Kodachi

*"Not everything can be solved with just going out there and punching bad guys in the face. Sometimes, you have to be smarter than them, you have to think like them in order to predict their next move, you have to be tactful with your actions. The best way to take down anyone of these villains is to outsmart them all."*
—Phoenix Esther
**Phoenix "Kodachi" Esther** is a companion and best friend of Lance White. A genetically altered small mammal, Phoenix is the walking, talking, fighting ball of fur and fangs and the heart of the Arcadian Rebels, working with the codename **Kodachi**.

Phoenix was saved by Lance from a brutal life and was therefore trained to defend herself, acquiring new mutant powers, hand-to-hand combat skills, and firearms training from her friend, John Roy.

## Biography

### Early Life

Phoenix was born to a family that lived with a skilled feline breeder. While the exact identity of the breeder is unknown, she remembers the breeder and caretaker being a nice older woman. Phoenix was the runt of her litter, which would lead to siblings being somewhat shunning towards her; however, her mother was all too happy to care for her.

It would be a year later until Phoenix would lose her mother to an illness a year after giving birth to her litter. To compound Phoenix's grief, her seven older, purebred feline siblings were given away to separate homes. Just before Phoenix was set to go to a human orphanage, a young man named Calvin adopted her; for several years afterward, they had a close relationship.

As time progressed, Phoenix's teen years would lend themselves to being rebellious. Her punishments often involved being beaten relentlessly for her behavior; she broke her owner's last straw when she was caught sharpening her claws on old furniture that, unbeknownst to the half-feline, had sentimental value.

The young half-cat escaped the abusive home, but not without accidentally killing the owner in a bout of self defense.

#### Stray Feline

Phoenix lived on the streets of her hometown for about three and a half years in poor health, having to hone instincts she never had to use before, and without a stable place to call her home. As a result of her instincts having been stunted, she never bothered to fight for territory or food.

### Adventures with the Rebels

#### Meeting Lance White

The young feline was wandering around downtown in a search for food sources when she was encountered by a couple of men that made sexual advances. Her freeze response was broken upon being commanded by an older male, who had been watching the encounter, to flee. After she fled, they approached the man; Phoenix decided to defend him, to which she was successful.

It would be later revealed that the man would be Lance White, a skilled ninja. Wanting to grow in her skills, she sought out Lance's help. What began as a mentor and apprentice relationship grew to become a close friendship, sharing in countless adventures and victories against the dark forces that threatened Neo Arcadia. They'd go on to become two of The Rebels' four founders alongside Jason Kade and Cody Nakamura.

#### Mutation

During a decisive battle with Sebastian Raymond, she was suddenly injected with a mutation serum. Knowing what she had been taught about the serum, Phoenix had decided to accept her fate, expecting to lose her mind, and by extension, her life. Surprisingly, the serum wasn't potent enough to corrupt the Neko's brain, but it was potent enough to painfully give her the gift of flight. Phoenix had then possessed huge, bat-like, retractable wings which would allow her to defeat Sebastian. The mutation has given her a decisive upper hand in her future fights.

#### Midnight Mafia

In January 2017, the Rebels took on a new campaign to bring down a mafia leader running for mayor of Neo Arcadia, Rocco Tekorelli. To assist with the mission, Lance hired a Marine and security consultant, John Roy.

Roy taught Phoenix to properly handle and fire a gun.

### Return to the Arcadian Rebels

After more than a year, Phoenix Esther returned to the Arcadian Rebels after leaving when she perceived herself as a fighter whom lost her edge. Since her return, she has often mentioned the existence of a sweet, old lady that adopted her. After the elderly woman she lived was murdered in a robbery she was helpless to stop since the heroine was out on a supply run, Phoenix channeled her grief and remorse over failing to protect her into training to sharpen her lost edge and thus came out of retirement.

