Leonard Braker

Name:	Leonard Braker
Nickname/Alias:	Lenny (by Cuddles); Braker
Gender:	Male
Sexuality:	Gay
Age:	24
Height:	5'11"
Ethnicity:	Black Galarian
Birthday:	8/19/98
Attribute:	N/A
Trainer ID:	11452
Home:	Wyndon
Pokéform:	Currently unknown
Starter:	Walter
Status:	Alive

Appearance

Leonard Braker, better known by just his surname, is a 5'11" Black Galarian with short, dark, and messy black hair, including a beard, and blue eyes. Much like Kimberly Bond, Braker also has an identifiable outfit; in his case it's a dark blue suit and tie, resembling a news anchor's uniform. He also wears a pair of brown pants and black shoes. Braker is very often seen with a filming camera, which he uses to take footage of interesting news stories or uses to film live interviews or news recordings that he streams on [Twitch].

Backstory

Born and raised in Wyndon, Leonard Braker spent his entire childhood training to become a newscaster. While other children his age were watching cartoons or attending the Pokémon Trainer's School, Braker spent his watching the news and taking notes. In college, he took journalism and Monese courses, meaning he has the ability to understand Pokémon. Despite this, however, he declined receiving a Pokémon when he was 10 years old, finding it to be too immature for him. Later on, when he tried to get into journalism schools after getting emancipation from his parents, he was shocked and hurt to find that every journalism school he had applied to rejected him. The schools stated it was due to his grades, but Braker, who had gotten very good grades in school, instead suspected that it was due to his sexuality, and fell into a deep depression. Shortly afterwards, however, he met the Pokémon that would eventually become his starter: Walter, a patient, somewhat snarky, and serious Wobbuffet who cared very much about the truth. Upon meeting Walter- and a sweet Galvantula named Cuddles- he regained his confidence, and decided to become a Pokemon Trainer in addition to studying to become a journalist.

Personality

Leonard Braker shares a lot of personality traits with Kimberly Bond. Like Kim, Braker is very serious and stoic, but is eager to learn- in his case about journalism and about the latest breaking news. This was best shown in his debut, when he eagerly started looking around for a newspaper in order to find the latest news for his broadcast. However, unlike Kim, who only puts up a front of maturity in order to hide her true feelings of envy and insecurity, Braker's maturity is genuine. As such, Braker is also far more patient than Kim is in regards to finding friends and more perceptive to the feelings of others- only willing to interview other people if they explicitly express a desire to do so. He can be overeager when it comes to the news, but he has Walter to serve as his minder and keep him in check. Braker also cares very much about the truth- whenever he records a live interview he makes sure to ask a few establishing questions first, as he did with Star and later Kim. This desire for the truth was also seen when he was watching Colton's Gym Battle- when he pointed out to Cuddles that 9-Volt (Colton) was the Galvantula that withstood the Earthquake, he and Walter quickly lamented that the news forgot that Bug resists Ground in the wake of their amazement. He's also not afraid to be honest with others- though not to the point of brutality. If he is unwittingly brutally honest with someone else, particularly Cuddles, he is very quick to comfort and reassure them. Thus far, Braker has not seen any use in battles, though he does have all eight Galar badges, which implies that he is a very skilled battler despite having only two Pokémon. He does, however, enjoy watching battles for news-based purposes; he watched Colton's battle in Hammerlocke from the stands and commentated on it the whole time. During his livestreams, he acts like a typical news reporter, and will sometimes speak directly to the audience if something particularly interests him.

History

After receiving all eight Galarian Gym Badges offscreen with only his two Pokémon, Braker decided to head to Circhester in search of the latest news. There, he met Star and also Kimberly Bond, who was there to battle for her sixth badge. Star gave him a newspaper, and from it, he learned about Kim's Gym Battle against Bede, Colton's battle against Marnie, and Ian (PC)'s upcoming battle against Evelyn's father Daisuke that would be occurring in Wyndon. Shortly afterwards, he learned of a banquet that was to be occurring in Hammerlocke and decided to go there. After an incident involving Cuddles being... well, Cuddles, Braker interviewed Star and later Kim in a news livestream. At the end of the livestream, Kim suggested that Braker head off to Hammerlocke- which he did, and soon found out that Colton was preparing to battle Raihan. Braker immediately grabbed his camera, headed into the stadium, and started recording the battle, attracting both Kim and a certain Joltik headed out of Postwick. Once the battle was done, Braker left the stadium and found Kim waiting outside, and both of them went to the feast together. During it, Kim introduced Braker to Ian (PC), Evelyn, and Hoops, with whom he soon became fast friends.

Further Details

• Debut: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=12971269370A74820100&page=22924

• Starter: Walter, his Wobbuffet

• Pokeform: Currently unknown

• Likes: His Pokémon, Kimberly Bond, Ian, Evelyn, Hoops, getting hugs from Cuddles, battles, news broadcasting, finding out the truth

• Dislikes: Liars, the fake news media, anyone who dares hurt his Pokémon or friends, seeing Cuddles cry, people who judge him for his sexuality

Pokémon

Walter

Cuddles

Jules

Trivia

• Leonard Braker's starter Pokemon, Walter, was named after newscaster Walter Cronkite, as a pun on Wobbuffet's Japanese name. Wobbuffet's Japanese name, Sounansu, is homophonous with sou nan su, which roughly translates to "That's the way it is"; Walter Cronkite's sign-off catchphrase was that line, followed by the date. Cuddles, meanwhile, was named partially because of his love of hugging and also because, according to Goldenheart388, she wanted a name that would tie in to Cuddles' "warm and fuzzy" nature, and thought Cuddles was a silly yet fitting name.
• Braker's birthday, August 19th, was the date in which the CBS Evening News first went on the air. His ID number, 11452, reads 1/14/52, or January 14th, 1952- which is the date that TODAY first went on the air.
• Braker's Hasslemon handle, according to Goldenheart388, is programusInterruptus (PI), a play on the famous news saying, "We interrupt this program".
• According to Goldenheart388, Braker's favorite musical artists, in order, are Jack Johnson, Disturbed, and Coldplay.
• According to Goldenheart388, Braker's regular character theme is "Sleep Through the Static" by Jack Johnson and his Broadway character theme is "Watch What Happens" from Newsies.