Tetsuo

People often accuse me of being a pompous asshole."Tetsuo, you've really gone downhill since the crash. What's gotten into you? You just aren't the same anymore. We can't get together on anything. Are you too good for your old buddies? You think you're so big just because you can change the course of the stars in the heavens, create new universes with only the power of your mind, turn the world on with your smile? Well, mister, you're not."That's where you're wrong, fool! Supernatural powers, command of the Cosmos, a intimidating personal presence...these things matter. I don't have delusions of grandeur, dammit, I AM grand! I have an off day and the world cowers! I throw a hissyfit and millions are reduced to organic goo! ....................................It is the year 2030, and a group of teenaged bikers are out racing around on an abandoned highway system. One of them, a boy named Tetsuo, sees a short, white-skinned, white-haired, wizened-looking child standing in the highway directly in the path of his bike. Moments later, he slams into an invisible wall, his bike exploding into a mass of flames. The small boy fades away into nothingness. Within moments the military arrives and Tetsuo is whisked away in a helicopter, to a top secret hospital, where certain experiments in esper and psychokinetic powers are being conducted. After a few tests, Tetsuo is shown to be receptive to an attempt to 'awaken' his latent psychokinetic talents. Encouraged, the scientists decide to go ahead with their operations. Unfortunately for Neo-Tokyo, they succeed...Personality/Motivation: Kaori is Tetsuo's girlfriend, either from school (anime), or found among the refugees after Akira blasts Tokyo (manga). Either way, Tetsuo cares for her quite a bit, and she for him. This doesn't stop her from dying a horrible death in either story.Naturally, Tetsuo's powers are considered a threat to world peace by a number of people. In the manga several different counties attempt to infiltrate the ruined remains of Neo-Tokyo to investigate what happened and destroy him, with the focus is on the American attempt. The Colonel is the leader of what used to be the Japanese military. All through the manga (and the anime) he does his best to bring Tetsuo down (even linking into the laser satellite and firing on his own position!).Tetsuo's power is constantly growing and developing. There are times where he suffers from bouts of fierce headaches, where his powers lash out beyond his ability to control them, where his power begins to control him and not the other way around. Eventually he reaches a point where his body begins to mutate in order to accommodate his power's desire for increased energy, these mutations manifest as nightmarish masses of tubes sprouting from Tetsuo's bodyTetsuo is a prime example of what happens when someone who has been pushed around all his life is given access to virtually unlimited power. He strikes out at everyone who has every persecuted him, destroying those who cross his path without a second thought. He is more than willing to take on anyone, even the full might of a US Navy carrier group, alone, confident in his psychokinetic power to see him through. He is also power hungry. He wants to increase his PK powers, as well as learn how to control them to a greater degree. For example, he releases Akira in order to test his own abilities, and to see who is more powerful (big mistake). Finally, Tetsuo is highly addicted to cheap stimulants, popping them in handfuls as if they were candy for a good portion of the manga.Powers/Tactics: Tetsuo is the second most powerful psychokinetic on the face of the planet (the most powerful is a young boy named Akira). As a psychokinetic (and an anime/manga psychokinetic at that) Tetsuo possess a number of powers that are pretty typical for the genre. He can create Force Fields and Force Walls (the latter usually centered around his person) to deflect and stop attacks; he can generate powerful force bolts that can destroy vehicles, shatter buildings and toss people about; he can fly; Teleport immense distances; manipulate great weights with Telekinesis... In short, his powers are virtually unlimited, he even demonstrates Telepathy at one point.How powerful is Tetsuo? He stops tank shells with his Force Walls, he can crush tanks with his TK, in the anime he teleports to orbit and destroys a laser satellite, in the manga he teleports to the moon and creates a crater big enough to be seen from Earth. He destroys an entire bridge, blocks laser beams, pushes back tear gas with his telekinetic shields, regenerates from a gunshot in a matter of hours, can fly fast enough to catch an F-14, can withstand having a 10' diameter pipe dropped on him (as well as getting embedded in a wall of conduits by said pipe), can withstand sub-zero (actually, close to absolute zero) temperatures dressed in a t-shirt, deflects laser blasts from the aforementioned laser satellite, swats down helicopters.Appearance: Tetsuo is a short, slightly scrawny 15 year-old juvenile delinquent. He has an unkempt mop of black hair that falls down to his shoulders in the back (actually, his hair length is kinda variable, but always messy). Tetsuo normally dresses in jeans, boots a white t-shirt, and what looks like welder's gloves. Later, after achieving his full power, he wears white trousers, a white shirt, and a long, ragged, red cloak.Somewhat of an introvert, and possessing a severe inferiority complex, Tetsuo could be considered the main character in Akira. Abandoned as a child and raised in a life of instability, his one constant was his friend, Kaneda. They leaned on each other in their childhood days, and continued to lean as they grew up, eventually belonging to the same motorcycle gang.Tetsuo's life was changed one night while out riding with the gang. Trying to avoid hitting Takashi in the middle of the street, he suffered serious injuries. Tetsuo was carted off by the government, and started to develop his psychic powers. Holding a grudge against the way he was treated like a nothing all his life, he goes on a rampage throughout Neo-Tokyo, trying to find out just what this "Akira" is. When the truth finally comes out, Tetsuo can't handle it, and he goes out of control.Learned the values of loyalty, cooperation and teamwork as a member of a drug-crazed, crowbar-handy youth motorcycle gang. Expanded his mind as a test subject in the Akira Project. Served as Prime Minister of the Great Akira Empire before, in his own words, "the shit hit the fan". Thereafter, took thirty years off to be a immaterial being of raw self-awareness in Akira's very own homemade universe, and to "reflect on the experience of being so darned powerful."