Gym Leader Clemont [Nimbasa, Unova]

Clemont was born in the largest city of Kalos to a CEO and a successful journalist. The new parents were not pleased by his arrival, the boy's conception being an accident that the media pounced on once Mrs. Citron was seen with her baby bump. Unable to give the child up because their reputation demanded they keep him, they hired a nanny and did their best to forget they even had a son... until, that is, the nanny had some interesting news to report. Clemont possessed skills no baby should have, learning to walk and perfect his speech long before infants are due to. Immediately the Citrons began to take tighter control of their child, placing him in the care of private tutors instead of sending him to school. Within a few years of Clemont's life the happy, curious little boy had shrunk to a quiet, bitter child, angry that his love of learning had been stolen from him by teachers who did not believe in open exploration. He acted out, making most of the professors quit, and the Pokemon his parents presented him with in the hopes of taming him did nothing but encourage him.

The same mistake that had happened before happened again, Mrs. Citron this time giving birth to a girl. Clemont's heart was stolen the second he looked at her, and when it became apparent their parents were going to ignore her until she exhibited some sign of remarkableness, Clemont stepped in to provide the emotional nourishment and physical presence that the tiny girl needed. His first inventions revolved entirely around Bonnie, the boy constructing whatever his baby sister needed, going as far to rig a child's red wagon like a go-cart in order to drive Bonnie to her first day at preschool. Forcing himself to mature quickly, Clemont learned to make sacrifices of his time, effort, and own desires to make room for his sister's needs, even when Bonnie was neither grateful nor appreciative of it-- though always initially angry, he would remind himself afterwards that her ability to not realize the gravity of the situation was exactly what he was striving for in the first place. He learned how to be patient, how to accept the fact that she was not on the same level of intelligence that he was and that grasping the concepts of reading, writing, mathematics, science, language was not something that came easy to her as a toddler even though by this age he'd been teaching himself Spanish from watching television and taking apart household items to rebuild them. He celebrated when she learned her colors, her letters, her numbers, and it touched him that her first word was his name.

He never could have guessed that Bonnie, at five years old, had realized her parents cared very little for her.

With Clemont's life entirely occupied by his sister, he did not act out so much, and the adults in his life took advantage of the fact that he was willing to be his sister's parent to justify not being one to either child. Clemont was an object of fascination among the Citrons' acquaintances, and the boy was soon forced to attend his parents' dinner parties with them, a shiny trophy to show off to their friends. He was expected to be an adult, the grown ups around him failing to realize that even with an adult's intellect, he still had the emotional spectrum of a child. At age eight he was presented with the opportunity to go collect gym badges, his parents eager to see if he was as much a prodigy with Pokemon as he was with so many other things. Initially he tried to refuse even though he'd been training for the chance-- how could he leave Bonnie? But Bonnie, perceptive enough even at her age, told him to go, and refused to hear him protest otherwise. And thus he went, earning half his gym badges before a trip to Kanto would change his life.

That trip to Kanto began as a rare attempt for the Citrons to try to connect with their children, the parents using their business trips as an opportunity for a family one. Clemont's father became preoccupied with his work almost as soon as the plane landed, and with his mother dragging Bonnie off for some weird attempt at mother-daughter bonding, the boy was left alone. Hearing there was the region's fabled power plant nearby, he ventured there to explore, and to his shock, found the Legendary pokemon Zapdos, the bird showing himself mostly out of curiosity about the tiny human poking around in the power plant. Zapdos, much younger and much less bitter, did not mind Clemont approaching him, and though the language barrier between them was there, the two found each other enjoyable company as the hours went on. For the next few days Clemont would set out from their hotel to see him, promising on the final day of the vacation that he would return, perhaps within the month.

However, as soon as he returned home, he was forced out to finish getting his gym badges. It took another year to collect those, and immediately afterwards he was enrolled in college to get an engineering degree, his pleas to return to Kanto or even just to take a break falling on unsympathetic ears, his parents accusing him of not wanting to live up to his full potential. His accomplishments did not go unnoticed and within the year he became the gym leader of the largest city in Kalos, with his father as his mandatory consultant given that Clemont was still a minor. The boy finally obtained his dream of selling his inventions on a mass scale, but it was more of a curse than a blessing; besides being forced into this far too soon and with so much already going on, his father managed the company as its president, using Clemont's beloved Citronic Gears as leverage to get Clemont to do what he wanted, always under the insistance that everything he did was for his son's own good. Soon after this he became a Battle Chateau Marquis, with the full expectation that he'd make the rank of Grand Duke. It was far too much, the child beginning to burn out at the age of just eleven. He could not handle this anymore, even with Bonnie's continued support and love. Not a religious child by any means, he nonetheless prayed for an out.

He got one, the epidemic. It was far more than he bargained for.

As soon as the outbreak hit, he placed Bonnie in the care of the police and of half of his prized team, certain that between the officers and his Pokemon, she would be kept safe. Voluntarily leaving the safety of the barricades, Clemont ventured out to try to save what he could, but it was for naught-- there were too many undead. He returned to find his sister missing, and was forced to flee the city without learning what became of her or their parents.  

It was a devastating four years, but Clemont bore them in relative silence, forcing himself to believe that his Pokemon had kept his sister safe. As he wandered, searching for her, he found himself hopelessly lost in a world he'd barely been allowed to explore, his research being a poor substitude for finding himself in the real thing. It seems he's found a city, though where he's stumbled across this time is anyone's guess; he only hopes he will avoid seeing anymore traces of tragedy. He's not sure he can handle too much more of that.

Maybe if he's lucky he'll find something on the virus here? That would be ideal...

♊ Bonnie: Clemont's baby sister and closest human friend. Though the two siblings have very different interests, no one can claim that Clemont does not love her, or that she does not love him. From the day he realized his parents would never be parents to her, he was determined to give her a childhood she would enjoy, going to great lengths to do so, even when this meant struggling to prepare dinner himself, or to decorate for Christmas alone, or spending his hard-earned money on her wants and needs. He played the tooth fairy, helped her with her homework, built toys for her, and even constructed a playpen and a mobile for her when she was a baby-- indeed, his earliest inventions were all based around satisfying some need or want of hers. Though Clemont cannot always understand her, he makes a full effort to validate her interests and never failed to stand up for her when her parents actually bothered to pay attention to her and tried holding her to the standards they expected out of their son. The upkeep of such devotion was not easy-- to be a parent to his little sister, Clemont sacrificed what was left of his own childhood, and not always readily. Despite whatever resentment or bitterness he felt at the moment of sacrifice, he always considered it worth it, for as much as she could drive him crazy, his little sister was the only human who loved him for everything he was, and not merely what he was expected to be. When the outbreak happened she was his top priority, and it has devastated him beyond words that he failed to keep her safe. He clutches onto the hope that the three Pokemon he lent her have kept her alive, if nothing else, and that perhaps she has been able to start over someplace else, with more deserving adults as guardians.

♊ Zapdos: Meeting Zapdos as a small child impacted Clemont deeply; though he only spent a few days with the bird, Zapdos left him awestruck and spellbound, and more determined than ever to master the wonder that was electric types. He adored the Legend and yearned to see him again, and the fact that his parents barred him from keeping his promise continues to eat at him. He would not be surprised if the thunder bird hates him now, nor would he blame him.

♊ Diantha: His superior; he liked her, but never got really close to her despite her best efforts to mother him, aware that her presence made his mother jealous. He pretends not to mind but in fact he does mind. Very much.