Cerealia App

[dozingdaisy]

Applicant Info
 
◎ Name:  Ax
◎ Journal:  voidbearer
◎ Contact:  PM this journal, Plurk @ AxiomaticGrue
 
Character Info
 
◎ Character's Name:  Erika
◎ Character's Canon: Pokemon (Gameverse)
◎ Character's Age: 24
◎ Character's PB:  Erika has a canon appearance and I’ll be using art, but as the form requests it here are her characteristics:
Hair: Black
Eyes: Brown
Height: 5’4”
Weight: 120ish
 
◎ Canon Point:  Post Pokemon World Tournament (Black/White 2)
◎ Background/History:  Erika is a resident of the Pokemon World, which is as one might expect, the central world for the canon.  It's divided into multiple regions, though the one this character is from and the focus of the app is Kanto.
 
It’s a planet inhabited by a variety of strange and often mystical creatures known as Pokemon.  These creatures are much like real world animals, and many of them resemble animals that'd be found in the mundane world.  They are incapable of speech beyond simple vocalizations of their species' name and various animal-like sounds (Miltank goes Moo, Mareep goes Baa, Growlithe goes Bark, but what does the Vulpix say?).  These creatures are often capable of evolving, very suddenly changing forms into something more powerful, and usually larger.  This generally occurs when a Pokemon gains a certain amount of combat experience, but other factors can induce evolution such as exposure to mystical stones, moonlight, being around powerful magnets or other stranger things.  Because of this, Pokemon seem to have formed a symbiotic relationship with humankind, being trained by humans and working with them.
 
Much of the world is built on this relationship, as Pokemon's oftentimes superhuman talents afford humanity opportunities for advancement (particularly in terms of technology) that they wouldn't otherwise have had.  Many people train and live with Pokemon, keeping them as friends, battle partners, companions, etc, and the relationship is oftentimes quite deep, going well beyond that of simple pets.  Trainer's bonds with their Pokemon are very important, and the bedrock of much of the world's culture.  There are people who exploit and use Pokemon cruelly but they're generally regarded as criminals and outlaws.
 
Typical, Trainers begin their Pokemon Journey at around age 10, leaving home with a Starter Pokemon (or pair of them) and going out to see the world and capture, train, and experience life as a Trainer.  This is extremely common, and seems to point to the world being considered generally "safe" despite the presence of potentially deadly monsters around every bend.  Crime is generally pretty low, and people seem generally helpful, which makes sense in a game world inspired by the idea of working together in harmony with nature.
 
Pokemon training is a very, very popular activity, and is presided over by a regional League.  The Pokemon League is similar to any organizing body for professional sports but seems to hold a bit more power than most given the significance of Pokemon training within the world.  The League manages competitions and each region hosts 8 Gyms, an Elite 4, and 1 Champion.  It's these individuals who are responsible for guiding and gating young trainers on their journey to be the very best. 
 
Gym Leaders are expected to oversee a gym, help maintain their city, and to test trainers in fair competitions.  Leaders who are bested give the trainer a badge, and with all 8 badges a trainer is permitted to challenge the Elite 4 and the reigning Champion.  Leaders often have students, trainers that work in the gym and study that Leader's methods. Leaders are expected to specialize in a single type, and while they may possess Pokemon of varying types, Gym Matches are regulated in such a way that they must use specific Pokemon of variable strength.  It's shown throughout the games that these Leaders have much stronger Pokemon than they use in Gym matches, or that there is a technology in place to suppress a Pokemon's level to make the matches more fair.  Visiting Trainers from other regions very often challenge another League and face a much tougher match as the restrictions on those are less stringent. There are also often world competitions which are sort of like a Gym Leader/Champion summit, where trainers come to show off as well.   
 
With that background in mind, let's have a look at Erika.  A good bit of the history is headcanon, built with the world in mind.
 
Erika is the Gym Leader of Celadon City, the most populated city in the region of Kanto.  She's a young woman in her early 20s, and like many people she began her Pokemon journey sometime between age 10 and 12.  Given her refined demeanor and general attitude I would say that her family is likely rather wealthy, and she grew up not quite spoiled but definitely pampered.  Her nickname as The Nature Loving Princess supports that, though Kanto has no real royalty.  Definitely a Daddy's Girl though.  Her starter Pokemon were a pair of Oddish, a small weed with eyes and a mouth and she meandered from place to place, earning Gym Badges in the Pokemon League.  Her Type specialty is Grass, though as Pokemon Stadium shows us she has other Pokemon too.
 
She gained some notoriety and skill during her journey, probably by actually beating all 8 Gyms available on her journey (Not really hard, if you've played one of the games) and challenging the Elite 4.  She's never been stated to be a former champion so she obviously was unsuccessful, but that's still considered a feat.  After this, she realized perhaps that wasn't her calling in life and she accepted a Pokemon League offer to become a Gym Leader.  This fit with her preferred lifestyle, which is admittedly fairly relaxed and sedentary, and she clearly took great pride in her position as her Gym is a home-grown verdant paradise filled with flowers, fruit trees, and a great deal of natural beauty.
 
