[hider=Thomas Thorne] [center][h3]Thomas Thorne[/h3] [img]https://i.pinimg.com/564x/ff/f5/0c/fff50caf5f29803733f8e69feb18252a.jpg[/img] [i]"Sometimes I wonder if I made the right decision, starting out the way I did. But whenever I get a win, and I feel like I earned it? That feeling lets me know I chose right."[/i] [/center][hr] [b]Character name:[/b] Thomas Thorne [b]Sex:[/b] Male [b]Age:[/b] 16 [b]Appearance:[/b] Thomas is a little on the short side at only 5’ 6” but makes up for that with an abundance of energy instead. He is physically fit, believing that a trainer must work as hard as their Pokémon and lead by example to succeed. His pale skin is contrasted by his black hair and equally dark eyes; brown, but a shade so dark they appear black at a glance. In terms of clothing he prefers things that are touch and durable, so as to last a while on the road; the only exception to this is his muffler, a red and black scarf given to him by someone important. [b]Personality:[/b] In a nutshell, you could describe Thomas as a hot-headed youth with a chip on his shoulder; energetic and boisterous, he is someone with a lot of passion whose quick temper can often get the better of him. His passion serves him well when it drives him to put effort into a task or when he needs to overcome setbacks, but has also served to alienate him from his peers due to the number of fights he has gotten into with them. This has led him to become intensely loyal to those who have stuck by him in turn, which for the most part is just his Pokémon; should he make other friends they too will be able to always count on him to take their side, right or wrong. [b]Bio:[/b] Like many young boys, Thomas wanted to become a trainer when he was a kid. Unlike most, he grew up in New Bark town, home to the lab of a genuine Professor of Pokémon and as such had a small chance of being one of those lucky folks chosen to be some kind of research assistant and given a Pokémon to give him a head start on his journey. It was something that he saw happen every now and then, when some kid a few years older than him would go into the lab and come out a few minutes later with a shiny new Pokéball in hand and a determined look on their face as they ran off down the path that led out of town. It should have been his dream to be like them. If he wanted to be a trainer then he should have wanted to be called into that lab too some day; to stare at that building from his bedroom window with starry eyes. But instead, whenever he saw one of those kids leave town with a rare and powerful Pokémon that no other trainer starting their journey had access to he couldn’t but think that it felt… cheap. Unfair. Like the victories you would get afterwards would feel unearned, somehow. Thomas said as much as to some of the other kids in town and quickly found out that this was an unpopular opinion, since he wasn’t the only one who wanted to become a trainer but was apparently the only one who thought getting a strong Pokémon from the professor was somehow ‘cheating’. He got into a lot of arguments when he was younger and more than a few fights, because kids will argue about anything they think is important and Thomas was always someone to let his temper get the better of him. His opinions about the right way to become a trainer were a common reason for these fights, but hardly the only one. Each fight only drove his opinions deeper, gave him more reason to cling to them and turn them into convictions, to stubbornly claim that he didn’t need any help to become a trainer and boldly state that he wouldn’t take one of the Professor’s rare Pokémon even if he was offered one. Years later, when he was at about the right age to become a trainer himself, Thomas took the money he had been saving up and bought a bunch of Pokéballs and without even glancing at the building the Professor called his lab set off into the woods to catch a Pokémon of his own. It was harder than he had expected and took all of the Pokéballs he had, but he managed to do it and soon found himself running down the same path out of town that he had watched many trainers before him run down; the Pokéball in his hand decidedly less shiny and the look on his face more stubborn than determined. He would challenge the eight gyms and beat them; he would tackle the Elite Four and even the Champion if he wanted to. And he would do it all without any help or hand-outs and with nothing but the hard work of him and his Pokémon to thank for it. It didn’t go well. As it turned out, being a trainer was kind of difficult and Thomas didn’t seem to have any particular talent for it. Despite leaving home a full year ago, he has to begrudgingly admit he’s barely in the same league as most trainers just starting their journey and has only managed to catch a single other Pokémon so far. He has yet to challenge the first overseer and currently doesn’t feel like he would stand much of a chance against them even if he did. Sometimes he’ll see another trainer come along with their shiny Pokéball and bad filled with items and watch as they just overtake him in an instant. It was right when he was thinking of giving in and crawling back home when he saw the announcement about the Champion retaking the gym challenge and the lottery for trainers to join him on that journey. Entering that lottery would mean going back on what he’d said as a kid; sure, it wasn’t quite the same as having the Professor set you up to become a trainer, but it was definitely a huge helping hand for someone like him to tag along with the Champion. It would still mostly be up to him if he won or lost, but he wouldn’t be able to say he did it entirely on his own or say for sure that he could have done it without the Champion’s help. It was… a harder decision than it should have been, submitting his name to the competition and he couldn’t help but think he was betraying something when he did. But hey, it wasn’t like he was even going to win, so what did it matter? Right? Now he doesn’t know what to think. [b]Inventory:[/b] Food mostly, a basic first aid kit and a sleeping bag. [hr] [center][h3]Team Info[/h3][/center] [hider=Storm] [img]https://www.serebii.net/pokemon/art/835.png[/img] [b]Name:[/b] Storm [b]Species:[/b] Yamper [b]Ability:[/b] Ball Fetch [b]Moves:[/b] Tackle, Tail Whip, Nuzzle [b]Nature and Personality:[/b] Jolly. Energetic, friendly and with a positive attitude that can’t be dampened no matter what. They say that a Pokémon’s personality changes to match the owner, but if anything Storm’s good cheer is changing Thomas rather than the other way around. [b]Held item:[/b] None [/hider] [hider=Night] [img]https://www.serebii.net/art/th/261.png[/img] [b]Name:[/b] Night [b]Species:[/b] Poochyena [b]Ability:[/b] Quick Feet [b]Moves:[/b] Tackle, Howl [b]Nature and Personality:[/b] Naughty. Wilful and stubborn, Night doesn’t like to listen to his trainer most of the time and finds it amusing to cause him problems. He is more subdued around people and Pokémon he doesn’t know and being disobedient seems to be a sign that he is comfortable enough with you to do so. [b]Held item:[/b] None [/hider] [/hider]