What is Plus without the Minus?

If you’re unfamiliar with Pokemon, then let me explain. In the game, Plusle (and some other Pokemon on rare occasions) has a special ability called Plus. When a Pokemon with Plus is paired up with a Pokemon with the ability Minus (generally by a Pokemon called Minun and others on rare occasions) in a Double battle, then both of the Pokemon will have increased Special Attack. But what happens when the abilities are separated? Well… they’re useless. The ability does nothing. So how does one Pokemon go about their lives with a useless ability?

Well… Let’s start from the beginning. Tanya was born into a happy family with her sister, Tammy, who was a Minun. Just 10 seconds separated from birth, the two girls were inseparable… figuratively and sometimes literally. They did everything together: playing games together, sleeping in the same bed when they had a bunk bed, sharing a bathtub when they were little girls… To say that they were stuck together like magnets was a bit of an understatement. Despite the two sharing close traits to one another in personality, they contrasted in obvious ways. Tanya was the more boisterous girl, always dragging her sister out to wherever she went, egging her on to try new and sometimes dangerous things. Tammy was the more cautious one, looking at everything carefully and making sure that they weren’t going to be hurt. But how can she say no to Tanya? No matter what happened, the two were always together, and planned on that for the rest of their lives. They were both going to the same college, to major in… whatever, but they had each other, and that’s all that mattered.

That is… until it happened.

The two sisters were on a boating trip with their uncle, as a way of congratulations of making it though high school. What was supposed to be a nice, relaxing ride along the lake took a bad turn for the worst, their uncle losing control and crashing into a passerby boat. Tanya ended up being all right, but Tammy took the worst of it. She was drastically injured, and rushed to the hospital, where she died a few hours later.

Since that dreadful day, Tanya had never felt the same. What was almost normal to see her smile now turned into a challenge. Her boisterous attitude turned quiet and meek. Her outfits changed from light and colorful to hoodies and jeans only, no matter the weather. But she kept one thing to heart… She was going to go to college without her sister. She mentions that it’s what Tammy would have wanted, and she just wanted to respect that wish. Now… The hardest part is finding out what to do without a guiding light every day. Her own decisions, her own challenges… all alone.

Age: 19
Height: 4'9"
Hobbies: binging Netflix, long walks, outside naps

Artist:  Rancidious