Luna happily bounced back to her owner, Jean following awkwardly behind her. “Good girl!” Pete cooed as Luna leapt into his arms, barking happily. Jean apologized for losing them in the shuffle, then suggested they look for the Herba Mystica together. Ribbit patted him supportively on the back. Pete followed up by clapping him on the back significantly harder, a broad grin on his face. “Awesome! We could use the help – I think together we could change the world, seriously!” Luna yipped her agreement.
Jean introduced himself to Adam, but Adam already knew exactly who he was, revealing he was an Elite Four Member's kid, and because he used water types, he and Adam were rivals. Pete blinked. Was that how that worked? He wondered who his rival was. “Whoa, an Elite Four Member's kid? For real?” Pete asked. “Why didn't you mention that before?”
Next thing Pete knew, a girl fell from the sky on top of Adam. There was a tropius next to them, but it would be a solid few minutes before Pete would realize these two oddities were related. Pete frowned and walked closer, but the girl was quick to spring up and apologize profusely to Adam. Very, very, profusely, and even offered her his number. Pete snorted, finally cluing in. Oh, okay, yeah sure, she “fell” onto Adam. Lucky bastard.
Said lucky bastard wasn't hurt at all, even having the guts to say people did this to him all the time. (Pete was fairly sure he'd never seen a girl fall out of the sky onto Adam before, but maybe he just didn't notice.) Well, nobody seemed hurt, and Adam revelled in the attention, so no harm done. Adam slung his arms around Jean and Pete's shoulders, declaring their adventure to have begun, and suggested they go to the first gym. Pete tapped on his rotom phone, eventually managing to get the map application up. “Actually, I thought we could go east. Arven mentioned there was Herba Mystica in a cave guarded by a giant klawf.” He squinted at the map, which was suddenly a lot more difficult as the sun had brightened significantly. “Says the second gym is that way though. And it's grass type, so you'd have a type advantage.”
After a few awkward seconds without a response, Pete looked up and saw that Adam was fully engaged in a battle with another one of their classmates. Whoops. Luna watched eagerly, cheering on Adam with energetic barks. Pete shrugged and settled in to watch the battle. A pokemon Pete didn't recognize began buzzing around Adam's new girl. Jordan questioned it, asking where “Sam” was. Hm. How many guys was this girl juggling? Well, Sam could be a girl's name too, he supposed. “Who's Sam?” Pete grunted at her to be sure. Better to nip drama in the bud now than have to deal with it on the road.
Juniper hovered anxiously as the older fairies heeded her instruction and used their powers to rain hail onto the mushroom and guide a cyclone to rescue Prince Sky. She knew she should be relaying this information to her father, but all she could get out was a stunned "Wow..." Juniper hadn't seen much fae magic aside from Earth and Electric, and to see other elements used so gracefully was incredible.
After being rescued, Sky barely seemed concerned, even joking about how he hoped this wasn't one of Juniper's pets. "N-no, of – of course not, Prince Sky – " she stuttered, unsure how serious he was being. She would never set the forest's creatures on anybody, let alone somebody of such high rank!
But the monster wasn't done. It roared and outstretched a vine toward Zircon. And Juniper did something she'd never done before, and outstretched her hand toward the incoming vine, as if she were just as powerful as Vyvien and Zircon. The vine glowed a pale green, and came to an unsteady, trembling halt. No sooner had the vine paused before a great clap of electricity severed it. Juniper ducked away from the sudden light, blinking away stars. She didn't get to see Surge do such powerful magic that often either. This really was an adventure...! She smiled at the success as Zircon followed up by freezing the creature's roots. "Yes – everybody, fly up!" Juniper called, slowly rising to make sure Surge heard her first. The mushroom couldn't send vines too far, and it wouldn't be able to chase them upward.
The forest's various plantlife glowed many different shades, which illuminated the forest despite the thick trees blocking much of the sunlight. The forest's bed was covered in clover and wildflower, and the echoes of bird calls, frog croaks, and buzzing insects made this realm anything but silent. "Mrs. Greypetal said she went to town. The way to Lumina is marked with the tall red mushrooms – see?" Juniper pointed at several spindly red mushrooms, which winded into a straight line. "Try not to touch anything. I've learned how to grow some antidote plants in school, but I don't know all of them yet..." Conversely to her words, a large butterfly fluttered past, and Juniper reached a hand out to it with a giggle. It landed briefly before continuing on. Juniper smiled and gestured them onward, before falling back to fly with Surge.
