Troy Caecilius
Troy's serious glare pierces through all, as if seeing right through everyone and everything, looking straight towards a future outside of the perspective of anyone except maybe himself. His eyes seem to glow with a golden shine, standing out from his dull gray-black hair and almost entirely monochrome wardrobe. Although he isn't gargantuan, his above-average height coupled with his excessively serious demeanor is enough to give off an imposing presence to some of his peers, not that his perpetually disapproving frown does anything to allay such misgivings.
Background: Troy was born and raised in Unova's Nimbasa city, though once he graduated from elementary school, he never stayed in one place for long, traveling the world alongside his parents. The Caecilius family owns one of the largest multinational power corporations in the world, making extensive use of pokemon to meet electricity demands. Though
legally sound, some activists believe this to be exploitative, so Troy's father is often busy managing the company. This is why, throughout the first decade of his life, Troy was primarily raised by his mother, sometimes not seeing his father for months at a time. It could be said that Troy hardly knew his father, which is why it was so jarring having him around when he turned 10 and became a pokemon trainer. His father insisted that he be the one to teach Troy how to raise his pokemon "properly".
Troy was offered a selection of pokemon by his father, mainly consisting of the species used in the power plants of their company, each recently hatched from an egg. The first pokemon Troy ever owned was a Shinx, which Troy wanted to name Sparkles, but the name was promptly vetoed. Troy's father insisted he shouldn't give his pokemon nicknames. After that, he subjected Troy and his Shinx to rigorous training against his own, far stronger pokemon. They were to do their best, then afterwards Troy would be educated on all the areas he went wrong, while Shinx would be healed up and expected to keep going without rest, only stopping for food and bathroom breaks. Troy had his father's knowledge drilled into him thoroughly, but at the end of the day, his Shinx still took a beating without making any progress in battle. The gap between his young Shinx and the highly trained pokemon of his father was just too wide, and Troy felt there was nothing he could do. When Troy asked his father to tone down the training, his father acquiesced by stopping training altogether. He explained that it was no longer needed, once Troy got down the basics. The training was mainly for Troy anyway, since Shinx would be useless, no matter what. When Troy asked him what he meant, his father simply pointed out his Shinx's innate qualities and what it would take to improve them. Frankly, it would be easier to start over from scratch with a Shinx more suitable for a Luxray's role in battles, able to take advantage of stronger abilities and see better results from battles due to a more suitable personality, without the need for expensive supplements, years of battle experience or intensive training from a specialist. His father said that, if he continued to use his current Shinx, he would be at a disadvantage against almost any other Shinx, even if the amount of training they received were equal.
While Troy was pondering this, his father brought out another Shinx and offered it to Troy. It was also recently hatched from an egg and even younger than Troy's Shinx, and was described as being trained in a similar manner. In spite of this, his father touted it as superior to his Shinx in every way. Troy rejected the offer, so his father challenged him to a pokemon battle, Shinx against Shinx. Not only did Troy lose, he was crushed. It was the same feeling of helplessness that he got from trying to fight his father's typical, highly-trained pokemon team.
Troy couldn't accept it at first, so he came up with excuses for himself. "Sparkles was just tired after the training." "I must have made a mistake." "Maybe I need to consider Sparkles' morale." He approached the problem from various angles and rematched his father repeatedly over several weeks. Although he came close several times, even his moments of success seemed to taunt him. Here and there, the two Shinx would employ the exact same strategies or attacks. Here and there, his Shinx would gain the upper hand, and yet his Shinx, who arguably underwent more training, always struggled to compete or produce the same results, even when his father praised his execution as flawless.
During an eventual drought of challenges, Troy went to check up on his Shinx and play with it. To his shame, it took him almost an hour to realize that the Shinx he was petting and playing with wasn't Sparkles. It was the same Shinx he wasn't able to beat, obliviously ignorant as it lied on Troy's lap.
He pushed it off.
