Resistance: Elm (HQ)

Raised in Johto by a fussy, demanding, overbearing, and frankly abusive mother and two loving pokemon, Emmanuel Elm had a mostly quiet and very isolated childhood. Despite his mother's best attempts to coax and bully him away from it, the boy was drawn to pokemon in everything that he did and that included his chosen field of study; fascinated about how pokemon bred and why certain pokemon automatically had specific traits, Elm would begin a career in science that made the obvious too great for even his mother to ignore; the boy was brilliant. Exceedingly so. Coupled with a natural talent for working with the magical creatures, Elm blew through school at a pace that left his teachers gobsmacked, garnering the attention of someone that his mother, for all her stubborn viciousness, could not ignore. And thus, taught under the watchful eye of the famous Professor Oak, Elm was always top of the class during his studies into the world of Pokémon. Entering college when he was sixteen, he graduated early and flew through graduate school too, quickly earning his docturate. Though his mother continued to badger his choice throughout the process whenever she had the chance, Elm had long since made the decision to pursue pokemon research as his life's calling-- perhaps one of two times he ever had any spine when it came to his mother.

The second was the meeting and later marriage to his wife. Fresh out of school and doing his best to ignore the situation with his mother, Elm's intelligence and obvious promise in the field led him into the permanent occupation of a professor, his lab based in New Bark Town, Johto, where he settled once married and set about beginning his life's work.

Specializing in the abilities of Pokémon (which he discovered) and later on, pokemon breeding, Elm spent much of his life feverishly researching within the confines of his lab. Sending countless new trainers off with their starter pokémon, the professor became known for his reclusive and incredibly scatter-brained, but kind and caring persona. Alongside his greatest achievement in the discovery of pokemon abilities, Elm had a rather strained family life; the professor and his wife had rushed as young people into their marriage propelled by a whirlwind romance, ingoring various emotional baggage they both carried; on top of this, neither were very good at communicating their needs; when things rose to heated arguments, she was explosive, demanding, and accusing, and he, a terrible coward and a doormat. As his wife set expectations he could not reach, he buried himself deeper into his work, his research robbing away time he meant to dedicate to his wife and young daughter.

Thankfully, his child kept him from being a total recluse, and it wouldn't be long until she had help. His young lab assistant and two neighboring children came together with his daughter to pull him from his research, their need of a parental figure in their lives the only thing he found more compelling than his own work. Though he did his best to tear himself away from his research to spend time with the young people who needed him, he made no such effort for his wife, whose company he found more and more stressful and anxiety inducing by the day.

When the epidemic hit, Elm was one of the first people alerted. Determined to unravel the secrets of this new, catastrophic phenomena and hopefully put a swift stop to it, he virtually locked himself with the confines of his lab to focus on his studies. As the weeks rolled on, his family were evacuated by authorities and were desperate that he join them. Convinced he was on the brink of discovering a cure, Elm refused and was eventually dragged from his lab by concerned authorities. Grabbing a handful of pokeballs – once destined for aspiring trainers – and some of his most precious papers, he was soon bundled onto a ship set for a safe, government location.

Guilty at effectively abandoning his family who had departed days before, Elm remained obsessed with his work – considered a valuable asset towards discovering a means of combating the virus despite his typically disorganized approach. Destined for Sinnoh, tragedy struck as the ship was set upon by aquatic undead. Elm would have died alongside countless other passengers hadn’t his Corsola brought him safely to land.

Alone and completely unprepared for life in this dangerous world, Elm instinctively travelled to the nearest police station in search of human survivors. Unfortunately, the place was abandoned. Indulging in the sparse supplies left behind, the professor swallowed his fear and set off in search of fellow survivors. He has been unsuccessful, struggling for survival in a hostile world that he is determined to both understand and eventually conquer.

♋ Professors Oak, Birch, Rowan, Juniper, and Sycamore: His colleagues, though none could really be called his friends since he was always the odd one out due to his own forgetfulness and clumsiness. Professor Oak trained him, and he admires the man deeply, though was always too shy to tell Oak just how much he did. He regrets that, now.

♋ Gold: Fond of him, but also a bit afraid of his obliviousness and how it tends to lead to disaster. Horrified to learn his mother was a drunken, abusive woman, he cared for the boy as best he could, and was happy to present him with his starter... if not also a little afraid Gold might accidentally burn his house down. His wife often complained he was more a father to Gold than their own daughter; though untrue, Elm felt guilty for it anyway. He misses him and frets for his safety, but Gold always was a lucky one where intelligence failed him. He uses that hope to feel better and keep his morale up.

♋ Silver: Though not appreciative of the fact that Silver stole one of his Pokemon, he was more concerned why someone so young would commit a serious (but mercifully nonviolent) crime like like that. He was more than willing to forgive Silver when the child later tried returning the fully evolved starter, giving the boy words of encouragement and forgiveness during that conversation. He misses Silver and wishes to see him again, hoping that his life after that meeting was a happy one... and fearing it may have met with a messy end, like so many others.

-Elm has placed an emphasis on training his remaining Pokémon as in the event of an undead attack, he’s relatively unprepared for combat. When armed, he is a terrible shot and continues to flinch away on the rare occasion he pulls the trigger. As a result, he heavily relies on the protection from his Pokémon if he's ever attacked.
-Speaks with a stutter, his thoughts and his mouth not communicating well when he is flustered or excited, so there are times where he is difficult to understand. He's not especially fond of the fact and is self-conscious about it.
-Elm is ridiculously forgetful and often relies on a combination of little notes written to himself and Fiona to remember important things. This is actually a medical condition; he suffered brain damage as a child, an incident he was very lucky to survive.
-(I would like to also make his stammer part of that condition but he didn't stutter once the entire time this character's first owner had him so that's kind of impossible, unfortunately.)
-RP is currently commencing with Blaine and Red; as I don't know what happened, yet, I can't factor it in to Elm's personality beyond a vague idea based on discussed concepts, so certain things are subject to change and will definitely be later elaborated on