D'Autry

D'Autry is Laurie Hitoki's Sandslash, and the first Pokémon they acquired on their journey.

Appearance

In his Pokemon form, D'Autry resembles a regular Sandslash, albeit one with a yellow straw cowboy hat and slightly rounder eyes- likely to give him a "cuter" and more friendly appearance.

In his human form (prospective name Kris Rogers), D'Autry is presented as a late-teens/early-twenties man with short brown hair and blue eyes. He wears a yellow shirt with a brown jacket over top of it and a yellow necklace with a gold circle on it, as well as long yellow jeans, long black socks, and brown and gold boots. Additionally, he keeps his cowboy hat from his Pokemon form, and is very often seen with a guitar (which, due to his new human form, he is now able to play).

Background

Prior to being given to Laurie for their tenth birthday, D'Autry lived in Driftveil City in the Unova region. His parents were a female Sandslash and a male Absol, from whom he got his Egg move Night Slash. From the very beginning, D'Autry was a bit different compared to his other Sandshrew siblings and even to his own mother. D'Autry and his siblings all lived near the Driftveil City Gym, meaning that most of them naturally wanted to train with their fellow Ground-type Pokemon in order to get stronger. His mother, in fact, naturally encouraged them to do so. D'Autry, however, was far more interested in the massive barn-shaped house that was located right next to it. Every day, he would try to go to the barnhouse in order to see what was inside, only to hear dozens upon dozens of voices singing their hearts out. He couldn't read, but his mother told him that she'd heard that the barnhouse was actually a massive music show known as the Grand Old Operetta; she had always known it as just the GOOprix or the GO2. Immediately intrigued, D'Autry wanted to go and investigate what was inside. One day, while his mother and siblings were out battling at the Gym, D'Autry went over to the GO2 and entered it. What he found inside stunned him to no end. The place was partially a museum, full of country music memorabilia, but the biggest attraction was the massive auditorium filled to the brim with hundreds of Trainers and Pokemon-- and, more importantly, the massive stage where country music artists would perform. That night, D'Autry attended his first ever performance of the GO2, and he ended up loving it so much that he went back home to his mother and father as soon as the show was over to ask them if they knew anything about country music. As it turned out, they knew a lot-- his father in particular had also gone to the GO2 back in the day when he was a kid, and loved every second of it. They taught him about artists such as The Carter Family, Roy Acuff, Johnny Cash, and so on, and D'Autry's interest in country music was instantly piqued. From then on, every Saturday he and his family would attend GO2 shows and attend the GO2 museum, where D'Autry would listen in on tour guides and learn everything he could about country music. His parents eventually taught him to learn to read, so that he could understand the museum's artifacts better.

A few years later, D'Autry found a list of GO2 members lying about on a piece of paper. Much to his shock, when he read it over, he found that names in country music such as The Carter Family (the original Carter Family, not the Carter Sisters), Jimmie Rodgers, Johnny Cash, The Bellamy Brothers, Alabama, and the like were not members of the GO2. He also found that Hank Williams, Jr. and DeFord Bailey had been banned from the GO2 years ago. He asked his mother and father what was going on, and they told him that for years the GO2 had been restrictive about the people and genres that could be shown on the show. Horrified by the unfairness of it all, D'Autry decided to start sending letters to the GO2. His parents taught him how to write, and eventually he wrote his first letter to the GO2, asking them to posthumously induct Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family into it as members (unlike the real Grand Ole Opry, the GO2 can do that, via the same process used to posthumously induct Hall of Famers). He expected no response, but to his complete surprise, a week later, he got a response from the GO2. What he saw, though, slightly disappointed him. While they did posthumously induct Jimmie Rodgers, they harshly turned down his suggestion to have the original Carter Family be members, despite the fact that the Carter Sisters were. Thus started D'Autry's rounds of letters to the GO2... but then something happened. D'Autry soon discovered Flogging Molly, after overhearing some music of theirs on a radio station in a Driftveil store. He looked into the music, and soon found that they were a Celtic rock band. At first, he thought it just sounded cool... until he realized that "Drunken Lullabies" sounded a bit familiar. The more he listened to Flogging Molly's music, the more he realized that they had more in common with country music than he initially would have thought. He eventually came to the conclusion that "Flogging Molly is just punk country", and soon became interested in rock as a genre, falling in love with artists that mixed rock and country in particular (such as Lynrd Skynrd, CCR, his future namesake, the Eagles, and so on). Once he realized that Hank III existed, metal promptly became one of his loves as well, and while he eventually grew to love all three genres equally, Flogging Molly would eventually rise above all the country artists to become his favorite band of all time.

