Decoda

Decoda is a Tropican Guinea Pig living in Grapelina, Cornucopia. He is a world famous rockstar and politician, and has an obvious crush on Rocky Kaos.

Concept and Creation
Originally, Decoda was created to rival Wrathias Kaos and hate him for merely existing. From the start, "Dicky" was a scumbag who reveled in his fame and glory to try and steal the attention away from Wrath and Kane in order to gain the favor of the Tropican Sisters. Otherwise, he was shallow, rude and a very inconsiderate anti-hero character.

Additionally, he looked slightly different. He had a furrier, tan muzzle, wore a gold chain necklace, no pants or belt, and his black jacket had short sleeves, lacking the blue straps around the back. His hair/spines were slightly shorter and more jagged, especially his bangs. His hat was maintained throughout the designing process. The rest of that design was obviously scrapped in favor of the gray pants, belt, and shaved look.

Personality
Today, Decoda is a sweet, caring and generous individual who loves making others feel happy and better about themselves. This does indeed mean that he sugarcoats the truth on many occasions, or outright lies to people if it benefits their situation. He will dedicate much money and time towards others for charity and doesn't ask for help often. He spends time with those who are sad, feeling hurt or lonely, hoping that his kindness will improve their moods for the better. That being said, he personally finds himself in streaks of depression and loneliness; even with all the fans in the world, he pines for those few, important friends in his life, willing to trade all of his money and personal possessions for that kind of love.

Decoda is a hopeless romantic, obsessed with his childhood friend, Rocky Kaos. When she isn't on his mind, he still wears his heart on his sleeve and his actions are usually triggered by his emotions. This can make him very impulsive, make him easy to upset or anger and sometimes thoughtless. He tries to control his actions, but most of the time he cannot.

Unlike many typical musicians or famous celebrities, Decoda also actively avoids drug-like products and constantly pursues knowledge and power. He is influenced by his late father's work and the Tropican Sisters' will to continue fighting for justice.

Stereotypically, one could place him in the jock/prep category, very goodie-goodie and rule-abiding in nature, with an emotional and romantic side.

Capabilities
Vocals and Instrumental Abilities:

Note: Mood Swing and Guitar Bazooka are directly related to Decoda's Life Force Energy (LFE). They will not work without it.
 * Mood Swing : When Decoda sings, he puts as much energy into his voice as possible.  Having a second throat, a trait he gained during the early stages of test-tube development, he uses both tubes to vocalize and the CC in his system to prevent harmful esophageal conditions like laryngitis.  He can channel his own emotions to someone else without them knowing, swaying their moods into something that he is currently feeling, regardless of the situation (if the situation calls for something happy, he'll concentrate on his own mood first before boosting the morale for others).  Not many can resist this technique, but it can be done with effective concentration or just not having ears.
 * Guitar Bazooka : Decoda has mechanically altered guitars that are still playable.  One of them (his favored red and black, 5-string, Electric Flying V) was customized to hold an energy canon in the neck if the tuner at the top was removed.  Decoda supplies the canon with his own energy, as long as he touches the strings of the instrument and strums them in various chords when he wants to fire.  It can only run out of ammunition when he runs out of energy, or when he does not have it.  It is programmed to only work through his touch, but can be played normally by everyone else.  Blasts vary from small and rapid to large and charged.
 * Guitar Smash : Similar to a sport's bat or club, Decoda has enough upper body strength to swing his instruments around to hit things.  While not always the best option because they can actually break, despite being made of the toughest material out there (without making the instrument itself sound terrible when played), he uses this technique most often due to it not being as time-consuming as making up a song to sing or energy-absorbing as charging up his canon.  Decoda does own a harder-hitting, not-meant-to-be-played melee weapon replica, but prefers to bring the one that provides music.
 * Drumroll Combo : A simple punching combination, requiring Decoda to hit enemies as fast and hard as possible.  As the anticipation rises, the guinea pig ends the combo with a heavy spin-kick, sending his opponent into the air or straight into the ground.
 * Piano Roll : An easy somersault (forward, backward or sideways) that Decoda preforms in order to escape, trip enemies or get up from a knock-down.  He can do quite a few of these before actually getting dizzy (around 8) and sometimes turn them into a full cartwheel to return the attack.
 * Bass Slash : A nasty trick Decoda uses if he demands bloodshed.  Using his [spare] guitar strings, Decoda will relentlessly whip and slash at opponents.  These strings will usually scratch or slice through skin or fur, but does nothing against icy, stone or metallic surfaces.  These strings are not strong enough to be useful to tie up the opposition, swing with, and will cut any inexperienced guitarist if they are clumsy with them.
 * Saxo-hold : A frontal choke hold technique that attempts to suffocate the enemy, but if he can lift said enemy off the ground, it provides ample time for him to punch them in the stomach.