## Personality

*"Humans have a strange psychology. I just can't figure out why they have to pet me every time they see me, I can't figure out why they keep talking down on me like I was an infant."*
—Phoenix Esther
Being the heart of the team, she tends to be very clingy and shows undying loyalty towards her friends. She sees herself as the glue of the team, but if she perceived herself as a dried, broken adhesive, she'd go into a state of depression. She loves to engage in hand-to-hand combat and loves to defeat her enemies, but will become disheartened if she can't land a hit for a certain amount of time. She's sensitive to the wellbeing of her team and other civilians, and she's a quick learner when it comes to fighting techniques, such as when it only took her half a day to figure out how to efficiently fight with her new wings.

Phoenix's personality is that of a sensitive, fun loving, kind person. If it's not Cody Nakamura, it's normally Phoenix that comes up with the jokes first, or she'll follow one of her friends' jokes with some of her own, which are either clever or out of place.

Underneath the smile she wears, she once lived a life of trauma, such as witnessing the death of her mother from an illness, being constantly abused in her teen years by her previous guardian, and bearing the guilt for killing said adoptive father. Despite her earlier traumas, she's worked through these challenges one step at a time, and for each step she takes, the further she steps into a brighter future.

She also dabbles in philosophy. From growing up in a hateful environment and encountering many who oppose the idea of her species, Phoenix has developed negativity towards many humans, seeing a good portion of them as monsters and believing the only ones who accomplish actual good are in it for self-benefit. Of her own admission, she tends to think too deeply about humanity and its existence.

This philosophy is challenged after losing her edge and going into a short lived retirement to live with an old lady that was nearing the end of her life and surprisingly loved half human, half cat humanoids. Her faith in humanity was almost shattered during a fatal robbery, but the existence of her elderly friend taught her that not every human is out for themselves at the expense of others around them; therefore, it was strengthened rather than destroyed. Despite this revelation, she harbors a deep hatred for violent criminals.

## Powers and Abilities

*"Hey! I'm not just some mangy cat! I'm a human... cat... bat thing. A human catbat. No, a batcat'd human? A hubatcat? Maybe just a batcat... I'll knock you out!"*
—Phoenix Esther

