Krysalis Eisenfaust

A shy but brilliant mawile.

Basic Profile
Name: Krysalis Eisenfaust

Species: Mawile

Type: Steel/Fairy

Ability: Hyper Cutter

Gender: See Below

Age: 22

Physical Description: In many ways, Krysalis, or "Krys" as she calls herself, looks like a smaller, less-muscular version of her older sister, Valerie - she's curvy, well-endowed, and has a much more introverted personality than the much-more rough-and-tumble Valerie. By all accounts, she's an ordinary Mawile, nowhere near as tough as her big sis, standing about 5' 8" and weighing in at about 340 pounds.

Looks do not tell the entire story.

Though Krys' body is almost entirely female, save for one critical defining trait, and indeed, Krys identifies herself as female, Krysalis is, in truth, male; Krys possesses an incredibly rare hormonal disorder wherein her body developed the way it did. Krys herself goes out of her way to keep this secret incredibly well-hidden; due to her physique, few, if any, would question her actual gender. As of so far, only a few people - some of the PCC staff, her older sister, her roommate, and a few very close friends - are privy to her secret, something she'd prefer to keep that way.

Personality: Krys is kind, quick-witted, and extremely intelligent. Skilled with machines and electronics, Krys is the mind behind the Scope Lenses used by team Steel Hearts, as well as some of the training devices used by the same. Outwardly, Krys is easily-intimidated, awkward if startled, incredibly unsure of herself, and exceptionally self-conscious, but if properly focused, she'll keep her cool even in bad situations. She tends to draw strength of purpose and support from her friends and allies; she is incredibly close to Dante, who she seems to be romantically involved with, though whether Dante is aware of Krys' unique issue or not is not known. The two first began to become close after the passing of Dante's brother.

Krys is on excellent terms with both Jeanie and Ming-Ming, is friendly with Tet, on reasonable terms with Marcel, Inari and Natalia, and, until recently, was absolutely terrified of Hitoshi. Zeke and Mohlya kind of unnerve her a little bit. She doesn't mind Aaron, but finds his excessive negativity tiresome. She strongly dislikes Melanie and Ruka, seeing both as two sides of the same coin - and both as bullies. Curiously, she seems comfortable enough around Arthur, and seems to have a pleasant relationship with Orpheus. Her bitterest feelings seem reserved for Valerie - a mixture of loss, anger, and pity.

She has an especially good relationship with her fellow tech student and long-time friend John; though their friendship is strictly platonic, Krys and John have a relationship built on scientific endeavor, random experimentation, and seeing what they can build from random spare parts that goes back nearly half a decade. Purportedly, John attended the same tech school as Krys, leading to their solid relationship to this very day.

History: Krys grew up the younger sister of the much-more-aggressive Valerie, and as such, has spent an enormous amount of time in the older Mawile's shadow. Krys spent the bulk of her childhood being private schooled; between Valerie's infamous outburst that led to her expulsion and her family's concerns that Krys would be a target if her condition became known, Krys kept to the back almost by necessity; she rarely had time to socialize, was awkward at interpersonal affairs, and rarely made much of an attempt to befriend or get close to others. This continued until she attended Pokemon Tech; this tech-school was where she met her friend and comrade-in-science John, where the two formed an immediate friendship that would serve them well from there on out.

Krys would eventually branch out and attend a more conventional school later; it was here she met Dante. The Mawile and Blaziken grew close after Krys was instrumental in helping Dante get back on his feet after the death of his older brother. Up until relatively recently, Dante has been rather protective of the Mawile, but with Valerie's recent actions troubling her, Krys has recently begun to emerge from her shell and set out on her own to try to forge her own path - and though Valerie is generally considered to be the main impetus for her learning to fight, in truth, she has her own reason that she generally keeps to herself.

Though she's hardly a great fighter, her quick wits and ability to think on her feet have served her better than many other newcomers, and it's believed Krys will only improve given time. Her team is called Les Etoiles Dar, or The Golden Stars, a name suggested by Deeva after the pair watched Jeanie in combat once.

