Leonard Arden Collier
Aug 31, 2018 11:24:00 GMT -8
Post by DrakeX on Aug 31, 2018 11:24:00 GMT -8
Trainer Profile
"Howdy, chap? What say we go grab a nice pint!”
| Character Name: Leonard Arden Collier Nickname: Leon Gender: Male Age: 28 Day of Birth: 30th of August, 172 | Hometown: Vlostik Town, West Godai Alignment Lawful Good Western Zodiac: Bluella the Sunflora Eastern Zodiac: Years of the Jynx Trainer Class: Miner |
 | Height: 6 feet 5 inches (195.58 cm) Weight: 230 lbs (104.33 kg) Hair Color & Style: Leonard possesses chestnut brown hair and praises the gods he has yet to suffer from the early baldness that hit his father. His hair is shaved short, but not completely, at the sides while he keeps it long at the top. With the aid of many a hair product, Leonard is neatly capable of slicking the hair at the top backwards. The lower half of his face is completely covered by a beard that shares the same colouration as his hair. His hair is thick and grows back at an astonishing, and honestly very annoying, rate that forces him to visit the barber at least once every two weeks. It annoys him, but at least even an annoyance to him can become an enjoyable thing for someone else, as his youngest siblings love running their hands through his ‘fluffy’ hair. Before they pull on it. Eyes: His eyes are a warm chocolate brown that are the perfect window to his soul, as to speak. One can easily note from his eyes whether Leonard is happy, sad, amused, angered or any other emotion that would otherwise be hidden by his beard. His eyebrows are, just like any other hair on his body, thick and bushy. They also reach slightly over the corners of his eyes, which are a sideways oval shape. |
| Clothing/Accessories: When not on the job, Leonard likes to dress as casual as possible. He does this by wearing a short sleeved, unbuttoned shirt with a random t-shirt under that. Leonard rarely, if ever, feels the need to put on a pullover on a free day as even the cold that is brought by Winter barely fazes him. Whenever the cold does pierce through, Leonard just throws on his white, large, thick jacket, with greenish blue fur lining the neck, neck and hem. Leonard likes to wear a jeans throughout the entire year, one where he always tucks a belt in. It is only when the heat is unbearable that Leonard discards the jeans, and wears a bermuda instead. Just like his pants, Leonard prefers to wear one sort the entire year, military issued leather boots, and just like his pants it is only when the temperature hits above a certain degree that he changes into sneakers. One can never see Leonard without his trusty pickaxe and pack of cigarettes. The man loves his work, and loves doing his work, not to mention that having it with him is a great deterrent for any upstart, arrogant, bark-bigger-than-bite brat he meets. It sure as hell amuses his friends and co-workers, makes his father proud for following in the elder’s footsteps so joyfully unlike Leonard’s siblings, and helps intimidate the little parasites that hang around his little sisters. Even if one of those sisters was already 25. General Appearance: The first thing one notices about Leonard is that he is a remarkably large man. The guy literally towers over just about everybody he meets, barring the male family members on his mother’s side as this seems to be a trend for that family, making him very easy to spot in a crowd or at a distance. The second thing they’ll notice is his broad stature. As Leonard has been working out in the fields the moment he reached the double digits, his body has had decades to develop in the musculature, honed thing it is today. The third characteristic of Leonard is the fact that well... the man is hairy. He has thick, bushy hair on his head that he shaves regularly. The lower part of his face is completely covered by an ashen white beard. His chest, arms, stomach and legs are all covered by a thick layer of hair. Many have wrongly accused him for being a wild Pokémon when they first meet him, prompting many a hotheaded Trainer to send out their Pokémon for battle. Leonard’s complexion is rather dark due to having spend many years, if not decades, in the sunlight whenever he helped his grandparent’s at the farm and later on helped his father with the more simpler tasks of a miner. Lastly, when Leonard takes his shirt off one can see three scars running along his chest. The man had run into an accident when he got lost from his family during a family tradition in Miner’s Memorial Caves. |  |
{Personality}
‘Friendly’, ‘open’ and ‘boisterous’ are perfect words one could use if they are ever asked to describe Leonard in one word. Leonard acts like he is everyone’s big brother and has no problem with taking on both the advantages and disadvantages that occupation would hold. He has no problem with making new friends, although his loud nature has pushed people back. He is quick to welcome strangers to his hometown and has no problem with helping anyone that is lost.
Sadly, his own sense of direction is so bad that he believes North is up and East and West being both right and left while South means backwards. As such, more often than not he not only gets just as lost as the one he helps, but he even gets them even more lost. But by some miracle, the man always seems to get somewhere when he needs to be, having never come late to work or missing any family events.
Leonard also likes to enjoy a cigarette after a good workout or a stressful day. While he doesn’t get angry when someone grabs one of his cancer sticks without asking, or Arceus forbid takes the last one, Leonard can be very annoyed and ticked off when he has no way to alleviate any possible frustration at the end of the day.
Despite his towering presence and intimidating physique, Leonard is decidedly a soft-hearted and caring individual, who goes out of his way to offer aid to people and Pokémon in need and takes great pains to look after his friends. His first course of action to a problem will rarely be violence and, while always ready to fight, prefers to settle disputes peacefully. But when the talking solves nothing and the chips are down, Leonard has no problem with decking a few people, and even some Pokémon, straight in the face.
With a rather boisterous demeanor, Leonard can be unwittingly pushy in his attempts to help others and is particularly protective of youths like his younger siblings and co-workers, demanding that they eat, sleep and exercise well in order to grow healthy and strong. Often using himself as an example in an attempt to motivate said youths.
He is very respectful to his superiors, if he believes them to be deservant of the respect. While he has no problem with taking orders from someone younger, less experienced, sour or greedy, the man will not accept even an offer for coffee if Leonard believes the requester is not worth following. Leonard cares little for what a person’s parents do for a living, or how high they stand in the social hierarchy, and if he believes you are unworthy of his respect you will have a better chance of bullying a Hydreigon’s young while the mother is watching them.
By default, Leonard can always be seen laughing and full of joy. Rare are the moments where one sees Leonard without his upbeat demeanour, however just like any normal person Leonard does have a point where he declares someone passed a line. When that happens, the giant clamps up and a frosty coldness layers over normal warm eyes.
Mainly due to instincts, his many friends and family members always try to calm him down as soon as the anger settles in, if they aren’t overcome by anger themselves. After all, it is in the best of everyone’s health to not have a giant of a man be angry and feeling murderous. One such way to anger him is by insulting - or worse, mistreating - his family and Pokémon. Not the playful kind of insults, but the ones where the insulter clearly means every word he spews out of his mouth. Leonard will then gladly deck the offender straight in the face with all his might. Someone had once joked that Leonard “White Knights so hard he almost just straight up killed a man.”
"Bahahaha! Come, let’s grab a drink!"
‘Friendly’, ‘open’ and ‘boisterous’ are perfect words one could use if they are ever asked to describe Leonard in one word. Leonard acts like he is everyone’s big brother and has no problem with taking on both the advantages and disadvantages that occupation would hold. He has no problem with making new friends, although his loud nature has pushed people back. He is quick to welcome strangers to his hometown and has no problem with helping anyone that is lost.
Sadly, his own sense of direction is so bad that he believes North is up and East and West being both right and left while South means backwards. As such, more often than not he not only gets just as lost as the one he helps, but he even gets them even more lost. But by some miracle, the man always seems to get somewhere when he needs to be, having never come late to work or missing any family events.
Leonard also likes to enjoy a cigarette after a good workout or a stressful day. While he doesn’t get angry when someone grabs one of his cancer sticks without asking, or Arceus forbid takes the last one, Leonard can be very annoyed and ticked off when he has no way to alleviate any possible frustration at the end of the day.
Despite his towering presence and intimidating physique, Leonard is decidedly a soft-hearted and caring individual, who goes out of his way to offer aid to people and Pokémon in need and takes great pains to look after his friends. His first course of action to a problem will rarely be violence and, while always ready to fight, prefers to settle disputes peacefully. But when the talking solves nothing and the chips are down, Leonard has no problem with decking a few people, and even some Pokémon, straight in the face.
With a rather boisterous demeanor, Leonard can be unwittingly pushy in his attempts to help others and is particularly protective of youths like his younger siblings and co-workers, demanding that they eat, sleep and exercise well in order to grow healthy and strong. Often using himself as an example in an attempt to motivate said youths.
He is very respectful to his superiors, if he believes them to be deservant of the respect. While he has no problem with taking orders from someone younger, less experienced, sour or greedy, the man will not accept even an offer for coffee if Leonard believes the requester is not worth following. Leonard cares little for what a person’s parents do for a living, or how high they stand in the social hierarchy, and if he believes you are unworthy of his respect you will have a better chance of bullying a Hydreigon’s young while the mother is watching them.
By default, Leonard can always be seen laughing and full of joy. Rare are the moments where one sees Leonard without his upbeat demeanour, however just like any normal person Leonard does have a point where he declares someone passed a line. When that happens, the giant clamps up and a frosty coldness layers over normal warm eyes.
Mainly due to instincts, his many friends and family members always try to calm him down as soon as the anger settles in, if they aren’t overcome by anger themselves. After all, it is in the best of everyone’s health to not have a giant of a man be angry and feeling murderous. One such way to anger him is by insulting - or worse, mistreating - his family and Pokémon. Not the playful kind of insults, but the ones where the insulter clearly means every word he spews out of his mouth. Leonard will then gladly deck the offender straight in the face with all his might. Someone had once joked that Leonard “White Knights so hard he almost just straight up killed a man.”
{History}
"Fine, fine! I’ll tell you a bit about myself. Now kick back and relax."
{Infancy}Leonard Arden Collier was the first of many children that Andromeda Collier née Geneva birthed with the ‘help’ of her husband Sylvester Collier. In fact, the Collier family would know eight births following Leonard in the next decade and a half, making him the eldest sibling of quite a family consisting of five younger brothers and three younger sisters. While the amount was huge, his parents wouldn’t give away a single one of them. Not to mention that the Collier and Geneva family were quite willing, and able, to support the not so small branch.
Life as a Collier was a very affectionate one for Leonard and his future siblings, as his parents and other family members loved to showered him with attention and love. The tiniest of accomplishments were celebrated and recorded for eternity, and as blackmail for the parents to show to any potential boyfriend/girlfriend their child would later bring to their home. Whether it was his first word, his first walk, or even the first time he made a mess in his undies, the Colliers and Genevas loved every moment of Leonard’s existence.
Life as a Collier was a very affectionate one for Leonard and his future siblings, as his parents and other family members loved to showered him with attention and love. The tiniest of accomplishments were celebrated and recorded for eternity, and as blackmail for the parents to show to any potential boyfriend/girlfriend their child would later bring to their home. Whether it was his first word, his first walk, or even the first time he made a mess in his undies, the Colliers and Genevas loved every moment of Leonard’s existence.
{Childhood}In the year that Leonard turned three, and when his hair was still a chestnut brown, something monumental occurred in his life. His mother birthed a daughter, Amethyst Lily, effectively making him a big brother. His parents had told him to be a responsible elder brother and to always protect his little sister. After all, even if the whole world turned against you, family should always have your back. They never needn’t to have bothered with uttering the words, because the moment Leonard saw the small, frail body of his younger sibling, the child vowed to allow no harm to befall her.
Even with the inclusion of his little sister, Andromeda and Sylvester found the time and energy to continue showering Leonard with affection, always letting him know that there were no replacements for children. They would try to give every single child they beared the same amount of love and affection, but like everything even that had a limit. Luckily, by the time they would have to drastically lessen the time they could spend with Leonard, the lad was already old and smart enough to realise that while his parents did love him, they felt like they should focus on the younger family members.
