| Tessla Del |
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| The Power Behind the Plant | |||||||||||||||||||||
 Drawn by DelishusTaco | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Tessla Del is the Electric-type gym leader of Wattsburg. She gives trainers the Battery Badge.
Background[]
Tessla was born and raised on a farm in Primavera Town, part of a hard working family consisting of her father and two older brothers, with her mother being usually away from home. Even being the only girl in her family, she was expected to pull just as much weight as her siblings. Because of this she was very much a tomboy most of her life. In school she was more likely to befriend and hang around boys rather than girls, something she would be teased for as she aged. While it mostly didn't bother her, she began to harbor a slight grudge. She began to view Primavera as a 'hick' town and began to push away friends, becoming more absorbed in her studies.
Her initial interest with electronics in general stemmed from the times she would help her father repair the farm equipment, both something that fascinated her and reminded her of the only times she and her father truly bonded. Her budding genius was supported by her brothers who would buy her books and tools to feed her tinkering habit, and at first her father was for it as well. Soon anything in the least bit mechanical on the farm was maintained and improved by Tessla, improving their farm's output twofold. Her father saw it as a great asset to the farm, however, that's all he saw it as. Once Tessla began to branch out into other studies and devoted less and less time to the farm itself, her father was quite unhappy. It became the source of many arguments between the two. As much as her brothers attempted to intervene, the wedge was driven between Tessla and their father. Alienated now by not only what she saw as the 'narrowminded' inhabitants of Primavera but her father, the source of her expertise, Tessla took her Flaaffy, Jacob, and moved to the big city of Wattsburg at the age of 17.
There she easily got a low-rung job of technician at the Power Plant, living in an apartment in one of the many high-rises. It was completely different for her. She felt as though she'd finally shed the skin of a country bumpkin and found where she really belonged, revelling in the sense of freedom and independence. The city was a hive of countless, different people, a melting pot of cultures, and even the weather there was unpredictable and not the same, lazy sunshine. She began to develop her self-image more, buying tailored shirts, vests, and slacks, enjoying running against Primavera's norm of a 'pretty girl' at first, then slowly identifying herself as a gifted, powerful individual. She quickly climbed the ranks in the Plant adding to her already inflated ego, leaving behind petty grunt work moving onto more pressing projects that involved more brainpower than manpower.
It was with Tessla's designs and theories that created the revolutionary systems respsonsible for harnessing lightning strikes. The project was seen as one of the greatest steps in power creation and conservation, an almost limitless supply considering the weather in Wattsburg. It was largely because of this she was made the lead engineer and supervisor of the plant, elevating her to almost celebrity status. It was also because of this that she was made into a gym leader, considering she was not only gifted in her works with modern technology, but Pokemon as well, who served her well in many experiments.
Personality[]
Tessla is somewhat vain but thinks little of most people's opinions of her. She can be hard to get along with, considering her tendency to be a rather solitary and egotistical person. While her Power Plant designs led to a vast decrease in greenhouse gas emissions, she seems to think little of the rest of her city's effect on the environment, going as far to defend it by saying it's all in the name of scientific progress, and because of the city being the largest and top supplier of power to Tatsu it is hard to argue. She does not see herself as very feminine, nor entirely masculine.
Attitudes Towards Things and People[]
She does, however, click fairly well with those who are open-minded and intelligent, after some time. But she does tend to be hypocritical and automatically think less of those who are from the country or oppose her views, going as far as to refuse or cancel gym battles and claim she is busy with work.
Tessla is fiercely against Pokemon cruelty, and while she has used her own in experiments, it was only with the utmost assurance they would be unharmed. She would rather test something dangerous on herself before she would test it on her loyal Pokemon. Not too long ago the electric Pokemon that frequented the Plant were seen as pests, constantly causing power outages and generally being in the way. Her own team mostly consists of Pokemon she has met and captured on Plant grounds and she is also known to give away electric types to deserving or beginning trainers.
Everything else is child's play. Get the power - Nintendo Power!
It is likely her fondness for Pokemon is one of the only reasons no one thinks she is secretly evil. On the other hand, it could also explain how she especially loathes what she finds the 'backwards' nature of her old hometown. She hates the idea of Pokémon used for manual labor, in industry and agriculture.
