Nimona

 ''"I'M A SHARK!" ''

Introduction
Nimona is the title character. She is an aspiring villain with great abilities, including shapeshifting and creativity, and becomes Lord Ballister Blackheart's sidekick at the start of the story.

Appearance
While in human form, she has short pink hair in a Chelsea haircut, pale skin, and a red nose. She is chubby and short, and often grinning. She usually wears a long magenta shirt with chain mail underneath, and brown gauntlets, boots, and a belt.

While shapeshifting, her body generally maintains a red/pink color scheme, though some of her forms are black, and her color scheme is more complex when she shifts into different human forms.

After losing control of her abilities when she first came into contact with Dr. Meredith Blitzmeyer's Anomalous Energy Enhancer, she dyed her hair purple. She still maintained her general red/pink color scheme while shapeshifting, though.

Personality
Nimona appears to enjoy causing chaos and killing people. She is supportive of Ballister, and takes his side against the Institution, especially when she learns how they treated him. She is also playful, and often transforms to perform simple tasks, or just mess with people. She can be quick to anger, and dislikes waiting, losing, and science, generally, and can react to any of these with tantrums that range from childish to potentially fatal to bystanders.

Ballister is one of the few people she cares for and appears to trust, to any particular extent, and even when they'd had a bad argument, she still went to attempt to rescue him. Otherwise, Nimona is tight-lipped about most everything, whether it's the details of her past, her motives, how her powers work, and how she's feeling, and lies to most everyone when asked.

She enjoys zombie movies (though she is afraid of them), pizza, hanging out, and dangerous objects.

Backstory
Nimona's true backstory was left unconfirmed, but a number of possibilities are presented in the canon:


 * 1) This scenario seemingly appears in a flashback, and is the most likely: Nimona was a girl from a village who was feeble and sickly as a children, but "after one particularly dire illness, she quickly recovered and grew into a healthy, robust girl." She first displayed her powers when protecting her village from raiders (possibly from the west). She killed the raiders, and her parents made up stories about her being a changeling when they turned her over to the guards. While she was imprisoned, a blonde man ordered her taken to his facility. Either there or at another facility, they experimented on her, until she broke loose, killed at least some of the people in the facility, and possibly her parents, as well. She then roamed, until she volunteered to become Ballister's sidekick.
 * 2) She is the result of an experiment gone wrong (or possibly right), then either broke free or was released.
 * 3) She is a large shapeshifting beast who fought Knight Gloreth and survived the altercation, even though she appeared dead, and continued to roam. Alternatively, she killed Gloreth, and shapeshifted to take Gloreth's place. All that's really been confirmed, by Stevenson, is that "Nimona is not a descendant of Gloreth."
 * 4) The apparent lie Nimona presents (which may contain some truth) was that she lived in a village until she was six years old. The village was often attacked by raiders. While gathering berries in the woods, she came across a witch trapped in a hole. The witch agreed to grant Nimona a wish in exchange for help. Nimona wished to be strong enough to fight the raiders, and the witch turned her into a dragon. Dragon!Nimona carried the witch to safety, and then returned home, still in dragon form. She was chased away by the locals, as she could neither shift back to her normal form, nor speak. She struggled to figure out how to become a human again, exploring her different forms, and when she finally returned to her human form and returned home, everyone in the village was dead. Then she wandered, until she met Ballister.

Canon
When Nimona appeared in Ballister's laboratory, he was suspicious of her, and unwilling to accept her as his new sidekick until she demonstrated that she was a shapeshifter. Together they worked on a new plan, though they disagreed with the execution.

Together, the duo broke into one of the Institution's laboratories, but were quickly discovered by Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin. Both sides insulted each other, and Nimona began murdering guards before disappearing deeper into the facility.

Nimona remained behind in the facility (or a different Institution facility) and shapeshifted at one point into the Director, and called Ballister at his home. When she revealed herself, she attacked more guards and stole documents from the facility, before returning to Ballister. Ballister demanded she listen to him, particularly in terms of restraint and listening to him. She agreed, and then, with Ballister's prompting, gave a version of her backstory of being turned into a monster by a witch.

