Ambrose LaRouche

“	I can be many things to different people. I guess that makes me special. But...what about what I want to be? Of course, that is the reality I have to struggle with every day.	”
 	—Ambrose 	—Ambrose
== History ==
=== Origin ===
Ambrose is the only child of Aurora and Dominique LaRouche. Aurora descends from an old family of African-American witches that were moved from Africa to the United States during the years of slavery and were forced to procreate with American men. During this time, one of their ancestors, Charlotte Bousquet, escaped from her imprisonment and traveled Colonial Virginia to seek a better life. 
Charlotte was thought to be the strongest witch at the time, born with several powers, which included the ability to summon the elements and clone herself. Once the Witch Hunt Era began, Charlotte secluded herself and used her powers whenever she could to stop the witch-hunters from attacking sister witches. As the years passed, the coven grew weaker. More and more members were trapped by the witch hunters and either hung or burnt after their unfair trials. Before she lost her hope, Charlotte was visited by a witch named Eva, who told her that everything would work out perfectly. 
A few years later, Charlotte became involved with a man by the name of Jackson DiMartel, and together they had a daughter named Isabel. Little did she know, Jackson was an evil witch that sought to take her powers, by gaining her trust first. Once he had successfully replicated all of Charlotte's unique abilities, he told the townsfolk that she was a witch, and soon after, the witch hunters took her away to await trial. On the day of her execution, just a few minutes before, Jackson visited her and gloated at her impending doom. Charlotte used the last of her magic and placed a curse on Jackson, locking him inside a necklace, and made it so that no one but a blood descendant could release him from it.
After this, Isabel was adopted by a nice and caring family. As she grew stronger, she continued her mother's legacy and helped as many witches as she could. After this, the family went through several name changes. From Bousquet to Wentworth, to Bowen, and finally LaRouche.
=== Prophecies and Destinies ===
“	You may kill me, but you cannot kill my kind. With each generation, the Bousquet witches will grow stronger and stronger-- culminating in the arrival of a male. He will vanquish all kinds of evil. He will be known as the Avatar of Gaea.	”
 	—Charlotte 	—Charlotte
After being outed by Jackson as a witch, and locking him in a locket, Charlotte was taken to the stake to be burnt alive. Charlotte had the opportunity to use her powers and escape her death, but she knew that, by doing so, she would prove Jackson's charge right, and Isabel would burn as well. She took the punishment, and right before they could burn her alive, she was allowed her final words. With this, she prophesied the arrival of one descendant that would be the most powerful member of her line. After this, Charlotte was set on fire.
=== Early Years ===
At a young age, Ambrose showed the ability to change his appearance based on his emotions, but this only extended to his eye color as a kid. His mother had placed a charm on him that allowed him to only feel good emotions. Given the fact that he was home-schooled, he had almost no contact with the outside world and didn't have any friends. 
At the age of 8, he was enrolled at a local school after his parents realized he needed to go out more often, and that keeping him inside their house was doing him more harm than good. On his first day, he found himself feeling like an outcast. All of the kids had friends, but because of his charm, these negative emotions faded away, giving him almost no time to experience them. He was a gleeful and bubbly kid. Very perceptive as well because of his power. After a few months in school, he was one of the most popular, and everyone wanted to be around him. He loved feeling like that, and would sometimes use his empathy to influence others to like him as well. He knew what he was doing wasn't right, but he didn't care. He had power, and he wanted to use it.
As he grew older, Ambrose's powers proved harder to control, but he enjoyed using them with no regard for consequences. His mother started worrying that his gifts would prove to be too much for him to handle and realized that her spell was the cause of this. He was unaware of other emotions like anger, anguish, sadness, etc. Little by little, she started removing the spell, enabling him to feel a little bit more every day.
=== Avatar of Gaea ===
Once he turned 14, Ambrose discovered that he could also control the elements around him. Coupled with his mother finally removing the spell completely, this activated the prophecy earlier, which boosted his powers even more. Through the following months, he would spend most of his time trying to control his vast powers and succeeded to gain some level of control over them, but this was not to last.
A few weeks before prom, Ambrose developed a crush on one of his classmates; Gabrielle. He wanted to ask her to go with him, but he knew she was dating one of his friends. Later that week, Gabrielle found out through Ambrose that his friend was cheating on her with another girl. Even though he convinced himself that he was doing it so she wouldn't get hurt, he did it because he wanted to be with her. This made him feel really bad. He had betrayed his friend and sabotaged his relationship for his benefit. 
When he finally asked Gabrielle to go to prom, she wasn't sure because he was friends with her ex-boyfriend, and thought that it was weird to go with him. Nonetheless, Ambrose convinced her to go with him and have a good time, and she accepted. He was happy but didn't realize that his emotions at the time were taking a toll on his powers, and suffered from a severe headache that day. He knew something was wrong, but instead of going to his parents for help, he kept his problems to himself so they wouldn't be worried. The next day his friend was told that Ambrose was the one that told on him, and it made him extremely angry. During lunch-break, while Ambrose was eating with Gabrielle, he approached the two and called him out on his actions. The whole cafeteria turned to them, and Ambrose tried reasoning with him because he still cared for him. His efforts were ineffective, and his friend lashed out, tackling Ambrose to the ground. As the fight went on for a couple of minutes, he unwillingly channeled his friend's negative emotions, and his appearance changed to that of a monstrous human-hybrid with talons. This scared everyone and Ambrose fled from the scene. Unable to control his powers, he called forth a myriad of natural occurrences that ended up destroying a whole block and finally passed out.