At that point, something was happening with his opinion regarding the GO2: It was changing. While D'Autry still loved country music, he began to get a bit bored hearing the same songs over and over again, and longed to hear something different-- namely, rock music. His parents weren't so sure about this, but D'Autry had the perfect band to start the Opry off with-- Flogging Molly. That night, he promptly sent a letter asking the GO2 if they could invite Flogging Molly to perform. When he got his response, however, something strange immediately stuck out to him again. Once more, the GO2 sent him a letter telling him there was no way they'd invite a rock band to perform at the GO2. D'Autry had expected this, though-- he'd heard about what happened to the Byrds, another rock band, when they performed on the GO2 (they got booed and heckled off stage). It was what he saw on the back of the letter, though, that shocked him. Once again, there was a list of all of the GO2 members-- but this time he noticed that people were missing that hadn't been before. People such as Charlie Pride, Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, Garth Brooks, and the Carter Sisters. D'Autry was confused as to what was going on, but brushed it off as a mistake. Even then, he was disappointed that the GO2 wouldn't invite Flogging Molly onto their stage. However, he just assumed they had never actually listened to their music before and decided to write to the GO2 again and send them albums to listen to. Once again, the GO2 sent him a letter about a week later stating that they had thrown out the albums and had no desire to listen to or invite the band onto the GO2. D'Autry, naturally, had expected this (though he hadn't expected the GO2 to go so far as to throw the albums away), so once again he turned the paper over to see the list of people on the GO2-- and saw that it had been shortened even more. Tons of famous names in country music had been cut, almost as if they had never been members of the GO2, and almost all of the women that had been GO2 members had been cut. The lineup of GO2 members was now restricted mainly to the biggest names in country music-- Rodgers, Acuff, Monroe-- the first guests on the GO2, some very obscure members, and a few modern members who could be considered more "traditional". It was at that moment that D'Autry, horrified, sent another letter to the GO2, asking where people such as Dolly Parton and Garth Brooks had gone, to which the GO2 sent an equally horrifying response:

"Dolly Parton and Garth Brooks have never been GO2 members. The Grand Ole Operetta only recognizes the finest in traditional country music, and anyone looking to change that should go back and listen to Rodgers, Acuff, and Monroe if they want to hear true country."

And it was then that D'Autry realized the awful truth: the GO2 was now under new management that was revoking the memberships of almost every GO2 member that was not a white, cis, male, and "traditional" country musician and making it seem like they had never been members in the first place. Anyone who had previously been lauded for new innovations in country music such as "Americana" and "country pop" and "honky-tonk" music was now out. Any group with a woman in it was out. It didn't matter how much of an impact you had on country music; if you weren't strictly traditional and strictly country, you were no longer a GO2 member under the group's new management-- and even worse, you never had been. From that moment on, D'Autry had two goals in mind: change the GO2 by allowing them to put other kinds of music onto the show, and change the GO2 by getting rid of this new restrictive management and bringing back all of the people who had been unfairly erased from history. Thus started D'Autry's nearly consistent run of sending a letter to the GO2 every single day in a plea for change-- though as time went on, the GO2 eventually stopped responding. Even so, however, D'Autry remained persistent, and even made signs for protests outside of the GO2- protests that were never heard by the non-Monese speaking GO2 management. One day, however, someone did see him protesting-- Kouchirou Hitoki, out on a business trip to Driftveil. He couldn't speak Monese, but he was able to read the English sign that D'Autry had made- FLOGGING MOLLY FOR THE GO2. A major Flogging Molly fan himself, Kouchirou was instantly able to recognize that D'Autry was a rock fan, and figured he would give the Sandshrew his child as a gift. He promptly caught D'Autry and traveled back to Eterna City, where he promptly gifted D'Autry to Laurie for the latter's tenth birthday. D'Autry was absolutely delighted by this, and grew to love his new Trainer- and their sibling Cole, who had been born one day prior.

