Welcome back to another chapter of Diary! As always, I do not own Pokémon, and enjoy!
41. Setting Sun
Day 40 (October 21, 2019): Sinnoh
And the Gracie story continues with the renewed strength and determination! With dealings in the supernatural world done and over, it's time to get the last few tasks completed in the mortal world. After that, it will be time to head for new regions and new adventures.
But first, I must finish this one.
It seems that Professor Rowan is worried about the player, so I have to head back. Luckily, there was nothing to be worried about. However, it does mention that Professor Rowan was going around the regions to get help in the event that the player was going to have trouble. I can't see Gracie needing any help, but maybe this could be applied to the other stories. Maybe this is why Cyrus and his team try to stop Kristine in Holly Rising's timeline, aside from Cyrus's connection to the Lake Trio. And perhaps Rowan asks Cynthia for help in the whole Dawn situation, and Cynthia decides to send in Usurping's protagonist. Regardless, the player character is safe now, so it's time to move on.
The next area is just east of the café that Gracie visits so often. It was blocked by a power outage before, but there's nothing in my way now. Perhaps Gracie makes one last uses the café before heading out, noting some finality to it. It's not something I will be doing in the game anymore, since I'm far above the level of my opponents there, and have enough money to last me through the rest of the game.
The next route is long, but some particularly challenging. There's a lot of Water Type opponents due to being near a beach, but Gracie has plenty of ways to deal with that. There's also a person who wants to take on the Champion using only a team of Pikachu, and another that will give prizes out if someone shows him particularly large Remoraid. They're not particularly worth visiting in the games, but I always thought thelittle events surrounding them were interesting and even rather cute. Perhaps Gracie will start a conversation with them, or maybe do a little fishing in order to get the prizes for the latter… Regardless, my journey continues long, I'm at Sunnyshore.
Sunnyshore happens to be a place where one can walk on a large, dark blue, raised walkway.
Said walkway also happens to be solar panels.
I have no idea how that works, and considering the impracticality of solar panels overall (such as them not working very well if there's not a lot of sun), I have no idea how the city functions in the long-term. Maybe solar panels are more of an experiment or an alternative way to gain energy if electricity is out. Of course, if that was the case, the blackout would not be such a huge issue…
Anyway, heading into the city has me run into a guy named Flint. Flint talks about someone named Volkner, who is apparently the Gym Leader of the town. Volkner has been in a slump, and getting bored due to lack of strong challengers. As a result, he is considering challenging and moving up to the Elite Four. He also remodeled his Gym, but said remodeling caused the power outage before. Apparently, if Volkner has a strong challenger, his passion for battling will be reignited. So, Flint tasks the player with helping Volkner by being that strong challenger, before going on his way.
Except that whole exchange doesn't really make much sense.
I understand the idea of Volkner having trouble with boredom and otherwise getting annoyed by constantly having weak Trainers him battle over and over. However, if Volkner is in a slump, slamming his team into the floor with an overpowered one won't do him much good either. In fact, it could cause him to lose confidence and make the whole situation worse. And in cases of depression or other psychological issues (which Volkner could be seen as having), there's often something at play going on underneath. So, if the underlying condition and/or triggers are not treated, there's nothing stopping Volkner from going into another episode and having the whole thing happen all over again…
Volkner's wish to challenge the Elite Four doesn't make much sense either. The Elite Four have teams that could instantly destroy Volkner's. Being in a higher position in the League, Volkner should know that (or at least have some idea). Furthermore, if he wants to become part of the Elite Four, there wouldn't be any open positions. The only thing Volkner could realistically do is try to go for the title of Champion. But due to the Champion's team setup, Volkner would not stand a chance…
So the whole thing just doesn't really work.
But regardless of how much sense it makes, I have to proceed anyway.
And that involves finding Volkner.
Volkner is apparently at a large lighthouse he is fixing, so I have to travel there. Luckily, I only have to talk to Volkner to get him to come back to his Gym.
For Gracie, things might be more complex.
