Welcome to Piazo

[Diego Valdez]

{ Played by: Oriol el Cacho }

TEXT COLOR: MEDIUMVIOLETRED

BASIC INFORMATION

Full Name: Diego Cecilio Valdez
Age: Twenty-seven
Gender: Male
Birth Date: January 28th, 1985

Title: Pokémon Breeder
Trainer I.D.: 80424
Faction: Haeven

Ethnicity: Hispanic / Caucasian
Original Hometown: Violet City / Johto
Favorite Pokémon: Luxray
Sexual Preference: Homosexual

PERSONAL INFORMATION

Likes:
Dogs, birds, ethnic foods, men, lions, working hard, drinking, being alone, the sound of calming music, anyone he considers his friend, his family, sleeping, things that smell good, open spaces.
Dislikes:
House cats, talkative women, smoke, lazy people, reading and general education, being surrounded by people, tight spaces, people he doesn’t know, idle conversation, water and swimming, hot surfaces, criminals.
Fears:
More than anything, Diego fears drowning. He’ll refuse to go swimming or take baths; he’s been taking light, cold showers ever since he was young.
Strengths:
Because of his blindness, Diego’s sense of hearing has increased tenfold; he’d be able to hear a feather drop. His senses of taste, touch, and smell have also increased, but not as much as his hearing has. Because of this, he’s good at eavesdropping and picking up on small things that most people might have missed. Physically, he’s pretty tough. He’s not a bodybuilder or some super tough guy, but he’d be able to fight his way out of almost any situation if he needed to. Despite being terrible with other people, Diego’s actually really good with Pokémon. He finds them much more calming and easier to talk to than humans.
Weaknesses:
Diego is blind. He can differentiate light and darkness and can see the outlines of most shadows, but it’s still very debilitating and causes him a lot of trouble on a daily basis. He’s also emotionally weak and is upset by a lot of things, and as best as he tries to hide it, it’s still fairly obvious. Along with being easily irritable, he’s also pretty gullible. Though he hates social relationships, he craves them, and he’ll usually do just about anything to try and make a new friend, even if it’s stupid, dangerous, criminal, or all of the above.

General Appearance:
Diego’s pretty short for his age, standing in at only five foot nine and weighing about one hundred and seventy-two pounds. His weight is evenly distributed throughout his frame, which is a combination of both feminine and masculine, though leaning more towards the latter. He’s not very muscular yet not fat, but he’s considered a pretty big guy to most, build-wise. He’s got a pretty dark complexion and his skin’s rather clean with the exception of the spotty scars on both his face and back. His face is thin and his features are pronounced; his nose is long and rounded and his ears are pretty large, as well. Diego’s greasy black hair falls to the base of his neck, and it’s usually gelled up and fashioned neatly to last him the day. It’s got a few pink streaks in it, too, but they’re all mostly faded. His eyes are a foggy blue color, almost always covered by a pair of dark sunglasses.

As for wardrobe, Diego has a thing for sweaters. If it’s not too hot out, he’ll almost always be wearing some kind of sweater. As for what kind, he’s got a variety. It’s almost impossible to list all of them. When it is hot, though, Diego wears t-shirts or tank tops like any other normal person. He owns tons of pairs of jeans and so many sneakers that it’s ridiculous. One thing that he does wear consistently, though, is a small silver ring with his name on it, given to him by his mother as a birthday gift.

Personality Description:
At first, Diego will seem like a very unlikable guy. He comes off as unappreciative, careless, callous, and just plain rude, not because he is like this by nature, but rather because he has a difficult time expressing his emotions fluently and he doesn’t want anyone to know his ‘true self.’ He’s normally very quiet when he’s not being disturbed or spoken to, but when he’s mingling with someone, it’s almost as if he’s a completely different person. His responses are usually cold and intentionally hurtful, meant to be witty at times just for self-fulfillment. Although his personality drives people away from him, Diego isn’t the cruel and insensitive individual that most people make him out to be. He’s naturally very kind and giving, though he does a good job at covering up any stealthy generous acts with crude comments and unsympathetic name calling. He fears that if he lets people see the softer side of Diego Valdez that they’ll consider him weak and expect good things from him all the time, something that he doesn’t want. His self-image of a hard, cold-hearted man with a rough childhood is very important to him, and he wouldn’t let it go down the drain because he decided to be a good Samaritan.

Romantically, Diego has never been in an actual relationship, so he’s had many troubles when trying to court people to fall in love with him. He prefers men and brushes off women like they’re yesterday’s news; he tries to be flirty with other men, but it all usually ends up with a swift punch to the face or a heavy kick to the groin. Though he hasn’t exactly been successful in his endeavors and his methods are clearly failing, he has no trouble in persisting in trying to find someone willing to date him.

