Crash Buster

* Transformed
* Civilian

**Crash Buster**, alias of **Star Sterling**, is a contestant in the Center of the Universe OCT. She joins the OCT primarily to ensure no shady business occurs, but she does wish to see her predecessor alive and well again.

## **Overview**

The Crash Buster comes from a world very similar to Earth. Taking place in the year 20XX, Star lives in a city plagued by monsters known as Burnouts, civilians that have either been forced, coerced, or tempted into taking power to fulfill their desires. Combating them for nearly 20 years was a trio of heroes called the Crash Saber, Crash Knuckle, and Crash Buster. Star grew up on tales of their escapades and triumphs and idolized her hometown hero, Crash Buster, as a child.

She lived an otherwise normal, bookworm type life, until she met her childhood hero literally melting away in an alley. Rather impromptu, she was entrusted with his power to use as he saw fit before passing away. Not wanting to besmirch his legacy and feeling the weight of being there for his final moments, she adopts his alias and becomes the next Crash Buster.

By the time of the OCT, Star has been through quite a few encounters of her own and has had plenty of opportunity to study and understand what it's like to be in combat. She's even gained an ally to help her in the field, a successor of the original Crash Saber called Crash Saber Z.

## **In the OCT**

### Entry Comic

After concluding a battle with one of her world's foes, M4SK appears from the blaze of the explosion, shocking both Crashes present. Ascending from the flames, she drops Buster an invitation- to which she takes with a degree of caution. While Saber futilely attempts to question M4SK for more information, she reads on and discovers what the Center of the Universe has to offer. M4SK leaves with exactly as much information as they need to know, additionally leaving Buster hesitant to take the invite on.

Despite both of them being distrustful of the premise of the tournament, Saber says investigating the tournament to make sure nothing twisted will happen would be in their best favor nonetheless. He motivates her further by saying if wishes are real, she deserves to use it to at least meet a certain someone again.

Before she can get ready, though, they remember they need to conclude their current pressing matter first.

### Round 1 - "Death Defiant" (Crash Buster vs Reaper)

*This fight can be read in full here!*

The round begins with Crash Buster contemplating how long this tournament will go for, and where the contestants are expected to lodge and meet in for their fights. Her train of thought is quickly derailed by M4SK suddenly speaking up and taking her off guard. While she has a moment with her, Star asks M4SK who her opponent will be. Rather offhandedly, M4SK simply declares it to be Reaper and directs Star to the robot towering over the both of them. Although Star attempts to make friendly small talk and make for a friendly, clean fight, Reaper just intimidates her into expecting a no-holds barred death match.

Later in the city, Star wanders the grounds in an attempt to locate her opponent. She contemplates if she can make her watch track robots instead of Burnouts for the tournament when Reaper's scythe comes flying out from a nearby alley and into an opposing wall. Facing the source, Star re-engages her Crash Buster and makes her offer of a clean fight to Reaper again. Reaper questions her why she's after it so badly, to which Star retorts that she's not in the tournament to harm anyone or take anyone's life herself. Unfortunately for her, Reaper lands a sneak attack on her back by returning his scythe to his hand- effectively declining Star's offer.

Reaper lunges in to take advantage of Star's downed state, but quick thinking on her end lets her land a clean blast on Reaper to blow him back. Unfortunately, he's made of tougher stuff and quickly recovers to fire a Crescent Wave in her direction. Star chooses to gain the high ground and some distance from Reaper's intimidating scythe, and the two engage in a short shoot-off to try and get one over the other.

After Star attempts to question Reaper's own motives, the exchange comes to an end as he manages to blow up some dust directly in front of her. Disappearing through a Reality Cut, he reappears a few moments later to attempt a Thousand Slashes on the unsuspecting Crash Buster. Although she narrowly avoids the big swing, several other slashes catch up and knock her clean out of the sky. Against all odds, however, she manages to get back up and continue fighting.

By fighting, she means dashing over a building to re-strategize.