It is rumored that she has a bit of a crush on the Ghost Gym Leader, but she will not entertain such a question with an answer. Though she does speak highly of his work.
She is bitter rivals with Primavera's Gym Leader, but it quite apparently runs deeper than the conflict between their cities and stems from something more.
Behaviours and Habits[]
By nature she is a tinkerer, constantly developing and improving new devices, and is fascinated by the inner-workings of complicated machines. She fancies herself as a bit of a mad scientist, jokingly bent on world domination, hence her outfit in the gym. In the gym is when her true eccentric self begins to bleed through, a little prone to cackling and a few boastful monologues. Once Tessla dons her goggles, she almost becomes a different person.
Appearance[]
Tessla has a rather lean, thin frame, standing at 5'7" and normally hides what curves she has in business clothes and lab coats. Her hair's color, normally a dirty blonde, is always changing color depending on what she feels like dying it. It has a natural wave to it though you won't see much of that, since she keeps it in very short styles. Most of the time she keeps it a midnight black, but has been seen with anything ranging from brunette, hunter green, all the way to neon pink. She has dark gray eyes, which she normally highlights with smoky eyeshadow.
Distinctive traits would have to be her stretched earlobes which she normally wears a pair of red pearls in and the double band tattoos on her forearms, both traits in the style of an Ampharos.
Pokemon[]
Ampharos "Jacob" : Jacob is both Tessla's personal and main Gym Pokemon, coming as a Mareep from Tessla's days on the farm. Jacob was born a sickly, small Mareep and spent most of his infancy in an incubator, which Tessla learned to monitor despite her young age. Her father thought Jacob would pass away and warned Tess not to get too attached, as she made it her personal duty to nurse and care for the weak Pokemon. Because of her efforts he survived his tough infancy healthy, the two sharing a close knit bond. In the warm months Tess would sleep out in the barn with him with a book and a flashlight, and in the cold months she fixed up a bed for him in her room. Jacob is constantly at Tessla's side, her testament to their friendship firmly tattooed on her arms.
Electrode "Volta" : A stray Voltorb caught feeding off the energy of one of the Plant's reactor's, Volta was originally going to be driven off as most pests are. However he was snatched up by Tessla before such a thing could be done, now allowed to feed and grow powerful off excess current caught by the lightning harvesters.
Magnezone "Sentry" : Another 'pest' Pokemon caught in the Plant, Sentry has declared itself Tessla's personal bodyguard, raised from a Magnemite and treated just as one of her precious machines. Considering she treats her machines like her babies, this is a very good thing.
Klinklang "Cogsworth" : The last 'pest' Pokemon caught and trained by Tessla, Cogsworth is a busy body that constantly has to be involved with what's going on. Tessla has been known to have to shove the inquisitive Pokemon out of her way so she can work, though the efforts only seem to entice Cogsworth more. Despite this, Tessla adores him just the same, the two often getting worked up during gym battles in sync.
Porygon 2 "Cobb" : The way Tessla obtained Cobb is unclear. It's rumored it was a present from an old friend, but the rumors are murky at best. Cobb is involved with many of Tessla's experiments what with its ability to mesh into and manipulate mainframes, making Tessla's work with complicated programming a breeze. It's also rumored she uses her power glove to speak directly with Cobb when it is in a mainframe, but that process she keeps purposefully mysterious. The two have a silent almost psychic-like bond, another rumor being that the two have spent a great deal of time inside of machines together in one another's heads, in a way.
Fun Facts[]
"Tessla" is obviously a play off of Tesla, as in Nikola Tesla "Del" is a reference to Dell Conaugher, TF2's canon BLU Engineer
Tessla's inspiration comes from a variety of sources, including Tesla, Engineer, Dr. Steel, and Dr. Horrible.
Her Ampharos's name, "Jacob", is a reference to Jacob's Ladder.
"Sentry" is also a reference to Engineer.
You'd better know what "Cogsworth" is from. (Disney's Beauty and the Beast.)
"Cobb" is a reference to Dom Cobb, the lead character from Inception.
Terms of Use[]
As a Gym Leader and an NPC character, she can be used freely; however, it is important to closely follow her character profile, unless of course it's something that's meant to be silly and out of character.
| Tatsu's Gym Leaders | |
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