### Powers

*"You're about to feel the power of a neko."*
—Phoenix Esther to Clark Flat
* **Artificially Enhanced Neko Physiology:** Phoenix is a Neko, meaning she possesses qualities of both a cat and a human. For her human qualities, she is bipedal, can speak, and has opposable thumbs. For her feline qualities, Phoenix has a prehensile tail and retractable claws. After receiving performance enhancement from Sebastian Raymond, some of her other physical abilities have been heightened. As a result of her wings resulting from a mutation serum, the relationship between Phoenix Esther and her mutation can be said to be a form of mutualism. This is evident by Phoenix's need for energy significantly increasing shortly after gaining the wings, as they feed off of her nutrients. This requires the feline to eat bigger meals; however, in return the wings fuel her immune system and serves as a spare energy source in emergency situations, in the middle of combat, or when she's asleep. She has a unique bloodline that consisted of other creatures that would normally never combine to make an offspring with mixed characteristics, making Phoenix one of the only known members of her family to be mutated due to her environment during pregnancy.
	+ **Superhuman Agility:** She could already move like a human and still be as agile as a cat. The average cat can jump five times as high as its tail is long.
	+ **Superhuman Senses:** Being partly feline, Phoenix could already see, smell, and hear better than humanly possible. She has nearly-perfect sight in the dark (a tiger's night vision is six times better than a human's). While her feline hearing is above average, it is not as powerful as Lance White's, although she has stated it can detect an even slightly intoxicated voice (ie. traces of slurred speech) and jokingly claims to possess "Lance-is-pissed senses." Cats can also hear ultrasound.
	+ **Claw Retraction:** As part cat, Phoenix could protrude a pair of sharp, retractable claws in place of fingernails. These claws are naturally sharper and tougher than that of normal human bone structure, allowing her to cut through most types of flesh and natural materials. Her ability to slice completely through a substance depends on the thickness of the substance and the amount of force she can exert thanks to her enhanced strength.
	+ **Wing Manifestation:** Her most obvious mutation is her retractable huge, bat-like wings.
	+ **Virus Immunity:** Phoenix's wings have been shown to have strands of Virus H2142 on them; however, they aren't potent enough to become contagious or even make the host sick; this is due to the separate immune system that the wings only have, which is 10x stronger. This is a result of the wings being sensitive to bacteria and viruses, ranging from the common cold to much more serious ailments. Even though the wings' immune system often successfully fights off bacteria and viruses, the genetics for the viruses can linger on the wings for as little as 24 hours or for as long as almost a year.
		- **Flight:** Phoenix can fly at 50 mph (80 kph), but normally travels much slower due to inexperience and her tendency to crash land if she flew too fast.
	+ **Enhanced Strength:** Phoenix is stronger than she looks; Raymond's serum appears to have also augmented her strength beyond that of a regular human, especially notable regarding her small size and stature. She can thus wield weapons that are designed to be wielded by normal sized humanoids with ease. Her strength once allowed her to completely punch through a wooden beam, and once broke a wall made of concrete, wooden beams, and fiber glass, though this resulted in her arm breaking and coming out of its socket. However, this is still an impressive feat, because common concrete nearly has a density of 120 pounds per cubic foot. She is also able to carry others with ease in conjunction with her flight, such as Mallory White. She was strong enough to throw Jason Kade (who is over three times her own bodyweight) and stun Clark Flat in combat.
	+ **Enhanced Durability:** Due to her augmentations, Phoenix is capable of surviving damage that would normally be sufficient to kill an animal of her size, as well as injure a normal-sized human. This resilience also allows her to perform greater feats of strength without injuring herself, such as punching through a wooden beam without receiving splinters or breaking a wall made of concrete, wooden beams and fiber glass without shattering her arm, only having it broken and come out of its socket. However, she is still vulnerable to gunshots and explosions, though the former can mildly affect her unless she is shot in a vital area. She is also frequently subjected to faceplanting, and has even survived faceplanting from two stories high. Another example of her durability is remaining conscious after being shot with shock rounds.
	+ **Enhanced Speed:** Despite her stature, Phoenix can run at speeds that surpass those of the average human. She can also fly at 50 mph (80 kph). She could also adeptly avoid hits in combat, which led Clark Flat to state that her speed "takes the cake," meaning it is her greatest asset in a fight.

### Abilities

*"Vehicle knowledge is a must when it comes to those of us who see cars with love."*
—Phoenix Esther
* **Keen Intelligence:** Phoenix is a fast learner with high intelligence. Although Phoenix's main skill is hand-to-hand combat, her tendency to quickly learn anything she's exposed to has lead her to gain skills by observing her teammates fight against enemies.
	+ **Bilingualism:** Phoenix can speak fluent English and her native Neko language. Of her own admission, she attempted to learn Japanese but has struggled in memorizing even basic phrases.

*"The worst beating of my life was from Phoenix."*
—Clark Flat
* **Expert Combatant:** Phoenix has received training from both Lance White, a true ninja master, and John Roy, a highly-trained United States Marine, so is therefore skilled in hand-to-hand combat. She is an enthusiastic fighter, though she mostly relies on basic moves, such as uppercuts and roundhouse kicks. Although she can fight on her own, she is scared of losing, but has shown to be able to keep up in fights against multiple forms of adversaries, such as Raymond's goons and biomolecularly enhanced soldiers. Her fighting style is comprised of Boxing, Taijutsu, Kenjutsu, Kayakujutsu, Shinobi-iri, Krav Maga and combat shooting, which includes a combination of firearm improvisation, flight maneuvers such as her signature dive-bomb, scratches, and occasionally swords. She is thoroughly skilled enough to surprise attack the likes of Cody Nakamura, an assassin with advanced military training, as well as surprise-pistol-whip the war-seasoned Autumn Stone. She showed improved technique during a sparring match with the Marine Clark Flat, and even received commendation on her combinations from Matillo.
	+ **Sword Skills:** Coupled with her observation of Lance White's fighting and study of swordsmanship, Phoenix possesses knowledge in the use of swords.

