Characters (including Pokemon) with tragic backstories. (SPOILERS)

[shoz999]

A common element in the storytelling of all the story mediums, including the games, are tragic backstories to characters that motivate them to reach certain goals. It could be a supporting character looking for his long-lost Pokemon, a Pokemon who has a hard time transitioning to from one team to a new one or even a villain whose goals are based around this entire backstory. These are the stories that remind us, regardless of who they've come in the end, that they are in the end human, or I suppose for Pokemon's case, Pokemon? What are some characters with tragic backstories that stood out to you?

A Boy and his Lapras


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I'll start things off with a fan-favorite that asks the question, what if Ash or Red had a death in the family, specifically a Pokemon, during their childhood and how would it affect them as they get older? That was the case for a Boy and his Lapras in Pokemon Adventures who traveled across the lands with many friends by his side who tried to cheer him up with a beautiful song after two Pokemon he knew had died in a terrible accident. Many people have noticed the similarities between this character and another that appeared years later, AZ of Pokemon X and Y that both share similar storylines, from how they started out as cheerful and loved, horrified by the loss of their Pokemons, eyes full of anger, depression and suffering and of course... their descent into darkness. Heavy Story Spoilers! for those who haven't read the GSC story arc.

Spoiler: HEAVY STORY SPOILERS! A Boy and his Lapras

To Pokemon Adventure fans, I am of course talking about the Mask of Ice or the Masked Man. Throughout much of the story, he's portrayed himself as this stereotypical evil villain until Gold ask him a difficult question to answer, causing him to stand silent, a glimpse that this supposedly stereotypical evil villain may be much more complicated than it seems.

What do Pokemon mean to the Mask of Ice? Notice how he pauses for a moment, thinking long hard about his answer before he responds to that question with a short weak answer.

It's later revealed that this isn't the case, that he lied about his answer hinted through the Mask of Ice's old friends that you may know as Prof. Oak the Pokemon Researcher, Agatha of the Elite Four, Kurt the Pokeball maker and the unnamed Day Care Couple. It's revealed that the true identity of the Mask of Ice is none other than Pryce, the Ice Gym Leader of Mahogony Town.

Prof. Oak, Agatha, Pryce, Kurt and the Day Care Couple as kids just enjoying their youth.

The Day Care couple explained that they had absolutely no clue what their futures had in store of them as kids. Samuel Oak, the big tough guy that looks more like muscle than brains, had no idea he was going to be the famous Pokemon researcher Prof. Oak. and get married, having a grandchild named Green. Agatha, Oak's rival, had no clue she was going to be a member of the Elite Four. Kurt, the famous Pokeball maker, had no clue he was going to end up as the famed Pokeball maker, get married and have a granddaughter. The kids that would later become the Day Care Couple had no clue they would get married and start a Day Care building in Johto. As the old man explains, they were just kids who wanted to enjoy their youth and love of Pokemon until one day something happened that ended those times.

One Pokemon that Pryce cherished much was Lapras. He also loved the Lapras's parents. One fateful day however, an avalanche struck huge killing the Lapras couple causing the cheerful kid to go into a deep depression. His friends tried cheering him up by making a song called "A Boy and his Lapras" but it failed to bring him out of his depression. As time passed by, the friends grow more and more distant as they age, marrying, having children and grand-children. They've moved on but Pryce hasn't. Pryce is now a disabled old man hatching up his own plans behind the scenes that one could say he's gone completely insane.

His endgame plans is ultimately to kidnap talented children early on as they grow up as his assistants to assist him with leading a new Team Rocket, capture Lugia and Ho-oh and create the GS Ball, the ball to capture time itself. Why does he want time? To reunite his baby Lapras with their father and mother in the past. He did it all for a single Pokemon and to some, that may seem small and even insane... something that Krys even states. And this insults Pryce greatly. As Pryce says, "SOMETHING THAT SMALL!? It may seem "small" to you! But it's been MY ONLY REASON to go on living!"

