Tobi

Tobi (once known as T0131) is Tommy Petersen's starter, a Spinarak with unusual coloration. Much like his trainer, he sometimes moonlights as a crime-fighter, Aranos the Untamed. At present, he goes by a human disguise and is known alternately as Tobias Martel or Tobey Petersen.

Features

Tobi is consistently described as an oddly colored spinarak. He is an almost typical example a rare and peculiar color morph that gives him the colors of a shiny ariados. Researchers do not know about the peculiarities of this specific color morph, which is even rarer than regular shinies and most known specimens have been determined to be caused by naturally occurring mutations.

As Aranos, he wears a pair of triangular sunglasses over his eyes. How this manages to stay on him is not really understood.

Personality

Tobi typically presents himself as polite and well-mannered and has shown himself to be very friendly toward humans and other pokémon, sharing Tommy's humble and self-effacing dorky nature. He is the most mentally mature of Tommy's pokémon and acts as the big brother of the group. He does have a soft-spot for pizza, a food he is not allowed to eat due to the fact that he and his species cannot digest lactose or starch. He is not above showcasing the extent of his protectiveness and aggression in his civilian identity and he is known to give a painful bite.

Aranos, meanwhile, is a bombast who, while obedient to Arachna-Guy's commands, is usually quite ruthless to human opponents. He doesn't hesitate to bite his enemies when the opportunity presents himself, though he stops short of attempting to poison them. He gained the moniker from both the extreme pain caused by his biting and by sensationalism on Hank Harvey's part.

Biography

T0131 was raised in a squalid Best Berry subsidiary facility. He and his fellows were subject to extreme neglect and all manner of physical abuse. Although the records confiscated were unclear, what is known was that his DNA was the subject of tampering and intensive research. He was one of twenty spinaraks of his color morph in the facility whose DNA is of interest to the Best Berry corporation. The facility had also ostensibly dabbled in illegal and inhumane silk harvesting from both them and dozens of other spinaraks.

He caught the attention of a young Tommy Petersen, who pilfered him from the facility (but not before getting severely bitten). Tommy discovered the operation and reported it to the authorities; in the ensuing rescue, he bonded with T0131 and renamed him Tobi. After the authorities have shut down the facility, Tobi was left to the Petersen family and officially became Tommy's starter.

In the ensuing years, Tobi would periodically help Tommy spy on and rescue other pokémon from smugglers and unethical traffickers, eventually gaining a new teammate along the way. Eventually, in a crucial turning point in their lives, they decided to honor the memory of Tommy's late uncle Ken and take on the mantle of crime fighters.

Eventually, they would come to the employ of the Geographic Society. The legal team at Best Berry, however, thinks he and his fellow spinarak are illegally seized property and want them reacquired. Thanks to his trainer's friend Stephanie, he was given a transformation armband and disguised himself as a human. He currently lives as a human in witness protection, and acquired a rather comfortable (and subsidized) apartment in Castelia City.

Trivia

• Tobi is named for Tobey Maguire, who played Peter Parker and Spider-Man in the Sam Raimi Spider-Man films.
• His designation number, T0131, is back-formed from his name.
• Spinarak of his coloration, although said to be rare, is popular among the wealthy elite in Castelia City as a handbag pet. They are very difficult to legally procure and were thus only bought by the wealthy, with the 20 re-homed Best Berry spinaraks being exceptions to the rule.
• In his human disguise, he alternately claims to be both Armand's nephew or Tommy's younger brother, which mirrors how he sees both figures.