Whirlwind Reyes

This is an article about Whirlwind the Hedgehog, a character created by CrimsonFlame2K on 08/21/2013. Don't let his friendly face deceive you! Whirlwind will mop the floor with you if you push his buttons. He is a major character in the Darkness Trigger series and is probably one of the strongest characters in the roster, especially in terms of physical strength. While he was an NPC in the series' first installment, Surge of Shadows, he was made playable in the sequel, The Cybermal Onslaught.

In the start of the series proper, he is a member of the 5th Division of GUN's Armed Forces with the rank of Major and a member of the Central Guard, which consists of GUN's most elite. Throughout the series, he gradually rose through the ranks and, by Age of Genesis, eventually became the commander of the 5th Division with the rank of Major General.

General
Whirlwind is an adult hedgehog of average height, standing at five feet, six inches, with a lean and fairly muscular body build. Much of his body is covered in yellow fur, and he sports six quills on his head, with the two quills on each side of his head pointing upward - though the lower quills are noticeably angled further downward - while the two quills in the middle are pointing downward. A cowlick-like spike can be seen sticking out on his top-most quill while two more can be seen on his lower side quills. He also sports two more spines on his back that point downward, light tan skin on his muzzle and torso area, a long black nose on his muzzle, a small fluff that can be seen on his chest, and royal blue eyes.

Whirlwind's outfit consists of a cyan long-sleeved shirt with the sleeves folded up to his elbows, a white GUN longcoat with cyan accents which he wears like some sort of cape, a black belt with a silver buckle, a pair of white fingerless tactical gloves specially designed for hand-to-hand combat, white military pants, and a pair of cyan boots with gold and white accents. A golden ring can also be seen around his left ring finger and straps of athletic tape can be seen wrapped around his forearms.

When off-duty, while he keeps his fingerless gloves, golden ring, and athletic tape on his person, he instead sports a white shirt with elbow-length sleeves underneath a blue short-sleeved jacket, a pair of dark-blue straight cut jeans, and a pair of black sneakers with white toes.

Rage Against the Empire
 In this prequel story, Whirlwind appears at least a foot shorter than his present self. In addition, his skin and quills seem to be a lot more tattered and slightly bruised. This most likely stems from all the running he's had to do before joining the Resistance early into the story. He initially appears wearing what seems to be a martial arts gi, consisting of a blue tank top with white accents, a pair of matching blue pants, a pair of black sneakers, and a black obi-styled belt, as well as a pair of bandages around each of his forearms. He also wears a brown, tattered cloak so as to keep his face hidden from the general public and especially any of Eggman's forces.

Upon joining the Resistance, however, he dons  a black shirt with a layer of bulletproof material underneath his tank top and replaces his sneakers with a pair of black combat boots with white straps, which the lower legs of his pants are tucked into. He also wears a pair of white fingerless gloves with white cuffs and black accents on his hands.

Personality
Whirlwind is seen as a pretty casual and genuinely friendly man to pretty much anyone, with the slight exception of Lockdown. In fact, he has been shown to be quite the goofball, which is particularly noticeable whenever he is seen off-duty. He has been implied to be something of a big eater, which is fairly justified due to how frequently he trains and fights, and having something of a sweet tooth, as he has a huge fondness for sweets. Regardless, when shit hits the fan, as they say, Whirlwind usually takes off the kid gloves and, if there's a fight involved, will make zero attempts to hide that he will smack the enemy's collective behind.

 Speaking of fighting, much like Blitz in his first few adventures, it's clear that he loves the thrill he feels from a good fight, whether he (implicitly) holds back or not. This can be attributed to his slight temper, which has been implied to have been a huge issue for him as a youngster, but has since mellowed out to an extent in that he doesn't immediately go ham if he does become angry. However, Whirlwind still has that one point where he simply snaps, if only for a short moment, as seen in a few instances during The Cybermal Onslaught.

Since he works with GUN as a soldier in the Armed Forces and is a member of the Central Guard, many GUN soldiers show a great deal of respect and even a certain level of fear towards him. However, unlike most higher-ups, Whirlwind normally feels uncomfortable with formalities and prefers to be a good and reliable friend to his subordinates rather than just their superior. That said, there are certain occassions where he does feel the need to show some appropriate courtesy and etiquette.

History


Family

 * Zephyr Reyes - Whirlwind's daughter, making her debut in Clearing the Rust, she proves to be as fierce a fighter as her father. However, she has been revealed to feel a slight resentment towards him for not visiting her and Glacier as often as they would prefer. Fortunately, she grows out of it by the climax of the story.

