Post by David on Jan 13, 2024 15:55:47 GMT 11
Name: Benjamin "Benny" Baxter
Age: 22
Gender: Male
Trainer Type: Aspiring Researcher
Hometown: Cherrygrove City
Appearance: Benjamin, or Benny as he likes to be called, stands at about 5'10", lanky with long gangly arms and legs. No matter how much he sets himself up in the morning, he always ends up looking a bit unkempt as the day progresses. He has unruly black hair that looks like he runs his hand through it far too many times. His clothes are often wrinkled, possibly half tucked in, or even stained. He has a pair of black squared glasses that have fingerprints, random speckles or are even fogged over and he forgets constantly to wipe them off. His shoelaces might be untied, his pocket might be poking out, or maybe he's got dirt caked across one cheek.
But Benny's demeanor gives off this vibe that maybe he doesn't really care about the way he looks. His face is always plastered with a toothy grin and its usually followed by a boisterous laugh. He's cheeks always have that bit of rosy red shade to them as if he's either overheated or maybe just overexcited. His hands tend to whip and wave dramatically as he tells another Pokémon fact that he is so hyper fixated on for that day. His manner of movement is as flamboyant as the bright colors he loves to wear, and it all can be jarring. Overall his appearance is a bit of a mess and a whole lot of excitement. Or better put... a little bit too much.
Personality: Scatterbrained and big emotions are the best ways to immediately describe Benny. When he's excited, he's very excited. He's talkative, loud and expressive. He especially loves beautiful things and/or odd things such as the mysterious
But underneath all this is a deep wave of anxiety. He has a constant worry about failure. This causes him to get so caught up in his own head that he actually ends up messing up no matter if he knows right choice or not. His oldest sister jokingly, not so jokingly, teases him that he's the most stupid smart person he knows. He trips up himself and its probably his biggest weakness. But this is because he has big dreams of success while simultaneously being far to overly critical of himself. Benny has always had this idea that he was meant for something more and yet tells himself constantly that he's not good enough. This back and forth gets so convoluted that it freezes him up in fear and then he stumbles through trying to figure out the answer.
History: Benny was born to two loving parents and two older sisters in the town of Cherrygrove. Daniel, his father, was a chef that specialized in Pokémon foods made from berries found near the city and Patty, Benny's mother, worked at Pokémon Center in Violet City, specializes in dental health of Pokémon. His two older sisters were Christina and Melissa. Christina, being the oldest, tended to be more ambitious in her schoolwork and chores, and was more responsible than her younger siblings. She was often left to watch over them, especially the rambunctious ball of energy that was Benny. Melissa, the middle child, was a diva from a young age, proud, charismatic, and she often tricked and picked on Benny. These pranks were usually harmless and more often than not he actually was closer to Melissa since she was more fun.
Since his parents were away for a larger part of the day, most of what shaped Benny was his sisters raising him. He looked up to them, wanted to be like them, and often mimicked their behaviors. So he grew up to be a weird mixture of both strong ambition from Christina and an excited fun loving way from Melissa. And they were both essentially in him being a quick learner. They often played imaginary class, where one of the sisters was a teacher, and Benny and the other sister was a student. He learned grammar, math, and science very young, and it was a great asset he had when he started school.
And unlike other kids his age, Benny loved when he was able to actually go to the real school. He was smart and he was able to showcase that intellect in the classroom. He was quick to finish his schoolwork and he was usually one of the first people to speak up in class. The biggest problems he faced was that teachers often critiqued that he talked too much during lessons. That, and he was already growing a small bout of test anxiety. He would fail tests even though it was known that he knew these answers. This ended up with his grades being mediocre, and that followed him all the way up into his teens.
But still, Benny had high hopes that there was something great he could do with his penchant for learning. He told a teacher, Mr. Smith, around the age of thirteen that he wanted to be a researcher. However, Mr. Smith didn't quite believe that Benny had what it took, academically, to become a researcher one day. But who would want to tell that to a child? So, instead, Mr. Smith told Benny that he was better off trying to go for the Johto League journey and get some real life field experience. The man explained it as if this would be something that would help with a resume for a researcher position, though secretly it was deter Benny into a trainer path and that Benny would find something else along the way that wouldn't be a failure.
Benny, however, took him for face value. Why not try to take this path, beat the gyms, and face the Elite Four? Christina had gone off at that path, and Melissa wasn't too far behind to go down that road too. But Benny wasn't quick to begin. In fact, he stayed in school for a few more years because of his anxiety that he would be a complete failure at it. When they trained on Pokémon battles at school, he never seemed to be able to figure out to do it right. His anxiety would hit a tenfold and the next thing you knew he wouldn't be able to tell a Pokémon what move to use or would completely call out the wrong thing. He never seemed to win a battle.
But still, the thought never left his mind. If he wanted to be a researcher then he needed to go out into Johto and prove himself. It helped that his oldest sister, by the time he was sixteen, had eventually given up on the whole thing, and decided to take up a job in Goldenrod City. Melissa did go out to challenge the gyms but even she was saying she might not think it was for her. If his sisters could quit at any time, then it probably wasn't so bad if he couldn't do it.
