History YMMV / InfinityTrainSeekerOfCrocus

* DontShootTheMessage: Later down in Act 2 and by the end of Act 1, the story tries to make a message about how human relationships are important, and that in order to make them work, communication and empathy are required from both sides. This is a pretty good message...that ends up falling flat when considering the context: Vermillion City, the location that gets the most focus in the story, is filled with ''horrible'' people, ranging from bullies who'd destroy someone in order to get a Pokemon, to adults that could care less about what happens as long as it isn't their problem. This is all without specifically noting when the story explores Chloe's own developments in this regard, as while certainly meant to show how Chloe has improved over time, focusing on her pre-development parts, tend to pain a picture of someone who is just as horrible as the bullies and adults mentioned above, and at times it is only the narrative, and not Chloe's actions and behaviors themselves, that communicate any progress in communication and empathy. These expansions also focus a lot on a Chloe who tends to display her worst traits in the Blossomverse, which further muddle the message as these developments are framed with large amounts of the very same traits that make Chloe divisive in the first place.

*** Goh calls out Trip for making Ash cry and emotionally wrecking him, stating that he thinks that Ash should date ''anyone'' else but him because of the guy's abusive behavior.
*** Goh also mocks Gloria for referring to Chloe's home life as "abusive".

** With a fair bit of focus placed on Chloe competing with Ash's superiority, perceived or otherwise, the possibility of comparing the two further was a very plausible direction for the story to go on. After all, Ash has made type mistakes in several of his most important battles, such as against [[Recap/PokemonS9E44GatheringTheGangOfFour Brandon]] and [[Recap/PokemonS22E51FierySurprises Kukui]], the former even being against a Ghost-type too, and he also experienced [[Recap/PokemonS1E80FriendsToTheEnd a post-loss experience similar to Chloe, including what could be described as insensitivity by those around him and unfairness]]. The possibility of having Chloe reflect on these similar incidents, or even having her raise an alternate perspective of the fairness that befell Ash could have helped her connect with him, while also working on her own empathy problems. However, like with many things not directly related to glorifying Chloe, this was ultimately never explored.

** BackhandedApology aside, Ash and Chloe's talk at the beginning of Act 2 is supposed to establish that BothSidesHaveAPoint, and that both of them are equally guilty for the latter's current situation. However, it's hard not to see Ash as the more sympathetic one in the argument, because not only is the actual argument - that Ash didn't try to get to know Chloe any better - a heavily flawed one, but it conveniently ignores how Ash's issues were either downplayed or outright not there ''before Chloe had her hissy fit''.
** Goh scolding his Pokemon for wanting to attack Chloe when she returns is portrayed as a noble action that shows that he's really starting to care about her. However, their reason for doing is also a noble one; seeking justice for their trainer being hurt. Furthermore, this comes ''right after'' Goh understood why they wanted to do so and gave his approval, making the guy come across as an indecisive UngratefulBastard who'd switch opinions at the drop of a hat if it meant keeping Chloe from having another episode. Retroactively, the Firefly Funhouse Car also establishes that Chloe wanted to ''murder'' Goh, meaning that his Pokemon are being blamed for having a now completely justified reason for wanting to attack someone who had wanted to murder their trainer only a few months earlier.

** While Ms. April is said by the narrative to be a poor teacher, and the rest of her class is not a good showcase of her skills, Firefly Funhouse makes it clear that her handling of Goh was in fact far better than what the story shows. Compared to her successor, she essentially was doing her job dealing with a special needs students practically flawlessly. He was accommodated, was getting good grades, and was happy and healthy; yet the story ignores this face to criticize her, making her one of the few adults in story to handle Goh's special needs correctly.

*** Firefly Funhouse also makes Ms. Valente, the unseen new teacher of Goh, far less sympathetic than intended. While originally meant to be a teacher whose simply doing her job where Ms. April hadn't in the main story, Funhouse establishes that Goh had in fact put in written documentation for special accommodations to allow for his absences. So what was meant to be a teacher expecting Goh to act like a regular student has instead become someone willing to ignore special accommodations for someone who is not only special needs, but doing fine in his classes academically within those accommodations, with her only defense being issues with Goh's parents lack of response to emails which itself ignores other means of solving the issue.

