Challenger/Characters

Characters in Challenger.

Grey Thomas
The main character of the story, Grey is a spirited fifteen-year-old hailing from a family with a legacy of Pokemon Rangers. A few months after his fifteenth birthday, he once again brings up the topic of wanting to become a Pokemon Trainer to his strict Ranger father. His father, having promised again and again that Grey could follow his dream once he was old enough, once again denies his son the chance. So what's Grey do? He takes matters into his own hands and runs away from home after hearing of a new branch of the Pokemon League that had recently opened up. Grey hitches a ride to the Silver Ring Archipelago with his ex-trainer uncle with the intent of finally becoming a trainer and living his dream.


 * Adorkable
 * The Beast Master: June points this out by referencing how Strabi, a Pokemon belonging to the fiercely proud Shinx line, warmed up to him almost instantly and acts like a house cat when around him.
 * Blood Knight: Both he and Soul share this trait. The two of them hardly ever back down from a fight.
 * Determinator
 * The Empath: At first, his communication with Pokemon was limited to scattered thoughts and ripples of emotion. He can still feel them.
 * Friendless Background / All of the Other Reindeer: In Chapter 18, he confides in June that his desire to become a Pokemon Trainer instead of a Ranger got him ostracized by his peers. He never had a human friend growing up, so his social contact was limited to his family and Soul.
 * Hazel Eyes
 * The Hero
 * Hot-Blooded: Oh, hell yes.
 * Idiot Hero: Averted. While his memory is a little spotty and he's definitely Hot-Blooded, Grey well aware of the consequences of his running away from home and of his mistakes in general. He's sometimes even the one to point them out. He only addresses them half of the time, though.
 * Interspecies Friendship: With his Pokemon, and some that aren't even his.
 * Megane
 * No Social Skills: Result of his Friendless Background. Grey likes to joke around but tends to get defensive and a little frustrated (and flustered if it's a girl) when interacting with others. That and he points out odd things during conversation and is more than a little blunt.
 * One Head Taller: The youngest human member of the party and the second tallest. The only person that surpasses him in this respect is his big sister, standing a good inch taller.
 * Only Friend: June is his, and they clicked pretty fast, too.
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Red to James's Blue Oni. And June's. And Rachel's. Really, the only two members of the party that are anywhere near as energetic as him are his Charmeleon and Phanpy.
 * Speaks Fluent Animal: Claims to understand some of what Pokemon say and regularly holds conversations with them. The ability recently took a leap forward; before he could only feel what he described as 'ripples' of emotion, now he hears their voices.
 * Specs of Awesome
 * The Unfavourite: To his dad, at least. It's hinted at by Grey that Rachel was the one to garner most of their father Van's attention, and that Van looked down on him for not wanting to be part of family tradition and become a Ranger.
 * "Well Done, Son" Guy: See above.

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Juniper Hawthorne

 * Adorkable
 * The Chick
 * Cute Bookworm
 * Genki Girl: Always cheerfully energetic and bubbly and generally a nice person to be around. June makes up the larger part of the cheering section during her friends' battles, too.
 * Gray Eyes
 * Motor Mouth: Whenever anyone asks about or mentions her research, she flies into a long and fast-paced tangent about it that few people can keep up with.
 * Nice Girl
 * Red-Headed Heroine
 * Team Mom: Starting to show shades of this.
 * Teen Genius: When you're raised by a Pokemon Professor, chances are you're this.