This is quite a powerful quote as he's not only stating it to the characters, he's making this clear to YOU, the reader who may have agreed with Krys for a moment there. As many Adventures readers have noticed, this quote perfectly describes AZ's character of the games who literally started a violent war that devastated the entire Kalos region over the death of his Pokemon. The friendship between trainer and Pokemon is truly a strong theme throughout the Pokemon series, even having it's darker tragic sides through the games AZ and the manga's Mask of Ice.

In the end, Gold wants to stop him as he has hurt so many people, friends and innocents, and is using the dangerous power of time that should not be messed with to accomplish his goal of reuniting the baby Lapras to his father and mother. So what happens? During much of the heat of the action, Gold fails and Pryce wins. And this is okay as everyone gets a happy ending. Gold comes out of the passages of time alive, happily reuniting with his friends. No one is harmed, everyone is happy, even Pryce. Pryce drifts endlessly lost in the passages of time and he doesn't mind, smiling that he reunited the baby Lapras with his parents in another point of time, hearing the song "A Boy and His Lapras" flow through the passage of time made by his close friends during childhood. Much like how AZ reunited with Floette, Pryce smiles with tears of joy as the heroes look to a bright future.

A Boy and his Lapras

 

[Pokegirl Fan~]

Lillie's tragic backstories stood out to me, especially in the games. I liked her PTSD of touching Pokemon in the anime as well.

 

[shoz999]

Lillie's tragic backstories stood out to me, especially in the games. I liked her PTSD of touching Pokemon in the anime as well.

My favorite take on not only Lillie's tragic backstory but also Gladion's backstory is in Pokemon Adventures Sun and Moon Arc! It isn't finished, in fact they are currently at the altar playing the flutes, but there is still a lot of stuff to unpack. I personally think it's already on equal ground as the game's take. In fact, not only do I think it does Lillie's family dynamic more justice than the anime has done but I feel it may be in some ways better than the games, going into greater detail just how much Lusamine's controlling behavior affected Lillie and Gladion.

Lillie's PTSD. Like the games, she dislikes being called pretty or being compared to an object.

Although Mohn hasn't appeared yet or made an appearance, a lot of fans assumed that Mohn will be mentioned or appear because you can really tell that there is a severe cause behind Lusamine controlling lunatic behavior. The manga will remind you that Mohn's disappearance has severely affected Lusamine's mental state and it's faithful adaptation of the characters will remind you that Lusamine from the games is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING like Lusamine from the anime. This manga really goes into detail how much of a psychologically abusive mother Lusamine is from the games.

The manga reminds you that Lusamine is a controlling lunatic from the games.

She's a woman that severely needs help and it's severely affecting her children in fairly disturbing ways. For Lillie, she has a traumatic disorder whenever someone mentions how pretty she is or whenever she is being compared to a doll. This causes Lillie to have horrible flashbacks of how her controlling mother treated her nothing more than as an object to look pretty around her, like a play doll. For Gladion, his is fairly disturbing as well as he has signs of misogyny because of her crazed lunatic mother. The thing is what makes this disturbing is that one of the big causes of misogyny in men in real life is caused by a psychologically abusive relationship with their mother who are supposed to be strong female role models. Gladion doesn't hate women but he admits that he finds Plumeria being in command of Team Skull, a strong women in-charge, disturbing, scaring him a bit as she reminds him of his own crazed mother, Lusamine the President of the Aether Foundation. This is actually pretty disturbing how realistic Lusamine's abusive relationship has become to her children.

Lillie standing up for herself for the first time. I CAN'T WAIT to see her stand up to her crazy mother like in the games!

However it gives readers a smile when ever Lillie and Gladion slowly start to overcome these psychological fears they have, albeit slowly step-by-step. I freaking love it when Lillie shouts out how she can relate to Mimikyu's sad story of being judged all the time, startling the little Pokemon. I really wish Lillie had Mimikyu, they have so much in common! I personally recommend any Lillie fan to check the manga out as Lillie and Gladion's storyline hasn't been completed yet meaning lots of surprises await. Oh I really want to see how Kusaka handles Lillie and Gladion standing up to their mother after what they've been through.

