Post by Xatch on Jun 8, 2008 17:10:08 GMT 10
-----POKEMON TEMPLATE-----
Name: Winter
Age: 31 (born on christmas)
Gender: Male
Species: Houndoom
Personality:
Winter can easily be described in three words by those who don't know him very well: unsocial, snappish, and curmudgeonly. Of course, all three are words that describe him fairly well, but they only begin to scratch the surface of this tough pokemon. Winter has an extremely gruff exterior, being easily irritated and ready to snap at just about anyone (verbally or physically) with relatively little provocation. He absolutely refuses to follow anyone unless he's got a damn good reason, and he voices his opinions no matter what others say. He may not talk much when he's in a content mood, but when he gets annoyed you'll be hearing a lot from him about it, and he doesn't care who hears him grumbling about them. He doesn't just complain though; he almost always acts to remove the thing that is annoying him, whether that be by frightening them away or more subtle means. Winter also has strong opinions on many things, and is far from hesitant about speaking those opinions, whether or not he's been prompted to do so.
Winter is tough on the inside too. He knows how to take care of himself in just about every environment from crowded cities to arid deserts, and he hates accepting help from anyone. He is extremely independent, rarely traveling with others and almost never calling them a companion (the word "friend" hardly ever enters his mind"). He is pig-headed to a fault, and proud to boot. He is a dignified creature despite his grumbling attitude, and doesn't take well to foolish pranks and jokes, finding them to be a waste of his time. He doesn't like games, and he doesn't like children or young pokemon. He is only rarely interested in those of the opposite sex, and even then he ignores his own slight yearnings, prefering to remain by himself rather than get entangled with others. They slow him down, providing nothing more than a burden as far as he is concerned.
One thing Winter loves is a good fight. He's got a lot of bottled-up aggression, for he is a naturally aggressive and standoffish creature, and he likes to get it out on a regular basis if possible. He's got more tact than to attack random pokemon, but battling those who offer (or even better, the odd trainer) provides an outlet for him to channel his pent-up anger into. Those who battle him often wonder where all the anger comes from, for he seems to have a great deal of it, but no one has ever dared to ask (and he isn't likely to give an answer even if they did anyway). Either way, Winter loves fighting, and he is more skilled than many others of higher level due to his intensity and his tenacity.
Those are two other things few notice about Winter: He is an extremely intense individual, with thoughts that run deeper than most would suspect of him - which is how he likes it. He doesn't like to be psychoanalyzed by others, which is part of the reason why he insists on acting so constantly gruff around others. If everyone thinks he's just a curmudgeonly old goat, they'll just judge him by face value; perfect for him. He sees no reason to share his thoughts with others, and in fact doesn't particularly like to even when something is bothering him. He likes to think quietly, especially when staring up at the stars, and occasionally may be heard howling at the sky for no apparent reason whatsoever. If anyone answers him, he may reply once or twice, but if they begin to move closer or are too close in the first place (closer than a mile away or so), he will simply stop, get up, and move in the opposite direction at speed until he has left them far behind. He may not be the most social of pokemon, but he does have an outlook that no one would expect. The way he looks at life is surprisingly optimistic, given his surly attitude. As far as he is concerned, the world is his to do with as he wishes. Sure, there are obstacles in the way, but it's all a matter of getting over or around them and he'll eventually get to where he wants to be. He looks toward the future to a certain extent, putting aside the past as much as possible, but mostly lives in the present. His life is his own to control, and no one else's, and he'll keep it that way or die.
Some people think that Winter's irritable atttude belies a fragile interior or a lonely soul, but neither is true. Winter is every bit as tough inside as he is on the outside - he's just deeper than some might think.
