App for Prisma!

[sycamour]

▶ PLAYER
HANDLE: Typhie
CONTACT: typhie and Typhie#5535 on Discord.
OVER 18? Yep!
CHARACTERS IN-GAME: Constance von Nuvelle (noatic) from Fire Emblem: Three Houses

▶ CHARACTER
NAME: Professor Augustine Sycamore
CANON: Pokemon XY (but just 'Pokemon' for cast purposes).
CANON POINT: Post-game, specifically after speaking to the player character in Anistar City (i.e. the end of his plot-related appearances). No CRAUs.
AGE: He's not given a canon age, but I put him at 36.
BACKGROUND: Here is his page on Bulbapedia!

Pokemon is one of those wonderful canons where the different mediums tend to have different interpretations of both characterisation and plot; I play Sycamore here solely from game canon (i.e. the titles Pokemon X and Pokemon Y), so any events or personality quirks from the Pokemon anime or manga will not be included.

PERSONALITY:

If you want jubilation personified, look no further than Augustine Sycamore.

From the very minute you meet him in the pre-game welcome screen, the Professor's exuberant nature and natural enthusiasm for...pretty much everything become very apparent. He tends to fill his sentences with many 'wonderful!'s and 'fantastic!'s, regardless of what it is you're talking about, and he has an uncanny ability to find excitement in the most mundane of topics. The particular academic area he specialises in is focused on change, evolution, the ability to exceed one's own limitations and move toward a brighter future, and it's clear that the Professor works to embody these concepts with gusto. He's constantly telling the player to increase their bonds with their Pokemon and make the most of what they've been given; the fact that the player character even received a Pokemon from him in the first place is purely because he wanted them to feel welcome in their new home region of Kalos.

That's not the limit of his overwhelming generosity, however; whether it's being the only Professor ever to give the player a second starter pokemon (purely because he likes them), organising a parade to thank the main characters for stopping the Evil Team of his region, or just generally being a supportive presence with endless pieces of advice, Sycamore seems to gain untold pleasure from helping those he considers his friends and/or students. His kindness, vivacity and genuine desire to give all of himself to those he loves are the cornerstones of his infectious personality.

However, all is not sunshine and rainbows for the Professor - he has issues that come up a few times within the story of XY, relating to tasks that could be seen as physically and, particularly, emotionally difficult.

Despite becoming the leading expert on Mega Evolution, Sycamore only trained at the Tower of Mastery (the home of it) for a brief amount of time before deciding that he didn't have what it takes to use it. For someone so dedicated to the topic (and even if the argument could be made that he was simply more suited to the theoretical rather than the practical), it seems odd that he'd give up so quickly and declare it to be too taxing. There's also many signs of this behaviour during the main plot of the game, involving his close friend and ex-student, Lysandre - who happens to secretly lead the criminal organization Team Flare and is the main villain of Pokemon XY.

When the player meets Sycamore in Couriway Town, after the events of Team Flare's plot, he mentions that his dreams for Lysandre had involved him leading the world to greater heights (rather than trying to destroy it). However, he'd never had that discussion with his friend and as such he says that he feels partially responsible for Team Flare's actions and Lysandre's subsequent death. You're given a number of hints throughout the story that lead you to believe Sycamore may have an idea that Lysandre is the leader of Team Flare (he has his personal assistants investigating them, for one - why not just leave it to the police?), and when Lysandre has a problematic public outburst in his cafe, Sycamore tells the player that Lysandre's views are only one way of looking at things - it is not necessarily the truth.

It's one of the biggest signs throughout the story of XY that signal Lysandre isn't all he seems, and Sycamore is physically present for it. Yet, even with all these clues, Sycamore never brought himself to properly talk to Lysandre about his thoughts and views; perhaps because the conversation would have been far too hard to have, and had the potential of ruining the pleasant little bubble they existed in. Whenever conversations look to be moving in a difficult direction, he tends to divert them onto topics he's more comfortable with. This is very evident in that scene in Lysandre Cafe, particularly after Lysandre has stormed out post-rant; instead of talking properly with the player about what happened (and the terrible things Lysandre said), Sycamore instead comments on Lysandre's passionate nature and segues into a rousing speech about travelling Kalos with Pokemon, after hastily brushing everything Lysandre said under the metaphorical carpet. It's likely that he's very aware of this particular habit, if his Couriway Town quotes regarding his regrets are anything to go by - but of course, the moment he admits he feels partially responsible for his dear friend's fate, he self-fulfils his own prophecy and immediately changes the subject to battling.

