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Apr. 30th, 2011 09:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lackingspark1. Player Information
Name (or internet handle): Maggie
Current characters in Bete Noire: Abe Starling (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
eternityunsaid, Desiree Monroe (shapechanged
2. Character Information
Name: Volkner Kaizen / Kaizen Denzi
Livejournal Username:lackingspark
Fandom: Pokemon - Live Action AU. The Pokémon world regions of Johto, Kanto, Hoenn, Orre and Fiore exist somewhere in the Pacific Ocean of our world, but have been sealed off and hidden. They are referred to as the Motherland, and the rest of the world is the Outside. Travel between the two is very tightly regulated. The blending of the game 'verse with the real world means the focus is shifted to be more realistic, so world-saving is not done by 10-year-olds, but instead by the grown-ups that were supposed to have been in charge all along.
Image: here
Reserve: http://magistrated.livejournal.com/1299.html?thread=1454099#t1454099
3. Character Information II
Age/Appearance: 23 years old. Volkner has blonde hair, dark eyes. His hair definitely makes him stand out in his world - his grandmother actually came from the Outside and he inherited her side of the gene pool with regards to his hair, at least. He's of average height, slender build, and typically seen slouching a little bit. He has no noticeable scars, but he does have a tattoo of a lightning bolt on his right shoulder blade (he got bored one day).
History: (NOTE: At this point in the world's history, Pokémon were known as demons. Pokéballs had only recently been invented and were only available to the wealthy, and were called apricorn balls.)
Volkner lived a relatively normal life, especially compared to Lance Blackthorn. ... Okay, so everyone's past is relatively normal compared to Lance Blackthorn, but that's beside the point.
Kaizen Denzi was born on November 27th, 1825, in Olivine City - a large city on the coast in the Johto region of the Motherland. His parents were strict, but that was fine with him. He rarely fell out of line or disobeyed, and if he did, it was so far away from their prying eyes that he never got in trouble for it.
At the time, the use of electricity via standalone generators instead of demonic assistance was not widespread - only the fabulously wealthy had mechanical power, and even then, it was spotty at best and hardly reliable. The Kaizen family was not lucky enough to have power, but that didn't stop Denzi from being fascinated by static, and the general concept of electricity. He often played with wires and metals he found lying around, finding ways to charge them (wool socks + carpet, etc) just to watch them spark. ... Such a productive childhood...
Though the threat of the Outside finding the Motherland had waned, the League remained a hugely popular sport, and potential trainers traveled all over to challenge gym leaders and possibly the Elite Four. Denzi followed the news constantly as a child, wondering if he'd ever get his turn. One day, at the age of 10, he was once again futzing around with static electricity just outside of the city. This attracted the attention of a pikachu. It was kind of cute, the way they both just sort of stared at each other, wondering what the other was doing, and it was even cuter that the pikachu followed him all the way home and insisted on staying with him. His parents let him keep it, already getting the feeling that one day, they'd end up letting him go off to challenge the gyms. As such, they began following the League news as well. They also wanted Denzi to keep his pikachu in one of the newly-developed things called "apricorn balls," devices for keeping demons. Denzi said no. It wasn't until his parents tried anyway and ended up getting shocked multiple times that they finally listened. It helped that they didn't feel like spending another miniature fortune on another apricorn ball just to get electrocuted again...
At the age of 14, Denzi had his first real battle. The Olivine Lighthouse was home to an ampharos, an electric type pokémon, affectionately named Amphy by the townspeople. It was Amphy's tail that lit the lighthouse beacon, and it was strong enough that no sailors out at sea were ever lost if they were anywhere remotely near Olivine. One night, Denzi and Pikachu snuck out of bed to explore the lighthouse after dark. Another kid had much the same idea, except he wanted to antagonize poor Amphy. Denzi chased after him. The kid had a demon of his own, what looked like a purple rat. Denzi had absolutely no experience with demon battles, but by simply following instinct and instructing Pikachu from the sidelines, they easily took down the other demon. The other kid returned home with his metaphorical tail between his legs, and Denzi regarded the encounter as a sign that he should more seriously consider the possibility of becoming a trainer, and probably a lot sooner than he'd originally thought.
Denzi began using his allowance money to purchase training supplies (he even bought himself an apricorn ball - just one), and what was left over was squirreled away for his eventual journey, whenever that would come to pass. By the time he was 15, he'd tamed one of each species of demon native to the area surrounding Olivine City. By 16, he still hadn't left the city, but everyone who knew him or his family was convincing him to go. His parents took some convincing, but by the next spring, they gave Denzi their blessing and sent him on his way.