The lighthouse in this city is noted to be similar to Olivine's, and Gracie would probably notice the similarities. Although she finds Volkner working there, she doesn't pay too much attention to him. She suddenly shudders, and looks forlorn. Gracie only whispers the word Meredith. However, it is loud enough for Volkner to overhear. Volkner asks her what's wrong, and Gracie says that she is reminded of someone she used to know. Volkner repeats the words used to, and Gracie clarifies that this person passed away in Olivine's lighthouse. It was an unjust and cruel death over something completely preventable, and Gracie cannot see the lighthouse without being reminded of her. Volkner replies that he is sorry for her loss, and Gracie thanks him.
The Gym Leader then asks if Gracie is feeling up to a match. Gracie is surprised, now repeating the words a match. Volkner nods, replying that he enjoys going up against strong opponents, and has heard Gracie is especially powerful. So he would love to have a battle against her, just to test his own strength. Gracie agrees, silently wondering if Meredith would want things to be like this, and heads off to the Gym.
Volkner's Gym is a little bit annoying, but nowhere near as bad as the previous one. His Gym involves pressing buttons to rotate gears. These gears form a walkway that one can use to advance to different rooms. After advancing through each room, one can make it to the end and fight the Gym Leader. Of course, there are many Trainers standing in one's way, and they all wield powerful electric Pokémon. The player must defeat them to have any hope of seeing the leader.
But Gracie is more than prepared to do so.
She starts off by using Psychic to destroy almost everything in one shot. Eventually, I switched to Magical Leaf to conserve Power Points, but still took everything out in one or two hits. There were some issues with paralysis, but they were easily healed up. Gracie's Synchronize also throws the condition back at foes. I make it to the end of the puzzle without issue, and without needing to run back and heal.
And last, it's time for the final Gym Leader, Volkner.
Not that he's much of a challenge.
Psychic takes out all of his Pokémon out in one hit, before they can even attack. It's worth noting that Volkner's highest Pokémon is level 50, and Gracie is level 72. That might be why the battle was over so quickly…
Speaking of Volkner, time to talk about him.
I already mentioned what he does before the Gym battle, and my feelings about that. After the battle, he doesn't do much else. Volkner is seen, reenergized, after the main game is cleared. Alongside Flint, he challenges the player and Barry to a double battle. Beating the two grants access to the Battle Frontier. In the anime, Volkner's backstory is expanded upon. Volkner fought crime when he was younger, similar to a vigilante but without negative connotations. While doing so, he met up with Flint. The two fought each other in battles, quickly developing both a friendship and a rivalry that would last until the present day. One of the other people Volkner made friends with on his journey was an unnamed former Pokémon poacher that Volkner was able to convince to give up his ways. Eventually, Flint and Volkner parted ways, but kept in contact. Sometime during this, Flint became a member of the Elite Four.
Volkner became the Gym Leader of Sunnyshore, but started to withdraw from people. He instead focused on technology, redesigning Sunnyshore. Unfortunately, this also caused him to lose his passion for battling. Several characters, such as Paul and Palmer, notice this, but are unable to figure out why or what to do. Volkner is so into his slump that he simply has a machine that hands out his Badge for people. Flint and the unnamed former poacher were annoyed by this, so they decide to have Ash battle Flint and have Volkner watch the match. This reignites Volkner's passion for battling, and he allows Ash to challenge him to a Gym battle. Despite a disruption from Team Rocket, Ash manages to win. The Pokémon Special manga keeps his backstory consistent with the games, but also adds in him training others and fighting directly against enemies threatening the region.
Regardless, there's still a problem with Volkner.
And that's that his backstory still doesn't make much sense.
Thanks to the problems that I pointed out upon arriving in Sunnyshore, Volkner's backstory becomes a mess. The anime tries to expand on it, but it still doesn't fix any of the issues. Exploring Volkner's friendship with Flint and past fighting criminals do add to his character, but it is not enough. It's a shame, because it prevents me from really liking Volkner as a character. Without a lot of explanation or motivation, Volkner is just a cliché example of someone having problems with depression and then being snapped out of it. Instead, Volkner could have been a good example of how much power and standing takes a toll on someone, but his character just suffers from bad execution.
