SPOILER ALERT – You have been warned
The games Pokemon Scarlet and Violet were released back in November 2022 introduced us to a new set of rivals and characters. A few of the more important characters are Nemona, Arven, and Penny. Two being rivals and the other being, the leader of team Star. It was quite a plot twist to say the very least.
Arven is one of our rivals whom we meet very early on, he is also the boy who gives us Miraidon or Koraidon, depending on which version of the games you choose.
At first, he seems to be an arrogant, angry teenager. He gives us Koraidon/Miradon after we beat him in a Pokemon battle.
The next time we see him is when he asks for our help to find herba mystica and defeat the titan Pokemon that guards the said herba mystica. He is in need of our help since he cannot battle properly. It is later found out that he needs the herba mystica to help heal his Mabosstiff. We also learn that he is the son of the Pokemon professor; Professor Turo or Sada.
We also learn of the relationship these two characters have with each other, is a not-so-friendly one. Arven does not get along well with his parent. He was abandoned by them because they were always in the lab researching. He hasn’t seen them in years, and his only friend was Mabosstiff.
As for the professor themselves, we are introduced to them very early on in the game. But unlike the other Pokemon professors, they played a more important role in the story. We often interacted with them, even though it was only through a t.v screen or phone. But at the same time, there was not much we knew about the professor. They seemed secretive and spoke very monotonously. Often commending us and then getting straight to the point of their call.
We never get to fully understand the professor until the very end of the story. Where they call upon us to enter Area Zero. We are told to build up a team, which will eventually consist of us, the player, Arven, Nemona, and Penny.
Here is where the story takes a shift in tone. While we are doing normal Pokemon things like catching and battling Pokemon, the professor begins to act a bit odd. Her dialogue becomes a bit weirder. Odd repetitions of sentences, random dialogue that makes no sense at first.
One example is the Professor saying “I’m sorry…I’m s-s-s-s-sorry. Sorry. S-s-s-s-sorry. I-I-I’m ssssssooooorrrrrryyy.”Which is quickly followed by an “Initiating Restart.” The player and their friends are left in confusion. Nemona quickly brushes this off as a connection issue.
But we will soon find out it is not.
This is one example of the weird dialogue said by the Professor.
When we reach Zero Lab, we open the gates to be swarmed by paradox pokemon. We battle a few but then leave the rest to our friends as we go in the meet the professor.
This is where we learn the truth. Why the professor seemed so monotone, why the professor was constantly talking to us…
The professor is dead. And the being who had communicated to us through our phones was not the true professor. But an AI robot embedded with the memories of the original professor. We also learn that the professor had died during the incident that destroyed research station 4. The professor died protecting Koraidon or Miraidon.
The AI professor called upon us to help them, to help them destroy the time machine created by the old professor.
The AI tells us the story as we descend to the lower levels of the lab to reach the time machine.
The original professor had a dream. The original professor wanted the pokemon of a different time period to be able to live side by side with the pokemon of today.
What the original professor forgot to think about, which the AI professor realized, is the devastation the paradox pokemon would bring on to the current day’s ecosystems.
The paradox pokemon use primal energy which is too terrible for today’s species. The AI says it would bring ecological tragedy. The professor had shrugged this off as a “natural order for life”
Area Zero acts as a barrier to keep these pokemon out from the rest of Paldea, but many of them have slowly begun to escape, which can be seen in the form of the Titan Pokemon. The AI professor then asks the player to destroy the professor’s dream, to make sure Paldea’s ecosystem isn’t ruined.
The player and the AI make their way toward the time machine, where the player uses the Scarlet/Violet book to stop the time machine. The Player is then forced to fight the AI professor as their code sees the player as a threat.
Here we are introduced to a different ending than that of normal Pokemon games. In most normal games, the professor really only gives us our Pokemon and tells us to get on our way. They don’t play a huge role in the overall story… but here the professor does. And the Professor is the villain too.
The professor, driven blind by their dreams and goals, has failed to look towards the bigger picture. They loved their job too much that they neglected their son and spouse. Which in turn leads to their spouse leaving them, and their son loathing them. And which nearly destroys the region of Paldea.
Which too is something different. The destruction of Paldea isn’t bombs being rained upon them destroying civilization, but the destruction of the environment. A different kind of destruction, but destruction nevertheless.
And here we move on to the AI professor. The AI professor is shown to be far more intelligent and kinder than the original professor. Yes, the professor may have given their life for Miradon/Koraidon, but they neglected their family and their countrymen for a dream.
The AI professor, created by the professor himself, sees through its creator’s ambitions. The AI sees the dark future that will be if the professor’s dream becomes a reality. The AI, the non-human being of the professor, is far kinder than the original.
Along with how they treated Arven. The professor never truly paid attention to their son. Whether they truly loved their son or not, we don’t really know. All we know is that they must have loved their research far more than they loved Arven.
The AI gives Arven kind words, telling him his parent truly loved him. And commenting “Look how much you’ve grown.” Whether the AI said this to make Arven feel better about the lack of a parental figure in his life, that too we don’t know. Perhaps the professor never truly cared.
The AI cares for the children, when it realizes the professor’s program tries to reboot the time machine after it was destroyed, it tells the player and friends to run. And after they defeat the AI for the second time, the AI congrats them. It says how it knows they will all succeed in whatever they do.
After the second fight, the AI also makes a final decision. It knows that the time machine is bound to it, and as long as it stays the time machine won’t truly be destroyed. So the AI decides to leave to the past/future (depending the game you chose). This further shows its selflessness because the AI knows it won’t survive in a different time period because it is bound to the time machine.
The crystals in the Area 0 give it life, without which it would shut down. The AI sacrificed itself for the betterment of humanity. It simply says it will go and enjoy the other time period as a way to make the children feel better, and to soften the blow of its “death.”
After the AI leaves, Arven, the player, Nemona, and Penny leave Area 0. Arven feels sad having learned the truth, while the others try to cheer him up.
We end the main game here. Whether the DLC will continue on this story with Arven, or have a whole new story… we will find out soon enough.
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