Taarin Leighson

Taarin Leighson is a character in Dissidia Calamitas Infinita. In Twilight Crystal, while most of the Drakenaer lead harsh lives due to their lack of technology and strategy, Taarin - one of the few optimists of this violent race - tries to make the most of the situation. In reality, however, he has sought his opportunity to run away from the environment he had endured for so long by traveling around the world with his Outcaste friend Jendor, who has disappeared sometime later. As Taarin searched far and wide, he soon found himself in the midst of a century old war between two countries who sought the Twilight Crystal to use for their own purposes. This all started with him rescuing a young girl named Cynthia from the clutches of a hungry Malboro.

Appearance
Taarin's complexion is rather bright compared to the other dark-scaled Drakenaer such as Kaiser and Seto. His own scales are a mixture of bright hues of yellow and blue (including his tail and wings), his eyes a piercing bright blue and his slightly spiked hair that goes down to his shoulders a platinum blond. His default attire leaves him shirtless with green-yellow bandages around his wrists and a pair of dark blue baggy pants with red tribal dragon designs on them. A silver chain with a dragon devouring an aquamarine gem he wears around his neck, a silver dragon earring on his left earlobe and pieces of green armor on his bare feet complete the assemble.

Taarin's first alternate costume Wild Hunter has a more tribal feel. It consists of torn black shorts with a loose blue-green loincloth hanging over it, a dark gray torn shirt, a pair of dark red metal over-sized gauntlets, steel wrist-cuffs, along with his earring and chain necklace as well as longer hair. His second alternate costume Dream Eon is a palette swap of Bahamut who appeared to Cynthia in her last dream in Twilight Crystal, with silver hair, red eyes, darker scales, jet black pants, red armored feet, and pale pink bandages. As with all his costumes, though, his earring and necklace remain the same.

His DLC outfit Cloudy Drake is loosely based on the outfit Cloud Strife wears in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Notable differences include torn black pants, a pullover sleeveless shirt that is unzipped, a dragon insignia instead of a wolf on his pauldron, similar dragon earring on his left earlobe, and black armor on his feet. His sword also loosely resembles Cloud's First Tsurugi, while his thrown weapon looks similar to Yuffie Kisaragi's 4-Point Shuriken.

The 3rd Cycle
Taarin is one of the newly summoned Warriors of Twilight to be summoned in this cycle and although both are Drakenaer, the relationship between him and Kayle is rather uneasy. Upon hearing that Francis is in this war fighting as a Warrior of Madness, Taarin is more than eager to face off with them. He is also more than eager to face off with Guthmir upon regaining some memories of him, but he also grows to resent Ragnarok when the latter was responsible for brainwashing Clair.

The 4th Cycle
Though he and some of his allies share their resentment for Ragnarok and keep that a secret between them, they continue to fight alongside him in hopes of regaining more of their memories so that they may eventually turn on him and go home.

At some point during this cycle, Taarin confronts Weslei Vetmos about the latter's hatred for Neydro Caim. Later, he faces Guthmir in battle once more and is forced to kill him when the latter tries to kill Selena in front of him.

The 6th Cycle
Taarin plays peacekeeper for Kayle and Noelle for the majority of this cycle. He even faces off with Hale for the first time but finds that he can't help feeling sympathy for him. Meanwhile, his friendship with Avec starts coming in place as the raider starts remembering more of their world but he realizes it would mean that Avec could revert back to toying with both sides should he regain those memories, so he attempts to keep them from him.

The 7th Cycle
In this cycle, he becomes part of the Storm Division that is involved in the war with the Calamity Wolves as well as a small number of the remaining Warriors of Madness. He briefly battles Sanna Rekan, but their fight ends in a draw. He also helps Neydro battle Nex, and takes on both Roman and Remus at the same time. He is also among those who survived Max's rampage on both sides.