=== Massachusetts Academy ===
He was found through the combined efforts of Storm and Emma Frost not long after. He woke up in his bedroom, with his parents looking out for him. He was embraced by his mother and father and told them that he didn't know what was wrong with him. That suddenly he had lost control over his powers and caused a lot of destruction. His mother explained everything to him, including the prophecy, and told him that he was destined to be a powerful force of good, and a force of nature. Once they left, Ambrose questioned himself, and how everything happened.
Emma and Ororo arrived at his house and were greeted by his parents. After they explained who they were and what they were doing there, his parents told Ambrose to come downstairs so he could hear their offer. Emma offered him a spot at her school where he'd be surrounded by other mutants, and where he'd be taught how to master his powers so nothing like that happened again. At first, Ambrose was hesitant and felt like they didn't understand what he was going through. He was still blaming himself for everything, but Ororo explained to him that her powers were difficult to control at first and that she knew what he was going through. At times, her emotions would take over her powers, but with proper training, she gained full control over them. Emma told him that he could stay at the Academy for a weekend and see what it was like. If he liked it, he could stay, and if he didn't he was free to go. They weren't going to force anything on him and reassured him that it was his decision and not anyone else's. Before they left, they handed him a card with the Academy's number and address.
After a lot of thinking and considering, Ambrose called Emma to let her know that he was going there for the weekend to see what her school was like. Of course, he was disappointed to know that Storm wasn't a teacher there, but he trusted Emma. Once at the Academy, he immediately felt relieved and in peace, almost as if being there put his powers to rest. He became a permanent student at the Academy, and would often be visited by Ororo to check up on him and see how he was doing. He had also accepted his destiny as Gaea's Avatar, but he wasn't ready to take on a responsibility like that, so he took on the name Essence until he learns to control the full extent of his powers, and can one day, live up to the prophecy.
== Powers & Abilities ==
=== Powers ===
Empathy: A psychic talent which enables Ambrose to sense the emotions and feelings of all living creatures, and can broadcast his feelings to influence other people's emotions.
* Metaphysical Enhancements: As an extension of his empathic abilities, Ambrose can enhance his physiology to superhuman levels. He can magnify his strength to lift 45 tons. Boosting other aspects of his physiology like speed, reaction time, stamina, and reflexes requires vaster concentration, and doing so often leaves him exhausted. As his empathy develops, so will this power.
* Empathic Metamorph: Ambrose can assume the form of any living creature, even those that exist in legend and fictional universes, along with their powers. Ambrose's body changes in response to the emotions of the people around him. He can also alter his form in response to his surroundings, granting him immunity to temperature extremes, depths, pressures, toxins, etc. He can remodel his molecular structure to create clothing and weapons. He can cause his body to stop reflecting light to turn invisible, even along the electromagnetic spectrum. He can also alter the density of his body's biopolymers to phase through matter and energy, or tightening them to become more durable and resilient, to the point of nigh-invulnerability. He's turned into sentient elements and merged with his surroundings to act as an extension of his body. Furthermore, he can stretch to vast levels, separate and reattach his body parts, and alter his size at will. His shapeshifting powers also grant him a regenerative healing factor.
Elemental Manipulation: In his human form, Ambrose can manipulate, absorb, and release elemental energy: he does so through a psionic interaction with the substances on an atomic level. Thanks to the prophecy, he shares an empathic link to the Earth. By "speaking" to the elements, Ambrose can command the environment around him, and his emotional state can affect the local ecosystems. He can cause earthquakes or fires in a flash of anger, floods, and even minor hurricanes and tornadoes. By interacting with the atoms of the elements, he can achieve various effects such as combining hydrogen and oxygen atoms to create water, grant them electrical charges, etc. 
* Natural Perception: Ambrose can detect natural forces in the world around him, such as electromagnetic anomalies, air currents, chemical reactions, telepathic communications, the amount of moisture in the air and other matter, movement in the air or water around him, and can sometimes talk to ghosts. He can detect weather changes, atmospheric anomalies, magical forces, and can even tell when someone is teleporting and where. His link has a trans-continental range.
=== Abilities ===
Hand-To-Hand Combatant: Ambrose is a proficient hand-to-hand fighter. He receives constant training from Banshee and Emma Frost, and sometimes Storm as well. He ranks as one of the Academy's most capable combatants and has shown skill in Kajukenbo and Urban Krav Maga. 
Master Acrobat: Ambrose can perform several difficult techniques and acrobatic feats with relative ease, on par with an Olympic Acrobat. He is skilled in the arts of freerunning, parkour, and gymnastics. This makes him incredibly fast, swift, and agile, possibly on the edge of peak human capacity.
