Post by Satoru Kaminaga on Dec 20, 2011 22:57:39 GMT -5
Name: Satoru Kaminaga
Age: 28
What am I: Kitsune
Sex: Male
Height: 5'6
Weight: 150 lbs.
Merits:
Clear Sighted: Satoru's path as a dreamweaver has given him much experience with illusions, and as a result he is able to very easily recognize them.
Well Traveled: Satoru's empathy for others has led him on a path to travel across the lands, helping as much people as he can along the way. This journey combined with his natural curiosity eventually led him to be one of the few Kitsunes to journey outside the country.
Guardian Angel: Satoru granted the dying wish of a small child, and that spirit was so grateful for this act of kindness that it now watches over Satoru, protecting him in danger or warning him by giving him a sense of disposition before danger happens.
Flaws:
Compulsion-Puns: Satoru loves puns so much that he should be punished. Whenever someone sets him up for a pun or if he thinks of one for a situation, he is compelled to say the pun out loud. This can get him in trouble when trying to be stealthy, for instance.
Curiosity: Satoru's great curiosity sometimes gets the better of him, occasionally overriding his common sense.
Driving Goal: Satoru had such an emotional high when he granted the dying wish of the child, he decided to dedicate his life to saving people in dire situations and bringing happiness to people; in other words, granting their dreams. He cannot work miracles, granted, but he does everything he can.
Ulterior Motive: Later in his life, Satoru learns that a cooperation in the United States owned a plant in Japan. The plant was dumping toxic waste into the river that the people of the nearby village would drink from. The autopsy of the child would reveal that this pollution was the cause of his death. As a child of Gaia and a greatly empathetic person, Satoru sees this act as an unspeakable evil, and he has sworn to end the company. This is his ulterior motive to traveling to the United States, and he has told no one of this reason.
Vengeance: Tied to the ulterior motive listed above.
Gifts:
Silver Tongue - The Kitsune is mystically able to make whatever he says be what the target wants to hear. Whatever the Kitsune says, even gibberish, will be heartily agreed with, although the Kitsune won't have a clue what the target thinks he is saying.
Shadow-Fan-Flowers - One entity within the Dreamweaver's sight sees a vision and believes. The illusion is perfectly detailed; the Gukutsushi directs motion, color, light, everything.
Puppeteer's Secret - All Kitsune pick up a few illusions, and a few fox tricks. Not being noticed is the most important of both. This Gift won't turn the Nine-Tails invisible; even better, it makes him one of the crowd. If a Fox using Puppeteer's Secret is standing around the police station, everyone just knows he's part of the squad. At the Party meeting, everyone assumes he's a faithful, if dull, member. Wherever he goes, he's been there for years—he's the familiar face; the friend of a friend; the loyal, nameless supporter; the small-timer trustworthy because he hasn't an angle to call his own.
Paper Beast - This kami is always fashioned in the form of an origami animal, or with the pictogram of an animal painted across it. When the Kitsune spits on the paper, the replica immediately grows to the full size and likeness of its "original", and obeys the Kitsune's commands.
Appearance:
Satoru is a Japanese man close to his 30s. He has short, black hair with he keeps neatly combed and dark brown eyes that are almost black. He's a short fellow, only measuring in at 5'6, and is built like a twig. He keeps himself clean shaven and has no visible tattoos. All in all he's a very modest looking man.
Personality:
Satoru is as curious as a wild fox. He loves to observe people and see how they act as well as their dreams. What do people dream of? Satoru is a quiet observer.
When he is talking to someone, especially someone he knows, he is very inquisitive. He likes to satisfy his curiosity by asking lots of questions, many of which are very personal and/or thought-provoking. Some call him a philosophical person, but he doesn't think of himself this way. He never seems to give his own opinion on the questions he asks, and the few times people try to ask him these same questions, he's able to weasel his way out of answering.
