Sparky

Sparky's recipe

"Fight him with BRUTE FORCE? Ha! BOOOORING. Much better to ZAP him, then BURN him, then POISON him, then put him to sleep." *30 second pause* "THEN ZAP HIM AGAIN!"

Sparky is a Paper Mario fancharacter created by MSPA user Leafsword. Barely stable, he is a shaggy loon of a Chain Chomp with an enthusiasm for status effects, strategy, and competition. He runs Sparky's Status Store.

Humor Profile

• 40% Shine
  • + Always cheerful. Happily giggles, sings etc.
  • + Extroverted. Will eagerly jump into any conversation that catches his fancy.
  • - Clearly insane. This tends to manifest in a mixture of giggling and mental instability, but not in any manner disconnected from reality. Don't encourage him.
• 20% Vision
  • + Focused on a goal, once it catches his interest.
  • + Innovative and very proud of it. Tends to not reject ideas, only build on them. This tends to lead directly to...
  • - A terrible problem with overcomplication. Tends to not be willing to actually fight until he's empowered all his stats, lowered all his opponents stats, and induced at least 3 status effects for every person alive, even if it would only take one normal hit to defeat them. His strategies are similarly complex in any other situation.
• 40% Ardent
  • + Love and adoration of those who show intelligence in their strategies.
  • + Zealous regard of, and knowledge about, status-inducing items and abilities.
  • - Rages, as chomps tend to do, except he rages in response to those who lack innovation. Don't say "simple is best" in front of him.
  • - Easily irritated. Don't interrupt him, and please try to follow when he gabbles. He also doesn't like it when his plans are rejected for simpler ones, regardless of their effectiveness.

Combat Skills

Typically starts as a Grounded enemy. If on his Hook, counts as a flying enemy. Due to years of neglect, his teeth are quite sensitive. Therefore, any attack that hits his just his teeth (such as a hammer or Koopa shell while on the ground) bypass his defense.

Base Stats

• Sparky
  • Base HP: 10
  • Base FP: 3
  • ATK: 2
  • DEF: 2(0 if hit with a frontal/hammer attack)

• Hook
  • HP:2 hits (damage does not matter)

• Sparky(After landing)
  • Base HP:10
  • Base FP:3
  • ATK:0
  • DEF:0

Moves

It should be noted that he supplements his moves with various items. Normally these include a Sleepy Sheep, a Thunder Rage, and something that doubles either his attack or defence. He has also been known to carry an insanely large number of items and just use those throughout the match; note however that him carrying FP- or HP- restoring items is basically unheard of.

Crush

His Basic attack, Crush is basically him jumping on the Enemy. Does his attack in damage, plus 1 if he gets the timing right. He's not very well practised with the move though, and tends to miss the timing.

• 3(1/6 chance of 4) Damage
• Acts like Jump from the main series.
• Spike Protection

Hook

One of his unique status abilities, and the keystone to most battles involving him. Hook summons his warp pipe (if appropriate) and his Hook from the Storehouse. The Hook lifts him off the ground. At this point he acts in a way similar to Paratroopas; he's flying, but jumping on the Hook twice will bring him back to the ground, and usually into it, greatly weakening him while he is stuck. Summoning the warp pipe costs 3 FP, the Hook costs nothing. While the Hook is out, flower nectar travels down the pipe, granting Sparky 1FP per turn.

• Zeroes FP at cast.
• No damage.
• Spawns Hook.
• Changes Sparky to a Flying.
• Activates Swing and Bring The House Down.
• Disables Static and Crush, and removes Static's effects.
• Killing Hook through any means immediately activates Crash.
• 1FP at end of each turn.

Static

Sparky builds up a static charge in his fur, zapping anyone that comes into melee range. Acts similar to a Volt Shroom.

• 1 Damage to attackers if hit in melee range.
• 3 turns.
• Protection against Electrified enemies, allowing him to damage them freely.
• 1/6 Chance of Paralyze on contact.

Swing

While attached to a Hook, Swing replaces Crush as his basic attack. This does his attack in damage, plus another 2 if he gets the action command correct. He's a little better at the command as well, though still far from good.

• 2(1/4 chance of 4) Damage.
• Acts like a thrown Hammer w/Flying Coverage.
• No Spike Protection (Attacks with his mouth, which is surprisingly weak on the inside).

Bring The House Down

Sparky's ultimate attack. Sparky flings himself straight into the roof of the arena. He smashes some of the scenery, dropping pieces of roof on everyone on the ground, before falling onto the front of the enemy team for massive damage (he lands without a Crash, due to using the enemy as a landing pad).

• 4 Damage to every enemy in the battle + 5 additional damage to the front enemy.
• 2 Damage to every ally.
• 1 Damage to Sparky on landing.
• Removes Hook.
• Ramming into an enemy on the roof will cause that enemy 4 damage, but send Sparky straight into a Swinging Crash.
• 50% Chance of Crumple on enemies hit.
• 25% Chance of Crumple on allies hit.
• Removes about half of the audience.