** If there's anything that can be taken away from the school plotline, is that a school that doesn't take its students' needs into accounts, is doomed to fail. Part of the reason why Chloe and Goh have such miserable times there is because both of them (ESPECIALLY Goh) are treated as special needs students; Goh is even shown having had his parents submit documents for special accommodations, yet are practically ''forced'' to study the same way as everyone else even as it becomes clear that said studying methods don't work for them.

*** Goh gets a lot of mud flung at him for his set up for only going to school some times, being 'No-show Goh' and all. However, Firefly establishes that this isn't just him being lazy, he has paperwork from school to be allowed to do that, and as a student he still gets good grades despite his absences. Goh is not failing his obligations to the school as a student as a result, and any social issues he misses are entirely with people who, as mentioned above, are rather huge jerks and Goh gets his socialization in his job with Professor Cerise instead. Essentially Goh is expected to not use a system that is meant to help him, works for him, and keeps him from having to deal with a rather terrible classroom, because it makes Chloe lonely.

** While Ms. April is said by the narrative to be a poor teacher, and the rest of her class is not a good showcase of her skills, Firefly Funhouse makes it clear that her handling of Goh was in fact far better than what the story shows. She essentially was doing her job and handing a special needs students practically flawlessly. He was accommodated, he was getting good grades, and he was happy and healthy. Compared to Goh's successor teacher, Ms. April handled Goh practically perfectly, a fact the story ignores to criticize her, making her one of the few adults in story to handle Goh's special needs correctly.

*** Firefly Funhouse also makes Ms. Valente, the unseen new teacher of Goh, far less sympathetic than intended. While originally meant to be a teacher whose simply doing her job where Ms. April hadn't in the main story, Funhouse establishes that Goh had in fact put in documentation for special accommodations to allow for his absences. So what was meant to be a teacher expecting Goh to act like a regular student has instead become someone willing to ignore special accommodations for someone who is not only special needs, but doing fine in his classes academically within those accommodations, with her only defense being issues with Goh's parents responding to emails which itself ignores other means of solving the issue.

** Like in the anime, Goh doesn't really like interacting with others (he only goes to school for testing), is hyper-fixated on wanting to find Mew, and his lack of a social filter makes it hard for him to explain what he truly wants, showing signs of being neurodivergent.

** Goh gets a lot of flak in story for favoring Pokemon based-friendships over human ones, which is intended to be a show of his lack of support both for and from Chloe. However, considering how he's treated in the story by human characters, is it any wonder why Goh prefers the company of Pokemon?

** Goh suggests that the reason why Chloe should've captured the Shiny Pumpkaboo was because she was the daughter of a professor, only to get shot down by his grandmother. However, this could've served as the perfect opportunity for Chloe and her father to actually bond, especially since the Pumpkaboo was a Pokemon that Chloe actually ''liked'', and thus could've allowed them to become closer and not have such a strained relationship in the present day.

** A lot is made about how Goh's parents don't push him to go to school more and how it's a staple of their neglect. Given that practically every time school is mentioned it is in regards to something horrible about how it treats its students, particularly Chloe, not forcing their son to go to a place like that is fairly reasonable, especially as their son has a job with Professor Cerise so he is no longer just in his room all day researching Mew.

** The narrative lambasts Goh's parents for deliberately keeping their son and Chloe separated after the ghost hunting trip in Kalos years ago, causing their friendship to strain, despite her saving him from drowning. Thing is, while their actions ''were'' extreme, the story glosses over the fact that Chloe, after saving Goh from drowning, only cared to ask if he was feeling better just so she could take him on ''another'' potentially dangerous adventure, not once indicating that she cared about him for his own sake. So they come across more as a pair of {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}s who are unfairly persecuted just because they understandably didn't want their son to be friends with someone who only wanted to hang out with him for personal interest.

