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Story idea: Ash decides to livestream his journey through Kanto in an attempt to make the money he needs to replace Misty's bike. Internet Fame-related Hilarity quickly ensues.

Also a few weeks in Cassiopeia becomes the channel's manager and editor, mostly as a cover to help them take down Team Rocket. She initially tries the "hack their phone and present myself as a Mysterious Benefactor" route but Ash recognizes her as Penny despite her modulating her voice because apparently in this universe they're cousins. And yet he still can't see through Team Rocket's disguises...

#pokemon anime #pokemon scarlet and violet #pokemon au #ash ketchum #misty waterflower #penny pokemon #cassiopeia pokemon #team rocket #team rocket trio #i should note this is WELL before sv's story #penny hasn't even moved to paldea and had reason to create team star yet #but she's still the eevee-obsessed antisocial hacker gremlin we know and love #since the streams start happening after the first 2 episodes the viewers don't get to see the insanity that is ash's pikachu until brock #i'm probably going to include at LEAST one crossover character in the main group because none of you can stop me

Vee-Vee Power! A Penny Analysis

Just a heads up I'll probably be revisiting this analysis once we get the Scarlet/Violet DLC because likely there will be more insights to Penny's character.

Alright so Pokemon Scarlet and Violet has probably introduced the most beloved friend group series that the franchise by the fandom standards in Penny, Arven, and Nemona. Both Arven and Nemona have had analysis on them but there's not that much going around for Penny who is my personal favorite of the three.

Let's start with Penny's name. Or names I should say since she ends up going by two different monikers. There's her given name Penny and her pseudonym Cassiopeia when she was the mysterious shadow head for Team Star. Penny comes from Peony and she's funnily the third character in the franchise to have her name based on this flower. Peonies symbolize many things such as shame, bashfulness, honor, and bravery. All of these apply to Penny to at some point during her story. One of the first things we realize about her is that she's quite bashful and quiet as a person. She even mentions at one point that's she's not used to speaking so much and that her throat hurts. While Team Star is huge source of pride for her, it also brings a bit of her shame as she feels that the group has gotten out of control and she feels bad that her friends may get expelled. She's also rather honorable in trying to take the fall for her friends once the initial fallout with the confrontation of the bullies takes place. And she's even willing to admit to hacking the LP system (which in and of itself isn't honorable but owning up to it is). And she demonstrates an immense amount of bravery in taking the fall for her friends, learning to come out of her shell and face the player to dissolve Team Star and then going down into Area Zero.

But then she has another name she goes by…Cassiopeia. Cassiopeia is the name of a major constellation named after a prominent figure in Greek Mythology. Cassiopeia was a nymph who boasted too much about her and her daughter's beauty which invoked the wrath of Poseidon who threatened to destroy the kingdom of Ethiopia (accounts vary as to whether he vowed to flood it or use the monster Cetus to destroy it). Cassiopeia, realizing that she messed up, consults the oracle who tells her she needs to sacrifice her daughter. Andromeda was chained to a rock but ultimately saved by Perseus. The gods, still not satisfied decide to put Cassiopeia into the heavens as the constellation as further punishment (and the names of 5 major stars that make up the constellation Cassiopeia are the same names of the Team Star bases)

Now what does ANY of that have to do with our resident Eeveelution enthusiast? Well if you strip both the Cassiopeia Myth and Penny's story down to the bare essentials, they're both about women who have to sacrifice something they love in order to save a greater population of people and end up getting punished harsher. Penny attempts to disband (therefore sacrifice) Team Star in order to protect all of the other Team star members (both admins and grunts). And out of all of those involved she had to be sent away to Galar, and then had some extra community service for her hacking of the league.

Alright now let's get down to her team makeup. She's notable in being the only single trainer in the canon to use all Eeveelutions (the Kimono sisters of Johto and the Eevee trainers of Alola are a collection of trainers who use one Eeveelution a piece but not a whole set). This certainly shows that she really likes the Eevee Line, but there's more to it. The eeveelution family is at this point synonymous to the idea of having multiple paths ahead of you (as we've seen in the anime with Chloe). So that implies Penny has a lot of paths still open for her and that's she changing. Indeed she does a change quite a bit through the story, albeit subtly.

One thing that stood out to me was that three out of her six Pokemon actually correspond to three of the types of the Team Star bases: fire, dark, and fairy. What's more when you look at who runs those bases (Mela, Giacomo and Ortega) you realize that Penny actually calls those three by nicknames (Mellie, Momo, and Ortie) suggesting potential closeness to those three in particular.

It's also notable that her first and last Pokemon, Umbreon and Sylveon evolve by friendship (at night) and high affection (with a fairy type move). It shows that's she's a very caring trainer and most likely a night owl who also likes cute things (which is very confirmed with an entire team off eeveelutions who all happen to know Baby-Doll eyes and Quick attack). She also clearly values friendship which explains how 1/3 of her team is comprised of Pokemon who happen to evolve by actually liking their trainer.