Aside from that, Satoru is very polite, especially for American standards, due to his upbringing in Japan. He never speaks loudly and is always composed. He isn't completely stuffy, however. Due to his Kitsune nature he is quite foxy, after all. The tricks that he sometimes does play are fun and cheeky. In addition, he is very empathetic, wanting to help as many people as he can, even making it his life mission to help grant people's dreams.
Biography:
The Human Years
Satoru was born in Japan in a town called Saka, located in the Aki District of Hiroshima, Japan. When he was born, his mother died, and he has never seen his father, who mysteriously vanished as he was born. Because of this, Satoru was raised by a foster family, and his name became Satoru Kaminaga. Satoru was always a quiet child, aloof to his foster family and always studying the world around him, knowing that there was some secret about the world that was being kept from him. He used this as a justification for his dealings with people. He would often see people bullied at school at convince the bullies that it really wasn’t worth picking on other people, and they would always listen to Satoru for some reason. And whenever Satoru asked a classmate or sibling for help with schoolwork or chores, they were always happy to help.
When Satoru was 17, he experienced his first change, and it was then that he learned exactly what was special about him. During his last year in school, he found that people were drawn to listening to him, and he used his talent to become quite popular. He was left to his own devices until he turned 18, at which point his uncle Keiji paid him a visit. Satoru had been able to visit his uncle a few times in the past, but he always had a busy schedule, so these visits were a rare thing. Keiji surprised Satoru by showing that he too was able to turn into a fox. Keiji informed Satoru that now that he was 18 and out of the custody of the foster family, he would be living with the other Kitsunes in a Caern in Hiroshima. Satoru was excited at the thought of seeing other people like himself, as he was certain that he was the only one with his power, so he agreed. As Satoru said his farewells to his foster family, he set out on his new life as a Kitsune.
New Life as a Fox
Life in the courts was strange for Satoru compared to his human upbringing. He learned about Gaia and about all the history of the Hengeyokai. He learned of the general mission of all the children of Gaia to stop the apocalypse. His uncle told him how his mother had died giving birth to him, and that he was tasked with watching over Satoru, waiting to see if he would be one of the lucky children who would inherit all the traits of the Kitsune from his parent, which he was happy to find out was the case. During this time Satoru was tasked by the Minister of Human Benevolence, one of the Courtiers of his Caern, to go out into the world and make people happy. The foxes in Hiroshima very rarely travelled to the mirror lands of Hiroshima, as it was almost suicide to do so after World War II, so most of their missions dealt with humans and occasionally Kuie-jin who were causing excessive havoc.
After completing a few easy missions for the court, Keiji saw fit to perform the Rite of Crossroads, which would officially welcome Satoru as an official Kitsune. Keiji cleansed Satoru and took him to a small bridge over a nearby stream. It was at this crossroad that the ritual would take place. The four bowls were placed on all sides of Satoru, containing the elements of clay, lightning, lava and mist. Satoru searched his feelings and felt that the mist was the path he was meant to take. After his choice was made, his uncle gave him a hug and welcomed him as an official Kitsune.
The Dreamweaver Emerges
Over the course of his time spent in Japan, Satoru encountered a few spirits who were able to teach him some gifts. The first was an illusion spirit that lived close to the Caern. All of the dreamweavers, those that chose the mist in the Rite of Crossroads, were trained to find one of the illusion spirits to help in their mastery of their path. This is the way in which Satoru learned to create illusions, which he would use to help those who valued Gaia and deceive those who did not.
After acquiring the ability to create illusions, one of the next missions given to Satoru was to investigate a water bottle company that used the nearby spring to bottle water. The owner of the small business was a normally environmentally-conscious person, but recently they have switched their bottles from a 100% recyclable plastic to one that is only 20% recyclable. Satoru paid a visit to his office and was able to find that a trickster spirit was the cause of the trouble. After threatening the spirit and forcing it to give up its knowledge, of which Satoru learned a gift from, the spirit was driven off, and the owner of the company switched to the other plastic again.
