[hider=Alain Stratos]
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[img]https://i.imgur.com/X0jqnJ5.png[/img]
[b]SOLDIER, 1st Class[/b]

[h3][b]Name[/b][/h3]
Alain Stratos

[h3][b]Age[/b][/h3]
26

[h3][b]Date of Birth[/b][/h3]
June 13, εγλ 1975

[h3][b]Gender[/b][/h3]
Male

[h3][b]Height[/b][/h3]
6'0''

[h3][b]Weight[/b][/h3]
202 lbs

[h3][b]Hair Color[/b][/h3]
Silver/White

[h3][b]Written Description[/b][/h3]
Alain stands at an average height of six-foot-zero, but weighs just over two hundred pounds to give him a slightly above average build necessary for a SOLDIER who attacks in melee range. Even at 1st Class, Alain chose to keep his standard SOLDIER uniform, a dark sleeveless shirt with metallic shoulder-guards to protect the upper arms and standard fatigue pants and combat boots for the lower half of his body. The only bit of personalization is a sky-blue muffler scarf Alain wears around his neck. He has sharp, glaring eyes and silvery-white hair he keeps cut short and combed straight back to maintain a militaristic discipline in his appearance.

As a result of his genome, parts of Alain's skin are covered in scales of either bronze or dark blue. The scales cover his back mostly, but can also be seen on his arms as well, doubly so due to his forearms remaining bare due to his SOLDIER uniform. While he probably won't be sunbathing in Costa del Sol anytime soon, on the bright side the scales add a layer of protection especially on his back and shoulders.

[h3][b]Personality[/b][/h3]
If you could boil Alain down to a single word, it would be "driven". Alain's dogged determination knows no limits. It doesn't matter how many times he is knocked down, shot at, or thrown around. If there's any breath left in his body, he [i]will[/i] get back on his feet to continue the fight, even if it means forcing himself to continue. This can be admirable most of the time, but there are those rare times where this proves to be more of a detriment, where his determination instead devolves into stubbornness. Alain isn't an overly social sort, preferring to speak through actions instead of words. He isn't completely anti-social, but he can be awkward in crowds and especially at parties or other specifically social events. His home is clearly on the battlefield, that much is certain. Along with his determination is a certain level of pride. He wears the name and emblem of his former unit proudly, almost thinking himself as one of them first and a SOLDIER second.

[h3][b]Background[/b][/h3]
Originally from the ill-fated Banora Village, Alain Stratos was conscripted by Shinra at age 17 at the start of the Wutai War. The training was hard, and the battles were harder. Non-SOLDIER troops were no more than cannon fodder to most SOLDIERs and Shinra higher ups. Perhaps it was luck, then, that Alain found himself in the vanguard unit nicknamed the Dragoon Team; named for the spear-wielding 2nd Class SOLDIER who commanded them: Abel Beoulve. A demoted 1st Class SOLDIER, Abel's tactical ability allowed the Dragoon Team to stand out a bit more than the average Shinra Unit. As a vanguard unit, Dragoon Team was deployed for the purpose establishing Shinra footholds in Wutai-held territories, and were ultimately the ones who allowed for the trenches and encampments to be built up in the first place. They were under fire and ambush on a regular basis, but between the Unit's teamwork and Abel's leadership, saw the least amount of casualties than any other Vanguard Unit during the first several years of the war.

Then the order came from high up the chain for Dragoon Team to launch an assault on Wutai itself. A normal enough mission on the surface, things went south when a group of ninjas from Wutai revealed they obtained a Summon Materia. This one in particular was an Earth-elemental monster called Titan. Dragoon Team did manage a victory, but Titan inflicted heavy losses on the team. When the dust settled, Dragoon Team was almost completely wiped out, Abel included. Still, Shinra won the war in the end, and the few survivors of Dragoon Team were honored for their valor. As for Alain himself, he had developed a bond with Abel during those two years. The SOLDIER was like friend, mentor, and brother all rolled up into one. Abel's death was particularly hard for Alain to accept, but he was given Abel's spear and signature scarf as mementos of the fallen SOLDIER. Instead of returning home, Alain tried out for the SOLDIER Program and made it in, effectively following in Abel's footsteps.

Despite the war itself being over, Shinra still faced stiff resistance in the form of an emerging Eco-Terrorist group calling itself AVALANCHE. Alain's time as a 3rd and later 2nd Class SOLDIER was spent rooting out members of AVALANCHE and eliminating them. One deployment sent him and a newly reformed Dragoon Team to Alain's hometown of Banora Village. Supposedly there had been reports of AVALANCHE activity and Dragoon Team was to investigate it. An AVALANCHE plot was indeed discovered, but too late to save the Mako Reactor before it was blown up. The Reactor's destruction took Banora Village with it, Alain only managing to survive thanks to his SOLDIER augmentations. Alain became less sociable after that. He was briefly demoted back to 3rd Class for the failure at Banora Village but the demotion didn't last long. Alain fought harder than ever before, becoming more and more stubborn in his dedication to the job and to the elimination of AVALANCHE. This newfound tenacity helped propel him to 1st Class within SOLDIER.

[h3][b]Summon Genome[/b][/h3]
Bahamut

[h3][b]Weapon[/b][/h3]
A spear, one that's made specifically to be heavier than it looks in order to add to the weapon's physical power.

[h3][b]Materia[/b][/h3]
Time - Haste, Slow, Stop
Contain - Freeze, Tornado, Break, Flare

[h3][b]Limit Break ~ Infinite Jump[/b][/h3]
Alain commonly makes use of what is known as the Jump Attack Technique, made famous by Abel Beoulve during the Wutai War. It involves either jumping as high as possible from the ground or from an elevated vantage point and allowing gravity to add extra power to the Dragoon's spear as they hit the ground. The Infinite Jump is an evolution of the technique, made possible by Alain's Summonn Genome, Bahamut. When sufficiently battered or angered, Alain can temporarily grow a pair of leathery dragon wings on his back. They are only temporary, but while they are present Alain can use them to leap much higher in the air and keep himself aloft for extended periods of time. During this time, he can come back down for an attack only to quickly launch himself back into the air again. This act of using the Jump Attack so quickly in succession is what earned it the nickname Infinite Jump. The wings wear off after a maximum of seven Jump Attacks.
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