[SUDS] Cycles of Power (High T-Low M)

[Death's Spook]

Reserve. And can I say how awesome this turnout is?!

[The Nonexistent Tazz]

Name: (STILL DON'T UNDERSTAND THIS) Harold 'Ditto' Jackson
Age: 30
Side: Organization/Lab
Rank: Gamma Recon Squad Leader
Gender: Male

Appearance: Harold Jackson is, in his true form, relatively scrawny and lacking in true brawn. He has a fairly large nose, brown beady eyes, and scruffy curled hair that's always got sand in it due to desert recon missions. However, due to his Changer powers, that is rarely what people see: He often experiments with different types and sizes of human bodies, or more extreme variations of his form, almost all the time, so it's rare to see him as he once was. He disliked how he looked back then anyways, in fact, so he'll only do it for instances when he needs to be identified as himself.

He's typically decked out in army-style desert camo, as would be expected of the kind of person who typically winds up having to scout out desert terrain for enemy camps. He has a lot of pockets on his camo suit: he can't REALLY be expected to carry around a profile-increasing backpack, after all. They're shoved to the brim with whatever he could possibly need. The pockets hold his PokeBalls, his survival knife, his emergency flare gun and pistol, and the ammo for his primary weapon of death, the Sniper Rifle, which is slung on his back.

Personality: Harold Jackson is a typical nice guy: He's fairly kind and caring towards his comrades in most situations. However, like any surviving member of the populace in Orre, he is also incredibly kicka**, and killing his friends is an EXCELLENT way to get yourself killed. He also has few qualms with death in general-though he doesn't like seeing his friends go, he can show a surprising lack of empathy when dealing with enemies.

It's also a bad idea to kill children, as Harold has a particular fondness for younger children. He plays with them with his Pokemon and his Changer powers. He is, in turn, fairly popular among kids and parents despite his freaky powers of freakyiness.

It's a GOOD idea to get Harold as a cook: It's his second passion after being a spy/recon, and he's d**m good at showing it. You will be treated to a good meal. He worked at restaurants for a fairly good reason, after all. He doesn't really care for the scientific aspects of the Organization...Except where cooking/spying is concerned.

On his stance in the war, he says he's joined the Organization because of the death of his former employer-a really nice man-and his new powers giving him the opportunity to not be bullet fodder. He's definitely hoping the war ends as soon as possible, so he can return home and show his parents how their son grew up to be a great man.

History: Harold Jackson was born and raised in the prosperous Black City in Unova. Since a young age, he had been a mischievous and sneaky boy, typically found hiding in the bushes and spying in other people's business. He never did anything illegal (aside from trespassing), but became somewhat infamous for it. He quickly decided to make it a hobby as his teenage years started going into swing, with a closet packed with camo clothing and makeshift 'spy' gear. It quickly progressed to the point where he started abandoning his grades for it...Which his parents, however lenient on the whole 'spy' thing, didn't appreciate. They confiscated his 'spy stuff' until his grades bounced back up.

Quite frankly, Harold didn't care for any fancy mathematics-he was already literate and knew all the math he would likely need, and if he didn't, he could learn it when he wanted to, not when some fancy-pants school told him too. Same with literature and history, he learned it all already! OK, maybe not, but he could figure it out when he needed to! Using his well-trained sneakiness, he picked the lock, got back his stuff, and ran away from home. He was about 16 when he did this. Maybe he was too old for caring about his spy stuff, or that he really should have worried about his grades more, but he didn't care: he wanted to do it. There were JOBS based around this kind of stuff, after all. So he managed to successfully stowaway on board a ship. He didn't realize the ship was inbound for Orre, of all places to go.

Once he arrived...Well, reality kicked in harsh. He managed a small-time job at a local fast-foods restaurant, and later a Ruby Tuesdays when his ability to cook increased after a little while, for at least several years. It was brutal and harsh, a new kind of reality he wasn't ready for, at least not immediately. If it wasn't for the relatively nice nature of the man managing the Ruby Tuesdays (and a lack of employees), he'd be starving in Orre, the last place anyone would want to be starving in. He got several letters from his parents, begging him to go home, but he would simply not have it-he was making money, proving he was useful even without a High school degree. In fact, he was well-recieved by the manager of the Ruby Tuesdays, and given several pay raises over the course of his tenure there...