Romance

 * Glacier Von Fang - Whirlwind's wife and Zephyr's mother, Glacier hails from Huntstonia and is a powerful Hunter, an individual who is well-versed in the Huntsonian Arts of Magic. She currently works as a freelance hero in Neptune City, located within Mt. Blue Ridge, alongside her sisters, Aqua and Windy.

Official

 * Sonic the Hedgehog - (Still got nothin')
 * Shadow the Hedgehog - A fellow member of GUN, Whirlwind and Shadow are considered by a number of GUN soldiers to be polar opposites among the organization's ranks, with Whirlwind being the Yin to Shadow's Yang. However, despite being close, Whirlwind has expressed frustration towards Shadow's stubborness at times.
 * Miles "Tails" Prower - A brilliant engineer and one of GUN's top scientists as well as Sonic's best friend and former sidekick, Whirlwind greatly appreciates Tails' efforts to help out in anyway he can, especially since the fox was the one who designed Whirlwind's tactical gloves.
 * Knuckles the Echidna - The Guardian of the Master Emerald and another of Sonic's closest friends, Whirlwind finds the echidna to be a pretty rad dude to hang around and go a few rounds of sparring with when possible.
 * Amy Rose - A pink hedgehog who definitely knows how to drop the hammer, Whirlwind often enjoys spending time with Amy during most of her training sessions and seems to care a great deal about her.

Canon/Fanon

 * Blitz the Noisemaker - Whirlwind served as the bounty hunter's CO during majority of the events of Surge of Shadows. Since then, the bounty hunter has become one of his closest friends and allies.
 * Zagan the Gravebringer - A Hell Creature who initially served as Krieg's prime soldier, Zagan later defected and joined Blitz and co.
 * Liam Scarlet - Whirlwind's assistant and one of his closest friends in recent memory. The red panda is normally shy, especially around him, but he's almost always patient and friendly towards her. One might say she even slightly reminds him of someone he knew from long ago...
 * Knockout Shadeclaw - Blitz's childhood friend and one of his teammates in Team Thunder, Whirlwind also served as Knockout's CO along with Blitz in Surge of Shadows and has slowly become one of his closest friends overtime.
 * Obsidian the Marauder - One half of the mercenary team, the Inferno Strikers, Whirlwind is shown to be friends with the mercenary and has mentioned that they worked together once before the events of Age of Genesis.

Official

 * Rouge the Bat - A fellow member of GUN with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Intelligence Board, Whirlwind's relationship with her is mostly professional, and he doesn't talk to her that much off-duty as well. In addition, he finds her flirtatious personality and manners very distracting.
 * E-123 Omega - While he does find him to be a valuable ally and member of GUN, he doesn't actually interact with him that much aside from their occassional sparring matches.

Canon/Fanon

 * Deadline Carver - a fellow GUN soldier, Whirlwind and Deadline interact at times, though not too often.
 * Lockdown Clarke - another GUN soldier and Deadline's partner, Lockdown is one of the few people Whirlwind genuinely dislikes, mainly for his tendency to flirt with practically anything with a double-X chromosome which, unfortunately for all parties involved, included his daughter one time.
 * Diablo the Pyro - The other half of the Inferno Strikers, Whirlwind has worked with Diablo before, though they haven't really interacted on a personal level. Also, he himself is a wee bit concerned about the pyromaniac's drinking problem.

Enemies

 * Dr. Eggman - (I'll have to re-think this one with Forces coming ouy soon)
 * Sigma the Tyrant - While he hasn't actually seen him in person, Whirlwind isn't fond of Sigma because of his ambitions and the fact that he inadvertently made the Hell Prizm a constant threat until the end of Savage Retribution.
 * General Serges - considered to be his main rival in the Darkness Trigger series, Whirlwind lost to him the first time they fought during the events of Surge of Shadows. However, when he finds out that Serges is alive during The Cybermal Onslaught, he's actually somewhat happy about that (despite losing to him again), stating that he's been granted the chance to even the score.

Powers and Abilities
Whirlwind possesses the power to manipulate his aura, which usually manifests itself as a violently raging wind, hence his name. He mainly utilizes it as a way to enhance his physical attacks, but he is capable of other applications such as firing projectiles of highly-pressurized energy and releasing a burst of aura to give himself a short burst of speed or help him jump a little higher among others, but close-quarters combat will almost always be his go-to approach, especially during battle.

Speaking of close-quarters combat, Whirlwind also possesses incredible strength, allowing him to beat most enemies into a pulp with a few good hits, though it doesn't exceed the strength of someone like Knuckles - while implicitly holding back, mind you. In addition, while he's not quite as fast as either Sonic or Shadow, he still sports an impressive level of speed and agility, allowing him to hit his enemies with a flurry of punches at lightning speed as well as move around the battlefield in the blink of an eye. In some situations, he can even create afterimages of himself in order to confuse the opponent by spontaneously moving at high speeds with his Split Second maneuver. His signature ability, the Storm Rocket, has him focus varying amounts of aura into his fists to enhance the power of his attacks, allowing him to knock enemies away with a single strike.