Gaining the Second Tail
As Satoru started to show that he was capable of convincing others to see Gaia’s way and put down the enemies of Gaia, he was given more important tasks. One task in particular involved the major car company, Mazda. It was found that Mazda would be able to use bio-material components, such as plastic and fabrics, in their cars, but they wouldn’t do that as it would cost more than the less environmentally-friendly materials. Satoru tried writing letters to the CEO, but they wouldn’t budge. When he tried visiting their headquarters, he found that they had Kuie-jin working in the company. He used his illusions and ability to lie well to escape without incurring the vampires’ wrath after trying to get to the CEO’s office.
To convince the CEO, Satoru was going to have to find another spirit to teach him. He required more power for this mission, so he went searching the small amounts of wilderness still left in Japan near Mt. Fuji, the Aokigahara. He spent days in the forest looking for a spirit, and his patience was eventually rewarded. He observed a moth that was blending in with a nearby tree, and upon chasing and catching the moth, he found that it was a spirit. This spirit taught him how to blend in with his environment.
After learning this technique, Satoru went back to Mazda’s headquarters. Blending in as one of the workers there, he was able to finally get a hold of the CEO at a conference. At this conference he presented an already-prepared presentation on the merits of using bio-materials, and the advertising benefits of going green would somewhat cancel out the marginally lost profits. The boss loved the presentation, mostly because of the trickster spirit’s gift that Satoru knew, and he decided to implement this policy.
It was at this point that Satoru gained his second tail. Getting a major corporation with vampiric employers to see the ways of Gaia was no small feat, and he was recognized for his talent. His uncle later threw him a party and expressed how proud he was that Satoru was living up to his mother’s reputation, of which Satoru never was told about. He tried inquiring about it, but his uncle refused to tell him for reasons he couldn’t say. In the Beast Courts, he was now known as Anomalous, as he could cause the strange, unusual and unique to happen as well as his tendency to become any one anonymous person among the public, which made such a good rhyme with anomalous.
Meeting a New Friend
After this great honor was bestowed to him, he was given more responsibility to go out across Japan and make his own decisions in how he could help Gaia and the people of Japan. One day in 2005 he was visiting a hospital in Hiroshima. One of the children there had been sick pretty much all his life, and the doctors weren’t able to fix him. This child pretty much lived in the hospital. Satoru visited the child in his room and asked how he was doing, etc. After a while of talking, he learned that the child, Kenichiro , pretty much played video games all day, his two favorite franchises being Metal Gear Solid and Mario. His one desire in life was to play a game featuring both characters. Satoru made a bold promise to the boy that he worked in the video game business, and he might be able to see what he could do about that. The child’s face lit up as he immediately became excited. The two talked for a little more before Satoru had to leave.
Of all the humans that Satoru helped over the years, there was something about this boy that made an impression on him. Maybe he felt sorry for the kid, or maybe he related a little, as they both were incredibly different from the rest of society. He wanted more than anything to be able to grant this child’s dream of playing this video game. When he researched the two franchises, he found that the two companies were quite unlikely to ever make a game featuring both characters. He did come across an article talking about how Kojima, the creator of Metal Gear Solid, had wanted his character to be featured in the Nintendo Game, Super Smash Bros. Melee. The best shot at a game being developed with both characters was another Smash Bros. title, so Satoru set off to Nintendo of Japan’s headquarters to see if he couldn’t work his magic.
At the headquarters, he put to use all three of his gifts. He snuck into the building by convincing another employee that he had forgotten his key card to gain entrance to the building, and the employee, believing that Satoru worked with him, gladly let him in. Once inside, he was able to catch Satoru Iwata, a man who coincidentally shared the same first name with Kaminaga, in the hallway. Kaminaga was to talk to Iwata about the latest projects, one of which luckily enough was a new Smash Bros. title. The last lead designer of the series, Masahiro Sakura, was no longer working with HAL Laboratories, the studio that made the last Smash Bros. game, so Kaminaga was able to convince Iwata to get on the phone right now and see if he would be up for another game. Iwata was successful with the phone call, and Sakurai would soon be made the lead developer of the new Smash Bros. game.
