V.U.L.T.

**V.U.L.T.** (Short for **V**ery **U**nderhanded and **L**eftover **T**actics) is a criminal organization residing in Up Town City, and are one of the primary antagonists in a general Anime Campaign adventure taking place in said city. Their crimes are all themed around stealing things that people don't use anymore or the literal scraps and leftovers of other things. (E.g.: Props for exhibits not showcased anymore, scrap metal, literal garbage, among other things that fit the similar mold) While technically making their debut in Bigwig Mixer Flophouse, their first recorded appearance was in Levitating Cottage Establishment; acting as the main antagonists of the adventure.

While they are described as an organization, it's by name only and are actually quite disorganized. They don't even attempt to hide themselves and wear their outfits in broad daylight.

## Summary

Otaku describes V.U.L.T. best as "Hobos with a very, very, very low budget". Every member and rank is themed around trash and the primary inspiration, that being vultures. They are essentially Up Town City's equivalent to the Banzai Blasters in Sweet Jazz City, but are described as making said Banzai Blasters look like criminal masterminds, according to Otaku. Practically no one takes them seriously due to being the laughing stocks of Up Town City to the point that the cops will just let them go unless they committed the greatest crime of all: Loitering.

In order to become a member of V.U.L.T., the applicant must be completely unqualified for the job as once they're accepted, they are given the standard uniforms for Bottom Feeders and their personal trash bag. Their uniforms throughout all the ranks always tie into the trash and vulture aesthetics from the lowest to the highest rank. If a member is described as being "too good," they will be kicked out by the found of the organization. This is because they don't want them to try and make their own group or try to usurp the title of leader.

## Ranks

There are four ranks total within V.U.L.T. from lowest to highest: Bottom Feeders -> Trashy Thirds -> Scrappy Seconds -> Freshly Firsts. In order for a member to be promoted to the next rank, they must be in the organization for at least three months, where there will be a fight amongst several members of the same rank. From there, they must make sure that their trash bag doesn't get ripped apart for at least three minutes. Whoever has their bag intact once the time limit is hit is then promoted to the next rank.

As someone gets promoted to a higher rank, they are given a new outfit that makes them appear more threatening in design. However, they're described as being pretty dumb in general, just slightly less dumb.

### Bottom Feeders

The lowest rank and by far the most amount of members in the organization, they are the standard grunts of V.U.L.T. doing most of the dirty work. They are most well known by their robes looking like trash bags while wearing masks with skull hats; having red tufts on the back of their hats and around their robes to represent the tufts around a vulture's neck, and are usually taking orders from the higher-ups.

While the Bottom Feeders shown in the adventure are not shown using magic, the trash bags they use to fight with are capable of inflicting Wild Magic. This is because the smell of the garbage inside is so bad that when someone gets a whiff of it, they were start to feel strange and cause the Wild Magic to be inflicted. Because of this strange effect, this could make encounters with them a bit more unpredictable and possibly dangerous if the proper result comes up...if it weren't for the fact that the afflicted target becomes immune to the effects for a short while after immediately being hit with it.

Once a Bottom Feeder successfully gets promoted, they become a Trashy Third, along with getting a new outfit.

#### Known Members

Geralt (Debuted in Levitating Cottage Establishment)

Sukasu Gerbe (Debuted in Eagle Festival Playground)

### Trashy Thirds

The rank that comes immediately after a Bottom Feeder that managed to keep their bag from being ripped apart in three minutes, their clothes become more different to appear more intimidating in design, as their skull hats are replaced with a mask that are similar to Plague Doctors, with some kind of hat or hood to go along with their new robes. There are many members within this particular rank, though not as much as the Bottom Feeders. They also get to use a new Basic Attack that's entirely different from the standard trash bag. Parts of their design, usually seen with the headwear, hints towards their Epithet. They made their debut in Levitating Cottage Establishment.

Trashy Thirds, fittingly enough, tend to come in threes, with one of them acting as the "leader" of their acts of villainy with two others acting as the vice-leaders. They usually happen to be Inscribed, but there are plenty of cases where a Trashy Third or a group of them are Mundies.

#### Known Members

Patrick Koino (Debuted in Levitating Cottage Establishment)

Kuni Poise (Debuted in Levitating Cottage Establishment)

Ken Cophony (Debuted in Levitating Cottage Establishment)

### Scrappy Seconds

The rank that comes after a Trashy Third, there aren't as many members within the ranks as there are Trashy Thirds or Bottom Feeders. Following the trend with their previous ranks, their costumes get an upgrade into looking much more intimidating in design; even having an item on their person from one of the other Trashy Thirds they fought to get their promotion.

Scrappy Seconds not only come in pairs, but also each lead exactly three other Trashy Thirds whenever they perform their acts of "villainy". When being promoted into a Freshly First, they are able to take a Basic Attack from one of the other Scrappy Seconds they beat in the three minute match. There haven't been any Scrappy Seconds revealed yet.

### Freshly Firsts

The highest rank a V.U.L.T. member can achieve, their outfits are by far the most intimidating compared to the other members and the least incompetent, but not by much. They get to use two Basic Attacks, the secondary attack being from beating one of the Scrappy Seconds during their time as one. They lead at least two Scrappy Seconds and four Trashy Thirds when performing their crimes.

However, it is possible for a Freshly First to lose their rank. But the only way for that to occur is if any of the Scrappy Seconds they beat challenges them to a fight. If they lose the fight against the Scrappy Second, then not only will they be demoted back to a Scrappy Second, themselves, but their opponent will be promoted and take their Basic Attack. No Freshly Firsts have appeared yet.

## Trivia

* While they are considered the laughing stocks of Up Town City, should anyone actually lose to member of V.U.L.T., they will be made fun for about a week or so because of the pathetic display they showcased against a "literal garbage man".
* V.U.L.T. was originally meant to appear in a campaign entitled "Miserable Penguin Mask," where it would've also introduced Adela Flight. It would've followed the party trying to figure out where the hostess of the party inside a large mansion went when she didn't appear at the introductions that developed into fighting off a bunch of V.U.L.T. grunts. However, because Otaku didn't know how to properly work on a boss character, let alone a campaign at the time from lack of experience, the campaign was cancelled.
	+ Ideas from Levitating Cottage Establishment were very similar to Miserable Penguin Mask with one or two changes; the main one being the owner of the mansion being Giorno Cotage and Adelia Flight being one of the guests he invited. This could mean that MPM was an early version that ended up becoming LCE.