Crash

Whenever Sparky falls off his hook, and nothing is there to catch him, he will fall and Crash right into the stage. At this point, he takes 2 damage, his DEF stat turns to Zero, and he becomes immobilized for two turns. His DEF is reduced because of the way he lands; Face-up, exposing those terribly damaged teeth. After those two turns, he returns to normal. If there is something underneath him, that person takes 5 damage, Sparky takes 1, and Sparky doesn't get debuffed or immobilized.

Alternatively, when he rams into an enemy on the roof during Bring The House down, he enters a second type of Crash. The Swinging Crash is when he falls back, and the hook breaks mid-swing. He rolls backward off the stage, doing 5 damage to anyone below flying level on his side of the field, with a chance of crumpling them, and flies off the stage. It takes him two turns to return to the battle. If there is no-one on his team left before his return, he automatically loses.

Strategy

Sparky has a large amount of defence, and his abilities allow him to leave the ground completely. Having either a high attack or multiple-hit moves will be helpful, and aerial attacks are an absolute must.

Sending him into a Crash or Swinging Crash is going to make the battle a lot easier It allows a bypass to his innate defence and his items that increase defence (because they work by doubling his defence at the time). Generally, attack his hook when it spawns. He tends to not bother with his ground-based skills, going straight into Hook and Swing, unless his enemy is Electrified. Keep in mind that if he fights alone, a Swinging Crash is an instant KO.

Bring The House Down is disastrous if he pulls it off. 4 Damage per person is scary, and the front person takes nine damage. If he's brought an attack damage increaser, then he can do eighteen damage in a single turn on just one person, with 8 on everyone else. Fortunately, this attack is incredibly hard to pull off. After summoning up a warp pipe, he has to wait 3 turns for his FP to rebuild. His hook can only take two hits, meaning that he will most likely have trouble pulling it off in one Hook to a savvy enemy. If you can't defeat his Hook by any means, but you can get on the roof, do so- you'll take a fairly hefty hit, but he will be out of battle for two turns, and anyone on his team will take more damage than you do.

Lastly, AVOID THE SLEEPY SHEEP. He is very good at casting it, and if he does he has more than enough time to pull off Bring The House Down.

Sparky, as typically seen in his stores

Distinguishing Features

Sparky is, unusually for his species, covered in golden fur. This fur has covered his eyes, leaving only tufts where his eyes should be seen. This doesn't seem to affect his vision.

His chain structure is an anomaly as well. The base of his chain is at the crown of his head, and his chain itself is surprisingly rigid. Said chain somewhat loosely holds itself in the shape of a lightning bolt, going directly up from his head. Sparky often uses his chain to hang himself from hooks and swing, getting himself off the ground. He is commonly seen hanging in such a manner.

Background

Sparky's first notable appearance was when he entered in a Glitz Pit league. Under the alias "The Thunderbolt" he quickly ascended the ranks of the Minor League, causing his weaker opponents a large amount of trouble. His natural Chomp resilience allowed him to shrug off almost all their attacks, allowing him to set up his status effects in their entirety and hit for incredible damage. This, combined with his unique appearance and unstable personality, made him a fan favourite, and he soared in popularity, earning a large amount of money, even for a contestant.

Unfortunately, the alias was accurate, as the Thunderbolt failed to strike again in the Major League; once the opponents were strong enough to pierce his defences, or smart enough to work around it, he had little time for status effects before he was knocked out. He held at the top of the minors for a while, but over time his higher and lower opponents were able to work around his rigid strategy and he fell rapidly down the charts, before quitting at the end of the season, around the middle of the Minor League.

Over the next few years, he remained in obscurity, although reports suggest he travelled the surrounding area. At some point he presumably built his storehouse; no one knew about it until after he arrived in Rhythm City, whereupon he purchased a building, established his store and commissioned a warp pipe between the two.

Personality and Interests

Sparky is incredibly obsessed with status effects. No-one is quite sure where his interest began; he has started to explain before, but he tends to get sidetracked.

He tends to be very enthusiastic when interested in the subject matter. He'll babble out whatever he knows, or assault the conversation with questions, whatever is appropriate. He also tends to exaggerate words for little reason. When disinterested, he'll generally space out and stop paying attention, only to snap right back in when he hears a key word, regardless of what the conversation is actually about. He can be very trying to talk to.

He gets very bitter about his losses, and accuses most of his opponents of "cheating" in one form or another, sometime through very strange turns of logic.

Occupation

Sparky's Status Store is a small store chain, managed by Sparky. The price range tends to be more dynamic than standard stores - cheap objects tend to be even cheaper, while more expensive items have increased prices. Nonetheless, the presence of all status items possible is guaranteed. He uses warp pipes and a fishing hook (see left) to move quickly between his store and his storehouse, placed in an almost inaccesible location for security.

Trivia

• Sparky's electrical theme and erratic, unpredictable behaviour is inspired by his name; Sparky is a cliche name for dogs, which Chomps often act like in Mario canon.
• Sparky's Crash ability is partly inspired by the Chomps in Paper Mario: Sticker Star's Rumble Volcano. Those Chomps get stuck into a platform after chasing Mario, much like Crash. One of the Chomps even gets stuck in the platform in a similar way; falling when the supporting chain is released.