By the time he hit double digits agewise, Leonard became a big brothers three more times, to his first brother, Anderson Florian, and his second brother, Laurence Bruce, and sister, Fleur Bertha, who are twins. Each time he saw the defenseless bodies of his newest sibling, Leonard would repeat the promise he made.
During his childhood, Leonard has always been surrounded by male role models that are broad, either because of muscles or just fat, tall and kind hearted. If it wasn’t his father, then it were the cousins, uncles and grandfather he had on his mother’s side. As such, the boy wanted to make absolutely certain he’d become just as big and manly as his family and took great lengths to drink gallons of milk, believing the drink to boost his chances of growth.
At the age of 10, Leonard once visited his grandparents back in Wisteur Town during Summer break with only his mother. His father decided to stay back in Vlostik Town as the parents felt the journey would be a bit too long for the younger children. A babysitter would come by to take care of Leonard’s siblings when Sylvester went to work in Weswell Town. Being the hyperactive child that he was, Leonard quickly got bored with his mother and grandmother when the two simply talked about stuff like clothing, family outings and other boring adult stuff.
Outside he found his grandfather preparing himself to walk to the farm fields. Deciding he felt like going on an adventure, Leonard asked his grandfather if he could join. Seeing the little rascal of his dear daughter being an hyperactive kid, much like the kid’s own mother had been, the old man had no problems with taking the child along. After a short walk, the two males came to a field, a farmer’s field to be exact, where a couple of people were already working at. Leonard remembered many of the workers as elder cousins or uncles, and not wanting to feel left out the boy wanted to know just why so many family members worked together on the farm. The less said about how the boy thought this might be the secret training or method to becoming just as big and strong as his father, the better for everyone’s sanity.
The family members were overjoyed by his enthusiasm, not like they weren’t every other time a little tyke joined the family business, but they weren’t slave drivers. As such, Leonard was given the simplest of works that needed to be done, and the child did everything with his heart and back put into it.
When the day came to an end and the everyone went to their homes, Leonard had demanded of his mother that he could stay over for a couple of days. He was hell bent on become big, and he just might have found the perfect way! His mother, feeling nothing but merriment at her son’s energy even after a day of work, had nothing against it. Not that she had been planning on travelling all across Godai just to spent one day at her parent’s.
But the longer he helped, the more fun Leonard had at the farm and when the day came they had to return home the kid was almost heartbroken. He had gotten to love the work, the sweat and the nice feeling he got out of a good day’s work. Leonard, for what seemed like the first time, came close to throwing a tantrum in order to stay. He had only started to settle down when he was reminded that his siblings still needed their ‘big, strong brother’ to take care of them, and the fact he should at least finish his primary schooling. What settled the deal however, was the suggestion that he could visit every Summer and stay as long as the break allowed him to.
Back in Vlostik Town, Leonard had energetically talked about his stay at his grandfather’s farm to his father and siblings. Most of it went over the younger ones heads as they either were too young, or didn’t care like Amethyst, the eldest, who felt such thing too boorish. She was a prim and proper lady and would never stoop so low as to dig her fingers in the soil. His father was quite excited to hear the tales and sometimes went off into his own world, thinking how nice it would be if Leonard would show such enthusiasm for the man’s work. Maybe when the kid was older.
Even with the inclusion of his little sister, Andromeda and Sylvester found the time and energy to continue showering Leonard with affection, always letting him know that there were no replacements for children. They would try to give every single child they beared the same amount of love and affection, but like everything even that had a limit. Luckily, by the time they would have to drastically lessen the time they could spend with Leonard, the lad was already old and smart enough to realise that while his parents did love him, they felt like they should focus on the younger family members.
By the time he hit double digits agewise, Leonard became a big brothers three more times, to his first brother, Anderson Florian, and his second brother, Laurence Bruce, and sister, Fleur Bertha, who are twins. Each time he saw the defenseless bodies of his newest sibling, Leonard would repeat the promise he made.
During his childhood, Leonard has always been surrounded by male role models that are broad, either because of muscles or just fat, tall and kind hearted. If it wasn’t his father, then it were the cousins, uncles and grandfather he had on his mother’s side. As such, the boy wanted to make absolutely certain he’d become just as big and manly as his family and took great lengths to drink gallons of milk, believing the drink to boost his chances of growth.
At the age of 10, Leonard once visited his grandparents back in Wisteur Town during Summer break with only his mother. His father decided to stay back in Vlostik Town as the parents felt the journey would be a bit too long for the younger children. A babysitter would come by to take care of Leonard’s siblings when Sylvester went to work in Weswell Town. Being the hyperactive child that he was, Leonard quickly got bored with his mother and grandmother when the two simply talked about stuff like clothing, family outings and other boring adult stuff.
Outside he found his grandfather preparing himself to walk to the farm fields. Deciding he felt like going on an adventure, Leonard asked his grandfather if he could join. Seeing the little rascal of his dear daughter being an hyperactive kid, much like the kid’s own mother had been, the old man had no problems with taking the child along. After a short walk, the two males came to a field, a farmer’s field to be exact, where a couple of people were already working at. Leonard remembered many of the workers as elder cousins or uncles, and not wanting to feel left out the boy wanted to know just why so many family members worked together on the farm. The less said about how the boy thought this might be the secret training or method to becoming just as big and strong as his father, the better for everyone’s sanity.
The family members were overjoyed by his enthusiasm, not like they weren’t every other time a little tyke joined the family business, but they weren’t slave drivers. As such, Leonard was given the simplest of works that needed to be done, and the child did everything with his heart and back put into it.
When the day came to an end and the everyone went to their homes, Leonard had demanded of his mother that he could stay over for a couple of days. He was hell bent on become big, and he just might have found the perfect way! His mother, feeling nothing but merriment at her son’s energy even after a day of work, had nothing against it. Not that she had been planning on travelling all across Godai just to spent one day at her parent’s.
But the longer he helped, the more fun Leonard had at the farm and when the day came they had to return home the kid was almost heartbroken. He had gotten to love the work, the sweat and the nice feeling he got out of a good day’s work. Leonard, for what seemed like the first time, came close to throwing a tantrum in order to stay. He had only started to settle down when he was reminded that his siblings still needed their ‘big, strong brother’ to take care of them, and the fact he should at least finish his primary schooling. What settled the deal however, was the suggestion that he could visit every Summer and stay as long as the break allowed him to.
Back in Vlostik Town, Leonard had energetically talked about his stay at his grandfather’s farm to his father and siblings. Most of it went over the younger ones heads as they either were too young, or didn’t care like Amethyst, the eldest, who felt such thing too boorish. She was a prim and proper lady and would never stoop so low as to dig her fingers in the soil. His father was quite excited to hear the tales and sometimes went off into his own world, thinking how nice it would be if Leonard would show such enthusiasm for the man’s work. Maybe when the kid was older.
{Teen Years}As had been promised, Leonard spent almost every Summer at his grandparent’s back in Wisteur Town, helping them with the farm. His parents and siblings were sad to watch him leave Vlostik Town for weeks at a time, but the smile he had on his return told them that keeping him around would only sadden him greatly. Well the parents realised this, the children were a bit less understanding. Leonard however didn’t allow the long absence from home to deteriorate his relations with his siblings. As such he spent almost any living moment during the school year that is not spent doing his homework with his brothers and sisters.
When Leonard finished elementary, he was all ready and set to move into his grandparent’s home. Neither parents nor siblings were all that happy with that idea, his absence during Summer was already painful to them, they could not imagine life without the energetic ball of energy in the house. Thus after calling Andromeda’s parents with the request to help them convince the eldest Collier child to stay just a bit longer in Vlostik, and convinced him to go to a farming school in Vlostik. They told him it would allow the lad to learn all the ins and outs of being a farmer and that he’d become a far better farmer, capable of helping even more, if he went to the school. Leonard took to the idea like a Heracross to Honey.
From there on, Leonard life could become quite predictable to schedule. He started school at 07:30 AM until 03:00 PM, with a few breaks in between, went back home where he did his homework before he spent time helping around the house and playing with the younger siblings. Every year until his graduation, one hour was added to his roster at school as the physical work got tougher and more demanding. His monotonous life, not that he ever thought that way, was only thrown out of whack once by the birth of his newest sister, Jessamine Marina.
When he was 15, Leonard noticed something that irked him greatly. He was short, as in the shortest of his whole class, not to mention his eldest sister had already grown bigger than him, much to her amusement and his frustrations. It wasn’t that he had a bad bond with his sister, no, but the girl did think of herself as better than most people. It didn’t help that she actually was smarter than the average person, if the near perfect scorecards she brought home was any indication. No, Leonard did not have a strained bond with his sister, but damn it if she couldn’t be annoying with her ‘mightier than thou’ attitude. His mother couldn’t quite keep her in line as she was pregnant once more, and she had to keep the other kids in check and prevent them from becoming another Amethyst. Luckily they took mostly after Leonard as the eldest son was far more fun to play with. Sometimes Leonard silently wondered if his parents, and family in general, were trying to take over Godai by overrunning the country with children.
In the Summer of his 15th birthday, quite a lot happened in Leonard’s life. First off, he had missed the birth of his third brother, Flint Fern, and he had to be calmed down by Amethyst that he was not in fact a bad brother by not being there. It wasn’t Leonard’s fault that Flint decided to stay in the womb longer than expected. While that did slightly lift him up, he still felt like an ass. Not even working in the farm of his grandparents could cheer him up. Said old people could clearly see how the thought ate away at the boy and decided to call up one of their kids and see if they had any way to alleviate the depressing thoughts.
It was then that the second event happened, where Leonard got drafted by an uncle in Wisteur Town to help the man with his lumberjack job. The uncle believed that if farmwork couldn’t keep his little nephew’s mind of the latest addition of the Collier-Geneva family, then maybe the backbreaking work of a lumberjack might. Speaking of that branch of the family, the uncle believed that maybe they needed to have a talk with that Collier chap and inform him how little Andromeda wasn’t a baby machine. As had been expected, the workload of a lumberjack provided Leonard with little to no time, or energy, to feel unjustly bad about him for missing Flint’s birth. Now Leonard was even more determined to move in Wisteur Town once his schooling was done.
However, only one of his dream would come to fruition.
Once Leonard hit 17, his growth spurt finally came and did it hit like a truck. In that year he changed from the smallest classmate, to that classmate that towers over just about everyone. He was so glad to finally become the big, strong man he had always dreamed off that he celebrated for days and weeks on end, holding it over everyone’s head. His height was not the only drastic change that happened, no. His body hair, which had been practically nonexistent with the exception of his armpits, underwent a supergrowth and before he knew it, Leonard sported a full grown beard and layers of hair on his limbs and chest. Not that he minded too much, far too happy with his growth, but his older sisters did find it unhygienic while his youngest siblings simply loved to pull on it.
His dream of living in Wisteur Town and becoming a farmer was not so lucky as to survive. Just before he would start his last year at his farm school, the Collier family got a call from their father’s work. Apparently there had been a cave in during one of the mining expeditions and their father had been caught right into it. While he would certainly live to tell the tale, the man would be in no state to work for at least a whole year. Sure, they would get a replacement income and they held no illusions that the family wouldn’t help, that would not be enough to support the entire Collier family. They had barely been making it, even with financial support from the family, with their mother’s salary from working sporadically at her brother-in-law’s ranch combined with the money Leonard got from his Summer jobs.
Their only option would be to use the money Andromeda and Sylvester had set aside for the children to go to school, but that would take away their chances at Secondary School, let alone the college his eldest sister had set her sight on. Thus Leonard decided to quit school and take up his father’s job at the mines. While he was saddened he could not pursue his own dreams, the eldest sibling would be damned if he would take away his sibling’s chance of pursuing their dreams like he had been allowed to. He would hear nothing about his mother’s empty promises that they could make it even if he did continue on his path. The tears his older siblings shed for the sacrifice Leonard made were appreciated, but he would not be dissuaded. If his siblings didn’t get the chance to reach their potential, then neither should he.
