Understand the secrets and have some fun

[these_balls]

APPLICATIONS!
Currently: Closed!
Route 29 has closed as of May 30th. For the continuation of the game, please visit victory_road!

Applications will be normally checked during the weekend following the first and third Sunday of each month unless otherwise stated, and we will allow one application per person during one application cycle. Remember, the most characters one player can have at a time is currently set at five.

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A compiled list of the starter pokémon to choose from offered in Route 29!
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<u><b>Player</u></b> <b>Name:</b> <b>Personal Journal:</b> <user name=""> <b>E-mail:</b> <b>AIM/Plurk/Etc.:</b> <b>Timezone:</b> <b>Current Characters in Route:</b> <b><u>Character</u></b> <b>Name:</b> <b>Series:</b> <b>Timeline:</b> <b>Canon Resource Links:</b> Here we would have the links to wikis and other information sites. If none of those seem to provide enough information, feel free to add more about the character here. However, please do not use this section as a full history section unless your canon is ridiculously obscure. General rule of thumb: if there are a good amount of descriptive resources, please just link them and use this section to add in what may have been left out, as opposed to writing an entire history section. <b>Personality:</b> Give us at minimum 2-3 full paragraphs of how you understand your character's personality. Talk about basic characteristics, any major developments over the course of their canon, their motives, their social behavior, and anything else you can think of that shows off your knowledge of this character. <b>Strengths/Weaknesses:</b> Try to cover the good points of what they can do, their life skills (not necessarily powers, but things they're just good at). Go into their biggest fears and what they just can’t do. <b><u>Pokémon Information</u></b> <b>Affiliation:</b> What career path will your character be taking? Breeder, Trainer? Or maybe even down the dark path of becoming a member of Team Rocket? Note: All Rocket members start as grunts. (For right now, only those three positions are available, whether your character chooses to follow their assigned path or not.) <b>Starter:</b> What starter pokémon do you want your character to have? Please use the list linked above to choose from. Certain pokémon have an orange star next to their names; if you choose one of these starters (Deino, Zorua, Litwick, Pikachu, Scyther, Dratini, Bagon, Gible, Axew, Ralts, Riolu, Beldum, Larvitar, Eevee, or Beldum) you must provide reasoning. You do not need to explain your reasoning for pokémon other than those listed above. <b>Password:</b> This is where you'll put the passwords from the Rules and the F.A.Q. There are two words, to assure you've read both. <b><u>Samples</u></b> <b>First Person Sample:</b> The sample must take place in Route_29's setting. Eight sentences is the minimum. This is a PokéConnect post--one that will be on the character's journal, broadcast to the network. Although it is short, it needs to show how your character would communicate with others, as well as be descriptive enough to express the character's voice without sounding too generic. <b>Third Person Sample:</b> The sample must take place in Route_29's setting. The minimum is 300 words. Please note that what we are looking for is an inner working into the character’s thoughts and actions, and how the character responds to the setting, not something that could be taken as an excerpt fanfic. You may use other characters to bounce your characters actions off of, but everything should still be mostly from their point of view.

Comments

Sakura Haruno ✿ Naruto ✿ Not reserved 1/2

[ai]

Oops I accidentally the wrong pink-haired character.

Player
Name: Kattu
Personal Journal: ai
E-mail: rin@love.com
AIM/MSN: rin
Timezone: Central USA, third shift
Current Characters in Route: Saber (cashcow) from Fate/Stay Night and Morgiana (chainred) from Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic

Character
Name: Sakura Haruno
Series: Naruto
Timeline: Chapter 628, during the Ten-Tails Revival Arc. This is the latest chapter of the manga as of this application.
Canon Resource Links: Sakura Haruno @ Narutopedia

Personality: A diamond in the rough, Sakura's only begun to shine after years of pressure from those around her. While she had an uneventful childhood with a good relationship with her parents, she struggled often when it came to her looks. Despite growing up in a rather privileged family setting, Sakura had her own faults due to these insecurities and grew up without much of a spine. One thing that often brought her trouble was her forehead; broader than most of her peers, she was teased constantly by them for it even though she desperately hid them behind bangs. When one of the popular girls by the name of Ino notices this, she encourages Sakura to be strong and helps her accentuate this look by tying her hair away from it. A healthy friendship blooms from that moment, as the pink haired girl often looked up to the much cooler Ino in an attempt to gain her own confidence. Were it not for the kindness of Ino, she might have lived a lonely childhood herself.

