Valerie Eisenfaust

"Mine will be the hairmaw to unseat the very gods themselves...!!"

- Valerie, boasting to Dante, approximately 5 years ago, after starting team Steel Hearts.

Basics
Name: Valerie Eisenfaust

Species/Form: Mawile (Can use Mega Form)

Type: Steel/Fairy

Ability: Intimidate (Huge Power in Mega Form)

Hold Item: Mega Ring. This item is required for Valerie to properly use her Mawilite.

Gender: Female

Age: 24

Physical description: Valerie is particularly large for a Mawile, in every sense of the word, towering over many others at 5' 11" - and that's not counting the mass of animate metal that is her hair-maw. She has an atheletic, curvy build and is well-known for being especially well-endowed in the chest department, something Val has been known, up until several years ago, for shamelessly using in fights against males. She tends to favor clothes with a military aesthetic, including the beret she tends to wear, As she has metal hooves, she generally does not wear footwear. Due to her metallic skeleton, Valerie weighs over 400 pounds.

Personality: Valerie is aggressive, hot-tempered, violent, brave, and above all else, ambitious. Valerie seeks above all else to become stronger; more than once she has claimed that hers will be the hair-maw to fell gods, and given her tendency to pick fights, several have claimed that if anyone could do so, it would be Valerie. Once victimized in the past, it can be said that her relentless drive to get stronger and stay there is a direct result of her being incredibly vulnerable at one point.

To those not familiar with her, Val can come across as obstinate or even obsessive in regards to her personal power, if not as something of a bully; she and Marcel got off to a rather infamously bad start because of this. She is notoriously able to nurse a grudge if she feels sufficiently wronged. A theory once put forward by several, most notably Vivian, is that Valerie despises her own weaknesses and works extremely hard to either mitigate or overcome them - this is true of both physical issues (her vulnerability to fire, which Valerie has faced primarily by exposing herself on purpose to try to inure herself to it) and mental ones (she is known to have handled the loss of several teammates especially horribly). This is arguably made worse by a tendency to internalize her losses and faults.

A softer side to the Mawile can be seen under the surface. With those she cares about, Valerie can be kind, nurturing, and supportive. She is willing to put herself in harm's way to help keep others safe, and she's willing to personally sacrifice so that those she cares about don't - so long as doing so won't impede her long-term goals, at any rate. She is extremely protective of those closest to her, especially her teammates.

She gets along fairly well with Dan, and to a lesser degree, Blake. She dislikes Aaron, however. Val has a strained relationship with Krys; the younger Mawile takes serious umbrage with the risks Val was willing to take in regards to her Mega Stone, so despite their being family, they could not be more different. She likes Vivian and Orpheus, but Ming-Ming's boundless optimism confuses and irritates her. Val's on neutral terms with both Melanie and Arthur, despite considerable friction; Valerie was actually willing to help train Arthur in spite of their differences, and they maintain at least an acceptable working relationship. Valerie absolutely loathes Ruka; the gruff Lucario manages to invariably bring out the worst in the Mawile, and the two have been known to go at it in marathon slug-fests that can last for hours. Valerie, being more experienced and with superior typing, has tended to get the upper hand in these encounters in the past, and tends to lord over that fact, which in turn has led to pissing Ruka off even more, and, consequently, even more fighting.

History: Beyond any doubt, Val's single most complicated relationship is with her long-time rival, Dante Rothschild. The two have known one another since middle school, where Val, as a transfer student, wound up attending many of the same classes Dante did. The pair first came to one another's attention during a game of dodgeball, where Dante managed to outshine the Mawile fairly spectacularly but lost anyway due to a rules violation. The two quickly became both friends, and, likewise, competitors. Wherever one was, the other was never far behind, the two constantly trying to one-up one another and show off their strength to each other.

When Valerie eventually wound up having a boyfriend that was quite abusive, Dante did not pick up on the warning signs; his first real indication that something was wrong, other than his screaming at Valerie was when Valerie came within striking distance of killing him, wrapping her hairmaw's jaws around him and attempting to crush his ribcage between her jaws. Police were called, and Valerie was nearly expelled - and would have been, had Dante and others not collaborated and explained what happened. The effect on Valerie, however, was profound: Val's abuse had turned her much colder - and much less naive. It was at this point that she started to fight as a career, something that initially led to some friction as the Mawile and Blaziken quickly became rivals.