As such it was that Leonard bid goodbye to his school and the friends he made there, and that he pleaded the mining company his father had been part of that they would take him on. As it was, Leonard had the ‘luck’ that they were rather shorthanded due to the accident. It also helped that his family had a bit of a reputation as being hard workers, and that he looked like he could carve the mines out with his bare hands.
When Leonard finished elementary, he was all ready and set to move into his grandparent’s home. Neither parents nor siblings were all that happy with that idea, his absence during Summer was already painful to them, they could not imagine life without the energetic ball of energy in the house. Thus after calling Andromeda’s parents with the request to help them convince the eldest Collier child to stay just a bit longer in Vlostik, and convinced him to go to a farming school in Vlostik. They told him it would allow the lad to learn all the ins and outs of being a farmer and that he’d become a far better farmer, capable of helping even more, if he went to the school. Leonard took to the idea like a Heracross to Honey.
From there on, Leonard life could become quite predictable to schedule. He started school at 07:30 AM until 03:00 PM, with a few breaks in between, went back home where he did his homework before he spent time helping around the house and playing with the younger siblings. Every year until his graduation, one hour was added to his roster at school as the physical work got tougher and more demanding. His monotonous life, not that he ever thought that way, was only thrown out of whack once by the birth of his newest sister, Jessamine Marina.
When he was 15, Leonard noticed something that irked him greatly. He was short, as in the shortest of his whole class, not to mention his eldest sister had already grown bigger than him, much to her amusement and his frustrations. It wasn’t that he had a bad bond with his sister, no, but the girl did think of herself as better than most people. It didn’t help that she actually was smarter than the average person, if the near perfect scorecards she brought home was any indication. No, Leonard did not have a strained bond with his sister, but damn it if she couldn’t be annoying with her ‘mightier than thou’ attitude. His mother couldn’t quite keep her in line as she was pregnant once more, and she had to keep the other kids in check and prevent them from becoming another Amethyst. Luckily they took mostly after Leonard as the eldest son was far more fun to play with. Sometimes Leonard silently wondered if his parents, and family in general, were trying to take over Godai by overrunning the country with children.
In the Summer of his 15th birthday, quite a lot happened in Leonard’s life. First off, he had missed the birth of his third brother, Flint Fern, and he had to be calmed down by Amethyst that he was not in fact a bad brother by not being there. It wasn’t Leonard’s fault that Flint decided to stay in the womb longer than expected. While that did slightly lift him up, he still felt like an ass. Not even working in the farm of his grandparents could cheer him up. Said old people could clearly see how the thought ate away at the boy and decided to call up one of their kids and see if they had any way to alleviate the depressing thoughts.
It was then that the second event happened, where Leonard got drafted by an uncle in Wisteur Town to help the man with his lumberjack job. The uncle believed that if farmwork couldn’t keep his little nephew’s mind of the latest addition of the Collier-Geneva family, then maybe the backbreaking work of a lumberjack might. Speaking of that branch of the family, the uncle believed that maybe they needed to have a talk with that Collier chap and inform him how little Andromeda wasn’t a baby machine. As had been expected, the workload of a lumberjack provided Leonard with little to no time, or energy, to feel unjustly bad about him for missing Flint’s birth. Now Leonard was even more determined to move in Wisteur Town once his schooling was done.
However, only one of his dream would come to fruition.
Once Leonard hit 17, his growth spurt finally came and did it hit like a truck. In that year he changed from the smallest classmate, to that classmate that towers over just about everyone. He was so glad to finally become the big, strong man he had always dreamed off that he celebrated for days and weeks on end, holding it over everyone’s head. His height was not the only drastic change that happened, no. His body hair, which had been practically nonexistent with the exception of his armpits, underwent a supergrowth and before he knew it, Leonard sported a full grown beard and layers of hair on his limbs and chest. Not that he minded too much, far too happy with his growth, but his older sisters did find it unhygienic while his youngest siblings simply loved to pull on it.
His dream of living in Wisteur Town and becoming a farmer was not so lucky as to survive. Just before he would start his last year at his farm school, the Collier family got a call from their father’s work. Apparently there had been a cave in during one of the mining expeditions and their father had been caught right into it. While he would certainly live to tell the tale, the man would be in no state to work for at least a whole year. Sure, they would get a replacement income and they held no illusions that the family wouldn’t help, that would not be enough to support the entire Collier family. They had barely been making it, even with financial support from the family, with their mother’s salary from working sporadically at her brother-in-law’s ranch combined with the money Leonard got from his Summer jobs.
Their only option would be to use the money Andromeda and Sylvester had set aside for the children to go to school, but that would take away their chances at Secondary School, let alone the college his eldest sister had set her sight on. Thus Leonard decided to quit school and take up his father’s job at the mines. While he was saddened he could not pursue his own dreams, the eldest sibling would be damned if he would take away his sibling’s chance of pursuing their dreams like he had been allowed to. He would hear nothing about his mother’s empty promises that they could make it even if he did continue on his path. The tears his older siblings shed for the sacrifice Leonard made were appreciated, but he would not be dissuaded. If his siblings didn’t get the chance to reach their potential, then neither should he.
As such it was that Leonard bid goodbye to his school and the friends he made there, and that he pleaded the mining company his father had been part of that they would take him on. As it was, Leonard had the ‘luck’ that they were rather shorthanded due to the accident. It also helped that his family had a bit of a reputation as being hard workers, and that he looked like he could carve the mines out with his bare hands.
{Adult life}There was very little that had changed in Leonard’s life once he became a miner. His father recovered under the caring watch of the doctors, and later on by the tender touches of his mother. As far as Leonard was concerned, the man could hurry his ass out of the bed and come back to work. These thoughts weren’t formed out of malice for having to abandon his dream, but because Sylvester was apparently energetic enough to impregnate his wife once more. Leonard didn’t mind the extra additions, he heard they were twins, and the budget would be stretched even more, but he would never refuse new family members.
Maybe the babies would give Sylvester the incentive to get back to work, it was after all no fun to heal up with two newborns. Not to mention they could finally start paying back their grandparents and uncles for the financial support. Leonard was sure that not a single family member would want to see the money, let alone receive it, but Leonard would break in their homes and leave the money there if he had to.
As he had hoped, Sylvester did indeed return to the mines when the twins were born, both girls and named Heather Hope and Holly Lavender. While the man had believed Leonard to quit on the spot and pursue his dreams once more, Sylvester was pleasantly surprised how enthusiastic his son took to the work. The boy didn’t scowl, he didn’t blame him - Leonard didn’t blame anyone for becoming a miner - and most of all, Leonard was loved by the workers and loved everyone back. He didn’t mind helping those in need, he didn’t berate rookies for mistakes they made and he was just the big/small brother everyone seemed to want, but didn’t have. It filled Sylvester with pride, oh so much pride.
The man, and just about everyone, also found it hilarious that Leonard carried his pickaxe almost everywhere. Whether it be to his home, to the lavatory or to the pub, the pickaxe was never too far from Leonard. His sisters and mother find it less hilarious whenever he uses it to intimidate their boyfriends.
The Colliers had one tradition they liked to keep, no matter the weather or planned family reunions. Members of the family were only exempt of the tradition if outside forces - sickness, road accident - made it impossible to attend. Every year on the 20th of March, the Colliers would take a day off from work or school, and visit Miner’s Memorial Caves. It was a day that was emotionally hard for Sylvester and Andromeda, as they had lost many friends and even some family members on that day in 186, including Sylvester’s father, his eldest brother and a cousin. Of the children, only Leonard and Amethyst understood the importance of the day as they had been old enough to remember the family members and the disaster that struck.
While the mine was abandoned and became the home of many Pokémon, the Collier family had little to fear as their own Pokémon had never failed at protecting them and keeping any wild Pokémon at bay. However, the day would soon become one where the entire Collier-Geneva family lost yet another family member, all thanks to Leonard’s bad sense of direction and good dose of bad luck.
The year where Leonard turned 23, the day of the tradition had been a sunny day which was both a blessing and a curse. None of the family felt like it should be such a beautiful day on the day such an event occurred, yet a rainy day would have only resulted in more heartache. They had been walking through the well lit paths when Leonard, who had been walking behind everyone, suddenly heard noise down one of the less lit paths. The longer Leonard listened, the more it sounded like someone was having trouble breathing. Before his mind could come up with the thought to inform his family about the noise, Leonard’s body had already taken over and before he knew it the man was running through the path.
The path he took was barely lit, and he had to use the flashlight every responsible family member carried to find his way. It took around five minutes before Leonard found the source of the sound, and unlike what he had expected it wasn’t a human. No, what lay before him was the injured form of a Drilbur, a Pokémon he was quite familiar with due to his occupation. Incapable of leaving an injured creature be, Leonard attempted to pick the creature up however the Pokémon, having sustained its injuries due to a different human’s Pokémon, did not take nicely to this new human. After all, if one human attacked it without any hostilities on the Drilbur’s part, then what was to stop this human from doing the same?
With surprising speed unbefitting of its injuries, the Drilbur pushed itself of the ground and dug its claws in Leonard chest before it scratches from left to right. Unfortunately for Leonard, the creature had dug deep enough to draw blood and there was a big chance that it’d scar, no matter how fast it was treated. His only saving grace was the fact that his scream of pain - getting your skin ripped off was painful! - had attracted his family. Sylvester had been searching throughout the tunnel in search for his eldest the moment it had been noted the teen left their group. He had left Andromeda with the kids as she was far more capable of protecting such a group against the Pokémon that reside in the mines. When the man had seen his eldest with a bleeding wound across the chest, with nothing around, Sylvester almost lost it. Like hell would he lose any other family member in this thrice cursed mine! The man quickly released his Excadrill, who would have made short work of the assailant if it had stuck around. As it was, the Drilbur had decided that incapacitating the human was enough and had quickly made its escape, knowing that one human usually meant multiple ones. The wild Pokémon wasn’t going to chance anything when it was as weakened as it was.
From there on, everything was a blur to Leonard as the Drilbur inflicted wound was deeper than he had thought and the bleeding had only slowed down once Sylvester had tied something around it. His next memory was of him in a bed, with bandages across his chest while his mother and Amethyst sat on either side of his bed. His mother seemed to have fallen asleep, while his eldest sibling was reading a book. However, Leonard could tell she was distracted as she would occasionally look away from her book to somewhere in the room. When her eyes finally landed on the awakened Leonard, the guy raised a hand and before he knew it the girl had slammed herself in his chest while bawling her eyes out, waking up his mother, causing him pain and alerting everyone that he had awoken. What followed next was a mixture of crying, relief and attempts to rant and rave about Leonard’s stupidity, but the crying kind of ruined their attempts.
It was this event that made Leonard think that just maybe, his natural strength might one day not be enough to protect himself, or something he held dear. During his recovery Leonard took to the books again in order to review the knowledge that had been stuffed into him during the seminar the farm school had offered for a whole semester. Leonard had taken the seminar out of curiosity but he had never taken the test to get a Trainer’s License. He had after all planned to becoming a farmer/lumberjack hybrid in the quiet, relaxing town of Wisteur. It had taken a month before Leonard deemed himself up to par with the knowledge, it had been years since he last read up on anything, and took the necessary tests.
Once he finally got his License, Leonard was stuck with a different problem. What Pokémon would he start with? Should he follow his father in using Ground and Rock types, as those would also come in handy during the excavations, or focus on Grass types and Water types like his mother, as those would offer him the most protection with most of the Pokémon around Vlostik being a combination of Ground or Rock.
In the end, Leonard decided to settle on Grass types. It wasn’t as if they were short on hand for Rock or Ground types, with half of his co-workers owning one. His mother had been ecstatic about his decision, and soon gave him a quick run in about how to raise a Grass type, which Grass types existed out there and just what Pokémon would fit Leonard the best. Andromeda went out and asked her own family in Wisteur Town if they knew a Pokémon that’d fit the eldest Collier child. Surprisingly, many of the Genevas agreed to her father’s recommendation: a Seedot.