** With a fair bit of focus placed on Chloe competing with Ash's superiority, perceived or otherwise, the possibility of comparing the two further was a very plausible direction for the story to go on. After all, Ash has made type mistakes in several of his most important battles, such as against [[Recap/PokemonS9E44GatheringTheGangOfFour Brandon]] and [[Recap/PokemonS22E51FierySurprises Kukui]], the former even being against a Ghost-type too, and he also experienced [[Recap/PokemonS1E80FriendsToTheEnd a post-loss experience similar to Chloe, including what could be described as insensitivity by those around him and unfairness]]. The possibility of having Chloe reflect on these similar incidents, or even having Chloe raise an alternate perspective of the fairness that befell Ash could have helped her further humanize him in her eyes and connect with him, while also working on her own empathy problems. However, like with many things not directly related to Chloe being the hero or in the right, this was ultimately not explored.

** If there's anything that can be taken away from the school plotline, is that a school that doesn't take its students' needs into accounts, is doomed to fail. Part of the reason why Chloe and Goh have such miserable times there is because both of them (ESPECIALLY Goh) are treated as special needs students, Goh is even shown having had his parents submit documents for special accommodations, yet are practically ''forced'' to study the same way as everyone else even as it becomes clear that said studying methods don't work for them.

** With a fair bit of focus placed on Chloe competing with Ash's superiority, perceived or otherwise, the possibility of comparing the two further was a very plausible direction for the story to go on. After all, Ash has made type mistakes in several of his most important battles, such as against [[Recap/PokemonS9E44GatheringTheGangOfFour Brandon]] and [[Recap/PokemonS22E51FierySurprises Kukui]], the former even being against a Ghost-type too, and he also experienced [[Recap/PokemonS1E80FriendsToTheEnd a post-loss experience similar to Chloe, including what could be described as insensitivity by those around him and unfairness]]. The possibility of having Chloe reflect on these similar incidents might have been a useful step in her humanizing Ash, or even having Chloe raise an alternate perspective of the fairness that befell Ash to further humanize him in her eyes and connect, also working on Chloe's empathy problems. However, like with many things not directly related to Chloe being the hero or in the right, this was ultimately not explored.

** If there's anything that can be taken away from the school plotline, is that a school that doesn't take its students' needs into accounts, is doomed to fail. Part of the reason why Chloe and Goh have such miserable times there is because both of them (ESPECIALLY Goh) are treated as special needs students, yet are practically ''forced'' to study the same way as everyone else even as it becomes clear that said studying methods don't work for them.

** Like in the anime, Goh has problems picking up social cues, doesn't really like interacting with others (he only goes to school for testing), is hyper-fixated on wanting to find Mew, and his lack of a social filter makes it hard for him to explain what he truly wants, showing signs of being neurodivergent.

** Goh gets a lot of flak in story for favoring Pokemon based-friendships over human ones. This is meant to be a show of his lack of support both for and from Chloe. However, considering how he's treated in the story by human characters, it's little wonder why Goh would prefer the company of Pokemon.

** Goh suggests that the reason why Chloe should've captured the Shiny Pumpkaboo was because she was the daughter of a professor, only to get shot down by his grandmother. However, this could've served as the perfect point for Chloe and her father to actually bond, especially since the Pumpkaboo was a Pokemon that Chloe actually ''liked'', and thus could've allowed them to become closer and not have such a strained relationship in the present day.
** During the trial against Chloe in the Harvest Moon Car, Allighieri makes several negative comments about her and declares that she should be separated from the Windchasers and Red Lotus Remnant. This is supposed to make him loathsome and make us rejoice when [[spoiler:they win the trial and decide to stay with her regardless]], but Allighieri ends up making some very valid points because Chloe has ''repeatedly'' proven herself as a toxic individual who drives away any help that people try to give her, yet demonizes those she believes are against her, AND is responsible for [[spoiler:reducing the Windchasers' leader ''to a suicidal state'', the very same one she's been dealing with]], and yet never truly faced consequences for it.
** A lot is made about how Goh's parents don't push him to go to school more and how that's an example of their neglect. Given that practically every time school is mentioned it is in regards to something horrible about how it treats students, particularly Goh's supposed best friend Chloe, not forcing their son into going to a place like that is fairly reasonable, especially as their son has a job with Professor Cerise so he is no longer just in his room all day researching Mew.

*** Goh also mocks Gloria's tendency to call Chloe's history abusive, making it clear that he means actually abusive and not what Gloria ''thinks'' is "abuse".

