Deneko

* Post-Brandshock
* Pre-Brandshock

**Deneko** (Deh-NECK-oh) is an electric Vani apart of the team invading Earth. He storms the city of Los Angeles alongside his tether, Katrina Giyatiene, the two decapitating people to make an army of zombie-like beings with appliances for heads.

## History

### Pre-Brandshock

Deneko was apart of a fringe science team alongside Eeshiolli, Qerolzva, Aernester, and Splaizlo that focused on the utilization of Jiki. He served as the team's mechanic, building various contraptions and machines for his team to utilize. Due to constant bickering between him, Eeshiolli, and Qerolzva however, he and the rest of his team were often treated as a joke by other scientists.

### Stars Below

Deneko joined the mercy mission with the goal of not only proving himself as a capable engineer, but also finding fulfillment in doing what he believed was a heroic deed.

Setting up operations in Los Angeles, California, he operated the Factory to decapitate victims Katrina kidnapped and replaced their heads with automated mechanisms in the shape of various household appliances. These appliance-headed "zombies" were then gathered and released to collect more victims. In another section of the Factory, he harvested the brain matter from the decapitated for the second part of his attack: A modified Turret known as the Mech, or Big Brother.

Once he had amassed enough brain power, Deneko unleashed Big Brother onto the city, causing widespread destruction and further spreading the appliance-shaped mechanisms. Things took a turn for the worst however when Katrina- having stood on top of the mech to confront Madeline- slipped and fell. Though the fall didn't kill her, a TV-shaped mechanism did. In a panic, Deneko immediately halted his attack to grab her body and trap her soul within a device he created in the past. Devastated with guilt, he worked tirelessly to revive his tether and friend.

## Personality

Deneko is very shrill, impatient, and ill-tempered. He is very easily annoyed, which can make it difficult for him to show that he cares about others. In spite of this, he is also really jumpy, startled the moment things even go slightly wrong. He also has a massive ego- despite often lying about about his accomplishments- and doesn't let others' comments get him down, Instead, he channels his energy into proving his capabilities.

Having an affinity for fringe science, Deneko is known to conduct research in unconventional ways. He's willing to test out just about anything to see if his hypothesis is true. He cares not about the ethics of his experiments, only the results.

Since Katrina's death, Deneko's confidence has suffered a major blow.

## Abilities

Deneko excels at building machinery and robots. While the full extent of his engineering prowess is unknown, they exceed that of human technology, able to create machines that can take control of living creatures, and trap a soul inside a body. His biggest creation, Big Brother, created an attack that became just as infamous as Morzogo's.

While physically weaker and smaller than the other Vani, Deneko's strength is not to underestimated. He is at least stronger than a bull, able to carry steal beams with little effort.

## Relationships

### Kineko

Deneko's twin sister. He envied her job as a pilot, thinking it was a much cooler job than his. Nowadays, he misses her dearly.

### Katrina Giyatiene

Deneko's tether. Though her shenanigans do annoy him sometimes, he's grown to genuinely care about Katrina, viewing her not only as an equal, but also a sister. Her semi-death has hurt him greatly, and although he can still exist on Earth despite her being in this state, he works tirelessly to revive her.

### Eeshiolli

A co-worker of Deneko who frequently picks on him, much to his annoyance.

### Aernester

One of Deneko's co-worker pre-Brandshock.

### Splaizlo

One of Deneko's co-worker pre-Brandshock.

### Qerolzva

Deneko's superior pre-Brandshock. Finds Qerolzva to be very annoying, and bickered with him a lot.

### Zahalkro

They are on friendly terms with one another, despite their views on the Mercy Mission. He finds Zahalkro's attempts to seem smart with electronics to be amusing.

## Trivia

* Design notes:
	+ Deneko's designs is largely based off various cats and monkeys. Additionally, his fangs and large ears were based on bats, while his tail was based on outlet plugs.
		- Despite often being compared to a rat by fans, rats were not used a basis for his design.
	+ He alongside Katrina were also created as a parody of Magical Girl tropes, Deneko representing the small, magical mascots that tend to accompany the magical girls in question.
	+ He was originally going have monitor lizard and chicken motifs to his design, though these were never added.
	+ In 2018, Deneko had clockwork motifs.
	+ He used to have drastically different proportions and his muzzle was grey like the rest of his body.
* Deneko's name is a combination of the Japanese words "denki" (Energy/electricity) and "neko" (Cat). His name literally means "Elecat".
* Deneko was one of the original 10 Vani conceptualized alongside Xelzerin, Morzogo, Insinera, Alatori, Vauluktreal, Zatakva, Baltzival, Ohazia, and Noktavia.
* He is the shortest of the Earth Team, being only a meter/3'5" tall.

## Gallery

Deneko's outfit.Deneko's outfit (Post-Brandshock).Deneko silhouetteA Deneko headshotSketch of DenekoDeneko and the other remaining members of the Earth team (Minus Luktreal).Deneko performing fringe science.A redraw of a Deneko asset from Cognition Factory.A series of Deneko icons depicting various states and emotions. From top left to bottom right: Defeated, neutral, corrupted,sad, angry, happy, sick, damaged, confused.