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Played By: Alicia Ashby (lynxara@bad-candy.com)
Odain Alias: Ash
Homeworld: Pokemon: Evolution continuity... sorta. (see Background)
Physical Description:
Ash is a little boy of about ten years of age (going on eleven). He usually wears a red cloth jacket with short white sleeves over a black T-shirt, travel-worn blue jeans, sneakers, fingerless green gloves, and a red and white baseball cap with the stylized 'L' of the Pokemon League on it.
He has brown eyes, slightly dark, almost tanned skin, and unruly, spiky black hair that's just long enough to spill out over his collar a bit. He also carries a brown knapsack with him at pretty much all times. He stands about four feet, three inches tall, and has a sturdy build that's quite a bit hardier than the average ten-year-old's, thanks to his life of hiking and camping.
Powers:
Well, on his homeworld, Ash is the Messiah, a very special person who will alter the destiny of his homeworld. However, he doesn't know this, and it means very little in the Odain dimension. He will seem to be no more than a completely average, if occasionally very lucky, little boy, though some supernatural ablities may be able to reveal that he has a 'marked destiny'.
His true source of power are his pokemon, who are:
Weaknesses:
Ash is a ten-year-old boy who's lived a rather idyllic existence. Odain has been his first real exposure to the concept that not *all* people are more or less basically good, and the way it's been impressed upon him is slowly turning into more than he can handle. Between that and a period of isolation forced on him by his 'friend' Justonav, Ash's young mind is beginning to break under the strain of coping with what's happening to him. Telepathic scans, and just his general demeanor will make it quite clear that he is quietly beginning to go insane. His paranoia will make it nearly impossible for him to truly trust or feel comfortable around almost anything human or human-like, and he will be very twitchy and prone to severe overreactions. This will, needless to say, make interactions with other persons awkward, and also make him even more prone to hurting himself or being manipulated. Ash is also a little slow on the uptake. He's not quite stupid, but his understanding is extremely limited in some respects.
At this age, he has only a tenuous grasp of what 'death' really means, owing largely to his naive attitude and somewhat sheltered outlook. However, his confusion over who and what to trust in Odain is making him extremely fearful for perhaps the first time in his life, and very homesick-- other impulsive conditions that will make him profoundly easy to manipulate.
Skills:
Ash knows most of the things one might expect a ten year old with a basic education to know, and then some. His culture expects children to assume responsibility at a very young age, and Ash is as such completely capable of taking care of himself. He can hike and make camp, and can even wash his own laundry and cook for himself if he has to. He's not at all uncomfortable in wilderness, and seems to have a lust for exploring and wandering, even into places that he shouldn't go. He is a very accomplished bike rider, and can provide and care for all his pokemon by himself. Most of all, Ash is still young enough to be able to retain new skills learned for a long time, and can learn something new much faster than one might expect a child of his intelligence.
Equipment:
Ash has his clothing, beloved pokedex Dexter, his pokeballs, a sleeping bag, and minimal selection of campaign equipment - a basic first aid kit, some rope, a compact cooking kit, and some other very small odds and ends. Beyond that, nothing of note.
Personality:
Ash is, at heart, a kind-hearted if occasionally somewhat dense little boy. Even in his current mental state, he still cares very much about the health and well-being of his pokemon and anyone he thinks is a friend. However, his confusion and emerging psychological problems are severely altering many of his instinctive behavior patterns. His curiosity is dulled, along with his fearlessness and friendly tendencies. His actions will be very paranoid, and show off emerging tendencies towards claustrophobia and fear of the dark. He's not beyond help, but at the moment Odain is simply more than he knows how to deal with. If he receives proper psychological help with the issues that are spawning his psychoses, a complete recovery and the restoration of his original behavior patterns is quite possible. If allowed to degenerate, though, Ash could at this point very easily become sociopathic or develop tendencies towards violent fits, nervous breakdowns, and self-mutilation.
Backstory:
Ash came to Odain through an accident caused by a random flux of energy emitted by the primitive pokeballs of the lost city of Pokemopolis on his homeworld. One moment, he was watching a giant Gengar, Alakazam, and Jigglypuff battle alongside his friends Misty and Brock; the next, he was in a very dark cave. Despite his young age, this is the boy who will grow up to be the man called Satoshi that some other persons in Odain might remember, and his presence in Odain may have some unforeseen ramifications in his homeworld...
Plot Purpose:
Ash's insanity is largely interesting as an example of what happens when a character *can't* cope with the distinctly odd nature of Odain. What happens to him now is largely in the hands of the other PC's, which means that he's sure to spawn some interesting plotlines. Most of all, though, the ultimate ramifications of Ash going insane upon pokeworld's timeline would have to be considered...
Connections:
Perhaps at the root of Ash's current bout with madness is his attitude towards Professor Oak. The Professor as he is in Odain acts very little like the man Ash knows, and the alterations in attitude terrify him. He's also familiar with Mewling, and likely to stay friendly with her (as she is, after all, a pokemon, and pokemon are far easier to understand than people). He has also fallen under the influence of Justonav lately, who he simultaneously trusts and is patently terrified of. He does maintain a legitimate affection for both Meiri Umino and Sonya, who both remind him of his mother.
Theme Music: Queen, "Under Pressure" |