Leonard Braker

Name:	Leonard Braker
Nickname/Alias:	Lenny (by Cuddles); Leo (by Kendall and 9-Volt); 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 Shiny 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. Braker later watched New Dawn's Dreamers' performance of "Phantom of the Opera" and Boseman's final evolution into a Chandelure, but missed out on Kim's capture of John, George, and the aforementioned Shiny Joltik, who was named Ringo. However, the news got him intrigued about catching some new Pokemon of his own, and after a performance of "As Long As We Got Each Other" on the karaoke machine, Braker left for the Wild Area.

In the Wild Area, Braker began to set up for a recording related to the banquet, before eventually being interrupted by a naive, goofy Seviper with a surprising companion- or at least that's how they saw her. The companion, a sardonic, snarky Zangoose named Romea, seemed none too interested in being the Seviper's friend, but the Seviper was still loving towards all Zangoose. Braker, surprised by this, decided to catch the Seviper and have them join his team, naming them Jules. Romea, meanwhile, declined the initial offer to join the team. After a conversation on Hasslemon, however, Braker was interrupted by Romea-- who was about to fall over a cliff. Realizing something was wrong, Braker, Walter, and Cuddles rushed over to her, along with Jules. Seconds later, the four of them worked together to save Romea's life. Slightly surprised by this, Romea eventually agreed to join the team- though made it clear to Jules that she still found them very much a perpetual annoyance. Shortly after the capture, Braker received a text from Kim stating that she would be battling Melony in Circhester, and immediately headed to the Gym. While they were waiting for Ian and Evelyn to arrive, Braker challenged Kim to a battle, which she immediately accepted. After a hard-fought match, Kim eventually entered the Gym and took on Melony, with Braker watching and recording the entire time.

After the battle against Melony, Braker soon got another text regarding a strange art museum in Nimbasa City. Intrigued, he decided to visit-- and found Colton Kendall Rever there, along with his Shiny Ninetales Kamui. Soon afterwards, Braker got the interview with Colton that he'd been waiting for since Hammerlocke. After the interview, Braker, Walter, and Cuddles entered the museum. After a ton of exploration, the three eventually left and received news of something going on at another museum-- the Lumiose Museum. Specifically, they had heard about a rogue Greninja who had hid 200 Galarians in Lumiose. Braker, Walter, Cuddles, Jules, and Romea (the latter two in their [=PokeBalls=]) all went to Lumiose City for a vacation, during which they got to meet the rogue Greninja. As it turned out, the Greninja had been trying to hide the 200 Galarians so they could get refuge from Team Flare in Orochi Plaza. Braker, admiring the Greninja's heroism, soon caught him and named him Serkis. Almost immediately afterwards, he headed out onto the grasslands and ran into a playful Shiny Mr. Mime who enjoyed playing pranks on people. Braker was soon surprised to learn that the Shiny Mr. Mime had heard about Serkis' story, and sent him out to show the Mr. Mime that he had just been caught. Awed, the Shiny Mr. Mime decided to join Braker's team upon being offered to do so by Cuddles-- but not before battling Serkis in one of the most enjoyable battles of his life, complete with Serkis taking advantage of the Mr. Mime's Trick Room repeatedly. After the battle was over, the Shiny Mr. Mime congratulated Serkis and joined Braker's team, giving himself the name Panto.

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, Colton, getting hugs from Cuddles, battles, news broadcasting, finding out the truth, getting interviews

• 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

GBC-2

Walter

Cuddles

Galar Arc Mons

Jules

Romea

Serkis

Panto

Charon

Lithium

Scramble

Snoop

Caboose

Neo-Sinnoh Arc Mons

KL-RY

Buffy

Chernobog

Heracles

Thanatos

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.
• Leonard Braker is the first Trainer written by Goldenheart388 to have caught a Pokemon offscreen; Caboose the Klefki debuted after the impromptu Bond or Break game, but made his official debut as a member of Leonard Braker's team in Spikemuth, likely having been stopped by Serkis and then caught offscreen.
• GBC-2, the official nickname for the Walter-Cuddles partnership, stands for Galarian Broadcasting Company-2, and references both the two initial members of Braker's team as well as the BBC 2 network, which is dedicated to "programs of depth and substance," including many popular news programs.
• All of Leonard Braker's Pokemon were caught in their final form-- the only exception being KL-RY (though Porygon was fully-evolved at the time of its debut).