Vector the Crocodile

[Yolanda Riona]

Biography Section

Name: Vector

Age: 22

Gender: Male

Species: Crocodile

Height: 180 centimetres

Weight: 200 kilograms

Appearance

Vector is a tall, green, scaly anthropomorphic crocodile with broad shoulders, large forearms, short legs, a fair-sized tail and the expectedly long set of jaws. Despite his imposing appearance, Vector only puts an intimidating look in his eyes when facing a lawbreaker.

Vector wears white gloves with large black cuffs that have buckles on them. Matching black shoes and a gold chain necklace combine with an ever-present set of headphones atop his head to complete his wardrobe.

Personality

Vector is an odd mesh of personalities, sometimes being the most childish person in the room and sometimes being the most mature. He's usually had friends that were younger than him, which probably had a hand in that aspect of his nature.

On the outside Vector appears to fill the stereotype of a large tough guy who listens to loud music and tries to wear fancy accessories. He tries to promote this image as often as he can, mostly in the hopes of intimidating anyone who might come against him. Usually his attempts to keep up such an image can make him a bit annoying to be around, as his former co-workers know well.

Deep down Vector is a bit of a softer soul. He has a distinct sense of justice and morality, wanting to do his part to make the world a better place, even at his own expense sometimes. This is born from a religious/spiritual upbringing, though Vector's "image" tends to disguise any obvious physical evidence that the was raised in such a way. He's in many ways an old-fashioned guy trying to look current, as is apparent from his habit of getting embarrassed around any female who might catch his attention. All the same, such an occurrence is a rare one.

History

Vector was raised by a loving family in an old-fashioned way with an emphasis on teaching good morals and keeping up spiritual beliefs. From a young age he developed a love of music and has been getting the latest models of home music entertainment electronics since his first boom box. The crocodile dreamed of someday becoming a singer or musician and being the member of a band.

One day Vector was amazed by the sudden appearance of an island in the sky out of nowhere. Mistaking the phenomenon for a divine miracle he set out to explore the landmass, but was more than disappointed to find out that Carnival Island was built by Doctor Robotnik with evil intentions in mind. Vector was captured and imprisoned in on the island along with others who had come looking for their own reasons. One of them, however, was Knuckles the Echidna who had come to investigate this new island so close to his own floating continent. The Guardian of the Master Emerald was able to free the captives one at a time, a roster that included Vector the Crocodile, Espio the Chameleon, Mighty the Armadillo and Charmy Bee. Vector worked with Knuckles a few times to stop Carnival Island's terror and waited with hope while he was imprisoned and another of the captives was tag-teaming with the echidna. In the end their teamwork managed to defeat Doctor Robotnik's Metal Sonic as well as drive the villain from his own island.

After the adventure Vector was inspired by their teamwork and suggested that the group of them form a team to help the world. Aside from his goals of musical fame Vector had always been raised to believe if you can make the world a better place then it's your responsibility to do so. He'd been studying to become private investigator for a while now.

His big idea: The Chaotix Detective Agency

Obviously Knuckles had his own job to do already so he turned them down, but the slippery croc managed to get Espio and Charmy on his side. Mighty also joined them for a little while, but not too long after his dreams of traveling the world won out over their lack of business and the armadillo was off.

Despite Vector's motto of "We'll take any job that pays" they didn't get a heck of a lot of offers. He also had a habit of doing a few jobs out of charity, such as finding lost toys for children and similar things. Vector thought everyone practicing music to keep their spirits up, like some kind of company band, would be a great idea. The others didn't like music as much a she did, but Charmy seemed to enjoy beating his little drum and Espio actually played a pretty mean guitar. It might have accidentally taken away from time they could have been developing their detective skills, though.

