| Colonel
(大佐, たいさ Taisa) | |
|---|---|
|
Breed |
Border Collie |
|
Affiliation |
Ibaraki pack; Japanese Pine Martens (briefly) |
|
Status |
Alive |
|
Family or owners |
Unknown |
|
Mate(s) |
Unknown |
|
Age |
"Two weeks older than Cain" (in other words - whatever age Cain would've been had he survived his sickness, Colonel is essentially around the same age, as he manages to live up to The Three Dog Packs' stories, Part II) |
Colonel is a major-turned-minor character in Rishiritou no Inu no Densetsu, appearing specifically in Taiga's section of the fanfic.
Outline[]
The Leader of the Ibaraki pack up until the coronation of Vučko, Colonel was the most respected, yet also the most feared and hated Leader of all the dog packs around at the time depending on which side you stand on - in his pack's eyes, Colonel is viewed as a hero and friend, but a dangerous and untrustworthy savage in the eyes of his enemies or rivals, but for different reasons than what you'd normally expect.
Unlike most Leaders, who are usually very strong physically, Colonel is a bit lacking in that department, yet not as much as Hokkaido's Cain. While he might be able to hold himself in a battle, what really scared the other leaders is his intelligence. Unlike most of his rivals, Colonel usually tries to collect as much information on his enemy as possible (like, where do they live? What are their motives? What's their background? What are their weaknesses/strengths? etc..) before he strikes out against them - and most of the time, he actually even goes on these journeys to find out more all by himself, thus causing him to be viewed as that psychotic stalker by some. It's often no secret that this Border Collie loves to listen in on gossips and rumors - especially if they can be of some help for him in the future.
Because of these traits of his, it may seem that all he wants to do is cause trouble and give his enemy a big scare once in a while, but deep down, Colonel wants an easy life for both himself and his loved ones. He absolutely detests bullies and liars, and he'll use his incredible intelligence to first put them into their place before resorting to violence.
Colonel used to be a friend and mentor of Cain. In fact, it was he who taught the other how to use his brain instead of brawns in the first place, along with how to be a smooth talker. This has often come back to haunt the Border Collie, especially when he finds out all of the horrible things Cain had done up until the latter's death. Whatever relationship they had following these revelations is currently unknown.
Colonel can be harsh sometimes, but he has the ability to solve problems between pack members and even manages to bring everyone closer together, making life much easier for them. As such, everyone always seems to look up to him to keep everything in order; so when he'd suddenly disappeared, everyone started to panic.
Rishiritou no Inu no Densetsu[]
Backstories[]
As of present times, there's currently not that much of an information on Colonel's past, other than that he used to be best friends and mentor to Cain, the eventual Leader of Hokkaido. Whether Cain was actually born in the Ibaraki Prefecture, the two had simply travelled together, or even if Colonel was born on Hokkaido and then chose to leave for the Ibaraki Prefecture is currently unknown.
Pre-Taiga's story[]
After constantly hearing about the Rishiri Island pack from many of the gossipers in his pack, and how "troublesome" said pack has become to the Hokkaido pack, Colonel became very interested. Having known for a very long time that Cain, a former friend of his, had been responsible for the creation of the Rishiri Island pack in the first place, the Border Collie decided to head out to find out more about the pack.
Unfortunately, on the road, Colonel was attacked and given amnesia, and in his confused state he accidentally stumbled across some Japanese Pine Martens. Having only some vague idea of that this pooch looked a lot like the Leader of the Ibaraki pack, the Pine Martens started to stage up a series of events that pretty much led to the pack back home starting to panic. Throughout the chaos that came, Colonel was used as an informant for what was going on if there were any outside forces trying to intervene (hence the explanation for his random appearances).
Taiga's story[]
Colonel makes his very first actual appearance when Taiga and her group stumbled across the outskirts of the problem area. At that particular moment, Haku, the new Leader of the Hokkaido pack, and his own group of dogs arrives at the very exact moment the Border Collie disappears. Unknowingly, this served as the starting shot for the two groups to begrudgingly assist one another, as they finally ventured into the area.
Colonel makes his next appearance watching from afar as one of his officers, Kelpie desperately tries to fight off one of the generals, Bizen, while Haku and Leiko tries to intervene. When Leiko manages to spot the Border Collie, Colonel appeared to look very panicked before he left. Before the mixed breed could tell Kelpie and Bizen these news, the two dogs had run off, having managed to escape while both Haku and Leiko were too busy trying to relocate Colonel. All that could've been heard from either of the two were a bunch of screams, which signaled for the Hokkaido pack to keep going.
Colonel makes his third appearance in front of Taiga's group. Now under the strict orders of the Pine Martens telling him to bring the group to a trap, Colonel acts like he remembers everything before running into the planned trap. He briefly watches the panicked dogs before he runs off, commending himself for the success.
Taiga, having finally put all the pieces together, manages to corner the Border Collie the next time they meet. Now having nowhere to escape, Colonel is forced to follow them while whining about that he's not who they think he is.
When the group accidentally confronts a mourning Kelpie, Taiga tries to convince the latter that the Border Collie is his leader, however in his anger and grief, the Australian Kelpie doesn't listen and instead attacks both Taiga and Colonel head on. During the battle, Kelpie manages to cause the Border Collie enough injuries that the latter finally regains his memories. After managing to finally land a hit on the Australian, Colonel loudly proclaims himself as the Leader of the Ibaraki pack. When Kelpie refused to listen, Colonel simply bent down and whispered into his ear facts that only he would know about. This immediately causes the Australian to realize that this indeed is his Leader, and after Colonel let him go he bows down in shame while apologizing profusely over the recent events.
Having finally gained the attention of one of his subordinates, Colonel then tells Taiga to bring everyone that had come along with her together before he rushes off to bring his own pack together.
At first, everyone is baffled to see their leader, as they'd all come to the conclusion that he'd died on his journey, but it's only when Colonel starts bringing up some random trivias that only he could've known about several of the leading factors that they all believe his story. And so, they arrive at the place Taiga had set up as the meeting place, and they manage to force out the majority of the Pine Martens, with some serving as examples of what happened if they didn't.
Sadly, before anyone could throw up a big party for their victory, tragedy strikes almost immediately after, as Haku is brutally murdered by someone unknown. Knowing that Taiga would never have pulled off such a dirty move, Colonel defends the Ovcharka mix, voicing out several reasons for why she wouldn't have done it. Despite all of this, many in the Hokkaido pack are still suspicious about this, yet chooses not to attack either the Ovcharka, as Colonel had made it clear several hours before the murder that his lands are "forever open for the Rishiri pack". Feeling that their pack had just lost their alliance to the Ibaraki pack, the Hokkaido pack are the first to leave despite Colonel's protests.
Arata's story[]
When hearing about the mysterious disappearance of Taiga, Colonel immediately became suspicious when the very vain Arata is proclaimed the new Leader of the Rishiri Island pack almost immediately afterwards. Because of these suspicions, and coupled with his own personal investigations, Colonel outright refused to attend the coronation ceremony, much to everyone's horror.
Vučko's story[]
Feeling exhausted after having ruled for so many years, Colonel handed over his leadership to someone else in the pack, although he did follow the male to the coronation ceremony of Vučko to pay his respect to the new Leader.