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[sassymaru]

OOC Information:
Name: Red
Are you over 15? Yes
Contact: AIM @ thisismyomnitool

IC Information:
Name:
Canon: Shadowmaru (BP-501)
Reincarnation: Takenaka Yuji

Canon and medium: Brave Police: J-Decker
Age:
Canon: 1 year or less. Canon is unspecific.
Reincarnation: 30

Preincarnation Species: Sentient AI transforming robot, or BP Unit

Preincarnation Appearance: A 17' purple robot. Who turns into a car, a jet, a dog-wolf-thing, and a tank. That's right, he has five forms. He's kind of ridiculous.

Any differences:
As a human, he stands 5'10", and is mostly leg. He looks like he came straight out of Japan, with hair hanging somewhere around his ears. He has very broad shoulders, for his body type, more wiry than muscular. There are no real scars, or anything like that. Occasionally, parts of his hair end up bleached, as a result of dyes washing out, but, beyond that, he's fairly normal in physical appearance. The only real stand-out mark is a tattoo in the small of his back -- one of those stylized, tribal-looking ones, shaped vaguely like a canine. He says it's a wolf.


Preincarnated History:
So in Japan, and later the rest of the world, the "21st Century" brought a lot more problems than it did anything else. Problems in the form of super-advanced crime and high-tech criminals. This tends to include everything from mutated monsters, to evil robots, to men who dress like clowns releasing mind-altering substances into the air. And, in order to combat this, the law enforcement system decided the best course of action would be to create giant police robots. More specifically, Commissioner Juzo Saejima decided this was the best course of action -- sort of like if Commissioner Gordon decided Gotham needed a giant Batman robot, and then was allowed to do so, then added strobe lights 'because it was cool'. Which... is pretty much Saejima in a nutshell, but that's beside the point.

They were known as the BP series, or Brave Police. Because this is Japan and everything has to sound like that. Outfitted with a special kind of AI -- or super AI -- they had personality, emotions, and were, on occasion, very nearly humans. Albeit humans in giant robot bodies. They were also pretty effective, enough to where more models, with different capabilities, were warranted.

Enter Shadowmaru. The entire first portion of his life was spent in a facility, training with his prototype, Kagerou. They lived in relative isolation, with only each other and a few mechanics for company. Needless to say, they got pretty attached to each other. So it came as a pretty big shock when Kagerou up and ran away, going on a destructive rampage through the city. Shadowmaru took it upon himself to chase his prototype down and figure out what in the world was going on. He kept the police -- including the Brave Police -- off his prototype's tail, intending to confront him on his own.

Which he did. After Kagerou took a little girl hostage at a local electronics fair. They had a conversation about life and memory and Shadowmaru realized all the reasons his best friend was running -- he didn't want to be erased and repuprosed, thereby forgetting all the memories and experiences he'd had with Shadowmaru. Their codependency became pretty obvious in that little conversation. Shadowmaru then made Kagerou promise to behave himself, and live a good life, then let him go.

Except Kagerou got himself erased anyway, his AI used to power a war submarine, while a creepy, violent, AI was placed in his body, and sent back out to terrorize the city. Shadowmaru ended up being forced to kill it, while under the impression he was murdering his own prototype, and part of himself.

And then everyone found out where Kagerou's real AI chip was, and Shadowmaru took off after the submarine on his own. It did not end well. He stuck around long enough to revive some small part of Kagerou within the AI, before the remnant of his friend urged him to leave, to get out and live his life.

So he went on to have a whole lot of adventures with the Brave Police, including incidents with giant pandas, bug people, demons of desire, and the accumulation of new members to the robot police force. Everything was going fine, up until some asshole with a dumb name, Victim O'Rand, decided it would be really fun to see if it were possible to make purely evil AI chips.

He made the Chieftains. And sent the Chieftains after the Brave Police, because apparently he had a bone to pick with giant robot police forces being led by eight-year-old children in embarrassing shorts. The Chieftains kicked Shadowmaru's tailpipe when he tried to stop them, and then went on to kill the robot chief of the Brave Police, Deckerd. Everyone was sad.

Really, really sad. It continued to be really, really sad until they figured out a way to revive Deckerd, and there was some awkward alpha robot posturing involving his apparent replacement, Duke, but Shadowmaru was sort of unconscious for most of those events.

Eventually, everything went back to ridiculous shenanigans, while Shadowmaru slowly realized he was sort of set apart from the others. He didn't combine into anything, and his closest friend was dead... he felt a little sidelined, so to speak.

And that feeling came to an abrupt head when literal aliens invaded. The rest of the Brave Police went off into space to stop what they thought was an invasion force, while Shadowmaru got tasked with finding the alien agent on earth. As it turned out, the invasion fleet was a ruse, and the alien agent intended to conquer Earth all on his own. Shadowmaru was the only one left to stop it, and when it whipped out a godzilla-sized robot, things really looked bleak.

Shadowmaru actually died at the hands of the alien agent, and his last thoughts were of his long-lost friend.