Life was pretty quiet, though Erika took on students as time went on.  They were all girls, generally her age or younger, and they help maintain the almost mazelike gym.  The first major event that happens in Celadon after she assumes control of the gym is Team Rocket moves in.  A group of gangsters who exploit and use Pokemon for power and wealth, they set up shop under the Game Corner and generally cause trouble all over town.  Erika would have interceded with her Pokemon given her generally good nature and love of Pokemon, but it's probable that another Gym Leader (Giovanni, secretly the head of Team Rocket) prevented her from acting.  That's entirely headcanon, but fits in with the way Erika is written in the Pokemon mangas, as well as her personality (and Giovanni's).
 
After all of that, she was confronted by a young trainer (For the app I'm going to say Red, though this may change if Blue or Leaf apped instead) named Red.  Red, through unorthodox and rather weird tactics overcame Erika and claimed her badge.  Shortly after, he moved on to drive out Team Rocket and left Celadon City in a much better state.  Inspired by this, Erika began to train harder, working at self improvement.  Red went on to become Pokemon Champion of Kanto, while Erika briefly left the region to visit others and befriend new Pokemon native to other places.
 
She returned sometime between the events of Fire Red/Leaf Green and Heart Gold/Silver, a 3 year gap and went back to managing the Celadon Gym.  Again she was confronted with a League Champion, this time from Johto, and defeated.  The cycle of the previous time repeated, and she renewed her efforts to train before finally coming to participate in the Pokemon World Tournament hosted in the Unova region.  She did well, but placed rather middlingly, and she'll be entering Cerealia a few days after the event’s ending.
 
◎ Is the character a hacker and/or do they have a sixth-sense? Not at all
 
◎ Personality:
Erika is a kind, easygoing young woman with a rather serene appearance and calming presence.  She isn't in a hurry to get anywhere, and seems quite content with her current position in life.  It affords her the opportunities to do what she cares about most, to indulge in her hobbies as part of her daily life, and places her in a respectable professional occupation at the same time.  That is to say: Being a Gym Leader is basically her dream job and her personality seems very suited for it.  She's very clearly a bit of a homebody, someone that doesn't take much interest in traveling anymore.  She has travelled, obviously, but she has little real interest in adventures anymore.  Perhaps that's just part of growing up, but her temperament and hobbies are ideally matched to the sort of life she leads.
 
One of the first major traits to Erika's personality is her kindness and generosity.  She is hardly someone that anyone would consider mean, and it shows in the way she lovingly attends not only to her plants, but to her Pokemon.  Their affection for her is returned tenfold, and she tends to them as she would her own children.  Her words are always kind, though she's not above a little teasing and wheedling at potential gym challengers/bested opponents (with statements like "Well I almost fell asleep" it's hard not to think she has a bit of an impish side).  It doesn't matter if a Pokemon is hers or not, either.  Official artwork shows Erika tending to a Growlithe trapped out in the rain, and she does show concern for the wellbeing of others.  This includes people, of course.  Being a Gym Leader puts a person in a position where they have a responsibility to teach and uphold certain ideals.  Those ideals are the core of the Pokemon League, and Erika does believe in them or she wouldn't be in the field she's in.  Younger people (not just trainers) are all potential students and people who she considers her responsibility to guide.
 
The next thing to cover is Erika's competitive nature.  All Trainers have to have some sort of competitive side, but Erika's is a bit more than average.  She wants to win, and she wants to win her way, which is why she participates in the various World Tournament exhibitions and does exhibition matches with Champions from other regions.  It's also why she's willing to take rematches in Heart Gold/Soul Silver, she wants another chance to beat the champion.  Defeats take her to new places, and she genuinely wants to improve, and it shows in her dialogues, her strengths, and her shifting strategies throughout the various games.   Still, she wants trainers to improve, and wants to inspire them to be better, which goes in with her teaching motivation.
 
Next on the agenda is her lawfulness.  Erika, on the D&D Alignment Scale, is very much skewed towards Lawful Good.  She's a part of a governing body that she supports whole heartedly, she doesn't approve of crime and she approves even less of things that end with people or Pokemon getting hurt.  Battling is one thing, but that never results in any serious, longterm injury, whereas individuals like Team Rocket (nevermind the bumbling Anime counterparts) do actively hurt, injure, and torment Pokemon.  Mewtwo's creation is a prime example of this.  Erika has no canon interaction with Giovanni and his underlings, and as stated in my history section I've always headcannoned that was because of League intervention. In a pro-sports league it would make sense, and the idea of vigilante justice by one of there own clearly would be frowned on, thus tying her Lawful hands.  Some of the residents of Celadon City do hint at this in in-game dialogue, as do resident trainers in Erika's gym.  Basically she cannot approve of bad things happening around her, and it would create a sense of helpless frustration, when she would normally feel at least somewhat compelled to act.
 
