Aiden B. Cross

The Hermit, Dovahkin(self-given), The King of Hoarders

Male

17

6'2

225lbs

Academy 12

Platinum Blonde

Light Blue

Caucasian

Aiden is a pretty good looking guy, with sharp, angular features, bright eyes, and shoulder length platinum blonde hair that seems to shine like silver. He's a bit on the skinny side, but he has some decent muscle tone to make up for it. However, he his powers have given him a few addition that might make people much less likely to associate with him.

Firstly, his teeth are all very sharp, giving him a rather intimidating smile. Secondly, his pupils are very reptilian in nature and can sometime give off the feeling that he's looking right through you. Next is that all along his forearms are a row of shiny, metallic scads that reach all the way up to his shoulders, and then a few rows of scale-like markings spread across his chest and up his neck, stopping along the edge of his face. He also has a pair of small horns sprouting from his temple and curving along his head, as well as his nails basically turning into claws as well. If you can get past these things, and a few personality problems, than you have yourself a handsome guy. If you can't, then you're probably most people he comes across.

Aiden is a very social guy, loving to talk to people, hang with people, be with people. It could be said that he just loves people. So why, if that is the case, does he spend almost all of his time in his dorm room, even to the point where he has home and classwork sent there. Simple answer: he gets attached to people easily, and as such, gets very protective over them. And while that may be just a bot annoying with a normal person, it's a goddamn hazard with Aiden. If he sees someone messing with one of his friends, he will attack them and they will not be in any good shape because of it. The reason for this protectiveness is his power, which makes him very territorial over what he considers 'his', which includes his friends.

Speaking of territorial, Aiden doesn't allow anyone to enter his room, as he'll feel an instinctual urge to drive them out at any means necessary. He's also very aggressive and dominating, causing him to clash with others with similar personalities and authority figures, as well as make it so that he thinks he can come out of any situation on top. this leads him into getting into a lot of fights over some of the stupidest things imaginable(he once broke a guy's nose in a argument over who gets to crack the wishbone on a turkey. The guy in question was his uncle Derek and this even happened when he was ten.) So, to avoid these kinds of things, he isolates himself in his room, only talking to his friends on the internet and his friends in the video game community. He goes out every so often because he'd go stir crazy if he stayed in all the time, but it's usually at night.

Another thing about Aiden is that he's not that good at talking to girls his own age outside of his friends(of which he may have one or two and they are exclusively online friends), he just gets extremely nervous around them. The only time one will see Aiden act submissive is when he''s talking to a girl, especially a pretty one. It's also those times where he starts to get self-conscious about his more draconic appearances, which is why he wears a hoodie most of the time, so as to hide his features as best he can.

One of the things that Aiden enjoys doing is being a bit of a vigilante, flying around the city and stopping crime whenever he can. He mostly targets drug-dealers, finding most of them to be a pain in the ass. He's an avid video-game player and a big-time computer geek. He's also a bit of a collector, tending to find things around Verthaven he likes and taking them back to his room. Some people thing that just because he collects a ridiculous amount of things that it makes him a hoarder, and others say that since some of the stuff he's collected belonged to other people, that makes him a thief. These people are ignored, mostly because he knows they're right, but he's been trying to fight his urges to collect things for years, and he's barely made a smidgen of progress, so he's just given up and decided not to get caught.

Unlike most with his hobbies, he likes to work out every now and then, keep himself in shape at a local gym, plays a few sports here and there with decent skill all around.

He's somewhat of a natural born genus, never having any trouble getting straight A's and 4.0's in his classes, whether that's a product of his power is known but thought to be unlikely. He's extremely gifted when it comes to computers, especially hacking. He doesn't do anything particularly malicious with it, just making it so that peoples computers are either maddeningly slow or keep on taking them to porn websites. It's always temporary, and a little prank here and there never hurt anybody.

He's also learned how to become a good thief and a sneak, that way when he feels the need to take something, he doesn't have to go to jail because he got caught. He also has some self-defense knowledge, just enough to supplement his abilities.

His laptop, made it himself and loves adding bits and pieces to it every now and then to make it better than before. Also houses his entire gaming library on it.

"See that line right there, for your own good you better not cross it. If you do, then things will end very badly for you, and then things will get bad for me because NESt will be on my ass, which means things will end up even worse for you. Basically, if you want to live with the full use of your arms and legs, don't cross that line.