That alone is why she's not able to comprehend the suffering that both of her teammates have gone through. A constant internal struggle begins the moment she becomes a member of Team 7; for all three of them have suffered their own losses in life whereas Sakura has had everything they never did. Even though she was blessed with a good life, she was the least significant member of the team for a while. Compared to both Naruto and Sasuke, all she had to be praised for was her intelligence and admittedly that suffered anytime she was around Sasuke. That's due to a childhood infatuation that not only strains relations between her teammates (Sasuke thought of her as annoying while Naruto was upset she didn't return his affection), but of that with her best friend, Ino. Since both girls claimed Sasuke as their own, they call off their friendship and begin a bitter rivalry. After doing that, Sakura was able to accept that all of this time she was living in Ino's shadow and that it was time to grow on her own. No longer standing in Ino's shadow, she stepped instead in the shadow of her teammates.

Initially, she was more of a hindrance on missions than anything else due to wearing her heart on her sleeve. Often, she found herself more concerned with Sasuke overall while neglecting Kakashi and Naruto. Even though she is the best of the team when it comes to exam scores and participation, she's still the least valuable due to her emotions so fitting into the team became her greatest challenge to overcome. What confidence she began to display withered away rapidly as she froze up when making important decisions, something that continues to disable her later on. She even goes as far as to create "Inner Sakura" which is a loud and bolder "inside" version of herself that screams at people.

However, spending time with Team 7 on missions not only eventually compliments Sakura's intelligence, but it gives her a better understanding of the lives they have endured as well as open her eyes to the world around their tiny village. Even with her flaws early on, Sakura grew in ways most didn't expect her. For one, her sharpness in her exams leads her to have excellent chakra control, which plays into her training with Tsunade later on. Another, her crush from Sasuke grew into a more sincere fondness and it became less about showing him her affections. Instead of pushing her feelings onto him, she focused on the concern of Sasuke abandoning them in his quest for power. Most importantly, her dislike of Naruto fades away and is replaced with concern for his reckless behavior, compassion for his lonely past, and most important, friendship.

While she has many other flaws, they eventually begin to leave her once she begins training under Tsunade in Konoha Village. When the godaime saw her potential wasting away, she personally takes her under her wing and begins a gruesome training montage. Due to how rough she was treated, Sakura gained a number of strengths and enough confidence to stand by her words. Because now that Sasuke was a missing-nin and therefore a criminal, this meant that she was going to have to work on taking him down. While she places her faith in Naruto's promise in their childhood (that he will bring him back for her), she's able to be confident in her own ability to face him. No longer is there a need for her split personality Inner Sakura, for she now has the confidence to say what is on her mind. In fact, it’s often expressed through violence, which poor Naruto endures constantly. It's difficult to determine just what might set Sakura off, but each fit of rage is short lived even if experienced to the full. There's an explosive display and then it fizzles out, the girl reverting to an analytic manner almost usually after. Despite her violent tendencies towards him, she legitimately cares for Naruto as it's revealed her desire to protect him was one of the main motivators behind her training with Tsunade. Now instead of standing in the shadows and being useless, she wants the world to see her back as she lifts it onto her shoulders.

