Nathaniel

NATHANIEL
{#009900}


(Temporary picture, will draw a better one later)


Species: Serperior

Pokédex Number: #487

Type: Grass

Gender: Male

Age: approx. 28-29 in human years

Level: 48

Moveset:
Giga Drain
Coil
Slam
Solar Beam

Description: Nathaniel is a primarily pale green, large serpentine Pokémon with a dark green back and narrow red eyes. His face and throat are white, with pale green curls extending from the back of his head to his cheeks and down his nose. Two pointed, yellow extensions come out of his head, mirrored by curled dark green extentions coming out of his lower neck that form a curling pattern lower down on his body. The top extensions resemble ears, and the lower ones resemble a collar. His back is highlighted with two curved yellow markings, and his curled tail has two leaves growing out of one side.

Unlike most Serperior, Nathaniel is missing the bottom spike of the curled design on the front of his body. He also only has two tail leaves instead of three due to an unfortunate accident (see History for more details). This Grass-type is usually seen with his forked tongue sticking out, for reasons that will soon be explained.

Personality: On the outside, Nathaniel seems to maintain an almost constant aloof composure. He has the characteristic Serperior nose tilt, the disapproving stare, the frown. But in reality this is all just a ruse. He isn't naturally arrogant at all; he only seems that way because his father taught him how to do that. (will be explained in History) Nathaniel is actually quite caring, gentle, and intensely loyal. Although he can get exasperated and irritated easily, if he considers you a friend you're a friend for life, and in turn he will protect you with his life. He refuses to eat small Pokémon that would normally be his prey, instead leading a vegetarian lifestyle.

Nathaniel considers his stutter the bane of his existence. It caused him to be shy when he was little, which in turn made it worse. He already feels quite self-conscious about it, which is why he gets pretty upset if someone teases him about it.
The hiss that he has when he speaks is not part of his stutter. It's just because he's a big snake. This is the reason why his tongue is often seen out of his mouth.

Likes: Berries, peace and quiet, warm weather, sunlight, a good story

Dislikes: Too much rain, very cold weather, snow, fire, a whole lot of noise, people that make fun of his stutter, people trying to finish his words for him

Items: N/A

History: Nathaniel is the son of two Serperior. As you can imagine, it's a pureblood line, and they'd like to keep it that way.

His mother was extra protective of his egg at first; there had been a tiny crack in his shell since he had been first laid. He was born an only child, hatching inside her coils. Nathaniel's father hoped that since the crack on his son's shell was so small it wouldn't be a big deal, that his son would be perfectly normal, but he was wrong.

Nathaniel had a small appearance defect, his markings were a bit off from the start. His father reasoned that it was't so bad, it could have been a lot worse... His mindset changed when Nathaniel started speaking.

Oh Arceus, that stutter was absolutely dreadful, and Nathaniel knew it. All of his family had a characteristic snakey hiss, but this?

The stutter manifested itself into shyness and uncertainty when Nathaniel was little, something that his father desperately needed to change. Who had ever heard of a shy Snivy, and ultimately, Serperior? So from then on out, he drilled the ways of the Serperior into his son's head. Keep your chin up, boy. Look people in the eye, really ssstare them down. Chessst out, you're proud to be a Ssserperior, remember? No ssslouching! When sssomeone asssksss you your name, don't mumble it. There isss no mumbling allowed. Choossse your battlesss wisssely! His father also tried to get his son to become an omnivore like his parents, feasting occasionally on small Pokémon, but this was one thing Nathaniel absolutely refused to do. He grew up a vegetarian, eating only Berries and other plant-based foodstuffs.

And so it went all thoughout Nathaniel's childhood, until he evolved into a Serperior at last and went to live on his own.

Nathaniel met Slate and Temp when he was still a Snivy, around 5 or 6 in human years. Back then Slate was only an Oshawott, and Temp a Tepig. To say that these three were instant friends would be a stretch; it took them several months to become as close as they are today. They staged friendly battles as kids, something that became their frequent friendly meet-up battles they still have today, whenever they come across each other.