Aiden's been in the Academy System since kindergarden, and has had problems with controlling his powers for as far as he can remember. He was always the most aggressive kid in class, always getting into fights that would end with hims handing over the kid's beaten body. He had to move to numerous academies due to the difficulty of dealing with his hyper aggressiveness and how to deal with his powers. It was only once he came to the verthaven academy at age 12 that he began to gain some semblance of control, but then two events would happen that would change his life forever.

His father, Donovan Cross, is the CEO of the Cross Corporation, a conglomerate organization that has a hand in every thing, but is one of the leaders in the tech industry thanks to the fact that a majority of it's R&D team are either technopaths or gifted with extreme intelligence. Cross Corp has the highest number of Meta employees of any company, putting them to work wherever their gifts can be best put to work. This is in part because Donovan himself is a Meta-human, a Technopath with a nack for robotics. He tries his best to help the Meta-community, but has also come under fire from numerous Meta-hate groups, who say his policies favor Metas. It was due to this targeting that the full event of Aiden's powers became known.

His family went on a vacation in the Alps, enjoying time together, when they were suddenly attacked by a group of mercenaries. Their job was to kidnap Donovan and kill his family. Aiden could only watch in horror as they approached his mother, as the gun was risen to become level with her head. Then he remembered nothing but blood rushing through his veins and the sound of a bestial roar reverberating through the air.

Two weeks later, he woke up back in Verthaven, his parents standing worriedly over him, as well as a few Nest representatives. They said nothing, just placed a computer in front of him and showed him pictures of a large creature, the size of a minivan, ripping through the mercs who had attacked his family. It didn't take him long to figure out what had happened. The end result of his powers was a power creature that completely demolished a squad of highly trained soldiers with in secs, and had then held off NEST forces for sometime after that, as they had appeared shortly after. In his rage, Aiden had confused them with the mercs and attacked them, and the only reason why nobody died was because the dragon's body suddenly began to deteriorate in a process similar to asking, leaving behind dust, scales, bones, and his unconscious body.

During his two weeks of comatose, he'd gone through a bit of metamorphosis, scale marks appearing on his body, his teeth and nails hardening into the beginnings of fangs and claws. He was placed on the NEst Watch list of potentially threats after that event, and as his powers grew, Aiden became more fearful of the day when the NEST decides to stop taking chances and lock him up for good. He's only gone full dragon one other time, again in the defense of another, though in the end he wasn't able to save the person or deal with his murders. The only thing he'll ever say about the matter is that the Fiends were involved and leave it at that. Further prodding for info will end in the person asking to be stuff into the nearest garbage receptacle and pushed down a steep hill.

Donovan Cross- Father(Technopath), CEO of the Cross Corporation
Evangeline Cross- Mother, has become estranged from her since his first full change

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Super-System: Bestial, Elemental, Cosmic(?)

Dragon Physiology: Aiden is naturally stronger than normal people and it takes more to tire him out. He has no problem in high altitude environments, actually finding them to be more comfortable at times. Another thing that only developed after his second full dragon transformation is that he has vastly increased jaw strength and his teeth can easily bite through most metals. without taking any form of damage. The scales on his arms are able to easily deflect strikes from a knife and low caliber bullets, though their placement makes them not very useful. His claws can easily teat through the flesh of a normal person when they are long, but Aiden tries to keep them short so he doesn't accidentally cut people with them.

When Aiden activates his abilities, he goes into a half-dragon state, the look of which depends on the dragon variant he chooses to be, but the basics power up for each one is that he becomes stronger, his scales spread all over his body(except for his lower torso area and a small spot on the back of his neck) and become capable of deflecting low caliber bullets. He gains the ability to fly and gains elemental powers based on the dragon he transforms into. Now, as for the variants, Aiden currently can change into two variants, and of those two, he's only just discovered one. I have one more planned for him in the future, and that could be the last one, or it could be one of many to come. We shall see.