Physical Appearance:
Winter is fairly average for a houndoom, at least as far as size goes. He stands 4' 7" tall at the shoulder, with a lean build, long legs, and an almost gaunt frame lined with stringy muscle. He is astoundingly fast in a sprint, and is stronger than it seems he should be as well, but his greatest assets are his speed and accuracy in a fight. It is more his sheer tenacity that gets him through a fight rather than his constitution, for that is nothing extraordinary. His coat is just a shade lighter than average, but that isn't what makes him appear different from others. His left horn is broken off about halfway up, his muzzle and underside are blue-white instead of reddish-brown, and he has an assortment of scars on his body. None are extremely noticeable or garish, but it's hard to miss the lot of them all the same.
What makes Winter distinguishable from other houndooms (other than his slightly odd coloration) is the marking on his right shoulder. It is barely visible, for the area appears to have been scarred over once in the past, but the mark appears to be an old ink mark, almost like a brand, only without the red-hot metal. The shape, letter, or whatever it is has become utterly indistinguishable, and barely even stands out from his fur at all. Winter does not mind getting dirty, and often has a decent amount of dirt in his short fur. He is never actually unclean, especially not to the point of being disgusting, but he does often have a bit of dirt on him.
---Pokemon Related Stuff & History---
Attacks:
- Thunder Fang
- Howl
- Faint Attack
- Flamethrower
- Crunch
- Reversal
- Double Team
- Dark Pulse
Allegiance: Himself
History:
Winter was born to a pokemon breeder. A trainer named Julia had left her female houndoom to be bred with the one residing at the center, and came back about two weeks later to find a small, pale blue-white pokemon egg resting against her houndoom, Clara's, side. She thanked the breeder, paid him, and took Clara and the egg along with her when she continued her voyage across the region - Kanto region.
The egg was quick to hatch, and Julia anxiously awaited the little houdour to break out. When the egg did break into pieces and Winter crawled out, he was skinny, sickly, small, and lightly-colored. Clara started to take care of the little puppy, while Julia just sat aside and watched, sorely disappointed in the product that her money had brought. Clara reassured the young pup that his trainer was just surprised, but Julia never did get very close to the little runt of a pokemon. As the days and weeks passed, he stayed scrawny and small, and quickly became ill. Julia had to cut her trip across the region short to travel to the nearest city - Cerulean - for medical care. Winter - who then had no nickname - was found to have pneumonia, and had to stay at the pokemon center for about a month. Two weeks passed before Julia became sick of waiting. She took Clara, left the houndour in the care of Nurse Joy at the pokemon center, and continued her journey without a second thought.
Without his mother, his trainer, or any of the other pokemon in Julia's party, Winter quickly became withdrawn and shy, refusing to talk to the other pokemon in the center. He needed the care of the chanseys there, but he didn't like to be touched by any of the other pokemon or the people, and he quickly learned that snapping at them was the quickest way to get them to go away. Thus, that was precisely what he did when he wanted to be left alone. Eventually the chanseys were the only ones allowed to get near him, including feeding him. He was left in his cage, which while comfortable was no place for a young puppy to grow. He became restless, often pacing his cage and chewing on just about everything in sight. They had to take the blanket out of his cage, leaving it a simple metal box, for otherwise he would simply shred anything they put into the cage. The nurses worried about him constantly and wished they could do something to help him, but they simply didn't know what to do about his behavior without risking his delicate health.
Nearly a year passed before a particular man named Bill came to the pokemon center. He passed by Winter's cage and inquired as to the apparent lack of care he was getting, and pitied the little pokemon when he found out the truth. He asked if he could take Winter home with him, and the nurses gladly agreed. They didn't want him gone, they simply wanted him taken care of. However, Winter wouldn't just leave his cage. As much as he hated being confined, he'd never really seen the outdoors, and he didn't want to leave with this complete stranger now. He broke out of a pokeball, so Bill caught him using a great ball instead. Again, he didn't mean to do anything bad, but being cooped up inside this new prison only cemented for the young houndour that Bill was someone not to be trusted.