Now that the game was being created, Satoru just had to find some way to get Kojima and Sakurai to put Solid Snake in the game. This was a process that would take a few months, as he had to convince both Kojima to still want to put Snake in the new Smash Bros. game and Sakurai to allow him to be in the game. By visiting both offices, he was able to convince Kojima to contact Sakurai about this, and at the Electronics Entertainment Expo of 2005 a new Super Smash Bros. trailer was shown with a teaser at the end showing Solid Snake’s inclusion.
It would take another 3 years for the game to release, and during that time, Satoru visited Kenichiro at the hospital to play video games with him. Over the years he got a little better, and he was able to take a few trips outside of the hospital. In January of 2008, however, his condition drastically got worse, and he had to be rushed to the emergency room. The doctors predicted that he would only have a few months to live. Satoru promised the boy that the game would release in time for him to play it. He spent much more of his time visiting the boy, and he seemed happy whenever Satoru was around. Finally March 9th rolled around, with Kenichiro’s condition getting significantly worse. He started coughing and hacking constantly. The doctors tried to perform an emergency surgery, but they were unsuccessful. They kept him on life support, but they had done everything that they could do at this point, and they knew he would pass on at any moment. Satoru returned that evening and convinced the staff to let him stay past visiting hours for the kid. That night he stayed up with Kenichiro and played the entire story mode on co-op, unlocking all the characters and stages and beating the game. Then the two played team matches against people online as Mario and Snake. Kenichiro had a huge grin on his face the whole time that he played, and when they had beaten the main story mode, tears streamed down his face. He thanked Satoru for making this possible for him, mentioning that it was a dream come true. Soon he put down his controller and motioned for Satoru to hold out his hand. He placed in his hand a lucky coin; he wanted Satoru to hold onto it. As he coughed on last time, he said thank you to Satoru for everything, and then he passed away.
Satoru held onto the coin always. He could feel that it was lucky, and indeed it was, as Kenichiro’s spirit was watching over him as a guardian angel. Satoru wasn’t aware of this; he thought it was merely the coin, but perhaps someday he would learn the truth. For the time being, he found that if he concentrated on the coin as he used his fox magic, it had a greater effect and Satoru felt that it was more powerful, so he kept the coin with him always.
Avenging the Fallen
In 2010, Satoru would go on a mission investigating an American-owned company with a plant in Japan. This company lobbied to keep the Japanese government from stopping them from polluting the nearby river which the townspeople downstream had to drink from. Satoru visited the town to see how bad the pollution was. When he got there, he talked to a bunch of the townspeople. One person in particular mentioned about the recent amount of sicknesses that aroused from people in the town over the years. Suddenly it clicked for Satoru, and he decided to investigate where Kenichiro was from originally. Sure enough, when he questioned the staff at the hospital, he was from the very same town that was being polluted.
Satoru went into a rage upon finding out this news. He knew that the polluted water was the reason for Kenichiro’s sickness, and he swore to himself that he would destroy all who were a part of that evil corporation. The first thing he did was to destroy the plant in Japan. He found the regional manager of the plant and had an illusion of a giant horrible creature chase him. The illusion chased him until he took refuge in one of the radioactive areas of the plant, and because he was not wearing the correct protective attire, he died from radiation poisoning. Satoru scarred off the rest of the workers and left. The media picked up the story about how unsafe the plant was with the death of the manager, and the plant was shut down.
But that wasn’t good enough for Satoru. The entire corporation had to pay for what happened. He talked to his uncle and begged him to let him go to America to deal with this evil corporation. He of course didn’t mention his ulterior motive of avenging Kenichiro, as he knew his uncle wouldn’t let him if it was for personal reasons. His uncle was reluctant, as the foxes almost never travel to America, and he warned that the others might think of him less for doing so, but if that was what he was meant to do, then he should do it. With that Satoru thanked his understanding uncle and booked a plane for DFW.
