Eskridge-Alexandrov, Nikolai

[MizuJakkaru]

Name: Nikolai Eskridge-Alexandrov
Nickname: Niko
Age: 26 (October 11th)
Gender: Male
Birthplace: Celadon City, Kanto
Family: Stas Alexandrov (Father), Isadora Alexandrov (Mother; Deceased), Avery Eskridge (Husband), Cade Eskridge (Adoptive Son), Ceth Eskridge (Adoptive Son), Lisa Eskridge (Sister-in-Law), Thomas Eskridge (Nephew-in-Law)

Trainer Orientation: Lawful Neutral
Trainer Class: Clerk, Former Rocket Grunt, House Wife, Lone Wolf
Starter Pokémon: Nidoran♂

Character Theme:
Anberlin ~ Time & Confusion

Versus Theme:
maNga ~ We Could Be the Same (Instrumental)

Rampage [Male Nidoking] — Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Rampage has been at Nikolai's side ever since the boy was old enough to walk and talk. Rampage was a gift to Nikolai at a young age, when the Pokémon was only just a Nidoran♂. Nikolai grew up knowing the creature as his best friend and his days of youth are filled with memories of the small purple creature. Rampage got his name from Nikolai when he tore through their house in full terror, running from a Beedrill. Niko's mother had laughed at the little "rampage" he had had... and the name stuck. Rampage is fierce and never backs down.
—Received in Celadon City from Stas Alexandrov.

Ability: Poison Point
Nature: Calm
Move Pool: Earth Power, Earthquake, Ice Beam, Poison Jab, Shadow Ball, Stone Edge, Super Power, Taunt, Thunderbolt, Toxic Spikes

Viper [Male Arbok] — He shall suck the poison of asps: the viper's tongue shall slay him.
Viper is the first Pokémon that Nikolai ever caught. Niko was twelve at the time and was just learning how to help Team Rocket. Viper however, an Ekans at the time, was deemed too weak to be of use to the Team, and so Nikolai was allowed to keep him. Viper fights straight forwardly, often falling into obvious traps. Nikolai is trying to break him of that, though he has been completely unsuccessful.
—Captured on Route 4.

Ability: Shed Skin
Nature: Timid
Move Pool: Aqua Tail, Crunch, Earthquake, Fire Fang, Glare, Gunk Shot, Poison Jab, Seed Bomb, Switcheroo, Thunder Fang

Trinity [Female Dodrio] — Seeing, suffering, and studying are the three pillars of learning.
Trinity is Nikolai's most vicious battler. She is perhaps his deadliest Pokémon. She obeys orders without question and she is viscous when she fights, liable to batter enemies far more than she needs to. Even in later years, as Nikolai softened up, she still sees him as a man there to direct her through the battlefield of the war. She did eventually soften up a mite herself... but only a mite.
—Captured in the Kanto Safari Zone.

Ability: Early Bird
Nature: Rash
Move Pool: Agility, Brave Bird, Drill Peck, Payback, Pursuit, Return, Quick Attack, Steel Wing, Taunt, Toxic

Glade [Male Leafeon] — The tranquil glade of the forest is more alive than you'd think.
Glade has been with Nikolai since his Team Rocket days. Though as an Eevee, Glade was very rambunctious and eager to prove his worth. He has since quelled down a bit after evolving. He is still playful, however, but he knows Nikolai believes in him now and doesn't continuously seek his Trainer's praise as he once did. Glade is in love with Avery's Glaceon, Kichi, and is the father of Cade and Ceth's Eevees with her.
—Captured on Route 7.

Ability: Leaf Guard
Nature: Sassy
Move Pool: Baton Pass, Double-Edge, Leaf Blade, Protect, Quick Attack, Roar, Swords Dance, Synthesis, Wish, Yawn

Storm [Male Scizor] — We head into the eye of the storm when everyone else is heading out.
Captured on his journey through Sinnoh, Nikolai prizes Storm as a very competent and willing battler. While less vicious than Trinity, Storm understands battles perhaps better than the Dodrio. Storm understands that holding back can sometimes be more beneficial than charging in all guns blazing. Nikolai uses Storm quiet often... to Avery's distress.
—Captured on Route 215.

Ability: Technician
Nature: Serious
Move Pool: Brick Break, Bug Bite, Bullet Punch, Iron Head, Pursuit, Quick Attack, Roost, Superpower, Swords Dance, U-Turn

Notch [Female Crobat] — We are the children of the night.
Another capture he made in Sinnoh, Notch evolved from a Zubat that just wouldn't leave Nikolai be, much like Glade had. Since then, Notch evolved to a Golbat and then a Crobat. While not as good at battling as the rest of his team is, Notch is dead determined to grow stronger and become an asset to Nikolai's team, even though Nikolai has more or less left battling behind him now for a quieter life.
—Captured in Mt. Coronet.

Ability: Inner Focus
Nature: Brave
Move Pool: Cross Poison, Confuse Ray, Heat Wave, Hidden Power (Fighting), Roost, Sludge Bomb, Super Fang, Taunt, U-Turn, Wing Attack

Nikolai is pretty odd. He's got long flowing blonde hair and striking turquoise-blue eyes, flecked with icy-blue. His face is always set into a neutral gaze or an angry scowl. He's rather tall, standing five foot, eleven inches. His skin is pale and never seems to hold a tan. He wears a belt capable of holding a full team of six on his waist.

Outfit-wise, his pants are the standard fare, black and plain. His boots are unmarked and black as well. He wears a white tee under his black leather jacket. He also adorns black gloves. The only accessory not visible is the necklace he keeps under his shirt. It's a thin silver chain that supports a small locket. Inside is a picture of his mother.

