Pokémon Scarlet and Violet / Fridge

Fridge pages are Spoilers Off by default, so all spoilers have been removed and all entries folderized. Proceed with caution. You Have Been Warned.

This page is for non-Gen IX Pokémon entries regarding Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. For entries regarding the newly introduced Pokémon, including the Paldean regional forms and Paradox Pokémon, see Fridge.Pokemon Generation IX Families.

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Fridge Brilliance

Clavell and Nemona's reaction to certain elements of bullying (and to a greater degree, trauma) within their respective arcs make a lot of sense when one considers just how complex bullying can really be, and how difficult it can be to properly address it. In both cases, they were unaware of how bullying might have occurred until it was pointed out to them through someone who did understand and was subjected to it (Team Star and Penny respectively). They're also people who've come into situations where bullying was seen as nonexistent (Clavell), or was hidden from them via taking advantage of their biases or their own mental framework (both of them).
- In Clavell's case, he failed to truly understand the complex situation behind Team Star's rise and devolution, and if he hadn't been willing to help out with Operation Starfall and understand the true nature of the situation, he would have likely ended up making a drastic decision that would have worsened the situation.
- In Nemona's case, her inability to recognize the player's box legendary being bullied by its Area Zero counterpart stems from her thinking from a mental framework of it being a much less negative situation than it seemed, highlighting how she can recognize bullying if she thinks it's bullying (Team Star), but if she's not looking at it correctly, she won't realize it until it's pointed out to her (Koraidon/Miraidon).
  - At the start of the game, after the player defeated the first of two Team Star members, Nemona walks up to the player and initially starts scolding them, thinking they were the one picking a fight. It's not until the player explicitly points out that they were challenged directly that Nemona seems to realize that the player was innocent. It's possible that she doesn't quite recognize the difference between fighting for fun and fighting in self-defense because she's so eager for a fight on equal footing.
Clavell's character in general. All the way back at the very beginning of the game, the player character's mother expresses surprise at Clavell showing up in person when your enrollment documents were delayed, and his response is that he's responsible for the whole academy, "including all of its failures". That character trait ends up informing his actions during the Starfall Street plotline, and in all likelihood was why he was chosen as the new director in the first place following the scandal 18 months prior.
Larry:
- His name fits both of his type specialties. It's a rather boring and basic name when compared to the more fantastic names in the Pokémon world, but it being a simple, boring name fits his Normal-type. It also matches his Gym Leader appearance, being a guy at the restaurant's bar that you didn't even think twice about, of course a guy like him would just be named Larry. The name also shares the first three letters of "lark", a type of bird, and the "arry" sounds like "airy", fitting his Flying-type specialty. In addition, both Normal and Flying are the most Boring, but Practical type combinations in the entire series, often seen on the common resident bird of the region.
- His appearance is very much the everyman he's presented as. Except for his tie, which is sky blue with silver outlines of clouds on it, showing he's more (a Flying-Type Elite Four) than he seems (a Normal-Type Gym Leader) at first glance.
- Larry is a pun on "Salaryman" as in "SaLARRYman". The TM he gives is "Facade". During the late game, Larry is revealed as a member of the Elite Four. Everything that we saw before this Larry, the WHOLE thing was a façade.
- In addition: a common Flying-type move is Roost. Roost heals half the Pokémon's HP and transforms any pure Flying-type Pokémon into a Normal-type until the end of the turn. Larry is the Elite Four member that specializes in Flying-types — until he goes back to his gym to rest and eat, where he acts as the Normal-type gym leader.
- More subtly, his Staraptor's Tera type (Normal) matches one of its base types (Normal and Flying). This trait is shared with none of the other Gym Leaders… but it is shared with the other Elite Four members, acting as another piece of foreshadowing to his role as an Elite Four member.
- Larry's Flying-type team has a subtle vacation/business trip motif, since it includes Pokémon like Tropius, Flamigo, and Pom-Pom Style Oricorio. Tropical locales like Hawaii (which is the real-life inspiration for Oricorio's home region) are considered the standard vacation destination, and it's also not unusual for business trips to happen in such places.
  - The above also fits in with Larry's title of the "Exceptional Everyman". As amazing as he is at his job(s), what salaryman hasn't looked out the window while working in their office, saw a bird in flight, and wished they were free to fly wherever they wanted? The Flying Type being Larry's secret specialty lends to him wanting to FLY out of the numb NORMALness of his life.
The final battle against the alt box legend is a Tera Raid battle. Your allies cheer to boost your attack, you gain the ability to terastallize after three moves, and it takes place inside a crystalline den.
The Terastallized Ace of the Gym Leaders and one Elite Four make various amounts of sense:
- Katy's Teddiursa reflects the association of bears and honey (which bees make). It's an Ursaring in the rematch, referencing the bugbear, a type of boogeyman.
- Brassius's Sudowoodo is the most straightforward; Sudowoodo look like, and pretend to be, actual trees, therefore it becomes a Grass-type.
- Iono's Mismagius seems strange at first, but witches, which it's partially based on, would be users of black magic in other RPGs (like Final Fantasy), and lightning, which the Electric type is associated with, would be a form of black magic. Mismagius's Dex entries also mention how its cries sound like chants or incantations that can affect the emotions of its targets, while sometimes being curses, sometimes it brings happiness to them, or it can even cast spells to make them fall in love. Iono's catchphrases and performance as a streamer likewise would be similar, bringing joy to her audience.
- Kofu's Crabominable is a crab. Kofu's also a cook, and they both share similar appearances.
