Ingrid Huntington

A Bisharp Bancho? In my PCC? It's more likely than you'd think!

Careful around this one; she'll cut ya!

Basic Profile
Name: Ingrid Huntington

Species: Bisharp

Ability: Defiant

Gender: Female

Age: 23

Physical Description:  Standing in at 5' 11" tall, and with her lithe form festooned with razor-sharp blades, Ingrid is at once both alluring and imposing, giving off a palpable aura of menace even when she's not on the battlefield - a fact that is not helped by her legendarily violent reputation and vicious disposition. She wears a heavy overcoat designed to work with her existing built-in armor, and her body incorporates multiple razor-sharp blades she uses offensively, including a retractable one on each arm, a blade on her head, and a pair of bladed, tripartite claws on each foot that are known for making her look like she's wearing high-heeled boots. She weighs in at over 300 pounds due to to the metal in her body, which seems to be of a lighter weight than that within Valerie or Ruka.

Personality: Proud, violent, and something of a loner, Ingrid tends to keep to herself, and has little that others might envy or appreciate as far as her grating personality goes; she sees herself as superior to most other opponents, actively looking for someone who can give her a decent challenge. At this point the somewhat-taciturn and haughty Bisharp contorts into a terrifying battlefield presence, in which she throws herself into a fight as if possessed. Sadistic and aggressive, Ingrid is only held back by the fact that she will at least submit to faculty authority and her bizarre and oft-contradictory moral code; she only fights those she feels are worth it. Targets she considers worthy, however, will frequently be the subject of being targetted by her for later fights - regardless of whether or not they wish to. She has a noted fondness for dragging enemies of her along and forcing them into situations to test their mettle, an action which has gotten her into trouble on several occasions.

History: Ingrid has an unfortunate past. Growing up dirt-poor in Castelia City, Ingrid was the youngest of five siblings, and she was routinely ostracized amongst her Pawniard brothers and sisters for being the smallest, a drawback she compensated for by being quicker and more intelligent than they were. With their mother, a Gothitelle who worked as a data analyst for a company in Castelia the family's only source of income and her father having ran out when her and her siblings were very young, Ingrid grew up in a climate of constant desperation.

With her mother essentially absentee, she and her siblings wound up on the wrong side of the law several times, and her eldest brother eventually wound up going to jail in an incident that Ingrid saw as permanently marring her family's honor. Seeing a potential opportunity, the smallest Pawniard took charge in a time of crisis; she was the first of her siblings to evolve, as well as the first to start working to help her family. It was thanks to her pushing for it so hard that the rest of her siblings abandoned the "crabs in a bucket" mentality they had prescribed to and actually began to find a way out of the mess they had lived in for so long. She ultimately had to sacrifice quite a bit of schooling in favor of working full time, though she did manage to graduate; some time later, however, her diligence was rewarded. She was able to go to the PCC through the combined efforts of her siblings and mother, after she got proper certification.

Though Ingrid never speaks of her family, she cares for them very much, and hopes to make something of herself when her schooling is complete.

After arriving in the PCC, some of the darker aspects of her personality began to once more emerge; she loves to fight, and she constantly seeks new challenges. Though she's not openly vicious towards those that she feels don't deserve it, she has very little mercy and carries herself with the composure of someone who is best not to be trifled with, as befitting of someone who grew up as she did.

She carries an especially big dislike for those who use money or station to hold authority, which may have a lot to do with her penchant for tormenting Julia. She also has had it out with Dante, though the actual origin of their conflict is unknown. She gets along well enough with Paola, however, and can be seen drinking black coffee at the Blissey's establishment quite often. She is rather fond of Arthur, and seems to have a particular dislike for Ruka. Curiously, she seems to get along well with Melanie.

She is rumored to find Red cute.

Student Profile
Major: Professional Battling/Economics

Grade level: Junior

Team: Independent

Team Role: Mercenary

Other Team Members: None

Ingrid is not on a team per se, but she will mercurially assist other teams, especially if doing so will give her someone worth fighting or some other material gain somehow.