Which is why the Traveler series expands on Volkner.
Starting with who he knows.
In canon, it's not known if Volkner has any relatives, or what their statuses are.
In Traveler, he is the father of the anime only characters Ash and Ritchie. This also means that he is the husband of Ash's mother Delia.
This alone brings a lot of changes.
For one, Delia has the canonical last name of Ketchum. She still uses it in Traveler, despite Volkner having a different one. It's not known what Volkner's last name is canonically, but most theories tend to use the Japanese names as last names for characters whose names are different in English. Traveler follows suit, so Volkner's last name is Denzi. However, Delia chooses not to change her last name, since she comes from a long line of powerful Trainers and wishes to preserve the legacy. Volkner understands, but wishes to preserve his own legacy and keeps his last name.
Their children, however, are a different matter.
Starting with why they are Volkner's children.
Canonically, Ash's father is never revealed, even though he is stated to have gone on his own Pokémon journey at some point. There aren't really any hints canonically as to who it could be, and the anime never brings up the issue. However, that hasn't stopped fans from bringing up, and having many theories on who could be. There's also been the idea of Ash missing or resenting his father for leaving him behind somehow, or even his father being deceased. However, a lot of theories have Ash's father being someone he's already met on his journeys. Volkner is one of those candidates, as he and Ash have a lot of similarities in the anime. Granted, this would make it so that Ash looked nothing like Deila or Volkner. However, there could be some sort of gene passed down through the family line recessively, and Ash could've inherited that. This could be further supported with the appearance of an anime only character named Silver. Said character has gray hair, looks and acts a bit similar to Ash, and is theorized by some to be Delia's father. However, it's not known if this theory will carry over to Traveler or not.
However, Ritchie is a different story.
Starting with his very existence.
Ritchie was not originally meant to be in Traveler at all, and Holly Rising's timeline acts as though Delia only has one son. Additionally, part of what happens to Ash there is directly stated in an author's note to be because Ritchie does not exist. The concept was the idea of what might happen if Ash didn't have Ritchie to help him out of his depression after the former consistently loses in battle. Finally, Ash is mentioned to be one of the main character's former traveling companions years before Holly Rising begins, but Ritchie is not mentioned.
So whenI did decide to have Ritchie play a role in the story, I now had to figure out how to include him. Since most of the lore in the Usurping's timeline was not set in stone by the time I decided to use him in the story, it was easy enough to just insert him into the group of traveling companions mentioned in the previous paragraph and other events where he would appear, and then go from there. The decision to make him Ash's brother actually had a bit of basis in canon material. In canon, Ritchie looks and has similar goals and Pokémon to Ash. It's to the point where fans see him as a clone of Ash. However, unlike Ash, he looks a bit like Delia. With all of the similarities, making him Ash's brother was a logical decision.
But then there was the issue of where to put Ritchie in established lore where he did not originally exist.
It took a while, but eventually, a solution was reached.
And that solution was to have him die on his own journey.
It would make sense, since Delia probably wouldn't want to publicly bring up her dead son when she was still desperately trying to protect her other one. Ritchie still wouldn't be there to snap Ash out of a depressed state regardless of whether he was alive or not at the time. Ritchie would be going on his own journey, so he would not intersect with his brother's group, or possibly even the protagonist that traveled with him. Even if Ritchie and the protagonist did meet, said protagonist probably would choose not to bring up what happened to Ritchie in the present day. This is because what happened to Ash was deeply traumatizing to all honest people involved, and she's shown to be able to do enough damage to those people just by using that against them. Finally, in Holly Rising's timeline, Ash is simply mentioned in passing as someone who was hurt by Team Rocket. So it's safe to say that what got Ritchie killed was not the same incident as the one Ash was hurt in. Said incident may not have involved Team Rocket, or the members of Team Rocket that harmed Ash may never have known about Ritchie. It's not known if Ritchie's death will be brought up in Holly Rising's timeline, since neither Ash nor Ritchie play a large part there.
Regardless, there are still more issues with Volkner's background in Traveler, and him being a father.
