Stanley Smith

Personality

Stanley is a serious and colorless man who speaks with a tired cadence. He's a hard worker, and moves straight towards the next location without slowing to appreciate his surroundings (not that he can see them, anyways). Stanley is organized, even more so now that he has to rely on touch to sort his things. He doesn't quite understand the concept of slowing down to smell the roses, and takes most jokes literally, but is trying his best to understand the point of going on a Pokémon journey.

Appearance

Stanley is an adult man in his early 30s. He has black hair, combed to the side, and pink eyes, often hidden behind a pair of sunglasses. He is usually seen in a dress shirt, black slacks, and gray sneakers. He is carries a briefcase in one hand, and a white walking cane in the other. His seeing-eye pidove can be seen perched on top of his head.

Pokémon

As a trainer, Stanley has caught a very small number of Pokémon between his original Pokémon journey as a kid, and his second journey as an adult. It is currently unknown if he will continue to keep his team small now that he has joined the Kanto Tournament, or if he will start to catch Pokémon more actively.

Companion

Due to his disability, Stanley has acquired a seeing-eye pidove named Windows Vista. It can usually be found standing on his head. It helps Stanley interact with his environment and know what is happening around him........sometimes. It's not very smart.

In Rotation

Stanley has not been shown to stick with one main team, instead training up various Pokemon and rotating between them. Below are ones he has been spotted using in gym challenges and during public events.

Original Team

Stanley's original team, prior to the Kanto Tournament. Since the tournament requires trainers to catch and raise a new team, Stanley has left these behind for now.

History

Early Life

Stanley was born in Striaton City in the Unova region. As kids, he and his twin sister Stella often explored the city with other kids from their apartment. The group always voted on where to go each day, with some of the kids dragging everyone to the Striaton Gym with hopes of being able to see a gym challenge, while others preferred going to the gardens, and still others opted to travel out of the city towards the Dreamyard to play. Stanley and Stella both quickly grew to have their own interests: Stella loved watching Pokémon contests from various regions, and often tried to mimic the Coordinators' moves during games; meanwhile, Stanley was interested in fairy types and fairy tales as a kid, and loved watching recordings of Pokémon Musicals of that topic, but quickly grew out of it.

The Original Pokémon Journey

Stanley and Stella both began their Pokémon journeys at the same time, but quickly went in different directions. Stella immediately bid farewell to Stanley and their gang of chlidhood friends and left Unova to become a Pokémon Coordinator. Stanley meandered down Route 3 towards Nacrene City, then across Skyarrow Bridge to Castelia City. He caught a few Pokémon along the way, namely a pansage he caught trying to steal a taste of something simmering in a kitchen in Striaton City, and a lillipup he found in the wild.

He took his time making his way through Unova, often staying in one place for months at a time. He made a brief stop at Wellspring Cave to wait out a storm, but chose not to explore further than the mouth of the cave. During his stay in Nacrene City, he visited Nacrene Museum, interested by the fossils inside, and accidentally made his way into Nacrene Gym. Though he didn't complete the gym challenge, he overall found the experience interesting, and left with a good impression of Lenora, the gym leader. Castelia City's business and commerce angle appealed to many of Stanley's sensibilities, and he immediately located many businesses that would allow him to enter an office job. He stayed the longest in Castelia City, but eventually figured that he should see a bit more of the region. Thus, he traveled along Route 4 to Nimbasa City....and immediately turned around, uninterested by the city's claim to fame being entertainment and leisure.

Office Life

Finding an office job at the Battle Company as soon as he was old enough, Stanley stayed there and did not leave. He worked hard at what he did, and became a master at making spreadsheets and powerpoint presentations, though he didn't personally like presenting the powerpoints. He occasionally battled for research purposes, but treated it as part of his work and nothing more than that. Stanley often pulled late hours to meet deadlines, making sure details were correct and chasing down other employees who left work to the last minute. He didn't do much outside of work hours, instead choosing to spend his time and energy on perfecting his responsibilities. Though he didn't rise in rank much, despite working there for over a decade, he was comfortable where he was in the company's hierarchy and didn't see an issue with his current lifestyle.