He tamed and trained many demons throughout his travels, but he was especially attracted to electric types. He spent a full year, wandering from city to city, taking in the sights of the whole Johto region and pushing his demons to their limits in order to make them stronger. Denzi gained a reputation as "the kid with no badges even though he could easily have them". This was, of course, very true, but was also a handy way to identify him since he rarely gave his name to anyone he challenged. If ever bothered for a name, Denzi would introduce himself as "Volkner," a nickname his grandmother gave him, its origin from the Outside though it held the same meaning as his given name. In this time, he also grew close to his demons, believing them to be his friends and partners instead of just creatures used for sport. He honestly believed that was the difference between a good trainer and a pitiful one.
A few days after his 17th birthday, Denzi finally got bored enough to travel through Johto again, and claim each League gym badge along the way. What was impressive was that though this was a rather impulse decision, he still managed to absolutely obliterate the competition and quickly move from city to city, rarely staying in the same place for longer than a full day. Even more impressive was the fact that this whole ordeal took no more than three months, including time spent traveling, training, resting and preparing. In February of 1843, Denzi obtained the eighth and final badge. The next League Tournament, he absolutely electrocuted (no, seriously) his challengers and came in first place. This gave him the much-coveted honor to challenge the Elite Four and possibly be crowned a champion. ... Denzi apparently needed a month to figure out if he wanted to do this or not.
He was all set to challenge the Elite Four, but before he could make the first definitive move to do so, he was called forward by the League with an offer. In the Hoenn region, the gym leader in the city of Mauville was suddenly forced to retire due to a grave injury that left him unable to continue his duty. Since Denzi pretty much decimated the competition and had already greatly impressed the League, the position was his to take. He agreed. When told he would have to pick a single type to specialize in, he didn't even flinch - electric types had always been his go-to, why would that change now? And so, he moved to Mauville to become a gym leader at the age of 17 - one of the youngest gym leaders ever appointed.
Once he arrived, he was introduced to the Elite Four of the region. Though the majority of them didn't make much of a lasting impression to Denzi, one of them did: Oba, a fire-user, a laid-back guy and a powerful trainer. Denzi and Oba immediately hit it off and quickly became best friends. Denzi's strongest team could very nearly overtake Oba's, proving Denzi to be a considerable force to be reckoned with despite "only" being a gym leader.
For a couple of years, life carried on smoothly. Uneventfully. ... Boring. The lack of a true challenge was beginning to eat away at Denzi, and it came to a point that he would spend most of his days anywhere but the gym, moping and whining and basically acting like a bored child with nothing to do. The winter months were the worst, when no one in their right mind traveled, let alone challenged the gym leaders. The following spring, Denzi was so disillusioned and godawfully bored that he began giving away gym badges without requiring trainers to challenge him - he already knew he could beat them, and he didn't care. Oba caught wind of this. He knew the League would take serious action against Denzi if they found out, so he devised a plan to light a fire under his friend's ass, so to speak. He tracked down a particularly headstrong trainer, one who intended to fight in the League tournament and progress all the way to the top (or, well, so the kid hoped). When the trainer made it to Denzi's door, he refused to accept the badge until they had a proper fight. At first, Denzi refused. After a few days of incessant knocking at his door, practically being stalked around town and basically having the living hell annoyed out of him at every turn, Denzi caved and gave the damn kid a fight. Much to his surprise... he lost, but only barely. He handed over the badge, and finally snapped out of his depressive funk. Clearly, there were strong trainers who could offer up exciting fights, he just had to wait for them to actually show up. The waiting was probably going to kill him in the meanwhile, but... well, you take what you can get.
Of course, all of that playing around with static electricity was certainly not forgotten while he went about becoming a trainer. Denzi had already spent most of his boring waiting periods playing around with whatever electrical generators and circuits he was allowed anywhere near, and although he was no scientist, he did seem to have this intuition as to how exactly electricity worked. Add some self-study to it, and the man could have chosen a different career path if he ever really wanted to. He put a lot of his free time into working with scientists to electrically renovate various public locations in the town, and the city flourished for it. Still, he thought that there should be a simpler way to do all of this... And so, at the age of 22, after working with top scientists, engineers and officials, Denzi aided in the drafting of plans for a self-sustaining generator - one powerful enough to supply electricity for all of Mauville. It would be quite an undertaking, and would certainly take years to build, let alone to perfect. However, in March of 1849, construction began. However, the evening before the groundbreaking, Denzi went for a walk and must have made a seriously wrong turn somewhere...
Personality: Volkner is a relatively calm individual, known for keeping his cool under pressure. He's quiet, a bit antisocial, but he isn't mean unless you give him a reason to be so. That isn't to say he's some little happy ray of sunshine that's only quiet because he's misunderstood - he's not. People tend to peg him as proud, yet aloof, and they are absolutely right. He's capable of smiling, unlike some other lineface-type characters, but his default mood isn't "happy" or "content" so much as it is "neutral" or "I'm waiting to be impressed". He can be a liiiittle bit terse when dealing with people, especially if he doesn't like them. He also has a bad habit of deciding right away if someone is worth his time or not, and it takes a lot for someone "not worth his time" to convince him otherwise. It's not that he's uncomfortable in social situations, he just... more than likely doesn't care enough to keep them going.
