Character Name: Ata Gakan
Board Name: TheCrapMonsterDuchess
Character Gender: Female
Character Age: 30
Zoids: Zaber Fang and Salamander
AIM Screenname: The Charlax
Referred By:
Character Description and History:

Ata stands 6'1''. Work in the junk yard and regular workout routines keep her shape between slim and athletic. Her skin is a dirty shade of sand from all the rust and her hair likewise is a sun-streaked bronze, running down to her waist and held back by a bubblegum pink headband. She wears whatever comes out of the closet but her favorite are a red exercise jacket and smoke colored bike shorts. Her right leg is a low level prosthetic.

Ata is very energetic and enthusiastic despite her past and because she comes from humble origins, Ata usually treats others in a polite but casual manner, reserving her opinions on strangers until she gets to know them. She understands that she does not know everything and will not offer her opinion unless asked, but she will always have one. Even when Ata does not speak or move, there is always a game plan forming in her head. When she does choose to do something it is always carried out with the confidence and decisiveness she developed when learning to dance.

Backstory: Ata had always wanted to be a professional dancer ever since she was a little girl, just like her mom, Melissa Gakan who was a performer of marginal notoriety. Ata's dad on the other hand did not like the idea. Noland Gakan was the owner of a zoid junkyard and parts shop. His job gave them a dependable living, but it was hardly enough to buy her any formal training. More importantly, life had turned Noland into a harsh realist—he was afraid that if his daughter chased her dreams like he once did, she would end up worse off than they were now. Noland did not approve the idea, but in the end, he supported Ata's wishes because he also took a chance to fulfil his dreams and did not feel it right to deny his daughter the same opportunity.

There was much improvision, but Noland's meager earnings were enough to buy Ata a leotard, dance shoes, and classes after school to start off. Melissa provided private tutorials to their daughter and tapped into every connection from her past career to help Ata get on stage. Despite her parents helping, training was not easy for Ata and she had to practice hard, waking up sore every morning only to spend the day cramming courses and taxing her body. Through these efforts, Ata grew into a talented not to mention beautiful young adult and little by little, her parts. became more important in every production.

Ata's big break came in more ways than one when she was 23. Blitz! had been an award winning musical that hadn't been produced since the start of the War. Ata was honored to play the supporting role of Naomi Fluegal during the comeback tour, but this only added to the tragedy that followed. When the time came, she lept on stage in front of a sold out audience, full of energy with a smile larger than life.

What came next was called sabotage by some people and others think it was just a janitor's folly. Whatever the reason, the stage floor beneath Ata was heavily greased so that she lost her balance when her feet slipped from under her! There was a gasp from the crowd, followed by intense applause when Ata recovered by turning her fall into a shaky backflip and then returning to her normal routine with a series of pirouettes! Suddenly, the rope holding one of the many sandbags above the stage snapped and the heavy burlap sack came crashing down on Ata! In a normal situation Ata could have jumped out of the way but the greased floor robbed her feet of traction and the sand bag caught her right leg as it landed.

The sandbag hit so hard that it almost continued through the floor. There was no chance to save the leg by the time the ambulance came. When they took it from Ata, the doctors also took her hopes and dreams. A plastic prosthetic was bought to replace it, but Noland and Melissa did not have enough money to afford the robotic technology that would make it work like a real leg.

There was nothing left for Ata and for a while she was on suicide watch, but eventually she accepted a miserable life of nothingness. With her road of life taking a devastating turn, Ata eventually resigned herself to a career in the family junking business. She could be seen for days on end in the cockpit of the family’s Spino Sapper, unleashing her rage and anguish on the scrap that was brought before her with those devastating beam saws. Soon after that however, Ata discovered just how mobile her zoid could be.

In fact for a few minutes it took her back to years before, when Ata's body was still whole and she moved as gracefully as ever on the stage. After the that, Ata took her dad's offer to become a zoid pilot, using the zoids' movements as her own and the battlefield as a stage. Before long, she graduated off the Spino and up to the Zaber Fang. Ata likes this new career of piloting, but she still misses moving on her own without a zoid's help. So when she wins enough money, Ata wants to buy a new leg, one that will work just like her old one. Then she can get back on stage for real. Until then, she will make her mark in zoid battling.