- Larry's Staraptor and Flamigo make sense as well for both his types. Both are Flying-type Birds, Staraptor's based on a common bird in Asia, while Flamigo looks almost identical to a real life Flamingo with its sole difference being the knot in its neck.
  - Speaking of Flamigo, its appearance might just be plain and generic looking, making it look out of place compared to most Pokemon. However, it's Larry's Signature Mon in his Elite Four Battle... fitting for the fact that both of them are plain and generic looking.
- Ryme's Toxtricity is based on a guitarist and she's a musician herself. It could also be a play of the word wail, whether that of a guitar or that of a ghost. Toxtricity is also a Poison-type; poison can kill organisms and, from Generation 4 to Generation 8, where it started being classified as Dark, Poison was classified as Psychic in the card game alongside Ghost types.
- Tulip's Florges resembles a bouquet of flowers, and Tulip is named after a flower. Also, Florges was introduced in the generation that introduced the Fairy type (its sole typing), which was given to many older Pokémon, including several Psychic Types like the Ralts line and Kantonian Mr. Mime. In addition, since Generation 8, Fairy-types are classified as Psychic in the card game.
- Grusha's Altaria's down could resemble a bunch of piled up snow, thus connection to Grusha's ice type speciality. In addition, Altaria's base type is Dragon and Flying, making it extra weak to Ice, possibly reflecting how Grusha suffered a Career-Ending Injury when snowboarding.
Like in Gen VII games, each of the Team Star Squad Bosses uses a different Poké Ball that reflects their personality:
- Being from a rich family, Ortega uses Luxury Balls.
- Eri is described as a very caring person who puts others' needs before her, so she naturally uses Heal Balls.
- Mela uses Quick Balls, which have a high level of effectiveness at the very beginning of the battle. She's quite impatient and short-tempered, so she probably wouldn't have the patience to weaken a Pokémon and then try to catch it.
- In contrast, Giacomo uses Timer Balls, which are more effective the more prolonged the battle becomes. Composing music takes time, so he must be very patient, which is the reason he's willing to prolong Pokémon battles.
  - It is also possible that, as canonically he's the weakest team leader, he would also struggle the most with catching Pokémon. Thus, he prefers Timer Balls because he'd spend a lot of time with each Pokémon battle trying to catch them.
- Atticus uses Repeat Balls, which doesn't make sense at first glance. However, Repeat Balls are used to capture already captured Pokémon. Atticus dresses and act like a ninja, so it might be a reference on how ninjas use a technique to create shadow clones of themselves.
  - It's also worth paying attention to his team. If one counts his Starmobile, he has two Revavrooms in his first team.
  - And his obsession with his history means he's also stuck in the past, and repeating it.
  - If you pay attention to the story, the prototype for the Starmobile was supposed to run on Charcadet, and Mela offered to train them up. Since the current Starmobiles use Revavroom and its prevo (one Varoom on either side on the back wheels), the team would need five Revavroom and 10 Varooms (excluding Atticus's main team one), which are all Poison-Type, making them Atticus's specialty. No wonder he would have a lot of Repeat Balls on hand.
By attending classes at the Academy, it's revealed that Tyme, the math teacher, was previously the Montenevera Gym Leader before retiring and giving the position to her younger sister, Ryme. This could explain why Ryme uses Double Battles; she presumably honed her Gym Leader skills by battling alongside her sister.
- In the Academy Ace Tournament, Tyme Terastallizes her Garganacl, implying it to be her Signature Mon. Its exclusive ability is Purifying Salt, which reduces damage from Ghost-type attacks. Tyme may have chosen Garganacl to have a strategic advantage over her sister whenever they would battle.
- Tyme's presence can in fact still be seen in Montenevera. The first Gym trainer you battle during the Gym test is a school kid who says "One plus one equals to two", the kind of arithmetical statement that Tyme herself would say (e.g., she says "Six minus five equals one" when you corner her in Academy Ace Tournament).
- And speaking of that school kid, their statement itself is a Five-Second Foreshadowing of Montenevera's double battle feature in case you miss MC Sledge's info.
The Elite Four's type specialties match four of the Titans in Paldea^note. Following them is Geeta, and while she has no type specialty, her Signature Mon Glimmora is Rock type, just like Klawf. In a way, it's as though these Elite Four (and Geeta) are as strong as Titans themselves, even matching their types.
Professors Sada and Turo's names mean past and future respectively, and are revealed to no longer be alive, with their appearances in the game being replaced by their AI duplicate. In other words, they're no longer present.
- Additionally, Sada and Turo were so focused on seeing the past and future that they ultimately stopped living in the present — with their own son, and in the case of the one who walked out on the family, their own spouse.
The Alfornada gym has you take on the Emotional Spectrum Test as the gym's test before you can face Tulip, and it's shortened as ESP, short for "extrasensory perception," the technical name for psychic powers, and is where the word "Esper" (the name for the Psychic type in the Japanese versions of the games) comes from. It helps that there's a Psychic-type move called "Extrasensory".
At the end of their fight, the AI professor is sent to the past/future, but as they explained earlier, they cannot function when not in the presence of Tera crystals, hence why they cannot leave Area Zero, so logically they should shut down after time traveling. However, during the second phase of their boss fight when they are taken over by the Paradise Protection Protocol, they get a One-Winged Angel glow-up that involves Tera crystals spreading to and overtaking parts of their lower body. Though at the time this is simply used to make the AI look cooler for the final phase and never directly pointed out, it may explain why the AI can continue to function outside of Area Zero after time traveling.
