Airazel

Basic
Airazel is a kindhearted Salamence who harbors a love for both music and poetry as well as a fear of battling. He is constantly trying to find new things, new subjects to focus his art on. Unfortunately, he is currently having a hard time thinking of anything. He used to live in the Hoenn Region, but he moved to a secluded cave somewhere; he spends most of his time there now.

History (Pre-Twitter)
Everything’s better with Bagon

As with almost all Bagon, Airazel was born with the intense desire to fly. He learned early on that the only way for him to fly was evolution. Not much later, he figured out that the easiest way to evolve was through battling. At first, his battling style was not much more complex than “Headbutt, Headbutt, Headbutt!” As a result, he ended up losing all of his battles.

One day, a discouraged Airazel was on the verge of giving up his only dream when he was approached by a Golduck who decided to take the Bagon into his care. The Golduck coached Airazel on the basics of battling, and Airazel soaked up that knowledge like a sponge. Through the training, Airazel was taken to many different places in the Hoenn Region, places that Airazel has never even heard of before. He began to gain more self-confidence in himself, and he once again decided to try for his dream to fly. He started to go through battle after battle, challenging anyone he could find. Though he was still not bringing in wins, he was slowly developing a strategy that would work for him. Once he did, the victories came soon after.

His first victory was against a Poochyena, who soon became Airazel’s best friend. He also battled against a Nuzleaf, a Sandshrew, and an Anorith, all with similar results. The Golduck stayed with this new group of five friends, acting as a mentor, a guardian, and a friend to them all.

Forming the Shelgon

The five friends, under Golduck, worked as hard as they could in battle. Soon, their determination and hard work paid off, as all five of them managed to evolve within a few hours from each other, starting with the Poochyena and ending with Airazel. The now Mightyena, Shiftry, Sandslash, and Armaldo were elated. Airazel, though happy for his friends, was frustrated because he was the only one in the group who hadn’t reached his goal yet. Airazel went off on his own for a few hours, trying to get used to his dramatically different body and looking for a way to unleash all of his frustration. Unfortunately, Airazel ended up stumbling across a couple of large, powerful Pokémon who thought it was a good idea to use Airazel as a soccer ball. Airazel’s rage materialized into a Flamethrower, which shocked Airazel just as much as it did his assailants. Before any real harm was done, though, Golduck managed to find Airazel and talk down the two brutes.

When Golduck and Airazel reunited with the other four, the Mightyena immediately embraced Airazel, trying to make sure his best friend was okay. After a few reassuring words, Airazel managed to calm the Mightyena down. Shiftry tried to encourage Airazel, saying that three-stage evolutions can be a bit more frustrating, but that that they’re much more rewarding in the end. With that little bit of added inspiration, Airazel dived back into his training. His friends were surprised at how intense Airazel became, and Airazel eventually surpasses even Golduck’s expectations. Mightyena sometimes had to force Airazel to stop training so much so the Shelgon doesn't get hurt.

And even with all of that, Airazel didn’t feel any closer to evolving.

Almost six months later, Airazel’s time still had not come. Shiftry had already started looking to see if Airazel’s evolution required some sort of item, just like his own; Shiftry found nothing. Sandslash, Armaldo, and Golduck continued to help Airazel with battle training. Mightyena was the only one to not help Airazel with training; he wanted to give emotional support instead so his best friend doesn’t turn into a hotheaded, heartless brute when he does eventually evolve.

Shell-shedding isn't always freedom

Another two months passed before Airazel managed to evolve a second time. When it happened, though, Airazel was beyond elated. He immediately tried to challenge his friends to battle. Even before anyone can react, Mightyena agreed to the challenge. Most of them were shocked, but Airazel was glad to have his best friend as his first opponent.

The battle started out a bit slowly, as Airazel didn't spend any time getting used to his new body. Mightyena tried to go easy until Airazel could make use of his wings. Once Airazel managed to take to the skies, the Mightyena stopped going easy on the Salamence. In another surprise to everyone (even Golduck), the Mightyena ended up nearly matching Airazel in power. However, Airazel was able to awaken a powerful draconic energy from inside him and use it to slam the Mightyena into the ground. In the heat of the moment, Airazel activated his newly acquired Dragon Rush attack again and prepared to slam himself into the Mightyena again, but he halts his attack just seconds before impact, as he saw his best friend’s frightened expression.

The Mightyena quickly recovered from the slight shock and tried to continue the battle, but Airazel’s demeanor took a complete turn. The Salamence looked almost terrified at what just happened, at how his best friend was actually afraid of him. Even after the Mightyena explained that he was just caught a little off guard, Airazel could not bring himself to continue fighting.

When Airazel was confronted by Sandslash, Armaldo, and (especially) Shiftry, Airazel had no definite explanation as to why he was suddenly so hesitant to battle. Not satisfied, Shiftry actually attacked Airazel, trying to get the Salamence to fight back. When Airazel looks as though he were actually going to unleash flames from his mouth, his expression of fear returned and he completely stopped his attack before it left his maw. A then furious Shiftry ranted about Airazel not even thinking twice about using Flamethrower just hours before, and he exclaimed that he wasted eight months trying to help Airazel evolve just for the Salamence to become a pathetic, useless excuse of a Dragon Type. Both Golduck’s and Mightyena’s attempts at calming Shiftry down were completely ignored; Airazel remained silent. Eventually, Shiftry grew tired and annoyed at Airazel’s unprecedented timidity and left, with Sandslash and Armaldo tagging along. The Golduck, with a disappointed sigh, half-heartedly told Airazel that he can do whatever he felt was right; he could barely even finish his sentence before he practically runs off. The Mightyena, looking like a Deerling in a human car’s headlights, glances around for a few seconds before running off after Golduck. Airazel was completely alone, deserted by everyone who he called friend over his newfound fear of battling.

Airazel, depressed into silence, decided that he can’t possibly stay there. If even his own friends no longer wanted to be around him, then who else in Hoenn would? So he fled until he found an unidentifiable slab of rock. He carved out a makeshift cave for himself and remained there for a long time. It was there that he first discovered poetry; he had written a (mostly) fictional poem about his best friend leaving him.

By the time he left his cave since he first made it, he managed to more or less completely forget why he was hiding there to begin with. The only thing he remembered was that Hoenn was no longer his home; his cave was the only home he had.

Random Trivia

 * Though his age is not documented, Airazel is actually quite young for a Salamence. As a result, he can be a bit childish and ignorant at times.


 * He has been living in his cave for at least four years. Two and a half of those years went by without him ever setting foot outside of it.


 * His favorite Berry is the Lum Berry, though he doesn't know why.


 * After his period of hiding after losing all of his friends, he decided that he would try to get new friends. That was the second of two reasons why he decided to leave his cave after so long.