Tina: Paulo's Childhood Friend Turned Rival on Pasio

She arrived on the island after everyone else, and she hasn't lost an ounce of her energy. Tina is a Trainer that Pokémon Masters EX introduces late in the game, a childhood friend of Paulo and a rival to the player character. What makes her interesting has nothing to do with a track record: it's what she reveals about her friend, and the way she haunted the game's data long before she existed in it.

Contents

• Two Opposite Personalities, a Friendship That Holds Anyway
• Pasio: A Reunion That Puts Her Among the Rivals
• Camélia: The Character Fans Found Before the Game Did
• Tina at a Glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

Two Opposite Personalities, a Friendship That Holds Anyway

Tina comes from the same region as Paulo, and the two have known each other since childhood. Yet their temperaments couldn't be further apart: where he stays calm, composed and prone to worry, she's upbeat and energetic, to the point of being carefree.

That gap doesn't drive them apart; it makes them complementary. Tina can tell at a single glance when her friend isn't doing well — an instant read, on a character known for smiling his way through his defeats.

When they were old enough to set out, they traveled together to become Trainers, and so they battled each other. Back then, Paulo would heal Tina's Pokémon before their matches to keep the battles fair, a detail that says a lot about how he views winning. She travels with a Flareon: a partner she never parts with, and that she usually lets roam outside its Poké Ball.

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Pasio: A Reunion That Puts Her Among the Rivals

One day, Tina is sent to Pasio, her faithful Flareon at her heels, without knowing anything about what's going on there. She explores the place and runs into Paulo, just as surprised as she is. He thought she was elsewhere, since she didn't take part in the island's big competition — a tournament she simply had no idea existed.

So he tells her about the event that already took place, and that he qualified all the way to the final tournament. Tina is impressed, then downright crestfallen at having missed such an event. The announcement of a second edition instantly perks her back up: she declares on the spot that she'll team up with Paulo, before the player character interrupts the scene.

Once introductions are made, Paulo offers a sync pair battle as a demonstration — and loses it. Tina draws the only conclusion she cares about: her friend hasn't changed one bit, and he's still eating himself up over the question of strength. She urges him to open his eyes and enjoy his Pokémon more, is delighted when the player agrees with her, then whisks both Trainers off to a restaurant. That's how she settles into the story: as the player's rival, but above all as a counterweight to a friend who's wearing himself down by being too serious.

Camélia: The Character Fans Found Before the Game Did

At launch, Tina was already sleeping deep in the game files — under the label "Camélia" in the French version (Camilla in English). No appearance followed, and this presence without existence eventually turned into a meme among the players who had dug her up.

Then the situation flipped: the character vanished from the files entirely with update 1.1.0, and DeNA never commented publicly on the matter. A clean deletion, which left the question wide open for everyone who had spotted the name.

It took update 2.15.0 for her to resurface in the files, this time bearing the name we know her by, just before her actual debut in the story's second arc. That makes Tina one of the rare characters in the franchise whose code name the public knew before they knew her face.

Tina at a Glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Who is Tina in Pokémon Masters EX?
  A Trainer who arrives late on Pasio, Paulo's childhood friend and a new rival for the player character. She makes her entrance in the story's second arc.
• What is Tina's Pokémon?
  A Flareon. It's her designated partner: it never leaves her side, and most of the time it stays out rather than shut away in its Poké Ball.
• What's the connection between Tina and Paulo?
  They come from the same region and have been friends since childhood, despite their opposite personalities. They traveled together to become Trainers, and Paulo would heal Tina's Pokémon before their matches to keep the battles fair.
• Why was Tina called Camélia?
  That's the label the character carried in the French files at launch (Camilla in the English data). The character never appeared in the game under that name, and update 1.1.0 removed it from the files.
• When did Tina actually join the game?
  Her name resurfaced in the files with update 2.15.0, this time under her final name — "Rika" in French, Tina in English — shortly before her actual arrival in the story's second arc.

In short

Tina arrives with neither a track record nor a badge: she arrives with a Flareon that refuses to stay in its Poké Ball and a frankness that pushes Paulo to let go. Her role in the story is to be the counterweight to a rival who is consuming himself, and the game places her in exactly that spot rather than at the top of a tournament. Then there's the other part of her story, rarer still: a character who entered players' memories under a code name before ever existing on screen.