 

[NovaBrunswick]

A lot of Ash's Fire starters in the anime had tragic pasts. Charmander was left out in the rain with its flame dangerously close to going out, and Tepig was tied to a post and abandoned by his previous owner. Chimchar was abused and berated by Paul whenever he lost a battle, so he decided to become Ash's, eventually becoming a mighty Infernape.

Lillie and Gladion probably have the most tragic pasts of any Pokémon character to date, as @shoz999 already said. Their mother basically controls and abuses them, and Lillie obviously has her fear of touching Pokémon due to a terrifying incident with Nihilego she had as a child. There's also Alder, who set out on his journey around Unova after his Pokémon died of an unknown illness (possibly cancer, though it's never really specified).

 

[shoz999]

N is noted to be quite an introvert in both the games and Adventures manga, rarely smiling.

Another interesting character with a tragic backstory is N of the games and Adventures manga. I haven't seen Best Wishes fully yet so I have no idea how he is in anime. In both the games and manga, N is portrayed as an introvert, always curious of the world and making deductions. He thinks that humanity have abused Pokemon and wants to see them liberated from humans. However as he meets you, the player character, from time to time, he starts to have doubts as he learns more about humans relationships with Pokemon. He starts to admit that their are Pokemon who do love battling and do want to stay with their trainers. In the Adventurs manga, this is taken even further how he acknowledges that Pokemon also love to do all sorts of things with humans such as being in the spotlight of a contest or musical show or for the case of White's Tepig, acting. However he also acknowledges the idea that humans think they know what's best for Pokemon to the point that they cannot truly hear their voices, never giving them the choice of what they want to do, never showing them other opportunities that may stall their potential growth. He proves this by making White, the female protagonist, realize that Tepig seems to love battling more than show buisness. What horrifies White the most is that Tepig wants to go with N and not with her, leaving her in a coma. It's from this that N still believes that humanity has done so much wrong for Pokemon and it's quite understandable when you realize his backstory.

N in his room, trying to solve the "unsolvable equation".

In both the games and Adventures manga, it's explained that N was often confined to his room as he was given Pokemon that were hurt or abused by humans. The thing is, this was manipulation by none other than N's father, Ghetsis. Ghetsis purposely and ONLY chose Pokemon hurt or abused by humans. He never showed N that their were many Pokemon that loved being alongside their trainers and being confined to this room all this long lead to him develop these "Ideals".

Ghetsis explaining that he had no love for his son to begin with, wearing an calm and innocent look on his face.

It's even worst that Ghetsis has practically no love for his son. He's essentially a sociopath that only cares about N if he's useful to him. If he's no longer useful, he's useless weight that has to be discarded. The Adventures version is even more disturbing because one subtle change. Ghetsis doesn't start out as a straight-up bad guy from the start, he hides it behind a innocent look of an old man. When he reveals his true nature, talking about how he discards people, how he has no love for his son, how he's doing it for himself, he talks about it with that innocent look on his face. It's from this face you can tell that he believes everything he's doing is right, including discarding his own son. He only wanted to use his son because he believe he could grab the attention of the people far better than he could. According to the Adventures manga, he literally brought abused Pokemon to N almost every day to just show how bad humanity is.

In a rare moment, N smiles warmly, telling Tepig and all of the Pokemon he calls friends that if they want to, it's okay for them to be with a human.

However even Ghetsis's controlling behavior isn't enough to dispel N's curiosity. N didn't find the fact that their were humans and Pokemon who can happily work together as flawed. In actuality, he admitted he had a hard time accepting this "truth", that was the reason this "equation" was unsolvable because it was the truth. In the Pokemon Adventures manga, White (the female protagonist) slowly starts to break down in tears when she hears that N finally realizes this truth, telling White's Tepig who joined him on his travels that he can't decide for Tepig whether to do Pokemon acting or battling. It's something for Tepig to decide, telling the Tepig and the other Pokemon he befriended that...

"If you find a human you want to stay with... it's okay."

 

[NovaBrunswick]

I wonder who's had the more tragic past: Lillie or N? Both were controlled and/or abused by their parents (or in N's case, adoptive parent).

