#254: Sheru-Scara: The Woodlouse Warrior

     Okey dokey, time for a character I bookmarked posting for much too long. (I sketched him up and edited him on Photoshop in about an hour or so, so don't judge, friends.) Ladies and gents, Sheru-Scara: the Woodlouse Warrior! There's nothing quite like a good, old-fashioned revenge tale to get any person pumped. But while there is something universally relatable about finding some unscrupulous tool who done goof'd up your life and utterly owning him/her, a REAL revenge tale doesn't exactly come from someone cutting you off on your commute. It takes something truly terrible. And no resident of the JC-Verse knows that better than Sheru-Scara. Born in an insect-inhabited village on the mythic, reptilian-dominated planet of Shang-Slythera, the young pillbug Sheru-Scara crossed paths with the Ningen-Nushi Foot Soldiers, a brutal band of warriors made up of the land's only humans. They left his beloved township in ruins, with many of his fellow villagers having met their ends beneath the Ningen-Nushi's soles--including his own mother, Akemi. Scarred and vulnerable, he began traveling the plains, dazedly drifting from town to town. And hearing rumors. Rumors of an old lizard by the name of Chameleyagi, originator of the art of Camouflage-Fu, and one that lived not far to the East. And just like that, the pieces popped into place. And vengeance began. Once he reached the secluded sanctuary spoken of in the fables, our roly-poly protagonist sought training from Chameleyagi, who accepted. Day and night the lizard instructed him on how to utilize the ordinary elements of his kind to reach extraordinary heights in battle, and by the time the snow fell that fall, Sheru-Scara was ready. The Woodlouse Warrior trekked to the temple of the Ningen-Nushi, and before they could even finish scoffing at his arrival, he rolled at them in a fury of 14-legged celerity. I don't think I need to tell you who won. Sheru left the Foot Soldiers wallowing in their indisputable dishonorment, avenging every creature whom they crushed in their vile path--and as word swiftly spread, he became a bona fide legend. This may not have had as much delightful 4th-wall smashing and unsuitable-for-work wordplay as some other revenge tales, but I'd still consider it pretty gosh-dang epic.

(Our titular pillbug, ready to mess some fools up whilst approaching the Ningen-Nushi temple that fateful day. Trippy coloring job accomplished via the color balancing sliders on ye old Photoshop.)