Name: Hilt.exe
Gender: Male
Element: Wood
Subtype: Sword
==Appearance==
Hilt was intended from the outset of his making to be a swordsman, so he is a swordsman, just somehow at a glance a swordsman without a sword. His defenses seem to be equally lacking at current, sporting no better than leather gear in most places. Cuffed brown boots and dark green pants are all Hilt has equipped to his legs, and his shirt... well, he doesn't have one actually. As if it's a reminder that he's still a Navi, Hilt wears a black sleeveless bodysuit, and that serves to cover his chest well enough on its own. Black hand-length gloves stretch across his fingers for better grip, and the only things Hilt can even call proper armor are a steel left shoulder guard, secured with a leather strap across his chest, and a steel bracer equipped to his left forearm. The only other thing Hilt wears is a brown leather belt, set with multiple loops in it to hold the various amount of weapon handles that Hilt is named for.
Physically speaking, Hilt has a very well-balanced build with just enough strength to handle a greatsword effectively, yet enough athleticism and dexterity to be able to move quickly. Seemingly he's modeled after a male in his early 20s, standing 6' 1" tall with an appropriate yet not excessive amount of muscle. His green hair, slightly brighter than his pants, has medium length bangs that don't quite disturb Hilt's eyes. Additionally, the back of Hilt's hair is actually a big long for a guy, but he keeps it bound in a very short, unbraided ponytail. Those gray eyes of Hilt's are several shades lighter than his bodysuit and gloves, but also look fairly clouded over and make Hilt seem less attentive than he really is.
==Personality==
Imagine if you, a Navi, woke up for the first time to find that you had not one, not two, but five Operators, then watched two of those Operators leave, and then have two new Operators join the remaining ones. That's how Hilt's life began, and to say he handled the situation well would be criminally underselling the facts. Despite being programming by a bunch of high schoolers, Hilt is a very patient and responsible Navi, to the point that Electown West High School's administrators have actually recognized him as the vice-advisor to the Programming Club. He keeps the kids in line and focused on club activities, but he's not so stern as to not bend a little and let his Operators play games on a slow day (that's a secret outside the clubroom). In general, people trust Hilt because he gives reason to be trusted.
That said, there is one caveat to everyone's favorite role model: he's not even a year old, and is completely flying by the seat of his pants on everything. "Experienced" is one thing Hilt is not, be that in battle, in conversation, or in anything in between. It's really a common issue for any Navi made in this club system, but Hilt was placed in a particularly tight spot by being made by one of the most dysfunctional Navi-making clubs in the school region. It didn't take him long to hone his insightful guesswork into an art, but in the end that's really all it is, guessing. Hilt doesn't lack confidence, exactly, but he does feel a slight sense of uncertainty whenever he says or does anything new... which is almost everything at this point. He's committed to becoming a better swordsman and Navi, though, so his efforts to help turn around the Programming Club will never be faulted for a lack of effort.
==Custom Weapon: Sync Scabbard==
Hilt's actual weapons are kept separately in his Operators' PETs, so all he has on-hand without one of them helping are the hilts on his belt. Going through the full list of what he can have, Hilt has 5 bladed weapons, 4 swords and one bayonet-mounted rifle, each of which is made by a different Operator and has its own special element and abilities. When one of the club members assumes Operation, Hilt can materialize the sword that member made off the proper hilt he has.
Ground Breaker — Made by Cliff, this earth-element claymore is the first sword Hilt was programmed with and what dictates his assignment as a Wood Navi. It's not particularly decorated currently, but it can cut through stone and ground like butter and has many earth-aligned special attacks. Hilt can technically wield it one-handed, but in almost any situation he will hold the grip with both hands.
Mana Dance — Made by Suzie, this magic-element katzbalger isn't really made for direct slashing and thrusting, but instead using the magical pink and blue trails that spill from the blade's edge. The relative lack of decoration is pretty easy to miss amidst the magical light show Mana Dance produces, but do not assume it's all just for appearance. The magical trails effectively enable Hilt to wield the sword at range, transferring his slashes and cuts into the trails and casting them out at enemies as magic spells.
Wraith 556B — Made by Jack, this curse-element assault rifle is obviously the odd duck out, but Hilt does wield the bayoneted gun surprisingly well as a melee weapon. It's a very modern, military-grade weapon with the added twist of firing ammunition that inflicts hexes and various other misfortunes. The knife-length bayonet can manage the same trick, and can be detached from the rifle if Hilt needs for close-combat. If it even needs to be said, then yes, Hilt handles the Wraith 556B with two hands whenever given the choice.