...Then Cipher came back. He was 20 when it happened. Knowing that Gaeton port was on the front-lines of the battle (then), he fled, sensibly, to Agate town, where he got a similar job at a local TGIfriday's. He heard word that his old manager had been assassinated, presumably by a Cipher agent, which he took an instant dislike towards divulging in his stealth interests in occasional tests of stealth that the town grew accustomed to. It was (relatively) peaceful.

Then word came of the first Cluster. Pyrite town in total chaos, suddenly dealing with superhumans. It intrigued and frightened him at the same time. Pokemon and bullets were deadly enough, now he had to look out for mutants straight out of X-Men?! Now, though, he didn't have a hope in the world of leaving-he made enough salary to live, but definitely not enough to get home until his parents were dead. More worried letters came, though he answered them calmly and sensibly. For three more years, he worked quietly, having the Organization keep watch over the townspeople, and growing a steady interest. Perhaps his talents could be of use?

Then the second cluster came. The Organization, now prepared for an event like it, managed to keep calm in the city, even as some people realized they could fly, or in Harold's case, completely change his own appearance. It was simultaneously shocking, frightening, and exhilarating, pure bliss with pure terror, ecstasy with fear. It was beyond him, but he quickly put his own spy crud on hold to turn his new powers into something incredible, something he could use in whatever he did. Unsuprisingly, due to his sneakiness and his 'changer' powers, he signed on to be a recruit for a reconnaissance group. Parahuman abilities aside, he knew he could be useful in gathering information and all that jazz-that's what he's been doing almost all of the time, right?

Right.

Albeit his training was good and he was ultimately a good recon man, his first mission with his squad ultimately suffered a near-lethal failure, with Cipher catching on to his team's location and decimating every last one. Harold still doesn't know what happened then, but came back bloody and somewhat broken. It took a year or so to recover and get him back in the field and back in the game. He got into a few, more successful missions as the years went by, including one that allowed the Organization to (briefly) take over Pyrite town and gain the edge, an edge that was quickly lost a week later. Nevertheless, his info-gathering skills were finally recognized, and he became the head of one of the recon teams.

He's currently in friendly territory in Agate town, still studying.

Pokemon:

Cartesian the Probopass: Harold's first Pokemon, a blindly loyal devotee to him in all he does. Harold uses him as a defensive wall that none shall go past, in case he needs anything like that. Harold got him as a 10th birthday present. Aside from his loyalty, he's a calm and collected head in troubled waters.

Boquet the Shiny Roserade: Harold has filthy luck. The first Shiny he ever found (and the only one he met in Unova), Boquet is a devious b**ch who would gladly destroy the world and ascend to godhood if given the slightest chance. She's joined with Harold to give herself a better chance at that, for the record. Harold Jackson has not let her get even a slight hint of a chance thus far, but she's still on the lookout a rare Roserade with Psychic and Fae powers helps her 'ambitions', though she herself is mute. Harold is still training Boquet to be combat ready.

Truxican the Hitmontop: The first Pokemon he found in Orre, Truxican is a ruthless fighter who appreciates Harold for taking him into his care as a Tyrouge, and appreciates him DEARLY at that. He's the guy that Harold gets in case he wants a hole torn in something and he can't do it.

Phariah the Shiny Excadrill: Again, Harold has filthy luck. The second Shiny he's ever encountered, Harold states he found him while walking around in Gaeton Port, as he dug up from a sewer pipe. Phariah is a hopeless lover smitten by anything, especially other Excadrill of the opposite gender. His ability to GET at said gender opposites is...Lacking.

Critius the Shiny Luxray: HAROLD HAS FILTHY F***ING LUCK. The THIRD Shiny he's ever encountered, Critius was a random lost Pokemon that Harold found in Gaeton Port, and like Truxican, Harold took her in. Yes, Her. Her ability to sneak and see through walls is a much-appreciated power for Harold, considering his profession.

Harold does not have a sixth Pokemon. He's looking for one to fill his team, though. A full six-pack is the best kind.

Powers:

Changer: 9. This man's primary trick is that he can change into almost any form he wants, very quickly at that, but must obey conservation of mass laws. He can copy anything given the time, think up of defensive mechanisms (like growing metal or spikes or wings), assuming appropriate biomass, and in short, don almost any form imaginable. Almost, as he's restricted by biomass. He can split off biomass in case he legitimately needs to become smaller/lighter/whatever, and must rejoin with it later if he wants to get bigger. Conversely, if he wants to be a larger form, he must absorb biomass in order to get conservation of mass working with him, but ONLY the biomass of RECENTLY deceased sentients-People or Pokemon who are dead for less than 1 minute (biomass he's absorbed previously doesn't count). Biological but non-sentient, living sentients, or non-biological substances, cannot be absorbed. As a note, NO, he does not gain forms by 'eating' these recently deceased ones. He has to recall any form he may take from scratch no matter what, and absorbing the body doesn't help. The reason why he's a 9 and not a 10 is because he lacks a way to just directly ignore the conservation of mass laws and transform into whatever he wants, henceforth limiting him, and must alter biomass to take larger/smaller forms.

