Derek H

There's really no escape. He knows people.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm a bastard. Goddess knows I've never heard THAT before."

Considered by a few to be one of the more influential players in things despite his history, Derek Hilliard, known to many by his online handle Derek Barona, is best described as a rude, sarcastic, paranoid, semi-schitzophrenic, caffiene-addicted, psychopathic bastard with the social graces of an angry starving tiger at an all-you-can-eat meat market. And this is what he says about HIMSELF. What does that tell you about the guy?

ITW History

Origins and the Golden Age

Derek actually came over to the SSBSB as part of the SSBM Bloopers group when they were moved from the SSBM general board, and joined the ITW soon after at the tail end of one of APZ's numerous theft topics. Almost as soon as he joined in on the fun, he became friends with KD Rio and Mikey, and the three of them continued to be partners and co-conspirators through a great number of games afterwards, including his own personal game, ITW Trying To Hijack The Ryaga, and ITW Roommates, a purely roleplay topic far removed from the violent contests of other ITW games. This lasted for some time, before, for personal reasons, Derek decided to quietly retire from ITW and writing in general for awhile, keeping in touch with people, but generally staying out of the loop of things. This lasted until....

The Cataclysm

After repeated encouragement from both KD and Mikey, Derek decided to make a surprise return to ITW during KD's If They Were Stealing From Me Again... Yes, Again. He joined in on the game, but as time went on, found himself growing increasingly annoyed at the drama and antics some of the other players were involved in, getting more and more frustrated as time went on at what was, in his eyes, starting to no longer be a fun game to play in. Deciding to do something about it himself, Derek essentially set about on a personal crusade against the way things were, his actions reflecting in the near psychotic attitude his characters--His avatar, especially--suddenly decided to take towards everyone else. In giving everyone a villain to fight against, he hoped to allow the other players to rediscover some of the unity and love for the game that they had lost on their way. Unfortunately, Derek failed at the time to realize that he too was one of the ones allowing his personal drama to ruin the game, systematically alienating several of the other players and nearly outright starting a war with Smash Master along the way. As the last ITW ended in failure, Derek stormed off, breaking off contact with most of the others for quite some time afterwards.

Spearheading the Resurrection

In early June of 2010, almost four years after playing a major part in the death of ITW, Derek was unpacking his room in the new house he'd moved into, and came across his old PC from several years earlier. Hooking it up, he found a large archive of old RPs and writing he'd done, but what caught his attention the most were the archives of KD's final ITW. Reading back through them, Derek found himself laughing, facepalming, cheering, and getting annoyed at things all over again. He found himself missing all of it, good and bad, and had no one to blame but himself for it. Derek thought about things long and hard, and decided to man up to it all: He had been the one to help kill ITW, it was his job to bring it back. Setting forth with the help of KD and Mikey, and even mending fences with and apologizing to Smash Master, he started the latest ITW, ITW Treasure Hunting on Eclipse Island, with the hopes of reviving the game and bringing back the fun it once had. So far, it seems to be working, but only time will tell.

ITWs

• ITW Trying to Hijack the Ryaga
• ITW Treasure Hunting on Eclipse Island

ITW Characters

Avatar Character:

• Derek Zerus Barona

Main Characters:

• Professor Washu Hakubi
• Chichiri
• Maverick Hunter Zero
• Lucca Barona
• Kanzaki Seiyokaze
• Gemini Man

Miscellaneous Notes

• Though his user name includes his last initial, Derek absolutely hates it when people actually add it to the end of his name. He openly admits to regretting including it in his GameFAQs screen name, though some people have expressed jealousy in the past that he was able to create his account before spaces were no longer allowed in the name.
• Derek got into the show Kamen Rider within the last couple of years, and hasn't looked back. He regularly looks for ways to reference it, talk about it, and get other people interested in it so that he can make references and talk about it with them. His personal favorite series is Kamen Rider Den-O, with Kamen Rider Faiz a very close second. Honorable mentions go to KRs W, Kabuto, Kiva, and Decade, pretty much every other Rider show he's watched.
• Finding ways to blame Decade for things has become one of his greatest joys in life. ONORE, DECADO!