OOC; back again

[punchtheflowers]

Player Name: Toni
Character's Name: Vinnie (Red's Venusaur)
Character's username punchtheflowers
Game Series: Pokemons
Link to previous app: This was gross
Age (If there is a change): 23

Canon point changes (If any): No is same
Additional history that happened since the last application:

Red had been at this Smash Academy place for a while, leaving his team to their own devices on Mt. Silver - and it was all well and good on the ice mountain and all, but inevitably they began to miss him. They surprised him with a sudden, unannounced arrival at the school, all with the intention to enroll and remain near their trainer. Not too soon after, however, the Venusaur's biological calling kicked in, and he left for the Viridian Garden to take up the duty of leading an evolution ceremony. Despite being far from friends at the time, he invited Bulba along as well, feeling the awkward onset of obligation to show the lab-bred Saur something of their heritage. He returned from the rather jarring task with a new role outside of Red, a new job that tied him back to his roots. But he put it to the back of his mind as school became his focus - and true to form, Vinnie also took on the additional responsibility of growling at his little sister's suitors and glaring sideways at Green's team. Though he made some fast friends, his hot-headedness got him into a handful of fights within the first few months, which was rather expected for a Venusaur of his temperament.

But no one could have predicted the gruesome outcome of that December. What had started with a gross case of miscommunication between Sasha and Raikov spiraled into a life or death battle once Volgin and Vinnie threw themselves into the fray to protect their loved ones. The former Russian colonel tore out two of the Venusaur's main leaves in the course of the fight, and suffered near fatal poisoning as a result, landing him in intensive care. Once word got out that two Pokemon - two of the Kanto champion's Pokemon, in fact - were responsible for nearly killing an instructor and breaking another's arm, it sparked off a chain of events that blew up into a frightening time for nonhumans. Being hospitalized for the majority of that month kept Vinnie and Sasha themselves away from the worst of this nightmare, but it made their recovery no less agonizing. Though his flesh wounds were treated easily, the damage done to his symbiotic plant half was traumatic enough that any future use of his Grass Type powers could potentially disrupt his vital functions. No one knew when, or if his leaves would grow back, but until then he was effectively debilitated. Healing would take patience.

Instead, Vinnie found himself falling into despair as he recognized that his injury made him useless to Red. And though his team reassured him otherwise, his relationship with them continued to grow strained as he struggled with his own self-worth. If his abilities were crippled as a Venusaur, he decided, then he would just have to make his humanized half stronger to compensate. Armed with his fists, his sludge bomb and Lash's laser oar, he was still too stubborn to back down from a fight despite being disadvantaged - even if it meant getting thrown off a roof by an angry god with a crush, for example.

That wasn't the only time-space distortion to affect him, however. When an epidemic of alternate lives transformed half the school population, Vinnie found himself an Ivysaur again, living what could have been if he had never found Red. Consumed by bitterness, loneliness and vegence, he stalked the forest until an unlikely association with a soft-hearted Green resulted in the wild Pokemon's brutal murder. Though the effects of that week were temporary, Vinnie returned to the life and body that he knew with the painfully fresh memories of death. Of dying, and being dead at the hands of an alternate Bulba. The experience scarred him, and he desperately tried to keep the burden to himself, away from his team and the Ivysaur's conscience. Despite his good-but-arguably-not-very-healthy intentions, the Venusaur began to become increasingly insular, shutting himself away from the people that cared about him - and hurting them in the process.

Max offered him a job with Orange Star Army in order to pay for the damage he caused as a rowdy Ivysaur, and with some apprehension, Vinnie accepted. After all, there was no one more qualified in the art of training human muscles than Max, and the Venusaur was still desperate to become stronger. In doing so, however, Vinnie also had to accept that he was splitting his human allegiences between his trainer and his commanding officer, which planted a further seed of shame inside him. Nonetheless, he devoted himself fully to this training, finally able to regain a sense of control over his life. The more productive he was, the less he focused on pain. And between boot camp, gardening, classes, being a big brother and oblivious to crushes, there was a lot to occupy himself with.

When Red and Kojiro both left the school that summer, Vinnie took it upon himself to look after the remaining members of his team. As it wore on, however, the pressure of responsibility began to burn him out as he constantly tried to attend to everyone but himself. Winter approached again, bringing to the surface the bitterness and frustration of his crippled condition. Even with all of Max's training, a full year had past and he had no real regrowth to show for it, leading the Grass Type to feel weaker than ever. He lost his way, and in an attempt to find it again, he set off alone on a journey to figure out some answers for himself.

