Pacifista

Pokémon: In The Shadow Of A Rainbow

As the other’s talked about their Pokémon partners, Rudy listened, the names only bringing him a little recognition. It wasn’t too unusual, right? There were so many Pokémon, how were you supposed to remember them all? However, as Professor Michael noticed Rudy’s lack of Pokémon, he offered to give him one of the ones in the Daycare. Contemplating the offer, Rudy looked from the Professor to the daycare window, considering things. The last time he was given a Pokémon, it was a nearly wild, rowdy Carvanha that tried to take a chunk out of him (seriously, what was his dad thinking?) But, thinking logically, these little baby Pokémon couldn’t be that dangerous, so there was no reason to be skittish around them. In fact, this Lab studied human and Pokémon relationships. Maybe it would be worth it to give it a shot? His parents wouldn’t mind, as it had been a while since he’d even showed any interest in getting a Pokémon. That and Rudy didn’t like to stand out.

As he thought, Jason loudly pointed out that Rudy had no Pokémon despite that he was certainly old enough, though supporting the idea himself. His eye twitching for a moment at the annoyance, Rudy muttered to himself, “It isn’t that weird...” Taking a breath, he looked back to Professor Michael, before nodding, saying, “O-okay, I’ll take one.” Realizing he was being a little rude, he bowed his head lighting, adding, “Thank you for the opportunity.”

Pokémon: In The Shadow Of A Rainbow

After the Professor answered yet another question of Velis’, he finally continued with the tour, taking them deeper into the lab. At the mention of there being a number of Pokémon about, Rudy was put on guard. However, he managed to relax a bit when the group was brought to the Daycare. Not only were they on the other side of a wide window, they were all small, young Pokémon of their species. Even if for just a moment, he managed a smile, his mood put at ease.

As Desmond began to talk about his own Pokémon partners, Rudy couldn’t help but notice that both Jason and Velis both had Pokéballs on their respective persons. Rudy didn’t feel envious, but he was still the odd one out. Scratching the side of his face awkwardly, he mumbled, “Er, I don’t...”

Pokémon: In The Shadow Of A Rainbow

At Rudy’s question, Professor Michael explained thoughtfully and clearly. Rudy had a brief feeling of admiration: he was truly knowledgeable in his field. The description of Shadow Pokémon chilled him, however: not only did they sound terrifying and dangerous, but it lined up eerily with the reason he came here: the Crawdaunt his father had recently received. The fact that people couldn’t see Shadow Auras was bothering him though.

As he finished, the girl, Velis, asked yet another question, which Rudy was also quite curious about, though he hadn’t thought about it until she’d said something. Professor Michael answered, explaining about a girl who’d aided in the crisis, who had possibly been in possession of some strange ability. Rudy felt a bit nervous, his blood chilling: was he some kind of...weirdo? Desmond seemed skeptical about the subject and speculation, leading Rudy to wonder about himself as well. He’d have to ask the Professor.

Jason asked yet another question, about the possibility of others like the girl. Heart leaping into his throat, he couldn’t help but gag on his spit. After choking for a moment, he recovered, before pointing out, a bit of nervous sweat visible on his forehead, “Er, this Shadow Pokémon stuff is kinda interesting, but what about the rest of the lab?” Wiping his brow with his sleeve, he hoped that they could get on with the tour. He wanted to speak with the Professor, certainly, but he’d have preferred a bit more privacy.

Pokémon: In The Shadow Of A Rainbow

I could post, but I think I'll wait and do it tomorrow evening after work to give Dawn a chance to have Jason say something.

Pokémon: In The Shadow Of A Rainbow

As the others introduced themselves, Rudy kept quiet, regretting his outburst a little. The Professor didn’t seem to mind that much, but still, why was he so nervous? It wasn’t like he was the farthest he’s ever been from his parents or anything alone...oh wait, it was. Slipping his hands into his pockets, he took a calming breath, which seemed to help a bit. It wasn’t like things were focused on him, and as long as things stayed that way, it’d be alright.

After introductions were completed, Professor Michael led the tour group into the cooler air of the lab proper. As they stopped, Rudy got a look around, seeing all the machines and such before turning his attention back to the Professor as he began speaking. As he mentioned Professors, Rudy couldn’t help but remember the Professor of his home region, Kalos, whom he’d probably heard about on TV or something to that effect. As he went on about befriending Pokémon, Rudy couldn’t help but frown a little bit: it felt like something easier said than done, yet Michael said it like it was so easy. However, as he began to talk about the Shadow Pokémon Epidemics and Cipher, the mood in the room seemed to tense a bit. Rudy had heard rumors of them, but to hear it from the person who had actually dealt with it was something else. And he was twelve when he did it, the same age that Rudy was now.

