Friday, February 14, 2025

Natani is a One of a Kind DEATH BATTLE Combatant!

                       

Natani, the Forest Wolf Keidran Assassin

TwoKinds was created by Tom Fischbach, it can be read on Keenspot


Welcome back to the blog! I didn't mean to time this around the release of the TwoKinds Youtooz plush or having a character with relevance to love on Valentine's Day, it just all fell into place xD

I've been looking forward to covering this webcomic on this blog for a while now; TwoKinds is an old favorite and one of the first webcomics I ever read. Rereading it for this blog, it's not without major faults considering the author was 17 at the time of writing this. I can definitely understand why someone would drop the comic after a few chapters. However, I'm able to still consider it a favorite of mine because it showcases how the author hones his artistic and writing skills over 20 years to become a master at his craft. It takes a long time for it to get good, but I think the payoff is totally worth it. A big reason for that is Natani himself. Before rereading TwoKinds, I was confident I was going to make a blog on the protagonist Trace Legacy. I'll get more into the reasons why in the matchup potential section, but researching Natani lets me discuss more intricacies of the vast TwoKinds worldbuilding for better or worse -  and it doesn't hurt that he has good feats to boot. One last thing, it's difficult to discuss Natani's character without spoiling major aspects about him, so here's a big SPOILER WARNING if you intend to read it (godspeed if you do UmU, the early pages are r o u g h).

With that being said, it's time for me discuss my one of my favorite characters not just in webcomics, but in all of fiction. 

Background

“You're about to be more yourself than you've ever been. But no matter what happens, you're always in control. You'll always be you.”


Welcome to the world of Mekkan, a fantastical land teeming with magic, dragons, and discrimination. Lots and lots of discrimination.

The two most abundant races that exist in this world are humans and keidran. Keidran are a tribal species of anthropomorphic canines and felines known for their animalistic instincts and biology. While their culture is less developed compared to the magic-toting humans, they are by no means barbaric or unintelligent. Unfortunately most humans see them as such, which has led to constant prejudice against them and a massive human-operated slave trade of keidran. Even the basitin, another but more secluded anthro race, view them as uncivilized fleabags.

By far the most dangerous oppressor to the keidran is the Templar Order, an influential guild of magic assholes led by the biggest magic asshole of all, Trace Legacy. Trace is a tyrant who overthrew the previous Grand Templar, replaced their group with his gaggle of racist cronies, and launched a genocidal campaign to wipe out the keidran and rule over humanity as its dictator. However, just as quickly as he started to gain power, Trace suddenly vanished.

Trace led a largely secluded life, so keidran wanting to track and kill the evil mage were left stumped. That didn't stop the Forest Wolves from trying. The Border Wolf Tribe is the most actively insurgent group of keidran fighting a war against the Templars and attacking human villages. Against all odds, Trace was spotted by the wolves - surprisingly accompanied by a tiger keidran and a bastin. As it turns out, his memories have been erased and he has apparently turned over a new leaf, as proven by his romantic relationship with the keidran Flora. Regardless of the weird circumstances, the tribe sent two assassins to murder Trace and his travel companions. They aren't just any assassins mind you, they're the infamous Magi Brothers Zen and Natani.

The assassin brothers were inseparable mercenaries who started gaining notoriety after apparently causing a powerful mage to kill himself just by looking at them. What sets this duo from other killers is how in tune with each other both are. This doesn't just apply to their close bond, the two literally share a mental link between their minds. This means the two are able to share each other's thoughts, memories, sights, sensations, and even open each others' minds to share the same body. Sure, it has its downsides when either one experiences intense pain or accidentally reads through embarrassing memories, but the brothers have put the link to good use during their jobs.

While they were a well-regarded duo, their feats were greatly exaggerated. When they confronted Trace and his gang, they realized they were in over their heads when he tapped into dark magic to summon a giant dragon. Safe to say, this is far beyond the brothers' paygrade. Despite the actions of the assassins, Flora chooses to save Natani's life after his brother tried to spare her. Natani could have easily fled the forest after and fend for himself, but because Flora rescued him, he felt the need to return the favor and snap Trace out of his spell.