Age: 28
What am I: Kitsune
Sex: Male
Height: 5'6
Weight: 150 lbs.
Merits:
Clear Sighted: Satoru's path as a dreamweaver has given him much experience with illusions, and as a result he is able to very easily recognize them.
Well Traveled: Satoru's empathy for others has led him on a path to travel across the lands, helping as much people as he can along the way. This journey combined with his natural curiosity eventually led him to be one of the few Kitsunes to journey outside the country.
Guardian Angel: Satoru granted the dying wish of a small child, and that spirit was so grateful for this act of kindness that it now watches over Satoru, protecting him in danger or warning him by giving him a sense of disposition before danger happens.
Flaws:
Compulsion-Puns: Satoru loves puns so much that he should be punished. Whenever someone sets him up for a pun or if he thinks of one for a situation, he is compelled to say the pun out loud. This can get him in trouble when trying to be stealthy, for instance.
Curiosity: Satoru's great curiosity sometimes gets the better of him, occasionally overriding his common sense.
Driving Goal: Satoru had such an emotional high when he granted the dying wish of the child, he decided to dedicate his life to saving people in dire situations and bringing happiness to people; in other words, granting their dreams. He cannot work miracles, granted, but he does everything he can.
Ulterior Motive: Later in his life, Satoru learns that a cooperation in the United States owned a plant in Japan. The plant was dumping toxic waste into the river that the people of the nearby village would drink from. The autopsy of the child would reveal that this pollution was the cause of his death. As a child of Gaia and a greatly empathetic person, Satoru sees this act as an unspeakable evil, and he has sworn to end the company. This is his ulterior motive to traveling to the United States, and he has told no one of this reason.
Vengeance: Tied to the ulterior motive listed above.
Gifts:
Silver Tongue - The Kitsune is mystically able to make whatever he says be what the target wants to hear. Whatever the Kitsune says, even gibberish, will be heartily agreed with, although the Kitsune won't have a clue what the target thinks he is saying.
Shadow-Fan-Flowers - One entity within the Dreamweaver's sight sees a vision and believes. The illusion is perfectly detailed; the Gukutsushi directs motion, color, light, everything.
Puppeteer's Secret - All Kitsune pick up a few illusions, and a few fox tricks. Not being noticed is the most important of both. This Gift won't turn the Nine-Tails invisible; even better, it makes him one of the crowd. If a Fox using Puppeteer's Secret is standing around the police station, everyone just knows he's part of the squad. At the Party meeting, everyone assumes he's a faithful, if dull, member. Wherever he goes, he's been there for years—he's the familiar face; the friend of a friend; the loyal, nameless supporter; the small-timer trustworthy because he hasn't an angle to call his own.
Paper Beast - This kami is always fashioned in the form of an origami animal, or with the pictogram of an animal painted across it. When the Kitsune spits on the paper, the replica immediately grows to the full size and likeness of its "original", and obeys the Kitsune's commands.
Appearance:
Satoru is a Japanese man close to his 30s. He has short, black hair with he keeps neatly combed and dark brown eyes that are almost black. He's a short fellow, only measuring in at 5'6, and is built like a twig. He keeps himself clean shaven and has no visible tattoos. All in all he's a very modest looking man.
Personality:
Satoru is as curious as a wild fox. He loves to observe people and see how they act as well as their dreams. What do people dream of? Satoru is a quiet observer.
When he is talking to someone, especially someone he knows, he is very inquisitive. He likes to satisfy his curiosity by asking lots of questions, many of which are very personal and/or thought-provoking. Some call him a philosophical person, but he doesn't think of himself this way. He never seems to give his own opinion on the questions he asks, and the few times people try to ask him these same questions, he's able to weasel his way out of answering.