Artificial Advantages:
 * Decoda can survive in the vacuum of outer space and other atmospheres without aid.
 * Decoda can absorb life force energy from other sentient and nonsentient things as he sings, then redistributes that same power in small increments to only all sentient creatures within a 25 ft. radius.  If Decoda is playing an instrument as he does this, his radius doubles in distance, but this makes his increments even smaller.
 * Decoda can mimic and replicate exactly up to 15 different voices (ever).  This is a passive ability, possible by his second throat and artificial vocal capacity.  He must know the language they speak, be familiar with the accent/dialect they use and if the it cannot be imitated easily by means of extra biological features (more than one tongue for example) the voice will take 2 slots of his mimicry talents.  As of now, he can successfully mimic the voices of (not counting his own): his father, Aunt Takoda, Demi, Pau, Eve, Ferina, Rocky, Tori and Scott.
 * Decoda can lift up to three times his body weight (roughly ~300 lbs.) and throw/use that to his advantage in a battle or when overcoming an obstacle.
 * Decoda is an slower runner, despite his chemically enhanced physical strength.

The "Birth" of a Legend
Decoda was not born, but created as a special experiment by the Chemical Chaos and Biological Experimentalist, Dr. Encyrano the Guinea Pig. Out of his love for his deceased wife, Bianka, Encyrano used several notes, an entire laboratory and funding from the genius, Cranium Crackus, to create his test-tube baby. He was finished developing on the 8th of Emirdre and was raised by his "father" as a normal child ever since.

Decoda was created with highly questionable life-giving substances, especially the incredibly valuable and versatile Chemical Chaos. Technically, he is, in part, a clone of his father, as Encyrano used his own DNA as the base for his experiment. Overtime, he implemented several other family member's DNA into the process, such as his sister (Aunt Takoda) and niece (Demi) in order to keep the experiment stable. This was necessary, as Crackus had initially only funded the experiment to see if life-through-CC was possible; Decoda needed to be balanced out in order to prevent total gelatinous collapse (explains Roben's need for an Endoskeleton). His entire creation took over 4 years to complete, and began a mere 6 months after his "mother's" death. His name was formatted from the word "decode," after his creator spent several months of understanding and utilizing DNA and RNA coding systems.

Decoda was also given several other species traits in order to better his design, such as the Koko's second throat (explains his vocal excellence), a human's muscular capacity (explains his unnatural strength) and a K9's sense of hearing (inspired by his mother; explains his ability to pick up distant and high pitched sounds). These are just a few examples of what kind of a "mix" Decoda really is.

Decoda's creation notes would later be used to help Project Endoskeleton become a success. Decoda himself does not know that his life was used to help keep Rocky's alive. She, literally, owes him her life.

Prodigy with Power
Living with a top-notch, privately funded scientist as an only child was quite interesting and high-end, to say the least. Encyrano was very busy for a single parent, spending hours and sometimes days away from his Grapelina mansion - purchased specifically with his family in mind - making Decoda very lonely. Pau, who was with Encyrano [and Bianka] for a few years prior to this event, was the primary caretaker of "young master Decoda." In light of this, he became a secondary father-figure to Decoda and aided the young star in his musical endeavors, feeding his hobby with thematic birthday presents every year.

During family gatherings, typically occurring once or twice a year, Encyrano would invite his last two living relatives over to help spend time with his growing child. Takoda, a rather stingy and picky individual, helped teach Decoda about finance and money, but her attitude towards keeping it all for personal gain threw the boy in the opposite direction, promising to be more giving than greedy. Demi, however, was personally in love with the idea that she had someone to help raise and teach. As an accepting and sweet-natured little girl, Demi taught Decoda about people, places and things he couldn't learn from any of the tutors his father hired for him. She is the closest thing he ever had to a sibling or motherly figure, and he deeply cherishes her time, opinions and views more so than his aunt's.