The distinction between the Professor and the AI version is enforced by the name that appears over the text boxes. During almost all of your conversations with the AI Professor after The Reveal, it says "AI Sada/AI Turo". But once the fighting starts, it says only Professor Sada/Professor Turo. This reinforces the distinction between the two and their end goals; in a lot of ways, the battle is not with the AI, but with the original Professor's intents and goals — almost like fighting a ghost.
All of the self-healing moves like Roost and Shore Up got their PP changed to 5 instead of 10 to lessen stalling. So, why did Heal Pulse and Wish keep their PP? Simple, both moves heal other Pokémon besides the user and both don't heal fixed amounts of HP, as Clauncher and Clawziter have Mega Launcher, which buffs Heal Pulse to heal 75% of another Pokémon's health, and Wish heals a Pokémon that switches into the active position for half the Wish-using Pokémon's maximum health, such as Luvdisc and Blissey.
Arven's team at the end of his route, besides his Signature Mon Mabosstiff, are Pokémon that he literally picked up during the Path of Legends route (other than the Greedent, which was a Skwovet he picked up shortly before battling). Considering that "finding your treasure" is the Arc Words, his team is part of his treasure — the friends he picked up along the way.
- His team throughout the "Herba Mystica" quest includes (barring Mabosstiff and Skwovet) a Shellder, a Toedscool, a Scovillain, and a Nacli, all of them Pokémon related to food: a shellfish, an edible mushroom, chili pepper, and salt. Greedent is also somewhat related to food despite not being a food, as it's a voracious eater — a gourmand, essentially — and hides berries in its tail.
During her gym battle, Ryme summons several Houndstone (and a Greavard) by the power of rap. If you watch the cutscene carefully, you'll notice that they're actually the familiar looking 'gravestones' in the audience. Their Scarlet dex entry says that Houndstone spend most of their time sleeping (meaning they'd been napping up until Ryme summoned them to rave), while Violet says that they're the reincarnation of a dead Pokémon. Ryme's rapping is literally enough to wake the dead.
- Fridge Heartwarming in background information saying Ryme had a "puppy Pokémon" who died but through her living grief returned as a Houndstone. One of them is probably her beloved pet still accompanying her from beyond the grave.
Fridge Pun: The ghost-type leader Ryme is a rapper. Her sister Tyme specializes in rock-types.
Levincia is perhaps the closest thing to a modern metropolis in the game. Right before the city and in the beach below it, it's possible to find Grimer, which is a Pokémon that is easily found in polluted areas.
Nemona's obsession with the protagonist makes more sense when you think about it. She's the strongest trainer of Paldea, but if you have no one to reach because you're already the strongest, it's like not having an objective. Now that there is someone who has shown to be as talented as her, she might follow them closely because they have the potential of bringing her down.
The Pokémon Centers look a lot like gas stops; so many people ride Pokémon like Cyclizar and, as a result, it just ended up being the best option for trainers. You can drive in, heal your Pokémon, buy items, and go.
The shrines that houses the Treasures of Ruins' Pokémon have different colours from the Pokémon inside and they're not related to their type: they're actually related to their weakness (Poison type for Wo-Chien which is inside a purple shrine, Fire type for Chien-Pao which is inside an orange shrine, Grass type for Ting-Lu, which is inside a green shrine, and finally Water type for Chi-Yu, which is inside a blue shrine). After all, someone could still probably try to free them, either to catch or defeat them, and there must be a way to start at an advantage by knowing the weakness of these dangerous creatures. It probably also implies that the energy from these types was used to create the stakes and doors that sealed them, harnessing their weaknesses to keep them contained.
At the beginning of the game, the Raidons crashed on that particular beach because they were trying to get to the Professors' lab at the lighthouse, since it is mentioned that they once lived there with the Professor and Arven. Possibly Fridge Heartwarming, since they fled to either the only other place they could call home or the only person (Arven) they knew they could trust.
- This also explains just why it knows exactly how to take you back to the lighthouse via the Inlet Grotto; it may have occasionally been to the grotto to play or explore, and the grotto's reputation of being dangerous due to Houndours and Houndooms makes it unlikely for common folks to try and check what it is. Arven's account on the Raidon going berserk on some Pokémon may actually be one of its scuffles with said Houndours and Houndooms, given that out of all the Pokémon you can find in the grotto during the escort segment, the Houndours are the only ones to actually hunt you down (even if only in cutscenes).
Koraidon/Miraidon's names. You can "ride on" them. Raidon.
Why do Paradox Pokémon have such unoriginal names? Because they were literally just discovered, similar to Ultra Beasts.
- In addition, there were doubts if they were even Pokémon, to a far more pronounced degree than the Ultra Beasts. Unlike the Ultra Beasts, which had an organization dedicated to finding and catching them and even developed a Poké Ball type designed specifically for them, the Paradox Pokémon only have Sada/Turo studying them. Since Heath's expedition team was conflicted on if they were Pokémon, they were given names based on their appearances rather than the portmanteau names of all other Pokémon (Ultra Beasts included). Plus the fact that the region's professor was likely the biggest source of information about them, but died before they could formally name them.
- All types are covered by at least one Paradox Pokémon… except Normal. There's nothing normal about them, after all.
As seen in the Paradise Protection Protocol's boss fight, the AI Professor's team of Paradox Pokémon are all kept in Master Balls. Like how the Master Ball catches Ultra Beasts more reliably than even the Beast Balls designed specifically to catch Ultra Beasts, the Master Ball would be the most logical choice to capture creatures that were initially difficult to consider as Pokémon.
- Additionally, it's explained that the way they caught Paradox Pokémon was by sending Pokéballs through time to blindly catch whatever happens to be around at the time. It's only logical to use Master Balls for the process to eliminate as many potential failure points as possible, especially when it comes to Paradox Pokémon found in the past. Leaving busted balls around or even exposing Past Pokémon to the concept of being captured but not actually bringing them back could cause widely sweeping changes to the timeline.