When it comes to trusting others, Diego is very reluctant to do so. He’s had his fair share of deception and betrayal and it has molded him into a person that finds it very hard to become emotionally attached to anybody, and more so especially putting his trust in them. Even as an adult he finds it difficult to engage himself in social activities without subconsciously thinking that someone will spontaneously decide to pull a knife on him or something else of the like. He’s not exactly paranoid, more like skeptical and cynical in regards to other people’s motives. When he does feel comfortable with someone, whether that be a friend or family member, he’s polite, considerate, and even empathetic when it’s called for. He’s got his perks and flaws, but like most people, he’s a great guy under the right light. Otherwise, he’s just an ass.

Background/History:
Diego did not grow up in a very pleasant household. He was born to a single mother, Domenica Valdez, and had five other siblings running rampant around their cramped apartment in the slums Violet City. He did his best to go to school and make something of himself to help support his family, but his neighborhood was dangerous. Criminals lurked the streets every hour of the day, and most even attended the same classes that he did, causing a ton of trouble for not only himself, but for all of the other students enrolled in those public classes. He, along with the lot of his peers, was tortured every waking moment of the school day, but he had to complete his general education if he ever wanted to assist his mother and siblings, who were in desperate need of anything they could scrounge up. When he was thirteen, Diego would often stay at home and watch the apartment while his mother and siblings went out grocery shopping. Little did he know, however, that a band of thieves had been watching their every move for the past few months and decided to break in one day a few moments after his family had left.

Not expecting Diego to be at home, the burglars had to keep him occupied while the others were busy stealing what they could find, although there wasn’t much to take in the first place. Two thieves dragged him into the bathroom and beat him until he was on the brink of unconsciousness, then filled the bathtub with scalding hot water and submerged Diego’s head until he stopped thrashing around and passed out. His family returned a few moments later because his mother had forgotten her purse, but the burglars had seen her coming and fled the scene before she or her children could see them. Upon noticing that almost everything in the apartment was missing, Domenica searched frantically for Diego to make sure that he was hopefully alive. He lay unconscious and bleeding on the bathroom floor, and, since there were no hospitals around for miles, she had to call the ambulance, which sent a helicopter that flew Diego to the Goldenrod Emergency Medical Center, far away from his hometown of Violet City. There, he was in a coma for eight weeks, and his family was unable to visit him due to financial issues.

When he did wake, however, Diego couldn’t see; everything was nearly pitch black. He could make out shadows, but he couldn’t see full figures or colors or anything. The surgeons told him he suffered from cortical blindness, a phenomenon that most likely occurred when he survived near drowning; the loss of blood flow caused massive damage to the visual part of the brain, the occipital cortex, and shut it down entirely, forcing Diego into permanent premature blindness. Other than being able to distinguish light and dark and seeing basic shapes and shadows, he was hopeless. He’d also retained quite a few scars during the incident, most on his face, back, and chest. The hospital released him four weeks after he awakened from his coma, but he had no idea how to get home from Goldenrod, nor did he know anybody that would be willing to take him. After days of wandering the streets, he was taken into a local orphanage where he stayed for the next few years, honing the rest of his senses while he was still recuperating from the loss of sight. He attended Goldenrod’s public high school where he was shunned by most of the popular crowd and was usually found eating lunch all by his lonesome. Years after the incident, it was pretty hard to tell that Diego was blind; he’d pretty much mastered the art of sensing vibrations and reading shadows by then, though he did still bump into the occasional wall from time to time, and sometimes that wall would be a person.

For that, he ended up getting hit and beat up a lot. Out of all of the chaos, though, he was able to make one friend out of it. Kaelem Fischer, a young flautist and the head of the drama department, who’d often help Diego to his classes when he saw that he was in need. They had a few elective classes together, considering that Diego was in mostly remedial and Kaelem was quite the intelligent kid, and instantly became friends when they started talking, first about nothing and then about their histories. Kaelem’s parents had been murdered when he was young so he’d lived with his brother for most of his life, and Diego revealed that his family lived in Violet City and were probably still looking for him. Feeling pretty bad that he had to live in an orphanage, Kaelem offered to let Diego live with him and his brother until he was able to return to Violet City to be with his family again. Reluctantly, Diego accepted, and they lived together all throughout high school and most of college, until Diego became much too frustrated with the workload of school and dropped out. Soon after, Kaelem was proposed a job to host a popular game show, to which he gratefully accepted, though that meant that he, Diego, and his older brother Elliot would have to move to Ever Grande City, located in the Hoenn region.