On another note, sleepiness.  Erika is notorious for simply falling asleep.  Canon isn't clear why, and fanon goes two ways.  The first is being constantly exposed to Sleep Powder, but the explanation I've always gone with is mild narcolepsy.  This fits better, I think because it happens even when her Pokemon are in their Pokeballs. She falls asleep a lot, but seems to recover from her naps fairly quickly so she's definitely aware of it and seems to take it in stride.  Erika never seems to have trouble poking fun at herself about it, and some of her dialogues make references to it.  She even falls asleep immediately after a phone conversation.
 
Erika by nature is just a little bit more conservative than most people, and a bit of a traditionalist.  It can make her seem a little stuffy and out of date, as well as easily flustered when put into embarrassing situations.  She practices Ikebana, the traditional art of flower arranging, and seems to prefer wearing dated outfits in public at least.  Her ladylike demeanor and attitude lend further credence to this, as very few "proper ladies" are anything but conservative in their beliefs.  That said she still has a bit of a "wild" side, in that she will sometimes drink and get a little giggly, but she's old enough and responsible enough to know better than to overdo it and put herself in stupid situations.  Dignity is important, as she has a public image to keep up, after all, and she is quite conscious of that.  Still, some of her dialogue shows that she also has an interest in fashion, as she critiques the outfits of other gym leaders, so it stands to reason (and based on official art), that Erika does take pride in her appearance.  These same conversations are phrased in the form of gossip, and make her seem just a touch vain, referring to Claire’s outfit as “just a bit embarrassing…”
 
Finally, Erika as a trainer is something worth covering.  Erika uses Grass type Pokemon, and states that she only keeps Pokemon around that she finds attractive in some way.  Given the generally...horrific...appearance of some Grass type Pokemon it's plain that she is a gardener at heart.  Grass type Pokemon specialize in disabling opponents and slowly draining their energy away, and this is a strategy that Erika does employ.  It's efficient, prevents injury to her own allies, and is in it's own way rather horrifying.  She even states this in dialogue regarding her signature move: Giga Drain.  It drains and opponents health and restores the user's, which is an efficient way to handle Pokemon battles.  Her other strategies are similar enough, as she often uses powerful Grass type attacks like Solar Beam and Petal Blizzard to simply overwhelm opponents early, minimizing damage to her own.  Efficiency and preservation of her team are clearly important to her, based on these strategies.
 
◎ Powers/Abilities: 
Erika herself has no special powers. She is a skilled teacher of Ikebana, has an excellent green-thumb, and a lot of skill when it comes to understanding and caring for plants. Erika is also able to sleep through just about anything short of a volcanic eruption and wake up completely clearheaded, and she is a noteworthy Pokemon Trainer within the Pokemon League.
However, Erika is not entirely without some special abilities thanks to her Pokemon. They are all highly trained, loyal, and well cared for creatures with some remarkable special talents. The Pokemon are all taken from her World Tournament team. The list of the team I'd like for her to enter with is as follows, along with a brief description:

Vileplume: A poisonous flower that looks a bit like a Rafflesia. It's able to release toxic pollen into the air to cause a variety of status effects, as well as use both poison and grass based attacks.

Bellossom: A cheerful, happy dancing flower that can draw in sunlight and use it to attack, while also utilizing it's leaves, limbs, or voice to attack.

Venusaur: A large (6 feet tall) dinosaur-like creature with a large flower on it's head. It attacks with vines and the power of the sun, as well as leaves and pollen.

Tangrowth: A monstrous vine creature that uses it's body to slash at or ensnare and wring out opponents. It has some connection to stone (as it must know Ancient Power to evolve) and is capable of generating small earthquakes.

Exeggutor: A bipedal coconut tree that's about 6 feet tall. Exeggutor has multiple heads that function independently and in addition to the garden variety plant-based attacks, Exeggutor is a psychic type Pokemon as well. It's able to attack with it's mind, using psychic waves to strike.

Whimsicott Whimsicott is a small, fluffy little ram-like critter that can catch rides in the wind because of it's fluff. It's a fairy type Pokemon in addition to grass, which for some reason protects it from dragons. It can attack by drawing in lunar energy, as well as generate strong gusts of wind through unknown means. It also makes an excellent pillow.

◎ Weapons & Other Special Inventory:
- Her Pokeballs, 6 in all, each containing one of the Pokemon listed in her Powers section
- A bottle of her signature perfume
- Her Pokegear, which is sort of like a smartphone
- A Poffin-case, basically a way to make Pokemon snacks
- A handful of Berries
- The Held Items of her Pokemon
- A favorite pillow
 
CEREALIA-Specific
 
◎ Element: Water, as the classical Greek elements go.
◎ Sense: Smell
◎ Seven Character Traits: 
+ Kind
+ Calm
+ Responsible
+/- Competitive
-  Prone to Gossip
-  Vain
-  Easily Flustered
 
Samples
 
◎ First-Person Sample: 
PSL with Red
PSL with Archer

◎ Third-Person Sample: 
 I already play Rei Hino faithfulflame in the game.

◎ Is your character retaining any previous game memories?
 No