Nemona picking the starter Pokémon that is weak to yours. Many people think that the game is going easy on the player, but it makes more sense once you get the final evolutions. Whichever Pokémon she picks will have a secondary typing that is strong against the player's.^Explanation It fits her personality and motive too, since she was clearly going easy on the player at the start of their journey before ramping up the challenge.
Unlike most land Pokémon, Pikachu has a swim animation. Why? It's a call-back to early Pikachu's ability to surf!
Eevee and all but one of its evolutions can also swim. Due to its DNA being erratic, there is always going to be the Vaporeon instinct to swim. The exception is Flareon, who is on the wrong end of Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors here; so even if it's able to swim it's more comfortable on the same platform that other non-aquatic Pokémon use.
Penny's team of Eeveelutions lacks two out of eight of the evolutions, Espeon and Glaceon. Given her reclusive nature, it is unlikely that she would be out in the daytime to evolve an Eevee as opposed to the nighttime. Additionally, the Glasseado mountains are usually considered dangerous and her reclusive nature also means that she wouldn't go out of her way to find an Ice Stone there to evolve her Eevee to Glaceon, and the Leaf Stone is more accessible and less dangerous to acquire in comparison.
- She also has two moves of those types, Psychic and Ice, as coverage on Umbreon and Vaporeon. This either informed her decision on what types of Eeveelution to have on her team and which to leave out, or was a response to said deficiencies.
- All of the Eeveelutions Penny does have also are useful to her shut-in lifestyle. Leafeon is basically a walking air freshener, Vaporeon can provide the water she needs for her ramen, Flareon can heat the ramen, Jolteon is a backup power source if the power goes out, Umbreon is a source of light if she wants to keep the lights off, and Sylveon is very useful to calm her down from any social anxiety.
Unlike Legends: Arceus, your character can't take damage/get knocked out from a long fall — which manifests as the character pulling out their phone and floating just before the sudden impact with the ground. How does this work? Simple: The phone is a Rotom phone, and Rotom's ability is Levitate.
All of Penny's team know either Quick Attack or Baby-Doll Eyes. While the former is a common enough coverage move in a variety of franchise mediums, if not necessarily a first choice on a major team, Baby-Doll Eyes is a bit less common. Why do they all know that move? Well, it seems that they are, at least partially, Penny's pets, and Puppy Eyes are commonly a tactic used by real world cats and dogs to get their owners to feed them treats. Penny's entire team is trained to do that to Penny. And Penny either lets them do that (and not replace the move) or her issues with direct confrontations mean that she can't tell them to knock it off (and thus they keep the move and make a bit of a joke about move slots out of it).
- On Quick Attack, Quick Attack is a major move in the anime, where Ash in particular favors it or its similar equivalents on many of his teams. Penny is also shown to be a big media nerd, including for anime, and Ash has been hinted to exist as a character, if not a person, in the game universe via the Abandoned Thrifty Mart. Perhaps Penny is a fan of Ash the fictional character.
If you challenge the gyms by order of strength, Geeta will appear to talk to the player character after they defeat Larry, who also happens to be forced to act as an Elite Four member by Geeta. Subtle foreshadowing.
- It's also entirely possible that Geeta was there to gauge which gym leader she could get to act in such a capacity to begin with, leading her to pick Larry when she saw him beginning to soar in his battle with the player.
Since Koraidon/Miraidon are constantly traveling with the protagonist, it can seem like they're breaking the "Six Pokémon per trainer" rule of the series. But during the finale, it's revealed that they’re Poké Ball is actually registered to Professor Sada/Turo, so technically they never "belong" to the protagonist.
- Alternatively, it's in line with the explanation for the six Pokémon limit provided in Pokémon Adventures: it's an established best practice rather than a strict requirement. Having more than six Pokémon on hand can be incredibly difficult to manage, but it can be done in some circumstances. It can also explain that upon getting the ability to switch between Ride Mode and Battle Mode post-game, the player's befriended Koraidon/Miraidon shows the Original Trainer as the player themselves in their summary instead of Sada/Turo, as well as the date when they first met around the time Koraidon/Miraidon rescued the player in Inlet Grotto.
Out of all the type specialists in this game, Rika's appearance matches her type specialty the least. But there are other reasons why it works:
- Her aversion (or at the very least downplaying) of Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance puts the player at an information disadvantage when they face her for the first time. A Champion-rank trainer should be ready for surprises.
- Her use of Ground-types is a subtle case of Personality Powers. She's the most grounded of the Elite Four.
When a trainer Terastallizes their Pokémon, the trainer animation shows them caught off guard at how strong the power is and visibly struggling to hold the ball. This isn't limited to smaller trainers like Arven, but Elite Four Members and Champions. The only exception? The Player. Given that the Player is the youngest Champion in Paldea, it's no surprise that they're able to understand how strong Terastallization can be, and how to handle such strength. Notably, they don't hold up the Orb in front of themselves like everyone else, but hold it upwards.
The Paradox Pokémon all have Dex entries that speak of them in vague terms, referencing paranormal magazines, stating how there is almost no record of them, etc. Further, they make no direct mention of the Great Crater despite there being whole populations of Paradox Pokémon present in Area Zero. The brilliance behind this lies in how Clavell stated that what the protagonist did in Area Zero, what they found, etc. must remain a secret. Pokédex entries are a matter of public record, so they can't mention anything about what exists in the crater.