 

[shoz999]

I wonder who's had the more tragic past: Lillie or N? Both were controlled and/or abused by their parents (or in N's case, adoptive parent).

I don't know about N or Lillie but I think I know who undoubtedly has the most tragic backstory out of any Pokemon character throughout possibly the entire Pokemon series. Blue (Female Protagonist) and Silver. Considering what they've been through, you'll feel sorry for them but at the same time happy as they grow up, overcoming their past and future revelations, in the coming-of-age story that is Pokemon Adventures!

"We're Free!" by Moka SooN - Blue and Silver holding hands, running to the fresh light with their very first Pokemon, Jigglypuff and Sneasel. There's something heartwarming about those child-like smiles, including the Pokemon.

In the first Gen 1 story arcs, readers are introduced to the mysterious girl named Blue that has lead readers to ask questions on who she is, where did she came from, who is this mysterious boy she's been talking to, why is she so afraid of a particular kind of Pokemon and who is the shadowy villain behind-the-scenes, never making one appearance and his name never uttered once and yet readers could feel this shadowy villain's presence, some kind of mastermind lingering somewhere behind some of the strangest and most mysterious events felt strongly throughout the chapters of Gen 1.

Blue seeing Silver's face for the first time, artwork by Memorri-Chan

To some readers surprise, like a massive long-wait for questions to be slowly answered in a long-spanning One Piece story arc, this would never be answered in Gen 1 but rather every single question readers had about Blue and her connections would be answered in Generation 2, the GSC chapter that reveals everything, including her tragic past with Silver. Even then, this wouldn't end at Gen 2, coming back to haunt them in Generations 3 and 4, around a total of six spanning story arcs. Their story is arguably the most tragic out of any Pokemon character and unlike Lillie and N who are faithfully based on the games, I will keep this to spoiler labels as this is exclusive to the manga and is not as common knowledge as it's game counterparts. Surprising twists will be made, happy reunions cut short, rage unleashed, tearful smiles occur and even shocking revelations are made even before the games confirm this as canon.

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Spoiler: HEAVY STORY SPOILERS

The first clue to Blue's past. A familiar tower stands tall in a great distance, birds cawing from afar.

RGB Chapter - Who is Blue the female protagonist?

In the Pokemon Adventures manga, Red meets a mysterious girl named Blue. Throughout the story she's a excellent thief who creatively uses her good looks, smarts, tools and Pokemon to get what she wants. Not only she's surprisingly an expert at different tools and using her Pokemon at creative ways but it's revealed that she was the one who stole the third Pokedex and the last remaining starter, Squirtle. Readers now ask the question, why?

Blue's past is slowly revealed, slowly building up to something. We find out she is absolutely terrified of bird-like Pokemon, that she is from Pallet Town and that Prof. Oak has a photo of her screaming in the talons of a massive bird Pokemon that is clearly not from the Kanto region. Later Red realizes that Blue has not a single flying-type on her team, using Blastoise or Jigglypuff as a way to fly across the air.

Eventually this clever girl meets her match at the Indigo League, battling none other than Prof. Oak. Out of all the powerful Pokemon Oak has in his arsenal, he surprisingly chooses a Spearow of all Pokemon!? The audience is confused but Blue is absolutely terrified, shaking in fear at the sight of the tiny bird. Oak confronts the girl and later reveals more about her past, who she is, a resident of Pallet Town that one day disappeared around the same day sightings of a massive bird. Oak was in charge of the investigation as he had a grandson around Blue's age. The thought of his own grandchild going missing motivated him to search for this missing girl, Blue.

Blue is full of sadness and anger, saying it's not fair what happened to her, missing out some of her childhood, how others get to go on a Pokemon Journey with a starter Pokemon and a Pokedex by their side. She wanted the same thing, a Pokemon journey, so she stole it. Prof. Oak smiles at the young girl and asks her never to steal again in return... she can keep the starter Pokemon and Pokedex she stole. Blue is surprise, not holding tears full of sorrow but tears of joy, hugging the old man who is just glad that she's okay. Everyone at the Pokemon League are happy for Blue, full of tears of joy themselves. However this revelation answers a lot of the questions reader has but also brings up more questions? Why did some giant Pokemon kidnapped Blue, going in a specific direction? The most likely and accepted theory at the time... was that someone was behind the kidnapping.