Student Profile
Major: Technical Electronics/Computer Programming

Grade level: Junior

Team: Les Etoiles Dar

Team Role: Team Captain/Ranged Combat Support

Other Team Members: Deeva Bohemia (Member), Jeanie Lumiere (Prospective Second-In-Command), Aaron Barton (Coach/Advisor)

Strategy: Krys is not a natural fighter. Up until recently, she tended to panic easily in fights and rarely could keep her cool for very long in a combat situation. On the other hand, Krys can, if properly motivated, stay in even rough situations with little trouble. In combat, she relies heavily on disruption effects; she tends to act as a field artillery piece for her team, using her hairmaw's surprising array of long-ranged attacks to keep enemies at arm's length until she can snap her jaws onto them. If allowed to set up beforehand, she'll frequently attempt to ready up a maximimized Stockpile, either as a protective or offensive gesture.

Krys tends to work very hard to stay away from tougher enemies; the likes of Lulu and Ruka are especially bad match-ups. This is worsened by Krys' tendency to panic, and she's known for fleeing if an enemy gets too close, since her actual combat capability in CQC is abysmal, even after getting in quite a bit of training under Dante and Lulu. Though she is not terribly dangerous yet, she has shown some potential, and could eventually become quite a bit more threatening with experience and a proper team to back her up. She has repeatedly said that her reason for learning how to fight is to "find her courage," but many familiar with the shy mawile believe she's trying to learn how specifically due to in an attempt to either understand - or stop - her her older sister.

Strengths:
 * Battle: Krys is a patient fighter, quite intelligent, and tends to fight heavily from afar. In combat she heavily makes use of cover and difficult terrain, using her hairmaw's indirect-fire capability and Magnet Rise to get into difficult-to-access areas and rain down firepower from above. She's fond of using Flash, Sludge Bomb, and Incinerate to disrupt enemies and flush them out of cover, and tends to use Charge Beam to snipe at enemies in open terrain. Enemies closing into close-range combat have much less to worry about; Krys' close-combat skill is much weaker, though she does have a few moves that can surprise the unexpecting, such as Iron Head and Play Rough; though their slow engagement speeds and Krys' lack of experience means Krys rarely gets to use them to their full potential, they still can discourage an enemy from getting too close. Krys tends to panic in the face of stronger mon that get in close quickly; the lone exception is against an enemy threatening a friend or ally, in which case Krys will show considerably more resolve.


 * Social: Krys is genuinely kind and understanding; she is very empathetic, and manages to make friends somewhat easily for someone so easily-intimidated. She is often consulted by Dante when he needs information or advice - especially of a technical nature - and she has been known to assist other mon with tech problems and even conduct repairs of damaged equipment for them on occasion, such as when she fixed Tet's watch (though she had parts left over after). Other mon, such as Paola, have come to rely on Krys (and John) for technical support. She's one of the few individuals that John considers an equal in terms of intelligence, and the pair are known to coordinate with one another often.


 * Academia: Krys is brilliant - a far cry from her big sis. She easily understands new concepts and readily absorbs new information. If there's something that she wants to learn, Krys will not cease until she's unlocked all the secrets of it she can - often by taking it apart and putting it back together multiple times. Many of Krys' personal achievements were accomplished in this fashion, including the Scope Lenses she made for team Steel Hearts.

Weaknesses: 


 * Battle: Krys' bravery - or rather, her lack thereof - is by far her biggest weakness. She suffers from poor morale, and tends to fight from afar because it means less opportunity for close-combat brutes like Red to take advantage of the Mawile's considerable lack of close-combat punch. If an enemy gets too close, and Krys isn't able to fight them off or get away, the situation often snowballs, especially when fighting someone especially frightening, such as Rose. Whilst training has removed most of her tendency to retreat before a fight even starts, she is plagued by confidence issues and has a bad tendency to make bad decisions in a fight if things go bad. She tends to fare infinitely better if she's backed by allies, where she'll draw strength from their presence and stay calmed with far greater success.


 * Social: Krys is rather shy and incredibly awkward outside of her element, especially if the conversation drifts to areas she's not really that comfortable. Hitoshi, in particular, was adept at getting Krys to flee entire buildings or take cover behind Dante or John for quite some time. Even after her becoming braver, Krys remains easily startled and flustered, and tends to be very inept when at her lowest, which tends to make her a prime target for teasing by some. Krys' shy nature and tendency to be easily-intimidated occasionally backfires in this regard; Natalia, for example, finds the scared mawile absolutely adorable, in a manner one might find a feral Espurr cute.