Peak Human Condition: Ambrose practices several martial arts and other sports such as gymnastics, swimming, track, and weight-lifting. His physiology is such that it enables him greater reaction time, durability, strength, agility, speed, and stamina than a regular human or mutant. He is above an Olympic level athlete and gymnast. He's the quarterback for the Academy's football team.
Artistic Talent: Ambrose possesses an innate talent for musical arts such as dancing and singing. He can play the guitar, piano, drums, and the violin. His vocal range is 5 octaves. At the Academy, he's starred in several school plays, and his acting skills come in handy when he's posing as someone else.
Eidetic Memory: Ambrose can recall images and great amounts of information after only seeing them once, and with incredible precision for a brief time after exposure without the use of any device.
Capable Hacker: Ambrose is a highly capable hacker, with the ability to hack into one of Forge's devices albeit for a couple of minutes.
=== Limitations ===
Empathy: Ambrose can only detect and influence other people's emotions as long as they're within his direct line of sight, or in the same room as him. His empathy, however, seems to be less developed than that of other psychics because of the spell that was cast on him. The spell prevented him from detecting the whole emotional spectrum, and as such, it will take a while before it reaches a higher level. Furthermore, he can't perceive subtle emotions as well as he can stronger ones.
Metaphysical Enhancements: His ability to enhance his physiology is limited. To activate this power he has to channel strong negative emotions from his surroundings. Enhancing his strength for extended periods can cause him to be more vulnerable to psychic intrusion, and the negative emotions can remain harboring his subconscious for days, which alters his behavior. It's more mentally exhausting for him to become faster than it is to get stronger.
Empathic Metamorph: Ambrose can only shapeshift into creatures or people as long as he's seen them before, or if someone describes them to him in detail. This ability is still somewhat difficult to master for him, and can sometimes be activated randomly if the emotions around him prove too extreme. He's incapable of replicating the powers of other mutants or superpowered beings. The one time he attempted this, he fell into a deep slumber for 3 consecutive days. He also inherits the weaknesses of the form he takes.
Elemental Manipulation: His ability to "talk" to and command the elements is highly limited. This is the reason why he prefers to manipulate air and earth the most, as those are the two elements he's close to all the time, and prove easier to control. Although he has shown enough skill to pull water out of the grass and some thin trees, this is not always the case. He can also manipulate just one element at a time, and sustain a natural occurrence for more than 15 minutes before the psychic strain impairs his performance.
Natural Perception: Ambrose's ability to perceive the world as wavelengths of natural energy is bound to his senses, meaning that this ability acts as an extension of one's senses such as taste, smell, sight, hearing, and touch. To activate this ability, Ambrose must be in physical contact with the nature around him (i.e touching a tree, the grass, a body of water, etc).
=== Strength Level ===
Ambrose is a normal human man who engages in rigorous exercise, combat training, martial arts, and parkour. He is capable of lifting and bench-pressing more weight than a regular human being or mutant. His bodily coordination, agility, strength, durability, and stamina are beyond the natural capabilities of the human body, placing him on a peak human category. He can enhance his strength to superhuman levels.
=== Weaknesses ===
Power Limitation: Ambrose can't shapeshift while he's controlling the elements and vice versa. Although at times he has displayed the potential to do so (such as changing his skin color while creating a whirlwind), this only extends to basic demonstrations of power, as using both powers at the same time reduces their efficiency and precision.
Lack of Precision: When it comes to his elemental powers, Ambrose has realized that it's easier for him to use his powers in more forceful ways than delicate ways (i.e creating a maelstrom proving to be easier than lifting someone via air currents).
Dark Persona: Ambrose is naturally jealous, and sometimes the darker aspects of his personality come to light such as being an expert at manipulating people, a callous attitude, and greed. These aspects of his personality can be seen whenever he loses control of his powers.
Empathy-Related Problems: Since his ability is under-developed, sometimes it's easier for him to detect stronger emotions, and gain insight as to what's causing those feelings, but sometimes he finds it difficult- if not impossible, to determine the cause of subtle emotions without being told or directly seeing what prompted it. He also finds it hard to turn his empathy on and off and as such, can cause him to act on those emotions as if they were his, and become overwhelmed by them, which leaves him at the mercy of what everyone else is feeling.
== Paraphernalia ==
=== Equipment ===
Energy Projection Regulator: Ambrose possesses an artifact given to him by Forge which allows him to regulate the strength of his powers, as well as filter and absorbs the strength of the emotions he's channeling into it. This gives him a more refined control over his elemental powers, but only for a brief period. After it runs out of power, it absorbs the excess emotions to recharge itself, as well as solar energy. Though there appears to be a limit as to how many emotions it can filter and absorb at a time. Surpassing this limit causes the device to turn off or malfunction. It takes on the form of a necklace.
=== Transportation ===
Self-propelled flight (through shapeshifting), Ford Mustang V8 TA 2019.
Category:Characters