His first variant is the one he was born with, Western Dragon Physiology. In this form, he gains the ability to breath gouts of fire at his foes, and is immune to it himself. In fact if their is an open fire near him, he can breathe it in and use that instead of his own to save on energy. This variant also has the strongest physical strength and defenses, as even the wings he grows have scales. Sadly, this means he can't fly well, as it's more of a glide than anything else, but his sturdier defenses make for a good trade off for speed and maneuverability. His scales can resist knives, pistol fire, and low power assault rifle fire, but everything above that is dangerous to him and can kill him if he doesn't get some cover. Offensively, he has his claws and teeth that can crack stone, a large increase in physical strength, a tail, and the ability to breath an intense inferno of red flames that he can shoot in a stream in front of him with a max range of 30 feet. He can also launch it in a barrage of rapid fire armor-piercing pellets or in a giant fire ball, but those moves take time to charge up and tend to take more energy. His strongest move in this variant is to set himself on fire, turning him into a living inferno of fiery rage. However, he can only do this for ten minutes, and as soon as that times is up, he's immediately clocked his maximum energy usage. If he doesn't exit his form soon after that, he stands to risk ashing himself.

His second variant is Eastern Dragon Physiology, the Chinese Dragon to be specific. In this form his scales are much more streamlined, like those of a fish, and only offer protection from low caliber bullets. He grows large, curving horns and from his head sprout a pair of long antenna-like tendrils that he can control at will. A small, green pearl forms near him as well, being the source of his power at the moment. It's very fragile and if it's destroyed, then he'll instantly be knocked out for the max amount of time for that form. This form has no wings, but he's still able to fly because 'FUCK PHYSICS, I'M A DRAGON!!!!!!' . . . yeah, that. Anyway, in this form, Aiden finds himself to be much more flexible than before, as well as a lot taller(somewhere in the area of 7'5) with a tail that's about half his size. He's also rather speedy and agile in this form, opting for a more avoid and evade type approach to combat. Speaking off, this variant is the one where powers are used more often, thus there is less of an energy cost for it.

Passively, Aiden automatically increases the moisture in the air with his presence, and just makes it easier for people with water based abilities to use them around him, and the direct opposite for those with fire-based ones. He also exudes an air of calmness and docility when not in combat, and a dominating, vengeful one when he does decide to fight. He also can fire a stream of pressurized water at his foes with the strength of a fire hose, if just a little bit stronger. Just like his other form, he can fire the water in rapid-fire condensed pellets (which can't d0 much more than break the skin, but hurt like hell), or fire it off as a Medium size sphere of water that detonates on impact, causing anyone caught in it's range to suffer from a of disorientation and temporary hearing loss depending on how close you are. But like with his other form, it takes more energy to use these different variants.

Aztec Dragon Physiology(may or may not come into play soon)

When he goes full dragon, all that changes is that he grows to be a lot larger, his instincts take him over and turn him into a wild animal that attacks all threats, and that his elemental powers are heavily increased. This makes it so that, for a limited amount of time, he becomes a storm of destruction and death on a wide scale. Also, when in full Dragon form, Aiden's body is housed in the dragon's chest, while the rest of the body forms around him. This means that if you pierce the chest(which is the most heavily defended part) than you have a chance to insta-kill him.

The more time that Aiden spends in his other forms, the longer he will be put into a comatose state afterwards. So if he spends an hour in his first form, he'll be a vegetable for about 2 hours. Theirs also a limit in how long he can stay in his forms, with Form 1 being a max of 4 days(meaning 8 day recovery), unless he uses his abilities(baring flight), which would shorten his time to stay awake from days down to an hour if he uses them recklessly and if he tries to go over the limit, he's at hi-risk of asking. Going into his full dragon form will out him out of commission for anywhere between 2 weeks to a whole month depending on how much energy he expends and how much damage the body takes.

Aiden suffers heavily from having his draconic instincts active all the time, especially since his base variant is the western dragon. This makes it so that whenever he sees something he likes, he wants to take it and horde it in his dorm room. He can resist the urge, but it's maddening to try and leaves him feeling rather ill afterwards. This has begun to lessen slightly with the introduction of his new variant, but not by much. Aiden is also hyper territorial, to a ridiculous degree. He marks all of his items with a black x mark, and is likely to become extremely hostile to someone who touches them. If they don't get the message to back off, then he's likely to attack them, which won't end well for anybody. This only becomes more prevalent if he goes into his Halfling state, as all of his instincts become even more potent. This means that for Eastern Dragon, he's more likely to remain calm and composed until he's been angered, than it's nothing but rage and emotion.

