Guess who's back?
Name: Zrantox
Age: 4500
Gender: Male
Species: Dusknoir
Appearance: “Take a good look, human… it will be the last thing you ever see.”
His body is somewhat roundish and ends in a genie-like tail. He has two thick arms with odd markings scattered across his body. His head is almost hood-like, with a small slit where his one eye ominously peers out of. Normally the body is grey and the markings are yellow, but with him, the usual stormcloud grey, there is now black. The eyes on his chest and back are crimson, and the mouth on his chest moves on its own.
Clothing: None
Personal Items: None
Personality: “All of you disgust me; your species is one of enslavement and destruction and deserves to be wiped out.”
Hateful, always hateful. Zrantox's camaraderie with his brothers led to a deep hatred of humans when his brothers were one by one captured by humans. He maintains an appearance of calmness and affability, until he encounters a human. Then, his fury will be anywhere from tranquil to out-and-out killing mode. Always cold and calculating, he is constantly making plans in his homicidal journey. Having lived for forty-five hundred years, he has a vast knowledge of the history of the world - he even knows of times where pokemon and humans never even knew each other; seeing how the world has so vastly changed is partly what gives him such a deep hatred for mankind
History: “Shall I describe the atrocities you committed against me and my brothers? Would you like to know the justifications of your death?”
Zrantox and six other Dusknoir were chosen as a group of pokemon that would be akin to the Grim Reaper - their job was to escort those who had died onward to the next life. Zrantox, idealistic at first, could only grow more cynical as he watched humanity kill itself again and again through ceaseless wars. This gave him a very pessimistic view on life, but it all stemmed from what he saw humans as: savages that killed for its own sake. Disgusted by this as he was, he was shocked when humans first discovered pokemon.
At first, they killed the pokemon as they had themselves, and Zrantox's cynical view of humanity slowly turned into a more disdainful view - killing one’s own kind was one thing, but this... to Zrantox, was unacceptable. Absolutely disgusting. He longed for humans to go to what they once were, if only to protect the pokemon of the world. When the killings stopped, however, Zrantox's opinion didn't change much - as far as he saw, pokemon were now slaves to the human race - a fate far worse than death in his mind. If he had any positive opinions of man, they were now gone.
So it went as it went for centuries, with the only noticeable change in Zrantox's behavior being a more punishment-sounding take on guiding humans to the next world. Other than that, all seemed normal.
That is, until that fateful day when they were found.
To this day, Zrantox has no idea how it happened. He never will have an idea of how it happened. But one day humans struck at he and his brothers, catching every one of them, Zrantox being the last one. Something snapped in the Dusknoir that day, and from then he decided that it would not be enough to wait for humans to expire on their own - he would have to personally escort them to the next life.
Despite a few attempts, this never worked - he would always be recalled into the pokeball, no matter how close he came to killing even one human. After some time, Zrantox's "trainer" decided that the Dusknoir was acting up because its current trainer wasn't strong enough for him. Hoping to alter that, the trainer gave Zrantox to the champion, and thus he was put to sleep in the chambers.
And so he sleeps, waiting for the time to regain his revenge upon mankind.
Moves: “These are to ensure that you… all of you… suffer in the most painful way imaginable.”
Curse, Shadow Punch, Dark Pulse, Shadow Sneak
Other: Ability is Pressure. He has no preferred style of fighting, in the end generally choosing to go for whichever attack will cause the most pain.
Number Two:
Name: Isei-Korujin (Isei for short)
Age: 2001
Gender: Male
Species: Beheeyem
Appearance: “Different appearance from my kind. Acceptable. Consequences of progress.”
Like most of his kind, Isei is a sort of humanoid creature that lacks legs, and has a sort of long-coat like shape to his body, as well as a head that looks like a large hat. He also has glowing green eyes, and orbs of red, green, and yellow colors on his palms. Unlike other members, the hat-like part of his head almost seems detached from the rest of his body, making it look more like a hat and less like a body part. Furthermore, unlike most members of his kind, Isei actually has fingers, though those fingers do only emerge from the orbs on his palm and are colored accordingly - it also seems that they can "retract" if he so wishes, making them more like a cat's claws. His coloration is different from a Beheeyem - rather than being beige, his colors are a darker grey, almost black.
Clothing: N/A
Personal Items: “Most attachments unnecessary. This the exception. Gift from long time ago.”
He does wear a small necklace at the end of which hangs a strange medallion: three small circles inside a larger one connected by lines
Personality: “Mutual understanding superfluous. Impedes progress. Etiquette equally pointless. Progress of highest importance.”