~ Lumina Kingdom ~
Lumina was hidden inside several massive trees, which surrounded the kingdom like a stone wall. There were even more trees inside the kingdom, hollowed out and used as homes, libraries, or storefronts. The calls of animals were a little quieter here, but as a small feysquirrel scurried past them, it was clear that this was just as much a home for wildlife as it was for fairies.
Even with all this familiar landscape, Juniper noticed at once that something wasn't right. The usually bustling city was... quiet. Juniper frowned and looked anxiously in circles. "Where is everybody?"
Juniper cautiously led them around town, knocking on a few doors, but was met with silence. “Juniper! Surge!” a voice called out to them. A yellow and green earth fairy wearing a uniform with a tie flew over to them.
"Hello, Officer Sundew," Juniper greeted. "What's going on? We were looking for Mrs. Greypetal."
Officer Sundew frowned, and he looked sadly away at the mention of Mrs. Greypetal. ”I'm sorry to tell you this, but something terrible is happening. Fairies are turning to stone.” He gestured behind him. “I'm advising everybody to either stay inside with at least one other fairy, or gather in town square. We've gathered all the affected fairies and are trying to use our powers to reverse it, but we've had no luck so far... I wish Mrs. Greypetal could help us, but unfortunately, she's been turned to stone as well.” Juniper gasped and wilted at this news, tears immediately brimming in her eyes. ”You're welcome to see her if you'd like, but we've no luck reversing it... they are outside of the hospital, five trees to our left.”
@Tangy And another interested party! I didn’t think this idea would prove so popular. Like I asked everyone else, do you have some kind of character in mind?
Based on GreekMyth!Earth, humans were originally the dominant species of this world, but as punishment for sins the Gods introduced many species to challenge and shape them. Amongst them were sirens, creatures with *seductive voices that could tread both land and sea, designed to test the humans' resistance of lust. In this timeline, the humans failed this test so miserably that sirens populated out of control and rose to dominance. New siren Gods rose to power with them. Problem: sirens are an all-female species, and need males from other species to reproduce - and the human population is getting critically low. Solution: the multiverse.
How obvious the sirens are about their real goals would depend on the taste of the alliance - but they quite literally want love, not war. No better suitor than a champion handpicked by a God, after all. Character would be a young siren heiress, who although is quite genuinely curious about other worlds and eager to learn and help the cause, also has to wrestle with her God and own hormones encouraging her to romance literally any male champion. She would have some weather-based magic, enhanced with a royal trident as a gift from their god.
(*As a side note, I'm strongly about consent with characters who have attraction abilities. I'll never force another character into romance without confirming with their RPer if they're interested first)
Pete cradled Luna in one arm and listened patiently to Director Clavell's speech. He remembered the gist of the speech from last year, and even more so remembered the cold feeling of dread that came with having no idea what he was supposed to make of the Director's words. The concept of a treasure had seemed so intangible and shrouded in mystery. Now he listened with a confident grin and a solid plan of attack. Find the herbs guarded by the titan pokemon – definitely no small feat, but even an attempt could make a world of difference for global healthcare.
“Hey boulder brain!” An arm wrapped around Pete's shoulders. Pete looked over to see his classmate Adam and grinned back as the other student declared his imminent champion status with a tower of flames from his charmeleon.
“Hell yeah!” Pete cheered, and Luna howled and wagged her tail at the display. “I'm going out the east exit, so if you're heading that way, sure, why not?” Luna wriggled out of Pete's grasp and bounded ahead toward the exit with an eager bark. “Oh, hang on Luna, there's someone else who wanted to go with us too.” Jean had wanted to join after hearing Pete was looking for rare herbs. Who knew his goal to find a miracle cure would overlap with Jean's goals of discovering new recipes? “Can you go find him for us, Luna?”
Luna nodded and tore off, sniffing aggressively to catch the scent of that weird sandwich from before. She followed her nose straight to Jean, jumping on him with a happy bark then spinning back in the direction where she'd come, bowing her front legs playfully down to encourage him to follow her.
The blonde guy introduced himself as Jean, and his tatsugiri as... did he say “Guiri”? Er, no, must be “Giri”, like “Tatsugiri”. “Hi Giri, heh, that's easy to remember, huh?” Pete joked. Unlike Luna, who was begging at Jean for more pets and attention, Giri didn't look particularly friendly, so Pete didn't try to engage her in the same way. In fact, she seemed pretty territorial over Jean's sandwich. Luna turned curiously at the hissing noises, tipping her head and wagging her tail. She gave a jealous whine as Jean took Giri into his arms, so Pete clicked his tongue at her and offered more of his sandwich, which pacified her.