The agency lasted a while longer but eventually financial pressures forced its closing. The team managed to accomplish the jobs they did get with success and had started to get a good reputation, but beginning a new business from scratch is no easy task. Their initial financial backing wasn't as good as it should have been and none of them had the adequate business sense to keep it running smoothly. Eventually Espio left to return to his private ninja training and without his skills in speed and espionage the work became a lot harder. Vector and Charmy weren't well-rounded enough for the tasks involved. Charmy was still a kid and not an official employee of the agency, so Vector was technically the only one left when it closed. In their parting some time later the older man told the kid to just work hard at whatever he wants to do when he grows up because that endless energy of his could take him really far if it ever focused on anything.

After the agency closed down Vector went on a short stint of fulfilling his childhood dream to get over the loss. He used some money he'd saved and some connections he'd made to produce a few songs and eventually an album. Charmy played drums for him for a little while before the Bee finally went his own way. The sales and popularity of Vector's attempt at entering the music world were mediocre, but it wasn't a total loss either. Vector decided to quit while he was ahead, having matured beyond his youthful dreams. He was able to afford a decent motorcycle with his profits. Nothing fancy but not falling apart either. He gave it a slick green paint job to match his own colouring. Vector enjoys road trips to aquatic locales whenever he can afford to take a small vacation.

Vector has spent the majority of the past two years training his mind and his body, in the hopes that one day he'll be able to support a detective agency all on his own if there was no other way. Where once he was slim and slippery and could even keep just a few paces behind Mighty and Espio, now his speed has been sacrificed to the development of his upper body. The loss of muscle mass in his legs may have slowed him down but his increased arm strength has risen to the likes of his old team mate Mighty, though not quite that far. The armadillo's was a natural gift no amount of hard work could catch up to, it would seem. Unlike his old friend, however, Vector still retained his ability to fight to his best without hesitation as well as with the use of an actual fighting style.

Vector has also been studying and continually renewing his detective's license while keeping up to date on the current news. He has been supporting himself as something of a freelance crime fighter / private eye in order to not lose touch with the lifestyle he loves. Helping married people prove their spouses are cheating on them isn't exactly his grand dream, but for now it would have to do among the few times someone bigger like the police or even GUN might call him in for a one-time job based on his performance record and experience dealing with the likes of the Eggman.

Vector has been saving as much money as he could over the years for the sake of his goal to reopen the agency with a better financial base and business understanding than he used to have. First, though, he plans to go on a trip and see if he can recruit his old friends in giving their team effort to make the world a better place another try, and maybe find some new blood along the way. For now he remains a freelancer, getting work wherever and whenever he can and, of course, just trying to do his part in making the world a better place.

Transportation: Motorcycle. A unit he bought that was only used for a few months by the previous owner. He added some tasteful green paint with a scales pattern and named her Jessie. Later Vector upgraded the bike with a booster unit. By channeling his fire magic into an attachment between the handlebars he activates a temporary speed booster for those hard-to-catch criminals.

Alignment: Hero



Combat Section

Moves

Steel Jaw: Vector's powerful crocodile jaws clamp down with amazing force. His bite can be strong enough to break metal, but he would never use it against a living thing. Its also a bit of a clumsy attack, needing a target that his mouth can clamp down on in order to work.

Spitfire: Odd as it may sound, Vector' got a powerful spit to go with his long mouth. Anything he gets between his teeth can be fired off like a bullet at long-range targets, but his accuracy at anything beyond close to medium range is laughable, and longer distances make it easy to see what's coming. Still, a piece of bit-off iron spit out at point-blank makes a handy offence.

Croc Drop / Reverse Croc Drop: A finishing move of Vector's with two alternate executions. In the normal execution Vector grabs an opponent, usually from behind but it doesn't really matter, and locks his arms around them to hold them in place. He can also use his tail to impede their leg movements, though actually holding them that way isn't plausible. Unless Vector can get and keep a strong hold on his opponent this move will not work, making it risky to try and use while the target is at full strength.