When Decoda was still learning how to talk, his first language being Humanspeak rather than Kokoumane due to his mainly human tutors, he was educated by several individuals on various subjects who taught him how to write, read, count, speak publicly, sing, dance and most importantly, play instruments. This was clearly Decoda's favorite subject and when one of the tutors recommended public school to increase social activity, he chose to take music class as an elective. Encyrano enrolled him at the age of 6 to Grapelina Border School. This change in pace altered the rest of Decoda's life.

Decoding Project Endoskeleton
The first friend Decoda ever met at school was a quiet blue feathered robin girl named Eve who had a particular talent for the arts and literature. He quickly bonded with her, explaining that he was very interested in music, himself. Then he met the spicy Ferina, a wild and spontaneous athlete who loved gymnastics and rhythm. He also found himself bonding with her, as they loved to dance. The three of them became close friends within the same year.

Decoda was very much a class clown, feeding off of others reactions and happiness and found himself to be very extroverted, especially when he was around his girls. He mostly knew his best method was using his charm and "coolness" to win people over, but he'd crack a joke every now and then that made people laugh and forget about their problems. You might say he had a way with words, or at least a supernatural way of using words. There was one person he needed to try a bit harder for, though, and that was the sickly little girl known as Roqueta Kaos.

Decoda first met her after hearing the most intense sneezing of his life; handing her a bunch of tissues seemed to make her smile at first, but young Rocky always carried a gloomy expression on her face. This made the guinea pig want to continue to try to cheer her up for as long he knew her, seeking her smile the most. It took her a little while to actually become his, Eve's and Ferina's friend, but eventually, the four were inseparable. Unfortunately, the very next year brought another set of changes that forced them apart.

Ferina's adopted parents decided to take a vacation to the snowy mountains in Bananaopolis, but the train upsettingly crashed, killing nearly all its passengers. After being rescued, Ferina left the adoption agency and everyone behind to live a life of solitude, believing that she could never love anyone again for their safety. Eve, Decoda and Rocky remained forever wondering what happened to their dearest athlete.

The year after that, Rocky fell fatally ill, and stopped coming to school almost immediately. While this tragedy was a bit less cryptic, Decoda and Eve tried their hardest to make sure she was as happy as possible during their last few hours with her. After Decoda told his father about her illness, Encyrano then parroted this information directly to Dr. Lockardson. While there were other subjects he was looking at for his Project Endoskeleton, Rocky stood out among the options and it was then that he decided to make her "Rocky the Robot." Encyrano never told Decoda that it was through his actions that saved her from death.

Decoda waited a full two years to hear back from Rocky, and by that point, he had graduated from primary schooling along with Eve. The guinea pig and the bird hung onto each other for a while afterward, afraid they'd lose each other over time. To their dismay, Eve had been kidnapped the one time they didn't spend time together, her mother very worried about her. This was when Rocky was called in on her first ever super hero mission. Hopeful to save his friend, Decoda joined her, impressed with her newfound power and skill, but scared that none of them would make it out of this mess alive. It turned out that Eve had been captured by the vicious Kannibal and his legion of carnivores; when Rocky and Decoda violently murdered a few of them (in self defense) the others got scared and started to flee, but were arrested by the other soldiers waiting on standby. Kannibal, however, escaped, but left his victims behind, including Eve.

The heroes returned and Decoda fell for Rocky, hard. Her shyness and gloomy attitude was replaced with confidence and happiness to help anyone who needed it. This crush immediately impacted his developing musical career, as he continued to work on his songwriting and guitar playing. This time, he wrote about the girl of his dreams, which were some of the first songs Encyrano and Pau heard and thought it was time to start publishing his work. Decoda was an instant hit on Cybernet, his cute boyish charms and talented guitar skills winning him a large tweenage audience. Surprised he did this well, Pau and Encyrano encouraged that he try a music video or a live concert, but Decoda wanted to try and find what happened to Ferina. After deciding on a live show, Decoda further determined that he, Rocky and Eve would then track down their missing friend.

The first show was a major success and everyone was helping. Unfortunately for him, that was the last he ever got to work with his companions; from that point on, everyone was either too busy or too overwhelmed and tired to get together. Their friendships were fading and it hurt Decoda, especially after all that they'd been through together. This was only the beginning of Decoda's pain.

