Shani Threefeather

BIOS
Bout of the Century:

Shani is a young warrior from the Lakota tribe, and one of the few women among her people to achieve such prowess. One day, she hears from the shaman of her tribe that the fallen angel, Ultimatis, has spread his unholy influence throughout the world and sets off on a spiritual quest given to her by the Great Spirit, Wakan Tanka: to put an end to him before he can doom the world and upset its balance.

SPECIAL MOVES
Tatanka Tackle: Shani tackles her opponent to the ground with a grappling takedown. Meter Burn adds an inyankapemni smash to the head afterwards.

Crashing Eagle: Shani flies downwards at a diagonal angle at her opponent and slashes at them horizontally with both axes in different directions, one going left and one going right, stumbling them. Meter Burn causes a harder knockdown and does more damage. Must be performed in midair.

Slashing Cross: Shani dashes at her opponent and X-slashes at them with her tomahawks, stumbling them. Meter Burn, in addition to increasing the damage and range of the move, causes a hard knockdown if it connects.

Spirit Arrows: An ethereal white bow materializes in front of Shani, who then fires an ethereal white arrow from it at her opponent. On Meter Burn, she fires three arrows simultaneously instead.

GREATEST ATTACK
Wakan Tanka's Judgment: Shani cocks her twin tomahawks back, declaring, "Now you have angered the spirits!", then begins the Greatest Attack by X-slashing her opponent. She then slashes them a few times with her tomahawks, during which she calls out, "Know that this is...", then, with one mighty upwards swing, launches them into the air. She then proceeds to holster her axes, take out an inyankapemni club, and, while the opponent is still airborne, and as soon as they start to fall to the ground, jump up into the air and slam them down onto the ground with it, continuing on, "The way of the Lakota!" Afterwards, she holsters the club and takes out her tomahawks again.

WIN QUOTES
(generic) O, great spirit, Wakan Tanka, please allow me to dedicate this victory to you.

(generic) My ancestors granted me the strength necessary to win. Yours should have done the same for you.

(generic) Fight only for the people and things you cherish the most, never as an indulgence.

(mirror match) I have to fight my own self? Could this be, perhaps, one of Iktomi's tricks?

MISC. INFO
Voice Actress: G.K. Bowes

Stage: Lakota Encampment (Hazards/interactables: Tepees)

Rival: The Amazing Giuseppe

Character Select Quote: Wakan Tanka, guide me!

Intro Sequence: Shani sits down cross-legged with her eyes closed and her twin spiritual tomahawks on either side of her for three seconds, then picks up her weapons, stands up, and goes into her fighting stance, during which she declares, "I fight to ensure the future of my people!"

Round Win Sequence: Shani gets down on one knee, sets her tomahawks down on the ground, and raises her arms and head, during which she says, "I cannot give up on my spirit quest," then goes into her fighting stance again.

Outro Sequence: Shani swings diagonally to the right or left first, then diagonally to the left or right, and finally does a horizontal 180° clockwise or counter-clockwise spinning slash with her spiritual tomahawks, during which she declares, "The spirits and my people lent me their strength!", then throws them to the ground, which then embed there, and raises her arms and head, continuing, "And, for that... I thank them."

PROLOGUE
(We're taken to a 19th-century-style painting, where Shani is in the vast plains training in the art of the double tomahawk with one of the other tribesmen.)

The Lakota tribe are one of three Sioux Native American tribes of the greater Interior Plains, indigenous to the Dakota states. Shani Threefeather is one of their members and belongs to the Oglála, one of their seven sub-tribes, or "bands."

(In the second prologue painting, Shani is in the Lakota encampment at nighttime, kneeling at a large campfire as she speaks with the Great Spirit, Wakan Tanka.)

She recently received word from the shaman of her people of the threat of the fallen angel prince known as Ultimatis. He also advised her to commune with the Great Spirit, Wakan Tanka, about the matter, and she had no choice but to oblige.

(The third, and final, painting shows Shani in the same location shown in the previous painting, except it is now daytime, as she is in her fighting stance with her dual tomahawks readied.)

Shani was later urged by the Great Spirit to embark on a spiritual quest to find and defeat Ultimatis before he can doom the lands and all those who live there, including the Lakota tribe, and will do it for the future of her people.