So yes, he's a bit of a jerk, but he doesn't let those thought processes show if he can help it (or unless he means to). He's a gym leader, after all, and it wouldn't do for a leader to act like an absolute bastard to everyone who shows up to challenge him. Besides, he loves a good challenge. If anything can make him smile, it's the rush of a good battle, or at least the energy and stimulation that comes from solving a problem or doing something that takes a lot of thought, persistence and skill. He's very driven by boredom, or rather, the desire to drive off boredom at all costs. He is the kind of person that doesn't handle boredom well. It depresses him, which of course makes it worse, and he often just spirals downward from there until he's too unmotivated, bored and depressed to leave his house. Sigh... Knocking him out of this funk takes a bit of effort, but it's possible. Just give him a fight worth fighting.
He would be ambitious, can be ambitious, but that usually requires making decisions in a timely manner - something he's not all that great with (it took him months of inner debating to finally decide to challenge the gyms). If there's something he wants enough to work for it, he'll pull out all the stops. It just may take him a while to decide he really does want it. Generally, he's passive and content with whatever comes his way up until the point that either 1) he gets bored with it and needs a change, or 2) someone/thing pushes him into action for the sake of protection/duty/insert other important thing here. He is more than capable of excelling in a leadership role, after all.
Volkner is incredibly loyal to the League (even though there was that one time he got depressed enough to break the rules, but shhhh, only one person found out about that~), and even more loyal to his friends and family. He takes direction from his superiors well. There would perhaps be trouble if said direction compromised his loyalty to his family/friends or his love for his team of demons, but that has never happened and way, way more than likely never will.
Basically, Volkner's got a good heart, it's just his attitude that could use some work. He's much like the smart, quiet kid on the playground that gets picked on every once in a while - he'll roll with the punches, until you punch him hard enough, at which point God help you 'cause this kid's a fighter. Win his trust, and you've got a good ally and a great friend on your side - just make sure you're worth his time. Now, if only he didn't get bored so easily...
Sexual Preferences/Orientation: Sex is fun, but relationships are boring. No, Volkner tried the dating scene for a while, but he found relationships to be all work and very little play, meaning he really had no interest. It got to the point that he refused to go out looking for someone, but should someone else come his way, then maybe he'd go for it... if they didn't seem like just another face in the crowd, anyway. Due to time period, thoughts of homosexuality don't exactly cross Volkner's mind, except in the context of "that's something you don't do." As such, we'll consider him straight as an arrow unless/until(?) proven otherwise.
Powers: Volkner has no supernatural abilities to speak of. He is just as squishily human as you or me. He's pretty good in a fight though, even without his pokémon - he took fencing lessons while growing up and continued even after becoming a gym leader. He also knows the relative basics behind throwing a decent punch. Still, he's going to get his ass kicked in a fight on his own against anyone who isn't just human...
He is, however, arriving in Bete Noire with two of his prized "demons":
* Raichu - a large, electrically-inclined rat with an extremely long tail. When standing on her hind legs, Raichu is roughly 2ft. 5in. tall. She's ridiculously speedy (and deceptively speedy, given her size). Her typical battle tactic is to get in quickly, shock the crap out of the enemy and then get back out again, rinse, repeat. However, when not in battle, she's a bit on the lazy side~. She constantly needs to cycle her electricity, so to get rid of the old, she will often use her tail to zap the ground. To recharge, she simply extends her tail upward, absorbing new charge from the air.
* Luxray - a four-legged demon that looks like a 4ft. tall, black-and-blue-furred lion. He's nowhere near as speedy as Raichu, but he makes up for it with powerful electric attacks as well as physical strength alone. Luxray was actually the result of a breeding experiment that did not at all go as planned - as such, he is the only one of his kind. The breeder was an uncle of his, and Volkner was there when the baby shinx was born. Since attempts to breed another were unsuccessful, they let the demon go with Volkner since the two became close during Volkner's stay. (Scientists often approach Volkner about him with oodles of questions and requests to study him. He ignores most of them, answers some questions, but never lets them take him.) He's aggressive, territorial and behaves much like you would expect a typical big cat to behave, but is well-behaved so long as he's near his trainer. He is also fiercely protective of Volkner. (Here's a less vicious picture...)
And of course, since both are purely electric type, any sort of ground affinity can take them out pretty easily.
Reason for playing: Volkner has always been a challenge to play, even strictly Pokémon-only settings. With this AU though, I get to try for something I've never done with him before. (and I definitely have Pur to thank for that!) Not only does he have more depth than the canon version (since you only get to interact with him so much, really) but he has more purpose and more duties to adhere to. It's enough to keep him from instantly becoming bored, which will definitely help me keep him going. Besides, who can stay bored in Bete Noire~~? Things will constantly be thrown at him and I want to see what comes of it. I look forward to putting Volkner in a darker, far more serious setting than traditional Pokémon canon allows for.