(D) Major Depression
As time snuck on by, Decoda continued to make more music and attended more small concerts before moving on to bigger ones in more public areas. With the amount of money he was generating, it was enough for him to practice other instruments and learn Kokoumane, make music videos and produce full albums that made him exponentially more popular around the world. He was rather lonely, still trying to spend time with his father and get the attention of his friends (more specifically Rocky). Even Pau didn't have any advice for the young master, other than to try and find other interests that made him happy.

The last time Decoda saw his father was the night before he died. Encyrano was communicating to him over a video call, telling his son he would have to stay over the lab an extra night to finish a new project. That same night, Kane, Setheus and Roben were given direct orders to go to that lab and steal all the Chemical Chaos in sight. In an effort to save the experiments and the Chemical, Encyrano died fighting along with 11 other scientists. After the incident, Decoda was alerted and quit his biggest gig early, composing himself long enough to end the show with a short plea for forgiveness. He stayed locked inside his mansion for weeks on end after that, only to be awoken by a condolence call from Eve, who felt sorry for him and wanted to know if she could visit. Instead of allowing this to happen, he turned the tables on his sadness and went mad with vengeful fury.

The next few years of his life were spent making less music and more time for developing his physical skills in the event that he would meet his father's killers. He hired a multitude of private trainers so that he would be skilled in some martial arts, but also a marksman to teach him how to use his newly crafted Guitar Bazooka, and a professional gymnast so he could use his body and guitar as a weapon. All of these techniques helped in making the guinea pig stronger and allowed him to utilize most his artificially enhanced abilities.

Year (Whatever year CC1 Starts)
Decoda is 16, a maestro of music, wealthy and now physically powerful. He’s learned about some of his power, thinking it was a gift from the other half of his heritage, but still completely unaware of his true origins. He also knows more about his father being a biological experimentalist, his involvement with Crackus and has discovered a bit more about Rocky in Project Endoskeleton. He also has met with Scott, a hobo savannah cat boy with quite an amazing drum roll and sense of rhythm. At this point, he is not his drummer or teammate, but seen as a sane (yet scatterbrained) fanboy who is simply talented.

Relationships

 * Encyrano (father; deceased)
 * Bianka (mother; never knew her/deceased)
 * Pau (butler/caretaker; father-son like relationship)
 * Takoda (aunt [father's sister]; rough terms)
 * Demi (cousin [father's side]; very close)
 * Eve (best childhood friend)
 * Ferina (best childhood friend)
 * Rocky (best childhood friend; obsessively loves)
 * Tori (good friend)
 * Scott (best friend, partner)
 * Kane (rival, iffy terms)
 * Wrath (rival, friends)
 * Maple (good friend)
 * Hazle (good friend)

Trivia

 * Decoda's name is borrowed from a real life classmate of Rocky K. during her middle school years.  The classmate was often considered a popular and rebellious student, which inspired the initial characterization of Decoda.
 * Decoda is the only major male character [of Rocky K.'s] to not gain a significant other by the end of the series (much to his dismay).  Wollett, Venom, Zane, Kane and Wrath all obtain life partners.
 * Vocally speaking, Decoda is an Alto, but can reach Soprano and Tenor levels if he tries hard enough.
 * Decoda's favorite kind of music is rock and roll, heavy metal, alternative, jazz, acoustic, blues, opera, native Tropican music, orchestral and classic rock.  His least favorite music is pop, dubstep and other various overly synthesized and digital tracks (including the vocal modifier, autotune).  He does not mind the digital recreation of music using computers, as long as they sound natural and can be recreated outside of a processor.
 * Decoda can play a multitude of instruments including the piano, drums, bass and saxophone.  He specializes in guitars (both electric and acoustic).
 * Decoda loves dairy products like cheese, ice cream and pudding.  He hates most kinds of salad, watermelon and  strawberries (he takes issue with the seeds).
 * Much like other Rocky K. characters, Decoda has a few AU counterparts.
 * In Pokemon: Beyond the Tall Grass, Decoda Capella is a Rock/Ground Type Gym Trainer who has dreams of becoming a rock and roll superstar. His starter Pokemon is a Mudkip.
 * In Sonic Boom, Decoda is a rockstar living Bygone Island who is very charitable and preforms concerts at special town events. He also teaches dancing and singing to those who ask.
 * In the Classic-Verse, Decoda is the same as his original version: rude, snarky and can become very jealous. He is world famous, wealthy and loves his fame and reputation a bit more than his friends.