Mirage

## **Personality**

Attentive: Mirage listens to people. For good intentions or bad, she never allows a single detail to go unnoticed or a question to go unanswered. Clarification is key to her, and she does her best to keep her mind open to various possibilities, while allowing nothing to distract her from her work. Usually. She needs to keep her head on straight in order to perform as best as she can as well, so she always does her best to keep her emotions in check and her mind in line. However, her quick temper in battle makes it difficult to do so, more often than not.

Blunt: This Zoroark always sticks to the point – even if it isn’t so nice. It’s how she was trained. Never be distracted by anything and stick to what you know. She doesn’t care about hurting others with her words, and most of the ones spat at her leave no indication that they bother her either. It doesn't matter even if you hired her, if you're doing something she knows is a bad idea, she's going to point it out and be very frank about it. Mirage will tell you how it is like it is, whether you want her to or not.

Deceiving: Mirage is a natural actress, as most of her kind generally are. She mimics how people walk and talk – their entire character even. She is also capable of hiding her true self under many different ruses, depending on what the situation calls for. Need money? Act like a wasted party goer and take a wallet when they aren’t paying attention to her hand. Need information? Be seductive. Need an alibi? Act like a terrified victim. Mirage isn’t afraid to stoop to any low level she needs to - though sometimes she may accidentally drop her act and have to give it all up from time to time.

Spiteful: Mirage is a creature who is driven by a deep, bitter hatred of others, though she hardly ever lets that on unless she's in battle. She feels hatred for her mother and father for giving her up. Hatred for the scum who murdered her beloved adopted mother. Hatred for Nero, who made her life hell for as long as they knew each other. Hatred for herself for being too weak to accept. She hates many more mons than just those, but they are the most prominent, and the ones who are her greatest source of energy when it comes to doing her job.

Ruthless: Mirage has been known to do anything it takes to succeed, even if it means getting herself or others hurt in the process. She is able to withstand great pain to achieve victory in her missions, though, she is not invincible, much to her dismay. She really does try to keep the ordinary people out of her business affairs, but will remove those she sees as obvious threats to her security. Mirage doesn’t forgive and she never forgets. It may take a while to break her calm facade, but when you do...be careful.

Cunning / Resourceful: Mirage is an intelligent individual and not a being you’d want to play mind games with. She knows how and where to get reliable information. She's constantly looking for knowledge, building up her own intelligence while she's at it. She calculates everything she does, everything her target will do, she even calculates in mid-battle; when to dodge, when to block, everything. She believes in logical reasoning and will never overlook the slightest detail in order to ensure success. She gets inside people’s heads. She’s manipulative, for better or for worse.

Unorthodox: Mirage doesn’t think like a normal assassin. She doesn’t act it either. You’d think she’d try to stay away from people and keep to the darkness where no one can see her and she’d be safe, but no. Instead, Mirage willingly goes out in public – with her Illusion ability of course – and mingles. Her acting ability keeps her from seeming out of place, and she learns more about how the world works though talking with regular people and even government employees and whatnot when she can. She always remains on guard though. Her work style is also rather strange, as she will almost always kill in the same fashion – letting people know it was her, almost like an artist signing their work. She probably does this for attention-seeking purposes.

Compassionate?: Let’s get one thing straight. Mirage is a killer, yes. She does it for her own gain, yes. She’ll eliminate all who stand in her way?...Almost. You see, Mirage has a weakness for a few select types of people – namely orphans and those who were abused as children. She also feels for those who are simply down on their luck, or struggling to make ends meet. Despite her typically cold demeanor, Mirage allows herself to show warmer emotions towards these people, and tries to ensure that no harm comes to them through her - tries to.

Hard-Shelled Softie: Mirage's attitude is a big facade she can cover up with little ones when doing her job. Basically, she has walls and lots of them. However, it's not impossible to make this Zoroark like you - somewhere within her, the Zorua who had loved practically everything is still there. Break through those walls, and a much gentler side of Mirage will come out - one that is supportive and kind, a friend until the very bitter end. Though she doesn't have too many of these friends, she holds them closest to her heart and allows no one to harm them, if she can help it. Losing even one of them would have a devastating impact on her life.

Physically Weak: Mirage is an assassin made for quick, dirty, underhanded moves that take down her targets. She's a Special Attack kind of girl. Though she puts up a decent regular Attack, Mirage's Defense stats are pitiful. Really, really pitiful. You could break her like a toothpick if you wanted to - and it wouldn't be the first time. Mirage is very sensitive, and despite her profession, she gets hurt very easily. Her suit helps a little, but if you manage to catch her in hand-to-hand combat, it won't matter. If you hit her hard enough, she'll go down, and she'll hit the ground hard.

