GLADION

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Gladion serves as a mentor character to the protagonist- not battling them too often, mostly because he knows that he would utterly crush their poor Pokemon. He seems to have an interest in Celebi.

Appearance

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Gladion has blonde hair with green eyes and pale skin. He has a scar on his right cheek, though it's usually hidden by his hair that falls over one side of his face. He wears a white hoodie with a red and green pattern on the front, as well as a black undershirt that has gloves attached. He wears gray ripped jeans and black and red boots.

Personality

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Having gone to Kanto and Johto after the events of USUM, Gladion has mellowed out quite a bit from his main appearances in Alola. He is actively trying to be kinder to others, though he occasionally ends up snapping at them. He cares about his Pokemon and those close to him more than anything in the world, though getting close to him in the first place is a daunting task.

Role in the Story

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Having just arrived in Johto, Gladion knows (almost) nobody there. He's used to being alone, so it doesn't bother him too much, but it's still rather daunting. The first person he meets in Johto besides Bugsy is the protagonist, who is eager for a battle from the moment their eyes met. Gladion, however, refuses, not wanting to put their Pokemon through what his team would do to them.

The second person he meets is Phoenix, who instantly began infodumping about Celebi and mythology to him. Gladion, much to his dismay, ends up spending some more time around Phoenix when Morty requests for them to fight off some Ghost Types as a test before they can challenge his Gym. Phoenix pokes fun at Gladion's fear of ghosts (which he will never admit,) and Gladion is ready to burst a blood vessel already. Phoenix, however, seems to find this fun and asks Gladion if he wants to look for Celebi with them.

Gladion had known about Celebi long since before he came to Johto- but now it was realistically within his reach. Though he feels conflicted about it, he'd been wondering for a long time if Celebi could prevent his father's disappearance- basically preventing his life from going down the drain.

Gladion accepts their offer. As the two travel together, he ends up quite attached to them- though there's no way he's ever admitting that.

Relationships

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Phoenix

As one of Gladion's very few friends, he values Phoenix a lot. He's really, really, really bad at expressing that- but he cares deeply. Their butting of heads went from annoying to charming to him, and he admittedly finds mythology extremely interesting, so he'll gladly listen to Phoenix dump years worth of pent up lore upon him.

Protagonist

Despite only being a year older than them, Gladion has a sort of older sibling relationship with the protagonist. He feels proud as they grow into a capable trainer- and he's counting down the days until he can battle them at full strength without holding anything back.

Ryuki

Ryuki, by some miracle, ended up booking it to Kanto just in time to take over Lt. Surge's Gym right as he retired, so to Gladion's dismay, he's now in his proximity. Ryuki insists that he knows Gladion and that he destroyed him in a battle once, but Gladion genuinely doesn't remember this at all. He's not sure if his memory is really that bad or if Ryuki is gaslighting him.

made by a human with blood, sweat and tears. lots of tears.