Pete continued to chew his lunch as Jean moved on to his other pokemon, which he explained was a frogardier. “Cool, hey Ribbit,” Pete greeted. His face twisted into confusion as Jean explained they were from Kalos. That explained why he didn't think twice about what he named his tatsugiri. “Kalos...” He looked like he was thinking really hard about it. “Is that the poffin one? Er, sorry, I'm not good with geography...”
The remainder of the sandwich was devoured in one impossibly large bite. Luna whined sadly, though Pete knew she'd had plenty already, so he chuckled at her. All the reason to have a second lunch a bit later. “So, you excited for the Treasure Hunt?” Pete asked to make conversation. He didn't notice Luna slip away from the table, her nose sniffing aggressively. “Me and my pokemon are gonna try to find these mythical herbs that are supposed to be miracle cures for things. Gonna try to cultivate them. Only problem is they're found in these caves that used to be guarded by giant pokemon – dunno if they still are.”
Luna's nose led her to a bespeckled purple-haired girl eating pastries. She sat on her haunches with her tongue lolling out, staring intently at the girl. To up the ante, she sat up, her front paws dangling, and let out a quiet whine.
As quiet as the whine was, Pete's neck whipped toward Luna and the girl as if she'd yelped. He took in the scene and relaxed. “Luna, if you want dessert, I'll get you dessert,” Pete promised, smiling apologetically at the girl. Luna looked over at her trainer, tempted by the offer, but then looked hopefully back at the purple-haired girl.
Even miles away from the screeching of the farm espathra, Pete's brown eyes still opened at 5:30am. The sun had yet to rise, so Luna the rockruff still lay sleeping on Pete's broad chest. He gently placed a large hand on Luna's back, smiling as he felt her little body rhythmically rise and fall. Now he just had to do his best not to move until she woke up on her own. No point getting up before breakfast was served, anyways.
Pete stared at the ceiling and let his mind wander. Today they were going to announce the Treasure Hunt. He'd not participated properly last year, as his goals were vague, fleeting, and continually changing. He'd worked with Mr. Jacq to develop a more solid plan of attack this year, and Mr. Jacq had directed Pete to Arven after listening to his goals – he wanted to go down the Health track, and discover new therapies to help people and pokemon who are hurt or ill. Arven's records on the subject were scribbled in a notebook already packed away in a backpack near the door. “Herba Mystica” - the only research on them was written centuries ago, with only Arven's recent testimony providing any sort of validation that they were facts. Even the possibility of such miracle cures was worth pursuing. Arven insisted the herbs were gone, but Pete suspected there were still seeds or some other remnants left behind. A lot of stuff at the farm found a way to grow back even after it had been harvested. Also already packed were covered nursery pods, set up with soil based on what he could research about the cave conditions. His siblings had a lot of input and quibbling about what they thought would be best, so the soil pods weren't all the same – it was important to study which of them grew best, so that they could recreate it on a larger scale.
The morning sun slowly started filtering through the window, and Luna finally blinked her eyes open. She shifted and stretched with a long yawn, and then bounded up with an excited bark, instantly ready for the day. Pete chuckled and got himself up to tidy his brown hair and put clothes on – they had a big day ahead.
...
By the time Pete entered the cafeteria for the second time today, he'd already completed his morning ritual. His breakfast of a four-egg omelette, four slices of toast, bacon, fruit, and tea had just barely sustained him and Luna through weight training, a shower, a walk around Mesagoza, and a half-hearted study attempt at the library. He was way too hungry to study properly, so begrudgingly recalled Luna back into her ball and headed up to the cafeteria. Luna in the cafeteria sometimes attracted disapproving looks and comments from the other students, so Pete took to just sneaking her food to eat afterward. He didn't need to worry about his nacli, as he couldn't eat food anyways on account of not having a mouth.