Eventually taking cover inside a windowed building, Star in her injury-riddled state fails to notice her cover is just a little too short to serve its purpose. As Reaper catches up, he notices this almost immediately and attempts to goad the Crash Buster out of her own accord. First by revealing he's *not* here of his own volition, then by narrowing down what she could possibly be here based on what little he's learned. Unfortunately for Star, he hits her square in her true desires and begins questioning what the person she wants back did to deserve being wished back. Heated and pushed over the edge, Star lets slip that she simply didn't think the person she wished to see didn't deserve to die.

It's her own undoing as a Crescent Wave blows through the building's wall and knocks her square against the interior. Reaper moves in for the finishing blow, declaring to Star that while she may not be alone in that general sentiment, she should learn to get over it.

Mustering up some more strength to defy death, however, Star manages to block Reaper's swing with her Crash Buster- the blade just barely coming short of her. Although Star knows there are more important things people could use this potential wish for, she reasserts that, if nothing else, the person she wished to see again did *not* deserve to die.

Rallying more of her strength forward, she activates one of her special moves and fires a surging cyclone straight from her Crash Buster. It throws Reaper off long enough for her to direct the beam straight at him, and fires him straight from one building into the wall of the opposing one. Disappointed that his little mind game only fired her up some more in the end, Reaper rises from the rubble to face off with a newly re-motivated Crash Buster.

The two square off again, with the Crash Buster even gaining the upper hand in the battle for a short period. Reaper proves himself strong enough to withstand being blasted into a building, however, and launches Star directly under an overpass further down the street. After managing to bury her under some rubble with a well-aimed Crescent Slash, he thinks the battle's about over...

...Only for the Crash Buster to emerge from the debris with her significantly tougher Rock Buster form. Annoyed at Star's persistence, he fires a series of Crescent Waves just for Star to withstand them all. Internally, she's relieved that her form change was exactly what she needed to stand up to Reaper's direct attacks.

Determined to put Star down for good, Reaper closes the distance on the approaching Crash Buster and faces the sting of her shotgun spread, rock-reinforced shots. Perplexed at what she's suddenly packing, Reaper doubles down on attempting to finish her off, only for her to match him blow for blow. Pushed to the edge of his patience, Reaper performs a Reality Cut directly in front of Star to escape into. Caught off guard by seeing it actually happen in front of her this time, Star deduces that he's going to try and land a complete Thousand Slashes on her.

Defying the Reaper's finishing blow, Star activates another one of her special moves and lands a devastating side kick on the robot before his final slash can connect. Blown straight through the rubble, Reaper lays motionless on the ground for a moment. Star proceeds to take in the remaining Thousand Slashes once more, but not even her newly reinforced form can tank all of the hits. As she falls to her knees, Reaper begins to rise once more.

However.

A strange glowing "B" sigil appears on his torso, where Star managed to connect her kick. Left with only moments to react, the true effect of Star's attack activates and detonates directly on the robot.

Despite all this, Reaper manages to survive- if only barely- and regains consciousness to speak with Star once more. Although he says Star has earned the right to finishing him off, she denies him this and tells him everything deserves a chance to live. Although she didn't learn much of her opponent, she gets the feeling there's more to him that he should be allowed to explore. Refuting her mercy, Reaper escapes through a Reality Cut. His parting words to Crash Buster imply change is futile for a robot like him.

## **Personality**

Star is an introvert at her core. She tends to make like a wallflower in large groups, but has an easier time opening up to people one at a time. She realizes this sort of personality comes a little at odds with being a public heroic figure, so she tries her best to be a little more outgoing when she dons the Crash Buster persona.

Once you get past her quiet and withdrawn surface, Star’s actually very friendly and supportive. She generally encourages people to do their best, and has a soft spot for kids who like to learn and read. Star is not really the bantering type, though. Her spine’s a little soft in social scenarios, so she has a bit of trouble asserting herself once she gets caught in someone’s pace. It’s pretty easy to make her flustered or get under her skin because of it too.

Her sense of justice is fairly strong, however. She’s not good at asserting herself, but she always tries to stand up for the little man in and out of her Crash Buster persona. She also believes in giving people second chances to do better, something that can easily come back to bite her when given to the wrong person.