** With a fair bit of focus placed on Chloe competing with Ash's superiority, perceived or otherwise, the possibility of comparing Ash and Chloe further was a very plausible direction for the story to go on. After all, Ash has made type mistakes in several of his most important battles, such as against [[Recap/PokemonS9E44GatheringTheGangOfFour Brandon]] and [[Recap/PokemonS22E51FierySurprises Kukui]], the former even being against a Ghost-type too, and he also experienced [[Recap/PokemonS1E80FriendsToTheEnd a similar post loss experience to Chloe, including what could be described as insensitivity by those around him and unfairness]]. The possibility of having Chloe reflect on these similar incidents might have been a useful step in her humanizing Ash, or even having Chloe raise an alternate perspective of the fairness that befell Ash to further humanize him in her eyes and connect, also working on Chloe's empathy problems. However, like with many things not directly related to Chloe being the hero or in the right, this was ultimately not explored.

** As always, Ash and Goh are given flak for not knowing what Chloe wanted to do, when all evidence points that she was being clearly uncommunicative while they were extending plenty of open hands.

** Goh scolding his Pokemon for wanting to attack Chloe when she returns is portrayed as a noble action that shows that he's really starting to care about her. However, their reason for doing is also a noble one; seeking justice for their trainer being hurt. Furthermore, this comes ''right after'' Goh understood why they wanted to do so and gave his approval, making the guy come across as an indecisive UngratefulBastard who'd switch opinions at the drop of a hat if it meant keeping Chloe from having another episode. Retroactively, the Firefly Funhouse Car also establishes that Chloe wanted to ''murder'' Goh, meaning that Goh's Pokemon are being chastised by for having a now completely justified reason for wanting to attack someone who had wanted to murder their trainer only a few months earlier.

** In chapter 46, though making good points, we're supposed to see Allighieri in the wrong for trying to get Chloe sentenced to working on herself on her own, separate from the Red Lotus Uprising or Windchasers. Thing is, while his argument gets damaged by him focusing on the negative, the basis of it holds water: at that point in the story, Chloe has been such a toxic and damaging person to each member of both groups, directly or indirectly, that anybody else in their right mind would ditch or at the very least keep their distance from Chloe until she truly starts working on herself. Not only that, but being such a beloved figure on the Train, there's no doubt that a Passenger or Denizen would eventually pick up the slack of both groups, and potentially do it better so long as they don't immediately buy into Chloe's stories. Instead, Allighieri is left fuming at the mouth as the Red Lotus Uprising and Windchasers decide to ''stay'' with Chloe despite not only conceding to Allighieri's points, but even admitting that they hate her.

** Chloe Cerise during Dr. Yung's attempt to break her. Given that the chapter that features this moment comes ''right after'' the chapter where Chloe and Goh talked things out, it seemed like Chloe [[AesopAmnesia didn't learn anything from that moment]].

** One FreudianExcuse of Chloe's is that her father had once promised to send her to softball camp, only to have to change plans after a last-minute conference came up. However, this excuse is rendered moot for several reasons; First, Professor Cerise gave Chloe a full explanation of the situation and assured her that she could "go next time". Chloe simply [[InsaneTrollLogic took that to mean]] that her father would ''always'' put Pokemon over her interests, and [[OnceDoneNeverForgotten distrusted him ever since]]. Second, the narrative tries to hold the Professor responsible for factors such as Sara smugly [[KickTheDog claiming that Chloe's parents must not love her]] if she couldn't get them to sign a permission slip, even though there was realistically ''no way'' for him to know that ''[[PoorCommunicationKills without Chloe telling him]].'' And finally, Chloe's end of the bargain, behaving herself for a week, [[WantsAPrizeForBasicDecency is really not that much to expect of her]], so she comes off as a [[SpoiledBrat spoiled]] DramaQueen for still whining about not getting her reward ''months'' later AND bringing up this incident while explaining that she [[DrivenToSuicide would rather ''die'' than get into Pokemon]].

** Goh gets a lot of flak in story for favoring Pokemon based-friendships over human ones. This is meant to be a show of his lack of support both for and from Chloe. However, considering how he's treated in the story, it's little wonder why Goh would prefer the company of Pokemon.