Now onto Penny in the story. We first meet her, ironically being harassed by her own grunts with them none the wiser that the girl they were pushing to join Team Star was their enigmatic leader. This is a major scene as it establishes Penny as a shy girl who struggles to stand up for herself. But also this proves to be a major catalyst for her wanting to disband Team Star. After all, Team Star was meant to protect kids from bullies, but now they were acting like the very people they despised. Now granted as we know in flashbacks from later on in the game there was already heat on Team Star from the school admin so the idea of trying to save her friends by disbanding the team was already on her mind. But feeling the effects of Team Star firsthand (seeing how at least the grunt level, they had lost their way) and seeing the player defeat them gives her the idea of how to dissolve the team.

We learn later that Team Star had created a code that prevented anyone from ordering each other around. Which makes a lot a sense given that Giacomo (the one who helped to create the code) had experienced the negative affects of having the power to order others around. But also it reflects the reality of how in grade school, certain cliques tend to have one person order others around which can be a perfect breeding ground for bullying to start. Since Team Star was founded on the concept of anti-bullying it makes sense that the members would try to avoid any situation where bullying could take place. The fact that Penny respects this code and seeks to use that to get Team Star to disband rather than just outright ordering them or some other method of forcing them shows how much they mean to her and how honorable she is deep down

"Team Star is a group of troublemakers formed by some academy students a while back… They cause headaches for the school and try to bring other students down to their level. And I refuse to sit idly by and let them get away with it!"

This is an interesting line when you look back the Starfall Street Story-line because it initially makes you think that the rumors are right about Team Star, especially after you see them harassing Penny earlier. That they are a bunch of bullies. Perhaps at that moment Penny was feeling a bit (rightfully) upset at how her group had changed since she was gone for those eighteen months. Or perhaps she was really just trying to play up the rumor side in order to get the player to agree. Either way when you see how she talks about Team Star later on it's actually a bit jarring to think about this line early on in the game where she seems to hold the same opinions of Team Star that the rest of the student body and administration do.

One thing to note when we're introduced to Penny as Cassiopeia we noticed a slight change in her dialogue. She sounds far more confident, she's able to talk for longer times than she does when we meet her as the supply rep. It makes sense as a lot of people who are quiet in real life tend to be better able to communicate behind the screen (or in Penny's case, hack your Rotom Phone).

Also, both Cassiopeia's first entrance and "supply rep" Penny both mention hacking upon introducing themselves which is nice foreshadowing to the fact that they are indeed the same person.

When you meet Penny as the supply rep for the first time she thanks you for helping her out back at the stairs to which you can reply that you remember or that you don't. And she says a really sad line if you mention that you don't

"That figures. I never leave an impression on people…"

That really broke my heart. It's unfortunately a common feeling for people who have been bullied. Yeah they're targets they're often made to feel invisible when they are not being made fun of.

As we meet up with Clive we start to see Penny's suspicion of this "student" that wants to join. I know there are people who don't care for Penny and cite that she is a little mean, her early treatment of Clive being one example people point out. To be honest, I personally do not see this as her being mean. Rather's she being rightly cautious about who she let's on. Yes, she wants to bring down Team Star, but she still cares for them and she knows how much of the school dislikes them. She couldn't ascertain if Clive had been one of the bullies' friends who just wanted to seek revenge. This is different from the player who doesn't have the same long term knowledge of them team therefore a little bit more trustworthy. And over time she does truly begin to trust Clive and apologizes for the early wariness

As we go through Operation Starfall, we get some really nice insight into Penny's character both as herself and as Cassiopeia. As we approach each base we get really detailed info on the boss from Cassiopeia which at first with just the knowledge of her hacking skills you could assume this just her getting information from social media. That is until you beat the boss and she sounds like she's mourning their defeat to which she always mentions she's caught up in her thoughts. This shows that there's far more to this story than meets the eye which should be raising your suspicion of Cassiopeia. Indeed Clive even asks the player how much you trust them.

Things really come to ahead by the fourth base the player defeats where we learn this

"…As you know, Team Star was formed by a group of students who were being bullied at school. Shortly after forming the team, these students—none other than the squad bosses themselves—confronted their bullies head on. The outcome was a resounding victory for Team Star… Though you could hardly call it a contest. The bullies didn't even put up a fight. They all bolted from battle the first chance they got. Scared spitless of Team Star, the bullies then dropped out of school, one after another… And Team Star ended up the villains of the story. …But that's neither here nor there. Forget I mentioned it."

This quote not only sheds light on what really happened with Team Star (which was being confirmed anyways by the bosses that have been defeated) but it's also meant to bring into question why is Cassiopeia so determined to bring them down knowing that Team Star weren't the ones in the wrong.