When they explained the reason, Andromeda felt slightly dim for not realising it herself. Seedot were a Pokémon that was often looked down upon, as it neither looked impressive and that they weren’t known for their prowess. However, they could turn into the intimidating and far more powerful Shiftry, just like how Leonard turned from a small tyke that couldn’t even scare a Wurmple, into a mountain of a man that looked he could choke an Ursaring into unconsciousness. Normally, they would have opinionated that a Snover would be perfect, but the family felt like that might remind Leonard too much about the loss of his dream.
As such, Leonard soon found himself the owner of a Seedot that was the offspring of his grandfather’s Shiftry. When they first met, the Seedot was absolutely scared out of its wits by the towering human. However, Leonard quickly broke the ice by simply picking up the little Grass type with his hand, petted the Pokémon softly with a finger and promptly introduced it to the whole family with a boisterous attitude, as he usually does.
The Seedot, named Fern, quickly became part of family, and while it was overwhelmed by the amount of humans he saw, the only needed time to adjust to this new life. One thing that became quickly apparent to Seedot was that his human had no sense of direction. The Grass type had seen the human get lost while walking down a straight road. As such, the Pokémon took it upon itself to become the ‘compass’. It was hilarious to everyone, including Leonard, to see a behemoth be lead around by a foot high acorn. Most of the time the Seedot, took a spot on top of Leonard’s head, and during work when the head was covered by a helmet Fern simply settled on the human’s shoulder.
Luckily, or not depending how you view it, the times that Leonard had to call upon Fern’s help were far and few in between. It didn’t help that his family, and himself, had forgotten one tiny detail about Seedots. They did not learn any Grass moves unless they’d evolve into their tougher form, Nuzleaf. Well, it wasn’t that Fern was entirely useless, but Leonard didn’t quite enjoy a strategy that bottled down to “Get hit without fainting, and THEN attack back.” No thank you.
Life soon returned to its normalcy until a certain event occurred when Leonard was 27 years old. He had taken the day off and busied himself with entertaining his youngest siblings, Heather Hope and Holly Lavender, who were 5 years old by then. His eldest sister, who visited them for the day, and mother had walked in the living room, and asked - more like demanded him - to join them in the kitchen. Leonard blinked confusedly and was about to call upon his starter until he noticed that his siblings had gotten a hold of the Acorn Pokémon. The hairy man watched the tormented look his Pokémon send him, laughed and walked away, leaving the Pokémon to the clutches of the twins. Leonard was certain that if his Pokémon could speak it would accuse him of being a traitor.
When he noticed that his mother and sister were not alone, an eyebrow rose. It was rather unusual to see his mother and eldest siblings, including Anderson Florian who should be on the road for his Pokémon journey. Once he took a seat at the kitchen’s table, Leonard was quickly informed on the reason for this gathering. Everyone, even Sylvester, felt like Leonard had sacrificed more than enough for them, his own aspirations and a third of the life he had lived. Now that half of the siblings held at least a stable income they decided that Leonard should start living for himself. That he should go out and see the world, become the farmer he had always dreamed to be, or join Anderson in the Gym challenge. Hell, they wouldn’t have minded if he became an ice skater - Arceus forbid the traumatizing view that would create - as long as he lived for himself.
The moment they were finished, with Anderson giving a fiery speech about the battles between men and the sweat shared between rivals, the entire household was reminded why most people feared an angry Leonard. One did not want someone the size of an Ursaring glaring at them, after all. Leonard had crashed straight past his usual frosty layer of anger and fell straight into a boiling ocean of wrath. He blew up at them, wondering just where they had the gall to accuse him of sacrificing anything, of being unsatisfied with his life as a miner, of how he should live his life as an adult! Had they been anything but his immediate family, Leonard would have straight up thrown someone through a wall! In fact, he had thrown the table out the window after he reduced it to pieces by slamming into it with all his strength.
How dare they!? How dare they accuse him of such things!! How dare they remind him of his dreams?!! Of what he gave up!! Sure, his dream was nowhere near as grand as becoming a lawyer, Pokémon Master or scientist. But it was his!! His!!! And now, when everyone had achieved their dreams, or were well on their way to, now they told him he could go and pursue his own?! Like he was a burden? Someone who could be kept around to bring in the money and be discarded once there was enough?! A chair joined the table.
So deep in his anger, the gates had opened and every repressed feeling of regret and accusation gushed out, he was, Leonard didn’t even see the fearful looks he got from his mother and siblings. The noise had gotten the attention of living room’s occupants. The youngest had clammed up, not even daring to cry out in fear, at seeing their gentle, furry, older brother look so angry. No one dared to do a thing, as their instincts had taken over their rational minds at seeing the raging behemoth. There was but one creature that dared move, Fern. The Pokémon may have been around its human for the shortest period, but it knew that Leonard wouldn’t harm it.
The Acorn Pokémon, hopped from the living room into the kitchen before it pushed itself with an almighty leap that send him flying at Leonard’s chin. As muscled as he was, not even he could stay standing if something with enough force hit him right in the chin, sending his brain rocking inside his skull. The man quickly lost control of his motor function and fell on his behind. Now everyone was frozen not out of fear, but out of seeing something surreal as a 1 foot tall creature downing an over 6 feet human.
The time it took for Leonard to recover from the minor concussion was enough for his resentments to subdue, which left him with an oddly hollow feeling in his chest. He looked around in confusion, and when he saw the worried look in his Seedot, who had taken a spot on Leonard’s knee, the giant of a man just broke down and cried. Every resentment, every regret, every feeling of unfulfillment were released in a waterfall of tears as he remembered what he had given up and what he had lost. A dream, a goal, something that could make him face each day with a smile on his face and a spring in his walk. It had changed from being a humble farmer, and maybe a lumberjack in his spare time, to a provider and protector for his family. Now that he was no longer needed to protect the family or provide for them, his family either had a better paying job than him or were no longer around to protect, the man just didn’t know what else he had left.
It was to the cooing noises of his Pokémon and the saddened looks of his family that Leonard cried himself to sleep that day and was for, perhaps the first time, able to lift the burdens of adulthood they had forced him to carry. The ones that were old enough to remember the tales of Leonard when he returned from the Summers as a child. The ones that understood the excitement in his tone when he talked about something new he learned at farmed school. They knew, knew they had burdened, chained, Leonard by the love he held for them. Even if the eldest child would forever deny it, they had each seen something die within Leonard. His laugh became a tad quieter, his smile an inch smaller, and the twinkle in his eyes dimmed ever the slightest.
It was one of the few days where the Collier household was quiet for the rest of the day.
The following day, Leonard woke up feeling more refreshed than ever. The first thing he saw was his Seedot, who still held that concerned look in its eyes. Leonard had settled its worries with a few rubs and a tired smile, all the while he went over the previous day’s happenings. It was only when he went through everything and thought long and hard that he stood up and washed up. After that, he had breakfast in the living room like nothing happened the night before and it was only when he was finished that he gathered the family members from the previous day.
Leonard had silently gazed at each face that was present, each one as tense and guilty as the next, before he released a small chuckle at how they resembled naughty children. From there on, Leonard went on how he would think about it as long as no one would push him towards a road. The family, far too happy to see the eldest son with a little smile, agreed wholeheartedly before the man gave them all a bone breaking hug.
That same weekend, Leonard talked with his father, who had not been happy with the family’s way of putting their views or with Leonard’s way of getting rid of the kitchen table. Sylvester had liked that table, damn it. From that talk, Sylvester had informed Leonard that the boy did not need an immediate goal, but that perhaps the boy should first see what the world had to offer. Sylvester felt that his eldest son had worked for a too long time and that it was time for a break. A break from work, from Vlostik and from the family. It was something that Leonard felt he had to think about, the family had been everything to him, would always be, but maybe his father had a point.
It would not be until a few months had passed that Leonard made his decision. The bearded man would follow his father’s advice and see what Godai had to offer. Maybe he would find another dream he could chase after, maybe he could just see the sights and relax, and just maybe he could finally find himself a loving girl so that his parents could tell embarrassing tales to.
His leave would have to wait, as he didn’t just want to up and quit his job. Leonard wanted to make sure that they would not be short on hand. There was also the fact that Fern felt he should be stronger. Apparently the Grass type wanted to be a reliable partner, not one who’d rely on luck to get his human out of trouble. Leonard didn’t care either way, but he would stay until Fern felt he was ready. Only after his 28th birthday passed, did Fern believe he was ready as that was when the Acorn underwent a change. After training for weeks in the mines and with the Pokémon that Leonard’s siblings kept, Fern underwent an evolution towards a Nuzleaf.
When the glow of change had passed, Leonard had slammed proudly and good heartedly on his Pokémon’s shoulder, sending the newly evolved creature stumbling which only made Leonard laugh boisterously.
Leonard never thought the day would come when he’d set out on a Pokémon journey. As an 28 year old.
Maybe the babies would give Sylvester the incentive to get back to work, it was after all no fun to heal up with two newborns. Not to mention they could finally start paying back their grandparents and uncles for the financial support. Leonard was sure that not a single family member would want to see the money, let alone receive it, but Leonard would break in their homes and leave the money there if he had to.
As he had hoped, Sylvester did indeed return to the mines when the twins were born, both girls and named Heather Hope and Holly Lavender. While the man had believed Leonard to quit on the spot and pursue his dreams once more, Sylvester was pleasantly surprised how enthusiastic his son took to the work. The boy didn’t scowl, he didn’t blame him - Leonard didn’t blame anyone for becoming a miner - and most of all, Leonard was loved by the workers and loved everyone back. He didn’t mind helping those in need, he didn’t berate rookies for mistakes they made and he was just the big/small brother everyone seemed to want, but didn’t have. It filled Sylvester with pride, oh so much pride.
The man, and just about everyone, also found it hilarious that Leonard carried his pickaxe almost everywhere. Whether it be to his home, to the lavatory or to the pub, the pickaxe was never too far from Leonard. His sisters and mother find it less hilarious whenever he uses it to intimidate their boyfriends.
The Colliers had one tradition they liked to keep, no matter the weather or planned family reunions. Members of the family were only exempt of the tradition if outside forces - sickness, road accident - made it impossible to attend. Every year on the 20th of March, the Colliers would take a day off from work or school, and visit Miner’s Memorial Caves. It was a day that was emotionally hard for Sylvester and Andromeda, as they had lost many friends and even some family members on that day in 186, including Sylvester’s father, his eldest brother and a cousin. Of the children, only Leonard and Amethyst understood the importance of the day as they had been old enough to remember the family members and the disaster that struck.
While the mine was abandoned and became the home of many Pokémon, the Collier family had little to fear as their own Pokémon had never failed at protecting them and keeping any wild Pokémon at bay. However, the day would soon become one where the entire Collier-Geneva family lost yet another family member, all thanks to Leonard’s bad sense of direction and good dose of bad luck.
The year where Leonard turned 23, the day of the tradition had been a sunny day which was both a blessing and a curse. None of the family felt like it should be such a beautiful day on the day such an event occurred, yet a rainy day would have only resulted in more heartache. They had been walking through the well lit paths when Leonard, who had been walking behind everyone, suddenly heard noise down one of the less lit paths. The longer Leonard listened, the more it sounded like someone was having trouble breathing. Before his mind could come up with the thought to inform his family about the noise, Leonard’s body had already taken over and before he knew it the man was running through the path.
The path he took was barely lit, and he had to use the flashlight every responsible family member carried to find his way. It took around five minutes before Leonard found the source of the sound, and unlike what he had expected it wasn’t a human. No, what lay before him was the injured form of a Drilbur, a Pokémon he was quite familiar with due to his occupation. Incapable of leaving an injured creature be, Leonard attempted to pick the creature up however the Pokémon, having sustained its injuries due to a different human’s Pokémon, did not take nicely to this new human. After all, if one human attacked it without any hostilities on the Drilbur’s part, then what was to stop this human from doing the same?