Though Valerie will never admit to it, she actually cared for Dante quite a bit during this time. According to Hestia, at times, they've almost seemed like more than friends (or did until Dante began dating her sister), but their personalities always clashed too much for any romantic relationship, with Val too stubborn and recalcitrant and Dante too invested in his own development for them to really see eye-to-eye.

Val grew embittered over the course of their rivalry in professional battling some time early into their collegiate years; though Val often denies it, Dante beat her roughly 65% of the time. All the power she had made little difference if she couldn't hit Dante in the first place, and Dante's superior typing continued to thwart her. Val's drive to exceed her rival could be described, at the very least, as obsessive; she would throw everything into training, strengthening herself, and making herself stronger just to fight him. Quickly, her single-mindedness in this pursuit became the subject of many stories, not all of them complimentary. When members of her team left to pursue schooling abroad, rumors that the departing teammates - including Valerie's boyfriend - abandoned her due to her wanting to best Dante became commonplace, and Valerie did not react to these well.

Unfortunately, try as she might, she was never able to meet Dante on a direct level, and when her team started to splinter, Valerie took it personally, pushing herself all the harder to pick up the slack. Driving herself to what could only be described as insane lengths to beat Dante on her own terms, Valerie continued to lose. All of this came to a head in a team fight where Val took on Dante in what she felt was to be the chance to prove herself - and which turned out to be the most crushing loss she had suffered to date. By all accounts, she completely shut down for several days from this, and neither her teammates nor Dante had any idea where she had gone or what she was doing. By the time she resurfaced, she had her Mawilite, and resentment had fostered in the Mawile a new purpose: to finally show herself the strongest, no matter the price...

Grade level: Senior

Major/Minor: Professional Battling/World History & Culture

Team: Steel Hearts (Captain)

Other members: Archie

Role/Purpose on team: Team Captain/Leader

Moves: To be filled in.

Strengths:


 * Battle: Valerie is tough as nails and hits like a freight train. She is not particularly fast, nor particularly smart, but she can be quite clever, can fight up-close or from far away, and she is extremely quick to exploit a vulnerability. Other mon frequently outmaneuver her, can strike more effectively, or fight with more finesse, but Val's raw strength and ability to keep standing when the smoke clears makes her a terrifying opponent for the inexperienced. She is renowned for her being willing to face down entire teams of mon she'd otherwise be weak against just to test her mettle, and when in fights never retreats nor surrenders. Balls-out persistence and brute force are her stock and trade, and her recent access to her mega form has only made this more so.


 * Social: Valerie is a leader, and she knows this fact. Her mother, a Military-trained Mawile, is Val's primary inspiration, and she tends to run Team Steel Hearts like a gang of military irregulars - a gang of specialists who work best when allowed just enough free reign to do what they do best. With her teammates, Val is supportive, caring, and genuinely wants what's best for them and for them to dominate the proverbial scoreboards. Her teammates look up to her - not only for her skill in combat, but for her willingness to push herself and fight right alongside them.


 * Academia: Valerie is quick to take advantage of new information, processes new experiences well, and can be counted on to learn from major mistakes. Whilst by no means an exceptional student, her dedication in combat has been known to bleed through; Val will always, at the very least, eke by with her grades, pushing heaven as hell to get over the bar as needed, all else be damned.

Weaknesses: 


 * Battle: Valerie's overconfidence is easily her biggest failing. She frequently underestimate foes, makes bad tactical choices against her rivals, and allows herself to be taken advantage of in a fight. The fact that she's often winning despite this is more due to her own power than anything else. Moreover, Val is legendary for the terrifying amount of abuse she's willing to take in a fight, often to the point of collapse. Val's lack of willingness to even admit she's been hurt has multiple times resulted in lengthy infirmary stays, and the kinds of injuries she's suffered at the hands of rivals and still refused to accept defeat from chills the blood.
 * Social: Valerie is a bit awkward socially. She gets along well with her friends but is generally slow to trust and frequently makes a bad first impression due to her ferocious demeanor. She has a bad tendency to pick fights and has been referenced to various guidance counselors in the PCC multiple times for her tendency to get into trouble. There are concerns that her Mega Stone is increasingly making her unstable, though all tests have shown this to be false thus far.
 * Academia: Val in general is a squarely-average student. She shows mechanical aptitude and is a quick learner, but this is generally the extent of her upsides school-wise. Her dedication to fighting is rarely talked upon in a positive light by her teachers, and Val's noted for "just scraping by" in many of her classes.