Otonoha — Made by Howie, this sound-element katana is the best pure cutting sword Hilt has. The layering of the blade has a very wavy pattern, and Hilt can make the weapon rapidly oscillate to improve its ability to move through just about any material. In addition to that, Otonoha's ability to manipulate sound lets Hilt create sonic waves of widely varying strength, from a slight and quiet ringing to a full-force sonic boom. It isn't the longest blade in Hilt's collection (that distinction belongs to Ground Breaker), but Otonoha is hardly short and Hilt typically wields it two-handed.
Salvaguardia — Made by Maya, this holy-element saber is Hilt's best defensive weapon. The tightly-woven basket hilt protects his hand as good as a shield would, and the purifying powers of the blade itself allow Hilt to restore damage to himself and his gear. Salvaguardia's blade is curved back a little as is common with most sabers, and Hilt has found a preference for parrying with the slight hook when his bracer won't do. Along with Mana Dance, Salvguardia is one of only two true one-handed swords in Hilt's collection.
==History==
The Electopian high school system has long since recognized Netbattle as a sport, and the Electown West High School Programming Club is pretty much how the competition is regulated. It was decided that just fighting Navis wasn't educational enough, so the concept of club competition was introduced with the rule that any Navi used in a Netbattle had to be custom-made by the respective club. Several other rules set standards for fairness, but most important is the competition schedule: the early part of the school year is peppered with exhibition matches to help the clubs trial-run their Navis, before district tournaments begin, followed by regionals and then nationals.
EWHS has been pretty down in the pits for several years now, both in competition and in membership. Most fuctional clubs can turn out several Navis in the span of a student's 3-year role in his or her club, but the EWHS Programming Club has only been managing 1 Navi a year, if even that, with the bare minimum number of members to stay in place as a funded club. When Cliff, Suzie, and Jack joined the club as 1st-year freshmen, the two 3rd-year seniors laid out a plan to bring the Programming Club back up to respect that would extend past their own graduation. Effectively tanking the entire league competition that year, the Programming Club invested all its resources into making one Navi: Hilt. Made to be the best Navi of the Programming Club ever (and the only one at current), with Cliff as the new club captain, and Maya and Howie recruited to replace the graduated seniors, everyone's hopes ride on Hilt to take the Netbattle league by storm and win the national title.
==PET Modifications==
Hilt has his own, Programming Club-owned PET that's... not quite the standard Link model. It's more of a tablet, honestly, and it lacks most of the norms of a PET, including even a Battlechip port. Why is this Hilt's PET? Part of the goal in making Hilt was giving him an abnormally varied amount of combat data, i.e. his many swords, and standard PETs just didn't have the memory to contain all of that at once. The Programming Club members have taken to calling it the Sync PET, as the solution to the memory problem was to store Hilt's swords remotely on each member's Link PET and synchronize that to Hilt's PET when he needed a sword and Battlechips. It's a bit unwieldy compared to the norm, but it does have a distinct advantage in allowing the club members to swap Operation on the fly without having to jack Hilt out and transfer him between one PET and another.
==Signature Attacks (140/140 points)==
Ground Breaker Skill: Avalanche Drop (40 Wood damage, Slashing, Break, 2TCD; 60 points)
Hilt digs Ground Breaker into the earth under his feet before quickly lifting the greatsword up over his head, dragging chunks of stone with the blade. With the powerful sword combined with solid rock, there aren't a whole lot of things on the Net that are going to hold steady when Hilt lets this attack drop down.
Otonoha Skill: Shogekiho (Microburst, 1TCD, 40 points)
Otonoha wouldn't be much of a sonic sword if it couldn't produce a sonic boom. Thankfully, Hilt can do just that with a single swing of his oscillating katana. The blade's frequency is actually too high for anyone to hear, but there is plenty of noise to make up for that when Hilt launches the Shogekiho.
Salvaguardia Skill: Invoke Blessing (30 Heal, 1TCD; 40 points)
Hilt grips Salvaguardia's basket hilt with both hands and invokes the holy blade's simple healing enchantment. Despite the appearance of the energy releasing through the sword, the blessing is actually concentrated entirely in the handle, thus Hilt can actually use this skill regardless of his equipped weapon. He does prefer to trigger Invoke Blessing through Salvaguardia when possible, just for the convenience of having Maya around to operate the process.