With surprising speed unbefitting of its injuries, the Drilbur pushed itself of the ground and dug its claws in Leonard chest before it scratches from left to right. Unfortunately for Leonard, the creature had dug deep enough to draw blood and there was a big chance that it’d scar, no matter how fast it was treated. His only saving grace was the fact that his scream of pain - getting your skin ripped off was painful! - had attracted his family. Sylvester had been searching throughout the tunnel in search for his eldest the moment it had been noted the teen left their group. He had left Andromeda with the kids as she was far more capable of protecting such a group against the Pokémon that reside in the mines. When the man had seen his eldest with a bleeding wound across the chest, with nothing around, Sylvester almost lost it. Like hell would he lose any other family member in this thrice cursed mine! The man quickly released his Excadrill, who would have made short work of the assailant if it had stuck around. As it was, the Drilbur had decided that incapacitating the human was enough and had quickly made its escape, knowing that one human usually meant multiple ones. The wild Pokémon wasn’t going to chance anything when it was as weakened as it was.
From there on, everything was a blur to Leonard as the Drilbur inflicted wound was deeper than he had thought and the bleeding had only slowed down once Sylvester had tied something around it. His next memory was of him in a bed, with bandages across his chest while his mother and Amethyst sat on either side of his bed. His mother seemed to have fallen asleep, while his eldest sibling was reading a book. However, Leonard could tell she was distracted as she would occasionally look away from her book to somewhere in the room. When her eyes finally landed on the awakened Leonard, the guy raised a hand and before he knew it the girl had slammed herself in his chest while bawling her eyes out, waking up his mother, causing him pain and alerting everyone that he had awoken. What followed next was a mixture of crying, relief and attempts to rant and rave about Leonard’s stupidity, but the crying kind of ruined their attempts.
It was this event that made Leonard think that just maybe, his natural strength might one day not be enough to protect himself, or something he held dear. During his recovery Leonard took to the books again in order to review the knowledge that had been stuffed into him during the seminar the farm school had offered for a whole semester. Leonard had taken the seminar out of curiosity but he had never taken the test to get a Trainer’s License. He had after all planned to becoming a farmer/lumberjack hybrid in the quiet, relaxing town of Wisteur. It had taken a month before Leonard deemed himself up to par with the knowledge, it had been years since he last read up on anything, and took the necessary tests.
Once he finally got his License, Leonard was stuck with a different problem. What Pokémon would he start with? Should he follow his father in using Ground and Rock types, as those would also come in handy during the excavations, or focus on Grass types and Water types like his mother, as those would offer him the most protection with most of the Pokémon around Vlostik being a combination of Ground or Rock.
In the end, Leonard decided to settle on Grass types. It wasn’t as if they were short on hand for Rock or Ground types, with half of his co-workers owning one. His mother had been ecstatic about his decision, and soon gave him a quick run in about how to raise a Grass type, which Grass types existed out there and just what Pokémon would fit Leonard the best. Andromeda went out and asked her own family in Wisteur Town if they knew a Pokémon that’d fit the eldest Collier child. Surprisingly, many of the Genevas agreed to her father’s recommendation: a Seedot.
When they explained the reason, Andromeda felt slightly dim for not realising it herself. Seedot were a Pokémon that was often looked down upon, as it neither looked impressive and that they weren’t known for their prowess. However, they could turn into the intimidating and far more powerful Shiftry, just like how Leonard turned from a small tyke that couldn’t even scare a Wurmple, into a mountain of a man that looked he could choke an Ursaring into unconsciousness. Normally, they would have opinionated that a Snover would be perfect, but the family felt like that might remind Leonard too much about the loss of his dream.
As such, Leonard soon found himself the owner of a Seedot that was the offspring of his grandfather’s Shiftry. When they first met, the Seedot was absolutely scared out of its wits by the towering human. However, Leonard quickly broke the ice by simply picking up the little Grass type with his hand, petted the Pokémon softly with a finger and promptly introduced it to the whole family with a boisterous attitude, as he usually does.
The Seedot, named Fern, quickly became part of family, and while it was overwhelmed by the amount of humans he saw, the only needed time to adjust to this new life. One thing that became quickly apparent to Seedot was that his human had no sense of direction. The Grass type had seen the human get lost while walking down a straight road. As such, the Pokémon took it upon itself to become the ‘compass’. It was hilarious to everyone, including Leonard, to see a behemoth be lead around by a foot high acorn. Most of the time the Seedot, took a spot on top of Leonard’s head, and during work when the head was covered by a helmet Fern simply settled on the human’s shoulder.
Luckily, or not depending how you view it, the times that Leonard had to call upon Fern’s help were far and few in between. It didn’t help that his family, and himself, had forgotten one tiny detail about Seedots. They did not learn any Grass moves unless they’d evolve into their tougher form, Nuzleaf. Well, it wasn’t that Fern was entirely useless, but Leonard didn’t quite enjoy a strategy that bottled down to “Get hit without fainting, and THEN attack back.” No thank you.
Life soon returned to its normalcy until a certain event occurred when Leonard was 27 years old. He had taken the day off and busied himself with entertaining his youngest siblings, Heather Hope and Holly Lavender, who were 5 years old by then. His eldest sister, who visited them for the day, and mother had walked in the living room, and asked - more like demanded him - to join them in the kitchen. Leonard blinked confusedly and was about to call upon his starter until he noticed that his siblings had gotten a hold of the Acorn Pokémon. The hairy man watched the tormented look his Pokémon send him, laughed and walked away, leaving the Pokémon to the clutches of the twins. Leonard was certain that if his Pokémon could speak it would accuse him of being a traitor.
When he noticed that his mother and sister were not alone, an eyebrow rose. It was rather unusual to see his mother and eldest siblings, including Anderson Florian who should be on the road for his Pokémon journey. Once he took a seat at the kitchen’s table, Leonard was quickly informed on the reason for this gathering. Everyone, even Sylvester, felt like Leonard had sacrificed more than enough for them, his own aspirations and a third of the life he had lived. Now that half of the siblings held at least a stable income they decided that Leonard should start living for himself. That he should go out and see the world, become the farmer he had always dreamed to be, or join Anderson in the Gym challenge. Hell, they wouldn’t have minded if he became an ice skater - Arceus forbid the traumatizing view that would create - as long as he lived for himself.
The moment they were finished, with Anderson giving a fiery speech about the battles between men and the sweat shared between rivals, the entire household was reminded why most people feared an angry Leonard. One did not want someone the size of an Ursaring glaring at them, after all. Leonard had crashed straight past his usual frosty layer of anger and fell straight into a boiling ocean of wrath. He blew up at them, wondering just where they had the gall to accuse him of sacrificing anything, of being unsatisfied with his life as a miner, of how he should live his life as an adult! Had they been anything but his immediate family, Leonard would have straight up thrown someone through a wall! In fact, he had thrown the table out the window after he reduced it to pieces by slamming into it with all his strength.
How dare they!? How dare they accuse him of such things!! How dare they remind him of his dreams?!! Of what he gave up!! Sure, his dream was nowhere near as grand as becoming a lawyer, Pokémon Master or scientist. But it was his!! His!!! And now, when everyone had achieved their dreams, or were well on their way to, now they told him he could go and pursue his own?! Like he was a burden? Someone who could be kept around to bring in the money and be discarded once there was enough?! A chair joined the table.
So deep in his anger, the gates had opened and every repressed feeling of regret and accusation gushed out, he was, Leonard didn’t even see the fearful looks he got from his mother and siblings. The noise had gotten the attention of living room’s occupants. The youngest had clammed up, not even daring to cry out in fear, at seeing their gentle, furry, older brother look so angry. No one dared to do a thing, as their instincts had taken over their rational minds at seeing the raging behemoth. There was but one creature that dared move, Fern. The Pokémon may have been around its human for the shortest period, but it knew that Leonard wouldn’t harm it.
The Acorn Pokémon, hopped from the living room into the kitchen before it pushed itself with an almighty leap that send him flying at Leonard’s chin. As muscled as he was, not even he could stay standing if something with enough force hit him right in the chin, sending his brain rocking inside his skull. The man quickly lost control of his motor function and fell on his behind. Now everyone was frozen not out of fear, but out of seeing something surreal as a 1 foot tall creature downing an over 6 feet human.
The time it took for Leonard to recover from the minor concussion was enough for his resentments to subdue, which left him with an oddly hollow feeling in his chest. He looked around in confusion, and when he saw the worried look in his Seedot, who had taken a spot on Leonard’s knee, the giant of a man just broke down and cried. Every resentment, every regret, every feeling of unfulfillment were released in a waterfall of tears as he remembered what he had given up and what he had lost. A dream, a goal, something that could make him face each day with a smile on his face and a spring in his walk. It had changed from being a humble farmer, and maybe a lumberjack in his spare time, to a provider and protector for his family. Now that he was no longer needed to protect the family or provide for them, his family either had a better paying job than him or were no longer around to protect, the man just didn’t know what else he had left.
It was to the cooing noises of his Pokémon and the saddened looks of his family that Leonard cried himself to sleep that day and was for, perhaps the first time, able to lift the burdens of adulthood they had forced him to carry. The ones that were old enough to remember the tales of Leonard when he returned from the Summers as a child. The ones that understood the excitement in his tone when he talked about something new he learned at farmed school. They knew, knew they had burdened, chained, Leonard by the love he held for them. Even if the eldest child would forever deny it, they had each seen something die within Leonard. His laugh became a tad quieter, his smile an inch smaller, and the twinkle in his eyes dimmed ever the slightest.
It was one of the few days where the Collier household was quiet for the rest of the day.
The following day, Leonard woke up feeling more refreshed than ever. The first thing he saw was his Seedot, who still held that concerned look in its eyes. Leonard had settled its worries with a few rubs and a tired smile, all the while he went over the previous day’s happenings. It was only when he went through everything and thought long and hard that he stood up and washed up. After that, he had breakfast in the living room like nothing happened the night before and it was only when he was finished that he gathered the family members from the previous day.
Leonard had silently gazed at each face that was present, each one as tense and guilty as the next, before he released a small chuckle at how they resembled naughty children. From there on, Leonard went on how he would think about it as long as no one would push him towards a road. The family, far too happy to see the eldest son with a little smile, agreed wholeheartedly before the man gave them all a bone breaking hug.
That same weekend, Leonard talked with his father, who had not been happy with the family’s way of putting their views or with Leonard’s way of getting rid of the kitchen table. Sylvester had liked that table, damn it. From that talk, Sylvester had informed Leonard that the boy did not need an immediate goal, but that perhaps the boy should first see what the world had to offer. Sylvester felt that his eldest son had worked for a too long time and that it was time for a break. A break from work, from Vlostik and from the family. It was something that Leonard felt he had to think about, the family had been everything to him, would always be, but maybe his father had a point.
It would not be until a few months had passed that Leonard made his decision. The bearded man would follow his father’s advice and see what Godai had to offer. Maybe he would find another dream he could chase after, maybe he could just see the sights and relax, and just maybe he could finally find himself a loving girl so that his parents could tell embarrassing tales to.
His leave would have to wait, as he didn’t just want to up and quit his job. Leonard wanted to make sure that they would not be short on hand. There was also the fact that Fern felt he should be stronger. Apparently the Grass type wanted to be a reliable partner, not one who’d rely on luck to get his human out of trouble. Leonard didn’t care either way, but he would stay until Fern felt he was ready. Only after his 28th birthday passed, did Fern believe he was ready as that was when the Acorn underwent a change. After training for weeks in the mines and with the Pokémon that Leonard’s siblings kept, Fern underwent an evolution towards a Nuzleaf.