However, D'Autry soon discovered that that love wasn't shared by Laurie, who at best tolerated their new companion. Upon the realization, after seeing the thousands of letters that D'Autry had sent to the GO2, that D'Autry was a fan of country music, Laurie was very perturbed. While they did tolerate D'Autry, they didn't love him enough to actually give him his name. D'Autry, of course, was determined to get his new Trainer to see his side, and when the family all left for another trip to Driftveil, he spied his chance. In a Driftveil hotel room, he snuck his Trainer out of their room in order to drag them to a GO2 performance. Laurie was not amused and booed all of the acts, before immediately leaving as soon as they got the chance. When they got back to their hotel room, they soon discovered the Ken Burns documentary that would change their life, and after becoming so invested that they watched it three times, finally learned to love and appreciate both country music as a genre and the perserverance, kindness, and optimism of their partner Pokemon. Once the Hitoki family got back home to Eterna, D'Autry was finally given his name, much to his delight. A few days later, D'Autry learned that Laurie couldn't speak Monese, and offered to be their teacher in the language, to which Laurie happily agreed. As the years went by, D'Autry taught Laurie not only about the Monese language, but also about what was going on with the GO2 and his desire for massive change within it. As a rock and metal fan first and foremost, Laurie immediately supported their partner's endeavors, having actively listened to Flogging Molly in their youth. From that moment on, the two of them became best friends, and D'Autry has stuck by Laurie's side ever since then.

D'Autry's evolution into a Sandslash came 7 years after his capture, after defeating a wild Drapion that had gotten to Eterna. D'Autry was so happy by this that he immediately offered to celebrate with another trip back to Driftveil, during which D'Autry blared his favorite Flogging Molly song, "The Likes of You Again", in the hopes that it would reach the GOOprix (it did not). 3 years after the trip, Laurie graduated from high school as a valedictorian and Cole turned 10 years old, allowing them to be eligible for a Pokemon. D'Autry, who had developed a good relationship with Cole by that point, was scheduled to attend the ceremony. Before that, though, Laurie made the announcement that they had created a working portal to the past, and happily showed it off to their parents and Cole. To his (and everyone's) surprise, the portal worked, but Cole, in their excitement, ended up running through and getting trapped in the past. The accident affected both Laurie and D'Autry-- D'Autry became extremely depressed in the year that followed, and while he tried to get Laurie out of their hikikomori state, it didn't work. Eventually, Laurie had to break the news to D'Autry and their parents that Cole, who was in Hisui with no Pokemon to their name, was likely dead, and everyone, including D'Autry, mourned for days. During the year that followed, D'Autry didn't send a single letter to the GO2, to the point where the GO2 had to send him a letter out of concern asking why he hadn't sent them a letter about Flogging Molly and new management for the GO2.

A year later, however, D'Autry felt well enough to send those letters again, and Laurie felt well enough to leave their home and head off on their Pokemon journey with D'Autry by their side. D'Autry was absolutely delighted, and continued to send letters to the GO2 as Laurie proceeded to catch Draiman (who later evolved into a Lairon), MC-DC (with whom D'Autry would end up having a very close friendship), Hetfield, Slipknot, and Zoltan. During that time, D'Autry continued to listen to Flogging Molly music and send letters to the GO2, as well as actively hear the GO2 on the radio for the first time thanks to Emcee (something he never got to do in Driftveil). He also, however, worried immensely about Cole and continued to miss them after their supposed "death". After Emcee started picking up signals suggesting Cole was alive, however, that all began to change, and D'Autry finally began to become optimistic about Cole's fate for the first time in a year. He gladly joined his partner on their new search for their sibling along with the rest of Laurie's first six Pokemon.

Details

• Met: Eterna City (given by Laurie's father)
• Birthday: November 28th
• Ability: Sand Veil
• Favorite Move: Rapid Spin
• Nature: Naive
• Characteristic: Good perseverance
• Likes: His Trainer; Cole; rock, metal, and country music; his friends; going to and listening to the Grand Ole Operetta/GOOprix/GO2; the band Flogging Molly; watching documentaries; music history; writing letters to the GO2; battling; the game shows Name That Tune, Only Connect, and Never Mind the Buzzcocks; repeatedly watching Ken Burns' country music documentary; the Grady Smith and Professor of Rock YouTube channels; CCR
• Dislikes: The fact that Cole is gone; seeing his Trainer sad; seeing his friends sad; anyone stifling his enthusiasm for getting Flogging Molly onto the GO2; anyone who mindlessly bashes country music, Flogging Molly, Daughtry, and/or the GO2; any negative responses from the GO2
• Nickname origin: From the band Daughtry (and their lead singer Chris Daughtry by proxy); along with the "singing cowboy" Gene Autry
• Favorite bands: Flogging Molly, Daughtry, and CCR
• Ball: Poke
• Hasslemon typing quirk: =8o All messages start with a shamr(o)ck, representing his l(o)ve (o)f Celtic rock music. All O's are surr(o)unded by parenthesis t(o) have them resemble a rec(o)rd, as well as the massive circle (o)f w(o)(o)d present at the G(O)2. All instances (o)f the letters G and (O) t(o)gether are capitalized, and all messages end with a guitar that s(o)metimes will say s(o)mething depending (o)n D'Autry's em(o)ti(o)ns (o)r th(o)ughts, with "THANKS" usually being the default message. ===(O)

A prospective fullbody D'Autry gijinka, as done by Goldenheart388.