Despite his admitted weaknesses and potentially lacking communication skills, however, there was no malice or ill-intent behind Sycamore's actions (or lack thereof) - just that same desire to see those he loves reach the potential he believes they can. That desire is also extended to himself, as there's an easter egg to be found after that conversation in Couriway Town; a letter Sycamore wrote, years before, addressed to his future self. Within it, he muses on whether or not he became the person he wanted to be, and what that person was even like. There's one main takeaway from the letter; a simple hope that the Sycamore reading it is living every day to its fullest.

If his general joyful demeanour and enthusiasm are anything to go by, it's safe to assume he is.

POWERS/ABILITIES:

The Professor is a thoroughly normal human (i.e. no special powers or magical abilities), but he isn't a professor for nothing! His most notable ability is his penchant for research. With his status as the leading academic in the Kalos region, as well as being the unchallenged expert in Mega Evolution, Sycamore is unarguably a smart man. Through the plot of XY, he's still making discoveries regarding Mega Evolution, and his quotes demonstrate a constant sense of wonder and thirst for knowledge. During the course of the game, he discovers a method to enhance the abilities of the player's Mega Ring (the tool required to activate Mega Evolution) using the secrets of an ancient sundial in Anistar City. Considering the fact that both the sundial and Mega Evolution have been around for a while, it's a rather considerable achievement.

He'll definitely be eager to keep himself busy with research while he's living in Lunatia, even though it has a depressing lack of Pokemon! The Lunar Scientia will fascinate him, and ideally he'll end up working there and be able to contribute to their findings. That would take at least a few months, however; at the start, he'll just be focusing his academic energy on getting his head around all the weird and wonderful things Prismatica has to offer.

The three Pokemon he'll be bringing are also rather special, and it's worth discussing their abilities and how they'll work in Prismatica!

Chespin - A 1'04'' tall grass-type, Chespin is a tough little thing. She can harden the quills on her head to the extent that they can pierce rocks, and her body has a protective wooden shell that shields her from injury, even from heavy blows. I'd like to keep both abilities, but more from a utility perspective; Sycamore isn't the sort of person who would use that rock-breaking ability for anything untoward, more for trying to help someone (i.e. if they were trapped somewhere and needed a door broken down) or if he got it into his head to attempt some DIY in his apartment.

Fennekin - A 1'04'' tall fire-type, Fennekin has the ability to blast hot air from his ears (along with the usual fire-breathing abilities fire-types have!). That's the extent of what he can do; I'll keep the hot air within a small radius of his body (say 3 feet, maximum) and he'll only be capable of spitting small flames, not blasting huge streams of fire.

Froakie - A 1'00'' tall water-type, Froakie can create bubbles that protect his body from attacks. He's also capable of shooting streams of water from his mouth. As with Chespin, I'd like to keep both abilities; any water-blasting will only be of the strength of a Super-Soaker (i.e. he won't be punching holes in steel, etc).

Since Sycamore would have originally intended to give these Pokemon out to beginner trainers, they'll naturally be at a very low level and won't progress too quickly towards evolution (due to the lack of constant battling evolution tends to require). They'll act more like pets; if rather curious ones!

INVENTORY:

A set of Kalosian starter Pokemon:

➤ 1 x Chespin♀, Lvl 5 (Adamant nature)
➤ 1 x Fennekin♂, Lvl 5 (Sassy nature)
➤ 1 x Froakie♂, Lvl 5 (Relaxed nature)

MOONBLESSING: Iris

▶ SAMPLES

Here is his top-level from the recent TDM, with a number of threads! The thread with aufsassig is CRAU, but as mentioned above, it will not be carried over into Prismatica.