Aside from that, Satoru is very polite, especially for American standards, due to his upbringing in Japan. He never speaks loudly and is always composed. He isn't completely stuffy, however. Due to his Kitsune nature he is quite foxy, after all. The tricks that he sometimes does play are fun and cheeky. In addition, he is very empathetic, wanting to help as many people as he can, even making it his life mission to help grant people's dreams.
Biography:
The Human Years
Satoru was born in Japan in a town called Saka, located in the Aki District of Hiroshima, Japan. When he was born, his mother died, and he has never seen his father, who mysteriously vanished as he was born. Because of this, Satoru was raised by a foster family, and his name became Satoru Kaminaga. Satoru was always a quiet child, aloof to his foster family and always studying the world around him, knowing that there was some secret about the world that was being kept from him. He used this as a justification for his dealings with people. He would often see people bullied at school at convince the bullies that it really wasn’t worth picking on other people, and they would always listen to Satoru for some reason. And whenever Satoru asked a classmate or sibling for help with schoolwork or chores, they were always happy to help.
When Satoru was 17, he experienced his first change, and it was then that he learned exactly what was special about him. During his last year in school, he found that people were drawn to listening to him, and he used his talent to become quite popular. He was left to his own devices until he turned 18, at which point his uncle Keiji paid him a visit. Satoru had been able to visit his uncle a few times in the past, but he always had a busy schedule, so these visits were a rare thing. Keiji surprised Satoru by showing that he too was able to turn into a fox. Keiji informed Satoru that now that he was 18 and out of the custody of the foster family, he would be living with the other Kitsunes in a Caern in Hiroshima. Satoru was excited at the thought of seeing other people like himself, as he was certain that he was the only one with his power, so he agreed. As Satoru said his farewells to his foster family, he set out on his new life as a Kitsune.
New Life as a Fox
Life in the courts was strange for Satoru compared to his human upbringing. He learned about Gaia and about all the history of the Hengeyokai. He learned of the general mission of all the children of Gaia to stop the apocalypse. His uncle told him how his mother had died giving birth to him, and that he was tasked with watching over Satoru, waiting to see if he would be one of the lucky children who would inherit all the traits of the Kitsune from his parent, which he was happy to find out was the case. During this time Satoru was tasked by the Minister of Human Benevolence, one of the Courtiers of his Caern, to go out into the world and make people happy. The foxes in Hiroshima very rarely travelled to the mirror lands of Hiroshima, as it was almost suicide to do so after World War II, so most of their missions dealt with humans and occasionally Kuie-jin who were causing excessive havoc.
After completing a few easy missions for the court, Keiji saw fit to perform the Rite of Crossroads, which would officially welcome Satoru as an official Kitsune. Keiji cleansed Satoru and took him to a small bridge over a nearby stream. It was at this crossroad that the ritual would take place. The four bowls were placed on all sides of Satoru, containing the elements of clay, lightning, lava and mist. Satoru searched his feelings and felt that the mist was the path he was meant to take. After his choice was made, his uncle gave him a hug and welcomed him as an official Kitsune.
The Dreamweaver Emerges
Over the course of his time spent in Japan, Satoru encountered a few spirits who were able to teach him some gifts. The first was an illusion spirit that lived close to the Caern. All of the dreamweavers, those that chose the mist in the Rite of Crossroads, were trained to find one of the illusion spirits to help in their mastery of their path. This is the way in which Satoru learned to create illusions, which he would use to help those who valued Gaia and deceive those who did not.
After acquiring the ability to create illusions, one of the next missions given to Satoru was to investigate a water bottle company that used the nearby spring to bottle water. The owner of the small business was a normally environmentally-conscious person, but recently they have switched their bottles from a 100% recyclable plastic to one that is only 20% recyclable. Satoru paid a visit to his office and was able to find that a trickster spirit was the cause of the trouble. After threatening the spirit and forcing it to give up its knowledge, of which Satoru learned a gift from, the spirit was driven off, and the owner of the company switched to the other plastic again.