** If there's anything that can be taken away from the school plotline, is that a school that doesn't take its students' needs into accounts, is doomed to fail. Part of the reason why Chloe and Goh have such miserable times there is because both her and ESPECIALLY the latter are treated as special needs students, yet are practically ''forced'' to study the same way as everyone else even as it becomes clear that said studying methods don't work for them.

* [[AssPull/InFinityTrainSeekerOfCrocus Ass Pull]]

* AngstWhatAngst: While the Goh of this story is spared from Parker's wrath and the infamous Nightmare Therapy, this Goh now has to deal with a near-drowning experience in his youth, and his usually well-meaning but neglectful parents who have a surprising lack of concern for his own wellbeing that doesn't seem to affecting him personally that much.

* AssPull: [[AssPull/InfinityTrainSeekerOfCrocus Now with its own page]].

** As time has gone on, Professor Sycamore, the ''proper'' protagonist of the story, has fallen into this category. Some think he's a breath of fresh air compared to previous protagonists in the verse, simply wanting to do good and make amends with no strings attached whose mistreatment by the narrative is something to be pitied. Others, however, see him as a lackluster protagonist at best, a waste of space at worst, seeing as him presence [[InSpiteOfANail doesn't change the base storyline in any significant way]], and feel like he's more of a PinballProtagonist who's affected and led by the plot, instead of the other way around.

** Sara Dyktalis [[spoiler:getting the unknown box instead of Parker.]] Some like the change since [[spoiler:the Cyan Desert arc]] effectively turned Parker into TheScrappy so [[spoiler:giving it to a HateSink like Sara]] who wouldn't get shilled after the arc was a good choice and gave us an epic final showdown between Chloe and Sara, which lets the bullied girl finally stand up to the girl who has caused her so much pain. However, you have others who don't like the change since Sara's nastiness is turned up with her bullying of Chloe because she thought that would make her give her a Pokémon, and how before this arc, Sara had no real importance to the plot. So, it came off more as the writers just redoing the arc not just to make Sara irredeemable, but to also let Parker be the hero this time around, which even includes him creating an [[spoiler:UnChloe who helps fix everything instead of ruining everything.]]

** Given how Chloe has been a SpoiledBrat through Act 1, culminating in [[spoiler:driving Professor Sycamore insane with despair by using him as a stress toy]] after everything they did to help her, and Specter not only exarcebated the problem but proved [[NoSympathy completely unsympathetic]] to [[spoiler:Professor Sycamore's plight]] once things calmed down, it's immensely satisfying when [[spoiler:a truth geass forces Professor Sycamore to air out his anger towards the two of them, ending with him saying something so shocking to Specter's face that he's left speechless.]]

** While done with more tact than usual, this fanfic in the Pokémon World repreats the same old "Goh finds out what Chloe went through and how he wasn't a good friend" and "people blaming the Cerises for Chloe's problems" nonsense that plagued the original trilogy that the readership had grown sick of by the end of ''Blossoming Trail'', and the end of The Twisted Lab Car even repeats the "catharsis is damaging" Aesop the original story did, with as much chatter to boot.

* {{Padding}}: Act 1 was over 30 chapters long, with each chapter having word counts comparable to FanFic/PokemonResetBloodlines, so some readers felt like the story was wasting too much time either setting up future things or repeating too many things from the earlier trilogy to get the actual story going.

* SalvagedStory: There was a bit of controversy when the Palimpsest Car had Ash [[spoiler:decide to ignore the Rainbow Rocket invsaion]] due to believing his friends were "strong enough" to deal with it themselves, which came across as very out of character for him. A later chapter not only tries to give an actual ''explanation'' for why he said that, as [[spoiler:Nanu and Burnett told him to stay out of Alola for his safety]], but the end of the arc has Ash [[spoiler:get the encouragement to go to Alola and turn the tide of the battle in Alola's favor after being reassured by Goh.]]

** During the trial against Chloe in the Harvest Moon Car, Allighieri makes several negative comments about her and declares that she should be separated from the Windchasers and Red Lotus Remnant. This is supposed to make him loathsome and make us rejoice when [[spoiler:they win the trial and decide to stay with her regardless]], but Allighieri ends up making some very valid points because Chloe has ''repeatedly'' proven herself as a toxic individual who drives away any help that people try to give her, yet demonizes those she believes are against her, AND is responsible for [[spoiler:reducing the Windchasers' leader ''to a suicidial state'', the very same one she's been dealing with]], and yet never truly faced consequences for it.