Another ability that Whirlwind possesses is the Galeforce Drive, which is basically a sort of psychic limiter that prevents him from utilizing his full power in situations in which going all out would be a waste of energy. When active, it temporarily releases a small bit of this restriction, granting him a noticeable increase in his overall speed and strength. He can also manipulate his aura to give himself a slight healing factor, which he uses to slowly regenerate any physical wounds or injuries, though he can only use this ability to its greatest effect outside of battle.

He also appears to be quite athletic, as he is able to perform stunts that most people would be jealous of. This athleticism may have originated from when he was practically on his own sometime after the Eggman Empire took control of Mobius. Even as a GUN official, he prefers to go running (ala parkour) in the open city most of the time. That said, he does practice his skill with firearms from time to time and is more than happy to participate in any and all other combat-related and athletic drills.

Statistics
Attack: 8 - A veteran of many battles, Whirlwind has fought with the best of them and has become stronger as a result.
 * Stats are based from 1-10. 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest.

Defense: 7 - He's certainly got the toughness and durability to back his awesome strength up.

Speed: 7 - His speed can be enhanced with his aura manipulation, giving him a short boost. Even then, he's pretty fast in his own right.

Magic: 6 - His mastery over his own aura gives him a certain edge in battle... not that he takes full advantage of it often.

Evasion: 7 - His agility compliments his power by letting him evade powerful blows and dish out his own striking moves.

Intelligence: 6 - Despite his laidback and goofy nature, Whirlwind has shown a fair deal of intelligence at times and is capable of thinking through a number of situations.

Skills: 8 - Whirlwind is arguably one of the most skilled fighters in the roster. It's a shame that he's been implied to be holding back a great deal, meaning he doesn't get to show off his true potential much.

Accuracy: 7 - Coupled with his great skill, the speed of Whirlwind's attacks mean they often make their mark.

Stamina: 8 - Thanks to his athleticism and physical build, Whirlwind is able to keep on the good fight for quite a while.

Tolerance: 7 - His past experiences have toughened him up and made him less susceptible to pain.

Overall: 70%

Moveset
Whirlwind can be considered as a jack-of-all-trades character, as he has the basic tools of a projectile, an uppercut, and a Hurricane Kick-esque move along with generally well-rounded stats, but he also possesses a couple of moves that put him closer to being more of a rushdown character with a strong focus on offense with his strength and mix-ups with his Split Second maneuver. Of course, being a jack-of-all-trades means that, while he has no particular weak spots, he has no particular strengths either, and his Trigger can be fairly tricky to use in regards to timing it just right. Nevertheless, Whirlwind proves himself to be a force of nature in the battlefield.
 * Storm Rocket: Delayable. Whirlwind's Trigger move. He focuses energy into his fist before unleashing a powerful punch that causes knockback.
 * Galeforce Drive: Whirlwind's Limit Break, where he temporarily gains an automatic maximum charge for all attacks that utilize his Trigger effect, on top of a significant increase in speed and strength.
 * Whirlwind Rush: A Command Normal where Whirlwind performs a series of rapid-fire punches.
 * Zephyr Blade: Whirlwind fires a projectile of highly-pressurized energy from his fist towards his opponent with a right hook.
 * Rising Hurricane: Whirlwind carries the opponent to the sky with a powerful rising uppercut shrouded in a gust of energy. He can follow-up with a devastating dunk punch.
 * Cyclone Sword: Whirlwind leaps forward with hard-hitting spin kick before landing on his foot and continuing with a spinning sweep kick that causes knockdown.
 * Wind Shift: Whirlwind performs a feint before unleash a swift counterattack if hit.
 * Split Second: Whirlwind runs or jumps forward, accompanied by two afterimages. Button input determines which Whirlwind is the real one.
 * Cancel: OK in midair. Whirlwind stops in place, cancelling the move.
 * Evasion: Whirlwind dashes past his foe, crossing them up and cancelling the move.
 * Swift: Whirlwind performs a swift body blow which can be followed up by the following moves.
 * Dome Splitter: Whirlwind lands an twelve-to-six elbow strike
 * Hammer Hook: Whirlwind pulls off a painful right hook that hits low.
 * Helix Smash: Whirlwind lets out a quick onslaught of blows before landing swift corkscrew punch.
 * Crash Upper: Whirlwind unleashes a swift right uppercut.
 * Whirlwind Slash: Whirlwind rushes forward a short distance before letting out a massive punch that knocks his foe back.
 * Royal Hammer: Performed in midair. Whirlwind unleashes a devastating dunk punch.
 * Lightning Cross: Whirlwind performs a powerful right cross that knocks his foe backwards.
 * Grand Hurricane: Delayable. A Critical Trigger where Whirlwind performs two uppercuts followed by a devastating rising uppercut that carries both him and his foe to great heights.
 * Typhoon Crush: Delayable. A Critical Trigger where Whirlwind gathers a great amount of energy into his fists before unleashing an uppercut followed by a devastating punch.
 * Galeforce Blast: Delayable. An Adrenaline Mode-only Critical Trigger where Whirlwind gathers a massive amount of energy into his fist. Should he do a full charge, he'll unleash an unblockable and devastating strike that will deal massive damage.
 * Galeforce Onslaught: Whirlwind's Overkill finisher, where he rushes forward before landing a punch. Should it connect, he then unleashes  a lightning-fast onslaught of punches while circling his opponent before finishing it with a powerful uppercut that sends his opponent into next week.