When he was let out of his pokeball again, Winter found himself in a cross between a lab, a house, and a library - Bill's home. There were a fair few other pokemon there, and many of them approached him to meet, but he snapped and growled to make them retreat, which they did. He snapped at Bill every time he came close too, and Bill gave him his space, allowing him to bed down in the far corner of the room, and letting his own chansey (who was the only pokemon Winter didn't snap at) feed him. In Winter's mind, he'd just moved from one lab to the next. The only difference was that this cage was bigger and didn't have bars on it; it had full walls.
Over a year passed, and Bill made little to no headway with the little houndour. Thankfully, Winter's immune system had improved slightly, but he was still weak. Winter was eventually given away to a passing trainer that Bill respected very much, in the hopes that battling might give him a sense of purpose. It was this trainer that put the ink marking on Winter's shoulder. Winter rarely obeyed the trainer's commands (when he did it was only because his own plans happened to coincide with the trainer's command), but he fought ferociously. He'd built up tremendous frustration during his year of captivity, and he let it out against each and every pokemon that the trainer fought. Eventually, he turned that frustration against the trainer's existing pokemon. He was soundly beaten, but from then on he took any opportunity to attack them behind their back, until he couldn't be let out of his pokeball any more unless there was a wild pokemon immediately in view. The trainer simply couldn't handle him, so he was given away once more, this time to a friend - who happened to be a member of Team Rocket.
Winter - finally given the name Kain - was used as a sort of gladiator. He was rarely put into a pokeball, but he would be kept on a short chain, and after he learned fire attacks powerful enough to melt the chains (once he'd evolved), he was bolted to the floor with retraints around his legs, neck, chest, and muzzle. There he was held in place, completely immobile, until a new trainer would try to move up the ranks in Team Rocket. Then, he would be loosed while the trainer's pokemon were in the room. If the trainer and his pokemon could survive for five minutes, they received the promotion they desired. Eventually, the day came when a group of trainers - little more than children - broke into the base to rescue some of their own stolen pokemon. The base had to be evacuated as it collapsed, but no one released Winter. Eventually, the falling rubble broke some of his restraints (and broke one of his horns in the process), and although he was badly injured, he managed to crawl free of the wreckage and escape. His flight didn't last long though. Team Rocket wanted him back, and all they had to do was get his pokeball within thirty feet of the fleeing houndoom before they could capture him again.
Winter was kept inside for a long time, and when he was finally let out again, he leapt out snarling and snapping, ready for a fight. What he saw, however, was not what he expected. He was inside the Cinnabar Island gym, and the one who had let him out of his pokeball was Blaine, the gym leader. He explained that the members of Team Rocket had been chased down and captured, but his pokeball had been lost for some time - put inside the computer system at the police station - until 90 days had passed and Blaine could finally take ownership. Winter was scarcely listening. He didn't trust Blaine any more than any other human, but when he started to make a break for the door, he was surprised to note that Blaine did nothing to stop him. This made him hesitate. Blaine told him that he could leave if he wanted to, or he could stay. He would prefer that the houndoom stay, because he still had not fully recovered from the previous battle, but it was ultimately his choice to make. Winter chose to stay.
He was not forced to battle, but he faced some trainers in gym battles anyway. He was not forced to stay inside the gym, but he did because he had never really been outdoors, and it secretly frightened him. He was not forced to stay close by Blaine's side, but he did because he was the only human that Winter actually trusted. He was not forced to leave, but he did because he knew that Team Rocket would eventually come back for him, and he didn't want Blaine to get mixed up in it.
Blaine destroyed Winter's pokeball, setting him free forever, and took him to an entirely new region known as Remoor, where Team Rocket had no foothold. He told him that, should he ever wish to return, he could contact Professor Mahogany in Barkwish Town. The goodbye did not last long, and Winter quickly made his way into the wild.
He didn't really know how to take care of himself in the wild, but he learned quickly. He stayed away from trainers, and those few he met he quickly put in their place. He traveled much of the region, staying in no one place for very long, and has made few to no lasting friends over the years. Blaine set him free 17 years ago, and though he has, on occasion, lurked outside Barkwish Town for days, he has never actually gone to find Professor Mahogany.