Strategy: How Ingrid fights is directly tied to the target. If she views the target as being not worth her time, she'll generally fight fairly lax, and won't generally make a good showing of it. Targets who pique her curiousity or she considers an equal, however, cause her to show her true skill. Either way, she revels in close-combat, relishing any chance to turn her attentions - and bladed limbs - against a worthy foe.

In combat, Ingrid can shift from relentlessly overpowering to precise and quick in short order. Opponents she wants to make an example of she will often fight defensively against for several rounds, using Hone Claws to boost her accuracy and damage, before finishing them off with one strike using Guillotine. Other foes she tends to grind down with a furious assault, dogging them with fierce strikes until she's taken the target down.

Strengths:
 * Battle: Ingrid's combat style is best described as merciless. Developed in fights with criminals and other delinquents in her home city in her youth, Ingrid's MO in combat is terribly simple: Bring the target down as quickly as possible. Ingrid may not have a versatile moveset, but the moves she does have, in the words of Valerie, absolutely hurt like hell and are capable of ending a fight as quick as it began. When she actually chooses to apply herself, Ingrid is a serious threat, one who won't hesitate to use everything at her disposal ASAP in a non-stop flurry.


 * Social: Ingrid has relatively few social strengths people will recognize; she has a grating personality, arguably criminal narcissism, and a desire to stir up trouble that is hard to genuinely appreciate. There are, however, good traits under it all: a desire to nuture and protect, and a willingness to do whatever is necessary to help those she legitimately cares about. She has some leadership traits and occasionally has been known to give "from the wrong side of the tracks" advice to up-and-coming fighters, as well. Her enemies, however, have painted a different story: That the best that can be said is that her warped code of honor has prevented her from being any worse.


 * Academia: Ingrid's academic background mirrors her combat performance; when she needs to, she will put her head to the grindstone and quickly hammer out what she needs to in order to keep herself in the green as far as grades are concerned.

Weaknesses: 


 * Battle: Ingrid rarely applies herself fully except when against someone she considers either worth looking into or on her level. When she's not in such a battle, she rarely actually fights well, using bog-standard tactics and none of the flourish she's known for. This doesn't make her less dangerous, but it does make her predictable; enemies are much more able to read her movements and tactics when she's not giving her all.


 * Social: As stated in her Strengths section, Ingrid's weaknesses in this area generally outweigh her strengths. She is arrogant, brash, violent, unpredictable, and frequently unreliable.


 * Academia: Ingrid's academic background mirrors her combat performance; She frequently doesn't apply herself until she absolutely has to, ergo resulting in her having to work far harder just to keep her grades from slipping too far.

Current Classes:


 * 1) Combat Applications
 * 2) Business Mathematics
 * 3) Housing and Urban Development
 * 4) Add More as Time Allows

Moveset
Starter
 * Psycho Cut
 * One of the rare moves suggesting Ingrid's heritage, Psycho Cut enables Ingrid to charge her blades with latent psionic energy before releasing them as a pair of shockwaves. The waves have a surprisingly long effective range, and, due to their blade-released nature, are quite effective at scoring particularly jarring strikes even through armor. Thankfully, the fact that the shockwaves are quite large works against them; smarter mon have managed to evade them just by taking advantage of terrain effectively. Note that the shockwave need not be delivered via an armblade; at least once, Ingrid has released it via a kick from her footblades.


 * Sucker Punch
 * "Who strikes first, wins." Such is a rule of combat that's widely-documented and remains true on almost every battlefield, but is especially true for Ingrid, whose fierce offense relies on her getting in a strike quickly and resoundingly. By utilizing the glare off her blades and other tricks, Ingrid can trick opponents into thinking she isn't approaching effectively, or at a vastly different speed, ergo allowing her to strike first in a round. Sadly, her motion camouflage tricks only work when an opponent is trying to go offensive; should an opponent use a non-offensive move, Ingrid's attempt will often fail.