Yet, it wasn't until the fateful day he ran into a group of Ekans that Benny finally decided go for his chance. Walking through a field of some of the most beautiful flowers in Cherrygrove, he had spotted something odd. Now, he had grown up knowing to watch for the purple scales of Ekans. They ran rampant around the surrounding areas and were quit dangerous to anyone without a Pokemon partner. But these scales he saw were... green. It was a green Ekans. Benny had never been more fascinated by a Pokemon than he had been that day and, to him, it was one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen. Of course, he almost had his hand bitten off reaching out to stroke the pretty green scales and following his fixated curiosity. Had it not been for one of the local kids calling him back to reality, he would have been in deep crap. Benny ran for his life after that, but his brain forever stayed back in that moment with the strangely colored Ekans.
Talking to his teachers back at school, he found out these were one of the shiny"specially colored" Pokemon. Not much was known or understood about the strange mutation, and that just drove Benny even more crazy. It was in that moment, Benny decided he needed... needed... to understand more about them, and needed to find more of them. He took his break from school, said teary-eyed goodbyes to his parents, and made way for New Bark Town. Little did he know, this would be the start of one of the hardest parts of his life.
At the time, Professor Elm still had the normal Johto starters as he always had. That's where the first bout of anxiety hit Benny. He wasn't sure which one to choose. How could he pick one? Who was the right one? It got so bad for him and Professor Elm had to calm him down quite a bit. Finally, thinking the Cyndaquil seemed sweet enough, Benny just went with that one. It really was very sweet and it clung often to young trainer as they went out onto the first route. But that almost made Benny even more worried. He had to care for this creature and ask this creature to work for him, but what if he failed? What if he couldn't take care of the Cyndaquil?
And that uncertainty weighed heavily on his relationship with his starter. Not only could the Cyndaquil feel his sense of constant dread, but when they were battling Pokémon or other trainer, Benny still didn't seem to know what to do. He either didn't call out for Cyndaquil to do anything or said moves that Cyndaquil had no idea. It caused the poor fire type to often become confused, to be beaten in battle, and, eventually, to become resentful of its trainer. This lead to many losses, and by the time the duo reached Faulkner, they could not beat the gym leader.
Both Cyndaquil and Benny were deeply effected by the loss, and ultimately lead to Benny's first deep feeling of failure. He gave up. Decided that this just wasn't something he could do anymore. He parted ways with Cyndaquil, giving her over to his sister Melissa who was still on her journey, and Cyndaquil seemed happy enough to go along with it. It probably wanted nothing to do with him. Benny went back home to Cherrygrove instead, and lived with his parents once again. He got a job at the local Pokemart, went back to school for a time, and lost a bit of the joyful sparkle he had.
It took him six long years to find his way back to the same energetic and excited Benny that people knew him as. Building up his confidence in his studies helped a lot. And then there was also his newfound fascination with watching Pokémon Contest on TV. Something about watching people show the true beauty of Pokémon sparked that bit of ambition to go out into the world and see as many Pokemon as possible. This was really hyped for him when a specific Coordinator, stage name Glitter, started to take the Contest world by storm. She was from Johto, had taken on the Johto League, and then had gone on to explore many parts of the world. But the biggest interest for Benny was the fact that she had a specially colored Primarina that she had found in her journeys in the Alolan region. Primarina was the pride that Glitter used at all her contests.
A renewed spark was lit in Benny watching those Contests. Benny had matured six years since the Dark Failure day, and a part of him had a little more confidence now from further academic studies. And the voice of Mr. Smith telling him that he needed more field experience to become a researcher... All of that culminated into Benny's desire to possibly get back out there once again. Maybe he wouldn't fail this time. And, even though it was for a horrible reason such as theft, Professor Elm did have different starters now. Would that change his chances at success?
Finally, with a helpful push from his parents, Benny decided to try one more time. Though the anxiety still plagued him under the surface, he decided that it was time to rewrite his story, and start looking for that bigger dream he always thought he was meant to find.
Goals: Benny's biggest goal is to finally finish off the Johto League challenge journey to prove to himself that he can do it even if it all started to get more field work with Pokémon. Professionally, he'd like to one day become a renowned researcher of "Specially colored" Pokémon and possibly find a real career at a lab. He also wants to dabble as Coordinator since he's love to watch Contests since his youth. But a deeper wish he wants most is to become confident in himself, believe in himself, and finally push down all the anxious thoughts that constantly plague him each day.
Other Info: Benny's favorite candy is dark chocolates. His favorite Poke type would be Steel for their tendency to be sharp and sleek but will always say he likes all types of Pokémon unless pressured to pick one. Benny has had a fanboy crush on Bruno for a long time and the only person he's ever told is his sister Melissa. Also OOC I'm so sorry this kind of a mess lol
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