Blue investigating the legendary Pokemon, contacting Silver in the Johto region.

Yellow Chapter - The shadowy villain behind the scenes.

In the next story arc, the Yellow Chapter, we have further answers on not only Blue's past but also confirmation to this theory, that a person, a mastermind was indeed behind the kidnapping. One of the reasons why Blue assisted Yellow to find Red was to look into this mysterious Pokemon that Lance was interested in taming. A legendary dragon-like Pokemon of massive power. Lance almost had full control of it until the unexpected happened. Someone else over-rided Lance's control of that Pokemon! Lance is absolutely shocked, wondering if there is someone even stronger than him, the master of dragons. Blue wonders if that legendary is the same one that kidnapped her, talking to an old friend named Silver who is heading into Johto. Readers would be surprised that Blue's past would not be solved in any of the Gen 1 arcs but rather instead in the Gen 2 arcs and oh boy... they were not expecting this.

Blue is a very confident girl who rarely freaks out when her friends are in danger, almost always sure they'll come out alive but here, she freaks out over Silver's well-being. Silver is Blue's closest friend.

A vengeful Silver is absolutely outraged at the shadowy villain, ordering the attack to stop him.

GSC Chapter - Silver, Blue and the villain's backstory is fully revealed.

Throughout the Johto region, rumors of a new leader of Team Rocket has rose and Silver is out to look for this new leader. It is later revealed that the leader of this Team Rocket is none other than the Mask of Ice or the Masked Man, the same person who kidnapped Blue and Silver as children. Still it doesn't answer why he kidnapped them, controlled two powerful legendary Pokemon, Lugia and Ho-oh, and is out to grab the GS Ball, a pokeball that can capture time itself. As the endgame is near, revelations are made. Blue and Silver were kidnapped because they had potential talent as strong trainers alongside other kids that would help the Masked Man lead a new Team Rocket. He would also capture Lugia and Ho-oh during this process. Not only were Lugia and Ho-oh's power an enormous boost to his operations, their feathers were essential in his ultimate endgame plan, the GS Ball, the Pokeball to capture Celebi in order to control time itself, an extremely dangerous power in the wrong hands. The Masked Man himself turns out to be Pryce and surprisingly also has a tragic story behind his actions, not truly an evil villain but rather a misleading human being who wants to reunite his Lapras with Lapras's dead parents. Even with seemingly good intentions, it doesn't change the fact that he's hurt so many people, including his own friends and children for his only reason for living. Silver in particular is the most furious, wanting revenge for everything Pryce did. In the end, Silver has failed to stop him, Pryce wins and this is okay. No one gets hurt in the end, everyone is safe and sound and in a way, everyone wins. The Gen 1 and Gen 2 crew look to a bright future and yet another question is brought up, one fans aren't sure of if it will ever be answered as Silver and Blue has never mentioned this. Whatever happened to their parents? If Pryce's insane plan affected Blue the most, it's the revelation on who their parents are that affects Silver the most.

Blue is in tears, Green, Sneasel and Rhydon stand for a moment of silence. Silver finally accepts Giovanni as his father.

FRLG and Emerald Chapter - Blue and Silver meet their parents and The Mask of Ice, the lonely man he is, saw himself as a father figure to them.

