I got a lot of cool things for Christmas: a beautiful new dress, an apron (because, as you all might know, I like to bake stuff), and the news that I had maintained my B in my history class and had not screwed up my GPA. One of my favorite gifts, though, was my very own copy of Pokémon Moon: I had been watching a "Let's Play" on YouTube of Pokémon Sun, the companion game, because I was so excited to play this game, and at last, I could!

Finally, it was all mine! *maniacal laughter*

I ate up the main story in about three days, stopping only for necessary life functions, like sleeping and eating. It's kind of what I do when I get my hands on something new: I totally immerse myself in it. I got the same rush I used to have when a new "Harry Potter" book came out (I remember reading sentence by sentence via streetlight as we drove home from Borders' midnight release parties). I didn't think I was going to connect with another Pokémon game the way I did with the first one I ever played--Pokémon Sapphire--ever again. Pokémon Moon proved me wrong.

***Warning: spoilers ahead!***

If you're reading this, I imagine you've probably finished the main plot of the game by now, and probably have even finished the post-game story. I know I'm pretty behind, but I don't want to spoil the entire story, just give my opinion on one major aspect of the game that I thought was sort of refreshing. Just bear with me on this one:

You are not the story's main character.

Yes, you are your character, so naturally, you see the most of you, and you get the title of champion and whatever because it's a Pokémon game so of course you do, but based on character development, I believe that the character you play as isn't the main character of this story.

The main character of this story is named Lillie, and she is the "assistant" to the region's Pokémon professor.

But really, the game centers around Lillie's family (which we don't know is a family), which also consists of her brother, Gladion:

And their (SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS!) mother, Lusamine.

Let me sum this up: what we find out is that Lusamine's husband--and Gladion and Lillie's father--was a dimensional researcher who was heavily involved in a phenomenon in the Alola region called Ultra Wormholes (and check out this theory on his identity that totally confirms what I thought when I noticed the names were the same). Some people are drawn into these wormholes, in fact, and Lusamine's husband was one of those unlucky people (though we probably should have seen that coming, given that he was so close to these things). Lusamine became unstable, and she started doing everything she could do to reach him again, to feel close to him, including, the fans have speculated, dressing her daughter like one of the strange creatures that was discovered on the other side of the Ultra Wormhole.

Note the very spooky similarities.

I know, that's creepy, but Lusamine was losing it, driving away her children and anyone she deemed "unworthy" of her love. Gladion left the situation--something he regretted, since it left Lillie with Lusamine when the latter was at her worst--and it took its toll on Lillie's self-confidence, which is why I think she seemed so unsure of herself throughout much of the game's main story.

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense...

But Lillie gains self-confidence and drive as she travels with your character and her Pokémon companion, a Cosmog which she has nicknamed "Nebby," and she wants to help it get back to its home. This growth on her part leads to not only an inward change, but an outward one: she decides to stop dressing like her mother has dictated she dress, to separate herself from it, and in doing so, it feels like a big step toward becoming her own person.

Maybe a change of clothes doesn't seem like such a big deal, but it really brings out the change in her personality that happens at that point in the game: she wants to save Nebby because it is in danger; she wants to save her mother from a path of destruction, despite everything she has said and done to her; and she wants to be more self-confident. I thought Lillie's dress was beautiful, but I think this transformation is even better!

She even stands up to her mother in a way that really struck a chord with me (and please forgive the image quality, I was taking pictures of my Nintendo 3DS screen):

It's a personal story for another time as to precisely why this hit me so hard, but Pokémon has really been tackling some hard stuff in the past. Real stuff, not just 10-year-old-kid-saves-the-world: things like the environment and friendships, and now family. I respected that a lot.

You know, even after everything--wanting to help Cosmog, forgiving her brother for leaving, transforming into her own person--I think it was this moment that I respected Lillie the most. Not that there was ever a moment that I didn't, but this was the climax of the story to me: not when I finished my Island Challenge, not when I stood at the top of a mountain--literally at a climax--and prepared to challenge the person who had given me my first Pokémon of the game, not even when I defeated (SPOILERS!) Red outside the Battle Tree after the main events of the game (though that one felt gooood). The climax of Pokémon Moon for me was when Lillie stood up to her mother and finally had the courage to tell her what for, and I had nothing to do with it, except that she needed another person to help open the portal to Ultra Space, where her mother was.

That is how I know my character was not the main character of this game.

It is revealed at the end of the game that Lillie's Pokémon companion evolves into the game's legendary Pokémon, and just before Lillie leaves Alola, she encourages you to catch it and take it along with you so it can have the adventures she knows it wants, but that she can't give it.

I bawled. And I'm proud to admit it, because no Pokémon game has ever made me that emotional. On top of having the best music of any Pokémon game I've played to date (Guzma's battle theme is probably my favorite, followed quite closely by the Elite Four battle music and our lovely Lusamine's battle music), I thought it was extremely original how the legendary Pokémon of this game was woven into its story--I didn't see it coming at all--and I genuinely wanted to see more of its characters, which was something I couldn't have said about many of the other games, even my beloved Pokémon Sapphire.

I do have some complaints--like not being able to complete my Pokédex because of the S.O.S-exclusive Pokémon and having to press A to open doors and still not ever encountering a shiny Pokémon--but all in all, this was a great game, and just as Lillie said...