As he traveled across the woodland earth, he mused on the nature of strength. Soaked in the water of the Lake of Rage, he contemplated the cycle of change among the petrified trees. The fire of battle caught up with him in Mt. Mortar, and reawakened his will and pride. The monks of Sprout Tower found him afterwards, and he stayed for a stretch to learn from the Bellsprout of the windy tower. Then, when he could finally understand something of the void inside, Vinnie returned to Mt. Silver - the place he evolved and the summit where he first found that feeling of wholeness that was so missing from him.

Celebi returned him to the school by way of time travel - though it was with some unforeseen side effects on his body later. Whatever peace of mind Vinnie felt was rather shortlived, however, as the rampant school weirdness and strained relationship between Red and Green's teams were quick to rain turmoil on everything again. Ha ha. Still, the Venusaur tried to embrace more of his guardian role as he was made one of the overseers of the Greenhouse, and through that way pursued a healing process in-tune with nature. Then on his birthday, Celebi made a gift of a Healing Wish for him - something to restart the growth of his leaves and a return to his powers.

Vinnie left the school to undergo physical therapy with Erika during the delicate sprouting period, and has been slowly recovering the use of his Grass Type abilities over the sunny summer months. Not wanting his education to suffer, however, it was with Erika's urging that the Venusaur decided to return in time for the beginning of the school year. It was a pretty sure thing that things would go wrong, but better that they go wrong with him around, Vinnie reasoned.

Personality Changes:

The effects of his injury were not insignificant on Vinnie's psyche - it's forced him to re-evaluate a lot of things about himself, his role, and his future. He's very quick to try and carry the world on his shoulders, and because of it, takes his self perceived job a bit too seriously - even though the definitions of that job, and of strength itself has been undergoing change.

Being limited in battle hasn't stemmed his willingness to fight, but it has forced him to become more tactical about what he's able to do. After all, at a school such as this, Red isn't necessarily always around to guide him, so he's had to revert to his Ivysaur's instincts in employing Poisons and terrain to his advantage. He's not above utilizing manmade tools, Max's training, or straight up improvising weapons to tip the scale if need be. All the boot camp has also upped his endurance to fatigue and pain, so he makes up for a limited moveset by being tenaciously difficult to put down.

On the flipside, however, if he is fighting to protect someone, he can get reckless to the point of putting himself in harm's way unnecessarily. Vinnie would rather he get hurt instead of anyone else - after all, he's already been maimed and killed before, so it's numbed him from the fear of pain. It's nothing he would ever want a loved one, or even just an innocent person to suffer. Injury has just become something that he's morbidly accepted as one more aspect of his job, as his way of staying relevant and useful to his team. There's a part of him that recognizes that they would be devastated to see him hurt, though - he sees it more clearly now than before. The tradeoff isn't something that anyone in his familiy would be happy accepting, and with a gradual return to health, the Venusaur also has to put his own wellbeing into perspective. But when cornered, the instinct to sacrifice himself comes forward much quicker than it perhaps should. When the alternative is the weight of self-blame and bitterness, physical harm seems so much easier to handle.

Being so often affected by misfortune has also cast a suspicious tint on most things for Vinnie. Considering his commanding officier and frequent emasculator is also prone to pointing out glaring patterns in the city's strangeness, the school's frequent events are no longer grounds for complete terror - they are horrible disturbances that need to be weathered for about a week or so. Terror is an option if the effects last any longer and don't revert. He can keep an open mind about the new people and places that the academy invites, as each one could potentially have knowledge he can apply, but his trust isn't easily given. Knowing that his longstanding wounds were given to him by a sociopathic human with powers surpassing even most Pokemon, he's also not prone to underestimating strangers. In the end, he's only as optimistic as he feels the situation allows, and is quick to inform his friends of precautions. Long past are the days where he and his team felt unconquerable.