Speaking of eating metal, Aiden has to do so on a daily basis to keep his scales nice and healthy. If he doesn't eat any metal for 2 days, then they begin to rapidly degrade, leaving his defenses next to useless against most forms of attack. He can also eat gemstones to make them shinier, but that's just a cosmetic thing. Along with metal, Aiden can eat meat, but gets rather ill if he eat any kind of vegetables or fruit, and remains that way for a couple days afterwards. Herbs are fine, as long as they are eaten with something else he can digest. Along with this carnivores appetite is predatory instincts, which can make it so that he has to hunt every so often to keep from going crazy. He has been know to chase squirrels, dogs, and cats when hungry, and while no on ehas seen him catch one, it's pretty obvious what'll happen if he does.

In his Western dragon form, he's extremely vulnerable to cold and if he gets doused in water, he'll be unable to light a fire until he's dried off or breathed in fire from another source. Also, his body temperature is rather high, so much so that touching him for long periods of time is not advised. On the other end f the spectrum, his Eastern Dragon Form is susceptible to heat, and if he gets too dry, his skin and scales will begin to crack weakening them and leaving him prone to bleeding out. Thus he has to keep himself moist by sticking to the water when in this form, not too hard considering where he is, but this maybe a problem with certain foes. Also, he has a floating weak spot the size of a fist, his Pearl of Wisdom, which is the channel for his abilities and made out of crystalized Meta-Energy. If it's destroyed, then Aiden's immediately sent into dreamland for a long time, but if anyone one with telepathic powers gets their hand on it, Aiden will be completely under their control. They can even force him to go full dragon and push him past his limits if they wish, thus killing him and probably whoever they sent him after. Also, the pearl doesn't disappear when Aiden changes back into his base form, and if someone where to ingest said perk for whatever reason, they'd temporarily gain his Eastern Dragon Abilities for a few days.

Another weakness is that their are two spots on his body that are left unprotected by scales, a small gap on the back of his neck and his lower torso. Those are just plain skin, and while it's thick enough to stop knives in his half dragon form, everything else is fair game.

Aiden may or may not have a crush on Maxine, may or may not have a quad-copter with a camera attached, may or may not use it to stalk her from time to time on her drug runs, and may or may not leave her alone on his dealer hunting runs because of this crush. If he is approached about any of this, he'll deny them all. Aiden has felt an urge, on two occasions, to kidnap a person. Aiden wishes he'd gotten Cryokinesis abilities instead of his dragon ones and is jealous of anyone who has them. His favorite metal to eat is gold, which he tells people tastes kinda like white chocolate. However, since gold is a soft metal, if he eats too much of it, his scales will become crappy at protecting him.

Aiden sheds his scales once every few months, and when this happens, he gets extremely irritable. However, after shedding, he can sell his scales at a pawn shop for some money because they're pretty to look at and are pretty high quality. He also had a knife made from his scales one time, the blade being extremely sharp and durable. The B in Aiden's name stands for Bartholmew, a secret he will take to his grave.

Aiden has been sent to a holding cell numerous times for assault, and usually got in more trouble when one of the other guys in their tries to mess with him and he sends them face first into the bars of the cell. He's learned, however, to deal with that before it starts by biting through the bars of the cell, then swallowing it. Most people leave you alone after seeing something like that.

Optional

Female

19

5ft 6in

128

Priscilla Isle - Central Valley: Lives comfortably with her grandparents, brother, and niece.

Dark Brown

Dark Brown

African American

Standing at average height, with muscular arms and legs, Imani is an athletic and hour glasses shaped young woman. Hips wide, with a healthy bust, her soft and feminine features give her an alluring appearance. Thick, and curly, Imani wears her hair naturally instead of using extensions or perming her hair. Typically styled in a fro, or tied in a tight bun, Imani not only loves but embraces her thick and wild hair. High cheek bones sit on her oval shaped face, while thick and on point eyebrows shape her sharp lidded eyes. Her nose is thin and buttoned tipped like her mother's, while her soft full lips are constantly colored in a variety of different lipstick colors. Apart from lipstick, and maybe a little eyeliner, this is the only kind of makeup Imani will wear on her face. Soft, and unblemished, her skin is a lighter brown than her brothers. Barely noticeable scars cover her legs and arms from scrapes and cuts during her childhood and rougher years. Hidden beneath her shirt and out of her grandparents sight, a small sun and moon is tattooed on the center of her back.