After Ballister decripted the documents she stole, they put a plan into action, whereby Nimona impersonated the Anchorwoman on Channel Six, and talked about the Institution stockpiling jaderoot. As the Anchorwoman, she insulted Ambrosius, spurring him into a wild goose chase to the station, but easily escaped him.

Some time later, she shapeshifted into a crone, and secretly placed poisoned apples into apple carts, with the plan to fake a disease outbreak and spook the citizens of the Kingdom to believe the jaderoot report.

For the next stage of their plan, the pair snuck into His Majesty's Royal Treasury, and robbed it. When Ambrosius arrived with reinforcements, Nimona turned into a dragon and carried him and their loot away. Although they largely escaped unscathed, one of the Institution guards managed to shoot Nimona in the left thigh with an arrow, though she didn't even notice until Ballister pointed it out. He bandaged her up, annoyed at himself for putting her into a situation where she could be badly hurt. Nimona insisted he "chill out" and that she could handle it. Ballister implemented mandatory rest time. Four days later, Nimona revealed that her injury had healed fully, demonstrating her rapid healing.

When Ballister became morose after his fight with Ambrosius, Nimona suggested they go to the Science Expo to cheer him up (but in disguise). She shapeshifted into a male child name Gregor, and gave Ballister a long black beard. They spent some time exploring the Expo, though Nimona was mostly bored. Eventually she shapeshifted into a cat, which was light, so Ballister could carry her. A spontaneous reaction from Dr. Blitzmeyer's device trapped Nimona in her cat form, unable to talk. When guards recognized the pair, they fled, with Nimona making a ruckus to give them time to escape. She managed to break out of her cat form, and transform into a dragon to fly the pair to safety.

Once returned to Ballister's home, she was furious about being stuck like that, and destroyed parts of the building in her rage. Ballister helped calm her down, and she retreated to her room.

When she next appeared, she'd dyed her hair purple, and was watching a news report about the increasing poisoning cases.

Nimona attended the Royal Tournament in disguise again, and poisoned what might have been a funnel cake, which caused an apparent "outbreak" of the mysterious disease Ballister created. This started a riot among the citizenry, who attacked the guards and nobles, and used the Institution's ruse for a ruse of their own, as it gave Ballister time to send a message of resistance to the people. When Nimona lost contact with Ballister, she flew to his rescue, but it was actually a mutual double-trap: Ambrosius trapped them both in a heavily fortified room, and a fight ensued between Ballister and Nimona and the Institution's forces. During the ruckus, a guard cut her head off. Only a short while later, she reformed into the giant black dragon-like creature, killed everyone but Ambrosius - who hid behind his shield - and Ballister, whom she carried away.

Nimona took Ballister home, and refused to answer his questions about what happened. After some time, she went scouting, but the tension between her and Ballister was only worse. She let him know that two of the infected had died. When Ballister decided to give himself up, he also insisted they talk about the recent fight, and caught Nimona in an apparent lie - the witch was seemingly something she invented. When he refused to back off, Nimona became increasingly threatening in turn. When Ballister reached for his sword, she took to a nearby window, and left.

After Ballister was captured, and the Institution announced his planned execution, Nimona attempted to rescue him, but was captured herself. She failed to break out of the cell, though her attempts to shapeshift helped protect her from the Institution's tortures. When the Director had the guards hurt Ballister, she submitted to their tests, allowing them to take a blood sample. Her blood grew and changed into the great black dragon-creature again, and destroyed the facility, seemingly killing most of the people there, before running rampant on the city, killing the King and destroying other Institution facilities, looking for the Director.

The Director and dragon!Nimona had one last fight, where dragon!Nimona shortly killed her. Then Ambrosius arrived, and, having hidden the device Ballister had given him to cut some of Nimona's powers, he and dragon!Nimona fought for some time. At one point, it seemed that Ambrosius even won, but Nimona surprised him by cutting his face, then threw him against a wall, knocking him at least partially unconscious.

A ways away, original!Nimona was still in the broken cell, dreaming of what might be her actual origin story: being captured by guards, and taken away to be experimented on. In the present, she had transformed back into her child self. Ballister came to get her out, and Nimona explained that if she split like this, the "strong part stays and the rest disintegrates." This meant dragon!Nimona would survive, while original!Nimona would disintegrate. Ballister insisted they try to recombine both parts, so she wouldn't disintegrate.