 * Swords Dance
 * A nasty trick in which Ingrid reinforces the metal blades in her body - especially on her arms, causing them to develop serrated edges more likely to catch on opponents and inflict additional damage. Ingrid usually uses this to bolster her attack in pitched battles, or if an opponent is so heavily armored that she's unable to breach their defenses in any other fashion.


 * Guillotine
 * Easily Ingrid's most-feared move, Guillotine delivers a devastating strike aimed directly at a vital point. Should it be successful, the strike will, without exception, deliver an absolutely devastating critical strike - often taking opponents down in one hit! This attack was rather infamously used in a battle against Valerie, wherein Ingrid chopped off her hairmaw by severing it at its root. Due to the amount of strength and precision required, Ingrid is unlikely to actually score a strike with this attack except on an opponent who has been staggered or if she's bolstered herself with Hone Claws, but the mere threat of it is an aspect that only the insane would dare ignore.

Freshmon (Semester 1)
 * Iron Head
 * Close to 50% of Ingrid's body is covered with razor-sharp blades. Her head is no exception to this. With this attack, Ingrid can slash at an opponent with her head-blade, which, due to its weight and size, is one of the most dangerous blades on her body. Due to its axe-like blade, Ingrid can easily knock an opponent off-balance with this strike, leading to flinching, if not flat-out knocking them off their feet. Because Ingrid tries to press every advantage in combat, this attack's threat can quickly steamroll, so evading or finding a way to defend against this attack is key for anyone facing the Bisharp in single combat.


 * Night Slash
 * "In for a Poke, in for a pound of flesh." A Bisharp who grew up fighting dirty on the wrong side of the tracks, nothing quite shows Ingrid's origins quite like this brutal attack. Night Slash causes Ingrid to strike at foes with the sharpened blades of her body, targetting vital locations in the hopes of scoring a critical strike. Ingrid can use any of her body's blades for this, and many opponents have dodged an armblade from Ingrid, just to get nailed by a Night Slash from one of her razor-heeled feet mere seconds later. Thankfully, the aggression exerted in this attack makes it somewhat easier-to-predict than Ingrid's other strikes.

Freshmon (Semester 2)
 * Dual Chop
 * Imbuing her blades with energy, Ingrid unleashes a pair of slashes in succession; these can be either a pair of armblade slashes, a kick slash pair, or any combination of the two. Regardless of the source, the attack is extremely effective against Dragon-types, which Ingrid characteristically had a very difficult time with until she learned this move. Because the attack itself must be commenced in close-combat, and because it relies on both strikes to maximize damage, opponents can often escape getting hit by both if their skill is up to snuff.


 * Hone Claws
 * On many mon, two abilities that increase attack power might be seen as redundant. Such is not the case for Ingrid. Whilst Swords Dance is used to increase the lethality of Ingrid's blades, Hone Claws improves their aerodynamics and optimizes their edge composition to increase accuracy as well as attack power. It is primarily used to bolster her accuracy to enable Guillotine to strike with any degree of success. An especially common tactic Ingrid uses is to fight defensively for several rounds, using Hone Claws repeatedly, before using Guillotine to end the fight with a single overbearing strike.

Sophomore (Semester 1)
 * Poison Jab
 * "He who lives dirty, fights dirty." Ingrid is all-too-willing to drop any facades of personal honor when a fight occurs, and this doesn't exclude the use of toxins. Envenomating the blades in her body, Ingrid delivers a fierce strike that can poison an enemy, leading to health loss over time. As is the case for many of Ingrid's moves, she can use any of her body's blades to deliver this strike, and has been known to even use the ones on her chest and abdomen to deliver it if all other methods fail. She is especially fond of using this against mon that would otherwise outmaneuver her.