... Except then other aliens decided they admired his sacrifice, because apparently they'd been watching this unfold from orbit or something. They sent down a giant beam of light that turned Shadowmaru's corpse into a giant gun, with which the late-returning Brave Police used to destroy the alien agent and its robot. It also restored Shadowmaru to life, albiet with a chunk of memory data missing, and some kind of monitoring chip in his head, care of the other aliens.

It was a mess.

And then more messes cropped up. Victim reappeared, this time teamed up with a guy who would give Sephiroth's mommy issues a run for their money -- Nueva. This guy was mad because, while his mother had basically invented sentient AI chips, she'd done some shifty things with them, and gotten sealed away like a creepy snow white. So, naturally, he wanted revenge and made an android named Victim to go carry out his plans. They ended up making more chieftains to go and break Nueva's mother out of her sleep pod jail thing, which then summoned the Brave Police to go fight them...

... and the Chieftains 2.0 kicked their asses again. Nueva and Victim, who by then was transformed into a giant robot, broke Momma Nueva out of jail, and somehow summoned a giant airship thing to go off and conquer the world by corrupting all the AI in existence.

Eventually, by virtue of the eight-year-old leader's heart, and the bonds of friendship, the Brave Police, Shadomaru included, went from robots with feelings to robots with souls, and the day was saved.

Reincarnated History:
He was born in Yoshida, in the Shizuoka Perfecture in the southern portion of Japan, to the Takenaka family, and named Yuji, though he apparently lacked an actual elder sibling. His parents never explained why he was named as he was. He lived there until he was eight years old, after which his family emigrated to the western United States for job reasons.

Shortly thereafter, when he was about ten or so, he lost his father -- the victim of a mugging gone bad. Aside from that, his childhood was fairly unremarkable, albiet lonely, as he'd ended up looking after his distraught mother, who never really recovered from the shock of her husband's death.

Of course, when your parent is killed by criminals, you can either become Batman, or turn to law enforcement. Yuji chose the latter, going into police academy as soon as he was out of high school. This had the unfortunate consequence of distancing him from his mother, and straining their already difficult relationship to the breaking point. He was more or less forced to cut ties with her, but ultimately it turned out to be for the best.

He was allowed to become more social, more himself, and while he did end up transferring to the city, he continued being an effective officer, until he eventually made detective. However, isolating himself from his only family, and what friends he'd made in the academy made him attach himself to the local club scene, after hours, looking for companionship and excitement in an effort to fill the weird loneliness.

He also attached himself to his partner, in all kinds of dependent ways, up to and including breaking into his apartment and sleeping in various awkward places -- like the bathtub, or the foot of his bed. Generally hanging off him, and occasionally attempting to get his partner a date. With whoever happens to take the slightest interest.

Recently, he was placed on the case of a rather violent serial killer, and caught the man in the act while on the way home from his shift one night. He tried apprehending the man, and a shootout ensued. Yuji was wounded in the line of duty, and taken to a hospital, where his first echo suddenly occurred.


First Echo:
Shadowmaru's first echo will be that of dying. Even though his canon "death" was temporary, this will be the first thing he remembers, dying in a desperate fight, from horrific injury. He'll realize he was the only one standing between something terrible, and his hometown, but besides that, and his injuries, the details will be obscured. A sense of loneliness comes along with these facts, as at the time of his death, all he could think of was his dead best friend and prototype.

This will be triggered by his being involved in a shooting incident on one of his cases, during which he was grazed in the meaty area between shoulder and neck. The wound was fairly deep, and the shock of it caused him to fall backward, cracking his head on the ground. The numbers and the echo were the last thing to flash through his brain before he lost consciousness. He'll wake up in a hospital.

Preincarnation Personality:
Shadowmaru is, for the most part, friendly on the outside, to the point of being charming. He talks a good talk, puts on all manner of self-confidence and assurance. He puts forth the image of a mysterious, shadowy ninja. All easy smiles and smooth voiced words. He seems to enjoy putting people off their guard with a phrase or a quick few words.

He appears to have a good sense of humor, and is more than willing to cooperate with the others. He'll tease them, sass them, things like that, but all in good fun. He doesn't actually bear anyone any ill-will, he just has it in his nature to poke humor here and there at his comrades and friends. He definitely has a flair for the dramatic, choosing to reveal key facts in the most over-the-top description possible, or appear out of nowhere, posed for dramatic effect. Sometimes even going so far as to show off his "ninja skills" by throwing CDs like shuriken. For all his charming, self-assured exterior is mostly a mask, his confidence remains genuine, up until his confrontation with the alien agent.

He keeps mostly to himself, withholding discussing anything about himself in-depth. Questions are deflected, using that humor or wit, and he even prefers to go on missions by himself. As far as to spend the majority of his time working alone, only teaming up with Duke once or twice.

