Bethany Brookes

The Star Child

13
Female
Human
5’2”
90 lbs
B-Rank Gladiator

Story:

Spoiler (Click to Show)

erra Pines, Beth was always unnaturally optimistic. Even as she saw her friends die in the gang wars that the East side was known for, she was able to greet people with a smile, which actually creeped people out quite a bit. It wasn’t normal for anyone, especially a little girl, to be even somewhat ok with living in the slums. But, for the most part, she didn’t really stand out much besides this. The only thing she did do was visit the eastside pre-school, with the term “school” being used loosely since it was basically just a lazily monitored daycare, to play with the kids. She didn’t mess with anyone so no one messed with her, up until the Jones family arrived. The Jones family consisted of three people: Jerry Jones, Marie Jones, and their little son Bobby Jones. Now, these people didn’t seem like the type that would need to live in the slums. They had clean clothes, fancy looking luggage, and quite a few boxes that were being moved into their new, shitty, apartment on the ground floor. This gathered a lot of attention from those who lived near them, but they rarely ever got to question them since they rarely ever left their place. Their drapes were always shut, they would only go out to get mail at night, and they seemed to not need food since none of them were ever seen ordering or going out to get it. Of all the people who were interested in this new family, Beth had to be at the top of the list. She would constantly walk by their apartment when she made her way down to the preschool and, occasionally, she would see little Bobby Jones peeking out at her through the curtains. She would wave at him, without fail, every time she saw him and he would always retreat back into the darkness within. Beth wasn’t going to let a new friend get away that easily though, so she decided to get him out of there. Late one night, when Mr and Mrs Jones were asleep, she creeped up to the window that Bobby looked through and started throwing pebbles at it. It didn’t take long for Bobby to stick his head out a bit and, once he did, she waved at him frantically, motioning for him to come outside. Even though he shook his head about a million times, she kept throwing pebbles at the window. Fearing that she would wake up his parents with all the noise, he finally opened the window and slipped outside. Bobby was a little hesitant at first. But, eventually, he was able to warm up to her cheerful, yet mildly annoying, personality.

She showed him every cool place inside of the slums that she knew, including the Big Ol’ Trash Pile, Old Joe’s junkyard, and Granny’s apple garden. It was probably the funnest night that the boy had ever had, until they ran into a group of thugs who called themselves “The Smokey Gang”. Normally, the Smokey Gang didn’t interact with people in the slums, since they mainly worked in West Sierra Pines. But, this was a rather special occasion, since Bobby’s parents were hiding from the Smokey Gang and they had come to look for them. A long time ago, they had worked as thugs in the gang themselves. But, once they found out that they were having a baby, they stole as much money from the gang as possible and hightailed it out of there. They bounced around from place to place and they eventually made it to the slums, where they planned to stay for a few months before leaving the city all together. The thugs told Beth that they would have to take her little friend away for a little while, without explaining to her his situation. So, as the largest one went to reach for the boy, Beth stepped in front of him with her arms stretched wide.

“If you want to get to him, you’re gonna have to go through me!” she yelled, which made the thugs laugh up a storm. All of them except for the big one, who seemed to be a little annoyed that this girl was wasting his time. So, he went to punch Beth in the chest, hoping to knock the wind out of her and scare her off, but she just lifted her arm, grabbed his fist, and pulled the man down so they were eye-to-eye. One second later, she sent him flying with an uppercut to the jaw, making him crash into the thugs behind him. They didn’t take their time getting out of there and Beth managed to get Bobby home safely. News travelled throughout the slums quickly. No one knew how this little girl was able to take out a group of thugs so easily. They all treated her like she was a hero, a rebel, a blessing for the slums, and she hadn’t even turned twelve yet. All of the praise she was receiving really made her bright heart glow even brighter and, from that day forward, she would use her mysterious powers to take down big opponents and be a hero to all in Sierra Pines.
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Personality:

Nothing can bring Beth down. She is the most optimistic person you’ll probably ever meet and that can be both a good and bad thing. She always is trying to make friends, no matter what kind of person that “friend” may be. She has even tried to befriend some of her opponents on occasion. This carries over into her fighting as well, where she will try to playfully taunt her opponent and, sometimes, even encourage them to do better if they are losing. This makes her especially weak to those who fight dirty, since she isn’t expecting her opponent to betray her in any way. I mean, why would they? She’s just so nice!

Appearance:

Beth is a normal sized girl for the most part. She has acquired some muscle due to her rigorous training regimens but, besides that, her body is rather average. She has short, ginger hair that falls down to her shoulders and she, usually, keeps most of her hair tied up in a small ponytail, leaving enough hair to have two ribbons of hair on either side of her head. She has pasty white skin, with cheeks covered in freckles, and large brown eyes. Clothing wise, she usually wears something that she can easily move around in. Typically, she will wear different colored tank tops, black cargo shorts (so they can always match the shirt), and gray sneakers. She constantly wraps new bandages around her fists and forearms to keep them from getting too bruised up.