Relationships

• Laurie Hitoki: Laurie Hitoki is D'Autry's Trainer, and his closest friend since he can remember. Ever since the two of them met, D'Autry has been nothing but kind and optimistic towards his Trainer, even if Laurie started out barely tolerating D'Autry at best. Since the two became friends, however, D'Autry and Laurie have been inseperable. D'Autry is extremely supportive of Laurie's endeavors, and vice versa. The two of them can often be found chatting to each other and listening to the GO2, as well as singing songs together. D'Autry effectively sees Laurie as a friend and parental figure, and serves as the latter's teacher in the Monese language, which has allowed Laurie to be able to understand D'Autry a bit. D'Autry is also extremely protective of Laurie, and will defend them from anyone who tries to hurt them.

• Cole Hitoki: D'Autry absolutely adored Cole prior to the latter's disappearance. The two would often play together, listen to music together, and so forth (Cole, for the record, was D'Autry's introduction to Coles Whalen, and D'Autry in turn introduced Cole to country music and Flogging Molly). In the wake of Cole's disappearance, D'Autry became extremely saddened, and desired nothing more than to find them again, to the point that when the opportunity eventually arose, D'Autry immediately followed Laurie to Hisui. D'Autry's devotion and love of Cole, however, were best exemplified by his reaction to their death in Hisui, when he was the one that dug their grave and eventually helped Laurie to grieve their death.

• Draiman: D'Autry sees Draiman as a very close friend and companion to him. He and Draiman can often be found listening to metal music together, and Draiman is extremely supportive of D'Autry's attempts to inspire change in the GO2. In return, D'Autry serves as a confidence booster for Draiman, and helps the Lairon to come out of his shell a bit more.

• MC-DC: Out of all of the mons on Laurie's team, D'Autry and Emcee have arguably the closest relationship. Emcee was the one who helped to introduce D'Autry to the GO2 on the radio, something that he never got to listen to due to him growing up in Driftveil and always having seen the show live up to that point. D'Autry and Emcee get along extremely well due to their similar optimistic and cheerful personalities, and Emcee is the most supportive by far towards D'Autry's quest for change within the GO2, to the point where they have actively broadcast the transcripts of letters written by D'Autry to the GO2 and also have clamored audiences who might be listening to help D'Autry in their quest.

• Hetfield: Hetfield and D'Autry have a rather tumultive and complicated relationship with each other. The former's perfectionistic tendencies often interfere with D'Autry's attempts to get Flogging Molly on to the GO2, and Hetfield is the most likely mon on the team to stifle D'Autry's naivete and enthusiasm for getting Flogging Molly on to the show. That being said, however, he is vehemently against the dystopian tendencies of the new GO2 management, and supports D'Autry's endeavors to change it... even if he does think those efforts will end up getting D'Autry nowhere. Despite Hetfield's blatant cynicism, however, D'Autry still sees him as a friend and companion, and tries to lighten him up from time to time. Hetfield also sees D'Autry as a friend and is willing to protect him from bullies and intruders whenever necessary, and will even defend D'Autry's efforts to them.

• Slipknot: Much like Hetfield, Slipknot is rather cynical towards D'Autry's attempts to get Flogging Molly on to the GO2. However, the relationship between Slipknot and D'Autry is far better than that of D'Autry and Hetfield, as Slipknot is less of a perfectionist. While he doesn't necessarily believe that D'Autry's attempts to get Flogging Molly onto the GO2 will work, he very much admires D'Autry's perseverance and desire for change, even in the face of nigh-impossible odds. He is among those the most willing to stick up for D'Autry in the face of Hetfield's overwhelming perfectionism, and remains a constant and loyal friend of D'Autry's no matter what. D'Autry, in return, is extremely loyal to Slipknot as a result, and has personally introduced him to Flogging Molly due to his efforts.

