So, here's an exercise in complete self-indulgence. I've been drawing for other people a LOT lately, so this is my brief swim in Lake Me before I get back to that.

Here's Pokémon Trainer me with my loyal band of Pokémon in my current Pokémon Diamond roster. I kept their genders and personalities intact from the ones they're assigned in the game.

-Yetina is a quiet Abomasnow.

-Riot is my Darkrai. Since I got it in a Toys R Us event, I can't really name it in the game, but it's Riot to me. It's described as docile, which is an interesting trait for a legendary Pokémon usually depicted as evil and megalomaniacal. This is MY Darkrai. My NICE Darkrai.

-Duran is my docile Lucario. Also docile! I wanted to depict that differently for him, so I dressed him up a bit like my friend Chris Rockriver . He's reading a copy of Flowers for Algernon, a book he considers a parallel to his rise from being a normal Riolu to a Pokémon that can communicate with humans.

-Aquaboo is a brave Empoleon. He was my starter Pokémon.

-Napier is what I'd name my Infernape if I hadn't received him nameless in a GTS trade. He's described as careful.

-Charap is my Chatot. I wouldn't have chosen that name for her, but that's what she was named in the in-game trade. She's described as lonely... which seems odd. She's saying the Chatter line I gave her, "Hey, y'know something?" It's a line from my favorite creepy hygene film.

Pokemon ©2009 Nintendo/Creatures/Game Freak