talkyourwayout | victory_road character development tracker

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
VICTORY ROAD | 04/28/2021 — 06/05/2022
APPEARANCE CHANGES—
The most drastic change in Louie's appearance happened upon arrival, as he is a human in Victory Road. His initial appearance as a human hasn't changed much. Louie is a human of medium build, who stands at about 5'1" - on the short side, per average. He's got round cheeks, light brown eyes with heavy eyelids, and his nose is broad and flat. His sandy blonde hair is straight and down to about his shoulders; fortunately manageable enough to not require styling. Being able to keep his hair presentable with just basic washing and combing (...some days) is pretty important to Louie, as he does like the idea of looking good - looking good is marketable, after all - but he doesn't want to put in a great deal of effort.

Upon arriving in the game, Louie was wearing pajamas but had two outfits in his possession: Those of the Rich Boy and Bird Keeper trainer classes. Until late in March of 2022, he most often wore the Rich Boy clothing. However, with the weather warming up soon, Louie wasn't keen on the idea of spending another summer in a suit, no matter how "business-y" it looked. As such, he has taken to wearing a short-sleeved green hoodie, khaki cargo pants, and sneakers. Sure, it was nice not to need the color-coordination, but over the years he's grown pretty attached to green.

RELATIONSHIPS DEVELOPED—
Louie has made a number of notable connections during his time in Victory Road. He considers Fluttershy, Legosi, Jinx, and Izuku Midoriya friends and (more or less) peers, and has found Hawks and Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd to be adults he can talk to and feel accepted, something that's very important to him. He trusts the man. Another adult he has a notable connection with is Vinegar Doppio, who Louie considers a friend... But there's an asterisk there in that he doesn't actually think he understands Doppio well at all. Sometimes this is simply a matter of different points of view, but Louie also can't ignore that there's something off about Doppio. Some things he's not convinced add up. All that said, Louie is genuinely fond of the guy.

Louie's two closest friends in the game are Rei, who he considers his best friend, and Emporio, his crush and travel companion. When Louie and Rei first met, things could have easily gone wrong-- Or at least, ended quickly. However, they were both in Violet City at the time, and Louie hadn't had all that many chances to meet up with other non-locals. While he and Rei trained together, Louie found that while her taciturn nature could leave him at a loss, overall it meshed kind of wonderfully with his own tendency to talk his way through situations. The two have been friends ever since, and on March 30th, 2022, Louie even threw Rei her first-ever birthday party.

As for Emporio, he and Louie met early in July of 2021. Emporio was posting from an amusement park - funnily enough, one with mascots that might seem just a little familiar to Louie - and he and Louie had quite the long conversation. Louie explained the whole "normally a duck" thing to Emporio, and Emporio told Louie about his Stand. A few months later, the two both experienced similar losses when someone close to them went home. Louie had found Emporio likable in a friendly way from the start, but from that point his feelings grew more affectionate. By February 2022, Louie was aware of his crush on Emporio. He was 13 and had never had a crush before, but the fact that his first crush was on another boy didn't faze him. On February 17th, the two were spending the day in Goldenrod together to celebrate Emporio's birthday, and Louie brought up the idea of them traveling together, which they've been doing since.

As mentioned above, Louie has experienced friends going home. Rainer Michelle, Ochako Uraraka, and Claudia Kishi were all people he connected to early on who left, and there was also an instance of Scrooge McDuck - though not Louie's great-uncle, but rather a Scrooge from another reality - being in Victory Road for a period of time before he, too, wound up gone. However, Louie hasn't been very vocal about these disappearances. He's still not comfortable being emotionally vulnerable when it comes to such a heavy issue, and he already tackled the topic once before. At one point, Louie's brother Huey showed up in Victory Road, and the two initially traveled together. However, at some point, Louie went ahead to continue the gym challenge while Huey was focused on studying the Ruins of Alph. But Louie didn't make it further than Azalea Town before the morning he awoke with his brother's Pokemon in his posession. He informed others and looked for homes for some of Huey's Pokemon, and while his announcement was met with kindness, the whole situation was overall very uncomfortable for him.

PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT—
Louie arrived at a time where he'd been undergoing significant personal growth. Only a year before ending up in Victory Road, he learned quite a bit from his day as the richest duck in the world, and not long before that he had to adjust to having a mother again when Della Duck made it home from the moon. In the year immedietely leading up to his arrival, he was still learning a lot. How he could use his knack for talking himself and others in and out of situations for good. The fact that sometimes, honesty gets you much further than putting a spin on things. How seeing all the angles of a situation could be used not just for scheming towards riches, but to help in crucial moments. And so on.

The point is, not only did Louie find himself somehwere without his family for the first significant stretch of time in his life, but it was at a time when he could go in so many directions. At first, he was very aimless in traveling Johto, and was really only interested in badges so he could learn and use fly while not battilng. He still liked the idea of having money, as he did back home, but under the strange and new circumstances he was happy to rely on his starter's Pay Day attack for that.

It wasn't until a conversation with Steven Durante, a league champion, that Louie's eyes were opened to how the strategic side of Pokemon battles might be of interest to him. Prior to this, they'd mostly stressed him out as something dangerous, but from that point on he found he really enjoyed combining his team's strength and skill with his own analytical thinking. He now has four badges from Johto, and does intend to someday take on the league. And though Louie has remained lazy as ever, rejoicing when his Ponyta evolved into a Rapidash he could comfortably ride instead of walking everywhere, once he found interest in battling-- Well, it kind of renewed the spark of his inner salesman. So far, his most notable business venture was a hot cocoa stand during December of 2021, it was a succesful venture, and he's always keeping his eye out for more opportunities.

But beyond returning to where he'd been, as a person, Louie has grown in Victory Road. It's no small thing to note that this is the first time he's had friends that were his-- People he connected with because he thought they were likable and interesting, as opposed to them being in or closely connected to his family. And having his own friends has had an impact on Louie. While being emotionally vulnerable still isn't the easiest thing for him, he's more likely to jump that hurdle at times. And expressing positive but still very personal emotions, like how much he cares for the friends he's made, comes naturally to him by now. Also as a result of being away from his family, Louie's become a bit braver. He hasn't forgotten the influence of (Mc)Duck family heroism, and while he's not going out of his way to seek danger, he will often step up when his help is needed, even in risky situations. After all, the rest of his family isn't here to be brave for him.