• Zoltan: As the member of the team most aware of the futile nature of life and the inevitability of death, as well as the strongest member of the team physically, Zoltan serves as a mentor figure to D'Autry, and a steady voice of reason in his life. D'Autry looks up to Zoltan as a sort of big brother figure, and Zoltan is always willing to teach D'Autry new things about the world and comfort him in the face of extreme tragedy (as he did when Cole's body was found in Hisui). Zoltan is also extremely supportive of D'Autry's attempts to inspire change within the GO2, and will defend his efforts to other, more cynical mons, most notably Hetfield.

• Plant: Due to being the newest member of Laurie's team, Plant has yet to form a fully-furbished dynamic with D'Autry. However, D'Autry himself seems to view Plant as a silly and kindhearted Pokemon who enjoys using his pranks for good instead of evil. He was willing to defend Plant's ideals to his villianous family, and later on helped to defeat them, eventually helping to convince him to join Laurie's team (along with Emcee). Plant, for his part, seemed extremely grateful towards D'Autry's kindness, and also grieved for Cole at their funeral along with D'Autry despite the fact that he had absolutely no idea who Cole was or why they were important to Laurie and D'Autry in the first place.

Known Moves

• : Crush Claw, Defense Curl, Rapid Spin, Swift, Fury Swipes, Slash
• : Agility
• : Poison Sting
• : Rollout
• : Fury Cutter
• : Sand Attack, Bulldoze, Sand Tomb, Dig
• : Gyro Ball
• : Night Slash

Trivia

• D'Autry's nickname is derived from two different musicians. The first is Chris Daughtry, lead singer of his eponymous band (i.e. Daughtry; hence the pronunciation), and the second is the singing cowboy Gene Autry (hence the spelling). As such, D'Autry's birthday is neither of his two namesakes', but is instead November 28th, which is, fittingly, the day that the Grand Ole Opry first made its radio debut.
• According to Goldenheart388, D'Autry's Hasslemon handle is celticCatalyst (CC). This is a reference to the entire reasoning behind D'Autry wanting to get Flogging Molly- a Celtic punk band- on the GO2, namely that it will end up serving as a catalyst for more rock and metal artists getting onto the GO2.
• According to Goldenheart388, D'Autry's regular artist-matched character theme is "Long Live Rock and Roll" by Daughtry, his non artist-matched character theme is the Flogging Molly cover of "The Times They Are a-Changing" by Bob Dylan, and his Japanese character theme is "StaRt" by Mrs. GREEN APPLE. The first song relates to D'Autry's love of rock and metal music; the last two songs relate to D'Autry's desire for change within the GO2.
• D'Autry is the second character that Goldenheart388 has written for to have a Hasslemon handle abbreviation of CC, after Letina (classicalComprehension (CC)).
• Multiple other Hasslemon handles were considered for D'Autry before celticCatalyst (CC) won out. Among them were testingTradition (TT), oprixmisticOverhaul (OO), and celticCountry (CC). The latter option won, though it was changed to celticCatalyst (CC).
• Out of all the starter mons owned by one of Goldenheart388's characters, D'Autry has the most diverse moveset and knows the most amount of moves out of all of them.
• D'Autry's human name, Kris Rogers, is derived from the names of country/folk artist Kris Kristofferson and country legends Jimmie/Roy Rogers. "Kris" might also be derived from his namesake Chris Daughtry, though the spelling of said name matches Kristofferson's.
• According to Goldenheart388, D'Autry is also a fan of the 27 Club; his favorite artist amongst said club is Janis Joplin.
• The "THANKS" guitar seen as the suffix to D'Autry's typing quirk is a reference to Jimmie Rodgers' famous guitar, which had the word "THANKS" painted on the back. Rodgers would flash the back of his guitar to show his gratitude to the audience. Other messages that appear commonly on the back of the "guitar", according to Goldenheart388, include "YAY", "BOO", "YOU'RE WELCOME", and "HELP ME", along with single punctuation marks or emoticons such as "?" (whenever a question is asked), "^^;" (whenever D'Autry is particularly embarrassed), or "!" (for important info or to convey excitement). That being said, the front of the guitar is usually seen the most often.
• D'Autry's typing quirk used to have an A=^ replacement; however, the idea was ultimately scrapped after it was deemed that it would make D'Autry's quirk too difficult to read. The same reasoning applied for the deletion of a "7-7203" quirk (T=7; S=2; O=0; and 3=E).