The cafeteria staff were just starting to serve lunch, which was lucky timing. It was unusually quiet – well, it was a little early for lunch, but maybe people were busy preparing for the Treasure Hunt. Pete grabbed a long sandwich stacked with as many toppings as they allowed him to take. There was a purple-haired girl in the corner finishing off some breakfast pastries and writing something in a notebook, and a blonde boy with a tatsugiri and a tall pokemon that kinda looked like a mix between a golduck and a bellibolt. He chuckled as the blue pokemon screeched and downed a pitcher of water, to the embarrassment of its trainer. He recognized the trainer from classes, but couldn't say he knew him very well. Regardless of his fact, Pete sat beside him and offered a grin at the apology. “No worries,” he said cheerfully and fished out Luna's luxury ball. “You don't mind if I bring my rockruff out too?” If this guy had his own pokemon out, he wouldn't care about somebody else having theirs out, right? It was good logic. Luna appeared in a flash of light onto the table, and sniffed first at the other trainer's sandwich. She turned her nose up at it, but eagerly devoured the chunk that Pete had broken off his own sandwich for her. Pete took a massive bite from the other end, the physics of which was questionable given the sheer size of it. “Name's Pete,” he introduced, mouth still full of sandwich, “and this is Luna.”
The older fairies seemed to agree with Juniper's sentiment that they should not be nosing around in Mrs. Greypetal's belongings. Juniper didn't think much of this as they left until her father pulled her to the side and commended her for her maturity in telling Prince Sky to do the right thing. Juniper blushed from the praise, quietly panicking a bit because she hadn't realized until that moment that she'd just told a prince what to do. Maybe she shouldn't have done that. "Um, thanks, Dad..." she muttered, looking curiously over at Sky, who was examining a device that Vyvien said would make his voice very loud. Juniper hesitated, but Surge warned Sky against it right away, which gave her confidence. "Yes, maybe if we just - "
Juniper flittered higher into the air in alarm and covered her ears as Sky screamed into the microphone at a volume louder than anything she'd ever heard before. Juniper looked around in panic as Sky went on about how wonderful the microphone was, and spotted the mushroom monster just before Sky walked into it. Oh gosh, that was a really big one. Even the little mushroom monsters could be mean and difficult to deal with, and this one seemed very agitated, probably from the loud noise. Sky still seemed confident - until the mushroom picked him up and put him straight to sleep.
Juniper hovered anxiously a safe distance away. She knew more about the creatures of the forest even than many of the local adults - her knowledge could be helpful here! "Okay," Juniper started, anxiety lacing her tone, "these are usually nocturnal; it's probably just scared because we woke it up. We - we have to distract it, somehow, and somebody needs to get Sky away from it. It won't chase us if we run from it, but it'll keep attacking us until we leave."
"Hey, everyone has bad days sometimes, right Luna? Want to go for a walk with us and talk or something? It'll clear your head.”
Full Name: Pete Johnson
Age: 17
Favorite Color: “Whatever color Luna is - that's my favorite” (Tan)
Favorite Subject: Health [*I'm assuming we start the semester after MC, so this would be available – but if this is not the case I can edit!]
Favorite Teacher: Mr. Jacq, for never giving up on him
Appearance: Clocking in at 6'2” and about 215lbs, Pete's hulking frame is the first thing people notice about him. A result of both an insatiable love of protein and a ton of daily heavy lifting, his weight is entirely muscle. His intimidating size is usually offset by a friendly grin, however he's pretty awful at hiding emotions, so if he's upset, you will know it. He is very expressive in general with his movements and vocal inflection, with excitement and sorrow alike conveyed unmistakably through his chocolatey brown eyes.
Pete doesn't have much of a fashion sense, preferring either plaid or solid-colored t-shirts paired with blue or black jeans and sneakers or work boots outside of school. For class, he usually opts for the summer uniform but sometimes chooses the spring or autumn uniform (the winter one is too warm for his liking). He always wears a string of wooden beads on his left wrist. It was made by his grandfather and used to belong to his grandmother, who wore it as a necklace. Their initials are carved into the clasp, encircled by a heart.
Personality: Pete's brother would describe him as a sensitive, overemotional dumbass. His sister would describe him as a friend to everyone, but with a disclaimer that his big heart and endless loyalty will be the death of him one day. Pete would shrug and agree with both reviews. He has a naturally friendly and easygoing disposition to everybody, being very non-judgmental of people different than him but slow to recognize when his presence is not desired. He cares deeply for those he considers friends and would listen without complaint for hours about their interests or about something that was bothering them. Though empathetic, he's not the best at detecting emotion, which leads to him asking “are you okay?” a lot, and accepting it at face value if told the affirmative. He also loves to joke around and tease people he's close to. There's no better example of Pete's large heart than his relationship with his rockruff, Luna, who is his little princess and does everything with him, including sharing his bed and all of his meals.