On a more shallow note, I absolutely adore electricity/lightning/etc, and this is a great way to get to toy around with that sort of nonsense.
4. Original Character Supplement
World History:
Character History:
5. Samples
First-Person: In which a girl gets electrocuted. ... heh.
Third-Person: The sun was already low in the sky when Volkner finally left the gym for the day, Raichu and Luxray at his side, like always. He'd fought four hopeful trainers today. That was three more than he usually faced on a daily basis. Even so, not a single one had proven to be a challenge. He wasn't surprised. At this point, he wasn't even disappointed. This was pretty much the norm, and would continue to be until someone worthwhile came around. Usually, that was preceded by rumors of things that worthwhile person was supposedly capable of. Considering he hadn't heard anything special about anyone yet... he'd be waiting a while.
Not feeling like going immediately home, he followed the road leading out of town, hands in his pockets and mind wandering even more aimlessly than he was. He wasn't sure how much time had passed, but as the sky's reddish hue began to fade into darkness, the road no longer looked familiar. Wary, he turned, intending to head back to Mauville. Still, his surroundings seemed different. Different than the way he'd initially come, which made no sense considering he'd never left the road to begin with...
Even his demons were unsettled by this. Though Luxray was always right by his master's side, even Raichu was sticking close to Volkner, barely leaving an inch of room between the two of them as she hung closely behind his leg. She even whined a little, worried. "It's okay," he tried to reassure her, though his tone fell a little flat, "maybe we'll see home over this hill."
They didn't. What stood before them in the distance was a grand city, one taller and far more fascinating than any he'd seen before. The sun setting behind it provided an almost sinister backdrop, the dark buildings standing against a deep red glow. It was not Mauville, and it wasn't even somewhere he knew. And yet, he just knew that exploring would be far more interesting than returning back home, for now.
"Go on ahead," he nodded, addressing Luxray, "and we'll follow. Stay on guard." The demon obediently ran ahead. He smirked. If they didn't make it back to Mauville by dawn, they might send someone to find them. Either way, he would return eventually - and soon - so why not take this chance to see something new?
Third-Person #2: Fire. Everywhere. The marketplace was blazing, the flames quickly spreading to nearby buildings and threatening to creep even closer to the people's homes. The town had come together as well as they could, demons with the power of water attempting to put a stop to the billowing inferno before it could do more damage. All of this... because someone was a sore loser. Volkner was not going to stand for it. He left the firefighting for the others - he would return to help with it later. For now, he had a psychotic trainer to put down.
It didn't take long to find him - hell, Volkner recognized the kid when he saw him. When they'd fought the day before, Volkner could tell something was off about him. The brutal way he handled his demons, the shouting, the air of self-entitlement... Volkner should have taken the kid's threat of revenge as something more serious than a rematch. No matter. This would be dealt with now. He had his three strongest demons behind him: Raichu, Luxray and Jolteon. All three were ready.
Volkner had no time to attempt reason, as the kid spotted him and immediately barked out orders to his little fire-starters. The charmeleon turned his fiery breath on Raichu, who quickly dodged and dashed about to get in closer and do some damage of her own. The kid had a flareon as well, and as it headed toward the team, Jolteon took it upon himself to stop him short. Two demon battles at once... Volkner was fortunate that he barely needed to say anything to his two. They knew what to do. Bloody as the whole ordeal was, there was no getting out of this one.
"Call them off," Volkner demanded, angry as hell and not caring to watch his tone. The trainer wasn't listening. With a horrible laugh, he pointed at Volkner. Something behind him shifted, darted out of the shadows - a houndoom. And it was running straight at him. Not at his demons, at him. Volkner braced himself--
Static charged the air and claws met bone as Luxray lunged in defense of his master. They tumbled over each other and onto the ground, biting and clawing, fire and electricity flying as they viciously fought. Volkner could only watch as the two beasts tore into each other. Luxray attempted to show mercy. His canine opponent did not. At the first opening, it darted past Luxray, intent to carry out its trainers orders to take down the gym leader. It pounced. Volkner threw his arms over his head and prepared for the worst, his back colliding with the ground as the dog pinned him there.
Then, he heard a yelp, felt the weight of the creature suddenly vanish. He quickly stood, looked to his left, and saw Luxray standing over the fallen houndoom. His electricity had paralyzed it, and his fangs had made quick work of ripping its throat open. He really had been left with no other choice, but that didn't make the situation any less horrible, less gruesome...
The kid was already running, apparently not caring at all that his remaining two demons weren't following. Volkner knew he wouldn't get far. The police had all roads blocked. The kid would face justice, but his demons... the charmeleon and the flareon would live, but Volkner knew the death of the houndoom was on his hands. Self-defense, he reminded himself. Though it excused it, it didn't justify it, and he didn't feel any better about it. What twisted mind would use their demons' abilities to destroy cities? Attack people? He'd heard of it, and he'd always known the potential, but he'd never seen it first-hand until now. He never wanted to see it again.