Trump: 4. Harold can change into nearly-perfect physical copies of another being with enough time, but interestingly, like a Ditto (hence the nickname), if Harold comes across a Pokemon and copies parts or all of its biology, he gains access to moves and abilities that Pokemon may have that correspond to said biology-and he can use any move the Pokemon can have if he dons the complete form. He cannot copy Parahuman powers, for reasons that are still unexplained.

Stranger: 7. Harold can don the forms of others, assuming he knows what they looks like. Having a model to base it off of is best for this kind of thing. He may not be able to completely get it, but he can come incredibly close, and what he can't get right he can hide under clothes.

Other: (NARPH SOMEONE STOLE MY MOON!!!) Any reminders to Prototype are coincidental.

[VeloJello]

Two things. One, are Dream World abilities kosher; two, can you let us know a date for this in advance? I know myself and I know I'll be very cross if I end up having to wade through a sea of posts at the start of this.

[Popshakes]

Two things. One, are Dream World abilities kosher; two, can you let us know a date for this in advance? I know myself and I know I'll be very cross if I end up having to wade through a sea of posts at the start of this.

Ohh, I would like to know about the Dream World abilities as well. I gave some of my Pokemon their special abilities without asking if it was alright or not. :o

[Dragon Master Mike]

Death's Spook? I wanted to get your opinion on a character with the ability to change pokemon into shadow pokemon. Does this sound ok or should i scrap that idea?

[Death's Spook]

Two things. One, are Dream World abilities kosher; two, can you let us know a date for this in advance? I know myself and I know I'll be very cross if I end up having to wade through a sea of posts at the start of this.

DW is kosher. Otherwise, Tazz/Popshakes would have already gotten yelled at. And I don't have an exact date. I'll announce it a couple days before I actually start it, though.

[Popshakes]

I don't know if this has already been mentioned or not, but, are powers able to develop and grow further throughout the RP? I was thinking of having one of my characters start out with very low strength power-wise but then s/he develops it further throughout the course of the RP.

[Death's Spook]

I don't know if this has already been mentioned or not, but, are powers able to develop and grow further throughout the RP? I was thinking of having one of my characters start out with very low-strength power-wise but then s/he develops it further throughout the course of the RP.

The powers themselves would be constant. But I'd be perfectly fine with the /applications/ of the powers growing. For example, let's say your power is to control bugs. Although that couldn't change, I'd be perfectly fine if, for example, you acquired some black widows or brown recluses to really hurt your opponents.

[Popshakes]

The powers themselves would be constant. But I'd be perfectly fine with the /applications/ of the powers growing. For example, let's say your power is to control bugs. Although that couldn't change, I'd be perfectly fine if, for example, you acquired some black widows or brown recluses to really hurt your opponents.

Alright, how about if, say, someone controlled the power of wind and was able to stir it up whenever they pleased. However, through the course of the RP they trained and applied themselves to learn to control stronger wind currents and have formed it into tornados now (same wind current as before, just stronger in the sense they've trained themselves to produce something different).

For example:
Karly was in a cluster and gained the strange ability to shape and move the wind at her will. Although her power level may stay constant, let's say 7, she's unsure of her own abilities. As she grows throughout the RP she finds that she can form and control her powers to shape a stronger and much more powerful wind force - a tornado. She isn't gaining new powers, just developing her already current abilities.

Is that fine, or is that a no-no?

[Death's Spook]

Alright, how about if, say, someone controlled the power of wind and was able to stir it up whenever they pleased. However, through the course of the RP they trained and applied themselves to learn to control stronger wind currents and have formed it into tornados now (same wind current as before, just stronger in the sense they've trained themselves to produce something different).

For example:
Karly was in a cluster and gained the strange ability to shape and move the wind at her will. Although her power level may stay constant, let's say 7, she's unsure of her own abilities. As she grows throughout the RP she finds that she can form and control her powers to shape a stronger and much more powerful wind force - a tornado. She isn't gaining new powers, just developing her already current abilities.

Is that fine, or is that a no-no?

Yup. That's fine.