 * Academia: Krys has no real trouble with academia, at first glance. Things only become apparent when one realizes that beneath the seemingly-shy facade, Krys is just as hungry for achievement as Valerie is, just in different ways. If assigned a science or tech-related project, Krys subscribes to the theory of "go big or go home;" she and John routinely overstep any and all bounds of common-sense when working on these projects in massive, over-done displays designed to appeal as much to their own egos as they are get a passing grade. All of this tends to mean she puts way more emphasis on her schoolwork than her combat performance, and many believe she'd be a much more threatening mon in the arena if she were more balanced.

Current Classes:


 * 1) Combat Applications
 * 2) Engineering III
 * 3) Technical Electronics
 * 4) Computer Programming
 * 5) Applied Physics II

Moveset
Starter
 * Slam
 * Krys' most basic melee attack involves her swinging forward her arm (or leg) for a hammer-blow on an enemy; it's not very graceful, but lets the Mawile apply most of her force to the attack. The move most commonly used by Krys if an enemy engages in close-combat, it's at least enough to have her considered not-completely-helpless at close range. More skilled enemies, however, will easily counter or evade it.


 * Play Rough
 * Grab attack. Krys grabs the enemy, and has her hairmaw start biting at the target for as long as she can maintain the hold. The longer that Krys maintains her hold on the enemy, the more damage accrues as the hairmaw continues chewing. Unfortunately, many opponents can break free of the Mawile, as Krys is not terribly strong physically, which reduces the menace this attack poses somewhat.


 * Flash
 * Krys' hairmaw specializes in long-ranged combat. When engaging flash, Krys' hairmaw launches a chunk of metal into the air with an powerful muscular spasm. The metal, soaked with a volatile chemical, proceeds to ignite in mid-air, resulting in a vibrant flash of light that can serve as a flare, illuminate darkened areas, and dazzle targets that have the misfortune of looking at the blast, ergo reducing their accuracy. The projectile from Flash is generally incapable of causing damage, but if an enemy is actually struck by the lozenge before or after ignition, damage is relatively minor.


 * Incinerate
 * Unlike Val's hairmaw, which is noted for firing lasers, Krys's tends to focus on indirect-fire capability, which enables Krys to fire over obstacles and intervening terrain to hit foes in heavy cover. By using incinerate, Krys launches a chunk of metal that explodes mid-flight, scattering several glowing chunks of flaming metal over a 5-meter radius. Cover is useless against such an attack, and the attack creates considerable smoke effects, obscuring vision in the blast range - however the projectile itself flies sluggishly and canny enemies can easily get out of the strike zone. Though the radius is fairly large, and the effect sufficient to render a held item unusable, the fire damage is only moderate unless the target winds up taking hits from multiple fragments. According to Hestia, Krys drew inspiration for this attack from a description her mother gave her of a mortar strike that used phosphorous.

Freshmon (Semester 1)
 * Fling
 * Rather like Valerie, Krys has a tendency to use Fling to launch things that one would otherwise not consider throwing, such as terrain obstacles. Unlike Val, Krys uses it almost entirely defensively, picking up terrain obstacles in order to throw them into a makeshift barricade to hide behind, or to throw a teammate out of danger. She rarely uses it to throw her held items, because she tends to make heavy use of those.


 * Stockpile
 * It may not be elegant, but Krys has mastered the use of this ability to bolster her offensive and defensive punch. By dumping scrap metal into her hairmaw, Krys can bulk up her defenses and increase her mass temporarily. Though the defense boost only lasts until Krys uses one of the other abilities in this set, the Mawile can use Swallow or Spit Up to make use of the stockpiled metal either as a healing or powerful offensive move. When Stockpiling, Krys' hairmaw will exhibit a series of spiky growths along the jawline, indicating that she has at least one active. The number of spikes indicate how many times Krys has Stockpiled.

Freshmon (Semester 2)
 * Spit Up
 * Potentially Krys' most powerful attack - provided she Stockpiles long enough, Spit Up causes Krys to use any stockpiled metal to release a shotgun-blast like burst of shrapnel from her hairmaw, capable of lacerating anything in range. Though the range isn't all that great, the huge amount of low-density metal hurled into the air by this attack means it's almost impossible for the Mawile to miss at close range. The more Krys stockpiles, the more damage it does; at one, it's only moderately damaging, but it can deliver a generous pelting out to medium range with 2, and at 3, can do catastrophic damage at close-range.