Even though she's gained a significant amount of strength (both mental and physical), she's not above her flaws. Sakura's willingness to go to any drastic length shows when she's willing to lie to Naruto by using his feelings to her own benefit, just to serve as a distraction. Furthermore, she's willing to trick her comrades just to knock them out cold so she can pursue Sasuke on her own. She accepts the fact that Sasuke must be brought down at all costs no matter what, but the very idea of this conflicts with the unspoken desires deep within her mind and heart. This conflict, she blames on trying to protect what little reputation of Sasuke's she can spare as she's constantly living in fear of what more he can do to add to his criminal record if he remains free. Despite making the claim that she can arrest Sasuke personally (and that it should be her duty to do so), she locks up when the opportunity presents itself and nearly loses her life in return.

When it comes to being war ready, Sakura's willing to step up to the challenge. While she's inexperienced compared to many of the other ninjas gathered, she manages to hold her own. Proving her worth by answering the call to work in the Logistical Support and Medical Division, she was the one who discovered the first Zetsu clone that began to assassinate the others there and was able to report her findings to headquarters. Here she performs an autopsy with Shizune (the captain of the division) to help discover more information about these clones and eliminate them with the aid of Naruto's Shadow Clones. Her maturity shows in how eager she is to meet up with Naruto because for once he wouldn't have to fight on his own because he was going to have their combined support, as well as her own. Even though she is worried for her friend, she gets right to work on helping heal those who have fallen in the field of battle while the rest of the events unfold before her eyes. Even seeing her own friend, another peer her age, be killed isn't enough to divert her attention from what needs to be done. Not only is she able to handle death and move on from it, but she's capable of taking charge in a situation. Her emotions are placed second only to her instinct to survive. Tactful, she's capable of resolving conflict with haste; an ability she puts to exercise both on and off the battlefield. Yet, she shows little interest in self-preservation as her selfless acts often place herself in danger. This empathy only grows stronger as time carries on, exposing her to vulnerabilities she didn't know she had. Cunning, tactful, and clever, Sakura's strengths are often underestimated, leaving many of her opponents (and allies) overwhelmed when she dishes them out. Despite her lasting insecurities and emotions, she's tempered into a hardened kunoichi.

Strengths/Weaknesses:
  + Combat: Like many of the other children in Konoha, Sakura was raised in a combative environment and essentially taught how to fight, kill, and most importantly, infiltrate in silence. Female ninja are typically raised to use poisons and be undercover, so it's not a stretch to say she might have received light training in that as well. For a detailed list of all of her canon abilities, I suggest reading here. While she won't be able to do the impressive stuff such as splitting the earth with a single punch, she has trained in various styles of martial arts.

  + Maturity: The world of ninjas is a dangerous one indeed and many children end up growing up quicker than they should. Adult themes and being able to kill is something that someone at Sakura's age shouldn't bat an eye at. Sakura does have a number of her own faults, some having to do with her optimistic way of thinking at times, but she's mature enough to handle serious situations.

  + Resilience: After brutal training with Tsunade, Sakura was able to advance as a ninja immensely. As a result, her body is more resilient than that of an average teenager girl. In fact, she can take heavy blows from a man twice her size and still stand to her feet.

  + Mobility: Sakura has always been gifted with chakra control from her early days in Team 7. This means she's a lot better at moving through trees and leaping at great distances from place to place. While she's unable to tap into her chakra in this environment, she will still retain some skill due to it being ingrained in her mind for years.

  + Medic-Nin: Having been trained by arguably the best medic-nin, Sakura's skill in first aid is impressive. She can perform triage at an advanced level and is familiar enough with the insides of a human body. Enough to assist with an autopsy for example. While she won't be cutting up people in this environment, she might be able to take advantage of pressure points in combat or help alleviate pain someone might be in.

  - Reluctance: Despite her high intelligence, Sakura often hesitates when it comes to some matters. This is due to the fact that she wears her heart on her sleeve and thinks with it at times. Which leads us to:

  - Decisions: When facing a tough choice that leaves her emotions torn, Sakura often chooses poorly. This is shown prominently in most of her encounters with Sasuke, although she's made some very stupid choices with Naruto as well.

 - Secondary: Due to Kishimito's classy writing Sakura has placed herself beneath Naruto and Sasuke, choosing instead to rely on the former to make everything alright. This is why she decides to support him in all that he does.

