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ARMS: Catch the Breeze and Fly Away

Summary:

Fake reveal trailer for the game. An unexpected wind in the dead of night is the sign that a thief who rides the skies is in town. Originally posted on FF.net on July 1, 2021.

Work Text:

ARMS: Catch the Breeze and Fly Away

Night had fallen over the streets, but Gilder City was far from sleepy. A crowd of ARMS fans had gathered in what seemed like a long, straight, empty street, but what kept them from stepping into the road were numerous police barricades set up across it. The familiar sound of whirring blades signaled the appearance of a police helicopter, which switched on a spotlight and started sweeping the road in search of… something. As the light kept moving, something dashed across the street just out of reach of the beacon, then dashed past once more.

Then, something flew right across the spotlight, causing the helicopter above to start blaring its siren and follow the object, which looped back around: A Bird ARM, colored green with white wing tips and tail feathers. The ARM landed back on its nest, equipped to ARMS made out of thin fabric with small multicolored bows going across it that eventually led back to an arrow-shaped multicolored kite: The ARMS were two of its tails, a third one merely dangling as normal. The kite was attached to someone's back, and that someone chuckled before turning around. They were a young man with short blonde hair, dressed in a very fancy three-piece gray suit, a matching top hat, and gloves, and he wore a mask like most ARMS fighters, but he was no ordinary fighter: His eyes were not spiraled, his kite ARMS were not his actual arms, and the mask didn't look like a league mask, looking more like an artifact with its brown, white, and yellow coloration and bird-wing design. Tapping his mask twice with his finger, wind began to swirl around his hand before he made a burst of wind around him with a simple snap of the fingers, a confident smirk on his face.


NEW FIGHTER: KAITO


*Gameplay Footage*

Springtron found his way onto Midnight Street, seemingly in pursuit of a fight from Kaito, so the thief wasted no time in obliging. Matching Springtron blow for blow, Kaito would take the few times he stopped to adjust his mask with a smirk and float off the ground, though he immediately grounded himself again when he moved. He decided to really put his Phoenix-style ARMS to work and gave them a good charge, the wind effect being white rather than the typical green, before launching one out. The green and white bird curved around from right to left, starting downward and arcing upwards, in order to strike Springtron from a bad angle and blow him into the air. Right as he landed, Kaito grabbed him, knocked him right back up into the air with a similar tornado effect, then just nonchalantly slapped him a few times before knocking him back to earth.

Another battle pitted him Kaito against Astro Kid, and he had fittingly swapped out his birds for nozzled ARMS that looked very similar to Astro's Blacuum ARMS, only colored white and having a blue light turn on when charged. Kaito tried to draw Astro Kid in with the ARM's suction, which resembled a tornado, but he was lucky enough to dodge the ensuing burst of wind… but he didn't see Kaito already launching the other one, dodging right into the path of the second ARM and being blown off the ground.

Kaito swapped out his ARMS once more when he was challenged by Twintelle, and he went for a simple one this time: A pair of green Glove ARMS, which also charged with Wind, but they also began to spin around rapidly. The thief deftly dodged Twintelle's attacks before launching the spinning gloves at her, delivering a clean hit to also make her fly for a moment.

The bird ARMS had been put back on as Kaito continued to fight anyone who wandered into the street, but keen eyes would notice that as he hit Springtron, his regular hits were actually pushing the robot back a bit unlike normal hits. One of those punches was enough to knock him into the spotlight that kept crossing the battlefield, causing the police helicopter up above's siren to activate before it actually dropped something: A canister that started spewing purple gas. Springtron was caught in the gas cloud and for some reason didn't leave, and as he did, his punches started going way off course as if he couldn't see that well, allowing Kaito to get some easy hits. Twintelle charged up her Parasol ARMS and shot them out, managing to land both hits, but the wind seemingly did nothing to Kaito; instead, his Vacuum ARMS immediately charged with Wind to pull her in for a double hit.