To put it most easily, Isei is as he is: alien. To be complicated, well... Isei's motives, morality and wants are what he considers completely incomprehensible to the average denizen of this world. Thus, he acts in a manner that can seem distant at times and eccentric at others. Really, the only one that always understands Isei is Isei, and he makes it rather clear that he has no problem with this. However, there are a few "core" aspects of his personality that everyone seems to understand: he frequently talks about making the world progress further, and also occasionally mentions “equations” or “experiments” as crucial in helping the progress of the world; through this it can be gleaned that Isei is a scientist of some kind. He also prefers to talk in short clipped sentences, believing that talking wastes time when you could make progress instead. He holds actual emotions in clear disdain, believing that they are a large impediment to progress.
History: “Secrets of the world must be discovered. Possibilities endless. Seek those possibilities. All for progress.”
Isei prefers to speak less about his history - whether that's out of trauma or his continued desire to remain mysterious is anyone's guess. Equally mysterious is why he looks so different from the others of his kind; when asked, he merely states it was a consequence of progress. Since he first arrived on the planet countless years ago, Isei has constantly been traveling the world, trying to learn what he can about Earth. What always caught his interest in the days of pokemon training was the myriad ways humans treated them: some treated them as equals, others treated them as slaves, and others still looked at them in fear; fearing the creatures’ deadly potential. As years progressed, he noticed that it more and more departed from the “respect” aspect and more towards the “hate and fear.” He believed that this was a sign that humans were progressing to the point that they no longer wanted or needed pokemon, beliefs that were enhanced when the riots against trainers broke out. Isei chose to stay neutral in those fights, an attitude that directly resulted in the deaths of several trainers. When it became clear that the world’s progress had resulted in Isei no longer being welcome in any public venue, he went back to wandering the land, learning again whatever he could find about the planet just in case it ever became necessary for progress. It was about a week prior to the events of this RP that he detected the presence of several strong pokemon when traveling near Mt. Silver. A mental scan of the mountain revealed them for what they were: the sleepers. Sensing the great potential they had for more progress, he decided to enter his own hand in the matter, and for the first time in some time that he would genuinely enjoy entering his hand.
Moves: “Damage irrelevant. Utilization of moves decides victories.”
Teleport, Psychic, Recover, Calm Mind
Other: An Expy? Most certainly. But probably not of whom you might think. Ability is its Dream World one, Analytic. He prefers in battle to spend some time assessing the enemy's movements while charging Calm Mind, then letting loose with Psychic.
And number three, for the first time in my DotP career: a human!
Name: Alex “Lex” Apostol
Age: 38
Gender: Male
Species: Human
Appearance: “Do I think people find me intimidating?...Yeah. Do I have a problem with it? Hell. No.”
He's quite tall - six and a half feet, in fact - and is very well-built. His head is completely shaven clean, and he has a variety of tattoos on his arms, legs, and stomach, most of which depict strange, grotesque creatures that would only look like pokemon to the most warped of minds. His eyes are a sort of venomous, piercing green, and are far from being friendly.
Clothing: “To survive, one must be well-prepared for the elements.”
He is almost never seen without a wide-brimmed dark grey hat that wouldn't look out of place at a rather dangerous safari. He also wears a dark green jacket over a light brown shirt, along with dark brown cargo pants - both the jacket and pants have a decent number of pockets in them. On his right arm is his TM Driver, which looks more like a black gauntlet than the device itself. This Driver has a slot in about where the forearm would be specifically for the TMs and Gem.
Hanging from the neckline of his shirt are a pair of dark glasses which he wears if he feels they are necessary, and slung over his left shoulder is where you'll likely find his bag, which contains a good number of survival items - flint and steel, a pot, a canteen - you name it.
Personal Items: “Anything I need, I take with me. Anything I can’t, I don’t need.”
In addition to the survival items in his bag, Lex's equipment is as follows:
TM Driver w/ Steel Gem
Sidearm
Translator Earpiece
Quick claw (attached to pointer finger of TM Driver)
The backhand of his TM driver also has a button that can deliver a dosage of X Attack into Lex's bloodstream when activated. He tends to use this very rarely, however - only usually in case of emergency.
Personality: “Every last detail must be exactly in place. It’s the only way anything can get done around here.”
The first and indeed foremost thing about Lex that you have to understand is that he is paranoid. His aforementioned belief about being prepared for all of the elements? A result of said paranoia. This paranoia quickly turns into distrust when dealing with his fellow man, and indeed, the only person in all of the world that he trusts is himself. While he's become somewhat adept at hiding this trait behind a veil of friendliness, the bitter truth is that he is a micro-manager, a control freak that can go from being your best friend to your most hated enemy if he believes that something isn't how it should be.
Lex is also a fervent believer in the plans of the Solus movement, and it's for one of those reasons he's as high-ranked a member as he is. It's also for that reason that he holds a deep hatred against those of Team Unity, and can't so much as talk to a member/supporter of that group without giving off an air of barely controlled anger.
History: “I’ve devoted countless hours – no, days – to ensuring these creatures are done away with.”