Gaining the Second Tail
As Satoru started to show that he was capable of convincing others to see Gaia’s way and put down the enemies of Gaia, he was given more important tasks. One task in particular involved the major car company, Mazda. It was found that Mazda would be able to use bio-material components, such as plastic and fabrics, in their cars, but they wouldn’t do that as it would cost more than the less environmentally-friendly materials. Satoru tried writing letters to the CEO, but they wouldn’t budge. When he tried visiting their headquarters, he found that they had Kuie-jin working in the company. He used his illusions and ability to lie well to escape without incurring the vampires’ wrath after trying to get to the CEO’s office.
To convince the CEO, Satoru was going to have to find another spirit to teach him. He required more power for this mission, so he went searching the small amounts of wilderness still left in Japan near Mt. Fuji, the Aokigahara. He spent days in the forest looking for a spirit, and his patience was eventually rewarded. He observed a moth that was blending in with a nearby tree, and upon chasing and catching the moth, he found that it was a spirit. This spirit taught him how to blend in with his environment.
After learning this technique, Satoru went back to Mazda’s headquarters. Blending in as one of the workers there, he was able to finally get a hold of the CEO at a conference. At this conference he presented an already-prepared presentation on the merits of using bio-materials, and the advertising benefits of going green would somewhat cancel out the marginally lost profits. The boss loved the presentation, mostly because of the trickster spirit’s gift that Satoru knew, and he decided to implement this policy.
It was at this point that Satoru gained his second tail. Getting a major corporation with vampiric employers to see the ways of Gaia was no small feat, and he was recognized for his talent. His uncle later threw him a party and expressed how proud he was that Satoru was living up to his mother’s reputation, of which Satoru never was told about. He tried inquiring about it, but his uncle refused to tell him for reasons he couldn’t say. In the Beast Courts, he was now known as Anomalous, as he could cause the strange, unusual and unique to happen as well as his tendency to become any one anonymous person among the public, which made such a good rhyme with anomalous.
Meeting a New Friend
After this great honor was bestowed to him, he was given more responsibility to go out across Japan and make his own decisions in how he could help Gaia and the people of Japan. One day in 2005 he was visiting a hospital in Hiroshima. One of the children there had been sick pretty much all his life, and the doctors weren’t able to fix him. This child pretty much lived in the hospital. Satoru visited the child in his room and asked how he was doing, etc. After a while of talking, he learned that the child, Kenichiro , pretty much played video games all day, his two favorite franchises being Metal Gear Solid and Mario. His one desire in life was to play a game featuring both characters. Satoru made a bold promise to the boy that he worked in the video game business, and he might be able to see what he could do about that. The child’s face lit up as he immediately became excited. The two talked for a little more before Satoru had to leave.
Of all the humans that Satoru helped over the years, there was something about this boy that made an impression on him. Maybe he felt sorry for the kid, or maybe he related a little, as they both were incredibly different from the rest of society. He wanted more than anything to be able to grant this child’s dream of playing this video game. When he researched the two franchises, he found that the two companies were quite unlikely to ever make a game featuring both characters. He did come across an article talking about how Kojima, the creator of Metal Gear Solid, had wanted his character to be featured in the Nintendo Game, Super Smash Bros. Melee. The best shot at a game being developed with both characters was another Smash Bros. title, so Satoru set off to Nintendo of Japan’s headquarters to see if he couldn’t work his magic.
At the headquarters, he put to use all three of his gifts. He snuck into the building by convincing another employee that he had forgotten his key card to gain entrance to the building, and the employee, believing that Satoru worked with him, gladly let him in. Once inside, he was able to catch Satoru Iwata, a man who coincidentally shared the same first name with Kaminaga, in the hallway. Kaminaga was to talk to Iwata about the latest projects, one of which luckily enough was a new Smash Bros. title. The last lead designer of the series, Masahiro Sakura, was no longer working with HAL Laboratories, the studio that made the last Smash Bros. game, so Kaminaga was able to convince Iwata to get on the phone right now and see if he would be up for another game. Iwata was successful with the phone call, and Sakurai would soon be made the lead developer of the new Smash Bros. game.