Name (or internet handle): Maggie
Current characters in Bete Noire: Abe Starling (
eternityunsaid, Desiree Monroe (shapechanged2. Character Information
Name: Volkner Kaizen / Kaizen Denzi
Livejournal Username:
lackingspark Fandom: Pokemon - Live Action AU. The Pokémon world regions of Johto, Kanto, Hoenn, Orre and Fiore exist somewhere in the Pacific Ocean of our world, but have been sealed off and hidden. They are referred to as the Motherland, and the rest of the world is the Outside. Travel between the two is very tightly regulated. The blending of the game 'verse with the real world means the focus is shifted to be more realistic, so world-saving is not done by 10-year-olds, but instead by the grown-ups that were supposed to have been in charge all along.
Image: here
Reserve: http://magistrated.livejournal.com/1299.html?thread=1454099#t1454099
3. Character Information II
Age/Appearance: 23 years old. Volkner has blonde hair, dark eyes. His hair definitely makes him stand out in his world - his grandmother actually came from the Outside and he inherited her side of the gene pool with regards to his hair, at least. He's of average height, slender build, and typically seen slouching a little bit. He has no noticeable scars, but he does have a tattoo of a lightning bolt on his right shoulder blade (he got bored one day).
History: (NOTE: At this point in the world's history, Pokémon were known as demons. Pokéballs had only recently been invented and were only available to the wealthy, and were called apricorn balls.)
Volkner lived a relatively normal life, especially compared to Lance Blackthorn. ... Okay, so everyone's past is relatively normal compared to Lance Blackthorn, but that's beside the point.
Kaizen Denzi was born on November 27th, 1825, in Olivine City - a large city on the coast in the Johto region of the Motherland. His parents were strict, but that was fine with him. He rarely fell out of line or disobeyed, and if he did, it was so far away from their prying eyes that he never got in trouble for it.
At the time, the use of electricity via standalone generators instead of demonic assistance was not widespread - only the fabulously wealthy had mechanical power, and even then, it was spotty at best and hardly reliable. The Kaizen family was not lucky enough to have power, but that didn't stop Denzi from being fascinated by static, and the general concept of electricity. He often played with wires and metals he found lying around, finding ways to charge them (wool socks + carpet, etc) just to watch them spark. ... Such a productive childhood...
Though the threat of the Outside finding the Motherland had waned, the League remained a hugely popular sport, and potential trainers traveled all over to challenge gym leaders and possibly the Elite Four. Denzi followed the news constantly as a child, wondering if he'd ever get his turn. One day, at the age of 10, he was once again futzing around with static electricity just outside of the city. This attracted the attention of a pikachu. It was kind of cute, the way they both just sort of stared at each other, wondering what the other was doing, and it was even cuter that the pikachu followed him all the way home and insisted on staying with him. His parents let him keep it, already getting the feeling that one day, they'd end up letting him go off to challenge the gyms. As such, they began following the League news as well. They also wanted Denzi to keep his pikachu in one of the newly-developed things called "apricorn balls," devices for keeping demons. Denzi said no. It wasn't until his parents tried anyway and ended up getting shocked multiple times that they finally listened. It helped that they didn't feel like spending another miniature fortune on another apricorn ball just to get electrocuted again...
At the age of 14, Denzi had his first real battle. The Olivine Lighthouse was home to an ampharos, an electric type pokémon, affectionately named Amphy by the townspeople. It was Amphy's tail that lit the lighthouse beacon, and it was strong enough that no sailors out at sea were ever lost if they were anywhere remotely near Olivine. One night, Denzi and Pikachu snuck out of bed to explore the lighthouse after dark. Another kid had much the same idea, except he wanted to antagonize poor Amphy. Denzi chased after him. The kid had a demon of his own, what looked like a purple rat. Denzi had absolutely no experience with demon battles, but by simply following instinct and instructing Pikachu from the sidelines, they easily took down the other demon. The other kid returned home with his metaphorical tail between his legs, and Denzi regarded the encounter as a sign that he should more seriously consider the possibility of becoming a trainer, and probably a lot sooner than he'd originally thought.
Denzi began using his allowance money to purchase training supplies (he even bought himself an apricorn ball - just one), and what was left over was squirreled away for his eventual journey, whenever that would come to pass. By the time he was 15, he'd tamed one of each species of demon native to the area surrounding Olivine City. By 16, he still hadn't left the city, but everyone who knew him or his family was convincing him to go. His parents took some convincing, but by the next spring, they gave Denzi their blessing and sent him on his way.
He tamed and trained many demons throughout his travels, but he was especially attracted to electric types. He spent a full year, wandering from city to city, taking in the sights of the whole Johto region and pushing his demons to their limits in order to make them stronger. Denzi gained a reputation as "the kid with no badges even though he could easily have them". This was, of course, very true, but was also a handy way to identify him since he rarely gave his name to anyone he challenged. If ever bothered for a name, Denzi would introduce himself as "Volkner," a nickname his grandmother gave him, its origin from the Outside though it held the same meaning as his given name. In this time, he also grew close to his demons, believing them to be his friends and partners instead of just creatures used for sport. He honestly believed that was the difference between a good trainer and a pitiful one.