Since he's really only been alive for a year and a half, in canon, his death notwithstanding, there is a lot of naivete and general childishness in him. He's prone to little hissy fits over being called a "dog", rather than a "wolf", as he percieves himself to be, for instance. His reactions are often dramatic and overblown, as well.

In all honesty, given the brief glimpses we see of his private thoughts, and his actions in his introduction episode, it's clear he blames himself for Kagerou's death. He even says as much after it happens, and never fully recovers from the loss of his friend. It's likely this is the reason he keeps his personal thoughts to himself, and just plain keeps to himself, overall. He never forgot Kagerou, even in what he thought was the end of his life, and his prototype remained the most important thing to him. They were, very possibly, unhealthily dependent on each other, thus making it exceptionally difficult for Shadowmaru to move on, and make any other deep connections with the other robots, or even human beings.

Any differences:
Most things remain the same. He's still confident, self-assured. Still sassy, eager to tease, and generally a friendly, easy-going person to be around. The guilt, however, no longer exists. There is very little, if anything, for him to feel guilty about -- no missing friend, no proverbial blood on his hands.

What there is instead, is a lot of loneliness. Loneliness inspired by a lack of close friends, outside of his partner, and severed familial ties. He doesn't deal with the loneliness terribly well, opting to go out and spend time in big clubs dancing and flirting. His attachment to his partner borders on the one he had with Kagerou -- the near-dependency.

Some of his confidence comes across as incredible... flamboyant-ness, for lack of a better word. He knows what he likes, in terms of company, and has no problem laying on the act, if he knows he'll not only garner a reaction, but possible attention as a result. Half of what comes out of his mouth, at times, is an effort to gain said attention -- or the company and companionship he craves.

He isn't nearly as naive, or young, as being in homicide tends to take care of that pretty quickly. Even with his humorous, easygoing exterior, it's far more easy for him to slip into "work mode" -- serious, calm, and attentive to detail. He's a good detective, who follows a hard code of conduct while on-duty, though off-duty, he lets this slide.

Additionally, though he is fluent in English, and remains so in Japanese as well, when he becomes exceptionally fatigued or stressed, or even intoxicated, he reverts back to Japanese, out of sheer lack of mental coordination.

Abilities:
Shadowmaru is a 17' tall, transforming ninja robot. No joke. He was designed with stealth in mind, and stealth is what he's good at. He's equipped with "stealth sensors", which basically means very high-tech seeing ability -- heat, electromagnetic fields, the works. If it's alive, or electronic, he can probably see it. This also means that he, himself, is incredibly difficult to detect -- at least by electronic means. You can definitely see a giant robot strolling around. But to try and pick him up on a security system would result in nothing but a "ghost". Or a "shadow". Another unique feature is his ability to hack into security systems. This security hacking allows him to remotely view the feed of security cameras, and break into high-tech locks. Like ninjas do.

And yes, he does, in fact, transform. He has several alternate forms, in fact. One being a giant dog he claims is actually a wolf, one a car, one a jet, and the other a tank. Because one form is flight-capable, this also means he is as well, even in his robot form. Overall, he's fairly agile, for a robot, capable of impressive jumps and quick movements. And, of course, there's the typical robotic. However, for one of his kind, he's not particularly strong or durable.

He is combat-trained, and does it well, easily taking on most of the other police robots in combat, though his style is suitably ninja-like. That is to say, mostly physical, relying less on weapons than what he can do with his own hands and feet. He does use a weapon, however, a Japanese-style sword, and shuriken, both sized for robots. Later on, he begins using Kagerou's weaponry, including his kusarigawa -- a weighted chain attached to a sickle, so it's safe to say he's trained in most forms of samurai-era weaponry.


Roleplay Sample - Third Person:
It was, he decided, exceptionally boring, lying here in the hospital, listening to bad daytime TV. No work to do. No visitors during the daylight hours -- not even his partner, though he texted often enough to be present. Possibly even more than necessary, all things considered, but, then again, it wasn't often they saw so little of one another. His partner's cell ended up flooded with texts on more than one occasion.

Sure, there was the weird new number network to fidget around with, but even then, only so much could be done before things grew quiet. Before restlessness began to set in, and he found himself fidgeting. Thinking.

Dwelling on the odd images flitting through his head. The feeling of death.

It didn't take a genius to figure out that's what happened. There was so much pain, so much hot, wet fluid pouring out of his body. It had to be blood. He remembered the thought -- what a waste -- and why else would he think that? What had happened to push him so far?

There wasn't a clear answer coming, he didn't think. Not while he was lying here. He held up a hand, staring at the back of it, at the thin line of fluids running into his veins. What had been so important, he was willing to die for? And why in the hell did he remember that, of all things? He'd only been unconscious for a few hours -- hadn't he?

You're a detective, aren't you? he asked himself, abruptly. Such moping isn't like you! For shame. You've a mystery here. And plenty of time to dig about.

He smirked, ever so slightly. True. Poking into this matter would give him something to do, if nothing else.

Roleplay Sample - Network:
Test drive thread!

Any Questions?
None!