 * Swallow
 * Krys' hairmaw can simply ingest the metal from Stockpiling. Should it do so, it allows Krys to recover health; the more metal her hairmaw consumed via Swallow, the greater the potential healing. One Stockpile level heals only a bit, but 2 enables it to match or even beat conventional recovery moves, and consuming 3 enables Krys to heal herself fully. Whilst a powerful ability, the limitations on it via needing to Stockpile hinder its effectiveness considerably.

Sophomore (Semester 1)
 * Magnet Rise
 * Krys' innate ability, Hyper Cutter, though useful, is hardly that powerful, and the Mawile is acutely aware of this. Fortunately, Krys has developed a means to get a vastly better ability - one that enables her to fight in the air, and potentially clear distance away from melee fighters who would otherwise curb-stomp Krys. By using magnetic levitation, Krys can fly, albeit unstably, through the air. Doing so renders her impervious to ground-type attacks. Sadly, being airborne reduces her ranged accuracy somewhat, so she tends to land when she needs to attack.


 * Iron Head
 * Easily Krys' best melee attack, boasting both the best range and best damage, offset mostly by the fact that it is somewhat sluggish to pull off. By swinging her hairmaw forwards like a whip (or perhaps more accurately, like a flail), Krys can deliver a fierce blow that can leave foes reeling. The sheer mass of the hairmaw ensures that it can knock foes off balance, or even knock a smaller foe flying backwards or clean off their feet. Sadly, it has a bit of recovery to it due to the need for Krys to swing her whole body to generate enough force to swing the hairmaw in this fashion.

Sophomore (Semester 2)
 * Sludge Bomb
 * Krys' hairmaw launches a violet-tinged chunk of metal that hisses and smokes as it streaks through the air. On impact, the hairmaw-launched projectile sizzles for about 2 seconds, before detonating in a spray of shrapnel and caustic purple sludge, potentially envenomating anyone unfortunate enough to be in the blast range. Krys' ability to launch this attack as a grenade-like projectile can make it useful for area denial, as well as for flushing enemies out of cover. Sadly for Krys, the delay before detonation tends to let enemies get the hell away from the projectile, though its very nature and Krys' typing means that in an emergency, she can launch a Sludge Bomb at point-blank range, and, due to her toxin immunity, suffer minimal actual harm.


 * Charge Beam
 * Krys' most reliable ranged attack, Charge Beam causes Krys to project a thin beam of light from her hairmaw's mouth, which acts as a tracer of sorts before, seconds later, the beam intensifies into a tight stream of crackling electrical energy. The resulting electrical surge can overclock Krys' body, enabling her to do more damage with her ranged attacks for a short time - but this electrical surge is quite rare. The fact that the attack strikes instantly, has excellent range, and is quite accurate, however, serves to make it a centerpiece of Krys' long range attacks, though the obvious tracer beam and the fact that it essentially broadcasts Krys' position renders the Mawile an easy target.

Quotes
See Main Article - Quotes - Krysalis Eisenfaust

Trivia

 * Hitoshi is known for giving Krys a number of horrid nicknames, often in various languages. Though she'll never actually flat-out say what her gender is, he'll happily hint quietly at it, often making the Mawile incredibly uncomfortable in the process; he seems, uniquely, to be aware of the Mawile's condition. Until relatively recently, Hitoshi being in an area may as well have been a giant keep-out sign to the nervous Mawile.
 * Krys has been known to cosplay with both Dante and John at conventions. Perhaps befitting her personality, many of the costumes she's made are grossly overdesigned, but she's genuinely had a good time making them, and a number of times costumes she and John have worked on have led to advancements in their own side projects.
 * It is believed John has feelings for Krys, but was too nervous - or too respectful of the Mawile's skills - to approach her over it. It is unknown, since she began dating Dante, if she is aware of or reciprocal of these feelings.
 * Krys has a pet feral Magnemite, named Xerces. The Magnemite is known for fighting with a Honedge owned by another student. It is also known for getting stuck to Krys' hairmaw by accident.
 * Krys is a terrible dancer. Were it not for Deeva's intervention, she would not have been able to dance remotely competently with Dante at the Valentine's Dance.
 * Krys' hairmaw has a wide variety of vocalizations it can make, the most common being a hissing sound, a low, rumbling growl, and a soft crooning noise. Because Krys has less control over her hairmaw than her sister, it tends to very clearly show her mood, and often not to her betterment; it is known for fishing for pets from Dante and Deeva, for example, and can barely contain its hostility towards Ruka.