Now that the game was being created, Satoru just had to find some way to get Kojima and Sakurai to put Solid Snake in the game. This was a process that would take a few months, as he had to convince both Kojima to still want to put Snake in the new Smash Bros. game and Sakurai to allow him to be in the game. By visiting both offices, he was able to convince Kojima to contact Sakurai about this, and at the Electronics Entertainment Expo of 2005 a new Super Smash Bros. trailer was shown with a teaser at the end showing Solid Snake’s inclusion.
It would take another 3 years for the game to release, and during that time, Satoru visited Kenichiro at the hospital to play video games with him. Over the years he got a little better, and he was able to take a few trips outside of the hospital. In January of 2008, however, his condition drastically got worse, and he had to be rushed to the emergency room. The doctors predicted that he would only have a few months to live. Satoru promised the boy that the game would release in time for him to play it. He spent much more of his time visiting the boy, and he seemed happy whenever Satoru was around. Finally March 9th rolled around, with Kenichiro’s condition getting significantly worse. He started coughing and hacking constantly. The doctors tried to perform an emergency surgery, but they were unsuccessful. They kept him on life support, but they had done everything that they could do at this point, and they knew he would pass on at any moment. Satoru returned that evening and convinced the staff to let him stay past visiting hours for the kid. That night he stayed up with Kenichiro and played the entire story mode on co-op, unlocking all the characters and stages and beating the game. Then the two played team matches against people online as Mario and Snake. Kenichiro had a huge grin on his face the whole time that he played, and when they had beaten the main story mode, tears streamed down his face. He thanked Satoru for making this possible for him, mentioning that it was a dream come true. Soon he put down his controller and motioned for Satoru to hold out his hand. He placed in his hand a lucky coin; he wanted Satoru to hold onto it. As he coughed on last time, he said thank you to Satoru for everything, and then he passed away.
Satoru held onto the coin always. He could feel that it was lucky, and indeed it was, as Kenichiro’s spirit was watching over him as a guardian angel. Satoru wasn’t aware of this; he thought it was merely the coin, but perhaps someday he would learn the truth. For the time being, he found that if he concentrated on the coin as he used his fox magic, it had a greater effect and Satoru felt that it was more powerful, so he kept the coin with him always.
Avenging the Fallen
In 2010, Satoru would go on a mission investigating an American-owned company with a plant in Japan. This company lobbied to keep the Japanese government from stopping them from polluting the nearby river which the townspeople downstream had to drink from. Satoru visited the town to see how bad the pollution was. When he got there, he talked to a bunch of the townspeople. One person in particular mentioned about the recent amount of sicknesses that aroused from people in the town over the years. Suddenly it clicked for Satoru, and he decided to investigate where Kenichiro was from originally. Sure enough, when he questioned the staff at the hospital, he was from the very same town that was being polluted.
Satoru went into a rage upon finding out this news. He knew that the polluted water was the reason for Kenichiro’s sickness, and he swore to himself that he would destroy all who were a part of that evil corporation. The first thing he did was to destroy the plant in Japan. He found the regional manager of the plant and had an illusion of a giant horrible creature chase him. The illusion chased him until he took refuge in one of the radioactive areas of the plant, and because he was not wearing the correct protective attire, he died from radiation poisoning. Satoru scarred off the rest of the workers and left. The media picked up the story about how unsafe the plant was with the death of the manager, and the plant was shut down.
But that wasn’t good enough for Satoru. The entire corporation had to pay for what happened. He talked to his uncle and begged him to let him go to America to deal with this evil corporation. He of course didn’t mention his ulterior motive of avenging Kenichiro, as he knew his uncle wouldn’t let him if it was for personal reasons. His uncle was reluctant, as the foxes almost never travel to America, and he warned that the others might think of him less for doing so, but if that was what he was meant to do, then he should do it. With that Satoru thanked his understanding uncle and booked a plane for DFW.
