Chronin (Hero)
Code-name: Chronin
Full Name: Yuriko Kobayashi
Faction: Heavy Metal
Yuriko Kobayashi was the first student to benefit from the prestigious scholarships provided by Heavy Metal, as she conducted research alongside famous celebrity Supremes such as Dr. Mercury and Androida.
But the truth is that the scholarship was the only way to keep her out of harm’s way.
Her Supreme story started about a dozen years ago in Tokyo, when Mr. Kobayashi confessed to a man known as the Green Emperor that upon the birth of his second daughter, his wife had suffered complications and would never bear a child again. That was a death sentence to the Kobayashi family as the Jade Cult needed more warriors to one day will reclaim Japan and dethrone all the traitors that followed the dreadful European-American ways. Not even the fact that Kobayashi had been a steadfastly faithful researcher for the Green Emperor helped. An ultimatum was handed over to Kobayashi in the form of a ritual set of swords and three hours’ time to end the lives of his wife and two daughters, and then his own as the last male of the line.
Mr. Kobayashi fled the Jade Cult’s secret underground base and rushed home to attempt an escape. Unbeknownst to him, Shadow Mask, the Green Emperor’s Supreme assassin, followed him under the veil of night. The Kobayashi family clambered into a cab, but for Kobayashi there was a third ‘child’ remaining, the one the head of the family cared a lot for – his secret research project, so the car stopped at his office on the way to the airport.
While the soon-to-be traitor of the Green Emperor’s cause bolted up the stairs, little Yuriko noticed a shadow just before a sword punched a hole in the roof of the cab and impaled the head of the driver. Shadow Mask then began to kill first Yuriko’s mother than her sister with bloody efficiency.
Yuriko was the only one to make it out of the car alive, as the Shadow Mask’s blades delivered the Emperor’s message. The killer was just a step behind her – she did not hear it, but she felt it. In her father’s lab, the seven year old dashed forward as the blade cut through the air, just missing her. Yuriko’s father intercepted the next strike, pushing away his daughter as the sword cut through the improvised shield of his research log and through his body.
The girl screamed but she landed inside a glowing chamber attached to strange machinery. The door automatically shut behind her, cutting off all the sound. She saw the grimace on the Shadow Mask’s face, a cruel smile, as he wiped blood from his blade and walked slowly to the control console. He turned on the machine and set all switches to maximum levels. The whole place started trembling. A liquid substance rapidly filled the chamber as he watched the girl struggle for a while before leaving. Just then he was overwhelmed with surprise as he found himself starting to slow down, trying to lift his hand but it did not react to the impulse sent by his brain. He saw the little girl, dark eyes burning with fury, who pulled his own sword from its scabbard and in one swift move, decapitated him. His eyes studied the slow motion blood splatter around him and witnessed the rest of his body’s fall to the ground before all life in them slipped away.
On that feral night, Yuriko Kobayashi lost her entire family and thanks to Shadow Mask gained the Supreme potential her father had been working on.
Thanks to the eventual aid of Dr. Mercury, she learned that her father was researching quantum hole theory to apply to military assets. With the ability of very limited time travel (from milliseconds to several seconds), quantum field generators could enable vehicles from planes to tanks to battleships to easily avoid incoming missiles or assist their targeting and driving systems. Yuriko’s exposure to the extreme amounts of liquid quantum turned Yuriko into a human quantum field generator.
Today Yuriko controls her powers through both emotions and mind. Nobody could explain what exactly had happened, as the onset of her new skills was immediate, and nobody knows how a seven year old could master them instantly.
Completing her father’s research is of vital importance to Yuriko. Under the guise of Chronin, the media’s favorite samurai girl, she tries to make the world a better place and save at least a couple of childhoods from the nightmare she had to go through. Her sole existence is a disgrace to the Green Emperor and in the long history of the Jade Cult, the first case of such.
Chronin still keeps the Shadow Mask’s finely crafted blade. She is fully aware that in the Green Emperor’s court, there is always a Shadow Mask and one day, the next will come to reclaim the sword along with Yuriko’s life. But she will be more than ready.