Battle Brawler 2 Entry: Ralph Anderson

APPLICATION FORM

Name: Ralph Anderson. Titles & nicknames: Apostle, Firstborn of the Harbinger, “That little metal rodent,” Grand Master Cyberneticist.

Species: Emolga, body consists of ~85% cybernetics.

Appearance: Somewhat larger than a typical Emolga, his body from the neck down consists entirely of mechanical parts. These parts have an exterior shell made out of veilcrete – a tough, very dark black ceramic material – with mechanical and electronic components concealed underneath. These limbs are designed to resemble the physical shape of organic limbs while the specialized augments are not in use.

Replacing the skin flaps on a conventional Emolga are a pair of extendable wings built into Ralph's torso, made out of the same veilcrete and adorned with amber highlights across the width, dividing the wings into four sections of equal width. Built into each wing base is a gravimetric levitation engine, looking like a small bulge in the wing base from the outside. Ralph's mechanical arms and legs are larger than those of a normal Emolga, his feet having three front toes and one on the heel, giving them a distinct talon-like appearance. His joints have amber highlights which mark out significant components and add some colour to the otherwise solid near-black veilcrete limbs. Built into his back are four pairs of long, rectangular wing-like appendages which identify him as an apostle; each of these has an amber highlight ring near the tip. Ralph's exterior torso is made up of several segments which slightly overlap each other, and the design of his limbs and body lets him bend and twist to a much larger degree than would be possible for an organic body.

Ralph's internal organs have all been replaced with mechanical versions, with the exception of his spine and brain. Installed in place of the electric cheek sacks on an organic Emolga are a pair of high-efficiency micro-generators which power his augmentations and electric attacks. His ears and eyes have been similarly replaced with mechanical versions which provide superior sensory perception, as part of his Three Monkeys augmentation. Ralph's synthetic eyes have a red ball and amber iris; his ears have three metal nodes embedded in his sizable earlobes, each with a golden highlight.

Ralph's mechanical body is built to be compact and efficient, and stores and utilizes electricity extensively.  Coupled with his Motor Drive ability Ralph is empowered through exposure to electricity, rather than harmed.  However water and cold temperatures play havoc with his systems, and he avoids the two at all costs.

Personality: While out in public, Ralph displays a bold, direct, uncompromising, and somewhat egotistical personality, taking every opportunity to exalt himself in front of others. His cocky demeanour and seeming impatience can easily come off to others as arrogance, even belligerence. Such behaviour masks a far more troubled heart, however; and though he highly dislikes showing his true feelings to others, deep inside he's very self-conscious and afraid of what people think about him. He borrows his adoptive father's ideology (that the differences between humans and Pokemon can and should be overcome with technology) and interest in the sciences, but his experiences and childhood spent in bases has given him a very different outlook on life, humanity, and politics. He is far more aggressive and confrontational than his father, and prefers the immediate and direct solution to problems. Despite his impatience is nonetheless cunning and good an analyzing situations, but empathizing with people is not his strong suit.

In combat Ralph tends to prefer to demolish his opponents quickly and efficiently, targeting weak points and darting around rapidly using his augmentations. However at the behest of his adoptive father, David Anderson, he has agreed to “put on more of a show for the audience” and showcase his augmentations for the tournament. Ralph has also been instructed by his father to avoid using lethal force “unless you have to, or if I order it,” which for practical purposes will mean he saves his railgun for desperate situations or against those blessed with obscene combat potential.

Ralph is dismissive of ordinary competitors, annoyed at those of natural birth who think that such circumstances make them superior, eager to destroy those who over-rely on their special powers in combat, and is all too happy to obliterate any who see themselves as some sort of god or other superior being. Should he happen to run into another with any sort of mechanical body part, he would see that person as a worthy opponent; such a person would be the only one he'd even consider bantering with in battle, as opposed to just flinging insults. His strategy for dealing with opponents in the tournament will be to cripple them with disabling moves and augmentations, then deliver a massive blow or two to finish them off, while minimizing the damage he takes in return.

Under no circumstances will Ralph ever call out the name of a move, technique, weapon, or say anything that might give an opponent useful information. He isn't the kind to play mind games either, preferring to just demolish his opponent.  He will play to the crowd if the opportunity presents itself, but will never compromise himself to do so.

Sample lines:

"Ugh, look I don't care if he doesn't think that Dark Energy generators are safe for body implantation, the kit he wants installed demands too much power for his body.  Tell him to pick something else, 'cause this isn't gonna work."

“Hey, you like what you see?  See these things?  Mechanical limbs, courtesy of David.  Well, David and most of the medical staff.  And the guys at the workshop...”

"Wow, you kidnap and brainwash children for a living?  Are your parents proud of you because they're jerks as well, or did you brainwash them too?"

"So... do you want the fatty or should I deal with him?  Yeah that one, the fat guy.  I mean look at that gut!  Guy must eat nothing but pizza every day."

"Okay, you were born with the power to do... that?  That's great; I was born with the power of 'not being an idiot.'  Not many people have that power, you know?"

"Hey, thanks for coming to Ralph's robotics; best of the best for augs and the rest!"