The very first chapter of the FRLG chapter introduces Blue and Silver as kids during a flash back, planning to escape the Mask of Ice's base of operations. We get a bit more depth on how their childhood was like. Blue, Silver and their very first Pokemon, Jigglypuff and Sneasel are on the run, escaping, planning this for the long-run, for freedom from the Mask of Ice. They later find themselves encountering an creepy ice statue of themselves wearing masks, looking to the Mask of Ice as a leader figure. This creeps them out and they leave, stealing Pryce's plans. Pryce is upset that this happened as he sees his reflection in the icy statue of not himself as a powerful leader with his subordinates looking up to him but as a happy father figure right at the bottom, in the middle. The people around him aren't his subordinates... but look to him with warm smiles like a family. From this we can see that Pryce is questioning himself. From his words, he wonders if he should've thrown his feelings long ago otherwise this never would've happened. However the statue he built says otherwise, he hates being alone, yearning for someone to call friend or family. It's kind of sad actually seeing Pryce at this state, how much the death of two Laprases affected him.

Days later, Blue and Silver are teenagers. Silver gives Blue a new set of elegant clothes, ones that match her FireRed and LeafGreen clothings. What's the special occasion for such clothing? Blue is about to meet her parents for the first time and she has Silver to thank as he was the one who found them for her. Blue is so excited to meet her parents again. Unfortunately things take a dark turn when her parents disappear before her eyes, leaving her in a coma. Team Rocket has returned and in the mean time, Silver is looking for his parents only to discover an unsettling revelation. Before HeartGold and SoulSilver confirmed this, it is revealed in the FireRed and LeafGreen chapters that Silver's father is none other than Giovanni, the leader of Team Rocket. Even worst, he's starting to realize that his desire for revenge years ago is not that different from Giovanni. That's a consistent theme with Silver, how his vengeful nature is very similar to Giovanni.
Luckily for Blue, she successfully saves and meets her parents, just normal everyday hard-working people but even she looks like she doesn't know what to say to Silver whose father is the leader of one of the most dangerous criminal organizations in the world. Eventually Green the rival steps up and tells him that Giovanni is his father and he did all this, risking his own life inches away from death just to reunite with his son. Silver realizes what he says is true and for the first and only time, we see Silver break into tears accepting Giovanni as his father. Everyone else either cries or have a moment of silence. There's something happy about Silver accepting his father despite everything he's done.

Giovanni's grudging look. You can tell the look on his face that he wants Pryce dead for kidnapping his son. On the other hand, the world is at stake...

Petrel, a top Rocket Lieutenant, explains that Silver's no different, perhaps worst than Giovanni. Judging Silver based on his eyes that look far more cold-hearted than Giovanni's.

HGSS Story Arc - Silver finds peace with himself. He no longer desires revenge, wanting his father to change his ways as well only to find out why he created Team Rocket in the first place.

Throughout the HGSS chapter, certain characters often compare Silver to his father. Similar to Giovanni, Silver isn't kidding about finishing people off in the worst way possible and it's this realization that has Silver very afraid that he's becoming like his father. To his surprise, Pryce, Lance and Giovanni have all returned. Pryce is no longer the insane monster he was years ago as he already got what he wanted, rather he came back to save the world from the brink of destruction. Lance has also came back for the same reasons and Giovanni realizes that he can't rule a world that's destroyed after nearly killing Pryce for kidnapping his son. As Pryce mentions, they were all once villains but now they've come here to save everyone and oh man, the battle for the fate of the world is exciting! After everything's over, people are confronting their pasts. Pryce admits what he did was very wrong. Silver forgives Pryce, realizing revenge isn't the way. Giovanni, in a way, forgives Pryce as well saying he raised his son into a strong trainer. Finally Silver and Giovanni face each other. Silver decides that he won't give up on his father, having seen some good in him when he saved him from a deadly situation. Giovanni explains that's probably not possible as he explains his reason for creating Team Rocket. To become stronger as a Pokemon trainer. It's hinted that Giovanni was once a good person but he threw it away for power. And yet Silver says he won't give up. Giovanni can't help but smile at this.

This is the last time we see traces of Blue and Silver's background resurfacing again and it's quite happy to see how they've progressed after being through so much. Blue meets her parents and Silver has forgiven Pryce, not giving up on his father, hoping he will change one day.

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Silver and Giovanni's family reunion. Giovanni plans to revive Team Rocket. Silver hasn't given up on his father, believing there is some good in him left.