Abilities:

Strength/Speed: Even though she is 13, she is strong enough to knock a grown man out with one punch. She is also incredibly agile due to the close up nature of her fighting style.

Powers:

Spoiler (Click to Show)

Beth, she will gain enough strength to match them. If someone is weaker than Beth, she will lose enough strength to match them. This is based on physical strength and not relative strength. Also, powers that affect her body directly, or if they are unnatural in general, are incredibly weakened or, if the power is weak enough on its own, don’t have any effect when used on her. For example, if someone shot her with a magical bullet her skin probably wouldn’t even be penetrated by it. But, if someone was using superspeed and punched her in the face while using said speed, she would not take reduced damage from the punch since her opponent’s body is being affected by the speed and the punch is from a natural source: their body.
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Fighting Style:

Spoiler (Click to Show)

akes inspiration from a few other fighting styles, mainly boxing and wrestling. The style’s main goal is to use punches to stagger and open up the opponent, allowing her to get a clean grapple in. Her stance changes depending on how much strength she gains from her opponent. Normally, she will have her right foot behind her left, with her arms up in front of her body. Her hands are always in a relaxed position with the palms facing each other. The only time she closes her hands would be right before a punch lands or when she needs to grab onto her opponent. If she gains little to no strength, her arms will be closer together so she can rely more on punches. If she gains high amounts of strength, her arms will be farther apart so she can rely more on grapples. Most of her grapples come from wrestling moves within video games and real life, but she hasa few that she made up herself.

Some of her borrowed grapples include:

Spoiler (Click to Show)

behind around the waist and pulls them back, slamming them into the ground head first.)

Shootdown Backbreaker (She jumps up, grabs someone out of the air, places them horizontally across her shoulders, and slams down onto the floor.)

Spinning Pile Driver (She picks up her opponent and flips them upside down before jumping up, doing a little twirl, and slamming them down onto the ground.)
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Some of her created moves include:

Spoiler (Click to Show)

with all her strength and lariats the opponent. Then, she wraps her arm around their neck and slams them down on the ground using the momentum from her jump)

Celebrity Slam (She lifts up her opponent by the neck, jumps up, and dunks them into the ground)

Final Stardust (Her signature finishing move. It’s basically a powered up version of Shootdown Backbreaker. She uses all her strength to launch her and her opponent up into the air before assuming the backbreaker position. Then, as they are falling down, she will give a long speech talking about hope and destiny or something, before slamming into the ground and yelling “Final Stardust!” The speech is the most important part of the move.)
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Weaknesses:

Spoiler (Click to Show)

utmost faith in her opponents. So, she never really expects them to do something overly surprising or devious. Bend the rules a little bit and she’ll be almost powerless to stop it.

More Experienced Fighters: Even though she’s an incredibly strong fighter for her age, she hasn’t had too much time to practice her style, she’s only 13 after all. So, if she were to face someone who had spent more time working on their fighting style than she has, she will have a hard time against them.

Ranged Opponents: Anyone who can keep their distance from Beth can completely shut her down. She has no way to deal with ranged fighters besides trying to close the distance with her speed.

Tactical Fighters: While Beth does well against people without much of a plan, she struggles against people who know how to lay out their fight plan. These people usually know how to notice her weaknesses and can force her into disadvantageous situations with ease.
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Assorted Information:

Assorted Information (Click to Show)

Enemies:
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Hopefully, none forever!
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Battle List:
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Haven't made one yet!
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Demo:

Spoiler (Click to Show)

o the grand finals of the 30th annual RHG B-Rank tournament! We’ve all been here since 6:00 am this morning, so I won’t take too long to get this started! Tonight we have two very special opponents meeting each other in the ring for the first time! On the north side we have Gargantua, the 500 pound man with a 600 pound punch! You don’t want to get caught insulting him out in public if you want to avoid one of his massive fists!”

A young-sounding man boomed over speakers throughout a large stadium, only barely projecting his voice more than the crowd of people that sat in the stadium seats. On the far north, just like the man said, stood a large, bald man with multiple scars criss-crossing over his barrel-like chest. He had two metal gauntlets that sparked with electricity from two metal prongs sticking out of the wrists. His wardrobe consisted of camo cargo pants, which clung tightly to his incredibly muscular legs, and green army boots. He raised his fists into the air once his name was called, causing the crowd to get even louder than they were before.

“Now, on the south side of the ring, we’ve got a promising young rookie here tonight. Her orange hair is the only thing that’s brighter than her personality. She’s the girl who ain’t afraid to break a nail, especially if it’s yours: Bethany Brookes!”

