Royal Decree Application

[stormkingofshepherds]

[ OOC Information ]

Player Name & Pronouns: Gray (he/they)
Player Age: 31
OOC Contact: graygriffin

Reserve Link: Here!

[ IC Information ]

Character Name & Pronouns: Nathaniel Berger (he/him)
Character Age: 21
Canon: Pokemon OC
Canon Point: Around 1.5 years after the Missingno fight

History: Nathaniel Berger was a kid from a farming family, who had an especially intelligent one of the young Mareep, Ninda, as a companion, and later on took in an injured Hoothoot named Brian. When he was around 10, he captured a wild Carnivine named Macy, and as she made the flock nervous and was still somewhat vicious around them, his parents ended up agreeing for him to set out on his own journey. Unfortunately, this coincided with the rise of the God-Hunters, an evil team that wished to destroy all Legendary Pokemon and had the ability to somehow impede their resurrection cycle. Nathaniel tried to fight them and ended up severely injured, and both Ninda and Brian ended up sacrificing themselves to save him as Macy dragged him out of the fire.

Nathaniel fell into a deep depression and retreated into solitude, until 10 years later, when an organization called Quan's Hope that was trying to revive the dead legendaries and heal the injured ones put out a call for volunteers. Wanting to fix things, Nathaniel answered the call, and together with two others, Gideon and Kimber, ended up traveling around the various regions assisting various groups. He ended up as the surrogate parent to the newly revived Zapdos, a.k.a. Brinda, who immediately bonded with him upon hatching as a blank slate. The group also ended up fighting Zygarde, who had devoured the other Kalosian Legendaries and erased the region from everyone's minds, and while he ended up half-killing them, they managed to fight their way out of the spirit realm, led to safety by the spirits of Ninda and Brian. In the end, the trio was able to defeat Missingno, the patron of the God-Hunters who had been attempting to usurp the other Legendaries, greatly reducing their power and making it more possible to heal or bring back the lost legends, as Missingno's corruption had been affecting that cycle.

With Missingno gone, Quan's Hope was able to relax somewhat, having far less high-urgency problems to deal with. At the same time, that meant a lot more politicking and meetings, which started to bore Nathaniel a little. One good thing about this time, though, was that Brinda gained the ability to take on a human form, calling Nathaniel their dad. He immediately became determined to live up to that title, doing his best to be a good surrogate dad and let Brinda get to be a normal teenager without their true identity getting revealed. It's during a time where there's literally no action going on that he gets the letter, and Brinda encourages him to take the offer, since he deserves a chance to relax more.

Personality: Nathaniel has slowly been recovering ever since he first reached out to Quan's Hope. Still, he will never go back to the innocent, cheerful child he used to be. Even now, he's mostly quiet and contemplative, not speaking much to other people except when prompted. Most of the time, it's his Pokemon who can get him to actually laugh or smile. His trauma with fire still exists-even though he's better at dealing with flames from allied Pokemon or trainers now, he's definitely less prepared against enemy Fire-types, and the Houndour line still scares him deeply. Still, he's more at ease about his lost Pokemon now, after having met them in between the afterlife and the living world.

He takes on a strong sense of responsibility for those under his care, and tends to worry a lot when his Pokemon get badly injured, feeling he could have prevented it. Especially now that he's a father and not just a trainer to Brinda, he fusses over them the most. While he can't do it as much during formal events where they need to show up as Zapdos, he spoils them a lot in private. He will battle in non-life-and-death situations on occasion, such as when challenging Gyms, he's not the type to go around challenging random people to battles. He prefers to have his Pokemon train among themselves, especially since teamwork is an important part of their strategy.

After his terrible experience with trying to fight an evil team as a kid, Nathaniel is much less approving of the idea of kids as trainers. He tends to worry when he sees kids on their own, and is definitely protective of them. For Brinda particularly, he's torn between letting them have their independence and constantly watching over them, a balance he's still trying to grasp. One of his goals in the future is to change the legislation to raise the minimum age for trainers.

Abilities:
-Capture Specialist: Nathaniel has a particular skill with throwing Pokeballs, able to throw more at once and recall his Pokemon faster, as well as deal damage by hitting an opponent with a Pokeball.
-Roughneck: Nathaniel can use certain status moves such as Leer, Mean Look, Scary Face, and Confide, mostly as an extension of his ability to intimidate. I'm willing to nerf these to have more of a failure/miss chance, although I don't think they'll come up much. Even without using those moves specifically, he's still got a certain intimidating presence, despite his relatively frail physique. In a One Piece crossover I gave him pseudo-Conqueror's Haki but I assume that's not going to fly lmao
-General Inventory: Nathaniel carries around a collection of various medicines, berries, and Held Items in his bag, which are generally used for healing/minor battle boosts.
-Shepherd's Crown: A special item of Nathaniel's, this fossil gives the crit-boosting effect of a King's Rock to his whole team, and in addition allows him twice per battle to allow everyone on his side to evade an attack.
-Crafter: Nathaniel is very skilled with whittling, and has some experience with sewing and mending as well.
-Pokemon Team:
--Macy the Carnivine: Nathaniel's oldest companion, a Carnivine with plenty of medical knowledge, allowing her to act as a nurse. Other than her Grass-type abilities, she also knows Feint Attack.
--Rinn the Ludicolo: A cheerful Ludicolo who loves giving hugs. Other than his Grass- and Water-type moves, he also knows Ancientpower and Zen Headbutt.
--Memo and Fran the Lampents: A pair of Lampent bonded enough that they share the same Pokeball and internal flame. They specialize in Ghost- and Fire-type status moves.
--Kate the Arbok: An Arbok who specializes in intimidation and leadership, and has a bit of a pack mentality, though she considers Nathaniel and Macy her pack leaders now. Other than Poison-type moves, she also knows Crunch.
--Belle the Crustle: A Crustle with a uniquely spherical shell, allowing her to use the moves Defense Curl and Rollout. Surprisingly good with computers and negotiating with other Pokemon.

Bloom Bond Flower:
Forget-me-not: Nathaniel's story is heavily defined by both grief and endurance, with him having lost two of his Pokemon 10 years ago, and the loss still weighs on him even now. At the same time, he's continued to survive for all these years, the grief slowly fading. Not to mention he's also now a dad to Brinda/Zapdos, bringing out his nurturing side.
Tulip: Nathaniel deeply regrets charging in to fight an evil team without preparation as a 10-year-old and getting two of his Pokemon killed saving him. But at the same time, he's found a sort of redemption in taking care of Brinda, and he feels the future ahead is much brighter.

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Sample: Bird dad meets monster dad

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