Troy stormed towards his father and demanded an explanation. His father calmly replied that he had put the Shinx unsuited for battle to work in one of their nearby power plants. Troy demanded Sparkles back, so his father took him to the plant in question and told Troy of its identification number. Troy ran ahead, and after searching, finally came to find the Shinx pen, where they were kept while not working. He called out to Sparkles, but none of the Shinx responded, seeming to ignore him while playing with each other. He checked with a staff member and confirmed that his Shinx was in the pen, so he resolved to check each of their collars one by one until he could find the identification number he was looking for. About ten minutes in, his father came in, leaned up against the wall and silently watched him. By the time Troy found Sparkles, it had been almost an hour. The reason it was taking so long, Troy realized, is because Sparkles was avoiding him. When he found him, it was in one of the conjoined rest areas, almost hiding from Troy. It was obvious at this point, but Troy asked anyway, because he needed to hear it directly. "Sparkles, will you join me? I want to be a pokemon trainer, and I know my dad's training is tough, but we can train differently, and I'd be there for you every step of the way. Please?"
Sparkles refused.
Sparkles hated battling. Comparatively, it much preferred to work at the power plant with the other Shinx. As soon as Troy understood that, it left Troy behind and blended in with the other Shinx. Troy doesn't know he long he sat there, staring at nothing, but it felt like hours. Eventually Troy's father dragged him out of there as they went back home, not even saying goodbye to Sparkles.
Troy rejected his father's Shinx, but ultimately could not deny his father's lessons. Not every pokemon is cut out for battle. Nicknames? Friendship? It's better for everyone in the end if pokemon are treated like
tools.
Troy's father taught Troy to identify what makes a pokemon better than its peers, and as time passed, Troy eventually chose more pokemon for himself, staying away from pokemon his father offered but getting his father's approval of those he chose all the same. He had been doing intermediary schooling and his freshman year of high school at home, though that changed when his father decided to enroll him in the PMA. Troy and his mother settled down once more in the Marvalo region, and the distance between Troy and his father returned, just like during Troy's childhood.
Troy, initially, seems cold and calculating. He's a perfectionist to a neurotic degree and believes the best way to raise pokemon is to treat them like tools. He screens all of his pokemon to ensure they have high potential, and refuses to raise pokemon otherwise, for fear of a repeat of his first pokemon. He will adamantly refuse to nickname pokemon, and will even reject rare and powerful pokemon if they don't meet his standards. Despite all of that, he spends a lot of time carrying his pokemon around or snuggling with them, and has a huge bias towards cute pokemon. Troy subscribes to the idea that pokemon trainers should try to win with their favorites, and while he's not opposed to using other pokemon, he isn't satisfied winning with them.
He might seem egotistical to a degree, but he's quick to admit his failures. His specificity with his pokemon causes him to believe that any failures in battle are either all his fault, or caused by a gap in training, which would be due to not having enough time to train, and still partially his fault for not making enough time.
Socially speaking, Troy is excessively serious and speaks bluntly, but he's a pretty relaxed person most of the time. He's not the type to approach others without a reason, but once he gets to know someone he will seek out their company all the same. He seldom smiles, though he isn't without a sense of humor, and his face will light up if you get him to talk about his pokemon.
What are some ways you would like to affect the story: There's the obvious point of grinding Troy's ideology against that of other characters, though I would not like Troy to lose against a less experienced trainer due to a dice roll, since that will lead Troy to the conclusion that he hasn't been training enough, that he's an incompetent trainer, or that the battle had little to do with skill. Those outcomes are fine under extenuating circumstances (which I can put him under) or if the character in question takes battles somewhat seriously, but no Ash Ketchum syndrome please. What I want him to lose against are trainers who would qualify for
affection bonuses, while still training a somewhat similar amount to him, (which will vary depending on the RP) slowly teaching him that friendship with pokemon matters.
On the topic of grinding Troy's ideology against that of others, it also goes both ways, since he doesn't just train the "strongest" pokemon species. Meeting those who reject his choice in pokemon anyway or those that group him with those people could lead to interesting character interactions and development. I would like to avoid Troy ending up as an antisocial lone-wolf type.
Beyond that, I think it would be hilarious for Troy to meet and maybe catch a legendary or even legendaries, (mainly less powerful ones) test them out, then reject them when he realizes they have flaws. He could also do the same with a cute mythical pokemon and struggle to reject it because of its cuteness, though this scenario is more suited for actually keeping it. I think Jirachi goes best with Troy.
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