A few days after his 17th birthday, Denzi finally got bored enough to travel through Johto again, and claim each League gym badge along the way. What was impressive was that though this was a rather impulse decision, he still managed to absolutely obliterate the competition and quickly move from city to city, rarely staying in the same place for longer than a full day. Even more impressive was the fact that this whole ordeal took no more than three months, including time spent traveling, training, resting and preparing. In February of 1843, Denzi obtained the eighth and final badge. The next League Tournament, he absolutely electrocuted (no, seriously) his challengers and came in first place. This gave him the much-coveted honor to challenge the Elite Four and possibly be crowned a champion. ... Denzi apparently needed a month to figure out if he wanted to do this or not.
He was all set to challenge the Elite Four, but before he could make the first definitive move to do so, he was called forward by the League with an offer. In the Hoenn region, the gym leader in the city of Mauville was suddenly forced to retire due to a grave injury that left him unable to continue his duty. Since Denzi pretty much decimated the competition and had already greatly impressed the League, the position was his to take. He agreed. When told he would have to pick a single type to specialize in, he didn't even flinch - electric types had always been his go-to, why would that change now? And so, he moved to Mauville to become a gym leader at the age of 17 - one of the youngest gym leaders ever appointed.
Once he arrived, he was introduced to the Elite Four of the region. Though the majority of them didn't make much of a lasting impression to Denzi, one of them did: Oba, a fire-user, a laid-back guy and a powerful trainer. Denzi and Oba immediately hit it off and quickly became best friends. Denzi's strongest team could very nearly overtake Oba's, proving Denzi to be a considerable force to be reckoned with despite "only" being a gym leader.
For a couple of years, life carried on smoothly. Uneventfully. ... Boring. The lack of a true challenge was beginning to eat away at Denzi, and it came to a point that he would spend most of his days anywhere but the gym, moping and whining and basically acting like a bored child with nothing to do. The winter months were the worst, when no one in their right mind traveled, let alone challenged the gym leaders. The following spring, Denzi was so disillusioned and godawfully bored that he began giving away gym badges without requiring trainers to challenge him - he already knew he could beat them, and he didn't care. Oba caught wind of this. He knew the League would take serious action against Denzi if they found out, so he devised a plan to light a fire under his friend's ass, so to speak. He tracked down a particularly headstrong trainer, one who intended to fight in the League tournament and progress all the way to the top (or, well, so the kid hoped). When the trainer made it to Denzi's door, he refused to accept the badge until they had a proper fight. At first, Denzi refused. After a few days of incessant knocking at his door, practically being stalked around town and basically having the living hell annoyed out of him at every turn, Denzi caved and gave the damn kid a fight. Much to his surprise... he lost, but only barely. He handed over the badge, and finally snapped out of his depressive funk. Clearly, there were strong trainers who could offer up exciting fights, he just had to wait for them to actually show up. The waiting was probably going to kill him in the meanwhile, but... well, you take what you can get.
Of course, all of that playing around with static electricity was certainly not forgotten while he went about becoming a trainer. Denzi had already spent most of his boring waiting periods playing around with whatever electrical generators and circuits he was allowed anywhere near, and although he was no scientist, he did seem to have this intuition as to how exactly electricity worked. Add some self-study to it, and the man could have chosen a different career path if he ever really wanted to. He put a lot of his free time into working with scientists to electrically renovate various public locations in the town, and the city flourished for it. Still, he thought that there should be a simpler way to do all of this... And so, at the age of 22, after working with top scientists, engineers and officials, Denzi aided in the drafting of plans for a self-sustaining generator - one powerful enough to supply electricity for all of Mauville. It would be quite an undertaking, and would certainly take years to build, let alone to perfect. However, in March of 1849, construction began. However, the evening before the groundbreaking, Denzi went for a walk and must have made a seriously wrong turn somewhere...
Personality: Volkner is a relatively calm individual, known for keeping his cool under pressure. He's quiet, a bit antisocial, but he isn't mean unless you give him a reason to be so. That isn't to say he's some little happy ray of sunshine that's only quiet because he's misunderstood - he's not. People tend to peg him as proud, yet aloof, and they are absolutely right. He's capable of smiling, unlike some other lineface-type characters, but his default mood isn't "happy" or "content" so much as it is "neutral" or "I'm waiting to be impressed". He can be a liiiittle bit terse when dealing with people, especially if he doesn't like them. He also has a bad habit of deciding right away if someone is worth his time or not, and it takes a lot for someone "not worth his time" to convince him otherwise. It's not that he's uncomfortable in social situations, he just... more than likely doesn't care enough to keep them going.