The 8th Cycle
Taarin starts tracking April down and they fight. It ended in a draw when Skye intervenes to take the blow meant for April, which in turn will haunt the Drakenaer for the the rest of the cycle as well as the ninth. Like some of his allies, Taarin comes to personally resent Hale for murdering Draken and Zak as this cycle comes to a close.

The 9th Cycle
At the start of this cycle, Deryk and Jarkko find themselves easier to be around Taarin than they are with Kayle in case of the Drakenaer.

At some point, Taarin feels compelled to help Calderone Hale. He spends much of a cycle trying to covert Hale over to his side - the side in hopes of fighting against both of the gods then going home. This doesn't sit too well with Liam, who still holds resentment towards Hale for killing Zak in the last time cycle. Taarin fights Liam to beat some sense into him, and manages to calm his friend down by telling him their long-planned crusade to destroy the Gods.

He also holds his own against Seike, who was sent to spy on him and the rest of the warriors by Ritcher.

Battle
 Taarin Leighson  Flight Frenzy – Glides freely while unleashing powerful combos to overwhelm opponents.

A Flight Frenzy, Taarin has a large pool of aerial attacks but a few ground ones as well. But he also excels in executing Combo Attacks linked to a variety of Bravery Attacks, many of which can also cause Wall Rush. Having a few long-range attacks, Taarin is better off dealing damage in melee combat.

EX Mode
Taarin's EX Mode is his Dawn of the Dragon. While in EX Mode, Taarin is transformed into more like a dragon (like Ridley) and his weapons are replaced with his ultimate weapons which boost Bravery damage Taarin does depending on how many times he has dodged while in midair. "Dodge Jump" makes Taarin invincible to some attacks while jumping, while "Mirror Dash" increases his movement speed and reflects minor projectiles while flying.

Taarin's EX Burst is Flare Rampage. The player must rapidly press the button to fill up a power gauge as Taarin dashes past the opponent from multiple angles to attack. Taarin ends the EX Burst by throwing his chakram to trap his opponent in the ring before finishing off with a powerful energy-fueled blast. Failing to press the button quickly enough will result in Taarin skipping to the end of the attack, minimizing the Bravery damage done.

Equipment
Taarin's Weapons: Swords, daggers, spears, thrown weapons, and grappling weapons.

Taarin's Armor: Shields, bangles, gauntlets, hats, helms, headbands, clothing, light armor, chestplates, and chainmail.

Musical Themes

 * Main Theme: No Ordinary Drakenaer
 * World Map Theme: Determination
 * Normal Battle: Raging Fire

Boss Battle Themes

 * Vs Cynthia: Dual of Half-Bloods
 * Vs 0/Gin/Nex: Blood on My Wings
 * Vs Insiminy/Alice/Lilith: To Kill A Succubus
 * Vs Hale: Extinction

Poses
Intro: Walks forward catching his chakram that has flown past the camera, then draws out his sword so he points both weapons at his opponent.

Victory: Twirls about in the air using his transparent wings before descending only halfway to the ground.

Defeat: Falls onto his back with his legs up in the air, then sits up with his head down.

Attacks
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Encounter

 * "I'm gonna make you squeal!"
 * "You wanna piece of me?"
 * "This is just not my day!" &mdash; If HP is low
 * "Boy oh boy! The price of victory is steep." &mdash; If HP is low
 * "Well, this'll be interesting." &mdash; If opponent is stronger
 * "Easier than hunting a Zu! I think..." &mdash; If opponent is stronger
 * "Mock me and I'll scratch your eyes out!" &mdash; If opponent is weaker
 * "Don't get so cocky!" &mdash; If opponent is weaker
 * "Sorry about this, sweetheart." &mdash; Versus female characters
 * "Come and get me, you big oaf!" &mdash; Versus larger characters
 * "Oh, you're going down!" &mdash; Versus villain characters
 * "No hard feelings, right buddy?" &mdash; Versus Crono, Deryk, Hale, Jarkko, Liam, Neydro, Ryuu, Ui, Vylinn, or Zak
 * "You're really getting on my nerves!" &mdash; Versus Alix, Avec, Bris, Iocus, Lee, Max, Ritic, Vas, Vier, or Zane
 * "No more sugar for you!" &mdash; Versus Absolon, Chi, Clair, Draken, Noia, Ruriko, or Yala
 * "Your charms won't help you!" &mdash; Versus Bunny, Faye, Insiminy, Kajira, Lilith, Meagan, or Redrum
 * "Time to clean up!" &mdash; When fighting an opponent in a tournament battle.
 * "Okay! Next prey!" &mdash; When fighting a second straight opponent in a tournament battle
 * "We go all out!" &mdash; When fighting an opponent in a round-robin party battle
 * "Just leave the rest to me!" &mdash; When last to fight in a round-robin battle
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Victory

