Line #27 NightmareFuel/PokemonReborn


1	[[quoteright:170:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/74789377_e971_4275_af14_2649284f9981.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:170:Just one of the PULSES this game has to offer.]]
3
4	'''Unmarked spoilers ahead'''
5	* The attack at the beginning of the game. [[EstablishingSeriesMoment It drives home to you just how much]] [[DarkerAndEdgier darker this will be]] than the main series.
6	** And just to hammer the nail in further, one NPC asks you if you were on the train and says "so was my fiancee" before awkwardly ending the conversation. If that was too subtle, in earlier episodes she said ''"you were the lucky one"'' as well.
7	* Dr. Sigmund's OrphanageOfFear. All the kids there are terrified and cannot ''wait'' to turn eighteen, because he won't let them be adopted and won't let them leave until they're legal adults. Why are they afraid? His "therapy" sessions basically amount to ''ElectricTorture''.
8	** Heather ends up there after her father dies, and he immediately marks her as his next "patient". [[BreakTheCutie As if she hasn't been through enough.]] Made even worse since Corey asks you to look after her, and you failed.
9	*** His speech when he seizes her is even worse. Despite Heather's repeated refusal to go anywhere with him, he essentially kidnaps her, sounding the whole time like a child molester about to drag her into his white van. It gets a lot worse after Saphira's Gym battle, when she tells the player that Connal raped her while seemingly out of his mind with grief.
10	** The scariest thing about Dr. Connal is not the torture he puts his patients through, but rather, how monolithically certain he is that he is doing the right thing. The man is insane enough to think that he's torturing those children for their own good!
11	*** This ultimately turns into a [[TearJerker Tear Jerker]] when you learn that [[AllThereInTheManual according to one of the interviews on the forum back when the real-life Reborn league was running]], his sister (who was suffering from depression) [[DrivenToSuicide committed suicide]], and electroshock therapy could have saved her. This was later shown in a post-game quest.
12	* Talk to people in the Obsidia ward during the attack. One crying girl will be too afraid to go outside because the street collapsed beneath her boyfriend's feet while he was walking next to her. Luckily, he survived, and once you get access to the depths of the Railnet system [[VideoGameCaringPotential you can rescue him and reunite him with his girlfriend.]]
13	* On the story path where you unveil [[PoisonousPerson Corey]] as a member of Team Meteor, when you confront him in his gym, [[WhatTheHellHero he angrily calls you out for completely destroying his already rocky relationship with Heather...]] ''and floods the room with gas.'' Fortunately, all it does in-game is create a new, harder field effect for the battle against him, but the message is taken: Corey wants you ''dead'', and while he's at it, he wants you to '''[[CruelAndUnusualDeath suffer]]''', This is no longer the case in episode 19 however as he doesn’t attempt to kill you regardless of the story route with the battle being him testing you instead.
14	** In the Mod ''Pokémon Reborn Hardcore'', things get even worse. After his death, you can start a sidequest in which his ghost tells you to meet him in the place where you outed him, and tells you to "bring the ring". When you go there, he chews you out for bringing his own ring (used to catch his Pokémon) instead of Heather's Ruby Ring, and reveals the main purpose of bringing you here was ''to kill you''. When the Player Character tries to run, they get cornered by the remains of his team, and Corey summons a swarm of Koffing to kill you with corrosive mist, attempting to murder you with his patched-together team! Somewhat mitigated in the end with TheReveal that it's not actually Corey's ghost, but his [[OurGhostsAreDifferent Haunter]], who blames you for its master's death and wants revenge.
15	* Shade's gym. It's an old power plant with no power, so it's pitch black inside, except for the occasional flicker. The music there is a low, menacing tune similar to what you find in [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue Lavender Town]] and doesn't change when you encounter wild Pokémon. To get to Shade, you have to stumble your way through the darkness, lowering the doors with terminals, and every time you activate a terminal you see how someone ''died''. One girl getting attacked by a Garchomp, another being decapitated, Corey committing suicide...and the [[HumanoidAbomination less said about Shade himself]], the better.
16	** And then there's the fact that his Gengar is named after Corey, whose body he collected.
17	** Those "visions"? Those don't show how someone died, they show how someone ''will'' die. The girl being killed by a Garchomp is Kiki, who is indeed decapitated by Solaris's Garchomp while trying to stop him from erupting the volcano. And later on you have to see Amaria jumping down a waterfall because Titania admitted to faking being in love with her, ironically to help her with her apparent depression.
18	** [[NightmareRetardant This is mitigated, however, by the fact that]] ''Shade's the closest thing this game has to a [[BigGood Big Good.]]'' Cut dialogue implies that he helped Luna avoid [[AbusiveParents El]], [[TheCuckoolanderWasRight Anna]] says he's really nice, and it's implied that the screens are [[CreepyGood just his way of warning you about the deaths, rather than threatening you]].