Having been separated from his brother, completely fumbling the assassination attempt, and banishment from the Wolf Tribe being inevitable, Natani begrudgingly decides his best bet is to tag along with Trace and company. Their primary destination is Lyn'knoll, a well-hidden village where humans and keidran live in harmony free of discrimination. Before they arrive there, they have a lengthy journey ahead of them, and Natani is in for the long haul. Natani does receive more incentive to continue following Trace's group after receiving a vision. He's informed that he isn't banished from the Wolf Tribe and that humans and wolves are at war. His new mission is to continue tagging along with Trace and ensure he doesn't fall into human hands. As for Zen, Natani keeps him alive through the mind link long enough for him to return to his village, and eventually go on his own journey.

Natani is most used to being around his brother, so he's never had any real companions outside of him. Natani barely speaks human and Flora is attached at Trace's hip, so the main person Natani hangs out with is the basitin Keith. Keith is a banished man traveling with Trace on the agreement that they eventually follow him to his homeland the Basitin Islands, thereby undoing his banishment. During his journey with Trace he has been grappling with his prejudice against keidran, as his keidran fiancé abandoned him without warning five years ago. Considering his attitude towards keidran, he butts heads with the wolf from time to time. However, his opinions on Natani start to change after he learns his greatest secret.

Taking a pit stop at human city, Natani decides to take a private bath, not realizing Keith is already bathing in said room. As he undresses, Keith is exposed to Natani's female body.

Natani was assigned female at birth, but identifies as male, and he attributes that to his brother. Natani is deeply insecure about his body and has done a lot to hide it like wearing chest bindings and masking his feminine keidran scent. Thankfully Keith agrees to keep his secret, but it takes him a while to get used to and accept Natani's identity.

During their journey to and their time on the Basitin Islands, Keith gets to learn more about Natani and his grapples with his gender. He vehemently avoids all things remotely feminine and worries that people will treat him differently if they find out what his bindings hide. Although Keith struggles to view Natani the same way he did before learning his secret, no one besides Zen has ever looked out for or been concerned for him like he has. This leads to the keidran developing a crush on him, surprising him since he didn't think he'd be attracted to guys.

As their travel group expands and they arrive at the Basitin Islands, Keith really starts to grow closer with Natani, to the point where he opens up about why he was banished in the first place. The two occasionally bicker with each other like an old married couple, but there is a genuine connection forming between them. However, their bond is tested when Keith is tasked by basitin authority to murder Natani. Due to the brewing war between humans and wolves, they suspect Natani to be a spy, so killing him prove his loyalty and return his citizenship. This becomes an especially difficult decision once Natani trusts Keith enough to fully open up to him about the origins of his identity and his mind link with Zen.

Natani and Zen's parents were murdered by humans at a young age, and were forced to fend for themselves for a while. In order to make a living, Zen decided to join a wolven criminal guild led by the arrogant Prince of Greed Clovis. Since the leader was a raging misogynist, Natani wouldn't have been allowed to join Zen. Out of desperation, Natani decided to pose as a boy and join his brother in the guild. There he trained with his brother and learned magic in hopes that it would someday revive his parents.

The Magi Brothers' first solo mission was to assassinate a seemingly defenseless wolf, who turned out to be a powerful mage skilled in forbidden magic. He would give up his life to hit the inexperienced Natani with a curse that partially destroyed his soul and fractured his mind, leaving him fundamentally lifeless. The only way Zen would be able to save Natani was to permanently fuse their souls together to fill in the gaps lost in his soul and memory. One of the missing pieces the mind link filled was Natani's connection to his gender, so he copied his brother's.

The spell was performed by Clovis, who learned Natani's secret. He'd let them remain in the Brotherhood, but on a tight leash, forcing the two into various criminal jobs to repay him. While Zen had been making an effort to become accustomed to Natani's new pronouns, Clovis absolutely disrespected them and was always on Natani's case. Clovis acted like he owned the two, but after a botched heist, the Magi Brothers found an opportunity to escape from his clutches.