At first, Diego declined. He didn’t want to move any further away from his family than what was necessary, and Hoenn was thousands of miles away from the likes of Johto. Kaelem called the company back and asked if they had any other positions available, and later returned to Diego, offering him the position of stagehand if he was willing. Seeing as he had no other choice, he accepted Kaelem’s offer and the three of them moved to Ever Grande City, where they started broadcasting the region’s most popular game show, ”Game, Set, Match!” After a couple of years, the former manager was booted from the show for heavy corruption and illegal dealings, allowing Kaelem’s brother Elliot a chance at running the show from the ground up. The show became more and more successful and they raked in so much money that they almost didn’t know what to do with it. Diego donated most of his to children’s funds and Kaelem, to Pokémon shelters. They were living happily, though more than anything, Diego wanted to see his family again. He’d be able to take care of them now that he was financially stable, so he announced to Kaelem and Elliot that he’d be leaving to go back to Violet City, only to retrieve his family, and that he’d be back soon enough. His adoptive family waved him off and he flew on a plane back to Goldenrod’s airport, where he traveled on foot until he reached Violet City.

When he emerged from the wooded area, he noticed that something had changed. Violet City was gone, replaced instead with a large body of water expanding out as far as the eye could see. His hometown had vanished. He ran for days back to Goldenrod where he asked what had happened, and was told that pieces from regions all over were disappearing for no apparent reason, and that he should leave as soon as possible. He agreed and rented a boat, and decided to call up Kaelem and Elliot to let them know what was happening, but it was too late. By the time he picked up the phone, the Hoenn region was gone, too. He had no choice now. He had to join The Migration and sail thousands of miles away to the large island of Piazo. He hoped that Kaelem was informed beforehand of the regions’ vanishing and that he and his brother were able to escape to Piazo before it was too late. Diego would keep searching for them; it was the only thing he could do now.

ABOUT ME

Member Name: Red
Member Age: Seventeen
Experience: About three years.
Referrer:N/A

Code Word: Admin

[Sparklebutt]

CONGRATULATIONS!
YOUR APPLICATION HAS BEEN ACCEPTED.

YOUR TRAINER ID IS:
80424

YOU HAVE RECEIVED:
POKE BALL x5
POTION x1
FULL HEAL x1
PIAZO POINTS x50
$5,000

PLEASE CHOOSE ONE OF THE FOLLOWING TO ACCOMPANY YOU ON YOUR JOURNEY:

[Diego Valdez]

A package had arrived at his door, so carelessly left by the mailman who had apparently been in a hurry, as he didn't ask for a signature or even ring the doorbell for that matter. The box-- he couldn't see it, but he could feel it. He lifted it up-- it was rather heavy for such a small package-- and carried it to the sofa where he sat it down on the floor next to the coffee table. Opening it slowly, he could hear the cries of about six Pokémon, each one needlessly begging for his attention. Also inside of the box were some other little things, capsules, healing items, money. That would be useful, considering he'd lost everything he'd had before. One of the Pokémon, a Meowth, obviously a bit too impatient to wait for Diego to pet him, leaped out of the box and pawed at his face.

"Be patient, I'll get around to everyone, don't worry," he assured the cat, stroking its fur. He absolutely hated house cats, the Meowth was definitely out of the question. From the individual cries, Diego was able to make out the population of the box; a Chimchar, a Piplup, a Squirtle, a Dratini, a Magnemite, and the Meowth, who was now snooping around his apartment, from the sound of things.

He'd have a hard time choosing for sure; the Magnemite was cute, but it shocked him every time he touched it. Very unpleasant. The Chimchar was pretty adorable, too, but he'd accidentally brushed over its flaming tail and, just, ouch. No, that was no good. Dratini eventually turned into very large dragons, and he wasn't quite sure how he'd explain that to his landlord.

It was between the Piplup and the Squirtle. Both of them could save him if he was ever drowning, which was definitely a plus, but Squirtle were notoriously mischievous, according to the radio, and he couldn't have the little thing squirt him with water as a joke. That would not be good. He'd have to go with the Piplup. He lifted the small penguin out of the box and held it in the air.
"You wanna hang around with me, eh? I'll call you Mario. You like that name? It was the name of my old Chatot," he explained, setting Mario down on the ground and patting his head. The Piplup cheeped happily and nipped at Diego's hands.

"Good, good... We'll be good friends. I'll watch out for you and you'll watch out for me. Now let's go, I think we both need some fresh air. You like the beach?"