Laren

Laren is the Gym Leader of Vertia. He appeared in Chapter 2 along with his Anorith and some of his Level 5 Pokémon.

## Appearance

A man in his late twenties that looks at least five years younger. He has long dark brown hair that he keeps up like in a high ponytail with a hair fastener fashioned after a Claw Fossil, the hair divided into five braids, each end tied with a hair tie decorated with a shiny dark brown orb. Dark skin, and bright green eyes that help with his youthful appearance. Wears a gray shirt with a big collar and a brown vest over it, full with pockets of different shapes and sizes; all pockets are white with a red flap. Has thick black gloves and long gray pants with the ends inside the brown hiking boots. Carries around a dark gray backpack, with even more pockets. Keeps his team’s Poké Balls clipped to the inside of the vest, on the left side.

## Personality

The first impression Laren gives is of a very talkative, cheerful and friendly yet incredibly forgetful and oblivious guy, who's blind to other people's moods and intentions. Know him a bit better and you'll discover the obsession he has with fossils and the Pokémon revived from them, to the point where he can distinguish them at a glance or even by sound while he still doesn't know the name of the Vertia nurse who has worked there longer than him. It's almost as if everything related to fossils gets burnt into his mind, while everything else goes in one ear and out the other.

His major personality flaw is that he doesn't do anything to correct his little memory problem, as he considers non-fossil-related things trivial and as such doesn't prioritize them or even try to learn them properly, making him kind of selfish (an IC example would be how he made some of the shifters wait hours at his house instead of taking a few minutes to backtrack to the Pokémon Center to give them the information they wanted using the map there). It's gotten to the point where he doesn't even ask people their names anymore, seeing as how he knows he'll forget and he doesn't care about them either way.

At least he takes his job as a Gym Leader seriously, even though he dislikes battling and only took it for the benefits it provided. Which means he's obligated to put a stop to his beloved fossils if they start destroying the town.

## Role

Laren first appeared with his Anorith in Chapter 2, rounding up 40 Kabutos that had ran away from their designated space in the labs because of a kid's prank. They helped guide Rae to Vertia before arriving at the scene where Zoey and Jasper had finished fighting the last three Kabuto. After returning the Fossil Pokémons to their Poké Balls, he guided the group of gathered shifters back to the town.

When hearing Chompers' roar, he hurried to the scene where a battle between him, Nero and Jasper was about to start. After the threat of the battle causing property damage, he used some of his Pokémon to defuse the situation. Next, he answered some questions Sine, Cassandra and Allison had, before going back to the labs.

After delivering the Kabutos, which took a couple of hours, Laren returned to his house where almost all the current shifters were, excepting Sine and Chompers. He told them about the abandoned building he had worked at as member of Team Helix, located near Taismog, and about the different ways to get there. After that, Lambert challenged him to a Level 3 battle, which Lambert won.

## Pokémon

### Anoma the Anorith

Anoma is a female Anorith who is almost always seen perching on Laren's head. She's smaller than a normal Anorith, and still a baby who's learning to speak properly. She gets curious about everything, and likes to learn all she can. Prone to repeating herself and imitating her trainer's hand movements with her claws. Her name comes from Anomalocaris.

### Kargo, Noida and Karis

Kargo the Omastar, Noida the Cradily, and Karis the Armaldo, are three of Laren's six strongest Pokémon. They briefly appeared during the Chompers, Nero and Jasper confrontation to prevent them from fighting each other.

Kargo is the chillest and most laid-back Pokémon Laren has, having had to deal with his trainer since a young age due to being his first Pokémon. He speaks with a surfer accent. Noida is the kind of Pokémon that knows her strength and is proud of it, and won't allow anyone to belittle her. Karis is the momfriend of the team, taking care of the others and especially the young ones. She dislikes fighting outside the Gym and will try to avoid it, but during official battles she's ruthless and won't hesitate striking the opponent no matter their age or state.

### Styg the Rampardos

Styg is a female Rampardos who's usually hanging out at the digging site. She's very friendly towards strangers, which can be a problem since she still has difficulties remembering most other creatures can't withstand a headbutt greeting. Loyal and helpful, Styg met Emil in Chapter 2 and helped him find some items.

## Gym

### Layout

The inside of the Gym is a small room with an elevator, the battleground located in the tenth basement. Exiting the elevator leads to a balcony in a massive cavern, another balcony on the opposite side for the referee to use, both with a silver fence on the borders to prevent accidents. After the fences comes the drop, situating the battleground around 20 meters below where the trainers stand, a rectangular arena with ground in the middle and pools on the far left and right. Trainers place their Poké Balls in tray-like lifts at the right at left of the balcony, where they are lowered to the battleground. The ceiling has enough lights to provide good illumination, and a ventilation system to make sure the air inside is always fresh.

### Official Pokémon

Levels 1-4: Kabuto, Omanyte, Lileep, Anorith, Cranidos, Shieldon, Tirtouga, Archen, Tyrunt, Amaura, Aerodactyl, Relicanth, Kabutops, Omastar, Cradily, Armaldo, Rampardos, Bastiodon, Carracosta, Archeops, Tyrantrum, Aurorus.

Level 5: Omastar, Cradily, Armaldo, Rampardos, Archeops, Aurorus.

### Battle Style

Laren doesn't have a style of his own. He doesn't like giving orders to his Fossil Pokémon, and thus has dedicated a great amount of time to training with them to the point that he's able to predict their mood and what kind of attack they'd use next. His Pokémon's style becomes his own style during battles, changing depending on who's on the field, their personality, and how well they get along with their companions in battles that aren't Single, making him the kind of trainer that doesn't get any easier to face even after repeated battles.

## Badge

The Ancient Badge looks like a light-brown rectangle representing a layer of dirt divided by a black zigzag cracks. The higher the difficulty level, the more layers of ‘dirt’ (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), each a darker color than the ones above it. Small spots can be viewed in the layers and between them.

## Trivia

* Laren's name comes from the word 'mineral'.
* He names every single Fossil Pokémon he's helped revive or breed, and remembers them all.
* Most of his Pokémon are female so they can lay eggs.
* Laren was a member of Team Helix for half a year. He joined because he thought the name was because of the Helix Fossil, and quit after discovering it wasn't.
* Anoma's fossil was much smaller than average and had the remains of fossilized eggshell around, indicating her age. When Laren revived her, he initially kept her around at all times because she was premature and could have complications, and now using her as a hat is a habit neither of them feels like breaking.
* Before battles, depending on the team he'll use, Laren tends to lay out a general strategy with his Pokémon. During battles, it's mostly the Pokémon who decide what particular move to use, and Laren picks up on it and orders its use before the Pokémon executes it to not break the Gym rules.
* Laren has a braid for each region where a new fossil was found.
* Lambert won the Ancient Badge at Level 3 on Chapter 2.