Weaknesses
Despite being very strong, Whirlwind has his fair share of weaknesses. First and foremost, despite being level-headed in most situations, Whirlwind can become rather  over-aggressive during a fight, especially if it isn't in his favor. To add up to this aggression, he sometimes has trouble with opponents who prefer to fight from a safe distance. This doesn't get any better once he begins acting purely on impulse, which happened pretty frequently in his younger years.

In addition, he has to be careful in how much of his aura he actually uses in a fight, as using too much of it at once can merely tucker him out at best. In worse cases, he can put himself in a very dangerous situation due to fatigue with almost no way of escape and get himself killed. Thankfully, given the fact that he seems to hold back a great deal, this doesn't show itself too often. However, utilizing the Galeforce Drive ability too often can make him more susceptible to this problem.

It should be worth mentioning that Whirlwind does suffer from something of a height vertigo, in that whenever he looks straight down from a great height, he begins to feel somewhat nauseous and, in even worse cases, lose his sense of balance for a few moments.

Carry On by Avenged Sevenfold
This song serves as Whirlwind's main theme in the Darkness Trigger series, representing his will to fight against the odds at all costs.

Connection to Character

 * Some people LIVE that selfish desire! Some choose to shout when they speak, and they'll be the START...! - Whirlwind taking note of the selfish goals of the series' antagonists
 * Caught in the flame of those deep in fire! Seeking out those with a voice! ONE FOR TOMORROW...! - Whirlwind relentlessly taking part in the battles the heroes face


 * Search endlessly...! Fight till we're free...! Fly past the edge of, the sea...! No bending knee, no MOCKERY! Somehow we still, CARRY ON! - Whirlwind staying steadfast even against the looming darkness that is coming


 * Silence your FEAR! We've got to move higher! / Unlock the stars in the sky! Guiding us ALL! - Whirlwind joining his allies to band together and use their powers to fight back against evil


 * Battle the WILL of those who conspire! / Take back the passion to live! VANISH THE SORROW...! - Whirlwind vowing to prevent the enemy's actions from tearing the world apart


 * Destroy their perfect crime, / Watch the power fold! - Whirlwind taking the fight to the villains and preventing their plans from coming to fruition

Blow By Blow by Traz Damji
This song serves his VS Theme against Darksteel Voidlance in the Darkness Trigger series. The theme emphasizes their rivalry that has reached a boiling point in the conflict against the Destroyer.

Connection to Character

 * I don't NEED a gun! I've got you on the run! / HERE I COME! You think that you can BEAT me?! - Whirlwind and Darksteel being primarily close-ranged combatants in battle


 * SAVE YOUR SOUL! You're gonna meet your maker! I'M STONE COLD! / You won't BREAK me! KNOCKED OUT COLD! I'm gonna give it to ya BLOW! BY! BLOW! - Whirlwind and Darksteel using their full strength against each other


 * No pain! No gain! / I'm unchained, gonna show you NO MERCY! - Whirlwind wanting to even the score with Darksteel


 * You don't MESS with me! You just wait and see! / LOOK OUT! I don't wanna fight fair! - Whirlwind being a respected officer in GUN, and willing to use his full power to win if the stakes are high enough

Trivia

 * Whirlwind's shares his current surname, Reyes, with Gabriel Reyes AKA Reaper from Overwatch.
 * The surname also translates to "kings" or "royals" in Spanish, which is a good fit for his relatively important role in the series as well as his GUN rank.
 * His former surname, Mason, was shared with Alex Mason, the main protagonist of Call of Duty: Black Ops.
 * Whirlwind's moveset is basically a mix of the basic Shotokan moveset from Street Fighter and a good number of Makoto Nanaya's moves in BlazBlue.
 * A pugilist manipulating aura that manifests as wind suffering from height vertigo... Seems kind of ironic, eh?