The issue comes from Volkner's location.
Volker comes from Sunnyshore in Sinnoh, also canonically growing up there. Ash, Ritchie, and Delia, on the other hand, canonically come from Pallet in Kanto. That's two different regions that are nowhere near each other.
As such, there is a problem, and a few ways to fix it.
One of which is having Volkner still have his canon position as the Gym Leader of Sunnyshore, but have Delia and the children still be in Pallet. Volkner would be far away from his family, but would still communicate with them whenever he could. Original versions of Traveler assumed this type of situation was in place.
However, this brings with it its own set of problems.
One is that it will be very difficult for Delia to take care of two children on her own. Unlike his canon self, Ash does not have very strong ties to Pallet Town, because his rival, Gary, does not exist in Traveler. Instead, his personality is merged with that of Blue, who has already become a powerful Trainer by the time Ash even starts. Furthermore, Blue is also associated with Viridian, a place Ash really isn't. It's not known what connections Ritchie has to Pallet, and if he does have them, they're never mentioned. So there's really no reason for the two to be there specifically.
Furthermore, this would make it very difficult for Volkner to be connected to his family. And that difficulty in connection would breed the sadness and resentment Ash (and in this case, Ritchie) has towards his father in many interpretations. Not to mention Volkner's not the type of person that would prioritize his job over his friends and family (slump aside). Holly Rising even mentions Ash as training under Volkner in Sunnyshore in order to inherit the Gym. A situation like that wouldn't be possible if the two did not have some sort of relationship.
The next idea was to have someone else take over the Gym position, so that Volkner would be free to stay with his family. However, there aren't any real canon character candidates for the position. Furthermore, Volkner has a strong attachment to Sunnyshore and wants to see it prosper. So I doubt he would leave it easily.
The last solution would be to simply make Ash and Ritchie from Sunnyshore instead. That would help with Volkner's situation without having him do something out of character. Furthermore, since Ash and Ritchie both start with Pikachu, an electric Pokémon, it makes sense for both of them as well.
There's just one more issue with that.
The issue that being in the early chapters of Usurping's timeline.
In one of the chapters of a companion story, it's mentioned that there's a canon character who remembers a boy from Pallet that used his last name in battle.
That memory was meant to be a reference to Ash, who canonically uses his last name when he fights. Additionally, Ash was also meant to have his canon last name of Ketchum, even though Volkner has an entirely different one.
But there is a way to solve that problem.
Even though Ash is from Sunnyshore, it doesn't mean he has to identify with it.
Ash could still choose to identify himself as being from Pallet, with it being the town his mother grew up in. He could feel closer to his mother, and thus choose to associate himself with that place. Ash can also choose not to identify with Volkner, not wanting to be in his father's shadow. Finally, Ash could be inspired by the tales of great Trainers who came from Pallet, and think that was a good way of presenting himself. As for his last name, in order for Delia's legacy to continue, one of her children must also take the name. So since Ash is already identifying with being from Pallet, it makes logical sense that he would choose the name.
In Ritchie's case, he might be close to his father, so he takes Volkner's last name. Furthermore, since Volkner and Delia both need people to carry on their own respective legacies, each of their children would have a different last name. Whether or not Ritchie would decide to announce himself as coming from Pallet or Sunnyshore is not known. Ritchie also has a completely different Japanese name, which normally would serve as his last name. It's not known if that will make an appearance in Traveler. Finally, one thing that brings all the members of the main protagonist of Usurping's group together is that they all have a disability of some sort. While Ash is implied to have a disability canonically, and thus has said disability adapted into Traveler, Ritchie is never implied to have one. Furthermore, it's not known if he does, because even though he's similar to Ash, he doesn't have some of the issues the latter does. The anime doesn't even state that there's anything odd about Ritchie's behavior, unlike with Ash where it's stated multiple times. So it's not known what disability Ritchie will have, although it most likely will not be the same as Ash's.
Already, there's some major changes about Volkner, but these are not the only ones.