The Way Home:
- Area Zero upon the first visit is very linear, as you're forced to descend into the crater on foot. It's said in game that all roads lead to the great crater, which houses Area Zero, so you're essentially railroaded to going there by the end of the game. What does that make The Way Home and perhaps the entire game as a result? A story about four friends walking down a set of railroad tracks, one of the very first references made in the entire series. Fridge Tearjerker kicks in when you know what the friends are meant to discover at the end of the story.
- Other evil Pokémon teams (excluding Skull, Yell, and Star) have complex technology that aid in the capture and control of Pokémon, but the Professor is the first in the game series that employs technology that shuts down any Poké Balls that aren't registered to said professor. Why wouldn't the other teams utilize this technology in their own bases? Well, that's the thing: unlike the Professor, who is well-known and respected, the other Pokémon teams have enemies. Enemies that could theoretically use that same system to lock down Pokéballs registered in the evil team's database. It's far less risky to have a bunch of battle-capable Grunts than an advanced system that could potentially shut down your entire operation.
The Medali Gym's challenge is known to be very convoluted, and requires you to run around collecting clues for what's essentially a password, while other Gyms have much more straightforward challenges. It's likely that Larry came up with this in the hopes that trainers would get bored or frustrated and give up before reaching the battle, meaning he doesn't have to spend as much time fighting when he could be focusing on his other jobs or relaxing from them.
The reason because the player can't change from the school uniform is because they need other people to know they are from the Academy. Obviously anyone can claim to be part of the most respected school in Paldea, so to avoid swindlers...
- Or maybe the player character is just especially proud of belonging to such a respected institution.
While Professor Sada looking younger than Professor Turo might just be artistic preference, it is also thematic. Sada, who focuses on ancient Paradox Pokémon, looks like she's not aged, while the older Turo, who does look old enough to have a teen son, focuses on future Paradox Pokémon.
The three storylines in the game are each their own adventures, each themed with word that relates to the semantic field of journeying, departure, movement (from a place to another): Victory Road, Path of Legends, Starfall Street. After you travel up that road, venture through the path, and head down that street, you have to find The Way Home.
A very small detail, but most of the Elite Four members' eye colours match their names: Rika's are a dark red, matching the colour paprika is usually found as (as well as chili, her Japanese name); Poppy's eyes are black like poppy seeds; Hassel's are the same as the hassaku orange he's named after.
Arven being willing to wager the Box Legendary's custody on a battle, despite knowing his sole battling Pokémon at the moment isn't very strong, makes a lot of sense after playing through the game. Arven eventually admits that he's always resented Koraidon/Miraidon and on some level blamed it for his parent's absence, despite knowing that it wasn't truly the Pokémon's fault. He probably saw the dragon, saw that it had met and begun to bond with a new student, and was glad for an excuse to not be responsible for it anymore.
The second of the Box Legendaries has an in-universe explanation for why it would obey you and for where you find it to capture it. Aside from the gameplay explanation of "the player has enough badges", it originally drove your bike Koraidon/Miraidon away in a territorial battle and claimed Area Zero for itself, but was defeated in the rematch, meaning your Legendary — which has befriended you throughout the game — can "order" it to behave until its friendship grows high enough that it will want to do so on its own. As for why it never left the Area Zero crater, it was defeated, but the victor never stayed to claim the location, and it never had left the crater, unlike your Koraidon/Miraidon, and quite possibly didn't know it could, and so it was lying low in a familiar location until you returned and captured it.
Every time you face Nemona, the camera is angled as though you're looking up at her. Not that she's looking down at you, but she does have more experience than you, being a Champion-ranked trainer and all. This changes for her final battle, where the camera is angled as though you're looking at her head on — you did just defeat Geeta and become a Champion level trainer yourself after all, so in her eyes, you're now equals.
Why do none of the Paradox Pokémon have evolutions or pre-evolutions?
- Well, the future Pokémon of Violet are all robots (or some kind of semi-artificial lifeform) based on the final forms of several Pokémon, so they wouldn't likely have evolutions or pre-evolutions to begin with.
- While most of the past Pokémon of Scarlet are final forms (thus precluding their evolution), unlike Violet, there's three Paradox Pokémon that aren't: Sandy Shocks (Magneton), Scream Tail (Jigglypuff), and Flutter Mane (Misdreavus). What do all three of the contemporary forms have in common, aside from not being fully-evolved? They all evolve by stone. It's possible that in the ancient past, their evolution stones simply didn't exist.
Since the Paradox Pokémon are extremely strong and aggressive, it makes sense why certain Pokémon can survive in Area Zero while others can't. Such as:
- Flying-types, or Pokémon capable of flight like Venomoth. Area Zero is littered with cliffsides and sharp drops, making it difficult to traverse. Naturally, Pokémon with the ability to fly have an advantage. If they are harassed by another Pokémon, they can easily fly to another area. Corviknights would survive in particular, as they're incredibly bulky and their natural predator, Tinkaton, is nowhere to be found.
- Pokémon who cluster together. Meditite, Pawniard, Dreepy, Girafarig, and Pawmi all form groups around an evolved Pokémon of their line. This protects them a lot better than if they were alone.
There's another good reason why Paradox Pokémon are so aggressive. In Legends: Arceus, all Pokémon that are brought to Hisui through a time rift are immediately aggressive with the player, despite being from a time period where they'd be acclimated to humans. Being ripped forward or backward in time and thrown into a strange environment leads to more aggressive behavior from Pokémon.
Also, when it specifically comes to the past Paradox Pokémon in Scarlet, Legends: Arceus establishes that Pokémon used to be much more aggressive/wary towards humans in the past. Legends: Arceus is likely around 100-200 years before the events of the present games, so of course Pokémon from even further back in time are even more aggressive than that.