Arrogant / Battle Impulse: Mirage is a bit overconfident in her abilities, which has been known to get her into some pretty nasty situations which almost never turn out good for her. Ever. Yet, the Zoroark still doesn't know how to NOT be over confident, and who knows how long it will take for her to figure it out. She thinks without actually thinking when a battle gets especially intense, and her calculations go right out the window in her struggle to achieve victory. Manage to get her to slip up - and she's as good as gone.

Mild: This is Mirage's nature in every record and document about her. And it's exactly right - and part of her overall personality of course. Mirage is a very laid back pokemon. Though she is driven by hate, she doesn't let that drive affect how she behaves outside of battle. She doesn't yell at people. Though she is an assassin, she tries to "lead a normal life" when she's not on a mission, just like Nero used to do. She sees her "profession" as a mere way of life and how she supports herself, not as a criminal act. She speaks calmly and smoothly, even when she's in the worst of situations. She's pretty chill, for a girl that kills people for a living. The only time her mild nature is broken is typically in a battle setting, where she uses her emotions to give her strength, hence her quick temper and whatnot that appear when she's fighting. She tries her best to hide that away though - but sometimes she just can't control it.

## **History**

Mirage was born to a single mother, who gave her up when she wasn’t even a year old in secret on Mirage’s homeworld. It is assumed that she faced difficulty at home that would have inhibited her ability to raise Mirage properly. Mirage never knew anything about her mother, and she never cared to know her either - of course, this didn’t stop Mirage from keeping the name that was given to her. Instead of her biological parents raising her, the young Zoura was taken to a new world by a Bisharp couple and raised as their child, as they were unable to have one of their own. For a long while, Mirage was completely content with her life. She was especially close to her adopted mother, Reba, who taught her many things, including the virtues of life such as honesty, honor, mercy, and selflessness. Mirage, or “Mira” as her new mother called her, was never very close to her adoptive father as a child. He seemed distant – busy all the time. He was rarely ever home, and when he was, he never stayed long, nor was he ever in a good mood. Nero, as his name was, hated to be questioned on his business, confronted, and challenged in any way shape or form by anyone. He even lashed out at his wife one time when she pressured him into telling her what he was going to do later in the week. She never asked again. Mirage however, watched Nero strike his wife down and began to feel a sharp, stabbing sense of dislike for him. This dislike would later turn into overwhelming hatred and loathing. Reba was forgiving, but Mirage’s hatred for him only deepened over time.

One night, Mirage and her adopted mother were out in their fields, coming in after a day of their regular fun and games by a nearby river – when they were suddenly attacked. These attackers wore hoods and wielded weapons, leaving Reba and Mirage outmatched and outnumbered. However, sensing the danger, Reba’s battle instinct won over her and she and Mirage put up a fight, the older Bisharp leading them in battle. Reba had taught Mirage some self-defense, but it was not enough to stand against these new found enemies. Mirage stood her ground and fought, but was eventually beaten, her long hair cut off – a humiliating thing for a Zoroark – and she was prepared to be killed until Nero finally made an appearance. He fought with deadly accuracy and skill, though he showed no mercy to his opponents in battle. His methods were downright savage and underhanded, corrupt to the core. Mirage even heard him respond to an attacker who begged for his life with a simple and cold, “No.” before cutting him down. Unfortunately, though the battle ended, Reba had been fatally injured. One of her outer razor disks was ruptured, compromising her entire internal system. She died later that night, to the horror of Mirage and Nero alike.

Nero was the first to regain composure after Reba’s passing. Taking Mirage, the two fled to an abandoned home in the outskirts of the planet’s capital city, hidden away where no one would expect to find them – the cellar of a large estate that had been left in ruin by its previous owner. Nero was forced to explain to Mirage what was going on. He had been hiding his real work from his wife for years – as he was a bounty hunter. A good one at that. However, the trouble with his job was that other mons knew his identity, thanks to a mistake he made when he was just starting out in the “profession”. This put his life in danger, along with the lives of his wife and adopted daughter, yet he never told them about it for reasons unknown to Mirage. She never asked him, but she could feel her hatred for him growing. He had been ultimately responsible for Reba's death. The hatred she felt grew stronger still when Nero forced her to make a pact with him. She was to be trained as not a bounty hunter, but an assassin – in order to seek revenge on those who had killed Reba and help the aging Bisharp with his work as an “apprentice” of sorts. Though Mirage hated the idea of working with or for Nero, she did want revenge. Reba was dead, and with it, the virtues she taught Mirage all those years ago died as well – to a degree, at least.