In most stories, Volkner is close to Jasmine and sometimes even being in a romantic relationship with her. In the Traveler series, they are good friends and often work together. Volkner also has a psychological issue that connects with what happened canonically and in general. However, it's not known what issue he will have. Furthermore, Volkner is close to Cyrus due to their similar interests and backgrounds. It's not known if Volkner has a relationship with Cyrus canonically, and the times they are seen together, they are enemies.
All of this leads into Gracie's story.
Gracie has her battle with Volkner, feeling reenergized. However, she still remembers Meredith, and wondered if she would've liked it here. Volkner states that she mentioned the name before, and wondering if Gracie would tell him more about it. Gracie goes on to explain what happened to Meredith, who she is, and how she died. Volkner's face twists into a rage, and he clenches his fist. Gracie's eyes go wide, but before she can say anything Volker speaks again. He snarls out dare people like Paul tarnish the reputations and names of vigilantes. Back when he was young, being a vigilante meant something other than negativity, and those who commit crimes using that status just drag the label down and harm everyone. Gracie cocks her head, confused.
Volkner replies that when he was young, he was a vigilante, fighting crime throughout the regions. It was there that he met his friend Flint, and the two traveled together as they developed the friendship that would continue into adulthood. He goes on to say that Flint was the person that was visiting earlier, who Gracie probably met when she walked into the city. Gracie nods, but her voice is still filled with confusion. She realizes that though Flint and Volkner started as vigilantes, they're both high-ranking members of the League now. She starts to ask how that happened, but Volkner interrupts her by continuing.
He states that back in those days, being a vigilante was something to be proud of, something positive for honest people in a lot of cases. That's because vigilantes like him and Volkner would work with law enforcement instead of against it. Provided their battle skills were strong enough, the vigilantes would help take down criminals and perform tasks that the police could not do. They helped to keep the streets safe when the police were busy doing other tasks, or otherwise couldn't be in the area. Gracie thinks they were like volunteers, and Volkner says something similar, although none of them had as good of a skill set as the real police officers. So it was something similar to a civilian assistance and being their allies.
Under this system, Volkner saved lives and kept others safe, with some of the criminals they helped capture even reforming. These heroic actions earned then power with their Pokémon and trust with the people. The end result was Volkner and Flint gaining high positions in the League. Flint moved up into the Elite Four, and Volkner became the leader of Sinnoh's most powerful Gym. But there are few vigilantes like Volkner and Flint exist in the present day. With so many current ones against the League and those who support it, there may eventually be none left. Volkner may also express concern about his own children and family, stating that his children are two current vigilantes who could be in danger.
Gracie goes to reply but she notices another Pokémon step up and stand next to Volkner. She realizes that the lion-like creature is a Luxray, the same Pokémon she fought before. However, she also notices some official league insignia that she hadn't really paid much attention to before. Her eyes widened as she realizes what it means. She asks Volkner why Luxray has the insignia, and Volkner replies it's because Luxray is a service Pokémon.
Gracie repeats those words, and Volkner nods. He explains that he has been with Luxray since both of them were young, and has used it and many other service Pokémon even before he became a Trainer. Volkner has some social issues that prevented him from safely journeying on his own, and greatly affected his life otherwise. But with Luxray and other Pokémon, Volkner was able to go on a Pokémon journey just like other Trainers, and have a higher quality of life. Gracie asks him if it was still difficult to do the journey, and Volkner replies that it was. There were some times where his Pokémon had to almost or completely do parts for him. With a slight laugh in his tone, he states one could say that his Pokémon were training him. Nonetheless, he managed to succeed in this journey, and it got him to where he is now. Volkner's eyes grew serious, stating that if more Pokémon trained the Trainers, then maybe what she and Jasmine saw would not have happened. Gracie simply continues to remember what happened, and says Jasmine's name. Volkner responds, "She's in the city, you know." Gracie surprised, and Volkner replies that he and Jasmine often work together. Therefore, Jasmine is in Sunnyshore now. Gracie then elects to go see her.