Lex's grandfather was one of the original members of the Solus movement, and therefore one of those responsible for the mass release of the pokemon all those years ago. Lex never knew his grandfather - the man died not long after Lex himself was born - but his mother, a fervent believer in the ideals of the Solus movement, told a young Lex quite a few stories about him. Even from an early age, Lex was being taught about how humans were the supreme, the ideal species of the planet. He was taught all this with the clear intention of him eventually becoming another member of Solus - continuing a family tradition, if you will. Lex's family was very well-off because of his grandfather's contributions to the movement, so as a result Lex was able to receive an intensive education as the years went by (one that, fittingly, had only negative references to the now extinct sport of pokemon training). During those years, Lex also saw the designs of the TM drivers, and in his spare time he would draw up the blueprints for one of his own. He was kept quite sheltered from the world at large because of how well-off he and his family were - Lex's parent's feared that their fame among Solus would make him a target for those that might be... upset with the group's actions. Thus, the seeds for his paranoid idea about the world were planted.
Lex joined Solus officially the moment his education was complete, and subsequently began utilizing the resources of the organization to construct his TM Driver - yet again, in his spare time. In the meantime, he was assigned to be part of a two-man squad with a run-of-the-mill TM Driver. The purpose of the duo was rather straightforward - root out and be rid of any possible vestiges of pokemon in any civil area, be they on their own or under the care of a human. Groups such as these were seemingly less common among Solus, perhaps because Solus wanted to be discrete, perhaps because they wanted to only have specific people working out in the field (whether it was because they considered them elites or washouts to be sent on snipe hunts); all of these possibilities were considered by Lex over the course of his first few years in the group.
After a time, Lex's personal Driver became functional enough to replace the one he'd been using, so he made the replacement, all while continuing to modify it. The idea was that Lex wanted a driver that would be able to contain and carry out the functions of whatever battle items Lex might want - a design that fit in perfectly with his mantra of being prepared for the elements. In the meantime, the man's efficiency of finding those with illicit pokemon was making him well-known among those of Solus, and it certainly helped that he was already known as the descendent of one of Solus' original members. Yes, it seemed that Lex was well on the same path that those in his family had gone on - it was, for him, a straight shot to a glory he wanted. And, naturally, a certain event occurred that threw his already... distorted perception of How Society Ought To Be for a further loop.
On a tip from a local Mauville resident, Lex and his partner were sent to investigate claims that a family had been harboring a local pokemon - most likely a couple of Poochyena, nothing more. Upon reaching the house, it turned out that their informant had missed one little detail: namely, that the pokemon had been unwittingly brought to the house by the family's children, and the adults had actively been trying to get rid of the creatures when Lex and his partner showed up. Upon assessing that situation, the partner believed that the children should be let off while the parents - irresponsible as they were - should be given a lesser punishment for failing to "control" their kids. Lex, who so deeply held the beliefs of Solus above everything else, had every intention of labeling the entire family as a harborer of the illicit pokemon and letting the laws of this day and age take their course. The two argued about what they would be doing, and this argument escalated rather quickly until the partner threatened to report Lex to the higher-ups under the basis of his refusing to obey orders. Lex's subsequent reaction to this was... rather unpleasant. That is to say, he quickly attacked the other, knocking him out (and damaging quite a bit of the house in the process), then had the entire family arrested as he wanted. As for the partner, he reported him to the powers that be, writing off the entire incident as the family resisting arrest with the partner having a "change of heart" and opposing Lex's attempts to arrest them. With Lex's clout, it all worked in his favor, his partner was disgraced and... dealt with, and he was further promoted into one of Solus' elite.
At first glance, it would appear nothing had become worse for Lex. He was better in Solus than he'd ever been, he'd managed to escape the entire incident without as much as a scratch to his reputation in the group - indeed, the rumors of the incident gave him a reputation outside of Solus as one of the movement's most fearsome and dangerous enforces. But his psyche hadn't escaped the incident unscathed. The idea that this partner of his would even consider selling out someone as loyal to the movement as he was for a brief time too much for him to comprehend. And when he did finally comprehend it, the lesson he learned from the incident was quite simple: nobody could be trusted. Everybody around him would, if they believed they could benefit from it, throw him to the wolves and think nothing of it. So he became what he is now: an ultraparanoid, false-smiling, control freak.
So more years went by, Lex's popularity among Solus and loyalty to them never wavered, and his fearsome reputation to those outside them strengthened. When word reached Solus about the sleepers - such powerful pokemon stowed away - they personally sent Lex to the mountain, knowing that he would be the best man to deal with a scenario such as this.
Moves: “It’s pretty fitting that these creatures will be killed by their own powers, wouldn’t you agree?”
Gear Grind, Iron Defense, Meteor Mash, Shift Gear
Other: The plans I had for Prektaan to return will not come to be in this incarnation, it seems. Ah, well. The gears in Gear Grind are utilized much like Fuuma Shuriken. He prefers in battle to spend a few moments preparing with Shift Gear and/or Iron Defense before making his move.
His history also might be putting too much stock in Solus as one of authority, though. That will be remedied if need be.