Haleigh Windsor

Haleigh as she appears in the beginning of Spear, gym outfit

Haleigh is one of the graduate students of the Wedgehurst Pokemon Academy and a main character of the Z-verse story, Pokemon Spear. She is written by Fen-Fen.

## Personality

At a fundamental level, Haleigh is a very upbeat and emotional person. She's often shown to be cheery and excitable, often smiling, laughing and eager to befriend humans and Pokemon alike. Though friendly a lot of the time, her excitability can also just as easily translate to hot-headedness and brashness for situations and people that ignite her short fuse.

She builds her self image on that of a punk rocker, wearing the clothes and accessories most associated with them, listening to some of the music and preferring to associate herself with the epicenter of punk subculture in Galar - Spikemuth - rather than her hometown of Circhester. It is also because of this self image that she feels compelled to act with a certain amount of toughness and bravado, often escalating situations and feeling it necessary to prove that she's not weak to others.

Despite Haleigh's attempts to come off as tough, it is not very hard to see that at heart, she is very sensitive and gentler than the image she wants to project. Her tough image often melts away in the face of extreme danger or with enough pressure from people, revealing a girl who is the first one to cry when the goings get tough. She often finds herself at odds with her compassionate desires to befriend people and not wanting to be vulnerable in fear of being too weak, often putting herself at arms length from people despite her usual external friendliness.

## Biography

### Pre-Academy Days

Haleigh was born and raised in Circhester as the only child to the well off Windsor family. Her family life was very unhappy on account of her parents (her mother especially) being emotionally abusive with Haleigh because of her conflicting desires of being a Pokemon trainer and them not lining up with their narrow-minded desires for her. Their presence in Haleigh's life was a largely negative one, with Haleigh being perpetually unhappy and resentful that her parents never appreciated anything she did. This led to her getting a punk makeover without the knowledge or consent of her parents at age fourteen, with it being implied that she had already had experience sneaking out of the house and committing acts of vandalism around Circhester.

Before she had properly started her Pokemon journey upon graduation of the Wedgehurst Academy at age 17, she had befriended a Snom that she had intended to bring along with her with a plan to run away from her parents to start it. Before she could do so, she was discovered by her mother with her Snom's Pokeball, to which she snapped and brandished a knife to scare Haleigh into obeying her. Fearing for her safety, Haleigh fled to her room, grabbed the supplies that she had been preparing for the journey and escaped out of the balcony. She was forced to leave her Snom behind to an unknown fate.

### Academy Days

Despite her friendly personality, Haleigh did not keep close relationships with much of the other graduates, hanging around Melody most of all with occasional contact from Simon Pearburgh and Valerie Amity.

## Connections

### Melody Argent

Melody is Haleigh's best friend, first meeting her as a runaway on the streets of Spikemuth at the age of 14. She is the one she has the closest relationship with out of the other graduates, often able to let her guard down and more willingly show her (poorly hidden) soft side. She looks up to Melody as an embodiment of the image that Haleigh herself tries to upkeep. Apart from their mutual interest in punk music (though Haleigh opts for the softer end of the genre in contrast to Melody's tastes), Melody often had Haleigh over to hang out, watch movies and offer her a more secure place to stay as an alternative to the streets.

### Achille Beringer

Haleigh had little interaction with Achille before the journey, first properly getting to know him in the Wild Area when the two of them got themselves into a dangerous situation after seeking out a Pokemon that was far too strong for the two of them because of thrill seeking. As the two of them met up again in Turffield for a Skiddo race and on Route 3 to take down a Pokemon smuggler, the two started to grow closer as a pair. This culminated with a "platonic" dinner on Valentine's Day on Route 5 that soon turned into a date as the two started loosening up over some wine and started flirting with each other. Their relationship status started solidifying when they saw each other again in Hulbury with him offering emotional support after Haleigh's loss to Nessa and helped her train.

### Rosa Valdés

The two first properly met on Route 4, with Rosa attempting to get in contact with Melody and missing her chance to since Haleigh had met up with Melody in Galar Mine. Rosa got acquainted with Haleigh by herself, first by battling her and then by talking with her after the battle. Haleigh got along with Rosa really well, especially after the two of them shared some kind of understanding about how hard their lives and the journey had been up to that point. However, Rosa internally saw the interaction more as an opportunity to get to Melody than anything else, even remarking in her journal that she saw Haleigh as very naïve and useful to her.

