“Past” Death . . . . Those Who Have Died . . . .

(This post will contain spoilers for the JOHTO Campaign)

This post will also discuss the 2 Rival characters the Player character learns more about in the JOHTO Region.

The first of these 2 Rivals the Player meets is HARUKA at the Pokémon Center in CELADON CITY.

She comes off as a headstrong girl who speaks of attaining ‘perfection’. She immediately challenges the Player to a Pokémon battle upon ‘bumping’ into her (a constant gag throughout parts of the game). Game players should be surprised that they are NOT able to defeat HARUKA. After their first battle, HARUKA mentions to the Player that she is about to enter the KANTO Pokémon League Challenge before leaving the Player with a Firestone as a gift. HARUKA is eventually known as the “stronger” Rival that the Player just can’t seem to defeat.

The next Rival would be VALDIS who the Player first meets at SAFFRON CITY of the KANTO Region. He is first seen at the DARK Type Gym in SAFFRON CITY (which has replaced the Fighting Dojo). He loses to the game Player and storms off never to be seen again until the JOHTO Campaign. Besides from being a DARK Type trainer, the only other thing the Player can learn about VALDIS is that he once had a brother but is now an orphan tormented by his past. . . .

In creating these 2 characters, I wanted them to be different from the 2 KANTO Rivals. Obviously, the first thing to do is not kill either of them off, lol ! As REINA’s story dealt with “FUTURE” Death, I thought about presenting “PAST” Death. Now of course if the game Player is presently meeting a character then obviously they can’t “have been dead”, lol ! Thus, what I mean by “PAST” Death is revealed as the Player progresses through JOHTO to learn about the pasts of HARUKA and VALDIS. . .

As the Player learns more about HARUKA, it is found that she had a sick mother to take care of. Unfortunately, it is also revealed that her father died and she lived in poverty with her mother having barely anything to eat. They struggled financially to make ends meet to pay rent and saved up for the medication that could help. When they finally saved up enough, HARUKA went to the store to buy the medication. Unfortunately, she learned that the store only had one batch of medication and it was placed on reserve. However, BROCK walked in and HARUKA learns that the medication was reserved for him. Through his kindness and compassion, BROCK insisted for the medication to go to HARUKA for which she made sure to pay for it. HARUKA then began to walk home after being reminded once again by the landlord that she and her mother still owed rent. . . . .

While HARUKA walked home alongside COMBUSKEN, her neighbor Miss Maruno comes to let her know that HARUKA’s mother is not doing well. HARUKA and COMBUSKEN run home to find that her mother is breathing her lasts breathes. HARUKA tries to give her mother the medication, but sadly. . . . it wasn’t in time. As her mother lies in bed dying, she tells her daughter how proud she is of her and to take good care of herself before passing on. . . . . .

As for VALDIS’ backstory, the Players learns that VALDIS once had a brother named VARRICK. They both lived in a place called MIDWOOD VILLAGE located in a secret area within JOHTO. The Player learns that VARRICK had to go off to fight the forces of TEAM MAGMA when they invaded JOHTO in order to obtain HO-OH. It is foreshadowed several times that VARRICK would die in the skirmishes fought between TEAM MAGMA and the JOHTO League. However, he does make it back to VALDIS only to have TEAM MAGMA follow him to MIDWOOD VILLAGE . . . . .

During their last time together, VARRICK commandeered his trusted Pokémon ABSOL to lead VALDIS and RIOLU out of MIDWOOD FORREST and into GOLDENROD CITY in order to take refuge at BILL’s place (who VARRICK must have made contact with at some point). VALDIS wanted to stay and help VARRICK fight, but VARRICK stated that he couldn’t let anything happen to his little brother. ABSOL, VALDIS, and RIOLU then run off leaving VARRICK alone standing before TEAM MAGMA’s pack of MIGHTYENA. . . . .

The interesting thing about these 2 JOHTO Rivals is that although their backstories are somewhat similar, I had the most difficulties with creating HARUKA while VALDIS is my absolute favorite Rival in the entire game !

I wanted HARUKA to be different from REINA so I made her to be a headstrong girl as opposed to being simply nice and kind. However, I didn’t want to go overboard and make her into a ‘mean’ girl, lol. I also wanted to give her some kind of motive which I picked as reaching ‘perfection’. Admittedly, this may not have been a good choice since I had difficulties expanding on that goal of her since it was hard to define. At some point, I had thought about her wanting to achieve Immortality, but just couldn’t find a way to write about it (I gave that goal to someone else though). However, I am still content with the way she turned out and although I may not like her the best, I don’t really think I’d want to change anything about her.

In creating VALDIS, I made him have a clear goal of revenge ! Unlike HARUKA who lost her mother to a disease, VALDIS lost his brother through violence/murder. Because of this, he harbors a sense of hatred for those who took his brother away. He then dedicates the rest of his life to putting an end to all TEAM MAGMA members. His actions often put him at odds with the game Player since his methods of dealing with criminals are often ‘too’ extreme. As one plays the game further to learn more about VALDIS, it becomes clear to Naruto fans that his story is based on the story of Sasuke and his brother Itachi (for which I may discuss later). Looking back, perhaps this is why it was so easy creating the backstory for VALDIS !

I would like to end this post with a quote:

“Remember that everyone you meet is afraid of something, loves something, and has lost something . . . .”

I believe the quote is self-explanatory. . . .