Meanwhile as we continue to meet Penny as the supply rep we notice that Koraidon/Miraidon continues to pop out of it's ball to greet her with an affectionate lick. Something we don't see the dragon do with either Arven or Nemona. Given the suspicion that should be surrounding her by the time we get to the big reveal it makes sense why we see this take place. To let us know that deep down Penny is still a good person based on the dragon showing instant affection to her. That and perhaps the dragon sees itself in Penny as we learn in the Area Zero content that Koraidon/Miraidon itself are also struggling to stand up much like Penny is struggling to stand up to be her authentic self.

When we get to the final reveal in the schoolyard we're treated to this quote

""Heh. This must be quite a shock for you. The big boss… Cassiopeia… They were both me all along. When I saw you make quick work of those Team Star lackeys outside school that time, the idea for Operation Starfall suddenly came to me. My skills let me get hold of as much LP as I want, so I decided to use that to tempt you to helping me out. After the operation started, I kept an eye on you as a member of the "supply unit"… And I had you battle the bosses on my behalf. All for the goal of defeating me and putting an end to Team Star once and for all. But still…there's a part of me that wants Team Star to live on! I can't just roll over and let you win without putting up a fight! This is the final showdown. Are you ready?"

This is another point where people bring up Penny being a bad person because she was manipulative in her own goal. And yes to be fair she was underhanded but it's understandable given her backstory as to why she goes for more indirect confrontation methods. Like this is someone who doesn't like the spotlight and has struggled with confrontation. Plus she's really torn about this whole plot because the Team Star admins are her friends. She even says she doesn't really want to disband them. But she feels she has to in order to save her friends

After all, we see in the flashback once the Operation Star was a success that she tried to get them to disband to avoid further punishment. To which the others decided not to. At that point we see that she ends up taking the blame onto herself to protect her friends. This is why I don't necessarily get why people call her selfish. That's pretty unselfish to take on the blame and be willing to be sent of for a whole 18 months.

"I'm the big boss of Team Star. The name's Cassiopeia—No…Penny!"

This is another major quote that I think is underrated. You can see that she's now fighting between the two identities she holds. Cassiopeia, the enigmatic leader of Team Star and Penny her true self she's not been able to show authentically

"Time to Terastallize! Shine bright like the starry sky and become who you really want to be!"

Again this further supports the idea that after Operation Starfall, she's really wanting to be her most authentic self

The reunion (and truly first meeting) between her and the Team Star Admin is really touching to see. Her finally meeting them face to face, and them forgiving her after what she did. They realized that despite the underhanded method, she was really just trying to look out for them.

After the final showdown we see Penny own up to more of her crimes. Which she didn't have to do, but it shows that deep down she's an honorable person whose done some questionable things. And again this directly contrasts the idea that she's selfish as she could've just not owned up to hacking the LP system. Some people dislike the fact that she seems to get off easy but to be fair she already had been sent away for 18 months previously. And as much as Operation Starfall street was a lesson for Penny, it was also a lesson for Clive/Clavell who was about to straight up expel everyone involve with him learning to be more observant before taking drastic measures.

We meet Penny again in Area Zero and this is where a lot of people kind of find her interactions with Nemona and Arven to be mean-spirited. Now true she is snarky here but you can see it as a way of keeping her guard up which is something many people who have been bullied may do. Not to mention both Nemona and Arven come off strong with Nemona being a little too extroverted and not reading the room and Arven actually starts in on her first by calling her pipsqueak which would actually send her onto the defensive. I think people forget that there are three socially awkward kids meeting for the first time going into an incredibly dangerous and off-limits area. That wasn't going to be just a smooth nice interaction and again Nemona and Arven had some not-so-great moments down there as well.

To her credit Penny actually does apologize to Arven (and Arven does the same) and she has a bit more situation awareness of what was going on with Koraidon/Miraidon when they meet their very aggressive counterpart. She even actually tries to give Arven some words of sympathy once we know the true fate of the professor.

People also give her flak for her calling her father annoying for checking in on her and giving her an embarassing nickname (Pen-Pen). Yes she doesn't have it nearly as bad as Nemona or Arven, but she is a teenager. Most teenagers tend to find their parents annoying. So it's a very realistic remark from her even if she doesn't familial problems on the scale of others.

In the post-game we see her checking up on the former Team Star admins as they work to reintegrate themselves back into academy which acts as one final bit of growth for Penny. She's concerned given the reputation of Team Star and the fact that the admins are like her rather awkward. However her worries a little misplaced as despite their awkwardness, the admins are able to make a name for themselves outside of Team Star. She recognizes this herself and she ultimately stops tailing her friends knowing they'll be alright

Penny isn't perfect, but she's trying her best to change for the better. The narrative acknowledges this and that's why I really appreciate her as a character.

#penny pokemon #cassiopeia pokemon #pokemon scarlet and violet #character analysis