Pedestal: Catch-22

Catch-22: Twenty-Two Truths About The Human Cast of Pedestal

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1. Despite having his name constantly compared to the old techno song Doctor Jones when people find out about his long-dead aspiration of being a doctor, he actually does like the song.

2. At one time or another, just about everyone he knew was up on a pedestal of some sort. His mother for being, well, his mother--his father for similar reasons. His teacher, no matter how creepy he thought her to be, was placed upon one because she was a trainer and taught him. Even his friends have all been there at one point or another. Pedestal the Numel was the first time he admitted to himself he had a problem, though.

3. He was a good swimmer before he got Des. Afterward, he never was quite as good. (He nearly drown on three separate occasions.)

4. When Hanna asked if he "liked that Nick", he hadn't known how exactly to reply to her. Mostly it was just so random that he could only reply with an offended snort. He wasn't drooling, either.

5. His first crush was probably on Nurse Joy. She healed his Pokemon, she greeted him with a smile, she gave him a hot meal and a place to sleep. She cared. It was only later that he found out that most, if not all, trainers went through the same phase. (Some also developed crushes on Officer Jenny, but he skipped that phase due to being arrested.)

6. He has more scars on his body than he'd care to admit. He still has scars on his wrists from scratching them so much from the poison ivy. Both hands have a variety of mostly-healed burns from either Des or Ike. He's broken two bones. He has bite marks from Ike and Konstantin in a variety of places. He also has distinctly vampire-like marks on his neck from the night he met Ike and the Shinx chomped into his neck, and right below that, he has two claw marks from when he had to hold his Breloom away from attacking Ike. He's gotten more bruises and black eyes and blood spilt than he can even keep up with. He's convinced he's broken his nose on more than one occasion, though since he was never near a hospital, he never bothered to get it fixed or to even check. Both thumbs and pinkies have neat, ring-like scars around them from Zarek. His voice has gotten a bit of a permanent rasp from all of the smoke and spores and ozone and death-smell and everything else he's had to inhale over the years. He's dislocated both shoulders and cracked one wrist, all of which were unskillfully fixed, if that. He probably has a couple dents and cracks in his skull, though again, he's never bothered to check. Alice cracked two ribs after she evolved and tackled him excitedly. She also jabbed her beak into his palm when he tried to take Zarek's egg away from her the first time. And even though he's a patchwork of scars and injuries and hurts, he wouldn't trade it for the world because it's part of the training experience.

7. He, unlike most other trainers, doesn't have a favorite Pokemon. He has days when he prefers one or two over the others, of course, but only days. He loves them all differently and more or less equally. He's probably one of the purer trainers in the world because of it.

8. While vacationing in Johto, he made a startling discovery: he and his friends were color-coded. Some of this was Hanna's fault, since she was the one to replace his wardrobe, but still. He was dressed in blues, she tended to like greens and pinks, and Nick usually stuck to reds and blacks. This has amazed him ever since, because even after everything that's happened, it's still true.

9. Deep down, he still wants to become the Champion. He just doesn't want to think about getting farther than Nick ever did.

10. When he meets Vaikuntha for the first time, he's amazed. Vai is so warm, so kind, so caring, it's no wonder that he adds everyone to his family. He also reminds him irresistibly of Nick in the way that he smiles and plays with his team. It's why he keeps an emotional distance and doesn't cultivate what could otherwise be a great friendship. He hates himself for it, too.

11. He's secretly glad that he was acknowledged as a strong trainer when the recruiting starts. Even if he's surprised at the number of trainers in the potential group, he's still happy he made the cut. (He also thought it was depressing that Nick didn't.)

12. Hanna met Jude when her father had expressed interest in getting her a Pokemon for her birthday. She initially rebelled against the idea; she had never wanted to be a trainer. Then she saw Isabella and Alexander, then infants, and fell in love with them. Jude is still the only breeder she'll trust, though.

13. She has never once pretended to be a trainer, not really or seriously. She knows she's not. She's never tried to challenge the Gyms, she's never really battled other people, she's never done much except have a good time with her Pokemon. It's why she's so broken up that Nick had to take them from her.

14. She's never put a label on what she and Jude have. She is half-scared to. The other half of her just doesn't want to be like all of those other girls, so desperate for the title of "girlfriend" to someone.

15. Nick's second Pokemon wasn't captured by him. He inherited a trained Growlithe named Fargo when his uncle, the circus performer, died. It was then that he became a trainer.

16. Nick didn't go crazy. That would imply that it happened all at once, that he had no idea what he was doing, that it was an active occurrence. It wasn't. His sanity just slowly slipped from him, day after day, catastrophe after catastrophe. By the time he realized what was actually happening again, it was too late and he was staring up into his judgment.

17. If he had heard the ghost's warning, he probably would have laughed. But at least he would've known what was going on. He would've kept laughing, though; he would cackle at roasting the Abomasnow, he would scream with laughter while beating two girls with a shovel, he would giggle himself senseless while on his way to his doom.

18. In school, he never was much of a good student. He was surprised when he took to training so well. He was even more surprised when he found out that he was a good teacher to boot.

19. He and Matthew, his little brother, were never close until after he left. Irony works that way sometimes.

20. Chase was his favorite. Everyone knew it, and no one argued over it. It was just the fact of the matter. Chase was the only constant Nick had had in his life since he was ten years old, and was the only constant he had after his little brother died. It was the reason, on his saner days, that he felt so guilty for dragging his Garchomp down with him.

21. Jude is something of a celebrity in the Pokemon breeding world. He's the one the rich folks all go to. He's still young but he's the wealthiest breeder in all of Johto (and the second richest in Sinnoh). Most of this is due to Hanna's penchant for rare, shiny Pokemon, and part of it is due to the fact that Robert Beaumanoir dotes on his daughter shamelessly.

22. Vaikuntha, more than any other trainer of the day and age, is a hero. He's also the only trainer of the day and age who has never once thought that about himself. He's just another trainer, after all. The difference is that Vai truly wants what's best.