Wind through the Tall Grass

Once, he was a detective with an expertise in tracking down crimes done by supernatural and surreal forces, the likes of which not even Reil Productions could take on by their very nature. But one day he slipped up, and had his name stolen by one of these reality-warping entities, almost causing him to be wiped from existence. By a miracle, he held onto his existence by a thread: his nickname, "Jackdaw", gaining him a favor with the corvids he always had an uncanny fondness for. Now he travels the darkened globe of the Darkworld, keeping up his battle against the forces uncanny and unnatural, sometimes in cooperation with Reil Productions, but with the ultimate goal of finding his true name.

In the Darkworld's lineup of horror tributes, from the classic werewolves, vampires, and frankenstein-ian monsters, to titanic terrors looming over Tokyo and lurking in the deep, Detective Jones acts as a tribute to the more surreal of supernatural horror, taking on a feel akin to Twin Peaks, X-Files, or even The Twilight Zone.

Jackdaw's fighting style is split between two selves. His basic normal attacks utilize his scrappy self-made fighting style, somewhat sloppy improvised punches and kicks that tend to involve throwing his weight around a bit recklessly compared to a more trained or refined fighter. A set of normals that get the job done, but tend to either be somewhat underwhelming on hit or especially vulnerable if they miss relative to other characters.

It's his new stranger side that makes Jackdaw stand out as a fighter, and at the center of it is his main mechanic: Feathers. By finding evidence of his existence, materialized as grey jackdaw feathers, Jones regains more of his foothold in reality, letting him recover some of his strength, along with gaining more favor with his mysterious feathered allies.

Feathers will fly out of opponents when launched away or hit into a surface, though as they take a moment to materialize, you may have to sacrifice an optimal followup to instead collect the feathers. Your collection of feathers appear next to Jackdaw's damage display, shown as three feather silhouettes which gradually fill in as you collect feathers. It takes collecting about 10 small loose feathers in order to fill one of these silhouettes. Each feather silhouette that fills in will offer benefits to Jackdaw, increasing his low base weight and run speed with each feather. Additionally, having one full feather gives him an additional midair jump, having two will also increase the range and speed of his air dodge, and having all three will give him another small midair jump for three total.

Feathers are also used to enhance Jackdaw's specials, though sometimes at a cost. The first of these is his neutral special, Feather Pistol, which has him toss a sharp feather at high speeds. While having no complete feathers, this move is just a quick projectile shot straight ahead while standing and at a diagonally downwards angle while airborne. It has relatively low range and damage, which doesn't cause hitstun at its farther ranges. Good for making an opponent respect midrange, but nothing too remarkable. However, with completed feathers, Jones can hold the button before releasing to charge the move and increase the feathers thrown. He can throw 3 at a time with one feather, 5 at a time with two, and a rapid barrage of 12 weaker feathers with three complete feathers. In the air the feathers are thrown in a fan pattern, save for the fully charged version, which still fires them rapid-fire in one direction before pushing Jackdaw up and backwards once finished. Each charge level has its uses, even the first one, so having access to every formation is another good reason to keep your feather stocks high.

His next specials utilize his feathers a bit differently however, starting with his side special, Jack Knife. This is quick a horizontal slicing dash after a short delay, which can be angled up or down slightly. Enemies you slice through will be weakly spiked downwards. However, if you have at least one feather, you can hold the special button to enhance the move into Jack Tackle. Jackdaw expends one of his completed feather to gain a protective favor from his corvid allies, materializing a large wing over his arm as he performs a slower but much stronger shoulder tackle that travels farther and is entirely invincible to anything except grabs. While extremely powerful as a recovery and KO move, this move's extended charge time and its high cost make it a risky option. You can also only use side special once before landing or being hit, regardless of which version you choose, but you can double jump and use other specials afterwards. This includes his up special, Corvid Wing. Another simple movement tool, this has Jones use his feathery nature to perform a large wing flap to quickly rocket upwards after a short delay, optionally angled left or right. While not a bad recovery special, its noticeable delay can be intercepted, and its range could be better. Both of these problems can also be fixed by holding the special button to spend a feather, upgrading the move to Corvid Ascent. With this version, Jackdaw becomes invincible for the start of the move, travels farther, hits much harder if he collides with an enemy right as the ascent begins. Its startup time is still exploitable, though a feather is only spent after he starts moving.

Jackdaw's guard special is another one at a variable cost: Fleeting Plumage. With no completed feathers stored up, Jackdaw simply creates a small burst of feathers around his body, dealing modest damage all around him relatively quickly, though leaving him wide open afterwards. By having a feather to spend however, the move becomes much nearly instant, causes more hitstun, and can be canceled early with a jump if it hits an enemy, letting Jackdaw reverse an overeager enemy's approach into an opportunity. This is an extremely useful defensive option, but unlike his similar specials, Jackdaw is forced to use the stronger variation if he has a feather to spend, with no way to use the weaker version, giving it an increased risk.

The task of collecting feathers in the first place can be made easier with his final special move, his down special Bird Call. A bird flies out of Jackdaw's sleeve and flies forwards a short distance before turning around and returning to him. The bird does weak damage and knockback to enemies on both the initial and return flight, which can have some niche combo applications. This move becomes more useful though while uncollected feathers are on the field, as the bird will alter its flight path to grab them, and extend its flight path forward before turning around as it collects more feathers. The bird gets stronger as it collects feathers, dealing more damage and hitstun if it hits an enemy with more feathers in tow. With a favorable setup, you can launch an enemy to send feathers flying out of them, then call a bird to fly through the feathers and into the opponent, letting you catch up and keep attacking. This move comes at a risk though: if the bird is hit by any physical attack, it will vanish into a puff of feathers, and cause Jackdaw to take the damage (though no hitstun or knockback) of the attack that hit the bird. The bird phases right through projectiles, though if Jackdaw himself is put into hitstun then the bird will immediately U-turn back to him and lose its ability to damage enemies. While a uniquely risky move, this acts as another projectile to keep enemies at a distance in check, as well as give more options when it comes to collecting his vital resource.

Overall Detective Jackdaw is a character with an overall balanced gameplan, similar to Helen, but his most powerful options are limited by momentum, and without his feather evidence he can struggle to keep up with other fighters. If he can gather his evidence though, Jackdaw is a mobile, flexible force with exceptional recovery who's hard to keep down.

So that's this... guest character? hypothetical? Not sure what you'd call this, as of now at least don't consider this a canon character addition, but this was a fun moveset to think of and something extra to tie into this attack. The basic inspiration for an evidence mechanic was Phoenix Wright in Marvel vs Capcom, but ironically the actual moveset ended up more like a Falco to pit against Helen's Fox/Wolf inspirations.