Sadly, unlike his teammates, his faith in Red has become less than unshakable - and similarly, Vinnie is painfully aware of his own lapses of loyalty. Venusaurs, after all, are renown for their devotion to their trainers - so what does it say about him that he agreed to become Max's subordinate as well? Not to mention the yearning that lingers in the back of his mind that wants to return to the forest, permanently? They're all conflictions that he toils over in secret, for fear of hurting the people closest to him. Yet when Red left, and then returned with selective amnesia, Vinnie realized that there were things that he couldn't completely depend on his trainer for. He had to become his own pillar, a forest unto himself, if he was going to be the kind of man that his family could rely on.

And that means he dislikes being indebted to people - since it was a lifelong debt to Red that lead Vinnie to follow him, and a monetary debt to Max. It takes a while for him to put aside his pride to ask for any sort of help for himself, even from close friends. Only when he knows that there's more at stake than his own wellbeing does he persist down that path.

With his Venusaur responsibilities looming over him more frequently now than it ever did pre-Smash, Vinnie has been attempting to pursue a more meditative approach to his struggles. Though it's not often able to take root in his stubborn personality, there are times when he does look to the memories of his father, Mt. Silver, Celebi and even the Sprout monks for peace of mind in his drive to grasp what constitutes true strength. This strength, as he's come to understand for himself, isn't about raw power (as it was for Max); it isn't being perpetually unflappable (as it was for Red), and it isn't even about being able to protect everyone (though it could still be applied to do so). Even with what he knows, Vinnie still has difficulty putting his rudimentary glimpses into practice. High altitudes and cold weather can clear his mind when nothing else will, regardless of how counter-intuitive the environment is for a flower. And despite the very obvious leaf inbalance on his natural body, he's at least managed to move past the shame of being seen in Pokemon form.

Plus: he's still kind of afraid of ghosts.

In-Character 1st person sample:

So I'm guessin' it was an interestin' summer. Didn't expect coming back to the building looking this weird, but I guess that shit's getting itself fixed already. What else changed while I was away? Red? M, Sis, you guys doin' okay?

Oh, 'fore I forget - I got some stuff from Erika for some've you guys. Mac, she got Rocky a present! Brock, there's a letter I'm supposed t'not look at. Plus some seeds for you, Bulba... she says hi t'Green, et cetera, and I'll sort out the Berries later.

Hi t'whoever dropped in on this place while I was gone. I'm Red's Venusaur, Vinnie. I'm either a guy with green hair or a walkin' pink flower, in case you see me around.

In-Character 3rd person sample:

Erika's presents were the first thing he dumped into the duffle bag; his water bottle came next, some spray medicine, and the few change of clothes he'd brought when he first arrived, shoved in with enough room to spare. It was a strange feeling, he was surprised to note, the motions of packing. In the past, it had always been Red with the seemingly bottomless bag, who kept track of inventory. They were necessities that the Venusaur left to him to take care of.

Because otherwise, Vinnie traveled light. All those times he'd broken off to visit the Garden or journey on his own, he left with very little other than the shirt on his back. It was in part due to his plant biology, of course, which cut down on some of the otherwise animal essentials for survival, but even still, he could trust the wilderness to provide for the rest.

But it was a different kind of wildness he was returning to. Looking down into his half-empty bag, there was a strange sense of futility that lay inside. Even as his brain wracked itself trying to work out what he could have forgotten, no amount of foresight could really prepare anyone for that strange place. Smash Academy carried with it more bad memories than good. If Vinnie were to be completely honest, he didn't miss the it much. Some of the people, yes, and the Greenhouse - but the school itself?

It wasn't as though he treasured an education, no matter how much Erika encouraged his botanical studies. And as handy as some of the facilities were, it was ultimately window dressing. Going back meant stepping back into a madhouse, prone to nonsense magic and curses, where longstanding rivals and unforeseen enemies housed themselves under the same roof. If he thought about it too long, then yeah, it was a stupid idea.

But the same experience gave him friends he would've otherwise never had cause to make. He found the one person he had longed to know, ever since he was a kid. He had a brother and sister still there, and a Trainer to stand beside. He had debts.

Wallet, check. Cellphone in pocket, check. Collapsed laser oar at his side, check. Evliya around his neck, check.

...Oh right, the train tickets. Ha.

Two vines slithered out from under his sleeve, wrapping themselves around the duffle bag. They weren't as thick as they used to be, or as sure and dexterous, but Vinnie had to practice whenever he could. They helfted the bag up, and he pulled the strap over his shoulder as he left to find Erika. There were thanks and goodbyes that needed to be said, and he would rather they were done before the afternoon wave of picnickers came to the gym.