Current Classes:


 * 1) Combat Applications
 * 2) History of War II
 * 3) Hoenn History
 * 4) Automotive Repair
 * 5) English Lit

Moveset
Starter
 * Crunch
 * Undignified and not terribly graceful, but nonetheless effective, Val slams her hairmaw's jaws onto the target with shattering force - not unlike an oversized bear trap. Due to the mass of her hairmaw, its sizable teeth, and considerable crushing power, this move is quite capable of shredding off some of the target's defense, in addition to the damage it causes. Though risky, Val can attempt to initiate a grab should she land a solid enough hit with Crunch, opening the target up to further abuse.


 * Thief
 * Since she began fighting, Valerie proved willing to do anything to win, and one of the first things she learned was how to snatch away a target's held item during an attack. By using conventional moves to screen the theft attempt, Val's hairmaw is usually what grabs the item, enabling Valerie to both attack and pull away an item in one smooth action. The damage of this move is negligable, however.


 * Flash Cannon
 * Valerie's first ranged attack is usually fired after she swings her hairmaw onto her shoulder and aims it like a shoulder-fired heavy weapon. The blast is presaged by a horrid screech of metal-on-metal, and a blinding white glow from her hairmaw before it discharges a powerful bolt of energy, dealing damage through a combination of concussive force and heat. The long range and decent efficiency of this attack makes it quite menacing to the uninitiated, which makes it a centerpiece of Valerie's long-range offensives. As time has gone on, the Mawile has become quite adept at using it along with other moves.


 * Attract
 * If there is one move in Valerie's arsenal that surmises her attitude of doing anything to win, it is this one. Up until recently, Valerie frequently extorted her attractive appearance in order to distract and momentarily throw off-balance nearby enemies - traditionally, this lasted just long enough for Valerie to get her hairmaw's jaws around her unwitting paramour to deliver a Super Fang. Valerie has, however, over time, grown loath to use this, seeing it as a sign of her own weakness and having to resort to measures that are otherwise distasteful in order to secure a win.

Freshmon (Semester 1)
 * Flamethrower
 * Valerie is rumored to have learned this attack from Tet. She can fire it from her hairmaw regardless of position, but tends to aim it from her shoulder, like she does with Flash Cannon, for better accuracy. When engaged, Valerie's hairmaw spews forth an powerful stream of liquid fire, threatening to ignite anything unfortunate enough to be caught in its firing line. Capable of sweeping large areas quickly, the primary drawbacks of this attack is that Valerie cannot continue the stream very long without risking backblast, and the range is much shorter than her other projectile attacks.


 * Stone Edge
 * Stone Edge is another attack that focuses on brute force. By using her hairmaw to generate additional centrifugal force, Valerie can punch the ground, causing an array of roughly-hewn sharpened rock blades to burst up from below, threatening to rend any in their path. Thankfully somewhat short-ranged, Valerie has been known to knock the resulting stone spikes into the air with her hairmaw as a follow-up to attack flying targets, albeit with somewhat less accuracy.

Freshmon (Semester 2)
 * Ice Beam
 * Focusing on a target, Valerie can bring to bear a surprisingly accurate, long-ranged beam of cryogenic energy, snap-freezing targets and inflicting ice-based damage on contact. Due to the duration of the beam, it's more effective if Valerie can hold it on a target, causing ice to accrue and increasing both the damage and the chance to encase the target entirely in ice. On the rare occasion Valerie freezes a target, she almost invariably follows it up with Super Fang or Crunch to attempt to deliver a finishing strike. Whilst Valerie can fire Ice Beam without aiming it, its accuracy is horrendous if fired in such a fashion and tends to be wildly inaccurate, so she generally only fires it from the shoulder.


