Carmine: the Kitakami big sister who's too protective

She challenges you to a battle before she's even said hello. Carmine greets visitors to Kitakami as if they were intruders, lies to her little brother to spare his feelings, and yet ends up tearing down, with her own hands, the very legend her village revered. Torn between an icy exterior and a tenderness she refuses to admit, she's one of the most contradictory characters of the generation.

Contents

• Kitakami, Kieran and an Icy Front
• A School Trip That Starts With a Lost Battle
• Ogerpon, the Loyal Three and a Costly Lie
• Blueberry Academy: Drayton, Area Zero and Terapagos
• Mochi Mayhem and the League Club Room
• In the Anime, Kitakami Hall's Best Sore Loser
• Carmine at a Glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

Kitakami, Kieran and an Icy Front

Carmine grows up in Kitakami, a green, peaceful land lying beyond Paldea, with her little brother Kieran and their grandparents Yukito and Hideko. Local rumor has it that she's unfriendly to anyone from another region, and she does nothing to prove it wrong.

Kieran is shy and gets into the habit of hiding behind her. So his sister watches over him constantly, while taking great care never to let it show. Her stubbornness sometimes makes her downright selfish, and the slightest setback offends her.

This harshness is a mask, and it's Kieran himself who gives the game away — his sister hides what she really feels. Her flaw isn't being protective, it's overdoing it: she makes decisions for her brother without ever asking his opinion, and her Sinistcha sidekick doesn't exactly make her look approachable.

A School Trip That Starts With a Lost Battle

Her first encounter with the protagonist is short and sharp: in Kitakami on a school trip from their academy in Paldea, the newcomer is immediately challenged for being an "outsider." Carmine loses this first battle, but notices that the newcomer has sparked her brother's curiosity.

The trip takes the form of an orienteering activity done in pairs. She considers pairing Kieran with the visitor, on one condition: beating her brother in a friendly battle to prove they're up to protecting him in her place. The pair only teams up once that test is passed.

On the evening of the Festival of Masks, the two of them stumble upon a masked Pokémon that bolts, losing its mask as it goes — the monster from the village legend, according to her. She insists that Kieran must not find out, for fear he would take being left out badly.

Ogerpon, the Loyal Three and a Costly Lie

Shown to her grandfather Yukito, the damaged mask brings the official version crashing down. The monster's name is Ogerpon, and there's nothing wicked about it — it was the Loyal Three, honored as heroes, who killed its human companion and stole its masks.

Carmine decides to give the mask back to it once her grandfather finishes the repair. A crystal is still missing, to be fetched from the Crystal Pool at the top of Oni Mountain: a Milotic attacks them there and has to be driven off, before Briar joins them to study the pool's properties.

The lie eventually blows up in her face. Kieran, hurt at being left out, steals the mask and runs off to Loyalty Plaza; his defeat in battle awakens the grave and revives the Loyal Three, whom the villagers promptly feed and fit out again. Carmine sends the protagonist to cover for Ogerpon while she finishes the repair and goes off to find her brother.

Blueberry Academy: Drayton, Area Zero and Terapagos

Once the masks have been taken back from the Loyal Three, now turned giant, it's Kieran who sets the record straight in front of the people of Mossui Town — and his sister congratulates him on finally getting past his shyness. Carmine then returns to Blueberry Academy, a recently founded school off the coast of Unova whose curriculum revolves almost entirely around battling.

She's the one who tells Director Cyrano about the player's exploits and recommends the player for the student exchange set up with the academy in Paldea. She welcomes them at the Terarium's central plaza, then warns them about Drayton, a member of the Blueberry League Elite Four she can't stand. Wasted breath: Drayton signs them up for the League.

Briar summons them, along with Kieran and Drayton, for an authorized expedition into Area Zero, in search of Terapagos. Deep in the abyss, Kieran awakens the Pokémon and unloads the jealousy he had been nursing; when Terapagos shifts into its Stellar Form, Carmine's Sinistcha faints almost immediately. She screams at her brother to pull himself together — he steps in to help, and the scene ends with both of them in tears.

Mochi Mayhem and the League Club Room

Back in Kitakami to rest with Kieran, Carmine goes out shopping and comes back unrecognizable: she dances frantically, chanting "mochi" over and over, to the point of worrying her family. She's later found popping up behind Arven to resume her trance, and her brother talks about a curse.

The possessed residents, her included, end up attacking Kieran and the protagonist. While her brother holds them back, the player battles Nemona, herself possessed, and then Pecharunt: catching the Pokémon brings everyone back to their senses, Carmine included, and she comes to see the Paldea group off.

After the epilogue, you can find her in the League Club Room for friendly battles. She offers to trade a Poltchageist with a Partner Ribbon for any Pokémon, and gives you Joke Glasses after your first win. Her documented team mixes Vulpix and Ninetales, Poochyena and Mightyena, Morpeko, Leavanny, Scrafty, Toucannon and Swadloon. Above all, she finally admits she was smothering Kieran and decides to give him some room to breathe.

🦊 Vulpix and Ninetales have their own section: see our Pokémon plushies.

In the Anime, Kitakami Hall's Best Sore Loser

She joins partway through Pokémon Horizons: The Series, during the apple harvest festival at Kitakami Hall. Friede takes an interest in her Sinistcha; she first refuses to talk to a stranger, then lays down her terms: he'll have to beat her. A festival stall, a game of katanuki, two crushing defeats — and a fury that drives her to challenge him to a Pokémon battle.

Sinistcha lands the first hit on Captain Pikachu, but goes down in a single blow. Refusing to let it go, Carmine comes back to taunt the group in front of the Mossui Town community center: Briar is her teacher, she's at the Crystal Pool, and outsiders will never get permission to go up there. The caretaker grants it in a heartbeat, to thank the group for helping his daughter Shizune. She's fuming.

A year later, Liko, Roy and Dot enroll at Blueberry Academy and run into her again. She tells them about her role alongside Briar and advises Liko to keep her identity quiet, then fumes when she sees Liko take over her job as assistant. Her impromptu battle against Dot bogs down because the two Pokémon spend all their time being startled; she then admits to Dot that Dot reminds her of her brother, and later referees Roy's rematch against Drayton.

Carmine at a Glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Who is Carmine in the Pokémon games?
  A Trainer from Kitakami, a student at Blueberry Academy and Kieran's big sister. She accompanies the protagonist from The Teal Mask all the way to the Area Zero expedition in The Indigo Disk.
• Why is Carmine so cold at first?
  She's wary of visitors from other regions and takes offense easily. According to Kieran, it's only a front meant to hide what she really feels: she eventually trusts the protagonist enough to count on them to talk some sense into her brother.
• What is Carmine's favorite Pokémon?
  Sinistcha, which she takes everywhere. It's the one she sends out against Terapagos in its Stellar Form.
• What can you get from Carmine after the story?
  In the League Club Room, she accepts friendly battles, gives you Joke Glasses after your first win, and offers to trade a Poltchageist with a Partner Ribbon for any one of your Pokémon.
• Does Carmine appear in the anime?
  Yes: Pokémon Horizons: The Series introduces her at the Kitakami Hall festival, where she loses one contest after another against Friede. A year later, she's back at Blueberry Academy alongside Professor Briar, where she crosses paths with Liko, Roy and Dot again.

In short

Carmine is built on a constant mismatch: the more she wants to protect Kieran, the more she hurts him. The lie about Ogerpon, the stolen mask, the revived Loyal Three and the jealousy that erupts at the bottom of Area Zero form one single chain, and she is its first link. Her last line in the League Club Room sums up her whole arc: she decides to loosen the reins a little.