And with that, that's Blue and Silver's tragic story. As for the rest here, I believe most of you already know by now that Silver already has it hard enough in both the games and manga, since his father is none other than Giovanni, the leader of Team Rocket. Unfortunately the games rarely builds upon the relationship, rarely showing what Silver thinks of his father or if he's going to do anything about the fact that he's the leader of Team Rocket. In the Adventures manga, Silver has thrown away his vengeful nature in favor of forgiveness and believes there is still some good left in Giovanni after he saved him, risking his own life, inches away from death. What does Giovanni do? He says he's going to rebuild Team Rocket either way. He hints that he was at one time a good person but he threw it away to become stronger, that's why he created Team Rocket, something that holds true in the games and is actually quite similar to Giovanni of Pokemon Origins, where he was once a trainer who loved Pokemon. And yet, Silver hasn't given up on his father. Giovanni can't help but smile at Silver's stubbornness.

Blue can't help but cry in joy, hugging Prof. Oak after everything she's been through, feeling the world denied her.

As for Blue, considering what she's been through, she really deserves to be happy throughout her life. I love it how Blue bursts into tears and hugs Prof. Oak, officially seeing her as the third owner of the Pokedex.

 

[Zhydra]

I wonder who's had the more tragic past: Lillie or N? Both were controlled and/or abused by their parents (or in N's case, adoptive parent).

Depends on which one you prefer!

Lillie scenario: Said parent use to be half decent until someone disappeared from the family life and caused parent to loose herself in grief, becoming that control freak abusive parent we know by the games.
Depending on the situation, it either escalates in her getting into drugs. (Which we already argued on these forums about when Nihilego came into play in the S/M prior to the story.) and getting worse to where she became a threat to everyone around her .

OR she is told about a threat to Alola that gives her something else to focus on and become completely consumed by a desire for revenge and an ego that causes harm to those around her in her attempt to live up to something. (USUM and its take on what would have happened if Lusamine was never on them drugs.)

Both resulted in Lillie and Gladion running away in the end to get away from Lusamine and to try and stop her from messing more things up!

While the Manga had the abuse reach to Lillie having PTSD and Gladion having A LOT of social issues, the two guys that work on the Manga did a better job at hinting that Lusamine is on jellyfish venom in this one as well... (Look at how she is drawn.) as well as the plot going so far off the rail from both games. (Ways that I think are getting weaker in comparison to the games and even the anime UNTIL we get something, we only have the two kids trauma to go by yet that woman still hasn't directly DONE anything and kind of got sidelined at what seems to be the climax. "If Lusamine is in ultra space in the manga at the current time, it would an as much of an ass pull as the second Cosmog.")

N Scenario: Having said parent groom the child for his whole life into a tool for a world domination, being turned into that brainwashed pawn thinking exactly as Ghetsis wanted him to think. (Ghetsis... never once loved N!) The fact N spent most of his life in that room and was raised under a lie... is miles more messed up compared to what we got in the gen 7 games.

When N lost to the player, Ghetsis showed his true colors, discarded and called N. "A freak without a human heart!" And lashed out on the boy... during the battle with Ghetsis... its seem pretty odd how the guys team was designed to counter N's. Almost as if Ghetsis had every intention on disposing of N if things did go according to plan. (USUM's Ghetsis battle proved THAT theory!)

One scenario has the back story of a whole family falling apart due to someone NOT taking grief well and resulting in poor decision making that caused everything to go down the drain for both herself and those around her.

The other was someone being taken advantaged of by a monster.

 

[shoz999]

One manga I often liked to compare to Pokemon Adventures is One Piece. They both have similar ways of telling stories including the villain. One of the most satisfying things to see in One Piece is to see the main character, Luffy, overcoming against the odds but cleverly win against the villain whose misdeeds have not been contained to a few chapters but instead have been spread out, leaving behind his actions, presence and mark on this world throughout several chapters. Sometimes you never even see or hear about this villain and yet you get the idea he's there and needs to be stopped. This is similar to the case of Giovanni of the original RGB story arc. One of the reasons why readers think is it even possible for Giovanni to change is because he's one of the cruelest villains of the Pokemon series. The manga does not shy away that Team Rocket's operations mentioned in the games are quite horrible. For the case of the manga, you can see that a lot of people and Pokemon have been hinted or confirmed to be affected by Team Rocket's doing, especially Pokemon. One of the notable aspects about Team Rocket and an ongoing theme in the RGB story arc is that how people are starting to fear Pokemon because of Team Rocket's doing.