When they arrived where dragon!Nimona stood over Ambrosius' body, both Nimonas reuinited, and Nimona learned that Ballister had broken his promise and told someone else about the device that could take her power. When Ballister begged her to let Ambrosius go, the Nimonas, hurt and betrayed, refused, and dragon!Nimona attacked him, while original!Nimona hid. Ballister found the Director's discarded big gun, and subdued dragon!Nimona, apologizing. After he escaped the facility, which had started a purge cycle, original!Nimona embraced dragon!Nimona, and they were swallowed by the purge.

In the hospital, Nimona shapeshifted into the form of the doctor looking after Ambrosius, so that she could speak to Ballister without the latter's knowledge while Ballister watched over Ambrosius. When doctor!Nimona called Nimona a monster, Ballister insisted Nimona wasn't a monster, and despaired to Dr. Blitzmeyer that he hadn't been able to save Nimona, while doctor!Nimona slipped out of the room. When Ballister realized he'd been speaking to a shapeshifter, he ran over her, and from a distance, he spotted her. She smiled and waved him, then disappeared into the crowd.

Skills
Form creation: Nimona transforms by instantly creating a new body for herself, and disintegrating the old one. All of her various powers stem from this one.

Regeneration: Nimona can instantly create a new body that has healed any injury that has occurred to the previous one. She does this instinctively, and can even do this while missing important limbs, including her head. Although Dr. Meredith Blitzmeyer's Anomalous Energy Enhancer cuts off Nimona's transformation and healing, once the device is removed from Nimona's vicinity or destroyed, Nimona's powers return, and she can regenerate again.

Immortality: Since she can seemingly endlessly create new cells, she is seemingly immortal.

Humanoid shape shifting: Nimona can transform into any person, real or made up. She has any abilities or alterations they might possess, such as a mechanical arm.

Animal shape shifting: Nimona can turn into any creature that has existed in some point in time. This includes dragons, dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals, and various monsters.

Size Variation: Nimona can change her size on a whim.

Partial transformation/power usage: Nimona can alter her human form to exhibit non-human abilities. An example of this is suddenly having huge arms, breathing fire, or being able to shoot spikes.

Extreme stamina/unlimited energy: Nimona can access a seemingly unlimited supply of magic energy from another plane, which she uses to shapeshift. The act doesn't appear to tire her: only grievous injuries do.

Form Splitting: Nimona can split herself into two bodies, with one of them being her main self, and the other being a form that is driven by whatever emotion she was feeling when she split. However, she tries not to do this, as it makes it possible she might disintegrate.

Specific Transformations and Abilities
Listed in order of appearance:

Shark 

Princess 


 * Useful for stabbing unsuspecting knights

Wolf 


 * Enhanced agility and speed
 * Enhanced reflexes
 * Biting

Young Nimona 


 * Small size = hard target
 * Fake Innocence
 * Stabbing

The Director 


 * Espionage
 * Can fool Ballister

Red Dragon 


 * Fangs
 * Breathing fire
 * Flight
 * Carrying potentially non-existent witches
 * Carrying Ballister

Bird 


 * Flight
 * Pecking

Black cat 


 * Enhanced leaping and enhanced agility
 * Retractable claws

Groundhog 

Bunny 


 * Enhanced leaping and speed

Horse 


 * Enhanced speed

Turtle 


 * Shelter

Ballister 


 * Annoying Ballister

Rhinoceros 


 * Enhanced speed
 * Enhanced strength
 * Horns
 * Ramming

Extra muscular green arms and legs 


 * Super strength

Anchorwoman 


 * Leaking secret reports on TV

Institute Guard 


 * Scaring Ambrosius

Old woman 


 * Placing bad apples and dealing with reasonably annoyed booth owners

Tall muscular man 


 * Carrying heavy chests
 * Helping to start riots

Lion 


 * Scaring bystanders

Elephant 


 * Fighting Institute guards

Gorilla 


 * Enhanced strength

Gregor/small child 


 * Sneaking into science expos

Red cat 


 * Being light-weight
 * Enhanced agility

Baker 


 * Sneaking in poisoned sugar to start a riot

Euoplocephalus 


 * Breaking down steel doors and knocking over guards

Triceratops 


 * Intimidation
 * Serving as a steed
 * Strong snout

Bear 


 * Super strength

Fox 


 * Agility

Octopus 


 * Grabby legs

Bat 


 * Flight

Flying squirrel 


 * Landing on your feet
 * Annoying guards
 * Flight

Spiky dragon 


 * Long neck
 * Strong jaws
 * Teeth
 * Long, strong tail

Enormous black spikey dragon 


 * Breathes fire
 * Carrying Ballister
 * Strong hide
 * Claws
 * Fangs
 * Strong jaws

