Alex

Alex is one of the shifters in the current game, and had been one for 7 days before arriving to Vertia.

## Pokémon form

### Moves

Solar Beam, Metal Claw, X-Scissor, Phantom Force, Night Slash, Heal Block

## Appearance

### As a human

Alex is of average height, standing at 5'8", but his clothing and facial features make him look smaller. Alex has a young face, one of those androgynous ones where you can't really do anything but ask about their gender to try and not offend them. His hair is light brown and short, reaching just to his chin neatly. On the top of his head are two locks of hair that can't seem to stay down, giving him the illusion of cat ears. His eyes are black and constantly half-lidded.

#### Original clothes

He wears a long, grey yukata in which has the right side wrapped over the left (symbolic of the dead) with a light brown sash in the middle. On his back, Alex has a cape that splits into six stiff, sort of wing-like strips of fabric. The two in the middle are split further than the others, creating a circular hole in the cape. He wears light brown cloth shoes and has a white, metallic band on his head, resembling a halo. To appear non-cosplay-ish, he takes off the cape and hair band thing and re-wraps his yukata so the left side is on top.

### As a Pokémon

Your average Shedinja, but the hole on its back is much smaller than normal.

## Backstory

Despite being born in Unova as an only child, Alex didn't receive much love as a child. His parents were scientists who were more fond of their research than Alex. While their family was fairly rich, Alex was often lonely. None of the kids would play with him because he had creepy parents and he wasn't sure how to interact with other children. He was too quiet. His parents didn't give him much positive attention, though they didn't really show much negativity either. They didn't care because Alex did not show the superior intelligence they were hoping for. When very young, all he had for company was his babysitter and his toys. Due to this, his emotional growth was a little stunted. He was apathetic to a lot of things, showed little emotion and had odd habits. In an attempt to ease his loneliness, Alex went exploring in an old abandoned mansion at the side of town. It was there that he found and made friends with an equally as lonely Chandelure who lived there after the death of its trainer. Though Alex loved the Chanderlure and the Chanderlure came to become a great friend, Alex was still lonely. Despite not being at a genius intellect, Alex was not stupid. He soon came to realize that when people behaved a certain way, they would be liked more. Alex found out that he was a natural at lying, at acting. He could fake a certain charisma that drew people to him like a moth to a flame. He became increasingly popular in primary school and pre-trainer camp. Alex chattered to Chandelure about it all. How he had friends now, how he was less lonely by the day. Alex was good at judging people and saying what would make them feel positive to him.

One day, Alex found out that pretty much everyone loved Pokemon and looked up to people with them in his school. They thought those people cool. Alex thought it would be perfect; he could introduce Chandelure to his new friends and his new friends would love him even more. And everyone did. Alex took them to the old mansion to meet his cool friend, Chandelure. The children were delighted and Chandelure seemed more than happy to entertain them. Alex thought Chandelure had made friends with them, but unbeknownst to him, Chandelure had thought of them as food. The other children took this as a free ticket to visit Chandelure whenever they wanted, even without Alex. Chandelure took this as a free ticket to eat. He never ate when Alex was around, since he liked Alex and didn't want him to get scared away. So children started going missing and the police got involved, but since none of the children had told their parents about the mansion or the Chandelure, the police were at a loss. Alex was sad at the disappearance of his friends and also rather worried. He may have put up a mask around them, but he did care. That was when Alex saw a documentary on ghost Pokemon and put two and two together.

The day that Alex discovered what Chandelure had done, he raged at the Pokemon. It was his first significant burst of emotion. Even when he had been happy, it had been mere satisfaction. In confused rage, Chandelure burned down the manor it had been inhabiting. Alex didn't realize he had been followed into the manor by his concerned and worried parents, who, while not very good at being parental, did care. They were worried about his abnormal behavior and the possibility that he might, too, disappear. They died in the fire and Alex was presumed dead by the authorities. Alex ran away that day, becoming a street performer and actors for small-scale plays. Chandelure found him though, and Alex was forced to accompany the seemingly murderous, but affectionate Pokemon. He became increasingly depressed and disillusioned about the world and began to blame himself for all the deaths and disappearances. However, he always kept a front of geniality and slight flirtatiousness to the world at large, both to distance himself from others, and because he was used to it. He learned to dance, sing, seduce, act, and a lot of rather meaningless skills as well in order to earn the money to survive. Occasionally, he would battle using Chandelure, who turned out to be exceptionally powerful for a Pokemon who lived alone in a mansion for who knows how long, to get money, but he never registered as a trainer or caught more Pokemon. He never stayed in one place and continued to travel. One day, when he had managed to get away from Chandelure, he wished that everything could be different and that he had never met Chandelure, the Pokemon who had ruined his life and shattered his view of the world.

Not long after, Alex woke without memories in a place he had never seen before. For the past seven days, Alex has mastered his abilities, struck up a tentative friendship with a wild Dedenne, caught said Dedenne and battled a few trainers for cash. The Dedenne, whom has been named Bruja, had followed him around until Alex found a Poké Ball for her. He used the cash to buy a bag and some more Poké Balls.

## Personality

Alex generally portrays himself as easy-going, friendly, and flirtatious. He waves off insults, is concerned and worried when needed, and flirts with anything moderately attractive. However, as you can probably guess, this is an act. Alex is generally apathetic about most things, like identity, romance, names, birthdays, and stuff, though he is very reasonable. It's almost second nature for him to put on an act to distance himself from other people. He isn't sure why, but he's deathly afraid that if people get too close to him, they'll die. He lies almost compulsively and gives out aliases rather than his real name. He's deeply distrusting of ghost type Pokemon and he hates lying. He hates lying, but does it anyways. Alex has a rather bad self-image, though he never really gets self-conscious. The one thing he really, really wants is a true friend, but isn't sure about how to go about making one and is afraid to make one. He has a lot of seemingly useless skills that don't really do much for him unless he's performing. Alex actually quite enjoys being an actor or performer, because it's the only way he can act and lie without feeling like a fake or a terrible person. There has never been anyone who could see through his acts before, not even with lie detectors, because he's so good at it. Sometimes, he feels depressed because he feels as if he's already forgotten who he really is.

## Team

### Bruja

Bruja is a female Dedenne. She has a Timid nature, the ability Cheek Pouch, and the moves Parabolic Charge, Play Rough, Rest, and Nuzzle.

## Trivia

* Alex isn't exactly agender, more like he can't be bothered to figure it out, so... Questioning? Uses he/his pronouns because most people believe him to be male (he's AFAB, btw). Sorta just rolls with it.
* Good at performance arts and disguises.