19	* The PULSE machines. Just three of those things were able to destroy ''half the city'' with just Tangrowth. Imagine what one could do with, say, a Gyarados or a Tyranitar. [[SarcasmMode Or even better]], imagine what a whole army of Pokémon hooked up to those things could do.
20	** The current release has one hooked up with a Clawitzer. Y'know, the tiny shrimp with a [[{{BFG}} freakin' Howitzer cannon for an arm?]]
21	** Made even worse since while the PULSE machines greatly enhance the Pokémon hooked up to it, they also do...[[BodyHorror horrible]] things to their bodies. [[AndIMustScream It's implied the Pokémon are fully conscious and unable to stop attacking, too]].
22	** The prototype pulse machine forcibly evolved a Magneton into a Magnezone, which isn't all that horrifying except for the fact that in the pokedex, it is said to be impossible to do artificially. Its creators, on the other hand, went through the exact same process, becoming ZEL.
23	* In the Byxbysion Wasteland, you get this message at the start of every battle: [[ParanoiaFuel The waste is watching...]]
24	** Using a move of the same type as the field usually strengthens in, with the game saying "the murk added to the attack" (or something). Use a Poison-type move in the Wasteland, and the game tells you "the waste joined in the attack". That place is ''alive'', and it's '''not friendly'''.
25	** As it turns out, after exploring the Wasteland's Underground system, you come across Mr. Bigglesworth, a Garbodor who greets you in an eerie manner. In the same room, you find a non-functional PULSE machine, suggesting that the Garbodor was used to create the Wasteland.
26	* '''Solaris'''.
27	** He's smart, cold, calculating, and has no qualms ordering his Pokémon to attack and kill defenseless humans. What Pokémon is it? A ''[[LightningBruiser Garchomp]]''--you know, the thing that Website/{{Smogon}} banned to Ubers for being stupidly overpowered. And the game is not shy about showing how badly an ordinary human fares against it.
28	** He orders Cal to ''throw Kiki's Medicham in lava''. Imagine how traumatizing that would be for Kiki.
29	** Then there's the first battle against Solaris atop Pyrous Mountain. He says that "it won't take more than a single Pokémon to delete you". [[TemptingFate Seems like he's setting himself up to get defeated by his own hubris, right?]] [[HaHaHaNo Ha ha ha NOPE.]] That "one Pokemon" is his '''[[LightningBruiser Garchomp]]''', and it's ''[[OhCrap LEVEL 75]]'' (to put this into perspective, the highest level your Pokémon can be at the time is level ''45'')! [[HopelessBossFight Cue curb-stomp battle.]]
30	* The scariest thing about Solaris, though? '''HE'S JUST TEAM METEOR'S [[TheDragon DRAGON]].''' The ''true'' leader of Team Meteor, [[BigBad Lin]], is arguably ''[[SerialEscalation even worse than Solaris!]]'' During the [[EnemyMine Enemy Mine]] situation in Team Meteor's Tanzan Mountain base, she not only sees right through Sirius' lie that the Player Character is a new recruit, but also ''knows right away that you're responsible for the subsequent attack on the base by Saphira and her Steelix!'' To give you an idea about how feared she is: '''[[TheWorfEffect EVEN SOLARIS IS RELUCTANT TO GET HER INVOLVED.]]'''
31	** Come Episode 16, we finally know why Lin is so feared: Her first direct action against your group is to kidnap you and your friends, and force you into fights in which '''the loser is tortured in different ways'''. And how does she top this? '''By having her Hydreigon DECAPITATE THE LEAGUE CHAMPION'''. That's right: [[HeroKiller Even the strongest trainer in all of Reborn is no match for Lin]]. [[FromBadToWorse And said trainer is now dead.]] And as a bit of FridgeHorror: She ordered her grunts to specifically leave the protagonist unharmed. [[LeaveHimToMe It's not hard to figure out the reason]].
32	*** Lin's ''fucking'' Hydreigon. That motherfucker's strong enough to stand up to Ame's- the ''Champion's''- Alolan Ninetales. Which is an Ice/Fairy type. That is, it's a fucking ''Dragon-killer'', and yet it couldn't take down that Hydreigon. And the fact that it eats Ame's head doesn't help.
33	*** Oh, yeah. Those methods of torture? Adrienn gets burned, Victoria gets shocked, and Arclight gets ''an eye ripped out''.
34	*** Even the hideout where all of these events take place is designed to make you feel pain: The whole place is riddled with unavoidable tiles that develop electrical shocks to the protagonist every time they step on one of them. Again, they're unavoidable. And you have to step on several of them before reaching the end of the puzzle. And worse: ''They hurt your Pokémon too''. It's very clear that Lin doesn't just want to kill you: '''She wants to see you suffer.'''
