Name: Joshua Maeson
Age: 16
Gender: Male
Hometown: Ecruteak City, Johto
Ordinary Trainer
Appearance: Joshua is five feet and eight inches tall, and weighs around one-hundred and fifty pounds. He has blonde, somewhat short hair (just above the ears) that's bleached white at the tips, while his eyes are bluer than Kyogre's back. His upper-body clothing consists of a long-sleeved white shirt that spreads out as it reaches from the shoulder to the wrist, making it hang loosely off the forearm. It's layered over by a loose short-sleeve black T-shirt with scrambled and faded designs, most of them tribal-style in appearance.
Joshua's lower body has a pair of flare-leg jeans that hide his feet, which wear Rhyhorn Horn geta. The Stantler skin soles and thong keep his feet from becoming uncomfortable, and his legs strengthened to carry the geta like it was as light as a feather. The teeth of the sandals are exposed, both of them about an inch in length.
Personality: When left to his own devices or just with Stryke at his side, Josh is very destructive. He literally cuts down everything trying to hinder him with his Scyther; and if he doesn't think Stryke should waste his breath? He'll just do it himself. Due to this, Joshua is desensitized to other people's emotions, and assumes he can always get his way if he tries hard enough. To those who know him truly, he's the definition of "bad boy".
In private and without a destroyable outlet or just around his own family, Joshua is the total opposite... sort of. Hiding in the closet is a love for handicrafts and baking. He makes his own clothing with Poké-pelts, carves Rhyhorn and Tauros horns (and recently Bouffalant horns), and frequently bakes treats like cookies, pies and cakes with the berries he picks. (Obviously, he'll pick the berries when no one's watching.)
Though one problem Josh has always faced is his weakness to women. He won't even raise a hand to them if they meet any of his criteria: Kind face, adventurous attitude, and/or a cool Pokémon partner. He'll act like a knight in shining armor whenever he gets the chance to, though presenting them with the things he makes isn't all too knightly.
History: Born native to Johto with scientists for parents, Joshua learned the region like the back of his hand. In early childhood, he learned every location and every maze and committed it to his memory. He grew up as a generally nice person around people he trusts, but became a very deceptive and evil young man on the side. He became the hated poster boy of his male classmates, and the untouchable celebrity of the girls, but the teachers enjoyed his company regardless since they had no clue what the big fuss was about. Good grades, helpful in class, and he doesn't seem to do anything wrong (at least in anything they see him doing).
After Josh turned fifteen, his parents, who were studying methods of purification without the use of Purify Stones, were kidnapped by Cipher. The grunts that kidnapped them were fairly stupid, though, and left behind a NOTE. (They must have just been the muscle and one thought it would be a nice gesture to leave something behind for anyone who might have walked in.)
"We kidnapped the old people living here.
Sincerely, Cipher and the Shadow Pokémon Project."
Following a year of studying his parents' research and tests on himself and wild Shadow Pokémon that roamed around Ecruteak at night, Joshua finally left home to hunt down Cipher, purify any Shadow Pokémon he can, and get his parents back if they were still alive.
Other: Josh has gained the power to purify Shadow Pokémon through Empathy, conveying emotions (even anger) to Pokémon he comes into any sort of contact with, even those that aren't his, strongly enough to purify them without Purification Stones after spending a short time with them.
Species: Scyther
Nickname: Stryke
Infected?: Purified
Gender: Male
History: Stryke, before being captured, was born a Shadow Pokémon and, as expected, extremely violent. For the first year or so, he and his infected mother nearly leveled an entire forest, and his scythes grew very sharp as a result. When he was captured by Joshua, he was disloyal, disobedient, and violent, but grew to admire his trainer's ability, which opened his heart enough to become purified. Now, with new-found emotion, the Scyther is willing to defend his trainer to the death, but still has his cocky and violent nature behind him.
Personality: His general fearlessness knows no bounds, attacking anything he wants unless Josh tells him not to. He's a very loyal Pokémon in this respect, knowing who the alpha really is (Joshua).
Moves: Vacuum Wave, Pursuit, Aerial Ace, Night Slash
Other: Stryke has strange markings across his scythes, resembling tattoos.