Smilodon 


 * Sharp fangs
 * Sharp claws
 * Enhanced agility and reflexes

Vampire Eel 


 * Resisting electricity

Spiked Beast 


 * Possibly resisting electricity

Doctor 


 * Talking to good friends

Weaknesses

 * Since Nimona typically retains a color scheme of either red or pink when she transforms, she can be easily recognized by people who know her, which she makes up for by being creative (e.g., painting a rat red).
 * Dr. Meredith Blitzmeyer's Anomalous Energy Enhancer interferes with Nimona's access to energy that she uses for shapeshifting, or otherwise temporarily prevents Nimona from shapeshifting, or regenerating, while also causing disorientation. If the device is removed from her immediate vicinity, she quickly regains her powers.
 * She is allergic to bananas.

Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin
Ambrosius first met Nimona when she and Ballister broke into a laboratory. She threatened him, and Ambrosius shrugged it off by calling her "spunky". Although Ambrosius cares about saving people to some extent, when the building self-destructed, he tried to assure Ballister that she'd be safe by shapeshifting into some animal that would be protected, rather than ensuring her safety. Nimona targeted him during her propaganda run, angering him, and leading him to make mistakes during missions. After Nimona assumed the enormous black dragon form the first time and demonstrating her power and nearly killing Ambrosius, Ambrosius seemed to gain some respect for her abilities, but insisted she was controlling Ballister, and that she was a monster. Before making the final blow to kill Nimona's black dragon form near the end of the story, he paused to say, "I'm sorry". Nimona shortly slashed his face and tossed him against a column, knocking him partially or fully unconscious. Nimona later used his survival as a bargaining chip with Ballister.

Lord Ballister Blackheart
Ballister was initially impressed by Nimona's shapeshifting, and quickly came around to her ideas for battle plans, though he found her methods too dangerous and risky in terms of causing casualties and even deaths. The two grew close, though there was a tension between them over how Nimona hid or lied about her past, and how Nimona feared and awaited the day Ballister would turn on her, as others had. Ballister still tried his hardest to save her in the end, though he somewhat betrayed her by using the special device to dampen her powers, causing her to become even more enraged. In the end, he still insisted she wasn't a monster and he felt bad for killing his friend, and the last time they waved to each other was soft and hopeful.

The Director
The Director considered Nimona a terrorist, a weapon, and an abomination, rather than a person. Nimona hated her, and hunted her down after freeing part of herself from the Institution's cell.

Quotations

 * "Hey, Boss! The name's Nimona."
 * "The Agency sent me. I'm your new sidekick!"
 * "I left it in the... uh, FIIIINE so the Agency didn't send me."
 * "But I'm a huge fan of your work! You're Ballister Blackheart, the biggest name in supervillainy! You're an inspiration!"
 * "Hmm. Not bad. Nice touch with the explosion. However, I do have a few suggestions. Here, I'll show you. We could do with more general chaos. I'm talking fire everywhere. We'll murder the king in from of everyone. Then you crown yourself the new king. And since Goldenloin is sure to try and stop us, I'll disguise myself to get close to him and take him out before he knows what's happening!"
 * "What do you mean, there are rules? Why would you follow the rules? Isn't that the whole point of being a villain? That you don't follow the rules? Can I at least kill Sir Goldenloin? The one guy who keeps messing up all your plans?"
 * "Are you kidding? You got the boot for his bad attitude? And now they've got you locked into a system where you can't win! Doesn't that make you mad?"
 * "You know I could've infiltrated this place by myself in like ten seconds, right?"

Trivia

 * Nimona blood type is AB Positive.