Up until this point, Natani had never opened up to anyone else about the history of his mind link, and is grateful to finally have a friend like Keith to confide in. After having more insight into Natani, the last thing he wants to do is kill him, but he has fought tooth and nail to come back home after so long, and doesn't want to lose it again.

Despite nearly going through with it, and attempting suicide when he doesn't have the guts to murder him, Natani's able to stop him and make him explain himself. Surprisingly, hearing Keith out really won him over. Keith was given a chance to get back everything he lost after being banished as a child, and instead he risked it all to save Natani instead. Before the two take off to save the island from the corrupt basitin generals and Templar occupying the island, the assassin rashly decides to kiss Keith.

While Natani helps drive the Templar away and proves he's capable of heroism, Keith isn't so lucky. He reconnected with his childhood friend and runaway fiancé on the island, and both perished in front of him. Even though the allegations made against him were cleared, he still felt like he had lost everything. Thankfully, Natani is there to help him move on from his grief, leading to the basitin cherishing him as much as those he lost.

Although their first kiss was a spur of the moment thing, it meant a lot to Natani. However, he remains unsure about his feelings for Keith because he questions if Keith would respond to him the same way if he was born a cisgendered male. The two entertain the idea of taking their friendship a step further with another kiss. While it did feel underwhelming, it's followed by Keith admitting that he did want to kiss Natani, but grappled with the decision since he viewed Natani as "one of the guys." Learning Keith has fully accepted his identity prompts a much more genuine kiss from the wolf. Despite that, the two agree to see where things go for the time being.

While Natani's adventure continues, Zen would be filled in on everything throughout the journey via the mind link. Natani even helps him perform an assassin mission from afar. Due to the mind link, Zen does learn of his brother's blossoming relationship with Keith, and speaks through Natani to warn him to not betray his trust. He'll be watching him.

For everything Natani has done for him and how much he has grown to accept Natani, being around the wolf has truly helped him grow as a person. It didn't matter that he was a keidran, he'd do anything to make sure he lives a safe and blissful life. This is further exemplified when Natani's mind link gets disrupted, making him temporarily comatose. Keith has no idea what has happened to him, yet he does absolutely everything in his power to find a way to help him while putting his life on the line to protect him during the human-wolf conflict.

During his time unconscious, something interesting happens to Natani. He wakes up in a field within his mind, which should be impossible given how the mind link functions. Even in his brain, he's unable to control how his body appears within it. As he exclaims his frustrations about it, he is met with an apparition of his younger self.

Young Natani, or Pastani explains that he likely appears female in his mind since he is feeling weak without Zen, and he associates femininity with weakness. He attempts to look for Zen, but finds he is unable to reach him, and is forced to confront Pastani. She understands and addresses his fears, knowing that he recognizes his younger self as the scared little girl Zen saved him from being. However, everything Natani knew about himself is suddenly flipped on its head as Pastani reveals memories lost from the mind link.

Natani only knew the version of himself with the missing gaps filled in by Zen's soul, and without Zen, he'd lose himself. Natani attributed his gender identity to Zen, copying his after the soul merge. However, Pastani is there to let her present self know that his inclination to masculinity was always there. She didn't mind being viewed as a girl, but she secretly liked being seen as a boy when disguised in the Brotherhood. She spells out to him that he's always giving Zen credit for who he is now, when in reality, the way he views himself and both his masculine and infrequent feminine feelings come from him alone.

After waking up, Natani has a newfound sense of confidence - not just in his sense of self, but also his body. While he is forced to admit his secret after escaping a burning ship, he becomes more comfortable talking about it with others - all without sacrificing his gender identity. Another new thing in Natani's life is that Pastani is still around in Natani's head, sharing the mind link with Zen.

In the past three months, Natani has really come into his own. When Zen finally rejoins the group physically, he recognizes his brother has become more independent, living his own life without him. He's proud to see the man his brother has become.

