Toshioka Kiri

Toshioka Kiri was a Viking Ninja soldier in the Grounded Dungeon Rebellion. Over time she eventually became the witch Walpurgisnacht, was captured and killed by Orksaf and destroyed the fortress of the rebellion in the process. 
== Appearance ==
Toshioka Kiri is a petite, but strong athletic girl from the Wilder East. She has short bob-length black hair with a metal ornament dangling from a braid on her right side. She has brown eyes and a heart-shaped face with tanned features typical of those from the islands of the Wilder East.
Her normal garb is a mixture of appropriate armor and wear as a Viking Ninja. She wears a sleeveless blue gi tabard over a leather shirt, loose pants that give ample room for flexibility and kicking, and boots. Her gi comes with a hood and the shirt has extra cloth sewn into the collar, which while normally looks like a scarf or turtleneck, can use as a mask to hide her features. She wears a set of shoulder guards with the belts strapped across her torso and to the belt, all of which carry her normal set of nadder spike knives and tools. The boots have metal shin and knee guards, and her bracers are also fortified with metal sheeting. Her gloves have brass knuckles sewn in. All of these assist her in unarmed combat.
== Personality ==
As a person, Kiri is generally cheerful and quirky with a love of tea and combat. She takes pride in her work and appears happy and optimistic, sometimes mischievous. She spends much of her free time training, with the idea that she can always improve. She is extremely loyal towards those who have earned her trust, and will protect them with whatever aid she can provide. However, she is not quick to trust, often fearing manipulation and betrayal on the part of others.
During fighting, she shifts to become much more serious, and is unfazed by most threats and combat situations. She is known to keep a very level head unless other people are in danger, or she's in imminent danger of death.
She has inner turmoil stemming from several events in her past, which have led her to attempt to protect all those around her. She is also overeager to give aid and help in any manner possible, in attempts to be useful. She has however, her own code that she follows regarding goals, and will use whatever means she deems necessary to do so.
Kiri has a vendetta against a race of white cats due to a major event in her past. 
=== Abilities ===
Kiri is a master of unarmed combat. Thanks to her training as a Viking Ninja, she can easily punch, kick, throw, disarm, joint lock, and disable most humanoid foes, though those of comparable training history are much more challenging. She is also extremely good at dodging, and her training involved the ability to push through any physical pain to achieve a goal. She is however, not particularly durable, and a strong enough blow will disable her.
As a trained Viking Ninja, Kiri is skilled in all manner of subterfuge and stealth techniques. She is also decent at knife combat and throwing. She has taken to using nadder spikes as throwing knifes due to the ease at which she can replace them, and also as her nadder, Dagger, is more than happy to assist her.
She has an odd ability to conjure tea - hot, iced, dried, any form - as long as it is in tea form, she can bring it into existence.
As of the end of Season 3, Kiri now has powerful magical abilities as given by the terms of her wish and the contract. Most specifically, she has the ability to cleanse and heal souls, no matter how corrupted, diseased, or torn apart they are, as long as the soul still exists in some form and has not been completely destroyed. While she can immediately perform this healing on the souls of the dead, she needs specific permission if the person still lives. 
Kiri's magical combat abilities involve the creative use of barriers that she can control, using them as shields, lifts, or even weapons to slice and crush. As per her name, she prefers cutting her enemies with them while protecting her physical self and any allies. With her physical abilities augmented, the barrier usage has enabled her to become a very effective fighter. In addition, she can also heal any physical damage and set protective runes.
== History ==
=== Family ===
Kiri is the only daughter of two strong Viking Ninjas, both of whom are part of the Hidden Sky Village's regular forces. She often received direct training practice from them and has always been supported and loved by both.
=== Childhood ===
Kiri was born very weak and sickly. While she survived her early life as an invalid, she never grew out of physical frailty and so could not enter Viking Ninja training. She was often the focus of gossip in her village and a source of dishonor for her family, who came from a long line of strong warriors. Despite her parents' unending love for her, the circumstances fostered a strong sense of inadequacy and uselessness that would carry on through the rest of her life. 
Kiri's best friend was Lillith, a very strong young Viking Ninja of her age. Despite her frailty, Kiri often joined Lillith and others of her age in various mischief and adventures around the village. Lillith would take her out to the tea house, where Kiri eventually came to know the local tea master, and eventually Kiri became apprenticed to the tea master, which acted to counter her lack of combat ability. She however, still greatly envied the others of her age who were part of Viking Ninja training.