 - War: Sakura is coming in from a point where she was involved in a war and has been on the field of battle. This may leave her a bit anxious, distrustful towards others, as well as any other symptoms that may come as a result. While she is mentally stronger due to her background, there will be signs of this since she's in a more peaceful environment. I just thought that was worth adding in.

Sakura Haruno ✿ Naruto ✿ Not reserved 2/2

[ai]

Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Trainer
Starter: Happiny
Password: Strawberry Marmalade

Samples
First Person Sample: [ TEXT ]
[ Sometime during the afternoon, the following message comes through: ]

There are poisonous Pokemon in this forest, aren't there?

I'm curious if there have been any studies on the various types of poisons they carry and if so, is there any way for someone to access that information? If not, is there anyone else willing to volunteer to study it with me?

I assure you it won't be used as a weapon. My intent is to better understand it in case of a wild Pokemon attacking an individual and how to administer proper first aid to someone who might have been in that situation.

Thank you in advance for your responses. I wait for them eagerly with an open mind to learn.

[ Even after sending it, she wonders if most of the replies she'll receive will be favorable. Something of that nature in text might be frowned upon, but the thought of speaking to someone face-to-face still sends shivers down her spine. There are some things she's still not able to find the strength for. Not yet at least. ]

Third Person Sample: [ PROSE ]
Despite meeting those who came from different parts of the world back in her own, Sakura's never had to deal with what she does currently here. People not only from different parts of their world, but from completely different ones as well? If it were Naruto or some of her other peers, Sakura's certain that they might struggle with digesting the information. Her though? It was getting easier to keep up once she devised a system in her mind. Associating the worlds by the first person she thinks of and naming them after that was sure to bite her in the ass one of these days.

After all, it was strange to call her world Naruto.

"Geez." Embarrassing enough to admit that in her mind, she keeps her thoughts to herself. There's a lot else about this world that she's yet to understand and it isn't from a lack of a trying; there were so many people from different points of time and worlds that she fears saying the wrong thing. What if she tells someone they're dead or that they're fighting a war or that they grow up to become Konoha's greatest enemy?

What a load of responsibility that weighs down on her shoulders. Was this the same amount of pressure that the great Tsunade often felt when it came to everything going on back home? Even though this world itself is peaceful (so much that she can only hear the rustle of leaves from wandering Pokemon from time to time), she did find trouble in falling asleep easily. When her eyes close, heavy from exhaustion, all she can see is the sight of many fallen men and women with blood pooling around their...

"Hap!" A sudden noise causes her to bolt upright and look towards her Pokemon. Even here she thinks it's a joke, a creature with a weird forehead just to remind her of her own. It was unusual for the baby Pokemon to be awake at this hour, so immediately her trainer is on guard as her eyes shift to the side to take full advantage of her peripherals.

"What is it?" She whispers to her in an attempt to better understand the situation. Before she can even object to it, the Pokemon was placing herself into her lap and curling up with softer sounds meant to... soothe her?

Sakura's had a number of strange partners (Naruto, of course, reigning supreme in all that he does), but this one definitely was starting to work her way up the ladder. With a small sigh of defeat, her shoulders relax and she moves in to hold her closer.

Strange partners, stranger worlds, the strangest music out of nowhere, and with even stranger things left to discover? The strangest above all was this moment; being able to find another peace and quiet in her mind to fall asleep was a blessing she'll not forget anytime soon.

ACCEPTED!

[these_balls]

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Pokemon!
Congratulations, you have a fun and exciting adventure awaiting you.

Now that you've been accepted...
[○] Respond to this with your character's journal. This is a must!
[○] Comment in the Taken Characters post, alphabetized by series: # thru G, H thru O, or P thru Z.
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Note! You will not be accepted to the main or logs community until you've commented in the aforementioned places.
[○] If you're still on the reserved list, please let us know that they've been accepted.
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Thank you! See you in the Pokémon world!

[punches]

Character journal right here