Each of your friends is focused on a different form of time.
- Penny wants to atone for what she did as Cassiopiea in the past.
- Arven wants to focus on the present problems at hand, such as his Mabosstiff or finding his parents.
- Nemona wants to have the player be the best rival she has, something that's a future prospect.
- The fact that the player is able to tackle all three routes and not a single one shows that the while all three of them are stuck on that one aspect (Penny's trapped in her past sins, Arven only caring about the now, and Nemona too busy focusing on the future) and it's you who is able to break them out of those loops and bring them together to move forward, towards Area Zero, a route that combines all aspects: With a mistake being made in the past that has consequences in the present that will eventually destroy the future.
The hijacked AI Professors sending out Paradox Volcaronas as your first enemy in the final boss fight is a subtle nod to The Bible if you recall the original professors' obsession with creating a paradise. In the Bible, after God cast out Adam and Eve from Eden, He appointed an angel carrying a Flaming Sword as a guard (Archangel Uriel is commonly cited as the angel in question). Putting aside the fact that Slither Wing is not Fire-type, Volcarona is commonly agreed to have an angelic design, in particular looking like the fiery seraphim. Thus, a fiery angel serves as your welcome committee as you barge into paradise. Furthermore, when you return to Area Zero after you finish the main-game quest, you'll find that Paradox Volcaronas litter the upper layers of the place, making them the first Paradox Pokémon you find if you go down the crater on foot instead of using your Raidons to just jump into the center. Thus, once again, fiery angels serve as your welcome committee as you make your way back to the depths.
- Speaking of angels and depths, how fitting is it that the Pokémon region that's based on the most Catholic/Christian European Country thus far has You the protagonist, accompanied by a companion who used to stay there, descend what look like concentric circles with slopes down into the depths of the earth, encountering denizens from alternate worlds until you find the entity who caused this all, figuratively and literally at the center, unable to leave because they tried to challenge the natural order that Arceus put in place? Bonus, the whole operation is called the Paradise Protection Protocol.
Throughout the game, you only interact with Sada/Turo via phone calls, instead of directly meeting them at a lab somewhere like most professors. This is because they literally can't leave Area Zero, which works as some clever Foreshadowing.
The music for Area Zero incorporates synths and a theremin, as well as tribal sounding drums, evoking both a feel of both the future and the past at the same time, perfectly fitting all of the time-displaced Paradox Pokémon who roam about.
The sizes of bags your rivals carry is interestingly indicative of their emotional baggage.
- Carefree, battle-crazed Nemona yearns for a rival to match her, but is otherwise free of more depressing problems. She carries a small slingbag.
- Not only Penny was bullied in the past, but her attempt to gather like-minded friends to stand up against bullies backfired and nearly caused said friends to be expelled from the school, and she has been shouldering this burden for over a year. She carries an Eevee backpack that is a fair bit larger than Nemona's slingbag.
- Arven grew up without even seeing his parents for years, meaning that he had to take care of himself all that time, and his only companion Mabostiff nearly got killed after an expedition gone wrong. And as if this past misery is not enough, he then finds out that his parents are already dead, their research nearly causes a catastrophe, and then after having a short reunion with his parents via their AI replica, he has to watch said AI leave for the safety of Paldea. Arven's backpack is comparatively huge as if to reflect this.
You might think at first that the forms that Ko/Miraidon regain after beating each Titan are unrelated to the capabilities of the titan. However, think about it for a short while, and you'll realize that each ability isn't mimicking the capabilities of the titan you fight; it's to counter them. Best way to avoid a thing dropping rocks on you? Dive into the water, where the projectiles will be too slow to hit you. Best way to avoid a thing charging around on the ground? Take to the air. Something climbing around and liable to drop on you? Be prepared to dart out of the way at a moment's notice. Something in the ground? Get ready to jump out of the way. Something in the water? Climb a cliff to get away from the water. And all this because Ko/Miraidon is trying to avoid getting into a fight; something it doesn't stop trying to do until the end of the game, where there's absolutely no option but to stand and fight, at which point it finally decides to use its battle form.
During your rematch, Katy mentions that she's glad that she's able to use her whole power against you this time, since she usually has to hold back because she has the label of "first gym" stuck to her to give beginners a fair fighting chance. Her Terastallized Pokémon the first time around is a Teddiursa, an adorable and non-threatening teddy bear of a Pokémon. The second time around, it's an Ursaring, a giant bear that's more than capable of seriously harming humans and Pokémon — she finally can go all in on you and show her competitive side, instead of being sweet and non-threatening.
Scarlet and Violet Dummied Out a few more moves that weren't already excluded from Sword and Shield, and one of the freshly-axed moves this time around is Eternabeam, Eternatus's second signature move (though Dynamax Cannon remains available). As it turns out, however, there is a good in-universe reason for this. Recall that the Dynamax phenomenon only happens in Galar because Eternatus has been there for a very long time, with its power leaking out of its seal and spreading throughout the region. Eternatus normally can't Dynamax itself, but it does have a special Eternamax form that requires it to re-absorb an obscene amount of its energy to use — so much energy that it can hardly even control itself, which is why Zacian and Zamazenta had to seal it away in the first place (it was driving itself and other Pokémon berserk), and the player using Eternamax Eternatus themselves is out of the question. When using Eternabeam, Eternatus enters its Eternamax form for just long enough to gather its energy and release it in one massive blast, then returns to normal immediately. However, Paldea is not suffused with Dynamax energy like Galar is, so even if Eternatus is brought to Paldea, it can't even gather enough energy to transform for the few seconds it would need to fire Eternabeam, thus making that attack unusable.