 * Super Fang
 * A grab move; Valerie wraps her jaws around a victim and proceeds to shake it violently before slamming her helpless prey into the floor with crushing finality. She will generally only use this move on a helpless target or one that she's grabbed via Crunch. The damage from this is almost invariably catastrophic; though Valerie has been known to force a surrender from one use of this attack, it typically cuts a target's current vitality by half. Damage can be minimized if the target manages to get free before the attack worsens, but the odds are against it due to the Hairmaw's strength and sharpened teeth.

Sophomore (Semester 1)
 * Poison Fang
 * Val's jaws slaver with a caustic venom that hisses and smokes as she bites at her target violently. The horrid variety of toxins released by her hairmaw causes considerable agony, and can poison the opponent badly due to the intensity of the toxins involved. How Valerie manages to create such poison is unknown; a rumor spread by Monique, however, suggests that she drinks various volatile chemicals to fuel its effects, counting on her own innate resistance to chemicals (being a steel type) to keep her safe from the effects, though given Monique's history, this story is likely incorrect.


 * Thunder Fang
 * Val's hairmaw generates an electrostatic charge before she bites at a target, piercing her victim with her hairmaw's fangs before they emit a painful jolt of electricity. Originally developed as a counter to Rose, this attack came into its own during a lengthy battle with Monique when Valerie managed to finish the Staraptor off by snatching her out of the air with one lucky bite, before dragging her to the ground. In addition to the damage from the electrical surge, the jolt can potentially stun targets, making it useful for hindering foes.

Sophomore (Semester 2)
 * Play Rough
 * The other of Val's grab-initiating moves, Play Rough involves Valerie grabbing her opponent in her hairmaw and chewing on it in a way at best described as "excessive." The longer Val can maintain the attack, the more damage it does, making it extremely dangerous to smaller and weaker opponents; Val needs only grab them up and chew them into unconsciousness. The attack can be escaped by either squirming free or by inflicting enough damage to Val or her hairmaw to get her to drop her victim. If an opponent fails, however, she may use this attack to segue into either Fling or Super Fang.


 * Metal Burst
 * Val had problems dealing with fire attackers; lacking a means to deal with them until relatively recently, Valerie instead hit upon a way to counteract any heavy attack that an opponent may use - provided that she can ready to counter it. When this attack is used, Valerie will swing her hairmaw in front of her and bunker behind it like a tower shield, as her hairmaw grows a number of small, spined metallic nodule clusters filled with a volatile explosive fluid, that act as impromptu explosive reactive armor (ERA). When Valerie's hairmaw is struck by an attack, the nodules explode, sending a blast of white-hot shrapnel outward in response to hostile attacks, like a shotgun blast. Canny attackers have managed to counter this by striking Val from afar (where the blast can do no harm), or by striking so fast that they're out of range before the nodules explode. Unfortunately, the resulting blast tends to dissipate the energy of attacks, so it can also be used to reduce the damage of an oncoming strike that Val otherwise couldn't avoid.

Junior (Semester 1)
 * Fling
 * Fling causes Val to throw an object with immense force. Though the stated ability of Fling is to throw hold items, Valerie has been known to throw just about anything that will fit into her hairmaw at an opponent, including terrain obstacles, furniture, and even other mon. A common trick Valerie will engage in is to grab an opponent (via Play Rough or Crunch) and launch them with considerable force at either an environmental hazard or wall to set them up for a combo. She has also been known to steal enemies' items (with Thief) and throw them at her opponents as a projectile. When used to throw an object or item, the damage done is based on how heavy the object was, so a large rock or an Iron Ball will deal much more damage than, say, a thrown backpack or lunch tray.


 * Frustration
 * Valerie can channel her rage, anger, and annoyance into one single, overpowering shockwave, centered on her position. Though it's capable of being one of Valerie's most powerful attacks, it is generally reserved for when Valerie is losing, as that is when her anger builds to a fever pitch. The impact of this attack, properly channeled, is incredible, capable of hurling foes backwards, and further exacerbating the damage of this formidable blow, offset by the fact that to use it, Valerie has to get to close range and deliver this blow in one singular, overwhelming impact that strikes with immense force. Should Valerie fail to channel the right emotion into the attack, however, this attack is a pale shadow of its true power.