RIVAL BATTLE - vs. The Amazing Giuseppe
(Cut to outside the golden gates of Heaven, where Shani and Giuseppe stand a foot away from each other, looking at each other.)

Shani: This type of mysticism that you practice is strange to me. Are you certain that you are not blessed by the spirits of my people?

Giuseppe: I am assuming that you are referring to my trucchi magici (magic tricks), mia cara (my dear).

Shani: Was that which you refer to as "magic" not bestowed to you by the spirits, it matters not. However, still... (goes into her fighting stance) it is nothing compared to the ancient fighting techniques of my people!

Giuseppe: My magic is not something you should underestimate... (going into his fighting stance as well) unless you desire to see how the finale of this battaglia (battle) goes!

SUB-BOSS BATTLE - vs. Hypatia
(After the fight, a badly-beaten Giuseppe is down on one knee and one hand.)

Shani: Never did I assume until recently that the paleface could utilize the mystic arts. (helping Giuseppe up) You truly do live up to your moniker of "amazing."

Giuseppe: You know... I will admit, for a donna (woman)... you have quite the prowess as a warrior of your tribe. I apologize to have underestimated you.

Shani: Why, thank you, magician. Not until recently has any other Lakota tribesperson my gender shown such prowess.

(The golden gates of Heaven open, and Shani enters by climbing the steps and walking through the gateway.)

Giuseppe: Addio, signora (goodbye, madam)! You are welcome to watch me perform whenever you feel is right!

(Five seconds later, we cut to Shani standing on a floating cloud in Heaven.)

Shani: By the Great Spirit! Where have I been taken... The happy hunting ground?

Hypatia: (flying into the scene to approach Shani) Do you not realize? You are currently in Heaven.

Shani: And, are you Hihankara? I hope I presented the proper tattoos...

Hypatia: In actuality, no. You may know me as Hypatia, the angel Queen of my domain.

Shani: Hmm... An "angel?" The kind of creatures that followers of the Christian faith believe in, in addition to the concept of "Heaven?"

Hypatia: Of course the Christian faith believes in us all, Shani. Not the fallen kind, my brother included. Even we angels and the ancestral spirits of your people frown upon him for intending to doom the lands.

Shani: Then, unless I get rid of him fast enough... (going into her fighting stance) then the Lakota, as well as many other people, will be doomed as well!

Hypatia: Not without dueling against me first. (going into her fighting stance as well) Now, come. Prove to me that you are willing to pass this next trial that awaits.

FINAL BOSS BATTLE - vs. Ultimatis
(After the sub-boss battle, Hypatia is badly beaten and down on one knee and one hand for a few seconds until Shani helps her up.)

Hypatia: You take great pride in your people, Shani, and have a strong devotion to them. It appears that your great spirit did the right thing when she bestowed such virtues upon you.

Shani: I have also proven to be a capable warrior, just as they were in the Battle of the Greasy Grass many moons ago when I was nine.

Hypatia: If you will excuse me, I must now return to my palace to rest from the wounds of battle. (disappears in a flash of holy light)

(Then, suddenly, the skies change from blue with white clouds to red with black clouds, and a swirling black vortex appears in front of Shani, and Ultimatis emerges from the vortex to approach her.)

Shani: So, you must be the fallen angel... My people fear you because they claim, and our shaman warns, that you bring misfortune and dread wherever you walk!

Ultimatis: And you must be one of many to step forward to stop my plans. Such a futile effort is folly, for which you must perish by my hand!

Shani: You are never getting away with spreading your malevolent influence throughout the lands. Wakan Tanka wills it!

Ultimatis: Young woman, the way you and your people speak of ghosts does not make much sense. I doubt you will ever see how your so-called "spiritual quest" ends.

Shani: I have heard far worse about us Native Americans. The assumption that we are all savages who only ever mindlessly spill the blood of those who put even one toe near us included.

Ultimatis: And "savages" were the word for you, coined by white men who formed a nation through land acquired. With my power, I could divide it, state by state, if I so desired.

Shani: If you desire solely to bring imbalance and chaos to the world in which we all live... (goes into her fighting stance) the spirits of the land and sky will not guide you. Prepare yourself!

Ultimatis: You dare such insolence? So it shall be. (going into his fighting stance as well) If you are willing to survive this last bout, we shall see!