Natani continues to fight alongside friends new and old, defending them from the Templar Order, reanimated statues, and even Clovis, who returns to reclaim his prized assassins. Even after turning into a powerful dragon, Natani proves to be a worthy opponent.

Now viewing him as a threat, Clovis forces his hand to take away what gave Natani a second chance: the mind link. Once again, Natani falls into the abyss of his mind as the curse takes a hold of him. He is prepared to accept his fate, except, that doesn't happen. His past self reaches out to save him, stating they don't need the link anymore. It will be harder to get used to, but this way, he'll be himself more than he ever has before.

Both versions of the wolf fuse, bringing Natani back to the land of the living as he makes sure Clovis will never interfere with his or his friends' lives ever again. Even though the two versions of Natani are fused, he's still the same self-assured man he has become. However, there is one notable difference.

Another aspect he lost from the soul merge was the memory of his deceased parents' faces. For the first time in years, he finally sees them again.

Natani is whole once more, and living the best life he has in years. He has formed life-changing friendships, gained confidence in his body, and found a new purpose in defending those he holds dearly. No matter what happens next, he'll be ready to face the challenges in his own special way.

Experience and Skill


Both Natani and Zen only spent six months working for Clovis' Guild performing assassinations and theft. While, their greatest achievement that put them on the map is totally exaggerated, it helped him gain more experience taking on more high profile missions, like being assigned to steal a powerful artifact guarded by a dragon. His truly greatest feat while working under Clovis was managing to save his brother's soul and escape Clovis' clutches in one night. Despite the respect they receive from other criminals, both didn't have much experience at the time and had to learn through trial and error to become more skilled assassins.

Said trial and error approach also applies to Natani's skills in magic. He is self-taught, in spite of a lack of education. He makes up spells on the spot with their own applications, otherwise known as dirty magic or guesswork magic. To sum up his magic prowess, he's a jack of all trades but a master of none.

Since joining Trace's gang, Natani's skills were put to great use. Over a three month period, he has managed to rescue Trace from the Templar and the corrupt basitin general Albion, fought off Trace's forgotten stone guardians, and even put Clovis in his place once and for all - all the while he didn't need Zen. Their mental link was still present most of the time, and that affected his journey from time to time, but he proved that he could be a great fighter and dependable on his own.


Equipment


Bow & Poisoned Arrows

Natani is a decent marksman, carrying not just standard arrows, but poison-tipped arrows as well. Perfect for an assassin like him.

Throwing Knives

What's an assassin without a few knives?


Sword

When Natani wants to get in close, he can use his trusty blade to finish the job.

Mana Crystals

Unlike humans, who are able to absorb mana from their surroundings and cast spells via their core, keidran lack a core to do so. Instead, they rely on the use of mana crystals. As the name suggests, mana crystals are minerals stored with mana. They have limited charge, and while it's possible to recharge them over time, they aren't made for that purpose. The duration of their usage is much weaker after recharging, and can even risk breaking after multiple attempts. Empty mana crystals still have some use, as they can be ground up for rune-crafting and magic circles.

When performing spells, the wolf assassin's eyes tend to glow yellow. Natani keeps his crystals on a necklace so he can cast spells while wielding a weapon, but later gains an overabundance of mana crystals so he can cast way more than usual. During tense situations, Natani clutches onto old mana crystals to repeatedly recharge. I'll get into the spells Natani can perform in its dedicated section.

Magical Bindings

You read that correctly. Natani's chest bindings hold a pocket dimension to hide his breasts. TwoKinds never ceases to perplex me for better or worse. 


Abilities


Keidran Physiology

Discussing Natani means I'll have to describe some of the known traits of keidran. For starters, keidran have a much briefer lifespan compared to a human's. A keidran reaches adulthood at 8 human years, and usually live up to their early twenties. Natani himself is 13, making him around the human equivalent of late twenties. Keidrans' shorter lifespan does come with the perk that they're able to master skills faster than humans or basitins can in years.

