ALL ABOUT SUNNY, unova’s dragon gym leader !
BASIC INFORMATION
FULL NAME: Serafin Adlao
ETHNIC BACKGROUND (IN REAL-WORLD TERMS): Bisaya (Philippine ethnic group); Han Chinese. I imagine that the Bisaya/Filipino side would come from, like, somewhere near Alola (due to the real-world ethnic history between the Pacific Islands and many of the Philippines’ ethnic groups). A region based on the Philippines doesn’t exist yet in the Pokéverse, but that’s my headcanon, that it’s somewhere near Alola, with lots of similar species.
GENDER: man (cis)
PRONOUNS: he/him
SEXUALITY: straight
BIOGRAPHY
Surely you’ve heard of this tale: a princess is trapped in a tower, kidnapped by an evil dragon. A brave prince steps up to rescue her and fight the dragon.
Sunny, Unova’s eighth Gym leader, evokes the image of that brave prince. However, instead of slaying the beast, he befriended it and made it his partner Pokémon.
Goodra is this not-so-beastly beast, his faithful companion. It is well-known that Goodra are teased because of their friendly nature. They are assumed to be weak because they’re so nice.
Sunny and his Goodra prove that you can be gentle and compassionate while being dangerous, skilled opponents.
As for his princess? His Gym is full of them. Sunny is quite popular among the young ladies of Unova, so the trainers you battle within his gym are actually his fangirls.
The dashing young man has been training to become a Gym Leader since he was a little boy, under the tutelage of his father! Although he could’ve been one even at an unbelievably young age like 11, he chose not to take over his father’s position as Opelucid’s Gym Leader until he felt ready enough.
He’s still very much young at 21, but he feels relatively prepared now. There’s been lots of buzz surrounding his recent debut as a Gym Leader, as well as the amazing makeover the Gym underwent to accommodate its new Leader’s princely style.
PARTY MEMBERS
Deino - Dragon/Dark - Level 41
Hakamo-o - Dragon/Fighting - Level 41
Garchomp - Dragon/Ground - Level 43
Altaria - Flying/Dragon - Level 41
Dragonair - Dragon - Level 43
Goodra (Partner) - Dragon - Level 46
MISCELLANEOUS STUFF
His surname, Adlao, means “day” in the Bisaya language. Serafin means “burning ones” and it kind of sounds like Sunny if a child struggles to pronounce it (as Sunny used to, when he was a child). Hence Sunny Day -- which also happens to be one of his Goodra's signature moves.
Although he’s reserved and bookish, he secretly enjoys attention from the ladies very much.
His Gym literally looks like a castle with clouds and everything. This was his idea. He also wears a prince-like outfit in his Gym, as illustrated by his sidebar picture.