** Ash fits this in the Act 1 finale. After initially going down his same guilt complex schtik and then going away for a few chapters to recover and train with his Pokemon, he returns for the big battle... and proceeds to do nothing of importance. In fact, one moment of important development for him in the original story, summoning all his Pokemon to fight against the Unown creation, is handed over to ''Parker'' instead, leaving him with nothing to do but stand there as everybody else contributes to the battle somehow. This thankfully starts getting rectified in Act 2, as after a few close calls, he finally decides to step up and [[spoiler:help with the Rainbow Rocket invasion of Alola.]]

** The reveal that Chloe had tried to connect to Goh after a ghost hunt that the two ended up involved in by chance is intended as a humanizing moment for their relationship and a demonstration of how she tried to keep their relationship going with a mutual interest, and how she had saved his life. However, the fact that this was done with ghost hunting, a type of Pokémon that is infamous for being very dangerous in pretty much every region of the Pokémon world (especially Kalos), makes Chloe come off as irresponsible and fortunate that Goh's near-death experience was simply drowning and not being cursed or strangled by a Gourgeist. It also makes Chloe's disinterest in Pokémon come off as very reckless as she knowingly brought Goh into a very dangerous environment without proper caution. Finally, she prioritized having fun over Goh's well-being, wasted time picking flowers instead of bringing Goh straight back to camp, and then continually harassed his parents with phone calls about ghost hunts in a similar manner to how she'd later badger her classmates with her own interests, ulimtately creating a pattern for Chloe's loneliness that is the result of her own actions.
** There's also Tomie when she calls out Goh's parents during the discussion of said ghost hunting trip. This moment is supposed to establish her as the OnlySaneMan in Goh's family, and a KickTheDog moment towards the parents for their role in straining their friendship. However, the fact that she not only glosses over the fact Goh ''nearly drowned'' as a result of Chloe's irresponsibility, but then goes on to solely focus on ''Chloe's'' pain, with her only briefly noticing Goh when he gets disturbed by her later yelling, instead makes her come across as ''another'' Chloe apologist who's quick to defend the girl over something that, to an extent, was her own fault in an attempt to absolve her of ''any'' wrongdoing, while condemning a pair of people (one of them being her child), whose only crime was done from a place of being worried for their son's wellbeing.

** ''Firefly Funhouse'' is meant to imply that Chloe feels like she has mental problems she is struggling with and not being treated or helped, and that it is important to support people in her condition. It instead comes off as if Chloe is struggling with being accepted for having a socially unaccepted fetish instead, which instead turns the entire thing into the message about the dangers of kink-shaming, the mistreatment of others interests, and otherwise a message with somewhat similar messaging but in a ''very'' different matter than intended.
** If there's anything that can be taken away from the school plotline, is that a school with traditionalist values, or which doesn't take their students' needs into accounts, is doomed to fail. Part of the reason why Chloe and Goh have such a miserable time there is because both Chloe and ESPECIALLY Goh read like special needs students, but are practically ''forced'' to study the same way as everyone else even as it becomes clear that said studying methods don't work for them.

** With a fair bit of focus placed on Chloe competing with Ash's superiority, perceived or otherwise, early in the story during the Yung arc, and later focuses on comparing Chloe and Ash, the possibility of comparing Ash and Chloe further was a very plausible direction for the story to go on. After all, Ash has made type mistakes in several of his most important battles, such as against [[Recap/PokemonS9E44GatheringTheGangOfFour Brandon]] and [[Recap/PokemonS22E51FierySurprises Kukui]], the former even being against a Ghost-type too, and he also experienced [[Recap/PokemonS1E80FriendsToTheEnd a similar post loss experience to Chloe, including what could be described as insensitivity by those around him and unfairness]]. The possibility of having Chloe reflect on these similar incidents might have been a useful step in her humanizing Ash, or even having Chloe raise an alternate perspective of the fairness that befell Ash to further humanize him in her eyes and connect, also working on Chloe's empathy problems. However, like with many things not directly related to Chloe being the hero or in the right, this was ultimately not explored.