Junior (Semester 2)
 * Iron Defense
 * Not all of Valerie's attacks are offensive. By utilizing this move, Valerie can form a thick crusting of metal across the surface of her body, acting as a sort of pseudo-organic armor that serves as an ablative form of defense, breaking and burning off rather than Val herself taking damage. Iron Defense also substantially increases Valerie's mass, reducing her chances of being knocked down and increasing the damage she does if she falls on an opponent. This ability, curiously, seems to be a case of divergent evolution; Ruka uses a similar armor from her own Iron Defense ability. Though Ruka claims Valerie stole the idea from her (and vice versa), the truth, according to Archie and Mohlya, is that the two developed the attack at the exact same time and for the exact same reason.


 * Hyper Beam
 * Undisputedly Valerie's most powerful attack, as well as her most risky, this attack is always presaged by Valerie gathering a terrifying amount of energy, causing her hairmaw to glow with a violent intensity and energy to surge across the Mawile's form as she struggles to control the terrifying amount of power required for this attack. Once properly charged, Valerie will swing her hairmaw into position and fire it, discharging a crackling red beam of energy that explodes in a massive explosion on impact; the blast is so powerful that it's been known to produce craters thirty feet or more in width. During firing, the backlash that this attack puts on Valerie makes it almost as dangerous to the Mawile as to her intended target; her body smolders with barely-contained energy and her eyes bleed as the intense energy from the attack burns Valerie from within. Regardless of the result of her attack, Valerie must recover for a short time after firing, her body smoking and unable to move for close to 30 seconds due to the drain. Valerie tends to save this attack for battles with her rival, though more recently she's grown fond of using it to end fights with a sense of finality against enemies she wants to make an example of.

Senior (Semester 1)
 * Punishment
 * A rare case of Valerie developing a countermeasure specifically in response to her rival's actions, Punishment causes Valerie to grab an opponent, channeling flickering blackish red energy into their body before it reaches critical mass and detonates, at which point Val hurls the target.On its own, the blast is only moderately damaging, but the blast feeds off the lambent energy of enhancement abilities; the more enhancements the target has, the more damage they'll take. Against Dante, this attack is particularly devastating, since his Speed Boost ability means that he'll inevitably build up enough of an enhancement for Val's strike to cause heavy damage, in spite of her rival's resistance.


 * Brick Break
 * The second case of Valerie developing a specific countermeasure, Brick Break allows Valerie to deliver a tremendously powerful blow (typically a kick) that strikes with such force that it shatters defensive measures such as Reflect and Light Screen. Such protective measures collapse utterly under the attack, so the damage of this blow will not be reduced by their presence. One of her rate fighting-type moves, Valerie will also employ this to deal with foes vulnerable to fighting attacks; she rather infamously used this move to try to take down Marcel when he stole her wallet.

Mega Evolution
Mega Stone Form: Valerie's Mawileite resembles a black metallic stone with a cameo relief of a mawile. Traditionally, she wears it as a hairmaw decoration, typically in a spot-welded on metal socket. Though the socket itself is essentially unremovable without massive force (or an arc welder), the Mega Stone is not quite as heavily secured and in theory could be ejected of the socket itself was sufficiently damaged by impact-based damage. Val tends to instinctively guard it due to its position, which is actually quite close to where a certain opponent once sliced her hairmaw off.

Val's mega form is huge, standing in at roughly 8 feet in height, putting her within striking distance of being as large as her largest teammate, Zeke. Her body bears several pink splotches across it, and though her physique and general features appear roughly similar, Val's mega form is both larger and bulkier, with a look on her face that opponents have described as unstable. According to John, Val's mega form weighs in at over 900 pounds. Her mega form speaks with a booming voice, and its eyes maintain the soft crimson glow they have normally, which makes her come across as rather unsettling in dim light. According to those familiar with it, Val's mega form shakes the ground with each step due to its mass and weight. Tet has taken to derogatorily calling Val's mega form "Gojira," or "Valzilla," and it's questionable whether this is a humor nudge at a long-time acquaintance's expense or an outright mockery (fittingly enough for a Ninetales). Her hairmaw's vocalizations become far more warped, and with both able to emit the same piercing wail that the single one does normally when Val is enraged or hurt, it can come across as even scarier for some.