=== The White Cat ===
By Kiri's fourteenth birthday, it was clear that she would never outgrow her childhood frailty and remain a weak child. As adults gossiped about this, Kiri vented her troubles to Lillith, who had felt much pity for her friend for many years. 
Unbeknownst to Kiri, Lillith then came into contact with a white cat that called itself Kiyu. The cat gave Lillith the offer of a contract - one wish in return for incredible magical power and a life of fighting against the curses of the world, witches. Though Lillith took a few days to decide, she accepted the contract - and wished that Kiri would become physically strong and reach her potential in any combat (and tea) related field she desired. Kiri woke up the next morning suddenly strong and physically able, along with the odd ability to conjure tea.
The village gossip changed as Kiri suddenly showed promise as a combatant, and within a week she had joined the Viking Ninja training class. She trained extremely hard to catch up, but it was clear to all observers that she had natural (or possibly, unnatural) ability for unarmed combat and all sorts of fighting styles. While her magic was still very subpar, physically she was in peak condition and so she became known as the village Miracle Child, who had come from being weakest and most frail to amongst the strongest.
Kiri discovered Lillith fighting a witch in the woods, and in the company of a white cat, learned the truth behind her sudden strength. In utter gratitude, Kiri vowed to help Lillith as much as she could, and together the two began fighting witches. Kiri was strong enough to defeat the familiars that came at them, and Lillith would focus on the witch. For a time, the partnership worked, and the two were happy with their double life - training in the village during the day, and fighting witches during their free time. 
Months passed however, and Lillith began to change. She wasn't finding enough grief seeds to recharge her magical power, and Kiri feared greatly for her friend and her growing depression and despair. When Lillith began lashing out and challenging Kiri to make the contract, when for months she had been adamant about her not doing so, Kiri became frightened and tried to learn the truth of everything; an incident with Lillith's soul gem and then her transformation into a witch gave Kiri all the truth she needed.
Kiri managed to escape Lillith's labyrinth, but was utterly horrified that her friend had become a witch. She interrogated and killed the white cat responsible, vowing that she would never let anything like this happen again. Kiri was never able to find Lillith's labyrinth after her initial escape, but she decided that if she did, she would end Lillith's misery for her own sake. She feels responsible for Lillith's fate and still carries her friend's dagger with her to this day. 
=== Walkabout ===
Four years after the white cat incident, Kiri came of age in the Hidden Sky Village and began her traditional Viking Ninja Walkabout, where for at least a year she would leave the village to wander the world and put her skills to the test. She acted as a mercenary and occasional tea peddler during her travels until she came to the Wilder West and learned of the Rebellion. It was here that she chose to join with King Haddock and see the Rebellion to victory.
== Role in the Rebellion ==
=== Season 1 ===
Kiri joined the Rebellion and immediately went after the kidnapped baby dragons within a strange labyrinth filled with vines. While she made it to the center and found the kidnapped infants, she was stopped by a strange monster. Soon after, she was joined by Clover, a newborn baby dragon that was named Zuko who was befriended with dragonnip tea, and Quickslippy. Unfortunately, they were attacked by the Warden and taken hostage. Clover and Quickslippy were possessed, and Kiri nearly succumbed as well. As she broke free, the Warden-possessed Treepelt attempted to kill her, an event which eventually led to Treepelt being taken prisoner by the Rebellion. Kiri passed out, and was imprisoned in the aftermath of Vox's death. 
Kiri led several sing-alongs while imprisoned. A few days later, she and several other prisoners, including Clover, Quickslippy, and Emily, were broken out by Brooke and escaped to another region of the Wilder West. The alpha made another ice fortress, where the escapees remained for some time. It was here that Kiri met the black and silver nadder, whom she named Dagger.
Subsequent short trips back to the main fortress made Kiri loathe to rejoin the main forces. She refused the offer by Hemlock to set up a 'tether', as she did not trust her and saw this magic as another form of potential control. Up until the attack on King Haddock by Jokul Frosti, Kiri remained as a liason between the two fortresses, often times hiding and performing regular patrols from the shadows, occasionally leaving gifts of tea.
