OOC This goes for all pokemon generations but, if you could make a Pokemon team for Tseng, what would the team consist of?
[ooc] You’ve actually asked a question that took a lot of time and effort to think over on my part and figure out; and I’m eternally grateful to you for this curiosity. Pokemon was my first fandom, and still resonates within me a great deal, so taking into consideration all generations of Pokemon up to date, I attempted to make a team for Tseng that would suit who he was and each with a reason behind their selection.
Absol, the Disaster Pokemon [X]First off is the Pokemon that actually came to mind instantly when I thought of Tseng. I believe that if Tseng was ever to be represented by a Pokemon counterpart, Absol would be the most fitting. It is known as the Disaster Pokemon because it is able to predict natural disasters before they happen. It was a herald that would appear before people in the attempt to warn them that these disasters were coming. However, humanity interpreted the appearances of Absol differently. They dubbed Absol the “doom bringer” because they thought that it was the one who actually brought these disasters upon them. Because of this, they targeted Absol and drove it deep into the mountains, where it lives except to appear to again warn them of impeding disaster. Even so, it has a lonely reputation and reminds me a great deal of what becoming a Turk became for Tseng in the end.Houndoom, the Dark Pokemon [X]There’s a story behind this choice, actually. Houndoom is often known as a Dark and Fire type both, but there is a special quality to the flames that it breathes which no other Pokemon have. It is said that there is toxin in the flames it breathes, and thus, if you are ever burned by a Houndoom, the pain never goes away. This struck me as unique and flared up a thought that the way Tseng met the Houndoom that he keeps was perhaps through a burn it inflicted upon him. Noticing that Tseng kept the burn as a mark by which he would always recognize and remember this Houndoom, yet still respect it and want to know it despite the injury it had given him, the Houndoom would be convinced he was a man to which its allegiance would be worth giving. A relationship through mutual respect. Symbolically, Houndoom represents a lot of how Tseng lives his life, always pained by the past, and yet still willing to bear that pain and look to the better things that are there in his life as well.Venomoth, the Poison Moth Pokemon [X]This pick goes way back, to when I was playing the Pokemon games on a GameBoy and first got to Fuchsia City. I remember fighting Koga, the Gym Leader there, and facing up against all the Trainers with their Poison type Pokemon. The one Pokemon that always struck me as deceptively stunning was Venomoth, whose handling I always imagined must have been dangerous and delicate work. Venomoth is said to have two distinct poisons, at least, that fall like dust from its wings, and which can affect a person upon handling. A man of Wutaian descent, whose culture has the namesake of ninja in apparent figures like Yuffie Kisaragi and other established hierarchy, always struck me as the type who would be called to a Pokemon like a Venomoth, who required particular care and skill to handle without inflicting harm on one’s self. In addition, it felt like a Pokemon he would choose for the naturalness it might have to his culture; one he would be comfortable around and pleased to have as a companion, ally, and friend.
Ninetales, the Fox Pokemon [X]Personally, I’ve a lot of history with this Pokemon’s unevolved form, but the appeal that comes from Tseng owning one is based a great deal in the legacy that Ninetales carries in its existence. In particular there’s that one Pokemon episode, from way back when, that still resonates with me. A Ninetales whose master had died, and who lived on for decades and on, waiting for him to come back to her. She stayed loyal, and grew steadily more and more powerful, able to protect the home that he had entrusted her to look after while he was gone. It was not until the trio of heroes in the Pokemon anime came around that it finally came to terms with what had happened and left into the wild. This story has stayed with me over—goodness, a decade and more myself—but the wisdom and inward beauty of a, potentially, immensely powerful Pokemon such as this is a friendship that I believe Tseng would enjoy; a relationship with a Pokemon who can guide him where he himself does not know where to go. It would be less a Pokemon that he would capture, and more a Pokemon that he would gladly have as a friend if it was ever kind enough to grant him that friendship and, eventually, the affection of comrades-in-arms as Trainer and Pokemon.
Shedinja, the Shed Pokemon [X]There is a lot about this Pokemon that is horrifying if you really look into what it is and how it comes to be. It supposedly simply appears in an empty PokeBall you have on hand once its previous form “evolves”. It is a Pokemon who never moves a single part of its body, remaining entirely immobile. It floats in midair but does not even flap its wings. It does not even breathe. There is even a saying that claims if you look into the empty, dark hollow on its back, you will lose your soul. However, for all these things, there is a part of me that I recognize as Tseng reacting when I look on this Pokemon: it’s an affection that comes from understanding and a desire to be the solid ground for this Pokemon. A Pokemon which frightens, which is not easy to understand or care for; I acknowledge the fact that Tseng would take such a Pokemon into his party and treat it with the same heart and care that he would any of his other Pokemon. Part of it, I believe, stems from his childhood. He has had to embody much of what Shedinja does before, and there is a sentiment of kinship with it because of that history before he left Wutai. Even if Shedinja doesn’t open up to him for years, he would wait and learn its penchants, until he could understand this enigmatic Pokemon as surely as he could any of the others he calls his team.
Leafeon, the Verdant Pokemon [X]This last pick is perhaps the strangest of all the selections for Tseng, but there was an image that struck me when I first skimmed through the Eeveelutions to see if any of them called to me for him. I had this vision of Tseng sitting at a desk in his study, the windows open to the late afternoon sun. A pen in hand, he wrote upon the paperwork in comfortable, peaceful silence as his Leafeon slept just a few inches to the right of him atop the desk, bathing in the sunlight. In this way, the afternoon drew on…. In in this one image, everything I’ve ever wanted for Tseng in the future was embodied. The peace. The relaxation. The warmth. Leafeon is a Pokemon who does not fight. That alone is a stark difference, since all other Pokemon are able to be used to fight. However, Leafeon does not. It lives and breathes as any other Pokemon do, and in the sunlight, it uses photosynthesis to create clean air. It is more plantlike than animal, but it, of all the other Pokemon Tseng would have, is the one Pokemon I could see him spending a lot of quiet time with, enjoying the presence of one another. It is also the only Pokemon of which I’m certain of the gender I’d choose, and I’d say the Leafeon would be a girl.
All in all, that’s the summation of what I’ve come to conceive for Tseng regarding a Pokemon team for him. I hope that the answers here help to give you an insight into who Tseng is, and much of what a crossover to the Pokemon world would look like. And, again, an immense thank you from me as the mun for asking this question. It brought me a great deal of joy and pleasure.