On the other side of the arena, a short girl stood with her hands waving in the air. Her freckled cheeks framing her wide, toothy smile, as she hopped up and down with excitement. The crowd cheered for her, since most of them have seen her go up against other gladiators and they knew she could do well. But, what they were really excited to see was how she was going to handle a man like Gargantua, a brute of a man that was at least 4 feet taller than she was. It wouldn’t be long until they found out how, as the girl winked at Gargantua.

“Alright, without any further hesitation, let’s get this fight going! Let the battle begin in 3,” Gargantua cracked his neck, listening to the man’s countdown. “2,” Beth did a little bit of stretching, before getting into a stance with her arms up in front of her and her palms open. “1,” the two contestants looked at each other, ready to get started. “GO FOR BROKE!” The announcer yelled, causing multiple cannons to shoot out sparkly silver confetti.

Beth was the first to get going, keeping her body low to the ground with her arms held to her sides. Gargantua followed suit, holding up one of his mighty fists during his sprint. Once he reached her, he went for a downwards strike towards her right shoulder, but Beth was too quick for such a telegraphed attack to hit her. She ducked under his punch and his legs before spinning around and wrapping her arms around his waist. Before Gargantua could react to the sudden grapple, Beth reeled him back and slammed him into the stone ground behind them. The crowd went ballistic after seeing such a small girl lift such a large man with ease.

“Alright, let’s see what else you got, big guy.” Beth smiled and slipped away, standing a few feet away from Gargantua as he slowly got up to his feet. He now knew that he wasn’t going to win this with pure strength, so his next attack was much more planned. He stepped forward, turning his body so he could deliver a kick to Beth’s knee. Beth, seeing that attack coming from a mile away, hopped over his leg with ease. But, her airborne state only made it easy for Gargantua to hit her with his secret follow up lariat. The strike was hard enough to make her flip in mid air twice before he grabbed her by the torso with his left hand. He didn’t give her enough time to react before sending a huge wave of electricity into her body through his gauntlets.

“Wooo! That feels a little tingly!” Beth exclaimed, as the electricity freely moved through her body without actually hurting her. Gargantua tilted his head, getting ready to slam Beth against the ground. But, she was already prepared. Beth reached down and grabbed the wrist of his gauntlet, pulling hard enough to tear it in half. Her and pieces of the gauntlet fell to the ground hard, but Beth was able to make it to her feet before Gargantua could smack her away. She used this opportunity to grab him by the leg and pull, making him fall down on his ass with a booming “thud”. Then, she started twirling around in a circle, charging up a little bit, before throwing him up into the air like she was in the olympics.

“This could be it folks! What will Beth do now that she has Gargantua in the air?!” The announcer asked, trying to get the crowd more riled up. Beth was happy to show them exactly what she would do, as she ran up to the arena wall and used it to catapult into the air as Gargantua was falling. She managed to catch him and lay him against her shoulders, holding onto him tight as they both fell tow

The base idea of this can be used for some interesting suspense story ideas, but the character could use more depth.
As it stands, there's a fair amount of things where I'm left wondering because there simply isn't enough information to go off of. So let me elaborate.

First of, in the story itself. You claim that Dermot ran away, but doesn't remember why. Even if you claim it was for a good reason, at least one question arises: If he doesn't remember why he left, why doesn't he go back? Regardless of the reason, at some point one would either question whether that reason really was that good, or try and remember what that reason was. That's the characters mother. Since you make no mention of a strained relationship between the two, I can only imagine they were fine with each other, which makes the notion of Dermot not even having made the attempt to remember why he left strange, to say the least.

Added to that, you also do not explain how the relationship between Ivan and Dermot works. You explain that for Ivan to decide to take over and transform, there needs to exist a period of intense stress or anger, sure, but you don't explain what the day-to-day is like. Does Ivan have any influence on his actions? Is it purely confined to his mind? Does he interact with Dermot at all? How often do these transformations occur?

Continuing on, how wide does the mist spread? How thick is it? And how quickly does it spread?
I'll point out, by the way, that there might be a contradiction between the demo and the abilities section

Quote from Abilities
Once Dermot transforms into Ivan, “The Mist” will start to roll in

Quote from Demo
So, they stood there staring at him as his body started to be enveloped by a mist that had mysteriously rolled in during the conflict

You say that the mist will only start to roll in after the transformation but, as you explain it in the demo, it had been happening before the transformation had even occurred yet.

Next on the list would be Ivan's objectives. Is he an unthinking monster? Does Ivan stop after taking care of whatever was the source of the stress/anger or are bystanders also in danger? Does he transform back into Dermot right after or does it take a while?

Personal nitpick (so don't take it too seriously):
How does the body react to the transformation? Normally, a 6ft5 body isn't supposed to stretch to 8 feet, so how does it morph and revert between the forms and stay fine?
And what about the clothes? Does he have a pair of Hulk-brand boxers? XD

The point is, you have a skeleton, right now. And as much as it's appropriate for that to be the case in October, you need to infuse it with some muscles, some organs and some skin tissue. Because it won't remain October forever.