During a flight, Kiri and Dagger spotted Chief Akkey, who had been missing. They eased her to a cabin with the help of a healer, Commander Starfire, and eventually left her in the care of Hemlock when the blizzard began. Kiri eventually met with the mage Blue, and traveled through the snowfield until the snow settled into several large snowmen. Kiri playfully dodged and sparred with many until Jack Frost appeared from one. With her convincing, the trio made their way to the fortress.
Not long after, the Warden in Tree's body appeared and attacked Blue, attempting to possess him. Kiri ran forward and battled with the Warden, using her skill in martial arts to draw close and stab Tree in the hip, allowing the Rebellion to take her prisoner. Kiri then reconciled with King Haddock and was given back her position in the Rebellion.
Shortly after, she began to have flashbacks to her experience in Lillith's labyrinth.
Kiri helped bring those on the mission to retrieve stolen weapons back to the fortress. She witnessed Akkey's flight from the others, but thought nothing of it, believing her to be on her own mission.
=== Season 2 ===
Kiri was instrumental during the feast for providing the bubble tea that was eventually spiked with Starlord's vodka and shared amongst the Rebellion. In her drunken merriment, she did her best to provide as much chaos as possible with exploding potatoes, thrown pies, and swordfights with leeks. She also attempted to have King Haddock dance, despite his injured state.
During a short lull where she stepped outside for a break, she witnessed the sight of a white cat. Having not seen one in years, she reacted by slaying it immediately, on edge due to her history with them. As she had not been believed regarding the existence of white cats in the Hidden Sky Village, she brought the cat's corpse with her to show to King Haddock. Believing that he could not see it, she had the corpse destroyed by Dagger and proceeded to run a full patrol throughout the fortress in an attempt to ensure safety from the white cats.
Not long after, she volunteered to join a supply mission to a nearby village with Clover, Starlord, and Tezz. However, while making notes on inventory, she witnessed activity in Haddock's chambers and rushed over to investigate. She informed Pitch of her last sight of Akkey, then attempted to stop the fight between Pitch and Haddock. Unfortunately, Pitch spilled and then pushed her through the water, which transported her to the very village she was supposed to go to with the others. Having just been attacked by a witch, Kiri suddenly found herself pulled into the witch's labyrinth and spent many hours fighting for her life.
Later, towards the end of her limit, Tezz was also drawn into the labyrinth. With his magical abilities, he defeated the witch, to which Kiri now owed him her life. She picked up the witch's grief seed just before passing out to her injuries. She woke briefly as the others were placing her into a cart, during which she was delirious, spoke of punching Pitch, and fell into her old guilt regarding Lillith and the white cats. She saw the silhouette of one just before passing out again.
The village group traveled back to the fortress, and Kiri spent several days unconscious while recuperating. After waking, she spoke to Tezz about the truth of the witches and why they were such a threat. Though she was relatively inactive due to her injuries, Kiri also had a confrontation with Pitch, whom she first punched, then had an amicable conversation with. She was able to warn Stonegit about the dangers of witches and white cats to the region and the Rebellion.
She later saw Tezz as he left the fortress, killed the white cat attempting to make a contract with Clover, and witnessed the battle between Stonegit and Hemlock, ending in King Haddock's death.
=== Season 3 ===
Horrified by the king's death, Kiri left in the middle of the funeral to fly with Dagger. On the way back, she chanced by Tezz, giving him news from the Rebellion and identifying the dragon he had bonded with as Zuko, the typhoomerang hatchling from the labyrinth. She convinced him to return, then left him healing teas in reaction to his missing hand before returning to the fortress.
Once there, she first spoke with Bree while checking in with Clover and Melira, then attended the meeting to choose King Haddock's successor. She placed her vote in Queen Mera as the new leader, but with Stonegit as the battlemaster. She was then placed as the head of the witch hunters, who would be in charge of fighting and destroying the witches within the area. Privately, she told Stonegit of the dangers regarding white cats, warned him of Walpurgisnacht (Night of Witches), and how best to fight them.
Soon after, Kiri formed a strike team with Tezz and Starlord. They ventured to a nearby village, where within the tavern, they learned of a witch. Kiri followed a female guard with a witch's kiss on her neck, which led them to an abandoned storeroom. They fought off bewitched people, who had been systematically killing villagers, then entered the labyrinth, which resembled a fairground, but twisted and demented into a nightmare. With Dagger's help, they were able to slay the witch, and returned to the inn tavern where they direly needed a drink.