 * "Ha! In your face!"
 * "Another one bites the dust!"
 * "And... Jackpot!"
 * "Sorry about this, but you asked for it." &mdash; If opponent is female and/or under 18
 * "More than enough..." &mdash; If HP is low
 * "I'm aching for more action... Where's Cyn?" &mdash; If HP is low
 * "Phew! You gave me quite a workout." &mdash; If opponent is stronger
 * "Come on, you can do better than that." &mdash; If opponent is stronger
 * "Really? Is that the best you can do?" &mdash; If opponent is weaker
 * "Better luck next time, buddy." &mdash; If opponent is weaker

Defeat

 * "Aw man!"
 * "What the hell are you looking at?"
 * "This can't be it."
 * "Yeah yeah, laugh while you can!" &mdash; If opponent is a villain
 * "I knew I didn't stand a chance!" &mdash; If opponent is stronger
 * "Sorry, guys..." &mdash; If opponent is stronger
 * "You've had your fun." &mdash; If opponent is weaker
 * "Come on! Just one more chance!" &mdash; If opponent is weaker
 * }

After Battle Victory Quotes

 * "You are a vile and worthless piece of shit! Even Leon wouldn't want to hang around with someone like you!" ~ To Coatl.
 * "I would like our friendship better if you would just lay off of life gambling, 'cause one day it's gonna bite you in the back." ~ To Avec.
 * "You know, if me and Cyn were in that position, I would've done the same thing." ~ To Ike.
 * "All that time magic mumbo jumbo... You sure you're not one of April's pawns?" ~ To Iocus.
 * "Hey, even heroes can fall sometimes. Maybe once you wake up, we can talk about it." ~ To Hero.
 * "All work and no play makes you a dull chick. Ha! See what I did there?" ~ To Redrum.

Infinite Calamity
Taarin is slated to make his appearance as a player character in this upcoming spin-off, set during the 8th Cycle.

Trivia

 * Two of Taarin's Bravery attacks, Aerospark and Spinfreeze, reference two of his Eons, Ixion and Shiva, respectively. Aerospark was Ixion's special attacks in Final Fantasy X, while Spinfreeze was one of the moves used by Shiva as part of her Gestalt Mode in Final Fantasy XIII.
 * In SoulCalibur V, Taarin was one of the created characters using Z.W.E.I.'s fighting style. This may allude to the fact Taarin can summon and was friends with two wolf-like humanoids - Caim the Skyhound and Yala the Canidine.
 * Taarin's Battle Quotes:
 * One of Taarin's opening quotes against a stronger opponent is a line said by Zack Fair when he meets his fate in Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-.
 * His intro quote against Bunny makes a reference to Leon.
 * His intro quote towards Coatl is the exact line said by when she uses Flare.
 * One of his general encounter quotes, "Mock me and I'll scratch your eyes out!", alludes to the first two sentences recited by a group of British soldiers in Monty Python's Flying Circus marching to 'Military Fairy': I got your number ducky. You couldn't afford me dear. 2, 3... I'll scratch your eyes out.
 * Taarin is a #1 favorite of both NeoZEROX and Armageddon11 among Cluna's OCs.