Backstory: Ralph was hatched to a large loving family of Emolga, and grew up as the third-oldest of nine children. Spending his entire childhood in a now-lost base in Arizona, he grew up under the harsh expectation of being weak and inconsequential, due to the meager battle abilities of his species. Nevertheless, once he was old enough and bold enough to make his own decisions he joined his base's rescue troop with pride in his heart. Nobody had high expectations of greatness from Ralph, and the mediocre battle capacity of Emolga and lack of any special powers left him at a severe disadvantage to his fellow PRT members. Despite this, he managed to do passably well, and was eventually sent out on a rescue mission with a seasoned rescuer.

That rescue led the pair to a hidden personal fortress where a washed-up automotive engineer with far too much free time lived. After some unpleasantness, many were dead, the rescued transformee ran off into the desert, and Ralph and William ended up being captured.

After that, Ralph was put through brainwashing and tasked to be a slave worker. For several months, Ralph was compelled to perform menial tasks around the base, considered too weak and useless for combat service. This continued until the base's human population mutinied against the resident Pokemon, Ralph once again being all but ignored in the chaos. Ralph's next independent thoughts were of him and a CV-59 Absol who went by the name of David Anderson. Unable to remember much of his life before his capture, and with a gaping hole left in his heart that yearned to be filled, Ralph fell into a period of deep despair.

Unsatisfied with the Emolga's situation, and ideas of forging a radically different future for a world of both Pokemon and humans – a world of machines and augmentation – David approached Ralph with an offer of adopting the boy. So lonely was the Emolga that he immediately jumped at the offer, becoming the first citizen of Neo Preita to receive, then embrace comprehensive cybernetization. Ralph followes his adoptive father's footsteps to this day, learning of cybernetics, computing, and augmentation, and currently stands as the Enforcer and right-hand of the Harbinger of Supremacy ideology.

Special Power: None; Ralph relies on his myriad of augmentations (most of which he designed and built himself) for both peacetime and wartime functions.

Items Notable augmentations:

Three Monkeys: A comprehensive suite of sensory systems, these replace his eyes, ears, and throat with synthetic components, granting him broad spectrum Ultraviolet-to-X-Ray vision (though only one spectrum at a time), precision hearing and hearing protection, and a temporary countermeasure to airborne toxins, all directly connected to an implant which translates this information into information his brain can understand. This has the side effect of putting a metallic ting to his voice, which he considers to be awesome.

Gravimetric Levitation System: a pair of specialized electric field emitters, these generate a magnetic field that pushes up against the earth's magnetosphere using the same technology found in the Magnemite family. This enables Ralph to not only fly freely, but in any direction relative to where he is facing, and permit him to pull off manoeuvres impossible to those with organic wings.

Cryocannon: A device built into Ralph's left arm, it collects nitrogen from the ambient air and supercools it down to -207C. When deployed with a thought, the supercold nitrogen is then fed into an accelerator and launched at whatever his deployed arm gun is aimed at. This allows Ralph to launch either shards of ultra-cold nitrogen at targets, or cover an area in liquid nitrogen mist. Ultimately this gives Ralph a ranged attack suitable for those with aversions to cold temperatures.

Railgun: Ralph's right arm was designed with an inbuilt electromagnetic railgun, firing small tungsten pellets at several times the speed of sound. Though normally Ralph's primary weapon, for the sake of sport he has vowed to use it only if he “needs to,” whatever that should happen to imply.

Optical Displacement Field: a decentralized augmentation located on various points on his exterior, this is a series of nodes which utilize the unique properties of Dark energy to bend light in the visible spectrum around Ralph's torso, rendering him invisible to the naked eye. The power requirements to run the Field are steep however, and Ralph's system is limited to running two out of three of either his Gravimetric levitation system, his weapons and moves, or this.

Ability: Motor Drive.

Moveset: Elecro Ball, Pursuit, Air Slash, Nuzzle.

Combo Moves:

Electro Ball + Pursuit = Wreck-it ball. Ralph uses Pursuit to chase after a foe, but before making impact cloaks himself in an Electro Ball. The Electric and Dark energies of the two moves merge and surround Ralph in a crackling sphere of black lightning, which he then uses to ram a target a full speed. This is his most damaging move combination, and is used as a finisher.

Air Slash + Pursuit = Launch Horror. Ralph gathers and condenses some of the air around him, then imbues it with the Dark energy of a Pursuit attack before launching it at his target. This manifests itself as a bird-shaped entity that ebbs and flows with Dark energy, undulating between a deep purple and black, two crimson lights glowing where the eyes would be. This has a limited capacity to home in on a target, and people have been known to flinch in terror just by looking at it, but the actual damage done is modest.

Nuzzle + Pursuit = Lockdown. Used against foes fleeing or otherwise not focusing on Ralph, this is a physical charging attack merging Electric and Dark energy. Unlike Wreck-it ball, this does far less damage but can disable a target for some time, leaving them vulnerable to a much heavier hit.

Electro Ball + Air Slash = Lightning Wall. By electrifying the air gathered for an Air Slash attack with the power of an Electro Ball, Ralph can generate a curtain of electrical energy which can be fired at a target. This is effective at catching the few opponents out there more nimble and agile than Ralph.