Nathaniel evolved into a Servine during one of these battles, when he was around 15 human years. Slate, being the outgoing, head-strong guy he was, of course evolved into his second evolution first. Then came Nathaniel, and scaredy-cat Temp was last.

Nathaniel evolved into a Serperior during a surprise battle. An enraged Haxorus had suddenly jumped him while he was looking for Berries to eat, forcing him to fight nearly for his life. If you ask him now, he will probably tell you that this battle was the hardest one he's ever fought, but the most rewarding one. He evolved when he was around 21 human years. Soon after this battle, Nathaniel left his parents and went to live on his own, choosing a cozy tree in the middle of the Lightwoods to use as a home.

When Nathaniel was around 23 in human years, he lost one of his tail leaves. It was quite a painful accident, one he doesn't like to talk about out of embarrassment. (It involves Temp's pollen allergy, a bouquet of flowers, a sneeze of fire, and Nathaniel's tail. Take a wild guess at what happened.) This incident caused him to take a nice, long visit to Forky, the Realm's medic, where they became reluctant acquaintances.

Nathaniel met another one of his good friends, a Eevee named Fable, when he was 24. Fable and their littermate had accidentally rolled into the big snake while playing in the woods, and Fable immediately latched onto Nathaniel, making him their friend. Nate was quite charmed by the little Eevee and returned the affection in his own snakey way. From then on, Nathaniel protected Fabel whenever they needed it, and was partly the reason behind them evolving into a Sylvan when he was 25.

The last three years, nothing particularly special has happened. Nathaniel has been minding his own business, spending time with Fable, and staging the occasional battle or get-together with Slate and/or Temp. He still resides in the Lightwoods.

Example RP: (Prompt #4 - twisted!)
"NATHANIEL!"

The big snake stopped, turning around just in time to see a small Eevee bounding up to him. He could sense the upset tone in the child's voice, so he turned his body around fully, letting the Eevee hop onto his back.

"Isss ss-sssuh-sssomething w-wrong, Fable?" he asked carefully, his eyes widened slightly in concern. Fable nodded their head vigorously, ears flopping. "That big meanie stole my flower!" they wailed, pouting for a second before jabbing a paw at a Poochyena kid several feet away.

Nathaniel raised his head to stare at the Poochyena, hissing softly. "He d-d-duh-did, did he? Well th-then..." The Serperior slithered over to the boy, drawing himself up to his full, menacing height. The Poochyena suddenly looked like he was about to wet himself.

Nate lowered his head, sticking his nose close to the kid's face as he flicked his tongue in and out. The little Pokémon was indeed carrying a slightly crumpled pink flower in his mouth, he recognized the flower as the kind that Fable liked to carry. "I duh-d-do b-b-believe thuh-tha-that the flower in y-your mouth belongsss to m-muh-my little fri-friend here, kiddo," he spat, red eyes flashing.

The Poochyena fluffed himself up, still trying to look tough. "And..And what are you gonna do about it, mister? And you talk funny, so there!"

Ooh, that was the last straw. Nathaniel drew himself up again, parting his mouth slightly so that both his forked tongue ands fangs could be seen. He gave the kid his very best Serperior glare and hissed lowly, "Give. I-It. Back." The Poochyena yelped, promptly dropped the flower on the ground, and bolted away, terrified.

Fable let out a happy bark, leaping off of Nathaniel's back where they had watched the whole thing and picking up their slightly crumpled, slightly soggy flower. "Wow, Nathaniel, that was great! Thank you so much~!" They beamed, rushing forward to nuzzle against him. The snake smiled faintly, leaning down to give the Eevee a quick nuzzle back. "D-duh-don't w-w-worry about it-it, Fay-Fable, anyth-th-thing for a f-friend."