is demiromantic, Indigo is bisexual, Casimira is lesbian, Tres is a transman, and Ryan and Min-Gi are a couple (meaning Ryan is bi compared to his straight in the original show). Team Riconnetersi consists of asexual Jesse Cosay, female non-binary aromantic Lake, gay Spencer, and "bi-curious" Colette. Among the ''other'' half of the series, such characters are limited to Ash and Trip.

* DrivingQuestion: Act 2's main question is, "Who is Armand and why is he so important on the Infinity Train?"

** Like the original Book 3 of ''Infinity Train'', empathy is an important focus. While most attempts to help others are nice, it's NotQuiteTheRightThing. What's needed for people to heal is people ''actively'' talking and comforting the ones going through a mental health crisis instead of leaving them to stew over their problems and thus aggravating them. Whether it's Professor Cerise assuming that leaving his daughter in the Institute substitutes as therapy or Goh assumes that his friend has no problems except "doesn't like Pokémon anymore", to the Hanoi shoving Specter into his room in an attempt to keep him from running away, or Goh's parents letting him stay in his bedroom to look over six monitors instead of helping him make friends, these attempts don't actively fix the problems as they are just masking them over. Act 2 focuses on these people seeking help and shoulders to cry on when there's no such thing as therapy.

** If someone is going through a mental health crisis, ''don't shove them off to the side'' and call it "healing". Specter, Chloe, and Goh at some point were just left by well-meaning caretakers who assumed that this is better for their health. It turns out that it only aggravated their problems. It's only when someone actually talks to them , or in Chloe's case she gets a therapy app to talk to others, that they can start working on themselves. Yuri himself notes that the Train needs to do more to address how many people have probably ended up ''killing themselves'' out of sheer despair over having so little to work with.

** If someone is going through a mental health crisis, ''don't shove them off to the side'' and call it "healing". Specter, Chloe, and Goh at some point were just left by well-meaning caretakers who assumed that this is better for their health. It turns out that it only aggravated their problems. It's only when someone actually talks to them about their problems, or in Chloe's case she finally talks to a therapist, that they can start working on themselves.

** If someone is going through a mental health crisis, ''don't shove them off to the side'' and call it "healing". Specter, Chloe, and Goh at some point were just left by well-meaning caretakers who assumed that this is better for their health. It turns out that it only aggravated their problems.

** In regards to the Train, passengers get away with everything including murdering the denizens since they're more "important". But does the Train care about the ''denizens'' who get injured or killed or are fearing for their lives, even though they technically ''live'' on that infernal piece of machinery? Not at all.

** Harvest Moon Car has plenty of these: Don't use anger to hide the grief you feel when things go wrong. Focus on the progress you made instead of seeking perfection. Showing kindness to others is strength.

* AngerBornOfWorry: Discussed in the Cyan desert. Chloe's classmates are being chewed out by very pissed off parents for a number of reasons, but the anger comes from concerns that they didn't do enough for their children to make them realize that their futures are in jeopardy at the moment and that they almost crossed a line.

* CastFullOfGay: Starting at the end of Act 1/beginning of Act 2, and in a few side stories, there are more and more characters under the LGBTQA+ spectrum, mostly among the non-Pokemon cast members: Specter is demiromantic, Indigo is bisexual, Casimira is lesbian, Tres is a transman, and Ryan and Min-Gi are a couple (meaning Ryan is bi). Team Riconnetersi consists of asexual Jesse Cosay, female non-binary aromantic Lake, gay Spencer, and "bi-curious" Colette. Among the other half of the series, such characters are limited to Ash and Trip.

** Ash's Rotomphone (and Rotomdex, which does make sense) can't identify a Clodsire, despite the fact that the Rotomphone Pokedex is a worldwide product and would lack the regional limitations of a region-exclusive Pokedex.

** Goh and Chloe's dynamic when they were younger were BroodingBoyAndGentleGirl. But Goh was so absorbed in his brooding and incapable of expressing his feelings towards Chloe, that he was unable to be grateful for all that she did for her and Chloe eventually got fed up and became the brooding girl to his gentle, albeit energetic, boy prior to the start of the story. In their talk in the Harvest Moon Car, Goh admits that even in his darkest moments, he was grateful for Chloe's presence and Chloe herself is incapable of actually hating him -- rather she hated how they treated one another.