No matter what anyone has said to her, Imani had always believed and lived by the idea that hard work, perseverance, and determination are the keys to success -- and so far in her case, she's been right. She can come off as a little standoffish thanks to her persistence, but Imani's take-charge attitude has brought her to places she would have never imagined. From living in the projects, to becoming a full-time student at Academy 12, her life has taken a change for the better thanks to her shift in attitude. Imani is straight edge to the core, and with a very strict view of right and wrong thanks to her childhood, she would never try drugs, alcohol, or experiment in ways that would sabotage her health or reputation. This has lead many to see her as a bit of a prude, but Imani would rather be disliked by others than end up in a junkie on the streets. With her firm beliefs Imani can become critical of others who lack resolve, waste potential, and avoid opportunities to better themselves and change their lives -- with the exception of her brother, Malik. As cold as she may come off, Imani is a firm believer in tough love and isn't afraid to spit some hard truth if it means getting her friends and family back on the right track.

Socially, Imani can be a bit much. With firm opinions, she can be quick to judge those who think differently than her -- especially when it comes to certain subjects i.e. Feminism, and The Meta-Human Rights Campaign. Wit sharper than a knife, and a mouth worse than a sailors, she doesn't blame anyone for seeing her as aggressive or rude. Instead, she wears these titles like a badge of honor to fuel her passions. Emotionally walled off from others, the quickest way to piss her off is by questioning her past. With her social life, and personal life kept completely separate, Imani has always kept her problems and history to herself, even from friends. Believing strength and independence means dealing with her issues on her own, Imani has a terrible habit of bottling up her emotions. A ticking time bomb, she's lashed out at the wrong people more then once and in return, ruined friendships because of her quick temper.

If you can get past her rough outer shell, Imani is a kind and compassionate person. Personal goals pushed aside, all of her energy is put towards her friends, family, while also helping those in need. An active member of her community, and school, if Imani isn't busy with homework or clubs, than she's usually doing some kind of volunteer work within the city. Empathetic with the less fortunate, and the oppressed, Imani uses her voice and aggression to fuel her activism work. She likes to hide this softer side with her usual scowl and a critical look, but these features will crack around the right people. High maintenance is her middle name, and multitasking is her game, so high stress situations are usually no problem for her. Unless the situation relates to dating. While she'd never admit it, Imani does have abandonment and trust issues thanks to her past, so in relationships she can become jealous or suspicious over little things. This has lead her to cut off a number of relationships, all of which was caused by her own uncertainty and suspicion. Afraid of being hurt, or cheated on, Imani has recently decided to steer clear of the dating game and instead put her full focus on herself, and her family.

Run Girl Run: From middle school, to her sophomore year in high school, Imani participated in cross country and track. Long distance runs are a walk in the park, while short sprints allow Imani to show off just how fast she can run. Challenge her to a race and her competitive side is sure to come out.
Silver Tongue: Be it feeding the ego, telling a white lie, or just getting out of trouble -- Imani has talked her way out of a lot of stressful situations. That is, if her temper hasn't flared up first.

Growing up in Eagle-Rock Row has taught Imani many things over the years. The harsh reality of poverty, the dangerous consequences of gang violence, and the often neglected disease that is drug abuse. As a child she watched her brothers and eventually her mother be consumed by this life, and as she became a teenager, it threatened to pull her in as well. Hanging out with rough crowds, experimenting with alcohol, and dating boys much older than her. Imani was heading down a dark path that she had little control of, and it wasn't until she went on vacation with her grandparents that she was finally able to take a step out of the projects and really think about what she wanted in life. Upon returning home she began to focus on her studies instead of skipping school, and hanging out with her old friends. Soon, athletics and club activities became her top priorities while school became her safe haven from home.

This escape wasn't enough, however. Barely fourteen, Imani lost one brother to gang violence, another to the prison system, and her mother to heroin. Becoming caretaker for her mother and her now parentless niece Kiara, Imani shouldered this responsibility and fell behind in school. Losing their house and living from couch to couch, and shelter to shelter, Imani could do nothing but watch as her mother fell deeper and deeper into drugs. These hard months soon became a year, and after struggling for so long, Imani and her niece Kiara were taken into child protective services and placed into her grandparents custody once her mother was arrested and placed in a halfway house. Her relationship with her mother became an emotional rollercoaster; completing rehab, moving into her grandparents house, and falling right back into drugs, Imani's mother has been in and out of her life since.

