Dakota Kanto

**Dakota Kanto** (codename **GhostPaw**) is a graduate of the Xavier School for the Gifted and a member of the Gen X class.

## History

To all but himself and skilled telepaths, Dakota's childhood and pre-mutant history is unknown.

His mutation manifested extremely early, leaving him with an animalistic appearance. He was abandoned as a baby and found by an older woman who cared for him as her own for several years. An anti-mutant supporter discovered Dakota in the woman's possession and tried to force him away from her. When she stood her ground, he murdered her before slitting Dakota's throat in an attempt to kill him. Dakota was surprisingly able to survive and ran away. He somehow found his way into the Xavier School and hid for several days before being discovered by Storm.

Storm took Dakota to Beast, who stitched his throat and discovered that Dakota's vocal cords has been destroyed by the attack. The two X-Men took Dakota to Charles Xavier, who attempted to communicate with him telepathically. Charles learned of Dakota's sad history and offered him a place to stay in the mansion.

Since then, Dakota's ability of matter manipulation has developed and he has learned to communicate via writing and sign language.

## Marvel RP

Dakota was a key player in the original Marvel RP. He temporarily became a part of Dark Gemstone's crew, being both the first brainwashed by Parker and the first saved by the X-Men. After being saved he temporarily went into hiding, ashamed of his acts under the brainwashing. Dakota met an alternate universe version of himself, one that was cursed with vampirism. The vampire Dakota was eventually taken down after killing several civilians.

Dakota eventually graduated from the Xavier School and became an original Gen X member, lasting through to its current version.

Maria developed a non-invasive device placed under his fur on his throat that allows him to communicate as if he were speaking with his natural voice.

## New Marvel Appearances (4/7)

* Chapter 3
* Chapter 4
* Chapter 5
* Chapter 6

## Powers and Abilities

### Powers

* **Physical Mutation:** Dakota's primary mutation transformed his body into a more bestial, animalistic appearance. He possesses a thick coat of fur, claws, animal like facial features and ears, as well as a large, bushy tail.
	+ ***Enhanced Senses:*** Dakota's sight, smell, and hearing are comparable to many animals and increased over normal human senses. He is very efficient at using scents to track, eavesdropping, and seeing at night.
	+ ***Enhanced Reflexes:*** Similarly, he has cat-like reflexes.
	+ ***Enhanced Strength:*** His strength is somewhat higher than expected.
	+ ***Claws and Fangs:*** Dakota has sharp claws on his hands and feet, able to use them offensively as well as for practical purposes. His teeth also mutated into fangs.
* **Matter Manipulation:** A secondary mutation, Dakota has the ability to manipulate and affect a variety of conditions of an object or area for an extended period of time. He is able to manipulate the density, shape, and size of non-organic or non-living matter. His control over an object is related to its density and his proximity to it. His abilities give him a wide range of offensive and defensive capabilities, however he tends to lean more towards defensive roles to assist the team.

### Abilities

* **Tunneling:** Dakota can use his claws to dig and burrow underground.
* **Sign Language:** Dakota is mute and uses ASL (American Sign Language) to communicate.
* **Multiliterate:** Due to not speaking, Dakota has learned to read and write in several languages. English, spanish, portuguese, japanese, german, french, and italian.

### Weaknesses

* **Mute:** As a child, Dakota was tortured and had his throat slit, rendering him mute. This is basically a non-factor after Maria gifted him with his speech device.
* **Weak Willed:** Because of the environment he was raised in and the abuse he endured as a child, Dakota is especially weak willed and very susceptible to mental attacks. He may be almost instantly crippled by even inexperienced telepaths.
* **Sensory Overload:** Because of his heightened senses, Dakota is very susceptible to his senses being taken advantage of. He could be quickly incapacitated by a sonic attack, blinding lights, or overpowering scents.

## Trivia

* Dakota's character description from the New Marvel casting call:
	+ 5. Dakota Kanto (Ghost Paw) - Dakota is shy and reserved by nature. His mutation began to manifest when he was a young child, causing him to take on a more animal-like physical appearance. Because of his appearance, he was tortured as child and had his throat slit, destroying his vocal chords and rendering him mute. Besides his mutated appearance, Dakota can manipulate and mutate various forms of physical matter. As his powers develop, he can manipulate living matter - including himself.