Krešo Vatroslav

Character Name (Full): Krešo Vatroslav

Age (13-30): 27

Gender: Male

Pronouns: He/Him

Physical Appearance:  Krešo has a bit more Slavic features to him. He’s tall, well-postured, with dark eyes and blonde hair that he likes to artificially spike up like a flame for performances. He’s somewhat well built due to performing with his Pokémon but overall is fairly lean.

Clothing: Krešo typically wears business casual clothing. Think something akin to the Charleston. Plaid shirt with a tie and swear on top and slacks. He likes to keep up nice appearances when in public. Sometimes you can catch him in more casual clothing like jeans and a long sleeve shirt, but only if you’re a close friend and or visiting him in private. He also almost always has sunglasses on when he’s outside to signify his blindness to others.

Performance Attire: (see gallery)

Personality: Krešo is overall a gentle personality. While this is his career, Krešo’s been at this while when compared to many of those around him. He’s something of a veteran by many accounts and his expertise leads him to desire to be a mentor to others when he can be. While people like to paint him as a hothead because of his fire-type preference and his early years, Krešo has vastly mellowed out from when he was younger. He’s still competitive and in it to win it, but he also thinks it’s important to have fun and wants to impart that on others where he can.

Points of Note: Krešo usually has Tanguy out with him everywhere permissible. In instances where this isn’t possible, Krešo has a walking stick to help him navigate.

Backstory: 

Krešo is originally from Pastoria City in the Sinnoh region. He wasn’t always interested in being a coordinator, originally having his sights set on becoming a member of the Sinnoh Elite Four. However, after seeing the Wallace Cup at a young age when it took place at Lake Valor, Krešo was inspired to become a coordinator instead. He joined at the age of 13, the youngest he was permitted, alongside his partners, Logi and Funi the Cyndaquil and Ponyta. At first, he wasn’t very good, often not even making it to the second rounds. He took it hard, feeling like he’d never achieve his dreams at this rate if he couldn’t even make it to the second round of a contest consistently. However, eventually, with a lot of hard work and feedback from senior coordinators and judges, Krešo began to greatly improve. At the age of 16,  after three years of failures, he finally won his first contest, in Pastoria City no less. Krešo couldn’t be more excited, seeing this as the true beginning to his career.

And then, just like that, in a flash, it vanished. Krešo woke up one day shortly thereafter completely blind. A visit to the doctor and many tests told them what they needed to know: his optic nerve had suffered severe atrophy that had gone unnoticed and undiagnosed. Unless technology vastly improved within his lifetime, he’d likely never see again. Krešo was completely devastated. His dream career had just started to take shape and now it was being stripped away from him just like that. He wasn’t sure what to do and for a while, sunk into a deep depression.

Despite being a rather “new” coordinator on the scene, support for Krešo poured out from the community when he went public with the diagnosis. It wasn’t long before fan mail and messages from Krešo’s fellow coordinators began to pile up at his doorstep, everything ranging from wishes of good health and messages of support to large gifts encouraging him to not give up. None of it seemed to help Krešo that much though, as he felt like by becoming blind he had left all those fans and friends down.

The Wallace Cup returned to Lake Valor the following year, and while Krešo had hoped to compete in it, his struggle with his new disability prevented it. Not wanting to visit the contest stadium for fear of interacting with people who knew him, Krešo often found himself resting near the lake, merely listening to the commentary, cheers, and more as the contest went on. One night, on his walk home, Krešo bumped into someone and upon running into them recognized their voice as one of Krešo’s idols, fellow Sinnoh contest star Avery Miller. Embarrassed to run into them, Krešo apologized and tried to leave, but Avery quickly pulled him into a conversation that changed his life forever. Despite being aware of his diagnosis, Avery believed Krešo could succeed despite it and pushed him to give it a shot so they could face off against each other one day.

Inspired by Avery’s words, Krešo began to work on his contest career again. It was a long journey, learning to dance, perform, and navigate the coordinator lifestyle again while being blind. However, ten years later, Krešo couldn’t be happier with his decision and is now joining the Showscape Performance to prove that even with a disability, he’s just as skilled a performer as anyone else.

Any injuries / disabilities?: Krešo is blind. He lost his eyesight at about 16 years of age due to an undiagnosed optic nerve atrophy.