Keidran are all carnivores. They are able to eat some human foods, but they're liable to make them sick. As keidran are native to forests, many are significantly agile and bear great physical strength and durability. It's also stated that wolf keidran require less sleep than humans.

A particularly harrowing fact about keidran is that if they experience an insurmountable amount of mental trauma, they risk becoming feral. It's reversible if given immediate attention, but the mental changes become permanent if unchecked after 24 hours.

No, I'm not going to talk about keidran "heat" in this blog. That's weird.

CQC

He's a talented fighter, though more often than not he tends to rely on cheap and dishonorable tactics. He isn't above kicking guys in the nuts or feigning weakness to gain the upper hand. 'Tis the way of the rugged rogues, I suppose.

Stealth Mastery

While he has multiple magic ways of staying unseen, nothing beats sneaking around the old fashioned way. He knows how to keep his cool without his brother suddenly popping up in his mind, but now that the mental link is gone he hopefully doesn't have to deal with that anymore.


Resistances


Spells


Illusions

What better way for an assassin to get the jump on their target than tricking their eyes? Natani is able to create illusions of other people to distract his foes, or create full-blown disguises to keep suspicion off of him. There's a particularly nasty illusion spell of his I'll get to later.

Igniras

A fire spell with explosive output!

Magic Negation

Natani is able to dispel the magic of any magic-able targets, though when fighting trace that only lasted a few seconds. Perhaps Trace is just that powerful to overcome its effects as the Grand Templar, but it's normally a really trusty spell for him to know.

Sleep Magic

A simple trick that lets him hit the snooze button on anyone, though its effects are able to be resisted with enough effort.

Teleportation/BFR

Natani can teleport himself or forcibly transfer someone else to another location. It has good range, as he can set waypoints to whatever location he wants and simply teleport back there.

Mental Link Disruption

I'm not referring to the kind of mind link Natani and Zen once had. When Trace's mind was overcome with dark magic when he fought the assassin brothers, he unknowingly summoned a giant demonic dragon. This caused him to lose consciousness, along with his control over it. As the dragon reigned terror across the forest, Trace was experiencing a lot of pain and was unresponsive. In Natani's first moment of growth, he uses his last remaining mana crystal to break the mental link between Trace and the dragon to snap him out of his trance and unsummon it.

Lock Spell

Natani deeply values his privacy, so having a spell that completely prevents people from opening the door to whatever room is he is in is perfect for him.

Scent Masking Spell

Keidran are able to identify another keidran's sex by their scent, so Natani magically masks his scent to help better present as male.

Immobilizing Spell

It's a great way to get his target to stop moving!

Arrow Enchantment Spell

Natani doesn't just have poison-tipped arrows at his disposal. He can enchant his arrows to have a stronger impact, able to pierce through sturdy crystals.

Aquamentis

Water magic!

Aerismentis

Air magic too? If he had earth magic, he could be the Avatar!


Heart's Desire

Heart's Desire is without a doubt Natani's most complex and unsettling spell. Performing the spell on his opponent conjures an illusion based on their innermost desire to distract them. It could be a person they deeply cherish, an object they always dreamed of possessing, whatever the case it will create an illusion visible to everyone.

The spell uses its target’s lifeforce as an energy source to extend its duration, so the longer it goes on, the more likely the spell will kill them. In fact, the illusion stays until the target is taken out or Natani removes it himself. It’s scarily accurate to real life, or at least the target's perception of their deepest desire. In the case when Natani created an illusion of Keith's dead fiancé Laura, she came up with some incredibly convincing reasons to explain why she's actually her real ghost.

Ice Spell

That's a pretty cool spell! Eh? Eh??? I'll see myself out.

Magic Beam

Beyond the usual elements, Natani is able to fire concentrated beams of mana at his enemies.

Soul Manipulation

Natani shot through Prince Clovis’ amulet, which housed the stolen soul of Princess Reni, thereby freeing her.

Techniques


Wolven Style

Wolven Style is the standard combat style for wolves, characterized by sword fighting, wide stances, and mixing spells when necessary. 