When the glow of change had passed, Leonard had slammed proudly and good heartedly on his Pokémon’s shoulder, sending the newly evolved creature stumbling which only made Leonard laugh boisterously.
Leonard never thought the day would come when he’d set out on a Pokémon journey. As an 28 year old.
[div align="center"][img alt=" " src="https://i.imgur.com/0LWmzML.jpg" style="max-width:80%;"]
[font size="4"][i][font face="Times"]Trainer Profile[/font][/i][/font]
[font face="Monaco"][font size="3"]"Howdy, chap? What say we go grab a nice pint!”[/font][/font][/div]
[table style="width:100%;"][tbody][tr][td][b]Character Name:[/b] [font face="monaco"]Leonard Arden Collier[/font]
[b]Nickname:[/b] [font face="monaco"]Leon[/font]
[b]Gender:[/b] [font face="monaco"]Male[/font]
[b]Age:[/b] [font face="Monaco"]28[/font]
[b]Day of Birth:[/b] [font face="Monaco"]30th of August, 172[/font][/td][td][b]Hometown:[/b] [font face="Monaco"]Vlostik Town, West Godai[/font]
[b]Alignment[/b] [font face="Monaco"]Lawful Good[/font]
[b]Western Zodiac:[/b] [font face="Monaco"]Bluella the Sunflora[/font]
[b]Eastern Zodiac:[/b] [font face="Monaco"]Years of the Jynx[/font]
[b]Trainer Class:[/b] [font face="Monaco"]Miner[/font][/td][/tr][/tbody][/table]
[table style="width:100%;"][tbody][tr][td][div align="center"][img src="https://i.imgur.com/AEXORmx.jpg" alt=" "][/div][/td][td][b]Height:[/b] [font face="Monaco"]6 feet 5 inches (195.58 cm)[/font]
[b]Weight:[/b] [font face="Monaco"]230 lbs (104.33 kg)[/font]
[b]Hair Color & Style:[/b] [font face="Monaco"]Leonard possesses chestnut brown hair and praises the gods he has yet to suffer from the early baldness that hit his father. His hair is shaved short, but not completely, at the sides while he keeps it long at the top. With the aid of many a hair product, Leonard is neatly capable of slicking the hair at the top backwards. The lower half of his face is completely covered by a beard that shares the same colouration as his hair.
His hair is thick and grows back at an astonishing, and honestly very annoying, rate that forces him to visit the barber at least once every two weeks. It annoys him, but at least even an annoyance to him can become an enjoyable thing for someone else, as his youngest siblings love running their hands through his ‘fluffy’ hair. Before they pull on it.[/font]
[b]Eyes:[/b] [font face="Monaco"]His eyes are a warm chocolate brown that are the perfect window to his soul, as to speak. One can easily note from his eyes whether Leonard is happy, sad, amused, angered or any other emotion that would otherwise be hidden by his beard. His eyebrows are, just like any other hair on his body, thick and bushy. They also reach slightly over the corners of his eyes, which are a sideways oval shape.[/font][/td][/tr][tr][td][b]Clothing/Accessories:[/b] [font face="Monaco"]When not on the job, Leonard likes to dress as casual as possible. He does this by wearing a short sleeved, unbuttoned shirt with a random t-shirt under that. Leonard rarely, if ever, feels the need to put on a pullover on a free day as even the cold that is brought by Winter barely fazes him. Whenever the cold does pierce through, Leonard just throws on his white, large, thick jacket, with greenish blue fur lining the neck, neck and hem.
Leonard likes to wear a jeans throughout the entire year, one where he always tucks a belt in. It is only when the heat is unbearable that Leonard discards the jeans, and wears a bermuda instead. Just like his pants, Leonard prefers to wear one sort the entire year, military issued leather boots, and just like his pants it is only when the temperature hits above a certain degree that he changes into sneakers.
One can never see Leonard without his trusty pickaxe and pack of cigarettes. The man loves his work, and loves doing his work, not to mention that having it with him is a great deterrent for any upstart, arrogant, bark-bigger-than-bite brat he meets. It sure as hell amuses his friends and co-workers, makes his father proud for following in the elder’s footsteps so joyfully unlike Leonard’s siblings, and helps intimidate the little parasites that hang around his little sisters. Even if one of those sisters was already 25.[/font]
[b]General Appearance:[/b] [font face="Monaco"]The first thing one notices about Leonard is that he is a remarkably large man. The guy literally towers over just about everybody he meets, barring the male family members on his mother’s side as this seems to be a trend for that family, making him very easy to spot in a crowd or at a distance. The second thing they’ll notice is his broad stature. As Leonard has been working out in the fields the moment he reached the double digits, his body has had decades to develop in the musculature, honed thing it is today.
The third characteristic of Leonard is the fact that well... the man is hairy. He has thick, bushy hair on his head that he shaves regularly. The lower part of his face is completely covered by an ashen white beard. His chest, arms, stomach and legs are all covered by a thick layer of hair. Many have wrongly accused him for being a wild Pokémon when they first meet him, prompting many a hotheaded Trainer to send out their Pokémon for battle.
Leonard’s complexion is rather dark due to having spend many years, if not decades, in the sunlight whenever he helped his grandparent’s at the farm and later on helped his father with the more simpler tasks of a miner.
Lastly, when Leonard takes his shirt off one can see three scars running along his chest. The man had run into an accident when he got lost from his family during a family tradition in Miner’s Memorial Caves.[/td][td][div align="center"][img src="https://i.imgur.com/1FnKG5J.jpg" style="max-width:85%;"][/div][/td][/tr][/tbody][/table]
[spoiler]{Personality}[font face="Monaco"][div align="center"]"Bahahaha! Come, let’s grab a drink!"[/div]
‘Friendly’, ‘open’ and ‘boisterous’ are perfect words one could use if they are ever asked to describe Leonard in one word. Leonard acts like he is everyone’s big brother and has no problem with taking on both the advantages and disadvantages that occupation would hold. He has no problem with making new friends, although his loud nature has pushed people back. He is quick to welcome strangers to his hometown and has no problem with helping anyone that is lost.
Sadly, his own sense of direction is so bad that he believes North is up and East and West being both right and left while South means backwards. As such, more often than not he not only gets just as lost as the one he helps, but he even gets them even more lost. But by some miracle, the man always seems to get somewhere when he needs to be, having never come late to work or missing any family events.
Leonard also likes to enjoy a cigarette after a good workout or a stressful day. While he doesn’t get angry when someone grabs one of his cancer sticks without asking, or Arceus forbid takes the last one, Leonard can be very annoyed and ticked off when he has no way to alleviate any possible frustration at the end of the day.
Despite his towering presence and intimidating physique, Leonard is decidedly a soft-hearted and caring individual, who goes out of his way to offer aid to people and Pokémon in need and takes great pains to look after his friends. His first course of action to a problem will rarely be violence and, while always ready to fight, prefers to settle disputes peacefully. But when the talking solves nothing and the chips are down, Leonard has no problem with decking a few people, and even some Pokémon, straight in the face.
With a rather boisterous demeanor, Leonard can be unwittingly pushy in his attempts to help others and is particularly protective of youths like his younger siblings and co-workers, demanding that they eat, sleep and exercise well in order to grow healthy and strong. Often using himself as an example in an attempt to motivate said youths.
He is very respectful to his superiors, if he believes them to be deservant of the respect. While he has no problem with taking orders from someone younger, less experienced, sour or greedy, the man will not accept even an offer for coffee if Leonard believes the requester is not worth following. Leonard cares little for what a person’s parents do for a living, or how high they stand in the social hierarchy, and if he believes you are unworthy of his respect you will have a better chance of bullying a Hydreigon’s young while the mother is watching them.
By default, Leonard can always be seen laughing and full of joy. Rare are the moments where one sees Leonard without his upbeat demeanour, however just like any normal person Leonard does have a point where he declares someone passed a line. When that happens, the giant clamps up and a frosty coldness layers over normal warm eyes.
Mainly due to instincts, his many friends and family members always try to calm him down as soon as the anger settles in, if they aren’t overcome by anger themselves. After all, it is in the best of everyone’s health to not have a giant of a man be angry and feeling murderous. One such way to anger him is by insulting - or worse, mistreating - his family and Pokémon. Not the playful kind of insults, but the ones where the insulter clearly means every word he spews out of his mouth. Leonard will then gladly deck the offender straight in the face with all his might. Someone had once joked that Leonard “White Knights so hard he almost just straight up killed a man.”[/font][/spoiler]
[spoiler]{History}[font face="Monaco"][div align="center"]"Fine, fine! I’ll tell you a bit about myself. Now kick back and relax."[/div]
[quote][spoiler]{Infancy}[font=Monaco]Leonard Arden Collier was the first of many children that Andromeda Collier née Geneva birthed with the ‘help’ of her husband Sylvester Collier. In fact, the Collier family would know eight births following Leonard in the next decade and a half, making him the eldest sibling of quite a family consisting of five younger brothers and three younger sisters. While the amount was huge, his parents wouldn’t give away a single one of them. Not to mention that the Collier and Geneva family were quite willing, and able, to support the not so small branch.
Life as a Collier was a very affectionate one for Leonard and his future siblings, as his parents and other family members loved to showered him with attention and love. The tiniest of accomplishments were celebrated and recorded for eternity, and as blackmail for the parents to show to any potential boyfriend/girlfriend their child would later bring to their home. Whether it was his first word, his first walk, or even the first time he made a mess in his undies, the Colliers and Genevas loved every moment of Leonard’s existence.[/font][/spoiler]
[spoiler]{Childhood}[font face="Monaco"]In the year that Leonard turned three, and when his hair was still a chestnut brown, something monumental occurred in his life. His mother birthed a daughter, Amethyst Lily, effectively making him a big brother. His parents had told him to be a responsible elder brother and to always protect his little sister. After all, even if the whole world turned against you, family should always have your back. They never needn’t to have bothered with uttering the words, because the moment Leonard saw the small, frail body of his younger sibling, the child vowed to allow no harm to befall her.
Even with the inclusion of his little sister, Andromeda and Sylvester found the time and energy to continue showering Leonard with affection, always letting him know that there were no replacements for children. They would try to give every single child they beared the same amount of love and affection, but like everything even that had a limit. Luckily, by the time they would have to drastically lessen the time they could spend with Leonard, the lad was already old and smart enough to realise that while his parents did love him, they felt like they should focus on the younger family members.
By the time he hit double digits agewise, Leonard became a big brothers three more times, to his first brother, Anderson Florian, and his second brother, Laurence Bruce, and sister, Fleur Bertha, who are twins. Each time he saw the defenseless bodies of his newest sibling, Leonard would repeat the promise he made.
During his childhood, Leonard has always been surrounded by male role models that are broad, either because of muscles or just fat, tall and kind hearted. If it wasn’t his father, then it were the cousins, uncles and grandfather he had on his mother’s side. As such, the boy wanted to make absolutely certain he’d become just as big and manly as his family and took great lengths to drink gallons of milk, believing the drink to boost his chances of growth.
At the age of 10, Leonard once visited his grandparents back in Wisteur Town during Summer break with only his mother. His father decided to stay back in Vlostik Town as the parents felt the journey would be a bit too long for the younger children. A babysitter would come by to take care of Leonard’s siblings when Sylvester went to work in Weswell Town. Being the hyperactive child that he was, Leonard quickly got bored with his mother and grandmother when the two simply talked about stuff like clothing, family outings and other boring adult stuff.
Outside he found his grandfather preparing himself to walk to the farm fields. Deciding he felt like going on an adventure, Leonard asked his grandfather if he could join. Seeing the little rascal of his dear daughter being an hyperactive kid, much like the kid’s own mother had been, the old man had no problems with taking the child along. After a short walk, the two males came to a field, a farmer’s field to be exact, where a couple of people were already working at. Leonard remembered many of the workers as elder cousins or uncles, and not wanting to feel left out the boy wanted to know just why so many family members worked together on the farm. The less said about how the boy thought this might be the secret training or method to becoming just as big and strong as his father, the better for everyone’s sanity.