Pokémon: 

Species: Cyndaquil
Nickname: Logi
Gender: Male
Primary Moves (The ones it uses most often. See rule 10 for more info.):  Flame Wheel, Flamethrower, and Quick Attack
Appearance:  A fairly normal Cyndaquil. Tends to wear a purple bowtie when performing.
Personality:  As Krešo’s starter, Logi is a smidgen prideful, deeming himself the leader of the party and having a tendency to boss some of the others around. At the moment he has refused to evolve, viewing his status as a Cyndaquil as already achieved perfection.
Other Details:  Krešo keeps an Everstone around for Logi to prevent him from evolving until he wants to.

Species: Salandit
Nickname: Nary
Gender: Female
Primary Moves (The ones it uses most often. See rule 10 for more info.):  Dragon Pulse, Thunder Wave, Will-o-Wisp, and Beat Up
Appearance:  Nary typically wears a sparkly orange cape while performing, liking to use its waviness to simulate flames. Otherwise she looks like a mostly normal Salandit.
Personality:  Nary is a calm Pokémon, typically acting as an observer when fights or arguments break out. She enjoys dancing and performances and is one of Krešo’s oldest Pokémon. She hopes to evolve someday, but at the moment isn’t strong enough to.
Other Details:  Krešo caught Nary while visiting the Alola Region for the first time.

Species: Houndour
Nickname: Tanguy
Gender: Male
Primary Moves (The ones it uses most often. See rule 10 for more info.):  Uproar, Flame Charge, Role Play, and Mimic
Appearance:  A rottweiler looking Houndour, Tanguy typically wears a yellow bowtie or collar during performances. When he isn’t performing, Tanguy typically wears a harness to act as Krešo’s guide through crowded areas.
Personality:  Tanguy is a very gentle Pokémon, having been raised to be a seeing-eye dog. He is strong, responsible, and focused, typically being seen in his “work mode”. When he isn’t working, Tanguy is a very silly and lovable pooch, loving to play games, perform, and more. He adores everyone else on the team, especially Krešo.
Other Details:  Tanguy is Krešo’s “seeing eye dog”. He also typically doesn’t perform because of this role, as he’s trained to be Krešo’s eyes, not to perform.

Species: Baile Oricorio
Nickname: Sushma
Gender: Female
Primary Moves (The ones it uses most often. See rule 10 for more info.):  Revelation Dance, Feather Dance, Swords Dance, and Teeter Dance
Appearance:  Sushma typically wears bowties when performing, adorning a blue one while in her Baile form.
Personality:  Susma is a bit of a diva, wanting to dance and do little else. She doesn’t have the best synergy with the team, being the newest member. Nevertheless, she is a skilled performer and can respect that most of the others are too, even if she finds them annoying.
Other Details:  Sushma is Krešo’s newest Pokémon, having been caught during his most recent trip to Alola.

Species: Rapidash
Nickname: Funi
Gender: Male
Primary Moves (The ones it uses most often. See rule 10 for more info.):  Iron Tail, Hypnosis, Mystical Fire, and Poison Jab
Appearance:  Funi typically wears a blanket/cape while performing. The cape is styled to look like blue flames with orange edges. He also has an ear piercing.
Personality:  Funi is one of Krešo’s oldest Pokémon and as a result is one of the most responsible among them. While Logi likes to claim he’s the leader, Funi is arguably the actual one, acting as the true instructor, coach, and teacher of the other Pokémon. He, like Krešo, likes to give pointers and tips to those younger than him, even if they aren’t part of the team. He believes they should be enjoying what they’re doing and wishes to assist where he can.
Other Details:  Funi was Krešo’s first catch as a Ponyta in the Sinnoh region.

Species: Lampent
Nickname: Ednar
Gender: Male
Primary Moves (The ones it uses most often. See rule 10 for more info.):  Hex, Confuse Ray, Sunny Day, and Mystical Fire
Appearance:  Ednar tends to wear a scarf of some kind while performing, usually either a purple or yellow color.
Personality:  Ednar is a shy Lampent. He’s quiet and keeps to himself most times, finding it difficult to speak up or interact with others. When he’s performing though, it’s like a switch flips and he becomes an extremely confident and skilled performer.
Other Details:  He hopes to evolve someday but has yet to find a Dusk Stone. Krešo caught him as a Litwick.

Other: All the mon’s appearances are subject to change if/when I decide to draw them haha.