End Run: Vale

Yup, got another character for this. I needed yet another old man character.

A Wild WALL OF TEXT appears? Fight, Bag, Pokemon, Run?
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Name: Vale Harrison
Age: 57
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 165
Hometown/Region: Mauville, Hoenn
Occupation: Military Police
Extra Items: Berries (for Critter) and a switchblade (yes, they're period accurate, I checked).

Personality:
His personality in a few short words? Stubborn old goat. For the sake of letting everyone know he's more rounded out than that, let's go into further detail.

First and foremost, he is an independent person (why did he ever go into military then? Because he didn't realize what all it entailed at the time). Due to his acquired handicaps, his personality warped further to the point where he gets outright offensive if you treat him too softly or belittle him. He may even punch you in the face to show he can beat you up with only one hand. In short, his gruffness is all overcompensating for his weaknesses. It's better off not to say anything about it though. He also uses sarcasm in an antagonistic way.

However, he's not a 'bad person' nor does he use his position to take advantage of those weaker than him. Titles mean little to him and has the tendency to let you know exactly when he thinks someone's trying to force bullcrap on him. (Yes, this does tend to get him in trouble, so he has to back down in certain cases which gets him in a worse mood than usual.)

He appreciates persistance in others, sometimes going so far as to provoke it in them when dealing with them. His favorite kind of people are those who stick to their guns.

That said, Vale's not particularly talkative, mostly when ranting or in a rage. Other times, he's stoic and withdrawn. He has a bucket load of Soldier Syndrome/shell shock/PTSD/whatever you want to call it and does not talk much about his experiences in the Great War. After that war, he tried to function in normal society, but found it nigh impossible. Thus, he forced himself to buck up and went into the Military Police since active force was basically impossible with only one arm and one eye.

Also, if he asks if you have a problem with him, your best bet is to say no (women civilians, children, his superiors are the exceptions--except he usually doesn't ask them). And he guilt-trips people for staring at him too much.

There is softness under all of that prickly, hard, grump, but it takes time to find it and it's only ever a subtle change to his demeanor. It is rare for him to smile.

Backstory:

Vale was born in Mauville and raised by his family who ran a general store there. As a child, he was put to work in helping out at the store with his three brothers (he was the second child) and kept industrious throughout his childhood and early adult years. Though his headstrong attitude and hot temper did get him into a lot of fights.

When the Great War came around, Vale accepted the call. Really, there wasn't much for a second son to do once they really matured. He managed to survive through most everything that the chaos threw at him. However, just a short while before Mew disabled all automated weaponry, a bomb was dropped on a truck that he had been standing near. Shrapnel took out his eye and infection in his arm called for it to be amputated. (The whistle of the bomb falling was the only reason he didn't lose both eyes or die.)

This threw Vale for a terrible loop. He became withdrawn and angry at everything, especially at that mysterious creature that took out the weapons. A lot of his family gave up on him. Once his eldest brother decided to give him the 'tough love' treatment, Vale became to attempt recovery. He remained angry and pretty bitter, he didn't act out nearly as much as before.

However, the events of the Great War stayed in his mind. He tried to return to a calm life back in Maville, but found too many shadows of enemies, a gunshot with every slammed door, a weapon hidden behind each movement, and eyes haunting his dreams. Unable to get readjusted to civilian life, he returned to the military, this time on the police force.

Vale was stationed in Rustboro City for many years. In recent times, the base had been getting visited by a little scavenger Pokemon. He paid little attention to this Pokemon except for once or twice when he was within a short distance from it and left bits of food for it. When informed that he would have to take a Pokemon as a combat tool, Vale got irritated. He realized that this particular order was not one he could cut around, he decided he wasn't going to wait for someone to give him one. He remembered that little Pokemon and decided that would be his Pokemon.

This Pokemon he would call Critter and the first item of business is to get him to obey at a whistle. At this point, Critter still needs bribing with berries.

Thanks to the war that has developed on the Johto-Kanto border, Vale has been re-stationed to where the fighting is.

Looks like he has one more war he needs to survive.

Pokemon
Critter
Gender: Male
Nature: Bold
Ability: Pickup
Item: None
Attacks
Headbutt
Odor Sleuth
Tackle
Growl

A sniffy little Pokemon that will get into anything and everything given enough time and the proper motivation. He's a scavenger and will eat most anything, his favorites being berries and fish. However, he's also quite tidy, cleaning his front paws before and after eating.

He lived around Rustboro City and braved the presence of humans to get into their trash and find out what kind of tasty things they'd been throwing away. Every so often, he'd visit the military base and loot their trash as well. Some soldiers tossed rocks at him and others saw him being kind of like a stray Skitty and left food for him every so often.

Then, one day, indeed of doing either, one of the people on base threw a Pokeball at him. This same guy is always giving him berries before he wanders too far, so that's okay, even if he does this sharp whistle to catch attention.

Sheila
Gender: Female
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Lightningrod
Item: None
Attacks Thunder Wave
Odor Sleuth
Thunder Fang Discharge

As a boy growing up in Mauville, there were always Electrike and Manectric around, wild or domesticated. He had many in his life. Upon seeing some of the canines around camp, fond memories stirred in his mind and, on the spur of the moment, he did something he wouldn't have done before--put in a request for a Pokemon. An Electrike or a Manectric, it didn't matter to him. (Put the request through so someone whose name doesn't start with an M and ends in a 'adigan' didn't get it.)

He got Sheila. Sheila acts quite professional on duty. And then there's when she's around male dogs. She becomes a complete teenage girl. Vale is not amused by this.

Other than that, she is his little lady and do not talk smack about his little lady.

NOTE: Sheila is based off of the Akita Inu breed, a spitz. Her tail is off the curly variety. FYI. And I love how we can have the same Pokemon but different interpretations. c:
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I've been fangirling over Vale quite a bit before I could fill out the NPC sheet for him. Yes, I've been fangirling over my own character. I just really like him.

I can't figure out if he's more of a Western cowboy or an Australian cowboy, because, really, he could be either. Let's say Australian for now since there are enough yanks in this group.

And Critter. When I went back recently to look at Bulbapedia's page for Zigzagoon, I was rather surprised at how different my depiction of it became. Fewer stripes, lighter mask, and a different face shape. I wasn't liking the cone-like face I was drawing before because it looked too much like a rodent when Zigzagoon was based off of raccoons and ferrets, so I changed how I drew it and loved it.

And I was originally going to give this guy a monkey type, but realized that the only evolution of these I liked was Primeape. So I went with Zigzagoon and I think it works much better.