The family members were overjoyed by his enthusiasm, not like they weren’t every other time a little tyke joined the family business, but they weren’t slave drivers. As such, Leonard was given the simplest of works that needed to be done, and the child did everything with his heart and back put into it.
When the day came to an end and the everyone went to their homes, Leonard had demanded of his mother that he could stay over for a couple of days. He was hell bent on become big, and he just might have found the perfect way! His mother, feeling nothing but merriment at her son’s energy even after a day of work, had nothing against it. Not that she had been planning on travelling all across Godai just to spent one day at her parent’s.
But the longer he helped, the more fun Leonard had at the farm and when the day came they had to return home the kid was almost heartbroken. He had gotten to love the work, the sweat and the nice feeling he got out of a good day’s work. Leonard, for what seemed like the first time, came close to throwing a tantrum in order to stay. He had only started to settle down when he was reminded that his siblings still needed their ‘big, strong brother’ to take care of them, and the fact he should at least finish his primary schooling. What settled the deal however, was the suggestion that he could visit every Summer and stay as long as the break allowed him to.
Back in Vlostik Town, Leonard had energetically talked about his stay at his grandfather’s farm to his father and siblings. Most of it went over the younger ones heads as they either were too young, or didn’t care like Amethyst, the eldest, who felt such thing too boorish. She was a prim and proper lady and would never stoop so low as to dig her fingers in the soil. His father was quite excited to hear the tales and sometimes went off into his own world, thinking how nice it would be if Leonard would show such enthusiasm for the man’s work. Maybe when the kid was older.[/font][/spoiler]
[spoiler]{Teen Years}[font face="Monaco"]As had been promised, Leonard spent almost every Summer at his grandparent’s back in Wisteur Town, helping them with the farm. His parents and siblings were sad to watch him leave Vlostik Town for weeks at a time, but the smile he had on his return told them that keeping him around would only sadden him greatly. Well the parents realised this, the children were a bit less understanding. Leonard however didn’t allow the long absence from home to deteriorate his relations with his siblings. As such he spent almost any living moment during the school year that is not spent doing his homework with his brothers and sisters.
When Leonard finished elementary, he was all ready and set to move into his grandparent’s home. Neither parents nor siblings were all that happy with that idea, his absence during Summer was already painful to them, they could not imagine life without the energetic ball of energy in the house. Thus after calling Andromeda’s parents with the request to help them convince the eldest Collier child to stay just a bit longer in Vlostik, and convinced him to go to a farming school in Vlostik. They told him it would allow the lad to learn all the ins and outs of being a farmer and that he’d become a far better farmer, capable of helping even more, if he went to the school. Leonard took to the idea like a Heracross to Honey.
From there on, Leonard life could become quite predictable to schedule. He started school at 07:30 AM until 03:00 PM, with a few breaks in between, went back home where he did his homework before he spent time helping around the house and playing with the younger siblings. Every year until his graduation, one hour was added to his roster at school as the physical work got tougher and more demanding. His monotonous life, not that he ever thought that way, was only thrown out of whack once by the birth of his newest sister, Jessamine Marina.
When he was 15, Leonard noticed something that irked him greatly. He was short, as in the shortest of his whole class, not to mention his eldest sister had already grown bigger than him, much to her amusement and his frustrations. It wasn’t that he had a bad bond with his sister, no, but the girl did think of herself as better than most people. It didn’t help that she actually was smarter than the average person, if the near perfect scorecards she brought home was any indication. No, Leonard did not have a strained bond with his sister, but damn it if she couldn’t be annoying with her ‘mightier than thou’ attitude. His mother couldn’t quite keep her in line as she was pregnant once more, and she had to keep the other kids in check and prevent them from becoming another Amethyst. Luckily they took mostly after Leonard as the eldest son was far more fun to play with. Sometimes Leonard silently wondered if his parents, and family in general, were trying to take over Godai by overrunning the country with children.
In the Summer of his 15th birthday, quite a lot happened in Leonard’s life. First off, he had missed the birth of his third brother, Flint Fern, and he had to be calmed down by Amethyst that he was not in fact a bad brother by not being there. It wasn’t Leonard’s fault that Flint decided to stay in the womb longer than expected. While that did slightly lift him up, he still felt like an ass. Not even working in the farm of his grandparents could cheer him up. Said old people could clearly see how the thought ate away at the boy and decided to call up one of their kids and see if they had any way to alleviate the depressing thoughts.
It was then that the second event happened, where Leonard got drafted by an uncle in Wisteur Town to help the man with his lumberjack job. The uncle believed that if farmwork couldn’t keep his little nephew’s mind of the latest addition of the Collier-Geneva family, then maybe the backbreaking work of a lumberjack might. Speaking of that branch of the family, the uncle believed that maybe they needed to have a talk with that Collier chap and inform him how little Andromeda wasn’t a baby machine. As had been expected, the workload of a lumberjack provided Leonard with little to no time, or energy, to feel unjustly bad about him for missing Flint’s birth. Now Leonard was even more determined to move in Wisteur Town once his schooling was done.
However, only one of his dream would come to fruition.
Once Leonard hit 17, his growth spurt finally came and did it hit like a truck. In that year he changed from the smallest classmate, to that classmate that towers over just about everyone. He was so glad to finally become the big, strong man he had always dreamed off that he celebrated for days and weeks on end, holding it over everyone’s head. His height was not the only drastic change that happened, no. His body hair, which had been practically nonexistent with the exception of his armpits, underwent a supergrowth and before he knew it, Leonard sported a full grown beard and layers of hair on his limbs and chest. Not that he minded too much, far too happy with his growth, but his older sisters did find it unhygienic while his youngest siblings simply loved to pull on it.
His dream of living in Wisteur Town and becoming a farmer was not so lucky as to survive. Just before he would start his last year at his farm school, the Collier family got a call from their father’s work. Apparently there had been a cave in during one of the mining expeditions and their father had been caught right into it. While he would certainly live to tell the tale, the man would be in no state to work for at least a whole year. Sure, they would get a replacement income and they held no illusions that the family wouldn’t help, that would not be enough to support the entire Collier family. They had barely been making it, even with financial support from the family, with their mother’s salary from working sporadically at her brother-in-law’s ranch combined with the money Leonard got from his Summer jobs.
Their only option would be to use the money Andromeda and Sylvester had set aside for the children to go to school, but that would take away their chances at Secondary School, let alone the college his eldest sister had set her sight on. Thus Leonard decided to quit school and take up his father’s job at the mines. While he was saddened he could not pursue his own dreams, the eldest sibling would be damned if he would take away his sibling’s chance of pursuing their dreams like he had been allowed to. He would hear nothing about his mother’s empty promises that they could make it even if he did continue on his path. The tears his older siblings shed for the sacrifice Leonard made were appreciated, but he would not be dissuaded. If his siblings didn’t get the chance to reach their potential, then neither should he.
As such it was that Leonard bid goodbye to his school and the friends he made there, and that he pleaded the mining company his father had been part of that they would take him on. As it was, Leonard had the ‘luck’ that they were rather shorthanded due to the accident. It also helped that his family had a bit of a reputation as being hard workers, and that he looked like he could carve the mines out with his bare hands.[/font][/spoiler]
[spoiler]{Adult life}[font face="Monaco"]There was very little that had changed in Leonard’s life once he became a miner. His father recovered under the caring watch of the doctors, and later on by the tender touches of his mother. As far as Leonard was concerned, the man could hurry his ass out of the bed and come back to work. These thoughts weren’t formed out of malice for having to abandon his dream, but because Sylvester was apparently energetic enough to impregnate his wife once more. Leonard didn’t mind the extra additions, he heard they were twins, and the budget would be stretched even more, but he would never refuse new family members.
Maybe the babies would give Sylvester the incentive to get back to work, it was after all no fun to heal up with two newborns. Not to mention they could finally start paying back their grandparents and uncles for the financial support. Leonard was sure that not a single family member would want to see the money, let alone receive it, but Leonard would break in their homes and leave the money there if he had to.
As he had hoped, Sylvester did indeed return to the mines when the twins were born, both girls and named Heather Hope and Holly Lavender. While the man had believed Leonard to quit on the spot and pursue his dreams once more, Sylvester was pleasantly surprised how enthusiastic his son took to the work. The boy didn’t scowl, he didn’t blame him - Leonard didn’t blame anyone for becoming a miner - and most of all, Leonard was loved by the workers and loved everyone back. He didn’t mind helping those in need, he didn’t berate rookies for mistakes they made and he was just the big/small brother everyone seemed to want, but didn’t have. It filled Sylvester with pride, oh so much pride.
The man, and just about everyone, also found it hilarious that Leonard carried his pickaxe almost everywhere. Whether it be to his home, to the lavatory or to the pub, the pickaxe was never too far from Leonard. His sisters and mother find it less hilarious whenever he uses it to intimidate their boyfriends.
The Colliers had one tradition they liked to keep, no matter the weather or planned family reunions. Members of the family were only exempt of the tradition if outside forces - sickness, road accident - made it impossible to attend. Every year on the 20th of March, the Colliers would take a day off from work or school, and visit Miner’s Memorial Caves. It was a day that was emotionally hard for Sylvester and Andromeda, as they had lost many friends and even some family members on that day in 186, including Sylvester’s father, his eldest brother and a cousin. Of the children, only Leonard and Amethyst understood the importance of the day as they had been old enough to remember the family members and the disaster that struck.
While the mine was abandoned and became the home of many Pokémon, the Collier family had little to fear as their own Pokémon had never failed at protecting them and keeping any wild Pokémon at bay. However, the day would soon become one where the entire Collier-Geneva family lost yet another family member, all thanks to Leonard’s bad sense of direction and good dose of bad luck.
The year where Leonard turned 23, the day of the tradition had been a sunny day which was both a blessing and a curse. None of the family felt like it should be such a beautiful day on the day such an event occurred, yet a rainy day would have only resulted in more heartache. They had been walking through the well lit paths when Leonard, who had been walking behind everyone, suddenly heard noise down one of the less lit paths. The longer Leonard listened, the more it sounded like someone was having trouble breathing. Before his mind could come up with the thought to inform his family about the noise, Leonard’s body had already taken over and before he knew it the man was running through the path.
The path he took was barely lit, and he had to use the flashlight every responsible family member carried to find his way. It took around five minutes before Leonard found the source of the sound, and unlike what he had expected it wasn’t a human. No, what lay before him was the injured form of a Drilbur, a Pokémon he was quite familiar with due to his occupation. Incapable of leaving an injured creature be, Leonard attempted to pick the creature up however the Pokémon, having sustained its injuries due to a different human’s Pokémon, did not take nicely to this new human. After all, if one human attacked it without any hostilities on the Drilbur’s part, then what was to stop this human from doing the same?
With surprising speed unbefitting of its injuries, the Drilbur pushed itself of the ground and dug its claws in Leonard chest before it scratches from left to right. Unfortunately for Leonard, the creature had dug deep enough to draw blood and there was a big chance that it’d scar, no matter how fast it was treated. His only saving grace was the fact that his scream of pain - getting your skin ripped off was painful! - had attracted his family. Sylvester had been searching throughout the tunnel in search for his eldest the moment it had been noted the teen left their group. He had left Andromeda with the kids as she was far more capable of protecting such a group against the Pokémon that reside in the mines. When the man had seen his eldest with a bleeding wound across the chest, with nothing around, Sylvester almost lost it. Like hell would he lose any other family member in this thrice cursed mine! The man quickly released his Excadrill, who would have made short work of the assailant if it had stuck around. As it was, the Drilbur had decided that incapacitating the human was enough and had quickly made its escape, knowing that one human usually meant multiple ones. The wild Pokémon wasn’t going to chance anything when it was as weakened as it was.
