Elaine: The Vientown Mechanic Who Lives to Take Things Apart

She isn't a Ranger, and that's the first thing she tells you. Elaine is the mechanic at the Vientown Ranger Base in Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia. Her professional reputation extends far beyond her workshop, but the game builds her mainly around one obsession: she can't stand leaving a device closed in front of her.

Contents

• The Civilian at the Vientown Ranger Base
• An Obsession the Higher-Ups Have to Rein In
• What a Mechanic Brings to the Missions
• Elaine's Favorite Is Nothing Like a Machine
• Ollie, from Suspicion to Marriage
• Elaine at a Glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

The Civilian at the Vientown Ranger Base

The small Vientown team is made up of Rangers, a leader and a mechanic who doesn't wear the uniform. Elaine introduces herself to the player by clearing up the misunderstanding right away: it's not the same job, and she adds that it's no big deal to forget everyone's names.

Her reputation, meanwhile, travels well beyond the building. She's considered the best in her field, to the point that a Ranger School student openly admires her — a fame the story never has her claim for herself.

Day to day, she mostly serves as a witness. She comments on the new graduate's progress, mentions that a former classmate is starting to make a name for himself, and reminds the player where a certain nearby farm is. When the player leaves for the Ranger Union, she's the one who voices the team's sadness, while still finding the newcomer something of a schoolkid at heart.

An Obsession the Higher-Ups Have to Rein In

Her pleasure isn't fixing things, it's opening them up. Gigaremos are fair game, and she admits herself that she doesn't know where this urge to take things to pieces comes from.

The story turns this into a real tug-of-war. When a suspicious machine arrives at the base, she wants to analyze it on the spot; Barlow stops her and insists that Professor Hastings examine it first. The professor is held up in the Fiore region, and the wait drags on.

She takes it very badly, keeps saying she's itching to get at it, then rejoices the day permission finally comes through. Once the dismantling is done, she remarks that she hadn't had this much fun in a long time — and, faced with an unknown stone, offers to smash it with a hammer or drill into it. Her tools also come in handy now and then to get Ollie out of a tight spot.

What a Mechanic Brings to the Missions

Her most useful moment owes nothing to a wrench. During the search for a Riolu that had gone missing, Kyle can only report two impressions: a big building and a smell of oil. Elaine immediately turns those clues into an address: the Oil Field Hideout.

The reasoning is hers, but the credit goes to the missing Pokémon: she concludes that the Riolu used its aura to tell Kyle where it was. It's elsewhere, in Vien Forest, that she speaks of a miracle and thanks Celebi, Ollie and the player.

The mission involving the Manaphy Egg shows her in the same light. She's surprised to see a Happiny collecting round objects to throw them, notes that an Egg is the very first stage of a life, then leaves the decision to Professor Hastings instead of making the call herself.

Elaine's Favorite Is Nothing Like a Machine

An entire Quest is built on one simple question: what's her favorite Pokémon? The answer defies expectations about the character, since it's not a species you could connect, even remotely, to mechanics: it's a Dragonair.

The encounter puts her in a state no machine had ever caused. She lets out one exclamation after another, ends up saying she's lost for words, and admits she never thought she'd see one for real.

Ollie, who's there, remarks that it's the first time he's seen her smile like that. She protests, hesitates, then concedes the point and thanks him. The Quest exists for this turning point: it gives the character depth without ever turning her into a Trainer or giving her a team.

🔧 Her favorite deserves better than a workbench: check out our Pokémon figures.

Ollie, from Suspicion to Marriage

Ollie hangs around the base long before he's accepted there. He ends up lending a hand on a regular basis, as a volunteer, and Elaine is the first to point out everything his work has done for the team.

Above all, she stands up for him over the past people hold against him. In her view, he's no criminal: someone took advantage of a weakness, and the rest followed. It's one of the rare moments where the game gives her a moral judgment to make rather than a technical diagnosis.

The Ranger Net wraps things up with a mission devoted to a Shaymin and a bride: Elaine marries Ollie. What she takes away from it is flowers everywhere and a day that, she says, she'll never forget.

Elaine at a Glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Who is Elaine in Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia?
  The mechanic at the Vientown Ranger Base. She isn't a Ranger but a civilian, and she's considered the best in her field, to the point of being admired by a Ranger School student.
• What is Elaine's favorite Pokémon?
  A Dragonair. A whole Quest is devoted to this reveal, and the game stresses that her favorite has nothing at all to do with mechanics.
• Does Elaine have any Pokémon?
  The game doesn't give her any. She comes across many species over the course of the missions, but none is presented as hers: the Dragonair is a crush, not a partner.
• Who does Elaine marry?
  Ollie, in a Ranger Net mission devoted to a Shaymin and a bride. Elaine had earlier stood up for him against those who saw him as a criminal.
• Why can't Elaine take the machine apart right away?
  Because Barlow wants Professor Hastings of the Ranger Union to examine it first. Since the professor is held up in the Fiore region, the wait drags on, much to her despair.

In short

Elaine holds an unusual place in a game where almost everyone wears a uniform: she's the specialist the team consults, and the only one who has to be stopped from working. The story has fun with this contrast, between a mechanic who wants to open every casing and a woman left speechless by a Dragonair. Her marriage to Ollie closes the only romantic arc the Vientown base allows itself.