### Ruben Sancho

Like many Galarians, Haleigh's first experience with Ruben was with his exposure as an up and coming football star. Though more a Circhester United fan, Haleigh follows enough football to have kept up with his career and respecting him immensely. She is not as starstruck as the average fan would be due to exposure to famous footballers with her family having owned Circhester United.

Haleigh sees him as a nice enough guy, especially after he offered for Haleigh to come over to his place if she ever needed a place to stay.

### Catherine Carlisle

Haleigh first ran into Catherine in Motostoke outside of Motostoke Records while trying to chase off ex-Team Yell grunts with Melody. Catherine was thoroughly unimpressed with Haleigh's attempts to intimidate her and calls Haleigh out for her bravado and escalation of the situation. Haleigh leaves the battle with an antagonistic relationship with her. Her words about Haleigh putting on a tough front for her own ego stuck with her beyond their first encounter. However, Haleigh has more mixed feelings towards Catherine as she - albeit with her trademark hostility - helped get Corey back after she chased him off during her breakdown after losing to Nessa the first time around.

### Pia McGuire

Haleigh only really knows Pia as Ruben's girlfriend due to the widespread coverage of their relationship and had forgotten they had been classmates when seeing her in Hulbury while getting drinks with her, Ruben and Rosa. There exists a bit of tension between them on account of Haleigh (poorly) lying to her about the circumstances in which she had met Ruben and Ruben in turn telling Pia a different lie about it.

### Simon Pearburgh

Because of their similar energetic and upbeat personalities, the two of them got along well at the academy and hung out occasionally along with Melody. Haleigh has a lot of respect for Simon as a battler due to his

## Journey

### Wedgehurst

Upon graduating the academy, Haleigh takes Corey out for sweets at a local shop in town before encountering a dilemma involving the theft and vandalism of a sweet shop. With Corey's help, Haleigh chases the culprit - a Galarian Corsola - outside of the bakery and in a bid to end the chase, catches it. Haleigh ends up keeping her and naming her Coraline. She meets up with her best friend Melody at the train station and the two talk about Haleigh's new capture and Melody's escapade with the luggage thief before boarding the train together and heading off to the Wild Area.

### Wild Area 1

Upon getting off the train, Haleigh meets up with Achille, a classmate from Wedgehurst - though neither are very familiar with each other. With the prospect of finding a strong Pokemon, Achille and Haleigh join forces and start heading deeper into a cold fog until they finally meet its source: a Froslass. This Froslass tormented the duo and when they attempted to fight back, the Froslass went in to kill both them and their Pokemon until a Pokemon Ranger intervened and fought it off. Haleigh received a Dusk Stone from the scene after Achille forfeited his desire to have it, citing Haleigh's attempts to fend off the creature being more effective than his own.

Not long after, Haleigh camps out with her Pokemon and because of the danger they were all in for no apparent reason, are none too pleased with her. She breaks down a bit from the stress of the situation and goes to sleep dreaming about a scene from before she started her journey and before her enrollment at Wedgehurst involving an argument with her father about boarding school.

### Motostoke

Haleigh participates in the opening ceremony along with the rest of her fellow graduates, making an entrance as the other challenger representing Spikemuth. After the ceremony, Haleigh finds Melody in line for a new Piers and Marnie album at a local record store who was being accosted by ex-Team Yell grunts. Haleigh gets in the midst of their argument and after an escalation of tensions, Catherine tries to get them to leave them and her alone, only to be rebuffed and challenged to a battle by Haleigh. While Melody fought the grunts and Haleigh fought Catherine, their battles end up intertwined and more chaos breaks out from it until the record store owner berates Melody and Haleigh for the drama. However, he ends up giving them TRs as a way of appeasing them and to get them to leave him and his store alone.

### Route 3

After buying some baklava at the holiday market that was going on, Haleigh encountered a very scrawny and disheveled looking Alolan Vulpix that was she assumed was a stray pet. Feeling pity for it, she offers to give him food and look for his owner. While looking for his owner, she runs into Achille at the same market and the two briefly chat before turning their attention on finding the Vulpix Haleigh had found. They figured that he could be a stray Pokemon that fled from somewhere in the market selling pet Pokemon and had Alize search the market for a potential match. Once she found it, the two of them start to walk over there, only to have the Vulpix violently protesting. Fearing a potentially dodgy situation with abused Pokemon, the two come up with a ruse to get the vendor off guard by Achille pretending that Haleigh was his girlfriend he was going to buy a gift for. After getting his guard down, Haleigh charged the man who was pulling a weapon once Achille let on that he was onto him and a struggle ensues, holding him off until the police are called.