*"I have a strong urge to embed a shotgun shell into my head. Oh look, Lance's rubbing off on me, how nice."*
—Phoenix Esther
* **Skilled Markswoman:** The half-feline underwent rudimentary marksmanship training from her friend, John Roy, taught to aim for center of mass and practiced drawing her guns. She is normally seen with her snub-revolver and semiautomatic pistol.
* **Skilled Acrobat:** Phoenix is slightly skilled in acrobatics during flights, in order to withstand the equilibrium shifting caused by flight. She combines her acrobatic skills with his flight maneuvers to avoid being shot.

*"Cats always have to be stealthy y'know."*
—Phoenix Esther to Flag
* **Stealth:** Phoenix, having received training from a ninja, is stealthy enough to sneak up on an opponent and attack when they least expect it; however, she is often unable to do so as a result of being sensed by said opponents.

## Equipment

### Attire

* **Kodachi Suit:** Her suit is highly tear-resistant. It has holsters for each of her guns, and bandolier for ammunition.

### Weaponry

*"Can't get more dependable than a wheel gun."*
—John Roy
* **Ruger LCR:** She received training under her friend John Roy with this polymer, .38 Special snub-nose revolver, with a five-shot cylinder and loaded with 158-grain hollow point bullets, granting it plenty of stopping power. It features a concealed hammer to avoid being caught on her suit when she draws it. The compactness of the revolver makes it stealthier than her other weapons, and conceals well due to Phoenix carrying it IWB, although it is harder to draw from. The serial number is filed off.
* **Beretta 92FS:** Phoenix's second gun is a double-action, semiautomatic, nine-millimeter pistol with a 15-round magazine. It is a popular firearm due to an impressive magazine capacity and decent damage, especially handy for confrontations with numerous antagonists.
* **Thermal Revolver:** She was given this revolver by Jason Kade to remember Roy by. This can discharge powerful energy bolts.
* **Snub-Nose .38 Police Special:** She keeps a small revolver at home. It is a very powerful short range cannon, and puts down baddies fast so long as Phoenix is right up against them.
* **Marlin Model 1895SBL:** Phoenix was given this lever-action rifle with stainless steel finish and a gray laminated wood stock by Kade for Christmas 2017. She brought it along to fight the neo-Romans.

## Relationships

* Mother
* 5 Sisters
* 3 Brothers
* Max Shiro - Son

Allies* Arcadian Rebels
	+ Lance White/Argent - Best Friend, Teammate
	+ Jason Kade/Almanac - Friend, Teammate
	+ John Roy/Wolftrot - Friend, Teammate
	+ Kaz Becker/Argonaut - Friend, Teammate
	+ Cody Nakamura/Ghost - Friend, Teammate
	+ Leah Caverly/Reverie - Friend, Teammate

## Trivia

* Phoenix is the shortest in the Arcadian Rebels at 4'0".
* Her favorite types of music are acid jazz, pop, and rock n' roll.
* Phoenix once had a dream of becoming a race car driver, and thus used to drive at dawn every weekend; however, she saw more fulfilment in being a heroine. While she still loves to drive, she no longer pursues an old dream.
* Phoenix has a tendency to be wary of other Nekos. Not even she is sure if it's because of territorial instinct or because of the way she was treated by them for the stigma of having been adopted.
* Phoenix sheds during the winter, rather than in the summer.
* Phoenix's diet is meat based, including foods such seafood, beef, pork, and poultry. Of all of them, her favorite food is a tie between seafood and beef. Contrary to popular belief, Phoenix cannot consume food made specifically for purebred cats (canned, kibble, treats) as they make her ill. She can, however, safely ingest and be significantly affected by small amounts of catnip.
* She is known for saying variations of the sound, "Nyah," which is supposed to be a feline vocalization.