The next step is to jump up and flip over. From there Vector holds the opponent's head vertically lower than his own and spins around as they fall back to earth in attempt to drill-slam their head into the ground with his weight adding to the momentum. If the technique is interrupted during the aerial stage it usually leaves Vector vulnerable, and if the target's head gets higher than his own it can backfire on him.

The reversed version is simply holding the target upside-down, followed by a high jump and a straight slam back into the earth with almost all of Vector's weight pushing them down. In this version, while the damage can be higher and the risk to Vector lower, their legs are more free than the normal version and its harder to get someone held that way in the first place.

Obviously, this move becomes impossible to use on someone who is either too heavy for vector to get a decent jump with while holding or too big for Vector to grapple properly. Usually both canceling conditions would be filled at once. If Vector can jump from one plane to a lower level during this attack the increase in falling distance will increase the final damage dealt.

Dragonbreath: Vector takes a deep breath then spews out a medium-range stream of magical flame for a few seconds. Vector can also perform his usual Spitfire with this spell to gain the added bonus of supplying his own ammunition: a red-hot fireball.



Skills & Tools Section

Skills

Singing: Vector won't be the next popular music sensation any time soon, but he's not a bad vocalist either and can hit a range of notes with decent accuracy.

Sluething: A legendary detective he is not, but Vector has been in the business for a while and he does take it seriously. His powers of deduction aren't too shabby and his connections to people in larger agencies are useful as well.

Weapons

Headphones: Pulling off his headphones and cranking up the volume on his special mp3 player can release a powerful sonic vibration to disorient enemies. The power of the little device can even blow out a fire with sound alone, depending on the song that happens to be playing.

Mega Microphone: A silver hand held mic Vector carries with him. It can amplify his voice by quite a bit, useful for hitting certain high notes for breaking glass and eardrums alike. Vector himself seems to be immune from having his own earphones on at the time of use. This is for when a random song from his electronic device won't cut it over a specifically needed pitch. Vector can also use the mic to amplify the sound from his earphones. This is a very powerful area-affecting sound attack that even the user must endure if he chooses to use it, making it a risky gamble at best. Especially since it cannot discern friend from foe.

Explosive Gum: A special type of explosive of which Vector carries one pack of three at a time. Stick it to a surface and press the two alternately coloured ends together. If you're feeling lucky press them together first then throw it. Ten seconds later a moderately-sized explosion will most likely clear anything that was blocking your way. Since Vector is strong enough to plow through most items or obstacles with power alone this tool is mainly used when he doesn't want to be around when his target gets broken. He can also chew the gum then use it in combination with his spitfire attack. He can even blow a soon-to-explode bubble but obviously chewing the gum has a major risk involved.

Balloon Gum: Not really a weapon so much as a tool, Vector can blow a bubble large enough and strong enough to act like a balloon and slow his descent from a high fall. He can also use this to catch updrafts and ascend to higher places. Since the gum is cherry flavoured he's usually chewing on a piece and ready to use it at a moment's notice.



Strengths

Vector's strength and size combination make him a tough opponent even for enemies faster than himself. The croc can dent solid steel doors with his fists alone, but he still can't match the Emerald-enhanced power of Knuckles the Echidna or the miracle of nature that is Mighty the Armadillo.

While in water Vector's speed and agility are enhanced.

Vector's tough skin and scales create a very durable defence all over his body, making him resilient to many types of physical damage.

Vector still has contacts in groups like the police of major cities, other detective agencies, and even GUN. Through these he can get certain types of information not yet known to the public.

Weaknesses

Vector can't always catch up to a fast-moving target all on his own. He'll need to use either teamwork, his motorcycle, or some other tricks.

Despite his upbringing Vector isn't above being swayed by the almighty dollar, but only to a point.

Has a bit of a one-track mind. Once he starts something he's likely to finish it no matter what the obstacle, distraction, or failure.

Needs to stay well-hydrated to remain healthy and active.