Although Pete doesn't offend easily over things like quips on his appearance, appetite, or opinions, his grades are a particular sore spot, and any insinuation that he isn't smart enough to be in the health track will upset him. His many failed midterms have made him aware that he's not the brightest student at Papas Academy, and he can sometimes be slow to understand something explained to him, especially if the words used are large or plentiful. Similarly, he's quite bad with nuance and can't take a hint. Your best bet to get a point across is to be as direct as possible - though at the same time he can be sensitive and easily stung by social rejection, making handling him a difficult affair at times. His opinion on most things can be very easily swayed, and he's quite easy to bribe (especially with food). He tends to jump to conclusions very quickly, which has led to him initiating fights over misunderstandings.
If you didn't know any better, you would think Pete lived in a constant state of hunger. He will eat just about anything at any time and is known to complain about being hungry even after he's just eaten. Food is a definite way into his heart. He uses the extra calories to exercise whenever he's given the opportunity. He claims it grounds him and makes him focus better, perhaps outside of the dopamine boost because it's something he's confident he's good at, which is why he's often found at the gym instead of the library before a big test.
Backstory: Pete was born and raised in a large farmhouse on the outskirts of Cortondo, Paldea, and grew up with his parents, older brother (Jack), younger sister (Mila), and his paternal grandparents. His siblings were both two years apart from him. His grandfather, who passed away when Pete was six, had built the house himself fifty years before Pete was born, and despite the creaking doors and patchwork repairs, Pete wouldn't have his childhood any other way. As far back as he can remember, he started chores at 6am every day, stopped for breakfast, more chores, lunch, homeschooling, more chores, and then after dinner he was free to do whatever he wanted. There was pretty much no task that was off limits, whether it be feeding the pokemon, plowing the fields, sheering the mareep, harvesting olives, clearing out pest nacli, or repairing fences. His grandmother, “Granny”, was a retired schoolteacher, so she was Pete's teacher his entire childhood. Of the three children, Pete always caught on the fastest and was also the only one to enjoy reading and learning in his spare time. In hindsight, it really wasn't much of a contest – he once found his brother caught halfway over the tauros fence by his pants after locking himself in and then failing to climb out, and his sister once asked him if the moon and the sun were the same thing... and also if they were behind or in front of the clouds. As a kid though, Pete assumed he must be a genius.
Pete's older brother Jack heckled him continuously growing up, picking up quickly on Pete's sensitivity and mocking him when he'd fuss over an injured mareep in the flock or shared his dinner with a sad lechonk to make it feel better. His parents mostly ignored this behavior, figuring they may as well let their older son toughen their younger one up a bit. Granny was the only one who showed him any sympathy, so she was always the one to dry his tears and reassure him that empathy was an admirable quality. The pokemon also responded more favorably to Pete, so as the years went on, he slowly took over more of those duties.
This is likely why the family's herding midday lycanroc, Stella, chose Pete to present with an egg when he was fourteen. The imminent new life took everyone by surprise, and they were more careful about letting Stella roam outside alone after that, but Pete took his responsibility as surrogate mother extremely seriously. Stella happily followed him around for weeks as he toted the egg with him through his daily chores-food-school ritual. One fateful day, the egg hatched into a little female rockruff which Pete named Luna, and the two were inseparable from that moment on.
In Pete's mid-teen years, Granny started to slow down tremendously. She could barely leave bed anymore, and Pete and Luna spent much of their free time talking to her, or helping her up to the dinner table or bathroom. One night when they were talking, Granny mentioned that he should consider going to the Papas Academy. Pete laughed at this notion at first – Granny was the only one in the family who had any sort of formal education, and he'd made peace with being a farmer for the rest of his life. But she insisted – he was different from his siblings – he had a special spark – he and Luna could do it together.
He began to look more seriously into education. It wasn't impossible, especially as his sister had taken over most of his chores when he shifted to looking after their grandmother, but he would never leave Granny, so he figured it would be far in his future when he finally got to go. One quiet night, he excitedly told his grandmother his decision that he would attend the academy in the future, just like she wanted him to. He vividly remembers her smiling softly and telling him how proud of him she was.
The next morning, they'd found Granny had quietly slipped away in her sleep. Pete was devastated but determined to follow through on his promise, and though his application to Papas Academy was littered with tear stains, he was accepted. Nobody else in his family really cared aside from being annoyed that his chores would be shifted onto them, but he knew his Granny was out there somewhere, watching with pride. He started wearing her necklace to keep a part of her with him at the academy, as it was small enough to fit onto his large wrist.
