pokemon au compilation

[clefablite]

LET'S MAKE SOME CUTE OCS AND AUS WE WON'T MAKE OURSELVES SAD WITH (MAYBE)

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Ren Isobe | Paldea (Zapapico) (cws: child neglect, abandonment, underage drinking)

[eartheats]

- Born Laurent Isobe, Ren initially started life as a boy who usually followed his miner dad around; he grew up dirt poor, his father doing most of the breadwinning for the family by working in the mines up in the Eastern Providence. Laurent would usually play with his father's Hariyama, who acted as his babysitter while his father worked and his mother would pursue her research into fossils.
- At four years old, Laurent simply became Lauren, after expressing an interest in an old sundress her mother was attempting to throw away. It was eventually her decision that she wanted to be a girl, and her family was fully supportive of this transition. She often got that sundress quite filthy, but she ended up really being happy playing around in the dirt. It was during one of these play sessions that a rather hungry Orthworm had surfaced, looking for something to eat. Lauren was a girl who liked to share, even if Hariyama often tried to keep her from any wild Pokemon; she ended up sharing half of her sandwich with the Orthworm, which became a consistent piece of their friendship throughout the years. After some begging and promises that she'd take care of a Pokemon that most considered a menace, on her sixth birthday, Lauren would obtain this Orthworm as her partner and name him Lulu.
- Lauren often liked to battle, though Lulu didn't always listen to what she said; he tended to be quite naive, but he was a surprisingly well behaved Orthworm other than thinking he knew better in battle. The two made quite the reputation for themselves around the city, with Lauren beating just about every trainer that took the two of them on easily. Lauren took very good care of Lulu, keeping him safe and well taken care of while growing their acumen as a Pokemon trainer in the process.
- Eventually, her parents decided to enroll her at Uva Academy in order to give her a better chance at life than either of them had at age 13! Lauren was so excited to go, having been mostly homeschooled by their very strict mom, Noriko Isobe, so the ability to get out in the world and not sleep on a crappy futon nestled into the closest part of the house that could fit them in their cramped, poor quarters? Was a dream come true to them...until it wasn't.
- Lauren's tenure at Uva was rather short-lived; between teachers who berated Ren's inability to grasp certain concepts, their absolutely undiagnosed ADHD (...potentially also autism...) leading them to being unable to sit still or listen for long periods of time, and intense bullying, Lauren ended up running away from the school and back home, to less than understanding parents. They had used every bit of their savings to send Lauren to that school, and the shouting match that the three of them had during this was. Legendary.
- Lauren eventually locked herself in the bathroom for the night, only to wake up the next day to her parents having vanished. Simply...gone, having taken almost nothing with them. They ended up getting in trouble with the local police due to this, and it was only the timely intervention of her godmother, Madison, that prevented her from getting anything on her proper record.
- Thankfully, Lauren had managed to save up a lot of money; she had become battle happy and deeply battle hungry over the stay in Uva, intent on proving herself to be better than her grades and her failures. It's what led her to getting four out of the eight badges of Paldea; Katy, Brassius, Larry, and Grusha's badges were all in her possession, but after everything that happened, Lauren's mind simply broke.
- Lauren shut herself inside of her house at age 14, shutting all of the lights off and using her rickety old laptop to keep herself company. It was her only connection to the outside world; she lived off of whatever food her parents had left behind, even long after it expired, and only went outside during the wee hours of the night to beat up more trainers. She eventually started learning how to pay her own bills and such, though quietly, her (very rich) godmother did everything she could to help Lauren from the shadows. Very rarely, she went outside and battled others, beating them not for money, but for alcohol; something she had taken up during her stay at Uva due to kids smuggling it in. She ended up drinking heavily, with Lulu not knowing what to do in order to help her. She usually only opened the door to let him outside, but he stayed by her in order to let her know at least that someone was there for her.
- It took four long, long years before Ren (having figured out their identity and finally going by they/them) ended up finding the motivation to clean themselves up and get to work; not the least of which was because Lulu was starting to show signs of poor health, and they simply couldn't abide by something happening to the one thing that's stood by them through thick and thin. They eventually landed a proper job working at a Chansey Supply in Montenevera, working as an assistant to the pharmacist there. They ended up learning a lot about different medicine there, and ended up getting Lulu on a medication to help with his iron deficiency problem--which seemed to be a defect from birth, considering that Orthworm are known for their high iron consumption, it meant that Lulu simply couldn't absorb it as well. Unfortunately, the medication proved quite expensive, and Ren began to insist on taking care of matters themself...launching them right back into dirt poor status.
- Eventually, Ren ended up getting let go from that position, and they work as a Poke Mart clerk to make ends meet nowadays. They're much more chipper and optimistic nowadays than they once were; they always seem to have a rather cheery air about them, serving customers with a smile and always ready to hear their stories. They've made a lot of friends, too! But they still can't help but think something's wrong...
- Team: Orthworm♂. (Lulu) Technically has some team members in the Rotomblr-verse but uh, idk if I'll play with them here--
- Optional plot element 1 (darker): Noriko being a former member of Team Flare. This was something I played with on Rotomblr, that Noriko ended up joining Team Flare as something of an HR person. And a grunt, but mostly HR. Noriko's specialty is Psychic type Pokemon...along with hypnosis, and memory wiping. She very much attempted to bring her husband and then-daughter down into the Flare Base to save them, and they may or may not be immortal??? Don't worry about it!!! (Noriko and Ren would both be immortal here; Ren's dad, Mateo, ended up not getting hit, which becomes plot relevant later when Silph hires Rocket to steal Noriko's family's fossil machine, since she comes from Cinnabar Island in this optional plot element. Uh. Noriko is a psycho! Who wants her kid back and to also do an even more earth scorching team flare, don't worry about it--)
- Optional plot element 2 (lighter): They manage to get into Blueberry Academy years down the line in order to become an authority on Steel type research! Mostly, they're putting their Orthworm stanning into full force by advocating for the species that's mostly seen as a nuisance, and learning how to become a steel specializing Professor!