ENDING
Shani: I will do my people and our ancestors proud... by finishing you off so as to ensure that the lands never fall into chaos and darkness! (vertically slashes Ultimatis with her dual spiritual tomahawks)

Ultimatis: No... This is impossible! How could this be? (slowly disintegrating into particles) The end will come for you... but never... for me! (completely disintegrates and, eventually, dies)

(Back home in Dakota Territority at night, some Lakota tribesmen are seen chanting and performing a tribal dance in celebration of Shani's victory over Ultimatis and subsequent saving of the world from his evil influence.)

Wakan Tanka (voiced by Linda Hunt): You have done well in prevailing against the fallen angel, Ultimatis, Shani Threefeather. I am very impressed with what you have done, as are the other spirits and our people.

Shani: Thank you, Great Spirit.

Wakan Tanka: And now, thanks to you, your people are safe from his malevolence and can finally live in peace, knowing that you have completed the spiritual quest I sent you on.

Shani: That I have. Without the courage and prowess as a warrior of the Lakota that lie deep within my soul, I would never have accomplished something so great. I promise you that my descendants after me will preserve and benefit the future of my people.

Wakan Tanka: And I am absolutely certain that they will in time.

(Cut to May 2017, 131 years later, where an early-20s Lakota man with shoulder-length black hair in a sand-colored wrestling outfit which not only consists of half-sleeves, pant legs, and buckskin wrestling briefs, but also black kneepads and boots with a front cloth of the same color as the kneepads and boots, but with smoke-grey wisp-like designs on it battles a larger, more muscular Caucasian man with a brown flat-top hairstyle who wears a black and red singlet and boots with black elbow pads, kneepads, and gloves in a modern-day wrestling ring situated within the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.)

Great Potemkin (voiced by Dan Green): You are fragile, like glass. Ya dolzhen razorvat' tebya. (I must break you.)

Gordon (voiced by Jason David Frank): The spirits of my ancestors frown upon you.

UMW Referee: Now, gentlemen, I want a good, clean match. That means no weapons, low blows, or poison mist. You got that? (both wrestlers nod their heads in agreement) Good. Now, LET'S GET IT ON!!

(The match between the Native American and Russian UMW wrestlers begins and goes on for 35 seconds, during which the men exchange blocked strikes and Gordon effortlessly evades Potemkin's powerful and potentially dangerous wrestling maneuvers until Shani's descendant does a mighty warcry, jumps at his opponent, and does his finisher, in which he hurricanrana-grabs him, chops him in the face three times, twice diagonally to the right and once diagonally to the left, jumps very high up in the air with him, and descends at extreme velocity with him, during which he spins him 720° counter-clockwise, then using both arms, grabs him by the legs, his head in-between his knees.)

Audience: (together with the referee) 1! 2! 3!

UMW Announcer: (as the bell rings and the referee takes Shani's descendant by the arm and raises it) The winner of this match... Gordon Threefeather!

(The audience cheers at Gordon's victory. We then cut to backstage, where he is being interviewed.)

UMW Interviewer: I'll admit, you were amazing out there, Mr. Threefeather. So, tell me, how was that match you had against Great Potemkin? Were you even the slightest bit nervous?

Gordon: Oh, it was great (not going to lie). It appears to me that I have done my ancestor, Shani Threefeather, a great warrior among hers and my tribe, a woman who defeated the fallen angel prince, Ultimatis, and saved this world and all those who live in its lands, on its continents, proud... and I will do her proud again in future matches. This I promise not just her, but also the millions of fans worldwide sitting in front of their television sets, watching at home.

UMW Interviewer: Thank you for the opportunity. It was great having you here.

(Cut to pre-credits roll, where John Philip Sousa's "The Gladiator March" starts playing starts playing as we are treated to short animations of all the characters, shown in full-body, in their home stages, with the names of their voice actors/actresses on their left or right and oval sepia portraits of said voice actors/actresses above the names. Afterwards, the credits start rolling and the song continues playing.)

DID YOU KNOW?

 * Shani's modern-day descendant, UMW wrestler Gordon Threefeather, makes an Early Bird Cameo in her ending and is confirmed to join the playable roster of my upcoming Ultra Mayhem Wrestling. Also, his fellow UMW wrestler, Great Potemkin's "I must break you" is an obvious Ivan Drago reference.