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Jameson Rhodes

 * A Father to His Men: Especially to Sniper and Shishi, since the two were gifts from his parents and have been with him since early childhood. Whichever parent thought it was a good idea to give a young child a Pokemon with blades for arms was clearly trying to win the gift-giving contest.
 * Always Someone Better: To Grey, as Lucas so kindly pointed out to the kid.
 * Awesome By Analysis: His primary battle style is this. He sends out Sniper as a scout to dodge and parry attacks while watching closely and getting a feel for his opponent's battle style. Then he devises an effective counter and proceeds to attack. James is tremendously skilled at this.
 * Blue Eyes
 * Catch Phrase: Before sending out a pokemon for battle, it's "Game, set!" After a match is won, the phrase is completed with the word " Match." Taken from the winning phrase for the end of a tennis match.
 * Mr. Fanservice: The beginning of Chapter 20 has him dominating a tournament in Springbloom City and building up a sizable female fanbase.
 * Foil: Grey's.
 * Instant Expert: Evolved his newly caught, untrained Torchic into a Combusken in a day (two chapters) and is able to devise, teach and implement new strategies in an amazingly short amount of time, sometimes even on the fly. Combined with his skill and knowledge as a trainer, this makes James a true prodigy.
 * Only Sane Man
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Blue to Grey's Red.
 * The Quiet One: Tends not to speak as much as the other characters and keeps to himself most of the time.
 * The Rival: Again, to Grey
 * The Spock: Has a lot of insight and common sense, but is a bit of a loner and the only times he ever smiles are when he makes huge breakthroughs in his training.
 * The Stoic
 * Troubled but Cute: Was about to give Grey the reason for the 'Troubled' half.... Then Soul accidentally set a barn on fire.

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Rachel Thomas

 * Action Girl: With the help of the local authorities and her Pokemon, she busts up a Team Regal operation with her bare hands.
 * Aloof Big Sister
 * Always Someone Better: To Grey growing up. Now that Grey's a trainer, he doesn't care (as much).
 * Blue Eyes
 * Book Dumb: When it comes to Pokemon. This is the one aspect her brother completely beats her in.
 * Broken Record: She almost never fails to tell Grey that he should give up Pokemon Training and go back home to Almia. It almost always sparks an argument between them. You think she'd learn.
 * Butt Monkey: Whenever she admits needing help with training her Pokemon, Grey uses it as a chance to pick on her. Her Pokemon frequently (Accidentally) hit her with their attacks, and she frequently finds herself on the receiving end of some bad luck and embarrassment.
 * The Drag Along: To keep Grey from getting on the plane that would take him to the Silver Ring, she jumped off the docks and grabbed onto the landing gear. Needless to say, she was dragged along for the ride with no money and no way back home.
 * The Favourite
 * The Fettered: The fic's poster girl
 * Follow in My Footsteps: Proudly follows in her dad's footsteps and loves every aspect of being a Pokemon Ranger.
 * Honor Before Reason: Doesn't seem to understand that her brother is genuinely disinterested in following her and her dad and would much rather forge his own way ahead.
 * Hot Amazon
 * Innocent Fanservice Girl
 * Knight Templar
 * Lawful Stupid: Oh, dear lord....
 * Noble Bigot: AND HOW! Constantly making Pokemon Training out to be a barbaric activity that is detrimental to the Pokemon and a huge waste of time, and trainers to be mindless battle-junkies. At the same time, she lauds the activities of Pokemon Rangers while either being ignorant of or ignoring the fact that most Pokemon Trainers are as dutiful and kind as Rangers are.
 * Like Father Like Daughter
 * One Head Taller: Than Grey, the tallest male member of the party. It's a bit of an insecurity factor for her.
 * Rose-Haired Girl
 * Sour Supporter: From time to time.

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Angelica Lane
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Eric Holland
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Asher Mcconnell
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Ethan Holland
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Lucas

 * The Empath: Much more developed than Grey's ability. One of the reasons he became Grey's mentor.
 * The Mentor: To Grey

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Derek
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Baxter

 * Berserk Button: Does not like being called the wrong gender. At all.
 * Dude Looks Like a Lady: Grey called him a girl. Baxter punched him. See Berserk Button above.

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Amber Day

 * A-Cup Angst: Hates it when people call her flat.
 * Big Sister Instinct: Toward her little brother, Ken.
 * Berserk Button: Being called short, girly or flat.
 * Eyes of Gold: Amber, to be exact.
 * Fan Girl: James's.
 * Genki Girl
 * Hair of Gold
 * Hot-Blooded
 * Meaningful Name: Her name is Amber. She has amber eyes.
 * Shock and Awe: She has a preference for electric types.