Coming soon.

Originally, Nikolai was a cold-hearted individual, never one to show much emotion and all for shoving others away. He was borderline cruel to everyone he met who was under him and he was civil to those above him. But deep inside, he just wanted a way to escape the role his father had set for him...

Nowadays, after having run off with Avery, the person he used to be before he was a hard-hearted Rocket Grunt had since reemerged. Now that he has a family, he is caring, albeit with a wry sense of life and humor. He cares for his family with all his heart, and he's found a comfortable balance between the hard person he was in his Rocket career and the soft boy he was in his childhood.

Name: Stas Alexandrov — Power is all that matters in life.
Age: 54
Gender: Male
Relationship: Father
Trainer Orientation: Lawful Evil
Trainer Class: Rocket Executive

Stas is a cold, hard-hearted man and he has high expectations for his son. The man was more or less heart broken when his wife died, and so, in the process, he hardened his own heart. The happenstance left Stas, who was already tight-laced, a stern, unkind person, downright cruel. He's not one to accept failure or mistakes and he expects no less than perfection.

Name: Isadora Alexandrov — Beloved, all that is harsh and difficult I want for myself, and all that is gentle and sweet for thee.
Age: 46 (Deceased)
Gender: Female
Relationship: Mother
Trainer Orientation: Neutral Good
Trainer Class: Lady

What Nikolai does remember of his mother is kindness and warmth. Isadora saw good in everything, even in her husband's involvement of Team Rocket. If the Team could take over, they might better the wrongness of the world. Isadora was gentle with everything and she dearly loved her son with all her heart before she died.

Nikolai's past is somewhat of a mystery to any that meet him. He knows it in full detail, of course, but he refuses to detail it for others very often.

Nikolai grew up in Celadon City, to a not rich, but not poor family. His father, already a Administrator of Team Rocket, had high hopes for his son. When Nikolai was just three, Stas captured a Nidoran♂ for him, telling the boy that the Pokémon would be his companion for years to come. Rampage and Nikolai would grow close, as is common in the world. For four or five years, while Nikolai grew, things would be near bliss.

But it would not last, it never does. Isadora would pass away, leaving both Niko and Stas heartbroken. It would affect Stas more directly than Nikolai, whom was still too young to really grasp it all. Stas, who was already stern with the child, would grow more so. He would grow cold to the boy, seeing in Nikolai his passed away mother.

Nikolai would grow up with high expectations. It was expected of him to be strong, to be cold, to join Team Rocket. Stas expected him to follow in his foot steps and for Nikolai... Stas had become somewhat of a goal. In the years after Isadora's death, the softness he had gained from her had sunken into the deep reaches of his soul. Stas had hardened the boy, teaching him how a proper Rocket Grunt should act and then doubling the sentiment until Nikolai would twice what he needed to be for the Team.

Nikolai's love for Pokémon suffered. Rampage would always be his, but Nikolai's training for the Nidorino, then into a Nidoking, would grow harsh. Rampage would twist, molding to his Trainer's ways. But always with hope. Always with the hope that he could claws his way to the core of his Trainer and rescue the boy still trapped deep in that too-soon-a-man's soul. Viper would take it harder, but with Rampage's encouragement they would hold together. For Nikolai's sake. But only, he could not see it.

Nikolai worked quietly for Team Rocket, doing everything needed of him swiftly and without flaw. Stas would guide him and watch him closely. Admonish him when he slipped up. Nikolai spent his days serving Team Rocket faithfully... but in secret... the boy he was... was trying to escape.

Eventually Nikolai met Avery Eskridge, who was another Grunt in Team Rocket. Avery would completely change Nikolai's life. Avery had a crush on Nikolai and did everything in his power to get Nikolai to soften his hard heart. Often, Avery failed, as Nikolai was bound and determined to stay the model Rocket that Stas wanted him to be.

But things would change when Nikolai and Avery got assigned on a mission together in Sinnoh. Traveling the Sinnoh region, Avery was able to soften Nikolai up and convince the blonde to cast away Team Rocket. After much deliberation on Nikolai's part, he eventually did give up Team Rocket and decide to love Avery fully.

The two of them would eventually move to Sunyshore to live their live there and they would also adopt a set of twins, Cade and Ceth, to raise as their own. Today, even though his father has more or less disowned him, Nikolai leads a happy life, and he has no regrets.

Nikolai met Donovan's chiding with a blank coldness. The teen knew quite well that Stas had asked the other man to keep an eye on him. But Stas, also, did not approve of Donovan's sugar-coating and had told the boy to ignore Donovan, should something of the sort arise. And so, Nikolai kept his sharp eyes cold, devoid. He could hide emotion in ways rocks would envy.

He offered no words to the chiding either, merely a slight tightening of his lips. The Marowak had been in his way, and as such, he'd taken her out. How it was done was of little matter to him. That it was done was all he cared about.

Still, he tilted his head slightly at the Marowak and then turned to Rampage. The Nidoking grunted at the Jolteon below him, offering the slightest smile in recognition. Rampage, unlike his Trainer, was anything but cold. But... show that around Nikolai and he was likely to be reprimanded.

"So, what's this about, Nikolai? Did Domino send you to retrieve me? It's not quite like you to just wander about unless you have a mission."

Nikolai nodded curtly and gestured towards the exit. "Domino is in need of your abilities and bid me wish you not travel off so far in such foolish trips of needless remorse. ...Her words, not mine."

Nikolai added a grim smirk at the end. Donovan was well known for his... kindness. Nevertheless, the man was a fine grunt, but Stas, and by extension, Nikolai, had little respect for the sugar-coating he enacted into his missions.