From there on, everything was a blur to Leonard as the Drilbur inflicted wound was deeper than he had thought and the bleeding had only slowed down once Sylvester had tied something around it. His next memory was of him in a bed, with bandages across his chest while his mother and Amethyst sat on either side of his bed. His mother seemed to have fallen asleep, while his eldest sibling was reading a book. However, Leonard could tell she was distracted as she would occasionally look away from her book to somewhere in the room. When her eyes finally landed on the awakened Leonard, the guy raised a hand and before he knew it the girl had slammed herself in his chest while bawling her eyes out, waking up his mother, causing him pain and alerting everyone that he had awoken. What followed next was a mixture of crying, relief and attempts to rant and rave about Leonard’s stupidity, but the crying kind of ruined their attempts.
It was this event that made Leonard think that just maybe, his natural strength might one day not be enough to protect himself, or something he held dear. During his recovery Leonard took to the books again in order to review the knowledge that had been stuffed into him during the seminar the farm school had offered for a whole semester. Leonard had taken the seminar out of curiosity but he had never taken the test to get a Trainer’s License. He had after all planned to becoming a farmer/lumberjack hybrid in the quiet, relaxing town of Wisteur. It had taken a month before Leonard deemed himself up to par with the knowledge, it had been years since he last read up on anything, and took the necessary tests.
Once he finally got his License, Leonard was stuck with a different problem. What Pokémon would he start with? Should he follow his father in using Ground and Rock types, as those would also come in handy during the excavations, or focus on Grass types and Water types like his mother, as those would offer him the most protection with most of the Pokémon around Vlostik being a combination of Ground or Rock.
In the end, Leonard decided to settle on Grass types. It wasn’t as if they were short on hand for Rock or Ground types, with half of his co-workers owning one. His mother had been ecstatic about his decision, and soon gave him a quick run in about how to raise a Grass type, which Grass types existed out there and just what Pokémon would fit Leonard the best. Andromeda went out and asked her own family in Wisteur Town if they knew a Pokémon that’d fit the eldest Collier child. Surprisingly, many of the Genevas agreed to her father’s recommendation: a Seedot.
When they explained the reason, Andromeda felt slightly dim for not realising it herself. Seedot were a Pokémon that was often looked down upon, as it neither looked impressive and that they weren’t known for their prowess. However, they could turn into the intimidating and far more powerful Shiftry, just like how Leonard turned from a small tyke that couldn’t even scare a Wurmple, into a mountain of a man that looked he could choke an Ursaring into unconsciousness. Normally, they would have opinionated that a Snover would be perfect, but the family felt like that might remind Leonard too much about the loss of his dream.
As such, Leonard soon found himself the owner of a Seedot that was the offspring of his grandfather’s Shiftry. When they first met, the Seedot was absolutely scared out of its wits by the towering human. However, Leonard quickly broke the ice by simply picking up the little Grass type with his hand, petted the Pokémon softly with a finger and promptly introduced it to the whole family with a boisterous attitude, as he usually does.
The Seedot, named Fern, quickly became part of family, and while it was overwhelmed by the amount of humans he saw, the only needed time to adjust to this new life. One thing that became quickly apparent to Seedot was that his human had no sense of direction. The Grass type had seen the human get lost while walking down a straight road. As such, the Pokémon took it upon itself to become the ‘compass’. It was hilarious to everyone, including Leonard, to see a behemoth be lead around by a foot high acorn. Most of the time the Seedot, took a spot on top of Leonard’s head, and during work when the head was covered by a helmet Fern simply settled on the human’s shoulder.
Luckily, or not depending how you view it, the times that Leonard had to call upon Fern’s help were far and few in between. It didn’t help that his family, and himself, had forgotten one tiny detail about Seedots. They did not learn any Grass moves unless they’d evolve into their tougher form, Nuzleaf. Well, it wasn’t that Fern was entirely useless, but Leonard didn’t quite enjoy a strategy that bottled down to “Get hit without fainting, and THEN attack back.” No thank you.
Life soon returned to its normalcy until a certain event occurred when Leonard was 27 years old. He had taken the day off and busied himself with entertaining his youngest siblings, Heather Hope and Holly Lavender, who were 5 years old by then. His eldest sister, who visited them for the day, and mother had walked in the living room, and asked - more like demanded him - to join them in the kitchen. Leonard blinked confusedly and was about to call upon his starter until he noticed that his siblings had gotten a hold of the Acorn Pokémon. The hairy man watched the tormented look his Pokémon send him, laughed and walked away, leaving the Pokémon to the clutches of the twins. Leonard was certain that if his Pokémon could speak it would accuse him of being a traitor.
When he noticed that his mother and sister were not alone, an eyebrow rose. It was rather unusual to see his mother and eldest siblings, including Anderson Florian who should be on the road for his Pokémon journey. Once he took a seat at the kitchen’s table, Leonard was quickly informed on the reason for this gathering. Everyone, even Sylvester, felt like Leonard had sacrificed more than enough for them, his own aspirations and a third of the life he had lived. Now that half of the siblings held at least a stable income they decided that Leonard should start living for himself. That he should go out and see the world, become the farmer he had always dreamed to be, or join Anderson in the Gym challenge. Hell, they wouldn’t have minded if he became an ice skater - Arceus forbid the traumatizing view that would create - as long as he lived for himself.
The moment they were finished, with Anderson giving a fiery speech about the battles between men and the sweat shared between rivals, the entire household was reminded why most people feared an angry Leonard. One did not want someone the size of an Ursaring glaring at them, after all. Leonard had crashed straight past his usual frosty layer of anger and fell straight into a boiling ocean of wrath. He blew up at them, wondering just where they had the gall to accuse him of sacrificing anything, of being unsatisfied with his life as a miner, of how he should live his life as an adult! Had they been anything but his immediate family, Leonard would have straight up thrown someone through a wall! In fact, he had thrown the table out the window after he reduced it to pieces by slamming into it with all his strength.
How dare they!? How dare they accuse him of such things!! How dare they remind him of his dreams?!! Of what he gave up!! Sure, his dream was nowhere near as grand as becoming a lawyer, Pokémon Master or scientist. But it was his!! His!!! And now, when everyone had achieved their dreams, or were well on their way to, now they told him he could go and pursue his own?! Like he was a burden? Someone who could be kept around to bring in the money and be discarded once there was enough?! A chair joined the table.
So deep in his anger, the gates had opened and every repressed feeling of regret and accusation gushed out, he was, Leonard didn’t even see the fearful looks he got from his mother and siblings. The noise had gotten the attention of living room’s occupants. The youngest had clammed up, not even daring to cry out in fear, at seeing their gentle, furry, older brother look so angry. No one dared to do a thing, as their instincts had taken over their rational minds at seeing the raging behemoth. There was but one creature that dared move, Fern. The Pokémon may have been around its human for the shortest period, but it knew that Leonard wouldn’t harm it.
The Acorn Pokémon, hopped from the living room into the kitchen before it pushed itself with an almighty leap that send him flying at Leonard’s chin. As muscled as he was, not even he could stay standing if something with enough force hit him right in the chin, sending his brain rocking inside his skull. The man quickly lost control of his motor function and fell on his behind. Now everyone was frozen not out of fear, but out of seeing something surreal as a 1 foot tall creature downing an over 6 feet human.
The time it took for Leonard to recover from the minor concussion was enough for his resentments to subdue, which left him with an oddly hollow feeling in his chest. He looked around in confusion, and when he saw the worried look in his Seedot, who had taken a spot on Leonard’s knee, the giant of a man just broke down and cried. Every resentment, every regret, every feeling of unfulfillment were released in a waterfall of tears as he remembered what he had given up and what he had lost. A dream, a goal, something that could make him face each day with a smile on his face and a spring in his walk. It had changed from being a humble farmer, and maybe a lumberjack in his spare time, to a provider and protector for his family. Now that he was no longer needed to protect the family or provide for them, his family either had a better paying job than him or were no longer around to protect, the man just didn’t know what else he had left.
It was to the cooing noises of his Pokémon and the saddened looks of his family that Leonard cried himself to sleep that day and was for, perhaps the first time, able to lift the burdens of adulthood they had forced him to carry. The ones that were old enough to remember the tales of Leonard when he returned from the Summers as a child. The ones that understood the excitement in his tone when he talked about something new he learned at farmed school. They knew, knew they had burdened, chained, Leonard by the love he held for them. Even if the eldest child would forever deny it, they had each seen something die within Leonard. His laugh became a tad quieter, his smile an inch smaller, and the twinkle in his eyes dimmed ever the slightest.
It was one of the few days where the Collier household was quiet for the rest of the day.
The following day, Leonard woke up feeling more refreshed than ever. The first thing he saw was his Seedot, who still held that concerned look in its eyes. Leonard had settled its worries with a few rubs and a tired smile, all the while he went over the previous day’s happenings. It was only when he went through everything and thought long and hard that he stood up and washed up. After that, he had breakfast in the living room like nothing happened the night before and it was only when he was finished that he gathered the family members from the previous day.
Leonard had silently gazed at each face that was present, each one as tense and guilty as the next, before he released a small chuckle at how they resembled naughty children. From there on, Leonard went on how he would think about it as long as no one would push him towards a road. The family, far too happy to see the eldest son with a little smile, agreed wholeheartedly before the man gave them all a bone breaking hug.
That same weekend, Leonard talked with his father, who had not been happy with the family’s way of putting their views or with Leonard’s way of getting rid of the kitchen table. Sylvester had liked that table, damn it. From that talk, Sylvester had informed Leonard that the boy did not need an immediate goal, but that perhaps the boy should first see what the world had to offer. Sylvester felt that his eldest son had worked for a too long time and that it was time for a break. A break from work, from Vlostik and from the family. It was something that Leonard felt he had to think about, the family had been everything to him, would always be, but maybe his father had a point.
It would not be until a few months had passed that Leonard made his decision. The bearded man would follow his father’s advice and see what Godai had to offer. Maybe he would find another dream he could chase after, maybe he could just see the sights and relax, and just maybe he could finally find himself a loving girl so that his parents could tell embarrassing tales to.
His leave would have to wait, as he didn’t just want to up and quit his job. Leonard wanted to make sure that they would not be short on hand. There was also the fact that Fern felt he should be stronger. Apparently the Grass type wanted to be a reliable partner, not one who’d rely on luck to get his human out of trouble. Leonard didn’t care either way, but he would stay until Fern felt he was ready. Only after his 28th birthday passed, did Fern believe he was ready as that was when the Acorn underwent a change. After training for weeks in the mines and with the Pokémon that Leonard’s siblings kept, Fern underwent an evolution towards a Nuzleaf.
When the glow of change had passed, Leonard had slammed proudly and good heartedly on his Pokémon’s shoulder, sending the newly evolved creature stumbling which only made Leonard laugh boisterously.
Leonard never thought the day would come when he’d set out on a Pokémon journey. As an 28 year old.[/font][/spoiler]
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4,655.-
x8 Great Ball
x1 Black Apricorn
x1 Green Apricorn
x3 Potion
x1 Antidote
x1 Paralyze Heal
x1 Revive
x1 Calcium
x2 Protein
x2 Oran Berry
x1 Persim Berry
x2 Leppa Berry
x1 Wiki Berry
x1 Pecha Berry
x2 Kelpsy Berry
x2 Hondew Berry
x2 Tamato Berry
x1 Grass Gem
x1 Super Repel
x2 Moon Stone
x1 Clefairy Doll
x1 Nugget
PokéDex
Journal
Holocaster
TM039 Rock Tomb
TM066 Toxic
TM069 Rock Polish
x1 TR of Choice
x1 TR021 Reversal
Razor Claw
