It's like if an anglerfish were a marketable dolphin plushie
As a young Chinchou, just barely hatched and far too young to remember, he was almost eaten by a giant deep water Pokemon. Ever since then, he has had more of a tendancy to swim to higher up waters. Despite having lights on his head, the dark was scary, and the lighter waters always felt safer.
Truthfully, he never really liked the water at all. The other Chinchou thought he was weird for this. Water is love! Water is life! You can die if you're not in the water! As such he was somewhat ostrisized and not socialized very well. He was awkward and whistful, in ways other people thought were strange and didn't understand.
He never really fit in with Pokémon society... but, sometimes a human would go swimming nearby, and Honoa would follow them and watch them! Honoa would even surface the water to watch them walk away on the land. He wanted to be up there, with the people!
He couldn't exactly walk... but he could try! For a few minutes a day, he would jump up and go hopping across the land, then go back to the water.
The other Chinchou didn't like him drawing the humans attention to them, so they decided as a group to exile him.
The strange chinchou wandered the seashores trying to find a human that would catch him. However, every human he came across ran away in fear of him eletrecuting them in the water.
As his exile started reaching the hour mark, he started thinking he would never find a home, and would become lonely forever.
At that moment, a boy without any fear of being eletricuted saw the Chinchou.
The Sprout Tower
Also about an hour earlier, Gold was visiting his first landmark location in his Pokémon journey. The Sprout Tower was a popular location among tourists for its unique construction and history.
It was also a popular location for trainers.
The ultimate challenge given to trainers on the tower was to win a battle against Elder Li on the top floor. Gold was confident he could win with his newly evolved Kirlia, Houndour, and new Skitty he wasn't planning on using. While Atticus the Houndour was able to beat the elders two Bellsprout with ease- the last Pokémon took the four of them by surprise.
To Gold, it looked like the Pokémon of legend, Ho-Oh. Ho-Oh are extremely rare, but he thought it made sense an elder would have it... even if it WAS unfair. The Flying Pokémon wiped out the rest of Gold's team, and Gold left the tower to regroup.
Still under the assumption the Pokémon was a Ho-Oh, he was thinking about the best way to beat a Fire/Flying Type. None of his Pokémon could fly, and while Atticus resisted Fire, he would already be worn down by the Bellsprout by that point. The Psychic Silklay and Normal Norma didn't have any particular advantage. He needed a Water Type at SOME point, anyhow.
And while he was pondering walking down out of town, he eventually wandered past the Ruins of Alph to the seashore.
Congratulations! You caught Chinchou!
"HONO - THE HO-OH SLAYER!" Except "hono" didn't feel like a real name, so he added an A at the end. Over time came to pronounce it "Ho-Noah" or "Noah" for short.
Honoa EASILY defeated the so called "Ho-Oh", and earned his namesake. He quickly became an asset to the team. Water/Electric gave Gold's team more offensive and defensive options than it previously had before.
Honoa was really awkward at first, not used to people liking or appreciating him, but over time he slowly learned how to accept compliments.
Since Honoa spends more time in land than in water, he has stronger fins than other Lanturn and an elongated tail so he can move more like a seal (or "Seel"). He's much larger than the average Lanturn, too, which makes it easier for Gold to surf on! Two people can even sit on Honoa's back at the same time.
Most people think Honoa is strange looking for a Lanturn, and that is because he is :D the end!