His one hobby in life was keeping up with the contest circuit in Kanto, where Stella had made a name for herself. She had dyed her hair blue and was using a different surname, but Stanley would recognize his twin anywhere.

...And besides, Stella often texted Stanley telling him to watch the TV recordings.

Stanley did make an effort to keep up with how she was doing, and even had a spreadsheet dedicated to tracking her progress through the years.

Other than that, Stanley went to work, went home, slept, and enjoyed his monotonous office life.

End of Office Life

Life took a turn when Stanley grew sick one year in his early thirties. He was feeling a little off, and his eyesight felt blurry at times. Stanley initially chalked it up to a simple cold or flu and ignored it in favor of finishing a project he was working on. Unfortunately, his symptoms quickly grew worse, and worse, and worse...

In the end, his two Pokémon had to help rush him to the nearest hospital, and he permanently lost his eyesight.

Stanley reluctantly retired from his job at the Battle Company. The Company helped him apply for disabilities with the city before he did, and he received a seeing-eye Pokémon to assist him with his daily life.

Unable to continue his office work, Stanley spent a few months in Castelia City simply staying in his apartment, unsure of what to do next. Windows Vista, his new seeing-eye pidove, sat on his head most days and pointed him in the right direction when he needed to go somewhere, but even it couldn't direct him when he didn't know where he wanted to go.

By chance one day, he encountered a lost klink, and ended up catching it with one of his leftover Pokéballs. The experience reminded him that he hadn't actually seen much of Unova the last time he'd done so, and there was much more to see of the world than the southern part of Unova. He had all the time in the world now, anyways.

...Not that he could see it now, but it was the thought that counts.

Pokémon Journey 2: Electric Boogaloo

Packing his things into a briefcase, the only bag he owned, Stanley left Castelia City and traveled north along Route 4 again, heading for Nimbasa City. He tried to make an effort to stay on the road, but Windows Vista wasn't the smartest bulb in the box, and sometimes led him astray. The two stumbled their way around various parts of Unova, with Stanley often tripping over various obstacles in his path until he made an effort to get a walking stick. While it took him much longer to reach the city than expected, he met more people and found many more hidden locations than when he'd last traveled the route. He re-learned how to battle without his sight, relying primarily on communication with Windows Vista and his Pokémon to figure out what was happening. Things were different than his original journey, but Stanley found himself minding it less every month.

Kanto Tournament

Stanley made one error, and that was forgetting to inform his sister of his current situation. As soon as she found out, she demanded that he go to Kanto to visit, or she would skip out on this year's Contest circuit and find him instead. Since he was traveling already, Stanley meandered his way over to the Kanto region in search of his sister. When he arrived, he heard of the Kanto Tournament, and thought -- well, why not?

Relationships

Stella Star / Stella Smith

Stanley's twin sister. The two of them left to go on Pokémon journeys at the same time, but where Stanley stayed in Unova, Stella immediately left to become a Top Coordinator instead. Stella goes by her stage name (Stella Star) as a coordinator and dyes her hair blue, so there's very little public connection between the two of them. Stanley finds her energy tiring and thinks she shows off too much, but he does try to keep up to date with the Contest circuits to see how she's doing in the rankings.

Lenora

Stanley briefly met Lenora at the Nacrene Museum, when he accidentally wandered into the gym side of the building. He respects the gym's location and respects her as a person.

Trivia

• Stanley is completely blind, and relies on walking cane and on his seeing eye pidove to navigate around. As a result, he tends to walk a little slower than most people.
• One of Stanley and Stella's parents is a fan of the Pokémon Musical, A Streetcar Named Desire, which features a couple of the same name.
• Stanley has not offically challenged any gyms prior to participating in the Kanto Tournament.
• He used to keep a spreadsheet diary and had written a script that automatically pulled each day's weather from the local paper. The entries for each day weren't very interesting, since he didn't do much each day, but it was very organized.
• Stanley does not believe Mythical/Legendary Pokémon are real and exist, and thinks they're just stories to explain how the world came to be, like religion.

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