Not to be one of those “Everyone is ND” people, but
Now I’m having thoughts about Nemona. And she is so neurodivergent she might as well be called NDemona.
Putting it under a read more due to spoilers likely coming up. (Also has limited editing, these are mostly fresh thoughts from train-of-thought writing)
So the Victory Road rival of Pokémon Scarlet/Violet is this young woman named Nemona. She’s about 16, likely a fair bit older than your player character, she’s got long black hair dyed green at the bangs, she’s bright and cheerful and the head of the student council as well as a champion...
And this girl has the ‘tism so bad she makes me look tame.
Almost from the moment you get a Pokémon, she’s chewing at the bit for a battle. And when you beat her, it only gets worse. She wants to see you grow and succeed so she can have someone at the same level as her, she wants a challenge, she wants someone to make her think, to make her have to plan, to put up enough of a fight to be interesting. You could argue that it’s because she had no challenge growing up, that it’s because she’s just a bored teenaged champion with no one to compete with; but I doubt there’s anything stopping her from challenging the Elite 4 again. She’s not just bored and unchallenged. She’s not being stimulated.
Think about it. She’s the head of the student council. She’s the champion. She probably hasn’t had a challenge that isn’t a school assignment. And then this young twat comes along, they beat her in a fair fight, and a lightbulb goes off in her head. Oh. You’re interesting. You can put up a fight against her--and even better, you can win. You’re more than a challenge. You restarted a hyperfixation that’s probably been lying dormant since the euphoria of being a champion wore off.
She goes above and beyond to keep track of you, she challenges you whenever she thinks you’ve crossed another goal, she’s elated when you win battles and she works herself and her new team to the bone to keep up with you. I’m honestly surprised she wasn’t so excited she was vibrating during the final battle against her.
Her special interest is battling and strength. She hasn’t been challenged for most of her life, so she’s bored and understimulated until you come along. And then she’s elated to be in Area Zero because just like you, it challenges her--so much so she’s out of breath at some points. She’s in an area way over her head and she’s too busy bursting with serotonin to pay attention to the active threats.
So it’s a good thing Penny came along as a voice of reason, because I don’t think you and/or Arven could keep her grounded if you tried.
Almost the moment this girl started talking I got the impression she was ND-coded and the feeling only got stronger with every interaction. Nemona is ADHD and Autism-riddled and I love her for it. In my opinion, she’s in the running for being the most neurodivergent rival--Hell, the most neurodivergent CHARACTER in the franchise, with Hau and Red and a handful of others tied with her.
I’d like to hear other people’s thoughts on this, though. is she actively ND-coded, or do I just see a lot of myself in her and she’s just a bored girl?