Soul (Charmander-Charmeleon)

 * Badass
 * Badass Adorable: As a Charmander.
 * Blood Knight: Shares this trait with his trainer.
 * Playing with Fire

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Strabi (Shinx-Luxio)

 * Cute Little Fangs: As a Shinx.
 * Cute Kitten: Again, as a Shinx.
 * Panthera Awesome: As a Luxio.
 * Ridiculously Cute Critter
 * Shock and Awe

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Maverick (Onix)

 * Dishing Out Dirt

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Donte (Phanpy)

 * Dishing Out Dirt

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Vulpix

 * Fantastic Foxes
 * Playing with Fire

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Mudkip

 * Making a Splash

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Heracross

 * Bare-Fisted Monk
 * Sweet Tooth

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Lucy (Buizel)

 * Making a Splash

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Sylva (Grovyle)

 * Badass: She gives off this vibe but we have yet to see if she is one yet.
 * Cool Big Sis: To the other Pokemon and to June, being highly protective of the latter.
 * Deadpan Snarker
 * Everything's Better with Dinosaurs
 * Fragile Speedster
 * Green Thumb
 * The Stoic

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Rosewood (Furret)

 * Berserk Button: When her fur is dirtied.
 * The Ditz
 * Fragile Speedster
 * Hidden Depths
 * Jack of All Trades
 * Non-Elemental

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Rhea (Nidoran F)
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 * Mama Bear
 * Poisonous Pokémon
 * Shrinking Violet
 * Team Mom
 * Yamato Nadeshiko

Sniper (Scyther)

 * Badass: This Scyther's just an all around badass, especially during Gym Battles. His exploits against Kory and, most recently, Thatcher, were the highlights of James' battles
 * Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass
 * Big Creepy-Crawlies
 * Blow You Away
 * Foil: To Shishi, creating a rather amusing dynamic between the two.
 * Ninja: What'd you expect? He's a Scyther.
 * Sweet Tooth: An insatiable one.

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Shishi (Duskull)

 * Badass Grandpa: As Kory's Mankey painfully found out.
 * Casting a Shadow
 * Dirty Old Man: Was shown lusting after a Trainer-Of-The-Week's Misdreavus in one chapter.
 * Foil: To Sniper, creating a rather amusing dynamic between the two.
 * Grumpy Old Man: Is this despite not even being that old according to James.
 * Guile Hero: Uses his cunning and wits during battle to avoid getting hit and psych out the enemy. Then he hits them with about nine Shadow Balls at once.
 * Older and Wiser: Presents this front to the others and is actually quite wise.
 * Our Ghosts Are Different: Grumpy Old Grim Reapers!
 * Soul Power

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Luna (Zangoose)

 * Axe Crazy: Dear GOD, when this Zangoose gets into battle.
 * Badass Normal
 * Non-Elemental
 * Split Personality: When James found her outside Melange Town, she was giving a speech about Pokemon superiority to her two audience members. The moment James presented himself as a threat, she switched into her battle-crazed Blood Knight persona. She has other states of mind that she switches into at random which make it hard for James to control her.
 * Wolverine Claws: And, boy, does she love using them.

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Torchic -> Combusken

 * Bare-Fisted Monk: As a Combusken.
 * Playing with Fire
 * The Quiet One

Emily
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 * Dishing Out Dirt: Is a rock type gym leader.

Kory
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 * Bare-Fisted Monk: Is the fighting gym leader
 * Hot-Blooded

Thatcher

 * Big Creepy-Crawlies: Is a bug-type leader

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Estellise Takara

 * Brown Eyes
 * Covert Pervert: Just like her best friend.
 * The Empath
 * Hair of Gold
 * Heterosexual Life Partners: With Vi.
 * Lady of War: On the battlefield.
 * Psychic Powers
 * She's Got Legs

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Violet Rivera

 * Brainy Brunette
 * Brown Eyes
 * Covert Pervert: And HOW!
 * Genki Girl: On her days off.
 * Heterosexual Life Partners: With Estelle.
 * Proper Tights with a Skirt: As Gym Leader Violet.
 * She's Got Legs
 * The Stoic: Her Gym Leader persona.
 * Zettai Ryouiki: Grade A, hot pants variant. (On days off)