As excited as Pete was to attend the academy, he quickly realized his lack of prior formal education was going to come as a massive hurdle. Studying? Tests? He had no experience or strategies for such things. Luna was highly offended when the school officials insisted she needed to be in a ball during class, so Pete had to go and buy one for her (a luxury ball, of course). He fell behind in the curriculum very quickly, finding the pace impossible to keep up with, and failed every midterm he wrote. He also refused to use Luna in battle studies, which was basically an automatic fail since he didn't have any other pokemon. By the time he'd gotten over his embarrassment and sought help from Mr. Jacq, there wasn't enough time in the school year to make up the credits and was advised that he would need to retake all of his courses next year.
Maybe his grandmother was wrong about him. He was good at farmwork, he knew how to do it, and he'd certainly never failed a dozen tests on it – home was where he was meant to be. He and Luna stopped at the graveyard on the way home, but Pete froze at the entrance. He remembered the last words she ever said to him, and broke into a sobbing mess at the cemetery gate.
He couldn't tell Granny he was dropping out; she was the only one who ever believed in him. Luna gently tapped his leg and pointed her nose back to Mesagoza with a smile. He engulfed the little rockruff in a hug. Luna believed in him, too.
He consulted with Mr. Jacq, who worked with him over the summer to help get a kickstart on some concepts he was struggling with, and also advised that this year there would be new health classes offered. Pete even went so far as to go catch a nacli to use in battle studies instead of Luna. They were pest pokemon on the farm, as they were attracted to the crop fertilizer but left behind salt that would damage roots. Pete figured he'd never get attached to one of those little buggers, and even left the nacli without a nickname... but inevitably he grew attached, and even caught himself calling him “Nackles”.
Now Pete feels fully ready for the upcoming year and is prepared for the challenge this time. He's even honed in on a new Treasure Hunt goal. He'd heard rumors from Arven about the mythical herbs that were said to cure all ailments, and when confronted, informed Pete of their previous locations, but that the last of them were gone now. If Pete could even discover seeds of those herbs, he had the farming ability to grow them, and the health classes could give him the knowledge to use them. This was his chance to make a huge impact on the world, and he was going to take it!
Pokémon: Rockruff Nickname: Luna Personality: Full of energy and spirit, Luna could brighten a room in an instant with her bubbly, contagious happiness. Pete has spoiled her and she is used to being treated like a human – she will turn her nose up at pokemon treats and dislikes going in her pokeball. She loves to battle, but Pete still hates to use her to fight. Ability: Vital Spirit Moveset: Tackle, Sand Attack, Double Team, Rock Throw
Pokémon: Nacli Nickname: Nackles Personality: Nackles is quiet and very low maintenance, not even being able to eat, and much more content with his pokeball than Luna is. His favorite thing to do is sit in the dirt and sunbathe. Ability: Purifying Salt Moveset: Harden, Mud Shot, Smack Down, Rock Polish
Quirks:
• Pete has a standard 45lb barbell in his dorm room • During his last year at the academy, he dated a few different students, though none of the relationships lasted long. He's tried to stave off it this year to avoid more distractions and heartache • He is pretty new to using a rotom phone, only getting one a year ago, and still just has it in a standard case • He has never been outside of Paldea, or has even traveled much within Paldea • This is his playlist so far, but it's pretty small atm, more will be added later
Relationships: [Blank for now, but I'm very open to brainstorming possible current or future relationships!]
"Hey, everyone has bad days sometimes, right Luna? Want to go for a walk with us and talk or something? It'll clear your head.”
Full Name: Pete Johnson
Age: 17
Favorite Color: “Whatever color Luna is - that's my favorite” (Tan)
Favorite Subject: Health [*I'm assuming we start the semester after MC, so this would be available – but if this is not the case I can edit!]
Favorite Teacher: Mr. Jacq, for never giving up on him
Appearance: Clocking in at 6'2” and about 215lbs, Pete's hulking frame is the first thing people notice about him. A result of both an insatiable love of protein and a ton of daily heavy lifting, his weight is entirely muscle. His intimidating size is usually offset by a friendly grin, however he's pretty awful at hiding emotions, so if he's upset, you will know it. He is very expressive in general with his movements and vocal inflection, with excitement and sorrow alike conveyed unmistakably through his chocolatey brown eyes.