Tezz discovered that one of the bewitched people had bitten him, and the successful with hunters made their way back to the fortress for a quick rest. Kiri quickly learned of Stonegit's behavior, and after discovering that he had hurt Tezz in the dungeons, confronted him. She attempted to appeal to his humanity, but failed. Stonegit then ordered the camp gates closed and locked, trapping all the rebels within.
Kiri chose to attempt forming a counter-rebellion, talking to Tree, Tezz, Clover, and Starlord. She used her viking ninja training to find ways to communicate without being spotted by the guards, or set small traps around to alert her to the presence of guards. Not long after, Stonegit was placed in prison, but she could see that the guards still answered to him. She developed an encryption system with knitted garments, and did her best to maintain an air of playful mischief, informing a Seaguard by the name of Little Cabbage of the details through the knitted socks she gave her.
She organized another witch hunt, before which she met Blunt Donz, scared him, and left him an equally ridiculous note in his guest chambers. Aware of a strange message relayed by Stonegit, she managed to get Tezz, Starlord, Clover, and Melira out of the fortress as part of a 'witch hunt' before the battlemaster took control once more. Once she defeated the guards trailing them, she talked with her party, letting them decide their next choices.
Kiri took her leave from the group to prepare herself and rally the witch hunters. They chose the second ice fortress as their new base, with Kiri as their leader. It was then that she thought of the choices before her and made a decision. 
She returned to the fortress with a white cat hidden in her coat, scoping out the situation. Deciding that the time was right, and keeping in mind everything that she believed best, she made a contract with the white cat.
Her wish was to heal all souls, whether sick, corrupted, or shattered. She would heal these souls personally. This had the inadvertent effect of placing those burdens to her own soul, keeping it locked away for a time but bleeding in and corrupting her soul at an extremely fast rate. It also had the effect of ensuring that with the corruption of hundreds of thousands of former witches, her witch would be exceptionally powerful.
She made a deal with the white cat, where were she to become a witch, that energy created by the transformation would be enough to satisfy the cats and let them leave Midgard alone. Then she gave her soul, now in the form of a gem, to another cat, and entered the fortress to confront Stonegit once more.
Once there, she offered to heal his soul, as his behavior reminded him strongly of Lillith before her transformation. He discovered the white cat with her and struck her down, accusing her of being a witch - a thing that she did not deny. King Haddock soon appeared, and Kiri watched until she deemed it best to make her escape once more. She retrieved her soul from the other cat, reaffirmed their deal, then healed herself and sped away.
Once the conflict is over, Kiri moved back into her quarters, though she maintained a very quiet, hidden presence out of fear that the others would discover what she was. She confirmed that there was a large supply of grief seeds for her to use, then healed her first soul - the girl who had been the witch from Melira's village. She then found Dagger in the woods and told the dragon of everything. The two tested out her new magical powers, first in the clearing, then against a witch.
Still maintaining a hidden presence, she visited Stonegit's comatose body, leaving him some tea and hopes of him returning to normal. Later, she found Tezz and casually asked him to take over from her as the leader of the witch hunters during a planned trip to her home village. She warned of a powerful witch approaching.
Kiri spent many of her days witch hunting, purposefully distancing herself from any of her allies in attempt to protect both them and herself from any potential judgment at her changing state. She began to write a book, "White Cats and Witches - A Comprehensive Guide", in hopes that she could pass on all of her knowledge in case the white cats did not keep their bargain. Over time, the corruption began to bleed into her soul - pain in her body that originated from the soul, and a growing paranoia. 
The day that Stonegit awoke, she remembered that he had accused her of being a witch. Panicking, she decided to flee to the second fortress. While packing and preparing everything, she quickly ushered a new visitor in, Kira, though she decided to not share her own name for fear of being identified later as a potential witch. Kiri left King Haddock two storerooms of tea and a note, stating her resignation from the Rebellion, but desiring to maintain a good alliance. She and Dagger then left the fortress, aware that they might not return.
While setting everything up at the second base as leader of the witch hunters, Kiri made a mental list of everything she needed to complete before she succumbed to the fate of becoming a witch. She sent Tezz and Clover a package as a wedding gift, containing several handmade nadder spike daggers, enchanted rings, and her own hair ornament. Then she settled in, focused on what she had to do.
