Hero:  Chronin

Yuriko Kobayashi was the first student to benefit from the prestigious scholarship of Heavy Metal and conduct research along the famous celebrity Supremes such as Dr. Mercury or Androida.

But the truth is that the scholarship was the only way to keep her out of the harm’s way.

The story starts about a dozen years ago in Tokyo, when Mr. Kobayashi confessed to a man known as Green Emperor that upon the birth of his second daughter, his wife suffered complications and would never bear a child again. That was a death sentence to the Kobayashi family as the Green Army needs more warriors that one day will reclaim Japan and dethrone all the traitors that follow the dreadful European-American ways.  Not even the fact that Kobayashi had been faithfully researching for the Green Emperor helped. The ultimatum was handed in the form of the ritual set of swords and 3 hours time to end the lives of the last male in the line, his wife and two daughters.

Mr. Kobayashi ran out of the secret quarters of the underground palace and rushed back home to attempt an escape. Unbeknownst to him, Shadow Mask, the Green Emperor’s Supreme assassin was following him under the veil of the night.  The Kobayashi family got in the cab but there was a third child out there, the one the head of the family cares 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. She was the only one to make it out of the car alive, as the Shadow Mask’s blades delivered the Emperor’s message. He was just a step behind her, she didn’t hear it, but she felt it. In her father’s lab, the seven year old dashed forward as the blade cut the air. Her father intercepted the next strike, pushing away Yuriko as the sword cut through the improvised shield of his research log and through his body. 

The girl screamed but she lands inside the machinery chamber and the door automatically shuts behind her, cutting off all the sounds. She sees the grimace on the Shadow Mask’s face, a cruel smile, as he wipes the blood off his blade and walks slowly to the console.  He turns on the machine and sets all switches on max levels and the whole place starts trembling. A liquid substance fills in the chamber, he watches the girl struggle for a while then walks out.  Imagine his surprise as he finds himself starting to slow down, he tries to lift his hand but it doesn’t react to the impulse send by the brain. He sees the little girl, with dark eyes burning with fury, who pulls out the sword from his scabbard and in one swift move, decapitates him. His eyes study the slow motion blood splatter and witness the rest of their body’s fall to the ground, then all life in them slips away.

On that feral night, Yuriko Kobayashi lost her entire family and thanks to Shadow Mask gained the powers her father was working on. 

Thanks to the custody of Dr. Mercury, she learned that her father was researching the quantum hole theory that could be applied to military vehicles. With the ability of very limited time travel (from milliseconds to 5 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 generator herself.

Today Yuriko controls her quantum powers through both emotions and mind. Nobody could explain what exactly has happened, as the onset of the new skills was immediate and how could a seven year old master them instantly, nobody knows.

Completing her father’s research is of vital importance to her. 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 conspiracy organization, 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, he or she will come to reclaim the sword along with Yuriko’s life. But she will be more than ready.