Pete doesn't have much of a fashion sense, preferring either plaid or solid-colored t-shirts paired with blue or black jeans and sneakers or work boots outside of school. For class, he usually opts for the summer uniform but sometimes chooses the spring or autumn uniform (the winter one is too warm for his liking). He always wears a string of wooden beads on his left wrist. It was made by his grandfather and used to belong to his grandmother, who wore it as a necklace. Their initials are carved into the clasp, encircled by a heart.
Personality: Pete's brother would describe him as a sensitive, overemotional dumbass. His sister would describe him as a friend to everyone, but with a disclaimer that his big heart and endless loyalty will be the death of him one day. Pete would shrug and agree with both reviews. He has a naturally friendly and easygoing disposition to everybody, being very non-judgmental of people different than him but slow to recognize when his presence is not desired. He cares deeply for those he considers friends and would listen without complaint for hours about their interests or about something that was bothering them. Though empathetic, he's not the best at detecting emotion, which leads to him asking “are you okay?” a lot, and accepting it at face value if told the affirmative. He also loves to joke around and tease people he's close to. There's no better example of Pete's large heart than his relationship with his rockruff, Luna, who is his little princess and does everything with him, including sharing his bed and all of his meals.
Although Pete doesn't offend easily over things like quips on his appearance, appetite, or opinions, his grades are a particular sore spot, and any insinuation that he isn't smart enough to be in the health track will upset him. His many failed midterms have made him aware that he's not the brightest student at Papas Academy, and he can sometimes be slow to understand something explained to him, especially if the words used are large or plentiful. Similarly, he's quite bad with nuance and can't take a hint. Your best bet to get a point across is to be as direct as possible - though at the same time he can be sensitive and easily stung by social rejection, making handling him a difficult affair at times. His opinion on most things can be very easily swayed, and he's quite easy to bribe (especially with food). He tends to jump to conclusions very quickly, which has led to him initiating fights over misunderstandings.
If you didn't know any better, you would think Pete lived in a constant state of hunger. He will eat just about anything at any time and is known to complain about being hungry even after he's just eaten. Food is a definite way into his heart. He uses the extra calories to exercise whenever he's given the opportunity. He claims it grounds him and makes him focus better, perhaps outside of the dopamine boost because it's something he's confident he's good at, which is why he's often found at the gym instead of the library before a big test.
Backstory: Pete was born and raised in a large farmhouse on the outskirts of Cortondo, Paldea, and grew up with his parents, older brother (Jack), younger sister (Mila), and his paternal grandparents. His siblings were both two years apart from him. His grandfather, who passed away when Pete was six, had built the house himself fifty years before Pete was born, and despite the creaking doors and patchwork repairs, Pete wouldn't have his childhood any other way. As far back as he can remember, he started chores at 6am every day, stopped for breakfast, more chores, lunch, homeschooling, more chores, and then after dinner he was free to do whatever he wanted. There was pretty much no task that was off limits, whether it be feeding the pokemon, plowing the fields, sheering the mareep, harvesting olives, clearing out pest nacli, or repairing fences. His grandmother, “Granny”, was a retired schoolteacher, so she was Pete's teacher his entire childhood. Of the three children, Pete always caught on the fastest and was also the only one to enjoy reading and learning in his spare time. In hindsight, it really wasn't much of a contest – he once found his brother caught halfway over the tauros fence by his pants after locking himself in and then failing to climb out, and his sister once asked him if the moon and the sun were the same thing... and also if they were behind or in front of the clouds. As a kid though, Pete assumed he must be a genius.
Pete's older brother Jack heckled him continuously growing up, picking up quickly on Pete's sensitivity and mocking him when he'd fuss over an injured mareep in the flock or shared his dinner with a sad lechonk to make it feel better. His parents mostly ignored this behavior, figuring they may as well let their older son toughen their younger one up a bit. Granny was the only one who showed him any sympathy, so she was always the one to dry his tears and reassure him that empathy was an admirable quality. The pokemon also responded more favorably to Pete, so as the years went on, he slowly took over more of those duties.
This is likely why the family's herding midday lycanroc, Stella, chose Pete to present with an egg when he was fourteen. The imminent new life took everyone by surprise, and they were more careful about letting Stella roam outside alone after that, but Pete took his responsibility as surrogate mother extremely seriously. Stella happily followed him around for weeks as he toted the egg with him through his daily chores-food-school ritual. One fateful day, the egg hatched into a little female rockruff which Pete named Luna, and the two were inseparable from that moment on.