A question burning on his mind, Rudy began, “How...” Stopping, he cleared his throat, before raising his hand, finally asking, “How do you tell what a Shadow Pokémon looks like?”

Pokémon: In The Shadow Of A Rainbow

“Are you sure you have everything sweetie?”

“Yeah mom.” It’s just a tour, I don’t need anything.

“Your bus fare? ID? Contact information?”

“Mhm, I checked.” About three times...

“And you’re sure you don’t want me to come along?”

“I’ll be fine.”

A block or so away from the bus stop near the edge of Gateon Port the green eyed, black haired woman, wearing a light blue dress and white blouse, stood over her fairly short son, his hair short and black, his eyes wide and blue, wearing a wide sleeved purple shirt and black shorts, a hip bag turned to hang near the back of his lower torso. He had a tired expression on his face: he knew she meant well, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t a bit much. Sure, he was a bit skittish around Pokémon, but just because it was a Pokémon Lab, it wasn’t like there were just going to be a dozen of the things running amok...right?

Briefly cringing at the though, the boy cringed even harder as his mother said, “Well, you enjoy yourself, Cornelius!” That name: why did his parents curse him with that name? Cornelius Rudolphus Duval. His sister was better off with ‘Marielle Josephine Duval’, but it took a couple years for Cornelius to squeeze a decent sounding name out of his long one. Seeing his displeasure, his mother corrected herself, “Er, Rudy: I’ll see you when you’re back!”

Rudy nodded, waving before turning to go to the bus stop. Despite his previous certainty that he’d be fine, he did get a bit of anxiety as he headed towards the sign: sure, he’d gone around the town alone, but he’d never been far from Gateon Port alone. Trying to get a grip on himself, he focused on what he was going to say to the Professor when he got a chance.

The bus ride was a bit quiet (well excluding the bumps and jostling), with only three others taking the tour. Did the tour’s happen often enough that not too many showed up for each one? Or perhaps the Professor wasn’t as popular as Rudy had heard.

When the bus finally came to a stop, Rudy took a moment to stretch before standing from his seat, waiting for the others to file out, the first being the white haired boy with the scooter. Following the rest, the path took them to a red haired man in a white lab coat, who looked around for a moment before launching into an introduction, then asking the four for their names. Rudy cringed again, why did it have to be names.

The first to introduce themselves was the white haired boy, Desmond. As Professor Michael responded, Rudy began to predict the future: the other two would introduce themselves, and then the shy Rudy would be badgered into giving his own name. Wanting to avoid that, the short boy suddenly blurted, “Rudy!” Having said it a bit louder than intended, he bit his tongue, feeling a shred of embarrassment.

Pokémon: In The Shadow Of A Rainbow

Evening bump!

Pokémon: In The Shadow Of A Rainbow

Rudy

Name: Cornelius Rudolphus Duval (or Rudy, as he prefers)

Age: 12

Gender: Male

Appearance: A little on the short side, Rudy is a little below five feet tall. He isn’t particularly thin, but he has fair skin. He has wide, bright blue eyes and short black hair, a lock seeming to point up a bit just on the top. He typically wears a purple shirt with wide sleeves that end halfway up his forearm, and a pair of black wristbands. He also wears black shorts and traveling shoes. On the back of his hip, usually partly obscured by the baggy hem of his shirt, is a tan traveling bag.

Personality: Somewhat shy, Rudy tends to keep quiet, being known to mumble or mutter his thoughts. Many think he’s a kind, sweet boy, and they’d mostly be right: he tends to treat others fairly and tries to help, but like many people, he can get annoyed, though perhaps more easily than most. He generally keeps it to himself or his quiet mutterings, however. He lacks confidence in himself outside of his knowledge and interest in mysterious things, like myth, legends, and the occult. He tends to be skittish, especially around certain Pokémon, due to some incidents in his past.

History:Cornelius Rudolphus Duval was born in the distant Kalos region, cursed with perhaps, the worst name ever. In his early years, as he learned to speak, he could barely even pronounce it, which led to him getting picked on a bit, resulting in him becoming more introverted, and the nicknames of ‘Corny’ or ‘Rudolph’ (as in, the red nosed Stantler, of course) certainly didn’t help, of course. Even adopting the nickname ‘Rudy’ didn’t seem to help much, but like many jokes, it became tired, and his name was left alone at last as he started schooling.