Kaito's smirk never left his face as he continued to battle Springtron, and it clearly seemed to irritate the robot as he went for an EMP wave, actually landing the disable and going in for two Toaster hits. Kaito recovered easily and went from smirk to grin as the characteristic yellow glow of a Rush covered him, immediately using it to strike with both Bird ARMS, which continuously looped and struck Springtron over and over until one last attack did the final blow, knocking Springtron away with one last small tornado. Kaito, victory having been secured merely chuckled and tapped his mask… before a burst of wind suddenly erupted from under him, allowing him to fly away. All that was left of him was a small card with one corner stuck to the ground, emblazoned with the same symbol as his kite. A calling card to let everyone know: Kaito was here.


ARMS Element Specialists: 2


Name: Kaito

Age: Unknown (seems to be early-mid-20s)

Gender: Male

Eye Color: Green, not spiraled

ARMS Material: Multicolored kite tails

Title: The Bandit in the Wind

Symbol: A top hat with a few kite tails coming off it. This symbol is also used on his calling card.

Victory Pose 1: Chuckles and taps his mask, flying away and leaving behind his calling card.
Victory Pose 2: Slowly begins walking away before holding up a random piece of jewelry and looking back with a smirk, implying he stole it from someone mid-fight.

Appearance: Kaito has short blonde hair, and his outfit is the classic three-piece suit of a phantom thief, colored light gray with a light green undershirt and a white tie, capped off with a light gray top hat and pair of gloves. A pocket in the front of his suit has one of his calling cards sticking out. The mask he wears is not like a standard ARMS mask, being colored yellow, brown, and white with a design resembling bird wings. Equipped to his back is a large, multicolored, arrow-shaped kite with three long tails, two of which are used as his ARMS, and his symbol on the body.

Personality: Kaito is everything you would typically expect from a phantom thief: Calm, confident, charming, and always one step ahead of anyone on his tail. While typically respectful of his opponents, he's not adverse to hitting them with teasing remarks. Despite his fans, his profession makes him not one for publicity, so he never sticks around for interviews, though it's also implied that he isn't good at talking to people outside of quips. He holds no remorse for the many treasures he's stolen, but theft is as far as he goes: He has no greater criminal aspirations, seeing being a thief as "his preferred hobby-job", and he prefers to make off with the goods as painlessly as possible.

Character: One of the most notorious criminals in Gilder City, Kaito is a master thief who seemingly came in with the wind to steal the best treasures, or at least that's what he says. Though not born with the ARMS power, he stumbled upon something far more useful: The mask he wears, a stolen Misangan artifact, grants him a degree of wind magic, allowing him to fly or use wind currents to his advantage. Using the wind, he is able to manipulate the tails of the kite on his back into makeshift ARMS in order to fight as well. He's seemingly only in the ARMS League in search of a prize, but since police are still out to catch him, he doesn't mind using his newfound publicity to make fools out of them.

Abilities: Element Specialists are entirely based around an ARMS Element, and Kaito's Element is Wind. When facing an opponent who uses Wind-Element ARMS, he is completely immune to being air-lifted into helplessness via charged Wind attacks, and being hit by one automatically charges any Wind ARMS he's using. In addition, the wind magic that animates his ARMS caused uncharged hits to knock opponents back slightly when he lands a hit. Outside of battle, he is capable of flight via the same magic, but prefers not to float in battle.

Grab: Knocks the opponent into the air with wind magic, nonchalantly slaps them a few times, then knocks them back to the ground.

Default ARMS:

Simurgh – A green-and-white, Wind-Element version of the Phoenix ARMS, flying around enemies while potentially even arcing up or down. Uniquely, the Wind charge effect is white.

Cycloom – A white, Wind-Element version of Astro Kid's Blacuum ARMS, drawing opponents in with a tornado effect before blasting them away with a burst of wind.

Twister – A green, Wind-Element version Glove ARMS, being simple yet effective. Unlike other Glove ARMS, the Twister will spin rapidly as a cosmetic effect when used for a charge punch.

Stage: Midnight Street – A long corridor-like street in the middle of Gilder City blocked off by police barricades, taking place under a peaceful night sky. There's no genuine obstacles here, but occasionally a spotlight will start sweeping the street. If a player is illuminated by the spotlight, a police helicopter overhead will start dropping tear gas bombs, which will greatly impair a fighter's vision if they stay near them for too long.

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