She finds Jasmine on a beach with the other Trainer she met before, Kalmia. Jasmine looks as though she's trying to comfort Kalmia but still has a grave expression. Gracie wonders out loud if this is a bad time, but both look relieved to see her. Gracie remembers the Trainer from before as Kalmia, and the latter apologizes for running off before. Gracie notices that Jasmine still has a grave expression, and asks what is wrong.
Jasmine sighs and says it is about her student, Janina. Janina is prone to getting into mischief, and has caused a lot of trouble. Jasmine doesn't think she can go on a Pokémon journey by herself despite being of age, but isn't sure what to do. Jasmine is thinking of having Janina become her ward, but that would leave the Gym and the city underdefended unless she could find a replacement. Gracie asks what Jasmine means about wards, and Jasmine goes on to explain the concept behind that system.
Gracie understands that the main idea is adult Trainers supervising and looking after younger ones. It could also be used for those that had illnesses, or were otherwise wildly irresponsible. However, Gracie doesn't think there would be enough adults that would have the time or ability to do that, especially since adults still have to work to support themselves and their own families. Jasmine says that's why the League is making an addition to allow Pokémon to help out and do the work.
Gracie asks what Jasmine means. She thinks that there will be things like service Pokémon to help out the Trainer, and Jasmine shakes her head. She says that in this case, Pokémon are the Trainers. Gracie is shocked, as Jasmine continues to explain. As reckless Trainers are continuing to get in trouble, people are realizing that most Pokémon are powerful, intelligent, mature, and possess survival instincts. So the League came up with the idea of them training and supervising humans as citizens, provided the Pokémon themselves were adults. After all, Pokémon citizenship tests are already in place, and with the way the world is, there's more than enough of them to help out. Gracie shakes her head, thinking that she isn't too sure about this.
She remembers her experiences with Toby, remembering how bitter he was over what happened to his Trainer, Wally. Gracie wonders if the League's idea would make someone else bitter, or if she herself would become bitter with the new system and the flaws of the old. Gracie also remembers what she talked about with Sabrina, and the issues therapy and service Pokémon already faced. Gracie specifically recalls how Sabrina said she would be good at it, at the time she had been excited. Now, if given the option, Gracie isn't sure that she'd be able to truly train a Trainer, despite how easy it seems.
Kalmia suddenly chimes in, wondering if the League being forceful or a Pokémon watching over her would've helped Zinnia. At that point, Gracie is confused, and Kalmia tells Gracie Zinnia's backstory. Kalmia ends it by being angry, her rage coming from that Zinnia was chosen for power in battle. So no one really took into account if she was in fact the best person to wield that power in a position of authority. As a result, Zinnia is responsible for a lot of the chaos that plagues the regions. Kalmia's voice grows quiet as she says she can't really blame Zinnia or anyone else for wanting to go against the League and the system, even if what people are doing is causing many honest ones to be caught up in it. Jasmine also states that this is the result of a society obsessed with strength in battles over all, and said society has been around so long that it would take an equally long amount of time to change. Gracie wonders when things got so bad, and Jasmine states they've always been bad. It's just that Trainers and like the rebels and Kristine brought the issues to the forefront, and all the ugliness that one along with it. Now, everyone has their own ideas on what should be done, and no one can agree with each other. No matter what the League does, they're attacked on all sides.
Kalmia clenches her fists, saying as someone caught up in that, she's not sure what to do. She is feeling lost, but not sure where to go, or if she even can go anywhere. Jasmine tells her to start over, but Kalmia doesn't know how. Jasmine comforts her some more, and tells her to just be patient and to do whatever she can to try and heal from what is happening. Kalmia says she will, but doesn't look that reassured. Gracie also looks and feels downcast, but Jasmine comforts her as well, telling Gracie she should head to the League. Cynthia is there, and as a powerful and influential Trainer, she could help her out in her quest. If nothing else, she could at least point Gracie in the right direction. If not, the Elite Four would love to see her strength, and take her challenge. Gracie accepts as Jasmine hands her the last travel item, and sets out towards the League.
And with that, the eight Gyms in Sinnoh are at an end. Next time marks the fights against the final opponents, and my final thoughts about the game in general, as this arc at last comes to a close…