** The story treats Goh, who has a history of mental issues in the ''Blossomverse'', the same way as in the original trilogy: that is to say, most people will call him out over being insensitive and not having done more to help Chloe, and generally view him as a jerk. Chloe, meanwhile, is ''implied'' to have an mental disorder here, and is given AdaptationalSympathy by everybody, not only with people being quick to come to her aid whenever people call her out, but even coming close to [[DisabilityAsAnExcuseForJerkassery justifying]] her more unsavory actions as being her just being different, something Goh doesn't get.

** Goh gets a lot of flak, from Parker and others, about his role in his "breakup" with Tokio. They note that Goh [[DramaQueen immediately jumped to the conclusion that Tokio had "betrayed him"]] when he didn't show up, rather than keep an open mind--and so Goh gets the blame for not asking the simple questions that would have [[CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot prevented the drama between the two]]. On the other hand, when Parker first hears that Alex Shepherd is on the Infinity Train, he makes a similar snap judgement that Alex can't be trusted because he made a FaceMonsterTurn in the Bad End of ''one'' spin-off game. Since Parker [[MoralLuck turns out to be right]], he's portrayed as being right ''not'' to keep an open mind, and everyone is briefly overcome with guilt for [[IgnoredExpert not following his judgment]].
** When Chloe and Parker are revealed to have some serious revenge fantasies, from Chloe writing stories that has her torture her classmates to Parker wishing to make everybody pay for hurting his sister, the characters act like this is a result of their own incompetence and neglect and that, while the two are wrong, they have a reason to feel that way. When Goh's pokemon ''allegedly'' grab tickets as to who gets to beat up Chloe when she returns for everything their trainer has suffered indirectly or directly because of her, they get called out and made to be solely in the wrong; first by Parker guilt tripping them without meaning to, then by Goh reading them the riot act, all while putting Chloe on a pedestal and tearing himself down.

* DrivenToSuicide: The beginning of Part 2 has Chloe reeling through this, highlighting her depression from everything she's going through, before she almost takes her life at the end of the Harvest Moon Car. It's only thanks to Goh and Buné that she snaps out of it.

** Goh bumps into Gloria on his way to the Cerise Institute after Chloe's goodbye message, and she stays with him even after he snaps, even giving him some InUniverseCatharsis in the form of a smash game. Because of this, Goh's on a more stable mental place, at least for the moment. It's thanks to her and Victor's influence that he can tell Chloe straight that she's also at fault for their deterioriating friendship problems, which has Chloe admit that she's in the wrong and the two to forgive each other.

** Most of Chloe and Goh's problems with communicating could've been solved if Kurune and Ikuo didn't deliberately prevent their son from hanging out with Chloe after Chloe asked if she could hang out with Goh despite him being sick at the time.

* HourglassPlot: Chloe and Goh's friendship in a nutshell. When they were younger, Chloe tried to reach out to Goh but he refused her. In the present, ''Goh'' wants to reach out to Chloe, but ''she'' refuses.

* RelationshipCompression: The relationship between Goh and Chloe develops ''much'' faster than in the original trilogy. While ''Blossoming Trail'' had it in shambles until the near end, and then it took the entirety of ''Voyage of Wisteria'' for the two of them to make up and become friends again, Act 1 of ''Crocus'' has the two talk and come to the realization they were both at fault over their friendship becoming strained, while Act 2 has the two decide to bury the hatchet and become friends for good after [[spoiler:Goh calms down Chloe as she has an episode, claiming she's going to kill herself at the Harvest Moon Car.]]

* SchoolIsForLosers: This is Goh's opinion of Vermillion School at least, and the story does little to give him a counterargument; those who are shown to attend the school are always shown to be miserable, and would rather be out being Pokémon Trainers than stay any second longer there. However, he does meet up with a few upperclassmen who seem to be doing okay. In Harvest Moon Car, Goh decides to go back to school not only to catch up on what he's been missing (since Chloe was the only one who ever gave his homework, no one in his class has picked up the slack and it's been more than two months since she ran away) but also to gather all of Chloe's art projects as proof that she was well liked by her classmates.

** ''Orchid Observer'' has its main quarter falling under the spectrum: Asexual Jesse, Non-binary Aromantic Lake, Gay Spencer and "Bi-Curious" Colette.