Upon hearing a rumor of a haunted place further along on Route 3, Haleigh goes to check out an abandoned printing press, only to be startled by Ruben popping out of the bushes after he scaled the fence on the other side. Haleigh had Corey help melt the lock on the gate to secure a better exit for Ruben's exploration of the place (he had been sent there to get a blankie that belonged to the eldest of the Simonson family that he was attached to but couldn't retrieve due to rogue Misdreavuses). He tried to warn Haleigh that the place was dangerous, but Haleigh was undeterred and walked in with him.

Soon after they got into the place, the two of them are subjected to visions relating to their lives. The first involved a glimpse into their childhood homes, Haleigh's a lavish mansion, Ruben's a squalid flat with allusions to their respective familial issues. Though they were given a chance to leave after this first vision, they persisted and walked into another vision. The vision first starts out in Ruben's current day house with his family at the dinner table along with his best friend Ainsley. They are excited to meet Haleigh with the implication that she was his girlfriend, though none of them seem to perceive Ruben despite him being right there. Ainsley then casually drops the news that Ruben had died in the context of the vision. It then transitions to Melody's house with the only person there being Melody; the implications that she only had one person she was close enough to that'd mourn her death made Haleigh tear up. Ruben offered her some comfort with the offer to come over to his place and they let go of their respective quests in the printing press.

After camping out and thinking about what she witnessed in the vision, Haleigh starts to break down as the dangers the journey had presented and her implied estrangement from her parents weighed heavily on her.

### Galar Mine 1 and Route 4

Haleigh meets up with Melody in Galar Mine 1 while she searches for a Pumpkaboo's lost family. The two catch up about what they had been up to that point until they get interrupted when they detect the presence of Oleana in the mine. Haleigh has an unexpectedly strong reaction upon seeing her, to which Oleana suggests a battle with Melody to humor her. Haleigh and Melody win the battle.

After exiting the mines, Haleigh is approached by Rosa, who is looking for a way to get to Melody. She challenges Haleigh to a battle, which ends up being close with Haleigh ultimately claiming victory. After they battle, Haleigh and Rosa start having a conversation about the tribulations of their challenge and having a heartfelt conversation. In Haleigh's mind, the conversation was genuine and a positive development, though in Rosa's mind, it was but a means to get to Melody.

After that, Haleigh encounters an Eevee on the route that ends up being befriended by having Orion play with her, securing another member of Haleigh's team: Cerise.

### Turffield

After successfully completing the gym challenge in Turffield (thanks to experience from an offscreen Skiddo race with Achille, Sachiko and Melody), Haleigh challenges Milo. She faces unexpected difficulty despite Corey's type advantage, with his Appletun negating it and his bulky defenses. Corey evolves into a Scorbunny and uses his newfound power to defeat it but is by that point too late for him to carry on the fight as a lesser attack by Eldegoss is enough to take him out with all of the damage he took from Appletun. Haleigh manages to eke out a victory with the help of Coraline.

While Haleigh ends up not competing in the contest, she does keep her promise to Rosa to meet up with her and Melody and watch their performances. Haleigh is awestruck by their performances and once they both finish, she chats with them about how it went. Haleigh notices how Melody was acting a bit flustered around Rosa and teased her for it. Once it came time to announce the results,

### Route 5

Haleigh starts out briefly thinking about Valentine's Day before being hit up by Achille over text to have some dinner. Once she met up with him and went into the restaurant, the fact that the two of them were getting dinner on Valentine's was made very apparent by the over the top decor inside. The two start acting flustered until they decide to distract themselves with talking about the food. Achille orders wine for the two of them as well and as they start drinking it (with Haleigh especially being effected by it), they start loosening up and flirt with each other until it becomes apparent the two of them share feelings for each other. After they wrap up their date, they promise to meet back up in Hulbury.

On February 19th, Haleigh's 18th birthday happens around the time Haleigh is walking on the bridge that carries Route 5 over the Wild Area. It's upon some reflection that she realizes that she has been away from home for four years with the implication that she did so without her parents' support. Some feelings of anger towards them resurface and she shouts

### Hulbury

Though nervous at the prospect of facing Nessa with Corey, Haleigh nonetheless sticks with him to challenge her with. It is soon very apparent, however, that as the battle starts to go very wrong in a very short amount of time

## Trivia

* Haleigh's birthday is February 19
* Her natural hair color is dirty blonde