Why does Penny give you Draco Meteor? Given how Koraidon/Miraidon reacted to her, it's likely she recognized the bond you have with it, and thus decided to give you Draco Meteor for it.
- For context regarding the bond: until Gen VIII, tutors will only teach the move to the compatible Pokémon at high friendship.
- The fact that meteors are 'falling stars' and you just helped her defeat Team Star, and defeated her, the founder of Team Star, may also have something to do with it.
- She also has no Pokémon that can learn it anyway— not a single Eeveelution is a Dragon-type, and so, it'd be better off in your hands.
The colors the main games are named after are a bright red (scarlet) and a deep reddish purple (violet). The colors associated with the DLC are a pale blue (teal) and a light bluish purple (indigo).
Penny's choice of Signature Mon, the cute fairy-type Sylveon might seem odd, given her gloomy personality and style, but it makes more sense when you realize that Penny is an otaku - Sylveon's design and behavior makes it reminiscent of Magical Girl genre, which is very popular. Perhaps Penny is a fan, and decided that if she can't be more like the heroines of these shows, maybe at least one of her beloved Veevees can be.
- If Sylveon is taken as a Magical Girl, Penny herself can be seen as a Dark Magical Girl: She's actually a heroic character, but growing up miserable due to all the bullying causes her to collapse unto herself, with only her friends, Team Star, being the only ones to keep her mental health afloat if barely, and she's willing to fight figuratively tooth-and-nail at the cost of her own well-being to make sure her friends are safe. And once she's saved with friendship by the player character, she drops all her villainous acts and becomes a proper hero.
Speaking of Penny, she might also fulfill one of the series' character archetypes, that being "computer whiz who's associated with eeveelutions", after Gen I's Bill (he gives the player an Eevee in Gen II games) amd Gen IV's Bebe (who also gifts player an eevee in Platinum).

Fridge Horror

While shutting down the time machine might have stopped the flood of Paradox Pokémon for now, who's to say that someone else couldn't find out about the machine and end up exploiting it for their own unscrupulous gains? And it doesn't address the issue of the Paldea Crater still being absolutely filled with Paradox Pokémon ripe for the taking, or worse leaving the controlled ecosystem and still being an ecological disaster on their own.
- Now, in game, the player can catch the Paradox Pokémon for themselves and avert said disaster, but if they make another main Generation IX game or a DLC add-on, they may retcon that the Paradox Pokémon were never chronologically caught...
- Additionally, at least one of the Paradox Pokémon managed to escape and eventually become a Titan. And if one could do it, what's stopping others as well?
- Even if someone were to somehow find out about the time machine (which is most likely classified information), only a very strong Trainer would be able to reach the bottom of Area Zero on their own. The area is not only filled with high-level Pokémon, but highly aggressive, unfamiliar Paradox Pokémon whose strength is comparable to minor legendaries. Going in a group would lessen the danger, but it would require finding multiple competent Trainers who are willing to enter an area that’s meant to be strictly off-limits.
- Like, say, a certain dimensional hopping criminal who can pluck like-minded individuals from anywhere?
There's something deeply unsettling about the fact that the Steel-type Elite Four Poppy, who may not even be old enough to even attend school, is already one of the strongest Trainers in Paldea and is on the Pokémon League's payroll. This is especially jarring in light of the region's focus on kids getting a proper education. What kind of parents must she have for her to get to that point, if she even has parents at all? Why are the rest of the Elite Four and the Champion turning a blind eye to it, for that matter? Do they genuinely care for her well-being, or do they care for her as far as her strength in battle goes? Are they being pressured by Poppy's parents/guardians to include her in their roster, or do they just see nothing wrong with a kid this young working alongside them?
- On a less horrifying interpretation, it's possible that they might have taken her away from overly controlling and strict parents, and essentially became surrogate family. They do generally seem to treat her as well as they can given the circumstances.
- It's also possible she's just a prodigy at battling, did/currently does attend the academy, and attained her rank quickly through pure skill. Bear in mind the protagonist is also pretty young and gets strong enough to beat Poppy and become Champion-ranked over the course of one Treasure Hunt (and however long they attended the academy before the Treasure Hunt started).
The Paradox Pokémon of Scarlet are extinct in the current timeline, but the ones from Violet are a taste of what's to come in the future. Given how aggressive and powerful they are, the future of the Pokémon universe seems rather bleak.
- To emphasize that point: Legends Arceus showed that it was common for Pokémon to be much more aggressive in the past. Scarlet's Paradox Pokémon seem to come from an even more distant past, maybe one before humans even existed, so them being this aggressive is congruent with what we know about the Pokémon world so far. But what happened — or rather, will happen — in the future that makes Violet's paradoxes so dangerous?
Arven mentions that trauma may have given Koraidon/Miraidon a bad enough mental block to make it unable to battle. The ending seems to suggest that said trauma was from being attacked by its counterpart... but it's also possible that the trauma came from seeing the Professor, its caretaker, die right in front of it. And knowing they only sacrificed themselves because they were too weak to fight back and needed someone to protect them.
- Look at the Raidons' designs and overall concepts again. Koraidon is a physically-oriented fighting-type. Miraidon not only has powers of electricity, but also has fairly sharp-looking claws. Both of them have sharp teeth and whiplike tails. Even if it wasn't a direct mauling (i.e. structures in the lab may have simply fallen on them or exploded), the Professor's final moments were likely NOT a pretty sight...
- A horrific fridge brilliance here: In this game, Pokémon you catch yourself may still disobey you if they are overleveled unless you fulfill certain conditions; in your case, this means collecting gym badges. The violent Raidon is of higher level than the friendly one, thus it is more likely to disobey its owner, and one such rebellious episode led to the professor's death.