Pros: Val's Mega form is significantly larger - a hulking brute that is immensely strong and possesses phenomenal striking power, but lacks the mobility of her usual form. Whereas Val outside of her mega form is fast enough to make good use of terrain and avoid enemy attacks or dart around obstacles, such is not the case for Val's Mega form; she will instead simply try to bull past or trample over things in her way, and, due to her size, is essentially unable to take cover and her ability to dodge attacks is painfully limited, forcing the Mawile to rely on tanking out any damage through her sheer size, mass, and, if necessary, use of her Iron Defense ability. Because of her sheer durability, she can take considerable abuse. With two hairmaws, she can cover twice as much area with projectile attacks, or bite from two directions at once, though if one hairmaw uses an energy attack, the other hairmaw can only use the same attack - so whilst one or both maws can fire a Flamethrower, she is not able to, for example, fire off a Flamethrower and Flash Cannon at the same time.

Cons: Val's mega form has terminally poor mobility - it cannot take cover, and has difficulty navigating certain terrain due to her size and weight, resulting in her having to take alternate routes or put her at risk when attempting certain arena paths. Smarter opponents have managed to inflict considerable damage on Val's mega form via exploiting her difficulty navigating terrain obstacles; during one training fight, an opponent managed to hide inside one of Setting #5's building mock-ups, forcing Valerie to demolish the front of the thing to gain access, wasting time and energy, and by the time the evolved Mawile gained access to the interior, her opponent had already escaped the building and was lining up a new attack. A similar case happened during her fight with Dante, in which Dante lured her to a relatively thin bridge on Setting #19, causing Val's weight to cause her to fall through one spot and leaving her stuck to that position for several minutes before she could extricate herself, though she managed to fight the Blaziken off from such a position and eventually won the battle via attrition.

A second, far more critical vulnerability, is that Val's offense is directly tied to her innate Huge Power trait in her mega form; Krys once surmised that a mon that abilities like Gastro Acid would be able to take an enormous chunk out of her offensive potential, though Val's increased size and strength would still be a factor. Her balance isn't exactly great due to her increased height, so mon using leverage have had some success with knockdown attacks on her, but her dual hairmaws mean she can be quite hard to tip if she sees such a strike coming, and, as Dante showed during their first fight, immobilizing Valerie does not necessarily mean she can't fight back. Monique of Team Sharknado has surmised that Val's size and movement make her very vulnerable to attacks like Earthquake and Hurricane, but Val's sheer durability is likely to still make her a tough opponent even with these vulnerabilities.

Duration: Val can generally keep her Mega Form going for the duration of a fight, but it's physically demanding and exhausts her should she do so for an extended period. Knocking her unconscious or exposing her to massive amounts of physical trauma has been known to knock her out of her Mega Form, especially if she is struck during a charging attack. One suggested that one counter is to get the stone away from Valerie, but given as she's spot-welded it to her hairmaw, the only way she's likely to part with it is if an arc welder is involved. Her Mega Ring lets her keep the transformation going longer; without it, Val cannot maintain it for very long.

Triggers: Val's Mega Form does not have any particular psychosomatic trigger, but she does engage it more effectively if she's in the right mindset: Typically when she's angry or embittered. The transformation takes longer and is harder for her to engage in a vaccuum, and of course requires she has her Mawilite.

Interesting Flavor and Fluff

 * Valerie is widely considered to be one of the strongest physical fighters that are commonly-seen these days, but her win rate actually doesn't show this very well, and she's nowhere near as invincible as she tends to claim... Indeed, until recently, she tended to lose - badly - to Dante in their encounters until she got her Mega form - averaging one win for every 2.5 losses - and had a particularly unpleasant fight with Ingrid. Thus far, only a few mon have gotten the better of her since obtaining her Mawilite, something that's only bolstered the Mawile's enormous ego, but it's unlikely her recent rise will last.
 * Unlike her sister, Val's hairmaw tends to not be very vocal. It will occasionally snarl a bit if Val gets angry, but for the most part, the only vocalization it makes is a rather disturbing shrieking if Valerie gets injured or enraged. Val does have much more control over her hairmaw than Krys, however, so that may have something to do with it.
 * Valerie recently acquired six new scars - 5 on her hairmaw, and one on her left cheek - that she claims was from falling off the roof and onto the wrought-iron fence in the Quad. Whilst nobody has confirmed the veracity of this, the damage taken to her hairmaw are conductive to puncture wounds, lending credence to the theory.