Arven Emeri-Mintstar/Tropes

Tropes that apply to Arven Emeri-Mintstar, written as if it were a TV Tropes page.

## Characterization and background

* **Tritagonist**: He is the considered to be the main tritagonist of the BSCV saga (his debut saga), especially in the "Path of Legends" storyline, which focuses on him seeking mythical ingredients guarded by Titan Pokémon. He can also be considered as such for "The Way Home", as it revolves around entering Area Zero to find his parent, while the other mains are just there as backup.
* **Edible Theme Naming**: Pepper, his Japanese name, is a common cooking spice and short for peppermint, which ties nicely to his cooking skills. His English name is a reference to Mentha arvensis or a type of mint.
* **Find the Cure!**: His motivation during the Path of Legends is to try to cure his Mabosstiff, who had been grievously injured in the Paldean Crater to the point that nothing seems to be capable of curing it. Thankfully, the Herba Mysticas, which he had been hoping would be the cure, are able to do the trick.
* **Non-Action Guy**: A complete fabrication: not only does he help Megan take on all 5 titans, he proves entirely competent as an opponent after the fact, as well, serving as a climax boss for his story arc. His Signature Mon is even specially tailored to counter all three fully evolved starters.
* **Signature Mon**: His ace is his Mabosstiff. It's been his closest companion since childhood, as his parents were never around, and his goal in the Path of Legends is feeding it Herba Mystica to gradually heal the injuries it sustained in Area Zero.
* **Humiliating Moment**: One time, a sandwich that he somehow managed to set on fire ended up burning Megan's face. He was so humiliated over the incident that he even regrets making that mistake later on.
* **Butt-Monkey**: Out of the main group in BSCV, he gets the least respect, with even Ena occasionally indulging in this. For example, Elisa claims not to remember him when meeting him the second time, Nemona and Penny tend to take cracks at him, and when Clavell is congratulating the team at the beginning of Story 5, he goes out of his way to comment that Arven is greatly lacking in the credits needed to graduate.
* **Cuteness Proximity**: Arven seems to have a soft spot for cute things. His Rotom Phone case features flowers and a Floette, and during the battle with Titan Orthworm, he says that its face was adorable and that he didn't expect it to be "such a little cutie." There's also a chance that he views Megan (his crush) as adorable, given how he refers to her as "li'l Meg," while he calls the pretty much equally short Penny the much more derogative "pipsqueak."
* **Informed Flaw**: Both officially and of his own opinion, he's supposedly not a very good battler. In practice, he does a really good job tackling the Titans with you, even though he's using Pokémon he caught on the spot. By the end of his storyline, his catches have turned into a complete, very efficient team; he's treated as just as capable as the others during their trek through Area Zero.
* **Overshadowed by Awesome**: He's far from an incompetent Trainer, but when his best friends include a Champion-ranked battle maniac, a genius hacker, and his crush, he sometimes feels like the only things he has to bring to the table are his lineage (which if anything puts more pressure on him) and his cooking hobby. Plus he may or may not have the worst grades of the group. Post-game, he starts developing a bit of a second banana complex.
* **Trauma Conga Line**: From Story 1 to Story 4 of BSCV, an incident with the friendly Raidon caused his professor parents to hole themselves up in Area Zero for several years, leaving Arven with Mabosstiff to raise himself, then Mabosstiff gets borderline mortally wounded, causing Arven to look for any sort of treatment until he stumbles upon the Herba Mystica, which thankfully becomes a success. Then Sada and Turo tell him to go to Area Zero, only for everyone to discover that they're *dead* and they've been speaking to robotic copies this whole time since the Treasure Hunt started. To top it all off, the AI professors have to leave Arven for good since that's the only way to turn off the time machine causing the main conflict, meaning he had to learn his parents died and then essentially watch it happen again.

## Appearance

* **Peek-a-Bangs**: Arven's bangs hide his right eye.
* **Strong Family Resemblance**: Arven shares the colors of his pale brown hair with Professors Sada and Turo. He also inherited Sada's eye and skin color and Turo's eyebrows and facial structure.

## Abilities

* **Supreme Chef**: He's mentioned to be very good at cooking, his official artwork depicts him holding a Tamato Berry, and his profile claims he's developing healthy recipes specifically for Pokémon. This is justified because of Parental Abandonment, as Arven often found himself forced to cook his own meals while Sada and Turo were constantly absent due to research. Before the very final battle of Story 5, after finding himself in a rut and unsure of what his future holds, he finally decides to go all in on his hobby and work to become a real chef.

## Relationships

* **Hates Their Parent**: Arven deeply resents Sada and Turo for being obsessed with their job and never being there for him.
* **Jerk\*bleep\* to One**: He's normally nice and polite to the heroes (though he has difficulty in getting along with Megan at first), but he coldly and snidely refers to Koraidon and Miraidon as "the brutes." The reason for this is because he partially blames them for taking away his parents' attention further away from him due to the circumstances in which they came from. Thankfully, the "Path of Legends" and "The Way Home" storylines have him gradually warm up to it again.
* **Parental Neglect**: Due to the Professors' obsession with their research, his parents came to heavily neglect him.
* **Platonic Life-Partners**: With Nemona.
* **Official Couple**: With Megan.
* **Heroes Love Dogs**: His best friend and partner is his Mabosstiff, and said pup getting injured is his motivation to find the Herba Mystica to cure him.