=== Season 4 ===
Kiri focused on finishing her book while continuing to hunt witches. She trained with the witch hunters, preparing them for the coming threat. Her methods grew gradually more violent, and she paid less heed to danger and damage to her own body, taking more risks despite injury and further harm. After losing an arm (and stabbing a witch to death with the broken bone), Kiri realized just how corrupted her soul was becoming, affecting all of her actions.
Shortly after another corrupted soul incident involving her leg, she began to experience voices and internal arguments, losing her mind. During a meeting with the other witch hunters, she attacked one, but stabbed herself in the arm at the same time. In a panic, she retreated to her quarters. 
Kiri realized that due to her wish and the combination of so many witches' despair pushed onto her soul, her witch would become Walpurgisnacht. In her own despair, she tore her book apart, destroyed her room, and nearly destroyed her own soul before Dagger intervened. Somehow, she was able to communicate perfectly with Dagger's soul, and she apologized, swearing that she would finish everything and not let herself go again. Dagger in turn promised to remain with Kiri until the end.
Kiri repaired her book, finished it, then set it out to be copied and distributed. She then organized her trip home to the Hidden Sky Village, with plans that she would afterwards disappear and never return to either fortress. She took a last trip to visit King Haddock in order to warn him of the coming witch, Walpurgisnacht - herself. She made sure to give him much needed information, as well as let him know of three of her officers arriving soon at the main fortress with their regiments for safety. King Haddock in turn warned her to beware of a man called Orskaf Donz.
She journeyed to the Wilder East with Dagger and reached the Hidden Sky Village, welcomed back with open arms. While she told them of her adventures during her Walkabout, she learned of the new witch threat - the witch that Lillith had become. Given her status as leader of witch hunters in the Wilder West, and news of a stranger in the village who had recently come from the same region, Kiri was chosen to accompany the village leaders during negotiations.
During said negotiations, when the stranger was identified as Orskaf Donz, Kiri had a relapse with the corruption in her soul. It was enough to make Orskaf suspicious of her, while the village leaders simultaneously became very suspicious of Orskaf due to perceived slights against Kiri and those she knew. 
Kiri then prepared herself and Dagger, and tracked down Lillith's witch in order to end her misery. They 
battled within the labyrinth, with Dagger using part of the labyrinth itself to destroy the witch completely while Kiri ensured that Lillith's soul would survive. She then healed the grief seed, freeing Lilllith and speaking with her spirit one last time. The two made amends with each other, as Lillith passed on and Kiri watched, knowing that she would go to the same fate.
Kiri spent a last day in the village, visiting old friends and hangouts, enjoying the time with her family, visiting Lillith's grave. She gave a final farewell to her parents, assuming that this would be the last time she would see them. With everything in order, she and Dagger left, making towards the Wilder West so they could make the final preparations and wait.
However, during the journey, Kiri and Dagger fell into a trap set by Orskaf, using a badly injured Zippleback dragon. Dagger was knocked out and presumed dead, while Kiri was taken captive with many precautions in place to ensure she could not use her magic. Orskaf tortured her for information regarding the ring she wore and the truth of the witches, but she let herself lose her humanity in order to withstand it. The torture and her efforts further corrupted her soul, to where she began to succumb to the transformation process, and her gradually more and more insane words gave Orskaf the hint he needed. 
Orskaf brought Kiri with him to the fortress, where he traded some words with King Haddock. He then proceeded to fire her soul gem into the fortress via arrow, and stab Kiri's body through the heart. Kiri, already undergoing the transformation process, gave into despair, and her soul gem exploded as it was reborn into Walpurgisnacht. 
As Walpurgisnacht, she used the environment around her to create her barrier, with the debris and Bewilderbeast ice acting as weaponry and projectiles. In the process, she and her familiars destroyed the entire fortress, killing a third of the Rebellion. Eventually, it was the goddess Hel who intervened, killing Kiri's witch form, leaving nothing but a grief seed emblazoned with the emblems of a tea leaf and nadder spikes. 
== Relationships ==
=== Dagger ===
Kiri is extremely close to Dagger due to the circumstances under which the two met, and the strange understanding that came between them. Dagger is very loyal to Kiri, and the two consider each other close friends. Due to this, Dagger is the only one to whom Kiri confides everything regarding the white cats, her own contract, and her eventual fate.
== Trivia ==
== See Also ==
Four Years Ago...
Category:Characters
Category:Toshioka Kiri