Red's Gyarados was originally a Magikarp that was forced-evolved through a strange substance, leading Gyarados to become enraged. It's hinted that Red's Pikachu original distrust of humans, going to Pewter City for food away from the Viridian Forest is because Team Rocket was performing experiments on transported Pokemon in the Viridian Forest causing the local inhabitants of Viridian City to fear these beresrking Pokemon, Giovanni killed two relentless Magmar showing what kind of a person he is, the Team Rocket grunts kidnapped the Chairman's favorite Pokemon having it ready to be experimented and transported to Viridian Forest, they have experimented with Mew's DNA creating the Monster of Cerulean City that is known as Mewtwo causing a newfound fear for Pokemon at Cerulean City, at Lavender Town instead of people paying for their respects, they would stay away from the Pokemon Tower because of Team Rocket, in Saffron City they've literally cut off the entire city from the rest of the world as part of their operations to experiment on Pokemon. Team Rocket's actions has certainly caused a divide between people and Pokemon leading to some tragic storylines however the most notable Pokemon that has been affected by Team Rocket is none other than Red's Eevee, Vee.

Red's Eevee has been experimented on by Team Rocket, gaining the ability to painfully force-evolve, switching into any of it's evolved forms and back to it's original form.

Of course Red does a lot to undo people's fear of Pokemon, showing that they are kind-hearted gentle creatures in the end despite how some can look scary, like Gyarados. For the case of Eevee, Eevee was experimented by Rocket Grunts in Celadon City in order to push the limits of it's evolutionary potentially. They succeeded but Eevee absolutely hated this force evolution as it was very painful for him. With the Rocket grunts taken care of, Red decides to find and help this Eevee with Gym Leader Erika's support.

Pikachu defends Eevee from Erika to the very end. Erika reveals this was just a test to find a friendly trainer for Eevee consideirng how much Eevee has been through.

However Erika lies to Red that she and her associates were the ones responsible for Eevee's experimented state. She lied to Red to get an idea of what kind of a trainer he is as Eevee has a very difficult time of trusting humans because of Team Rocket's doing. Erika believes that the abused Eevee needs to go to a trainer that is both ethical and has compassion, hearing beforehand from Brock and Misty, two fellow Gym Leaders, that Red is the perfect trainer for Eevee. From this Eevee happily goes on many of Red's adventures, trusting the trainer that defended him to the very end.

All of Red's Pokemon are excited for what the adventure has in store for them, journeying alongside Red.

With that all of his Pokemon, including Red's Eevee named Vee, happily join him on his adventures and also put a shocking end to Team Rocket's horrible operations by defeating the Team Rocket Leader known as Giovanni simply by outsmarting him. As he's doing this, Red is trying to diffuse the distrust that Pokemon have for humans while also trying to prove to people that Pokemon are kind, loving creatures in the end.

"Listen to me... please... Pokemon can be scary... but they're kind, loving creatures."

This is the case for an especially curious little girl named Yellow who meets Red for the first in the Viridian Forest, seeing how scary Team Rocket's experimented Pokemon are but also seeing how amazing Red's Pokemon are wishing that she had one of her own which Red helps her catch her very first Pokemon, a Rattata. Red is later about to leave on his Gyarados which terrifies the nearby locals, except for Yellow who looks curious at the water serpent. Before he leaves, Red comes to Yellow and smiles at her telling that Pokemon can look scary but in the end their kind loving creatures, their personalities determined by how good or bad their trainers is. Yellow not only understands but has a newfound admiration for Red. So what happens to Vee the Eevee later on?

Vee is free from his painfully experimental forced evolutionary ability, having naturally evolved into Espeon thanks to his trust and friendship with Red.