Kei Kirigane

Kei is one of the protagonists of **Dragon Ball Heroes (RP)** and is a **Kimera.**

## Appearance

Kei doesn't have any noticeable features besides his triangular pupils and eyes, and the two freckles below his left eye. His height and weight is average around his age group.

He casually wears his work clothes, and barely ever wears anything other than that (other than his trademark dark blue gloves). It can be assumed this is the case because he either: A) Constantly working long hours to no end, or B) Prefers them to other clothes. It is unknown which of these it is, however. But, in rare occasions, he does wear a white jumpsuit, and often accompanies such wear with some earphones.

Notably, his left eye changes colour he feels 'emotional distress' or he is being pushed to his limit. The main reason for this is, all the ki in his body is about to be "unleashed," as described by Kei, which has adverse effects on his body as a whole. He has not explained why one of the effects is on a specific eye, however.

Not much changes post-timeskip, besides adopting an above average height and a more defined jawline.

## Personality

Kei has a cynical and sometimes borderline insulting personality. He will often mock someone if they aren't performing up to his standards, which are "defined by the following criteria": 1) "Ability in battle," 2) "Personality and mind-set" and 3) "General usefulness." Because of this criteria he often states when he meets someone new, he generates a negative first impression, usually.

But despite his condescending nature, Kei is considerably caring. Even though he may be reluctant to show it, he will help someone that is important to him. That is not to say, of course, that he saves anyone - even after the time-skip he retains this belief.

Moreover, he is work-oriented. That is to say, he puts work as a priority, in front of everything else. But this is not to say he cares about the work itself, rather what will happen if he *doesn't* work. As the series progresses, he cares less and less about it, and eventually loses all interest in the 'terms' he had to agree to in order to live peacefully, and adopts the mentality of 'I won't let any restrictions bar me down; rather, I'll bar those restrictions down.'

## Psychology

Kei originally had a mental state akin to that of a young child's, albeit slightly more mature. But as the burdens piled up, his mental state began to worsen. However, even at a young age, he was mentally strong. His mind was like a fortress; no matter how hurt his psyche became, he shouldered it. And as a result, the harmful, painful memories have been shouldered to back his head, him trying to forget them all.

But as the series progresses, notably as he uses his OCM and Bursts more, he becomes more mentally unstable. It can be assumed this is the case because Bursts have an adverse effect on the body, including the brain. And OCM requires mastering through getting your body heavily damaged; on one side this makes his mind more reinforced and desensitises pain, but on the other it destroys him mentally, him feeling more nihilistic about pain and life in general.

As a direct result of his nihilism, he thinks he's better than everyone else. This fact isn't really prevalent until he reaches the height of insanity, where his true colours are shown: he laughs crazily, constantly emphasising the fact that he's strong. He also loses all sense of ally and enemy; everyone is below him in this state, so he targets everyone without a sense of alliance, loyalty and trust. It takes a while for this to change.

Moreover, Kei often appears in his 'inner world', a representation of his psyche. This often happens before, during or after he succumbs to insanity, or is just questioning his values, morals and beliefs. The chessboard pattern on the floors and walls symbolises a 'grey' area, him questioning both good and evil, and whether what he is doing is right or not. As a result, he shows quite a few insecurities about himself.

## Abilities

Kei has multiple abilities, the majority of them being a result of him being a **Kimera**, a subspecies of human that intakes ki almost like air, and stores it in their bodies. The ki inside their bodies be used for multiple functions:

### **Kimera pre-evolution abilities**

**Regeneration:** Kimeras, as a basic process of their bodies, can regenerate damage received. Because every part of their body contains amounts of ki, the ki from the disconnected body part can be used to form ki in the shape of that body part, which then prompts a chain reaction: cells of that body part begin to materialise in the temporary shape of the body part, eventually regenerating that body part back again. As a result of these complex steps, the regeneration **cannot** be considered instant.

**Organic Cell Materialisation (OCM)**: One of a Kimera's root abilities. Inside of ki they can materialise organic cells which can be used for either regeneration of body parts or creating a weapon out of it.

**Muscle Edge (Kei's OCM weapon):** Much like how regeneration works, Muscle Edge also uses ki to manifest cells. However, it is not an existing body part: it is a hardened mesh of muscle, that appears to look like a blade. Despite their ability to manifest cells however, they are not able to manifest cells that are **unrelated** to the body itself, meaning they can only create weapons or regenerate things out of whatever is **on** or **inside** their bodies, as is the rule of their organic cell materialisation.

**Cell hardening:** Through physical contact, a Kimera can harden the organic cells of whatever is touched, but this is a notoriously slow process, and requires training of OCM (Organic Cell Materialisation) to master. Naturally this only applies to 'living' things.

**Burst:** A rare process for even the strongest of Kimeras. In the event that a Kimera is reaching his or her limit, the ki will almost resort to a self-defense mechanism: all the ki in their body will be released all at once, in a spectacle akin to kaio-ken. This is very dangerous, however, as it can kill a Kimera and always results in the Kimera losing all their superhuman abilities. After a burst is used, they are rumoured to gain a unique variation of ki and can also still technically evolve, but they can't regenerate or use any other Kimera ability.

**Organic Enhancement/OCM Enhancement:** If a Burst is controlled and focused into parts of the body, this is what it is called. Essentially, the Burst's ki wraps around the Kimera's various body parts, making their skin appear a crimson red, almost like muscle itself. Whenever this happens, their overall physical strength is increased dramatically, and they reach a new level, even for Kimeras.

### **Kimera evolution**

Once in a lifetime, a Kimera reaches a new height. In such a case, they 'evolve'. It is unknown how many stages there are after this evolution, if there are any at all. However, the lone piece of information regarding a Kimera's evolution is this: their OCM becomes stronger, meaning their OCM weapon is much stronger, their hair turns a different colour, and they're more physically adept. Nothing else is known about them.

### **Other abilities**

**Highly acrobatic** - As his family owned a dojo, he was taught martial arts from a young age, which resulted in him becoming quite acrobatic.

**Capable hand-to-hand combatant** - His hand-to-hand skills are capable. He can fend off an opponent with martial arts decently, but nothing too special. Because he quit the dojo, he never developed his hand-to-hand skills effectively.

**Genius-level intellect** - Kei is quite intelligent; he can consider multiple solutions for one scenario, without so much as batting an eye. As a result, he was gifted the title "Mafioso Strategist."

## History

Kei was born as a 'Kimera', a subspecies of human with inhuman abilities. As a result, his life, even at a young age, has been difficult - society itself has harshly observed his existence, criticising every move and action he takes. This soon resulted in the most unfortunate event of all: his father, who owned the Kirigane Dojo, was brutally murdered. But as he was on the cusp of life and death, he wanted his son to promise that he'd run the dojo as the new master. As a lone child, he had to not only shoulder the burden of the dojo but also his father's death. And to make matters worse, one day, on April 27th, 2007, a group of mafia members appeared. "We want your dojo kid," they proclaimed. Kei of course fought back, and even killed two of the members in that group. The leader of this group then noticed his *potential*, and decided to strike a deal with the boy: "How about this: you join our *organisation* and we'll protect this dojo from anyone else. Your father's wishes will be savoured, and you will be lightened of this burden. How about it?" Kei, unknowing of the severe consequences and burdens of accepting such a deal, accepted it.

The main reason he can't leave the mafia isn't just about the promise he made to his father, though: if he left, the mafia would come after him and undoubtedly kill him. These two reasons are why he can't leave, and must work no matter what.

[To be continued...]