So yes, he's a bit of a jerk, but he doesn't let those thought processes show if he can help it (or unless he means to). He's a gym leader, after all, and it wouldn't do for a leader to act like an absolute bastard to everyone who shows up to challenge him. Besides, he loves a good challenge. If anything can make him smile, it's the rush of a good battle, or at least the energy and stimulation that comes from solving a problem or doing something that takes a lot of thought, persistence and skill. He's very driven by boredom, or rather, the desire to drive off boredom at all costs. He is the kind of person that doesn't handle boredom well. It depresses him, which of course makes it worse, and he often just spirals downward from there until he's too unmotivated, bored and depressed to leave his house. Sigh... Knocking him out of this funk takes a bit of effort, but it's possible. Just give him a fight worth fighting.
He would be ambitious, can be ambitious, but that usually requires making decisions in a timely manner - something he's not all that great with (it took him months of inner debating to finally decide to challenge the gyms). If there's something he wants enough to work for it, he'll pull out all the stops. It just may take him a while to decide he really does want it. Generally, he's passive and content with whatever comes his way up until the point that either 1) he gets bored with it and needs a change, or 2) someone/thing pushes him into action for the sake of protection/duty/insert other important thing here. He is more than capable of excelling in a leadership role, after all.
Volkner is incredibly loyal to the League (even though there was that one time he got depressed enough to break the rules, but shhhh, only one person found out about that~), and even more loyal to his friends and family. He takes direction from his superiors well. There would perhaps be trouble if said direction compromised his loyalty to his family/friends or his love for his team of demons, but that has never happened and way, way more than likely never will.
Basically, Volkner's got a good heart, it's just his attitude that could use some work. He's much like the smart, quiet kid on the playground that gets picked on every once in a while - he'll roll with the punches, until you punch him hard enough, at which point God help you 'cause this kid's a fighter. Win his trust, and you've got a good ally and a great friend on your side - just make sure you're worth his time. Now, if only he didn't get bored so easily...
Sexual Preferences/Orientation: Sex is fun, but relationships are boring. No, Volkner tried the dating scene for a while, but he found relationships to be all work and very little play, meaning he really had no interest. It got to the point that he refused to go out looking for someone, but should someone else come his way, then maybe he'd go for it... if they didn't seem like just another face in the crowd, anyway. Due to time period, thoughts of homosexuality don't exactly cross Volkner's mind, except in the context of "that's something you don't do." As such, we'll consider him straight as an arrow unless/until(?) proven otherwise.
Powers: Volkner has no supernatural abilities to speak of. He is just as squishily human as you or me. He's pretty good in a fight though, even without his pokémon - he took fencing lessons while growing up and continued even after becoming a gym leader. He also knows the relative basics behind throwing a decent punch. Still, he's going to get his ass kicked in a fight on his own against anyone who isn't just human...
He is, however, arriving in Bete Noire with two of his prized "demons":
* Raichu - a large, electrically-inclined rat with an extremely long tail. When standing on her hind legs, Raichu is roughly 2ft. 5in. tall. She's ridiculously speedy (and deceptively speedy, given her size). Her typical battle tactic is to get in quickly, shock the crap out of the enemy and then get back out again, rinse, repeat. However, when not in battle, she's a bit on the lazy side~. She constantly needs to cycle her electricity, so to get rid of the old, she will often use her tail to zap the ground. To recharge, she simply extends her tail upward, absorbing new charge from the air.
* Luxray - a four-legged demon that looks like a 4ft. tall, black-and-blue-furred lion. He's nowhere near as speedy as Raichu, but he makes up for it with powerful electric attacks as well as physical strength alone. Luxray was actually the result of a breeding experiment that did not at all go as planned - as such, he is the only one of his kind. The breeder was an uncle of his, and Volkner was there when the baby shinx was born. Since attempts to breed another were unsuccessful, they let the demon go with Volkner since the two became close during Volkner's stay. (Scientists often approach Volkner about him with oodles of questions and requests to study him. He ignores most of them, answers some questions, but never lets them take him.) He's aggressive, territorial and behaves much like you would expect a typical big cat to behave, but is well-behaved so long as he's near his trainer. He is also fiercely protective of Volkner. (Here's a less vicious picture...)
And of course, since both are purely electric type, any sort of ground affinity can take them out pretty easily.
Reason for playing: Volkner has always been a challenge to play, even strictly Pokémon-only settings. With this AU though, I get to try for something I've never done with him before. (and I definitely have Pur to thank for that!) Not only does he have more depth than the canon version (since you only get to interact with him so much, really) but he has more purpose and more duties to adhere to. It's enough to keep him from instantly becoming bored, which will definitely help me keep him going. Besides, who can stay bored in Bete Noire~~? Things will constantly be thrown at him and I want to see what comes of it. I look forward to putting Volkner in a darker, far more serious setting than traditional Pokémon canon allows for.