* AngstWhatAngst: While the Goh of this story is spared of Parker's wrath and The infamous Nightmare Therapy. This Goh now has to deal with a nearly drowning experience while being younger, his, usually well meaning but, neglectful parents now with a possible drinking problem and a surprising lack of concern for his own well being that doesn't seem to affecting him personally that much.

** ''Firefly Funhouse'' is meant to imply that Chloe feels like she has mental problems she is struggling with and not being treated or helped, and that it is important to support people in her condition. It instead comes off as if Chloe is struggling with being accepted for having a socially unaccepted fetish instead, which instead turns the entire thing into the message about the dangers of kink-shaming, the mistreatment of others interests, and otherwise a message with somewhat similar messaging but of a ''very'' different matter than intended.

** Chloe admitting to Goh during their talk in Harvest Moon that she never truly hated him becomes this after ''Firefly Funhouse'', where she confides to Atticus and Lexi that she fantasizes about '''murdering''' Goh with her donut holer

* DracoInLeatherPants: In story, Sara embodies virtually every bully stereotype imaginable; arrogant, prejudiced, racist, violent, craves what others want and caring for no one but herself. However, in part due to backlash against Chloe's perceived heroism, many comments in the story tend to downplay a lot of this, mostly because a lot of it is so over the top it surpasses the suspension of disbelief and tends to be subconsciously dismissed like how the story itself treats the faults of others like Goh and Professor Cerise the narrative tries to push, and if never quite to the point of justifying what she does sees her be treated as Chloe's equal in liability and fault instead of the complete monster she's intended to be.

* DracoInLeatherPants: In story, Sara is pretty much every sort of villain and embodies every bully stereotype imaginable. She's arrogant, prejudiced, racist, violent, and jealous, craving what others want and caring for no one but herself. However, in part due to backlash against Chloe's perceived heroism, many comments in the story tend to downplay a lot of this, mostly because a lot of it is so over the top it passes the suspension of disbelief and tends to be subconciously dismissed like how the story itself treats the faults of others like Goh and Professor Cerise the narrative tries to push, and if never quite to the point of justifying what she does sees her be treated as Chloe's equal in liability and fault instead of the complete monster she's intended to be.

** ''The Firefly Funhouse Car'' is really dedicated to trying to make Chloe more sympathetic and show how [[FoodSlap throwing curry in Goh's face]] might not have been the most ''diplomatic'' way to start her journey, but Goh brought it on himself by being insensitive and taking her and their friendship for granted. It also shows the [[CreepyChild ten-year-old]] protagonist fantasizing about "[[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown beating Goh to death]] with her donut holer" as a symbolic gesture. Not to mention the fact that the narrative attempts to use DisabilityAsAnExcuseForJerkassery ''again,'' citing her anxiety and "possible autism" as the reason she can’t be honest with people and show her interests--while ''[[DoubleStandard at the same time]]'' showing Chloe being infuriated at ''Goh's'' [[NoSocialSkills lack of social grace]] and [[InformedWrongness fixation on Pokémon]].

* DontShootTheMessage: Later down in Act 2 and by the end of Act 1, the story tries to make a message about how human relationships are important, and that in order to make them work, communication and empathy are required from both sides. This is a pretty good message...that ends up falling flat when considering the context: Vermillion City, the location that gets the most focus in the story, is filled with ''horrible'' people, ranging from bullies who'd destroy someone in order to get a Pokemon, to adults that could care less about what happens as long as it isn't their problem.

** HarsherInHindsight:
A WhatIf [[https://archiveofourown.org/works/34346089 story]] based on this fic featured Mairin entering the Train during her hotel stay. The main story would feature a similar scenario with ''much'' darker context, as it involves [[spoiler: a group of cultists trying to convince her to enter by preying on her desire to save Alain.]]

* HarsherInHindsight: A WhatIf [[https://archiveofourown.org/works/34346089 story]] based on this fic featured Mairin entering the Train during her hotel stay. The main story would feature a similar scenario with ''much'' darker context, as it involves [[spoiler: a group of cultists trying to convince her to enter by preying on her desire to save Alain.]]