Feats


Overall


  • Destroyed the Templar tower that siphoned Trace’s mana
  • Stopped a fire from occurring within a ship by removing all the air from the area, suffocating the flames
  • Saved Laura’s ashes and his friend Kathrin while a ship was burning down
  • Rescued Zen’s soul after Lady Nora trapped it inside a masquerade mask
  • Saved the dragon princess Reni from his old boss Prince Clovis
  • Survived after his mind link was shattered, becoming more himself than ever before


Feats


Strength



Speed


Durability


Weaknesses


  • Can’t perform magic without his mana crystals.
  • If Natani tries to recharge an already used crystal, the duration of the spell is way shorter no matter how much time is put into it
  • Can't properly cast spells without concentration
  • When a keidran experiences enough trauma, they risk reverting into animalistic behavior
  • Guesswork magic isn’t efficient compared to more practical magic, as it can quickly burn through mana
  • When Natani and a few others were trapped in Trace’s estate beach room, Natani’s teleportation magic and mental link were blocked by the building itself
  • Due to the often lack of mana crystals at his disposal, he isn't used to having so much magic at his fingertips. Once he gets a massive stash from Trace’s estate, his body isn’t equipped to wielding such continuous power and his energy burns quicker. This is due to the risk of mana burn. If a keidran overworks their magic, they’re in danger of permanently damaging themselves


Matchup Potential



So, why did I choose to make this blog about Natani over Trace, the main character of TwoKinds? He's a good character on his own, has solid fight potential, and has a varied spread that needs more attention. (Shoutout to OriginTheHero's sprite commission for Trace vs Gyrus Axelei from Room of Swords by the way. The fact that this is the closest we'll ever get to seeing TwoKinds on Death Battle is so surreal). However, Trace is far from my favorite character in the webcomic.

Keith may be my favorite character in TwoKinds, but Natani has more going for him VS-wise while also being among my top 100 favorite characters of all time. I was worried I'd like him less upon rereading the webcomic after so many years, but I think I may appreciate him even more now! Back when I was a teen I was mainly into Natani for his overall personality, blossoming relationship with Keith, and interesting concept. As someone who was conscious of and frequently defied gender roles, I could relate to Natani. As an adult, I adore his development into becoming his own person past the mind link and gaining newfound confidence in himself and his body all without sacrificing his identity. Even though it wasn't the intention at the time and the execution is rough around the edges, Natani is also really ahead of his time as a trans-friendly character. I could go on for even longer on why I absolutely love Natani, but I figure I can just recommend you watch this video essay that summarizes TwoKinds and analyzes its queer elements.

Besides my adoration for this wolf, the biggest reason why I chose to make a blog on him instead of Trace is that I just really wanna find a great matchup for him. In terms of what I seek most for a Natani matchup are characters that match his themes of fantasy assassin turned ally, having something to do with his soul merging and eventual departure from it, and not be a tonal or visual clash. Although his gender identity is a crucial part to his character, I'm not looking to base a matchup around that. As of writing this, I'm only aware of two matchups for him, and neither are good. The first is Loona from Helluva Boss. They sure are magic wolf assassins who work with family, that's for sure. The other one is Alphonse from Full Metal Alchemist. I don't like how it compares Alphonse's armor body to Natani's gender identity, and they really aren't similar characters otherwise.

While he still has no matchup I love yet, I think it would be really cool to see Natani in a VS animation. He has a fun and diverse fighting style I'd love to see animated, it would be interesting to see how a voice actor would interpret Natani speaking in his growly native tongue, and in the case of Death Battle a great analysis. He has a great narrative to go over and it's really interesting to discuss a magic user who cannot physically cast spells. 

NEXT TIME ON WCAB… whenever I feel like it



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Natani is a One of a Kind DEATH BATTLE Combatant!

                         Natani, the Forest Wolf Keidran Assassin TwoKinds was created by Tom Fischbach, it can be read on  Keenspot Welcome...