 * Stone Edge
 * Developed as an attack against flyers, Ingrid delivers a heavy slash after imbuing a blade with energy, significant impact due to being imbued with rock-type energy. The resulting strike has been compared to its victims as feeling like slash from a blade covered in sandpaper. Due to its heavy impact, it's capable of breaking through defenses, and staggering opponents as well. Due to it being something of a brute force attack, however, it has somewhat lower accuracy. It can be used to target the ground as well, causing an avalanche of debris - this does much less damage, but has range, and Ingrid will often use this to cover retreats or approaches.

Sophomore (Semester 2)
 * Snatch
 * Developed primarily as a way to take down opponents who favored the use of buff abilities, Snatch lets Ingrid latch onto the energies of a buff effect, and copy it for her own use. Though normally used to copy abilities like Double Team, Agility, and Calm Mind, Ingrid's been also able to Snatch more tangible effects as well; she once managed to Snatch Ruka's Iron Defense, which similarly plated her with external armor, and she similarly managed to Snatch an Aqua Ring from Julius once during a fight, which duplicated the effect of the Empoleon's healing aura. She has been known to use it to copy effects from teammates during double and triple battles. Effects like Dragon Dance and Quiver Dance are particularly irresistable to Ingrid, and are generally given priority, followed by defensive effects like Reflect and Light Screen.


 * Taunt
 * Ingrid has mastered a means of mocking opponents to piss them off, and, if successful, she can force them to attack her to the exclusion of all else. This tactic is often used by Ingrid to pull threatening opponents away from allies, or prevent sneakier opponents from relying on support moves or buffs. Though she has several different poses she'll use for it, the most common involves her advancing slowly towards the opponent, arms outstretched and looking about in a gesture of mocking obesiance.

Junior (Semester 1)
 * Baton Pass
 * Ingrid frequently acts as a Mercenary for other teams - hiring herself out to shore up one team or another's defenses or offensives (during internecine team rivalries, she's been known to swap sides as mood strikes her). To assist with this, Ingrid's gotten some positive feedback for her ability to pass on copied buffs (from Snatch) as well as her own offensive enhancements. Theoretically, she can also use this to pass on hazardous traits to a teammate, such as a Leech Seed, though there are no recorded cases of her doing so.... Yet. Ingrid does have a reputation for being an unreliable - if potent - ringer for whatever team she works for, however, so long as they can keep her motivated.


 * Low Kick
 * A sweeping strike from one of Ingrid's legblades damages the foe, and, due to impact, may knock them down. Because it relies on centrifugal force, the heavier the target is, the more damage they will take from this attack. It is commonly used by Ingrid to break through other Steel-types, and is often used by Ingrid to complete a charge attack, hopefully knocking enemies to the ground and enabling her to set them up for further damage. Should one of Ingrid's Legblades become damaged, she will do less damage with this attack, but the impact will remain the same irregardless.

Trivia

 * Ingrid has worked for more teams during her tenure than most of the PCC. This is primarily due to her mercenary tendencies, and hiring herself out to assist other teams on a case-by-case basis. There was one incident, with two teams fighting, where Ingrid wound up hired repeatedly by both sides. It apparently ended badly, and Ingrid does not like to talk about it.
 * Ingrid is a regular at Paola's cafe, the Brew Ha Ha. She has an intense love of black coffee; the stronger and hotter, the better. Many who've tried the brews Ingrid savors find them absolutely disgusting, though the Bisharp seems to have a bit of respect for anyone who can stomach a full cup.
 * Ingrid and Dante purportedly have a bit of an ongoing conflict dating back to one particularly spectacular incident at the Brew Ha Ha that wound up getting both expelled from the premesises for one month. According to witnesses, it was over the last slice of an especially delicious strawberry poffin-cake. This incident is especially noteworthy as both Dante and Ingrid were generally considered some of the more stable customers at this establishment prior to this. Ultimately, neither recieved the last slice of cake.
 * Despite being considered attractive by several, Ingrid tends to not approach romantic relationships well. According to several familiar with her, this is because Ingrid's being covered with razor-sharp blades does tend to inhibit someone attempting to get close to her (physically or metaphorically).