On a more shallow note, I absolutely adore electricity/lightning/etc, and this is a great way to get to toy around with that sort of nonsense.
World History:
Character History:
5. Samples
First-Person: In which a girl gets electrocuted. ... heh.
Third-Person: The sun was already low in the sky when Volkner finally left the gym for the day, Raichu and Luxray at his side, like always. He'd fought four hopeful trainers today. That was three more than he usually faced on a daily basis. Even so, not a single one had proven to be a challenge. He wasn't surprised. At this point, he wasn't even disappointed. This was pretty much the norm, and would continue to be until someone worthwhile came around. Usually, that was preceded by rumors of things that worthwhile person was supposedly capable of. Considering he hadn't heard anything special about anyone yet... he'd be waiting a while.
Not feeling like going immediately home, he followed the road leading out of town, hands in his pockets and mind wandering even more aimlessly than he was. He wasn't sure how much time had passed, but as the sky's reddish hue began to fade into darkness, the road no longer looked familiar. Wary, he turned, intending to head back to Mauville. Still, his surroundings seemed different. Different than the way he'd initially come, which made no sense considering he'd never left the road to begin with...
Even his demons were unsettled by this. Though Luxray was always right by his master's side, even Raichu was sticking close to Volkner, barely leaving an inch of room between the two of them as she hung closely behind his leg. She even whined a little, worried. "It's okay," he tried to reassure her, though his tone fell a little flat, "maybe we'll see home over this hill."
They didn't. What stood before them in the distance was a grand city, one taller and far more fascinating than any he'd seen before. The sun setting behind it provided an almost sinister backdrop, the dark buildings standing against a deep red glow. It was not Mauville, and it wasn't even somewhere he knew. And yet, he just knew that exploring would be far more interesting than returning back home, for now.
"Go on ahead," he nodded, addressing Luxray, "and we'll follow. Stay on guard." The demon obediently ran ahead. He smirked. If they didn't make it back to Mauville by dawn, they might send someone to find them. Either way, he would return eventually - and soon - so why not take this chance to see something new?
Third-Person #2: Fire. Everywhere. The marketplace was blazing, the flames quickly spreading to nearby buildings and threatening to creep even closer to the people's homes. The town had come together as well as they could, demons with the power of water attempting to put a stop to the billowing inferno before it could do more damage. All of this... because someone was a sore loser. Volkner was not going to stand for it. He left the firefighting for the others - he would return to help with it later. For now, he had a psychotic trainer to put down.
It didn't take long to find him - hell, Volkner recognized the kid when he saw him. When they'd fought the day before, Volkner could tell something was off about him. The brutal way he handled his demons, the shouting, the air of self-entitlement... Volkner should have taken the kid's threat of revenge as something more serious than a rematch. No matter. This would be dealt with now. He had his three strongest demons behind him: Raichu, Luxray and Jolteon. All three were ready.
Volkner had no time to attempt reason, as the kid spotted him and immediately barked out orders to his little fire-starters. The charmeleon turned his fiery breath on Raichu, who quickly dodged and dashed about to get in closer and do some damage of her own. The kid had a flareon as well, and as it headed toward the team, Jolteon took it upon himself to stop him short. Two demon battles at once... Volkner was fortunate that he barely needed to say anything to his two. They knew what to do. Bloody as the whole ordeal was, there was no getting out of this one.
"Call them off," Volkner demanded, angry as hell and not caring to watch his tone. The trainer wasn't listening. With a horrible laugh, he pointed at Volkner. Something behind him shifted, darted out of the shadows - a houndoom. And it was running straight at him. Not at his demons, at him. Volkner braced himself--
Static charged the air and claws met bone as Luxray lunged in defense of his master. They tumbled over each other and onto the ground, biting and clawing, fire and electricity flying as they viciously fought. Volkner could only watch as the two beasts tore into each other. Luxray attempted to show mercy. His canine opponent did not. At the first opening, it darted past Luxray, intent to carry out its trainers orders to take down the gym leader. It pounced. Volkner threw his arms over his head and prepared for the worst, his back colliding with the ground as the dog pinned him there.
Then, he heard a yelp, felt the weight of the creature suddenly vanish. He quickly stood, looked to his left, and saw Luxray standing over the fallen houndoom. His electricity had paralyzed it, and his fangs had made quick work of ripping its throat open. He really had been left with no other choice, but that didn't make the situation any less horrible, less gruesome...
The kid was already running, apparently not caring at all that his remaining two demons weren't following. Volkner knew he wouldn't get far. The police had all roads blocked. The kid would face justice, but his demons... the charmeleon and the flareon would live, but Volkner knew the death of the houndoom was on his hands. Self-defense, he reminded himself. Though it excused it, it didn't justify it, and he didn't feel any better about it. What twisted mind would use their demons' abilities to destroy cities? Attack people? He'd heard of it, and he'd always known the potential, but he'd never seen it first-hand until now. He never wanted to see it again.