## **Abilities and Equipment**

True to her weapon, the Crash Buster is a fighter who favors mid-long range encounters. Although a few of her forms allow her an edge in close quarters combat, Star Sterling is an otherwise average human being with no formal training for her role. She can throw an average punch or kick, but her actual fighting skill leaves much to be desired. Despite this, she had fairly good aim even before gaining the superpowered arm cannon. It suffers under pressure, though. If she can afford a moment to stay calm and in control, her aim and ability to strategize naturally perform better.

* **Transformation** - As part and parcel with her Crash Buster, transforming into various forms will augment Star's strength, speed, and durability- in addition to changing the type of ammo loaded into the Crash Buster. If she takes too much damage or plain physical trauma, however, she can be knocked out of her transformation and be unable to transform again for a short period of time.
* **Crash Buster** - A weapon capable of vacuuming the elements around it to use as ammo, and to transform the user into a physically augmented superhuman. Without ammo, the Crash Buster is incapable of firing and is otherwise a blunt piece of metal attached to the user's arm. A highly durable one at that, as it would take a ridiculous amount of trauma to start cracking into it.
* **Crash Tracker** - A wristwatch capable of tracking the monsters that plague Crash Buster's world based on rapidly spiking heat signatures. It's also responsible for storing and summoning the Crash Buster, and is the primary power source for how the transformation is maintained. Cut off the watch or bust it up, and she's no longer able to transform. It was also specifically made to be highly durable, so achieving that is a difficult feat. Both the suit and the weapon are stored as data within the Crash Tracker, allowing it to self-repair them both over time.
* **Finish Dial** - The belt that Crash Buster wears. When it's spun once, a surge of energy is directed into the Buster to use as a finishing move. When it's spun twice, a surge of energy is directed towards her boots to be used as an alternative finishing move. The kick variants inflicts a glowing "B" sigil on her targets and causes them to explode after a brief pause.
* **College Education**- Star's most fearsome power that she could only gain by being a normal human being. She has a degree in Library Science and she's not afraid to flex that as necessary!

## **Forms**

The Crash Buster is host to more than a few forms to help keep Star's fighting style fresh and flexible. To make things simpler in regards to this OCT, Star is capable of swapping between four different forms under the right circumstances.

* **Cyclone Buster** - Crash Buster's default form. It's powered by the wind and is capable of firing strong air blasts and gusts of wind. It also boosts her jumping power by propelling her leaps with wind.
	+ **Full Buster** - Energy gathers up until a powerful, surging cyclone of wind blasts its target back.
	+ **Full Crash Buster** - Star is lifted into the air by a tornado before she's launched into a flying divekick at her target.
* **Heat Buster** - A form powered through a sufficient amount of fire. Although more limited in range, it can unleash a powerful flamethrower. It also increases her striking power by superheating her attacks.
	+ **Full Buster** - Charges a ball of expanding fire energy that explodes on impact.
	+ **Full Heat Buster** - After igniting one of her boots, Star runs forward and does a leaping side kick at her target.
* **Splash Buster** - A form powered through water. Similar to a fire hose, it can shoot high-pressure streams of water. It increases her mobility by letting her "surf" on the ground like it's water.
	+ **Full Buster** - Energy backs up into the Crash Buster until a heavy deluge floods out.
	+ **Full Splash Buster** - Using her ground-surf ability, Star slides along the ground and then leaps up into a side kick.
* **Rock Buster** - A form powered through stones. It can fire hardened, rock energy in a shotgun-like spray. It increases her defenses by making her and her armor mega sturdier.
	+ **Full Buster** - Charges an expanding ball of rock energy similar to Heat Buster. It differs by simply rolling out and slamming into its targets instead of exploding.
	+ **Full Rock Buster** - After planting her feet into a firm stance, Star delivers a firm and powerful sidekick into her target.

## **Gallery**

The Crash Buster in detail.A closer look at the Crash Buster's extra equipment.How the Crash Buster is summoned and Star's transformation pose.An example of "Full Buster"An example of "Full Rock Buster"Crash Buster's full body reference.