Even with her strained relationship with her mother, Imani's grandparents provided her and Kiara with everything they lacked over the years. Shelter, support, and love. This allowed Imani to finally focus on herself and school once again. While she is unsure of what activated her powers, Imani truly became aware of her abilities while playing hide and seek with her niece. Hiding in the closet and holding her breath as Kiara passed by the door, Imani fell through the floor and crashed into the clutter of the basement. The incident left her with a fractured wrist and a number of cuts and bruises, and a completely different perspective on life. Aware of her powers, as well as the responsibility that came with them, Imani was accepted into Academy 12 thanks to the schools 'Youth Outreach' scholarship program. Living in the dorms for a year, Imani found herself interested in Meta-Human Rights and Equality movement as well as the government agency, NEST. Highly interested in their work, and idolizing their ethics, she became determined to join the agency once she graduated and received her certificate from the Academy. It wasn't until her older brother, Malik, was released from jail that her goals changed and she decided to move back in with her grandparents. Juggling school, as well as her brothers rehabilitation into "normal society", Imani has set aside her goals for the time being and has focused her efforts to help her brother enroll at Academy 12 to earn his Meta-Human Certificate.

Jeremiah Wright - Father - Deceased (Pyrokenisis - Collared)
Tanisha (Moore) Wright - Mother
Tobias Wright - Grandfather
Cloretta Wright - Grandmother
Malik Wright - Older Brother (Telekenisis)
DeVonte Wright - Older Brother - Deceased
Kiara Wright - Niece (Sonic Scream)

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Super-System

Imani has the ability to pass through solid matter by passing her atomic particles through the spaces between the atoms of the object she is moving through. In this way she and the object she is passing through can temporarily merge without interacting, leaving each party unharmed when Imani has finished passing through the object. This process is called "phasing" or quantum tunneling and it renders her almost completely intangible to physical touch. This ability is only activated when Imani holds her breath, and since she is unable to breathe while inside an object, she can only continuously phase through solid objects as long as she can hold her breath.

While phasing she does not physically walk on the ground, but rather interacts with the air molecules on the surface and within solid objects allowing her to stay above ground and not sink into the earth. With concentration Imani can extend her powers onto other objects, and people as long as she maintains physical contact with said person or thing. She can extend her powers to her clothes and small objects, but further training at the Academy has allowed her to extended her powers to any other object up to the mass of a golf cart as long as she keeps physical contact. People on the other hand, are much more difficult.

- Air Walking

- Partial Phasing

Limited Time - The activation and duration of Imani's power is all determined on how long Imani can hold her breath. Swimming lessons and breathing exercises have trained her lungs, allowing Imani to hold her breath for a solid minute.

Three's a Crowd - When it comes to extending her powers onto other people Imani has only been able to phase two others alongside her without any physical harm. Three, or more can leave her extremely fatigued, and at times, cause extreme nausea to those she extended her powers over. There's also the ridk of other people breathing while phasing with Imani. Any kind of inhale or exhale will cancel out Imani's powers and potentially fuse herself and any participant's together or within an object.

Awareness - In order for Imani to phase through an object or person she must first see what she's going through, acknowledge said item or person, and then allow it to pass through her and vice versa. In other words, she has to be aware and prepared to phase through an object or else she'll be hit with said attack or object.

Learning this lesson by getting her hair caught in the wall when she was younger, if Imani were to ever inhale or exhale while phasing through an object or person her body, right down her atoms, will merge with said object or person. This would cause almost immediate death or heavy disfigurement if she were to survive. As confident as she may portray herself, this fear has left her unable to phase through large objects and underground, two skills she is fully capable of.

Elemental attacks, or electrified objects such as stun guns can bridge the molecules in her body forcing her to become tangible. This will push her body into shock causing her to become feverish and experience severe joint pain. This can last up to an hour or a full week, but ultimately she will remain powerless in this state leaving her defenseless.

Theme: Tokimonsta - Darkest (Dim)