Mirage’s training was brutal. She had combat practice with Nero every day, and it usually ended with her being pretty badly injured, but still able to do the other things Nero commanded her to do. She sparred with Nero, practiced her skills as a natural Illusionist like all Zoroarks are, and honed her skills with blades and other weapons. She was forced to push herself to the very limit, testing her resolve, her sanity, and her overall ability to perform the tasks Nero gave to her. She did a lot of heavy studying, getting her education directly from Nero, who instilled in her qualities such as mercilessness, savagery, logical reasoning, and so on and so forth. She was given "mini missions" as she called them into the capital some times, taking it upon herself to learn how the galaxy truly ran and how the common people thought and acted. She loved the city greatly, but knew it was never a good place to remain for too long. After quite some time, Mirage grew into a cunning warrior capable of manipulation and murder – just as Nero planned. Soon though, her drive to seek revenge for Reba’s death disappeared when she was taught to let go of loss and connections, being completely replaced with a fierce hatred she practically oozed for Nero and his training – so she devised a wicked plot to be free of him once and for all, one that would kick-start her future as an assassin.

Nero never planned on Mirage attempting to kill him, which is exactly what she did once her training was officially complete. Prepared to set out for his revenge, Nero’s mind was preoccupied with devious plots and whatnot – but he was too distracted for his own good. Mirage sensed this within her mentor – she had stopped regarding him as her father the day he struck Reba – and challenged him to what he thought was a mere spar. It turned into a full-fledged battle though whence Nero realized that Mirage’s attacks were aimed to kill. Mirage let her mentor beat her down, pinning her and threatening to decapitate her, spitting insults in her face about how he should have let the attackers who killed Reba do it for him years ago. With that, Mirage held back no longer, and opened her mouth to unleash Flamethrower – a move she had learned and mastered during her various “mini missions” in the capital city. Blinded and in pain, Nero pleaded for mercy – to which Mirage answered with a cold “No.” before taking his own blade and slaying him with it. She was only 21 when she killed Nero, after 5 years of training under him.

Mirage has spent the recent years of her life working as an assassin for hire – she simply doesn't care what she used her moves for. Being that she is still young, she hasn't "gotten her name out there" as much as she would like, but she continues to work on her career, and is usually a pretty effective in most of the jobs she takes on. She doesn’t really care about to much about people potentially knowing her identity – unlike her adopted father before her, Mirage lives up to her name by being able to hide herself with her natural ability, Illusion. She still learns new things with each mission, and constantly strives for perfection in herself. She is very self-conscious, worrying about her image and being quite determined to one day ensure that her very name sends a chill down spines. However, she's got a long way to go - and a lot of imperfections to crush along the way. And what better way for her to grow than by infiltrating a new colony full of opportunities - and one of the most unprecedented places for her to ever appear in. Having recovered information regarding the settlement from one of her more recent missions, the thought intrigued the Zoroark. It was a new world, and a new chance to test the limits of her luck. Of course, she couldn't take the physical information with her, as it was part of a crime scene - who knows if they'd be able to track her had she taken it - but she remembered the one thing that could get her to her next destination - the coordinates of Vyse. And off she went - who knows what'll happen to her now!

## **Extra Facts**

* Mirage carries her adopted father’s old blade with her – it’s electrically charged and capable of deflecting laser-based weaponry (laser bullets and stuff).
* She likes to take on the form of a tough-as-nails guy, or a sweet-as-sugar woman – though it sometimes makes her gag internally
* Mirage's suit allows her to conform her body and outfit to the subject she's trying to impersonate. To a certain degree, she can pick and choose what she changes about her appearance. HOWEVER, the one thing the suit can't do is make her take on a subject's move set.
* Her facial markings are completely natural, (except for the color of them) including her "smile" \* mons who know her typically call her "Smiley" as a code name when there are suspicious individuals around.
* Mirage's Flamethrower requires her to stay away from wetter foods anyway in order to use the attack properly - and she prefers dry foods anyway.
* She's a shiny Zoroark – you can tell by looking at her eyes, which are a gold color instead of the usual blue. Mirage’s adopted mother’s colors are the ones she bears now – she dyes her mane all red, along with her markings, and paints her nails to match.
* + It is unknown when Mirage’s true birthday is. The one listed was the one her adoptive parents came up with for her.