Niko
-- Niko
A runaway human teenager/firefly hybrid that escaped his lonely and chaotic home with his one friend Rikka to find a new home to build a new life. Though Rikka wishes to use the wish to save him from the curse that’s killing him, he wishes to guarantee the two of them will have a new, safe home far, far away from the mages that cursed him to spend his last days in peace with her.
Table of Contents
BackstoryNiko grew up one of seven siblings in a both lonely and chaotic home. Niko would frequently fantasise about moving somewhere more peaceful. He had no friends growing up except for Rikka, who he eventually decides to run away with after his home life became completely unbearable. Along the way, Rikka got kidnapped by an underground mage cult who intended to put a curse on her that would turn her into an energy source for their staves and machines. Niko used a flashbang attack to blind the mages at the last second to save her. However, as a result, he ended up cursing him instead of Rikka. The curse now is slowly killing him, causing Niko and Rikka to attempt to find a way to lift it on top of their original goal and avoiding the cult.
PersonalityObservant and curious, Niko tends to pick up details in his surroundings most don’t, this extends to his ability to read people, with his perceptions of them usually being accurate. He’s shy and soft spoken, so it's hard for him to express himself but he does try to speak up when his input could be useful. Niko has always had an interest in learning about different people (though Rikka’s the only one he’s ever gotten close to) and a desire to explore new places, which despite his acceptance of his fate he hopes to use some of his remaining time to do while in Crossroads. |
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Abilities
[Light Beams]
Niko fires beams of light horizontally or vertically that do small, repeated damage as long as they’re touching the enemy. Can inflict negative status effects such as dizziness, confusion or impaired vision.
[Healing Light]
Niko can summon a large healing light that slowly heals anyone or anything caught in it and inflicts positive status ailments like regeneration and slightly increased strength and speed.
[Spark]
Quickly causes a small flash of sparkling light that can disorientate opponents. Does little damage.
[Glow]
Niko’s firefly bulb is often glowing, making seeing and navigating dark spaces easier. He can turn it on or off, but a weird side effect of his curse is it’ll sometimes flicker on/off involuntarily.
[Flight]
Weakned due to his curse to only 2-3 minutes, Niko is still able to fly if he takes his jacket off.
[Poison Blood]
Like actual fireflies, Niko’s blood is poisonous to consume just in case any competitor wants to try that. This is NOT a result of his curse; it's always been like that.
[Curse]
Niko’s curse from the cult mages. Slowly fills his body with a mysterious substance that will start weakening him and putting a strain on his body before it kills him. After which his whole body will turn into a crystal-like material that can be cut up or used for energy soon after. Physical symptoms it (so far) induced in him include coughing, physical weakness, low energy, skin turning pale and weight gain (despite it making him thin as a stick) Niko’s blood, if touched, will electrocute opponents as a result of the curse. His blood is dark purplish crimson instead of red.
It’s unknown how long he has to live.
[Flashbang]
Niko’s ultimate attack. A massive ball of light is fired ahead of him before it explodes causing massive damage, possible blindness and major status ailments for anyone hit by it. Niko’s physical state already severely limits how much magic he can use so this attack will only be able to be used once in the entire tournament.
[Fighting Style]
Due to his physical state, it’s basically guaranteed he’ll be in the Assist role the whole OCT but that doesn't mean he’s useless. He actively tries to provide Rikka with strategy whenever he can, and his observant nature helps him identify weaknesses in both fighting style and character of his and Rikka’s opponents. Whether Rikka listens or not can vary, but Niko generally tries to stand back for obvious reasons and will cast heals and his AOE and DPS attacks whenever it's safe to.
Strengths
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Observant and a good strategist. He’s good at reading people and predicting opponent’s behaviour.
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Good listener and empathetic despite his background, makes it easy for people to like him. Might even attempt to use these skills to negotiate with some opponents.
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Bulb increases his ability to help him and RIkka navigate in dark spaces.
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Spells have a long range and have good utility.
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His spells don’t actually use that much energy (bar Flashbang) so despite his state, he can still use them for a while before he gets too weak to.
Weaknesses
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Physically basically useless, has little mobility and energy.
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Niko sometimes will start to give up on trying to provide strategy to Rikka after she hasn’t listened to him for too long.
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Since he’s heavier than he looks, his flying ability is limited to a couple of minutes at a time, as a result he wears a jacket that doesn’t have holes for his wings to fit out of.
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Spells are more support oriented than attack oriented with the exception of Spark (which is weak) and Flashbang. This makes it hard to break Rikka out of dangerous situations she gets into.
Gallery
[Ref Sheet] | [item description] | [item description] |
Author's Notes
I may draw a ref for this down the line, but Niko actually does have wings, his jacket just doesn’t have holes for them to fit through like Rikka’s does. With his physical state, he’s barely able to fly anyway. His sweatshirt is long sleeved under the coat.