35	* Some of the custom shinies look a bit unnerving, for example, Aegislash, Kecleon, and Vivillon. To elaborate, Vivillon has a demonic aura around it, Aegislash is ''splattered in blood,'' and Kecleon [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking is almost completely invisible.]]
36	** As of Episode 16, Aegislash's shiny form is now different from the above.
37	* That ''giant fucking Steelix'' that causes all the earthquakes in Chrysolia. First you fall down into the Tanzan depths and after a while find Saphira at the end of a long, wide pathway. She's down a chasm and tells you a giant Pokémon is responsible for the tunnels. When you go back the way you came, giant new pathways have opened up while you occasionally hear earthquakes. Then you finally reach a certain chasm where the Steelix shows itself, and it's absolutely [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever MASSIVE]].
38	** Oh, and the best part? [[spoiler: [[OhCrap It COMES BACK,]] as a surprise boss fight during Saphira's gym challenge. [[BossWarningSiren The large amount of attack indicators heralding its presence]] is bound to fill you with dread.]]
39	* At many points of the game, you'll see an Absol staring or yelling at you. Let's just remind that Absol is known to appear when a disaster is going to happen...
40	* The Type: Null sidequest added in Episode 17. Dear lord, the Type: Null sidequest... It esentially involves you wandering into a hidden lab on 7th Street where, after battling the head scientist there, you're tasked with fetching certain Pokémon so she can use them to put together Type: Null's main body. That's right: ''You're handing your own Pokémon to this insane woman so she can tear them apart and fuse them together.'' And two of those mons you have to hand out, Luxray and Unfezant, are fully evolved so you ''have'' to train them at least a bit before sending them off. And after you do that? Type: Null, still having the memories of the Pokémon you handed out, [[TheDogBitesBack lashes out against its creator, killing her before deciding that]] [[LaserGuidedKarma he wants to kill you too.]]
41	* If you go down the story branch in Episode 17 where Lin tricks Titania into killing Taka, things for the rest of the episode start as TearJerker, but then quickly become equal parts that and this when you go to get Amaria's badge:
42	** First, when you find Amaria in her gym, she quickly greets you and then runs off underwater. Of course, since you need her badge, you have to follow her underwater, where she eventually drops [[StepfordSmiler her cheerful act]] and traps you in an underwater room, ''[[MoralEventHorizon leaving you to drown]]''. Thankfully, Titania is able to save you, [[CruelAndUnusualDeath but if she hadn't come along...]]
43	** In the aftermath of that, Amaria drops all pretense of civility and goes full-on {{Yandere}}, with nothing but pure, undiluted ''hatred'' towards the player for causing Titania to leave her (because she's forgotten ''your'' achievemets). On the story route where Taka lives, she normally maintains an attitude of faux cheerfulness, but in ''this'' route she outright makes ''death threats'' and stays in a state of TranquilFury for the entire battle. Oh, and the fight ends with the implication that she's going to kill herself for real this time. This is perhaps exemplified best by what she says when she sends out her last Pokémon on this route:
44	--->[[KillItWithWater Drown.]]
45	* The Glass Workshop marathon and PULSE Hypno. Not only is it able to take over up to two human minds at once, it can also control ''all those humans' Pokémon'' as well. And this doesn't just go for Cain and Shelly. It takes over '''''you''''' as well.
46	* The end of Chapter 18. The player defeats Hardy, gets his badge, the episode's over, and then... suddenly the text in the 'thanks for playing, etc.' speech slowly becomes corrupted until it's nothing but 'xxxxxxxx' over and over against a totally black screen. Then, out of nowhere, some really creepy music starts playing and the text is replaced with a strange, unidentified character speaking directly to you- not the main character, ''you''- and calls you ungrateful, saying they've done a lot for you that you don't appreciate. They then threaten to keep you prisoner in the empty space between episodes, before letting you go... but they tell you that you'd better be grateful next time, or else.
47	* '''THE PULSE MR. MIME.''' It’s a Dark/Ghost Type With Wonder Guard, is only weak to fairies, and can give its ability to other Pokémon. It doesn’t [[HumanoidAbomination even look like a Mr. Mime anymore]] whereas the other PULSES at least somewhat resembled the original Pokémon. Oh, and [[FromBadToWorse it gets worse.]] There’s the fact that it’s puppeteering Sigmund Connal’s mutilated body and we get a ''[[SarcasmMode lovely]]'' look at his state as his in-battle sprite has changed to his corpse. [[NothingIsScarier It is never made clear who killed him, Lin or the PULSE, and though it’s implied to be the former, it is never outright revealed]]. Oh, and the PULSE Mr. Mime is now controlling ''the deceased Sigmund Connal’s'' Pokémon to fight for it as well. The music doesn’t help either. As awful as he was, what Connal had been reduced to here [[AlasPoorVillain makes it hard not to feel sorry for him]].

Context NightmareFuel / PokemonReborn