However, as he grew up, he had an interest in Pokémon: his father, Ruben, was a fisherman, who regularly caught and showed off all kinds of water types, traveling the region to get new ones. Rudy’s mother, Louise, was interested in the scientific aspect, and despite being something of an at home mother, she was well read, and interested in all kinds of aspects of Pokémon. Rudy’s older sibling, his sister Marielle, was a trainer and had recently been traveling Kalos, with the ambition of taking on the best on the best. Rudy always felt a little left out though, eagerly wanting to follow in his sister’s footsteps. Ruben took notice of this, and decided that it was never too early to make bonds with a Pokémon, even if the six year old’s journey was a little ways off. He made a poor choice in judgment, however: thinking the shy boy would be best complimented by a rowdy Carvanha he fished up a big one. The results were predictable: Rudy reached his hand to pet his new Pokémon, but the thing was far too high leveled, and damn near bit off Rudy’s hand. Luckily, it only ever took some of the sleeve, but regardless, repeated attempts went no better. Rudy became shaken by the whole incident, slowly waning off Pokémon altogether, becoming more interest in reading about the mysteries of the world, garnered from reading some of the books his sister had picked up. Reluctantly, his father gave up, but still hoped to restore his feelings for Pokémon somehow.

A few years later, Rudy was about ten, and his sister fifteen, with more than a few badges under her belt. Knowing Rudy wasn’t going to in the mood for going on a traditional Pokémon journey any time soon, his mother had an idea to reinvigorate his interest. Knowing Marielle would be fine on her own due to her already reputable skill, they decided to move, changing locale to the Orre region, where there were far fewer Pokémon. Ruben didn’t mind as long as they were near water: even in spite of Orre’s history for being relatively devoid of Pokémon, fish could not be taken from the ocean. It went well enough, in the two years since they’d moved, Rudy had traveled outside a bit more often, taking in the sights and history of Gateon Port, visiting the bar every so often for its crowd and shows, though he admittedly felt a bit lost in its rambunctiousness, usually leaving when it got too loud to think. He preferred it when it was quite, where he could hear sailors trading tales of the sea, where it seemed like half of them had had some encounter with some sort of legendary Pokémon or another, or an old timer going on about their adventures in the past.

More recently, Ruben came across a Pokémon, trading one of his prized fish, a Clauncher far larger than most any of the fish off of Orre’s coast, for a bizarre Crawdaunt. Not only was its size alone worrying for Rudy, but it just felt...wrong. The sight of it sickened Rudy, that nauseating purple aura surrounding it. Rudy tried to tell his parents, but Ruben didn’t mind it: the Crawdaunt won its battles handily, even outperforming his Gyarados, the first Pokémon he’d ever fished and raised. Louise listened a bit more closely, but was at a loss. She’d heard the rumors or ‘Shadow Pokémon’, but she’d yet to put two and two together, instead calling Marielle whom simply asked to be put on the line with Rudy. The boy could still recall the confident expression on her face when she gave her suggestion:

“There’s a professor there in Orre, right? I think you should confide in an expert on this one.”

And as luck would have it, a the Pokémon HQ Lab had regular tours, one coming up soon...

Team:

Species: Mime Jr

Nickname: None

Level: 5

Gender: Male

Ability: Filter

Moves: Tickle, Barrier, Confusion, Copycat

Summary: Mime Jr. was given to Rudy by Professor Michael early into the RP. Like many Mime Jrs, it has a tendency to mimic those it observes, or at least attempt it. Young and innocent, it tends to warm up to others easily, perhaps unknowingly putting itself in danger. It seems to be spunky and enthusiastic as well.

Figured I'd note: Chev, since you aren't too familiar with the newer stuff, I believe, the most important thing is the Fairy type, specifically that a number of Pokemon have had their types changed. Mime Jr is Psychic/Fairy, for example. Also retyped are Clefairy, Jigglypuff, Togepi, Marill, Snubull, Ralts, Mawile, Cottonee, and most of their evolutionary lines. Serebii is a good resource if you want to check what types a Pokemon is weak/resistant too easily, but that's easily avoided in battles against NPCs by having them not use Fairy types (which you might want too at first because both Fighting and Dragon are weak to it!).

I've played all Gens so I'm good. ;o

Pokémon: In The Shadow Of A Rainbow

Sneaky!

What's the age range you're looking at? I sorta guessed 10-13ish, where my character will probably be, which is pretty normal for trainers.

Pokémon: In The Shadow Of A Rainbow

Hmm, thinking about my character, I think I might actually take the 'can see Shadow Pokes' route, I think I came up with an actual backstory that might work. Should be neat.

Waiting for a bit more interest for the OOC, I presume?