  - While the higher level may have contributed to the second Raidon being stronger, it’s probably just inherently more aggressive — seven gym badges only allows Pokémon up to level 55 to obey you before the level cap is removed with the eighth. The Raidon you befriend is level 68 when you finally use it in battle, and the aggressive one is level 72 — a fairly insignificant difference in levels, although we can’t say if their levels were different when the fight happened.
KB Pokémon brings up a point on how Iono is not that happy in her streaming job. While Iono as a streamer isn't confirmed to be working under a company, it doesn't get better if she were working independently either. Even without any contract, social media stars need to be producing content at a very consistent quality and rate so that they maintain relevance which nets them their highest possible income. Regardless of whether she's contracted or not, Iono's likely working to the bone trying to keep her job stable, without much time to do what she wants to.
Iono: No idea when I'm gonna get to go, though. So I can't always take such liberational liberties.
At least in recent time, Penny's diet has been either mostly or exclusively instant noodles. They aren't exactly known to be the healthiest food on the planet. One would hope with her friends back in her life and a new friend in the protagonist, someone will get her to eat a more healthy diet.
It may be for the best that Drampa cannot be found in the wild in Paldea. Considering the region's high number of bullies of various sorts combining with Drampa's Bully Hunter traits, they would've burned down the entire region long ago.
Interacting with the Tera Crystals within ruins of Research Station No. 4 will yield the flavour text: "These crystals seem to be eating into the research station...". So not only are those magical stones slowly growing on their own, but in the process they're slowly dissolving metal and concrete. That already doesn't bode too well, but think about what every major trainer in Paldea uses them for: temporarily making their Pokémon stronger by encasing them in a thin shell of those very crystals. Literally every single time we terastallize our Pokémon, we're a single mishap away from seriously injuring or killing them — and quite possibly the only person who knew was Professor Sada/Turo, inventor of the tech, who explicitly states in one of their journals to have only developed it in order to fund their research. The game doesn't exactly hide just how callous and obsessive the Professor was in the pursuit of their dream, but this…
- An additional point that may make this worse. The crystals where players engage with Tera Raids are surges of Terastal Energy from Area Zero causing crystal growth in Paldea itself. They are caused by surges of energy from Area Zero, and one is triggered during game to create the 5 and 6 star raids. Terastal energy seeps from the ground, and the fact that it seems to be temporary, and doesn't happen in the towns and cities, is the only thing that is preventing the spread of the above effect from Area Zero to the rest of Paldea.
When the AI fights the Player in the time machine, the AI professor takes visible damage. The damage doesn't disappear when it uses the time machine (though neither does the damage appear to hinder the AI's actions, so it may be quite minor). Now, think about it: AI Turo is heading to the future, where there would (presumably) be plenty of machinery and tools to fix himself with. In addition, he probably has enough time to set up an alternate power source to the Tera crystals. However, in Scarlet, AI Sada is heading to the distant past — so far back that the Pokémon appear prehistoric. If the time machine is indeed a time machine and not a wishing machine like many have theorized, then AI Sada isn't going to survive very long (presuming of course that the Tera Crystals that became a part of her body during the battle are not enough on their own to keep the AI functioning).
- Of course, the Crater having been around for a million years allows for some hope that Sada would be able to find more Tera Crystals where she ends up... still, while geological processes are slow, they aren't non-existent and Crystals 'could' be a relatively recent development.
Aside from their disapproval of the original professors' intent, the AI professors are essentially carbon copies of the original, complete with their memory, and so the AI still make some attempts to comfort Arven after finding out that his parents are gone. Paradise Protection Protocol, on the other hand, is a pure machine programmed to eliminate all threats to the time machine… including Arven. Whether this is simply just A.I. Is a Crapshoot at play, meaning that the professors nearly committed Accidental Murder on their own son from beyond the grave, or the professors having gone so completely unhinged in their last days that they probably forgot they have a son before passing over this final memory to Paradise Protection Protocol, the outcome isn't pleasant at all.
Just how did Arven's Mabosstiff get so grievously injured that even Pokémon Centers couldn't heal it? Well, regardless of which version of the game you're playing, there's at least two Fighting-type Paradox Pokémon and at least one Fairy-type Paradox Pokémon, at least one of which has a very high Attack stat and at least one of which has a very high Special Attack stat, and at least one of which has two type advantages against Dark-type Pokémon, and given the general aggression of Paradox Pokémon, they probably wouldn't be above dishing out a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown to anything that looked at them funny. And Arven isn't a particularly talented battler, so he might not have realized how outmatched his Mabosstiff was until it was knocked out by an angry Paradox Pokémon and it was still whaling on the hapless doggo (unlike your Player Character, who would have enough experience to know when their Pokémon was no longer able to fight and to retreat when all of their Pokémon had fainted). So the most likely course of events is that Arven got jumped by or accidentally picked a fight with a Slither Wing or Iron Valiant, his Mabosstiff tried to defend him, and the poor dog got beaten within an inch of its life for its trouble.
The mere fact that Great Tusk/Iron Treads managed to escape from Area Zero and find itself a place to reside. It’s the only Paradox Titan you will encounter, but its intimidating design and typing might throw you off at first. Also, with the revelation that this is a Paradox Pokémon, this raises the disturbing question of whether any other Paradox Pokémon might be out there wreaking havoc on innocent trainers and Pokémon that are massively underprepared for such encounters.

Fridge Logic

Fridge entries that require an answer are found in the Headscratchers page.

Fridge / Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

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