In Pete's mid-teen years, Granny started to slow down tremendously. She could barely leave bed anymore, and Pete and Luna spent much of their free time talking to her, or helping her up to the dinner table or bathroom. One night when they were talking, Granny mentioned that he should consider going to the Papas Academy. Pete laughed at this notion at first – Granny was the only one in the family who had any sort of formal education, and he'd made peace with being a farmer for the rest of his life. But she insisted – he was different from his siblings – he had a special spark – he and Luna could do it together.
He began to look more seriously into education. It wasn't impossible, especially as his sister had taken over most of his chores when he shifted to looking after their grandmother, but he would never leave Granny, so he figured it would be far in his future when he finally got to go. One quiet night, he excitedly told his grandmother his decision that he would attend the academy in the future, just like she wanted him to. He vividly remembers her smiling softly and telling him how proud of him she was.
The next morning, they'd found Granny had quietly slipped away in her sleep. Pete was devastated but determined to follow through on his promise, and though his application to Papas Academy was littered with tear stains, he was accepted. Nobody else in his family really cared aside from being annoyed that his chores would be shifted onto them, but he knew his Granny was out there somewhere, watching with pride. He started wearing her necklace to keep a part of her with him at the academy, as it was small enough to fit onto his large wrist.
As excited as Pete was to attend the academy, he quickly realized his lack of prior formal education was going to come as a massive hurdle. Studying? Tests? He had no experience or strategies for such things. Luna was highly offended when the school officials insisted she needed to be in a ball during class, so Pete had to go and buy one for her (a luxury ball, of course). He fell behind in the curriculum very quickly, finding the pace impossible to keep up with, and failed every midterm he wrote. He also refused to use Luna in battle studies, which was basically an automatic fail since he didn't have any other pokemon. By the time he'd gotten over his embarrassment and sought help from Mr. Jacq, there wasn't enough time in the school year to make up the credits and was advised that he would need to retake all of his courses next year.
Maybe his grandmother was wrong about him. He was good at farmwork, he knew how to do it, and he'd certainly never failed a dozen tests on it – home was where he was meant to be. He and Luna stopped at the graveyard on the way home, but Pete froze at the entrance. He remembered the last words she ever said to him, and broke into a sobbing mess at the cemetery gate.
He couldn't tell Granny he was dropping out; she was the only one who ever believed in him. Luna gently tapped his leg and pointed her nose back to Mesagoza with a smile. He engulfed the little rockruff in a hug. Luna believed in him, too.
He consulted with Mr. Jacq, who worked with him over the summer to help get a kickstart on some concepts he was struggling with, and also advised that this year there would be new health classes offered. Pete even went so far as to go catch a nacli to use in battle studies instead of Luna. They were pest pokemon on the farm, as they were attracted to the crop fertilizer but left behind salt that would damage roots. Pete figured he'd never get attached to one of those little buggers, and even left the nacli without a nickname... but inevitably he grew attached, and even caught himself calling him “Nackles”.
Now Pete feels fully ready for the upcoming year and is prepared for the challenge this time. He's even honed in on a new Treasure Hunt goal. He'd heard rumors from Arven about the mythical herbs that were said to cure all ailments, and when confronted, informed Pete of their previous locations, but that the last of them were gone now. If Pete could even discover seeds of those herbs, he had the farming ability to grow them, and the health classes could give him the knowledge to use them. This was his chance to make a huge impact on the world, and he was going to take it!
Pokémon: Rockruff Nickname: Luna Personality: Full of energy and spirit, Luna could brighten a room in an instant with her bubbly, contagious happiness. Pete has spoiled her and she is used to being treated like a human – she will turn her nose up at pokemon treats and dislikes going in her pokeball. She loves to battle, but Pete still hates to use her to fight. Ability: Vital Spirit
Pokémon: Nacli Nickname: Nackles Personality: Nackles is quiet and very low maintenance, not even being able to eat, and much more content with his pokeball than Luna is. His favorite thing to do is sit in the dirt and sunbathe. Ability: Purifying Salt
Quirks:
• Pete has a standard 45lb barbell in his dorm room • During his last year at the academy, he dated a few different students, though none of the relationships lasted long. He's tried to stave off it this year to avoid more distractions and heartache • He is pretty new to using a rotom phone, only getting one a year ago, and still just has it in a standard case • He has never been outside of Paldea, or has even traveled much within Paldea • This is his playlist so far, but it's pretty small atm, more will be added later
Relationships: [Blank for now, but I'm very open to brainstorming possible current or future relationships!]
Crimson Flame
